6 Ways to Impact More Lives
on Giving Tuesday Now
By: Michael Mitchell, Director of Development and Discipleship
Giving Tuesday Now is a global day of giving and unity that will take place on May 5, 2020 as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. Here are six suggestions to help your organization maximize the impact of your campaign.
1. PRAY:
Invite your staff and board to join you in praying for your Giving Tuesday campaign. Ask God to prepare the hearts of those who’ll give. Ask for wisdom and creativity as you plan and implement your campaign. Ask Him to reveal a specific need or project to focus your efforts. Ask Him to blow your wildest expectations out of the water and delight you with His goodness and provision. Ask Him to take the fruits of your efforts and use them to glorify His name, bless the people you serve, and minister to those who give.
2. MAKE YOUR ASK SPECIFIC:
When you invite people to give, make sure you tell them what their gift will accomplish. It’s not enough to simply ask people to give. You have to let them know the specific problem their gift will help solve. A simple way to do this is by using the XYZ structure: If you give X, it will provide Y, which means Z. Here’s an example from an international foster care ministry:
“Your gift of $100 provides school fees for a child in our program, and that means she is able to continue learning and developing secure attachments with friends at school and teachers as she prepares to transition into a family.”
Framing your request this way helps people see their gifts aren’t just chipping away at your overall financial goal, but instead have the potential to help serve the cause in a very specific way.
3. FOCUS ON THE CAUSE:
Speaking of the cause… remember this: People don’t give to nonprofits; people give to causes they’re passionate about. When you invite people to give, don’t invite people to give to your organization. Invite people to give to the cause. This is one of the most simple, cost-effective ways you can improve your Giving Tuesday communication.
Take a look at the following example to see how simple this practice is to implement. Which of these statements would more likely motivate you to give?
“Will you make a gift to ABC Nonprofit today on Giving Tuesday?
“Will you help make a difference for a child in need today on Giving Tuesday?”
When you focus on the cause instead of the organization, you help people visualize the problem they’re helping solve in a meaningful way, which also leads to greater participation and excitement about the campaign.
4. UTILIZE A MATCH:
Nothing moves the fundraising needle quite like a matching challenge, and one day campaigns like Giving Tuesday are the perfect opportunity to put one to use. Consider asking a group of your most committed givers if they would consider matching all gifts (up to a certain threshold) that you raise on Giving Tuesday.
For example, if you get 25 people to agree to match up to $500 each, you’ll have $12,500 your nonprofit can publicly announce as a match for Giving Tuesday.
This strategy doesn’t cost anything to implement, and everyone likes the idea of their gift being doubled. Inviting your most committed supporters to provide the match is also a wonderful way to deepen their connection to the cause.
5. INVITE LEAD GIFTS:
Whether you have a match or not, consider using a soft launch to invite a handful of people to help kick things off with a lead gift. When you launch your Giving Tuesday campaign with an announcement that you’re half-way to your goal, you immediately start from a place of strength and momentum. People naturally want to give to projects and campaigns they perceive will be successful.
There’s no magic number or percentage to strive towards before you launch, but any progress you can make ahead of time will help increase excitement and boost giving when you go live with your campaign.
6. CREATE A FOLLOW UP PLAN:
Don’t wait until after Giving Tuesday to think about how to communicate with those who participate. Make a plan now to communicate with givers about the impact of their support. I recommend planning out your next 4 communications with everyone who gives. Here’s a basic outline to get you started:
On Giving Tuesday: Send an email that evening to everyone who gave. Say thank you, share the total given, and let them know how their contributions will make a difference.
Before the End of the Week: Personally call everyone who gave to say thank you. If your campaign was wildly successful and you can’t call everyone, pick a threshold amount and call those people. You can also focus your calls on new givers.
One Month Later: Make a plan to send an email in early June inviting everyone who gave to take one more step to grow in their connection with your cause. You could invite them to join you in praying for the people you serve. You could send them a link to a story or article that will help them learn more about your work or the problem you exist to solve. Don’t ask for another gift. The goal is to give them an invitation to help learn, share, pray, or serve your cause in a new way that is good for them and good for the people you serve.
Three Months Later: Send one more email and tell people what their collective support helped accomplish. Focus your messaging on the specific ways gifts helped the people you serve. Were you able to train 5 new families to become foster parents? Were you able to help 3 children find new families? Use words and pictures to paint a picture of the impact they made possible.
Want more tips like this to increase the impact of your fundraising beyond Giving Tuesday? Make plans to attend CAFO’s member-only virtual workshop on “Transformational Giving: Experience Fundraising as a Joyful Calling” on May 5 from 2-3:30 PM EST for practical tools to help you embrace a biblical approach to fundraising with the power to grow your ministry and your givers. You’ll discover practical tips to help you raise more funds as you encourage givers to know, love and serve God more fully.