A successful monthly giving program is built on communication, frictionless sign-ups, and a focus on donor appreciation. With the right strategies, your nonprofit can cultivate a loyal donor base who are excited to support your cause every month. Let’s dive into a few creative ways to connect with monthly donors.

Create nonprofit eCards

Nonprofit eCards are super versatile, making them effective for donor acquisition and retention alike. Create digital greeting cards that accomplish the following:

• Recognize donors. Show appreciation for your recurring donors with beautifully designed thank-you eCards. Sending a heartfelt digital note after a donation can strengthen donor relationships, reinforce their impact, and encourage long-term commitment.
• Encourage tribute donations. Allow donors to dedicate their gift in honor of someone and send a custom eCard to notify the recipient. For this strategy, create designs for birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions.
• Power a cause awareness campaign. Your current donors can send eCards for free to invite loved ones to give, too. This is great for recruiting like-minded donors. Create eCards that include a mission-related image or illustration. In the pre-set message, communicate your mission. Senders can also add a personal note that explains what your cause means to them. Getting Attention’s nonprofit marketing guide highlights an eCard the nonprofit Project Sleep created to increase awareness of their cause on World Narcolepsy Day:

By using nonprofit eCards in your donor engagement strategy, you create an engaging giving experience and offer organic opportunities for donor-driven outreach.

Make it easy to manage monthly donations

The easier the donation process, the more likely donors are to commit to and continue their monthly gifts. Your fundraising tools are the foundation of your recurring giving experience. With these tools, implement strategies to remove friction from the monthly giving process, such as:

• Use a simple, mobile-friendly donation form with minimal fields to reduce drop-offs. Ensure the form is optimized for all devices to enable giving on phones and tablets.
• Accept multiple payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, and even Apple Pay or Google Pay for convenience. Ensure your payment processor implements proper security measures, such as following PCI compliance standards.
• Provide an easy way for donors to update their contributions, including adding new payment details, changing their monthly donation amount, or pausing contributions without staff intervention.
• Automate reminders for payment failures. Prevent accidental lapses by notifying donors when their payment information needs updating.

To encourage incremental increases in monthly donations, you can set up automated upgrade prompts which routinely invite donors to increase their monthly contributions.

These strategies are essential components of a strong donor retention program, ensuring monthly gifts are easy to manage and supporters face few obstacles to making a long-term commitment.

Thank your monthly donors

Gratitude goes a long way! A simple “thank you” makes donors feel appreciated. Don’t make the mistake of discontinuing your appreciation efforts down the road, though. Donors may (and will) stop their contributions if they’re unsure whether they’re making an impact.

Instead, express gratitude regularly with the following strategies:

• Post social media shoutouts. For monthly donors who prefer public recognition, post their pictures and a snippet about their monthly donation’s impact on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. These posts can also attract other donors to your community.
• Feature recurring donors in newsletters. Highlight dedicated monthly donors in your nonprofit’s newsletter. You might feature testimonials about why they give to emphasize the impact of recurring contributions. However, don't post the names and faces of your donors unless you get their permission!
• Provide regular impact updates. Use impact reports or infographics to demonstrate what monthly donors achieve through their combined efforts.
• Send personalized thank-you notes. A heartfelt note that mentions their gift’s impact goes a long way in enhancing donor relationships. eCardWidget’s donor thank-you letter guide recommends including a personalized greeting, the donation amount, plans for the donation, a short testimonial, additional engagement opportunities, a final thank-you, and a signature from someone at your organization:

Small gestures, like a thank-you note or a social media shoutout, can significantly impact donor loyalty. By making gratitude a priority, you can get your monthly donors invested in your ongoing success.

Offer special perks to monthly donors

Giving donors exclusive benefits makes them feel like valued partners in your mission. They’ll be more likely to continue their contributions to continue receiving their perks. Consider providing monthly donors with the following:

• Early access to updates. Keep monthly donors in the loop with important announcements, like campaign launches, before the general public.
• Invitations to special events. Offer exclusive access to donor appreciation events, Q&A sessions with leadership, and behind-the-scenes tours.
• Personalized impact reports. Send tailored updates on how their contributions are making a difference, reinforcing their role in your nonprofit’s success.

These perks help thank monthly contributors and incentivize them to continue giving. Consider creating tiers with each successive level providing more perks to inspire them to level up their contributions.

One-time donations are great, but monthly gifts provide sustainable, predictable support that keeps your mission running. Implementing unique giving opportunities, perks, and appreciation strategies can go a long way in boosting monthly donor retention.