‘Tis the season when non-profits receive the majority of their annual giving. However, with consumers tightening their belts, resulting in lower-than-anticipated giving during previous holiday seasons, non-profits need to deck the halls with reasons to give. One way to win over cost-conscious givers is personalization.
Here’s how personalizing your fundraising outreach can help your non-profit receive everything on its wishlist these holidays.
Write Your Correspondence Like Gift Tags
Gift tags exist for a reason – they personalize a gift and represent extra care and attention. Similarly, using a recipient’s name in a fundraising campaign significantly increases connection and engagement. For example, doing so in an email subject line boosts open rates by 26%. This practice can also be extended to SMS-based outreach, chatbots, and more, driving participation. If you’re sending newsletters, look into dynamic content and segmentation to ensure a tailored approach. The upshot: if you’re still using “Dear Donor” in your outreach, it’s time to rethink your strategy!
Think Like a Caroler – Share Those Festive Stories!
Whether it’s carolers going door to door singing or grandma sending out her long holiday letters recapping the year’s events, storytelling is a big part of the holiday season. It’s also something that’s crucial to bringing a personal touch to your fundraising campaign. Strive to connect with your donors by sharing stories, stats, and case studies that show what your non-profit has been able to accomplish with their help. How has their donation supported your non-profit’s goals? How are leadership and volunteers working to turn that donation into impact? What more can be done? Use videos, images, podcasts, and more to share these stories with your audience – and inspire them to give.
It’s Not the Size of the Gift – It’s the Thought that Counts
Some of the best gifts have the smallest price tag – homemade treats, drawings from kids, or a card with a meaningful photo. As a non-profit, think about how to broaden the concept of giving so that your donor community can give according to their means. Microdonations might appeal to some givers. Others might prefer to give time or help share your message over social media. Some might give a larger amount once, while others prefer to give less but more often. Define your audiences and offer different tiers and giving options suited to each of them – this will nurture both engagement and participation.
Give What You’d Like to Receive!
Let’s face it: gifting is give and take. Just like you expect some reciprocity around your holiday gift-giving, donors want to know that they’re getting something in return for their generosity. In addition to thanking donors for their support and sharing anecdotes of how their giving has made a change, consider a matching gift campaign. Gift matching can massively amplify giving, with 84% of donors being more likely to donate if a match is on the table! Mention your gift matching efforts up front, and at the point of donation include a message showing the total amount with matching – and suggest increasing their donation to receive a bigger match.
Make Giving Personal with ACD
When you partner with ACD on your holiday giving campaign, you can rest assured of an experience free of fuzzy socks or generic toiletries. Our all-in-one donor experience platform connects to your existing software to help you create a powerfully personalized fundraising campaign – complete with text2donate functionality and US agent support. Contact us today to personalize your non-profit’s end-of-year campaign and meet those all-important goals!
