July's Nonprofit Blog Carnival: A Guide to Monthly Giving
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
I'm the proud host of July's nonprofit blog carnival and this month we are looking at regular giving.
Monthly giving is the backbone of many individual giving programmes, but it can be hard to get right, especially in small charities . This month we'll be looking at how to acquire monthly givers, how to welcome them to your nonprofit and then how to look after them so they keep giving for many years.
Acquiring monthly givers and general advice
The main sources of recruiting monthly givers include:
- Street fundraising
- Door to door fundraising
- Direct response television
- Direct mail
- Panels on trains and in washrooms
- Asking your current supporters to sign up
The effectiveness and popularity of each method depends on where you are in the world and the budget you have available.
As acquisition becomes increasingly expensive it is important that fundraisers think creatively about recruiting new donors.
Pamela Grow shares advice on how to start up a monthly giving programme.
A Small Change on setting expectations for your programmes.
The Fundraising Authority with seven steps to launching a monthly giving program at your nonprofit.
Joanne Fritz at About.com posts eight tips for keeping monthly giving simple.
Kunye Consulting with a view on regular giving from South Africa.
SOFII has a wealth of examples of great monthly giving campaigns and products. Here are a few of my favourites:
- Dogs Trust sponsor a puppy product.
- The story of the origins of street fundraising by Greenpeace.
- Save the Children's Gaza campaign - used SMS and then telephone to convert to monthly giving.
Welcome and thank you
Depending on the type of recruitment you use for regular givers, attrition can be up to 65 per cent in year one. That's why it is so important that you do everything you can to welcome your new donors and make them feel appreciated.
101 Fundraising on calculating retention and building a retention and development strategy.
mGive share how you can use mobile and text giving to build a regular giving community.
Stewardship
Once you've welcomed and thanked your donors, you need to think how you are going to build your communications programme to inspire your donors and make them glad they gave.
Stuart Glen shares a lovely story about how he received a personal thank you for his monthly gift to Child's i.
Over at Pamela Grow's blog, Lisa Sargent shares some thoughts on the importance of on-going communication with your regular donors and getting your back end systems working correctly.
The Clarification blog share seven ways to build rapport with your donors using creative thank you's.
The Nonprofit Consultant blog on how your regular givers are changing.
August's nonprofit blog carnival
Kivi Leroux Miller at Nonprofit Marketing Guide is hosting next month's carnival and the topic is "playing nice with others" so you can get more work done, and done effectively, in a nonprofit environment.
Thanks for reading July's carnival - do get in touch if you have any questions or comments.
P.S. You can become a "Friend of the Carnival" and sign up for regular updates from Joanne Fritz, the nonprofit guide at About.com and manager of the carnival.