Recurring Giving By The Numbers

Recently I was on a call with a client who was trying to convince her organization to start a recurring gift program. I mentioned to her that recurring gift donors often have a retention rate of 70–80%! I think I wowed her that I was able to remember such a significant statistic. However, when compared to an average first-time giving retention rate of only 25–30% (or so), it's not something I was likely to forget. I was so inspired that I decided to research more interesting facts about online sustaining giving. Here is a list of the top 10 facts that I discovered.

1. According to the Blackbaud Luminate Online^® Benchmark Report, in 2018 online recurring giving grew over 18%.
2. The average total revenue for online recurring giving in 2018 was almost $67,000.
3. Nonprofits in the public broadcasting vertical receive over a million dollars on average in recurring revenue. I guess we all really love those tote bags! 
4. The average online retaining gift in 2018 was just over $35.
5. The average sustaining donor stays with an organization as a sustainer for 4–7 years.
6. If a donor gives only $20 a month every month for a year, at the end of 12 months, they will have donated $240 to your organization. That's over $140 more than the average single online gift.
7. If a $20-a-month donor increases their gift by $5 2 years after they gave their first gift, at the end of 4 years, they will have donated more than $1,000 to your organization.
8. If a $20-a-month donor increases their gift by $5 once a year, they will have given almost $3,000 to your organization at the end of 7 years!
9. Credit card companies estimate that 30–50% of credit card information changes every year, so it is critical to have a strategy for updating credit cards.
10. Blackbaud Community members report that using Credit Card Updater from Blackbaud Merchant Services recoups the cost of using the service within months and is a huge help in retaining sustaining donors.

Don't have a recurring gift program? Want to give your current program a boost? Register today for Blackbaud University's new course, Luminate Online: Growing Your Recurring Gift Program.