Recurring donations are the steadiest income in nonprofit fundraising, and often the least developed. In 2025, monthly giving accounted for 27% of online revenue for the nonprofits tracked in the M+R Benchmarks study. Yet the average organization in Neon One’s 2026 Recurring Donor Report had just 25 recurring donors.
That gap matters. Across the sector, only 43.3% of donors gave again in 2025, and the number of donors fell 3.6%, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. Recurring donors behave differently. They stay longer, give more over time, and provide a predictable income base that nonprofits can plan around. Organizations that want to increase recurring donations can build on these advantages by improving donor acquisition, engagement, and retention.
This guide explains 10 practical strategies to increase recurring donations, from your donation page to onboarding, payment recovery, and measurement. Each one works for small teams and can be tested within a few weeks.
Why Recurring Donations Deserve a Bigger Place in Your Fundraising Plan?
The case for recurring donations for nonprofits comes down to donor retention. A monthly donor who stays for years is worth far more than a string of one-time gifts you have to win again every year.
| Measure | Recurring / Monthly Donors | One-time Donors | Source |
| Still giving after 12 months | 71% | 24% (first-time donors) | M+R Benchmarks 2026 |
| Annual retention rate | 78–80% | About 32% | Neon One, 2026 |
| Average relationship length | 7.7 years | 1.7 years | Neon One, 2026 |
| Average lifetime giving | $7,288 | $3,607 | Neon One, 2026 |
The two studies measure retention differently, so their figures do not match exactly. The pattern does: monthly donors are retained at two to three times the rate of one-time donors. Recurring revenue also arrives every month, not just in December, with M+R finding that nonprofits received 37% of their 2025 online revenue.
Momentum is also on the sector’s side. Neon One found that recurring donor bases grew 31.58% between 2023 and 2025, even as overall supporter bases shrank 5.48%. Nonprofits can use this opportunity to increase recurring donations by making monthly giving more visible, strengthening donor relationships, and reducing preventable cancellations.
1. Make Monthly Giving Visible and Easy on Your Donation Page
Many donors decide whether to make a recurring contribution on a donation form. To increase recurring donations, nonprofits should make the monthly option easy to find, understand, and select.
- Put a clear one-time/monthly toggle at the top of the form, above the gift amounts.
- Add one sentence on why monthly giving matters, such as how steady support lets you plan programs year-round.
- Suggest monthly amounts that stand on their own, such as $15, $25, and $50, rather than your one-time amounts divided by 12.
- Keep the form short and easy to complete on a phone. Every extra field is a reason to stop.
What Testing Shows?
Small changes can have a big effect. In a NextAfter experiment, Mission Aviation Fellowship added a one-sentence callout about the impact of monthly giving to its main donation page. Mobile recurring donor conversion rose from 0.66% to 3.7%.
Defaulting the form to “monthly” is more of a trade-off. When Mission Aviation Fellowship Canada defaulted an emergency appeal page to monthly in mid-2026, it gained 20 new monthly donors (up from 2 on the original page), but one-time giving fell 52.4%. Test any default against your own goals, and never pre-select monthly in a way a donor could miss.
2. Turn Monthly Giving into a Named Program With Tangible Impact
People often connect more readily with a community than with a payment plan. Nonprofits can increase recurring donations by giving their monthly giving program a memorable name, a clear purpose, and a simple promise of what members can expect.
For example, Mission Aviation Fellowship invites its monthly donors to join its Flight Crew.
Then connect each giving level to something concrete. A food bank might explain what $25 a month keeps on a family’s shelves; an after-school program might link $40 a month to a student’s weekly tutoring. Use real cost figures from your own budget so every claim holds up.
Keep the program light. A name, a welcome message, sustainer-only updates, and occasional recognition are usually enough. Perks rarely matter as much as feeling part of the mission: 78% of the recurring donors Neon One surveyed said a personal connection to the cause motivates their giving.
3. Ask One-Time Donors at the Right Moments
Many potential recurring donors have never received a direct invitation to join a monthly giving program. In Neon One’s survey of more than 700 recurring donors, 58.6% said they signed up without being asked. This suggests nonprofits can increase recurring donations by asking existing supporters at the right time.
Your best prospects are people who already give:
- On the thank-you page: Right after a one-time gift, offer a simple way to make it monthly while the donor’s intent is at its peak.
- Repeat one-time donors: Someone who gives two or three times a year already behaves like a sustainer. Invite them personally.
- Recent first-time donors: Send a monthly giving invitation 30 to 60 days after a first gift, once they have received a thank-you and an impact update.
- Event attendees and volunteers: People who know your work first-hand are strong candidates for a monthly ask.
Do not assume donors need years before a recurring ask, either. Neon One found that 30.8% of recurring donors made their first donation a recurring gift.
4. Welcome New Monthly Donors With a 90-Day Onboarding Journey
The first months decide whether a new monthly donor becomes a long-term supporter. M+R found that 71% of sustainers were still active after a year, but just over half of monthly gifts remained active after two years. A deliberate welcome journey helps more donors get past that early drop-off.
A Simple 90-Day Welcome Sequence
- Day 0: An immediate thank-you and receipt confirming the amount, the charge date, and how to manage the gift.
- Week 1: A personal welcome from a staff member or program lead, by email, phone, or a short video.
- Weeks 3–4: A first impact story showing what their support is doing right now.
- Month 2: A behind-the-scenes look at a program or the people it serves.
- Month 3: A short check-in asking how and how often they would like to hear from you.
Automate routine communications so the team has more time for personal interactions. Platforms such as FundThrive can automatically send tax receipts and thank-you messages, freeing staff to make welcome calls or record personalized videos.
A consistent onboarding process helps nonprofits strengthen donor relationships and increase recurring donations over the long term.
5. Report Impact on a Predictable Rhythm
Monthly donors give every month, so they should hear from you more than once a year. Regular, specific updates remind them why they joined and make each charge feel like progress rather than a bill.
- Send a short monthly or quarterly impact update written for sustainers, separate from your general newsletter.
- Lead with one concrete result and one person or community it affected.
- Show what consistent support made possible: the meals served, students tutored, or acres restored because members kept giving.
- Send an annual summary that totals the year’s impact and thanks your monthly program members.
Keep updates honest. Share setbacks and what you learned from them. Donors who trust your reporting have fewer reasons to walk away.
6. Prevent Failed Payments Before They Turn Into Lost Donors
Not every lapsed monthly donor has chosen to leave. Cards expire, get replaced after fraud, or reach their limits, causing donations to stop unexpectedly. According to Neon One’s 2024 data, 91% of recurring donors gave by credit or debit card, making payment-related failures a key issue for nonprofits.
Payment recovery can help organizations increase recurring donations without acquiring an entirely new group of supporters.
- Turn on automatic card updating: Many payment processors offer card updater services that check with card networks and refresh eligible expired or reissued card details before the next charge.
- Send expiry reminders: Email donors about 30 days before a card expires, with a direct link to update their payment information.
- Follow up quickly on failures: Retry the charge according to the payment processor’s recommendations, then send a friendly message within a few days. Contact long-standing donors personally when appropriate.
- Offer bank payments: ACH or direct debit gifts do not depend on card expiry dates and often cost less to process, depending on the provider and payment method.
Assign one person to review failed and declined gifts every week. Recovering a donor who never meant to leave is one of the cheapest retention wins available.
7. Let Donors Pause, Skip, or Adjust Instead of Canceling
Life changes, and a monthly commitment can start to feel heavy. If canceling is the only option a donor can see, many will take it. Give them alternatives that keep the relationship going.
- Let donors lower their amount, change the charge date, or pause for one to three months.
- Make these changes self-service through a donor portal or a simple email reply, without forms or phone queues.
- When someone does cancel, thank them sincerely, ask one optional question about why, and keep them on your general updates.
Making it easy to step back may feel risky, but it builds trust. A donor who pauses for a quarter and returns is worth far more than one who disputes a charge they could not stop.
Flexible giving options can help organizations improve donor retention and increase recurring donations by reducing avoidable cancellations.
8. Invite Upgrades Thoughtfully
Your current monthly donors are your best source of new recurring revenue. A modest, well-timed upgrade ask can lift income without recruiting a single new donor.
- Time it well: Ask on a donor’s giving anniversary, after a strong impact update, or alongside a clearly explained new need.
- Keep it specific: Suggest increasing their gift by $5 or $10 a month rather than making an open-ended request.
- Show the difference: Connect the new contribution amount to a tangible outcome, using accurate cost figures from the program.
- Ask about once a year: Frequent upgrade requests can frustrate loyal supporters and increase cancellation risk.
Be realistic about extra one-time asks, too. In 2025, monthly donors made an average of just 0.2 additional one-time gifts, or about $21 per donor, according to M+R. Their value lies in staying, so protect the relationship rather than adding sustainers to every appeal.
9. Use Peak Giving Moments and Every Channel
Some months are better for recruiting sustainers than others. Neon One’s data shows October, November, and December are the top three months for new recurring gifts, and M+R found December alone brought in 37% of 2025 online revenue. Build a monthly giving ask into your year-end and GivingTuesday campaigns instead of treating them purely as one-time pushes.
Outside those peaks, make the monthly option visible wherever supporters meet you:
- Email: Include a monthly ask in appeal series and post-event follow-ups.
- Social media and video: Share a sustainer’s story and link straight to the monthly form.
- Events: Use QR codes that open a mobile-friendly monthly giving form.
- Direct mail and phone: Add a monthly option to reply forms, and call loyal one-time donors with a personal invitation.
Use the same program name and impact story across channels so every interaction reinforces the previous one. Consistent messaging can help nonprofits attract new sustainers and increase recurring donations throughout the year.
10. Track the Recurring Giving Metrics That Matter
Nonprofits cannot improve fundraising performance without understanding what works. Reviewing a small set of recurring giving metrics each month helps teams spot problems, evaluate campaigns, and make informed decisions to increase recurring donations.
| Metric | What it tells you | How to use it |
| Active recurring donors | The size of your program | Track net growth after cancellations |
| Monthly recurring revenue | Predictable income each month | Feed it into budgeting and cash-flow planning |
| Retention at 3, 6 and 12 months | Where donors drop off | Strengthen onboarding where losses spike |
| Failed-payment recovery rate | How much involuntary churn you win back | Close gaps in card updating and follow-up |
| Average monthly gift | Whether gift sizes are rising | Set suggested amounts and upgrade targets |
| Upgrade rate | The share of donors who increase their gift | Judge the timing and tone of upgrade asks |
The right tools make this far easier. Good donation software for nonprofits should manage recurring gifts and installment plans, send receipts automatically, and show campaign or fund giving in real time. That means less time exporting spreadsheets and more time with donors.
Final Thoughts
Recurring donations reward patience, consistency, and attention to detail. Nonprofits that want to increase recurring donations should make monthly giving easy to find, name the program and clarify its purpose, invite the supporters most likely to participate, and work just as hard to retain sustainers as they do to recruit them.
Organizations do not need to implement all 10 strategies at once. Start with two improvements this quarter, such as testing the donation page and creating a 90-day welcome journey. Measure the results, identify what works, and build on those findings.
Over time, a well-managed monthly giving program can become a dependable income source, helping nonprofits plan programs with greater confidence and sustain their impact in the communities they serve.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. What are recurring donations?
Answer: Recurring donations are gifts a donor schedules to repeat automatically, usually every month, until they change or cancel them. Monthly giving is most common, though some donors prefer quarterly or annual gifts.
Q2. What is the fastest way to increase recurring donations?
Answer: Start with people who already support you. Add a clear monthly option and a one-line impact message to your donation page, offer a monthly upgrade on the thank-you page, and invite repeat one-time donors personally. Then protect what you have by fixing failed payments.
Q3. What is a good retention rate for monthly donors?
Answer: Benchmarks vary by study. M+R found 71% of sustainers still active after 12 months in 2025, and Neon One reports annual retention of 78–80% for recurring donors. If your rate is well below that range, review your onboarding and failed-payment process first.
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