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GivingTuesday is a global day for celebrating generosity and encouraging nonprofit supporters to donate, volunteer, and contribute to their favorite causes. It’s also often the start of year-end giving season. This is a time of year that’s critically important for nonprofits working to raise the funds they need to fuel their missions, because 30% of all annual giving happens in December.
In this blog, we’ll go over effective strategies to market your organization’s giving and volunteering opportunities on GivingTuesday. Plus, we’ve included an email template that you can use for your own campaign.
Just like any campaign, you should promote GivingTuesday for at least several weeks leading up to the day itself. Whether your goal is to raise a specific amount of funds, host a volunteer event, or both, you’ll need to reach as many supporters as possible and give them a smooth, tailored experience, so your plan should help you reach supporters through a variety of channels. Your channel mix might include:
Prepare for your campaign by pre-writing several messages for each of these channels. Use your fundraising software to help you draft messages using built-in templates, and then schedule and send those messages.
Year after year, email helps nonprofits raise funds, recruit volunteers, retain supporters, and more. It’s an essential channel, and your software should help you send effective messages. For example, try varying your messages based on which supporter segments you’re contacting and then seeing if higher numbers of subscribers click through those more personalized emails.
No matter who the recipient is, each email should include the following components:
Try using the email template below to incorporate these components into your own GivingTuesday messaging while customizing your message for each audience segment.
Subject line: GivingTuesday is [date]. Are you ready?
Hi [First Name],
GivingTuesday is coming up on [date]! For over a decade, this day has brought together generous individuals like you all over the world to raise funds, volunteer together, and create change in your community.
In the past, you’ve shown your dedication to our organization by [contributing to (name of campaign or project)] / [volunteering with us via our (project name) initiative]. You can continue making a difference this GivingTuesday!
Your support this year will be dedicated to [project] and will help by [describe the impact of the donations — for example, “providing (expected number) laptops for schools in your community”].
Make your contribution by donating on our dedicated GivingTuesday campaign page below:
[Button: (Give/Volunteer) on GivingTuesday!]
Every dollar counts. Your generosity will have an immediate impact on [beneficiary and how they are impacted].
Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
[your name]
P.S. If you would like to make a contribution today in support of GivingTuesday, please click here. [include link]
Your nonprofit’s GivingTuesday communications are important after the significant day has concluded as well. These are just a few essential next steps for retaining a volunteer or donor:
Whether it’s GivingTuesday or any other day of the year, your software should help your nonprofit create compelling messages, send them to your supporters, collect donations, thank donors and volunteers, and report on your outcomes. Request a demo of Bonterra Fundraising Essentials to see how our tech can help you succeed.
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