How to Stabilize Your Donations and Build a Solid Base of Support

Spring is here, and that means that most charities are starving for revenue. The brutal cycle continues: abundance from October to December, and drought January through Easter, if not longer.

Those of us who work at charities know that the high points can feel really high, and the low points can feel really, really low. That’s true when you’re caring for others, advocating for a cause, or stewarding the environment, but it is especially true when it comes to fundraising.

By the time mid-Spring comes around, it may feel like you haven’t had a decent-sized gift in months. So how do you land that huge gift in January, and help balance the books and keep the lights on?

Put simply, you don’t. Give up on the huge gift. If you want to stabilize your donations and build a solid base of support, a robust monthly donor program is the closest thing you’re going to find to a silver bullet.

It often feels easier to focus your efforts on one huge gift that is going to solve all your problems. So why dedicate time and energy into building a monthly donor program?

1. Monthly donors allow you to plan

Monthly donors provide steady, year-round revenue. They keep your lows from getting too low. I would argue that a donor who gives every month through direct deposit is more valuable than a major donor who gives twice as much, but who may or may not appear each year. Why? Because you can bank on that revenue, and plan accordingly. You don’t have to wring your hands about funding for that new project, or make 11th hour calls to your faithful donor who is losing patience with you. Once you determine your basic attrition rate (it usually runs around 20%), you can strategize and move forward with confidence.

2. Monthly donors are in it for the long haul

When someone commits to being a monthly donor, they’ve decided that they’re in it for the long haul. They’re likely not giving on impulse, or because of a pang of guilt. They care about your cause. And what is the ultimate expression of dedication to a cause? You guessed it: becoming a legacy giver, and naming the cause in your will or estate. Monthly donors are far more likely to do this, especially if you treat them well. Better yet, they can become a pool for your planned giving program, either now or when you develop one.

3. Monthly donors are high-contact

The newsletter or e-blast component of a good monthly donor program allows for far more touch points. A donor relationship - like any other relationship - requires touch points to thrive or even survive. If a married couple only see each other once per week, their marriage may be in trouble. In the same way, a donor who you only see once per year every December is more likely to end the relationship.

But don’t just take it from me. Consider the venerable mother of all monthly giving programs: World Vision’s Child Sponsorship. The program has raised billions over the years, and provided the predictable income that World Vision needed to grow into the world-leading humanitarian organization it is today. Their secret was high contact between the cause and the donor: the child would literally write thank-you cards to the donor. That human contact kept donors giving, many of them for decades.

So monthly donor programs are a win-win. The donor gets the convenience of automated payment, and (if you communicate well) high contact with the cause they support. You get nearly assured income and the ability to project and plan based on it.

So what does it take to establish a winning monthly giving program? The first step is to make sure that you’re giving donors the option. There are ways of increasing your chances that they will, and we’ll get into the details of that in my next article.