Getting Ready to Get Ready for the Giving

Season

June 27, 2018

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Twitter: @classy | Hashtag: #classyedu

Twitter: @GuideStarUSA

Meet Your Hosts

Megan Davidson

Account Manager,Classy

Arielle Gart

Marketing and Outreach Manager, GuideStar

Today’s Agenda:

● Data dive: Insights into the 2017 giving season

● How to create a detailed planning calendar

● How to develop a strong promotional strategy

● Why donor segmentation is key

● Why Giving Tuesday is an opportunity you can’t miss

Data Dive: Insights Into the 2017 Giving Season

Data Dive: Insights Into the 2017 Giving Season

Question:When do you plan to deploy your year-end campaign?

Answers go in the

“questions” tab

The 2017 Giving Season

● In 2017, over 25% of annual donation volume occurred from Giving

Tuesday through the end of the year on the Classy platform

● On the Classy platform, conversion rates across campaigns, peak in

November and December

● Throughout year-end, the use of donation and crowdfunding pages increases

dramatically, with donation pages having more than 50% of gross

transaction volume and crowdfunding campaigns accounting for roughly

30% of gross donation volume

The New Tax Law and Year-End Giving**Disclaimer: We cannot predict how the new tax law will impact year-end giving, BUT we can share what we know and what our team is thinking through.

● The Chronicle of Philanthropy has reported, “It’s predicted there will be a $16.3

billion drop in giving this year due to the tax cut”

● The Chronicle of Philanthropy also reported that an estimated 21 million

fewer households will itemize their deductions

● People will have more cash in their hands because of lower federal rates.

What are they going to do with it? Will they donate that extra cash back to a

nonprofit?

How to Create a Detailed Planning Calendar

Start planning your campaign earlyIf you haven’t started yet, make a commitment to start now!

Key dates to flag in your calendar

● Thanksgiving: Nov. 22

● Black Friday: Nov. 23

● Cyber Monday: Nov. 26

● Giving Tuesday: Nov. 27

● Last day of the year: Dec. 31

● Religious holidays:

○ Hanukkah: Dec. 2-10

○ Christmas: Dec. 25

○ Kwanzaa: Dec. 26 - Jan. 1

How to start planningUse your data 1. Review last year’s campaign results. What worked well? What

didn’t? 2. Look at your donor data and understand who donated to your

campaign last year. 3. Start to identify key segments of donors you can target based off

different characteristics.

Learn from others What other organizations do you admire or support? Look back at emails from last year for inspiration and find new ideas to try this year.

Secure matching gift funds

Matching gifts are a common way to incentivize donors. Get creative—matching gifts can come from corporate partners, board members or major donors.

Identify your campaign theme

Build a story arc and focus on the language you want to use to appeal to supporters.

By September … ● Aim to have your story arc completed

● Start to prepare your campaign assets— materials for your website, social media, and

email

● Determine how you’ll integrate your online portion of your campaign with your offline

presence

● If you your year-end campaign has a direct mail component, your story should be

integrated across all mediums

By October … ● Year-end campaigns should be live and ready to deploy in October

● Define your target audience, how will you segment your donor appeals?

● Map out your marketing schedule, outline what messages are going out and

when across all your respective channels

● Develop marketing creative and promotional assets

● PRO TIP: Keep things donor-centric. Think through how you’ll tap into your donor’s

emotions AND convey the impact of their contribution

By November … ● Build excitement for your campaign and kick off donor communications in

early November

● Launch your campaign and schedule donor communications

● Send at least three to four emails to your donors to create some buzz

● Capitalize on Giving Tuesday as the start of year-end

How to develop a strong promotional strategy

Key promotional channels ● Email

● Organic social media Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram

● Direct mail

● Radio advertisement spots

● Online paid advertisements, Facebook, Google, etc.

● FREE GuideStar Profile

Update your FREE GuideStar Profile1. Visit www.GuideStar.org

2. Select “Update your Nonprofit Profile

3. Select “Get Started Now”

4. Begin telling your nonprofit’s story

5. Get rewarded for your transparency

Characteristics of a successful

promotional campaign● Cohesive messaging and branding across all mediums of communication

● Multi-channel communications, don’t just rely on one channel to communicate with donors

● Ask more than once! Stand out during the year-end giving season and adopt a for-profit

communication strategy

● Don’t just ask for donations, emphasize the impact

● Use personalization

What we love about

this campaign ● Build Giving Tuesday and year-end

communications to include October

awareness month

● Maintain consistent story arc and

communications to carry momentum through

December

● Strategically incorporate corporate matches to

generate early success

What we love about

this campaign ● Early strategic communications to engage

supporters

● Multiple matches to challenge donors

throughout the day

● Compelling story arc featuring families they

serve

What we love about

this campaign ● Strong branding for the shoe that grows

(#Giving Shoesday)

● Specific goal to provide 600 pairs of shoes to

children

● Segmented communications according to

supporter behavior

Why donor segmentation is KEY

Donor segmentation cuts through the

noise ● In today’s digital age, your donors get more email than ever before!

● When the content of your email and asks are tailored to a strategic subset of donors,

you’ll drive higher open and click through rates

Quick tips on how to segment your

donor base ● Gift size: donors who give less than $100 shouldn’t receive the same donation appeal as

those who give more than $100

● Frequency: recurring donors or donors who have given more than one time may receive a

different appeal than brand new supporters

● Programmatic: if supporters give to a specific program, ask them to donate again or

consider funding another program

● Giving History: look for opportunities to engage lapsed donors, volunteers, and/or

supporters on your blog or email list who have not yet donated

Personalize your donor stewardship ● If a donor gives to a specific program, your thank you should highlight that impact

○ Explain how their money is being used and establish a consistent cadence to

share impact

● Recurring donors should receive consistent communications underscoring the impact

of their gift

● Don’t stop at thank you!

○ New donor retention rate is only 25%

○ Returning donor retention rate is 60%

● After receiving a donors year-end gift, launch a two-three part email series to nurture

that relationship

Why Giving Tuesday is an opportunity you can’t afford to miss

Giving Tuesday by the numbers ● In 2017, 3.4% of all transactions on Classy occured on Giving Tuesday––that’s 13

times more than a regular day on the platform

● Organizations acquire 3 to 5 times more new donors on Giving Tuesday than on a

regular day

● 15% of donors acquired on Giving Tuesday give again before the next Giving Tuesday

● Giving Tuesday donors are 3 to 4 times more likely to become fundraisers than year-

end donors

Download The State of Modern Philanthropy

for more Giving Tuesday data

http://bit.ly/2K8GJfB

Giving Tuesday as a launch pad for

year-end ● Build excitement for the day (again, think for-profits’ approach to Black Friday!)

● Continue and develop the same story through both Giving Tuesday and year-end( and

segment communications!)

● Engage supporters strategically with matching gifts, competitions, and/or incentives

Our favorite Giving

Tuesday campaigns ● Strong imagery

● Creative match prominently featured on

campaign page

● Present different suggested gift amounts to

engage segments of donors

Our favorite Giving

Tuesday campaigns ● Creative use of graphic elements

● Story and layout reminiscent of a microsite

● Fixed background images give life and variety

to the page

Our favorite Giving

Tuesday campaigns ● Builds on Thanksgiving holiday and sentiment

to further spread their organization’s mission

● Fosters personal connection with donors by

featuring “individual” turkey stories

● Sends donors turkey swg: card, photo, and bio

Questions?

Question:What else do you want to learn about year-end giving?

Answers go in the

“questions” tab

Thank you for joining us!