The Future of Sustainable Giving: From What Is to What Could Be 

Written By Dave Raley

What if recurring giving isn't just a payment plan, but the single biggest untapped opportunity for your nonprofit?

In this special live episode of Sustainable Giving, host Dave Raley convenes a powerhouse lineup of researchers, practitioners, and sector leaders to explore why the charitable world is at an inflection point. With donor behavior shifting, subscription models reshaping the economy, and a $10 to $20 billion annual opportunity sitting on the table, recurring giving is no longer reserved for organizations with traditional membership or sponsorship models. It's now accessible to the 75% of nonprofits historically left behind.

Joined by Samir Kahn (GivingTuesday), Dr. Sanjay Bindra (GOSUMEC Foundation USA), Chris Free (The Joshua Fund), Becky Endicott and Jon McCoy (We Are For Good), and Erica Waasdorp (A Direct Solution), Dave unpacks the research, the real-world results, and the global perspectives that prove sustainable giving can transform any organization willing to believe it's possible.

Key Topics They Cover:

  1. The size of the recurring giving opportunity

    Samir Kahn shares fresh GivingTuesday research revealing a $10 to $20 billion annual opportunity. The median organization has just 4% of donors on recurring schedules, 40% of charities had zero new recurring donors from first gifts, and monthly donors carry a median annual value of $275 versus $100 for non-recurring donors, nearly 3x higher.

  2. Why this is for all nonprofits, not just the big ones

    Dr. Sanjay Bindra of the zero-staff GOSUMEC Foundation explains how removing transactional pressure (no Giving Tuesday, no urgency campaigns) and building the "Give Arc" framework of Gratitude, Impact, Voice, and Engagement produced a 98% retention rate for recurring donors. Recurring giving, he argues, is "not a payment plan, it's an identity shift."

  3. The transformation that is possible

    Chris Free of The Joshua Fund describes going all in on recurring giving and doubling revenue from $7.2M to $14.4M in 18 months. Recurring donors grew 116% (from 1,885 to 4,080), new donors increased from 7,528 to 13,609 in 13 months, and digital recurring revenue reached 48%. Belief, he says, precedes growth.

  4. Why this matters for charity leaders

    Becky Endicott and Jon McCoy of We Are For Good reflect on more than 708 nonprofit leader interviews and what sustainability actually means: resourced leaders who can dream again instead of keeping the lights on, organizations shifting from donor pyramids to donor communities, and recurring revenue understood as "recurring trust."

  5. The global opportunity

    Erica Waasdorp draws on 30+ years of international monthly giving expertise to highlight benchmarks from Norway, Spain, Australia, Europe, and Canada. She shares proven tactics like SMS/texting, face-to-face fundraising, and integrated digital campaigns, plus the powerful connection between monthly donors and legacy giving (recurring donors are 6x more likely to leave estate gifts, with average legacy gifts of $50,000).

Also in this episode, they talk about:

  • Two trends reshaping recurring giving: 95.8% of Americans have a subscription, the average person has 12 of them, and 52% of millennials prefer monthly donations over single large gifts.

  • The critical "invitation gap" facing nonprofits, with new recurring donor acquisition flat at roughly 2% and donor bases aging out without replacement.

  • The supplemental and legacy gift opportunity: 30% of recurring donors give additional gifts that are 2 to 3x their recurring amount.

  • The Center for Sustainable Giving's dual approach of educating leaders and walking alongside organizations through deep-dive assessments and 2-year roadmaps.

  • Why January 1st can move from the worst day of the year to a stable funding day when sustainability is built into the model.

So if recurring giving could transform your revenue, your retention, and your relationship with donors, what's stopping your organization from going all in?

Key Resources:

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

Dave Raley
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