7 Tried-and-true Donor Segmentation Strategies (+ Email Examples)

Donor segmentation is a powerful method of engaging donors because it allows you to create personalized content specific to each donor’s relationship with the organization. 

While many organizations focus on broad demographics such as major donors and LYBUNTs (donors that gave Last Year But Unfortunately Not This Year) for segmentation, there are so many other ways to effectively segment donors. 

In this article, we’ll dive deeper into donor segmentation and go beyond donor demographics or geography. We’ll discuss how to segment donors according to relationship and interaction with your organization, and show you how to connect with your entire donor pyramid. 

What is donor segmentation?

Donor segmentation is a strategy that separates an organization’s donors into groups based on similar characteristics. This enables organizations to send engaging communications that are personalized to each segment of donors.

Why is donor segmentation important?

Imagine your friend, an avid tennis player, gives you a tennis racquet for your birthday. Not only are you not interested in playing tennis but there are no courts near you to even play tennis. The tennis racquet ends up sitting in your garage awaiting the next Goodwill drop off. Instead of giving you something that aligned with your interests, your friend prioritized their interests.

Similarly, organizations that do not segment their communications are pushing their interests onto donors without adjusting the communications according to the donors’ interests. 

Fundraising is built on relationships and relationships can’t be nurtured through a one-size-fits-all approach. By segmenting donors, you can create personalized communications that interest each group of donors. This not only increases engagement but builds trust and loyalty for your organization. 

Donor Segmentation Cheat Sheet

Short on time? Here’s a quick cheat sheet of donor segmentation strategies. 

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7 Donor Segmentation Strategies + Examples

Recurring donor segmentation strategies

Recurring donors are some of the most valuable donors to your organization. Not only do recurring donors offer sustainable, predictable revenue to your organization, the average expected lifetime of a recurring donation is 4.6 years making them 9X more valuable than one-time donors. Segmenting recurring donors to enhance their experience with your organization is a great way to bolster your recurring giving program. 

1. One-time donors to recurring

Evaluate the giving cadences of your one-time donors. Are any of your one-time donors giving twice a year? Three times? Quarterly? Pull a list from your CRM of the donors that are giving more than once a year and craft communications that aim to convert these one-time donors into recurring. 

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2. Recurring donors to uplevel

These recurring donors are already giving to your organization. After they’ve consistently donated for 6 months, reach out to express gratitude and ask if they’re able to increase their gift amount. Share how the increased amount would impact your organization’s mission.

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3. Failed recurring subscriptions

Failed recurring subscriptions are often due to credit card expiration. Before a recurring donor’s credit card expires, reach out about updating their payment method. This is also a great opportunity to share how much you appreciate their ongoing contribution and see if they’d be willing to increase their donation amount.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser Segments

Peer-to-peer fundraising is an incredible way to expand your reach and create additional awareness for your cause. Engage your peer-to-peer community with the donor segmentation examples below. 

4. Influencers and connectors

Identify individuals with a strong network and alignment with your mission. Build relationships through personal connections, offer opportunities for involvement like social media advocacy, and highlight their contributions in your events and communications. 

For this segment, action based donations can be an effective way to craft viral peer-to-peer campaigns. By creating actions around viral moments, such as donating $1 every time Taylor Swift is shown at a Chiefs’ football game, the influencer ties a fun, pop culture moment to your cause.

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5. Zero dollar peer-to-peer fundraisers

When your organization has peer-to-peer fundraisers who haven’t raised any money, you have two options: recruit more fundraisers or identify these zero-dollar fundraisers and encourage them to fundraise.

The biggest barrier to peer-to-peer fundraisers is setting up their fundraising page, so if your fundraisers have overcome this obstacle, they just need a little bit of help to get going. Provide resources to help fundraisers get up and running and see if there’s anything you can do to help.

Major Donors

Major gift fundraising can make or break an organization, enabling nonprofits to drive greater impact for their cause. But major donors are not a one-size-fits-all bunch. Within the major donor category, you’ll find a number of sub categories from legacy donors to VIPs. 

6. Planned donors

Planned donors, also known as legacy donors, plan to include your organization within their estate plan. This could take the form of a legacy fund or charitable trust. For this donor, relationship building through donor stewardship is key. Express gratitude for the planned donor’s future commitment and provide opportunities for them to learn about more impactful giving methods. 

7. VIP/Top 25

These are your largest and most loyal donors, and require additional personalization to ensure they feel connected to your organization. Prioritize consistent and personal communication as well as exclusive access to events, board meetings, and leadership opportunities. 

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Segment and engage donors at scale 

Donor segmentation is an incredible way to create targeted communications for the variety of supporters that follow and donate to your organization. While templates can help you create communications for each segment, they only scratch the surface of what’s possible with personalization. 

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Momentum’s AI Donor Engagement platform allows you to create personalized communication for every person in your portfolio. By analyzing the writing style, donor profile, and preferences, Momentum drafts communications that are individualized to each donor. You review the communications and make any edits before sending. 

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Start with a template, such as an event invite or a welcome email and ask your AI assistant to draft a customized email for the donors you select. 

Save time and strengthen relationships with your donors—explore Momentum’s features today.