A Monthly Giving How-To: The Drip-by-Drip Approach

By Erica Waasdorp

I am an avid coffee drinker — five cups a day at minimum and one decaf at night. We have a big coffeemaker with a timer, so our coffee is ready when we wake up in the morning. It’s one of those old fashioned multi-cup machines.

The slow drip by drip process makes it so worthwhile, and it creates the amount of coffee I like.

That coffee maker and a recent Seth Godin blog made me think how the drip-by-drip approach is so utterly true when it comes to monthly giving.

We humans are funny at times. We can get so stuck on big problems that we can’t see the forest from the trees. We can’t seem to find a way out of a paper bag. We can’t find the solution.

This seems to happen a lot with monthly giving. Fundraisers can get so stuck on the name, the benefits, the communications, the web, the marketing, the finance, the systems, the resources, the [fill in the blank], that they rather do nothing. They simply can’t seem to move ahead with monthly giving. As Seth calls it: “stuck on enormity.”

He continues: “Start with one thing. Drip by drip, with commitment. Those are the two hard parts. The insight to do it drip by drip and the persistence to commit to it.”

And yet, that is exactly what it takes to move your monthly giving program ahead. That is exactly what makes monthly giving so successful.

So rather than focus on the problems, start with one thing. One giving page. Then add one button. Then add one tick box. Then add one social media post. Then add an ask in a welcome email. Then make a phone call.

You’ll see the results, and you’ll keep going, trust me.

The drip-by-drip approach will lead to huge monthly giving success if you’re committed to it. And you don’t even have to be a coffee drinker to make it work! Drip by drip by drip… are you ready to try it?

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Monthly Giving

Erica Waasdorp Author's page

Erica Waasdorp is one of the leading experts on monthly giving. She is the president of A Direct Solution, a company serving nonprofit organizations with fundraising and direct marketing needs, with a focus on monthly giving and appeals. She authored "Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant" and "Monthly Giving Made Easy." She regularly blogs and presents on fundraising, appeals and monthly giving — in person and through webinars. She is happy to answer any questions you may have about this great way of improving retention rates for your donors.

Erica has over 30 years of experience in nonprofits and direct response. She helped the nonprofits she works with raise millions of dollars through monthly giving programs. She is also very actively supports organizations with annual fund planning and execution, ranging from copywriting, creative, lists, print and mail execution.

When she’s not working or writing, Erica can be found on the golf course (she’s a straight shooter) or quietly reading a book. And if there’s an event with a live band, she and her husband, Patrick, can be found on the dance floor. She also loves watching British drama on PBS. Erica and Patrick have two step sons and a cat, Mientje.