Running your fundraiser with recurring donations

Some US fundraisers are able to accept recurring donations which are a great way for organizers like you to receive sustainable, long-term support for your cause. If donors choose recurring donations, they pay a fee of 5% per donation to help make this feature possible for our community. In this article, we’ll address:

• What are recurring donations?
• Asking supporters to become recurring donors
• Keeping recurring donors engaged

What are recurring donations?

Some US fundraisers will have the ability to accept recurring monthly donations. If your fundraiser has this feature, you won’t need to take any action for recurring donations to be available on your fundraiser. It will be presented as an option to donors at check out, and they can choose to toggle it on or off.

To benefit from recurring donations, you’ll just need to make sure your fundraiser remains open to accept those donations on a monthly basis. 

For information on other common questions about recurring donations, check out this article. 

Asking supporters to become recurring donors

Recurring donations are great for fundraisers that will have an ongoing need. To encourage donors to opt in to monthly donations, you’ll want to clearly explain how funds will continue to be used over time. For example, if you’re raising funds to pay for schooling, we suggest adding a breakdown and timeline for why funds will be needed more than just once.

Ex: “I’ll use next month’s recurring donations to buy books for my next semester of classes. I’ll also put some of the donations aside to continue saving for my new laptop. With three more months of recurring donations, I’ll be able to purchase it!”

You can ask donors to become recurring donors in a few different ways.

1. You can include the ask in your fundraiser story. This will make clear to everyone who visits your fundraiser page that you have a long-term cause they can continue to contribute to. You might include a line in your story like: 

“Please consider opting in to monthly donations to my fundraiser. I would truly appreciate the continued support, and even just $5 or $10 on a monthly basis can really make a difference.”

2. Reach out directly to people you know personally. Your closest friends and family will likely be thrilled by the opportunity to support you on an ongoing basis. We suggest texting or calling them to tell them about your fundraiser and how their monthly support would make a difference to you.
3. Ask donors to become monthly supporters in updates.Updates will remain publicly on your fundraiser page, and it’s a chance to highlight your recurring donor request to make sure it isn’t lost in the content of your fundraiser story. Here’s an example of how you might ask visitors to your page to become recurring supporters:
   “Thank you so much for taking a moment to read about my fundraiser for my classroom! I wanted to share with visitors to my page that my fundraiser accepts monthly donations as well, and I’d love for you to consider becoming a monthly supporter. Monthly supporters will help fund field trips, school fairs, and other monthly activities for the students. And if you aren’t able to contribute right now, please still consider sharing my fundraiser with your social networks to help spread the word. Thank you!”
   

To determine if you have recurring donors and receive a list of their names, click the “Contact us” button. We’ll connect you with our Customer Care team.

Keeping recurring donors engaged

Running a fundraiser is never a ‘set it and forget it’ affair, but you’ll want to be particularly purposeful about keeping your fundraiser up-to-date with recurring donors, because they’re providing ongoing support. You can keep recurring donors engaged by posting updates, sharing new photos in your story, posting a video about your progress, and more. 

Your recurring donors want to know they’re continuing to make a difference, so here are some ideas for keeping them engaged:

• Draft a personalized thank you just for your recurring donors. Whenever a recurring donation comes in for the month, be sure to thank them for their continued support, and share a little bit about how you’ve used their funds.
• Shout out your recurring donors in an update. YouTubers and podcasters will often read off the names of their monthly donors at the end of an episode, and you can do something similar with a monthly shout out in the form of an update to your fundraiser page. All donors receive an email when you post an update, so it will be a nice gesture of your gratitude.
• Ask your recurring donors to leave words of support and include a blurb about why they choose to donate monthly. This could encourage other donors to opt in to monthly donations as well.
• Take to social media to thank your monthly donors if you're already friends with them on socials. Be sure to tag them in your post, and ask them to share it as well to reach their social networks, too.

There are so many ways you can make the most of recurring donations, and we’re excited to see how our organizers rally their donors and communities around this feature. To learn if you've had any recurring donations and receive a list of their names, click the "Contact us" button.