Monthly
Donor
Metrics
Every
Nonprot
Should
Know
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Monthly Donors: Grow Your Most
Loyal Base
Committed and enthusiastic about your cause, monthly donors provide
your nonprot with a reliable source of revenue through small monthly
donations that add up to a sizable annual total.
Monthly donors are retained donors, serving as the foundation of your
organization’s success. Their loyalty provides a predictable and reliable
revenue stream that goes beyond the basics - nding new ways to
champion your mission.
3
A Little Bit Over Time Amounts to a Lot for a Lifetime
For many donors it’s easier to donate a small amount every month rather than give a
large, one-time gift. But don’t underestimate the impact of these donors. Data from
DonorPerfect shows they make a sizable dent in giving overall.
Every donor
maers.
4
Monthly donors are the biggest annual
contributors after major donors, giving
7x more than one-time donors.
→ Average annual contributions
$227
$453
$1,663
REGULAR
ANNUAL
MONTHLY
DONOR TYPES AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS ANNUALLY
A donor who stays with an organization
for 10 Years gives
6x as much as a
donor who stays for 2.5 years.
Source: AFP 2017 Fundraising Eectiveness Survey Report
5
Monthly donors are more likely to upgrade.
→ Downgrade (lower gift amount)
→ Renewal (equal gift amount)
→ Upgrade (higher gift amount)
38%
38%
43%
REGULAR
ANNUAL
MONTHLY
UPGRADES, DOWNGRADES, RENEWALS BY GROUP
Monthly donors ar th
gift that keeps on giving.
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Source: DonorPerfect
77% of rst time donors won’t give
to your organization next year.
60% of regular donors will stop
giving to your organization next year.
90% of monthly donors will keep
giving to your organization next year.
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Acquiring new donors involves spending time and money on engaging and
educating people about your cause. Strong donor retention allows you to spend less
time and money converting new donors year after year. Instead, you can spend your
valuable time sharing the signicant impact your growing base of donors are having
on your mission.
You can build valuable donor retention systems right into your fundraising strategy
today through the expert advice and actionable best practices in Your Donor
Retention Toolkit by Pamela Grow. Go to donorperfect.com/DonorRetention to
get your free toolkit today.
8
Check Yourself: What are Your
Donor Retention Metrics?
Eective donor retention strategies require you to determine your
baseline, dene success, and measure your progress toward your
goals through reporting.
Want to excel at retaining donors? Here are 4 important metrics you
should keep tabs on regularly:
→ Donor retention rate
→ Donor attrition rate
→ Gift retention
→ Donor lifetime value
Note that online donor data platforms like DonorPerfect calculate,
track, and display these metrics for you, but if you’d like to do the
math yourself, formulas are provided on the following page.
Monthly donors
ar loyal donors.
9
Donor Attrition Rate: the ratio of donors who
do not give again to the ratio of donors you retain
Your donor attrition rate is the inverse of your donor retention rate:
attrition rate = 1 minus the retention rate. For example, if your donor
retention rate is 40%, your attrition rate is 60%.
Donor Retention Rate: the ratio of donors you
retain to donors who do not give again
Your donor retention rate is easy to calculate. For example, if you have
1,000 donors in year 1 but only 400 of those give again in year 2, your
donor retention rate would be 400/1000, or 40 percent.
CALCULATE YOUR DONOR RETENTION RATE
CALCULATE YOUR DONOR ATTRITION RATE
# of Donors
in 1st Year
Your
Retention
Rate
Your
Attrition
Rate
# of Donors
in 2nd Year
1 Your Retention Rate
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Gift Retention Rate: the amount donated by
your retained donors year over year
Your gift retention rate reveals how much money you’re keeping
through retention by calculating how much donors gave again this
year divided by the amount those same donors gave last year. It’s best
used in determining whether your retained donors are giving the same
amount or upgrading year after year.
CALCULATE YOUR GIFT RETENTION RATE
# of Gifts in
2nd Year
Your Gift
Retention
Rate
# of Gifts in
1st Year
→ Use # of Gifts from Retained Donors
Knowing is th
key t rowing.
11
Donor Lifetime Value (LTV): how much
money, calculated over all donors and
donations, a donor will give to your
organization from the rst donation to the last
This must-know metric is crucial to your development budget, as it
determines how much money you should invest to acquire a new donor
or keep a donor for the long term.
This is how it works using our example gures and increasing retention
rate from 40 percent to 60 percent (which reduces the attrition rate
from 60% to 40%):
→ Lifetime of donor = 1÷0.4 = 2.5 years
→ Lifetime value = 2.5 x $500 = $1,250.00
The impact of your donor retention rate is dicult to ignore. For
example, if you can increase your retention rate by just 20 percent,
your donor LTV increases by 50 percent. Although that seems like quite
a feat, a monthly giving program can help you achieve even greater
retention quite easily.
CALCULATE YOUR GIFT RETENTION RATE
→ The higher your retention rate, the greater the donor LTV
Lifetime
of Donor
Lifetime
Value
1 Your Retention Rate
Lifetime of Donor $500
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Boost Your Retention Rate with a
Monthly Giving Program
Do your donors know that they can eortlessly support your organization
on a regular basis? Shine a spotlight on recurring giving as a celebrated
way to champion your cause by starting a monthly giving program. A
monthly giving program ensures that your donors know that they can sign
up to donate monthly in any amount they choose.
Why is the monthly donor so sought after? Monthly donors stay with an
organization longer than episodic donors, between ve and seven years on
average. DonorPerfect users who have implemented a monthly giving
program report retaining up to 90% of their donors - who stay with the
organization an average of 10 years!
Your monthly giving program can help your organization in many ways,
because it enables you to:
→ Retain more donors for longer.
→ Raise more money.
→ Worry less about cash ow.
→ Give donors convenience they want.
→ Save time with automatic recurring donation processing.
→ Gain time to share the impact donors are making.
Monthly donations
can b hal fre.
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But will it work? Of course it will!
Living Hope International is just one example of how nonprots can put
the concept of “subscribing” to an organization to work in a way that
sustains and propels their mission.
60% of LHI’s Donors Joined Their Monthly
Giving Program
Living Hope International leans on their consistent ow of monthly gifts
to bring daily comfort and support to the children in their care.
With the help of automatic monthly giving, this organization has been
able to engage donors eortlessly from all over the world and make a
dierence. Read their story at donorperfect.com/LHI.
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Attract and Retain Tomorrow’s
Big Donors Today
While monthly giving programs are already a favorite of older donors and
individuals on xed incomes who like the predictability of their giving,
millennials are also a perfect candidate for monthly gifts.
Given their post-college nancial constraints, 52% of millennials prefer
to show their support for causes they care about by giving small, regular
donations that don’t squeeze their budget. Your monthly giving program is
the perfect place for millennials to start giving and grow their gifts as their
debts lessen and their incomes rise.
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Promote your monthly giving program in
terms millennials relate to.
Because millennials aren’t known for having lots of disposable cash,
it’s important to craft your ask in a way that demonstrates how a very
minimal contribution can result in meaningful change. Think about the
types of purchases they make without realizing and draw a comparison
between that casual spend and a donation that empowers them to
make a dierence.
CAPTION: For the cost of
a coconut milk cold brew
you’d snag before work,
you can give a shelter pup
a second chance at nding
a forever home. Celebrate
Giving Tuesday with a $5/
month pledge to Teeny
Rescue Animal Shelter. Give
here: [INSERT LINK FOR
DONATION FORM]
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Specically outline the change their monthly
gift will create.
Establish monthly giving “levels” by listing suggested amounts paired
with the resources each one will aord your organization.
For example, Teeny Rescue’s levels might look like this:
Do something pawsitive.
As a monthly donor, you can care for rescue dogs
in many ways.
TEENY RESCUE
$5 gives a dog a month’s worth of food.
$10 gives a dog a month’s worth of food and a toy.
$20 gives a dog a leash, a toy, and a month’s worth of food.
$30 gives a dog a leash, a toy, a blanket, and a month’s worth
of food.
$50 gives a dog a bed, a leash, a toy, a blanket, and a month’s
worth of food.
Amount
$50 - Pup Hero
MONTHLY DONATION
Animal Shelter
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Keep millennials engaged where they exist
the most: online.
The ability to accept monthly giving registrations and donations online
is essential to the success of your program, especially when it comes
to attracting millennials. Don’t miss out on valuable relationships
with up-and-coming donors. Check out the tools and strategies
you need to engage donors in all kinds of ways in 4 Strategies to
Build Multichannel Donor Relationships. Go to donorperfect.com/
multichannel_ebook to download your copy today.
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Thank You Letters
Donors Will Love
The key to retaining monthly donors? Thank them often. And take “thank
you” a step further by showing them the real and radical results of their
decision to give to your organization each and every month.
In addition to the traditional acknowledgement, monthly donors expect
frequent updates as to where their gift is going and how it’s making a
dierence in regard to your mission. If you’re working with a lean nonprot
team, consistent communication can be a tough task.
These monthly giving thank you letter and email templates can help you
and your team easily and eectively communicate the incredible impact of
a donor’s continual commitment to the progress of your mission.
A lil thank you
goes a long way.
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Monthly Giving - Thank You Letter
& Email Template #1
WHEN TO SEND IT: This anytime update is best sent when you have a
specic accomplishment to report at least every 3-6 months - to provide
donors with information about your progress. The goal of this thank
you letter is to show your monthly donors the good they’re creating by
pledging to give regularly.
Let them know they
mak a dierenc.
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SUBJECT LINE: [FIRST NAME], see what your monthly gift made happen.
BODY COPY:
Hi [FIRST NAME],
Your monthly gift makes an enormous dierence in the lives of [YOUR
CONSTITUENTS].
Thanks to your generosity and dedication to championing our mission of
[YOUR MISSION], together we were able to [SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENT - For
example: “nd loving homes for 40 shelter dogs in June.” or “fund a breast
cancer research study that brings us closer to a cure.”]
Along with our gratitude, we’d like to share this with you to show your gift in
action:
[ADD PHOTO/LINK HERE]
From all of us here at [YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME], thank you for being a
part of our monthly donor community.
YOUR ORG HERE
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Monthly Giving - Thank You Letter
& Email Template #2
WHEN TO SEND IT: Much like your regular newsletter, this thank you
letter should provide your monthly donors with a variety of updates.
Updates can include a story about a specic person who helped
through your monthly giving program, upcoming initiatives you’ll fund
through monthly gifts, and opportunities to get that donor face time
through events and volunteer opportunities.
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SUBJECT LINE: [FIRSTNAME], here’s your monthly donor update!
Hi [FIRST NAME],Thank you for being a part of our monthly donor
community. Because you’re such a big part of the progress we’re making
here at [ORGANIZATION NAME], we want to keep you posted on all the
good stu going on in the coming months.
YOUR MONTHLY GIFT FUNDS MAJOR CHANGE
This is [NAME]. Through the [SERVICES] we are able to provide thanks to
your monthly contribution, [S/HE/THEY is/are] able to [ACHIEVEMENT].
[NAME] says, “[QUOTE FROM THIS PERSON ABOUT THE IMPACT OF
SERVICES].”
COMING SOON: [NEW SERVICE/INITIATIVE/GOAL]
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be starting [PROJECT/ACTION] to
[GOAL enhance/improve/serve] beginning in [MONTH]. Want to help?
Look out for upcoming volunteer opportunities, spread the word about
[YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME] to family and friends or increase your
monthly gift by just $5.
JOIN US! [YOUR EVENT NAME, DAY, TIME]
[EVENT DESCRIPTION]
WE’RE LOOKING FOR HELPING HANDS
[VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY]
YOUR ORG HERE
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Don’t Have a Monthly Giving Program?
Download your free Monthly Giving Starter Kit for step-by-step
instructions on how to get your Monthly Giving program o the ground
quickly and eectively. Go to donorperfect.com/MGSK to get your
copy today.
Manage Monthly Donors Easily
The biggest benet of being a monthly donor is that they can take a “set it
and forget it” approach to supporting an organization they care about.
But donors aren’t the only ones who benet from the ease of monthly
gifts. Your nonprot can kick back and enjoy the perks as well when you’re
equipped with the software to make it happen.
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Accepting recurring gifts through online forms makes giving monthly easy for everyone.
DonorPerfect accommodates many features that can increase the success of your
monthly giving program, including:
→ Forms you can customize with your logo and branding
→ The ability to oer recurring donations and preselect recurring giving
→ The ability to display a video and social share buttons on your form
→ Automatic acknowledgements that say thanks faster
→ Credit and debit acceptance (80% of monthly donors)
→ Account Updater service to keep card information current
→ Automatic Monthly Giving that processes gifts for you, on a basis you set
