Giving Stage Reference
Understand how Parable classifies donor behavior into giving patterns, trends, and payment alerts.
Use this guide to understand how Parable classifies donor behavior. Under Settings → Giving → Planning Center sync, turn on Sync to Planning Center and Giving Pattern to send patterns to the Parable: Giving tab in Planning Center People. Turn on Giving Trend or Payment Alert there to send those fields too. These values power automation recipes, reports, and AI insights.
Pattern Overview
Parable's model is adaptive, not fixed-day-only. For repeat donors, Parable learns cadence from the median gap between gifts and treats two missed cycles as the lapse threshold. ACH or bank-account payments get a small grace buffer to account for pending timing.
| Pattern | Definition | What to Watch |
|---|---|---|
| New Donor | First-ever successful gift | Warm follow-up matters because many first gifts do not become habits |
| Second Gift | Second-ever successful gift | This is the highest-leverage moment to reinforce momentum |
| New Recurring | Recently started a recurring giving schedule (first 1–2 recurring gifts) | Celebrate and reinforce the commitment before it becomes routine |
| Recurring | Giving is consistent or scheduled, with an established rhythm | Celebrate faithfulness and keep vision in front of them |
| Occasional | Gives more than once, but without a steady rhythm | Invite toward consistency without pressure |
| At-Risk | Previously active or recurring, but approaching the adaptive lapse threshold | Reach out early — this is the window before disconnection hardens |
| Lapsed | Previously active or recurring, but now past the adaptive lapse threshold | Reach out with curiosity before disconnection hardens |
| Recovered | Returned after a lapse and is still in the first 1–2 gifts back | Celebrate the reconnection and learn what helped |
| Inactive | Past the personal inactivity window (365–1,095 days) | Indicates full disengagement from financial partnership |
How each label is decided
Which gifts count
Patterns use each Planning Center person's individual gifts, rather than a household or a custom giving unit. A gift counts when its amount is positive, its payment status is Succeeded, and it has not been refunded. Failed, pending, zero-amount and refunded gifts do not count toward the lifetime gift count, amounts or cadence. A person with no qualifying gifts does not get a donor analytics record from this calculation.
Recovery in donor transition history
Donor transition history counts a recovery only when there is a newly observed successful gift after the donor's previously recorded lapse or inactivity deadline, with a qualifying gap since their preceding successful gift. A cadence rule change can move an inactive donor to occasional, but that change alone does not count as recovery. Editing an already observed gift's date or amount also does not count.
This history tracking first establishes a baseline of known gifts. Earlier label changes without verified gift evidence are excluded from transition-based recovery counts. A qualifying gift imported later counts in the period when the gift occurred. That historical recovery can coexist with a decline in the donor's current giving pattern.
Recovery is not inferred when the same external person ID belongs to multiple Planning Center connections. Tracking also re-establishes its baseline after an older application writer changes the donor record, so gifts first observed during that reset do not create recovery claims. A gift first observed with a future date is retained as known evidence and does not later become a new gift solely because that date arrives. It does not prevent another new gift with a qualifying actual date from counting as recovery.
Pattern rules, in order
Parable checks these rules from top to bottom and uses the first matching label:
- Inactive: the last qualifying gift is at or beyond the inactivity cutoff. A record with no last-gift date is also Inactive.
- New Donor: exactly one qualifying lifetime gift. Second Gift: exactly two. These count-based labels take priority even when a recurring plan exists.
- Lapsed: the lapse date has passed and the person has at least three qualifying lifetime gifts or an active recurring plan.
- At-Risk: at least 75% of the time between the last gift and lapse date has elapsed, with the same eligibility requirement.
- Recovered: the person is in the first one or two qualifying gifts after a gap at least as long as their current lapse window.
- New Recurring: an active recurring plan and one or two gifts linked to a recurring donation so far.
- Recurring: an active recurring plan, or a median gift gap of 60 days or less and at least three qualifying gifts in the trailing 12 months.
- Occasional: none of the earlier rules applies.
Two gifts without an active recurring plan do not establish eligibility for the adaptive inactivity cutoff. The person stays Second Gift until the unchanged 365-day cutoff. Because the count rules run before Lapsed and At-Risk, one- and two-gift donors with an active plan also keep their count-based label until Inactive.
Personal lapse and inactivity windows
The lapse date is the last qualifying gift plus two times the median days between qualifying gifts, rounded to a whole day, with a 45-day minimum. Without a positive median gap, the lapse window is 120 days. ACH or bank-account payments add three days to that lapse window. Lapsed begins after the lapse date; At-Risk begins at 75% of that window.
For someone with at least three qualifying lifetime gifts or an active recurring plan and a positive median gap, the inactivity cutoff is three times that median gap, with three days added for ACH or bank-account payments, then bounded to 365–1,095 days. The payment method comes from active recurring plans when they supply one; otherwise it comes from the latest qualifying gift with a non-empty payment method. If a card method has been selected, an ACH or bank-account active plan takes priority over that card. The padding stays inside those bounds. Everyone without an eligible cadence keeps the 365-day cutoff. Inactive begins at the cutoff and is checked before every other pattern.
| Example cadence | Median gap | Lapse window | Inactivity cutoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 7 days | 45 days | 365 days |
| Monthly | 30 days | 60 days | 365 days |
| Quarterly | 90 days | 180 days | 365 days |
| Twice yearly | 182 days | 364 days | 546 days |
| Annual | 365 days | 730 days | 1,095 days |
| Every two years | 730 days | 1,460 days | 1,095 days |
These examples assume a qualifying repeat donor and a payment method without ACH padding. A twice-yearly bank-account donor instead has a 367-day lapse window and a 549-day inactivity cutoff. For very infrequent donors, the 1,095-day cap can produce Inactive before Lapsed.
For example, a five-gift annual donor can be Occasional 400 days after the last gift, At-Risk around day 560, Lapsed around day 740, and Inactive by day 1,100.
Trend Reference
Trends describe the direction of a donor's giving over time. Use trend language alongside the pattern:
- Growing — Trailing 12-month giving is at least 15% above the prior 12-month period
- Stable — The change is between a 15% decrease and a 15% increase
- Declining — Trailing 12-month giving is at least 15% below the prior 12-month period
When the prior period has no giving and the current period has some, the trend is Growing. Giving in neither period is Stable; a current period with no giving after a positive prior period is Declining.
Donor tiers
Tiers use each person's qualifying giving in the trailing 12 months. Your organization can change tier names, amounts and colors under Settings → Giving → Donor tiers. Viewing, saving and resetting tiers requires Full giving access and permission to update organization settings. Use the page's save controls for edits or Reset to default to restore the defaults. These are the defaults, not permanent thresholds for every organization:
| Default tier | Trailing 12-month giving |
|---|---|
| No recent giving | None |
| Tier 1 | Positive amount below $500 |
| Tier 2 | $500 to below $1,500 |
| Tier 3 | $1,500 to below $5,000 |
| Tier 4 | $5,000 to below $10,000 |
| Tier 5 | $10,000 and above |
A tier is separate from the giving pattern and trend; an organization changing its tier definitions does not change the donor's gifts.
Last gift direction
Increased, Decreased and Constant compare the latest qualifying gift amount with the immediately preceding qualifying gift. First means there is no earlier qualifying gift. This comparison is gift-to-gift, rather than against a person's typical gift, so irregular gift amounts can change the direction frequently.
Payment Alerts
Payment alerts are operational flags — not pastoral labels. More than one can be active at once.
| Alert | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Failed Gift | A failed attempt in the last seven days has no later qualifying successful gift |
| Expiring Payment Method | An active recurring payment method expires today or in the next 30 days |
| Card Fee Savings | Parable's selected payment method for active recurring plans is a card |
Communication Guidelines
Keep the language people-focused and factual. Never shame or pressure — frame every insight as an opportunity to notice, care, and encourage next steps.
- Pair pattern language with action language: "Second Gift donors should receive a personal thank-you and a recurring invitation."
- Use adaptive phrasing instead of rigid day buckets: "They are past their normal giving rhythm" is better than "They crossed day 121."
- Reference specific numbers when available: "12 donors are currently in a recovered window after returning to give again."