3 Steps to Plan Your #GivingTuesday Campaign

There’s a lot of energy around #GivingTuesday that can help boost donations to your organization, but before you send email appeals and solicit supporters through social media, you have to lay the groundwork. The sooner you iron out the details of your #GivingTuesday campaign, the easier it will be to plan your promotions and communications. Follow these three steps to get ready for your most successful #GivingTuesday campaign yet.

Step 1 – Set Goals

Setting clear, realistic goals is the first step in planning a successful #GivingTuesday campaign. These objectives will guide your fundraising strategies and allow you to motivate your community to help.

Since the primary focus of #GivingTuesday is to raise funds for social impact, many nonprofits set a simple capital goal. They aim to collect a certain number of dollars within the time period. This is a great place to start, but you can also work toward other metrics, too.

With different types of campaigns, you may strive for goals related to…

• Acquiring new donors
• Increasing monthly recurring revenue
• Creating peer-to-peer fundraising pages

Remember to document your goals and share them with your team. Coworkers and supporters can’t help if they don’t know what you are trying to accomplish. With your goals set, it’s time to consider what kind of campaign is best suited to your ambitions.

Step 2 – Decide What Kind of Campaign

One of the fun things about #GivingTuesday is that you have the flexibility to create any kind of campaign you want. While #GivingTuesday is typically thought of as a one-day extravaganza of individual gifts, you can use other fundraising strategies to boost your results.

Ways to fundraise on #GivingTuesday:

• Stand-Alone Campaign – This is a one-day initiative to raise funds through individual donations. This is the simplest option for organizations new to #GivingTuesday.
• Recurring Giving Campaign – Recruiting monthly donors on #GivingTuesday creates an ongoing stream of revenue to fund your programs year-round.
• Peer-to-Peer Campaign – This kind of campaign gives your supporters the opportunity to create personal fundraising pages and appeal to their social networks. These campaigns typically last a few days or a few weeks, so they require some extra planning.
• Launch Your Year-End Campaign – Use #GivingTuesday to kick off your year-end fundraising campaign. This creates momentum toward your goal early in December.

When choosing your campaign type, consider any past experiences with #GivingTuesday, the amount of time and resources you can invest, and which fundraising strategies have worked for your organization. If, for example, you are pressed for time, you might choose to do a simple stand-alone campaign. Or if you have recently launched a recurring giving program, #GivingTuesday is a great opportunity to recruit monthly donors.

With your goals in mind and your overall campaign strategy set, you are ready to create your campaign and donation pages.

Step 3 – Create Campaign and Donation Pages

Now that you have a structure and direction for your #GivingTuesday campaign, you need to create a pathway for participation. A distinct campaign page or microsite shows your community the purpose and vision of your fundraising campaign.

This is where your organization can present its goals, the impact you plan to make, and how supporters can help the cause. For example, if you are kicking off a peer-to-peer campaign, you might share that you want to raise $12,000 and then ask supporters to create a fundraising page or donate. Connecting your campaign to a specific program or impact makes the calls to action more urgent and compelling. Personalize the campaign page with your nonprofit’s brand and the name and look of your #GivingTuesday initiative. This design should carry over to donation pages as well.

Donation pages are where your supporters land when they decide to make a gift. When they click on a “Donate” call to action, they should go directly to a form so they can complete the transaction.

While your brand and message will stay consistent across your donation pages, you should consider making more than one. By creating multiple donation pages with different suggested gifts, you can appeal directly to donors of all financial means. Later, when you create a marketing plan, you can segment donors to maximize gift size. When you send email appeals to your supporters, you can ask major donors for larger gifts than small donors. If someone gave $500 to your organization, asking them for $50 could be leaving a lot of money on the table.

With your campaign and donation pages up and running, you will be ready for action on #GivingTuesday.

The Foundation of Successful Fundraising

Development professionals know that there is so much more to fundraising than simply asking people for donations. Before you even approach donors, you need to have a clear vision for your campaign and concrete goals to pursue.

Social impact organizations spend lots of time trying to figure out how to get donors’ attention, but the foundation of a successful campaign is built long before you start promoting it.