I recently put on a webinar on how to prepare for a great #GivingTuesday campaign. This was a joint webinar with DepositAGift, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform.
Together, Dana, the CEO of DepositAGift, and I came up with some great actionable tips for attendees. We had about 200 people show up!
I also made a YouTube video that broke down the MAJOR ways you can prepare for this day of giving. Believe it or not, the actual GivingTuesday organization tweeted it out!
I’m going to be linking to the video below, but I’ll also expand on the tips so that you can make the most of your Giving Tuesday campaign
I’ve put together a new GUIDE that’s packed with science-backed nonprofit fundraising methods, resources, strategies, and killer marketing methods.
You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
1. Prepare by picking one hour of the week!
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the things that you can do leading up to Giving Tuesday. I’d recommend setting aside one day every week that you’ll be working on your campaign for AT LEAST one hour. Work on your campaign every week on this particular day.
Not only will this create a habit, but it will minimize decision fatigue. It’s draining to try to figure out every single week when you’ll be preparing for your upcoming campaign. After a long day or a particularly difficult week, you’re likely to just keep pushing it off. Don’t!
You don’t have to work on your campaign for hours each week, but I would recommend 1 to 2 hours.
2. Re-establish and build connections
If I had to sum up my job in a few sentences, it would be “getting people to take action.” I’m in the influence game. I want to influence the hearts and minds of people around the world to take action in some way.
While you may want to focus on helping an in-need demographic or doing your nonprofit’s work, when you’re leading up to this campaign, you have to put on your marketing hat.
People support others that they know like and trust. It takes time to nurture these emotions, so it’s best to get started today! Rather than treating this entire process like some abstract business process, ask yourself, how would befriend someone?
We’re friends with people we like. This means that in order for people to get to know you and decide whether or not they like you, you have to be willing to put information out there about you or personalize your organization. Hint: Share your stories!
We do things for people we trust. Trust is created over time. The quickest way to create skepticism is to go up to someone and ask them for something without first having contributed to their life in anyway.
You shouldn’t just get a bunch of your donors on an email list and once GivingTuesday rolls around, finally get around to emailing them. You need to nurture the relationship, reach out personally to key individuals, and build trust.
Otherwise, if you don’t work to sustain the relationship, when you do make “the ask,” they might get turned off and feel like you’re just thinking of yourself….which you are!
As we’re leading up to GivingTuesday, work to re-establish, sustain, and build new relationships.
3. Put out more content!
Content marketing is the bread and butter of what I call, “Building relationships at scale.” By sharing stories, interesting links, emotional videos, or helpful articles, you’re engaging your donors on their terms and giving them something THEY want to read, watch, or listen to.
Simply stated, your goal should be to improve or enhance their life in some way. That could mean putting a smile on their face, or educating them so that they make smarter decisions.
If you’re struggling, I’ll link to another article we’ve put together on upping your content game.
Now, you’ll actually have something valuable to share on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks!
Despite the rise of social networks, email is STILL one of the highest converting mediums. Even if you’re sharing a lot on social media and automating it with tools like Buffer and Hootsuite, I highly recommend starting a weekly or bi-weekly email newsletter.
Ultimately, an email newsletter will help focus the traffic and activity for your Giving Tuesday campaign. You’ll be able to get everyone to take the same action at the same time.
I’ve put together a new GUIDE that’s packed with science-backed nonprofit fundraising methods, resources, strategies, and killer marketing methods.
You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
Conclusion
I hope you found these tips to be helpful!! Don’t forget to subscribe to my new youtube channel if you’d like to receive more content like this.
