eguide Top Essentials for a Winning #GivingTuesday Nine essentials to help you plan and launch your 2015 campaign WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO
About this Mini-Guide Getting your nonprofit ready for an stellar GivingTuesday means applying all the best practices and lessons you learned throughout the year. Think about who your donors are, what they respond to, how they came to your organization, and what s most important to them. #GivingTuesday builds on all of that and kicks-off your year-end campaign. With that in mind, what does it take to get great results from #GivingTuesday? Let s take a look at the nine key components for making your #GivingTuesday the best it can be. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 2
#1: The Big Picture #GivingTuesday is not meant to be an isolated event. We like to think of it as: The kick-off for year-end giving. Connected to your other efforts. An opportunity to test new methods and messages. A way to rally your community in an interactive giving experience. An awesome #GivingTuesday campaign connects with everything else you re doing. It builds on the momentum you already have and propels your fundraising through the end of December. It helps if you think about your overall year-end giving plan and then put #GivingTuesday into that context. It s a great way to foster engagement and inspire additional giving in December. #2: A Passionate Leader #GivingTuesday is an exciting community event. It rallies your supporters, your staff, and all the people you want to be on your team. To be successful, you need a passionate leader, someone in your community or staff who will be the champion for your organization. That person will be the go-to for: Developing campaign ideas. Making sure those ideas get executed properly. Answering questions about #GivingTuesday. Your #GivingTuesday leader sets the tone for your campaign, has passion for your mission, and is excited about sharing your message during the event. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 3
#3: Specificity Think about a specific program or specific need for your organization. Use that as a rallying point for your donors and community. We ve found that organizations that focus on something specific raise more funds on #GivingTuesday than those that don t. Specificity gives people who ve already donated to your organization an opportunity to think, I can give multiple times. It helps you focus your campaign and gives donors clarity on what exactly their funds are supporting. Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue s 2014 #GivingTuesday campaign told the stories of 11 dogs they rescued from Georgia. They also won our Staff Pick for Best Campaign. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 4
#4: Regular Updates Let folks know early on that #GivingTuesday is coming and how they can be involved. Invite your core supporters and ultra-passionate fans to help with your #GivingTuesday planning. Because #GivingTuesday is just 24 hours, you have to build momentum in advance. Plan your communication timeline. Rely on your editorial calendar, which basically says what you re going to communicate and when. Segment your audience. Tweak some of your core #GivingTuesday messaging to encourage different segments of your audience to give particular amounts or for a particular reason. Turn on the surround sound. It often takes multiple messages before someone is motivated to act. Communicate a consistent message in several channels: email, Facebook, a postcard in the mail, or a piece in your local newspaper. Deliver constant reminders that your organization is doing something very exciting on #GivingTuesday. Throughout the day, Our Little Roses gave multiple updates to their Facebook fans encouraging them to give by leveraging matching funds and a emphasizing a sense of urgency. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 5
#5: Shareable Content Make it easy for your social ambassadors to spread your #GivingTuesday message far and wide. These include staff, volunteers, beneficiaries of your work, and the passionate folks in your community. Prepare #GivingTuesday materials in advance that people can quickly grab and share: Prewritten emails Compelling images Customizable graphics Social media kit Invitation templates Fundraising tool kits Short videos Collective Action for Safe Spaces provided lots of rich content that got their supporters engaged and excited about their #GivingTuesday campaign. (And did it with a staff of one!) WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 6
#6: A Branded Campaign Make the idea of #GivingTuesday relevant to your cause, community, and supporters. Use your branding, images, and taglines to make your nonprofit stand out from the rest. You re essentially creating your own #GivingTuesday brand, which should reflect your overall brand. This gives supporters a sense of familiarity and helps them identify you. It also helps your campaign stay consistent and relevant. Donors are more likely to stop and think, Hey, this is that great organization I love so much, and they ll be more motivated to act. Make #GivingTuesday locally relevant by incorporating your branding. Local Matters posted unselfies (far right) to show that the community at large supports them. #7: An Activated Community Encourage creative involvement and community spirit on #GivingTuesday. One really fun part of the event is rallying the community at large to help build excitement for your organization. If you re an animal rescue organization, for example, go to a local pet supply store or dog grooming salon and ask, How would you like to get involved and build excitement? Help us spread the word for #GivingTuesday. Start tapping that community spirit early. That swell of support and excitement builds on the idea that many people are coming together to be generous on #GivingTuesday WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 7
#8: Fun and Games Ultimately, #GivingTuesday is fun! Add elements of gamification for a bit of fun competition and a sense of urgency. Some ideas to get you started: Fundraising teams: Engage your donors, staff, or volunteers in healthy competition. You could offer a trophy or paper crowns for the winning team. Specific challenges: This could be simple, like the most dollars raised or most individual donors. Or you might add some goofy, creative twists. Have fun with it! Matching funds: This is critically important for #GivingTuesday. If having just 24 hours to give isn t enough to create urgency, matching funds really drive that point home. Personal fundraisers: People who will fundraise on your behalf and share their personal story help your cause feel more relevant and make your message much specific. Prizes and shout-outs: This doesn t have to be fancy. Simple recognition, like a T-shirt or a shout-out on social media, is important both for the people who are helping run your campaign and for your donors. Everyone appreciates feeling recognized and that they ve made a difference. #9: A Strong Retention Plan Make a plan to thank your #GivingTuesday donors and retain them overtime. Decide how to communicate their gift s impact and who on your team will be responsible for that messaging. This is important 365 days of the year, but it s incredibly important for #GivingTuesday because you want to capitalize on the excitement of this one-day event. A strong retention plan helps ensure that all those new donors you ll acquire on #GivingTuesday will continue to support your organization and keep giving over time. Yoga Seed Collective featured its donors in a collectible playing card format. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 8
The Ultimate #GivingTuesday Checklist The secret to a successful giving day is having a well-documented plan for your team to follow. Use this checklist as a guide for your #GivingTuesday strategy. Make a Plan We have a concrete giving day goal. We have assembled our team and assigned roles. We have a campaign calendar and timeline to organize our efforts. We have a multichannel campaign approach. Our campaign has a unifying theme and represents our organization's brand. Inspire Donors to Give We have a series of communications to excite our donors leading up to #GivingTuesday. We have a set of appeals to send to our supporters on the day of the event. We have well-positioned matching gift incentives. We have a solid case for giving and a strong call to action for all of our appeals. After #GivingTuesday We have a great thank you letter to promptly send to our donors. We have a plan to welcome new donors we acquire on #GivingTuesday. We have prepared a press release and follow up communication to share the results of our giving day with our community. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 9
What is #GivingTuesday? It started with a simple idea: be a counterpoint to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. From a couple hundred nonprofits in 2012 to 10,000+ organizations participating in 2014, #GivingTuesday is now an international day of giving around the globe. Disaster Fundraising in Reverse Think about #GivingTuesday as disaster fundraising in reverse. In a disaster, the tragedy brings people together to rally around those in need by supporting organizations that can make an impact. On #GivingTuesday, the movement rallies people around their desire to do good. It s not an obligation it s an opportunity to be part of something that s big and meaningful and it feels great. The Launch of Year-End Giving #GivingTuesday is the perfect way to launch your year-end giving season and carry the energy and excitement straight through to New Year s. Think of it as a chance to throw an online kickoff party for your year-end fundraising campaign. Opportunities for Engagement Your #GivingTuesday goals can be about more than dollars raised. Consider a goal focused on recurring givers, new donors, volunteers, in-kind gifts, or even social media followers. #GivingTuesday can be a chance to tell fresh stories, attract new or younger supporters, accelerate your social media presence, or diversify your fundraising channels. Join Network for Good and Win Big this December To help nonprofits prepare for the biggest giving day of the year, we re providing free resources to help nonprofits of all sizes launch a winning #GivingTuesday campaign. And Network for Good clients can win big with client-only coaching, matching funds from the Network for Good Generosity Fund, and exposure to new donors. Visit networkforgood.com/givingtuesday or call 888-284-7978 x1 to get started! WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 10
About Network for Good Network for Good powers more digital giving than any other platform. Since 2001, we ve processed over $1 billion for more than 100,000 nonprofits. We are Level 1 Audited PCI Compliant and our Donor Advised Fund is accredited by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, meeting all 20 of its standards for charity accountability. Plus, we re registered in every state for online fundraising. We re a mission-minded organization, like you, and we re passionate about seeing good causes succeed. We also believe in the power of communities to do great things. Our online fundraising solutions come with all of the support and coaching you ve come to expect from Network for Good. We re here to help you connect with donors and create more successful fundraising campaigns. Ready to get even more from your online fundraising campaigns? We ve got you covered. We d love to hear about your fundraising goals and how you re reaching out to donors online. We ll offer suggestions on the tools that are right for your organization and show you some great campaigns for inspiration. To schedule a demo or find out more, contact us today: 888.284.7978, option 1 Or visit us online to reserve a time with one of our fundraising consultants. WWW.NETWORKFORGOOD.COM/NPO 11