How Digital Sustainers Can Support Nonprofits in Difficult Times

By Kalie VanDewater

Industry reports over the past few years have identified declines in both donors and dollars. While the latest Fundraising Effectiveness Project data showed things may start looking up for nonprofits, it’s critical to continue growing your revenue streams.

Per M+R Benchmarks 2023, revenue from one-time donors fell 5% in 2023, while sustainer revenue grew 6%. Sustainers brought in 31% of digital revenue and gave an average annualized gift of $288. This predictable form of giving can be especially helpful when facing fundraising challenges and helps alleviate pressure on giving days such as GivingTuesday.

During a session at the 2024 Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, three industry experts provided insights into building a successful digital sustainer program. Here are some of the highlights that can push your program to the next level.

Monthly Giving Campaigns

Campaigns promoting monthly giving programs can take different forms. Carol Marchesano, senior director of digital marketing at North Shore Animal League America (NSALA), and Kim Abuelhaj, senior director of annual giving at GLAAD, said that both organizations rely on an unbranded sustainer program.

Marchesano added that NSALA also has a branded program focused on a kitten season campaign.

“We have kitten season. It is a horrible time of year during the months of April through October, where we bring in a cluster of moms and their babies — mama dogs and mama cats,” she explained. “So we have a nursery, and one of the things you can sponsor is the nursery. So we put those two together. We put kitten season together with the nursery. It's been very, very successful. It’s something we tried one year, and it continues to do well.”

Something that can boost sustainer acquisition is offering premiums. According to Abuelhaj, premiums can help “seal the deal” and increase sustainers’ average gift size. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that sustainers acquired through premiums may expect gifts if they donate again, she said.

Abuelhaj also warned that you have to keep an eye on retention rates following these types of campaigns. For example, GLAAD used to offer a box of gifts called “Pride Unboxed,” which offered fitness trackers and Broadway tickets to new sustainers.

“The first year we did Pride Unboxed we retained around 83% of our donors, but the second year we did it we only retained 50%,” she said. “But even with the drop off, we were still growing our sustainer pool significantly, so we tried it again a third time. But the third time was the last time we did the campaign because we just were not seeing the same levels of success.”

Evergreen Sustainer Promotions

One simple tactic that can help boost your monthly giving program is to include it as part of the regular donation process, whether it’s enabling monthly giving in the initial donation form or prompting donors to upgrade right after they make their one-time donation.

Marchesano said her organization is even testing making monthly giving the default donation option for online giving.

As far as payment goes, credit cards are not — and should not — be the only option. By diversifying the payment types you accept, you make it more likely that a donor will give and become a sustainer.

This is especially true for younger donors, since it eliminates the inconvenience of having to go find their credit card for their donation, said Laura Cole, vice president of account services at Sanky Communications.

Another strategy NSALA has employed is offer wall advertising, which is most commonly seen in digital games. For instance, if someone playing a game on an app wants to earn points, they can elect to donate $20 on a monthly basis to NSALA.

While the nonprofit is still testing this, Marchesano said that retention seems to last on average for five months, making this strategy best for short-term ROI.

“We broke even in six months, and we have an ROI of 110%,” she said. “So basically, we invested $15,000, and we brought in over $31,000 in revenue.”

Upgrading Sustainers

Although retention is inherent in sustainer giving, it’s important that you continue encouraging these donors to offer more support by upgrading their donation. According to Cole, you should start asking your sustainers to increase their donations once they’ve been giving for three months, and you should ask once or twice a year.

Additionally, if the sustainer in question is nearing the major or mid-level donor tier, don’t be afraid to encourage them to step up a level.

In any case, you should make it easy for donors to upgrade their donation.

“Some of [the platforms] have one-click upgrade options,” Cole said. “You can send a donor an email, they click and immediately upgrade a certain amount. Sometimes you can do it with logins, but honestly anyone can get away with this. [You could] build a custom form that's literally just, ‘Yes, I'd like to increase my giving,’ check the box, here's the new amount. Then, someone on the back end has to go in and manually increase it. You're generally not looking at a huge volume, and you can get away with a more manual process.”

Reporting Metrics

Of course, putting this effort into your sustainer program is only useful if you are measuring success. To evaluate the efficacy of your sustainer program, make sure you are tracking:

Average gift size of sustainers, by channel if possible.
The number of new sustainers you’ve converted.
Percentage of digital income that comes from sustainers.
Average number of gifts per sustainer — over a year and over their lifetime.
Top sources of new sustainers (e.g., email, website, social media).
Longevity of current sustainers.

Cole recommended linking existing sustainer gifts back to the source they came from — or at least tracking that data somewhere — to determine what tactics were most effective.