Who Was Daring Enough To Ask for Recurring Gifts During Giving Tuesday?
I’ve been tracking results from the various CRMs and payment platforms to look at Giving Tuesday trends. Overall, more money was raised than on Giving Tuesday 2020.
I was, of course, particularly interested in trends in recurring gifts. Most organizations now include the recurring option on their online donation forms, so I’d imagine there was bound to be some.
So far, the only platform that broke out the number of recurring gifts received on Giving Tuesday was Classy. Check out this infographic on the number of recurring gifts made that day — more than 7% of total giving! The report did not include the average recurring gift, but this is promising.
Credit: Classy
I personally received more than 200 emails on Giving Tuesday alone and several more the day after. Virtually all of them included a matching gift challenge. However, very few specified the option to make a recurring gift — even with that match.
One religious nonprofit that’s always been very focused on recurring gifts sent emails with a match and a focus on recurring giving with great success. It shared that the organization received almost 100 new recurring donors that day, at a $23-a-month average gift. That’s almost $28,000 a year that the organization can count on to support its mission. It still raised a boatload of one-time donations as well, so the recurring option didn’t hurt the results at all.
One organization included the option to make a monthly gift and have it count toward the match. I don’t have that result, but I bet it will have generated a nice number of new recurring donors.
Especially if you schedule multiple emails during the day, why not include one or two asking more specifically for a recurring gift. What do you have to lose?
If you were daring enough to ask specifically for recurring gifts during Giving Tuesday, I’d love to hear from you.
How did you do? How many emails did you send? What was the impact on your one-time gifts?
And if you didn’t ask, I totally understand. Not to worry!
But do yourself and your mission a huge favor: Take a few moments in these next few weeks to work on a plan for 2022 to try to convert those small, one-time donors to recurring donors, so you’ll be able to count on more sustainable funds next year. In-person events may be delayed yet again, so the support for your organization must come from those donors who care about your mission.
Look at your email welcome series. Schedule a sustainer drive, a Valentine’s Day or spring campaign, or create a special recurring giving drive day. Anything that’s more than what you’ve been doing will make a difference!
- Categories:
- Recurring Donations
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.
