Spoiler alert: It’s not by doing more social media. It’s not by running more events. It’s by focusing on asking your donors to upgrade, to make monthly gifts and leave gifts through their will.
Erica Waasdorp
With monthly giving, it’s all about consistency. It’s about a continued and committed focus. It’s about finding ways to build in a monthly giving ask wherever you possibly can. If you’re sending appeals in the mail and you’ve not already done so, consider adding a simple tick box to your appeal.
As a monthly donor, I support many organizations. Frankly, until I sit down at the end of the year to prepare for my taxes, I don’t even know how many great nonprofits I give monthly to.
Use the month of September to try something new. Because you know what they say: “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you keep getting what you’re getting.” By making a small change, you may get a different result.
Just like donor-advised funds are growing, I foresee that recurring gifts from DAFs will grow as well. It’s yet another way for donors to support your organization on an ongoing basis. And the gifts are certainly nothing to sneeze at!
Next time you send a survey to your monthly donors, ask them why they’re giving monthly. Collect the answers and put it into a word cloud yourself. It’s a tremendous visual way to see what’s important to your donors. You can put it on your bulletin board, and you could even put it in other communications.
At the recent sustainer workshop, we asked people present about their biggest monthly gift challenges. You see that staff is a big challenge, along with prioritizing sustainers over donors and getting new monthly donors (acquisition).
In this day and age, where so much is automated and computerized, it’s good to know that we’re also human beings who, every now and then, just want to know that other people care. So think about this the next time you decide what it takes to better steward and recognize your donors.
This question also came up at the recent sustainer workshop, and I know it’s something people struggle with, especially when you talk with your treasurers or finance folks. Monthly gifts are different from the major gift pledges most organizations are used to.
At the recent Bridge pre-conference sustainer workshop I co-hosted, one of the attendees asked this question: “What is a realistic goal for monthly donor percentage as a percent of active donors?” Let me explain why there’s no one good answer to this.
I just got back from the 14th Bridge Conference, energized by new ideas, case studies and proven fundraising “old” basics that still work and will continue to work as long as donors are human beings. I was privileged to co-present a first sustainer, full day, pre-conference workshop with the “Sustainer Brains.”...
If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know that monthly giving is not a one-shot deal. It’s an ongoing promotion of the concept. It’s literally planting of the seeds and watering. It’s always reminding donors how easy it is to give monthly and how easy it is on their budget...
Good news! Monthly giving is one of the few groups of small donors that is (still) growing. Not surprisingly, because organizations have started focusing on it over the past few years...
I just came back from a conference in New Orleans. It was my first time visiting, so I had planned a little bit of time to see the sights and “soak up the culture.” It inspired me to write about monthly donor motivation...
I just attended Fundraising Day in New York. One of my favorite sessions was about sustainers, of course! It was led by great moderator Paul Habig from Sanky; and two experienced monthly donor fundraisers, Luke Franklin from the ASPCA and Emily Stevenson from EDF...
