How Often Should You Thank Recurring Donors?

People often ask me, is it important to thank recurring donors every month? The answer depends on how they gave in the first place. When someone becomes a recurring donor offline, say through direct mail, telemarketing, face-to-face, TV or any other "offline" medium, I always recommend sending an immediate snail-mail thank-you letter for joining but then after that NOT to send donors monthly thank-you letters.

For online credit card recurring donors, where a monthly thank-you email is typically generated automatically, I recommend something slightly different.