Table of contents
Published October 27, 2026.
Pick the source of truth
The donor database is the source of truth for giving history and contact preferences. Spreadsheets used for appeals, events, and board lists should feed the database, not compete with it. Decide which system owns each field and stop maintaining two versions of the same donor.
Define segments in plain language
A lapsed donor is not simply someone who did not give last year. Write the rule: no gift in twenty-four months, at least one prior gift, and no active pledge. Do the same for major, recurring, first-time, and event-only donors. A segment that cannot be explained to a volunteer is not ready to use.
Keep appeal codes meaningful
Every appeal should have one code that identifies the channel, the campaign, and the audience. Document the code in a shared key and use it consistently on the reply device, the online form, and the import file. Codes invented per coordinator make year-over-year comparison impossible.
Find duplicates before the mailing
Run a duplicate report on name, address, email, and phone before every large appeal. Merge carefully, keeping the most recent contact preference and the full giving history. A merged record that loses a gift is worse than a duplicate that receives two letters.
Handle households and individuals deliberately
A household may receive one solicitation while two individuals have separate giving histories. Decide the mailing name and the recognition name in advance. Do not overwrite one person's record to create a household total, because the next stewardship letter will address the wrong person.
Maintain suppression and preference lists
Record do-not-mail, do-not-email, deceased, and relationship-management flags. Check the list before every export. A suppression that exists only in a coordinator's inbox will fail when that coordinator is on leave.
Test the segment counts
Before the appeal, compare the count in the segment to the count in the export and the count on the mail vendor's invoice. Investigate differences before the mail drops. A segment that grows by ten percent between systems usually contains duplicates or a missing filter.
A lapsed donor example
A donor gave for three years, skipped one, and attended a gala. A simple 'lapsed' rule would put her in the reactivation mail, while the event record shows a recent touch. The segment rule should exclude recent event attendees or route them to a different message.
Document the campaign after it closes
Record the segment definition, the export date, the code, the mail quantity, the response count, and the revenue. The next annual fund plan should be able to compare like with like. Without that record, the team relearns the same lessons every year.
- Segment rule
- Appeal code key
- Duplicate report
- Suppression list
- Export counts
- Campaign results