Most crowdfunding campaigns are built around a moment. A target, a deadline, a push to get there. And we know that works; it creates urgency, it gets people moving, and when it goes well, it’s one of the most satisfying things in fundraising.
But what happens after the campaign closes?
For a lot of organisations, the answer is: you start again. New appeal, new target, new ask to the same people who already backed you once. Regular donations are a different approach, and for organisations with ongoing costs, they’re often a better one.
What regular donations actually do
When a supporter makes a regular donation on Crowdfunder, their contribution repeats automatically on the same date each month. They don’t need to do anything again. You don’t need to ask again. The money arrives, month after month, for as long as they choose to keep giving.
That’s a meaningfully different relationship to a one-off gift. A one-off donation is a transaction. A regular donation is a commitment — and the supporters who make them tend to feel more invested in what you’re doing, not less, over time.
For organisations running ongoing services — a food bank, a community space, a youth programme, a conservation project — that steady income changes what’s possible. You can plan further ahead. You can budget for the things that don’t stop when a campaign ends: staff time, rent, running costs, the work itself.
Research shows the average UK donor gives regularly to around two or three causes at a time. People want to feel like they’re doing good — and a standing monthly commitment is how many of them do that. The question isn’t whether your supporters are already giving regularly to something. It’s whether your project is one of the things they’ve chosen.
The number that matters
Over £1 million has been raised through regular donations on Crowdfunder, across 68,000 individual payments from 6,750 supporters. The average monthly gift is £17.93.
That’s not a headline number. It’s a quiet, reliable one — which is exactly the point.
How to make it work
Switching regular donations on is the easy part. You can do it during project set-up or at any time afterwards from your project dashboard.
The harder part — and the more important part — is giving your supporters a reason to choose monthly over once.
The projects that do this well are specific. Not “support us every month” but “£10 a month covers one food parcel every fortnight, for as long as you choose to give it.” Not “help us keep going” but “£5 a month plants a tree every month and funds the volunteer days that keep them alive.”
The difference between a vague ask and a specific one is the difference between a supporter thinking “maybe” and thinking “yes.”
In your project description, try covering three things: what ongoing costs a regular donation covers, what their gift adds up to over time, and what keeps happening because they stayed.
Give your supporters a way to stay
Your campaign runs exactly as it would. You set a target, tell your story, share it with your crowd. Regular donations simply give supporters one more option when they go to back you — monthly instead of once.
Switch it on during set-up or at any time from your project dashboard. The relationships you build during a campaign don’t have to end when it does.
