Your Next Major Donor Is Already Giving Monthly

Rob hung up the phone, stunned.

He had just asked one of his monthly donors for $40,000. It was a bold ask for someone giving $100 a month who had never made a major gift to the organization. But he knew it was a number that could change thousands of kids' lives.

"That's not nearly enough, Rob," she'd said. "We're sending you $100,000."

Just a few months ago, he couldn’t have imagined this scenario. Today, he said a silent prayer of thanks, filled with gratitude, knowing what this investment would mean for the lives of the people Bible League International exists to serve. 

To understand the impact of this moment, and what led to it, let’s rewind the clock several months. 

Sustainable Giving Growth Roadmap

Rob and his team at Bible League International believed in the power of recurring giving. They had invested in creating a monthly giving program, the Sowers. The program had a solid base, but Rob could sense there was more potential. 

That's when he brought in me and my team at The Center for Sustainable Giving, where we help organizations grow their recurring giving. We ran a Sustainable Giving Growth Assessment – a framework we've developed over the past four years. We evaluate recurring giving across 10 foundational areas and combine that with analysis, interviews, a secret donor study, and more to produce a prioritized set of strategies and next steps.

One of the ten areas we look at is increasing donor value among existing sustainers. This includes inviting donors to give additional gifts and increasing their recurring gift amounts, but it also includes cultivating potential middle or major donors and legacy giving. 

Based on our findings, we encouraged the charity to look for ways to engage existing recurring donors and invite them into deeper commitment with the organization. 

Rob and his team took the advice to heart. They had an upcoming vision trip to the field on the calendar to see the work. These vision trips were typically reserved for key partners, major donors, and so on. But they were excited about the concept, and so extended an invite to their recurring donors for one of a limited number of spots. 

Given the limited spots and that donors would pay for their own travel, we expected most donors would at least be honored by the invitation, and there might be some real interest. Either way, just inviting Sowers to consider it would be an honor and welcome gesture. 

One donor, a woman who had been quietly giving month after month, raised her hand and said "I'd like to go."

Rob described the trip to me. She was enthusiastic about the work before, but the trip was completely eye-opening. She was blown away by the work the organization was doing. 

On the way home, still glowing from the experience, she told Rob they had a family foundation focused on charitable giving, and she was planning to talk to them when they got back. 

She was true to her word. Back home, she talked to her family and asked Rob's team to propose something significant. They came back with a number that felt bold for a donor giving $100 a month: $40,000.

“We’re sending you $100,000.”

Which brings us back to that phone call. The gift didn't come because Rob made a bolder ask. It came because he first invited her to come and see. A $100-a-month donor had just become a $100,000 partner in the mission.

"We didn't even know she had a family foundation," Rob told me. "And we wouldn't have known if we hadn't taken a chance and invited our Sowers to participate in this trip. Something in her leaped at the chance to see the work – and now 7,600 kids across 40 Kenyan schools who'd been on our waiting list are being reached, thanks to this monthly donor's generosity."

What’s Under the Surface

This summer, our family had the opportunity to do a cruise to beautiful Alaska. Deep-water fjords, humpback whales, and glaciers slowly making their way to the sea. We’ve been to some beautiful places, but I’ve never seen such natural beauty in one place. 

Sailing into one glacier bay, Endicott Arm, as we increasingly saw larger and larger chunks of floating ice, I couldn’t help but think of the adage about the “tip of the iceberg.”

The truth is that monthly giving from recurring donors is just the tip of the iceberg. 

97% of the value from a sustaining donor comes after their first recurring gift.

Above: The vast majority of a sustainer’s giving will take place after their first recurring gift. How might this change the way you engage and treat faithful recurring donors?

And for some of those donors, that hidden value is major-gift capacity you don't yet know is there.

Here's the truth most nonprofit leaders underestimate:

Your recurring donors are worth more than you think. 

In my experience, every organization has more potential value in its sustainer program than it has tapped into. Not just some organizations - every single charity.

Recurring donors are some of the most generous donors you’ll ever meet. They give additional gifts. They’ll increase their recurring gift amount. And, given the opportunity, some of them have the potential to contribute at major-donor levels. 

Major Donors are Subscribers, Too

One concern I hear from fundraisers is: Will recurring giving lower major donor giving? The fear is that if a middle or major donor chooses to give monthly, their overall giving will decrease. They might not give that big year-end or project gift.

It’s a reasonable question, and we have an answer. 

Analyses have found that total subsequent giving from donors increases after converting to recurring. For example, Masterworks, a fundraising agency, analyzed donor value after converting to monthly giving and found that every donor level saw substantial increases, with $5,000+ donors seeing the greatest increase. 

Above: In an analysis of subsequent donor value after converting to sustainer giving, Masterworks found that every donor level saw increased value, with the largest increases among major donors. See the full data from Masterworks at Impact to Long Term Value of Converting Donors to Monthly.

At The Center for Sustainable Giving, in all the work we’ve done, we’ve not yet seen a case where a donor’s subsequent giving decreased after making a monthly commitment. Their commitment, and their giving, only increases.

We also regularly see donors sign up for recurring giving at levels that qualify them as middle or major donors right away. 

Just this past week, a charity we’re working with saw a donor respond to a sustainable giving campaign with a $500-a-month commitment. 

That’s a $6,000 donor in just the next 12 months. If our estimates for long-term value hold up, that donor will give at least $20,000 over the long term – possibly much more, if the story opening this Wave Report is any indication. A donor who is comfortable with giving $500-a-month is likely a donor with significant capacity to fuel impact. 

Major donors are subscribers too, and recurring giving is an opportunity to increase commitment and donor value. 

Practical next steps to growing sustainable giving

So what should we do about this? I would suggest three things:

1. Consider every sustainer as a potential major donor

Recognize that statistically speaking, recurring donors are ideal prospects for giving at a middle or major donor level. They are some of your most generous donors; they give over and above their regular recurring giving, and some have the capacity to give at even more significant levels. 

2. Proactively identify and cultivate potential major donors

Look for ways to identify potential major donors within your community of recurring donors. This can be as simple as adding more touchpoints for monthly donors above a certain threshold (e.g., $100/mo, $250/mo) – a phone call, a handwritten note, an invitation. 

Or you can research to identify potential major donors. We work with some organizations that have a research function within their major gifts team, and will look at all new sustainer donors for signals of major gift potential. 

Whatever you do, look for opportunities to identify and cultivate potential middle and major donors from among your recurring donors. 

3. Give sustainers on-ramps to major giving

Look for opportunities to invite sustainers into moments where they can grow closer to your mission, and have opportunities to be inspired to make more significant contributions, whether that’s like my client Rob inviting recurring donors to attend a vision trip, or a seat at the gala, the golf tournament, or other opportunities to engage. 

Here's the encouraging part: these don't have to be new initiatives. Rob's team didn't build something special for this donor. They simply opened one more seat on a vision trip that was already happening. The gala, the golf tournament, the site visit, the board dinner – the on-ramps you need are very likely already on your calendar. Your job is to invite a few sustainers onto them.

Be intentional about investing in them, affirming the impact that they are making, celebrating them, and developing relationships. 

Note that not every sustainer is a major donor prospect, so a little friction isn’t a bad thing. While Bible League International invited sustainers to attend their vision trip, donors did have to pay their way. A seat at the gala may require a donation, and so on. These can be soft ways to filter for donors who have capacity appropriate for whatever you are inviting them into. 

💡 Takeaway: The biggest gift in your file may already be coming to you, $100 at a time. Your job isn't just to steward your sustainers – it's to see them, and to invite them into greater levels of impact. 

Until next week… Surf’s Up! 🌊

 - Dave

P.S. Rob's story started with our Sustainable Giving Growth Assessment – a deep look at the value already sitting inside a recurring giving program, and a prioritized roadmap to grow it. If you're curious what's under the surface of your own sustainer file, you can read how the Assessment works and start a conversation here.