Is Your Nonprofit Ready for Giving Season?
Bottom Line Up Front: Giving Season is crucial for the sustainability of nonprofit organizations.
This time last year, I was both stressed and excited about the end of year. Like many nonprofits, we took in the vast majority of our revenue during the last few months of the year. According to a National Center for Charitable Statistics report, donors said they gave almost a quarter of their annual total between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day (with high net-worth donors giving 42.7% in the same time frame). In 2012, half of the surveyed nonprofits (50.5%) said they received the majority of their contributions between October and December. Giving Season is crunch time.
Image from the National Center for Charitable Statistics
We were positively impacting the lives of countless veterans and families of fallen service members, but those programs cost money. We had a staff to ensure we were delivering the finest and most effective services. However, they cost money and, if you listened to conventional wisdom (mostly created by the various nonprofit rating agencies), they would be considered “overhead.” Our most important stakeholders, the people we served and the people who delivered the services, were on the chopping block if we didn’t successfully execute our end of the year giving campaign.
We planned, prepared, and executed effectively and we were more successful than the previous year. However, those successes never actually reduced the risk for the following year. Go figure — it’s actually hard to forecast giving. There are different forecasting techniques, and we did a pretty good job of using them, but we weren’t selling widgets. We were selling impact and our brand and communication allowed us to do so effectively during the stress of Giving Season.
So, are you ready? With the growth of social media and it’s importance as a marketing channel, nonprofit organizations are now competing with every other company out there for people’s time and money. Additionally, the lower barrier to entry for targeted marketing (whether through Facebook, or Google Grants, etc.) has made executing an effective campaign accessible to a much larger demographic of nonprofits.
The highest return on investment will go to the organization that plans, prepares, and executes.
Here are five tips and associated projects that can set you up for success:
1. Less is More
Communicate to your donors in a clear and concise manner. Tell people how their gift will make an impact.
Project: Case Statement
Create an internal case statement for use across all of your communication channels. A case statement is a great foundation for every form of copywriting. Your whole team will know the precise language to use when they’re advocating for your cause.
2. Visuals Show Impact
Nothing tells your story better than a creative visual or powerful video. Remember the first tip.
Projects: Infographic or Web Video
Create a simple, eye-catching visual that shows the impact of your work. A good graphic designer will be able to help you visualize the who, what, and why of your organization. Similarly, powerful but honest videos of people you have helped will win the day. Invest in documenting their journeys with you. Make your impact tangible to the donor. The product you’re selling is the good you’re doing.
3. Your Website is Gold
Your website is a powerful tool. Tell your story. Show your impact. Make sure people immediately and intuitively know how to donate and get involved. Capture their emotion and then harness it through a clean and clear user-experience. If they don’t understand you right away and don’t know how to donate, you’re leaving money on the table.
Project: Website Update
Audit and update your website to make sure your content is current, everything works, and the experience someone has on your site is pleasing and easy. The goal is to increase conversions once someone ends up on your site. Additionally, you can easily track the success of those conversions through Google Analytics.
4. Tell Your Story
Recap your accomplishments from this past year and show your supporters what is possible in the future with their support. Make your stakeholders a crucial part of your story.
Project: Social Media Campaign and Community Management
Work with a professional to build out your social media campaign. Once you have the campaign in place, let someone else manage the campaign through the end of the year. High quality content and timeliness in communicating with your supporters will help you convert more donors. The best part is you’ll be freed up to get on the phone or set up meetings to thank donors and ask them to continue their support. The more people you directly connect with, the more likely you’ll win their support. A social media campaign is only a tool to support building genuine relationships within your community of supporters. Get out from behind your computer and go talk to people.
5. Ask
Once you have everything in place, make sure you ask. It’s the hardest thing to do, but if you do it enough times, it will get that much easier. People want to know they are making an impact on someone else’s life. Give them that opportunity by asking them to contribute to your organization.
James Brobyn is the co-founder of CauseEngine and former executive director at the Travis Manion Foundation. CauseEngine is an online platform that connects nonprofits with freelancers to drive impact. CauseEngine’s mission is to help nonprofits operate lean, build smart capacity, and drive impact while giving talented freelancers the ability to do good, get paid, and Work Inspired. Find James @jamesbrobyn.
