Nonprofit Donor Cultivation: Get Serious about Recurring Donors!

If you’ve been in the nonprofit game for a while, you know that one of the most common challenges for organizational budgets is the fact that cumulative donations can change every month. And sometimes they can change drastically. If you’re smart (like we know you are!), you likely plan your yearly budget around these seasonal giving lulls, but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to worry about your revenue fluctuating all the time? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could plan your budget around a relatively stable monthly income? Not only would it make a huge impact on the long-term sustainability of your organization… it would likely save YOU a lot of stress!

It’s time to build-up your recurring donation strategy!

Recurring donors give a set amount at regular intervals – usually once a month or once a quarter – making it easier for them to give and easier for you to plan! Recurring donations are beneficial to because they increase revenues and allow for overall growth. With recurring donations, your nonprofit can work with a reliable stream of revenue and have confidence to sustain ongoing projects.

Ready to get serious about cultivating more recurring donors and strengthening the sustainability of your organization? Here’s three (super easy!) ways to increase recurring donations:

1. Start With a First Gift

You may already be a master of securing that first gift, but if you want to get more recurring donations, don’t be afraid to ask those first-timers for more! Encourage them to deepen their involvement by changing that one-time gift into a monthly or quarterly donation. Even better – start cultivating a culture in which recurring donations are the rule, not the exception! Talk about the power of ongoing and consistent giving in all your nonprofit marketing – whether it’s a Facebook status, Tweet, newsletter or direct mail piece. The more donors see recurring donations as the “default” way of giving, the more likely they will be to jump on the bandwagon and become an ongoing supporter too!

2. Emphasize Recurring Donor Impact

When you ask, make sure donor’s know the added value of recurring giving! Donors like to know that their contribution provides a reliable source of income, helping your organization make long-term commitments to projects they care about! Let them know they are a part of producing sustainable change over time. Share photos and impact stories (and maybe even the occasional recurring donor perk!) to let them know how their ongoing support is making a difference.

3. Make It Easy

Just like with any donation, when donors have to jump through a lot of hoops to set up a recurring donation, they may end up giving up and opting out. That’s why you’ve got to make it simple and straightforward. And that’s why Kindful online giving forms give donors the option to turn their one-time gift into a recurring gift directly from the main online donation pages. Check out how our friends over at Hope Heals utilize Kindful’s concise donation software on their website. By selecting or entering an amount on the “Donate” page, the donor simply checks the “Create Recurring Donation” box on the next page. From there, they have several options to choose from for how often they are donating. Remember, with recurring donors, those small donations add up!