A monthly giving program allows donors to automatically give a specified amount to an organization each month. Monthly donors – Tools & Tips provides strategies for creating a monthly giving program, providing a predictable source of ongoing donations for your organization.
Benefits of creating a monthly giving program
Monthly donors can provide a reliable, predictable source of ongoing fundraising revenue. They can fund everything from ongoing projects to unexpected expenses. Since donations will be made automatically, there is less administrative work and in the long run, monthly donors make good prospects for planned and major giving.
Benefits for your donors
Recurring donations are an easy and convenient way for donors to contribute to your cause and stay involved. Since monthly donations are automatically processed, donors don’t have to think about making a donation every time they want to give.
How to identify prospective monthly donors
The best prospects for monthly giving are current donors who have made at least two gifts within the past year. This indicates that they are willing to give more than once within a year.
How to acquire monthly donations
Once you identify these donors, create an email marketing campaign to introduce these donors to your monthly giving program. Your campaign should highlight its impact and donor benefits.
Promoting monthly giving
In addition to sending an email marketing campaign to prospective monthly donors, highlight your monthly giving program with a special page on your website and include a special monthly donation option on your online donation page.
Offer information about the monthly giving program regularly on all the social media platforms.
Write about the monthly donor program in your newsletter twice a year.
Include a buckslip about the program in all acknowledgements.
Provide information about it in your new donor welcome package.
Make your monthly giving program a prominent giving option on a regular basis alongside your other fundraising initiatives.
Monthly donor giving message
In your monthly giving program fundraising materials, describe how monthly donations allow your organization to work more effectively toward your mission such as it funding a specific project or an ongoing need.
Brand your program
Make your monthly giving program stand out by giving it a unique tagline or name that communicates the purpose of the program. This will help you foster a strong sense of community for donors. Offering a special benefit when they sign up for your monthly giving program, such as a special tour or a certificate appreciation can help them feel more connected to your organization. A targeted acknowledgment to each new monthly donor is a must.
Stewarding monthly donors
Just like your other donors, you must create a donor stewardship strategy to build relationships with monthly donors. This helps donors feel connected and increases your program’s retention rate in the long-run. If you have a newsletter, send it to them, but do not ask them for a donation. If you regularly send premiums to donors to motivate them to give, consider sending your monthly donors a premium just twice a year as a thank you, but do not ask for a gift.
Monthly donors are a special group that can give your organization a consistent source of revenue with less administrative and fundraising costs and are an important part of any organizations overall fundraising strategy.
For help in creating a monthly donor strategy, contact Write Choice Marketing. We’ll create a plan and write the copy, so you don’t have to.
For more information, check out these additional resources: