Commonly accepted thinking in fundraising is that it’s not worth trying to renew in memoriam donors because they give for a reason that has nothing to do with the cause. There are a few exceptions, of course – most notably causes working to eradicate the deadliest diseases. But these not-for-profits’ in memoriam programs don’t actually perform any better against the critical measures of renewal and gift value. It’s just that so many people die of cancer or heart disease, for example, that the in memoriam gifts line on those not-for-profits’ revenue statements is, ironically, reliably healthy.