Our guide to Web and SMS recurring donations

Regular giving made easy

DONATE™ provides regular donation set-up on any amount given by the donor. When a donation is made the donor will be shown the option on screen of setting up a monthly recurring donation for the initial amount they are donating. Regular monthly donations* will then be processed using the Debit or Credit card. These are processed on the initial set-up date. Cancellations can be actioned at anytime by the donor by contacting hello@nationalfundingscheme.org
Upon expiration of a card, DONATE™ sends an email asking for updated card details.

DONATE™ provides regular donation set-up on any of the text donations amounts £1,£3,£5,£10 etc. When a donor has made a donation to your campaign the 2nd text reply will include a PIN to initiate a monthly donation for that amount.
These are processed on the 1st of every month and added to the mobile phone bill. Cancellations can be actioned at any time by the donor sending STOP to the text donation shortcode number provided.

Key considerations

Regular giving through DONATE™ is automatically active for your campaigns. Whilst asking for a regular monthly donation might not be suitable for every campaign, we recommend you allow for regular giving particularly for Business as Usual/Always on campaigns, and promote this as often as possible.

Recurring Digital donations have the added benefit of no administration in setting up and cancelling direct debits or standing orders. Donors handle this themselves through communications sent by DONATE™.

Talk to us about the best practice on managing asks for regular giving for your campaigns.

Increase the lifetime value of your donors and maximise the work you have done in developing a donor.

Like acorns, regular donations accrue into larger amounts and provides visibility of future income.

In Figures

Our analysis shows that of the regular donations DONATE™ processed between January and April 2020, 92% were by text with £5 and £10 being most popular values. Over 86% of regular donors still give after 10 months delivering an additional £50 – £100 per donor.

Since joining in May 2020 one organisation has received over 1600 text donations, 58% of these are recurring donations and currently generate 60% of income.

Attracting Regular Donations

St Giles Animal Rescue places huge importance on regular monthly donations and ensures the ask for monthly support is highly visible across donor touchpoints. With over 86% of DONATE™ regular donors still giving one year later, St Giles is attracting recurring web donations to support the ongoing needs of its charity and much needed stable income. Further, when asking for regular donations, 13.5% of donors switch their one-off donation to regular monthly giving. With a solid and reliable monthly income, St Giles’ fundraisers can give more time to one-off events and relationships with high level donors.

All information is correct to November 2021

• Gift Aid can be applied to regular gifts at the moment of donation adding another 25% to each recurring gift. Remember to remind your audience of the benefits of Gift Aid as well as regular donations to you as a charity.

• Adding the DONATE™ button to your website or campaign webpage will ensure a frictionless donor journey and help boost the number of supporters signing up to regular donations.

• Download and use our logos and the mandatory information. Including these on your promotional materials will increase trust amongst you participants. Find these in your portal under the “Weblinks, Textcodes and Mandatories’’ tab.

• Communicate to your teams; front-of-house, volunteers, trustees etc. Ensure they understand how regular giving works and use them to guide people through the process when asking for support.

Stewardship and Retention

DONATE™ sends your customised thank you message after each transaction but it is the organisation that regular donors are supporting and from whom they would like to hear. If they have agreed to share their data with you, do continue to communicate with them individually and show your ongoing appreciation for their donations. To improve the retention of regular donors we recommend thanking them once they sign up and throughout the year. Keeping them informed of how the regular donation is helping your cause.

Regular donations data is found in your DONATE™ portal under the “My Reports and Data>EXPORT”. This information should be used to stay on top of your regular donors and cancellations in line with GDPR guidelines.

DONATE™ does not collect address data during the regular giving process, however it is possible to include a link to an interactive form or an embedded form on your website in Web or Text thank you messages. Collect this information to incorporate into a Postal Regular giving programme or other communications such as updates, newsletters or gifts. Without address data it would still be possible to run a Virtual regular giving programme to those who have agreed to share their data with your organisation. Read our article on running a virtual regular giving programme.

The Paxton House has been including a link in their web donation reply messages for the PAXTON campaign to successfully drive new sign-ups to their emailing list.

More information can be found on our website FAQs. Our News page and Campaign Toolkit provides more tips, advice and best practice for digital fundraising. Examples of previous successful campaigns are also available in our Case Studies section.