In 2012, in a statement against the commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, people at “The 92nd Street Y,” a New York cultural institution, launched Giving Tuesday. Its success since then has been both material and inspirational:

(Source: Wikipedia)

Facilitating gifts of $10 million that first year to $168 million in 2016, Giving Tuesday has made a thematic bookend to the Thanksgiving holiday. Moreover, looking ahead to this year, trendlines are looking good. For example, consider this poll of nonprofits, in which expectations for 2017 are pretty positive, with 66% of nonprofits projecting better fundraising in 2017 than in 2016:

The Giving Tuesday initiative has an influence well beyond online donations on a single day. According to Marcy Ogborn, writing for the GiveGab Blog, the larger holiday season has an outsize importance for nonprofits:

• Around 25% or more of all annual giving in the U.S. occurs during the winter holidays … with an estimated 43% of higher income donors (from households earning greater than $200,000) donating more during the holidays. And now with the ever-increasing popularity of #GivingTuesday, an annual Day of Giving that occurs on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving, we’re seeing even more donations occurring during this time of year.

And more generally, the trendline for charitable giving, even after adjusting for inflation, has been increasingly positive:

(Source: USA Foundation via National Philanthropic Trust)

THE SUBSCRIPTION MODEL

And with 2017 as a more generous giving year, a key consideration for nonprofits is to profitably create opportunities for engagement that will turn this year’s donors into lifelong engagers, giving a longer tail to this year’s likely generosity. Some nonprofits (and pundits advising them) are turning to the subscription business model to create engagement bonds that will link fans and followers more foundationally, beyond the one-time-gift mindset.

According to Tina Jepson at Cause Vox, the importance of the subscription mindset for nonprofits is deeply related to slowing churn. She has three pieces of advice to do so:

Donor retention rates are at the highest rate since 2008 – a steady 45.9%. … Make the upward trend of donor retention work for you by:

• Personalizing the giving experience. Always address your donor by name, acknowledge previous gifts, reach out to donors with their preferred communication method.
• Educating your donor about impact with videos, infographics, pamphlets, etc.
• Activating donors with engagement opportunities (see #5 above) such as volunteering, advocating, fundraising, etc.

More and more, nonprofits are seeing donors as subscribers who need to be courted and retained. According to a trends round-up compiled by Sean Norris at NonProfitPro, treating donors as valuable customers is an essential worldview shift:

• It’s more cost-effective to retain a donor than to acquire one. With so much competition for donors today, and so much competition for attention, it’s never been more important to make authentic connections with supporters that will cement your relationships with them. Donor retention has been terrible for years. But nonprofits have largely been ignoring the data. This is the year to say “no” to this senseless devastation! It’s time to know your retention rates, establish specific goals for improvement and invest in personal, authentic, gratitude-filled cultivation and stewardship. 

THE VALUE PROPOSITION

Nonprofits need to look beyond altruism as a motivating factor in driving donations and member retention. Yes, the pure giving spirit is a true factor, but successful nonprofits begin to think about what they can do for members (read, “subscribers”) to create a sense of community, belonging, and meaning.

According to the Society for Nonprofits, bringing in new members offers remarkable benefits, such as predictable revenue and creating ongoing relationships, ones that also include pride of association.

That’s also what Sarah Sladek says, writing at the GuideStarBlog. In a post titled “The 3 Keys to a Thriving Membership Organization,” she offers a value-oriented take on member retention:

• Going forward, your association will have to answer less to people who willingly pay dues “because it’s the right thing to do” and more to people who continually ask, “What’s in this for me?”

Sladek pushes the idea of building value by communicating the importance of the work done by the nonprofit and encouraging better communication. But on Fired Up Fundraising (yes, that’s the site name), there are more specific options to consider:

• I’m seeing donor retention finally take its rightful place. Smart nonprofits are hiring donor relations staff and establishing vigorous new donor communications programs. They are now focusing on engaging their supporters, not just communicating with them. (Must read: The Agitator blog on Donor Loyalty.) Monthly giving is still a sleeper here in the US. It’s a huge gold mine that nonprofits here are just beginning to understand and tap. More and more nonprofits are starting to promote this easy and highly profitable strategy.

But how does a nonprofit adopt this new way of doing business? According to Jen Pendleton of Aly Sterling Philanthropy, the solution is to build a “culture of philanthropy that extends to all staff at the organization, not just to the fundraising specialist. That means …

• In 2016, we’ve seen more nonprofit leaders cultivate a “culture of philanthropy” within their organizations. They’re reframing every interaction between every person as an opportunity for increasing awareness and support. We know this culture is important to attracting new donors and leaders to the nonprofit world. In 2017, find more ways to involve everyone at every level of your organization in selling (and living) your mission.

Insider Take

In a decent economy, one in which charitable giving is on the rise, now is the time to find and bind passionate fans to nonprofit causes. One of the best ways to do that is to build loyalty through recurring donor relationships. You may not call them “subscribers,” but the members you make — and with whom you interact deeply and often — will be more likely to stick when the economy inevitably turns down.