Revolutionizing Fundraising: The Evolution from Gift Catalogs to Giving Carts

This blog was written in collaboration with RKD Group, the nonprofit growth accelerator.

As donor expectations evolve, so does our perception of gift catalogs. Traditionally, gift catalogs—whether printed or digital—have exposed supporters to the wide array of donation opportunities available to them through a particular organization.

These catalogs were often underutilized and typically only associated with specific sectors, like international relief. For example, Heifer International, an organization well known for its print catalogs, commonly featured images like a child balancing a goat on their shoulders.

This iconic cover has become synonymous with symbolic giving. However, RKD Group reminds us that success doesn’t hinge on having a goat or a similar icon. The crucial factor is conveying the essence of your services and converting them into tangible offers for your audience.

As more nonprofits discover the versatility and benefits of next-generation catalog solutions like Classy’s soon-to-release Giving Cart, this limited view of gift catalogs is changing.

Below, we explore how these solutions can be impactful tools for various organizations, enhancing the potential outcomes of individual appeals, deepening engagement across their supporter base, increasing recurring donations, and more.

The marketing and expansion power of next-generation gift catalogs

The key to fundraising success often lies in ensuring that people know what fundraising opportunities are available to them. New catalog solutions offer an innovative approach to marketing your donation experiences more efficiently, providing a fresh take on online browsing.

This increased visibility makes it easier for donors to discover and engage with your nonprofit’s various offered programs and initiatives, inspiring more giving where needed most.

Higher engagement, stronger retention

For many brick-and-mortar retailers, printed and online catalogs have become essential channels in their marketing and sales strategy. Similarly, nonprofit organizations have embraced alternate giving or gift catalogs, particularly toward the end of the year.

Gift catalogs are pivotal in enhancing year-end fundraising efforts by offering additional revenue streams. They address a common donor dilemma: holiday shopping fatigue. Instead of traditional gifts like Christmas pajamas or gift cards, why not gift Aunt Jane the opportunity to support an impactful cause?

Unlike direct mail and digital campaigns that highlight needs, catalogs showcase solutions. Rather than depicting challenges, they feature joyful, hopeful outcomes—the smiling faces of those your donors can help.

Gift catalogs not only provide a wow factor for donors but also simplify their holiday shopping. This dual appeal makes them highly popular among supporters. In addition, donors who engage through gift catalogs tend to demonstrate exceptional loyalty, contributing larger average gifts and boasting high retention rates.

Recent audits, such as one conducted for an RKD Group client, confirm the impact of catalog giving. Donors who contribute through catalogs alongside other channels exhibit over 20% higher annual value and double the renewal rate compared to those who don’t use catalogs. Digital catalog donors, in particular, show a remarkable 166% higher retention rate compared to noncatalog donors.

Gift catalogs redefined: Classy’s Giving Cart

We know donors are eager to increase their impact. But we also know that younger generations expect seamless e-commerce experiences where they can browse freely, get enticed to add more, and check out everything they want in one streamlined transaction.

Classy’s Giving Cart unlocks these possibilities by focusing on impact. In fact, early testing indicates that 15% of donors have contributed more than one gift per giving experience via Giving Cart.

What to expect

• Streamlined giving: Create campaigns that allow donors to support more causes easily by adding multiple donations to their cart.
• Visual impact: Enhance your campaigns with captivating impact tiles that showcase tangible outcomes, inspiring donors to make a difference.
• Flexible control: Take charge of your campaigns by enabling or disabling Classy’s Giving Cart functionality as you see fit, ensuring a seamless donor experience.
• Expanded contributions: Offer donors the flexibility to contribute varying amounts, frequencies, end dates, and program designations simultaneously.
• Transparent transactions: Give donors access to comprehensive information about their entire order, fostering trust and transparency in your fundraising efforts.
• Effortless management: Classy Manager’s transaction reports can be filtered by the program designations associated with order items, making it easier to track and manage donations.
• Convenient refunds and changes: Take advantage of the ability to refund entire orders and cancel or edit recurring donations in Classy Manager, enabling donors to make changes to their donations easily and ensuring a hassle-free giving experience.

4 unconventional ways to leverage Classy’s Giving Cart

Giving Cart is more than a fundraising tool. It’s your marketplace and storefront to promote giving where needed most. By showcasing your various programs and initiatives, it provides donors with a centralized platform to explore and support causes that align with their values.

Here are four creative ways to leverage Giving Cart for amplified impact:

Virtual drives

Create a dedicated virtual drive detailing the items needed to support your beneficiaries and the impact of each gift. Donors can then browse through the current catalog, select items to donate, and contribute to your drive in a few clicks.

Recurring giving

Invite one-time and recurring donations in the same appeal, eliminating the need to choose between the two while increasing donations during events like your Annual Giving Day.

This is a strategic way to showcase the impact of recurring donations, highlighting how even small monthly contributions can make a significant difference over time. It also increases the potential for donations during specific campaigns and helps build long-term relationships with donors, leading to continued support for your organization’s mission.

Centralized, one-click discovery

Consider creating a unified platform that showcases various causes your donors can support instead of a program directory that redirects to isolated donation pages. This approach opens the door to multiple gifts and encourages donors to explore and contribute to different areas of your organization.

Reverse split designations

Enable donors to give to multiple programs at once. This feature is particularly crucial for organizations supporting many gift categories, such as those in higher education and healthcare.

With Giving Cart, donors can browse through the organization’s various programs and initiatives and select multiple programs to support with a single donation. This not only simplifies the donation process for donors but also allows them to distribute their contribution among different areas of need.

For nonprofits, this means increased flexibility in fundraising and the ability to cater to donors’ preferences, leading to higher engagement and support for the organization’s overall mission.

Discovering untapped giving potential

Gift catalogs have emerged as essential tools during the year-end giving season for a wide range of sectors, including nongovernmental organizations, hospitals, cancer research and treatment centers, animal protection organizations, and food banks. Their effectiveness lies in their ability to engage donors through symbolic giving, offering meaningful alternatives to traditional gifts.

Why are gift catalogs so beneficial? They play a crucial role in cultivating a diverse and sustainable multichannel fundraising program. By integrating gift catalogs into your strategy, you can tap into donor sentiment during key giving seasons, enhancing engagement and loyalty.

Several organizations across various sectors have already seen early successes through innovative applications of these strategies with Giving Cart. We continue to collaborate with a growing list of customers representing causes tied to disaster relief, education, healthcare, animal rescue, faith-based initiatives, and combating hunger and poverty. Stay tuned, as we look forward to sharing their measured fundraising results soon.

Ultimately, symbolic giving through gift catalogs not only diversifies your fundraising revenue streams but also strengthens your overall fundraising program. It allows donors to connect more deeply with your mission and impact, fostering long-term support and sustainability.

Copy Editor: Ayanna Julien