It’s that time of year again! As we approach Fall, it’s time to start looking at planning your organization’s upcoming holiday giving days.

As this past year was a bit chaotic, we wanted to provide you with some guidance and advice on how to crush your Giving Tuesday campaign goals this year.

Take a look at our 7 best practices to raise more from your corporate partners this upcoming giving season:

 

1.) Start planning now!

I know, we are still riding that summer feeling, but Fall is going to be here before you know it. Speaking with lots of experience, it’s never too early to start planning your end-of-year outreach and the best campaigns are the ones that are well-thought-out and expertly executed. Don’t wait until the last minute to try to piece together a plan during a notoriously busy time of the year. Instead, ask yourself the following questions now to make sure you are on track:

-Have you reached out to your corporate partners to discuss potential campaigns?  Guaranteed, your corporate partners are already mapping out their Q3 and Q4 activities. Now is the opportune time to get on their calendars while they are in planning mode.

-Is your mission content fresh, updated, and ready to get out the door?  Do you need to update pictures, refresh your stories, or create new digital assets?

-Have you done a reverse mapping of your potential go-live dates?  This is crucial to ensure you aren’t missing those critical deadlines and can help to alleviate stress in the long run.

 

2.) Goal set with your partners around Giving Tuesday 

Talk with your corporate partners about average donation amounts to help set expectations on donation goals. For example, if one of your current partners has a workforce of 10,000, and on average 30% of them donate on Giving Tuesday (with each person donating about $72 – averages seen during the 2020 giving season according to charity navigator) that one partner could help your organization raise over $200,000!

 

3.) Tailor your Giving Tuesday communications 

It’s imperative that you templatize, yet personalize, your campaign outreach for your partners. We understand the bandwidth constraints in working at a nonprofit, so be efficient and effective when creating communication tool guides. Create one set of sample assets that can be easily customized per partner, by swapping out logos and stories that best resonate with each partner. This way, you will be ready to scale your outreach efforts, while providing each partner a unique and customized campaign experience.

 

4.) Mix online with offline channels 

In planning with your corporate partners, make sure to talk about a multi-channel engagement strategy. Although we live in a highly digitized society, don’t underestimate the power of harnessing offline channels for promotions. Can you put a QR code in a banner for employees to engage with in and around the office? Can you create point-of-sale signage that will elicit conversations between shoppers and employees about your cause? Get creative in linking together your offline with your online promotion strategy to see the most effective engagement.

 

5.) Empower your partner by providing them with compelling stories 

As you’ve probably heard before, storytelling is key and content is king. As mentioned earlier, take a look now at your mission content to see what needs to be added, updated, or refreshed. Remember to keep in mind your target audience for your promotions. You will want to create compelling stories that speak to both your corporate partner’s employees (for employee engagement purposes) and your partner’s consumers/social followers.

 

6.) Help your partners to add value 

Who doesn’t love the opportunity to surprise and delight donors with added value? Help your corporate partners shine this holiday season by providing them with creative value-adds that donors will love. For example, work with your corporate partner to implement thank you coupons (to your corporate partner’s business) to all donors. This value-add not only recognizes and thanks donors but encourages repeat business for your corporate partner – which is a win-win-win in our book.

 

7.) Don’t forget to dive into the data with your partners! 

Although you are well on your way to implementing a successful Giving Tuesday campaign, don’t forget to make sure you are tracking your data to report on the results of your campaign. This includes not only your standard promotion campaign metrics (impressions, opens, donations), but also audience analytics. Compiling general information about your supporters can help you to better understand your core donor audience to build more effective and engaging campaigns in the future.

 

To hear more about best practices to activate your corporate partners this Giving Tuesday, join us for a webinar on August 11th with special guests, Woodrow Rosenbaum, GivingTuesday’s Chief Data Officer, and Lindsay Muse, I Live Here I Give Here’s COO. See the link below to register!

 

Join the Webinar