The Ask Most Nonprofits Never Make

The vast majority of charities miss one of the most fundamental ways to grow the value of their recurring donors.

It isn't a complicated strategy. It doesn't require new technology or a bigger team. It's simply this: inviting the donors who already give every month to increase the amount they give.

Most organizations never make that ask, leaving value on the table and robbing donors of the opportunity to increase their impact. 

Inviting sustainers to upgrade their current giving is an opportunity hiding in plain sight.

The Overlooked Lever

For most nonprofits, increasing a recurring donor's gift amount is an afterthought – if it's a thought at all.

That's understandable. Many organizations are focused on acquiring recurring donors in the first place, or converting one-time givers into monthly ones. That work is hard, and it's important, so it absorbs nearly all the attention. By the time a donor is actually giving month after month, the team has moved on to the next effort to get more donors. Meanwhile, today’s sustainer is quietly, faithfully giving – and no one is thinking about what comes next.

But here's a reality most nonprofit leaders underestimate: your recurring donors are worth more than you think. Approximately 97% of a donor's total value comes in after that first recurring gift. 

Read that again. Nearly all of a donor's total value comes in after the first recurring gift. 

The vast majority of the giving from a new recurring donor is still ahead of you, not behind you.

There are several ways to unlock additional sustainer value. I wrote about one way last week in Your Recurring Donors Aren’t Done Giving – inviting recurring donors to make additional one-time gifts. 

This week, I want to focus on another way to unlock donor value, and it’s also one of the simplest and most powerful – inviting them to increase their impact by increasing their recurring gift amount.

💡 Takeaway: If 97% of a recurring donor's value comes after the first gift, then how you care for, cultivate, and what you ask of your existing donors matters more than most leaders realize.

The Fear That Stops the Ask

When I raise this with leaders, if they’ve thought of it, the hesitation is almost always the same: Won't they cancel if I ask for more?

It's a fair concern, and we need to be wise about how and when we ask. But in my experience, the concern is wildly out of proportion compared to reality. I've never seen a charity push this far enough to actually find the ceiling. Far more often, the real risk runs the other way – we never ask, and the donor never gets the chance to deepen an impact they'd have gladly increased.

💡 Takeaway: The bigger risk isn't asking and losing a donor. It's never asking, and leaving increased giving and impact on the table that donors would have gladly supported.

Upgrading Well – How to Invite Increased Giving Well

Making the ask is one thing. Making it in the right way is another. Here's how to do it in a way that honors the donor and earns a yes.

Make the ask timely and specific.

Don't send a vague "Would you consider increasing your monthly gift?" That kind of open-ended ask gives the donor no reason to act now, and no sense of what their increase would actually do. A good upgrade ask is anchored to a specific moment and a specific need. Share why you're reaching out, and why now. 

Give a concrete reason for your increased need. Have your costs of delivering services risen for a visible reason? Are you serving 30% more individuals than you were this time last year? Do you have a newly expanded program or facility that's created new need? Give the donor the context that makes an increase make sense today.

💡 Takeaway: Donors give to meet needs they understand. Anchor the invitation to a real reason and a real moment. Make the "why now" unmistakable by offering a specific and timely rationale. 

Frame increased giving as increased ongoing impact, not dollars.

You're not asking a donor to spend more – you're inviting them to do more good. Start by affirming the impact they've already made, share your specific and timely rationale, and then invite them to extend that impact by increasing their ongoing gift.

The dollars are the means; the increased impact is the end.

💡 Takeaway: Affirm the impact they've already made, then invite them to increase it. Focus on increased giving as an expression of increased impact. 

Give new recurring donors time to breathe.

We don’t recommend asking newly acquired or converted recurring donors to upgrade right away. They've just made an important commitment – let them experience and enjoy the relationship before you invite them to deepen it. 

The first goal for a new recurring donor is to affirm their decision, then report back on how their giving is making a difference. The more specific you can be, the better. Tell them stories about how, as a faithful partner, their gift is already making a difference.

Six months is a good rule of thumb – suppress anyone who joined your program within that window from your upgrade ask.

💡 Takeaway: Let new donors settle in before you invite them to give more. Six months is a sensible floor.

A smooth process – make it easy to say yes.

An enthusiastic donor will still stall if the process is clunky. Ideally, your donation platform lets you send a simple link where donors can adjust their gift amount in a click or two. 

Some platforms, unfortunately, make that difficult or nearly impossible. If that's your situation, do it manually anyway – it's worth it. Send donors to a simple form where they indicate their new amount, and have your donor services team update the recurring gift on the back end. Don't let a platform limitation cost you an increase a donor is ready to give.

💡 Takeaway: Every ounce of friction costs you willing donors. If your platform won't make it easy for donors to increase their recurring gift amount, make it easy yourself.

One Thing This Week

If you do just one thing after reading this, let it be this: identify a real, timely reason your recurring donors could increase their impact – and draft the ask. You don't need a perfect system or a perfect platform. You need a good reason, an impact-centered invitation, and the willingness to make an ask most organizations never make.

Increasing the gift amount is just one of several ways to grow the value of the donors you already have. It's the place I'd start – and I’ll share more ways to grow value in coming Wave Reports.

Your recurring donors are worth more than you think. This is one of the most direct ways to prove it.

Until next week… Surf's Up! 🌊

  - Dave

P.S. Upgrading gift amounts is one of several ways we help organizations grow the value of their recurring donors – and there's so much more we can do together. If you've built a solid base of recurring giving – typically 1,000 or more recurring donors – and want help mapping your next moves, that's exactly what our Sustainable Giving Assessment & Roadmap is built for. You can learn more here and inquire to explore if we might be able to help you: https://www.sustainablegiving.org/advisory