Donor-advised funds — a lot has been written about it.  Especially with the changes in tax laws, more and more donors have “flocked” to it. Just a few quick facts about donor-advised funds (DAFs): You don’t need to be super rich to start one — $5,000 is all it takes. A DAF is easy to set up. If you already have investments with an investment firm like Schwab or Fidelity, you’ll be able to create a DAF there, and it can all be done online in...

Take a look at this beautiful Word Cloud. It’s based on the answers to an exercise we recently did in a sustainer workshop. (Thank you, Cameron Popp, for organizing the exercise). I certainly think the outcome is fascinating. Because what you see is that the most important reason why people give monthly is because they care about the mission. They want to help! It’s less about the convenience. And nowhere does it say that a donor gives monthly...

At the recent sustainer workshop, we asked people present about their biggest monthly gift challenges. You see that staff is a big challenge, along with prioritizing sustainers over donors and getting new monthly donors (acquisition). I was surprised to see that retention for this group was less challenging. It’s important to note that the sizes of monthly donor programs, time length sustainer programs in place and experience levels of...

This post is a bit more personal than you may be used to, but this is a very interesting time. I’m very nearsighted, and I’ve had glasses since I was a little girl. Yes, I was one of those kids with jelly jars, and I sure got teased a lot. But that changed last week when I had my first cataract surgery on one of my eyes. I can now see without glasses or contacts. It’s absolutely incredible! Of course, my eyes are still adjusting, so it’ll be a...

This question also came up at the recent sustainer workshop, and I know it’s something people struggle with, especially when you talk with your treasurers or finance folks. Monthly gifts are different from the major gift pledges most organizations are used to. Those pledges are typically set up for a specific purpose with an end date. And to make it even more confusing, some donor CRM systems use the word “pledges” for monthly gifts as well....

At the recent Bridge pre-conference sustainer workshop I co-hosted, one of the attendees asked this question: “What is a realistic goal for monthly donor percentage as a percent of active donors?” Let me explain why there’s no one good answer to this other than that the current typical nonprofit has between 5% to 30% of their donors giving monthly. But if your percentage is lower, do not worry. The overarching answer is: “Your goal should be...

I just got back from the 14th Bridge Conference, energized by new ideas, case studies and proven fundraising “old” basics that still work and will continue to work as long as donors are human beings. I was privileged to co-present a first sustainer, full day, pre-conference workshop with the “Sustainer Brains:” Charlotte Davidoff, Save the Children; Josef Kottler, Sage Communications; Liz Murphy, Beaconfire Red; Cameron Popp, WETA; Phil...

As I’m putting the finishing touches on the presentations and inputs for the Sustainer Workshop at the Bridge Conference, a colleague sent me this.  It was part of the membership renewal she just received on her phone. Can it be any easier? Why are more and more nonprofits focusing on ACH/EFT (also called direct debits, eChecks)—automatic bank withdrawals from the donor’s bank account? I see six big reasons: It really increases monthly donor...

Good news! Monthly giving is one of the few groups of small donors that is (still) growing. Not surprisingly, because organizations have started focusing on it over the past few years. That’s why now job postings for monthly donor or sustainer managers, and monthly donor retention specialist positions are starting to pop up, but they’re hard to fill. Sadly, there are not that many training opportunities for this type of job yet. As someone...

I just came back from a conference in New Orleans. It was my first time visiting, so I had planned a little bit of time to see the sights and “soak up the culture.” It inspired me to write about monthly donor motivation. But before I get to that… if you’ve not yet been to New Orleans, I can highly recommend The National WWII Museum. It’s fabulous! Locals told me that Frenchmen Street is the new Bourbon Street, and Café Du Monde is definitely...

I just attended Fundraising Day in New York, attended by almost 2,000 people. One of my favorite sessions was about sustainers, of course! It was led by great moderator Paul Habig from Sanky; and two experienced monthly donor fundraisers, Luke Franklin from the ASPCA with 400,000 (!) and Emily Stevenson from EDF with 20,000 monthly donors. They presented the ways they acquired, cultivated and retained monthly donors. Both talked about the...

What’s the monthly donor secret sauce? This was one of the questions that came up in a recent podcast I recorded with RKD Group. (It’s expected to go live very soon, so stay tuned!) The answer is that there really is no secret sauce for generating more monthly donors other than “keep stirring it, and your sauce will get thicker and more delicious!” Here are the elements to put into creating that wonderful sauce we call monthly donors who will...

A few weeks ago, I was reminded of this wonderful campaign done by the British Red Cross. It was the most successful campaign ever, raising £7.7 billion in today’s prices between 1939 and 1946—just before and during World War II, mind you! It clearly demonstrates how many pennies make up a much, much bigger amount! I don’t know exactly when the first monthly giving campaign launched in the U.S. (if you know, please tell me), but this was...

Soon, we’ll celebrate the D-Day invasion, which happened 75 years ago. Next year, we’ll celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. My mom and dad grew up in the Hague, Netherlands, and they were only 4 years old and 6 years old when Rotterdam was bombed and the war became real. My parents suffered through the Hunger Winter 1944/1945, when the Eastern part of the country was liberated after the major battle in Arnhem, but the...

Of course in your organization, nothing ever goes wrong with your monthly donors. But what would you do if something did? Would you hide? Would you stick your head in the sand and let someone else handle it? Or would you consider your donors and confess? The reality is that most of your donors will understand that things go wrong at times. They’re human beings after all. The key is to act right away, fix the problem and prevent it from...

As I’m working on my presentation for the Bridge Conference on “Flip or Flop,” what has worked and what hasn’t worked in monthly giving, I came across a few examples of what not to do. I’m not going to name names, but let me just say that all three examples come from big organizations. All three organizations have big sustainer programs. All three organizations have staff dedicated to their monthly giving programs. I’m a monthly donor to all...

A few years ago, I joined 20 organizations as a monthly donor with a credit card that was going to expire one month after joining. I purposely did this to see the actions nonprofits took and how long it would take them to do so. The sad reality was that only two of the organizations called me. They did so within the first month of my card expiring, so that was good. They only tried calling me once, but they did leave a message. I, of course,...

One of those fundraising mantras I’ve heard over the years is: If you ask for advice, you’ll get money. If you ask for money, you’ll get advice. I’ve also heard that sometimes you should take responses to surveys with a grain of salt. What people say and do is different sometimes. Well that may be true, but like anything, it all depends on what the survey is for. Here are a few things to consider: Your monthly donors are already supporting you....

I love Netflix. It helped us do away with cable TV 10+ years ago. Now we live stream our favorite movies on our “older” TV. We still get Netflix DVDs in the mail, and we choose our favorite shows to binge-watch when we’re in that binge-watch mood. We’re in control of what we watch, and there’s always something on. Netflix is just one example of that overall subscription culture that has grown a lot over the past few years. For example, DVDs,...

A received a very excited call from a client: “We got several monthly donors from the tick box on the special appeal! But how do I now report this? Our finance folks want to attribute this for the calendar year only. Help?” I congratulated her and then advised her that even though there’s no end date to these monthly gifts, she could simply take the number of monthly donors, their monthly gifts and then multiply that by the remaining number of...

Last week, I wrote about the coverage ratio for monthly donors and how important it is to start tracking it. If you don’t have a monthly donor retention process in place, you may find that you are not growing at all, no matter how many new monthly donors you bring in. You may just be treading water.  In my many years of working in and with monthly donor programs, the first step is to realize that sustainers may drop out because of credit card...

People ask me this question a lot: “My monthly donors only make up 3 percent (or fill in another percentage) of my donors. Is that good? What’s the percentage I should strive for?” The answer is: “It depends!” Let’s look at a few different scenarios: If you have 100,000 donors who have made a gift in the past year and 3 percent of them are sustainers, it’s not bad. That’s 3,000 donors giving you between $24 and $35 a month—or between $864,000...

It’s tax season. Phew, I just finished mine. It’s such a bear. The good news is that this also means last year’s giving updates are coming in. It is statistics season, and, of course, I’m always on the lookout for the latest statistics when it comes to monthly giving. While there are not that many companies that track sustainers yet, what we can see is amazingly powerful. So, if you or your boss are still hesitant, take a look at the latest...

Snow. The cold white stuff. It’s been falling steadily for the past few hours, and there’s more to come. It reminds me of the time when my husband and the boys attended a special winter scout camp called The Klondike Derby. It was all about learning to survive in cold weather (and, of course, lots of fun). The worst thing that could happen was to get wet socks or clothes because you would not be able to dry up. You’d have to find ways to use...

As more organizations start monthly donor programs, it’s imperative to take these two steps to grow your monthly donors. And they’re much easier than you think! You’re probably already doing a lot of it, but you’ve not yet thought about it with your monthly donor hat on. The First Step to grow your monthly donor program is by ensuring you keep the ones you have! Why is this important? Because you don’t want to run a “church-and-burn” program;...

My husband and I just came back from a trip to Las Vegas and Phoenix for some sunshine. We didn’t get as much as we’d hoped, which is unusual, but it was still nice to take some time off. We flew on our favorite airline Southwest—free bags, points and no hassle. The only disadvantage is that from our (easy) airport, Providence, RI, most flights are not non-stop. We typically have a stop in Baltimore or Chicago. It does add some travel time,...

Choices. Opportunities. There are so many ways for donors to give now—it can be overwhelming. Not just for donors, but especially for you as the organization. Text-to-give. Crowdfunding. Facebook. YouTube. Instagram? Donate buttons anyone? You worry that you’re losing out on funds if you don’t offer it all. As I described in my two do-nuts of monthly giving, while it’s certainly important to make it easy for monthly donors to give, you also...

After the Super Bowl, let’s talk about something other than chicken wings or the game for a change! Time to discuss some the two biggest “do-nut dos” in monthly giving. Trust me, I’m all for growing your monthly donor program. I’m all for making it easy for the donor! I’m all for trying to ask as often as you possibly can, but there are a few things I recommend you steer away from because they’ll make for a very bad donor experience. As you’re...

I have a confession to make: until this week, I had not yet used Uber. As a woman often traveling by myself, I’ve always felt it a bit unnerving to get into some stranger’s unmarked car. But when I was in Dallas recently, I had to try Uber as that’s what the hotel offered as the shuttle from the airport. They arranged it for me—and boom! Within a minute, I got my text message with the car’s plate information. So far so good. What I missed...

Growing a monthly donor program is a drip-by-drip, bit-by-bit approach. That’s why January is such a great month to go for it. But there are two important things to bear in mind. First, I recommend creating a monthly-only page. When you’re trying to drive donors to give monthly, it must be very easy to find and very clear what you’re asking donors to do. If the only option is to give monthly, it must be very clear to the donor what will happen...