You've spent months building and testing a digital fundraising program that works.
Then reality hits: your program lives campaign-to-campaign.
Revenue spikes in December, drops in January. Your monthly giving pipeline is practically nonexistent.
Sound familiar?
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology was stuck in the same cycle. Their digital program was bringing in around $400,000 annually, but they knew they needed a program that could grow meaningfully year after year.
Here's how they built a fundraising machine that grew 10x in eight years:
The breakthrough
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology stopped chasing one-off campaigns and started building real infrastructure: recurring revenue, systematic testing, and real-time optimization that compounded over time.
Here's what changed:
Monthly giving became the foundation. The Lab launched "Discovery Partners," a branded monthly giving program that went from zero to $312,000 in annual revenue.
Their first campaign goal was 200 monthly donors. They tripled it. By year eight, they were adding 20,000+ monthly gifts per year, creating predictable income they could count on between big campaigns.
Testing became the default. Every campaign was an opportunity to learn something. Subject lines, donation form layouts, mobile optimization, and ask amounts were all tested systematically.
They built pacing models that let them track performance daily and adjust mid-campaign instead of waiting until the end to see if they hit their goals.
List growth fueled everything else. They grew their email list from 150,000 to 2.1 million subscribers — a 14x increase. But they didn't just talk to everyone the same way.
They segmented by engagement history, donor type, and giving behavior, turning a bigger list into more relevant conversations.
How to apply this approach to your program
You don't need eight years or an agency partner to start building these habits.
And right now, while year-end revenue is still fresh and your team has bandwidth before spring campaigns ramp up, you have a rare window to shift from reactive to strategic.
The lesson here isn't about budget. It's about shifting from campaign mode to program building:
Launch or relaunch monthly giving this quarter. Pick one campaign to test recurring asks front and center. Start small, measure what works, and scale from there.
Build a testing calendar. Don't wait for the "perfect" test. Pick one element per campaign — subject line, CTA placement, gift string on a donation form — and commit to learning something every send.
Track performance in real time. Set up a simple dashboard that shows daily giving trends during campaigns.
The bottom line
The Cornell Lab's growth didn't come from one brilliant campaign. It came from treating digital fundraising like a system: testing, iterating, and building on what worked.
Even the most sophisticated programs can get caught in this cycle, especially when rapid response is a priority.
When you stop reinventing the wheel every year (or campaign!) and start compounding small wins, the growth takes care of itself.
'Til next time!
Sara
P.S. If you need help analyzing your year-end data, shoot us a note. We may be able to connect you with the right consultant.