If you work at a non-profit organization or charity, you will undoubtedly need to run fundraising campaigns from time to time. While this is an essential part of fulfilling your organization’s goals, it can often be an overwhelming affair. All too often, managing a campaign can feel like you’re constantly juggling a million things and putting out fires all over the place.
While no two fundraising campaigns are alike, you can employ some common practices to make the process as smooth as possible. Consider these tips to set yourself up for success when managing a fundraising campaign.
Consider a Soft Launch
Before unveiling your campaign to the world at large, it can often be beneficial to stage a soft launch for a group of dedicated supporters. This can help to build momentum and buzz around your campaign before it even begins.
Typically, people are more likely to dig deep and contribute to a cause if they can see that some money has already been collected. Therefore, you must begin your campaign by engaging with your core support group. This will help the fundraiser to gain traction among a wider audience once you launch the campaign properly.
Additionally, soft launches allow you to identify and iron out any issues that might be present before launching the campaign for the world to see. If you are launching a campaign online, in all probability, there will be some slight issues with your website or copy. A soft launch can help you to collect feedback from supporters and build on it before launch. Ultimately, this will make your campaign look more professional and trustworthy when new people see it.
Check out this article for more information about soft launches and how they can benefit your fundraising campaigns.
Focus on Your Brand
When putting together a successful fundraising campaign, your brand must remain front and center. Branding is one of the most valuable tools any company possesses, and non-profits are no different. A strong brand image will help to build trust and loyalty among your supporters. Additionally, if you have a reputable brand, displaying this clearly on any materials associated with your fundraiser will help supporters confirm the campaign’s legitimacy.
Failure to clearly display your organization’s association with a campaign can confuse potential donors. This is especially important in the digital era we live in. Your marketing efforts to promote the campaign will undoubtedly use various channels like email and social media to build awareness. Therefore, your brand name, logo, and colors should be clearly displayed across all content, so people can trust these communications.
When you are planning a new campaign, it can often be beneficial to create a special logo specifically for the fundraiser. This can be different from your organization’s logo, but they should share a common design language. For example, you could keep the colors consistent across both logos. This will help new donors to immediately identify the campaign and the association with your non-profit.
Encourage People to Give Repeatedly
Supporters that donate on a recurring basis offer up to five times more value to your campaign and organization as a whole than those that only give once. On average, recurring donors will maintain their donations over six months. On top of this, they are significantly more likely to make a further one-time donation within the space of a year after canceling than those that only donate once. Therefore, you should begin asking your supporters to upgrade their one-off donation to a recurring monthly one. Otherwise, you risk losing out on money.
You can encourage people to do this using email marketing campaigns in which you ask your donors to upgrade to a recurring model. You can push this using bold and emotive calls to action and incentives for those that give monthly. Additionally, ensure that you hammer home the difference that monthly, recurring donations can make over one-off contributions.
Demonstrate the Impact of Contributions to Your Donors
If your supporters cannot see a direct link between their donations and the difference that they make, they are unlikely to give money. Therefore, if you want your campaign to be successful, it is in your best interest to demonstrate the real-world difference that the contributions can make.
You should remind your supporters that any sum of money, no matter how small, can make a significant difference to the cause. Show your donors how the money can help to advance the fundraiser’s mission.
One way you can do this is to tell your supporters the difference specific donation sizes can make to the campaign. You can do this in your email and social media marketing campaigns. Consider pairing these figures with visual aids that will provoke an emotional response among donors. These powerful photos can make all the difference when it comes to convincing people to donate.
Search for Corporate Sponsorships
Many businesses are scrambling to engage with and support non-profits at present. This is down to the evolution of the idea of corporate social responsibility. Nowadays, consumers expect companies to act in an ethical manner and support social and charitable causes. Corporations are trying harder than ever before to appear socially conscious to their customers, which means that many companies are willing to sponsor charitable fundraisers. This is even true for smaller charities and non-profits.
Corporate sponsorships can be an excellent tool to share your campaign with a broader audience. You can use a company’s platform to spread your message and ultimately increase donations to your fundraiser. Check out this article for more information about how to get sponsorships from companies.
Incorporate Gift Matching Schemes into Your Campaign
Many companies will match their employees’ donations to a non-profit fundraiser that they sponsor or are promoting. While they will rarely match the amount exactly, even if a company only matches a percentage, this can be a valuable source of income.
While this is fairly common, your donors will most likely be unaware that companies offer this benefit.
You can maximize the revenue from gift-matching schemes by investing in new and modern software solutions. These can help donors to see whether they are eligible for gift-matching directly from your donation page on your website. You could also opt for a fully automated system for doing this, which would make the entire process much more straightforward.
Corporate matching gift programs can significantly boost the revenue from an individual campaign. Additionally, they can massively improve the overarching methods of fundraising that you use across your organization as a whole.
Conclusion
Managing a successful fundraising campaign is a stressful experience. There are many factors to consider while trying to maximize the amount and value of donations. With that being said, there are some tactics you can use to increase the odds of managing a successful campaign.
Using modern, digital tools such as email and social media marketing and direct communications with your supporters can be massively beneficial when it comes to stimulating contributions. Capitalizing on corporations and their desires to promote a socially conscious reputation can significantly boost reach and revenue. Ultimately, while no two fundraisers are the same, there are some strategies you can employ at your non-profit to standardize the process and improve the response among supporters.
