Moustaches, Kale, and Monthly Giving

Danielle Johnson

On the Go! eNews (Sept/Oct 2013 edition)

 

Sustained giving programs have become all the rage, nearly as popular nowadays as moustaches, craft cocktails, and kale. We adore our monthly donors because they supply a much-needed, predictable revenue source and are some of the highest value individual donors. In other words, these folks deserve your unwavering devotion and should be a large part of your donor conversion strategy. Many organizations treat their monthly donors as they treat their major donors…with a personal touch and attractive perks.

 

If you haven’t yet dabbled in monthly giving, login to Luminate Online and create a monthly giving option for your donors at once. Then, add that option to your website, welcome series, and regular eCommunications. In fact, promote it everywhere.

 

The most successful monthly giving programs do not offer an end date or unusual giving increments. Simply allow your donors to give monthly and don’t clutter up your form (or your donors’ experience) with quarterly gifts, ending gift in 2 months, or any other unnecessary rubbish. As always online, keep it simple.

 

Also, studies have shown that branding your monthly giving program has less impact than originally thought. Naming your monthly giving program the Champions or President’s Club has even shown to deter some donors who don’t much want the recognition or who just don’t equate the branded name with monthly giving. Some organizations with established branded monthly giving programs have gently moved away from the brand name and just used the term “give monthly” as their tagline.

 

While special naming appears to have lost steam, special benefits offered to monthly donors remain a powerful incentive. Be sure to list any benefits or premiums on your monthly giving donation form and any dedicated monthly giving appeal.

 

Do you know what the most devastating issue is for monthly giving programs? It isn’t that people willingly bail on you because they’ve lost interest. Instead, 4-5% of all monthly gifts are lost due to declined credit cards. There are several ways to combat this irritating phenomenon.  First, EFT/ACH (or automatic bank draft) nearly eliminates the problem because donors rarely change bank accounts. While EFT/ACH does cost a bit to set up, it has less fees than credit card donations so it may pay off in the long term.

 

Second, know how much money you should be processing each month and compare it to what you actually process so that you can diagnose problems early. Organizations that are able to contact declined card owners right away have significantly higher rates of retention and higher overall monthly giving revenue. One large organization sees 43% of lost donors back in the flock within 2 months with a strategic communication stream consisting of an email within 2 days of declined attempt, phone call within 2 weeks, and an offline courtesy reminder and additional email thereafter.

 

We run a recurring giving campaign in your year in the Go! program so if you’re still unsure how to get this incredibly lucrative program up and running, stay tuned for your cohort to tackle it. There are also some great resources in the Go! Community.

 

Heads up for early 2014: BBMS is going to offer the add-on service to automatically update Visa/MC expiration dates and updated card numbers. Keep an eye out for information on how to add that to your BBMS account in the new year. It will cost only $0.30/updated card which is pennies to how much you would lose if you lost that monthly donor forever.

 

Written by Rachael Ahrens