Why You’re Probably Ignoring the Most Valuable Revenue Stream in Your Fundraising Program

Lee Domaszowec
Sep 8
4 min read

Most nonprofits are leaving serious money on the table every single month.

There is a phenomenal compounding program almost no one talks about. We’re speaking from multiple points of experience here:$0 to over $125,000 per year!$110,000 per year to over $300,000 per year!$20,000 per year to over $900,000 per year!

And it is rarely because a gala underperformed or because you don’t have a major gifts officer or because your grant hit rate is too low.

The real reason is that you’ve never built a recurring giving program that works.

That single line item on your development plan can be the difference between constant chaos and steady growth. If you are still treating monthly donors as an afterthought, it’s costing you. In stability. In predictability. In freedom for your staff and your mission.

Volunteers distributing emergency food—humanitarian relief sustained by recurring donors and monthly giving.

The root problem: a development strategy built on sand

Most nonprofit leaders are doing the impossible. You’re chasing big grants, pulling together events, stewarding donors, managing social media, and hoping this year’s campaign covers the gap.

The scary reality is that you don’t know where next month’s money is coming from.

This isn’t a critique of your leadership. It’s a pattern we’ve seen in six-figure start-ups and multi-million-dollar organizations alike. The common thread is usually the same: no monthly recurring revenue base.

Without that base, your team operates in reactive mode. Fundraisers chase dollars instead of building a system. Budget planning becomes guesswork. The Board asks why cash flow feels like a rollercoaster and leaders carry stress that never lets up.

Recurring giving is the safety net you need. We believe it’s the single most underutilized and powerful tool in fundraising today.

Nonprofit team mapping a recurring giving strategy on a glass board—data-informed fundraising and growth planning.

What most consultants miss

Most experts talk about monthly giving like it’s a side project. They frame it as a checkbox on a donation form or an annual email campaign. Then they move on to the next big idea.

That approach is badly, terribly flawed.

When built with intention, monthly giving is the most cost-effective fundraising stream, the most predictable source of revenue, the best long-term pipeline for major donors, and the most flexible type of funding because it is usually unrestricted.

The data is clear. Recurring donors are worth up to five times more than one-time donors over their lifetime. Yet many organizations continue to treat them as a statistic rather than a strategy.

Community volunteers organizing donated goods—showing donor-funded programs and the impact of monthly support.

How PhoenixFire does it differently

At PhoenixFire, recurring giving is never a add-on. It is the foundation of sustainable fundraising. It;s the first thing we examine in a development audit, the first gap we close when budgets are bleeding, and the anchor we use to scale programs up.

Think about it like a bank account earning interest or investing in a steady S&P 500 ETF. You invest in it steadily and it reliably grows, compounding over time, outperforming riskier bets.

We position recurring giving as a foundational relationship based program rather than a transaction. People don’t want another bill. They want to belong to something bigger.

So we help you give your program a name, a purpose, and an identity. A monthly donor should feel like part of a community. Instead of “Donate monthly,” imagine asking supporters to “Join the Legacy Circle— the people who fuel lifesaving care all year long.”

We build stewardship systems that show recurring donors how important they are. They deserve more than a generic thank-you.

We create donor journeys that include updates, behind-the-scenes stories, and strategic upgrade opportunities. These donors are your most loyal base and, over time, some of your strongest major donor prospects. Invest in that.

We also integrate recurring giving across the entire development plan. It doesn’t live in a separate lane. It appears in every campaign, every event pitch, and every digital appeal. We build smart onramps that make recurring giving the default option, and then we do 2 dedicated recurring giving campaigns every year like clock-work.

A proof point: One animal rescue we supported had relied on events and small grants. Their cash flow was unstable, and staff were constantly under pressure. During our time partnering with them, we launched a named and branded recurring program and we added 299 monthly donors at an average translation of $32.21, for an annual total of $118,884 (and rising!)

That stability allowed them to hire new staff and increase lifesaving programs.

Hot meals served at a community kitchen—stable services made possible by recurring donations.

What you can do right now

You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. You can begin today with a few simple steps.

Audit your donation flow. Make sure “monthly” is the default option, the language is inspiring, and the process can be completed in under a minute.

Give your program an identity. Name it, design a simple badge or icon, and use community-based language like members, founders, or champions.

Send a dedicated appeal focused only on monthly giving, twice a year. Keep it simple, clear, and urgent. Tie a monthly amount directly to impact, like “Just $25/month helps provide books for one child all year long.”

Create a welcome series for new monthly donors. Thank them, share a behind-the-scenes story, and invite them to amplify their impact, and then AUTOMATE IT!

Assign someone to steward monthly donors. Even if you have only a handful, they deserve personal care. Send handwritten notes, call them, and remind them what they make possible. Getting your Board Directors involved here is a great idea.

Health outreach for a child in a clinic—compassionate care strengthened by predictable monthly giving.

Why this pays off

If you add just 25 new recurring donors at $25/month, that’s $7,500 this year. It’s $15,000 next year. Over five years, it’s $75,000 without another auction, campaign, or grant deadline.Except you’ll build on each campaign, and iterate, improve, and add more and more donors each month, and big chunks twice a year. We’ve seen it, we’ve done it, time and time again.

That’s the power of compounding monthly giving. And it’s just the beginning.

When 10 percent of your donor list converts, your entire fundraising model shifts from reactive to resilient. You stop scrambling for survival. You start building for scale.

Final word

At PhoenixFire, we’ve helped organizations raise more than $120 million. The most consistent driver of stability and growth across all of that experience is recurring revenue. It is simple, steady, and transformational.

If your monthly giving program is still an afterthought or if it doesn’t exist at all, it’s time to change that. Don’t wait another day!

Ready to stabilize your fundraising and give your team breathing room? Schedule a free 30-minute consult with PhoenixFire to audit your recurring giving program or help you launch one from scratch.