Laying the Foundation for Sustained Giving

Danielle Johnson

On the Go! eNews

January/February 2014 Edition

 

By: Danielle Johnson Vermenton, Sr Interactive Consultant

 

For the past couple of years sustained giving has become THE hot topic in fundraising. And why shouldn’t it? As one blogger said “it just makes sense”. In Go! we work together to lay the foundation for your monthly giving efforts. From there we build a framework for running a multi-message campaign that is integrated with other offline and online efforts. But, you and I both know there is so much more.

 

When we begin to work on your sustained giving campaign we are moving your organization into what I like to call the intermediate stage. So what exactly characterizes the intermediate stage? It can be any number of things; the list below is just a sample of what you can do.

 

• fundraising/storytelling: run a multi-message campaign with a dedicated donation form, have specific examples with giving levels tied to mission impact
• marketing/promotions: campaign is integrated with an offline direct mail appeal, social media, enews and printed publications, you might even create a branded giving program or society
• program maintenance: you suppress sustained giving donors from campaigns, run reports to target donors that missed a payment, and have a system in place to provide the right customer service to donors

 

By the time you graduate from Go! and begin to plan year two of your online fundraising program you should be implementing many of these tactics. Of course it is a fluid process. You might accomplish many of these activities in our 12 months together, but it might take another 6 months to a year to really gain momentum. In fact you might stay in this phase for a couple of years, it should be based on your needs and capacity.

 

What comes next? When are you ready to implement advanced and strategic tactics? And what is happening in the nonprofit marketplace? The tactics we’re seeing are numerous and diverse (and very successful). Here are a few to investigate and consider when taking your sustained giving strategy to the next level.

 

--Explore the use of lightboxes. The Defenders of Wildlife wanted to convert one-time donors to monthly givers so they used the Donations API in Luminate to create a donation form that used a pop-up box to ask donors to instead give a monthly gift. Over 5 months, 10% of one-time donors converted to sustained giving donors.

 

--Upsell your current monthly donors. Utilize the power of the Luminate reporting tool and run reports that gather total giving for the year by donor and then create groups with corresponding upsell levels. To make it easy, I would focus on one group, ie: sustainers that give between $300-499 and solicit them to give $42 a month, upgrading their giving to $500. By doing it this way you can focus on upgrading by giving levels – move donors up to $500, $1,000, $2500, etc which in turn enables you to focus on incentives and benefits.

 

--Set up the Gift Service Center in Luminate and enable your supporters to manage their own giving. While some organizations do this from day one, many wait until they have a larger pool of donors, like 50 or 60 to configure the tool.

 

--Add a 3^rd message to your Welcome Series that asks for a sustainer gift. Research shows affinity is highest in the first 30-60 days, take advantage and convert your prospects into loyal supporters. 

 

--Research and identify sustained giving donors that are prospects for planned giving. Your online relationships don't have to stay online, develop your donors with a thoughtful plan.

 

And the list goes on. 

 

When thinking about the phases of sustained giving and next steps – evaluate your needs, what your donors want, and your organizational capacity. With a clear picture you can plan accordingly and realistically.

 

For more resources, thought leadership and tips on sustained giving and online fundraising, visit npENGAGE.