8 Free Email Templates to Upgrade Your Recurring Donors 

We already know that recurring donors are over five times more valuable to your nonprofit than one-time donors. With their monthly commitment, which typically lasts for 13 months on the Classy platform, recurring donors provide a predictable stream of revenue that allows your organization to sustain its work and plan for the future.

These recurring donors aren’t just passive monthly transactions though; they prove time and again that they are willing to take deeper action on behalf of your nonprofit. In fact, recurring donors make additional one-time gifts on top of their recurring subscription 75% more often than one-time donors do.

Additionally, recurring donations don’t reduce the size of these one-time gifts either. The average one-time donation size is actually higher for donors with recurring giving plans at $150, versus $113.

Given their lifetime value, it’s imperative that you develop a fundraising strategy that seeks to upgrade their commitment. You can encourage them to give higher monthly amounts, add additional one-time gifts on top of a monthly donation, or both.

Our newest guide, 8 Email Templates to Upgrade Your Recurring Donors, provides templated examples that can help guide your effort to encourage these upgrades and inform your asks with:

1. Impact Appeals
2. Matching Gift Announcements
3. Thank You Notes
4. Milestone Days
5. Cause Awareness Days
6. Annual Report Announcements
7. Behind-the-Scenes Showcases
8. Exclusive Incentives

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Use these templates to initiate conversations that help upgrade your recurring donors and build, or improve, a sustainable recurring giving program. As you go, you can tweak the examples to suit your nonprofit’s distinct style, brand, voice, and tone.

Remember that these emails also serve as a touchpoint to thank your donors and recognize their ongoing commitment to your organization. When you show donors that you appreciate them, they’re more likely to continue—and even increase—their support.