Soapbox Engage Blog

There's no better way to retain current donors, enjoy sustainable revenue, and increase the lifetime value of your donors than through a monthly giving program.

As a development professional, you invest hard work, time, and careful strategy into every fundraising strategy. It's critical to accurately measure the effectiveness and progress of each strategy. The right tools will help you track progress, gauge your success, and build on the most effective strategies–including your monthly giving program.

Building a successful monthly giving program can be a complicated task, but once it's up and running, the right measurements can help ensure you're getting a good return on your investment for the program. Tracking the progress and the ROI for your recurring giving programs offers insight into what's working and where to make improvements.

Table of Contents

1. Recurring Giving Program Benefits for Nonprofits
2. Setting Goals for Nonprofit Recurring Giving Programs
3. Track the ROI of Nonprofit Recurring Giving Programs

Recurring Giving Program Benefits for Nonprofits

A recurring giving program allows supporters to set up regular donations and give a specified amount each month, quarter, or year. Many donors like the convenience and "set-it-and-forget-it" benefits of automatic monthly giving.

Recurring giving programs are only growing in popularity–and for good reason! Supporters who give monthly are more likely to remain loyal to your nonprofit. They also offer a more reliable source of income. Here are some of the top benefits that recurring giving programs can offer your nonprofit:

Increase donor retention: Donors who give through a recurring giving program are more likely to continue giving into the future. Some studies show that the retention rate of monthly donors is as high as 90% compared to the average donor retention rate of 43%. The convenience of online recurring donations can be a critical piece of donor retention.

Increase the lifetime value of a donor: Donors might be wary of writing a check for one large sum of money, but giving smaller amounts each month can be more doable. And many supporters can donate more over time.

For example, it might be challenging for a supporter to write a $2,000 check, but giving $200 each month might feel very doable. And, a monthly donation of $200 is actually $2,400 annually–so the donor is giving more in the long run!

Recurring gifts add financial stability: Monthly giving programs add valuable financial stability and predictability to your annual funding. Monthly donations provide some consistency throughout the year and make budgeting easier since you'll have some idea of your monthly funding revenue.

Setting Goals for Nonprofit Recurring Giving Programs

Setting clear and specific SMART goals for your recurring giving program helps you create and implement a plan to accomplish them. Strategic goals can also help you move from simply having a recurring giving option on your donation page to developing a quality recurring giving program for your organization.

Goals help you plan and work toward growth and provide metrics to measure your progress along the way. Like other fundraising strategies, recurring giving programs should have a specific goal that will help you choose the right strategy and measure success.

A nonprofit can set many types of goals for recurring giving programs. Since every nonprofit has different outcomes in mind, here are some key questions to ask yourself and other stakeholders in your nonprofit when setting goals for your recurring giving program.

• What specifically do we want to accomplish through our monthly giving program?
• How will our recurring giving program impact our programs or overall mission?
• What will happen when we achieve this recurring giving program goal?

These questions help you identify specific outcomes you would like to achieve and how the recurring giving program will impact your overall mission. Thinking about your goal in this way will also make it easier to communicate the vision with your supporters when you invite them to become monthly donors.

Track the ROI of Nonprofit Recurring Giving Programs

It's critical to track the performance and return on investment (ROI) of all fundraising efforts. Tracking the ROI of each program or campaign allows you to make informed, evidence-based decisions and takes all the guesswork out of evaluating success. It also offers insight into which strategies are working and which ones to set aside or revamp.

Here are some common metrics or data points that nonprofits use to track the ROI of recurring giving programs.

Measure ROI with monthly recurring giving revenue

Monthly revenue from recurring giving (sometimes called monthly recurring revenue) is the income you expect to receive each month from your recurring giving program.

By tracking your monthly recurring revenue, you can set specific progress goals like:

• Increasing your monthly recurring revenue from the previous month, quarter, or year.
• Reducing your "churn rate" or the monthly income lost when people cancel recurring gifts.
• Setting a target annual financial goal for your monthly recurring revenue.

Measure ROI with active donor metrics

A second way to measure the success or ROI of your recurring giving program is to track the number of supporters who make recurring donations. From there, you can set specific goals like:

• Increasing the number of donors in your recurring giving program.
• Increasing the number of donors in each tier of your recurring giving program.

Measuring recurring giving programs by participation is a practical way to see how many supporters are investing in your movement. This can be a helpful progress metric for new recurring giving programs seeking to gain momentum.

Measure ROI by cost per dollar raised (CPDR)

The cost per dollar raised is one of the most common metrics for fundraising. While it's usually applied to fundraising events, it can also be helpful to track this metric for your recurring giving program.

The CPDR is the amount of money it requires to raise one dollar. For example, if your recurring giving program costs $1,000 per month to run and brings in $3,500 each month, your cost per dollar raised is 1,000 / 3,500 = 0.29.

That means each dollar costs 0.29 cents to raise. The lower your CPDR, the greater your return on investment.

Once you set specific goals and identify how you plan to track progress, the right tools can help you accurately measure the ROI of your program. Using fundraising solutions like Salesforce and the Soapbox Engage Donations app makes tracking the correct data a breeze.

The Donations app allows you to create unique donation pages for your recurring giving program and associate each donation with a unique campaign for easy tracking and reporting.

With the right tools, metrics, and goals, you'll be able to rely on hard evidence about the strengths, weaknesses, and progress of your recurring giving program. Tracking the ROI allows you to make informed, objective decisions that will steer your nonprofit well and help you communicate effectively with donors.

Now that you're tracking the success of your recurring giving program, here are three more resources to continue building your fundraising efforts.

• 5 Benefits of Recurring Giving Programs for Nonprofits: Recurring giving programs have practically become a necessary fundraising strategy to cultivate more stable year-round revenue streams. Now that it's become more accessible and practical, it's time to add a recurring giving program to your fundraising strategy. This blog explores some of the top benefits of recurring giving programs for nonprofits.
• Setting Fundraising Goals for Nonprofit Campaigns: Setting fundraising goals that are too ambitious can actually work against you. Any goal that feels unachievable can make your fundraisers feel inadequate or set for failure. On the other hand, plans that feel too easy aren't inspiring or motivating and won't bring a sense of satisfaction when achieved. There's both an art and a science to setting goals for your fundraising campaigns, and this blog will help you do just that!
• Increasing Your Donation Page Conversion Rate: 9 Smart Tips: How do you ensure your donation page is as effective as possible? A higher conversion rate for your online fundraising page means more money for your nonprofit. This blog offers nine strategic tips to increase the effectiveness of your online fundraising forms.