Fundraising Tip: More on Monthly Giving

Speaking about monthly giving has me even more excited about it!

If you have been reading my past writings here on fundraising, you have read a lot about monthly giving.

And now you see the title of this one!

You’re probably thinking one of two ways: either that you’re glad I’m writing about monthly giving so often, or that you’re questioning why I’m writing so much about monthly giving.

I hope that one of every two of you is still with me.

This week I had the opportunity to speak to a gathering of nonprofit professionals and board members. As I began speaking, the thrill of talking about monthly giving strengthened. Although on a typical day, I’m quite excited about monthly giving, my excitement level while speaking went through the roof.

One of the great things about this crowd was that most attendees were board members of nonprofits, not nonprofit fundraisers.

Board members. Their eyes were glued to me.

I had prepared to speak to other nonprofit fundraising professionals. Once I learned that there were so many board members present I began thinking in my head how I could make small changes in what I was going to present so board members would get more out of it.

The first thing I talked about was the main reason nonprofits do not succeed with monthly giving. When I asked, many in the crowd responded with “not asking”, nonprofits aren’t asking their donors to give this way. That’s partially correct. The main reason is that nonprofits don’t create and start a program for monthly giving.

The simple action to take if a nonprofit wants to build and grow its monthly donors is to start.

Yes, just start.

How you start depends on your capacity.

For some, it may be adding a check box on a direct mail remit piece that lets the nonprofit know to connect with the donor about monthly giving. For others, it can take time to create a monthly giving strategy, and then implement it.

Within ten minutes, my talk became what I hoped it would be, a conversation. I would speak a bit and then someone would ask a question. The room was quiet, with no side conversations and no cell phones out. Everyone was focused on being part of this conversation on monthly giving.

I was ecstatic.

If I could increase the excitement around the monthly giving of those present, the talk would be a success. I succeeded.

I know this because of all of the interaction with attendees, all of the questions, and the wonderful conversations afterward. I was speaking with attendees for an hour after the event officially ended.

This is one of the great things that I was reminded of while I was speaking with attendees. There are many of us in the nonprofit world who want to continually learn how to build relationships with donors and grow our opportunities to fundraise.

There were a couple of take-homes for me from my speaking opportunity.

First, I was reminded that there are still people who want to serve on nonprofit boards and bring energy, knowledge, passion, compassion, time, and treasure.

These same individuals want to support fundraising efforts, not micromanage. What a relief!

Next, people are less resistant to the idea that fundraising is not about money! I love this one.

Lastly, for time purposes, nonprofit leadership wants to learn more, and wants to be in a place of “always learning”. This was clear.

I will eventually take a break for a week or two around writing about monthly giving. I can’t promise I will begin next week! It’s simply such a great way to build relationships and fundraise, and the more I write about it the better chance there is of more nonprofits creating fundraising plans and efforts that include monthly giving.

As a reminder, we at Altrui Consulting have worked on several monthly giving campaigns and would be thrilled to work with your nonprofit.

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Take a risk. Be of service. Support your colleagues. Be kind.