Issue 16: Springtime For Recurring Giving

Spring is always a time of transition in both nature and life. There’s a pent-up energy in the air as people come out of the holiday doldrums and realize that life is about to move a lot faster than they are ready for.

Does this sound familiar to you??

It certainly does for me. I have been mapping out the rest of 2024 and know that I’m asking myself:

• Are the decisions I’m making now driving toward my ultimate goals?
• If the project I’m working on isn’t a primary focus, does it support it later on?
• Can I be awesome at what I am doing?
• Is this something I cannot ignore?

This framework has helped me navigate an increasingly noisy and confusing world. Staying true to your North Star, either personally or professionally, is hard to do but pays off big time when things start to line up.

I believe the stars are indeed aligning, so let’s get into it this week with a deeper dive into recurring giving to round out our report’s release!

Generosity in Action

Tomorrow is going to be an eventful day! Not only am I traveling to Fairfield, CT, to do a packed workshop on recurring giving for the local AFP chapter, but I’ll also be doing April’s supersized episode of Generosity Experience Live!

This month, I’m joined by our own Abby Jarvis and Eric Ressler of Cosmic to discuss all things recurring giving.?

Do not miss this episode. While I think the conversation will be valuable, I’ll straight up tell you that you can win a bunch of money by attending live. All those cool things you saw me talking about giving away at AFPICON? We’re doing it for our digital community (other than the scratch-off game—sorry, Amanda Stone, but the logistics were too weird).?

Our giveaway this month will include:

• $937 donation to the winner’s nonprofit
• “let’s be besties” hat
• Personalized bomber jacket
• Print copy of the recurring giving report (only 100 copies total!)

RSVP here

Tips & Tricks

A fun project that paired with the recurring giving report was the design of a recurring giving calculator interface that allows nonprofit leaders to do a snapshot analysis of their program against the benchmarks within our research.

Here’s what went into building this:

• Establishing the right formula to use
• Ensuring that Neon One clients have similar functionality already within their CRM so we don’t set the wrong expectations
• Working with our design team to make the interface user-friendly
• Working with our web development team to ensure the calculations and benchmarking data are correct
• Discussing with the content team the language to demonstrate both clear benchmark performance (e.g. Average) as well as supporting guidance (e.g. Right On Track)

You can find this at the bottom of the recurring giving report as well and you’ll see this begin to pop up in other blogs we produce (we’ve even had requests for other websites to use it!).?

What other calculators or widgets like this would YOU like to see us make??

Use it here

Data Dive

In a recent presentation that Abby Jarvis and I did on the recurring giving report, she put together this side-by-side comparison between a non-recurring and recurring donor to articulate the power of long-term investment in your community of generosity.?

There are a lot of nuances here, and I want to make clear that there’s more research to do when it comes to things like repeat vs recurring donations, deeper articulation of lifetime value calculations, and all the other nerdy math things that I know people smarter than me care about.

Yet, when we put together this report, we didn’t do it for the data people.?

We did it for the new development director, trying to figure out how to untangle years of transactional fundraising.?

We did it for the executive director, who knows what needs to be done but has a board that undercuts them because “nonprofits need to be run like businesses.”?

We did it for the people in our webinars who show RELIEF when they hear that the average number of recurring givers isn’t thousands but a little over 10.?

Data is simply the electronic representation of what people are doing. It isn’t the answer itself. But it sure can illuminate what to focus on, and we feel that recurring giving is an exciting opportunity for the sector to think much more deeply about.?

Community Spotlight

Our sector doesn’t talk with nonprofit workers enough about their lives, full stop. There’s a lot of talking AT people but not enough talking WITH people.

So when Mallory Erickson asked if she could interview a Neon One client who is rocking recurring giving, it was an easy yes. I wanted to ensure that one of our client community leaders was elevated so I put her in touch with Caitlin Wion .

As Caitlin outlined in a post about the episode itself, “file this under things I never thought I would do.” I’m glad that she felt comfortable enough to do the interview and I highly recommend taking a listen:?

Upcoming Events

Generosity Experience Live | Why should nonprofits focus on recurring giving?

April 25, 2024 | 3:00 PM ET

Join us live on April 25 at 3pm Eastern for Episode 004 of Generosity Experience Live! To focus on why nonprofits should focus on building a recurring giving program. Our guest experts this month include Abby Jarvis (Neon One) and Eric Ressler (Cosmic). There will be a massive prize during this episode, including a $937 donation to one lucky nonprofit who attends live.

RSVP

Galactic Generosity: Navigating the Attention Economy with Stellar Recurring Donations and Brand Experience

April 29, 2024 | 2:00 PM ET

This workshop, a collaboration between Neon One and Cosmic, will provide actionable strategies to enhance your brand and optimize the donor experience while inspiring your imagination. There’s another fun giveaway we’re doing here related to the cosmic theme.

Claim Your Seat

Nonprofit Tech Circle: Outstanding Donation Pages

May 8, 2024 | 1:00 PM ET

Join May’s Nonprofit Tech Circle to learn how to design donation pages that donors will love, optimizing your forms to encourage giving, and why you should always update your confirmation page.

Register

Final Thoughts

I will be upfront that I’ve been a bit down lately. You’d think I’d be walking on the moon about the reception of the recurring giving report, and trust me, I’m very proud of the work.

But a recent episode of Abbott Elementary pointed to the feeling I believe I’m experiencing—the Dip.?

After a major project, there’s a lull period where one must reflect on the question What Is Next??

And that question is terrifying sometimes. When will things ever be done??

The answer is that they won’t. Life is constantly moving forward, whether we like it or not. That’s why it is important to also build in rest and reflection time. So this Friday, I’ll be taking PTO just to reorganize my office and spend some time outside.?

Know The Dip is real but that it doesn’t have to define you.?

Puzzle of the Week