The Merriam Webster dictionary defines Commitment as follows: a promise to do or give something. A promise to be loyal to someone or something. The attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something. Wow, that’s something isn’t it? Monthly donor commitment isn’t necessarily easy. It’s hard work. There are two different kinds of commitment in monthly giving: organization and donor. The organization must be committed to the...

During a recent webinar, someone asked me a question. His finance people told him: “For $5 a month, it’s really not worth the effort. The finance charges are killing us.” This is another one of these monthly donor myths I’d like to debunk right away. My answer of course was this: “Yes, offering the $5 a month option to donors is totally worth it!” Here are 10 reasons why: You’re truly showing donor care.  No gift is too small. Your donor can...

Over the past few weeks, I’ve presented numerous webinars on monthly giving. I’ve also had lots of conversations with organizations asking them about their challenges with their monthly donor retention. And the No. 1 problem is expiring credit cards. When that happens it’s really important to remember the following: The donors did not call you to cancel their commitment! They want to continue giving monthly! They may have just received their...

Nonprofits never cease to amaze me. Sometimes in a good way. Sometimes in a not so good way. This is one of those sad case studies. I spoke to an organization recently, and its executive director told me they wanted to grow their monthly donor program—at least, that’s what he said at first. They have some 500 sustainers who are worth more than $500,000, so they are very high average gifts. Because they’re limiting recruitment by in-person...

If you’ve been following the weather, you may know that it’s been a rough few weeks, especially in New England. In Massachusetts, we were hit by our second Nor’easter within 10 days; and this last one was really bad. Snow was falling at one to two inches an hour, and the many downed trees caused power to be out for 99 percent of our area. Emergency shelters were open for days. Some cellphone services went down as well, so many people had no way...

Monthly giving is a huge untapped revenue source for so many nonprofits. I am still trying to wrap my head around the vast potential monthly donors offer. If you have 300 monthly donors – just how much overall revenue would these 300 lovely people be contributing to your cause each year? Let’s run the numbers: If each of those wonderful donors gave the average amount of the typical monthly gift – they would be giving $24/month. That’s really...

A few weeks ago, Michael Rosen published the post “How to Get Last Year’s Donors to Give More this Year.”  Guest blogger Joe Garecht shared some great advice for increasing giving. However, the post did not specifically address the issue of monthly giving. That led to a reader comment. Larry Little, President of Guardian Angel Basset Rescue, raised some important questions: Our revenues are in the $300k range but approximately 30% of that comes...

I’ve been working with monthly donor programs for more than 25 years now. Wow, so much has changed. Monthly giving has become so incredibly easy to set up and organize. And yet, whenever I teach a webinar or give a presentation, fundraisers tend to glom onto the “hard parts” right away. And that’s where in many cases it stops. Please, do yourself a favor. Simplify your life and that of your donors. Take what you’re already doing now in your...

Monthly giving programs are becoming more and more popular revenue sources. If you want to nail your own monthly giving strategies to ramp up your nonprofit’s revenue, then join our Monthly Giving Intensive with Erica. You’ll get two jam-packed webinars, slides and handouts full of tips and specific strategies for building a robust, profitable monthly giving program. Erica will also give a live Makeover session of monthly giving materials.  You...

This was a tough week for me. I got home from a trip and then got hit by this terrible cold. Boy, I haven’t been this sick in years! I’m finally starting to get over it, and it’s been going around like crazy. What I realized as a sick “donor” was that, because my monthly gifts are coming out of my account automatically, I didn’t have to worry about my mail; but I was still supporting the organization I care about. And you, as the organization,...

Metrics! When I moved from a big international nonprofit to the agency side almost 18 years ago now, my then boss Tom Hurley quickly taught me these very famous words: “It depends!” As a consultant, those are great words to have in your tool box, especially working with organizations who are looking for certainties and proven ideas. And of course, we’d never recommend somebody to try something that had not already been tested by others. But,...

Earlier this week, I was talking with a client about their newsletter. It’s mailed to their monthly donors as a cultivation piece, with wonderful stories about how their gift has made a difference. It also goes to their active and major donors. The communications department creates the piece, and, of course, it looks absolutely amazing! But it is probably also going to mail a week or more late. The review process involves numerous people inside...

“If you don’t have a monthly donor program yet, you’d be wise to make that part of your plan for next calendar year and perhaps even sooner than that.” People often ask me why you should focus on this now? Well, if last year’s Harvey hurricane disaster is any indication: Monthly donors provide sustainable revenue, no matter what happens. Their gifts keep coming in, rain or shine! In essence, it’s an extra insurance policy for your...

“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. I love this quote because it’s so very true, especially when it comes to sustainers—no matter where you are in your monthly donor program. If you have a small number of them, you always want to be moving toward growing that number: to the next 50, to the next...

A colleague consultant asked me this question last week, and I was discussing this very same thing with another organization myself. Great timing! A nonprofit in the process of launching its monthly donor program has its annual gala coming up this spring. It’s a fancy event—heavy hors d’oeuvres, silent and live auction, including a “fund-a-need” focused on something they need for their program. Donors typically pay $100 to $150 for a...

Last week, NonProfit PRO organized a webinar called “Effectively Managing a Monthly Giving Program that Exceeds the Thousand-Sustainer Mark,” sponsored by CharityEngine. The organization featured was the Wounded Warrior Project, and the focus was on how they acquired sustainers and then managed those sustainers (the back-end). It was exciting to hear from such a big organization, and it brought me back to my days of managing a large sustainer...

Now you’re in the middle of evaluating your appeal results, it’s up to you to make sure that the donor feels good about their giving experience—no matter what the amount. I recommend pulling in some extra people, volunteers and board members to make thank-you phone calls. Put some extra effort into sending out the thank-you letters pronto. And make sure you’re ready to send out tax letters well before the end of the month. If you’ve been...

As a fundraiser and donor relations professional, you work hard every day to make sure your donors feel important. You know like no other that all donors need to feel appreciated, no matter how much they give or how often they donate to your organization. That’s why I’m still amazed at how difficult this seems to be, especially as organizations grow. Especially if there are multiple “cooks in the kitchen.” Often decisions are made...

F I typically write posts that are aimed at any-sized organization. Today’s piece is initially more aimed at large organizations. Let me share this story with you. When I worked at a big animal welfare organization with a huge donor base, we had several wonderful people in our “systems support/technology/IT” department. As manager of monthly giving, I had to have regular meetings with these great “techies.” (Note: I absolutely mean this in the...

Originally posted on NonProfitPRO Today, July 10, 2017 Whenever I do a webinar on monthly donors, I am always happy to follow up to provide answers to questions that may have gone unanswered during the short time we were “webinaring” together. One of the questions that came up was:  Is generating monthly donors more difficult for a local nonprofit, compared to a larger national organization? The best answer is: You will not know...

Originally posted on NonProfit Pro Today, June 5, 2017 Hint: They’re typically already in your donor base. The best monthly donor prospects are donors who currently give you gifts of $100 or less. They are not your big check writers; if they did send you a $100 check, it was probably a stretch gift for them. Instead, monthly donor prospects are donors who can make small gifts more often. They are often on a fixed income. So, here’s what I...

When A Direct Solution started working with this organization, serving individuals with disabilities, the organization had some 5,500 donors. It had historically mailed two direct mail appeals a year and two hard copy newsletters. Then the organization hired a new Director of Development. With a small staff, she was tasked to considerably grow the donor base and its fundraising budget. A Direct Solution was hired to help accomplish this. We...