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Tips For Monthly Giving Programs To Boost Recurring Donations

Recurring Donations

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What Are Recurring Donations?

When it comes to non-profit fundraising, monthly giving (also known as recurring donations) is an absolute favourite. While large donations are valuable and should still be pursued, monthly donation programs provide a reliable income source for your non-profit.

A monthly giving program can help your non-profit avoid having to deal with unpredictable donations. It can provide a steady stream of income and help maintain a healthy financial foundation. Recurring donations are a type of regular donation that a person can set up. It allows them to set a specific amount that they would like to give each month.

Let’s discuss the benefits of monthly giving programs while crowdfunding.Boost Recurring Donations


What Are The Benefits Of Monthly Program?

If you wish to give recurring donations on a monthly basis, here are some of the primary benefits:

1. Higher Returns

The average monthly recurring donations are €52 (€624 per year), and the average one-off donation is €128. According to the Network for Good Donation data, the average donor making recurring donations contributes 42% more annually than those who give one-off donations. Donors who give recurring donations also have a greater lifetime return per donor. Finally, 52% of millennials are more likely to give a regular donation than a more significant one-off donation.

It shows that comprehensive monthly donation programs have a much higher return on investment than one-off donation programs.

2. Higher Retention Rate

Donors who donate monthly have a higher retention rate than other donors. The retention rates of a new donor are, on average less than 23%. Monthly giving programs typically have a retention rate of more than 80% after one year and 95% after five years. If someone signs up for your program, they generally stay longer than a basic program and donate each year or at least three times more often than the one-off donor.

3. Simple For Donors

Monthly giving programs are not only relatively easy for non-profits to manage, but also it is less time-consuming. Donors who wish to give recurring donations sign up once, and their recurring donations are deposited automatically and with a frequency of their choice, making them flexible and convenient. 

Plus, for the most part, your donors are already on monthly calendars. They are often paid monthly. They pay a lot of bills monthly and subscribe to several monthly services. Donating monthly, therefore, is easy to understand and integrate.

4. More Predictable

Very few returning donors cancel their monthly giving programs. Registering for recurring donations is a good sign that the donor who wishes to give recurring donations is involved and committed to your cause.

Monthly Giving Programs


How Can I Get Monthly Donations?

Chances are you’ve already set up some variation of a monthly payment plan before. But was it really the most feasible plan? Perhaps you can get more out of recurring donations? Here are some practical tips to bear in mind should your organization wish to consider implementing its own recurring donation program

1. Develop A Donor-Friendly Program Plan

The most important thing for launching a successful monthly giving program is to develop a written plan that targets the donors.

Before proceeding with any other steps:

1. Think Strategically:

  • If you don’t have clear goals for your recurring donation program, it will be challenging to understand what you need to achieve your goal. It also makes it more difficult for your donors who give recurring donations to understand how they fit into the bigger picture. Work with your team to answer these questions:
  • What do we want to achieve with recurring donations?
  • How does monthly donating contribute to our programs and mission?
  • What result do we desire if we achieve our goal?

2. Set Goals:

  • Set goals after reviewing the broad outlines and how the recurring donation programs fit into the rest of your non-profit’s strategy and set specific goals;
  • How many monthly donors do you want to attract each month?
  • How about increasing monthly recurring donations?
  • How to know you’re successful once you’ve answered these questions, move on to the next step?

3. Think About The Finer Details:
        Think carefully about the finer particulars of your program, including these areas:

  • The name of the program (if any)
  • Target audience
  • Potentially suggested monthly donation amounts.
  • Marketing materials
  • Measure and evaluate

2. Brand The Structural Donation Program

Naming your monthly giving program will strengthen the fire and show your donors that they are part of something special. Name the program something that matches your broader non-profit organization or cause. 

For example, Pencils of Promise calls their program “Passport”, Liberty in North Korea calls it “Liberty” and charity: water calls it “Pipeline”. Branding your monthly recurring donation program emphasizes the community element. Showing your monthly donors that they are part of something bigger than themselves will make them feel more valued.

Consider the use of social proof on your monthly donation page. Social proof is a powerful psychological and social phenomenon where people take over others’ actions to portray correct behaviour in a given situation. In essence, it means that people do what they see others do.

To take advantage of this phenomenon, add testimonials and photos of current monthly donors, and their names, or use something like “you will become the xxx member of our program”. Testimonials are also compelling forms of social proof because they contain a narrative and stories that create trust and credibility. Finally, if you’ve received positive mentions from credible media sources, publications, and other opinion leaders in your industry, display them on your website.

3. Approach For Structural Donations

Before you start promoting your monthly giving program, look at your donor database and identify donors who would be most likely to join a recurring donation program. In general, those who give smaller amounts, compared to those who give larger amounts, may be more suited to a monthly giving program.

Pay special attention to donors who regularly give smaller amounts (a few times a year). When it comes to deciding on your monthly viewpoint, frequency is more important than the donation’s size. Use this information to target those donors who may be interested in donating monthly and give recurring donations. 

Before promoting your program to a broader audience, mobilize your staff and board, as well as your most active volunteers, and get them to sign up first. It will enhance your program’s credibility and allow you to collect feedback on everything from the sign-up process to the thank-you email.

Furthermore, when people come across your monthly giving program, they will be more likely to join because others already do.

4. Promote The Recurring Gift Program

It doesn’t matter how good your program is if people don’t know about it. So start promoting your program. But before you begin promoting, you must define its value proposition. In other words, why would anyone become a recurring donor? What are the benefits to them, and what are the benefits to your non-profit? Test different ways to emphasize your value proposition.

Don’t shy away from reaching out to everyone after contacting your staff, your most active volunteers, and a small but frequent group of donors! Send callouts via all your outreach channels and add monthly donations as an option on your non-profit’s standard donation form. Mobilize volunteers and send them out into the streets. Let your volunteers tell people who come by about your non-profit’s cause and educate them about your new recurring donation program.

Furthermore, check with old donors to see if they would be open to the idea of ​​donating monthly. Ask the old donors what is holding them back from giving consistently or why they stopped giving and meeting them. You should encourage them to come back to your non-profit. Use all channels available to you to promote your program. Use email, social media, direct mail, newsletters, printed ads, Google Grants, events and street fundraising.

Please do not send your first communication until your monthly payment page is active and you have tested it for any hiccups in the process. Send an email to your full email list, as well as that of the direct mail. If you have the resources, follow up by phone. Phone calls and following up on emails increase the number of registrations for recurring donation programs. 

Phone calls also add a personal touch that emails and letters cannot replicate. If you don’t have the resources to do this often, you could still try to pick up the phone with them now and then. Don’t be afraid to ask for additional donations and upgrades. Schedule one or two integrated upgrade campaigns per year.

Monthly Giving Programs - Recurring donations

5. Show It All On Your Website.

Promote your monthly giving program on your non-profit’s website. Do this by creating a separate page devoted entirely to your monthly program with information, videos, images, and testimonials from your donors and beneficiaries.

Your program should also get some space on the home page, where it is easy to find. It makes the program accessible to potential donors who are specifically interested in making monthly contributions. When sending requests or otherwise promoting the program, make sure that the feel of the communication matches that on the website. You want the potential donors to go to the website and experience cohesion and consistency.

6. Invest In Donation Management Software

A donation management software is essential if you want to make monthly donations a reality and compel donors to give recurring donations. Fundraising software makes building your donation pages much more straightforward and offers you several features and benefits, such as:

  • Options for recurring donations.
  • Donors have the option to manage their recurring donations at any time.
  • Pre-filled custom amounts with descriptions to make your donors feel good knowing what they’re contributing.
  • Integrated donation matching programs for employers.
  • Optimization for desktop computers, mobile phones, and tablets.
  • Accept donations through your Facebook page.
  • Donation “thermometer” to encourage more donations.
  • PDF receipts and other features to help you raise more money in 2021.

View WhyDonate’s recurring donation system here!

Monthly Giving Program - WhyDonate

7. Have A Reliable Data Management System

For non-profits, it is essential to have a donor management system that automates the sign-up process and manages donor contact information. Keep the program uncomplicated! Inevitably, credit card expiration dates will be exceeded, and debiting will not be possible, bank account numbers will have changed, and so on.

Stay on top of these issues and communicate proactively with your donors. Establish an internal record-keeping structure, either by deploying an employee to follow up on missed payments due to declined or expired cards or by using card update services to update credit card information automatically.

8. Show Results To Donors

It’s always important to show donors the impact of their recurring donations, but it can also make a real difference when persuading some of your donors to join your monthly giving program. There are several ways you can do this. Many non-profits present infographics and sometimes present facts and statistics about where donors’ donations are going. One of the best ways to do this is to link each donation amount specifically to a result.

For example:

€15 (50 cents a day) feeds one child who needs life-saving food every day for a month in Bangladesh

€30 (1 euro per day) gives 30 refugees access to clean water for a month

€50 (1.50 euros per day) provides a month-long education to a girl who has been saved from slavery

€100 (three euros per day) will equip three health workers to respond to reports of domestic or sexual violence for a month

It helps your monthly donors conceptualize how their relatively small donation makes a difference with the overall purpose.

Besides, this helps your donors who give recurring donations to envisage the people being helped by their donations. People are motivated to give when they feel an emotional connection to the people who benefit from their donation – people give to people. When determining the specific amounts to donate, take the time to calculate an approximation of what those who give that amount can achieve.

Monthly Giving Programs - Monthly giving

9. Make It Easy

Signing up for the program should be effortless and intuitive, starting with your website’s ease of use. A donor should be able to find your donation link within seconds of the donation page loading. A good practice is to place the link at the top of the website header.

When a donor clicks on the “Donate” link, they should be immediately linked to the donation form. A common mistake is to insert a variety of other information or text between these two stages. Your donation page should also be mobile-friendly/responsive. It means that the donation page is adapted to the device used to make an optimal display possible.

Your goal should always be for everyone who has reached your donation page to click through and donate. To achieve this, you need to keep your website simple and straightforward. Limit the amount of text, images, media, and links to only what is needed, and organize your content in a way that feels very logical.

Click here to learn more about creating great donation pages.

10. Nurture Relationships

A monthly donation can be useful for you and your donors. It automates many of the payments and the administration involved. However, this does not mean that your non-profit shouldn’t establish a relationship with your donors.

Start the relationship by rolling out the red carpet for your monthly donors to welcome them. Send them a welcome email within 48 hours of signing up (or automate this process as well). It’s also vital to keep thanking your donor not only after their first donation but also strategically (and sincerely) throughout the year.

It is also good practice to include donors who give recurring donations on a separate email list to send materials (such as newsletters) and messages that are specific to them. It will keep them from being put on the general email list, where they consistently receive calls for donations because they are already giving money.

Keep your monthly donors regularly updated with images, stories, statistics, and other concrete examples of how their contributions have helped the cause. Don’t just send numbers, however. Include stories in your communication with your donors. Storytelling is a powerful fundraising tool.

Finally, creating a community means offering your monthly donors something beyond the regular donation experience. Think of gifts, special updates, photos, and opportunities to win trips to places where you operate.


Conclusion

To recap, it is a great fundraising technique to give recurring donations for your non-profit because you will:

  • Have a steady stream of income throughout the year.
  • Keep donors.
  • Create a community of supporters.
  • Make life easier for you and your donors.

Monthly donors are a valuable asset to today’s non-profit organizations. They must, therefore, be approached in a strategic and personalized manner. Creating a successful recurring donation program can be challenging, but it is also rewarding. Forming a lasting relationship with dedicated donors, who continuously support your organization, really makes the difference.


FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

How do I cancel a recurring donation?

To cancel a recurring donation, log into the platform you used (e.g. WhyDonate, PayPal or another site), locate your recurring donation settings, and follow the provided cancellation or unsubscribe instructions.

How to make a recurring donation in Paypal?

Log into your PayPal account, navigate to “Money”, select “set up automatic payments”, choose a recipient for donations made over time (with donation details set), set frequency frequency of repeat donations and confirm all steps before proceeding further with this process.

How to set up recurring donations?

Visit the platform accepting donations, locate the donation form and select “recurring donation”, providing any needed details (payment frequency/amount etc.), before filling in and submitting. Follow any further instructions provided as necessary.

What are GiveWP recurring donations?

GiveWP Recurring Donations is a feature in the GiveWP WordPress plugin which enables website owners to set up and receive recurring donations on their WordPress websites. GiveWP offers tools for customizing donation forms as well as managing ongoing contributions on WordPress websites.

What is the best alternative to GoFundme recurring donations?

WhyDonate offers an ideal alternative to GoFundMe for ongoing donations with its platform designed to enable fundraisers receive support from their excellent donor network through regular contributions while users are able to set recurring payments towards personal or community projects.

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