What’s Your Monthly Donor Program’s Story?
Last week, I presented at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference. I had never attended this before, but it was a lot of fun. Everybody was extremely engaged, and there was time for some exercises and sharing! I presented a session on the three different types of stories needed for the acquisition, cultivation and upgrading of monthly […]
The Difference Between Subscribers and Sustainers
Recently, Network for Good rebranded its activities focused on recurring gifts and called it subscription giving. And as part of the subscription, you would be wise to give donors certain benefits. It indicated that benefits would make people feel more engaged. Then, at a recent webinar, someone asked me what I thought about subscription giving […]
Where Are Your Monthly Donors Hiding?
A while back, I interviewed Sami Sheehan of Lollypop Farm, a tremendous advocate of monthly giving. When we first talked, we decided we’d be back to discuss another great topic: hidden monthly donors. She’s done a lot of research, especially in the areas of workplace, Facebook and PayPal giving. You and your organization may very well […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Take Down the Silos
The last week of September = Sustainer month, I organized the first ever virtual Sustainer Workshop. About 40 fundraisers from all over the country, and even some from Canada, participated in the two-day workshop, looking at all stages of life for a sustainer. When I asked the question: ”What is your biggest challenge when it […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Organize and Clean Up
This past weekend, we had to replace a light bulb in our fan. Fortunately, I was able to find the warranty book in my warranty binder. That showed us we needed a special suction cup to get the light bulb out. Well, the big question was: Where was the suction cup to do just that? […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Visualize Your Goal
I recently presented a webinar as part of the two-day virtual summit, Nonprofit Changemakers, organized by Top Nonprofits. Afterward, I received the terrific visual (above) of the presentation. The artist really picked up the highlights of my message, and she did it live. One of the questions I always start with is how many monthly donors […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Let’s Declare September = Sustainer Month
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of presenting about sustainers with Tina Hudgins, who worked at the International Justice Mission at the time. She shared how the organization typically did a monthly donor direct mail and email invite campaign (including upgrades) in the month of September. And they’ve been doing this ever since. […]
How Essential Is a Fundraiser?
A few weeks ago, I gave kudos to the post office, printers, mail houses, etc. But what I failed to do was give kudos to fundraisers. I recently spoke with John Jeffries, the founder of the New Canvassing Experience, a face-to-face fundraising agency focused on helping nonprofits find more monthly donors. We discussed how essential or non-essential fundraising really […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Asking Will Result in More Monthly Donors
Good thing we have an extra day this week. I had a stack of mail more than a foot high, and I just finished scanning the various appeals I would like to save in a folder to use for training or learning. Let me start with some good news: Many organizations have adopted the best […]
A Monthly Giving How-To: Upgrading Donors
One of the most successful approaches to generate new monthly donors is to start with the lowest ask possible. For most, this means starting at $5 or $10 a month, typically dependent on the payment processor being used. I’ve even seen it as low as $2 or $3 a month. “Wait a minute,” you may […]
