I just came back from a conference, attended by some 1,700 people and I’m so excited! There were 4 (yes, four) sessions on monthly giving aka sustainers!! More and more organizations are finding that ‘sustainers are retainers’. Thank you Dan Allenby for this great word cloud.
Many donor base systems are adding monthly giving options to make your life as a fundraiser easier.
And research is growing. For example: Blackbaud is now expanding the number of organizations participating in its sustainer benchmarking studies, which is fabulous.
The big takeaway from the various sustainer sessions: many organizations are acquiring monthly donors differently. And with different results! For some, email and direct mail are the norm. Others (typically bigger organizations) use direct mail mixed with telemarketing, TV and face to face (canvassing). It totally depends on what the donors are used to receiving and how much money the organizations have to invest. The more you invest, the quicker you’ll grow. (If you want to make some projections based upon your program and donor numbers, download the Monthly Donor Calculator). But, like anything with fundraising, the old adage is still true: If you ask the donors, they will come! But how can you make sure that these small regular donors continue to be stay with you? That they continue to sustain and retain? Most donors do not want you to send them a thank you every month. They’d rather have you spend the funds on your mission. What I do recommend is that you recognize these special ongoing donors as truly ‘special’. Not by ignoring their monthly contribution, but rather by ‘celebrating it’ in the communications you DO send. Believe it or not, that way you’re even able to ask for a special gift. I find that so many small organizations only mail to their annual donors once or twice or perhaps four times a year, so you certainly would not want to exclude those monthly donors. And believe me, the donors are so proud to be part of your organization and they feel so special, they will gladly make another gift!! So how do you go about that? In this day and age with laser printing, how about segmenting the monthly donors, just like you do for your major donors, and including a little personal note on their appeal letter? It could be as simple as this:
Thank you so much for your ongoing support as a (fill in name of monthly giving program). You make a difference to so many (fill in e.g. animals, children…) . I thought you might wish to read what (fill in name in story that follows in the appeal) has to say:
And then you can go into your story and ask. Because you’re recognizing and thanking them for their ongoing support, you’re telling them a compelling story and they see how their special gift today can make a difference. These monthly donors really LOVE your organization. So, let’s love them back by keeping them engaged and telling them your story and giving them the opportunity to help. If you only have a few opportunities a year to reach them, they want to hear from you. So let’s tell them your story and see how they respond. Let’s make those appeals count. Monthly donors care about your organization so don’t shut them out. Donors are smart. They’ll tell you if they don’t like to hear from you. They will tell you if they only want to hear from you once a year. So, don’t ‘get and forget’ and you’ll ‘sustain and retain’. Sign up for my blog so you’ll receive future posts on monthly giving. And if you’re interested in finding out how to start or grow your program, just contact me!
