The Secret Weapon Nonprofits Are Using for Sustainable Fundraising

A year ago, the Picnic Project had 14 monthly donors. Mark Thompson, the group’s co-founder knew he needed to find a way to keep those and bring in more recurring donations to help stabilize the group’s finances. But he was too busy working on the organization’s mission of distributing food, chef-prepared meals, and clothing and creating a sense of belonging for the people it served. 

“Everybody’s like, You should do more recurring giving, focus on this,” Thompson says. “I’m like, That’s great, but I have a hundred households here looking for food. It was overwhelming.”

But Thompson got a $10,000 grant from the Big Nova Foundation to pay for training so he could learn the fundamentals about monthly giving, including how to name a program, build touchpoints for donors, and publicize it. Soon the Picnic Project rolled out its program. Less than a year later, it has nearly quadrupled in size, with 53 recurring donors who account for nearly 20 percent of its annual budget.

Monthly giving programs can help nonprofits bring in desperately needed revenue, says Dana Snyder, CEO of the fundraising firm Positive Equation. Monthly giving, she notes, reliably provides big chunks of revenue because donors stick with the programs. 

“I’ve seen retention rates as high as 98 percent,” says Snyder, who will host the Monthly Giving Summit, an upcoming virtual conference on recurring giving that will be free for live attendees. “There’s very, very little dropoff. … The majority have a 90 percent-plus retention rate on an annual basis.”

Snyder, Thompson, and others focused on recurring giving say organizations can get a program up and running relatively quickly and see good gains, similar to the Picnic Project. It requires homing in on a purpose, creating a concerted program based on deep relationships, and sprinkling in moments of “surprise and delight.”  

How to Start a Monthly Donor Program

The technology required to add a monthly giving program to a group’s donation options is relatively straightforward. Fundraising software for websites can ask donors if they want to change a one-time gift into a monthly gift. 

The software can ask donors if they would like to turn their one-time gift into a monthly gift at a slightly lower level. “I call it my passive assistant because we do get monthly donors through that offer,” says Meghan Walsh, founder of Roots Ethiopia, a nonprofit aiming to improve education and create jobs in rural Ethiopia.

Ashley Dittmar, the chief development officer at the Adventure Project, regularly combs through the database to find potential donors. She calls them directly to ask them to donate monthly. 

“I like to tell them this is the most sustainable way you can give, and it’s the most helpful way to give,” Dittmar says.

But it requires more than just technology to be successful. Monthly giving programs need to have a name and a purpose that asks donors to be a part of something, Snyder says. Becky Straw, co-founder of the Adventure Project, a poverty-fighting nonprofit, does that with her outreach.

“You go out to your core community and say, This is what I’m going to do. Will you join us?” says Straw, who describes core members of her program as courageous world changers. “We say, ‘You are people who want to learn more, are really actively giving well, and want to be more involved.’ People will say, Because I identify with those values, I’m going to join this program, even if I could only give $5.”

Once donors identify with that purpose and sign up, it’s important to greet them with what she calls a warm hug, adds Walsh.

To do that, give donors a series of emails that make them feel like the nonprofit is so glad to have them there, Walsh says. “Be really welcoming, warm, and inviting.” Walsh, and others use automated emails that talk about the program, and they even ask donors questions.

For example, Thompson’s welcome emails ask donors to the Plenty, the Picnic Project’s monthly donor program, why they decided to join. When they respond, he replies based on their story, often thanking them for sharing or discussing an anecdote that connects with why they joined.

“We’re just trying to be genuine in our interactions,” he says, noting his background is in the hospitality business, having been a chef working in restaurants and catering. He tries to apply that background to his new task of fundraising. “We really try to foster connection.”

Getting a good bond early on is crucial to retention, says Straw. COVID was a great example of this, she says, because some donors paused their giving due to financial constraints. “But virtually all of them came back,” she says. “Having a good rapport and a good relationship early on pays enormous dividends.”

Some nonprofits find that having a big opening push for donors can jumpstart recurring giving. Thompson said that in addition to online ads, his organization had a live community event where they encouraged supporters to sign up for monthly giving. 

Straw also got a big surge in participation for her organization by asking past supporters to take to social media. “We had this day where people all posted about why they’re proud to support the Adventure Project,” she says. One hundred people signed up after that grassroots approach. 

Care Is Key to Sustaining Monthly Donors 

Regular communication with monthly donors, particularly when it encourages a response, has helped Walsh grow her program at Roots Ethiopia.

“My monthly donors love to email me back as if we’re friends and say, ‘Oh my gosh, Megan, I love that photo. I feel like you sent this to me and for me,’” Walsh says. “So part of community building on my end of that relationship is to make sure I’m really open and hit reply.”

Some organizations include polls and questions in online forms so answers can go right into the database. Straw says those types of emails are helpful for two reasons: They engage donors, and they “improve deliverability” at large email providers that send emails to spam if users never open them.

Recognizing important moments also builds strong relationships with donors. Thompson says his organization celebrates birthdays of volunteers and hosts many in-person events to build connections. Walsh has board members write personal postcards to monthly donors, thanking them for their “enduring support.” After donors send seven gifts in a row, they get personalized videos from Walsh thanking them for being part of the program. 

Straw says efforts like these — personalized videos and handwritten notes — engender “surprise and delight” among donors.

These tactics help keep programs strong. Roots Ethiopia has more than 200 monthly donors who account for about 30 percent of total revenue. Monthly donation amounts range from $6 to $540. The Adventure Project has close to 300 monthly donors, accounting for 27 percent of last year’s revenue. Monthly gifts range from $5 to $1,000 a month.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Many monthly donors tend to remain very engaged with the groups they support and often increase their giving.

“We looked at our data from the last holiday giving season and found that 25 percent of our revenue in one-time gifts in December came from our monthly donors making additional gifts,” Straw says.

Additionally, monthly donors are often willing to give more, perhaps going from $5 to $10 monthly.  It can require a nudge, but sometimes donors do it unprompted, says Dittmar. When she looks through the Adventure Project 10-year monthly giving database, there are many upgrades.

“They’ve increased four or five times over that lifespan,” she says. “I’ve asked them, and they just say, ‘Well, I got a promotion at my job. So I just increased my monthly gift.’ They set it but didn’t forget it. They were consciously thinking about that gift and how they can be doing more.”

Walsh also has noticed that monthly donors often have the charity on their mind. They can make small gifts, like soccer fans pitching in to provide soccer balls to schools. 

It also includes big gifts, like when a monthly donor stepped up during a devastating Malaria outbreak in 2024 after Walsh sent an email update on the epidemic. One of the monthly donors wrote back and asked her how much she needed to make a difference. She asked for $34,000. He sent it right away. 

“Is that unique? Yes,” she says. “But the reason I shared that story is that we had cultivated enough of familiarity that he could recognize that this was really serious. I think that’s where the relationship building really matters.”