Effective strategies for renewing last year’s donors

It’s the end of the year, and many independent news publishers are feeling the pressure:

• Fewer donors are renewing year over year.
• End-of-year (EOY) campaigns are doing “okay,” but not great.
• Teams feel like they have to find more new donors just to stay in place.

At the same time, your database is full of people who have already said “yes” with their wallets: last year’s donors who haven’t yet given this year.

That’s your LYBUNT segment: Last Year, But Unfortunately Not This. We’ve written about them in the past. And we aren’t going to stop talking about them anytime soon.

BlueLena hosts a community of practice for development professionals using our CRM and fundraising platform. And during a recent session on “Activating Existing Donors,” one theme kept coming up: LYBUNTs are the most winnable group you have, and most organizations aren’t giving them focused attention. They get dropped into the same big list as everyone else and receive the same generic EOY messages.

The result? You leave easy money – and future loyalty – on the table.

For publishers working with BlueLena, LYBUNTs become a standing, always-on segment inside BlueLenaCXA, our email and automation platform built on top of ActiveCampaign. That means their status auto-updates and they can receive tailored journeys and messaging instead of getting lost in broad blasts.

What we see in the data: LYBUNTs respond when you treat them differently

Across campaigns, a pattern shows up again and again:

• When LYBUNTs receive the same EOY emails as everyone else, they perform slightly better than your average list – but not by much.
  
• When you send them a single, clearly framed “renew your support” message, layered on top of your main EOY series, you see:
  • Higher open rates
  • Higher click rates
    Stronger give rates per 1,000 emails

Mirror Indy is one publisher using a LYBUNT strategy to grow reader revenue. In 2025, they moved from targeted sends to a full automation that identifies users approaching renewal dates but haven’t donated in the past year. Members responded: 

• Automation sends had 52% open rate and a 3% CTR 
• They led to 24 one-time donations for $3,500
• Three members renewed for $480 in annual recurring revenue

The automation includes this message sent on the anniversary of a donation to readers who hadn’t given again in 365 days: 

Strategic signal: Treat LYBUNTs as a campaign, not an afterthought

Here’s what this really means for your audience and revenue strategy:

• Retention is not one thing. A first-year donor who lapses isn’t the same as a multi-year donor who skips a year. LYBUNTs are a distinct behavioral group.
  
• You don’t need a complex program to start. A single, well-timed LYBUNT email can move the needle in December. Over time, that can evolve into a full renewal journey.
  
• Language matters. “Renew your support,” “continue your impact,” and “keep this reporting available” land differently than “please donate.”
  
• Data is your ally. Using more fields (last gift amount, last gift date, giving frequency) lets you speak directly to how that donor behaves.

When you elevate LYBUNTs from “people on the list” to “people in a segment with a plan,” you shift from broadcasting to actual stewardship.

Playbook: A simple LYBUNT strategy you can launch this year

You don’t need a huge tech stack or a big development team to do this. Here’s a straightforward playbook you can implement with most CRMs and email tools. At BlueLena, our publisher strategists work hand-in-hand with your team to turn this playbook into automated journeys inside ActiveCampaign, with reusable segments, dynamic fields, and personalized campaigns targeted to LYBUNTs and other key donor groups.

1. Define your LYBUNT segment

In your CRM or email platform, filter for:

• Included:
  • Gave at least once in the last calendar year (or last 12 months, depending on how you track).
    
• Excluded:
  • Already gave in the current calendar year.
  • People who have opted out or bounced.

Save this as a reusable segment: “LYBUNT – last year’s donors, not yet this year.”

If you can go a step further, create sub-segments to speak to publishers based on their gift amount and whether they were recurring or one-time givers. This lets you adjust copy and ask strings later. For BlueLena publishers, these segments are set up as dynamic, auto-updating audiences inside ActiveCampaign which can then be reused across email, automations, and even SMS and direct mail integrations.

2. Layer LYBUNT outreach onto your EOY calendar

Keep your main EOY plan. You’re not rebuilding your campaign; you’re adding a focused layer. For example:

• Early December: Add a “renewal” paragraph to one of your regular EOY emails, dynamically shown only to LYBUNTs (if your tool allows).
• Late December: Send a dedicated LYBUNT email to that segment only.

Sample subject lines:

• “You made this possible last year. Will you renew today?”
• “Still time to renew your support before year-end”
• “Your gift last year powered this work – continue it in 2025?”

Sample body framing:

Last year, you donated $50 to support our coverage of [topic/beat].

That generosity helped us [brief, concrete impact: “explain property tax changes,” “translate policy into plain language,” “guide neighbors through the election”].

As we close out this year, we’re asking supporters like you to renew your gift so we can keep this reporting available to everyone who needs it.

Would you consider renewing your $50 gift – or starting a monthly contribution – before midnight on December 31?

Notice the elements:

• Reflect back their past action.
• Tie it to specific value your journalism delivered.
• Make a clear, anchored ask: renew the same amount (with an optional upgrade path)

3. Use last gift data to personalize the ask
Personalization doesn’t have to be complicated to be powerful. Treating LYBUNTs as individuals, rather than as a generic list, can significantly lift performance.

At a minimum, reflect back what you know: when they last gave, what they supported, and the impact of that gift. Align your renewal ask with that donor’s previous behavior.

For example:

•  A small one-time donor should get a simple renewal prompt at their previous level.
• Mid-level one-time donors often respond well to a renewal request paired with an optional monthly upgrade.
• Former recurring donors should receive warm, “pick up where you left off” language.

Inside BlueLenaCXA, we build these fields and segmentation rules for you, so dynamic ask amounts, donor-type journeys, and personalized messaging run automatically without your team needing to manually calculate or update anything.

The goal is not complexity. It’s clarity: show each donor that you remember them, value them, and are inviting them to renew the commitment they already made.

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4. Make LYBUNTs a standing part of your calendar, not just EOY

EOY is the easiest place to start, but LYBUNTs shouldn’t only hear about renewal in December.

Consider:

• Q1 “We missed you” campaign:
  In February or March, send a short reactivation email to LYBUNTs who still haven’t renewed. Tone: warm, not scolding.
  
• Impact touch before the next ask:
  Send a short “here’s what your last gift made possible” update in late spring or early fall, with a light renewal prompt at the bottom.
  
• Phone or 1:1 outreach for higher-level LYBUNTs:
  For donors above a certain threshold (say $250+), create a small list of “call or personal email” tasks (bonus points if you automate this in your CRM!)

The goal: build a rhythm where LYBUNTs reliably hear from you with value and clarity, rather than just another blast appeal.

5. Measure renewal performance and iterate

You don’t need elaborate dashboards to learn from your LYBUNT program. Start with:

• Renewal rate for last year’s donors:
  Of everyone who gave last year, what percentage has given again this year?
  
• Revenue per 1,000 LYBUNT emails sent:
  Total revenue from LYBUNT-focused emails ÷ (LYBUNT emails sent / 1,000).
  
• Channel comparisons:
  How do LYBUNT renewal emails perform compared to:
  
  • Generic EOY emails?
  • Broad “support our journalism” emails?

Look for patterns like:

• Do LYBUNT emails sent on high-intent days (Dec 29–31) outperform others?
• Does using last gift amount in the copy increase click and give rates?
• Are certain subject lines consistently stronger?

Then turn those into repeatable experiments:

• Next year, test two subject lines only on LYBUNTs.
• Try a control vs. personalized-amount version of the email.
• Test a follow-up reminder to non-openers within 48 hours.

Small, controlled experiments make your LYBUNT strategy smarter each year.

BlueLena’s role: Turning LYBUNTs into a reliable renewal engine

This is exactly the kind of work publishers achieve in partnership with BlueLena:

• Connect the data between email, CRM, and payments so LYBUNT segments stay up to date automatically.
  
• Build reusable segments and automations, so “LYBUNT renewal” becomes an annual playbook, not a one-time heroic effort.
  
• Look at the data with you to understand which segments (first-time donors, multi-year donors, former recurring) respond best to which messages and timings.
  
• Support your experimentation, from subject line testing to dynamic ask strings, with clear reporting back to your team and stakeholders.

There’s no hidden shortcut to this work. But with BlueLena, you don’t have to shoulder it alone — we’ll help you build a renewal system that’s smart, reliable, and actually makes life easier.

Wrap-up: LYBUNTs are your closest “yes”

When retention is under pressure, it’s tempting to chase new names and bigger lists.But the most immediate growth opportunity is usually quieter: People who gave last year, haven’t given yet this year, and are waiting for a clear, specific invitation to renew.

Treat LYBUNTs as their own segment with a simple plan, and you can stabilize revenue, learn faster, and deepen relationships, without adding more noise to your audience’s inbox.

Interested in partnering with BlueLena to design your marketing funnel and fundraising strategy? Contact ashley@bluelena.io to learn more.

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About BlueLena

BlueLena is a strategy consulting and audience management platform founded in 2020 to support the sustainability of independent local media. By combining cutting-edge technology with expert-driven services, BlueLena helps over 300 news organizations across North America develop and manage subscription, membership, and donation models. Its unique shared-resource management approach provides publishers, regardless of size, with access to enterprise-level tools and personalized support, enabling them to focus on high-quality journalism while building loyal, revenue-generating audiences. 

BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.