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Team Rubicon

Monthly Giving Program for Ongoing Disaster Response

Team Rubicon grew from 40 to 1,576 monthly donors, generating $72,000 in new, predictable monthly income to resolve smaller but equally urgent disasters.

The Challenge

One of the nation’s foremost disaster relief organizations, Team Rubicon is composed of more than 160,000 volunteers, primarily military veterans and first responders.

These “Greyshirts” step up to assist when a global locale suffers a disaster. They get right to work, mucking out flooded basements, removing debris, repairing structures, and helping with both WASH services (water, sanitation, and hygiene) and EMT-type medical assistance.

Fundraising specific to large-scale disasters works well when an emergency strikes. But Team Rubicon needed to secure unrestricted donations to tackle smaller, more frequent, but still urgent disasters, like severe weather downing community power lines and trees.

group of veterans saluting in front of an american flag

We needed to address two main questions for Team Rubicon:

  • How do we build a predictable, scalable revenue stream for localized disasters?
  • How do we increase Team Rubicon’s average monthly gift amount to maximize the revenue stream’s impact?

Our Solutions

We built Team Rubicon a monthly giving program designed to turn ongoing supporter engagement into a predictable source of funding.

Branded Monthly Giving Community

  • Through audience segmentation, personalized communications, and multichannel marketing, we attracted monthly donors to a community branded the Support Squad.
  • We featured Support Squad members on the website and in messaging to show the critical role that monthly donors play in the organization’s impact.
  • Support Squad members were rewarded with exclusive access to Team Rubicon’s leadership to reinforce their importance.

Monthly Donor Acquisition

  • To launch the Support Squad, we introduced a time-based campaign with an incentive match to quickly add donors.
  • We tied monthly giving levels to the tangible outcomes they would achieve (for example, $100 provides protective gear for one volunteer), connecting donor contributions directly to mission impact.

The Results

  • Team Rubicon grew their monthly giving program from 40 donors to 1,576.
  • These donors accounted for $72,000 in new, predictable monthly income, on top of one-time donations.
  • Average monthly gift size increased from $19 to $27, a 42% increase.

What’s really unique about CauseMic is that they don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach.

They understand the players, get to know your mission, the internal constraints with regards to your budget, people, or board of directors, and then they think strategically about what the right-size solutions are for your organization.