When a contributor decides to make a monthly, ongoing donation to your organization rather than a one-time gift, this is referred to as a recurring donation.
5 Steps on how to retain donors with recurring donations
1. Thank donors within 48 hours
Make sure to thank your donors within 24 to 48 hours of receiving a donation. Any form of thanks, whether it’s a thank-you letter, note or phone call within that time frame increased the chances of that donor to continue giving.
2. Make monthly giving an upgrade
One way of increasing the appeal of being a recurring donor is by giving your donors extra value. An easy way to add this value is associate monthly giving with special status or membership within your community. You can highlight this exclusivity by giving monthly donors a distinct title; this delivers a little extra value.
3. Keep donors up-to-date with the cause they donated to
By showcasing the impact that donors’ gifts have made to the cause, you show them that their donations are well-used, which motivates them to continue giving. This piece of communication is perfect to send post-donation and can be used to encourage donors to sign up for a recurring donation program. Consider using a photo, video or personal story from an individual whose donation has helped.
4. Have a strategy for engaging donors as soon as they walk through the door:
Engaging with donors at key moments is incredibly important. One of these key moments is when a donor gives to your organization for the first time or on the first anniversary of their first-ever donation.
Reach out to new donors, remind them how their contribution has helped your nonprofit and using the concepts in this article, encourage them to become recurring donors.
5. Be consistent
If you aim to build an engaged community of recurring donors, you need to make sure to communicate with them regularly and with enthusiasm. It is uncouth to have the primary subject of communication be geared towards donations or recurring giving. This form of communication will alienate donors and they can come to resent you.
Instead, do ‘non-ask campaigns’. According to accelevents, “Non-ask campaigns are any communication or marketing campaigns that have a primary purpose of informing and acknowledging your donors without asking for a monetary contribution.”
It is imperative that you show your donors how much you value them, outside of their ability to provide donations. Keep them informed on any upcoming events or news, ask for feedback, and interact with them via social media. Make them feel like they’re a part of your mission like they’re a part of your family.
Reasons to embrace recurring donations
1. Increased revenue
Even though one-time donations are bigger; smaller, monthly donations gifted over the course of a year always add up to more. According to research, recurring donors gift five times as much as one-time donors, with the average recurrent donor contributing for more than two years. When you combine higher annual giving level with monthly donors’ increased retention rates, you can clearly see why monthly donations are important.
2. Better long-term planning
Revenue from recurring donations is far more predictable and consistent than that of one-off gifts. Since this data has already been accumulated, an organization can easily calculate and model its projected revenue from recurring donations with a high level of accuracy.