Growing Your Monthly Donors Starts With the Little Things
As I’m sure you can imagine, I receive questions about how best to grow monthly donor programs all the time. One of the first things I do is look at the organization’s website. How easy is it to find the monthly giving option? How easy is it to find the donation page to begin with?
Some website designs have these little horizontal lines (I call them ‘hoobies’). Here is one example:
Yes, it looks cool and modern, and you may know that this is the "menu," but does the average donor know that? They may think it’s just part of your web design. So, please do yourself a favor and make it very clear where the donor has to go to donate.
Don’t depend on the"menu. Add a donate button on your home page. And then, while you’re at it, how about adding a "give monthly" button? If the donor clicks that, they are already predetermined. Just take a look at this example. It sits on the top right of the organization’s home page:
Then make it even easier for the donor to complete their monthly gift. If your system allows it, offer a monthly donor only option, so donors cannot "change their mind."
Or if your system doesn’t offer that, make it really clear the donor knows they’re giving monthly. Confirm it every step of the way. Indicate It on the button like you see here:
Credit: Fundraise Up
You want to make sure and test every step of the process the donor goes through and really wants to make that monthly gift. Trust me, this helps with commitment and with monthly donor retention.
Yes, of course, when you’re sending an email, you’ll direct donors to the monthly giving page right away. But so many donations are coming in organically, starting from the home page, so you must make it easy for the donor to find.
If you haven’t taken a look at your donation processes in a while, take a few minutes this week and look at it from the donor’s point of view.
Growing your monthly donor program starts with the details.
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- Monthly Giving
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.
