DAF Series, Part 1: Your Donors Stopped Giving. True or False? - Veritus Group

It’s January, and 2025 giving is still being processed. This means you’re not 100% sure which donors did NOT give last year. It’s a common problem. And it’s a real problem. But if you’re managing a caseload of qualified donors—donors who have agreed to engagement—you can work through a series of steps to see what is going on and connect with them.

Step #1: Do a quick audit of the giving variance for each donor for CY2025 compared to CY2024; it’s important to have a calendar year focus because that is how donors operate.

Step #2: Sort the variance from High to Low so you can identify the largest gaps between the two years.

Step #3: Work through the story for each donor, using these questions and tips to guide how you follow up:

• How does the donor give? DAF, Community Foundation, Family Foundation, IRA QCD, personal checking account, credit card?
• For DAFs and Community Foundations, review the record for the “sponsoring” organization (e.g., Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, etc.) to see if a gift has been processed but has not been soft credited to your donor yet
• For stock donors, review your records to see what brokers they have used in the past and, if possible, what stock they have given; THEN check with gift processing to see if there are unassigned stock gifts that you can match to your donor
• For IRA QCD donors, review the record for the IRA custodian or trustee organization (Note: these will NOT have the word “charitable” in the name) to see if any gifts have been processed that are not soft credited to a donor yet

Step #4: Now, craft a follow up message for phone and email to check back in with your donor; keep it simple and start your follow-up. Here is an example based on some language my colleague Edie Dahlen wrote:

Dear Salutation:

I noticed that your giving to ORG looks to have stopped in YEAR, but I realize that might not be the case.

While 2025 gifts are still being processed, I have reviewed our records for [DAF Sponsor or Community Foundation or Family Foundation Name, stock gifts] that you have used previously, and I haven’t seen a gift identified as directed by you. Often, we receive a single check or wire transfer for several gifts at one time, but the notations about who directed the gift are not clear. [DAF or Community Foundation only: This is especially true at calendar year-end, when as many as 50 directed gifts may be “bundled” together in a single check or wire transfer.]

Please rest assured that I am committed to acknowledging every gift you have sent. If you directed a gift and haven't heard from me, it's possible that the sponsor didn't communicate your identity.

Your continued support means a great deal to me and ORG and ensuring that you're properly acknowledged is a top priority. I encourage you to check with your financial institution to ensure your name as well as the fund name are included when making a gift.

Thank you once again for your generosity and ongoing support of ORG. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Now that your forensic work for 2025 is done, begin your work for 2026. This first quarter of the calendar year is critical for setting up discussions with donors who use Donor Advised Funds, Community Foundations, or Family Foundations. But this should extend to all of your top donors in Tiers A and B. 

• Review the giving history for each donor using one of these giving tools to have a clear understanding of impact over time; look for giving milestones that can be celebrated – 10 or 25 years of giving? Reached $100k or $1M in 2025? A project they supported has been running for 5 or 10 or 25 years? Pro-Tip: If you don’t already, start a practice of creating a Donor Profile note captured in your CRM that is continuously updated, that tells the story of a donor’s support, interests, milestones, family, anything that helps you understand their heart and intentions.
• Request a meeting to celebrate impact and discuss what they want to accomplish in 2026 or over the next five or 10 years through their philanthropic giving.
• Capture clearly how and when they want to give, the names of any sponsoring organizations or third-party giving (e.g., Benevity, workplace, etc.), and the names of any funds they use (e.g., the John & Linda Smith Fund).
• Ask what information they want from you, how they want it, and when they need it to match their giving decision pattern. Update your goal and strategic communication plan for that donor—including if there is now potential for a transformational gift in the next 1-3 years. Follow up the meeting via email or letter, reflecting back what you will do and when you will do it.
• And go deeper, asking them questions about why they give, what weighs on them, when have they realized the most joy from giving, or any of these four from National Philanthropic Trust:
  
  •  What would you most like to see change in the world?
  •  Are there things that have impacted you or your family personally that you’d like to do something about?
  •  Are there issues that don’t touch your life personally but that you are motivated to support or change?
  •  How important is it to you to see the impact of your giving in your lifetime or immediate surroundings?

Putting in this kind of effort now will make a big difference in your entire year. It will help you be better connected to your donors so you can honor their intentions and help them realize greater joy through the impact of their giving.

Happy 2026!

Diana S. Frazier, Senior Client Experience Leader