Many nonprofits are reluctant to launch monthly giving programs. Too often, they fall prey to the mythology that has grown up around monthly giving. There are at least seven widespread myths.
1. It won’t work with our donor base
A few years ago a large European charity spent a fortune mailing to its entire list an invitation package with the wrong monthly donor proposition. It bombed. The organization concluded that its donors wouldn’t respond to a monthly donor giving program. But, just two years later, after developing the proper proposition and a good ask, they now generate more than 60% of their income from monthly donors – and that proportion grows every month.
2. Our donors are too old
I have a large US non-profit client who has 30% of its entire donor base 65 or older. 29% of its monthly pledges are 65 or over – the same proportion. Seniors are just as likely to pledge as your other donors. I have other clients with seniors as monthly donors in a greater proportion than that segment in the donor file.
3. Our donors are not committed enough
My experience is that any organization can make a significant amount of money from this program. And you don’t know until you try it.
4. We tested and it didn’t work
This is by far the most irritating myth. Ten years ago at a Canadian Direct Marketing Association meeting, the manager of major Canadian nonprofit stood up and said, “personalization doesn’t work. We tried it.” Under questioning he revealed the details of his so-called personalization test. He simply addressed a donor as “Mrs McDonald” instead of “Dear Friend”, rather than testing copy variations based on Mrs MacDonald’s giving history.
Far worse than the public misinformation concerning the results of his “test”, was the fact that he abandoned his donor base to Dear Friend letters for who-knows how long. This story, unfortunately is far too common. People who do not know how or what to test, believe – based on faulty research – that something does or doesn’t work. When you test, however, you’ve got to do it properly.
5. It’s too much work
You can contract out the EFT and credit card work to a service bureau. You could decide not to offer a cheque option to reduce staff time and costs. You could get a consultant to develop the strategy and creative work. Your only extra work will be spending the actual income.
6. We don’t know how to do it
Re-read the previous paragraph.
7. It’s a small amount of money
I worked with a medium-sized Australian non-profit that went from no monthly donors to 11,512 in 11 years, for an annual value of $3,492,381. This is in a country of 20 million people. And the program is still growing rapidly. Foster Parents Plan of Canada, which relies primarily on monthly donors, raises close to $34,000,000 annually in a country of 30 million.
The success of your program will be based on many factors: the product, the offer, the benefits to the donor, the media you use, your budget and the copy or pitch. Your program will work if well done, and it will bomb if you do it badly.
Harvey McKinnon & Associates specializes in direct mail, monthly giving programs, and fundraising audits. For more information, contact Harvey McKinnon, 218-2211 West 4th Ave, Vancouver, BC V6K 4S2. Telephone (604) 732-4351. Fax (604) 732-4877. eMail info@harveymckinnon.com. Visit: www.harveymckinnon.com.
