Free Resources!
Take What You Need.
Good fundraising knowledge shouldn't only exist behind a paywall or inside a consulting engagement. These guides below are free, practical, and written for real nonprofit teams — the ones doing serious work without a lot of slack in the system.
Make sure you check out the note about why these are free, and will remain free.
Why Monthly Giving Matters
The case for monthly giving — with the data to back it up
Need to make the case to your board? Your ED? Yourself? This is the document. It covers why recurring revenue changes what an organization can do, what the sector benchmarks actually say, and why monthly giving isn't just a smart financial strategy — it's an equity practice. Monthly giving reduces dependence on major donors, lowers barriers to meaningful participation, and treats a $5/month donor like the long-term partner they are.
Start Small. Spread Everywhere.
A best practices guide for building and growing a monthly giving program
This is the practical one. If your organization has been meaning to build a monthly giving program — or wants to strengthen the one you already have — this is where to start. It covers what actually moves the needle: your donation page, your welcome experience, how to steward sustainers differently than one-time donors, how to convert, how to upgrade, and how to stop losing people to payment failures. Rooted in Community-Centric Fundraising principles throughout.
Data + Segmentation
How to use your data to build a stronger recurring giving program
If you're sending the same message to every monthly donor regardless of how long they've been giving, how much they give, or how they came to you — you're leaving retention and revenue on the table. This guide covers the segments that actually matter for sustainer programs, what data points to track and why, and how to use what you already have to communicate in a way that feels personal. You don't need a sophisticated CRM to do this well. You just need to know where to start.
Choosing a CRM
A plain-language guide to every major platform — evaluated for sustainer programs
Your CRM is the infrastructure your monthly giving program runs on. Without the right one, you can't track retention, trigger stewardship automations, manage payment failures, or segment your list. This guide evaluates every major nonprofit CRM option — free, affordable, and enterprise — through the specific lens of what a monthly giving program actually needs. No tech jargon. No affiliate partner links. Just an honest breakdown so you can make the right call for your organization.
Choosing a Donation Platform
How to pick the right platform for your monthly giving program
Your donation platform is where monthly giving either gets easier or gets in its own way. This guide walks through every major option nonprofits are actually using — evaluated specifically for recurring giving. Conversion rates, sustainer management, payment failure tools, mobile experience, fees. No affiliate links, no paid placements. Just a clear-eyed breakdown so you can stop second-guessing and start building.
Retention + Lapsed Recovery
Keep the sustainers you have — and win back the ones you've lost
Monthly donor retention should be above 80%. If yours isn't, something in your program needs attention — and this guide helps you figure out what. It covers the most common reasons sustainers leave, how to identify donors at risk before they cancel, and how to run a lapsed recovery campaign that actually works. Because reactivating a former monthly donor is almost always easier than acquiring a new one.
Analyzing your Data
How to make your numbers work harder for your recurring giving program
This guide breaks down which numbers actually matter for a monthly giving program, how to read them, and what to do when something looks off. Retention rate, average gift, payment failure rate, upgrade conversion — you'll know what to track, what benchmarks to aim for, and how to turn a spreadsheet full of donor data into a clear picture of where your program is strong and where it needs attention. No data science degree required.
Upgrade Campaigns
The right way to ask your sustainers to increase their monthly gift
Most monthly donors will never be asked to give more. Not because they wouldn't — because no one asked. This guide covers how to run an upgrade campaign without making your sustainers feel pressured or guilty, when to ask (and when not to), how to frame the amount, and what to do after someone says yes — or not yet. A well-run upgrade campaign is one of the highest-return activities in monthly giving. Here's how to run one.
Welcome & Stewardship
How to onboard and keep your monthly donors from day one
Most monthly donor attrition happens in the first 90 days. This guide covers exactly what to do in that window — and beyond. What to say when someone becomes a sustainer, how often to be in touch, what makes a monthly donor feel genuinely seen versus just thanked. The welcome experience is the retention strategy. This is the playbook for getting it right.
How to Ask at Events
Turning live audiences into committed monthly donors
Events are one of the most underleveraged monthly giving opportunities in the sector. You have a warm, engaged, mission-aligned audience in the room — and most organizations never make a clear monthly giving ask. This guide covers how to build the ask into your program, what to say from the stage or at the table, how to make it easy to say yes on the spot, and what follow-up actually converts event energy into long-term sustainers.
Why Free Resources?
Honest answer: because the organizations that most need this information are the ones least able to pay for it.
I didn't come up with monthly giving. I didn't invent sustainer strategy or community-centric fundraising. I learned from brilliant people who shared their knowledge openly — and I think that's how the sector actually gets better. Not by gatekeeping what works, but by passing it forward.
My model is simple: give away the knowledge, charge for the doing. These guides are free because information shouldn't cost anything. If you need someone to come in and actually build the thing with you — that's what I'm here for. But you shouldn't have to hire me just to learn what good looks like.
A lot of what's in these documents was shaped by people I deeply admire. If this work resonates, go find them:
Dana Snyder at Positive Equation — the most practical and generative voice in monthly giving today. If you're building a sustainer program, you need to be in her world. She does a Mini Mastermind where you get one private call per quarter with Dana or a Positive Equation monthly giving strategist (sometimes that’s me!) to help you stay focused and build a roadmap that fits your team’s capacity and goals. One of her standout resources is the Monthly Giving Builder, a practical framework nonprofits can use to build or strengthen recurring giving programs with clarity and confidence. Dana also shares generously through her writing, speaking, and podcast resources, making her a go‑to for fundraisers at every stage of their monthly giving journey.
Cindy Wagman at Nonprofit Fractionals Network - Cindy Wagman is the founder of the Nonprofit Fractionals Network, a community and learning space for experienced nonprofit professionals who are building fractional or consulting practices.
Her work is especially valuable for fundraisers and nonprofit leaders navigating sustainability, burnout, and new ways of working in the sector. Cindy brings a sharp, honest perspective to conversations about money, power, careers, and boundaries—making her resources helpful not just for fundraising strategy, but for long‑term professional wellbeing, too.
Erica Waasdorp at A Direct Solution — the original. Nobody has written more clearly about how to actually retain and upgrade monthly donors.
M+R Benchmarks — the data behind the decisions. Read it every year.
Community-Centric Fundraising — not just a set of principles; a movement that has fundamentally changed how I practice. Start at communitycentricfundraising.org.
Take the resources. Use them. Share them!
All of this looking overwhelming?
There's a version of consulting where someone reviews your program, writes you a report full of recommendations, and leaves you to implement it. That's not this. I actually do that for free!
I'm a fractional fundraiser. I do the actual work.
I start with your donor data — because most organizations don't know who's already giving monthly, who's lapsed, or where the real opportunity lives. That's the foundation. Then I build the program from the ground up: the strategy, the copy, the systems, the stewardship. You stay focused on running your organization. I make sure monthly giving stops being the thing that's always almost done and starts being the thing that runs.
If you've been waiting for someone to show up and actually help you build it — let's talk.
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