Fundraising for Social Change, 8th Edition

chapter TWENTY‐TWOSetting Up and Maintaining Recurring Donor Programs

Inviting donors to give monthly (or at some other regular interval) is the best way to help donors who want to make a bigger commitment but can't pay all at once. It's also a great way to build donor loyalty. Harvey McKinnon, author of Hidden Gold and one of the most well‐respected fundraisers in Canada, has shown that the lifetime value of a monthly donor can be 600–800% more than that of donors who give annually. Network for Good, the online fundraising platform that securely distributes thousands of donations from donors to charities each year, reports that monthly donors give 42% more in one year than one‐time donors.

With the advent of online donating, recurring donor programs are becoming popular with both donors and organizations because of the ease of setting up and maintaining them—for the donor as well as the organization. In addition to the ease of setup, there are three other advantages to an organization to build a strong recurring donor program:

• Steady Cash Flow: Some organizations have been able to raise most of their ongoing operating costs from recurring monthly donations.
• Greater Donor Retention: Recurring donations continue until the donor tells the organization or bank or credit card company to cancel the payments. This is far different for a donor than having to decide whether or not to make a gift every time they are asked. As a result, the retention rate for recurring donors is often ...