I’m putting on my running shoes! As you’re getting ready to finish this year, here’s my recommendation for your firsts New Year’s Resolution: Start a monthly giving program!  I recommend that you run, not walk so you can reap the results sooner than later and really start building donor’s retention and long-term revenue for your organization. Here are 5 rules to review before you start but don’t take too...

This was published as a guest post on Nonprofit Funderland 1. Commit. Building a monthly giving program takes time but it’s definitely a long term investment, not fast money! Crucial to do, but make sure everybody understands this. Most programs do break even in the first year but it depends on the media used. 2. Invest Time, Treasure and Talent. In the beginning, it may take some time and volunteer or staff time to set up the program, but it...

  I just came back from a conference, attended by some 1,700 people and I’m so excited! There were 4 (yes, four) sessions on monthly giving aka sustainers!! More and more organizations are finding that ‘sustainers are retainers’. Thank you Dan Allenby for this great word cloud. Many donor base systems are adding monthly giving options to make your life as a fundraiser easier. And research is growing. For example:...

Happy Fourth of July week! This is a really important myth to debunk as soon as possible. The number one reason why many organizations are now so interested in generating monthly donors is, because they stay with you for years and years and years. I’ve seen research from organizations that have been offering monthly giving programs for over 20 years and they actually have identified donors who are still giving monthly to this very day! Now, if...

If you haven’t seen the results of the 2013 Fundraising Effectiveness Project study from AFP and the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, here is the long and short of it: the average donor retention rate is 39%. For first-time donors, the rate drops to 22.9%. These truly are scary numbers, aren’t they? Believe it or not but this truly generated a wave of wake up calls to many nonprofits, large and small! But the good...

This was published as a guest post for About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs How to Go Beyond a Receipt People often ask me, is it important to thank a recurring donor every month?  The answer depends on how they gave in the first place. Read more...

This past week I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar for Pamela Grow’s Simple Development System members. I’m very grateful to Pam as she introduced me to webinars a little over a year ago! Since then, I’ve joined the subject matter expert team of Charity How To and I am having a lot of fun teaching organizations how they can get started and grow a monthly giving program with very limited resources. A couple of key pieces...

This post was written by Joanne Fritz and appeared in about.com.  Thank you, Joanne!! Here’s the full post… It seems to me that monthly giving programs should be a natural for small, even tiny nonprofits. Yet, many in the US still don’t use this form of giving. It may be that they think it is just too complicated. I just recently whizzed through “Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant,” by Erica Waasdorp, and was...

Some of you may know, I’m the US Ambassador for the International Fundraising Congress, one of the most amazing and inspiring conferences in the world!! On May 21 and 22, the Resource Alliance will organize 2014 Fundraising Online, a webinar event, which is totally FREE, just to share some of the amazing speakers you may enjoy at the IFC. I’m really excited because part of Fundraising Online is a great webinar on my favorite topic:...

Another  Monthly Giving myth debunked   a guest post for Wild Woman Fundraising Monthly  Giving is probably the one fundraising program surrounded by the highest number  of myths. All of these myths are used as reasons NOT to start… Well, if  it were my nonprofit organization, I’d RUN (not walk) to get started with  monthly giving! The impact on retention is HUGE! And who doesn’t want to  increase their retention rate? So, if  you’re still...

You may have read Pamela’s recent post, called The Dark side of nonprofit monthly giving. Pamela Grow and Joe Garecht are two colleagues of mine who are tremendous advocates for monthly giving… In fact, I’ll be presenting a webinar as part of their monthly giving e-course soon. Thank you! It’s still absolutely astounding to me to see how even large organizations are struggling with this ‘no-brainer retention...

I’m totally excited about this post. It came in when I was on vacation. Thank you, Roger and the Agitator for the Raise on the book! Here’s a short intro and a link to the full post. Fundraising Land Grab By Roger Craver   |    February 14, 2014 On Valentine’s Day, it’s fitting that The Agitator focus on fundraising’s equivalent of the ‘going steady’ relationship — the sustaining, committed or monthly giving donor. Chuck Longfield,...

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Guest Author/published on http://nonprofitacademy.com Today’s blog post is contributed by Erica Waasdorp, President of A Direct Solution and Author of Monthly Giving. The Sleeping Giant. Monthly Giving is probably the one fundraising program surrounded by the highest number of myths. All of these myths are used as reasons NOT to start… Well, if the many recent discussions about retention are any indication, you...

A guest post with Michael Rosen… Michael Rosen says… This week, I have invited Erica Waasdorp, a self-proclaimed “philanthropoholic,” President of A Direct Solution, and author of the best-selling book Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant. Erica explains why nonprofit organizations should have a monthly donor program, explores trends in monthly giving, and provides plenty of useful how-to tips all in a mercifully brief, 131 page book....

Prepared as Guest blog for Vanessa Chase Debunking The Myths of Monthly Giving Believe it or not, there are still tons of myths about Monthly Giving. And they prevent many organizations from even getting started or really growing their program. That’s why I’d like to take you through some of these myths and hopefully start debunking them. The ultimate goal is to get going and growing! So, here are the first two: Myth 1: You have to be an...

Direct Mail still works, especially for monthly Giving. I’m delighted that this article appeared as guest article written for Joanne Fritz, About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs Thank you so much, About.Com! It helps spread the good news about Monthly Giving. “Don’t wait until everything is just right.  It will never be perfect.  There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions.  So what.  Get started now.”...

“Difficult things we do quickly. The impossible takes a little longer”  –David Ben Gurion Today I’d like to focus on what I consider the most crucial part of any monthly giving program, small or large, called Retention. After all, the beauty of generating monthly donors or sustainers is that they are supposed to stay with you for a very long time and they’ll generate lots of revenue to support the mission of your organization. So, once...

Would it be different if you knew it can increase your donor retention rates by 30% or even more? I continue to be stunned. The more I speak to organizations about monthly giving, be them small or large, the more I find that it’s definitely not something people seem comfortable with (yet). It’s almost like they’re afraid of it! It’s ‘funny’. Fundraisers can spend days, weeks, sometimes months working on their communication strategies. Come up...

  Note: This post was written as a guest blog for Vanessa Chase If you’ve seen the discussions about retention recently and if you are reading this blog, you already know that one of the greatest solutions to really improve those retention rates is called: Monthly Giving. When working with nonprofits and helping them implement or grow their program, one thing has become really clear: There is not ONE solution for those looking to start or...

So, you’re thinking about starting a monthly giving program. And you’ve talked to your boss and he’s ‘willing to test it’.  He’s giving you 6 months to ‘make a go of it’. I hear this a lot.  Please go back to your boss and tell him that you need everybody in your organization to commit to the program!! Here’s why. You’re asking your donors to make a monthly gift to your organization. You’re asking them to make a commitment to you and you want...

People love check lists, so I created one for monthly giving. Here’s a simple list with 10 Tips to Awaken Monthly Giving. The Sleeping Giant to help you get started right away. Also, if you’d like to receive more practical tips on how to start or grow your monthly giving program in your inbox once a month, just sign up for blog posts right here. And if you have any specific questions, just send me an email at...

Note: This post also appeared as a guest post on the Philanthropy for All blog, from Vanessa Chase. Thank you Vanessa for spreading the word!   Lately, it seems that everything is ‘buzzing’ about Monthly Giving. I’d like to say it was my book that started it all, but I doubt that. It was probably triggered by the fact that we had just gone through a recession and so many organizations found that their monthly giving programs really helped...