Encourage Monthly Giving During Uncertain Times
There I was, sitting on a plane on my way to a presentation. But when I landed, I found out the committee had just canceled the meeting. Not the end of the world, so I made the best of it, did a bit of sightseeing, practiced social distancing, and got caught up on some work […]
How Can You Find a Good Name for Your Monthly Donor Program?
This is one of those recurring questions I get whenever I present on monthly giving, so it may be time to address it again. Organizations often “agonize” about the name for a monthly giving program. Many are holding up the launch of it. Do yourself a favor: Don’t delay. You can always recognize donors later! […]
2 New Ways to Calculate the Value of Monthly Donors!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m always looking for ways to help you convince your boss or board that it’s time to put a bit of time into generating more monthly donors. Time is really all it takes now, because the tools are already there. You just have to make […]
How Should You Treat Your Monthly Donors on Giving Tuesday?
As you’re getting ready for Giving Tuesday — or the campaign season starting before Thanksgiving — this question comes up often: Should I include my monthly donors in my Giving Tuesday campaign? My answer is: Yes! Absolutely, BUT… Why do I recommend including your monthly donors? Because this is an exciting time to give, and […]
5 Ways You Can Add a Monthly Giving Ask to Your Appeals
If you’ve heard me speak or read some of my blogs, you already know that I always advocate for the following: The more opportunities you offer donors to give monthly, the more monthly donors you will find! But for most organizations, there is always that fine line of having to bring in one-time short-term funds […]
3 Case Studies That Prove That Nonprofit Direct Mail Still Works In 2019
I grew up with and in direct mail. I was fortunate to work at Reader’s Digest (RD) in Amsterdam right after college and it really shaped the rest of my career. I’ve always loved direct mail because you can measure results, but nothing beats seeing the boxes and boxes filled with responses coming back. I […]
Check Your Monthly Donor Journey
I just attended Fundraising Day in New York, attended by almost 2,000 people. One of my favorite sessions was about sustainers, of course! It was led by great moderator Paul Habig from Sanky; and two experienced monthly donor fundraisers, Luke Franklin from the ASPCA with 400,000 (!) and Emily Stevenson from EDF with 20,000 monthly […]
Monthly Donors: What to Do When Things Go Wrong
Of course in your organization, nothing ever goes wrong with your monthly donors. But what would you do if something did? Would you hide? Would you stick your head in the sand and let someone else handle it? Or would you consider your donors and confess? The reality is that most of your donors will […]
Alert: Segment Your Monthly Donors, and Do It Right
As I’m working on my presentation for the Bridge Conference on “Flip or Flop,” what has worked and what hasn’t worked in monthly giving, I came across a few examples of what not to do. I’m not going to name names, but let me just say that all three examples come from big organizations. All three organizations […]
Monthly Giving: Think Long Term With a Little Short Term Work!
A received a very excited call from a client: “We got several monthly donors from the tick box on the special appeal! But how do I now report this? Our finance folks want to attribute this for the calendar year only. Help?” I congratulated her and then advised her that even though there’s no end […]
