From Seasonal Generosity to Steady Support: How a Rescue Mission Built Momentum in Sustainable Giving

Written By Abigail Morse

What if the donors who could sustain your mission year-round have been waiting, and you just haven't asked them the right way?

This week on Sustainable Giving, host Dave Raley sits down with Kathy Coady, Chief Development Officer, and Melissa Tagg, Marketing & Communications Manager (and USA Today bestselling author!) from Hope Ministries Iowa. Together, they share the story of how a rescue mission that had quietly left monthly giving on the table completely transformed its approach and saw double-digit growth in sustainers within just eight months.

Hope Ministries has served the homeless, hungry, abused, and addicted in central Iowa for over 110 years. Their need is 24/7, 365, but their recurring donor support had been flat for years. It was a checkbox, not a strategy. That changed when Kathy and Melissa decided they were done starting every fiscal year at the bottom of the mountain. This episode is full of practical wisdom and honest reflection for any leader wondering whether recurring giving could really work for their organization. Spoiler: it can.

Key Topics They Cover:

  1. The Recurring Giving Wake-Up Call

    For years, Hope Ministries treated monthly giving as a passive option rather than a priority. The turning point? A benchmark report showing they were hitting every metric except sustainer revenue. Kathy and Melissa, both self-described competitive spirits, decided then and there: "We're going to fix this."

  2. The Accelerator Campaign That Changed Everything

    The first move Hope Ministries made was an accelerator email campaign: eight to nine emails in three weeks. Melissa admits it scared her. She remembers when sending one email a month felt risky. But the results were stunning. New monthly donors came in fast, and people who hadn't given in over a decade showed up and said yes. They've now run three of these campaigns and are planning a fourth.

  3. Messaging That Clicked: The New Women & Children's Center

    The key to their campaign's success was specificity. Hope Ministries had just opened a new center for women and children, tripling capacity from 30-35 to 100 people at one time. That milestone became the campaign message: a clear, timely, and compelling reason to give monthly right now, rather than a generic ask.

  4. Making Monthly Giving a Whole-Organization Priority

    Before this work, monthly giving was one item on a long menu. Now it's woven into everything — the website relaunch, event planning, donation platform decisions, and everyday team conversations. As Kathy puts it: "It's part of our conversation now." That shift from "one option among many" to "strategic priority" is what separates organizations that grow sustainers from those that stay flat.

  5. Results That Speak for Themselves

    Over eight months, Hope Ministries gained approximately 90 new monthly donors, well into double-digit percentage growth. The average monthly gift also increased as they added donors, something Kathy did not expect. They recovered their investment within the first few emails of the first campaign, and they're now aiming for 25% of total revenue from monthly donors long-term.

Also in this episode, they talk about:

  • The "Base of the Mountain" Problem: Why so many nonprofits dread January, and how recurring giving changes the equation of starting each new fiscal year.

  • Stewardship as Partnership: How Hope Ministries has deepened care for monthly donors, communicating impact year-round so partners feel the difference they are making.

  • Data Cleanup and Hidden Gems: Melissa shares the surprise of digging through donor records and finding people who have faithfully given $20 a month for 20 years, donors who were there all along, just unseen.

  • Advice for Hesitant Leaders: Kathy's two-word answer to any nonprofit leader on the fence about investing in recurring giving: "Just do it."

  • What Gives Them Hope: Both Kathy and Melissa share what keeps them inspired, from the goodness of people who want to make a difference, to the stories of life transformation they witness firsthand.

Watch or Listen:

Watch this episode now by clicking the video above, or by visiting Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Key Resources:

Special thanks to our team at Sustainable Giving: Tom, Kirsten, Victoria, and Abigail.

Abigail Morse
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Fundable and Findable: Getting Out of the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle