Why Your Sustainer Program Isn’t Working
While recurring giving has been a bright spot amidst the gloomy clouds of fundraising trends for years now, there are many charities that have not yet tapped into recurring giving in a meaningful way.
Reliable, recurring revenue is a crucial resource many nonprofits aspire to achieve but often can’t fully realize.
I might be describing your organization. You might sense there is much more potential to develop a strong, resilient, growing stream of recurring income.
If that’s you, you are not alone. Historically, three-quarters of all charities have been deprived of the opportunity to raise sustainable recurring gifts.
But the times, they are a-changin’.
According to NeonOne, from 2019-2024, the average charity saw growth in recurring donors by 127.3%.
If you are experiencing the disappointment of a stagnant sustainer program or if you’ve just wondered if there is more there, it doesn’t have to be that way.
In the work we do with charities, we’ve seen many common mistakes that organizations make when it comes to their sustainer program. Today, let’s look at nine reasons why your sustainer program might not be growing:
Reason 1: You’ve hidden the program from your donors.
Many nonprofits treat recurring giving as a checkbox – it’s an option once a donor has decided to give a single gift. But beyond that, recurring giving is all but invisible to donors. It is buried in communications or rarely mentioned. It’s not prominently displayed on the website. It gets a passing mention in new donor onboarding communications. And outside of a once-a-year effort, recurring giving doesn’t even register in the consciousness of donors.
💡 Takeaway: Is recurring giving prominently featured, and across all channels, year-round? Are you proud of your program, or is it treated as a secondary giving option to one-time giving?
Reason 2: You lack an ongoing value proposition.
The most common approach to developing an offer for recurring giving is to use the organization's best offer for one-time gifts and ask for that every month. The problem is, more often than not the best one-time ask is not a good recurring giving offer. With recurring giving, it’s essential to address why the donor needs to participate on an ongoing basis. Why is it essential that they stand with the cause month after month, year after year?
💡 Takeaway: Have you addressed why it is crucial that recurring donors support the cause on an ongoing basis?
Reason 3: You don’t have an internal owner.
A common mistake I see is that organizations try to prioritize growing recurring giving, but there is no one person responsible and accountable to make that the case. External partners are wonderful and can be very important (we are one!), but it is important to have someone internal to the organization who has the influence and responsibility to be a champion for growing recurring giving
💡 Takeaway: Who is responsible for growing recurring giving at your organization? There should be a clear answer to that question, and it can’t be “everyone.” Nor should it be someone internally who has responsibility in name, but doesn’t have the influence or resources to do something about it. They should be competent, eager to learn, and growth-minded (these are my favorite kinds of people to coach).
Reason 4: Recurring giving isn’t a priority.
Sustainable giving might be a priority for you personally, but it’s not a priority for the key people who need to buy in. If the decision-makers and budget holders don’t prioritize growing recurring revenue, then it isn’t going to get the attention it needs to grow and thrive.
💡 Takeaway: Leadership needs to place a priority on growing recurring giving, and that emphasis needs to trickle down through the organization.
Reason 5: You are focused on acquisition but should be focused on conversion (or vice versa).
Organizations are either acquisition-focused or conversion-focused when it comes to growing their recurring giving programs. Acquisition refers to new donors to the organization who give on a recurring basis from the first gift, while conversion refers to converting existing single-gift donors to recurring.
You are wasting significant effort and resources if you are focused on acquisition when you should be focused on conversion. Here are some clues you should be focused on conversion – you have a solid existing donor file, a healthy source of one-time donor acquisition, opportunities to be in front of donors, and a sustainer offer that takes a little more understanding and commitment.
On the other hand, clues you should be acquisition-focused – your value proposition has a broad appeal, is a highly visible need, a clear and easily understood solution, and justifies ongoing giving.
💡 Takeaway: It’s a mistake to focus on the wrong growth area for your organization and your sustainable giving program. Consider whether you should focus on acquiring new sustainers or converting existing donors to recurring.
Reason 6: You aren’t using the right channels.
Not every channel will work for every charity, and some channels are better at different tasks than others. When we advise clients, we evaluate 17 different channels – some channels are more conducive to acquisition (A), while others are more conducive to conversion (C):
When evaluating channels, consider three criteria:
Scale: What is the potential scale of this channel?
Cost: What is the cost per new sustainer and overall investment?
Value: How valuable are new donors in terms of long-term value (LTV)?
💡 Takeaway: Putting the right effort into the right channels is critical to allocating limited resources and attention.
Reason 7: You don’t know your core metrics.
It’s hard to know where you are going unless you know where you are today. Instrumentation and measurement are critical to understanding how you are progressing with your recurring giving program. In my new book (out in early 2025), I outline 12 core metrics for organizations to track as they move from starter to advanced.
Here are the first four core metrics you should track monthly:
Total active recurring donors
Total revenue from recurring donors (all sources)
Percentage of total revenue from recurring donors
Long-term value (LTV) of recurring donors
💡 Takeaway: What gets measured gets prioritized. Measurement helps you know where you are but is also a great motivation to get you where you want to be.
Reason 8: Your technology is holding you back.
Technology can become an easy excuse for why “we can’t do that”– a scapegoat to blame – when the truth is there are almost always workarounds. But there are times when technology hinders organizations' ability to grow recurring giving. For example, I’ve worked with organizations that couldn’t identify recurring donors in their CRM. I’ve worked with organizations where the sign-up process was so convoluted and technical that it hindered donors from signing up.
💡 Takeaway: Ask yourself the question of your technology – is this technology serving the needs of our sustainer program today, and will this technology serve us when we are 10X our current size?
Reason 9: You haven’t developed an actual sustainer program.
Coming full circle, for many charities, recurring giving is still a checkbox. A gift type in the CRM. But it’s not a holistic program that is attractive to would-be and existing donors. In addition to a strong offer and ongoing value proposition, a holistic recurring giving program includes a clear brand identity, benefits, and a dedicated presence.
💡 Takeaway: A holistic sustainer program is built on a strong offer, ongoing value proposition, clear brand identity, benefits, and a dedicated presence.
Until next week… Surfs Up! 🌊
- Dave
P.S. I’m accepting a limited number of individuals to start growing their recurring giving in 2025. Applications will only be available here in November. Let me know if you are interested, and I can send you details on the program and how to apply.
About the Author | Dave Raley
Consultant, speaker, and writer Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, a firm that helps non-profits and businesses create profitable growth through sustainable innovation. He’s the author of a weekly trendspotting report 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.
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