Monthly Giving Framework Step 4 & 5: Make The Ask + Share Joy & Gratitude

So be so amped to ask them that they feel that excitement .

Ready to learn the latest trends , actionable tips and the real stories from behind the feed , let's transform your mission into a movement .

And step five share constant joy and gratitude , aka your beautiful retention plan to keep these supporters around and feeling so appreciated . So just a quick recap steps one through three are the foundation . When I get asked where should I start with my monthly giving program , that's where to go . That's where to start .

So if you missed those episodes , go back to 131 and 132 and you will learn . Step one create the product . Step two make it easy . And step three call in the believers Now to hear your peers talk about their personal stories . Through each of these phases , I hope you will join me for the Monthly Giving Summit on September 5th and 6th .

It's two half days , from 1 to 4 pm Eastern time , and it is for free . So head on over If you want to hear some of these things very practically discussed . Head to monthlygivingsummitcom to RSVP Now at this point . Over the past few episodes , we have reviewed the why and the structure for your program . Your donation process is optimized .

Your website copy is clear . It draws people in . So now , in step four , it is time to make the ask . Now , before we dive into some of the tactical information , I want to be super clear around the mindset that we need to have around asking for a recurring gift . Monthly giving is not just about a donation .

It is about giving people a way to channel their purpose consistently . If you are shy , like if you're showing up shy or with low energy or lack of confidence around making this monthly ask , I promise you your supporters will feel that this is a transformational gift that you are providing the wonderful opportunity for them to make .

So be so amped to ask them that they feel that excitement . Y'all . If I was inviting you to join the monthly giving summit and I was like , yeah , I would really like if you would join the summit , I think it's going to be fun . Are you going to want to join ? I don't think so .

If I'm like , oh my gosh , you guys should be there , you won't imagine the amazing keynotes I'm going to have . You'll be part of this community together , that community together .

That's how you want people to feel about joining your monthly giving program , and I understand if you're in a tough spot right now , if things are challenging right now , you can share that with your supporters , but in a hopeful manner . Be real and be honest , but with hope , with that light and I've seen this so much , even in social media ads .

That's something else that I teach with the copy and what we share . So there used to be this kind of like older social media strategy approach with copy that you go in hard on sharing the pain point that someone's having to get them to convert . But now there's been a switch , I think really ever since COVID , with sharing , with hope , guiding .

With that you're providing this opportunity of , of positivity and that's really working best . So please make sure your mindset whatever that's going for a walk , if it's putting on good music , if it's surrounding yourself with a community who's going to rally behind you and have your back , to get yourself in a positive mindset .

When you start to make these asks and to cultivate them , big question how often should you ask for recurring gifts ? Now , in my humble opinion , subtly , I think you should ask them all the time , but then have one to three big tentpole campaign moments that you have planned out throughout the year . Because if you want sustainable , consistent revenue .

Then , yes , all roads lead to recurring giving gifts and based on Classy's State of Modern Philanthropy report , they found that 29% of first-time donors who became recurring donors they did so within the first 90 days of their initial gift . So do not be afraid to make that ask to recurring after that one-time gift .

So do not be afraid to make that ask to recurring after that one-time gift . And then , once they have established that regular giving cadence , those supporters are so loyal they are over nine times more valuable to your organization .

So sometimes I see there's this fear in the sector that if we ask for a recurring gift then major donors won't give when we're asking for a larger one-time contribution , or that people see the commitment of a recurring gift and they just won't give at all . And that is false like flashing lights false .

I had a wonderful conversation with Cubby Graham from Charity Water . He has been on this podcast before and we were talking about this . I asked him I was like importance of major versus recurring and he says the spring has honestly created a bridge for them to discover and welcome in new major donors because they have been giving monthly .

I also just had a call with a potential new monthly giving mastermind client and they recently have had two recurring donors that have been giving for years and they just left six figure gifts in their passing . Now , this is why that mindset mentality all of this is around mindset really just has to be put away .

We have to be thinking in a new way about the powerful reason for why recurring gifts matter so much . Your fears what are the fears when it comes to asking for recurring ?

But then think about there's this wonderful video I'm going to link to it in the show notes where Vic Harrison and Scott are talking about why they wish they would have started the spring sooner . And Scott references receiving this I think it was a $50,000 , like one-time gift .

But then he's like , after that money is given , it's like then you're looking at your budget , it's like , oh , the next year . Oh , poof , that just disappeared .

Versus wishing that that would have been $50,000 just split into $50 a month donations , because then it's consistent recurring revenue , like what's the list of the fears and what are the ways that we can get over that hump to be able to move in this direction ? So again , another thing to think about when to make these asks .

According to and I always go to data , the Neon One Recurring Giving Report , giving Tuesday accounted for 11 to 12% of all recurring gifts that were processed . That is huge .

So , on Giving Tuesday , with now this episode is being released in June lots of time to think about it how can you make Giving Tuesday all about the recurring first ask how can you make sure steps one through three are all set up foundationally so that you're ready to make that really impactful ask on Giving Tuesday

Now , literally , where should you make this ask ? Now , literally , where should you make this ask ? If you're not currently booking yourself or a team member or a spokesperson on podcasts , highly recommend doing so . I have a list of 30 podcasts that you can pitch and I share a video with tips on how to get booked on a show .

If you go to positiveequationcom backslash podcast list , just literally enter that into Google or click the link in the show notes , totally free .

It's a list of 30 podcasts to pitch , to share your story , because what a podcast does , and what I hope this says when you're listening to this , is these aren't a minute and a half video where it's like a quick peek , like hopefully you feel like you're getting to know me .

These are 15 to 40 plus minute episodes and you get to share a much longer story with potential supporters and get them hooked and feel compelled to give to you Two kind of in the same vein is speaking If you can get yourself in front of audiences to share your story .

And this is not just I'm not saying to book yourself at nonprofit conferences , no , because that's not your donors I'm saying there are so many events out there that are looking for the social impact , the feel good , the change , the world stories that the people sitting in the audience are your donors .

And so I think one of the most underrated roles that you can hire as a contractor is like a booker for these kinds of speaking opportunities to work with you on creating a story . This is something that I just talked with a good friend about that used to work at news story and that's a big way about how they cultivate supporters .

So really thinking about a strategy for speaking locally , regionally and nationally about your organization . And then , on a more smaller scale , of course , make the ask in your email marketing , in your social media organic and paid . Make the ask to your board members . If your board members aren't bought in they should be , they need to be .

How can they support you financially ? Make the ask in events that you attend or that you host If you are not making the ask for a recurring gift at your events ? I think that is a massive missed opportunity .

If you are just doing and ask for one-time gifts or you're just having them sign for a silent auction item , like it's poof , like given and then gone , instead of saying it would be so much more beneficial . Instead of them giving a one-time $500 donation , what if they gave a hundred dollars a month ?

Right , it seems like less to them at the time , but that's obviously much more over the long run and , according to data , they will give for years and years and years to come .

Next , if you can invest in a long form video kind of similar to what I'm saying with the podcast that can tell your story , that compels people to care , aka look at the spring video as a reference this is huge . It's a long form video that can tell your story and it works at scale . Also , where to make the ask ?

This is where those partnerships come in from . Step three , I talked about values aligned partnerships , and this is huge to help amplify your mission . So how can you work with these partners to integrate the ask to join your program with their audience . And then , lastly , work with influencers .

If you don't already have a and I'm not saying like Kim Kardashian influencer level , think about micro people in your in top voices , in your community , in your cause area that could elevate and add credibility and raise their voices around what it is that you do and coming up with a strategy for that .

So those are a couple ideas about where to make the ask . Now , we kind of talked about with make it easy , but I just want to like reiterate , because I think this is important when you're going in with the ask is when possible to visualize change with their gift .

So if it's possible with your organization to create impact based donation , amounts equaling like $40 can provide X and $27 will provide X . These can be averages , of course , but this really helps someone start to visualize what their impact can be each month .

If this isn't possible , I do wanna highlight a previous episode I think it was episode 130 with Helen Quinn from the Clio Institute . They're focused on climate change in Florida , and so that can seem really like a big audacious thing that doesn't really have exact dollar amounts for things .

So what we decided to do here in building their program is we spoke to the daily impact someone can have every single day If they give a dollar a day , $31 a month or even 50 cents a day . Those were their donation amounts and that way they are doing something every single day to progress for change with the climate there .

Now there is so much more to cover with making the ask , and I go through a ton of examples in my upcoming book , the monthly giving mastermind . It's coming out September 3rd . So much more to come on that soon . But I just wanted to give a few ideas . I think there's a lot here that you can already brainstorm . I didn't want to like overdo it .

So make some notes and think about what will work for you and just start to make those small changes . Those small moves can make a big difference . All right , Transitioning to step five , which is share constant joy and gratitude . Now , honestly , retention is the cornerstone of a sustainable monthly giving program .

What you are trying to do here is evoke the same feeling that donor originally had when they said yes to give every single time that gift is processed on their bank statement . So what I want you to do is start this process by checking some data . What is the current churn rate each month of your recurring supporters ? Do you know why they're leaving ?

Is there a trend about why they're leaving ? This is really , really important . I'm actually traveling to do an intensive in-person session with a nonprofit on this very thing .

They've noticed a trend of when people are leaving their recurring giving program and we're going to look at all facets of the program and build a dynamic retention plan to try and increase the longevity of their average donor . If you have a low churn rate , keep focusing on growth , like acquisition time . Bring in new people .

If you have a high churn rate , I would pause on any acquisition or growth right now because it looks like there might be something wrong that's making people leave and you should fix that first .

But if you're in a good spot , you should have at least a monthly email correspondence that is going out specifically to this group of monthly supporters , sharing updates on impact stories , et cetera . I interviewed Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids in my book and I just want to share a sample of what their automation email sequence looks like .

When somebody signs up , they have four emails that are automated and then they have a beautiful 12-month and beyond plan that they go into afterwards . So email number one they have a welcome and a thank you . This is when their executive director says thank you for signing up to be a hunger hero and why sustainable giving is so important to them .

Email number two is information about BB4CK . They're sharing some stats , they're talking about food insecurity , they share a graph and they also use this email to talk about their greater mission and their vision . Email number three is to connect . They're sharing a story . And then email number four is they're saying thank you and they're prepping you for what's next .

Thank you again for following along and what they can expect in the coming months . So once you have that initial email automation sequence that's set up and you have something every month that's going out , it's time to get creative , and sometimes people miss emails .

Right , we're busy and sometimes emails can bounce or they accidentally go to spam or trash , and so I always like to have at least one to two other backup means of communication . So that can be SMS with text messaging , direct mail , phone like literally calling someone or social media advertising .

So what I want you to do is pull out a sheet of paper or Google doc and write out each month of the year and what special moments you can create throughout the year for these supporters . It might be exclusive access If you have an event coming up . What can you do ? That's different , or can you do something virtually with a Q&A ?

Are there custom gifts that you can provide ? Is there recognition in an annual report ?

A recent Monthly Giving Mastermind alumni from Mulatto sent me their recent annual report and not only was there a beautiful brochure included all about their monthly donor program in the report the table but they also had a full page dedicated to all the recurring supporters and the impact that community has made together , which is awesome .

So this constant sharing of joy and gratitude just continuously strengthens the relationship between you and your monthly donors , making them

feel all that more connected and appreciated . So in this mini episode there's a lot to brainstorm on and dive deeper , so I'm going to leave it here , but I have listed a ton of great resources in the show notes below .

I have my 12 month plus joy and gratitude retention plan worksheet , the video that I just mentioned with Scott and Vic Harrison where they discussed the spring strategies and why they had wished they had started sooner , and I have a link to join the sustainer Slack group .

This is where 45 nonprofits are currently together running monthly giving programs , and they are gathered providing advice and support to one another . So if you want those accountability partners and support , we got your back and you can join the Sustainer Slack channel .

And what I love about this group is , just the other day , an organization posted their monthly giving landing page and was asking for feedback , and people rushed in to provide it , and her response was oh , thank you , Wonderful people . I knew you were like-minded , smart folks Love all of this feedback and ideas . You guys are the best Like .

Please be a part of this . It like warms my heart to see this like everybody just coming together to support one another .

So I hope this little mini series on sharing the monthly giving framework over the past few episodes has been helpful to you and I'm sure , as you can tell , I am so passionate about this for the greater health of the nonprofit sector to truly thrive . Next week I have Joey Goon joining me .

We're going back to some interviews to talk about how to create an unforgettable event experience . So with that , I hope you have a wonderful day . Check out all the links in the show notes and I will see you next week .