Is Your Nonprofit Ready for #GivingTuesday?

#Giving Tuesday 2016 yielded $168,000,000 in nonprofit donations. Is your nonprofit ready to leverage end-of-year giving in 2017?

#GivingTuesday is right around the corner and presents a unique opportunity for nonprofits nationwide to drive in new donors (both financial and time-based). If you are not familiar with #GivingTuesday, it is a national campaign that begins the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28, 2017) and kicks off end-of-year giving for many people around the world. There are many ways that your nonprofit can leverage #GivingTuesday to increase financial commitments and fill volunteer opportunities.

In today’s post, we will focus on a few strategic components to getting the most out of your #GivingTuesday marketing efforts.

 Create a Point Person and Set Expectations

Running a successful #GivingTuesday campaign starts with creating a strategic process. Your nonprofit organization needs to think about whom you will designate as the point person during the life cycle of the campaign. Keep in mind that larger nonprofits may need a team to successfully manage a #GivingTuesday initiative. Some of the responsibilities that may be assigned to this person or team are:

• Developing your nonprofits #GivingTuesday strategy both online and offline.
• Identifying what mediums your nonprofit is going to use to broadcast messaging.
• Working with your nonprofits creative team (internally and externally) to create engaging content and collateral for promotion.
• Responding to and engaging with prospects.
• Managing campaign results and campaign changes.
• Reporting campaign progress to the leadership team.

It is also important that nonprofit leadership set realistic expectations for your point person or team in charge of running campaigns. Expectations should be based on the campaign goals that are identified internally. We will discuss #GivingTuesday goals in the next section of this post.

Here are a few questions to consider when setting expectations for your #GivingTuesday campaign team:

• Does your point person or team have a detailed plan for each component of the project?
• Does your nonprofit have a process in place if plans need to change?
• Is your point person or team being transparent about what they hope to accomplish?
• How does your point person or team plan to communicate campaign progress?
• Do you have a campaign-success roadmap?

Strategically Develop a List of Target Goals

It is hard to benchmark #GivingTuesday campaign success, if you do not have a list of the goals you want your initiatives to achieve. Make sure that these goals are measurable and attainable based on your nonprofits campaign cost commitment.

Here are questions to consider when coming up with #GivingTuesday campaign goals:

1. Can your nonprofit leverage your existing donor and volunteer base? What goals could they help your organization reach?
2. How will your nonprofit’s #GivingTuesday campaign compliment your existing marketing goals? Can you develop a list of goals based on existing marketing targets?
3. Are your potential goals realistic and attainable for your nonprofit?
4. Can you look at #GivingTuesday campaign data from previous years and see if there are new opportunities based on success and failures?
5. Does your organization have access to partners who could accelerate campaign success in an effort to outperform goals?

Create and Distribute Engaging Content

Creating a campaign that really stands out during #GiviT Tuesday is challenging. Remember, nonprofits nationwide are also running campaigns in an effort to gain more exposure. Creating a successful campaign starts at the content level. Your content needs to tell a story and tug at the emotions of your audience.

Here are a few tips for creating more engaging and consumable #GivingTuesday content pieces:

1. Make sure that your content and campaign collateral is creative! Think of ways to stand out from the crowd.
2. Your content and collateral should serve a purpose and point prospects towards the desired action.
3. Incorporate different types of consumable content, such as stories, videos, testimonials and photos.
4. Leverage social media to drive prospects towards your content and collateral. (Don’t forget to use the #GivingTuesday hashtag!)

Measure Results and Optimize

A successful marketing campaign often requires optimization on the fly to increase success rates. Make sure that your team is continuing to measure campaign success and is making adjustments to get better results. The great thing about online marketing is it is easy to see campaign results in real time.

Here are a few metrics you may want to measure (keep in mind measured metrics should be based on your goals):

• Lead conversion rates
• Unique visitors/social shares
• Bounce rate
• Page views
• Form conversion rates
• Email opens and clicks

Takeaways

Creating a successful #GivingTuesday campaign can be challenging, but taking the right steps and being strategic can create a great opportunity for your nonprofit organization. Put your trust in the right team to run the campaign, set campaign expectations, identify strategic campaign goals, create engaging content and measure results. Don’t forget one of the most important ways to set your nonprofit apart—have fun!