Calling Non Current Donors

A few years ago, my father-in-law passed away. In a conversation with my mother-in-law, she mentioned one of the hardest parts following his death was having to stop giving to the ministries they supported for years. She loved what those ministries did and got a lot of joy from being part of the team that empowered them to do their work. On top of the grief of losing her husband of almost 50 years, she had to make the very difficult choice to stop a large portion of her giving. Being curious about how other ministries follow up with non-current donors, I asked how these ministries reached out after she stopped giving. She paused and, with tears in her eyes, said none of them contacted her. 

If you see an interruption in someone's normal giving pattern, reach out. Don't be that field worker that causes a grieving widow more tears because you were "too busy" (or too scared) to call about a lapse in giving. You're not a "debt collector" (as the Enemy would like you to think); You're a person who notices others and checks up on them when something changes. People usually don't want to stop giving. So, when they intentionally stop giving, usually something big has happened (loss, stolen credit card, furloughed from work, hospitalization, etc). There are also times when people unintentionally stop giving (ex: credit or debit cards expired). They don't even know their giving has had an interruption. Either way, it's very valuable to the donor when you reach out promptly. 

Reaching out to a supporter who has had a disruption in their giving (we call these "non-current donors") communicates care and concern to your supporter and can be a very encouraging conversation for you as well.

Here's how:

Discover who is non-current

• Check for changes in giving. 
  • MPDx or TNTMPD: here's how to sync your giving data.
  • Toolbox: here's where to find giving data.

    • To try and figure out who the donors are from within Toolbox, go to the promises report (https://toolbox.reliant.org/mtd/promised-gifts), filter for active gifts, and sort the results by next transaction date, ascending (oldest first); the active gifts at the top of the list with next transaction dates in the past are most likely your non-currents.

Reach out

These conversations are encouraging because they’re a way to communicate care and concern to your supporter.

If you can, reach out by phone. If you can’t, maybe a Zoom, FaceTime, or Skype call? If that’s not possible, go for text or email.

The main thing you’ll want to communicate is:

• I called to check on you and see if you're ok
• Noticed your gift didn’t arrive at the usual time and wanted to see if something happened.
• (then seek to discover what’s blocking their giving. Maybe they’ve fallen on hard financial times, maybe they’re in the hospital, maybe they can’t find their giving envelope, or maybe they want to transition to giving online but can’t figure it out. Your job is to discover what’s happening and how you can help.)

You can even leave this on a voicemail. The key is to be heartfelt and concerned about them as a person. Some people honestly forget to send in their gift and are glad to put it in the mail right away. In that case, ask if they need a new giving envelope (you can email gift services and ask them to mail one to the donor). Some people have to stop giving (usually for financial reasons), and they are embarrassed to call and tell you. Your call gives them an opportunity to talk about it with you and gives you an opportunity to minister to them, thank them for their faithfulness, and pray over them. I had one field worker reach out to a non-current donor and discovered they were going through cancer treatments. It turned into an incredible opportunity for the field worker to minister to and pray for their donor.

No matter what, please take this opportunity to affirm their partnership, thank them for what they have been able to give, and let them know they are still a very valuable member of your ministry team. For many who are in a season where they can no longer give financially, they actually want to know other ways they can help you. It’s a human-nature thing… when we are forced to take something away, we long to replace it with something of equal value. So, please give your supporter this chance. Remind them of the other ways they can help you in ministry (prayer team, volunteer, connect you with others) and ask them if one or some of those seem interesting. Some will really like the idea of helping to “replace” their financial support by introducing you to others who might want to give.

Lastly, I’d encourage you to write out a quick script before calling. This will help you organize your thoughts and reduce anxiety during the call (or voicemail).