One of my clients recently asked me what’s the best time to upgrade monthly donors.
The answer is, as soon as possible, but not too soon!
If you have had a program for a few years and you’ve never upgraded your monthly donors, NOW is the time because you’re long overdue.
If you just started your monthly donor program in the past year and you’re thinking of upgrading, be cautious.
I know of organizations that are successful upgrading after 6 months and I’ve even heard of organizations after 3 months.
But, frankly, I think 3 months is too soon and while you may get some monthly donors to upgrade, you may also alienate many others.
With any upgrade campaign it’s key to track any cancellations or rejects of the request and review their subsequent behavior.
Fact is that donors do understand that things get more expensive.
Fact is that donors do understand that your program is growing and that this requires a more extensive investment.
My experience is that the best time to upgrade an existing monthly donor is between 9 and 12 months after they joined the program.
During that time, they have become used to giving monthly. They like the process, they’re comfortable with your cultivation processes and the recognition they receive in appeals.
Did you know that there are three ways to actually upgrade monthly donors?
- Monetary increase
- Conversion to a different type of monthly giving, which increases the retention rate
- Second program.
All three work! But how well they work depends upon where you are in your monthly donor program growth and development.
Let’s start with the monetary increase first:
You ask the donors for a gift that’s one third to one half of their previous monthly gift and you use the mail, email or telemarketing. For example, if the monthly donation is $15, you might start with a $5 or $8 increase ask.
I’ve historically done this for my clients in January in the mail, along with a special Supporter card with special recognition. Then a telephone follow up to those who did not yet upgrade in the mail. The mail/phone combination works extremely well. And if you know that your monthly donors joined online, an upgrade ask via email is the way to go.
You should expect that you can upgrade about one third of all monthly donors that way and you should be able to do this once a year.
Like with acquiring new monthly donors, start low, don’t be too greedy. Even an upgrade of $5 a month is $60 a year! I’d rather have more donors upgrade with a small amount than not many at all. Once donors are becoming used to being asked for an upgrade, they’ll be more likely to make a modest increase next year when you ask again.
Carefully take note of those donors who do not wish to be called or who say that they do not wish to be asked for upgrades.
The conversion to a different type of monthly giving is relatively new.
With the increased credit card security breaches, Electronic Funds Transfer (also called automatic bank draft, automatic bank withdrawal, direct debit, ACH) has become more common and it certainly increases your retention rate, thus in essence upgrading your donors to higher levels. As utility companies have started using EFT extensively, more organizations are now asking credit card monthly donors to convert to EFT.
The ‘driver’ with this EFT conversion request is that you can indicate the savings you can accomplish, which you can then use to do more for your programs. Most monthly donors will understand this and may be comfortable giving you their bank information. Right now, most banks still require a signature on file so the mail works best, but online EFT giving is becoming more and more common. If you offer it, donors will do it. And of course, you can always put a form online that donors can fill out and return to you.
The final way to upgrade a monthly donor is by offering a second program. I would not recommend this until you absolutely have your first program totally in place, it’s working and you have built a substantial number of monthly donors that way.
Then, you can start cross selling the second program to those who are members of the first program. You’ll be amazed at how many donors might actually take you up on it. Or they’ll call you and upgrade their first monthly donation level.
Needless to say, like anything with fundraising, if you ask your monthly donors for an upgrade, they will! So make sure this becomes part of your second year or subsequent year monthly donor plan!
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.
