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Top 5 Giving Tuesday Ideas to Boost Your Fundraising Efforts

giving tuesday ideas

As Giving Tuesday approaches, it’s important to have a game plan. This will help you procure as many major gifts as possible and connect with donors on a deeper level. So, by identifying what to do on Giving Tuesday, you’ll be able to fundraise with ease. Let’s explore the top 5  Giving Tuesday ideas to make your fundraiser a success. And, be sure to get the ultimate Giving Tuesday checklist at the end of the article to ensure that you’re on track to meet your fundraising goals now, and at the end of the year.

1. Establish a Specific Giving Tuesday Fundraising Need

One Giving Tuesday idea is to focus your fundraising efforts on a specific need. A common mistake that organizations fall into is using Giving Tuesday to fundraise in general, instead of focusing their efforts on a specific goal.

By not articulating what your fundraiser will help create, specifically, donors aren’t able to gauge where and how they’ll be able to create change. Creating a specific project to funnel contributions into, allows donors to visualize the end result and feel more involved in the process.

2. Create an Attainable Fundraising Goal for Giving Tuesday

Of all Giving Tuesday ideas, it is important to create a monetary goal that is feasible and attainable.  Organizations can fall into the trap of setting fundraising goals that are beyond their reach. During Giving Tuesday, it’s important that your organization set up one that is reasonable. If the set goal is too high, donors are unable to contextualize their gift and decide if their actions will actually help create change. This could dissuade potential donors from contributing all they can to your goal.

By creating a goal that you’re bound to reach, or even surpass, that will attract new donors to your cause. They’ll feel like they’re making a difference with their contributions knowing that you’ve been able to achieve a goal collectively. The donor needs to be the hero of your giving story, and the best way to do that is to provide them with gratification– they took steps in the right direction and now their actions have resulted in a win that exists beyond the goal.

3. Make Sure Your Website is Compatible with Mobile Devices

One Giving Tuesday idea that most organizations neglect is creating webpages that are compatible on other devices, especially mobile. The donation space is becoming increasingly digitized as time goes on. In order to accommodate your donors, it’s imperative that your website is compatible with various screens.

Mobile giving is becoming more and more popular. About 25% of donors complete their donations on mobile devices. And about 17% of Giving Tuesday donations in 2018 came through smartphones. Mobile giving enables your existing and prospective donors to give from anywhere at any time. By making sure your website is responsive or compatible, you can procure more and more donations.

4. Screen and Model Your Existing Donor Base

More often than not, organizations request donations from everyone and then determine which donors have the ability to give more. But, what if you were to cut out the guesswork on who would be most likely to give, and you could speak to them directly? This all starts with screening and modeling.

So, it’s a good idea to screen and model your donors for Giving Tuesday. By conducting a wealth screening, you can see which donors have the greatest propensity and capacity to give. Once you’ve compiled this information, you can implement focused and effective engagement techniques. Not only are you reaching donors who are likely to give during Giving Tuesday, but now you’re also communicating with people who are willing to give again and again.

Once you’ve screened all the donors in your database, you can use WealthEngine’s modeling solution to find donors just like your best. By modeling your best donors, you are able to generate a core donor persona. You can identify overlaps in demographic data, preferences, and giving history among donors who are already in your database. This will give you an impression of what your ideal donors look like. That is to say, you’ll get a sense of what their traits are and how they communicate. This impression will help you find people like those.

5. Create and Send Personalized Messages

When it comes to receipts, emails or thank-yous, a good Giving Tuesday idea is to personalize and tailor your outreach. Generating hyper-personalized Giving Tuesday emails and thank you letters allow you to personally name and acknowledge your donors. This shows them, not only are you invested in your goal, but you are also invested in them and the change they’re committed to making. This is the first step in actively cultivating and nurturing relationships with your existing and prospective donors.

Focusing on an individual’s contributions allows you to highlight how their personal interests, values, or actions help incite great change. Each of them, individually, is at the core of the positive impact you want to make. Not only will this help you during Giving Tuesday, but it’ll also help you create a loyal donor base that’s likely to give to your organization in the future.

Download Your Ultimate Giving Tuesday Checklist

These Giving Tuesday ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, there are many other items to mark off your checklist. Wondering where to start? Download our ultimate Giving Tuesday checklist here. See what to do and how best to strengthen your fundraising ventures as your year comes to a close.

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How to Spot Major Gift Opportunities In Your Day of Giving Donor List

Day of Giving

Giving Day or Day of Giving is being adopted by more universities across the US every year. Day of Giving collections are also increasing. Cornell, for example, saw double the number of donors in one year. They’ve also raised over $7M in a single year, surpassing all their previous Giving Day records.

With each university starting their own version of this day, the importance of this day cannot be ignored. Let’s start with the basics and finish by analyzing how you can find Major Gift opportunities in your Day of Giving donor list.

What is Day of Giving?

Day of Giving is a specific 24-hour window in which a university accepts gifts from anyone, anywhere in the world. Gifts are given online, which means that alumni and other members of the institution’s community can lend support from anywhere.

Giving Days are becoming increasingly popular due to their viral and convenient nature.  Some universities leverage #GivingTuesday to run their Day of Giving campaigns. Yet, others have their own designated Giving Days.

These events also have an element of gamification. Each higher education institution sets up several giving challenges or goals that donors can reach. Accomplishing these goals gains them acknowledgment and recognition among the community.

For instance, the University of Chicago has various viral opportunities. They recognize their first donor, their first international donor, etc. They even have a Nobel Prize Challenge—asking donors to donate $91 to represent the number of Nobel Laureates who are part of their alumni diaspora.

Giving Day Success

Many WealthEngine clients have seen incredible success during their respective events. For instance, Boston University raised  $3.5M from 11,800 donors. Donors included alumni and other members of the BU community who donated from 50 different countries.

The time-sensitivity of these events creates a sense of urgency among donors. The viral/social conversations around them build a sense of community. Moreover, the ability to make donations online, especially to specific causes, makes it more convenient to donate.

Vanderbilt University recently raised $9.4M from less than 8500 donors. This shows that Day of Giving events are gaining traction and giving amounts are also increasing each year.

Lifetime Value of Giving Day Donors

Donor Lifetime Value is an estimate of how much you can expect a particular donor to contribute to your organization over their lifetime.

There are many factors that go into calculating what this number should be. Not only should you take into account a donor’s wealth indicators but you should also look at their propensity to give to your cause.

Giving Day donors are a unique set. They may differ from your other donors by being more spontaneous with their gifts. They may also donate sporadically over time. Furthermore, these events attract donors who may not come in through the typical fundraising pipeline.

The inconsistency or diversity of donors should not stop you from assessing their lifetime value. With the right engagement techniques, Giving Day donors can be put on the path to long-term membership. Click to learn more about calculating Donor Lifetime Value.

Hidden Major Gift Opportunity

When new donors come in through your Giving Day channel, use the opportunity to learn more about them. Wealth Screening can help you learn more about their wealth, lifestyle, interests, and affinities. Thus, screening can provide a 360-degree view of your Day of Giving donor list.

More importantly, screening your list can uncover gems you didn’t know you had. For instance, a major university that is a WealthEngine client found out that one of their low-level donors was capable of giving a Major Gift. Through screening, the university was able to determine the right ask. As a result, they have now received $5M from this donor.

In fact, Washinton & Lee University’s advancement team has said, “Our first six months of peer screening resulted in the identification of 284 completely new prospects with validated gift capacity ratings of over 100,000. We were also able to confirm and/or upgrade known prospects at equally high levels.”

Further, WealthEngine clients receive WE Insights, a free service that showcases what makes their donors unique.

average donor profile

 

Take Screening Data to the Next Level Through Modeling

Screening Data and WE Insights give you a more holistic picture of your Giving Day donors. However, you could take these insights to the next level through modeling.

A model is a specific formula created for your institution. This formula helps answer a particular question. Click to learn more about creating a model.

Modeling can identify Major Gift opportunities in your Giving Day list in three simple steps:

Step 1: Model your Past Major Gift Donors

Create a model to understand your existing Major Gift donors. The model will scan your database and divide it into 10 equal segments ranked by likelihood of Major Gift giving. You can use the top 10% or 20% of your donor base as the ideal sample.

This ideal group will have a set of common traits among them.

Step 2: Run Your Giving Day Donor List against the Major Gift model

Doing this will score each Day of Giving donor against your Major Gift formula. This will help you identify donors who resemble your Major Gift donors. Similar traits are a predictor of similar behavior.

Step 3: Prioritize Major Gift Donors from your Giving Day List

Those Giving Day donors with high match scores to your existing major gift donors should become a top priority. This means that these Giving Day donors have both the capacity and the propensity to give Major Gifts. You can then rank them based on their score and hand them off to your Major Gifts Officers for cultivation.

Get a Free “Test File” analysis of a segment of your Giving Day donors

Interested in learning more about the Major Gift potential in your Giving Day donor list? WealthEngine can provide a free test file analysis to show you what your results could look like.

WE Screen can add 50+ data points to your sample list of donors so you can understand their gift capacity range and propensity to give. Furthermore, WE Screen can add actionable information on lifestyle, demographics, interests, and affinities.  Screening data will be accompanied by a sample WE Insights report that will show you what makes your Giving Day donors respond to asks.

Simply fill out the form on the right and a WealthEngine rep will contact you about your free test file and WE Insights report.

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6 Steps to Maximize Your New Donors After #GivingTuesday

#givingtuesday

#GivingTuesday is finally here! Not only is #GivingTuesday important for fundraising, but it’s also important for the collection of rich data. While you and your team have put a lot of work into #GivingTuesday, it is important to note that the real work begins the day after!

With the right plan, this data can really set yourself up for continued success after #GivingTuesday. If you’re wondering where to start, let’s explore the steps you can take to put your plan into action!

Step 1: Understand your #GivingTuesday Donors

#GivingTuesday has generated a lot of momentum towards your year-end fundraising goals and it is crucial to keep the momentum going. The data you have collected on this day can set you up for successful year-end fundraising as well as a fundraising plan for next year. This is especially true when combined with the right technology. Once you have promptly sent out thank you notes and receipts to #GivingTuesday donors, it is important to understand and know who has contributed to your campaign.

Find out what makes them tick and understand them in a holistic way that goes beyond wealth to include their interests, lifestyle, passions, and affinities.

Step 2: Personalize Every Touch

Understanding your donors enables you to speak to them in a way that resonates. Every touch can ensure that their lifetime value (LTV) goes up and that retention gets strengthened.

Personalization goes beyond using their first name in emails. Your tone, language, subject matter, and images can be customized to increase personalization. Screening your #GivingTuesday donors gives you rich information about them. A solution like WE Analyze can then be used to find patterns within a set of donors and create effective segments that improve personalization.

Step 3: Create your own Branded “Giving” Day

Now,  there are many new holidays or giving days- Christmas in July is now a thing! Similarly, you can find a theme that resonates with your donors’ interests and use these insights to create a compelling event.

While you may not have the scale and publicity of #GivingTuesday, you can still benefit from standing out with your own messaging at a time of the year when things are quieter. Moreover, branding this day can generate credibility for your organization in the long run.

Step 4: Learn What Makes your #GivingTuesday Donors Different

#GivingTuesday is a great gateway to attract new donors to your cause. The global and viral nature of this day garners the attention of a wider range of people. You have an opportunity to really study these prospects and understand what makes them different from those who give major gifts or give to your annual fund.

Use wealth and lifestyle data for predictive modeling and prospecting to support your year-round fundraising efforts. Predictive prospecting can help you identify more donors like these who you may have missed through your regular communications through the year.

Step 5: Move Beyond Annual Screening

When it comes to fundraising, you’re really competing for wallet share more than anything else. Restricting yourself to annual screenings, or worse, working with data that is a few years old, can be counterproductive.

Real estate and stock market values change constantly resulting in net worth changes.  Life stage changes can occur changing the demands on a donor’s wallet. Regular screenings can give you up to date information and strengthen your communication.

In fact, you can access data in real time through API. This relevant and actionable data can easily integrate with your existing DMS which means that you can receive a current wealth and giving propensity score as soon as someone engages with your platform. Outreach can be quick and cultivation can begin immediately following their interaction with your platform.

Step 6: Build Stickiness Using Insight on Affinity Groups

As we noted earlier, you can leverage your #GivingTuesday data to create segments of like-minded donors. These groups can receive messages and event invitations tailored to their interests and affinities. Same goes for social media.  You can create subgroups for each segment to ensure that the group only receives relevant information from your organization.

A customized message is more likely to resonate and less likely to be as disruptive.

With these steps, you can make effective use of #GivingTuesday data to keep the momentum going for your ongoing fundraising efforts. Once you’ve gathered this data, screening and segmenting allow you to really understand your donors. Understanding them enables you to communicate personalized messages that engage them in ways that are more accessible and relatable. Personalization can be supported by a branded “giving” day and other events that increase stickiness or continued support.

Contact us to learn more about screening, predictive prospecting and integrating real-time data into your existing Donor Management Systems.

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5 Reasons To Get Your Nonprofit Prepared For #GivingTuesday

If you are a fundraiser, it’s definitely no surprise to you that the time for year-end fundraising is right around the corner. Even if you are close to hitting annual targets, #GivingTuesday is a huge opportunity to boost your efforts and help you exceed your goals.

With #GivingTuesday fast approaching, you can enhance your year-end fundraising by reminding your donors and prospects to participate? But, that begs the question: is #GivingTuesday appropriate for every nonprofit?

For  most nonprofits, if your year-end fundraising could use a boost, then a #GivingTuesday campaign can provide your nonprofit with the lift it needs. So, what are the benefits of participating in #GivingTuesday? There are five primary advantages of involving your nonprofit in #GivingTuesday:

1. Global Presence and Relevance

#GivingTuesday has gone beyond what is referred to as #activism. Everyone from Bill Gates to Reese Witherspoon engages in #GivingTuesday and encourage their followers to give on this day.

The movement has also found a global following through social media. This provides nonprofits with the potential to gain exposure and donors worldwide.

2. Seasonality and Generosity

Overtime, the holiday season has become more and more commercialized. While consumers spend significantly during this time of year, there is also a growing sentiment of generosity among many. #GivingTuesday is strategically placed after Thanksgiving when families have come together, felt grateful for what they have, and realized that not everyone is afforded the same lifestyle and experiences.

At a time like this, when sentiments are high, even small prompts or reminders to make a difference can create a significant impact.

3. Growing Public Conscience and Purpose

It’s true that the holidays are a time of giving and generosity. However, data has also shown that high net-worth individuals, especially millennials and younger generations, are driven by meaning and purpose. They believe in associating with brands that are responsible, and organizations that care about communities and causes.

With this outlook, HNWIs are bound to be aware of #GivingTuesday and its impact. Your nonprofit could leverage their sentiments by providing them with a convenient platform to get involved. Think of it this way, if you are not involved in #GivingTuesday, you may be losing out on individuals who are not only supporters of your cause but who may be likely to donate.

4. Significant and Growing Impact

Besides the sentimental significance of #GivingTuesday, there is no ignoring the financial significance. Last year on #GivingTuesday, nonprofits raised nearly $274 Million across the country. That was a 50% increase compared to 2016.

This year, the day has even greater potential to make a difference to organizations like your nonprofit and the communities and causes you represent.

5. Gateway for New Donors

One doesn’t have to be the ‘philanthropic’ type to participate in #GivingTuesday. The social media-powered movement has been getting the attention of people across the world whether they are usually involved with giving to causes or not.

A #GivingTuesday campaign is a great way for your nonprofit to reach not only new donors but also different types of donors who you wouldn’t normally reach through capital campaigns or  major gift programs. #GivingTuesday is about making small contributions as much as it is about making major gifts. You  have the ability to reach a wider range of prospects who can become recurring donors or long-term supporters of your organization through continued engagement.

We hope you find that these reasons resonate with your organization. There is a compelling case for creating a #GivingTuesday campaign whether it is a month-long omnichannel undertaking or a simple email to remind donors and prospects about this day.

Now that you know whys behind this event, join us for our Webinar on Thursday, November 15 from 1-2 PM ET to learn how you can plan #GivingTuesday promotions. 

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Giving Tuesday Tips: Thinking outside the box

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Giving Tuesday. Colorado Gives Day. One Island Giving Day.  Arizona Gives Day. New York Gives Day. Illinois Day of Giving. Giving to the Max Day. All – and there are many more —  are founded with a single goal of bringing awareness to the importance of philanthropy and giving back to the local community.

The Giving Tuesday idea is simple, piggybacking on the post-Thanksgiving sales cycle of “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”. The other state-wide giving days simply pick a date – ranging from sometime in October to early December – and are generally championed by a community foundation which provides an online portal and often, an incentive fund.

So what can you do to make the most of this? After all, many nonprofits rely on year-end giving for a large portion of their philanthropic budget. 

Some simple ideas:

  1.  Plan ahead. It’s just about impossible to mount a successful giving day effort without beginning to plan as early as spring or early summer. 
  2. Pick a financial goal. Do you want to raise $10,000 or $50,000? More?? Make sure the goal is feasible and not pulled out of thin air.
  3. Create a communications plan using all possible channels: your newsletter, social media, your website, your blog and email blasts.
  4. Do you have an online giving portal on your website? It’s essential.
  5. Segment your donors and prospects by their P2G score (lower is better) and giving history.
  6. Make it personal. Engage your board and other key volunteers to send the message to their friends and colleagues.
  7. Plan a live event and on the day, tweet out your results as they come in. Make sure it’s fun and festive. If you can get one of your corporate donors to help underwrite it or if you can secure donations of food and drinks, so much the better.
  8. Be thankful. Show your gratitude using all your communication channels and share your results. Consider a simple You Tube-type video communicating the thanks of your team and those you serve.
  9. Steward your donors, new and old. Be sure to get all gift acknowledgement forms out within 48 hours. Set aside an entire day to do so and make it a team effort.

For more tips, as well as some planning guides, visit your sponsoring community foundation’s website, https://www.givingtuesday.org/organizations#block–the-complete-toolkit , www.razoo.com/givingdays and http://givingdayplaybook.org/planning — a service of the Knight Foundation

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WE Gave Back for Giving Tuesday

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This past #GivingTuesday, WE hosted a food drive in our Bethesda Office for DC-based charity Food and Friends. The office teamed up to gather healthy, non-perishable food in order to help Food and Friends fulfill their mission of providing specialized, nutritious meals, groceries, nutrition counseling and friendship to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses. Take a look at what we were able to do:

Special thanks to the Food and Friends volunteers and staff for being so helpful with our food drive!

What did you do for #GivingTuesday? Comment below and let us know!

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Eight Ways to Get Involved with #GivingTuesday

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It’s hard to believe that #GivingTuesday is just one week away! Entering its fifth year, #GivingTuesday is a social media movement that was begun to remind people of the importance of giving back. Held on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving (as well as Black Friday and Cyber Monday), #GivingTuesday is about compassion, volunteering, donating, and being generous in our communities. 

This year, #WEGivesBack by collecting donations for the Food and Friends charity. If your organization is looking for small ways to get involved with #GivingTuesday, here are ways that you can do right now to get started:

  1. Like #GivingTuesday on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram in order to gain inspiration for your own #GivingTuesday campaign. Retweet, like, or share their content so your followers are aware of ways they can get involved.
     
  2. Create your own #GivingTuesday themed content, such as blog posts or short videos, to raise awareness for your cause. Post it on your own social media and use the #GivingTuesday hashtag to help further your cause and give your donors a reason to give back.
     
  3. Start a Facebook Fundraiser in order to share your story and raise funds for the cause you care about.
     
  4. Share your #MyGivingStory through #GivingTuesday’s Facebook page by December 31 in order to win up to $10,000 for your favorite nonprofit organization! Just tell the story of a time that you supported a nonprofit in a way that was meaningful to you.
     
  5. Take an #UNSelfie to share how you are giving back or why you choose to give this year – share it on social media with the #UNselfie hashtag to encourage your followers to give.
     
  6. Develop a campaign around #GivingTuesday. It may be small this year, but start now and build momentum for future years. Download the #GivingTuesday Social Media Toolkit to get started on showing your support for the movement
     
  7. #GivingTuesday isn’t just about donating money – encourage your followers to donate their time by volunteering! And don’t forget your past and present volunteers – use the #GivingTuesday hashtag to show your appreciation for them.
     
  8. Track, measure and record all of your activities and results, so you can grow and expand your #GivingTuesday impact next year.

If you need a little extra help getting inspiration for your #GivingTuesday campaign, check out our blog post Three #GivingTuesday Campaigns That Will Inspire You This Year. Happy giving!