Part 2: Advanced Tactics to Supercharge Your Giving Tuesday
Since Giving Tuesday began well over a decade ago, some organizations have run their campaigns for nearly 10 years and have the basics covered. In this second installment of our Giving Tuesday blog series, Windfall will provide advanced tactics for teams looking to take their established Giving Tuesday fundraising strategies to the next level:
- Focus on Match and Challenge Gifts
- Conduct a Giving Tuesday Lookback
- Utilize Predictive Modeling to Prioritize Constituents
- Recruit and Deploy Volunteers
1. Focus on Match and Challenge Gifts
On a broad-based fundraising day like Giving Tuesday, one of the best ways to inspire donors to give more is by leveraging a time-sensitive match or challenge gift. When donors see that their $10 or $20 contribution will be doubled or tripled by a generous supporter, but only for a limited window, they’re often more motivated to contribute. These gifts are typically offered by individuals or corporate sponsors in your network.
Here are some ways to uncover matching gift or Giving Tuesday sponsorship opportunities using Windfall’s data:
- Solicit high-net-worth individuals: Use Windfall’s net worth data to identify and engage top donors who are highly involved with your organization. These donors are often willing to attach their names to a match or a challenge gift.
- Leverage the Small Business Owner Trigger: Identify local businesses to reach out to for sponsorship opportunities. Many organizations have successfully used this flag to secure community-based support, as serving as a challenge gift sponsor provides exposure and positive PR for local businesses.
- Utilize Career Data: identify the companies where your largest group of donors work. Reach out to the most senior individuals at these companies already engaged with your organization to explore potential corporate match or challenge sponsorships for Giving Tuesday campaigns and beyond.
2. Conduct a Giving Tuesday Lookback
If your organization has participated in prior Giving Tuesday campaigns, you already have valuable data at your fingertips. Conducting a look back at past Giving Tuesday donors can uncover valuable insights and lead to stronger results this year. Donors who gave on Giving Tuesday in the past may be more likely to give again with the right outreach.
Here’s how you can use Windfall insights to make the most of your past data:
- Utilize trigger data for personalized asks: Identify past Giving Tuesday donors who have had a recent liquidity event or stock transaction and send them a personalized, time-sensitive ask ahead of Giving Tuesday.
- Stack-rank past donors by net worth: Prioritize past high-net-worth Giving Tuesday donors who have not given recently for re-engagement. Some donors may have contributed once and lapsed, making it essential to focus any 1:1 efforts planned for past donors with the highest giving potential.
- Leverage Career Intelligence triggers: Look for past Giving Tuesday donors who have recently changed jobs or received promotions, as these life events can signal a good time for personalized re-engagement. Bonus: your more targeted messaging can go a long way towards cutting through the multiple appeals and emails most people will receive on Giving Tuesday.
3. Utilize Predictive Modeling to Prioritize Constituents
Wealth screening and career data can tell you a lot about your constituents, but propensity modeling provides an additional layer of precision that is invaluable on Giving Tuesday. Larger and more advanced nonprofits, especially those with sizable databases, leverage propensity scores based on machine learning modeling to effectively prioritize and segment constituents quickly and at scale.
If you don’t leverage propensity modeling yet, Windfall suggests using a model that is fully customized to your organization’s goals and data to ensure that you’re correctly prioritizing high-propensity constituents. For instance, you can run a model that’s based on predicting who will give a modest gift of $100 online or who will become a major donor. Here are a few ways to maximize the impact of predictive modeling:
- Select a realistic gift threshold: Use models customized to your organization’s goals, such as an annual campaign, leadership gift, or major gift thresholds. All of these thresholds can be relevant on Giving Tuesday.
- Ensure nuanced prioritization: Use a granular scoring range, like one from 0-99 in your model’s results. This precise range will enable fine-tuned prioritization at scale versus more generalized A/B/C or High/Med/Low ratings.
- Consider Giving Channels: If your Giving Tuesday campaign spans digital and direct mail channels, narrow down your direct mail list by using an Annual Giving model focused on those most likely to make a gift via direct mail to cut costs and maximize the return on your direct mail investment.
4. Recruit and Deploy Volunteers
Volunteers can be a potent asset for your Giving Tuesday campaign. When asked by a peer, individuals are often more likely to give. However, coordinating volunteer engagement and peer-to-peer fundraising can take significant time and effort. The good news? Even a small group of engaged volunteers can make a big difference with the right tools. Here’s how to get started:
- Activate top supporters: Instead of asking your high-net-worth, loyal donors for another financial gift on Giving Tuesday, ask them to volunteer. Whether making calls, tapping into their networks, or sending thank you notes, this is an excellent way to strengthen their relationship with your organization while leveraging their connections.
- Use Career Data to find pockets of volunteers at large companies and organizations: Identify potential volunteers at large companies or organizations. A single dedicated donor or volunteer can spread the word to their colleagues and inspire additional support. Deliver targeted, personalized volunteer asks to these individuals, and once you have buy-in, arm them with a digital toolkit for getting others involved on Giving Tuesday.
- Use the Nonprofit Board Member and Philanthropic Cause Triggers: These Windfall triggers can highlight individuals with a natural interest in your cause or those with a history of volunteerism. Pair this data with your internal engagement data, like event attendance or past volunteer activities, to find highly engaged volunteers.
Conclusion
By applying these advanced strategies, your organization can drive deeper engagement and maximize results this Giving Tuesday. Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo with Windfall today to discover how data-driven insights can help you prioritize, engage, and elevate your Giving Tuesday campaign.
