Creating a monthly giving program

Kristi Lindstrom

I am trying to create a monthly giving program from scratch. Thinking of doing an online campaign for 2 months. Does anyone have any specifics on the best way to do this (how many emails, how often, what they should consist of)? We are a very small org without a lot of Marketing help and the information I'm finding does not tell me this kind of information. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. TIA

Faith Murray

Your best bets for monthly donors are 1) those who give 3+ gifts each year, 2) those who give by online gift, and 3) those who give by mailed-in credit card. If your org exists solely on online marketing, then an email campaign may be all you need. But if your org has a healthy direct mail component, then you ought to include a direct mail strategy into your efforts as well.

We went through this process ourselves about 5 years ago, with good success. Monthly giving does not need to be something you spend a lot of extra money promoting. You can incorporate it into your regular communications. A small box added to your regular direct mail reply cards, a sidebar on your weekly/monthly e-newsletters, a half-page in your snail mail newsletter. If you do this, then the email campaign you mentioned would not need to be very heavy - just a couple of email blasts to a target audience, about 10 days apart. Repeat annually. And don't forget to plan an upgrade and stewardship strategy for your existing monthly donors, once you acquire them.