Giving Days: Make Them Work for Your Fundraising Plan

Today a great group of 30 fundraisers from all over our area gathered to share ideas about Colorado Gives Day at a Front Range Source workshop.

Colorado Gives Day is quite the phenomenon here. Started in 2010, it raised over $15 million last December and has engaged over 1,000 charities around the state with its giving profiles, gift processing, and fundraising tools.

It’s exciting. There is a ton of energy around this day. Events are planned, postcards are sent, and online fundraising campaigns are born.

But as great as this day is, we have to remember that there is something else going on in December. It’s the giving season. And for generations people have given this time of year to charities. CO Gives Day, #Giving Tuesday, and any other giving day can’t replace that tradition.

So, the trick is: how do use the great energy from giving days to move your own fundraising goals ahead?

Here’s our thinking:

1. Have an overall strategy: What are you trying to accomplish this year? Is your focus on building retention? Getting new donors? Motivating volunteer fundraisers? What are your objectives?
2. Create a year-end appeal that fits into that strategy: Create your own over-arching campaign that has a theme and key messages that are tailored for your target audiences and objectives.
3. See how your giving day fits into that overall strategy: So, the giving day isn’t the strategy, it’s one channel to help you accomplish your goals. If your focus is on getting new donors, how can you design a strategy for CO Gives Day that reaches a new audience?
4. Use what you already have in place: If you have an e-newsletter or an online e-blast system, send out news about the giving day, but don’t make it all you send out. It’s not the only option you give donors, but it’s one way they have to give. If you have volunteers that want to organize a house party or an event, see if aligns with the giving day objectives and see if it works to combine the two.
5. Create better thank yous: Use the urgency and the competition of giving days to improve your acknowledgement and welcome systems. You’ll want to report back immediately to donors about the amount of money that was raised on that day and what impact those funds will have on the world. And for new donors – it’s key and crucial that you welcome them specifically into the organization. They aren’t just CO Gives Day donors – they are donors to your great cause. Make them feel a part of it.
6. Know your data: Unfortunately, we don’t really know yet whether CO Gives Day is moving the needle in terms of more dollars being raised in Colorado or whether it is just concentrating the money into one day. We also don’t know yet whether it is engaging more new donors than nonprofits were acquiring without CO Gives Day. But, regardless, your nonprofit should know its own fundraising statistics. Keep track of your efforts and determine whether you met your objectives. Did the giving day actually improve your year-end results?

How does your fundraising plan take advantage of the momentum of giving days? Are you making sure that it fits into your overall strategy? We’d love to hear your thoughts!