“Regular giving is the lifeblood of an organisation.”
This was the mantra of John Kirkby, founder of Christians Against Poverty (CAP UK). John took regular giving seriously and led the team to recruit a staggering 30,000 monthly donors in the first decade of founding CAP UK.
There is a lot of mythology about how CAP UK achieved these numbers. In this month’s My Fundraising College podcast, we are joined by Dan Lane, who worked in the fundraising and founder’s office at CAP for 16 years and had a front-row seat to this incredible journey.
Dan is now the Director of Fundraising and Communications at Church Army and has served as a trustee at Welcome Churches and TLG. In this interview, he shares his lessons about recruiting and retaining monthly donors.
If you are short on time, here are the key lessons we learnt from Dan:
Founders can make a massive difference in recruiting monthly donors by bringing their energy and story to the organisation.
However, it is not only founders who can recruit monthly donors. Anyone within the organisation with the right energy and passion can tell the charity’s story and see success in recruiting monthly donors.
Recruiting monthly donors and fundraising is a culture. It cannot be left to just a small handful of people to fundraise. Everyone in the organisation needs to get behind the fundraising efforts.
Look at your charity’s delivery model and see the key points where you make a tangible difference in your beneficiaries’ lives. These are your key fundraising moments. When people witness the change you are making, they are more likely to commit to supporting you monthly.
Activity is key. Try to spend only a little bit of time creating fancy branding or fundraising products. It is always better to be out making contact with prospective donors than to be sitting behind the scenes fiddling with your logo.
Your fundraising should be focused on developing your relationship with donors to the point where supporting your organisation is part of their identity.
Having a brand name for your regular giving programme can help with this. However, there are other ways to achieve this result. Donors who have seen the difference you have made, have a personal relationship with your organisation, or have been involved significantly will also identify as part of your charity.
There are loads more within the interview, but hopefully, this has whet your appetite. If you prefer to listen to your podcasts, you can also access it on Spotify here.