fetch the upstream LTS release with e.g. 'git fetch origin REL1_31'
If you are on vagrant, you may have to edit your .gitconfig to allow fetching other branches - just deleting the 'fetch' section seems to work
look at the changes with git diff origin/REL1_31 or git log -p HEAD..origin/REL1_31
get a clean changelog with git log --oneline --reverse --no-merges HEAD..origin/REL1_31 | cat
do the merge: git merge origin/REL1_31
resolve any conflicts. Note that the fundraising version of the LTS release has images added and has a different set of submodules, so be sure the merge does not delete images or add or delete submodules.