How to Promote Your Recurring Giving Program on Social Media

You’ve read plenty of articles from us about implementing a recurring giving program and why it’s important to do so. Not only is it a great way to engage loyal donors, but it builds a reliable stream of income.

What organization wouldn’t want that? With sporadic, smaller donations shrinking in number you’ll likely be fine-tuning your recurring giving program (and subsequently, marketing it). Setting up planned donations on a schedule is convenient for your donors and your organization.

But how do you promote this program? An email series providing a link to your website? Direct-mail campaigns? These are all viable options. However, don’t miss out on a big piece of the pie with social media, too!

It’s 2019 – LOTS of people live in the realm of social media daily. I personally think that all nonprofits should have (and actively use) social media. It’s one of your greatest communication tools! Think about it: how often are you on your phone scrolling Facebook or X feeds? I’m willing to bet it’s more often than you realize. It’s become second nature to many of us. Meet donors where they’re at by promoting your recurring giving program on various social platforms.

Let’s break it down:

Branding: Consistent Messaging and Higher Visibility

Your recurring giving program will perform better if it has its own branding. You want to stick out and be memorable. Setting out to create a new brand initiative for this program may require some hard work and time, but the payoff is worth it. Consider that to make this program work you’ll need to create an entire marketing plan around it. Between creating a landing page, email series, etc., social is only one piece of the puzzle, but it’s a pretty big connector. All these elements must tie together for an effective recurring giving program.

This also gives the chance for custom hashtags to be created so that others may follow the progress of your recurring giving program. Hashtags are neat. They open a door that introduces different audiences you might not have reached with a regular status update. As a personal example, I follow many pages on Facebook and Instagram. But, the use of the hashtags on their own personal posts have led me to finding some amazing restaurants or coffee shops I wouldn’t have known about otherwise! How cool is that?!  Try doing the same with your recurring giving program when creating social posts.

Share the Program’s Success

Social media is a solid way to represent your organization’s mission. Since platforms like Facebook, X , and Instagram are flexible in terms of communication, it’s easy to connect with your donors in a relatable way.

Our newsfeeds are flooded with a mix of positive and negative stories. Help break up the negativity with success stories from your recurring giving program. Recurring donors are valuable and should feel like their consistent contribution is making a difference. This is where promoting your recurring giving program on social media really comes in handy.

Creating an emotional connection with donors is an important piece of storytelling. Promote your recurring giving program on social by tugging on your audience’s heartstrings. Use genuine pictures that show the impact recurring donors made. Pictures and videos get better engagement on social (especially Facebook). Big blocks of text WILL cause your organization’s page to be flagged as spam and/or not show up in a newsfeed. Algorithms can be tricky, but the best way around them are videos and images. Besides, there’s nothing better than showing donors the progress THEY help make possible with their monthly support.

Sharing success stories reinforces the donor’s decision to be a part of your recurring giving program and potentially draws in new monthly supporters! I can promise you, no one will get sick of seeing positive stories on their newsfeed.

Conclusion:

You need a recurring giving program for the life-long health of your organization. This program provides reliable income and a very loyal donor base. Give your program the attention it deserves! By promoting a recurring giving program on social media, you will draw in an otherwise untapped audience! Most people are scrolling through social newsfeeds daily — this promotion is meeting donors right where they’re at. Branding this program and sharing the success stories that come from its existence is a great starting point to gaining more loyal, monthly donors.