1:12

Monthly giving is not

1:14

just about a donation . It

1:16

is about giving people a way to

1:18

channel their purpose consistently

1:21

, like if you're showing up shy or

1:23

with low energy or lack of confidence around

1:25

making this monthly ask . I promise

1:28

you your supporters will feel that

1:30

this is a transformational

1:33

gift that you are providing the

1:35

wonderful opportunity for them

1:37

to make . So be so amped

1:39

to ask them that they feel that excitement

1:41

.

1:47

Hey there , you're listening to the Missions to Movement

1:50

podcast and I'm your host , dana Snyder

1:52

, digital strategist for nonprofits

1:54

and founder and CEO of Positive

1:57

Equation . This show

1:59

highlights the digital strategies of organizations

2:01

making a positive impact in the world

2:04

. Ready to learn the latest trends

2:06

, actionable tips and the real

2:08

stories from behind the feed , let's

2:10

transform your mission into a movement

2:12

.

2:17

Hello , hello . Today I

2:19

am super pumped because we are officially

2:21

wrapping up the monthly giving

2:23

framework with the steps

2:25

that you've probably been waiting for , and

2:28

that is step number four make

2:30

the ask right . We have

2:32

to make the ask to get the gifts . And

2:34

step five share constant

2:36

joy and gratitude , aka your

2:40

beautiful retention plan

2:42

to keep these supporters around

2:44

and feeling so appreciated

2:46

. So just a quick recap steps

2:49

one through three are the foundation

2:52

. When I get asked where

2:54

should I start with my monthly giving program , that's

2:56

where to go . That's where to

2:59

start . So if you missed those episodes

3:01

, go back to 131

3:03

and 132 and you will

3:05

learn . Step one create the product . Step

3:08

two make it easy . And step

3:10

three call in the

3:13

believers Now to hear

3:15

your peers talk about their personal

3:17

stories . Through each of these phases , I

3:19

hope you will join me for the Monthly Giving

3:22

Summit on September 5th and 6th

3:24

. It's two half days , from 1 to

3:26

4 pm Eastern time , and it is

3:28

for free . So head on over

3:30

If you want to hear some of these things very

3:32

practically discussed . Head to monthlygivingsummitcom

3:37

to RSVP Now

3:39

at this point . Over the past few episodes

3:41

, we have reviewed the why and the structure

3:43

for your program . Your donation

3:46

process is optimized

3:48

. Your website copy is clear

3:50

. It draws people in . So now

3:52

, in step four , it is time to

3:54

make the ask . Now

3:56

, before we dive into some of the tactical information

3:58

, I want to be super clear

4:00

around the mindset that we

4:03

need to have around asking for a recurring

4:05

gift . Monthly giving is

4:08

not just about a donation

4:10

. It is about giving people a

4:12

way to channel their purpose

4:14

consistently . If you are

4:16

shy , like if you're showing

4:18

up shy or with low energy or

4:20

lack of confidence around making this

4:22

monthly ask , I promise you your

4:25

supporters will feel that this

4:27

is a transformational

4:29

gift that you are providing the

4:31

wonderful opportunity for them

4:33

to make . So be so amped

4:35

to ask them that they feel that excitement

4:38

. Y'all . If I was inviting you to join the monthly giving

4:40

summit and I was like , yeah , I would really

4:42

like if you would join the summit , I think it's going to

4:44

be fun . Are you going to want to join ? I don't think

4:46

so . If I'm like , oh my gosh , you guys should be there , you

4:48

won't imagine the amazing keynotes I'm going to

4:50

have . You'll be part of this community together , that

4:53

community together . That's how you want people

4:55

to feel about joining your monthly giving program

4:57

, and I understand if you're

4:59

in a tough spot right now , if things are challenging

5:01

right now , you

5:10

can share that with your supporters , but in a hopeful manner . Be real and be honest

5:12

, but with hope , with that light and I've seen this so much

5:14

, even in social media ads . That's something else

5:16

that I teach with the copy and

5:18

what we share . So there used to be

5:20

this kind of like older social media strategy

5:22

approach with copy that you go in hard on sharing

5:24

the pain point that someone's having

5:26

to get them to convert . But now there's

5:29

been a switch , I think really ever since COVID

5:31

, with sharing , with hope , guiding . With

5:33

that you're providing this opportunity of , of positivity

5:35

and that's really working best . So

5:38

please make sure your mindset

5:40

whatever that's going for a walk , if it's putting on

5:42

good music , if it's surrounding yourself with a community

5:44

who's going to rally behind you and have your back

5:46

, to get yourself in a positive

5:48

mindset . When you start to make these asks

5:50

and to cultivate them , big question

5:53

how often should

5:55

you ask for recurring gifts ? Now

5:57

, in my humble opinion

6:00

, subtly , I think you should

6:02

ask them all the time , but then

6:04

have one to three big tentpole

6:07

campaign moments that you have planned

6:09

out throughout the year . Because

6:11

if you want sustainable

6:13

, consistent revenue . Then , yes

6:15

, all roads lead to recurring

6:17

giving gifts and based on Classy's

6:20

State of Modern Philanthropy report , they

6:22

found that 29% of

6:25

first-time donors who became

6:27

recurring donors they did so within the first

6:29

90 days of their initial

6:31

gift . So do not be afraid to make that ask to recurring after that one-time

6:33

gift . So do not be afraid to make that ask to recurring after that one-time

6:36

gift . And then , once

6:38

they have established that regular giving

6:40

cadence , those supporters are

6:42

so loyal they

6:44

are over nine times more

6:46

valuable to your organization

6:48

. So sometimes I see

6:50

there's this fear in the sector

6:52

that if we ask for a recurring gift

6:54

then major donors won't give

6:56

when we're asking for a larger one-time

6:59

contribution , or that people see

7:01

the commitment of a recurring gift and they just won't give

7:03

at all . And that is false like flashing

7:05

lights false . I had a wonderful

7:08

conversation with Cubby Graham from

7:10

Charity Water . He has been on this podcast

7:12

before and we were talking

7:14

about this . I asked him I was like importance

7:16

of major versus recurring and

7:19

he says the spring has honestly

7:21

created a bridge for them

7:23

to discover and welcome in

7:25

new major donors because

7:27

they have been giving monthly . I

7:29

also just had a call with a potential

7:31

new monthly giving mastermind client and

7:34

they recently have had two recurring

7:36

donors that have been giving for years and

7:39

they just left six figure

7:41

gifts in their passing . Now

7:44

, this is why that mindset

7:47

mentality all of this is around mindset really

7:49

just has to be put away . We have

7:51

to be thinking in a new way about

7:53

the powerful reason

7:55

for why recurring gifts matter so

7:58

much . Your

8:01

fears what are the fears when

8:03

it comes to asking for recurring ? But

8:06

then think about there's this wonderful

8:08

video I'm going to link to it in the show notes where

8:11

Vic Harrison and Scott are talking

8:13

about why they wish they would have started

8:15

the spring sooner . And Scott

8:17

references receiving this I

8:19

think it was a $50,000 , like one-time

8:21

gift . But then he's like , after that money is given

8:24

, it's like then you're looking at your budget , it's like

8:26

, oh , the next year . Oh , poof

8:28

, that just disappeared . Versus wishing

8:30

that that would have been $50,000 just

8:32

split into $50 a month donations

8:35

, because then it's consistent recurring revenue

8:37

, like what's the list

8:39

of the fears and what are the ways that we can

8:41

get over that hump to be able to move

8:44

in this direction ? So again

8:47

, another thing to think about when to make

8:49

these asks . According to and I

8:51

always go to data , the Neon One Recurring

8:53

Giving Report , giving Tuesday

8:55

accounted for 11 to 12%

8:58

of all recurring gifts that were

9:00

processed . That is huge

9:02

. So , on Giving Tuesday

9:04

, with now this episode is being released

9:07

in June lots of time to think about it how

9:09

can you make Giving Tuesday all about

9:11

the recurring first ask how can you make sure

9:13

steps one through three are

9:16

all set up foundationally so that you're ready

9:18

to make that really impactful ask on

9:20

Giving Tuesday Now , literally

9:23

, where should you make this ask ? Now , literally , where should

9:25

you make this ask ? If you're not currently booking

9:27

yourself or a team member or

9:29

a spokesperson on podcasts , highly

9:32

recommend doing so . I have

9:34

a list of 30

9:37

podcasts that you can pitch

9:39

and I share a video with tips

9:41

on how to get booked on a show . If

9:43

you go to positiveequationcom backslash

9:46

podcast list , just

9:53

literally enter that into Google or click the link in the show notes , totally free . It's a list of

9:55

30 podcasts to pitch , to share your story , because what a podcast

9:57

does , and what I hope this says when you're

9:59

listening to this , is these aren't a

10:02

minute and a half video

10:04

where it's like a quick peek , like hopefully you

10:06

feel like you're getting to know me . These are 15

10:09

to 40 plus minute episodes

10:11

and you get to share a much longer

10:13

story with potential

10:16

supporters and get them hooked and feel

10:18

compelled to give to you Two

10:20

kind of in the same vein is speaking

10:22

If you can get yourself in front

10:25

of audiences to share

10:27

your story . And this is not

10:29

just I'm not saying to book yourself at

10:32

nonprofit conferences , no , because that's not

10:34

your donors I'm saying there

10:36

are so many events out

10:38

there that are looking for the

10:40

social impact , the feel good , the change

10:43

, the world stories that the

10:45

people sitting in the audience are your donors . And

10:48

so I think one of the most underrated

10:50

roles that you can hire as a contractor

10:52

is like a booker for

10:54

these kinds of speaking opportunities to work with you on

10:57

creating a story . This is

10:59

something that I just talked with a good friend

11:01

about that used to work at news story

11:03

and that's a big way about how

11:05

they cultivate supporters . So really thinking

11:08

about a strategy for speaking

11:10

locally , regionally and

11:12

nationally about your organization . And

11:15

then , on a more smaller scale , of course

11:17

, make the ask in your email marketing , in

11:19

your social media organic and paid

11:22

. Make the ask to your board

11:24

members . If your board members aren't bought

11:26

in they should be , they

11:28

need to be . How can they support you financially

11:30

? Make the ask in events

11:33

that you attend or that you host If

11:35

you are not making the

11:37

ask for a recurring gift

11:39

at your events ? I think that is a massive

11:42

missed opportunity . If you are just

11:44

doing and ask for one-time gifts or you're just

11:46

having them sign for a silent auction

11:48

item , like it's poof , like given and

11:50

then gone , instead of saying it

11:53

would be so much more beneficial . Instead of them giving

11:55

a one-time $500

11:57

donation , what if they gave a hundred dollars

11:59

a month ? Right , it seems like less

12:01

to them at the time , but that's obviously much

12:03

more over the long run and , according to

12:05

data , they will give for years and years and

12:07

years to come . Next , if

12:10

you can invest in a long form

12:12

video kind of similar to what I'm saying with the podcast

12:14

that can tell your story , that

12:16

compels people to care , aka

12:19

look at the spring video as a reference this

12:22

is huge . It's a long form

12:25

video that can tell your story

12:27

and it works at scale . Also

12:31

, where to make the ask ? This is where those partnerships

12:33

come in from . Step three , I talked about values

12:35

aligned partnerships , and

12:37

this is huge to help amplify your

12:40

mission . So how can you work with these partners

12:42

to integrate the ask

12:44

to join your program with

12:46

their audience . And then , lastly

12:49

, work with influencers . If

12:51

you don't already have a and I'm

12:53

not saying like Kim

12:55

Kardashian influencer level , think

12:58

about micro people in your

13:00

in top voices , in your community

13:03

, in your cause area that could

13:05

elevate and add credibility and

13:07

raise their voices around what it

13:09

is that you do and coming up with a

13:11

strategy for that . So those

13:14

are a couple ideas about where to

13:16

make the ask . Now

13:18

, we kind of talked about with make it easy

13:20

, but I just want to like reiterate , because I think this is important

13:23

when you're going in with the ask

13:25

is when possible

13:27

to visualize change

13:29

with their gift . So if

13:31

it's possible with your organization to create impact

13:34

based donation , amounts equaling

13:36

like $40 can provide X

13:39

and $27 will provide X

13:41

. These can be averages , of course , but

13:43

this really helps someone start to visualize

13:45

what their impact can be each month . If

13:48

this isn't possible , I do wanna highlight a previous

13:50

episode I think it was episode 130 with

13:53

Helen Quinn from the Clio Institute . They're

13:55

focused on climate change

13:58

in Florida , and so that can seem really

14:00

like a big audacious thing that doesn't

14:02

really have exact dollar amounts

14:04

for things . So what we decided

14:06

to do here in building their program is we

14:08

spoke to the daily impact someone

14:11

can have every single day If they give

14:13

a dollar a day , $31 a month

14:15

or even 50 cents a day . Those

14:18

were their donation amounts and that way they

14:20

are doing something every single day to

14:22

progress for change with

14:24

the climate there . Now there

14:26

is so much more to

14:28

cover with making the ask , and I go through

14:30

a ton of examples in

14:32

my upcoming book , the monthly giving mastermind

14:35

. It's coming out September 3rd . So

14:37

much more to come on that soon . But

14:39

I just wanted to give a few ideas

14:42

. I think there's a lot here that you can already brainstorm

14:44

. I didn't want to like overdo it . So make

14:47

some notes and think about what will work for

14:49

you and just start to make those small changes

14:51

. Those small moves can make a big difference

14:53

. All right , Transitioning

14:56

to step five , which is share constant

14:58

joy and gratitude . Now

15:01

, honestly , retention is the cornerstone

15:04

of a sustainable monthly giving program . What

15:06

you are trying to do here is evoke the

15:09

same feeling that donor

15:11

originally had when they said yes to

15:13

give every single time

15:15

that gift is processed on

15:17

their bank statement . So what

15:20

I want you to do is start this process

15:22

by checking some data . What

15:24

is the current churn rate each month of

15:27

your recurring supporters ? Do you know why they're

15:29

leaving ? Is there a trend about why they're leaving

15:31

? This is really , really important

15:34

. I'm actually traveling to do an intensive in-person

15:36

session with a nonprofit on this very thing

15:38

. They've noticed a trend of when

15:40

people are leaving their recurring

15:42

giving program and we're going to look at all

15:44

facets of the program and build

15:46

a dynamic retention plan to

15:49

try and increase the longevity of their

15:51

average donor . If you have

15:53

a low churn rate , keep

15:56

focusing on growth , like acquisition

15:58

time . Bring in new people . If

16:00

you have a high churn rate , I

16:03

would pause on any acquisition

16:05

or growth right now because it looks like

16:07

there might be something wrong that's making

16:10

people leave and you should fix that first

16:12

. But if you're in a good spot

16:14

, you should have at least a

16:16

monthly email correspondence that

16:18

is going out specifically to this group

16:20

of monthly supporters , sharing updates

16:23

on impact stories , et cetera . I

16:25

interviewed Brown Bagging for Calgary

16:28

Kids in my book and I just want to share a

16:30

sample of what their automation

16:32

email sequence looks like . When somebody signs up

16:34

, they have four emails that are automated

16:37

and then they have a beautiful 12-month

16:39

and beyond plan that they go into afterwards

16:41

. So email number one they

16:43

have a welcome and a thank you . This

16:45

is when their executive director says thank you

16:48

for signing up to be a hunger hero and why

16:50

sustainable giving is so important to them . Email

16:53

number two is information about

16:55

BB4CK . They're sharing

16:57

some stats , they're talking about food insecurity

17:00

, they share a graph and they also use

17:02

this email to talk about their greater mission

17:04

and their vision . Email number

17:06

three is to connect . They're

17:08

sharing a story . And then email number four

17:10

is they're saying thank you and they're prepping you

17:12

for what's next . Thank you again for

17:14

following along and what they can expect

17:17

in the coming months . So once you

17:19

have that initial email

17:21

automation sequence that's set up and

17:24

you have something every month that's going out , it's time

17:26

to get creative , and

17:28

sometimes people miss emails

17:30

. Right , we're busy and sometimes emails

17:32

can bounce or they accidentally go to spam or trash

17:35

, and so I always like to have at least

17:37

one to two other backup means

17:40

of communication . So that can be SMS

17:42

with text messaging , direct

17:44

mail , phone like literally

17:46

calling someone or social media

17:48

advertising . So what I want you to do is pull

17:50

out a sheet of paper or Google doc and

17:53

write out each month of the year and

17:55

what special moments you can create

17:57

throughout the year for these supporters . It

18:00

might be exclusive access If you

18:02

have an event coming up . What can you do ? That's

18:04

different , or can you do something virtually with

18:07

a Q&A ? Are there custom gifts

18:09

that you can provide ? Is there recognition

18:11

in an annual report ? A recent

18:13

Monthly Giving Mastermind alumni from

18:16

Mulatto sent me their recent annual

18:18

report and not only was

18:20

there a beautiful brochure included

18:22

all about their monthly donor program in the report

18:25

the table but they also had

18:27

a full page dedicated

18:29

to all the recurring supporters and the impact

18:31

that community has made together

18:33

, which is awesome . So this

18:36

constant sharing of

18:38

joy and gratitude just

18:40

continuously strengthens the relationship

18:42

between you and your monthly donors

18:45

, making them feel all that more connected and

18:47

appreciated . So in this mini

18:50

episode there's a lot to

18:52

brainstorm on and dive deeper , so I'm going to leave it here

18:54

, but I have listed a ton of

18:56

great resources in the show notes below

18:58

. I have my 12 month plus

19:00

joy and gratitude retention plan worksheet

19:03

, the video that I just mentioned with Scott

19:05

and Vic Harrison where they discussed the spring strategies

19:07

and why they had wished they had started sooner

19:09

, and I have a link to join

19:11

the sustainer Slack group . This is where

19:13

45 nonprofits are currently

19:16

together running monthly giving programs

19:18

, and they are gathered providing advice and

19:20

support to one another . So if you want those accountability

19:22

partners and support , we got your back and

19:24

you can join the Sustainer Slack channel . And

19:27

what I love about this group is , just the other

19:29

day , an organization posted

19:31

their monthly giving landing page and was asking

19:33

for feedback , and people rushed in

19:35

to provide it , and her response was

19:38

oh , thank you , Wonderful people

19:40

. I knew you were like-minded , smart folks

19:42

Love all of this feedback and ideas

19:44

. You guys are the best Like . Please

19:46

be a part of this . It like warms my heart to see

19:48

this like everybody just coming together to support

19:50

one another . So I hope this

19:52

little mini series on sharing the monthly giving

19:55

framework over the past few episodes

19:57

has been helpful to you and

19:59

I'm sure , as you can tell , I

20:01

am so passionate about this

20:03

for the greater health of the nonprofit

20:06

sector to truly thrive . Next

20:08

week I have Joey Goon joining

20:10

me . We're going back to some interviews to talk

20:12

about how to create an unforgettable

20:15

event experience . So

20:17

with that , I hope you have a wonderful day

20:19

. Check out all the links in the show notes

20:21

and I will see you next week .

20:24

Can you tell I love talking all things digital

20:26

To make this show better . I'd

20:28

be so grateful for your feedback . Leave

20:31

a review , take a screenshot of this episode

20:33

, share it on Instagram stories and

20:35

tag positive equation with

20:37

one E so I can reshare and

20:39

connect with you .