7 supporter segments every charity should build in their CRM

3 August 2026  |  Stuart Palmer

Hidden inside every charity CRM are supporters who are ready to give again, complete a Gift Aid declaration, become regular donors or re-engage with your cause. The challenge is knowing how to find them. By creating a handful of smart supporter segments, you can uncover these opportunities and make every campaign more relevant.

Here are seven of our favourites.

1. Supporters who could unlock missed Gift Aid

One of the quickest ways to generate additional income is to identify supporters who have donated within the last four years, but where Gift Aid wasn’t claimed because no valid declaration was on file. A simple campaign asking them to complete a declaration that covers previous donations can unlock income you’ve already earned.

You could even tell supporters exactly how much extra their declaration would be worth to your charity, giving them a tangible reason to complete the form. If you’re using Beacon CRM, completed Gift Aid declarations are automatically applied to eligible donations in your next Gift Aid claim.

To create this segment, include supporters who:

• have made one or more donations within the last four years
• do not have a valid Gift Aid declaration linked to their record
• have provided the appropriate permission to be contacted

Depending on your approach, you may also want to exclude:

• supporters who are not eligible for Gift Aid
• records with incomplete or inaccurate contact details

2. First-time donors

The goal of this segment is to encourage first-time donors to take the next step in their relationship with your charity, whether that’s making another donation, setting up a regular gift or getting involved in future fundraising activities.

A dedicated welcome journey can help achieve this. Rather than treating first-time donors like everyone else, thank them for their donation, demonstrate the impact of their gift and introduce other ways they can support your charity.

To create this segment, include people who:

• have made a single donation within the last 12 months (this also includes previously lapsed donors who have since returned)
• have given the appropriate permission to be contacted
• have not made the donation as part of an ongoing, regular gift sequence

It’s also important to apply any additional exclusions that are relevant to your organisation. For example, individuals whose donation amount exceeds your major gift threshold should typically be excluded, as they are likely to require a different welcome journey tailored to major donors.

3. Regular givers

Supporters who give regularly are often among your most engaged audiences. Research shows that they not only have a higher lifetime value than one-off donors but also continue to make additional one-off gifts over time. This makes them a strong audience for targeted fundraising campaigns such as emergency appeals, capital projects, matched funding campaigns like the Big Give, or seasonal appeals.

Rather than assuming their monthly gift is the limit of their support, tailor your messaging to recognise and thank them for their ongoing commitment before inviting them to make an additional one-off gift.

To create this segment, include supporters who:

• have an active regular gift
• have made at least three successful regular gift payments
• have given the appropriate permission to be contacted

Depending on the campaign, you may also want to exclude:

• supporters who have made a recent one-off donation
• supporters currently receiving a welcome or upgrade journey

4. Lapsed donors ready to re-engage

Not every supporter who stops donating has lost interest. Build a segment of people who haven’t donated in the last 18-24 months but are still engaging with your charity, perhaps by opening emails, attending events or visiting your website.

These supporters are often much easier to reactivate than acquiring completely new donors, particularly if you can remind them of the impact they’ve helped create in the past.

To create this segment, include supporters who:

• have made at least one donation 18–24 months ago (or within your chosen lapse period)
• have not made any donations since
• have provided email consent or another valid contact permission

To identify warmer lapsed donors, you could also include supporters who:

• have opened recent emails
• have attended events, volunteered or otherwise engaged with your charity since their last donation

5. Event participants and former fundraisers

People who have taken part in fundraising events have already invested their time and effort in your cause. If they haven’t fundraised recently, they’re an excellent audience for future campaigns.

Better still, tailor your communications based on what they’ve done before. Someone who previously completed a marathon is more likely to be interested in your next challenge event, while a golf day attendee will probably respond better to another golf day than a generic fundraising email.

To create this segment, include supporters who:

• have an event participation or fundraising activity recorded against their CRM record
• have taken part in an event within your chosen timeframe
• have provided the appropriate permission to be contacted

To make this segment more useful, consider recording:

• event type or fundraising activity category
• previous fundraising behaviour, such as amount raised or number of events completed

6. Your highest-value supporters

Not every supporter should receive the same stewardship. Use your CRM to identify people with a high lifetime value, significant volunteering history or consistently generous donations.

These supporters may appreciate more personal communications, such as a thank you letter from your CEO, an invitation to an exclusive event or an update on the impact they’ve helped create. Investing in these relationships helps turn loyal supporters into long-term ambassadors for your organisation.

To create this segment, include supporters who meet one or more high-value criteria, such as:

• lifetime giving above a chosen threshold
• a high average donation value
• a history of regular giving, volunteering or other significant engagement

You may also want to include:

• supporters who have a relationship owner or assigned fundraiser
• supporters who should receive bespoke stewardship rather than standard campaigns

Crucially, make sure these precious people are excluded from other automations or campaigns which are better suited to smaller donors.

7. Records ready to archive

Segmentation isn’t only about fundraising. Identifying supporters who haven’t donated or engaged in several years can help reduce CRM costs and support your data retention policy.

You might choose to exclude high-value supporters or anyone with recent volunteering activity. It’s also worth considering people who only ever donated to a friend’s JustGiving or Enthuse page and have had no further interaction with your charity.

Keeping your database clean makes every other segment more effective.

To create this segment, include records who:

• have not made a donation within your chosen retention period
• have no recent engagement activity, such as email opens, event attendance, volunteering or campaign participation
• do not have a valid reason to retain their data

Before archiving, exclude:

• high-value supporters
• active volunteers
• supporters with ongoing relationships or open opportunities
• anyone who has recently re-engaged

If we only had 30 minutes to configure a new charity CRM, this is the first segment we’d create:

• Donated in the last two years
• Not currently giving regularly
• Has a valid Gift Aid declaration
• Has email consent
• Has opened an email in the last 90 days

Why this combination? Because it identifies supporters who are warm, contactable, tax-efficient and already engaged. In many charities, this is one of the highest-converting audiences for a regular giving campaign, making it a simple but effective way to demonstrate the value of good CRM segmentation.

The best CRM segments aren’t necessarily the most sophisticated. They’re the ones your team uses consistently to recover lost income, strengthen supporter relationships and personalise communications.

Start with a handful of practical, high-impact segments like these, build them into your regular fundraising activity, and your CRM will become much more than just a database – it’ll become one of your most valuable fundraising tools.