M&R Strategic has released their results of an online monthly giving study. They reviewed surveys from 70 nonprofits with email lists ranging from 50,000 to over 400,000 and analyzed the data to create some benchmarks for monthly programs.

Some of the Key Findings:

Acquisition

• Some organizations send their first solicitation within 8 weeks of a new registration. Others focus their timing on the date of a donor’s first gift, and others run annual or quarterly recruitment campaigns.


• With an average monthly growth rate of 11%, the monthly donor programs we reviewed grew by 132% each year.

Retention

• The groups we surveyed retained 70% of their online monthly donors in their first year, but retention rate dropped to 52% the second year.


• On average, 12% of online monthly donors missed at least one monthly payment in two years.

Value

• The average online monthly gift (for all groups except international aid organizations) was $16. The average monthly gift for international aid organizations was significantly higher at $28.

Get the full scoop, including graphs on marketing strategy and average gift amounts and of course, commentary visit M&R Strategic.

Bruce Rutter from Plan USA, started the session with by giving us an ROI perspective on Child Sponsorship.

Some highlights from his segment:

• The emotional power of children makes sponsorship an easy sell.
• The benchmark monthly contribution ranges from $24-$28 with a donor support cost of about $2 makes the annual value of a child sponsor around $264
• A 3:1 ROI can take nearly 7 years while a 5:1 ROI can take over 11 years to achieve.
• Higher ROI ratios are difficult to achieve due to an average 10% loss per year (common within the child sponsorship industry).

Bruce also discussed the costs and returns of multi-channels effort like Direct Mail, TV, face-to-face, and the web as well as some insight into lowering acquisition costs, upgrading, and acquiring additional gifts.

Bill Sullivan, President and CEO of the Ronald McDonald House, NY shared his organization’s experience with starting a new monthly giving program. Although there were no results given (it’s new program), this is an excellent case study for how to start a monthly giving program without a child to sponsor.

Their goal is to demonstrate that gifts are vital to the organization’s mission. New donors and multi-gift donors under $100 receive a closed faced appeal with a photo card of the family (used with permission, of course) with an offer that is connected to the cost of housing a family for one night. Donors can contribute via EFT or credit card and receive a Club pin and personalized certificate of membership.

Bill encouraged the audience to use real stories and real names (again, with permission).

Graham Knope, President of Eagle-Com Inc. in Toronto presented a fascinating segment on DRTV.

He discussed what makes successful DRTV spots: the use of long spots (30-60 minute) and short spots (60-120 seconds), the use of celebrities, and music.

Some highlights from his segment:

• What nonprofit sectors work best on TV? – Child Sponsorship, SPCAs, Humane Societies, Children’s Hospitals, Wildlife and Conservation, and Human Rights organizations.
• People ultimately watch TV for entertainment so DRTV stories need to be entertaining, in addition to being simple and emotional while communicating a big problem.
• Celebrities have stopping power. People will stop on a channel when they see a celebrity because after all, "if they say it we believe it."
• Above all, the message to viewers must end with a need.

At the conclusion of this session, attendees were emotionally moved by two compelling 2 minute TV spots for ASPCA and Plan USA… Well done!

Guy LeDuc, Account Director, LW Robbins Associates