Maximizing Impact: Digital Strategies and Monthly Giving Programs for Nonprofits

Dana Snyder , digital strategist for nonprofits and founder and CEO of Positive Equation . This show highlights the digital strategies of organizations making a positive impact in the world . Ready to learn the latest trends , actionable tips and the real stories from behind the feed , let's transform your mission into a movement .

Hello , hello , i am back from maternity leave and , wow , talking back into the microphone feels so different . It's been a while , even though episodes have been dropping consistently every Wednesday .

I did a lot of work on the beginning before I left from maternity leave to actually bank all of those , so I recorded all of the episodes that started really in April Oh , my goodness all in the beginning of the year , so April through May and even this month in June .

So it's been a while since I've been back on the mic , so it's so good to be here with you . I cannot believe that Q2 is about to wrap up . There are so many things that I want to cover , but first I want to say thank you so much for all of the amazing messages and support about Kennedy .

She was born on April 8th and she is just a huge joy to our lives and sleeping pretty good , so pretty happy about that .

She has some full nights rest , which is amazing , growing like a weed , and so , if you want to get some , i've posted a few photos on Instagram So if you head over to positive equation with 1e , you can get some updates on Miss Kennedy Ray . But she's doing awesome and loving , loving , loving Mama Life And I want to talk a little bit about that .

But first , there are so many things that I want to cover on this podcast that have been happening over the past few months Everything going on with AI , there's a ton of changes with Facebook ads , lots of updates to the social channels , and so I want to dive into all of those things and I always love to hear from you .

So if there's a topic that you want to have covered , please feel free to always reach out to me . Dm me on Instagram Again , that's positive equation with 1e or you can send me a note also on LinkedIn , just search for Dana Snyder . But first , whether this is the first time that you've listened to this podcast , hi welcome .

Or if you're a weekly listener , welcome back . I had some incredible guests the past few months that I just wanted to quickly call out a few of those episodes that I've been getting messages about that people have just raved on . So if you feel like you are on the marketing hamster wheel and committing random acts of marketing episode 70 with Vic Harrison .

She is the co-founder of Charity Water and a brilliant marketer I got episode 70 . She shares their three step and I say theirs in Charity Waters three step marketing engine that every org should use And it is brilliant . I've gotten countless messages about this episode . That is episode 70 .

And she's going to dive into very tactical , very helpful , noteworthy episode to dive into specific marketing strategies . I absolutely promise that is 100% worth your time . Go check it out . Next up episode 68 . This was how culture influences marketing with Marcus Collins .

He is the author behind a new book that I am absolutely obsessed with , called For The Culture , and Marcus and I met a long time ago in New York . He just wrapped up his time at Whited and Kennedy .

It's an incredible marketing advertising agency in New York And he's now taking his book on tour and speaking all over the place And we talk about his time working digital strategy for Beyonce . So how to really find your bay head And so much more in this episode .

But it's a really great , foundational episode to understand how to build a loyal , passionate fan base and how to find your people , your congregation , what he talks about , and this is one of my new favorite books . So , again , the book is called For The Culture .

It's episode 68 with Marcus Collins And then , lastly , episode 71 , the big change with Google Analytics and what you need to do with Caroline Griffin . So Google Analytics has been getting this massive facelift change to GA4 . On July 1st , if you have a Google Analytics account and you log in , there's literally a countdown clock telling you that this is happening .

Your Google Analytics universal analytics of what it has been called is going to go away . It's gonna stop tracking data , and GA4 is the new version for lots of different reasons , and we explain this and everything you need to know on that episode . So we're breaking it all down bite-worthy chunks , making sure that you know what to do so that you're prepared .

So that's episode 71 . So again , episode 68 , 70 , 71, . They are amazing . Go check them out . Let me know what you think . Shoot me a DM on Instagram or on LinkedIn . Okay , so currently I am working about two days a week with the help of my husband . I'm so grateful for his paternity leave that we still have rolled out , so he took two weeks .

At the front end , i had a C-section which knocks you out for a little while , so it was really , really , really helpful to have him around . Thank you , thank you , thank you to all the companies that offer paternity leave . It is so helpful . And then , for the rest of the time , for his paternity leave , we have been able to do this .

I'm working Mondays and Wednesdays currently , so he's taking those off and we're able to figure out this workflow currently , but it really means that I need to be as efficient with my time as possible . So , which leads me to have you checked your analytics for Q1 and Q2 yet , like what's working , what's not , what's the best use of your time ?

Because this whole situation of working two days a week has created this really interesting question for myself , like if you only had two days a week to get things done , like what really matters , where are you spending fluff time ? Where does that lie ?

So I am working on an evaluation of my maternity leave content plan , what I put out over the past few months And to help really answer this question for myself like what worked , what didn't work , where do I wanna spend my time ? So I will share that with you .

So stay tuned for an episode where I will share my social stats and my findings from Q1 and Q2 . I really focused on YouTube , my emails , the podcast , instagram and LinkedIn Like that's kind of my jam . So I will share what I found out from that . So stay tuned for that episode .

And something I've always been invested in since starting this company Positive Equation six years ago in 2017 , which feels like eons ago now is working with nonprofits . So like yourselves to really make sure that the audience that you want to attract knows your name and feels called to support you .

And over the past three years , there's been so many changes in the world and especially in my business , and I started to notice myself and how I was giving and then how my friends were giving . And it's this rise and now we've seen it in reports this rise of monthly giving 45% of donors worldwide are enrolled in monthly giving programs 45% .

And this is not just a young people thing , which I think it used to be this oh , it's a low cost to give , so it's gonna be just young people , and that's not true . 40% of millennial donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program . That would be me , but we're now all the way up into our 40s .

49% of Gen X donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program and 49% of baby boomers are enrolled in a monthly giving program . So it's not just a young people thing . All generations like to give to a monthly giving program .

And it was even more fascinating is a report from the M&R benchmarks said while online giving among one-time donors actually declined 12% this is just of this past year monthly giving jumped 11% from 2022 to 2023 and is making up about 28% of revenue . So it's a lot of percentages that I just threw out .

But basically , one-time giving is down , monthly giving is up . This is a great thing if you think about it , if you have a compelling , strong monthly giving program , right . So this bears the question should you start to prefer and invest in the ask of monthly versus one-time gifts ? Now , why not ? right When we think about the benefits . It's recurring donations .

So if you got a one-time ask of $25 versus if somebody gives that 12 times a year , that's obviously better right . There's usually an 80 to 90% retention rate with monthly giving programs and there's far deeper engagement When you think about just for myself .

when I am looking to give and I commit to donate monthly , i'm saying I'm in , like I believe in this . It's not just my friend asking me to give once , it's not just I saw something come across the TV or I saw an ad and I'm just giving one time .

No , like I'm saying I want updates from you , i want to be invited to things , i want to see what's happening with your mission consistently . And over the past two years I really started to see this need for something greater than a monthly checkbox .

So I started my monthly giving mastermind program and I've worked with nine organizations to build and launch their monthly giving programs through this mastermind And if you're interested in joining us this summer , applications are open right now .

We're gonna start in mid-July and I'll be working with five organizations on building out from scratch their monthly giving programs or transitioning from an old to a new . It's everything from we create and design the name to the website , build , create a launch video and more . It's so much fun . It's my favorite thing to do .

If you're interested , you can head over to positiveequationcom backslash mastermind to apply . But I wanted to share with you five findings over the past two years working with these different organizations and just my research in general .

When I am thinking about efficiency , use of time , us really wanting to be proactive in our stewardship and not the constant grind of reaching out and finding new donors all the time . My number one finding is it's more than just a checkbox Right when it comes to monthly giving programs .

So often we just have on our donation forum a donate one time or donate monthly , and then the language is kind of bland . It's not saying , like , why should you donate monthly ? It's not calling out specific people that would wanna join that organization . Why would I donate monthly over giving one time ?

Right , so to really design a program and having a specific landing page that's speaking just to that program . When you click the donate form , it's just asking you for a monthly donation . One time giving isn't even optional because that's where you are on the site . Like , that's really important to consider .

Like , what's the user experience of this person that's coming to your site that has the intent to give monthly . So why would we show a one time gift in the first place , right ? so that's number one . Number two finding this is a big one . The name matters The name of the program , and having a name for a program matters . This is like my test .

Say this sentence out loud and you can see how it sounds if you already have a program . Here's number one . I joined Blank . Insert the name of your program , or say this sentence I'm a part of Blank and enter the name of your program , like is it something that's easy to say ? is it clear to understand ?

Because that's what you want people to say when they're around a dinner table or out with friends , like I recently joined blank , right ? does it make sense ? Is it clear ? Is there enough talking points on the website that they are able to share with their friends and family Where they're giving ?

three Does the copy on your monthly giving website landing page speak to your ideal audience and think about it as one person , right ? so I'm actually going to pull up an example . I recently worked with the Gateway Center and an organization based in California , and I will link to their monthly giving program .

It's called the path , and what I love is Down below on the page . It's saying the path is a family of action takers like you . You know , just like we do , the importance

of allowing all people , including adults with developmental disabilities , to lead a fulfilling , independent life when you walk the path with us , etc . Etc . Right , it is specifically saying The path is a family of action takers like you , you know , just like we do . So it's calling out a specific one individual That also believes in this mission , right .

So you're finding people who are aligned in your mission and you're calling that out in your copy . So does your website landing page speak to that ideal audience ? I'm gonna give you another example . Megan Walsh is one of my favorite people and she has a monthly giving program called the roots .

Right , when you scroll down the page on her monthly giving program , it says unshakable in our vision of a poverty free world , a . We're calling out that people also agree and believe in that vision . We are a group of people who see the future as a poverty free world and who take action to make it so . Community priorities are our priorities , etc . Etc .

So again , it's calling in people who have an aligned vision With your organization and your impact . Number four Remove any giving confusion . So this kind of goes the same as number one with the checkbox .

But I recently had a friend over Mallory Erickson You might know her , she's an incredible fundraising consultant and we were talking about how she received an email where she was asked to give monthly And I think it was $20 to an organization . But then when she clicked the button to give in the email , the donation form didn't have $20 as an option .

It had a bunch of other amounts . So there was confusion to say , oh , but I thought the ass was 20 because it was gonna provide this certain impact , but yet it wasn't there . So we want to make sure that there's no confusion , that it's super easy and we remove that friction .

We're asking people to give , so so often we just get caught in All the busyness of what we're doing . So double check your website , double check your emails , double check your donation forms . Make sure that's all really seamless experience . And then number five Honestly , this is the biggest one . This is the cherry on top .

You will not have a successful monthly giving program if you don't do this clear and consistent promotion . You have to make the ask and you have to make it clear In emails at events . Make one ask . I don't know how many emails I get from organizations where there are like four different things that somebody wants me to do or click on .

If somebody clicks on one thing , like they're gone from that email , like it's done most of the time , right , they're not gonna go back and click on something else . Like they've clicked away . They're on a different screen . Now my attention is somewhere else and then I'm gonna get a phone call or a text message . Right , it's gone .

So when you're sending out communications , make one ask . I think there's like this FOMO . I think there's this fear of missing out where , like , oh no , if I ask for the monthly giving program , they're not gonna be a one time $5,000 donor , they're just gonna give $25 . That is not true .

Like , if somebody wants to give you $5,000 , $10,000 , $25,000 , they're going to do that anyways , they might also be a monthly donor , right ? Or a monthly giving program is a great way to bring people in to get to know your organization and they might eventually become then a major donor .

Don't have a fear that just because you're asking for something that might be a lower ask right now that it can't turn into something greater Like . You want this program to thrive , and these are going to be your most compassionate people . They're saying I'm in every single month . I want updates from you , right ?

So clear , consistent promotion of your monthly giving program . Make it the thing that you talk about all the time . All right , so those are my five . It's more than a checkbox . The name of the program . Matters is the copy on your monthly giving landing page clear , remove any giving confusion and clear and consistent promotion .

So I listened to a podcast episode recently and I heard one of my mentors , julie Solomon . She has the influencer podcast and she was talking about this concept of changes , like making changes And what are you like ? so sick and tired of . Like tired of trying to get more and more individual donors .

You're hoping that they give again , praying that that one donor is gonna give that big gift again , planning the same event year over year , hoping that it nets positive , sending out an email with six different asks , hoping someone clicks give , and like hitting refresh rate .

And something that she called out that was so profound was your pain has to be greater than the fear . To overcome it , woof y'all . That hits deep . Your pain has to be greater than the fear to overcome it . That is huge . When we actually want to make a difference , we have to be so frustrated . It seems then fearful to actually make the change .

So here's where I'm at with this . The data is there . People are giving monthly It's . Do we have the programs ready ? Do we have the platform ready to call people and then invite them to give ?

So I wanna invite you to create something that's sustainable , scalable and with the ability to bring together a really diverse donor community of passionate people that want to rally others behind your cause . Let's build your monthly giving program together . I wanna help you . There's five spots that are open

If you're ready to roll one out for GivingTuesday in your end . Everybody who joins a group that joins here in July . Technically , the websites and the donation forums and everything will be up at the end of August , so you can really start promoting then . But they'll be ready for sure by GivingTuesday in your end .

The program wraps If you do this support month in October . Again , dm me on LinkedIn or Instagram if you're interested , or visit positiveequationcom backslash mastermind And you can see examples of previous orgs that I've worked with . I go through and I audit your online donation tools . We build out a monthly giving website landing page , thank you page .

We create a launch video , social ad campaigns . It's a blast And I would love to work with you and see you get all the success this year with monthly giving donors .

And then also , it's so fun just coming back and being on the podcast And I'm really looking forward to looking at a recap of my social media performance for Q1 and Q2 and being fully transparent and sharing with you what worked and what didn't . Plus , look forward to a state of the state on key social media channels . So , short and sweet for today .

Just wanted to give you some food for thought there on things that I've been seeing and cannot wait to see you in the next few episodes and reach out to me if there's topics that you wanna have covered And , as always , if you love this podcast . I really enjoy hearing from you .

Please leave a review on Apple Podcast if that's for your listening , and subscribe And I'll see you next week . Can you tell I love talking ? all things digital To make this show better . I'd be so grateful for your feedback .

Leave a review , take a screenshot of this episode , share it on Instagram stories and tag positive equation with one E So I can reshare and connect with you . I'll see you next time .