The Mysterious Missing Donation Money from the Masses
One-time & Recurring Donor Statistics Reveal Fountain of Untapped Small Donor Generosity
Is your nonprofit neglecting smaller donors in pursuit of the big fish?
Don’t get me wrong – a lot of attention is paid to getting major donors, as it should be. But as the statistics you’re about to see will reveal, don’t put so much attention on major donors that you neglect the smaller donors.
When you’ve finished reading this, you’ll have clearer expectations for how much people will give as one-time gifts verses recurring donations. Then, I’ll show you how you can use this new knowledge to amplify your recurring donor campaigns and bring in more money.
To understand what you’re about to read, you need to be clear on the difference between two kinds of averages: median and mean. If you already know the difference, skip ahead to the next section.
Average Donation Size: Median or Mean?
I hate when statistics get misused. Back in my teaching days, I created assignments for my students to find examples of people misrepresenting stats to make their point. They didn’t have to look far.
One of the most common misrepresentations of statistics concerns the difference between median and mean. Even ‘experts’ make this mistake all the time.
Suppose you’re looking at a list of donations you’ve received, as follows:
$20, 20, 25, 25, 25, 35, 38, 45, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 65, 75, 100, 100, 150, 200, 500, 3000.
To find the mean (which is what most places use when they say “average”), you add them all up and divide by 21, because there are 21 numbers.
To find the median, you find the halfway point. Half the donation amounts are below this point, and the other half are above it.
For those numbers listed above, here’s what you get for these two kinds of average:
Mean: $222.52
Median: $50
Now, why have two kinds of averages? Well, which average is more reflective of a typical donation?
The median. In this example, only two numbers sit above the mean, so it isn’t really a good representation of the term ‘average’ in the way we understand that word. The $3000 large gift has skewed the mean, and made it not helpful as an honest answer to the question, “What is your average gift size?”
If you answered $222 to that question, you would be giving a misleading answer. If in your next campaign no big gift comes in, your “average” will plummet, even though your true average (median) gift size didn’t change that much.
With money (such as average salaries), this misrepresentation happens far too often. A few large numbers will skew the average upward.
Okay – math lesson is over.
Classy Report: Averages for One-Time and Recurring Donor Statistics
The 2018 Modern Philanthropy report from Classy gave some great statistical insights into average donation sizes for both recurring and one-time donors.
Their data comes from the millions of donations processed on their software platform for their many nonprofit clients.
Median average one-time donation: $50
Mean average: $118
Median average recurring donation: $25
Mean average: $38
You can see the effects of the ‘mean distortion’ I just explained earlier, and why median gives a truer picture of the average donation size.
So let’s consider these statistics. A couple conclusions can be drawn from them:
- A few large donors do contribute heavily to your online giving
- One-time donors give a lot more than recurring donors – per gift.
It’s that second finding you want to pay attention to today.
Why Pursuing Recurring Donors Should Be a Top Priority 
A one-time donor gives $50. That’s terrific. But a recurring donor gives $25 – per month.
So even if that recurring donor only gives for six months, they will have given $150 – three times the amount of the one-time donor. If they stay for a year, two years, five years, or have given since 1948, your nonprofit is reaping huge revenue from this person, even though the average gift size is “only” $25 per month.
Tips for Your Next Recurring Donor Campaign
If you have recurring donor statistics at your nonprofit that differs from these averages, then you may need to alter what I’m about to say to fit your data. But if your numbers fall in line with the averages given above (which they probably do, since Classy’s data comes from a multitude of nonprofits), here’s how you can leverage it get more recurring donors.
1. Set Reasonable Expectations
If you’re hoping for average recurring gifts of $50 or more, your expectations are probably too high. So re-evaluate them to something more people will be able to respond to. Giving $50 per month is quite a lot for most people. Put yourself in their shoes. That’s a tank of gas.
2. Choose Your Suggested Amounts Carefully
Since the average recurring donor gives $25, when you list out your giving options, start below that. Choices that range from $10 or $15 up to $50 or $60 and perhaps one larger number will feel more attainable for a typical recurring donor, yet will still motivate the donor who wants to give a higher amount.
If you notice, the big nonprofits that advertise on TV ask people to give very small amounts per month, often less than $10. Why? Because it’s attainable for more people.
If you get 100 people to give $8 per month, that’s $800 per month.
But if 20 people give $30 a month, that’s just $600.
A far higher gift size won’t make up for a much smaller number of recurring donors.
And I haven’t seen data for this, but it’s a reasonable inference that higher recurring donors cancel sooner than lower ones. If you find data on this question, please send it.
3. Monitor Address Changes and Credit Card Numbers
The main reason recurring donors stop giving isn’t because they want to. It’s because something changes in their records and it never gets updated.
When credit cards expire, recurring donations stop. You need a way to flag it when this happens so you get notified, and can reach out to them to continue their giving.
However, this is also a reason you should attempt to get donors to directly pay from their bank accounts rather than with a credit card. And, the fees are lower too.
When donors move, the same thing can happen. You can use a service such as True NCOA to identify donors who have changed their addresses. And, you can use True Deceased to identify donors who have died.
These services have small price tags – far less than it costs you in time and resources to do all this manually.
4. Thank Them
It should go without saying, but thank these donors consistently. Keep them updated with how their money is making a difference. Be transparent. Keep them engaged and make them feel like part of your mission – because they are!
Read the Guide to Donor Gratitude for more tips on how to thank donors in a variety of situations.
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