🌟 From the Weekly Spark, my weekly email with one useful idea for nonprofit fundraisers. This one’s about when to ask donors to give monthly. Subscribe here.
A few weeks ago, I shared research suggesting that new donors are 3.5 times more likely to convert to monthly giving during their second year. I shared it because it really surprised me.
Apparently, it surprised Erica Waasdorp, too. Just not in a good way. 😬
As she sometimes does, she replied directly to the newsletter.
Erica, as you may know, wrote the book on monthly giving. Twice.
So when she said, “Hold your horses, Julie! I have thoughts,” I immediately held my horses.
(I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea.)
She thinks the research is straight-up wrong.
In fact, she offered to write an entire response explaining why nonprofits should ask donors to give monthly much earlier, and you can read the whole thing here.
Why Erica Says Don’t Wait
Erica recently worked with a nonprofit that sent monthly giving appeals only to donors who had made five or more gifts. But if most donors give only two or three times a year, reaching that fifth gift could take two or three years.
With new donor retention at about 19%, many donors may disappear before they ever receive the invitation.
So the nonprofit began testing monthly giving asks with donors who had made one, two, three, or four gifts. It also added an ask to its welcome kit and invited new donors to consider monthly giving during thank-you calls.
It worked, and not just anecdotally. When they ran the numbers, these earlier asks cost far less per new monthly donor than their other acquisition channels, even for the 1–4 gift donors.
Erica’s advice is clear: The first three months of the donor relationship are critical. Don’t wait to ask.
I completely agree. But I think there’s a second important lesson here:
If a donor doesn’t say yes early, don’t give up.
Keep watching. Did they give again? Change their gift amount? Stay engaged into their second year? Those are all good reasons to ask again.
Okay, so Erica thinks the research is wrong. I think “incomplete” may be closer.
Where We Agree on When to Ask Donors to Give Monthly
When it comes to what nonprofits should do, we’re not very far apart. We’re just looking at the same donor from two different angles. Here’s where we land together:
🌟 Ask new donors to consider monthly giving early.
🌟 Keep asking as the relationship develops.
🌟 Use your data to recognize when a donor may be especially ready.
The second year shouldn’t be the first time a donor hears about monthly giving. But it shouldn’t pass without another invitation, either.
Two things can be true. And I’m always happy to hear from Erica. Frankly, I’m just flattered she reads my newsletter!
This first ran in the Weekly Spark, my weekly email with one useful idea for nonprofit fundraisers. No homework, no hard sell. Get the next one in your inbox.
