Failed-Card Sustainer Recovery (Dunning) Message Sequence
A multi-touch recovery sequence for reclaiming monthly sustainers lost to expired, declined, or insufficient-funds cards (involuntary churn) — often the single largest source of sustainer loss — framed warmly around the animals rather than a billing failure.
Draft: pending review
This starter document is signed off by Nonprofit counsel + CFRE before it ships. The guardrails below define that review.
What’s inside
- Cadence map for soft declines (silent retries) vs. hard declines (donor outreach)
- Channel copy: 3 emails, 2 SMS, 1 postcard, and a phone script, animal-centered and low-guilt
- Card-updater/account-updater workflow to fix expirations before contacting the donor
- Win-back/downgrade offers (pause, reduce, switch to bank draft)
Legal & ethical guardrails
The sector-specific compliance points this document must honor.
- Payment-data handling must avoid storing raw card numbers; rely on tokenization and gateway account-updater services (PCI expectations)
- Recurring-billing and cancellation must honor clear-and-conspicuous consent and a simple cancel/pause path
- Truthful framing: do not imply an animal will be harmed if the card is not updated; pair urgency with an honest, general statement of need
- Suppress and honor prior opt-outs and do-not-contact requests across email and SMS
Held for professional review.
The native DOCX and full working text ship only after sign-off by Nonprofit counsel + CFRE on this exact version. The summary and review requirements remain visible in the meantime.
Not legal advice. Not legal, tax, or accounting advice. The Fundraising Co. provides educational fundraising materials and is not a law firm; nothing here creates an attorney–client relationship or substitutes for advice from professionals licensed in your jurisdiction. Laws and IRS rules vary by state and change over time. Review every document with qualified counsel before use.