On Giving Tuesday…
And other reflections for year-end fundraising.
Let’s face it. The end of the year in our industry is LOUD.
As a fundraiser, GivingTuesday is exhausting. In Colorado, we celebrate our annual community giving day exactly one week later. After what feels like a twenty-minute nap, it’s a full-on sprint, clamoring for calendar year-end gifts before a December 31 deadline.
It’s easy to feel lost in the noise. It’s even easier to bemoan the struggle of cutting through it all. Nearly every nonprofit you've ever interacted with is likely sending you a cornucopia of email in December (or earlier) beginning on GivingTuesday. And a lot of that email is just plain bad (more on that in a minute).
Your constituents may be receiving more messages than usual, but it doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear from you. A consequence of the pandemic was a rapid acceleration in online giving. Events were canceled, business offices were shuttered, meanwhile, demand for nonprofit services skyrocketed as economic uncertainty grew. A number of organizations that were slow to adopt digital tactics were suddenly thrust into a new era of fundraising and email quickly became the most important tool in our collective toolbox. Subsequently, a lot of organizations started sending a lot more of it. And here’s what happened...
Our email files grew.
Nonprofit email outperformed most other industries in open and click-through rates.
Returns on fundraising emails increased 35%.
The real elephant in your inbox…
December may be the pinnacle of problematic fundraising, with GivingTuesday leading the way. I’m guilty of creating my fair share. I learned how to swim in a sea of donor-centrism. I’ve leaned heavily on language that positions our donor as hero du-jour. I’ve peddled urgency with a reckless (and time-bound) abandon. And it’s worked. It drove short-term revenue gains and pleased the heck out of the budget hawks in senior management. But, at what cost?
Today Only: 10X Match!
Time is running out on Giving Tuesday!
Only hours left to double your gift!
WANTED: Heroes...
This is a (very) small sample of the subject lines that awaited me on GivingTuesday morning, some of them truncated to not reveal the organizations behind them. The whole day drives head first (with the horn blaring) into one of my biggest struggles as a fundraiser; when does “urgent email” cross the line? A quick google search of “do deadlines motivate people” presents countless articles confirming that they do. Any experienced marketer or fundraiser has seen this play out time and time again. However, when the urgency stacks up like this, it starts to feel… very transactional (and a little gross).
It’s no wonder that I often speak with organizations that want to back out on these big days.
We can break the mold.
Founded in 2012 by 92nd Street Y in New York, GivingTuesday was a transformational response to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, “inspiring people to do good” with their time and actions as well as their dollars. Unfortunately, as we all clamor for our piece of the pie, we may have done a great disservice to the social sector—creating something just as transactional as the consumerist holidays preceding. However, I don’t think we should be turning our backs on a decade of momentum. Instead, let’s flip the script.
Advocating that we abandon urgent subject lines on fundraising that is truly time-limited may seem foolhardy. Nevertheless, I encourage you to look at your inbox with a critical eye for the rest of this month and ask yourself…
Do we risk alienating our audience with too much transactional messaging?
Do we erode trust in our sector when we hide the huge social issues we’re working on behind artificial deadlines and oversized DONATE NOW buttons?
Let’s strive to build genuine and transparent relationships with our donors. They’re essential partners in achieving our mission. Let’s also be careful to consider the long-term consequences of calling them heroes and placing them on pedestals. No mission is achieved through an individual donor. Our work relies on the vital contributions of our staff, volunteers, and an entire community of supporters that includes everyone who builds bridges, opens doors, collaborates, and advocates for our organizations.
Before giving up on the big days, try approaching them differently. We work in a complicated space tackling incredibly complicated issues. Our organizations don’t exist in a vacuum—nor do our donors. Let’s be honest about it. Position the donor as one of many partners helping to achieve your mission. Build communications that hold up your entire community (staff, volunteers, etc.) and bake this into your fundraising plans for the rest of December and beyond.
Your mission holds unique value. Calendar year-end campaigns present an excellent opportunity to celebrate it. You’re communicating with people who raised their hand and said “please send me email.” They want to hear from you. Never mind the 10X match emails they’re receiving from other organizations, the work you’re doing might mean 100X more to them. You’ll never know unless you ask.
