Nonprofit Adviser

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Nonprofits with strong monthly giving programs are finding these donors serve as a crucial anchor to help organizations withstand recent waves of economic uncertainty.

My colleague Lisa Schohl spoke with fundraising experts about how these sustainer programs — and their monthly contributions — deliver reliable revenue and enable fundraisers to build resilient donor relationships over time.

At Rainforest Action Network, a climate advocacy group, donors who give monthly have a retention rate of nearly 74 percent, compared with an overall retention rate of about 45 percent. As development director Zanne Garland put it to Lisa, people who start giving monthly gifts tend to stick around: “It’s just a lot easier to retain that support.”

How do you get a monthly giving program off the ground? For starters, look within your existing database — you might have contributors who already donate regularly and would be great candidates for a monthly program.

Experts also emphasized the importance of acknowledging monthly donors’ regular contributions in all communications.

“They often really identify with the fact that they are supporting you monthly — they’ve made that commitment,” said Alicia Meulensteen, director of nationwide membership at the American Civil Liberties Union. “That identity is an important thing to put out there.”

For all of the insights, check out 7 Tips to Kickstart Monthly Giving and Boost Your Nonprofit’s Financial Health, and read more of our coverage about attracting and keeping monthly donors.

Have a lovely week,

Sara Herschander
Senior Reporter

P.S. Don’t miss our new podcast Nonprofits Now: Leading Today for smart insight on leadership in today’s climate.

Take a holistic approach to solving social problems for greater impact. Vanessa Priya Daniel, founder of the Groundswell Fund, interviewed 45 social-justice leaders for her book Unrig the Game and discovered that the most effective changemakers approach problems with a comprehensive vision. Many of today’s social problems involve overlapping challenges — like racism and economic inequality — so it’s important to take a wraparound approach. Plus, by taking a broader view, leaders can build bigger coalitions than they could with a narrow agenda. This strategy has helped Daniel’s organization distribute more than $100 million to over 200 organizations led by women of color and trans people. For more leadership advice, listen to the latest episode of our podcast, Nonprofits Now: Leading Today.

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Music: The Levitt Foundation’s Levitt Music Series Grants provide three-year matching grants to bring free outdoor concerts to communities across the United States. Applications are accepted in the following categories: Levitt AMP is geared to towns and cities with populations under 250,000. Levitt VIBE, geared to large cities with a population over 250,000, brings free outdoor concerts to neighborhoods where there is limited access to arts programming and live music. Levitt BLOC, geared to communities of any size, activates different neighborhoods in a town or city by “layering” concerts across multiple public spaces. Grants up to $40,000 per year for three years; application deadline June 30.

Legal Expenses: The Impact Fund provides grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms in the United States who seek to confront economic, environmental, racial, and social injustice. Funding is provided for specific cases targeting social justice, including human and civil rights; environmental justice; and economic justice, including workers’ rights and consumer protection. Grants may be used for out-of-pocket litigation expenses such as expert fees and discovery costs. Grants typically $10,000 to $50,000; remaining 2025 deadlines for letters of inquiry are July 8 and October 7.