Quick Tips for Nonprofits to Increase Monthly Giving

When it comes to nonprofit fundraising, monthly giving is one of the most sought-after goals for organizations across the globe. Finding new donors, new fundraising techniques, and more bandwidth can be exhaustive and result in not as much success as expected. With monthly giving (a.k.a recurring giving), your nonprofit can step back with ease and feel some sort of stability. The most important thing to note is that it’s not that difficult to increase your monthly donations! All you need is the right direction and strategy and you are well on your way to creating a recurring giving program!

What Are The Benefits of Monthly Giving

Affordability

In terms of time spent, you will increase your ROI by increasing monthly giving. Also, you will diversify your donor base by offering lower monthly gift options.

Predictability

Monthly giving is a good sign that donors are committed to your cause. When donors sign up for monthly donations, they rarely will cancel their donations. Plus, 13 months is the average time that a recurring giver stays at the initial gift size. This will give your nonprofit the ability to predict how much funding you will receive over the year.

Easy for Donors

Monthly giving isn’t only easy for nonprofits to manage, it’s also easy giving for donors. Think about it like a subscription. Subscriptions are a big part of today’s world and with most people getting paid on a monthly basis, setting up automatic payments, etc. recurring giving can be the easiest way for donors to give to causes they care about.

Make Monthly Giving Accessible

With that being said, monthly giving needs to be an accessible option for donors thinking about giving to your cause. On your donation landing page, it is good to highlight and make recurring giving the first option. You can show donors how and why donating monthly is the best option for them, why it is the easiest, and how they can sign up. Show them what their contribution will go towards and how exactly it will help your cause.

Create A Compelling Message

Donors want to help and people want to contribute to a cause they care about. That’s why it is important to craft a compelling message. Telling the story of your nonprofit with compelling details that emphasize how exactly the donations contribute to your cause will encourage donors to give to you! For example, a $2 monthly donation could provide 1 family with clean water for life and a $10 monthly donation could provide 10 homes for a village. It’s important to educate your audience on how their donation will be utilized and continue to show them the difference that their monthly gift is making.

Soles for Souls did this in their recurring giving campaign:

Try taking a look at the way you tell your story and what about your campaign would encourage donors to commit to monthly donations.

Segment Communications for Monthly Givers

Your monthly givers are different than the average donor or other recipients of your emails. Would you want to receive emails that felt like they were written for somebody else? By treating your monthly donors like they are part of your exclusive club, they may be more inclined to support and stick with your cause. 

All you really have to do is make sure that monthly donors are on a separate email list. For example, you don’t want to send requests to join your recurring giving program if that individual is already doing so. They should receive updates on the projects that your organization is up to. Maybe they receive a monthly newsletter that is only for them. You know they are dedicated to your cause if they are giving monthly so there should be no hesitation if they want to receive updates or not. 

After showcasing their impact you should also think about sending an email that shows them how increasing their monthly gift could save that many more lives, or help that many more people.

Well, there you have it. Easy steps to start encouraging donors to give monthly. Your next step might be to build out a full recurring giving program that you should launch sooner than later!

Maria Sadusky