Small Monthly Giving Changes Are Becoming Big Winners

By Erica Waasdorp

As you know, I’ve been advocating for a while to make small changes to your overall fundraising program and to start including monthly giving wherever possible.

I know that you simply may not be in the position to go after monthly donors in a big way, or you may be hesitant. (For some reason I’m still puzzled about that, so I hope you don’t mind me continuing to motivate you to try it.)

You probably also know that monthly giving takes a while to take hold, so it’s really a matter of adding monthly donor appeals in small ways.

The good news is that the wins can be in small changes.

What are some examples of those small changes?

A monthly giving tick box on the front of a reply form
A monthly giving button in an email or an e-newsletter
A monthly giving ask in an email P.S.
A homepage takeover
A special email appeal focused just on monthly gifts

Let me share a few wins with you:

An organization added a monthly giving P.S. to four year-end emails, and it generated 10 new monthly donors (a big boost to its overall program).

An organization did a simple email appeal with two follow ups in January to acquire new monthly gifts, and it has now already generated 35 new monthly donors, annualizing at almost $6,000 a year!

An organization tested a monthly giving tick box on the front of its appeal reply form and its thank-you letter reply form, and it’s chipping away at adding new monthly donors. In fact, what was interesting is that the test group with the tick box raised more money overall and had a higher response rate, so even more of a win-win.

Remember to annualize the new monthly donors, so you’ll see the impact of your small changes. These small changes don’t cost you anything to do — a laser variation, an extra button linking to your monthly giving page. All of these are in place already.

Which small monthly giving changes are you planning to make next?

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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.