As economic worries grow amid federal funding cuts and threats of a potential recession, monthly giving can provide stability for your nonprofit by creating a predictable and dependable revenue stream.
Among the many ways these programs pay off for charities, monthly donors tend to be easier — and cost less — to hang on to than other supporters. One study found that the retention rate for sustainers typically is around 90 percent, compared with an average rate of about 45 percent for all donors. “Even with the processing charges, at the end of the day, your costs to keep them active are so much lower because you’re not constantly renewing and resoliciting these donors,” says Alicia Meulensteen, director of nationwide membership at the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU has been heartened to see that many donors are choosing monthly giving in the current moment, despite the shaky economy. Those who are returning to the organization are becoming sustainers, and existing monthly donors are proactively upgrading their pledges, she says. “People already understand why it’s so important. They get it. They can see that we’re all in for a marathon and not a sprint. And I think ... that answers why they’re choosing monthly giving.”
There is a place for recurring support at every organization, no matter your mission, Meulensteen says. Even if it never becomes the biggest slice of your fundraising revenue, it can help you build a more consistent annual giving program and ensure your nonprofit keeps its mission alive through times of change and volatility.
The Chronicle gathered insights and advice from several experts to help you figure out how to maximize monthly giving in the current climate. Based on those conversations, here are five key characteristics of healthy sustainer programs and tips to start attracting more of these loyal donors — and raising more — right away.
Monthly Giving Is ‘Everywhere’
It’s worth investing in as many channels as you can to acquire monthly donors, such as targeted digital advertising, canvassing, and telemarketing, says Rachael Wolber, vice president at M+R, a marketing and fundraising consultancy. “Because of the high long-term value of a monthly donor, if you’re looking at that investment over the one- to five-year mark, it is generally kind of paying off in terms of the ability to actually grow the donor base, grow revenue, and make a positive return on those investments,” she explains.
Some organizations with sophisticated recurring giving programs are branching off monthly giving and offering additional flexible options, Wolber says, such as quarterly or annually recurring gifts. A few groups are letting sustainers make multiple monthly gifts and select specific restricted-giving funds to support with their donations, she says. “It kind of goes against the conventional wisdom that people want monthly giving because it’s uncomplicated and they just want to make their one gift.”
It’s rare that something goes out that doesn’t have an option for someone to choose monthly, even if it is ostensibly a one-time ask.
The ACLU offers donors the option to give monthly “everywhere,” Meulensteen says. This form of giving became a key part of the group’s fundraising after the 2016 presidential election and Trump’s Muslim ban, she says. It has continued to grow ever since — and now accounts for roughly half the total revenue from small-dollar donors.
“It’s rare that something goes out that doesn’t have an option for someone to choose monthly, even if it is ostensibly a one-time ask,” Meulensteen says. Mailings and online donation forms, for example, always include a checkbox to give monthly, so people can easily become sustainers if they feel ready in that moment.
Even if a donor makes a one-time gift online, she says, the message they see afterward thanks them and asks if they are interested in switching to monthly giving.
The organization has prioritized attracting sustainers in recent years and is seeing the fruits of those efforts, she says. For example, after switching its canvassing program to focus only on monthly giving about five years ago, that channel is now the ACLU’s biggest source of new sustainers. And it is a steady source, says Meulensteen, even in slow months. “It’s a stream of monthly donors.”
Messages Lead With Impact
At Rainforest Action Network, an advocacy group focused on climate change and deforestation, some tactics that help expand monthly giving seem counterintuitive, says development director Zanne Garland. For example, the organization has run digital ads promoting monthly giving, but those promotions attracted fewer new sustainers than ads focused on their mission. It’s more effective to ask donors to help make an impact, she says, and offer monthly giving as a very easy option or the default way to give.
If your nonprofit faces a specific challenge or emergency, talk with donors about how monthly contributions tie into that.
If your nonprofit faces a specific challenge or emergency, talk with donors about how monthly contributions tie into that, Wolber suggests. For an international-aid group, that may mean focusing on how sustainers enable your group to respond to emergencies right away, rather than having to raise money for that work. “[Connect] the monthly gift explicitly ... to how it helps the nonprofit ... weather those more turbulent times and also make sure their services are not disrupted,” she advises.
Meulensteen suggests highlighting your nonprofit’s ongoing need for support. The ACLU often talks about how it has existed for more than 100 years and expects to stick around for the long haul. This messaging works for the organization because the ACLU focuses on multiple issues and its cases can take a long time in court, she says. But most groups have a persistent problem they are trying to solve, whether it’s crises abroad or food insecurity in the United States.
Your message to sustainers shouldn’t necessarily be different, she explains. “It’s just about emphasizing the ongoing need and making that case to the donor.”
Donors Feel Incentivized to Give
Rainforest Action Network’s digital and direct-mail fundraising teams have joined forces to focus on expanding monthly giving, Garland says, including adding new benefits for sustainers and finding ways to make these donors feel valued and engaged.
Last year, for example, in recognition of sustainers’ value, the group invited them to two webinars that typically would have been only for major donors. The network is also offering incentives for choosing monthly giving, such as a bonus entry in a giveaway at its first Giving Day and customizable phone wallpaper related to its mission, which is sent to new and existing sustainers.
To motivate those donors to give more, the organization typically offers matching gifts at different times throughout the year, Garland says. But this year, it went a step further. The network has raised enough from key donors to match a full year of monthly giving, and it’s making sure sustainers know about that opportunity. “I think sometimes people really want to maximize that match,” she says.
Communication Is Consistent and Thoughtful
Maggie Petray, donor stewardship and recognition officer at Food Bank of the Rockies, says her No. 1 rule is that if someone is a monthly donor, you call them that. The food bank’s efforts to recognize sustainers’ status in all communications has been paying off, she says. The retention rate for these donors has been growing consistently since she joined the organization in 2021 to focus on monthly giving, reaching about 90 percent for the last several months.
Some of the group’s messages are automated — such as donation receipts, notifications of failed payments, and thank-yous — but Petray also sends an email from her Outlook account with the same information, she says. These duplicate efforts make sure that both tech-savvy donors and those who would rather talk with a human feel taken care of. “That mixture is very helpful because it makes us feel personal,” she says. “I can’t know every single one of my 5,500 [monthly] donors, right? I don’t have a relationship with each one of them, but I think they think we might.”
I can’t know every single one of my 5,500 [monthly] donors, right? I don’t have a relationship with each one of them, but I think they think we might.
Rainforest Action Network typically sends one or two emails each week to all donors, including sustainers, Garland says. These messages often provide short updates with calls to action that are not only requests for money, so donors have more ways to get involved than simply giving. For example, the group might invite donors to sign a petition.
The organization also sends exclusive messages to sustainers four to six times per year, she says, such as an invitation to a webinar or a special thank-you.
Thank-Yous Bring Sustainers Closer
After Petray joined the food bank, she created summer cards for sustainers that included a personal recipe using peaches. “Peaches are excellent in Colorado, and they come out in the summer, and I’m a big baker,” she says, so it made sense to give them her recipe.
Now the organization enlists local celebrity chefs it works with for an event to share a peach recipe each summer, which the group sends to sustainers. “I think that’s a really cool tie-back to our mission because it’s food,” Petray says. “And then also monthly donors love getting a recipe from a celebrity chef — like someone that if they are into eating, they hear from — and it helps our relationship with those chefs carry on through, past that event.”
Petray also organizes occasional thank-a-thons for sustainers. If the fundraising team doesn’t have time to call every donor themselves, she’ll hire a vendor to help rather than prioritize supporters based on giving amount. “I want everyone to be thanked if we’re going to thank anyone,” Petray says. “So, it’s like all staff on deck: Let’s call 5,000 donors and tell them thank you in a month.”
In addition to offering new incentives for monthly donors, Garland says, Rainforest Action Network has increased its general stewardship of these supporters, including personally thanking them by email and asking if they are interested in connecting. Sometimes these messages lead to an email exchange, phone call, or Zoom interaction, she says, which helps strengthen the group’s connection with the donor.
You can try gimmicks or special tactics to inspire loyalty, but sometimes it’s more about the basics of showing people the impact of giving and thanking them for their support, Garland says. “The [most] important thing is making sure people understand that that’s an opportunity and how important it is to have people staying with us in a way that’s long-term and sustainable for the organization.”
