We recently talked about what you could do for Giving Season if you’re a brand-new charity staring down your first fall fundraising push.
If you’ve been at it a while though, you likely have a Giving Season game plan. You know the telltale feeling of dread mixed with excitement that starts to creep up on you at the end of summer holidays. You have a few tried-and-true tactics to engage your donors and share your stories. Maybe you already have an idea for #GivingTuesday or you’ve secured a matching gift for your holiday campaign.
That doesn’t mean the season isn’t still overwhelming. For most charities, it’s the most wonderful and most exhausting time of year.
For this post, we wondered: how can we help our charities shake things up and bring back some of the magic of this time of year? Is there any way to make Giving Season not just obligatory but fun?
So here are our six unexpected questions to ask yourself as you plan for Giving Season. Let us know what happens when you give them a try!
What could you accomplish next year if you met all your campaign goals?
On the surface, this question doesn’t seem unexpected at all. In many ways, it’s at the heart of every ask you make to donors.
Yet sometimes we take the answer to that question for granted. We may even give donors the impression that we make goals just for the sake of meeting them. But if you assume your constituents will know exactly what meeting your goals will accomplish, you might not actually be articulating to them what their gift really means – for you or for the people you serve.
Take some time to pinpoint specific answers to the big question. Ask yourself, what would the effect be on your organization’s capacity if you met all your goals? What impact could your success have on the average member of your community? Go beyond platitudes like “make a difference” or “change the world.” When you get specific, you get inspirational: and that inspiration is what donors will respond to most.
Is everyone on board?
Of course your incredible team has been talking about this year’s Giving Season since the second week of last January. But have you already engaged all the other people who can help make your efforts a success – from your volunteers, to your board, your program staff, and your donors themselves?
If you can get your whole community involved before you (and everyone else) launches their campaigns, you can increase your engagement. This could look like:
- Securing five donors to commit to sharing your first #GivingTuesday tweet
- Making sure supporters know your gala date in the summer so it’s already on the calendar when the invitation comes
- Arming your dedicated volunteers with templated messaging so they can easily share your story while also feeling like a valuable part of the team
- Asking your board to set aside a morning for thank you calls
How can you promote charities in general?
One of the cool things to come out of the Giving Tuesday movement is its collective vision. It’s about individual charities, of course – but it’s also about sharing the joy of giving more broadly and celebrating the important work charities and nonprofits do in society. Here are some ideas to help promote the sector as a whole and nurture a broader philanthropic vision in your donors:
- Consider doing an email or social series that busts common myths about charities
- Highlight partner organizations whose work dovetails with yours to show how different charities can collaborate to serve others
- Give people a “behind the scenes” look at your work so they understand the mechanics of how you work
What’s one wild idea could you try?
If you already know what works for your donors at Giving Season, keep at it! There are too many decisions charities have to make to reinvent the wheel every year.
At the same time, when you stick to the same formula year after year, you run the risk of becoming rote. You may also be missing out on new ways to engage donors and tell your story that could be just as – or more – effective with your community.
Consider building in one “let’s just see what happens” component to the season. Elicit your team’s most creative ideas, and choose one to add to the routine. For example, I once knew a fundraiser who wrote a personalized short story, made up of exactly one word for every dollar that a donor gave (a $90 gift = a 90-word story) as an incentive for people to give. Have an experiment mentality: if it works, great! If it doesn’t, that’s also fine – at least you tried something new!
By leaving a little room for low-pressure ideas, you can generate creativity that could eventually inspire more effective – or just plain fun – ways of engaging with your donors.
Did you schedule some rest?
Giving season is full: there are deadlines to meet, social media campaigns that don’t keep office hours, and a lot of behind-the-scenes admin. There are galas and pancake breakfasts and phone calls that can try the capacity of even the most social of butterflies.
Make sure to consider how you can schedule in some mandated rest for your team members. Could you make workdays start an hour later the two weeks surrounding Christmas? Mandate that meetings can only happen on Tuesday and Wednesdays throughout Giving Season? What about giving staff a paid five-day weekend in January (when flights are cheap!)?
Whatever you do, give your team – and yourself – a break. You’ve earned it!
Do you have your admin in order?
You saw this one coming, right? Giving Season is inextricably linked to tax receipts, record keeping, board governance and more. Having a clean house can give you more time and energy to focus on the key work of Giving Season – inspiring your community to join in your mission – while also making the admin work that comes alongside fundraising pushes a breeze.
Let us know if you need any help getting your compliance in order this Giving Season!
