The 6 Reasons Your Monthly Donors Cancel

Recurring donors are every fundraiser’s dream!

They believe in your mission, they are easier to retain year-over-year, and they help your organization to do more to achieve its mission.

So, when recurring donors cancel, it can feel like the sky is falling!

That’s why Network for Good surveyed 3,000 year-end donors to find out why they give and what, if anything, would make them cancel their recurring donation. We learned that it’s really not complicated: show donors that their gift really matters and explain how recurring gifts help stabilize programs (not fundraising expenses), and you’ll retain your monthly donors.

By the way: if you aren’t asking your donors to subscribe to regular donations, you’re missing out! We found that 46% of all donors had made a recurring gift in the past. This means a large percentage of your list is open to your recurring giving ask.

If you do have a recurring giving program but not many recurring donors, this is your opportunity to get more of your list signed up for automatic monthly donations.

To see our full plan for convincing your monthly donors to stick around, download The 6 Reasons Monthly Donors Cancel and How to Get Them to Stay, and check out the results of our survey below.

The 6 Reasons Monthly Donors Cancel, Ranked

34% – “I would only stop giving if I could no longer afford to give.”

25% –  “I feel like I’ve donated enough.”

19% – “I have no idea how the gift is being used or if my gift really matters.”

13% – “The organization is providing me with unrequested information about the programs I’m supporting.”

5% – “I feel like the nonprofit does not understand the reasons why I made the gift in the first place.”

4% – “I stopped giving for another reason.”

Ok, so you know why your recurring donors aren’t retaining. But how do you convince them to stay?

We have lots of ideas! Download our free checklist, The 6 Reasons Monthly Donors Cancel and How to Get Them to Stay for a step-by-step plan to build a top-performing recurring giving program.