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March 22, 2024 | Monthly Giving

Monthly Giving Wisdom from the Crowd

Expert trainers and fundraisers using DonorPerfect share ideas and recurring giving success stories

One of the perks of being a DonorPerfect user is access to our evolving and growing collection of fundraising resources, including live and on-demand webinars that help attendees gain mastery over their CRMs while learning new and effective ways to fundraise.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve hosted a series of webinars and virtual classes surrounding monthly giving. Five-hundred and sixty-six nonprofit professionals and advocates attended these learning sessions, with missions including healthcare, youth services, education, veterans’ programs, hunger alleviation, museums, animal welfare organizations, faith communities, and more all benefitting from the shared discussion.

Monthly and recurring giving is helping all of these nonprofits raise reliable revenue and boost their donor retention. It’s growing quickly in popularity among donors, so if your nonprofit hasn’t started a monthly giving program yet, now’s a great time to test the waters.

Want to learn from fellow fundraisers? Enjoy these nuggets of wisdom gained from our very own DonorPerfect community.

Asking questions can spark new fundraising ideas

In a recent training for DonorPerfect users titled, “The Ins and Outs of Monthly Giving,” attendees jumped in with questions that helped other viewers consider new approaches to their monthly giving strategy.

“Can we set up different automatic emails, such as tax receipts and a confirmation for the first gift?
“Can we set it up to have one message go out, then change it so different messages go out in subsequent months?”
“Is there a way to have a reminder automatically sent one month prior to the credit card expiration date?”
“How do we know that someone will be giving monthly?”

While each of these questions received a detailed answer on how to use DonorPerfect to accomplish the task at hand, they also struck at the heart of recurring giving fundraising: how can we make giving easy and convenient for donors, without neglecting or annoying these reliable and steady givers?

Learning how to keep track of your monthly givers, setting up unique communications to send automatically, and making sure the donor’s experience is frictionless are all key elements in running a successful monthly giving program.

Are you ready to start or grow your monthly giving program? Get the free Monthly Giving Success Kit for your ticket to sustainable fundraising!

The DonorPerfect monthly giving success kit

Breaking goals down into micro-projects can inspire your donors

Nearly 120 fundraisers tuned in to a recent DonorPerfect training titled, “Communicating with Donors about Monthly Giving.” Attendees chimed in with ways they help their supporters see the impact of monthly gifts and ideas for future campaigns:

To raise operational funds for a transitional housing project, fundraisers could create appeals for each piece of new furniture needed, one floor at a time.

One nonprofit segmented an affordable housing building project into each room, so donors could feel the impact they had over the people who will live in the homes they helped build.

For a capital campaign to build a restaurant for a culinary arts education program, fundraisers could engage more donors by breaking their goal into pieces of furniture, appliances, supplies, decor, and more.
Bonus: this can even inspire in-kind donations!

One nonprofit took their fundraising goal for lawn renovation and broke it down into individual benches, trees, flower beds, and more, so donors could see themselves making a tangible difference at a variety of giving levels.

While each of these ideas can be effective in soliciting one-time donations, they can also help your monthly giving program grow. Try showing your donors how much their impact could grow by switching from a one-time gift to a monthly commitment. 

Want a user-friendly, customizable online donation form that inspires more monthly gifts? See how DP Forms can help you save time and boost your digital fundraising results.

Mockup of a nonprofit using DP Forms

Prioritizing regular communication can keep monthly givers engaged

DonorPerfect community fan favorite Pam Grow recently led a free webinar titled, “A Plan for Growing Your Monthly Giving: Making it Happen in 2024.” In it, she discussed the importance of staying in touch with your monthly donors across a variety of channels, and for a variety of reasons. 

“Why do donors stop giving? 53% of donors surveyed said they stopped giving because the organization failed to properly communicate in one way or another. 46% of donors leave for reasons tied to a lack of meaningful information or a feeling that they’re giving is not appreciated. 60% want impact and success stories and they say their decision to give again hinges greatly on the organization’s ability to show exactly what it can accomplish. That’s why monthly giving is such a smart fundraising strategy. It really pays to have a strong monthly giving program.”

– Pamela Grow

Grow also shared words of wisdom from copywriter and donor retention expert, Lisa Sargent: “Don’t stop communicating.” Keep in touch with your monthly givers throughout the year to help them see the special role they play in your community. “I always want to send an appeal to my monthly supporters with some very special language letting them know how much they matter, and asking for an extra special gift,” Grow says.

DonorPerfect clients: Visit the Learning Center to schedule 1-on-1 trainings, learn how to optimize your system for your unique needs, and access on-demand webinars for topics you’d like to revisit.


Don’t have DonorPerfect? You can access our free, expert-led webcasts!

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Investing in the right fundraising software can help your nonprofit grow

Your mission deserves to be supported and uplifted, and that includes making use of technologies that help out beyond keeping track of donations. The DonorPerfect team is here to help you optimize your time spent fundraising, so you can raise the resources you need for your community to thrive. Nonprofits who use DonorPerfect raise 25% more funds in their first year with us – get a demo to learn how.

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Meet the author: Emily Zacek

Emily Zacek joined the DonorPerfect team as a copywriter in January, 2022. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014 with degrees in flute performance and organizational studies, and her undergraduate thesis focused on labor activity trends in American arts nonprofits. She brings a...

Learn more about Emily Zacek