Choosing the right donation intervals is the key to bringing in more steady giving for your organization. But figuring out the best options can feel a little like reading your donors' minds! In this article, we break down why donation intervals are so important. We'll also show you how to set them up on your Donorbox campaign so you can find the perfect intervals for your organization – and your donors.
Recurring donors are some of the most engaged and dedicated donors your organization can hope to have. Therefore, if you’re not offering a wide range of donation intervals on your donation form, you might be missing out on more online donations–big time!
In this article, we’re going to be talking about donation intervals and outlining how important offering multiple intervals can be.
We’ll also take it a step further and walk you through exactly how you can add various donation intervals to your Donorbox donation form.
Donation intervals are the intervals of time your recurring or repeat donors can choose while giving to your organization. These intervals are usually found on the online donation form you have on your website or your fundraising page.
The following donation intervals are the most popular among nonprofits and donors –
They ensure that a donor may choose to give to your organization weekly, monthly, annually…whatever works for them! And you as a nonprofit, get to create a steady stream of income as well as a loyal donor base.
Donorbox offers you all of the above donation intervals for your donation form. You can select up to four intervals and make them available on the form. There are options to set one interval as the default and one as the recommended interval. This makes it clear to your donors which interval is preferable for your organization.
Look at the below crowdfunding page on Donorbox – there are 3 donation intervals added to the form. The default is one-time while the preferred is monthly (marked with a tiny heart icon).
Add Donation Intervals to Your Donation Form
Donation intervals offer donors the choice of being more generous over a longer period of time, resulting in more donations to your organization.
According to Network for Good, a recurring donor who has chosen a donation interval that works with their finances will give on average 42% more per year than donors who give one-time donations.
Donors who give on a regular schedule are more engaged with your organization since they feel they have more of a stake in it. They are more likely to participate in other kinds of fundraising like crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising.
These donors may also come forward to volunteer when you’re in need, and this association strengthens your organization.
Donation intervals mean more steady contributed income for your organization. Instead of an influx of donations at the end of the year, having more recurring donors means a steadier stream of donations throughout the year.
Keep more of your donors. Studies show that offering recurring donation programs with clear donation intervals has retention rates of over 80% after just the first year; this is as compared to less than 20% with no recurring donation program.
Offering too many donation interval choices can weigh your donors down – and make your donation form overwhelming to look at.
So keep it short and choose up to a maximum of four intervals that fit your nonprofit’s goals. Be sure to educate your donors on these intervals and how these help your organization’s work. It is advisable to include a little explanation on the donation page itself for people to learn.
You must also choose your intervals based on what you think your donors will prefer. Survey existing donors to find out what donation intervals they might be interested in.
If that doesn’t help, let your donation form go live. Keep track of which donation intervals seem popular. If you’ve included one that no one seems to want, you can easily update your donation form to remove or swap out the unwanted interval.
Your online fundraising solution should make this simple for you to add or update donation intervals as and when needed. Let’s see how Donorbox helps!
Check out these 4 simple steps to set up donation intervals on a Donorbox donation form.
It’s free to sign up on Donorbox. Go to the website and click “Org Signup”.
Fill in the details on the next page and create an account. This should take roughly a few minutes. We don’t require any documentation or contract.
Now, log in to your new account.
Once you’ve logged in to your Donorbox organization account and have access to your dashboard, click on “+New Campaign”.
On the page that opens next, click “New Donation Form”.
Fill out the basic information such as the campaign title and goal amount on the next page.
Click “Create Donation Form” to get started with setting up your form.
The next page that opens will let you select your preferred donation intervals, in addition to other brand customization options.
Scroll down and start checking the checkboxes under “Donation Intervals” to choose your preferred intervals.
You’re allowed to choose up to 4 intervals. You can select the default interval from the dropdown field called “Set as Default”. Set the recommended interval from the second dropdown field called “Recommended Interval”.
You also have the option to type in a Call to Action message for donors. Here you can write a simple message to encourage people to make a recurring donation to keep supporting your cause on a regular basis. This will show up just above the intervals on the donation form.
When you’re happy with the initial setup, click “Create Campaign” to publish your form. Click the “Preview Campaign” button on the campaign dashboard and check out your donation form.
Here’s how your donation form with its donation intervals will look at this stage.
It’s always a good idea to customize your donation form to help it fit your organizational brand and needs. You can do so by clicking the “pen or edit” icon next to the newly-created campaign on the Donorbox dashboard.
Next, click the “edit” icon next to the “Your Donation Form” section on the page that opens.
This will take you back to the page where you can make any changes to the donation intervals and other options like color, QuickDonate, donor comments, and more.
Make changes as per your needs and click “Next” to go to the next page for other customization options including –
…and more.
At the end of all customizations, your donation form should be ready for the world to see.
You can either embed it on your website donation page or use the Donorbox-hosted fundraising page which gets automatically created upon the creation of your donation form. The choice is yours – and once you’re done, share your donation page link with the world so they can choose to become your recurring donors!
Here are two examples depicting both cases.
Embedded Donorbox donation form with recurring donation intervals –
Donorbox-hosted donation page including recurring donation intervals –
Online fundraising is only growing more important for nonprofits. To get the most bang for your buck (and your time and energy!), let donors decide a donation interval that works for them. Give them multiple options and encourage them to donate on a recurring basis.
And as you do so, just remember that Donorbox is there to help! It takes just about 15 minutes to sign up for free and set up your donation form for fundraising.
We also have a plethora of other powerful features including Fundraising Pages, Text-to-Give, Memberships, Events, Peer-to-Peer, Crowdfunding, Donor Management, and more.
You also get to avail of our expert nonprofit coaches and a customized package of tools and features to elevate your fundraising with Donorbox Premium – book your demo today!
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Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower