Nonprofit Sustainers Are Growing Like Hot Cakes

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”: Charlotte Davidoff, Save the Children; Josef Kottler, Sage Communications; Liz Murphy, Beaconfire Red; Cameron Popp, WETA; Phil Schmitz, Charity Engine; Polly Papsadore, PMG Direct; and yours truly.

We had an absolute blast and great fun with some 40 attendees from nonprofits all over the country! We spent most time on the operations side of the sustainer house.

One of the initial exercises was, ask why attendees give monthly, as that helps with the messaging. Interesting that even so, one person indicated that he or she would NEVER give monthly… fascinating!

I was expecting most to respond indicating that monthly giving is easy, but the majority of the reasons were: “Because I want to support the mission.”

Sixty-eight percent of the attendees thought that was most important, 32% indicated “because it’s easy.” Set it and forget it.

Nobody mentioned “because I want to join a club” or “I want to be recognized in a special way.”

While I highly recommend that you have some way to recognize your monthly donors, it’s secondary.

So, don’t spend too much time worrying about it. Pick a name you like and then move on because you want to start appealing to your donors, telling them that they can give monthly and support a cause they believe in.

Also, don’t worry too much about the benefits. You can develop them as you go along. You can “borrow” from your mid-level donor or major gift program if you have one. Donors want to make a difference. It’s nice to provide some benefits, but the more focused on the mission, the better off you are.

Finally, this message came out of miscellaneous sustainer sessions at the conference: Try something new—a new message on an ad, a new message in an email—and don’t be disappointed if an approach doesn’t work. Just try something else, but keep on trying. Many digital and email approaches cost very little, if anything. Growing your sustainer program takes time. There’s no bad way to get there, as long as you’re willing to keep at it.

You want donors to feel like they can make a difference and monthly giving offers them exactly that!