Are you showing monthly givers the ❤️ they deserve?
I may date myself here, but do you remember the old Ronco Rotisserie infomercials?
They featured Ron Popeil, founder of Ronco, enthusiastically demonstrating the features and benefits of his countertop rotisserie cooker.
To experience perfectly cooked rotisserie chicken at home, all you had to do was put your chicken on the spit, choose your settings, walk away, and the machine would do the rest.
Ron’s most famous line eventually became the slogan for his entire line of products: SET IT & FORGET IT
Have you ever been guilty of treating your monthly giving program like a Ronco rotisserie?
Are you putting all your focus into finding new monthly giverswithout considering how to communicate effectively with them once they’re on board?
Set it & forget it might be a winning strategy for rotisserie chicken, but it can be the kiss of death for a monthly giving program.
Monthly givers deserve better.
They believe in your cause and made a deliberate choice to trust you with their ongoing financial support.
Are you showing them the love and support they deserve?
Here are four ways to make sure you never treat monthly givers like rotisserie chicken!
1. Welcome them.
The first few interactions you have with someone right after they become a monthly supporter are quite possibly the most important ones you’ll ever have. They set the tone for the entire relationship.
Make sure you welcome new monthly givers!
How?
Here are a few simple ideas:
- Call or text AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to personally say thank you and introduce yourself as their point of contact at your nonprofit.
- Send a simple, personal thank you video over email or text.
- Send a welcome packet with:
- A handwritten thank you note from someone on your staff.
- A sticker or decal identifying them as a member of your monthly giving program that they can put on their car, laptop, iPad, etc.
- A tangible object to remind them of your cause.
Does this feel overwhelming? You don’t have to do all of it.
Pick one thing from above that you can do with excellence, make it a priority, then build from there.
2. Get to know them.
Within a few weeks of their first gift, consider sending a survey to get to know new monthly givers better.
You can ask:
- How did you get connected to this cause?
- What are you hoping to accomplish?
- What do you want out of your relationship with us?
- What would you like to learn more about related to this cause?
- How often would you like to hear from us?
- Who else in your family should we include in our communication?
- What kind of updates are you interested in?
I’m sure you can come up with better questions, but hopefully, this list will get you started and spur your creativity.
Get to know people by putting these kinds of questions into a survey, or (if you have the capacity) consider calling people to ask them interview style over the phone.
3. Update them.
Many organizations send an automated confirmation email each time someone’s monthly gift goes through.
Imagine the difference it would make if you updated your automatic email each month so that you communicated a different story or high-level update every time it hit their inbox?
This is so easy, and yet most of us don’t do it.
If it feels overwhelming, make it a priority to send an email at least once per quarter updating people on what’s been going on at your nonprofit.
These emails don’t have to be polished. They don’t need a lot of content. They don’t need to be heavily designed. And they don’t need to be long.
Often a simple picture of the work of your nonprofit happening in real-time, emailed from a real human, paired with a brief explanation of what’s going on and a “Thank you for making this happen!” message is just as impactful (if not even more impactful) than a long, heavily designed, impersonal newsletter.
4. Connect them.
Have you ever considered the idea that the people giving each month to your cause might have things in common with (or be interested in getting to know) other people who share their same passion and commitment to your mission?
What difference could it make if your monthly givers saw themselves as part of a larger community of champions all committed to making the world a better place through their involvement with your cause?
Here are a few simple ideas to help foster a sense of community among monthly givers:
- Exclusive Events: Can you host a gathering or special event exclusively for your monthly supporters? If you go this route, make sure you include plenty of opportunities to connect, learn, and engage with each other in the program. Community usually doesn’t happen on its own without an intentional effort on your part as the organizer.
- Exclusive Volunteer Opportunities: Can you create volunteer opportunities specifically tailored for monthly givers? When you invite monthly givers to serve together, you not only help them deepen their connection to your nonprofit and cause, you also create opportunities for them to bond over a shared experience. That’s a win-win for everyone involved.
- Recognition and Appreciation: Can you recognize and appreciate monthly givers publicly? Highlighting the contributions, stories, and commitment of monthly givers on social media, in your newsletter, and on your website shows gratitude and reinforces a sense of belonging within your community.
- Collaborative Campaigns: Have you ever considered launching a collaborative campaign to bring your monthly supporters together to achieve a shared goal? What community challenge could they help solve or need could they help fund if they came together to amplify their impact with a specific crowdfunding or peer-to-peer effort?
Remember, monthly givers are more than just donors.
They are advocates and partners in your mission. They are committed. They are insiders. They are with you.
If you will simply welcome them, get to know them, update them, and connect them, they will transform your monthly giving program into a thriving community of passionate champions for your cause.
It’s never too late to start moving your monthly giving program from transactional to transformational.
What small step can you take today to help your monthly givers feel valued and connected?
