Monthly gifts by mail
While the bulk of monthly donors are acquired face-to-face, many organisations have found that they can also acquire monthly donors very cost-effectively by mail.
The added benefit of mail-acquired monthly donors is that they tend to have a retention rate of around 90-95%, much higher than the retention rate for face-to-face acquired monthly givers.
Here are some examples of highly successful monthly donor acquisition mailings (you'll find some commentary on each below).
Rub Out Cancer - Cancer Council NSW
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Monthly giving
Rub Out Cancer - Cancer Council NSW
Note that it:
- Includes a strong concept that incorporates a clear call to action (Rub Out Cancer)
- Simplifies the ask to ‘about the price of an apple a day’ or ’49 cents a day’
- Explains the benefits to the donor in great detail
- Draws attention to key points using hand-drawn underlining and asterisks
- Uses the very popular personalised labels as a front-end premium (it was also tested without labels, but was not as successful)
- Further rewards donors with a good quality tailor-made key tag as a back end premium (the intention here was to give them something that they would use every day, and constantly remind them of their generosity)
- Recognises their monthly gift by giving them membership of ‘Breakthrough’ (thereby appealing to the desire to be part of something bigger than themselves
- Provides a clear and specific example of the kind of research being done that shows how their monthly gift will be used
- Tells them exactly how to join - bank deduction, credit card etc, so that it’s absolutely clear
- Reassures the donor by being completely upfront about how much (or little) of their monthly gift will be used on administration.
Dear Nature Lover - WWF Australia
Key features include:
- Detailed statement of the problem (almost the whole of the first page)
- Clear delineation of the action required to solve the problem
- Precise and specific ask - 40 cents a day
- Very specific explanation and highlighting of what will be undertaken and achieved with their monthly gift
- Several forms of reassurance that the organisation they are being asked to support is reputable and accountable
- Specific explanation of the benefits to the donor
- Clear explanation of why a monthly gift (rather than a one-off cash gift) is particularly important
- Captions on the pictures on the reply form tell the prospect what they’re seeing and why it is significant
- A sticker bearing the iconic panda as a front-end premium. (These are still seen on cars around Australia.)