Monthly Giving

I’m baffled that board members still need to be convinced that monthly giving is a thing, and that monthly giving is a great way to provide ongoing sustainable revenue for the organization.

Earlier this week, a copywriter friend of mine asked a great question. And I’m sure many of you are struggling with this same predicament. Often a strategy calls for including so many offers in one direct mail fundraising appeal, so how can you include a sustainer recruitment effort as well?

When I heard about a wonderful new study from Neon One, called “Donors: Understanding the Future of Individual Giving,” I was so excited. It pulls together a bunch of other studies into one easy-to-read document, with lots of graphs, charts and insights from fundraisers and thought leaders in the industry.

Recently, I presented at the Faith and Fundraising Conference in Milwaukee for about 400 in-person attendees. It was so wonderful to see people I hadn’t seen in a few years.

It’s not about the size of the monthly gift amount. It’s about the fact that you’re giving your donors the opportunity to make a difference in an amount they can afford. You might say, aren’t you worried that donors will only give those tiny amounts and you’ll never be able to move the needle?

One of the ways Aldi can keep its prices low is by using a quarter in a very special way. If you’ve shopped at one of its stores, you already know what I mean.

Here’s the thing: One snowflake on its own is tiny. It takes more of these tiny flakes to make a major storm. That’s similar to what happens with monthly gifts.

Donors are starting to find it harder to donate because of their financial situations. Prices have gone up, everywhere, especially caused by the general inflation, higher energy and gas bills, and higher cost of food.

We fundraisers tend to overthink things. I’m not totally sure why, but fact is that we do. Maybe because we think that if it sounds too simple, it just can’t be true. That’s why I wanted to share a few different angles on how this year, you may wish to adopt a new year’s resolution for a simpler approach.

For a number of years, I have been a member of the Association of Direct Response Fundraising Counsel (ADRFCO), which surveyed its members recently to identify their fundraising forecasts for 2022. Here are just the highlights from the most recent ADRFCO survey.