Mark your calendars because November 30th is Giving Tuesday!
With the event coming up in only a few short weeks, now is the time to flesh out your campaign strategy and get a solid plan in place. You and your team need to think ahead and construct your messages and themes to inspire supporters to give.
Giving Tuesday may only last a day, but your campaign should be active well in advance and after the day is over. The best practice strategy is a multi-channel campaign. Engage supporters on several platforms to ensure they receive your message several times in different ways.
So how can you improve your campaign? Here are a few suggestions:
5 Giving Tuesday Tips For More Engaging Campaigns
Focus on Spreading Positivity
Your donors are at the heart of what you do. They help you work towards your mission and often are your greatest allies against your cause. Make sure to keep them posted on how your campaign is performing throughout the day because it's crucial for them to see the progress you make (and to ask them again if you are coming up short!)
Encourage, and make it easy for them to share your success with each milestone reach and share with their friends on social media. Think about the different achievements you can celebrate, like how many donors are participating in your campaign, the number of funds you raised or interactions you received online. Write suggested messages for them to share, and put easy ways to post directly from your emails or website. Remember to include a call to action with a donation link and some catchy hashtags.
Most importantly, tie those milestones back to your cause. While it is great that you reached your fundraising goal, share how it will change your community. Will it help feed families, fund a new art program or help you purchase an essential piece of equipment?
Be specific with your donors, and don't forget to thank them for making it possible!
Integrate Your Giving Tuesday Campaign With Your Year-End Strategy
Building a successful Giving Tuesday Campaign means looking beyond just one day. It's not just about raising as much money as you can but finding ways to build lasting relationships.
Focus on the long-term values you can get from new donors. One way to do this is to integrate your Giving Tuesday strategy with your other fundraising campaigns. Giving Tuesday is just a month away from Dec 31, so it's the perfect opportunity to help kick off your year-end and holiday campaigns.
Or, use Giving Tuesday as a way to grow your monthly giving program. You can suggest users consider a recurring gift on your donation page or create an email strategy to turn Giving Tuesday donors into monthly donors at the end of the year.
Leverage Your Current Pool of Donors
Don't forget about engaging the people who already support you! Begin sending emails and notifications to your segmented donors ahead of time to get them excited for Giving Tuesday.
Give them exclusive access and all the information they need to help support your campaign. You can offer an inside look into your organization, have a virtual pep rally, and provide easy ways to share your campaign on social media, like with a PR kit.
Segmentation will allow you to speak to your different donors in different ways:
- Email last year’s Giving Tuesday donors who haven’t given since and let them know the difference they have made.
- Email lapsed one year and two years and share your fantastic Giving Tuesday story.
- Ask your monthly donors to give a special additional gift, or to increase their monthly amount.
Bonus points if you can provide tangible examples of how their contribution will make a difference. You can do this by dollar amount (e.g. $25 will provide school supplies for 5 children) or how your fundraising goal will make a difference within your nonprofit.
Engage Your Board and Partners
You have so many people to help with your Giving Tuesday Campaigns, not just your board and staff. Your closest partners and board members are also full of people with the necessary knowledge, skills and a passion for your work.
Remember to ask them for advice, leverage their connections, and create a committee dedicated to Giving Tuesday if you have the time. This can focus your board on how they can support you and spread awareness around your campaign. You could organize a thank-a-thon with your board members and spin Giving Tuesday around - with your organization giving thanks to your supporters.
ook outside your organization and reach out to partners and businesses that have supported you in the past. Utilize your existing relationships, especially those with a high-profile brand or outreach in the community or online. A matching gift has proven successful to motivate donors . Secure a large matching gift, then promote it for 24 hours on Giving Tuesday. The timeliness of the matching gift can drive action!
Even if people are unable to donate, amplifying your message can be just as valuable.
Create and Optimize Your Donation Forms
The donation page is the last step in your process and arguably the most important! It is the final step in convincing your new supporter to donate.
So many new and excited donors are going to be rushing to your website. You have to capitalize on that energy. Timing is everything, and a hard-to-find donate button, long-form or non-functional page is going to ruin the experience for them and cost you their donation.
It's important to have your form optimized well before Giving Tuesday to perform tests to ensure your page is functional and easy to follow. Consider creating a specific donation page just for Giving Tuesday, reflecting your messaging and calls to action. That will also allow you to clearly track how the campaign is performing online for accurate reporting. If you have Donor Driven, you can easily create custom donation pages from our templates, send them out through email and track and measure how your campaign is performing - all in one integrated solution.
Conclusion
The best way to have a successful Giving Tuesday campaign is to think ahead and keep your communication consistent and frequent. Try to connect with your supporters through multiple channels like email, social media, print and maybe even follow up with a phone call!
However you decide to plan your campaign, you will need a solid CRM and online tool to back you up. Donor Driven is a robust fundraising management tool that can help you unlock the true power of your donor data. Reach out to us to learn how we can help make your Giving Tuesday the best one yet!
