It's Never Too Early to Think About Next Year's Holiday Giving Campaign

By Mark Sutton

Consider the following key factors before you launch your holiday giving program:

Timing: Ideally the program should be launched in mid-November (or after Thanksgiving if you’re in the U.S.). This means you should have the program set up and fully tested by the end of October or early November. If you’re doing a first-time campaign, planning should start no later than the end of the summer so you have a few months to get everything set up and ready to go in November.
Who to target? Holiday giving campaigns tend to have a broad appeal — however, these programs are particularly well-suited to new donor acquisition and reactivating lapsed donors. This is a time of year when people are more likely to “do good.”
What to focus on? Focus on participation among new and lapsed donor groups by offering lower “participation points.” Of course for your established donors, this lower gift rule of thumb probably won’t apply. In fact, the holidays/end-of-year program is likely a good time to ask for a higher level of giving from your established donors.
Giving as a gift: Making it easy for people to “gift” your cause to family, friends and colleagues helps you get more people involved. You typically see holiday card programs (virtual and physical) along with holiday gift catalogs. Anyone who has ever struggled with what to buy someone for $15 can appreciate that the gift of doing good — which is appreciated far beyond the dollar value.

Since your 2011 end-of-year campaigns are undoubtedly already well underway, here are several holiday giving program examples to help you develop a successful 2012 campaign:

Holiday greeting cards and gift catalogs

Here is a holiday gift catalog program from International Teams Canada that supports orphans, widows and refugees. It offers 26 items that range in price from $5 to $5,000.
The David Suzuki Foundation has a creative gift catalog where you can select one of nine gifts that range in price from $19 to $99 to address climate change.
Second Harvest created a holiday gift catalog featuring 30 items that range in price from just $3 to $23. The "hero" items are holiday cards that cost $12. With these gift amounts, this program seems clearly aimed at mass participation.
Child Fund International created a simple holiday campaign where it offers holiday cards in 45 different designs. These cost $12 or $30 depending upon quantity and whether or not they are personalized.