Key to Sustainable Giving Growth – Justifying Ongoing Involvement

One of the most important things charities can do to grow sustainable giving is to create an ongoing value proposition. 

This is something I write about in The Rise of Sustainable Giving and is one of the key differences between a one-time ask and an ask for ongoing recurring giving. 

One of the mistakes I see charity leaders make is they take their best performing single gift offer – whatever works best to get one-off gifts, and they use that for their recurring giving program.

Unfortunately, the best offer that compels donors to give one-time is not the same as an offer that compels a donor to give continuously. 

Why should the donor give to the cause on an ongoing basis?

This was one of the first lessons I learned when I embarked on a career in fundraising and marketing, now 20 years ago.

It all started with a failing sustainer program, the shifting reality of homelessness, and two names – Sarah and Elijah – that I still carry with me today.

A Needed Breakthrough

My first job out of college was as a project manager at an agency that specialized in fundraising and marketing for nonprofits. My first client was Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles – one of the largest social service charities in the country and the oldest mission in L.A.

When I joined the team, the organization had a struggling monthly giving program called Meal-A-Day. At a little more than $1 per meal, for around $30 a month, a donor could provide a meal a day. 

Like many similar nonprofits, the strongest fundraising offer was meals and shelter. It's a bed and a hot meal. So when Union Rescue Mission initially developed its monthly giving program, the natural conclusion was to develop the idea of sponsoring meals, so the “Meal-A-Day” program was born. 

By the time I came into the picture a few years later, the program wasn’t doing well. The problem was that the fulfillment rate – the percentage of donors that committed that actually sent in gifts – was abysmal compared to other charities. Churn was high. Further, the growth of the program had stagnated.

They needed a breakthrough innovation – but at the same time, the face of homelessness in Los Angeles had been shifting. 

The Changing Face of Homelessness

Historically, the homeless were thought of primarily as old, grizzled veterans or drug addicts. While the situation was as dire as ever, more than half of the individuals coming to the mission for support were women, children, and families, shattering the stereotype. 

They were people like Sarah and her son Elijah. (I’ve changed Sarah’s name to protect her privacy.)

Above: The face of homelessness in Los Angeles had been changing. Now, more than half of the guests at Union Rescue Mission were women, children, and families. Families like Sarah and her son Elijah.

In L.A., the line between home and homelessness is thinner than most imagine—and Sarah had just been pushed across it.

She was in a nearly impossible situation. Sarah needed job training and help with her resume, but she also needed stability for Elijah. The demands of being a single mom in Los Angeles County meant that she would have to work multiple full-time jobs to even have a chance at affording a standard of living at or above the poverty line. 

Thanks to Union Rescue Mission and a new facility they had just opened called Hope Gardens Family Center, Sarah was able to get out of downtown LA. She was able to focus on her job search and getting stable. She had childcare for Elijah – all thanks to the generosity of donors.

But the current level of generosity wasn’t enough. The recurring giving program was stuck at single-digit percentages of the organization's overall fundraising effort. The need for services was outpacing giving. 

We needed a sustainable solution – something with a compelling ongoing need. 

Reinventing Recurring Giving at Union Rescue Mission

We redesigned the program to focus on the increasing number of women, children, and families coming to the shelter. Each month, donors' gifts would provide resources to support these individuals coming to the mission for assistance. 

Donors would receive a story of a different family or woman and child each month, including a picture (representative, to protect privacy). The picture could be displayed on a calendar that monthly donors received at the beginning of the year, showing the cumulative impact of their ongoing giving.

The program humanized the impact of the donors' giving and helped them see the changing face of homelessness in Los Angeles. 

After transitioning from the Meal-a-Day program to this “representative” child and family sponsorship, fulfillment rates immediately increased by more than 25%. The program started growing again. 

This was incredible and encouraging, especially when check writing was still a significant part of monthly giving. This resulted in a significant increase in revenue immediately, and the program began growing again. 

💡 Takeaway: Understanding that your best one-time ask is not the same as your recurring ask is foundational to creating a strong sustainer value proposition. What is your best one-time ask? Is that really the best thing to ask donors to justify an ongoing recurring commitment?

A compelling value proposition for ongoing recurring giving needs to make sense on an ongoing basis. Why do you not just need a single gift, but how does my gift make a difference every month? What need would cause me to feel good as a donor about my ongoing impact?

Union Rescue Mission's pivot to representative sponsorship humanized their need and made a compelling case for why the organization needed ongoing support from donors. 

How about you? Do you have a powerful ongoing value proposition for recurring giving?

Until next week… Surfs Up! 🌊

  - Dave

About the Author | Dave Raley

Consultant, speaker, and author Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, a firm that helps nonprofits and businesses who serve nonprofits create profitable growth through sustainable innovation. He’s the author of the book The Rise of Sustainable Giving: How the Subscription Economy is Transforming Recurring Giving, and What Nonprofits Can Do to Benefit. Dave also writes a weekly innovation and leadership column called The Wave Report, and the co-founder of the Purpose & Profit Podcast — a show about the ideas at the intersection of nonprofit causes and for-profit brands. Connect with Dave on LinkedIn.

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