planning

How Making Wise Investments Can Help You Raise More Money

Ann Green Communications, planning, database, donor retention, monthly donors, donor engagement, direct mail , , , , ,

In most instances, nonprofit giving declined again in 2023. If you’re interested in the numbers, here are the latest results from M + R Benchmarks.

If your giving has gone down, you may have cut back on some expenses. While that’s understandable on one level, you need to be careful before you nix something you think you can’t afford. It may be something you should be investing in.

Instead of going on autopilot and saying “We can’t afford this,” think about how you can make wise investments. Stay away from the scarcity mindset. It’s often not helpful.

Here are a few areas you should be investing more money in. The good news is if you do it well, these investments can help you raise more money.

Invest in a good CRM/database

Plain and simple, a good CRM (customer relationship management)/database can help you raise more money. You can segment your donors by giving amount and politely ask them to give a little more in your next appeal – $35 or $50 instead of $25. Many organizations don’t ask their donors to upgrade their gifts and you’re leaving money on the table when you neglect to do this.

A good database can help you with retention, which will save you money since it costs less to keep donors than to acquire new ones. Donor retention continues to be a huge problem.

Many CRMs have built-in payment processors. If not, invest in a good one. 

Your CRM will let you personalize your letters and email messages. Make sure to invest in a good email service provider, too. Personalized letters and messages mean you can address your donors by name and not Dear Friend. You can welcome new donors and thank current donors for their previous support. You can send targeted mailings to lapsed donors to try to woo them back. You can send special mailings to your monthly donors. You can record any personal information, such as conversations you had with a donor and their areas of interest.

In short, you can do a lot with a good CRM/database. Invest in the best one you can afford, and Excel is not a database.

If you’re worried about spending $50 to $100 a month on a CRM/database, you may be able to recoup that expense if you can ask for an upgrade and personalize your communication.

Invest in direct mail

You may not use direct mail that much, especially over the last few years. Some organizations were never or rarely using it before the pandemic.

If that’s the case for you, you’re missing out on an effective and more personal way to communicate with your donors. Think of the enormous amount of email and social media posts you receive as opposed to postal mail. Your donors will be more likely to see your messages if you send them by mail.

Yes, direct mail is more expensive, but you don’t have to mail that often. Quality is more important than quantity but aim for at least three or four times a year, and don’t just send fundraising appeals.

Give some thought to what you send. Some ideas, besides appeal letters, include thank you letters/cards; Thanksgiving, holiday, and/or Valentine’s Day cards; infographic postcards; two-to-four-page newsletters; and impact reports. You could put a donation envelope in your newsletter to raise some additional revenue, but do not put one in a thank you or holiday card. I wouldn’t recommend putting one in an impact report either, especially if you only do one a year.

Shorter is better. Lengthy communication will cost more and your donors are less likely to read it. 

A few ways you can use direct mail without breaking your budget are to clean up your mailing lists to avoid costly duplicate mailings, spread thank you mailings throughout the year – perhaps sending something to a small number of donors each month, and look into special nonprofit mailing rates. You may also be able to get print materials done pro bono or do them in-house, as long as they look professional.

Of course, you can use email, but your primary reason for communicating that way shouldn’t be because it’s cheaper. Both direct mail and email have their place, but in many cases, direct mail is more effective. They also work well when you use them together.

Invest in monthly giving

If you don’t have a robust monthly giving program, you’re missing out on a great way to raise more money. Monthly giving is one of the few types of fundraising that saw an increase last year. It’s good for all nonprofit organizations, but it’s especially beneficial for small nonprofits.

All it takes is for someone to start giving $5.00 or $10.00 a month (hopefully more). These small gifts add up. Also, the retention rate for monthly donors is around 90%. Plus, they’re more likely to become mid-level, major, and legacy donors.

This is why having a good CRM is so important. It will help you find potential monthly donors and segment your current monthly donors so you can send them specialized donor communications. 

Don’t wait any longer to invest in this proven way to raise more money. If you already have a strong monthly giving program (kudos to you), take the next step and invest in mid-level donors and so on.

Invest in donor communications

By donor communications I mean thank you letters/notes, newsletters, and other updates. Some organizations don’t prioritize these and want to spend their time “raising money.” They don’t seem to realize they can raise more money with better donor communications. Remember this formula – ask, thank, report, repeat.

Don’t skimp on your communications budget. Creating thank you cards and infographic postcards is a good investment and a necessity, not a luxury. Thank you cards are a much better investment than mailing labels and other useless swag.

Maybe you need to reallocate your budget to cover some of these expenses. You could also look into additional sources of unrestricted funding. 

Of course, you can also use email and social media to communicate with donors. This reiterates the need for a good email service provider with professional looking templates for your email newsletter and other updates.

Invest in infrastrucure

We need to stop treating overhead or infrastructure as something negative. Most individual donors don’t care about overhead, anyway. However, some funders want us to spend our budget on programs, but how can we successfully run our programs if we don’t have enough staff and can barely afford to pay the people we do have? A rotating door of development staff makes it hard to maintain those important relationships. We also have to pay rent and other expenses (including a CRM, direct mail communication, etc.).

Until these funders stop worrying so much about overhead, you may want to invest some time in finding unrestricted funding sources – often those important individual gifts, such as monthly donations and mid-level/major gifts. 

Don’t limit yourself by saying you can’t afford certain expenses. If you make wise investments, you should be able to raise more money.

Future-proof your fundraising: 3 ways to thrive long-term

Ann Green Communications, fundraising, legacy giving, marketing, monthly donors, planning , , , ,

Is your nonprofit poised for long-term growth? Check out these future-proof nonprofit fundraising strategies based on today’s top philanthropic trends.

By Patrick Schmitt

Achieving your mission takes time and resources. As a nonprofit professional, you know this all too well and likely implement all kinds of cost-saving and efficiency-boosting practices into your work.

But can you be more proactive and go beyond mitigation? Do your fundraising practices look forward and actively build a foundation for long-term success? Are you missing opportunities to engage with donors in new ways?

This often means investing in new forms of fundraising or making significant updates to existing practices. But for many small nonprofits, making these changes can feel less than feasible.

However, as we’re constantly reminded, we’re living in unpredictable times—economic turbulence, heightened political and social tensions, the rise of AI, changing donor habits and preferences – the list goes on. There’s no telling what the future may bring, but your nonprofit needs to be there to shine a light and help lead your community.

Let’s explore some forward-thinking and (perhaps surprisingly) accessible ways for small nonprofits to drive sustained success and reduce the need for constant cost-cutting and budget anxiety.

The three future-proof nonprofit fundraising strategies explained in this article:  projectable revenue streams, non-cash giving, and mid-level donor stewardship.

1. Build more projectable revenue sources.

Building a pipeline of future giving is massively helpful—it fuels your operations and growth and it’s predictable, allowing you to plan more effectively.

There are two key types of projectable future giving to keep in mind:

  • Deferred giving
  • Recurring giving

Deferred giving, also called planned or legacy giving, is often neglected by small shops but is increasingly understood as a game-changer for nonprofits of all sizes. It’s an especially smart choice now as we begin to see “the Great Wealth Transfer” unfold, with shifting demographic trends resulting in large amounts of saved assets being disbursed to heirs and beneficiaries. 

But planned giving is also very accessible—any donor, regardless of wealth, can easily create bequests. And since these gifts are given from assets rather than cash on hand, they give donors the chance to drive sustained impact without impacting day-to-day finances (while also tapping into tax benefits here and now). The FreeWill guide to planned giving programs covers the essential steps nonprofits of all sizes should take to get started.

You’re likely more familiar with the ins and outs of recurring giving, facilitated through recurring giving programs or membership programs. It’s easy to get started—simply add a recurring giving option to your donation form, create a new web page and other materials that explain why repeat gifts are so impactful for your mission, and begin promoting the option.

As always, anchor your messaging about new forms of giving with impact, and don’t be afraid to be transparent. As a growing nonprofit, your committed supporters will be motivated by messages that clearly explain why you’re prioritizing these initiatives to ensure your mission’s long-term future.

2. Take more (or your first) steps into the world of non-cash gifts.

Donor preferences are rapidly diversifying. Tax code changes, the state of the economy, and ever-increasing financialization and digitization all point to increased interest in non-cash gifts.

By tapping into these trends and offering more flexibility to donors, nonprofits have seen substantial long-term growth. One study found that nonprofits that accept non-cash gifts grow six times faster than those that don’t.

Key types of non-cash gifts that should be on nonprofits’ radar include:

  • Grants from donor-advised funds (DAFs). These philanthropic quasi-savings accounts allow donors to put away funds for future giving to be saved and grown.
  • Gifts of stock. This includes stock from public and private companies and mutual funds and is a savvy choice for donors looking to rebalance their portfolios and secure added tax benefits.
  • In-kind gifts. These are any non-financial gifts, including materials and equipment, real estate, cars, you name it. Donors may seek to offload unneeded tangible assets to secure tax benefits, and you never know who among your community may have something they’d like to donate.
  • Cryptocurrency donations. Steadily rising in popularity among younger and more diverse groups of donors, gifts of crypto are new but certainly worth exploring if you think your donor base may be a good match.

If you’re prioritizing non-cash giving for the first time, we recommend starting with DAFs simply because their growth in popularity and volume has been explosive. Payouts to nonprofits from DAFs grew a record 28.2% in 2021, hitting $45.74 billion. Nonprofits also received 32% more DAF grants and 56% more grant dollars in 2022 than in 2021.

However, DAF fundraising is notoriously opaque—the names of DAF account owners aren’t disclosed, and these accounts are managed by a wide range of organizations including banks, financial service providers, and community foundations. 

To get started, try a simple survey. Ask donors if they’ve heard of, have, or are interested in donor-advised funds, and use your findings as the basis for future outreach. Contact local community foundations to introduce your organization and ask if they sponsor DAFs so they might recommend you as a grantee to their account holders. Add DAF giving as a new section on your Ways to Give page.

3. Invest in your mid-level donors.

Mid-level donors, often defined as those who give between $1,000 and $10,000 a year, are the key to long-term growth due to their high levels of loyalty and engagement. These supporters also tie together many of the trends that we’re currently seeing play out for nonprofits. Check out these statistics from Seachange Strategies’ most recent Missing Middle Report:

  • 31% of mid-level donors have made a bequest and another 23% say they plan to make one in the future.
  • 20% have donor-advised funds (DAF) and another 8% are considering starting one.
  • The majority of these donors say that in the past two years, their giving stayed the same or even grew amid political and cultural polarization (94%), global instability (94%), and economic uncertainty (87%).

What steps does your nonprofit currently take to steward and retain these donors?

For many organizations, the answer is “not enough,” and that’s understandable—fostering relationships with the highest-impact donors and running broad campaigns naturally take center stage for busy teams. But consider these easy steps you can take to better engage with them.

Start by understanding who these donors are. Revisit your segmentation strategies and rethink your donor pyramid or pipeline frameworks. The report cited above highlights that mid-level donors generally don’t demonstrate the same characteristics as major donors, so they’re easily missed if your focus is elsewhere.

Identify this segment of donors for your nonprofit and reach out to express your gratitude for their past support. If you want to prioritize deferred, recurring, or non-cash giving, try focusing on this group first. Develop tailored messaging to drive engagement, make asks, and retain their support, whether that’s through joining a membership program, creating a bequest, signing up to volunteer, or another action that will push your mission forward in the long run.

To work toward your mission effectively and responsibly, you need to do more than just trim expenses and seek new ways to be efficient. You also must proactively look forward and build a solid runway for your organization to grow.

With all the trends discussed above, it’s an exciting time for growing nonprofits. Take stock of your current practices and donor preferences, and weigh your options. While there’s no one-size-fits-all growth strategy, there are tons of easy first steps you can take to find the perfect route for your unique organization.

Patrick Schmitt and fellow co-CEO Jenny Xia founded FreeWill at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2016. FreeWill’s charitable giving platform makes it easier for nonprofit fundraising teams to unlock transformational gifts, and to date has generated over $6.6 billion in new gift commitments for thousands of nonprofit organizations. Patrick hosts FreeWill’s popular webinar series, educating thousands of nonprofit fundraising professionals each month about planned and non-cash giving strategies.

Before FreeWill, Patrick was the Head of Innovation at Change.org, where he helped grow the organization to 100 million users in four years. Prior to that, he ran email marketing for President Obama and served as Campaign Director for MoveOn.org.

How Your Nonprofit Can Stand Out in a Sea of Information

Ann Green Communications, direct mail, donor-centered, email, multichannel, planning, writing , , , , ,

Our world is packed with information, too much at times. When I was growing up, we just had a few TV channels to choose from. Now there are countless streaming options. We also have email, the internet, and social media, just to name a few. It’s a lot!

How does your nonprofit organization compete with all this? You need to communicate regularly with your donors and you need to do it well. But in this sea of information, they might miss your messages. 

Here are a few ways you can make your messages stand out and get noticed. 

What’s your intention?

What’s the purpose of your message? What do you want your reader to do? Are you asking for a donation? Maybe you’re thanking your donor or sharing an update.

Think from your reader’s perspective. What would she be interested in or what would make him take action?

Don’t muddle your messages with too much information. Keep it simple and stick to one call to action or type of message. If you ask someone to make a donation, volunteer, and contact their legislators in the same message, they may not do any of that.

Choose the right channels

Most likely you’ll use more than one channel to communicate. Pay attention to the channels your donors are using and focus your efforts there.

Email may be your primary mode of communication and there’s a reason for that. It’s fast, easy, relatively inexpensive, and almost everyone has an email address. You can quickly get a message out to a lot of people. Also, unlike social media, it’s something you can control. You don’t have to rely on a social media algorithm to hope your message ends up in your donor’s feed.

The downside is people get an enormous amount of email from a variety of different sources. Political organizations and candidates here in the U.S. send a ton of email messages and it’s only going to get worse as the 2024 election approaches. I tend to ignore a lot of those emails and then end up missing something important. Plan a strategy to help you break through the noise. 

Plus, the average email open rate is around 20%. And, social media is often just a lot of a lot.  

You can see how easy it is for your electronic messages to get lost in the shuffle. Your donors may just tune things out, even if you have something engaging to share. 

While you’ll likely use electronic communication pretty regularly, don’t discount direct mail. Your donors are more likely to see these messages. We get far less postal mail than electronic communication. Also, someone can put a piece of mail aside and look at it later. Don’t count on that happening with any type of electronic communication. You can also communicate by phone. This is a great way to thank your donors.

Going multichannel is usually your best bet. This is very common for fundraising campaigns and inviting people to events, as well as including a link to your email newsletter on your social media platforms. This way if people miss your initial message on one platform, they may see it on a different one. You’ll also want to send regular reminders for fundraising appeals and event invitations.

Get noticed right away

Your donors have a lot going on and you need to capture their attention right away.

Your fundraising letters and anything else you send by mail need to look appealing enough to open. You could put a tagline on the envelope. That doesn’t mean something like It’s Our Annual Appeal. Try something like – How you can help families move into their own homes. or THANK YOU!

Your envelope should look personal and not resemble a bill or junk mail. A few ways to make your mail stand out are to use something other than the usual white business envelope, hand address your envelope, and use stamps.

Once your donor opens your fundraising appeal, lead with a story followed by a clear, prominent ask. When they open your thank you letter, they should be greeted with gratitude.

A good subject line is the key to getting someone to open your email message. Keep in mind that your donor’s inbox is bursting with messages. Don’t use something boring like April e-newsletter or Donation Received. Entice them with Learn how you helped the Stevens family find their own home or You just did something amazing today! Putting someone’s first name in the subject line can also help with open rates.

Keep them engaged once they open your message.

Keep it short

In many cases, a shorter message is best. You want a good balance between saying too much and saying too little. All your words should count, so be careful about adding too much filler. That often includes bragging about your organization and explaining what you do.

Keep in mind the average human attention span is about eight seconds.

Your goal is to get your donors to read your messages. If it looks long and boring, they probably won’t bother.

Make it easy to read and scan

Besides sending a short message, use short paragraphs and lots of white space, too. Your messages need to be easy to read and scan in an instant. Most people aren’t going to read something word for word. Be sure they can quickly get the gist of what you want to say. Don’t use microscopic font either – use 12 point or higher.

Be personal and conversational

Write directly to your reader using clear, conversational language – no jargon. Don’t confuse your donors with generic messages.

Don’t cast a wide net

It’s important to send your messages to the right audience and your audience isn’t everyone.

You’ll have more luck with a fundraising appeal when you send it to past donors or people who have a connection to your cause. The same is true for event invitations or recruiting volunteers.

You may want to reach out to as many people as possible, but that won’t guarantee you’ll get more donations or event attendees. Segmenting and engaging with the right audience will bring you better results.

Be a welcome visitor

If you communicate regularly and do it well, your donors should recognize you as a reputable source and are more likely to read your messages. If all you do is send them generic fundraising appeals, prepare to be disappointed.

When you send email, make sure people know it’s coming from your organization. In the from field, put DoGood Nonprofit or Nancy (Jackson), DoGood Nonprofit. If you just put a person’s name, people may not know who it’s from and ignore your message, unless that person is well known to your readers.

Only send email to people who have opted into your list. Otherwise, you’re spamming them. Some people will choose not to receive email from you and that’s okay. The ones who do are interested in hearing from you. Give people the option to unsubscribe, too. Measuring your email metrics will help you communicate more effectively. 

When you send email, it’s important to strike a balance between being known and being annoying. Unlike the political organizations I mentioned above, many nonprofits don’t communicate enough. Be sure to reach out anywhere between once a week and once a month.

Even though people only get a few pieces of mail a day, most of it’s junk mail. You never want any of your letters, newsletters, or postcards to be perceived as junk mail (see above).

By putting in a little time and effort, you can help ensure that your messages stand out in a sea of information.

Could Your Nonprofit Benefit From a Little Spring Cleaning?

Ann Green Communications, database, fundraising, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , ,

It’s spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, although in the Boston area it doesn’t feel like it right now. 

A lot of people use this time of the year to do some spring cleaning. I envy the people who do that because usually I’m not one of them. 

I know I should do more. As much as I dislike cleaning and organizing, I’m happy once it gets done. Often getting started is the hardest part.

Your nonprofit organization may be putting off some version of your own spring cleaning and decluttering. It’s important to make some time to tackle these so-called cumbersome tasks. Just think how happy you’ll be when you’re done. You’ll also make some much-needed improvements to your infrastructure and donor communication.

Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

Clean up your mailing lists and CRM/database

Has it been a while since you updated your mailing lists? Did you have an influx of address changes, returned mail, and bounced emails after you sent your year-end appeal? This is a good time to clean up and update both your direct mail and email mailing lists.

Don’t wait until right before your next mailing or campaign to clean up your donor data. If it’s been a while since you’ve done this, then you really need to do what is known as data hygiene.

Even though it’s tedious, have someone who’s familiar with your donors (your development director?) go through your mailing lists and CRM/database to see if you need to make any additions, changes, and deletions.

Be meticulous. No donor wants to see her name misspelled, be addressed as Mrs. when she prefers Ms., or receive three mailings because you have duplicate records.

Your CRM/donor database is an essential tool and it needs to be up-to-date and filled with accurate information about your donors.

Run your donor list through the National Change of Address database. It may cost some money to do this, but it’s worth it if you come out with squeaky-clean data. Do it at least once a year.

Also, if you haven’t already done this, segment your donors into different groups – new donors, returning donors, monthly donors, etc. You may need to make some changes. For example, if a single gift donor starts giving monthly.

You might also want to move some lapsed donors who haven’t donated for several years into an inactive file. Don’t do this until you’ve sent targeted, personalized appeals asking them to donate again. And if you’ve never gotten in touch with any lapsed donors from 2023, you could reach out to them now.

Do the same thing with your email list. It doesn’t make sense to send emails to people who don’t respond to them. Give these people a chance to re-engage, and if they’re not even opening your emails, move them to an inactive file. Don’t worry if people unsubscribe. You’re better off with an email list of engaged subscribers.

Also, if you find you keep saying, “Our database doesn’t let us do that.”, maybe it’s time for an upgrade.

Freshen up your messages

Spring is a time to open up the windows and let some fresh air replace the stale air that’s been accumulating in your house over the last several months.

You know what else might be stale – your messages. Take some time to freshen them up, if you haven’t done that for a while. Ideally, you should do this at least once a year. I mentioned this in a recent post, emphasizing that your donor communication needs to be clear, conversational, and specific. Stay away from generic language and jargon. 

There’s a good chance your thank you letters need a refresh. Your thank you letters need to actually thank your donors, not brag about your organization. Also, make sure your automatically generated thank you emails and landing pages don’t look like boring receipts. Create separate templates for new donors, current donors, and monthly donors. 

Thank you messages are one of the most important components of donor communication. Make yours sparkle.

Weed and grow 

People who have gardens spend a lot of time getting rid of weeds to ensure a beautiful garden. I’m not a gardener. I live in a townhouse and don’t have a yard, but even I know I need to cut off the dead leaves on my houseplants to help them grow.

What are your weeds? Perhaps it’s events or grants. These can take a lot of time and don’t always bring in that much money.

If that’s the case for you, a better option is to grow your individual giving program. Start with monthly giving. You can think of this as a houseplant approach, relatively easy to take on and maintain. Then move on to major and legacy giving. These will take more time, just like a seedling that with care and attention will grow into a tree.

As you work on your weeding, this article on simplicity might be helpful. It suggests you do an audit of various aspects of your life and ask –  Is it necessary and is it creating energy? If you answer Yes to both, keep it. If you answer No to both, remove it. If you answer Yes to one, think about it. 

For your nonprofit, the energy question can be turned around and you can ask if something is depleting your energy. You could also ask, is it producing results?

It can be hard to let go. Maybe you’ve held a particular event for years. But like weeds in a garden, it might be prohibiting your growth. Let go of this event (or whatever doesn’t serve you) and find ways to raise money that will help you grow.

Don’t wait too long

I know you’re busy, but you need to take on these initiatives sooner rather than later. Just like the clutter and dust in your home, along with the weeds in your garden, they won’t disappear on their own. The longer you ignore it, the worse it gets. 

Get started on these spring cleaning projects as soon as you can. You’ll be happy once they’re done. Your donors will be happy if they don’t get duplicate mailings and a fundraising letter laced with jargon, but do receive a personalized appeal and a stellar thank you letter. Your organization will also benefit by taking on initiatives and making investments that will help you grow.

How to Improve Your Communication for Better Donor Engagement

Ann Green appeal letters, Communications, donor engagement, donor-centered, planning, stories, thank you letters, writing , , , , , , , ,

In my last post, I wrote about potential missed opportunities for donor engagement. You may think you’re practicing donor engagement by sending thank you letters and an e-newsletter, but is the content actually engaging? It’s often formulaic and just downright dull.

Many nonprofits send all their donors the same appeal and thank you letters. In these letters, they never thank a donor for their past support or acknowledge they’re a monthly donor.

If that’s not bad enough, many of these letters use vague and impersonal language and even worse, jargon.

It sounds obvious, but your donor engagement should be engaging. If it’s not, it’s time to move away from generic and impersonal communication. Your donors deserve better. Here are a few suggestions to help you improve your donor communication.

Segment your donors

Your donors aren’t the same, so they shouldn’t all get the same letter or other types of communication. Segment your donors into different groups as much as you can. At the very least, create different letters for new donors, repeat donors, and monthly donors. You can also personalize letters to lapsed donors, event attendees, volunteers, etc.

I emphasize segmenting your donors a lot in my posts because it’s so important. Both because it allows you to send your messages to the right audience and you can personalize those messages. Donors like it if you recognize their past giving or anything that shows them this is more than a generic, one-size-fits-all message. 

Also, please stop sending Dear Friend letters. You’re not being a good friend if you don’t even use your donors’ names.

I know this will take more time, but it’s worth the investment. So is a good CRM/database to help you with this. Your donors will feel appreciated and are more likely to give again, possibly at a higher level.

Use language your donors will understand

If you use vague, generic language and jargon, you’re going to instantly bore and/or confuse your donors. Most of your donors don’t have a medical or social services background. They don’t use terms like food insecurity, at-risk populations, and underserved communities – and neither should you. Stay away from insider language. 

Connect with your donors by using language they’ll understand. Instead of writing about food insecurity, give an example of a single mother choosing between buying groceries and paying the heating bill.

What do you mean by at-risk or underserved? Are high school students less likely to graduate on time? Do residents of a certain community not have good health care nearby? Is housing too expensive? Get specific, but at the same time, keep it simple. Also, terms like at-risk and underserved undermine your clients/community. Remember, these are human beings you’re writing about.

A great way to break free from generic language and jargon is to tell stories. Most people respond better to a human-interest story than a bunch of boring statistics.

Make time for improvement

You may be between fundraising campaigns right now and have a little more time (or maybe not). If so, work on segmenting the donors in your database, if you haven’t already done that. Segment your donors on an ongoing basis. For example, some of your single-gift donors may have upgraded to monthly. If you can do this after every campaign, you should have fairly up-to-date information on your donors.

In addition, dust off those templates and freshen up your appeal letters and thank you letters. Situations throughout the world keep changing and your communication needs to be relevant. Create letter templates for different donor groups and replace your vague, generic language with something clear, conversational, and specific.

You can also use this time to add new stories to your story bank or start putting one together, if you don’t already have one.

Have someone outside of your organization, a friend or family member, look at your messages. Something that’s clear to you may confuse others.

Create communication that shows your donors how much you appreciate them by recognizing who they are and giving them engaging content they can relate to.

Spring Into Action by Paying Attention to Your Donor Retention

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, donor-centered, planning , , , , ,

Donor retention is a perennial problem for nonprofit organizations. Many organizations spend all this time and energy on acquiring donors, concentrating more on volume and don’t seem to be concerned that they’re churning through different donors year after year. Just like the flowers and plants in your garden, you need to give them care and attention. 

You should be keeping track of your retention rate. If you’re losing donors, it could be because you’re either not communicating enough or communicating poorly. Fortunately, this is something you can fix, but donors don’t magically donate, or more important, keep donating to your organization.

You need more than luck to keep your donors

Building relationships with your donors is one of the most important components of fundraising.

Donor relations should be easier than raising money and it can be fun, too. Make it a priority, as well as something you do throughout the year.

But it will take more than leprechauns granting wishes. If you want to keep reaching for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you’ll need to work at it. If you ignore your donors or communicate poorly, they’re unlikely to donate again.

One-and-done fundraising is just March Madness

In NCCA men’s college basketball, players are eligible for the NBA draft after playing one season. This is known as one-and-done. If you watch the men’s tournament, it’s likely many of the players won’t be around next year. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments are also referred to as March Madness, although the one-and-done policy doesn’t apply to women’s basketball.

Another place you’ll find one-and-done is in nonprofit fundraising. The donor retention rate for first-time donors is around 25%. Obviously, we can do better.

If you can get your first-time donors to give again, it’s much more likely they’ll keep giving. That second donation is known as the golden donation (that pot of gold?). This is why it’s important to engage with your new donors and send them a welcome package right after their first gift. But don’t neglect your longer-term donors. You also want to make them feel special.

A time for new beginnings

Spring is just around the corner (hopefully) and it’s a time for new beginnings. Maybe you can share a new initiative that you were able to launch with your donors’ help.

Speaking of new beginnings, how are you engaging with your first-time donors?  That welcome package, which I hope you sent, is just the first step. Keep letting them know how much you appreciate this new relationship. If you don’t, it’s likely to be a short relationship. 

A consistent stream of donor communication is crucial

Here in the Boston area where I live, we have the most inconsistent weather. Not that long ago it was almost 60 one day and it struggled to stay in the 30’s the next, although we’ve had very little snow this winter.

Inconsistent levels of donor communication should have no place in the nonprofit world. You don’t want to barrage donors with appeals and then go silent for a while.

Ideally, you want to reach out somewhere between once a week and once a month. And not just with appeals. You need to thank donors and share updates.  Follow the ask, thank, report, repeat formula. This is essential for good donor retention.

A communications calendar will help. So will sending shorter, more frequent updates.

Spring forward to reach out to your donors

March may be a slower time for you. Maybe you have a fundraising campaign or event planned this spring. If so, you definitely want to engage with your donors first. If you don’t have anything scheduled for a while, these in-between times are just important. 

As you’ll notice, I’ve made references to a bunch of March themes – St. Patrick’s Day, daylight saving time (going back on daylight saving time is one of my favorite times of the year), March Madness, and spring. But you don’t need a holiday, special occasion, or a theme as a reason to reach out to your donors. Do it just because they’re great and you can’t do your work without them.

Keep focusing on better donor retention. You should be more successful if you do.

5 Creative Donor Appreciation Ideas for Small Nonprofits

Ann Green donor engagement, donor relations, donor-centered, events, gratitude, planning, video , , , , , ,

Thanking donors is crucial for securing gifts—especially for small nonprofits trying to build a support base. Show your gratitude with these creative ideas.

By Logan Foote

Building relationships is crucial for nonprofits to grow their impact. For small nonprofits in particular, these relationships are critical to growing and scaling your work to drive additional impact. A big part of such relationships is thanking donors and partners for their continued support and generosity. Truly, every donor deserves a heartfelt thank-you message for their contributions and gifts, but you can take it to the next level and make a lasting impression with an appreciation event or customized outreach.

Fun, memorable donor appreciation events and initiatives function to build a sustainable support network for your small nonprofit. Consider these appreciation ideas to thank your donors in a new and memorable way.

  1. Exclusive Events & Activities

An event designed exclusively for donors shows how much you value their support and your relationship with them. These can be tacked on to an existing event, such as your charity golf tournament, annual conference, or gala. The point is to limit it to “donors only” to reward them for their generosity. 

For instance, let’s say you’re organizing a charity golf tournament to raise money for your work. You might invite donors to an exclusive reception the day or evening before the tournament, complete with refreshments, tee times, access to the driving range, and branded merchandise as a thank you for their donations. Another idea is to have a specific flight (a series of smaller competitions within a golf tournament) or round of the tournament that’s just for donors, with special prizes for the flight’s winners.

  1. Behind the Scenes Tours

Your donors care about your mission’s progress and are investing in your daily operations by donating. Give them a new perspective on the work they’re supporting with a behind-the-scenes tour. Continuing with the golf tournament example, you might invite donors to visit while you’re prepping player gift bags or auction items. Or perhaps ask them to participate in a tour of your facility to see how your programs operate and even interact with some beneficiaries (with their permission). 

  1. Storytelling Events

Storytelling is the linchpin of your nonprofit’s case for support, so holding an event centered around that is a way to share your mission’s impact in a social setting. Invite donors to an event with a meal or refreshments and a series of stories shared by your nonprofit’s beneficiaries. Donors will have the chance to network with other donors and make connections with beneficiaries. Consider premiering any new videos or unveiling new initiatives at such an event, not only to give donors a sneak peek, but to help them want to have a stake in your organization’s future. 

Another idea is to tie storytelling into your nonprofit’s charity auction. After you’ve completed reporting from the auction and determined who made the largest contributions by purchasing the big ticket items, invite them to a storytelling event. Share in-depth insights into the impact of the money raised and how it plays into your overall mission. Donors will love the chance to meet and get to know other supporters while learning more about your organization’s future.

  1. Donor Appreciation Wall

A donor appreciation wall immortalizes your nonprofit’s most impactful donors. It’s a meaningful way to add these donors to your organization’s collective history. Place such a wall in a high visibility location, such as the entrance to your office or other facility. You can add your nonprofit’s own twist to this classic appreciation idea by determining how you’ll segment out donors on the wall and how each should be recognized. Consider these ideas:

  • Giving Tiers. Tailor these to your nonprofit to recognize major contributors to your fundraising efforts. According to Double the Donation, a common tier structure used by many organizations is bronze, silver, gold, and platinum donors and sponsors.
  • Legacy Leaders. This idea works well for younger nonprofits that are in growth mode and relied on these gifts to get their work off the ground. More established nonprofits can retroactively add donors who have significantly contributed to your growth over time. 
  • Community Champions. You might recognize donors who also volunteer their time and advocate for your nonprofit to their networks to this group. 

Other categories could include donors who contributed to fundraising events, funded a specific project or program, or contributed to a capital campaign. As your nonprofit grows, add more tiers to your appreciation walls. Be sure to plan your design with future growth and recognition in mind. You might even ask donors for their feedback on the new groupings before you finalize your thank you plan.

  1. Customized Videos

Video is an incredibly powerful tool that nonprofits should leverage whenever possible. Creating customized videos expressing your gratitude to donors is yet another way to build and strengthen relationships with your organization. These types of thank you videos don’t have to be complicated or expensive—in fact, anyone with a laptop or smartphone can make one!

Work with your organization’s president, executive director, or even a beneficiary to assist you in creating the content. Ask them to create video snippets that address each donor by name and reference the specific fund, campaign, or event they’ve contributed to. For instance, if a donor who attended your charity golf tournament excelled at one of your on-course games, won the tournament, or got a hole-in-one, be sure to mention their involvement and thank them for their participation.

In terms of logistics, batching out this personalized content will streamline the production process and the customized portion can be added to video clips that provide additional context about your work. 

Wrapping Up

Thanking donors is crucial to retaining them over time. It does add another step to the process and potentially some expense, but it should be factored into your budgets and fundraising plans whenever possible. You might think that cutting down on thank you efforts is an option to improve fundraising efficiency, but it would be at the expense of donor stewardship and relationship development. The donor appreciation ideas outlined in this post can help your nonprofit strengthen your donor relationships to keep their support well into the future.

Logan Foote, Sales and Education Manager at GolfStatus, has been around the game of golf nearly his entire life. He first picked up a club at the age of four, and despite thousands of attempts, he’s never had a hole-in-one. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and pursued a career in sales. Logan came to GolfStatus in 2017, where he channels his passion for golf to help nonprofits raise money through the game. As Sales and Education Manager, Logan oversees a team that works with thousands of nonprofit clients to maximize their golf fundraisers with the GolfStatus platform, and shares his golf fundraising expertise through GolfStatus’s free educational webinars. He lives and golfs in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife and three sons.

The Problem with “Annual Reports”

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, donor-centered, gratitude, impact report, planning, stories, writing , , , , , ,

Time for a quick quiz (don’t worry it should be easy). 

What’s the problem with “annual reports”?

A. They’re too long.

B. They’re boring.

C. They focus too much on the organization and not on the donors.

D. They require a lot of time and effort from staff and there’s no guarantee donors will even look at them.

E. All of the above

If you answered E, you would be right! This poses a dilemma. Organizations need to share accomplishments and show gratitude to their donors, but is the “annual report” the way to do that? 

First, let’s stop calling it an annual report and call it an impact or gratitude report instead. Plus, sharing accomplishments and showing gratitude is something you can do more than once a year (more on that below). In this post, I’ll use the term impact report (but don’t forget about gratitude). One organization recently sent me something called 2023 Donor Impact Report (yes!).

However, renaming it is just the first step. If you’re still creating one of those long, boring booklets, you’re not making much of an improvement.

It’s possible to make this a better experience for both donors and nonprofit organizations. Here’s how.

You don’t have to do an “annual report”

Nonprofit organizations aren’t required to do an annual report. This doesn’t let you off the hook for sharing accomplishments with your donors. You could send short impact reports a couple of times a year. This makes a lot of sense if taking on a big report sounds too overwhelming. Shorter, more frequent updates are better for your donors, too.

If you decide to do a report once a year, I encourage you to move away from the traditional multi-page one. Aim for something no longer than four pages. Bigger isn’t always better.

Your impact report is for your donors

Keep your donors in mind when you create your impact report and include information you know will interest them. Also, donors have a lot going on, so that’s another reason not to create a huge report that they may or may not read. 

You might want to consider different types of impact reports for different donor groups. You could send an oversized postcard with photos and infographics or a one-to-two-page report to most of your donors. Your grant and corporate funders might want more detail, but not 20 pages. See if you can impress them with no more than four pages.

Keep in mind that the human attention span is about eight seconds. Granted, most of us can stay focused longer than that, but your impact report is competing with other pieces of mail and whatever else is going on in your donors’ lives. 

Imagine your donor receiving a traditional long report and thinking it might be interesting but she doesn’t have time to read it right now, so it sits in a pile for two months and then gets recycled, unread. But if you send a postcard or a short report, your donors can get a quick glimpse of how they’re helping you make a difference.

Pour on the gratitude

Donors want to feel good about giving to your nonprofit. Make sure your impact report is focused on thanking donors. You could go one step further and call it a gratitude report. If you decide to do three or four short reports a year (highly recommended), make at least one of them an all-out gratitude report.

Use phrases like Thanks to you or Because of you to show appreciation to your donors for their role in helping you make a difference. 

Tell a story

Donors want to hear about the people they’re helping. You can tell a story with words, a photo, or a video. 

For example – Leah, a single mother with three kids, has been struggling to make ends meet over the last few years. It’s been hard to find steady work and rising food costs make it difficult to afford groceries. She also wonders if she’ll have enough money to pay rent and utilities each month. 

Leah had never gone to a food pantry before and felt ashamed to have to do that. But when she reached out to the Eastside Community Food Pantry, she was treated with respect and dignity. Now, thanks to donors like you, she’s able to bring home healthy food for her family.

An engaging story is one of the most important elements of your impact report.

How are you making a difference?

The theme of many reports is look how great we are. They’re organization-centered instead of being donor-centered and community-centered.

They also include a bunch of statistics, such as the number of clients served. You need to share specific accomplishments that show how you’re making a difference.

Focus on the why and not the what. Numbers don’t mean a lot without a story or example. For instance, Thanks to donors like you, we were able to serve more students in our tutoring program. X number of students are now getting better grades and are able to graduate from high school on time.

Make it visual

Remember, your donors have a lot going on and won’t have much time to read your report. Engage them with some great photos, which can tell a story in an instant. Choose photos of people participating in an activity, such as volunteers working at a food pantry or a one-to-one tutoring session. Be sure to get permission if you want to use pictures of clients.

Use colorful charts or infographics to highlight your financials. This is a great way to keep it simple and easy to understand. Include some quotes and short testimonials to help break up the text.

Be sure your report is easy to read (and scan). Use at least a 12-point font and black type on a white background. A colored background may be pretty, but it makes it hard to read. You can, however, add some color with photos, headings, charts, and infographics.

Write as if you’re having a conversation with a friend

Be careful about using jargon. Most of your donors don’t use words like underserved or at-risk, and neither should you. Use everyday language such as – Because of you, we found affordable housing for over 100 homeless families. Housing prices continue to skyrocket and a shelter is no place to raise a family. We’re also seeing an influx of migrants who need housing. Now, these families have a place to call home.

Write in the second person and use a warm, friendly tone. Use you much more than we.

Skip the donor list (and the letter from your executive director)

Think twice about including a donor list in your impact report. It takes up a lot of space and there are better ways to show appreciation. If you feel you must have a donor list, you could put one on your website or just include major funders. Including a QR code directing people to your website for more detailed information is a good way to ensure a shorter report.

Also, do you need a letter from the executive director? These tend to be very organization-centered. If you must have one, make sure it focuses on thanking your donors.

Send it by mail

Be sure to send your impact report by mail. It’s more personal and donors are more likely to see it. Don’t let costs deter you from sending something by mail. Remember, you have the option of sending short impact reports.

You could also send an electronic version a few weeks later as a follow up.

Planning is crucial

I know putting together a yearly impact report can be time-consuming. One way to make it easier is to set aside a time each month to make a list of accomplishments. This way you’re not going crazy at the end of the year trying to come up with a list. You can just turn to the list you’ve been working on throughout the year.

You also want to create a story and photo bank and you can draw from those when you put together your impact report.

Creating a shorter report or an infographic postcard will also help make this easier for you. Once again, you have the option of not doing a yearly impact report and sending periodic short updates instead.

Whatever you decide, put together an impact report that’s a better experience for everyone. 

Don’t Your Donors Deserve to Feel Appreciated?

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor-centered, gratitude, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

We all like to feel appreciated and that includes your donors. Thanking your donors should be a priority for your nonprofit organization. Is that the case? Unfortunately, the answer is usually no.

Thanking your donors is not just something you do after you receive a donation and then do nothing for a while. You need to show gratitude all year round and with Valentine’s Day coming up, that’s a great opportunity to thank your donors and show them how much you appreciate their support.

Maybe you would rather not go the Valentine’s Day route, which is understandable, although Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be just for couples and the world could use a little kindness right now. 

That said, you should still do something to show appreciation this month (and every month). The holidays are over and February can be a dreary month if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. Sunshine is in short supply where I live right now. Your donors could use a little pick-me-up.

This is also a good opportunity to keep in touch with the people who gave to your year-end appeal, especially first-time donors. If you haven’t shown any appreciation since your year-end appeal, you don’t want to wait much longer.

Your donors have the option to give to countless nonprofit organizations, but they chose yours. Keep this quote from Mark Phillips in mind – “They are not your donors; you are one of their charities.” Don’t they deserve to feel appreciated?

Here are a few ways you thank your donors throughout the year.

Create a thank you photo

Make your donor’s day with a great photo like this one.

You can send thank you photos via email and social media, use one to create a card, and include one on your thank you landing page.

Make a video

Videos are a great way to connect with your donors. They’re simple, yet effective, so don’t worry if you weren’t a film major. It’s not hard to create a video.

One idea for your video is to show a bunch of people saying thank you. You’ll want your video to be short, donor-centered, and show your organization’s work up close and personal. You can also create personalized videos, which are always a nice gesture.

Your thank you landing page is the perfect place to put a video. This is your first opportunity to say thank you and most landing pages are just boring receipts (and receipts fall short when it comes to showing gratitude). You can also put your thank you video on your website and share it by email and social media.

Send a card

A handwritten thank you card will also brighten your donor’s day. If you don’t have the budget to send cards to everyone, send them to your most valuable donors. These may not be the ones who give you the most money. Do you have donors who have supported your organization for more than three years? How about more than five years? These are your valuable donors. Don’t take these donors for granted.

That said, I do think you should make every effort to send a card to ALL your donors at least once a year. You can spread it out so you mail a certain number of cards each month, ensuring all your donors get one sometime during the year. You could also opt for a thank you postcard.

Many organizations don’t send thank you cards, so you’ll stand out if you do.

Share an update 

In addition to saying thank you, share a brief update on your success and challenges. Emphasize how you couldn’t have helped someone without your donor’s support. For example – Thanks to you, Jeffrey won’t go to bed hungry tonight. His family has been struggling to make ends meet right now.

Phrases like Thanks to you or Because of you should dominate your newsletters and updates.

How you can do better

Make this the year you do a better job of thanking your donors. Remember, it should be a priority.

Thank your donors right away and send a thank you note/letter or make a phone call. Electronic thank yous aren’t good enough.

Be personal and conversational when you thank your donors. Don’t use jargon or other language they won’t understand. Write from the heart, but be sincere. Give specific examples of how your donors are helping you make a difference.

Also, make sure your thank you note/letter puts gratitude front and center. You don’t need to explain what your organization does, brag, or ask for another donation. You have plenty of opportunities to ask for donations, and if you do a good job of thanking your donors you can raise more money. Plain and simple, the purpose of a thank you letter is to thank your donors.

I’m a big fan of communicating by mail, even if it’s only a few times a year. It’s much more personal. Yet, many nonprofits are skittish about spending too much on mailing costs.

If your budget doesn’t allow you to mail handwritten cards, is there a way you can change that? You may be able to get a print shop to donate cards. You could also look for additional sources of unrestricted funding to cover cards and postage. Think of these as essential expenses for your essential donors.

Maybe you need a change of culture – a culture of gratitude. This comes from the top, but you also need to get your board, all staff, and volunteers invested and involved in thanking your donors. 

You can’t say thank you enough. Make a commitment to thank your donors at least once a month. Create a thank you plan to help you with this. Planning ahead and creating systems makes a difference.

Keep thinking of ways to let your donors know how much you appreciate them. You don’t even need to wait for a holiday or special occasion. Just thank your donors because they’re amazing and you wouldn’t be able to make a difference without them. Don’t they deserve that?

Read on for more information about how you can make your donors feel appreciated.

Donor Recognition: When & How to Acknowledge Supporters

26 Techniques to Thank and Inspire Your Donors

11 Creative Ways to Thank a Donor

What’s Keeping You From Starting or Growing Your Monthly Giving Program?

Ann Green donation page, donor retention, fundraising, gratitude, monthly donors, planning , , , , ,

Monthly giving is one of the few types of fundraising that did well last year. If your organization doesn’t have a monthly/recurring giving program or it’s fairly small, what’s keeping you from starting or growing your monthly giving program?

Whether you’re a big or a smaller organization or you had a good fundraising year or you didn’t, monthly giving makes so much sense (or cents).

In this post, I’ll tell you why monthly giving is important for your nonprofit, how to start or grow your program, and how to nurture it going forward. 

Monthly giving helps you raise more money

Monthly or recurring donations can help donors spread out their gifts and it’s easier on their bank accounts. They might be apprehensive about giving a one-time gift of $50 or $100. But if you offer them the option of giving $5 or $10 a month, that may sound more reasonable. 

It can also give you a consistent stream of revenue throughout the year instead of at certain times, such as when you do individual appeals and events and when grants come in.

Monthly gifts are smaller, but you can raise a lot of money with lots of small donations. Political candidates do it all the time. Also, monthly gifts aren’t as small as you think. The average is $25 a month.

It can also be a more feasible way to get larger gifts. A gift of $100 a month may be more appealing to a donor than giving a large sum all at once. Even if they start with a smaller donation, monthly donors are more likely to become major donors and legacy donors.

It raises your retention rate, too

The retention rate for monthly donors is around 90%. That’s significantly higher than other retention rates. 

One reason is that monthly gifts are ongoing. But your donors have agreed to that, so this shows they’re committed to your organization. 

These are long-term donors and long-term donors should always be one of your priorities.

How to get started

If you don’t already have a monthly giving program, make this the year you start one. Remember, it will help you raise more money and shouldn’t be too hard to set up.

A good way to start is to invite your current donors to become monthly donors. Your best bet for monthly donors are people who’ve given at least twice. These are donors who have shown a commitment to you.

That doesn’t mean you can’t ask first-time donors. This could be a good way to connect with donors from your most recent campaign. And if you haven’t officially welcomed your new year-end donors, do that now. Create a series of welcome messages and conclude it by inviting people to become monthly donors.

You could create testimonials from current monthly donors in order to entice future monthly donors.

Make monthly giving your go-to option

Put monthly giving front and center in all your campaigns. It should be an easy option on your donation page. Include it on your pledge form and make it a prominent part of your appeal letter.

I can speak from personal experience that once I started giving monthly, that’s the way I wanted to give to all organizations. Your donors would probably agree. Each year I’m happy to see that more organizations are going all in on monthly giving.

Organizations that don’t offer a monthly giving option are making a mistake. Some have a minimum donation, which I would also not recommend, if possible. If you do have a minimum, make it $5 a month instead of $10. 

If your reason for having a minimum donation amount is to save money on your expenses, is that happening if your minimum deters someone from giving at all? You often have to invest a little to raise more money. And you should raise more money with a monthly giving program.

Make your monthly donors feel special

You need to do a good job of thanking your monthly donors. Go the extra mile and segment your monthly donors into new monthly donors, current monthly donors, and current donors who become monthly donors.

This way you can personalize their thank you letters to make them feel special. Be sure to mail a thank you letter, or even better, send a handwritten note. An email acknowledgment is not enough.

Many organizations send a monthly acknowledgment email or letter, and most are just okay. Some are basically only receipts, and as I’ve mentioned many times in the past, your thank yous need to be more than a receipt. Yes, it’s helpful to know the organization received your donation, but you’re not practicing good donor stewardship if that’s all you do.

You could spruce up these monthly acknowledgments, both by making them sound like they were written by a human and not a robot, and by providing some engaging updates.

You can include a list of your monthly donors in a newsletter, impact report, or on your website. Donor lists are just one of many ways to show appreciation and not the only one, so do much more than just that. Of course, honor any donor’s wish to remain anonymous.

One thing you should do is send your donors an annual summary of their monthly gifts. This is extremely helpful for people who itemize tax deductions. Make this letter more than just a receipt and use this opportunity to connect with your donors. Pour on the appreciation and let them know how their monthly donations are helping you make a difference. If you send one by mail, go one step further with a Thank You teaser on the outer envelope.

Reach out at least once a month

Your monthly donors made a commitment to you by giving every month. Make the same commitment to them by reaching out at least once a month.

You could create a special newsletter for monthly donors or include a cover letter referencing monthly donors. If that’s too much, you could give a shout out to your monthly donors and include information on how to become a monthly donor in your newsletter.

A thank you video is a great way to connect. Consider personalizing it, if you can. You could also provide other video content, such as a virtual tour, for your monthly donors.

Thank yous, newsletters, and updates are not a one-and-done scenario. Keep it up throughout the year. Many nonprofits start out communicating regularly with their monthly donors and then disappear after a couple of months. Always make a point to stay in touch with your donors.

Create a special section in your communications calendar specifically for monthly donors to help you with this.

Go all out for your monthly donors

I highly recommend a contact person for your monthly donors in case they need to update their credit card information or make a change to their gift, hopefully an upgrade. Include this information in their welcome letter or email. If you send a monthly acknowledgment email, be sure to include a link where your donor can make changes. 

If you change your payment processor, make it easy for donors to transfer their information. For one organization I give to, all I had to do was click on a link they provided and presto…..

Another way to help out your monthly donors is to let them know when their credit cards are about to expire. Don’t rely on your donors to remember this, because most likely they won’t. You also don’t want to miss out on any revenue. Remember, small donations add up.

If your payment processor doesn’t automatically update credit cards, set up a system where you can flag cards that will expire in the next month or two. Then send these donors a friendly reminder email/letter or give them a call. 

When my monthly giving credit card expired in the fall of 2022, only a couple of organizations contacted me before the expiration date. Of course, a few slipped through the cracks and I didn’t hear from these organizations until after the donations didn’t go through. There were also a few instances when I checked my credit card statement and realized the donations weren’t getting charged. Remember to take the lead on this and pay attention, or once again, you’ll miss out on receiving this important revenue.

You could encourage donors to give via an electronic funds transfer from their bank account instead. Then neither you nor your donors need to worry about expiring credit cards.

Once a monthly donor, always a monthly donor

Once someone becomes a monthly donor, you must always recognize them as such. You most certainly should send fundraising appeals to monthly donors, but not the same ones you send to other donors.

You can ask your monthly donors for an additional gift during one of your fundraising campaigns, but you MUST recognize they’re monthly donors. For example – We really appreciate your gift of $10 a month. Could you help us out a little more right now with an additional gift? People in our community are having a hard time paying their heating bills because of rising fuel costs.

You can also ask your monthly donors to upgrade their gifts after a year or so. Be as specific as possible – We’re so happy you’re part of our family of monthly donors and are grateful for your gift of $5.00 a month. Many families are having trouble making ends meet and we’re serving more people at the Westside Community Food Pantry right now. Could you help us out a little more with a gift of $7.00 or even $10.00 a month?

If you send the usual generic appeal, imagine your donor saying – “I already give you $10 a month and you don’t seem to know that.”

But if you let those committed monthly donors know you think they’re special, they’ll be more likely to upgrade or give an additional gift. Many monthly donors have stepped up and given additional donations over the last few years. That’s what you want. And, if they do give an additional donation, be sure to thank them for that. Here’s the opening from a great thank you card I received – “How generous of you to make a gift that goes above and beyond your monthly donations.“

Be sure to invest in this proven way to raise more money, boost donor retention rates, and provide an easier giving option for your donors. 

Need more inspiration, get some ideas here.

Photo by Marco Verch