Monthly Giving Webinar Questions Answered
In January, three fundraising professionals came together in a FundRaising Success webinar titled “Everything You Need to Know About Obtaining and Retaining Monthly Donors.” Though our pros were able to answer a number of the questions posed by the more than 100 attendees, they couldn’t get to all of them. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be highlighting our experts’ answers to some of the questions that didn’t get answered during the webinar.
This week, we’ll hear from Linda King, sustaining membership coordinator/Leadership Circle coordinator at the Iowa Public Television Foundation.
If you’d like to access the entire webinar online, go to www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/docs/webinars.bsp for access and pricing information.
— Margaret Battistelli, Editor-in-Chief, FundRaising Success
Q: How many additional mailings/appeals are appropriate for a committed monthly donor?
Linda King: Speaking from a membership-based program, we offer sustaining membership as a solution for fewer solicitations. The monthly donors receive two additional gift asks: calendar year-end and fiscal year-end. If you have a campaign for a special need or circumstance out of the ordinary, I would include the monthly donors. [Be sure to] opt out the donors that let you know they do not wish to receive additional gift solicitations.
Q: Are you concerned that [monthly giving programs] are locking people in at lower gift amounts and [the organization loses] the ability to upgrade them?
LK: You are giving the donor an opportunity to make a larger gift because they can spread the amount over the year — easier to budget. In the tenth month of their giving, send an upgrade letter. I think you may be pleasantly surprised at the upgrades!
Q: What percentage of donors give via electronic funds transfer vs. credit card?
LK: EFT response will be higher with direct mail. Online pledges will be credit card. You can suggest to the credit card donors to convert to EFT in an upgrade letter and during phone conversations or inquires for new credit card information/expiration date. EFT is the least expensive option from an administrative standpoint.
Q: How effective is EFT? How do you get an older constituent base to buy into that?
LK: EFT is very convenient for the older constituent base. Their support is ongoing; they do not need to give it another thought. Renewal of support and benefits are automatic, so no need to wonder when to renew. If they have a passion for your organization, they want to support it at the highest level personally possible. Monthly giving can help them achieve their goal by spreading out their giving. Some are on a fixed income and think of what they can give monthly, so by setting up an EFT, it is taken care of. They are overwhelmed by all of the solicitations they receive from many organizations and sometimes just throw them away without reading them. By giving to your organization with an ongoing EFT, they know they are supporting their desired charity — good for them and for you; it wasn’t your direct-mail piece they threw away!
Q: Is it customary to send monthly or annual acknowledgements? Do you include options to upgrade in acknowledgements?
LK: Very good questions! An acknowledgement/welcome letter for new monthly donors should be sent with a brief statement summarizing their monthly gift agreement and should be sent as soon as possible. Donors could see monthly acknowledgements as a waste of their contributions. An annual acknowledgement could also be an upgrade request. Consider offering the option to increase their monthly giving on an additional gift solicitation. They might think, “I can’t write a check for $X at this time, but I can increase my monthly giving by $X.”
Q: Do you have any statistics on retention rates of monthly giving donors? Is there an average life cycle for a monthly giving donor (e.g., the majority discontinue after three years, etc.)?
LK: Your monthly donors will give as long as they have the passion for your organization. There are things that you can do to keep their passion in the forefront. Cultivation! We are a membership-based program and find there are very few reasons a donor stops their monthly giving: financial reasons (lost their job, unexpected financial burden, retirement, spouse’s death), moved out of state or deceased. We have sustainers that have been on our membership base for 20 years — monthly donors since conception of the program in 1995.
Q: How often do you mail to your monthly giving program participants? How important is the name of your sustainers group? Do any of you not include givers by check as part of your program? Have you seen any value in offering premiums or benefits for this group of givers? Is there any dollar-amount requirement tied into your sustainer programs?
LK: 1. The name is very important; it is the identity of your group and will be part of your logo. Also consider your organization’s mission, the names of other giving groups in your organization and how your monthly donors fit into the overall picture.
2. Your monthly donors should receive several cultivation pieces a year: newsletters, weekly/monthly electronic updates/highlights, year-end financial statements, information giving them an insider’s view.
3. Ongoing, monthly check donors — some donors want to be part of your group and participate in the benefits but they do not want anyone involved in their checking account or an ongoing, monthly credit card charge. This is a difficult group to administer. There is no way to automatically renew them — you are counting on them to keep sending their checks, and it might involve a monthly reminder statement, an expense to your organization. You need to accept them when asked, but I would not promote check giving.
4. Premiums — keep it simple, inexpensive, easy to manage. Benefits, yes, they should have benefits. These could be some of your cultivation pieces also or some of the same benefits as another giving group. Piggyback on other efforts!
5. Our starting point is a $5 monthly donation. You might consider offering $10 monthly as your starting point for online pledges.
Q: What are the best times of year to invite monthly donors? Can they overlap with key campaigns, say at year-end?
LK: You should be inviting donors to be ongoing monthly donors all the time. It should be promoted in any direct mail, newsletters, online, etc., as a gift option all the time. And it should be promoted by your customer service representatives to those that complain about too much mail.
Q: How many “special” or extra appeals for one-time donations are OK to send to existing monthly donors?
LK: I’m answering this as “special” appeals, not additional gift. Be careful of “special” appeals. Too many special appeals can lose their effectiveness. Is the ship really sinking? Have a good reason, and convey to the donor what their support will do, change, etc.
