Tips & Tricks To Create A Successful Recurring Revenue Program

Giving in any form is a great asset to nonprofits. Nonprofits rely on these contributions to run their organization and distribute funds to help those in need. Though donations in large amounts are exceptional and can be used to support the beneficiaries at a larger scale, nonprofits have started taking the route to ensure a steady generation of income. This not just helps them overcome seasonal drops but also helps in running the organization smoothly. 

Having long-term financial stability not just reduces the financial burden of the organization but makes it easy to focus on other issues related to fundraisers. 

How can you strategize this concept of generating recurring revenue?

In this article, we will list everything you need to know before creating a recurring revenue program.

What is a recurring donation?

A recurring donation is one where an organization receives donations periodically. It can be weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annually. Here, the donor chooses to do the funding for a longer period. This helps nonprofits to reach their long-term fundraising goals and objectives. With this, the nonprofit secures its financial stability and has a higher retention rate in terms of donors. 

Nevertheless, receiving recurring funds over a long period of time is a challenging task. Donors consider a lot of factors like authenticity, effectiveness, and other factors before entering into such a deal. As an organization, you have to chalk out a detailed recurring revenue program for a better conversion rate.

GivingX is a custom fundraising software that facilitates this feature at a very low cost of 1.45% of platform fees. Contrary to spreadsheets where you have to maintain all your data manually and analyze the payments periodically, you can use the fundraising software of GivingX to manage all your recurring donations. This affordable software makes it effortless to manage all your recurring contributions from a single place. Are you using any other software? You can leverage the unlimited integration capabilities to connect them through Zapier. 

Why do organizations need recurring giving?

Before going through the best practices to secure recurring payments, it is necessary to understand why you need recurring payments in detail. It will simplify building your strategy and pitching the right donors. 

1. Increase the retention rate

Having a higher retention rate is a boon to nonprofits. They ensure long-term funding and help to acquire new donors. A higher retention rate is proof of your legitimacy and this will motivate potential donors to trust your process and make donations. If your donors pay recurringly, it deepens your chances of securing new donors or converting one-time donors to become recurring donors.

2. More Funds

Did you know donors who pay recurringly (even in small amounts) contribute more than those who make one-time donations? Also, research states that more than 50% of Millennials are likely to make monthly payments. So, going forward with the trend, it is recommended to have a monthly source of income for the stable operations of the nonprofits. 

3. Better Returns

When you have a recurring donation program and see your donors opting for recurring donations rather than one-time donations, it is a sign that the donor trusts your nonprofit. It also indicates that they are committed to the cause, and there is a lesser chance of them backing off the recurring program. 

7 proven ways to create a successful recurring giving Program

As a nonprofit organization, you can leverage these below-proven tips to create an amazing recurring giving program. Implementing these tips for any recurring period will help to increase recurring donations. Contrarily, do you already have a recurring program in place? Then, you can use these tips to optimize your recurring giving program.

1. Create a strong plan

As a nonprofit, creating and implementing a strong strategic plan is necessary to make recurring programs successful. The plan must be donor-centric.

1. Start with writing down the goals to be achieved through the recurring giving programs. If there are no proper goals, it will be difficult to understand how to reach the target donors and make them sign up for the program.
2. Once you have the goals, now make an estimation of how many donors you would like to attract through the recurring giving program. While estimating it, analyze how these contributions will help your mission and organization over a period.
3. Carry out a 360-degree analysis of the entire program. Right from the name, recurring gift amounts, and target audience, to the metrics to be measured - Be aware of all these details. 

2. Craft a compelling identity

Branding is an essential tool for nonprofits as it helps in building stronger relationships with donors. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a bigger cause? Everyone has the urge to be a part of a greater cause. For this, nonprofits should inculcate that emotion among the donors.

You can start by giving a unique and relatable name for the recurring program. This name should align with the cause and mission of the program. When you look at some of the noteworthy fundraisers around the world, you will notice that they have a unique name that aligns with their goals. This is the kind of branding you should develop for your good cause. This will not just makes your donors donate for a cause now but also motivate them to sign up for the recurring program. 

To make branding smooth, add social channels to your donation page. By sharing their goodwill in their social channels, the donors will motivate other individuals to take part in the program. You can also make new visitors convert into donors by adding photos and testimonials of existing donors.

3. Decide your target donors

Before launching your recurring donations program, make a list of the donors whom you want to target. Having a target list makes it easier to convert the target audience into interested donors. 

Best Practices: Go for those donors who make smaller donations over a long period of time. They are the best choice for recurring giving programs. They are credible and will make efforts to be a part of the cause. 

Once the list is ready, make your in-house team - staffs, volunteers, and other partners sign up for the program. This will ensure that the first donor who visits your donation page will have no second thoughts and sign up for the program.

4. Market the program

As we have created an identity and prepared a list of target donors, the next step is to promote the program. Create engaging content on the advantages of the recurring revenue program and why the donors must sign up for it. Then, ask your entire team to sign up for the program and request them to spread the word in their acquainted circles.

Even though your cause is nonprofit, you have to market it. Utilize emails, newsletters, print media, Google Grants, fundraising events, and social media channels to launch the giving program. You can also have your volunteers promote your recurring giving program directly to the people. 

Though you have a target donor list, send out a prompt email to all your subscribers at the beginning of the program. This will bring in more sign-ups for the recurring program. You can also make phone calls to have a one-on-one conversation with your donors regarding the program. 

5. Display it on your website 

For starters, create an exclusive donation page on your website for recurring giving. With this page as the center, create online donation page for different causes. Having a central donation page for recurring giving will improve the traffic to this page and bring in more visitors. 

Once the donation page is added, use this page in your promotion channels. Also, remember to add videos, images, testimonials, and other information related to the giving on the recurring giving home page.

6. Use fundraising software

With the evolution of technology and the increase in the number of people who rely on the Internet to run their businesses, it is absolutely essential to have custom fundraising software. With custom fundraising software like GivingX, you can effortlessly manage all the contributions online.

Having GivingX in your business will make it easier to create online donation page and start your crowdfunding now. Furthermore, GivingX lets you integrate with 5000+ third-party apps through Zapier. Accessing all features in one place becomes a reality with these integration capabilities. The most crucial arm of any donation is online transactions, you can allow your donors to donate through 125+ secured payment channels. 

From the perspective of a recurring revenue generation program, 

• Manage all your contribution in one software.
• Record every transaction of the donors.
• Send timely reminders on upcoming donations.
• Generate invoices and receipts for the transactions.

7. Incorporate Donor Management CRM

According to statistics, 64% of companies consider CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Software to be impactful. As a nonprofit, you can use the Donor CRM which is mainly focused on the constituents of fundraisers. This includes donors, volunteers, and board members. 

By utilizing a donor management CRM, you can strengthen your relationship with all the donors who fund over a certain period. This CRM also lets you send thank you messages, seasonal greetings, and other updates related to the fundraisers through emails. To avert any inconvenience for the donors, you can also record every interaction to not miss any details.

Wrapping Up

That ends our list of the 7 proven ways to create a successful recurring revenue program. Keep the program simple and easy to understand. By creating straightforward plans and taking efforts for communication, you can make your recurring revenue program into a successful campaign. All this said we suggest taking efforts to have your existing donors sign up for the recurring program. This will have a higher ROI and a better conversion rate.