This is always an interesting question. How much or how little can you spend to generate a monthly donor?
The answer: it depends!
From what I’m hearing in the market place right now, a lot of larger organizations are happy if their program breaks even in 2 years. They use more expensive media such as face-to-face fundraising or direct response television as they want to increase their number of monthly donors fast and furiously.
For smaller organizations, you truly should be able to break even in the first year.
Especially if you start generating monthly donors online first and add direct mail and telemarketing/telethons as your program grows. Those media are much more affordable and more ‘fitting’ with your mission.
So, what’s the ‘magic number’ that you can spend on generating a monthly donor? Realistically, you could say: what one monthly donor generates in one year. In other words:
if you’re able to generate a monthly donor who gives $15 a month, that’s $180 a year, you’ll be able to spend $180 to generate a monthly donor.
The good news is, you don’t have to!
Fortunately, I’ve been able to work with organizations that spend a fraction of that (typically $50 or less) and they break even in just a few months. Online costs virtually nothing!
Most monthly donors will stay with your organization for at least 5 to 7 years and many stay even longer than that.
And even more good news is that those monthly donors that were generated using online, direct mail and telemarketing have higher retention rates than those brought on by other media, so it truly is a win-win for you starting with those low resource intensive media.
Unfortunately, there’s not one overall success formula, except: Ask, Ask and Ask again.
In future posts you’ll read you some practical tips on how best to use some of the most cost-effective media.
Sign up for my blog so you’ll receive future posts on monthly giving and tools as they’re developed. And if you’re interested in finding out how to start or grow your monthly giving program, just contact me!
And be sure to check out the new Monthly Giving Help Line where we can discuss specific questions you may have. It only takes one extra new monthly donor to pay for it! You can’t beat the price.
