5 reasons a nonprofit should offer a monthly recurring donation option online

Nonprofits want long-term relationships with donors, predictable and ever-increasing fundraising income and low fundraising costs. There is an easy way to accomplish these goals: establish a monthly giving campaign and let donors enroll online.

Most nonprofits allow donors to give one-time donations online. An increasing number are also allowing donors to enroll as "sustaining" monthly givers. This involves the donor authorizing the nonprofit to debit their credit card or bank account on a monthly (or other term) basis. This authorization could be for a limited time or open-ended requiring the donor to contact the nonprofit to cancel.

Here are just 5 reasons why a monthly giving program is s smart choice for any nonprofit:

1. Donors can join at lower levels and spread out their donation commitment

In this stagnant economy, the more options you can give to donors to join your cause, the better. Becoming a monthly giver allows the donor to budget their giving to charity over a period a time. There is a low barrier for the donor to start giving as the first monthly gift is small. Most donors are enrolling at around $20/month and less.  

2. Donors will give more over time by giving longer

Most of our clients that have monthly giving programs are finding that donors keep their giving going over long periods of time. Many of our good causes offer an open-ended enrollment for the donor as described above. The majority of donors are keeping their donation commitments active. So, over time, the donor ends up giving more to the organization than they might have with their one-time gift.

3. Nonprofits can strengthen their relationship with donors

When a donor makes an donation to a nonprofit each month, that donation is an opportunity or "touch-point" for the nonprofit to continue to build their relationship with the donor. Donors that have enrolled online can receive an automated thank-you message each month for their monthly gift. This message could include event announcements from the nonprofit, news on how donations are being used or invitations to volunteer or visit the nonprofit's web site.    

4. Recurring monthly donations are predictable income for the nonprofit

With a monthly giving program in place, a nonprofit can better predict their fundraising income. This helps the nonprofit budget the money they will have on hand to spend on their programs and constituents.  Plus, as the charity continues to enroll new donors this income will rise over time. 

5. It's easy and inexpensive to set up and maintain

Setting up a monthly giving option on an online donation form is pretty easy. On the front-end, it just requires adding form field that asks the donor whether they want their donation to recur. On the back-end, a nonprofit will need a secure, and easy-to-use service to manage the recurring donor subscriptions.  Our clients use the Automated Recurring Billing (ARB) Service from Authorize.net. This service, along with our donation forms, helps automate the whole process of recurring monthly giving. Did I mention it's cheap? The ARB service is only $10/month. That is typically less than the cost of one monthly donor.


Can you think of more reasons to try recurring monthly donations?

Get in touch if you'd like to discuss how monthly giving can impact your nonprofit.