How to Start & Grow Your Monthly Donor Program with Erica Waasdorp

45% of worldwide donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program. In addition, online monthly giving revenue grew by 40% in the past year as recurring donation options become increasingly popular with online donors.

I sit down with monthly giving guru Erica Waasdorp, an expert in helping nonprofits of all sizes create and grow vibrant and successful monthly donor programs.  

Erica lives and breathes direct response and fundraising and considers herself a "Philanthropy-holic". Building partnerships and trying to find the best solution for members and donors and thus clients’ needs are what Erica does best. 

Erica started A Direct Solution in December of 2003 with more than twenty years of experience in direct marketing, from both sides of the desk, on the client side and the agency side. She has since worked with numerous non-profit clients on and off-Cape as well as internationally.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• Why monthly giving is so powerful right now
• How even the smallest nonprofits can set up a monthly giving program
• How to use social media to promote and grow your program
• Common pitfalls to avoid

Connect with Erica:
https://adirectsolution.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-waasdorp-544b74/

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About Julia Campbell, the host of the Nonprofit Nation podcast:

Named as a top thought leader by Forbes and BizTech Magazine, Julia Campbell (she/hers) is an author, coach, and speaker on a mission to make the digital world a better place. 

She wrote her book, Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits, as a roadmap for social change agents who want to build movements using engaging digital storytelling techniques. Her second book, How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community for Your Nonprofit, was published in 2020 as a call-to-arms for mission-driven organizations to use the power of social media to build movements. Julia’s online courses, webinars, and talks have helped hundreds of nonprofits make the shift to digital thinking and raise more money online. 

Connect with Julia on other platforms:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/juliacampbell77
Twitter: www.twitter.com/juliacsocial
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/juliacampbell
Blog: www.jcsocialmarketing.com/blog 

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Transcript

Julia Campbell: 0:02

Hello, and welcome to nonprofit Nation. I'm your host, Julia Campbell. And I'm going to sit down with nonprofit industry experts, fundraisers, marketers, and everyone in between to get real and discuss what it takes to build that movement that you've been dreaming of. I created the nonprofit nation podcast to share practical wisdom and strategies to help you confidently Find Your Voice. Definitively grow your audience and effectively build your movement. If you're a nonprofit newbie, or an experienced professional, who's looking to get more visibility, reach more people and create even more impact than you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hi, and welcome back to the nonprofit nation podcast. thrilled to have you here. I am your host, Julia Campbell. And today we are talking all things monthly donor programs. I know this is something that a lot of my clients all of my students struggle with or have questions about they want to grow them they want to scale them they have a lot of just interest in these programs. So we have the pre eminent I'm gonna say the pre eminent international monthly donor program expert with us today. Erica was Dora. Erica lives and breathes direct response and fundraising. And I love this in her bio, can be considered a philanthropy Holic building partnerships and trying to find the best solution for members and donors. And client needs are what Erica does best. Her multilingual skills and multicultural experience are of added value to those clients interested in raising money internationally. And her experience and monthly giving has given her an edge for those clients who are ready to embark on this way of giving. Erica started her company a direct solution in December of 2003. With more than 20 years of experience in direct marketing, from both sides of the desk on the client side and the agency side. She sends worked with numerous nonprofit clients on and off Cape as well as internationally. And when we say cape, what do we mean Erica? That means Cape Cod, Massachusetts and other Massachusetts prison. So welcome to the podcast.

Erica Waasdorp: 2:25

Yeah. All right. Well, thanks, Julia, for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Julia Campbell: 2:29

I am thrilled that you're here. So can you tell us a little bit about your story, how you got involved with nonprofit work and some of the things that you're doing now?

Erica Waasdorp: 2:37

Yes. So you know, the reason why I'm multilingual and international is because I'm Dutch originally. So when I moved to this country, now, almost 29 years ago, I started working for a international, nonprofit, big international animal welfare organization on Cape Cod, I had moved to Cape Cod. So I was, I was thrilled that there was an organization there that it could help and I had a direct response direct mail background. So it was really, really good fit. And again, speak in the languages and, and that's where they asked me to take on the monthly giving program. So that's where I really got my feet wet even more on monthly giving. And again, in my direct response background, I had worked on loyalty programs, you know, at an at a publishing company before so it was almost a natural move into the the nonprofit and the the monthly giving Rena and I really grew that program. I mean, we started in three countries. And we went to six countries. I mean, lots of hands on stuff in working with banks and people and systems and everything. And that was in the days that email didn't exist. I mean, online giving did not exist. I mean, texting did not exist. Social media wasn't a thing. I mean, you know, so it's, it's a while while ago, but yeah, so things have definitely changed. But I absolutely love working with nonprofits, and you do great work, you make a difference. And I like helping you as fundraisers make a difference. I wrote the first book monthly giving the sleeping giant when I number one, I turned I was about to turn 50. So I'm like, wow, I gotta do something for my 50th. And then I saw in this bookstore that was at conferences when they still had books or has had conferences, that there's no book on monthly giving. And so he said, Oh, well, if there's no book on Monday, giving maybe I should write it. And I did the research in and then I saw that there was two other books out there, one by Ken Burnett and one by Harvey MacKinnon. And that had been a while so so there was it was time to do that.

Julia Campbell: 4:50

Well, I love that. I mean helping nonprofits create vibrant and growing monthly donor programs is your specialty, your niche some thing that you've definitely built your business around and established your expertise. And my question is, why are monthly donors important? You know, and why focus so much on this aspect of fundraising?

Erica Waasdorp: 5:12

Yeah, well, again, number one, I kind of like, you know, grew into it, obviously, but I saw the power of monthly giving, working at this international animal welfare organization, because 911 happened. And we saw the money kept coming in, even though we were not able to get any mail out or didn't want a meal, you know, in certain areas of the country, because everybody was so upset about 911. And the money kept going in. So again, it really, like it's helped everybody understand, wow, these donors are important, they keep making sure that the money comes in, no matter what happens. And we've seen this with the pandemic, we've seen it with disasters, we've seen it with this war. I mean, you know, all of that, that's happening in the world that we have no control over. But monthly donors keep supporting the organization that they care about, in, you know, in a way that that helps sustain these organizations. So I think that's why, you know, so you saw the power in there, typically, you know, monthly donors are not your big check writers, they're your small donors, and asking them to make a monthly gift is a way that, that it helps retain them, they will stay with you much longer. I mean, you're doubling your retention rate, if you can get them to give monthly, and they're also going to give you more money.

Julia Campbell: 6:40

True at the end of the day, I definitely give more money monthly than at the end of the year when I had to buy 50, Lego sets all the different presents for my family. And I think, Oh, I've got to do my philanthropy, but giving monthly is so much more sustainable for me. And I think a lot of people and also I will, like you just said, Give more at the end of the year.

Erica Waasdorp: 7:04

Yeah, I mean, normally, you might give 50 bucks, now you're giving 10 bucks a month? Well, that's $120 a year. Right. So I think that's really, you know, the big factor. And I think people ask me all the time, like, Well, why do people give monthly? And the reality is the number one reason why people give monthly is because they want to help. So they want to support your organization. Yeah, they want to make a difference. And then the second thing is like, monthly giving is just a way that they can help in a way that's comfortable for that. So you're better off getting somebody to give you 10 bucks a month, then not get anything at all right? So and I know like sometimes people are like, Well, yeah, but you know, they, they're just small donors. And the reality is, like, hey, you need to get started with small donors, so that you can upgrade them to higher level donors right in, you know, and I think that's like, that's really what happens with with monthly giving is you convert them from a once a year, to an appeal, or, you know, online or giving day, and now like they're giving you, you know, 10 $20 a month, so,

Julia Campbell: 8:10

and there's data around monthly givers being more loyal and easier to retain,

Erica Waasdorp: 8:15

yep, easier to retain more loyal, they'll leave you in there, well, they're six times more likely to leave you in there will based on a UK study, I mean, you know, so So again, this, so in other words, your lifetime value goes up, you know, so there's really no reason not to want to build your, your number of monthly donors. And I think the other side of it is, you know, so it's easy for the donor, but the other side of it is, in this day and age, you know, thanks to you know, people like you, Julia, you know, with the social media and you know, with with all of these systems and payment platforms that make it a lot easier to make it happen. You have no you have the tools.

Julia Campbell: 9:01

Everything is a subscription basis. Like I think of everything in my life, Spotify, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, I just think of the way that we live as consumers. And I wish nonprofits would really start to look at that data and say, everyone just pays for everything as a subscription, or at least, I'm not gonna say I'm necessarily a younger person. I mean, I'm Gen X, but I think younger people especially are just used to, oh, five bucks a month for this 10 bucks a month for this and they're just used to it, as opposed to a one lump sum at the end of the year. 100%. I think that the and you might correct me on this, but it's a mindset issue. And I loved that with nonprofits. I loved the blog post you wrote the difference a quarter could make and monthly giving. Because you grew up in the south of the Netherlands not far from the German border, you write in your blog post and you Talk about all the and I've spent a lot of time in Germany and I love Aldi. And actually, I don't think I'm near in all the stores. They're one in Massachusetts.

Erica Waasdorp: 10:07

There is there's a couple of actually yeah, yeah. So yeah, I can definitely yeah, this one in Wareham just like a half an hour for me.

Julia Campbell: 10:15

I haven't been there but you you tell the story about the difference a quarter can make? Do you want to tell the story? I think it's just a great primer for nonprofits that say, just like you said, Well, what's the mindset of a monthly donor? And why would they give monthly? And what does it mean?

Erica Waasdorp: 10:30

Yeah, so all the it's like, as far as I know, that's the only company in this country that when you get your shopping cart, you actually have to push in a quarter. And then that sort of unlocks a shopping cart, you do your shopping, you come out and you bring back that shopping cart, you push it in and you get your quarterback, everybody does return their cart, just because they have that quarter, right? And again, in Europe, every single supermarket has that system, right? So But here, it's just the Aldi so people, they even make it a game, you know, and kids love doing it. Hey, let me push my quarter in, you know, all that kind of stuff. So again, it's just a quarter in people we turn the card? Well, that's what you know, if you think about the fact that a quarter a day is 750 a month, right? So if people are willing to return their shopping cart, for the sake of getting their quarterback because especially older people, right, really for them, you know, a quarter a dime is still feels like a lot of money, because it was a lot of money when they grew up. Right. So I think that's like a sort of the mindset that monthly donors will have as well saying, okay, you know, that quarter a day, that one shopping cart day, you know, can make a difference. So,

Julia Campbell: 11:51

and going into strategy, and tactics, what do you feel are the elements and what have you seen in your work? What are the elements of a successful monthly donor program? If you're just starting out? Yeah, so

Erica Waasdorp: 12:05

I think you mentioned the word mindset first. So you want to make sure that you have that mindset. So the success with a month of giving starts with having a driver, a champion and advocate for it. And again, if you're listening to this podcast, or if you're watching some of the stuff I present, then you know, it's probably going to be you. So you want to have like that one driver that says, You know what, I'm gonna grow this program to the next level, I'm gonna do everything I possibly can. And then it's a matter of like, okay, look at your tools, because you have them, you have a website, you have a payment platform, you have a donor base, CRM, right? Those are the tools that you have. And now how can you then make sure that you let possible monthly donors know that you want them to consider that while you're going to have to ask them, right? So it mean, it's like one of you know, in one of my webinars, I've sometimes asked, like, how often do you ask your donors to consider a monthly gift? And then sometimes people say never, and it's like, okay, you know, you're never gonna get no,

Julia Campbell: 13:19

You never asked them, they'll never be able to say yes, right.

Erica Waasdorp: 13:22

So, so again, remember, donors want to help, too. Number one, you're going to have to tell your story, everything that you're already doing in your channel, fundraising, your stories, your you know, your examples of how donors can make a difference that works in monthly giving as well. The only difference is, instead of asking for a one time gift, you're asking for a monthly gift. So add a button to your homepage, add a button to an email, I mean, you know, and then link to a special monthly page monthly payment page, if your system allows to do that, but just like, you know, so start planting the seeds, in your E newsletter in every email on your social media. I mean, you know, so and just make it clear that it's okay to make a small monthly gift, even five or$10 a month can make a difference. Right? So we got to start asking. So and I think that's what a lot of nonprofits aren't asking enough, you know, so they're just like, oh, well, they have one e newsletter a month, and that's about it, right? So. So you just got to build in some options in what you're already doing. I mean, you can add a tick box to a reply form in an appeal, right. So a lot of low hanging fruit and it doesn't cost you any money to do it. It's just a little bit of space and a little bit of time. So that's the key. But then, if you want to be really successful if you really want to grow, I recommend like create a couple of sustained I call them Sustainer drives monthly donor drives. So take one or two months a year, where you say, Hey, I don't have too much else going on. I'm not like in the, you know, like on the email asking for a lot of like event invitations. It's not a gala, you know, things like that. And pick a month, like, you know, like January's usually good month, or may is usually good month, September's usually a pretty good month to kind of stay away from some of the other, the other heavy giving seasons, and say, Okay, this month, I'm going to take over the homepage, and I'm going to focus on instead of Donate Now, I want people to give monthly, and I'm going to send like, you know, two emails instead of one. And you know, so, I mean, the results are there. I was, I was looking, I was talking to a client just the other day they did Valentine's Day campaign. So it was like a week, and they did three emails during the week. Well Guess how many monthly donors they got? 55 new monthly donors, right? They had a small$5,000 match. It was a three email series, you know, and and, you know, again, with that deadline of Valentine's Day, and and they were said, Well, we're looking for 50 new monthly donors, well, guess what? They got 55. So that little match is magical. Right? So matches are magical everywhere. Right. But, you know, rather than saying, Well, I want to focus on on all of these different other giving days, well consider a month of giving day, you know, we're monthly giving month, I mean, you know, so

Julia Campbell: 16:26

you should institute national monthly giving day. Yeah,

Erica Waasdorp: 16:29

I think monthly donor Monday is kind of my you know, I think every Monday should be Monday don't know, Monday, but I love that. What does that mean? Tell me about that month, the monthly donor Mondays just kind of like because people ask me like, well, how much time should I spend on this? And my thing is like, Well, how about like, one hour a week, every Monday morning, you sit down? And you say, Hey, I'm going to look at what is my page look like? What is my thank you look like, Hey, can I create an email? You know, can I add it? Again, I'll add a little message for my E News. And you know, so you just kind of chip away at it. And what happens is, as you grow, you will see that, you know, spending a little more time is going to pay off even more, right? So start somewhere. And I think again, that mindset of saying, hey, this makes sense. I have a lot of like small donors as an organization. Let me see what I can make happen here. And again, it's just, again, amazing. I mean, I started working with an organization last year, and they had 15 monthly donors. And we set a rate, that's this is another sort of tactical approach is like, we created a goal. Let's write down a goal. What do you want to do? And she says, Well, I would like to triple it. 45. Okay, so Well, you know where they're at right now. They have 82. So again, it's just like, they wrote down the goal. And we did a couple of these little things that I just mentioned,

Julia Campbell: 18:00

became more systematic and intentional or systematic and intentional saying, okay, where,

Erica Waasdorp: 18:06

where can I add that in? Okay, we have a membership renewal, well, maybe I can put a little buck slip in there, guess what? That generates new monthly donors, right? So it's not like, again, you have to change. I mean, it's not like you have to change a huge amount of things that you're already doing. It's just like, Where can I add it in? It also permeate some bigger donors, right? So if major gift folks talk to major donors, will somebody might sit and I had this, this example, somebody says, hey, you know, we just got somebody who normally makes a$10,000 gift. And they said, Well, you know, what, I'm gonna give you $1,000 a month? Well, so now you've just made him$12,000 A year, right? So in the beginning, they're gonna keep giving that on next year, you can probably ask them for an upgrade, and maybe they'll give you $1,500 a month, right. So just like it permeates every other option there and every other giving level as well, because it is about the donor, how they want to help in a way that's comfortable. For them. That's really the key. It's like how is monthly giving is comfortable for them. But ultimately, you have to ask them to help. And then you give them the option to make a monthly gift as an alternative for a one time gift.

Julia Campbell: 19:30

And if you don't tell them that this is an option, they're not going to automatically know. And that's what I do think a lot of nonprofits don't understand. We have the curse of knowledge. We know so much about our donation page, our fundraising options, and a lot of people don't even know about monthly giving or know that it's an option. And I might give monthly to one nonprofit but not know that another nonprofit, this is an option for me. So I think the more you can convey it and promote it and talk about But the impact and I love what you said about doing a campaign that might have a little bit of sense of urgency maybe a couple times a year a matching gift, something that will help them make that decision. Right at that moment. A question I do have, do you have to name your program?

Erica Waasdorp: 20:17

Well, that's a great question. So and what should you name it?

Julia Campbell: 20:21

I know everyone's gonna have a different answer.

Erica Waasdorp: 20:23

So when I started in monthly giving, having a name, you know, joining a program, you know, with joining a special group was really, really important. Now, it's much more about like, you want people to consider making the month a gift first. And then once they do, you'll tell them that they will become part of a special community of supporters. So if at first you don't have a name, don't let that stop you from promoting the program. Because again, you have that option on your payment forms, right, you can make it set it for, make it monthly. And then just like, brainstorm, again, don't spend a lot of money on coming up with a name and a brand, you know, because you certainly don't need brands, and you know, don't need a specific logo, per se, or whatever. And then just like say, Well, alright, we want to come up with a loyal, a name for a loyal donor group that we can live with for a while, because you want to be able to live with it for a while, you don't want to change it every couple of years, right? And then the two words I would recommend you stay away from is the word legacy and society, because that kind of like, you know, it's a different type of group, if you will, but other than that, just like, you know, brainstorm, sit down and brainstorm saying, oh, okay, what you know, and just kind of, like, you know, what comes to mind? And then, you know, you might have a list of 1015, you know, you see what other organizations are doing. I mean, you know, circle of friends, friends, you know, partner, sustainer, sustaining partner, champions, guardians, you know, so and then there's hope builders and Innkeepers and, you know, the spraying and the bridge, and, you know, like, obviously, the Clinton Foundation, the bridge, and, you know, so this the rock I, you know, so there's lots and lots of names, but they get a fit you organization. So kind of come up with a list and say, Hey, walk around, and you know, or call up a couple people, or maybe even ask your donors in, you know, I've seen organization do that and say, Hey, we're coming up with, we want to come up with a special name for a loyal donor group. What do you think about these two options? Vote for one, and then you'll just use it and move on, you know, so it's not gonna break or make the donors want to consider a bumper? Yeah,

Julia Campbell: 22:48

exactly. We spend so much time on the name and the branding, and the perfect pitch for it. And it's just, at the end of the day, the donors don't really care, they just want to know that the money is going to go towards a problem that they want to get

Erica Waasdorp: 23:04

to exactly they want to help. So in the same way, benefits people are like, well, it's got to be this fancy benefit program. And, and I, you know, I'm all for keeping it simple, right? So you want to when you're talking about, like, what do people get, if they, you know, make a monthly gift, you want to make it something that you can commit to you, as a fundraiser can commit to, no matter how busy you get, right? So just tell them, you know, now that you're joining this special group of Home Builders, you will get special updates on how your gifts are making a difference. And every January, you get a tax letter in the mail. So those are two things, the updates, you don't have to specify how often what it looks like you know that you don't have to do any of that you just say you get special updates on how your gifts are making a difference. And those updates are your E newsletters. If you have a print newsletter, I mean, you know, all of the other things that you're already doing. So you don't have to add stuff. And I mean, if you're an organization that does a lot of events, you might say, well, you and you get special event invitations, for example. So you know, and you would be inviting them anyhow. Right? So but make it keep it simple. And you don't need a tchotchke you don't need a tote bag, you know, you don't need anything that costs money. Because donors, that's not what motivates them, per se. Now, I mean, I know you know organizations out there like special on TV, that you know they offer like a T shirt or whatever the t shirt is not what makes me consider it's a message that I'm like, oh my god, I'm so moved. I want to I want to help and monthly happens to be the way that I want to do this, you know, so I

Julia Campbell: 24:49

totally agree. I give any organization that I give to unless it's something like emergency relief and I'm making a one time gift like I always give monthly, I would say I don't think I ever receive anything special for being a monthly donor other than just maybe a text message once in a while or a special email, but it's nothing where I've gotten some crown and scepter and gotten some red carpet rollout event, it's mostly just, this is a different way of helping, and you're going to be treated like other donors, which is we're going to show you the impact. We're going to show you what your gift has done. And we're going to continually make you proud to support us. So that's just never been a big driver. For me. I do know a question that people are going to ask and you did touch on it a little bit. But where do we find these monthly donors? Where can we look for potential monthly donors? Yeah. So

Erica Waasdorp: 25:47

I mean, you know, you typically would look in your own database to begin with, but I know there's definitely a huge opportunity. It depends a little bit on the mission in social media, and paid as you know, that's definitely an area of the digital acquisition of new monthly donors is growing. But you start with your donor base, it's typically your small donors. So lesson, they give you less than 250. Right? They're not your big check writers. And then it depends a little bit on like, how often are you appealing to your donors. Now, if you get donors who give you know, when you send an email, that's a great approach, right? If they've given you two gifts in the last year, that's a really good target group to get started with. But you know, so and again, nowadays, if you send emails, don't worry too much about like segmenting that, you know, when you're when you're trying to acquire new multi donors, but you can just do a test and do another test. And, you know, tell the story, I mean, and I think the other piece is like, you don't even have to make a totally separate email, you can have an email that you send with the with the story asking for help. With a one time gift, ask Animam to gift ask in it. One of my clients, they do that they have two buttons, every email, and they have like, a two liner saying monthly giving, you know, will make your gift work even harder. And you know, we can do more blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they are blown away by the number of monthly donors that they get every time they send out this email. So and it's not suppressing, it's not hurting the one time gift response.

Julia Campbell: 27:25

That's the question that I think people have. Do you feel that? And that's definitely pushback I've gotten from some clients where they say, Oh, well, we can't ask our $500 a year donors, because then they're just going to want to give $10 a month.

Erica Waasdorp: 27:40

Yeah. But again, you know, here's the thing, you want to drive people to a page where you have multiple options. So the 500, and, you know, so you, you might have a $10 a month and 25. And, you know, 2025 and 50, and maybe 85. Right, so you have a couple of different options on the on the monthly donor page. And then the$500 A month $500 donor might say, Oh, I can do 85 bucks a month. Well, you've now just doubled in value. I actually bought this t shirt like for Christmas for myself. It says hold on, let me overthink this. Yes,

Julia Campbell: 28:15

I have that shirt. You have that shirt too. Or I'm going to send a photo and tag you. Hold on let me Oh,

Erica Waasdorp: 28:22

I gotta I gotta put it on. But it's just like, it's, you know, it's uh, yeah. Hold on. Let me overthink this. So. So it's one email, guys. It's one email. So if it works great if that $500 donor gives an $85 month, fantastic. Write your news. So, you know, a lot of organizations aren't they're not sending a lot of email.

Julia Campbell: 28:43

I think that's the whole point. They're overthinking it, and they're not asking enough, or they're not asking as frequently as they should be. Right.

Erica Waasdorp: 28:52

So it's one email. So you might do one that goes through a you ask a one time gift, you know, one one day and then later on the week, you might tell us the same story you knew ask for a month a gift to me. You know, it's it's an email, what do you got to lose by doing it? You know, so it's just a Yeah. So it's like, you know, we overthinking that. And, you know, so I think that's the key. It's like, if you see, and this is one of the tricks, if you will, like, whenever you look at your monthly donors, annualize the value, so, because sometimes I ask people like, oh, how many materials here? Well, you know, I've got 120. Okay, I was talking to somebody yesterday. Okay. And, well, how much is it worth? I don't know. Well, she looked, and she ran a report in she saw how these 120 monthly donors are worth$69,000. Right. So all of a sudden, you're like, Yeah, wow, hey, let's double that number. Right, you know, so that's maybe one event or two events. You don't have to do right So and again, obviously, every organization is different, every organization has to kind of customize their plan, if you will, because some people are doing to appeal the year and five emails and you know, so just look at where can you add in those opportunities for donors to consider to give, make a monthly gift, and, you know, chip away at it,

Julia Campbell: 30:23

chip away at it, what you said was so important, in terms of baking it into everything else you do, you know, and I know this, a lot of what nonprofits do is we tend to segment things and put them in a bucket like social media is over here. And we're going to do this. And we're not going to integrate it in everything else we're doing or emails over here, major gifts is over here. Programs are over here, monthly givings over here. But incorporating it into everything that you do baking it into your other appeals and your programmatic goals is super important. You can't just send one email every two years and say, Hey, do you want to be monthly donor? And then Erica, like someone will come to you and say, well, we don't have any monthly donors. And you're going to look at that and say, Well, did you make the case? Did you talk to your donors about it? Do they really understand it? And is it baked into everything else that you do? And I think that is so I think that's so important. Yeah.

Erica Waasdorp: 31:22

And again, having that that's why it may be like having that Sustainer drive is so important and fun. Because then you can can bake everything together, right? You could talk in social media and email and in the mail, and, you know, whatever else you're doing, right, so you can make it all inclusive. And that way people can get the same message and like, oh, okay, I get it. Yeah, you want me to give monthly? So that's the key in I don't know how many more success stories I have to share, you know, but it's, it's there. And, you know, again, but it's, it's not going to be you know, like, oh, yeah, I'll start in January. And you know, in February, you're going to have those 100 extra month in order that you want, you know, you just got to kind of chip away at it. But I can guarantee you, if you write down those goals, you're gonna get there, if you kind of like put a little bit more time and effort and intent in it, you are going to grow. So it's because you know, you, there's that pool of small donors that could you know, considering making a monthly gift, and they've just never been asked, they've never

Julia Campbell: 32:31

been asked. Well, to conclude, I just want to really encourage everyone to check out Eric his website, it's a direct solution.com. And the two books monthly giving the sleeping giant which you generously sent me a copy, and monthly giving Made Easy, which I believe I bought the ebook, so I definitely have it. That's the comprehensive how to guide filled with examples and case studies. And I love the cover. It says the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now and I say that all the time. So where else can people find you online?

Erica Waasdorp: 33:11

Well, yeah, I mean, LinkedIn is, is great, just like Google, Eric was, does not as far as I know, there's no other Eric was around. And I'm not I have to be honest, I'm not very active on Facebook, or Twitter, but LinkedIn and an email is, is usually the best way to go. So check out my website. And again, sign up for my email list.

Julia Campbell: 33:32

Yes. Oh, my gosh, the must read email newsletter comes out every

Erica Waasdorp: 33:35

every Monday. Yep. And what I do there is it's not just me talking about monthly giving, but it's like I try to pull together studies, you know, trends. You know, if somebody else puts a blog up about monthly giving, or some case studies that they've seen, I linked to that, you know, so it's not just me, me talking about month again, but this other people as well. So, because that's how I learn and you know, again, I learned from you Julie all the time you so I think that's how we all learn to gather by sharing.

Julia Campbell: 34:06

I agree. And your email newsletter, I always, a lot of my guests. I do read their email those email newsletter somewhat infrequently, but I read yours every Monday. I tell Joe waters, I read his every week too. There are several newsletters and newsletters that I read every single week and look at a lot of the links and the fantastic studies that are in there. So go to a direct solution.com We'll put all the links in the show notes. And thanks so much, Erica for sharing your wisdom. Thanks for being here.

Erica Waasdorp: 34:35

You're welcome. All right, let's put I'm gonna put on my shirt now.

Julia Campbell: 34:39

Yes, me too. Okay, over thinkers unite. Well, hey there. I wanted to say thank you for tuning into my show, and for listening all the way to the end. If you really enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe To the show and your favorite podcast app, and you'll get new episodes downloaded as soon as they come out. I would love if you left me a rating or review because this tells other people that my podcast is worth listening to. And then me and my guests can reach even more earbuds and create even more impact. So that's pretty much it. I'll be back soon with a brand new episode. But until then, you can find me on Instagram at Julia Campbell seven, seven. Keep changing the world. Nonprofit unicorn