Tom Ahern is a prolific author of some of the most provably practical fundraising how-to-books in our sector.  I have gifted literally scores of Ahern books to colleagues and clients.

For good reason.  They’re packed with valuable insights and profusely illustrated with helpful examples.  Among my favorites is Tom’s  Making Money With Donor Newsletters for which I wrote the Foreword and then reviewed it  here in The Agitator. That book alone has literally earned millions for organizations I gave it to and that followed Tom’s advice.

He’s published many, many more.  You can see them all here. Every one of these should be in your professional library, well dog-eared.

But I digress.

The point I want to make is that, by his own admission, Tom Ahern is a “how-to-book snob”.  And given the bibliography of his own books the “snob” descriptor is sure accurate.

In the Latest Ahern e-news Tom asks and answers: “A great post-pandemic resolution?  More monthly donors!   He then sets forth the reasons why launching or building a monthly giving program should be your top post-pandemic to-do.  He then goes on to include  a review of Erica Waasdorp’s new book Monthly Giving Made Easy —  in print or as an e-book

Agitator readers know the importance we assign to monthly giving.  And you’ve no doubt also seen our frequent references to Erica’s work and insights as a monthly giving expert.  Erica along with Harvey McKinnon (see our review of Harvey’s new book on monthly giving) have both made significant contributions to monthly giving progress.

Here is Tom Ahern’s review of Erica’s Monthly Giving Made Easy

New and true….

A perfect how-to book is born

…Erica’s new book is special…and ‘of note’.  So how does your nonprofit, no matter it’s size or mission launch, grow or sustain a monthly giving program?

“For one thing, she’s written a ‘I need to get something done immediately’ reader-intelligent “how to” book.  And full disclosure: I’m a how-to-book SNOB.

I love great how-to books.

I have hundreds of how-to books on my office shelves, some going back to the early 1900s. I learned to sell everything from luxury yachts to hurricane-proof industrial roofing to adult education to charity causes … all from great how-to books.

Erica Waasdorp’s fresh take (published May 1, 2021) on monthly giving stands tall amongst them. It’s available in print or as an e-book.

An excerpt from Erica’s new book:

During a recent webinar, someone asked me a question about monthly giving. His finance people had told him: “For $5 a month, it’s not worth the effort. The finance charges are killing us.”

This is one of those monthly-donor myths I’d like to debunk right away. My answer was: “Yes, offering the $5 a month option to donors is totally worth it!”

Here are 10 reasons why:

1.      You’re truly showing donor care. No gift is too small. Your donor can make a difference with an amount that’s most comfortable for them. Also, younger donors are more comfortable with smaller amounts.

2.      You can upgrade small monthly donors to higher levels within the year. And if you do it right, 12% to one third of your monthly givers will indeed upgrade at least every so often. And you can generate extra gifts.

3.      Even small monthly donors can leave you in their will. A small animal rescue that just started out with its monthly donors already got a $195,000 bequest from one of its small monthly donors.

4.      Recruitment fees for monthly donors are minimal. If you have an email system and you have an online donors page, you can generate monthly donors.

5.      Finance fees are not that high. Typically, it is about 3% of the monthly gift plus perhaps a fee of $0.30 each. So, for a $5 gift, that’s $0.45, which means you still keep $4.55, according to my calculations.

6.      If you annualize the value of that small $5 a month donor, it’s going to be $60 before fees—roughly $54.60 after fees. Nothing to sneeze at.

7.      Many online systems allow the donor to pay for the fees, and more than 70 percent of donors do this. You’ll end up with the full amount, so a non-issue.

8.      The average monthly donor gives $25 a month, thus the $5 a month givers are outliers. I’ve seen recent studies where it’s even more, sometimes even $50 to $63 a month. It all depends on the value of your current donors, the type of organization, the channel used and how much effort you put into it.

9.      Your response rate will go up if you ask for a lower amount. Make it easy on your donor to understand how they can make a difference with different amount options, and your donors will determine what they can afford. That’s the gift they’ll make, and that’s the gift you should be grateful for.

10.  Typical monthly donors stay with you for five to seven years, and often even longer. Just think about the loyalty factor here.

We all want people to make $1,000-plus gifts, but that’s just not reality.

Having worked with nonprofits, growing their monthly donor programs for the past few decades, I’ve learned that we fundraisers sometimes have to push back a little bit to our finance folks, sorry.

Perhaps this Dutch saying may be helpful: “He who doesn’t honor the small, isn’t worthy of the big.”

[Editor’s note: Research shows that a majority of tomorrow’s major-gift donors will likely first arrive as small-gift donors. As Erica advises, “Start small. One of the most successful approaches to generate new monthly donors is to start with the lowest ask possible. For most, this means starting at $5 or $10 a month…. I’ve even seen it as low as $2 or $3 a month.”]

To order your copy now: in print or as an e-book.

Tom Ahern

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A big Agitator thanks and an Agitator raise to both Tom and Erica for their terrific contribution to the fundraiser’s “How-To” library.

Roger

P.S.  To see more of Erica’s, Harvey McKinnon’s and Agitator commentary and insights on monthly giving check out the Agitator Archives here.