The ultimate guide to recurring giving

A clear recurring giving strategy can help safeguard your nonprofit’s long-term financial health and help you grow, whether you’re building a program from the ground up or strengthening one that already exists.

This guide will cover what recurring giving is, why it matters, and how to plan and launch a campaign. We’ll also go over ways to brand and present your program, strategies for promotion and donor acquisition, and tips for retaining and growing your supporter base.

What is recurring giving?

Recurring giving is when a donor commits to making automatic gifts at regular intervals, most often once a month. Donors choose the amount they give and can pause or stop at any time. Nonprofits often refer to this model as monthly giving or subscription giving.

For a deeper look at specific program types and how to build one, see our guide to monthly giving programs.

Why is recurring giving important?

Research from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project shows that charitable dollars were up 5% in Q4 2025. That’s the strongest growth rate in five years. At the same time, the number of donors declined 3.6%.

In other words, nonprofits are raising more money from fewer people. As the pool of donors shrinks, every supporter becomes more valuable. Rather than relying solely on acquiring new donors, organizations need to deepen relationships with the people who already believe in their mission.

That’s where recurring giving becomes one of the highest-impact strategies available. According to The Center for Sustainable Giving, recurring donors are worth 5–7x more than one-time donors over their lifetime. Our 2025 internal analysis of donor value on GoFundMe Pro found that recurring donors deliver 10x the lifetime value of one-time donors.*

More recurring donors means more predictable revenue, giving organizations greater confidence to invest in programs, weather seasonal fundraising fluctuations, and spend less time replacing lapsed donors.

*Results vary by organization

Planning: goals, audience, and launch

The organizations seeing the strongest results treat recurring giving as a full donor journey. They build programs that make it easier for supporters to participate and deepen their commitment over time, ensuring every touchpoint has a purpose.

Before you launch your program, however, define what success looks like, identify the audiences most likely to convert, and create a thoughtful plan for introducing recurring giving to your community.

Set your recurring giving goals

The first step in building a strong recurring giving program is to set clear goals and outline how you’ll achieve them.

Common ways to measure recurring success include:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR): The amount you can expect to receive each month from recurring gifts. Also, track lost MRR (or churn), which is the income lost when donors cancel.
• Number of active donors: The number of supporters currently making recurring gifts.
• Recurring gift increases: The number of donors who increase their recurring donations amount each year, the amount of increase, and the percentage of your total donor base that the increase represents.

Know your audience

Take time to study your donor base to know who to target, how to reach them, and how much your ask should be. Factors to consider include:

• Donor personas
• Past gift sizes
• Number of past gifts
• Giving methods (in person, online, at events)
• Donor survey results

Learning your donors’ motivations, preferences, and giving patterns helps you segment them into groups and better tailor your appeals.

GoFundMe Pro’s Intelligent Ask Amounts helps do some of that work for you, using artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize each donor’s giving experience based on who they are and what your campaign needs to achieve. When your goal is recurring giving, donors most likely to consider recurring support will see a gentle, branded monthly gift prompt.

This targeted approach delivers a 38% lift in recurring gift conversions, with no meaningful impact to one-time giving rates.

Launch your campaign

Build a promotion plan and calendar to guide your campaign rollout.

1. Start with a soft launch: Begin with your most committed supporters if your program is new. Personally invite board members, volunteers, major donors, and loyal donors to become your first recurring donors through one-to-one emails or phone calls before opening the program to a broader audience.
2. Activate existing recurring donors: Thank current monthly donors, invite them to share why they give, and encourage them to increase their gift if you already have a recurring giving program. A personalized stewardship campaign can include an appreciation message, a testimonial request, and a tailored upgrade ask.
3. Promote across every channel: Introduce your program with a coordinated communications plan spanning email, social media, your website, newsletters, events, and peer-to-peer ambassadors. Reinforce the same core message at every touchpoint to maximize awareness and conversion.
4. Invest in long-term stewardship: Welcome new recurring donors with an immediate thank-you, then keep them engaged with regular impact updates, anniversary celebrations, and meaningful opportunities to deepen their support. An automated stewardship journey can include quarterly impact stories and an annual gift upgrade request.

Branding and presentation

Your recurring donors are more than supporters. They’re a dedicated community investing in your mission. Make them feel special by giving your program a unique name, visual identity, and story.

Define your story and purpose

Start by clarifying the long-term purpose of your recurring giving program. Ask:

What impact will these recurring gifts have? How is recurring support different from other contributions to your organization?

Your answers can inspire the name, theme, and branding for your program.

Create a unique look and feel

Give your program a visual identity that fits within your nonprofit’s overall brand but still stands out. This could include:

A program name and tagline (for example, “The Impact Circle”) A logo or custom imagery Photos or videos that illustrate the unique power of recurring gifts

Incorporate into your website

Create a dedicated page or microsite for your recurring giving program and make it easy to find from your homepage. Use this page to:

Explain the purpose and long-term impact of recurring gifts. Highlight any benefits or special access for members. Share stories or examples that show the value of ongoing support.

Use storytelling to create brand impact

Strong branding works best when paired with a compelling story. These core elements can help your dedicated recurring giving page stand out:

• Maintain brand consistency: Add unique messaging or visuals to distinguish the program, but always maintain your nonprofit’s colors, fonts, and style for brand recognition. Your story should feel authentic but not be too much of a departure from your brand.
• Define your purpose: Explain clearly why recurring donors are essential to your mission and what their support makes possible.
• Use impact tiles: Package certain recurring donation amounts that exemplify how each giving level will make a difference within your organization.
• Optimize for conversions: Set recurring as the default giving option, with the ability to opt out and make a one-time donation instead. Also, offer mobile-friendly payment methods, like digital wallets and ACH, to improve conversions.
• Strengthen your thank-you page: Use a clear headline and message that reinforces the supporter’s impact. You can also add a secondary call to action, like subscribing to your newsletter or following your social media channels, to keep them engaged.

GoFundMe Pro’s Campaign Studio provides proven donation page templates, each one optimized and preloaded with the ideal layout, elements, and messaging for your fundraising needs. Best of all, with brand kits that centralize your logos, colors, typography, imagery, messaging, and tone, your brand stays consistent throughout.

Studio makes it easier to deliver your ideal campaign experience at scale.

Make donors feel like insiders

If possible, offer benefits to recurring donors to strengthen their connection to your organization. Examples include:

• Invitations to exclusive events
• Quarterly impact reports
• A monthly donor newsletter
• Community perks or behind-the-scenes updates
• Impact photos or videos

These benefits not only show appreciation but also help build loyalty, increasing the chances that supporters will stay with you and even increase their gift over time.

Promotion and appeals

Like any fundraising campaign, your recurring giving program needs consistent promotion to succeed. Make sure your entire community knows it’s an option and understands the impact of joining.

Send an appeal through email

Send recurring giving appeals multiple times a year, segmenting your email lists to personalize messages for different donor groups. In your appeals, cover:

• Why your nonprofit needs ongoing support
• How recurring gifts create more impact over time
• How easy it is to set up a recurring gift online
• What special updates, perks, or access can supporters get

Make a direct appeal on social media

To avoid dominating your social media feeds with asks, only use social media to make a direct appeal for recurring gifts occasionally. Between asks, focus on social proof:

• Share news about the program.
• Highlight the collective impact of recurring donors.
• Recognize individual supporters.

Consider featuring one or two recurring donors each month, sharing their stories and the difference their gifts make. This builds credibility for your program while giving loyal donors public recognition.

Drive donations

Supporters may discover your program through an email, blog post, or social media campaign, but the donation form is where they decide whether to give. Keep the experience simple, intuitive, and consistent with your recurring giving program to eliminate as many barriers to completing a gift as possible.

Pro tip: Include a recurring gift option on every donation form—not just forms dedicated to monthly giving. Giving donors the opportunity to make their gift monthly at the moment they’re ready to donate is one of the simplest and most effective ways to increase recurring donor conversion.

Organizations on GoFundMe Pro see an average recurring donation of $45 compared to the $28 industry benchmark reported by M+R. They also grow recurring donor relationships over time. By Year 3 on our platform, recurring donors increase by an average of 113%, and returning one-time donors increase by an average of 169% compared to Year 1.

Together, that means more donors giving more often, helping organizations build significant, lasting growth.*

*Results vary by organization

Acquisition and stewardship

A strong recurring giving program keeps donors engaged and grows support through new supporters and increased gifts from existing ones.

Offer multiple giving frequencies

While monthly giving is the most common, offering additional options can make donating easier for supporters and better align with your mission. GoFundMe Pro supports these giving frequencies:

• Daily
• Weekly
• Biweekly
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Annually
• Semiannually

Each option has its advantages. A weekly donation may work well for faith-based nonprofits. A quarterly gift can be ideal for membership-based organizations, like museums, zoos, or cultural institutions. Annual recurring donations are especially useful for nonprofits with memberships or pledge programs.

On any campaign or donation page, you can choose which recurring donation frequencies to display, making it easy to match your setup to your audience and campaign goals.

Grow your program

When looking for new recurring donors, start with your most loyal one-time donors. The “Returning 1-time Donors report” from GoFundMe Pro identifies supporters who have given multiple times, making them strong candidates for a recurring ask.

Once or twice a year, invite current recurring donors to increase their gift. Even a $5 monthly increase adds $60 annually. Just remember to always connect the ask to a tangible impact to help donors see the difference their extra support will make.

Time these requests carefully. Good moments include:

• The one-year anniversary of a recurring gift
• The week after you share an impact report
• A relevant news moment, like earthquake relief for a disaster-response cause

You can also encourage recurring donors to become peer-to-peer fundraisers. These supporters already believe in your mission and may be excited to share it with their networks.

Thank donors from the start

A handwritten note or an email both work well for saying thanks. Just make sure the message includes:

• The donor’s name
• The size of their gift
• The name of the campaign
• A signature from a staff member

Also, add social sharing buttons to your confirmation page and follow buttons in your emails for donors to easily spread the word and follow along.

Keep supporters engaged

Consider creating a monthly email or newsletter for recurring donors. Share your best stories, videos, blog posts, and mission updates to keep them connected and inspired to give.

Consistent, personalized stewardship reliably drives long-term donor retention and gift increases. This includes regular impact updates, thank-you messages, and milestone recognition.

You can also make donors feel special with unique stewardship activities, such as special events or tours at your facility, advanced notice of any new initiatives or achievements, handwritten notes to acknowledge birthdays, or personalized videos to express appreciation.

Retention and growth

The first step to growing your recurring giving program is strengthening your retention strategy. What happens after the first gift matters more than how you got the donor in the first place. Per “The Rise of Sustainable Giving”, 97% of the value of a subscription donor comes after the first recurring gift.

Offer the option to pause

When donors consider canceling their recurring gift, offer a “pause” option instead. It’s far better to endure a temporary gift loss than to lose the donor altogether.

Remind them how valuable they are to your mission and express your appreciation. Approach the conversation with understanding and empathy, as this makes it more likely they’ll return when they’re financially ready.

Build lifetime partnerships

To keep donors engaged for the long haul, express your gratitude regularly. Remember, most of your communications should focus on thanking supporters and sharing updates, not asking for more gifts.

Also, be responsive to any concerns or questions from monthly donors. Prompt replies show that you value their support and care about their experience.

It’s also essential to stay ahead of potential payment issues. GoFundMe Pro offers tools to help with this:

• Automatic credit card updater works behind the scenes with card networks to refresh expired or replaced card information to prevent donation interruption.
• Upcoming expiring recurring plans report lets you identify donors whose cards are about to expire, giving you a chance to reach out and help update their payment details to prevent missing a gift.

Build lasting support through recurring giving

Growing recurring giving is an ongoing strategy that begins with creating an engaging program that donors are excited to join. From there, consistent communication and genuine appreciation keep supporters connected and invested over time.

Whether it’s a new program or an established one, investing in a recurring giving program is essential for setting your nonprofit up for long-term growth and stability. Schedule a demo today to learn how GoFundMe Pro can help drive your mission.

Recurring giving FAQs

What is sustainable giving?

Sustainable giving refers to the practice of making consistent, ongoing charitable contributions. For donors, sustained giving means committing a regular amount to causes they care about, typically through a recurring monthly donation. For nonprofits, building a base of sustainers creates financial stability and allows organizations to plan programs and staffing without relying entirely on unpredictable campaign revenue.

What is the difference between recurring giving and sustainer giving?

Recurring giving and sustainer giving both describe a donor making automatic, regular contributions to a nonprofit. Sustainer is a term commonly used in direct response fundraising and major gift contexts. Recurring giving or monthly giving are more commonly used in online fundraising and technology platforms. Some organizations use “sustainer” as the program name or donor identity to create a sense of belonging and commitment.

How long does it take to build a recurring giving program?

In practice, a basic recurring giving program can often be launched in a matter of weeks. That means a recurring option on your donation form, a simple welcome email sequence, and a defined donor segment. A fully branded program, however, typically takes a couple of months to build out properly. That includes a distinct name, tiered giving levels, a dedicated landing page, and a structured stewardship calendar. The most important factor isn’t how polished the program is at launch but how consistently you communicate with donors once it’s live.

To learn more about building a successful recurring giving program on a donation platform like GoFundMe Pro, check out our recurring giving playbook.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien