Three Week Countdown to #GivingTuesdayNow

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA

Your fundraising work may need to incorporate an international day of online giving set to take place this May 5th as organized by GivingTuesday.

The day is called #GivingTuesdayNow and has been created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event will be focused on mobilizing a global network of leaders, private-sector and philanthropic partners, and generous individuals to take action on behalf of first responders and frontline workers, including nonprofits and community-based organizations working to feed, house, educate, and support people impacted by the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus. Here is the press release.

Hesitations?

You may be hesitant about fundraising in general right now because of high unemployment and the fragility of many people’s health. I empathize with your concern. Thoughtfully convey that concern to your donors and explore if they want to donate. It’s best not to decide for them. I explain my full reasoning here.

Fundraising activities will allow you to successfully serve your clients through this pandemic (it will take at a minimum 18-24 months to develop a vaccine, and then it has to be produced and distributed) and you have to have the revenue you need to implement and advance your mission.

Have faith in in your donors. They cared about you before this pandemic and, if thoughtfully cultivated, they’ll care afterward. Avoiding them now will just exacerbate a bad situation.

Is Your Social Media Ready?

This fast approaching spring drive will require you to mount an online campaign with less time than is ideal.

To be ready for #GivingTuesdayNow, here are three steps to take immediately.

  1. LANDING PAGE: Your website will need a dedicated #GivingTuesdayNow landing page. Turn to your IT consultant or search online for how to do it yourself.
  2. STORIES: Your #GivingTuesdayNow landing page should use the specific stories of how COVID-19 has impacted you already as the basis for why you’re asking for support. Short videos (90-seconds) informally done, but well thought-out, can be powerful. One nonprofit I donate to has their soothing pastoral counselor sit and talk with one of their disabled clients and I get teary each time I watch them. If COVID-19 has not fundamentally caused disruption in your work, consider shifting to what role your nonprofit will need to play going forward.
  3. FUNDRAISING METHOD: Your main fundraising method should be a targeted campaign on a mobile-optimized crowdfunding platform. The COVID-19 campaigns being done by higher education are the model and they are a variation of crowdfunding. These targeted campaign landing pages have easy giving checkout, introductory videos and they provide regular updates. For example, show a building goal amount and the number of donors. I would also suggest that you  enable a donor wall.

Laurence Pagnoni is author of Fundraising 401 and a frequent contributor to NonProfit Pro.

We welcome your comments about this post on the LAPA blog.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Posts

Has Donor Trust in Charities Changed?

In this age of “fake news”, “alternative facts” “hyper partisanship” and what seems to be a general erosion of trust, why should we even care?  And if we care what can we fundraisers do about it?

Of course, every fundraiser should care because trust is the lynchpin of a solid and sustainable relationship with a donor.  And because there are ways to measure trust, taking steps to increase the level of trust, and by doing so increase donor value and an organization’s net revenue.

Read More »

MacKenzie Strikes Again

You probably won’t recognize most of the names on the list of the top 50 mega-philanthropists.

MacKenzie Scott’s name, though, immediately rings a bell and puts a smile on the face of those of us serving in the non-profit sector.

Ironically, she is not on that list, unlike her ex-husband.

Yet we love her for the special sensitivity she shows us, and her latest “strike,” an announcement to give away $250 million in funding to small nonprofits, is no exception.

Read More »

The CEO as Chief Fundraiser: A Role That Should Never Be Delegated

Our recent posts have lasered in on fundraising perennials–retention of fundraising staff, annual funds, and why donors give.  Another perennial stacks up as equally worthy of thoughtful commentary, and that’s the role of the chief executive officer in fundraising.  

A short definition of a CEO is he or she who makes decisions.  Nowadays, we recognize the value of consensus decision-making, and that’s fine.  But the kinds of decisions I’m referring to are the big ones, decisions such as those made by the captain of a ship.

Read More »