The everyday problem
DD
Director of Development
"We ran a great year-end fundraising campaign, but three months later nobody can tell you which of those 800 new donors have lapsed, or which ones are ready for a bigger ask."
Without a system tracking every gift and renewal date, lapsing donors go unnoticed until it's too late to re-engage them, and appeals get sent to whoever's on an old spreadsheet export instead of based on real, current giving history.
What good looks like
Lapsing donors are flagged automatically. Segmented appeals go out based on real giving history. The board gets a live fundraising number any time they ask.What you're building
| Record type | Kind | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | Standard (built-in) | A gift or inquiry from the donate page or an event sign-up |
| Contact / Account | Standard (built-in) | The Donor, and the Household or Corporate Account |
| Opportunity | Standard (built-in) | The pledge or gift amount, tagged with its source campaign |
| Volunteer Shift | Custom (you build it) | Links volunteer Contacts to events, for hour-tracking |
Business outcome
- Lapsing donors are flagged automatically instead of discovered a year later
- Segmented appeals go out based on real giving history, not a stale spreadsheet export
- The board gets a live fundraising number any time they ask, not just at year-end
Step-by-step build
Do these six pieces in order. Total time: roughly 35–45 minutes the first time through.
1 Capture the gift or inquiry
Set up the donate-page formSetup → Object Manager → Lead → Sharing tab → Web-to-Lead section, embedded on your donation page.
Or enter event sign-ups manuallyFront-desk staff at an event can create a Lead directly for anyone who signs up in person.
2 Record the donor
Convert the LeadCreates the Donor Contact and Household/Corporate Account — see the Lead-to-Cash Trail.
Create the OpportunitySet its Amount to the pledge or gift value, tagged with its source campaign.
3 Automate renewal outreach
Create the workflow ruleSetup → Workflow Rules → New Rule. Object: Opportunity. Trigger: field-based, as a recurring-gift Opportunity approaches its renewal date.
Set the actionNotification to the assigned development officer.
4 Re-engage lapsing donors
Build the email templateMarketing Studio → Templates → New Template. Write a year-end appeal.
Create the campaignCampaigns → New Campaign. Recipient object: Contact. Filter:
last_gift_date__c < 10 months ago.5 Track volunteers too
Create the Volunteer Shift objectSetup → Object Manager → New Object. Label: "Volunteer Shift", Plural Label: "Volunteer Shifts".
Add its fieldsNew Field → "Volunteer" (LOOKUP → Contact). "Event" (TEXT or LOOKUP, if you track events as their own object). "Hours" (NUMBER).
6 Report to the board
Create the reportReports → New Report. Object: Opportunity. Fields: Campaign Source, Amount, Close Date.
Group and saveGroup by: Campaign Source and Year. Name it "Funds Raised by Campaign, Year over Year".
Day-to-day: development officers
New gift or inquiry arrivesA Lead appears automatically from the donate page or an event sign-up.
Get notified on renewalsA notification arrives automatically as a recurring gift approaches its renewal date.
Day-to-day: marketing / communications
Send segmented appealsRun the lapsing-donor campaign whenever you need to re-engage donors who haven't given in 10+ months.
Day-to-day: director of development
Report to the boardOpen "Funds Raised by Campaign, Year over Year" any time the board asks — no manual reconciliation.
What to try next
Look at the Marketing Studio and Workflow Automation trails to go deeper on the pieces used here.