Step 1 – Determine what you want to accomplish?
Raise funds for a specific program or capital goal – Building a fundraising campaign around a specific or vital program is an excellent way to focus on an immediate need and recoup lost revenue due to COVID.
Bring in new donors – There is a lot of awareness around #GivingTuesday and it is an excellent opportunity for you to put your best foot forward, tell your story and convert new people to your cause.
Increase your recurring revenue – This can be done a couple of ways by adding new recurring donors and by putting together an email or phone campaign to your current recurring donors and asking if they would consider increasing their recurring monthly gift.
Step 2 – Figure out the type of fundraising campaign you will use.
Single-day #GivingTuesday Campaign – concentrate your efforts on a single day of giving utilizing a #GivingTuesday branded donation page focused on individual donations.
Peer-to-Peer campaign – Cast a much wider net by enlisting an army of fundraisers to join your campaign by creating individual fundraising pages. A peer-to-peer fundraising campaign takes a little more planning to execute but you will get more bang for your buck by getting help from your supporters.
Launch end of year giving campaign – November and December are the most popular giving months of the year, so it makes sense to kick off your end of the year giving campaign on #GivingTuesday. By promoting early, you will head into the holidays with a lot of momentum.
Step 3 – Create a communication plan.
Email – An email campaign is one of the best ways to create awareness about your upcoming #GivingTuesday fundraiser. You will want to spend some time creating a timeline for sending out your emails and what the subject of each email will be. Once you have your timeline in place and your emails crafted go ahead and schedule them so that they are ready to be sent. Putting in this work early will save you time and allow you to focus on other critical elements of your fundraiser.
Social Media – Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube enable you to engage your supporters in a lot of different ways through images, graphics, and video. As you are crafting your campaign you will want to create a social media post schedule that will keep announcements, updates, and testimonials front and center. The goal is to create a steady drumbeat all of the way to the launch of your campaign.
Website – The ultimate goal for your email and social media campaigns should be to get people to your website so that they can find content that encourages them to create a peer-to-peer fundraising page and sign up for updates. It is important to make sure that your website includes information about your campaign on the home page so that it is easy to find and sign up. Specific areas that you will want to focus on include:
A) Add a banner image on your home page above the fold that has a call to action encouraging people to get involved.
B) Add a “#GivingTuesday” page to your website that includes all relevant information about your campaign (who, what, where, when, how, and why). Other important information to include on your #GivingTuesday web page includes links to create a fundraiser, a web form to sign up for updates, and testimonials validating the work that your organization does.
C) Post any updates about your campaign to your news feed and share them out to your social media pages.
Step 4 – Start creating campaign assets.
Graphics – You will want to use compelling graphics that tell your story and communicates the goal of your campaign. As you are putting together your communications plan think about what images you will need to promote your campaign on your website, social media pages, and in your email blasts.
Copy – Create copy that describes why you are raising money and what impact a gift to your organization will have. Use call to actions on your website home page and social media to create awareness and convince people to support your campaign with a donation or by becoming a fundraiser.
Compelling Stories – People tend to support causes that have a positive impact, so try to highlight the success of your programs by featuring testimonials and stories that demonstrate how your organization is making a difference.
Step 5 – Task out responsibilities.
As your plan starts coming together, make sure that your team is aware of what role they are playing in executing the campaign. Create tasks with deadlines for graphics to be created, copy to be written, website edits to be made, social posts scheduled, and email blasts to be crafted and staged for delivery.
