Everyone wants to be on a winning team—and the team effort of Giving Day, where donors contribute to a collective impact beyond a single gift, is no exception!
This one day can generate a lot of excitement around your organization, and provide momentum for successful fundraising now, and in the future. So, we’ve put together a winning game plan for your Giving Day, to ensure you are prepared to harness that passion and spirit all day long.
Whether your organization executes a stand-alone Giving Day or huddles for a team effort on Giving Tuesday, you will want to follow these ten do’s and don’ts for a successful day that’ll take you well into the off-season.
Do’s
Partner early, and often, with your team. Planning should start at least 4-6 months in advance. You will want to involve key partners in your organization, including donor relations, annual giving, gift processing, records/data, and for education institutions, alumni engagement. Consider having several planning meetings and even a mock Giving Day so everyone feels confident in their roles.
Pre-build and draft as many communication and recognition materials as possible before the actual day. This should include social media posts, video content, day-of video scripts, email gift confirmations/e-receipts, post-giving day updates, various donor touches, and acknowledgment templates. Utilize these communications to bring your Giving Day to life with spirited videos and photos. Messages and imagery of the home team (your organization) and your beneficiaries allows donors to feel connected—even if they are miles away.
Solicit your board members and major gift donors for challenge gifts. Challenge Gifts generate competition between donors at all levels, and are a wonderful way to engage some of your top donors and volunteers. Make sure you appropriately plan for custom stewardship for these donors throughout the process, including keeping them informed with the progress of their challenge throughout the actual day.
Think about opportunities for participation beyond the gift. Create buzz around the event by inviting people to engage with your organization as Giving Day ambassadors. These team players can extend your reach and generate additional enthusiasm around the day, even for those who cannot give monetarily. Consider creating a volunteer toolkit with tips, social media posts, templates, and GIFs they can leverage with their personal networks via social media, email, and text messages throughout the day.
Strategically plan for priority donor segments. Donors feel more connected to your organization when they are seen and heard. You should determine the most important behavior-based donor segments to prioritize and personalize to achieve your Giving Day goals. Consider variable communication for the following groups:
First-time donors
Donors who made their first gift on Giving Day last year
Faculty and/or staff donors
Student donors (if you work at a school)
Milestone donors
VIP donors
Don’ts
Ignore the online giving experience. You must optimize the giving form and ensure it is as frictionless as possible. Limit the giving experience to two clicks and have the donor enter as minimal information as necessary to make a gift—they shouldn’t have to spend more than 30 seconds making their contribution. Also, make sure your site is mobile-friendly, and don’t forget to test it before it goes live!
Set goals solely around your total fundraising amount. Instead, make it fun and include challenges and goals for the number of first-time donors, the total number of gifts to a certain college, a 50-state challenge, or even the number of donors from a particular class year.
Forget to prioritize metrics to gauge your efforts. Is your primary motivation for the day to recruit new donors? Reactivate lapsed donors? Retain existing donors? Or all the above? You will want to keep these segments in mind as you plan for reporting to appropriately track these donors on the day of the event, and beyond. Tracking the success of your gift acquisition and stewardship efforts is essential to measuring the day’s success, and in order to share your ROI with leadership.
Forget to foster an attitude of gratitude and steward your volunteers, campus communicators, and other internal partners. Your Giving Day would not be possible without their partnership, and they deserve recognition for their efforts.
Solicit donors again before executing an appropriate stewardship plan. Ideally, you should share your appreciation for a donor’s generosity seven times before they are solicited again. Design and execute a behavioral-based stewardship plan specifically for your Giving Day donors. The plan should include various touches on the day of, shortly following your event, as well as throughout the year. And, remember, no thasking!
Consider the following stewardship timeline and touches for Giving Day success:
Immediate gift confirmation page
Gift receipt
Day of gift video/email thank you
Next-day video summary of event results
4-6 weeks after the event postcard with gift-specific details
3-month text or email touch with overall Giving Day stats
6-month touch with gift-specific impact
9-month save-the-date
Would you like some extra help with the Xs and Os pulling all of this together?
Check out our Giving Day Stewardship in a Box. This great tool provides you with a playbook, complete with sample text and suggested timelines, for connecting Giving Day donors with their generosity, and deepening ties to your organization so they always root for your team!
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