Your definition may differ, but I define a lapsed donor as someone who has not donated to your organization within the last year, two years or three years. Donors who have not sent you a gift in over three years are not lapsed donors. They are former donors.

Lapsed donors are valuable. Unlike strangers, they have supported you before. And they believe in your mission enough to have sent you a gift (or gifts). That means they are worth mailing to. You can expect to receive an 11 percent response rate from a mailing to lapsed donors if your results are typical, says fundraising expert Kent Dove (Conducting a Successful Fundraising Program. Jossey-Bass, 2001).

Here are some tips on writing an appeal letter that will win them back. In the fund development profession, the letter you write is called a recovery letter because it aims to recover donors who have lapsed.

1. Write to one person

You will likely not know why each donor has lapsed. Donors stop giving for any number of reasons. Some forget. Some lose interest. Some get distracted with the arrival of children