Attracting new supporters is a long, resource-intensive process. That’s why your organization should make the most of every conversion by encouraging monthly giving. It’s much easier to convert a one-time donor than to find a new monthly donor!
Monthly giving provides nonprofits with consistent, reliable funding, and it’s an increasingly popular way to give. 57% of donors are enrolled in a recurring giving program, an 11% increase from last year. As the subscription economy becomes the norm (think Netflix or even your neighborhood gym), many consumers prefer to set up automatic monthly payments rather than remembering to pull out their credit cards every month.
If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and dive into monthly giving, this guide is for you. In it, we will unpack the basics of monthly giving and share proven tips to get started (or strengthen the program you have). Here’s what we’ll cover:
Monthly giving refers to donations made regularly each month by loyal supporters. On an optimized donation form, users can toggle between a one-time gift or a monthly gift. Once a donor chooses to make their gift a recurring payment, the gifts will automatically be charged to a credit card or withdrawn from the bank account on a particular day each month.
Monthly giving also provides your nonprofit with reliable fundraising streams. One-time gifts are helpful but can often be unpredictable. By contrast, the consistent support of monthly gifts provides a clearer picture of your nonprofit’s finances. You’ll have an estimate of how much money you can reliably assume you will receive every month. This allows nonprofits to allocate their funding better and make appropriate spending decisions.
The benefits of monthly giving include:
Monthly giving also benefits donors by enabling them to make a greater impact over time while potentially increasing their tax deductions.
Giving is ticking up after a few flat years, which indicates donors are re-committing to nonprofits. Even during the flatter years, research has shown that recurring donor bases grew by 127% from 2018 to 2022, proving that it’s never the wrong time to start or grow your recurring giving program.
If your nonprofit is ready to tap into the benefits listed above, employ the following tips to encourage monthly giving among your supporters:
Your nonprofit must choose a comprehensive CRM to support your monthly giving program. If you’re looking for your first CRM or are considering an upgrade, look for a solution that will allow your monthly giving program to thrive by coming equipped with:
Above all, make sure your CRM can grow with your nonprofit. Some CRMs come with basic versions of the above features but can only accommodate a certain number of donors. Ask software providers about scalability and necessary features and integrations to find a solution that will work for your nonprofit in the long run.
Your donor management software or nonprofit CRM is one of your most valuable tools for collecting and analyzing donor information. For monthly giving, you can use your CRM to not only create unique profiles for your current monthly donors to help steward those relationships but also identify other donors who may qualify as monthly giving candidates.
Prospecting tools allow your nonprofit to decide which donors to reach out to to earn major donations. However, you don’t necessarily need additional software to analyze your database for potential monthly donors. Instead, you just need to pinpoint key traits that monthly donors are likely to have, then filter your donors to find individuals who match those traits. Two characteristics to look for are:
Once these donors are identified, approach them with a monthly giving plan that increases their current contribution level without becoming excessive. For instance, you might approach your $100 annual donors with a $10 monthly giving plan. The donor can give without a significantly higher financial burden, and your nonprofit will earn an additional $20 annually.
Before you can embark on the quest to engage new donors in your monthly giving program, you should first understand what inspired your current monthly donors to get involved. Use the insights from these recurring donors to improve your donor cultivation and stewardship efforts.
You can send out a survey to current monthly donors with the following questions:
The responses you receive from these surveys will provide a blueprint for attracting and engaging new monthly donors to transform the program into a more effective fundraising channel.
For example, many of your donors give at the end of the year. You might consider creating unique follow-up thank you messages that convey the impact of year-end giving while gently reminding donors that your monthly giving campaign helps create sustainable funding all year round.
Also, it’s always wise to check in with current monthly donors to see if they have any feedback on their experience or suggestions to improve the program. For example, if donors say they’d like to receive fewer messages with more informational points per message, you can adjust your communications schedule to appeal to their preferences.
Listening and responding to donors can keep them engaged. These check-ins also let donors know their opinions are valued, promoting goodwill with your organization.
Using the data collected from surveys and interviews, you can take data-driven, actionable steps to enhance your communication strategy with future prospective donors.
Once you gain a greater understanding of your monthly donors’ motivations and preferences, you can use this information to implement two new communication strategies: diversifying your marketing channels and segmenting donors to increase your odds of conversion.
Optimize your marketing platforms, such as your email newsletter, direct mail appeals, social media pages, and phone campaigns, to distribute information about how to get involved in your monthly giving program.
Fundraising teams should:
By using a combination of marketing channels in tandem, you can increase your organization’s reach without overwhelming supporters with too much information on any one platform. Be sure to ramp up your marketing efforts during charitable times, such as Giving Tuesday or the end of the year, when folks want to get in that last tax-deductible donation.
The top fundraising platforms allow nonprofits to appeal to donors across various channels. However, if you’re looking for a solution that simplifies tailored communications, you’ll need a CRM that doubles as a fundraising solution. This way, you can apply donor data to your marketing efforts to craft messages that resonate with your audience.
In all your communication and marketing efforts, emphasize the importance of your monthly giving program, allowing your nonprofit to carry out its mission effectively.
Your impact stories should be specific, detailed, and supported by data.
For example, let’s say your nonprofit focuses on cleaning local beaches and other waterways of debris and garbage. Perhaps your monthly giving program sponsors one clean-up per month by providing tools and resources needed for volunteer groups to collect and dispose of trash.
In your marketing appeals, share stories of how these monthly clean-ups have brought a rare species of fish back into a waterway or allowed local children to start playing in the sand on a nearby beach again. Additionally, you can share photos of local waterways before and after the clean-up events to demonstrate the visible impact of these initiatives.
Specific, compelling stories help prospective monthly donors understand the importance of your monthly giving program and how their donations will make an immediate impact. Lean into the emotional side of your nonprofit’s mission to intensify supporters’ empathy for your cause.
In your communications and marketing efforts for your monthly giving program, highlight the impact and importance of monthly gifts for your organization’s overall mission and the convenience of these giving programs. Donors simply input their information once and automatically contribute to your cause each month, making this one of the easiest ways they can support your organization.
Additionally, share how donors can maximize the monetary value of their recurring donations through matching gift programs. In matching gift programs, corporations match donations made by their employees to eligible nonprofits. Supporters just have to submit a request to get their gifts matched. These programs improve the donor experience because supporters are empowered by seeing how their gifts can have an even more significant impact on your nonprofit’s cause than they initially thought.
Be sure to spread the word about the simplicity of your recurring gifts program and matching gift opportunities to lessen prospective donors' perceived barriers or hesitations about getting involved.
Donors want to know their money is going as far as possible to support causes they care about. Your nonprofit can offer incentives and leverage corporate partnerships to make your monthly giving program a more attractive way to give. Research backs this strategy up, as well. Surveys have shown that 84% of donors claim they’re more likely to give if there is additional corporate backing.
If your corporate partners have already agreed to donate, consider asking them to contribute through your monthly giving program. For example, you might ask your sponsors to contribute $100 per donor who opts in rather than taking a lump-sum donation. This method earns you nonprofit donations from your sponsors while providing an incentive you can share with your supporters on your donation page or when in conversation with potential monthly donors.
Once you attract monthly donors, you’ll need to take steps to keep them engaged. While some donors are content to make contributions quietly, most want to build a connection to your nonprofit and form a community of donors. Donors invested in your nonprofit’s success are more likely to stick around and continue offering support in the long run.