Who doesn’t want more monthly donors? But how do you invite first-time donors into the monthly camp without sounding impatient?
There are plenty of strategies for cultivating monthly donors, but almost none is as powerful as the humble email. And by humble email we really mean humble nonprofit email series.
We’re going to dive into how to build a nonprofit email series to retain donors, helping them make the leap from a one-time gift to monthly giving.
When someone makes their first donation with your organization, a door opens. And it’s not going to stay open forever. You have an opportunity — nay, responsibility — to take your shot before that door closes.
NextAfter believes that timing is everything in donor cultivation. In the past, best practices suggested not even mentioning a second gift for six months. Nobody wanted to come across as ungrateful.
But surprisingly, many donors were willing to give again within 45 days of their initial gift. So yes, begin with gratitude. But because your work isn’t over after their first gift, you don’t have to just wait for six months.
The best way to ensure that you don’t miss the moment is to build email drip campaigns for recurring donors. This can be anywhere from three to 23 pre-built emails that begin sending the day they make that gift.
Here’s one idea when building email drip campaigns for recurring donors (and don’t worry, we aren’t going for 23 today!):
Included in the list of welcome emails was one about storytime. But it should always be storytime at your nonprofit because people don’t change their lives based on facts alone. They change them based on stories.
And how you tell your story really matters.
Are you opening up a door for donors to be the heroes of your story? Or are you or your organization going it alone?
Does your community believe that it’s able to make a change? Or is it only about doing the right thing or not doing the wrong thing? People don’t always respond well when they’re told what to do. They want to feel like they’re changing the world. Are they when they give to your organization?
We used the analogy of show and tell already, but the power of show and tell is all about the show. There’s a whole lot of talk that happens every day. But when we get to see something in a new light, that’s when things change.
People are sometimes a little too easy to predict. Nine times out of ten they’re going to do the thing that’s easier for them. So don’t make it an uphill battle to make a donation.
What do we mean by this?
Make sure that every step of the journey is seamless for recurring donors. Make it as simple as one click of the mouse. The more difficult any action is to take on your website, the more likely it simply isn’t going to happen.
And don’t make the options for monthly gifts the same as the options for a one time gift. Just because someone was ready to give $100 today doesn’t mean they’re ready to give $100 every single month.
Create opportunities for each kind of donor. The more that you segment your gift choices, the more opportunities you’re taking to segment your audience. And with these different donor groups, you can target them with different messages or asks throughout the year.
Someone who’s only able to give $5 a month may be a prime candidate for volunteering. Their consistent investment in your organization is telling you that they care. Don’t misinterpret the amount and think that someone giving $50 a month cares ten times more. It simply isn’t true.
A lot of these ideas aren’t coming out of thin air, but were shared first by our friend Chris Barlow on this webinar. There are a lot of things we missed here since he had a whole hour to talk through strategies and stories about building donor loyalty.
One of the bonus items Chris shared during the conversation was about how to shift donors from credit cards to bank accounts. And he has an incredibly clever way of doing this!
We believe it’s a bad idea to ask donors to pay for the credit card fee on top of their donation. Most donors will accept the cost, but a lot of first-time donors will actually drop off because of the added friction.
Instead of asking them to pay with a bank account the first time they donate, follow up (but after you thank them!) with an email saying how internal costs are lower with bank accounts, and they won’t have to go in and update the giving method when their credit card expires.
This email is powerful because it’s simply saying it how it is, and it gives your donors the time to grab their bank information. When they’re first giving to your organization, this isn’t the time to add friction. But an email puts the ball on their side of the court without the immediate pressure.
We hope at least one of these ideas will help you turn more first-time donors into monthly recurring donors because we want more people consistently invested in your mission.
At Feathr, we work with nonprofits of all stripes, helping them take their marketing efforts to the skies. If you’re looking for a new nonprofit email strategy or what email marketing for nonprofits looks like, talk to us today!
We want the world to hear about your mission!