How to Get Monthly Donations for Your Charity

In this article, I would like to focus on how to attract website visitors to make monthly donations to your charity. Fact, lots of little dollars add up to big dollars. Never turn down a donation, no matter how small you think it is.
Using your charity website and pay pal, you can create plenty of options for your supporters to make monthly donations. But how do you get them to take the leap and sign up?

Here is how:
Before launching your program for online donations, contact different companies and request a gift certificate donation to your organization. Use these as gift give aways each month, BUT only for those making monthly online donations. With giving, comes priviledge,the priviledge of having an opportunity to win a gift each month.
You can pick a winner each month( or winners), and reward them for their monthly donations. In return, your company sponsor gets online promotion on your site in exchange for the gift certificate. You might also offer them a banner ad or larger ad space on your site. If you do monthly online newsletters, you can also offer to include their banner ad in your newsletter each month they donate gift certificates.

Some great companies to target as possible gift sponsors are : restaurants, salons, spas, gym memberships, gift certificates to local shops, and local event tickets. A good rule of thumb is to try and make sure your give away gift is of at least $50 value or more each month. Of course you want your charity itself to be reason enough for someone to make a monthly donation, but promoting give aways gives them added incentive to be a regular supporter.
Once you have two or three months of gift certificates collected, you can launch your online donations program. I suggest making 3 options available, $5, $10, and $20. Be sure and create an online form and database so you can track all donations and send thank you letters before tax season ends.

You might even offer an incentive for someone who becomes a $20 monthly sponsor by rewarding them with a perk or small gift certificate. You may come across a restaurant that wants to give you $100 of gift certificates. Ask for them in increments of $10, and each time a $20 donor signs up , you send them a $10 restaurant certificate.
Or if you really want to offer the most bang for their buck, offer $20 montly sponsors more then one gift!!! Get creative.
Not only will your monthly give aways add incentive to get someone to make a monthly donation, but will also give them incentive to come back to your site to see who the winner is each month.

Find local websites to market your online donations program, call local newspapers and magazines to do stories on your unique fundraising efforts. And don’t forget to submit public service annoucements to all local radio stations promoting the program as well. Using your website and once a month prize give aways, you will be able to work towards building ongoing donations for your charity.