December giving statistics

  1. 31% of giving happens in December with (Source: Nonprofits Source)
  2. 12% happening in the last 3 days of the month (Source: Nonproft Tech for Good)
  3. You don’t want your campaigns to lose steam after GivingTuesday

Campaign Tips and Tricks

  1. Successful campaigns take advantage of multiple communication channels – direct mail, email, social media, text messaging, video, newsletter, and more.
    1. For print ads include QR codes so you can track what method resulted in the donation
  2. Come up with a theme and overall narrative
    1. Choose a theme that will craft a call-to-action that will inspire supporters to contribute to your cause
    2. Narrative should translate across channels
  3. State your goal and track your progress
  4. All external links should go to your checkout/donation page.
    1. Resist the urge to link to stories or articles. 
    2. The goal is to get people to enter their credit card information as fast as possible. Remove all obstacles that will derail them.
  5. A compelling combination of messaging, copy, and imagery will create an impactful appeal for your supporters.
  6. Build off of taglines
    1. Help fund our ____ coverage
    2. Help us fund a new_______________
    3. Use “you” focused sentences
  7. Rotate the author for some of the communications. 
  8. Use short paragraphs – white space is your friend
  9. Always have a call to action and a P.S.
  10. Bold. Underline. Italics
  11. Use the individual’s name, not “dear friend”
  12. Suppress donors that have already given to a previous pitch. While it is important to stay consistent and send a lot of emails during the campaign, acknowledge those who have already supported you by giving their inbox a break.  
  13. Send a “fake forward.” This is a provenly effective way to get extra mileage out of a pitch. Send the first appeal in the morning. In the evening, send it to people who did not open the first email.
    1. Change the subject line to say FWD: [Insert previous subject line]
    2. Change sender information to come from another person at your organization 
    3. Add a personal note at the top. (“Just wanted to make sure you saw this important note…”)   

Year End: Email Campaign Template

  1. Email 1
    1. Note match (if applicable)
    2. Connect the work to the community
    3. Multiple opportunities within the text to donate
    4. Wrap up with why their donation is important
  2. Email 2
    1. Focus on specific stories
    2. Outline how this work has affected change
    3. Multiple opportunities within the text to donate
  3. Email 3
    1. Focus on local news crisis and how local news is helping preserve democracy
    2. Note your newsrooms role in the community
    3. Share quotes from donors
  4. Email 4
    1. Big finish
    2. Update on where you are with fundraising
    3. Remind about match (if available)
    4. Make it timebound