Imagine asking someone to give $10 a month and then watching your average monthly gift land at $35 instead.
That’s exactly what happened when Urban Bridge launched their “10 for 10” campaign to celebrate their 10-year anniversary.
On a recent episode of Missions to Movements, host Dana Snyder sat down with Raegan Mach, Director of Development at Urban Bridge, to unpack exactly how a modest goal of 25 new monthly donors became a scalable recurring giving engine.
If you’ve been considering launching (or relaunching) a monthly giving program, this monthly giving campaign case study is one you’ll want to bookmark.
The Goal: 25 New Donors at $10/Month
Urban Bridge already had about 30–40 recurring donors. But most of them were deeply connected to the founder and organization. Growth beyond that inner circle had stalled.
The team wanted to:
- Expand beyond their immediate community
- Make giving more accessible
- Invite supporters into something meaningful and affordable
Because more than 40% of the community they serve lives below the federal poverty level, accessibility mattered. A $1,000 annual gift isn’t realistic for everyone, but $10 a month might be.
Instead of launching a complicated initiative, they leaned into their 10-year anniversary and created a clear, memorable concept:
“10 for 10”: $10 a month for our 10-year anniversary.
Simple. Repeatable. Story-driven.
The Launch Strategy That Drove 15 Donors in 48 Hours
The campaign ran from mid-August through October — a strategic window before year-end fundraising began.
Here’s what made the difference.
1. A CEO-Led Video Invite
Instead of sending a standard email ask, the first newsletter teased an “exclusive message” from their CEO and co-founder.
Supporters clicked through to a landing page featuring a personal video invitation. It wasn’t text-heavy. It wasn’t transactional. It was human.
Within the first 48 hours, Urban Bridge secured 15 new monthly donors.
The lesson? A face + a story > a wall of text.
2. Campaign Champions With Real Influence
Urban Bridge didn’t just post on their own channels. They recruited champions.
Board members. Staff. Community partners. Individuals with genuine social influence, especially within philanthropy circles.
Some posted on Instagram.
Some posted on LinkedIn.
One supporter’s LinkedIn post directly led to a new donor who later became a major end-of-year contributor.
Don’t sleep on LinkedIn.
In this monthly giving campaign case study, LinkedIn became one of the strongest conversion channels because of trusted third-party validation.
When someone says, “I’m giving and you should too,” it carries weight.
3. Consistent Messaging (Without Constant Asking)
The campaign had two spikes: one at launch and one near the end.
In between? Storytelling.
They intentionally avoided making every communication an ask. Instead, they shared: stories of youth serve, milestones from the last 10 years, and gratitude-centered messaging.
That balance kept supporters engaged without fatigue, especially heading into year-end giving season.
The Results: They Surpassed the Goal
The goal: 25 new monthly donors.
The result: 27 during the campaign and growth didn’t stop there.
Today, Urban Bridge has approximately 75 recurring donors.
Even more surprising?
Although the ask centered around $10/month, the average monthly gift was $35.
Many donors selected $25 or $50 options when presented with recommended giving tiers inside their donation platform.
What started as a projected $200/month increase quickly became:
- $550/month in new recurring revenue
- Now approaching $700/month and growing
That’s the power of recurring revenue. It compounds.
Did It Hurt Year-End Fundraising?
This is the question every nonprofit leader asks.
Would launching a monthly campaign before year-end cannibalize bigger gifts?
In Urban Bridge’s case, the opposite happened.
One $10 monthly donor later made a significant year-end gift after engaging more deeply with the organization.
The monthly entry point became a gateway, not a ceiling.
It built trust.
It built familiarity.
It built momentum going into year-end.
Internal Impact: Why Recurring Revenue Changes Everything
Beyond the dollars, something else shifted.
- The development team entered year-end with confidence.
- Leadership gained predictable, unrestricted monthly income.
- The finance team could forecast more reliably.
Monthly giving isn’t just a fundraising tactic. It’s infrastructure.
When recurring revenue grows, stress decreases. Planning improves. Energy shifts from scrambling to stewarding.
How You Can Replicate This Monthly Giving Campaign
If you’re inspired by this monthly giving campaign case study, here are key takeaways to apply:
- Anchor It to a Theme: Anniversaries, milestones, seasons and give people a reason.
- Lead With Video: A personal invitation converts better than text alone.
- Recruit Champions: Ask board members, staff, and influencers to share authentically, not scripted posts.
- Use Smart Giving Tiers: Ask for $10 but offer higher options.
- Plan the Timeline: Two to three months allows for launch, momentum dip, and final surge.
- Steward Immediately: Urban Bridge followed up with an anniversary celebration event to reinforce belonging.
Why This Case Study Matters
We often hear about organizations with 70,000 monthly donors.
But this story is different and more relatable.
Urban Bridge didn’t start from zero.
They didn’t have a massive marketing budget.
They didn’t overhaul everything.
They made recurring giving a priority and executed with intention.
And that changed their revenue trajectory.
If you’ve been waiting for permission to prioritize monthly giving, consider this it.
You don’t need 1,000 donors to make an impact.
You need momentum.
You need clarity.
You need consistency.
Start with 25.
You might just end up with 75.
