How to get donors to give month after month

One of the smarter things you can do to improve your fundraising revenue is create a monthly giving program and get as many donors to join it as possible. The long-term value of those donors will skyrocket -- not only because their cumulative annual giving will be higher, but because their year-to-year retention will skyrocket.

Creating a program of this sort is not a small task. Here's some help from Fired Up Fundraising, at 18 Tips to Create a Wildly Profitable Monthly Giving Program:

1. Get your organization's commitment.
2. Be prepared to invest time and resources.
3. Put one person in charge.
4. Get a seamless back end system in place.
5. Identify your most likely monthly giving prospects.
6. Create mini-campaigns targeted to specific segments of donors.
7. Use different channels.
8. Use the phone for followup.
9. Show donors how their monthly gift buys something specific.
10. Ask for upgrades often.
11. Offer monthly giving to all donors in their thank you letters.
12. Test, test and test some more.
13. Add urgency to your pitch.
14. Give monthly giving space on your home page.
15. Give your monthly giving donors a cool brand.
16. Give monthly giving donors terrific customer service.
17. Use a welcome kit.
18. Find special ways to thank them.