When some organizations would try peer-to-peer.

Their websites were built and their platforms were ready

And fundraisers knew they must breathe slow and steady,

But still in their minds there lingered some fright:

“How do I know if I’m doing this right?”

(Apologies to Clement Clarke Moore).

#GivingTuesday is later this month. Are you ready?

This online celebration of generosity is now in its seventh year, and many organizations find it worth their while to run a 24-hour fundraising campaign, or kick off their year-end fundraising on this day.

Whether this is your first year tackling #GivingTuesday, or you’re an old pro, we’ve got seven reminders to keep you on track, and get the very most out of #GivingTuesday.

1. Tell Your Story

The thing that makes donors give isn’t how flashy your video is or how clever your emails are, it’s the story you tell. #GivingTuesday is a chance to tell the story of the work you’re doing and the impact it makes. Make that story the center of every message you send.

The way #GivingTuesday has grown is exciting, but with that growth has come a lot of competition. Your organization is vying for donor attention with thousands of other great nonprofits. Telling a relatable story helps you stand out of the crowd and connect with donors’ hearts.

Research shows that donors are more likely to give when they feel a connection to the cause and are inspired by a narrative. Character-driven stories with an emotional component activate empathy and encourage giving.

Take a look at World Bicycle Relief’s “Forward” campaign, which focuses on using bicycles to help girls access education. They tell their story by introducing us to two particular girls who live in rural Africa, Angela and Dianah.

By showing us the details of the girls’ hopes and dreams for their future, and how a bicycle will help make it possible, World Bicycle Relief makes it real. It packs an emotional punch–we want to help Angela become a doctor and Dianah become a college professor.

2. Test Your Tech

You only have a short time to raise money on #GivingTuesday, so don’t lose one of those precious hours to a technical snafu. Once you’ve got your online campaign all set up, it’s smart to do a little troubleshooting. Make sure to:

• Make a test donation to determine that payment processing is in working order.
• View your campaign in different web browsers, just in case something funky happens in the ones you don’t usually use. (Cough, cough, Internet Explorer).
• View your campaign on a mobile device
• Make a test donation on a mobile device

3. Rally Your Troops

#GivingTuesday is a big deal in the nonprofit sphere, but most of your donors probably don’t have it circled on their calendars. They are almost definitely not thinking about it in September, or counting down the days. It’s more likely they’re thinking about all the stuff they have to do in the holiday season, and wondering how November flew by so fast. For our own good, we need to remind our supporters #GivingTuesday is coming.

Rally your supporters by promoting your campaign via email and social media. It’s best to start this at the beginning of November, but if you haven’t, that’s okay. Even a single message on Cyber Monday is better than starting cold on Tuesday.

Prepare your donors for #GivingTuesday by:

• Sending an email blast about the campaign
• Posting on social media (use our free ###GivingTuesday social images)
• Sharing #GivingTuesday content

If you’re running a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, check in with your fundraisers today. Make sure they know how to use the resources in their fundraising toolkit, and are ready to go.

Remind your fundraising folks:

• Of your fundraising goal, and what kind of impact it will have
• To share campaign posts on social media
• How grateful you are that they’re helping your cause

4. Keep Your Message Positive

#GivingTuesday is a celebratory day. It’s about making a difference and doing something positive for the world. Since we’re encouraging people to do a positive thing, we should do it in a positive way.

While shocking stats and scary stories may get attention, the shock doesn’t necessarily pay off. Decades of marketing research demonstrates that negative framing almost always has a negative impact on the subject’s decision to act. People will feel bad, but they probably won’t give.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t talk about tough stuff; many nonprofits exist in order to deal with very negative circumstances. It’s a matter of framing your story in a positive way. What is your organization’s solution to the negative facts you face? What does it look like when a negative circumstance is changed?

5. Go Visual

You know that a picture’s worth a thousand words, but that’s especially true online. Content with relevant graphics can receive up to 94% more views than the same content without visuals. Photography, video, and infographics are all great visual elements to boost engagement with your content.

If you’re thinking, “It’s Cyber Monday, what’s the point of telling me I need fancy graphics? I have no time to get anything!” don’t worry. We’ve got a #GivingTuesday Social Media Toolkit with a free package of photos and graphics you can use to promote your #GivingTuesday campaign.

6. Update And Celebrate

Did you hit a goal? How close are you? Let your supporters know throughout the day by giving them regular updates.

Don’t be afraid that you’ll be obnoxious–it takes more reminders than you think for someone to take action. In marketing, this is called “effective frequency”, and while there’s a lot of debate, common wisdom says it takes seven encounters with an advertisement before it makes a significant impact.

Chances are, you’ll get bored talking about your campaign long before your audience is bored of hearing about it.

Take a minute today to think about milestones you’re hoping to reach tomorrow. Make a note of things to celebrate–your first donation, your first hundred dollars, reaching a match, or your fiftieth donor.

As you celebrate, remember to thank the donors who made it all possible.

7. Stay Engaged

#GivingTuesday is based in social media. Social media is conversational–it’s just as much about your followers as it is about your message In addition to your planned messages and posts, stay engaged with your supporters online. Check in with your platforms throughout the day to re-tweet and share your supporters’ messages about your campaign, as well as your own content. Mention and thank those who shared your posts. Give shout-outs to donors as they make donations during the day. Promptly reply to any comments you receive online.

Grey2K USA keeps the conversation going by sharing their supporters’ tweets.

Go, Go, #GivingTuesday!

You’ve got this. Celebrate your milestones and engage with your supporters tomorrow with eye-catching visuals, heartwarming positive stories, and easy-to-use technology, and have your best #GivingTuesday yet!

For More #GivingTuesday Resources, Check Out:

• Free #GivingTuesday Social Share Images
• 7 Tips To Use Social Media For #GivingTuesday

This post was originally published in November 2017 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

On today’s episode we talk with Farra Trompeter, the VP of Big Duck.

During our conversation, we talk about how a year-round communications strategy can improve your fundraising at year-end and practically how do you go about crafting a plan that fits your organization’s goals.

Additional resources:

• [Interview] Farra Trompeter on Nonprofit Brand Strategy (Brandraising)
• Mapping Your Donor Communications Plan by Farra Trompeter
• [Video] Brand Architecture: Rethinking How You Connect the Dots Between Your Nonprofit’s Brand and Programs
• Free Fundraising Plan Guide, Calendar Template, & Goals Worksheet

Farra has led dozens of organizations through major brand overhauls, multichannel campaigns, and much more since joining Big Duck in 2007. She’s a frequent speaker around the country, training nonprofiteers on branding and marketing, online fundraising, and donor engagement.

Farra was born an activist on Long Island, organizing to end hunger, prevent drunk driving, and right other wrongs. She studied psychology at American University where she started and led a public health awareness organization called Students for Healthy Decisions. During the nine years she lived in DC, Farra worked on fundraising and social marketing for the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2001, Farra moved to San Francisco and dove into the wonderful world of online fundraising with Donordigital. In 2004, she came home to New York to get her Master of Science in Nonprofit Management at The New School and soon joined the team at Douglas Gould and Company to lead online engagement projects.

Farra serves as Board Chair for Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), an organization that believes technology can revolutionize social change. She is also a part-time faculty member at The New School for Public Engagement and New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where she teaches classes about online engagement and strategic communications for nonprofits.

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast.

On this episode we talk with Kivi Leroux Miller and we talk all about the insights in her newly released 2017 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report.

In this report Kivi and her team tackle questions like:

• What do most nonprofit communications teams look like?
• What separates effective communications teams from less effective ones?
• Are we making any progress on well-known challenges in the field?
• And more …

Kivi is president of NonprofitMarketingGuide.com and the award-winning author of two books, “The Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause” and “Content Marketing for Nonprofits: A Communications Map for Engaging Your Community, Becoming a Favorite Cause, and Raising More Money.” She is also a certified executive coach.

Through training, coaching and consulting, Kivi helps nonprofit communications professionals both learn their jobs and love their jobs. She teaches webinars and workshops several times a month and writes a top-ranked blog on nonprofit communications at Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com. Thousands of nonprofits in all 50 U.S. states, across Canada, and in more than 30 countries have participated in Kivi’s trainings.

After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC, Kivi gave up big city life to live in rural North Carolina with her husband, two young daughters, three cats, a dog, and countless backyard wildlife. She enjoys writing, gardening, volunteering, hiking, vegetarian cooking, and teaching her kids how to bake.

Additional resources:

• Planning Your Editorial Calendar This Year by NonprofitMarketingGuide.com
• [2016 Interview] Kivi Leroux Miller On What Differentiates Successful Nonprofits From The Rest
• Fundraising Planning Guide, Calendar Template, & Goals Worksheet
• 101+ Fundraising Ideas For Nonprofits

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast.

On this episode, we talk with Heather Mansfield. She is the founder of the Nonprofit Tech for Good blog and author of the best-selling books Mobile for Good and Social Media for Social Good.

Over the last 10 years, she’s helped trained fundraisers at more than 30,000 nonprofits, NGOs, and charities worldwide. She is a true gem and has contributed so much to help improve our industry’s online fundraising efforts.

During our conversation we talk about how fundraising has shifted over the last 10 years due to the onset of the internet, how nonprofits should be thinking about social media in 2017, and other trends nonprofits must keep an eye on throughout this next year.

Additional resources:

• 5 Nonprofit Technology Trends to Watch in 2017
• 5 Digital Payment Systems That Could Transform Online Fundraising
• Social Media, Activism & Other Engagement Trends From The Latest 2016 Millennial Impact Report
• Top 10 Fundraising Trends for 2017

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast.

On this episode, I wanted to share the audio from a recent training I hosted. During the training, I shared 11 ways you can get more of your supporters to open, engage, and respond to your year-end fundraising emails.

With only 1 week left of the year, I thought this was a timely conversation to share with you. Enjoy :

BEST PRACTICES:

1. Segment Your Audience
2. Spend Time On Your Subject Line
3. Make Your Emails Human
4. Purpose Over Design
5. Be Compelling
6. Make It Easy To Take Action
7. Timing Is Everything
8. Send More Emails
9. Re-Send Emails
10. Test, Test, Test
11. Track Your Performance
12. BONUS: Don’t Forget To Say Thank You

Additional resources:

• Watch the recording of live training on 11 ways to boost your email results
• 50+ Subject Lines That Will Get Your Year-End Fundraising Emails Opened
• Year-End Fundraising Email Tips

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast

In this episode we talk with Kenny Kane, the Executive Director of Testicular Cancer Foundation (testicularcancer.org/) about the importance of having a deep understanding of your ideal donors and how that fuels how you craft your messages and activate supporters to take action for your cause.

Kenny has significant experience in the nonprofit realm and years of experience working directly with young cancer groups. Previously, he spent six years as the COO and Co-founder of Stupid Cancer.

Additional resources:

• TCF used CauseVox to launch their Beard Patrol fundraising campaign
• [Interview] Julia Reich On Identifying Ideal Donor Personas & Why They Matter
• [Free Guide] #GivingTuesday Campaign Planning Guide

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast

On this episode we talk with Julia Reich, founder of Stone Soup Creative, about how a nonprofit can identify and craft their ideal supporter personas and how these profiles then influence your fundraising messages.

Julia is a branding consultant for nonprofits, strategist, speaker, designer and writer. She works with nonprofits and higher ed to help them develop and communicate their brand in order to maximize mission impact.

Additional resources:

• Free donor persona development worksheet
• How to create an Ideal Audience Persona: three reasons & a worksheet
• Donor Segmentation 101: What it is & Why it matters

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast

On this episode we talk with Mazarine Treyz, founder of Wild Woman Fundraising, about the core elements of effective fundraising appeals, how the best appeals are centered around stories of one, and even touch on lessons you can pull from your favorite works of fiction when you’re writing your appeals.

Mazarine Treyz is the author of The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, and founder of WildWomanFundraising.com, a popular fundraising resource with 50,000 monthly readers. She also wrote The Wild Woman’s Guide to Social Media and Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide, both which were given a 5-star review by Nonprofit.About.com. Mazarine has co-founded a nonprofit and worked in fundraising roles for 10 years. She’s raised millions for small, national and international charities via grants, events, sponsorships, crowdfunding, appeals. She’s trained over 10,000 people from 2011-2015 and helped nonprofits raise millions more.

Additional resources:

• Mazarine’s year-end fundraising masterclass
• Fundraising staff attrition cost article by Mazarine
• [Interview] Lori Jacobwith On Crafting Fundraising Stories
• Additional articles on writing appeal letters by Marazine
• Free 60-day Year-End Fundraising Plan + Checklist For Nonprofits

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast

On this episode we talk with Lori L. Jacobwith, founder of Ignited Fundraising, about how your organization’s culture matters more than you think and how to craft a compelling fundraising story that drives response (even without an ask).

Lori L. Jacobwith is a nationally-recognized master storyteller and fundraising culture change expert. Named one of America’s Top 25 Fundraising Experts, Lori has delivered coaching and training sessions that have helped nonprofit organizations raise $300 million dollars from individual donors.

Her proven strategies & tools teach staff and board members to share their stories powerfully and effectively to cause donors to give more. Lori holds a BA in Political Science and Speech Communications from the University of Minnesota, has additional training from Indiana University’s Fund Raising School, and is a longtime member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Additional resources:

• I Don’t Want to Ask People For Money by Lori Jacobwith
• Ebook: Boring to Brilliant: Finding and Sharing Stories That Cause People To Take Action
• Nonprofit Storytelling Secrets From Pixar
• [Interview] Vanessa Chase Lockshin On Nonprofit Storytelling In Year-End Fundraising
• Free 60-day Year-End Fundraising Plan + Checklist

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast

How To Raise More Money This Year-End?

On this episode, we share the recording of a discussion CauseVox hosted with Beth Kanter, Pamela Grow, Nancy Schwartz, and other fundraising experts on year-end fundraising.

During the discussion, our fundraising expert panel shared answers to questions around crafting compelling appeals, running multi-channel campaigns, the power of storytelling, caring for yourself and your team during year-end, and more. It was an incredible discussion and must listen for fundraising leaders.

SHOW NOTES:

• Free 60-day year-end fundraising guide
• Order Beth Kanter’s new book on self-care
• Nancy Schwartz’s blog for nonprofits
• Pamela Grow’s blog for fundraisers
• Big Duck’s resources for nonprofits
• Graham-Pelton Consulting
• Avalon Consulting’s blog
• Campaign Monitor’s email marketing software for nonprofits

Find more episodes on iTunes (bit.ly/CVpodcast) or our website (www.causevox.com/podcast).

Looking for more nonprofit insights? Visit our blog (bit.ly/nonprofit_blog) and see our collection of 400+ posts sharing all things fundraising and marketing.

Easily create a powerful fundraising campaign in minutes. Try CauseVox for free! ~ www.causevox.com

Find more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or www.causevox.com/podcast