{"id":17815,"date":"2020-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.causevox.com\/?p=17815"},"modified":"2024-05-08T23:45:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T23:45:30","slug":"reasons-you-need-a-monthly-giving-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/reasons-you-need-a-monthly-giving-program\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Reasons You Need A Monthly Giving Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A few years ago, there were not many charities offering monthly giving. Other than child sponsorship, it was a relatively new concept for charities, and for donors as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Times are changing though. Monthly giving has now become an important part of many organization\u2019s marketing strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we respond to an aging donor base, the need to diversify our income and the need to reach younger donors, monthly giving has been increasing in popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, CauseVox saw an 18% increase in recurring giving (with similar results corroborated by the 2019 M+R Benchmarks Report) and it is expected to continue growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if you\u2019re still unsure if it\u2019s right for you, here are 6 reasons why your organization needs a regular giving program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Monthly Giving Helps You To Plan and Budget<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike one-time giving, monthly giving can help provide a more predictable annual income.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, in a time of economic instability, having predictable income is immensely valuable for your organization&#8217;s budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By looking at your existing regular giving database, and their average gift, you should have a very clear idea of how much revenue you will generate throughout the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will need to take into account attrition and acquisition but this stability in income can help you plan and budget accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While one-giving isn\u2019t as predictable, it may still be the preferable way to give for some donors &#8211; particularly high value donors and online donors. Regular giving should therefore be considered just one part of your organization\u2019s portfolio.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We recommend targeting a specific group of donors to become one-time donors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Donors who have given once a year, for the last two or more years.<\/li><li>Donors who recently made a smaller one-time gift.<\/li><li>Donors you acquired during year-end (to help support throughout the year).<\/li><li>Donors who have strong ties to a particular program (think program alumni, former staff, etc) that are poised for ongoing support.<\/li><li>Donors 35 and under.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t necessarily need to \u2018name\u2019 your monthly giving program, however if you\u2019d like some ideas see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/monthly-giving-program-examples\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4 Unique Recurring Donation &amp; Monthly Giving Program Examples<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Monthly Giving Can Be More Convenient For Donors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Monthly giving is an attractive method for donors, as it doesn\u2019t require any ongoing effort to make a donation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/donation-page\/\">donation<\/a> is automatically deducted from their account every month, and it can be a \u201cset and forget\u201d way for them to contribute to your cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is also more affordable for some donors &#8211; instead of giving one, large cash gift a year, they can break their donation down into smaller, monthly amounts. This may make it more manageable on their personal budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/screen-shot-2020-04-28-at-6-47-10-pm.png\" alt=\"monthly-recurring-giving\" class=\"wp-image-17897\" \/><figcaption>Be a humble hero has a defaulted monthly option on their donation page to nudge users towards monthly giving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Monthly Donors Have The Best Retention Rate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Simply put &#8211; monthly donors stick around for longer. While they may be smaller in volume, at least to begin with, they have a better retention rate than cash givers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The retention rate of recurring donors is 90% (Bloomerang) so even though they may cost more to acquire, they are your best donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In comparison to a 46% retention rate for one-time donors, when you acquire recurring donors, <em>you double your retention rate.<\/em> That makes a huge impact on how much you raise throughout the year and for years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To help you acquire more recurring donors, it&#8217;s essential to have a monthly option on your donation page on your website.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/screen-shot-2020-05-11-at-6-28-02-pm.png\" alt=\"need-monthly-recurring-giving\" class=\"wp-image-17931\" \/><figcaption>Refuse Fascism&#8217;s &#8216;Sustaining&#8217; Donors program, with monthly giving defaulted on their donation form (embedded on their website.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But, you want your recurring giving technology to work for you, helping you to increase retention rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CauseVox helps you keep your recurring donors with email automation whenever a payment fails, prompting your recurring donor to update their card on file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/launch-recurring-giving-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">See how easy it can be to create a monthly giving program through CauseVox.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Monthly Donors Give More<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Even when a donor is returning to give once a year, their gift amount may not be as high as the overall annual revenue from a recurring donor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, recurring donors give up to 42% more than annual returning donors (Network for Good) &#8211; so while the average gift for a cash giver might be higher, your recurring givers actually give you more throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it&#8217;s easy to see why: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s say Sally goes to your donation page and clicks on your donate button. Your first one-time donation tier (suggested level of giving) is $30, but your <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/product-update-donation-tiers\/\" target=\"_blank\">first recurring donation tier is $10. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sally, while she initially intended to give once, sees the option to give $10\/mo to provide ongoing support. It\u2019s less money out of her pocket at the moment, and she\u2019s excited about what you\u2019re doing, so she chooses to make a $10 recurring donation instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve just increased Sally\u2019s gift size 4x times over the course of a year, with no more effort required on Sally or your organization\u2019s part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recurring donor typically gives more and sticks around for longer, which means they have the best lifetime value for your organization. So what are you waiting for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/screen-shot-2020-05-11-at-5-14-03-pm.png\" alt=\"recurring-donors\" class=\"wp-image-17929\" \/><figcaption><em>Sparkshop&#8217;s uses CauseVox to handle their monthly giving &#8211; and have defaulted their donation form to monthly. This is a good prompt to encourage recurring giving and can be set up via CauseVox Donation Pages<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With CauseVox, you&#8217;re able to tailor your one-time and recurring donation tiers so that you can drive more recurring gifts at the right price point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/tutorial-new-donation-tiers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch the tutorial on how you can drive more donations with recurring donation tiers. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/monthly-giving-donation-page-1.png\" alt=\"monthly-giving-donation-page\" class=\"wp-image-45814\" \/><figcaption><em>Attorney on the Move explain monthly giving and its benefit to the organization on their donation page<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Monthly Giving Is Attractive To Millennials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As it is considered more affordable to give small amounts every month, recurring giving is potentially a great way to engage younger donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themillennialimpact.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Millennial Impact Report<\/a> found that 52% of Millennials are interested in monthly giving as a means to give back in a meaningful way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, keep in mind that if your recurring donation process is clunky, you&#8217;ll be less likely to convert this group as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>75% of young donors are turned off by an out-of-date website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, in order to capture these young recurring donors, you&#8217;ll want to make sure your donation page is updated and easy to use, especially on mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CauseVox Donation Pages are mobile-optimized, offer mobile payment options, easy recurring donation tiers, and can be embedded right onto your website. <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/donation-page\" target=\"_blank\">Set up your own recurring donation page.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. You Save Time And Effort With Monthly Recurring Giving <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a number of ways your organization benefits from recurring giving:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Save time and money on donor acquisition costs, like advertising and direct mail.<\/strong> With automatic recurring payments, you don\u2019t need to send as many solicitation appeals and spend as much to attract new donors.<\/li><li><strong>Automated emails for easy management.<\/strong> With CauseVox, we do all the heavy lifting for you: automatically sending monthly donor receipts, rescue emails for lapsed donors, and convenient links to help donors manage their own recurring donation &#8211; whether they need to change the amount, update their card, + more<\/li><li><strong>Easy donor management<\/strong>. CauseVox helps you keep track of all your recurring donors with donor profiles, helping you monitor recurring giving growth, engage with donors, and identify potential recurring donors.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Even when you engage a recurring donor, keep in mind that this is not the end. We recommend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Continuing to ask recurring donors for an additional one-time gift once or twice a year &#8211; at key times such as a matching campaign or at our end of year appeal.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Sending monthly email updates just to recurring donors to keep them in the loop on how their organization is making an impact.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The one-time donors who become a monthly recurring donor are the holy grail &#8211; they have the best retention and the best lifetime value of any donor group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now more than ever, you need stability and predictable fundraising income at your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Run Your Monthly Giving With Less Hassle On CauseVox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can easily set up monthly giving with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/donation-page\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CauseVox Donation Pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CauseVox is the easiest way to acquire, manage, and retain recurring donors with less effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what are you waiting for? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/pricing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Get started for free today!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, there were not many charities offering monthly giving. Other than child sponsorship, it was a relatively new concept for charities, and for donors as well.&nbsp; Times are changing though. Monthly giving has now become an important part of many organization\u2019s marketing strategies. As we respond to an aging donor base, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":52344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/joanna-kosinska-laasol0lrys-unsplash-scaled-1-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/joanna-kosinska-laasol0lrys-unsplash-scaled-1-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Team CauseVox","author_link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/author\/teamcausevox\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}