If you have a monthly giving program, chances are your processor sends a gift confirmation email every month. What happens when, what the receipt looks like and how much you can control depends on the system. In some cases, the monthly email looks like a receipt. In other cases, you can customize it and add words to the payment information. Sometimes, it’s just a short blip, and it can even come as a text message. In some systems, you can set...

As a fundraising consultant, I’m always learning and researching. I do this by working with clients, vendor partners, databases, payment processors and so much more. I have many answers, but not all. That’s why I enjoy the research and experiments NextAfter does, especially when it comes to donation forms and emails. Even a small change can make a huge difference when it comes to donations and monthly gifts. Of course, every organization is...

Seth Godin’s blog always gives me inspiration. Recently, he wrote about the words I hear so much when it comes to monthly giving: “That’s a great idea!”  Seth says: “…after every good idea, there are at least 100 steps of iteration, learning, adjustment, innovation and effort. But not committing to the 100 steps is a waste of a good idea. The effort and investment and evolution made the difference.” In my experience working with nonprofits,...

A quick introduction: Sustainers are a big part of today’s subscription economy and we’ve seen tremendous growth in the past few years, as this chart from the DonorCentrics™ Sustainer Benchmarking Study shows. We’re still not at the level I think we should be at, but I guarantee that those organizations focused on growing their sustainers over the past few years were able to breathe a lot easier during the recent pandemic. Let me start with...

What a difference a simple calculation can make. When I ask the question, “How many monthly donors do you have?” fundraisers typically know that number. But then when I ask how much they’re worth, fundraisers sometimes struggle to answer. Or they only look at the monthly gifts, so it doesn’t seem that powerful. That’s why I created the Monthly_Donor_Annualizer. You can download it as excel. Here’s what it looks like: Credit: Erica Waasdorp, A...

As we’re all slowly moving back to what is now considered “the new normal,” nonprofits are still struggling. When can they get back to the office? Who is going to pick up the mail? How can they send out thank-you letters? Some nonprofits haven’t missed a beat. Some had to step up their service levels to even higher levels than before. They kept working with other essential businesses — like printers, letter shops, post offices — to get their...

A few months ago, I taught the “Recurring Revolution” training for members of The Fundraisingology Lab, by Moceanic. It was a lot of fun. Several members responded to a question about how best to keep their monthly donors. One of those members was Natalie Lanoville from Jewish Family Services  in Vancouver, Canada. I was impressed with her response. I talked with her some more so I can share some of her great experiences and approach. Natalie...

The M+R Benchmarks research has always been one of my favorite studies, and often one of the very few go-to statistics on monthly giving trends. That’s why I’m really excited that the “2020 M+R Benchmarks Study” is here. It’s very interactive, so you can find the most amazing trends in all things digitally. The M+R Benchmarks studies are based on the results from 201 different organizations and millions of records. Of course, I want...

I hope you’re still doing OK. I haven’t really left the house now for five weeks, except for a few walks in the neighborhood. Frankly, I dream of being able to go to the grocery store or to some store — it doesn’t really matter which. The good news is that our attic is all cleaned up. Now we’re onto the basement and I’m feverishly scanning in pictures. I know that some organizations are still struggling with asking for money at this difficult...

First, let me start by asking: I hope you’re doing okay?  I hope your event cancellations; the staying at home; the working from home; with or without kids who now must be homeschooled; and perhaps worries about parents or other family members aren’t driving you totally crazy. Take good care of yourself and give yourself a break. Then, let’s spend a bit of time looking at some of the ways you can make up for the lost revenue from those events...

First, I hope you’re doing okay? Are the kids getting used to being homeschooled? Are you getting used to working from home? Perhaps you worry about your job. Perhaps you worry even more about how your nonprofit is going to survive this worldwide coronavirus pandemic disaster! When you started the year, you knew your plans were solid. So many events. So many direct mail appeals. So many email newsletters and e-newsletters. So much social media,...

If you asked me how many times I’ve seen the word “pivot” in an email, a webinar or a virtual conference, I simply couldn’t tell you. I know this word from ballroom dancing classes. I know it as part of my excel sheets. But I had never heard it used in conjunction with fundraising. As you may know, I’m Dutch. And even though I’ve lived in the U.S. for 27 years, I occasionally have to look up the meaning of a word, so here’s what I found:...

This is a time when everyone feels overwhelmed, with email inboxes exploding with nonstop news of the pandemic and the pressure of having to homeschool kids who might not want to be homeschooled. Many fundraisers are trying to figure out how to work from home in the middle of all the family distractions. And then, of course, there’s the worry about how to make up for the fundraising difference with postponed events, or in some cases, canceled...

As you know I’ve been advocating for a while now to make small changes to your overall fundraising program and to start including monthly giving wherever possible. I know that you simply may not be in the position to go after monthly donors in a big way or you may be hesitant.  (For some reason I’m still puzzled about that, so I hope you don’t mind me to continue to motivate you to try it). You probably also know that monthly giving takes a...

There I was, sitting on a plane on my way to a presentation. But when I landed, I found out the committee had just canceled the meeting. Not the end of the world, so I made the best of it, did a bit of sightseeing, practiced social distancing, and got caught up on some work and some books. Of course, it’s all about being safe and staying healthy. That’s the number one priority, and I totally understand. But it made me think about what happened...

OK — there’s no official monthly donor retention day (yet), but I think it’s time we started one. After all, with Daylight Savings Time, St. Patricks’ Day, World Wildlife Day and so many other special days on the calendar, why not create yet one more special day? Except, it should not be a special day! If you’re serious about your monthly donor program, every day should be a monthly donor retention day. When should that day be? Well, that...

Life is busy. Life is messy. Time can get away from us all — no matter how perfect we are at multitasking. Donors are no different. Especially donors with kids and/or grandkids. Having just spent the weekend with our grandkids (ages two, three and 11), I can totally relate. You can’t leave them alone one minute, and they love having you sit with them when they’re watching the next repeat of “Minions,” “Blaze” or “Umizoomi”! I had virtually no...

I recently traveled across several time zones, and it’s amazing how it impacts you — your body, your mood, your sleep pattern and your ability to concentrate. They say it takes one day to recuperate from a one-hour time change. So, with Daylight Savings Time around the corner, we’ll lose one whole hour, 60 minutes, 3,600 seconds. The good news is that the adjustment will be on a Sunday for most people, but the Monday morning after the clock...

Sustainer programs have grown substantially over the past few years, especially for those organizations that took advantage of generating new donors before, during and after the 2016 elections. In this article, I’m going to address two questions: Why has sustainer giving become so popular? How can you create a winning sustainer program? Why Has Sustainer Giving Become Popular? It’s all around us: subscription programs, small amounts taken...

I’m sitting on a plane, thinking about the coronavirus and a movie I watched a while back called “Contagion.” Scary. Totally realistic now! We’ve become world travelers. We’re on planes, trains, boats, buses, Uber and Lyft rides, etc., all the time. For this most recent trip, I packed some masks and gloves, and I am wiping down everything possible, hoping to stay healthy. (Whenever I travel, I swear by Airborne, sanitary wipes and hand...

The decision to add monthly giving to your annual fundraising plan is probably one of the most important ones you’ll ever make. It’s probably also one of the best you’ll ever make. Now if it were two decades ago, it would have been a costly one. But now, with the internet, email marketing, social media and the numerous ways giving has been made easy, adding monthly giving has become a ‘no brainer’. Adding monthly giving to your fundraising plan...

As you know, I do a ton of blogging and presenting on monthly giving. I talk to organizations about their monthly donor programs all the time. But I haven’t been able to solve the biggest monthly giving mystery: “What’s holding organizations back to start or grow their monthly donor program?” I’d love to find out from you what you think it is, because I’ve not yet been able to answer that question. I can guess at some of the reasons (or...

I still come across nonprofits that have virtually no sustainers. Why? Because they weren’t pushed to do it, or they didn’t know that they could do it. Sadly, some organizations had the bad luck of agencies and consultants not thinking that monthly giving was a “big deal.” Some worried it would take away from their direct mail numbers and revenue. It made me think of the movie “Pretty Woman.” Do you remember the scene where Julia Roberts needs...

As we’re getting ready for Thanksgiving, I wanted to talk about something not often talked about:  how nonprofit clients move from one fundraising agency or consultant to another, and how this can be a smooth transition or a difficult one. I’m very fortunate that I was recently asked to start working with an organization where its “old” agency was extremely gracious, supportive and forthcoming with any and all information. It made the...

There are many opportunities to generate monthly donors, if you’re willing to use them. I’ve given you several options in past blogs, but here is one of the BEST ways to make a real splash and generate a substantial number of new monthly donors in a very short period. It’s by using a MATCH.  It literally sets your program on fire! A match is a special gift you’ll receive if you reach a certain fundraising goal.  A match will help motivate...

Article written by Erica Waasdorp and Naseem Saloojee Let’s start with the definition first: Face-to-Face (F2F) is a term originally coined in Europe. According to the UK Institute of Fundraising, “Face-to-face fundraising activity enables charities to engage with the public in an effective and compelling way to reach new supporters.” F2F is not to be confused with major gift fundraising in the U.S. You’ll see that the key words in the F2F...

Last week was a tough week. My father-in-law passed away after five days in hospice care and three weeks of going in and out of the hospital with an infection. Before that, he was quite healthy and very much with us. He told the most amazing stories of his World War II fighter pilot flights in Germany and France, especially as a young airman. He lived to be 95 — a very full and incredible life — serving our country for more than 40 years. And...

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m always looking for ways to help you convince your boss or board that it’s time to put a bit of time into generating more monthly donors. Time is really all it takes now, because the tools are already there. You just have to make the monthly gift option easy to find and start directing your donors to go there. You may also know that I always recommend annualizing the value of monthly gifts....

If you’ve heard me speak or read some of my blogs, you already know that I always advocate for the following:  The more opportunities you offer donors to give monthly, the more monthly donors you will find!  But for most organizations, there is always that fine line of having to bring in one-time short-term funds versus long-term sustainable monthly giving revenue. I get it. Trust me, I’ve been there. Let’s Start With A Monthly Giving Case...

As I’m getting ready for my second cataract surgery this week, it has started to dawn on me the tremendous eye-opening results I’ve already experienced from the first one. For me, going to the beach and swimming in the ocean was never an option, because I wouldn’t be able to find my spot unless there was nobody else there. Snorkeling was not possible, because I simply wouldn’t see anything. Now hopefully all that will be possible. I may have...