The Power of a Monthly Giving Tick Box on Your Appeals
You probably know by now that monthly giving is not a one-shot deal. It’s a matter of “chipping” away at it. And if you’re a golfer, you know, it’s those chip shots that can make all the difference.
With monthly giving, it’s all about consistency. It’s about a continued and committed focus. It’s about finding ways to build in a monthly giving ask wherever you possibly can. There are numerous (almost endless) online opportunities, but don’t forget about your offline options.
If you’re sending appeals in the mail and you’ve not already done so, consider adding a simple tick box to your appeal.
If you’re worried it’s going to impact your one-time gifts, by all means, test it first. If you’re more committed to building your number of monthly donors to higher levels, you can safely add that tick box without testing it.
Can you expect to get boatloads of new sustainers from it? It depends on the type of appeals you send out. It depends on the number of appeals you mail to your donors.
I know of a big organization that gets thousands of new sustainers from new donors right off the bat. Other organizations get fewer than 10, but it gets new donors every time they send an appeal.
You may not even get any at first. Slowly but surely, you’ll start seeing some people ticking that box and filling out their information. It doesn’t cost you much or even nothing! it could be a simple laser variation so you can target it to perhaps your lower end donor versions first.
There are many different ways you can do a tick box, but here’s just one example:
Front of the reply form right below the one-time ask line | Credit: Priests of the Sacred Heart
Back of the reply form | Credit: Priests of the Sacred Heart
I always recommend making sure to get that signature and having donors confirm it, so you know the monthly donor is really committed. And if in doubt, always contact the donor. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.
So use what you have to generate monthly donors, no extra cost. Even if it doesn’t bring in many at first, just keep at it, and you’ll see it’ll start happening! Just remember, one monthly donor is worth between $288 and $432 on average a year! So adding a tiny tick box can pay off big.
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- Direct Mail
- Monthly Giving
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Erica Waasdorp is one of the leading experts on monthly giving. She is the president of A Direct Solution, a company serving nonprofit organizations with fundraising and direct marketing needs, with a focus on monthly giving and appeals. She authored "Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant" and "Monthly Giving Made Easy." She regularly blogs and presents on fundraising, appeals and monthly giving — in person and through webinars. She is happy to answer any questions you may have about this great way of improving retention rates for your donors.
Erica has over 30 years of experience in nonprofits and direct response. She helped the nonprofits she works with raise millions of dollars through monthly giving programs. She is also very actively supports organizations with annual fund planning and execution, ranging from copywriting, creative, lists, print and mail execution.
When she’s not working or writing, Erica can be found on the golf course (she’s a straight shooter) or quietly reading a book. And if there’s an event with a live band, she and her husband, Patrick, can be found on the dance floor. She also loves watching British drama on PBS. Erica and Patrick have two step sons and a cat, Mientje.
