Monthly Giving

If there is one thing a charity can do to make its fundraising life easier, it is to establish a program of monthly donations. There is almost no downside to monthly giving and plenty of advantages. Monthly donors are simply of higher lifetime value; are more loyal than most donors; and provide a steady, predictable…

Did you know monthly giving has the power to transform philanthropy? A longtime staple of fundraising programs in the U.K., monthly giving is beginning to gain traction in the U.S. It’s a valuable tool, so now is the time for your organization to seize the opportunity to use it, and to use it properly. But monthly giving won’t transform your organization unless you go about it the smart way. This means figuring out the most important element of your monthly giving program...

According to the 2015 M&R Benchmarks Study, online monthly giving grew by 32 percent in 2014, compared to just 9 percent for one-time giving. A longtime staple of fundraising programs throughout the world, monthly giving finally is gaining traction in the U.S. Nonprofits are realizing that it’s a potential gold mine, especially for smaller organizations...

Do you have a special page dedicated to monthly giving on your website? If not, consider creating one. Since building monthly giving has one of the biggest payoffs for charities, a page just for this program seems like a no-brainer. Here are several monthly giving pages that stand out, starting with the National Audubon Society.…

As you’re wrapping up the year, consider starting the new year fresh with a bigger focus on monthly giving. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Is this you? Through Giving Tuesday, perhaps a few targeted crowdfunding appeals, your Facebook "donate" button and, of course, your holiday appeal, you've just brought on a…

Now that we are halfway through 2015, let’s take a quick glance at some of the trends in charitable giving and the impact that the U.S. economy has had on consumer benevolence. It’s been a rollercoaster for the U.S. economy thus far. 2015 started off looking pretty good: Consumer confidence was up, and many economists and the Congressional Budget Office projected as much as a 3.4 percent rise in the GDP. Since then, the news hasn’t been so rosy...

If all you do is provide a monthly giving option as a button next to your donation amount, you are missing the boat.

The key to success with monthly giving programs is stewardship. Building and maintaining strong relationships with monthly donors are essential.

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.

Recent reports indicate good signs for 2014 fundraising. Despite the collective optimism for fundraising success, nonprofits must overcome a number of hurdles to get there. Here are some stats and three ways your nonprofit can drive giving gains this year.