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"What a great resource! I have received a number of similar mailings over the years, and always ended up unsubscribing — mostly because they were too much text. This was short, sweet — and useful! I can't think of someone better qualified to share this kind of advice!"

Josephine Martell
International Fund for Animal Welfare

Giving Back E-Tips

Keep a Steady Revenue Stream with Monthly Giving

With expenses rising and donations plummeting, wouldn’t it be great to have steady monthly income to rely on?

It can happen when you invest in launching or expanding a monthly sustainer program. Typically, the two best ways to build a sustainer program are through telemarketing and online campaigns. Since I know little or nothing about telemarketing (yet), I’ll focus on what I do know — how to create high-revenue monthly sustainer emails.

When I first surveyed the competitive landscape of my email inbox for ideas about how to write a monthly sustainer email, I thought the way to go would be simply a general appeal asking for monthly support. I had seen subject lines that said things like “Support the wilderness a month at a time,” and that seemed to be a reasonable approach.

Luckily, my client and their agency knew better. Although they had never sent out a monthly sustainer invitation by email before, they insisted on an urgent appeal centered on a hot button issue — rather than an institutional approach.

And so we selected one of their most critical court cases, and I wrote a compelling story about what was at stake — explaining that to win these long, grueling legal fights you need a steady stream of funds.

The client had very low expectations. They thought, at best, they would get a handful of new monthly sustainers. But the response was amazing. More than 440 new monthly donors signed — producing a 1.2% response rate — which is better than their typical direct mail results.

We tried it with another critical issue — and brought in 300 more monthly sustainers.

Combined with telemarketing, the monthly sustainer campaign has generated a 25% increase in monthly donors and monthly revenue. As we continue to build the online portion of the program with quarterly invitations, the client will continue to see a reliable source of income at very little cost.

Monthly sustainer programs offer many other benefits to nonprofits, as I learned from Harvey McKinnon’s book, Hidden Gold:

So, the sooner you expand your monthly sustainer program, the sooner you’ll gain “first mover advantage” within the pool of donors interested in your type of cause.

If you would like to see samples of successful monthly donor campaigns, contact Karen at 718-680-1627 or at kg@karengedney.com.