One Message to Everyone Is Leaving Money on the Table
The most common approach to year-end appeals: the same letter to the entire active donor list. Some organizations vary the ask amount by giving level. Fewer vary the actual message based on donor relationship, giving history, or program interest.
Segmentation — even simple segmentation — consistently increases response rates and average gift sizes in studies of direct mail and email fundraising.
The Four Segments Every Nonprofit Should Have
1. LYBUNT (Last Year But Unfortunately Not This Year) Donors who gave last year but haven't given yet this year. This is your highest-priority re-engagement segment. They've demonstrated recent giving. They just need a specific reason to renew.
Message: "Last year you helped us accomplish X. This year, your gift will help us do Y. We hope we can count on you again."
2. SYBUNT (Some Year But Unfortunately Not This Year) Donors who gave at some point but not in the past 12 months. They've lapsed. They need a re-engagement message before a standard appeal.
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Message: "We haven't heard from you in a while, but we wanted to share what's been happening — and invite you back."
3. New Donors (First Gift) Donors who made their first gift in the past 12 months. They're in the honeymoon period of your relationship. A warm, personal second gift appeal significantly increases retention rates.
Message: "Your first gift made you part of our community. Here's what happened because of it."
4. Major Donors Donors at or above your major gift threshold. They should NOT receive the same appeal as everyone else. They should receive a personalized communication from a gift officer, not a mass mailing.
Sohovi tracks quality trends across runs and alerts you when a metric — null rate, duplicate count, score — moves outside its normal range.
Message: Personal letter or email from the development director or major gift officer, referencing specific conversations or interests.
Building the Segments
Export your donor database and tag each record with a segment code:
- LYBUNT: gave in the previous fiscal year, no gift in the current fiscal year
- SYBUNT: no gift in the previous fiscal year, gave at some point in the last 5 years
- New: first gift date in the last 12 months
- Major: cumulative or single gift at or above your threshold
- Active: doesn't fit the above, gave in the current year
Each segment gets a tailored message. The core campaign story can be the same — the opening, the tone, and the ask context should differ.
Measuring Segment Performance
After the campaign, report response rates and average gifts by segment. This data tells you where your messaging resonated and where it didn't — and improves every subsequent campaign.
