Short answer
Donor Lapse Early-Warning Triggers watch each donor's giving rhythm. When a donor breaks their normal cadence, GrantPipe flags them as lapsing, at-risk, or lapsed and sends your team an alert. You reach out before the donor goes cold. GrantPipe does not contact donors. Your team does the outreach. The trigger just makes sure you know in time.
The problem
A donor gives every spring for four years. Then spring passes. Nobody notices. By then, the bond is cold. Win-back rates drop fast.
Retention reports tell you what your rate was. They do not tap you on the shoulder when one donor starts to slip. That gap is where donors go quiet.
How GrantPipe solves it
GrantPipe watches each donor’s giving rhythm. When a donor breaks their cadence, the system flags them. An alert goes to your team. You reach out. The bond is still warm.
The alert goes to staff. GrantPipe does not contact your donors. Your team does the outreach. The trigger just makes sure you know in time.
What the feature does
Donor Lapse Early-Warning Triggers read the gift history GrantPipe stores. For each donor, the system finds their typical gap between gifts. Then it watches for that window to pass.
When a donor slips past their window, GrantPipe puts them in a risk band. Each band shows how far past their normal cadence they are. A donor in the lapsing band is early. A donor in the at-risk band has clearly broken their rhythm. A lapsed donor has not given in 18 months.
When a donor crosses into a new band, GrantPipe sends an alert. One in-app alert. One email. Your team sees who needs attention and can act.
The At-Risk Donors view
GrantPipe shows the At-Risk Donors list inside the app. It sorts by urgency score. The donors who need the most attention sit at the top.
The urgency score blends two things. First, how far past cadence the donor is. Second, how much they have given over their lifetime. A lapsing major donor scores higher than a lapsing one-time donor. This puts the biggest donors where you see them first.
You can filter the list by band. See only lapsing donors. See only at-risk donors. See only lapsed donors. Each row shows the donor, their band, and days since their last gift. It also shows their total lifetime giving and their last gift date. Click to open the donor record and start your outreach.
How it works
- GrantPipe reads gift dates from your donor history.
- For each donor with two or more gifts, it finds their typical giving gap.
- When a donor goes past 1.25 times their gap, they enter the lapsing band.
- When they go past 2 times their normal gap, they move to at-risk.
- At 18 months with no gift, they reach the lapsed band.
- Each new band triggers one in-app alert and one email to your team.
- The alert fires once per band. Not every day. Your inbox stays clear.
A donor with only one gift has no cadence to measure. One gift is not a rhythm. GrantPipe flags them as lapsed only after 18 months.
Who it’s for
Fund leads who own donor bonds. They need to know which reliable donors are going quiet before the season ends. The view gives them a list sorted by urgency to work from each morning.
Org heads who want to know no major donor goes unseen. The urgency score puts the biggest donors at the top. No hunting needed.
Annual fund staff running win-back outreach. Filter chips let them see the band they need to call this week.
How this is different from retention reporting
Retention reporting shows your cohort rate over time. It tells you how many donors from last year gave again. It answers: how are we doing overall?
Lapse alerts answer a different question: which donors need attention right now?
Use retention reporting to see the trend. Use lapse alerts to act on each donor before the trend gets worse. The two features work together. For cohort reporting and lifecycle stages, see donor retention reporting.
What GrantPipe does not do
The system does not auto-create tasks. The trigger is the alert. Your team decides what to do next.
The system does not send messages to donors. GrantPipe alerts staff. Donor outreach is a human call.
The score is a formula. You can explain how any donor got their score. Recency and lifetime giving. That is it. No machine-learning model. No black box.
What it replaces
The annual review that catches lapsed donors too late. The manual scan to see who has not given lately. The sticky note of names to remember who to call. The missed win-back because nobody noticed a reliable donor went quiet.
To build donor groups on top of risk data, see donor groups and filters.
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Related feature pages
See donor retention reporting. See donor groups and filters. See the product overview. See pricing and plan fit.
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Q&A
What is a donor lapse early-warning trigger?
It is an alert that fires when a specific donor breaks their giving rhythm. GrantPipe watches the gap between each donor's gifts. When that gap stretches past the donor's normal window, GrantPipe flags the donor and notifies your team by in-app alert and email.
Q&A
How is the risk score calculated?
The score blends how far past cadence the donor is with their lifetime giving value. A lapsing major donor scores higher than a lapsing one-time small donor. This puts the most valuable relationships at the top of the At-Risk Donors list. The formula is transparent; there is no machine-learning model behind it.
Q&A
What is the difference between lapsing, at-risk, and lapsed?
Lapsing means the donor is 25 percent past their normal giving window. At-risk means they are twice past it. Lapsed means no gift in 18 months. Each band triggers a separate alert so your team knows how urgent the situation is.
Frequently asked