Recession strategy: Ask donors to give monthly

World Vision and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as many other charities, have converted large numbers of donors into monthly supporters, learning in the process that monthly donors keep giving for far longer periods than individuals who give less frequently.

The ASPCA, for example, has recruited 140,000 donors, who give an average of $21 per month, through direct mail, telemarketing, and television spots. Most of those donors have continued giving for several years, much longer than donors who give once or twice a year. Charities frequently lose half or more of their newly recruited donors in the year after they make their first gift.

Among the organizations seeking monthly donors now: The Monterey Bay Aquarium, in California, has begun asking for monthly gifts from people who have signed up to receive its e-mail messages and other online communications. And Russ Reid, a Pasadena, Calif., fund-raising consulting company, says that two national charities in the last two months have asked the company to test efforts to recruit monthly supporters by sending their donors a letter followed by a telephone call.

— Holly Hall and Paula Wasley