Why do donors stop giving?
Sometimes they may no longer be interested in your cause, but frequently it is just that they forget or misplace your solicitation, given the many distractions in their busy lives.
Every time we ask for their support, we’re asking them to take action — write a check or go to a website to make a donation. Even if a high percentage of them do it, some percentage won’t. The effect over time is pretty dramatic. For instance if each year 75% of those who gave the prior year renew their support, 100 donors in year 1 will become 32 donors in year 5 (100 *.75*.75*.75*.75=31.6).
A great solution is to stop giving donors a decision to make when you ask every year. If you don’t already have one, establish a monthly recurring giving program. Yes it takes a bit more effort to get donors to sign up, but they just need to make that decision once. Let them know that they can discontinue their commitment at any time — but now it requires them to take action to stop giving. You’ve now harnessed one of the most reliable aspects of human behavior — inertia.
In studies by Harvey McKinnon, author of Hidden Gold and a leading authority on monthly giving programs, donors that enroll in monthly pledge programs generate at least 800% more in donations over their life-time.
If you’d like to learn more about tools and techniques for establishing sustaining or recurring gift plans you are welcome to download a free article we wrote called Creating A Successful Preauthorized Gift Program
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