The Game Changing Giving Tuesday Checklist for 2023 | The Nonprofit Podcast Ep 39 🎙️🎙️

[Music] foreign podcast powered by donor bucks giving season  is here and today we have got some essential tips and tricks these are giving season must Do's  for any organization this time of year welcome to the non-profit podcast I'm Kara fundraising  coach at donor box we're here each week with practical actions you can use today to increase  donations and take your non-profit to the next level tomorrow and I'm delighted to share the  podcast studio with some colleagues I respect so much we ha

ve Jenna our non-profit Advocate  at donor box Cara our content specialist Bobby who serves as our account manager and our senior  account executive Amy welcome welcome so glad to have you guys here hello okay super excited to be  here well I really am honored to be surrounded by colleagues here at donor box who have actually  worked in non-profits from fundraising and operations to volunteer engagement and donor  relations and Communications and digital media we've been in your shoes and we get

it and each  one of these awesome individuals works with donor box organizations every day to help them help  others and speaking of our donor box organizations we've recently asked for questions from our  podcast listeners and our webinar attendees and wouldn't you know it the first question we  received couldn't be more timely an organization in Pennsylvania is tackling their first giving  season and asked this question we are brand new to donation campaigns and fundraising what would  you re

commend as must do tasks and activities that we should focus on to capitalize on giving  Tuesday and the remainder of giving season so I have marshaled the full donor box podcast  Posse and each of these Specialists are here today to make sure that we have covered all the  bases from donation buttons to tax receipts and everything in between so let's start at that  entry point let's jump in with you Bobby what are your final thoughts on donation page must  Do's or maybe don'ts that are important

this time of year at this point my last reminder or  final thought is to make sure that the sign of your strategy is in Prime working order run a few  more tests check that everything included on your donation form and collected in your donation  form is purposeful and clear and if you can to really help smooth things out ask your friends or  co-workers to audit the process make sure someone unfamiliar with where to go and what is being  asked can easily identify both your intent and the steps

to get there to ensure a smooth experience  for both you and your support this is the time to tap into your network and get any last feedback  and at this step we don't need to be making big overhaul changes but having fresh eyes whether  you're revisiting your donation page to do a comb through or asking someone else to look it over can  save you from both easy mistakes like a spelling error or more costly mistakes like a broken link  you forgot about there's still time to dot the eyes and cros

s your t's so my last reminder is  to make sure you schedule a few moments to truly make sure you thoughtfully do that Bobby Joe you  just mentioned tapping into networks so I want to talk about that for a minute so every non-profit  has a network of supporters so people who already care about what you're doing right so if you want  to get new people involved in your mission though then you need to spread the word outside of that  Network this is really important so crowdfunding if you're not fa

miliar it's a really affordable  way for new as well as established nonprofits to raise hundreds and even thousands and I've seen  a lot of success with our non-profit users with crowdfunding but not only does crowdfunding make  it easy to keep your current supporters engaged by consistently updating them on your campaign's  progress but the power of shareability and virtual donor walls will automatically work  as social proof for potential donors too so potential donors that's really really imp

ortant  for them and crowdfunding is especially great for campaigns that have a deadline such as giving  Tuesday or a year-end Campaign which is why I wanted to talk about it now uh and if you're  making a crowdfunding page for giving season which I highly suggest I want you to keep these  tips in mind so first choose a captivating title and tagline this may seem obvious but it's really  important titles and taglines are a part of your campaign's branding and will really help you  stand out in t

he crowd just like a great email might have a great subject line your title and  tagline serves the same purpose so you really want to keep the title and tagline simple and there  are some free online SEO tools that you can use to find the best keywords so that you show up in  Google or whatever that may be and as you continue to add content don't use too many technical terms  or jargon that's specific to your sector be clear and direct with your ask and call to action and  content used for thes

e campaigns must be really easy to understand and give people a reason to  subscribe to your campaign so that's tip number one tip number two it's really important to tell  a story with high quality images and videos so crowdfunding brings you the most Success Through  storytelling you can tell your beneficiary stories or your own story behind starting your non-profit  or the goals for this particular year-end campaign but the images you use for your campaign are  just as important as the conten

t and videos can help you raise four times more than any other  storytelling method so that's a really cool thing to consider and then finally my last tip  for crowdfunding is perhaps the most important and that's add your social media sharing buttons  that's the whole point of crowdfunding is to make it really shareable so since your crowdfunding  campaign is entirely online you'll want to share your story wherever possible to get the best  results and get the furthest reach so on your campaign

page include your social media sharing  buttons to ensure donors and visitors are capable of sharing your campaign on all of their social  media accounts as well so was just one click and it's an Easy Share and this will significantly  expand your campaign's reach and success so a lot to consider here but crowdfunding really is  a great tool for giving season in your spot on we have had some of our donor box Academy students  recently shared some of their crowdfunding campaigns with us for crit

ique and Bobby Joe  you've seen a few of these aren't they awesome yes they were amazing and I'm super proud of the work  they did and I love that organizations can post a goal meter on their crowdfunding page too and  that's always a nice incentive this time of year absolutely I love the sense of urgency that those  goal maters create for this really time sensitive fundraising season yeah absolutely so I want to  give a second piece of advice for giving Susan if you don't mind uh so my next pie

ce of advice is  do not do it alone you don't need to do it alone and this is Kara where peer-to-peer fundraising  comes in and I knew know you were expecting that so peer-to-peer fundraising is another way to  engage major supporters and maximize your reach raise more funds and awareness for your cause  and really tap into those networks that we've been talking about and this fundraising method  is especially impactful during giving season where people are feeling more generous with their  time

and their money right and I love peer-to-peer fundraising so much because it's a great way  to bring in new donors who might not otherwise give to your organization or even know about your  organization but not only this but in my opinion the most effective way to connect with and build  relationships with the supporters you already have so this year's your board your board should be  fundraising for you your volunteers and even your current donors that you know really well and it  also boosts

your year-end efforts and awareness by turning those supporters into your ambassadors  for your organization or even marketers for your campaign and it helps raise more donations and  meet your Revenue goals for Less because your supporters are doing a lot of that legwork for  you and your staff so if your non-profit doesn't have a large donor base yet and you're kind of  wondering okay where are these giving season and year-end dollars coming from peer-to-peer  fundraising is the perfect tool t

o consider and conversely if your non-profit already has a large  donor base but even loftier fundraising goals peer-to-peer can really help to amplify your  impact too so my biggest piece of advice about peer-to-peer fundraising for your nonprofit is to  be prepared be prepared do not wait until the last minute to set up your peer-to-peer campaign for  giving season I cannot emphasize this enough there is a fair amount of work to do at the front end  of a peer-to-peer fundraiser so you need to

have a plan in place on training your supporters you need  to create tool kits complete with email and social media templates that are ready for your supporters  to use and have everything in place so everyone can hit the ground running when the time comes to  launch this campaign and not only does this ensure that you can reach as many people as possible  during giving season but it also ensures that you don't waste any time on things like setting  up processes or creating content when there ar

e a lot more important things to do so the good news  is to help with this we created a great course in donor box Academy on peer-to-peer fundraising  that includes resources tips and handy templates to help you get set up for success and we'll  leave that in the show notes we will indeed and that course also explains a little more about the  difference between crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising they're similar enough that they  often get confused so that should be really helpful Amy what

are your thoughts about giving  season what are your last minute must Do's thanks for asking no I would say one of the biggest  things to watch out for is to really make sure that your organization's mission is connecting  to the dollars that you're hoping to fundraise um just to kind of go back to Bobby Joe point  it's critical that everything on that donate page as perfect and professional and a key of that is  connecting the mission to the dollars some ways to do that is having the form on y

our website having  it embedded onto your website or even having a pop-up on your home page another key there is to  make sure that the actual form is really matching your branding and your messaging that's going to  be having the exact same hex color code and that's also going to mean having a call to action on  that form you only get one chance to have a call to action for your donors you've put in the work  to convince them that your mission is important and that their dollars are important f

or your  mission but you have to close the deal you have to ask them to actually donate one of my favorite  examples is by no baby blisters and their call to action on their form is medically neglected  babies depend on you please choose your monthly or one-time gift below so they never run out of  life-saving surgeries make sure that you let the donors know and that you're asking them to take  action and to donate to your organization that's absolutely right connection is key in this field  and

the faster the connection the better it's all about connecting with your donors and ensuring  they have an easy enjoyable experience and not just when it comes to final preparation for  something like giving Tuesday this should also be built into every experience your donors have with  your cause year round and one quick and super easy way to implement this through your online donation  form and to make the process simple and Speedy is offering your supporters quick wallet payment  methods for

Their donation like Apple pay Google pay or venmo and enabling donor boxes Ultra Swift  checkout setting which moves these options to the beginning steps of the form so supporters see  them up front and have a more streamlined donation process I'm sure we have all started a checkout  of some kind whether it was a donation payment or start to an online shopping cart and when it comes  to entering the credit card details you put that check out on hold because you're way too comfy  on the couch or

whatever the case may be maybe that one's just on me no way Bobby Joe you're  totally right if you're forcing your donor to get up to get a credit card you've lost a donation  yes there's definitely a good chance in offering these payment methods to your supporters up front  and streamlining your form ultimately simplifies the steps and information they're required to  enter which can be particularly beneficial when donating from a mobile device and enabling Ultra  Swift checkout is super easy o

n donor box it's literally just clicking a button on your campaign  editor and that is truly great advice from both of you thank you and it's super simple too we've  talked a lot about the operations so getting the forms ready and empowering supporters making  sure it's easy for a donor to give but let's talk about how to share the big giving season  message Kara how can you create a compelling case and then share that case with potential donors  to encourage them to support your organization th

is time of year sure so kind of continuing  to talk about you know truly connecting and engaging with your donors you want to make sure  that they're having these great experiences with your organization and I'm saying experience is  plural for a reason because once is not enough Amy talked about that call to action it is not  enough to just give them that call to action give them that message one time so make sure you're not  just sending your appeal once and just be done for the rest of the se

ason that you really don't want  to do that because your potential donors typically need to see your message seven to twelve times  and in different ways before they make that gift so this means you should create a multi-channel  marketing and fundraising campaign that covers all the ways you can reach your audience so I'm  talking Direct Mail social media email ads your website phone calls events etc etc etc the list  goes on but you don't have to start from scratch every time because I know yo

u're thinking what  in the world how am I going to create all this content especially you know it's it's November  where are we going but you don't have to start from scratch start by writing your direct mail  appeal or the one that I hope you've already written by now and take that take that Direct  Mail appeal and find those great nuggets stories Etc and repurpose them for your other channels  don't copy and paste you should still adjust things like tone length and visual elements for  the cha

nnel and audience for example with email and social media you can you definitely want to  make sure you're putting in those visual elements that we talked about a little earlier those videos  those super emotional invoking evoking stories and photos and you can also social posts should be a  lot shorter than that appeal letter right asking emails and more casual but you really don't need  to recreate the wheel and I suggest even breaking things up so take an impactful story about  someone or may

be a dog or a place you helped into multiple social posts or emails to get even  more Outreach out of that one source so this also builds suspense encouraging your audience to  come back for more so again not only is this saving you time it's also better ensuring those  donations because you're getting that message in front of your audience more than one way and more  than once and to add to that point I want to make sure that you are spreading your messaging and  Outreach throughout the entire

giving season and this means the last couple of months of the year  I mean really all year round but especially right now so while so many are rightly focused on giving  Tuesday it isn't the only focal point or even the biggest focal point you need to leverage I the  biggest focal point of the year should actually be the last three days those last three days in  December because that's when at least 10 percent of all annual giving I'm talking about all the  funds you're going to raise all year a

t least 10 percent is going to be race in those three days  so make sure you're posting on social media you're sending that final email reminder to those lists  to encourage those last minute gifts and this is because a lot of donors give it this time to make  sure they can get that gift in before the tax year ends and others may give again or give for the  first time if they see you are getting close to reaching your goal and they want to help you get  there another great incentive is to ensure

that you have tribute gifts enabled on your form I  know that on donor box you can easily set that up onto any donation form a couple of benefits  with that is you want to be able to allow your donors to make a donation in honor of someone it's  becoming increasingly popular to make donations in honor of friends or close ones on donor box when  somebody makes a donation in honor of someone when the donation's complete we automatically send the  honoree an email that you the organization have al

ready customized and even to make it a little  bit more personal the donor can leave the honoree a message really allowing them to connect their  own message and really being able to connect the donation as a gift to the honoree this is also a  great way to get in front of somebody who might not be aware of your non-profit but clearly they  share your value and support your mission not only are tribute donations important for honorees  but it's also important that people can make a donation in m

emory of a loved one the holidays  are a really hard time for people who are missing someone who's not here anymore it's a way to  allow your donors to connect to their loved ones who aren't here anymore I know that every year  I personally make a donation to Girls on the Run in Vermont in memory of my mom this organization  really empowers young women to become strong Brave confident leaders for tomorrow and that is exactly  how my mom raised to me so every year I make this donation in her memo

ry and I feel a little closer  to her I know that she's somewhere smiling and and really proud that I'm able to continue her Legacy  by making this donation to a great organization what a thoughtful gift for someone and that is a  great way to wrap up our giving season must Do's today any other last thoughts yeah so I want to  remind folks things can and probably will go wrong at some point or maybe not wrong but maybe not  according to plan and that's totally okay we've always got you covered h

ere at Donner box and all  I can add here is if you have any challenges we have the best the best support team on the planet  here at donor box and I swear I'm not biased we get amazing testimonials all the time about  our amazing support team so our support team is available 24 hours a day Monday through Friday  they have an amazing response time they're so Speedy to respond and they're fully connected into  every aspect of our product and our services but what I think really makes them stand o

ut and again  we hear this from many of our non-profit users is that they truly put the time and especially  the care and to making you making sure that you're set up for Success so you can reach out to  our support team at support daughterbox.org and we'll share this email in the show notes as well  we really will and there's always a real person on the other end of that email which is really  special too well thank you guys this is really a great run-through of the must Do's for any  organizat

ion this giving season so let me see if I can do a really quick review here first check your  donation page and ask friends to audit the process for you then broaden your base with crowdfunding  and peer-to-peer to engage and expand your reach and then next make sure your mission is for front  and center through compelling calls to action and a beautifully branded giving experience and then  make it simple and Speedy with ultra Swift pay and of course don't forget once is not enough no  one and

done keep sharing your message all giving season long and especially don't forget those  last three days of the year and as Amy reminded us you can encourage tribute or Memorial donations  for your organization as a great last minute gift idea too and you know I think I'll add one more  tip to round out this episode I'll encourage any organization at any time to be sure to remember  the importance of donor stewardship by saying thank you in a thoughtful way when donors give at  year end or reall

y anytime you lay the groundwork to inspired continued engagement and repeat giving  next year you can customize your tax receipt letters and really use those as an impactful  stewardship piece too because remember fundraising is all about relationships and if you want to know  more about peer appear like Jenna mentioned plus get those checklists and templates to share with  those fundraising on your behalf you can get our free peer-to-peer toolkit at academy.jonerbox.org  the link is in the sho

w notes and while you're there you will notice and ask me anything form if  you would like to have your question answered like today's listener did all you have to do is click  the link open the form and ask and we will only mention you by name if you give us permission to  do so so my question is what do you want to know so thank you Jenna and Bobby Amy Cara thank  you guys for giving your time today and your Insight and expertise for all the must Do's for  giving season I am so glad you are he

re thanks Kara and thank you for choosing to spend time  with the non-profit podcast I hope you've left with confidence to take a small step today that  will make a big difference tomorrow don't forget to download and review the podcast or give it a  thumbs up if you're listening to the non-profit podcast on on YouTube your review is a great way  to help others find us you're here to help others and we're here to help you so until next time stay  inspired people passion connection action put the

power to change the world in your supporters hands  this giving season maximum reach Maximum Impact feel the fundraising power of connection donor  box peer-to-peer helping you help others [Music]