By Timothy Brandl
It’s hard to believe that #GivingTuesday is only 1 month away!
The end of the year is always a busy time for fundraisers. Be it a push on
#GivingTuesday or extended year-end campaign, the giving season offers plenty of opportunity to attract support for your cause!
Looking for some last minute ideas? Here’s a few things to consider when preparing your year-end online program:
Setting Goals
Planning your year-end starts with meaningful goals. Obviously, the chief objective of most fundraising endeavours is to increase dollars raised -- and not that fundraising shouldn't be your focus -- but the giving season is also about the idea of "giving back" more generally. Your goals therefore may not necessarily be fundraising targets; consider improving other important metrics pertaining to awareness, stewardship and impact, such as:
- New constituents - donors, volunteers and fundraisers
- Number of returning donors
- New followers and subscribers
- Impressions on social media
- Number of clicks and site visits
Multiple Ways to Get Involved
In the spirit of giving, give supporters multiple ways to join forces with your charity and promote the good that you do in the world. While getting involved can be as simple as sending a tweet with a relevant hashtag, sharing a photo on Instagram or posting your message on Facebook, your primary call-to-actions should include:
Your charity's online fundraising system should be flexible in supporting each of these endeavours. With raisin's General Donations & Appeals module, donation options are completely within the control of your organization. A single event microsite can support one-time gifts, tribute donations with eCard capabilities, recurring donations to deepen relationships with dedicated supporters... and even volunteer registration!
Moreover, enabling an opt-in for donors to cover your processing fees empowers donors to further expand their impact. Some research suggests that as many as 95% of donors will choose to cover your costs when presented with this option.
Tailored Content & Quick Setup
What will spark your audience to get involved?
As noted previously in this space,
content matters! Almost
75% of donors said they may stop donating due to content that is too vague, improperly formatted or not personalized to them. These lessons are even further amplified in the context of a condensed single-day campaign or year-end push.
Take the time, then, to tailor campaign content that meets your supporters’ interests. Think about what might be driving them to get involved with your organization and map their journey with messaing that high-quality, personal and consistent. You should be maximizing every touch you have. Increasingly,
visual content is being used as an effective way to communicate with and engage supporters - be it a simple video, infographic and photos demonstrating all of the amazing things that your organization has accomplished over the past year. Donors want to how they are contributing to the world, so show them!
Building custom online fundraising sites with customized content you've created for this impactful time of year takes mere minutes with raisin. Repurpose your assets to populate a complete microsite, write custom thank you messaging and eCards so that when supporters contribute they feel a part of your organization. If you're looking for a truly custom touch from end-to-end, A.K.A. raisin & A.K.A. New Media also offer the "best of both worlds" -- combining award-winning design with raisin's best-in-class fundraising system.
Learn more about how raisin's General Donations & Appeals module can spark your best #GivingTuesday yet by contacting our
Business Development team.