Challenge gifts

8 Jan 2019

Stephen Mally Challenge, Challenge gifts, Charitable organisation, Charities, Christmas appeal, Donation, Double, Matching, Matching gifts, Non-profit, tax appeal

Double their donation, double their impact

In the US, the last week of December is also the last week of the US financial year. Australian charities should imagine combining their Christmas and Tax Appeals in one. This is the scenario encountered for US charitable organisations!

Most US charities use matching challenges for the follow up wave to their year-end Appeal. This creates a sense of urgency where donors are encouraged to double their donation and to double their impact. Like Australian non-profit organisations, US organisations use count down clocks and every other means to add to the sense of urgency.

On 29 December, I received 17 appeals via email from various US-based non-profit organisations. Each of the emails asked me to give a last minute tax year-end gift. 15 of the 17 appeals offered a matching challenge whereby my donation would be matched and have double the impact. The emails came from universities, cultural institutions, hospitals, and health organisations. On 30 December and 31 December, the reminder emails continued with as many as 30 being received on each of the two days.

Donor History Embedded in Year-End Emails

One such email referred to the fact I had not given a donation this year. This email came from Mount Sanai Healthcare in New York City. Embarrassingly, the email reflected I had not given a donation once in 2018. While I was embarrassed, I was also impressed at the accuracy of the donor records. Emails showing any sort of donor history require good record keeping and testing.

Matching Challenges

Matching challenges work to bring in new donors, renew existing donors, and renew lapsed donors, like me. In this case, the charitable organisation added an extra push by reminding me I had not given a single gift this year. Some emails showed my giving history across the year and asked me to boost my year-end giving by an additional gift to match my average donation.

Australian charities conduct direct marketing appeals really well. Adding matching challenges and adding giving history for the existing financial year to tax appeals will make the Tax Appeals that much stronger. Happy New Year!

11 Dec 2018

Stephen Mally Best Practice, Challenge gifts, Countdown clock, Fundraising, GivingTuesday, Matching gifts

#GivingTuesday 2018 – these fantastic results speak for themselves

#GivingTuesday 2018 has come and gone. Reports suggest the income from #GivingTuesday have broken all previous records. Results include:1

150+ countries participating (including Australia!)
3.6M online donations
14.2B social media impressions
110+ community coalitions
$380M dollars raised online
$105.55 mean online donation

These fantastic results speak for themselves.

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration.

Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the USA) and the widely recognised shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.

Australia Takes Increased Interest in #GivingTuesday

The terrific news is Australia and Australian nonprofit organisations were an increased part of the 2018 success. More Australians, nonprofit organisations, and suppliers to the nonprofit sector participated this year than in years prior.

Do you wish your nonprofit organisation had jumped on the bandwagon?

It is not too early to plan for #GivingTuesday 2019 and to weave the program into your 2019 calendar. Here are some best practice examples to consider for next year from Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai Health System, Alzheimer’s Association, American Red Cross, and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Promote the Special Day

Reminding donors, lapsed donors, and prospective donors of the upcoming focused day of giving is critical. Their email in box will be busy with other charitable organisations doing the same. Create a campaign and messaging that will stand out amongst the others.

Countdown lock

Use a countdown clock in your messages leading up to #GivingTuesday and, certainly, in your EDMs throughout the #GivingTuesday itself.

Challenge Gifts/Matching Gifts

Challenge gifts and matching gifts are a terrific way to motivate new donors, lapsed donors, and existing donors to join/rejoin the giving family or to increase their donation on this milestone occasion.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Present a sense of urgency in the campaign.

Create Online Forms

Create online forms, which are dedicated to #GivingTuesday.

Plan to Participate in 2019

#GivingTuesday does not have to be viewed as difficult. The campaign incorporates aspects of campaigns your nonprofit organisation already utilises throughout the year.

Mark your planning calendars now for 3 December 2019 and commence planning in the new year.

31 Dec 2014

Stephen Mally 2015, BPay, Cause Related Marketing, Challenge gifts, Data cleansing, Data hygiene, Donation Tin, Donor care, FundraisingForce, Give Jar, Giving Tuesday, Goal setting, Ice Bucket Challenge, Matching gifts, New Year, Passwords, Personal Brand, PostPay, Professional development, QR codes, thank you notes, Year in Review

FundraisingForce – A Year in Review

For FundraisingForce’s year-end blog, we thought it was appropriate to take a look back at our blog posts over this past year and to do a bit of a year in review. We launched the Website for FundraisingForce in early June and what a year (6 months, actually) it has been! This last year, FundraisingForce…

…challenged you to think about the last time you sent something handwritten to someone, including thank you notes.
…suggested preparations for the end of the financial year on 30 June 2014.
…suggested each charity needed to be prepared to respond to customer service issues via Twitter, just as airlines, hotels, retail stores and others have to be prepared.
…offered an overview of how some organisations handle opt-outs.
…highlighted the fact most organisations in Australia do not offer BPay and PostPay as an option for giving for their donors.
…questioned why charities do not appear to utilise QR Codes in appeals and in other marketing.
…asked whether you have an elevator pitch to describe your charity and what you do for the charity.
…discussed collaborative goal setting.
…suggested customer service is the most import deliverable.
…spotlighted the good donor care provided by Zoos Victoria Foundation.
…discussed the importance of good data hygiene.
…highlighted the importance of matching gifts and how rare they are in Australia.
…offered four steps to donor care.
…gave ideas for professional development.
…asked whether donor welcome packs are a thing of the past.
…offered the opinion that cause related marketing is also rare in Australia.
…applauded the Ice Bucket Challenge.
…also applauded an August telemarketing call.
…suggested your charity test an ask in your donor acknowledgement/thank you letters.
…gave training options for your team.
…highlighted why gifts in honour or memory of someone are really sensitive gifts.
…introduced the DipJar to potentially replace donation tins.
…showed you how to find hot prospects for spring.
…offered advice to prepare for a disaster.
…gave additional suggestions and advice on staff training.
…offered advice to set passwords and not store them on Post-it Notes!
…suggested challenge gifts to motivate your donors to give.
…introduced the concept of personal brand.
…highlighted charities offering holiday cards.
…promoted GivingTuesday and its success a multitude of times.
…and, we highlighted selfless acts on behalf of charities, including those of MaryRose Mazzola of Massachusetts.

FundraisingForce sincerely hopes the various topics we have blogged have been of interest and benefit to you and others in your organisation.

Special thanks to RamtinWorld for designing a terrific Website and a platform for FundraisingForce to be able to communicate with all of you worldwide.

FundraisingForce wishes you all best wishes for 2015. Happy New Year!

9 Oct 2014

Stephen Mally Challenge gifts

Challenge gifts are a solid driver for charity revenue

Earlier this week I wrote about the opportunities to get your supporter’s gifts matched by their employers. Matching gifts are new to Australia because I believe your organisation is leaving money on the table. The fact is, when I worked in healthcare fundraising I launched similar programmes which raised >$100K in the first year and grew from there.

Another area more US charities are starting to promote is challenge gifts. Imagine this scenario – Joe Bloggs and his partner decide to give $200,000 to Charity XYZ if Charity XYZ raise $200,000 from the Christmas Appeal with the focus on:

Acquisition – Joe and his partner will match every dollar a new donor gives to Charity XYZ,
Upgrade – Joe and his partner will match every dollar a donor gives above the amount of their previous gift, and
Renewal – Joe and his partner will match every dollar a donor who is lapsed (18+ months) gives.

The challenge gift has become quite popular. Promotion of challenge gifts is all over my email and has been over the last week. In an email on 30 Sept, Room to Read gave me until midnight that day to get my gift doubled. On the same day, The Jimmy Fund sent an email to tell me about a generous donor who has offered to triple my gift if I gave to their appeal that today. And, there are countless others I received over the last week asking me to give and offering me the chance to get my gift doubled or tripled all because another supporter offered a lump sum of money to the charity and challenged the charity.

A couple of notes –

1) All of the challenge emails I received were from US charities. You and I know I am on hundreds of charity lists in Australia due to the independent mystery shopping study I have conducted over the last four+ years. It is likely I would have received an email from the charities if charities in Australia are creating challenge opportunities.

2) All of the challenge emails request I respond “today” or by “midnight” to take advantage of the opportunity. The sense of immediacy, as you know, in electronic direct mail works.

The question I ask is why aren’t Australian charities using the challenge gift angle to raise more funds and to attract new, current, or lapsed supporters to give again? Does it go in the “too hard” bucket? It’s not that difficult. Simply do the following:

Create a plan for a challenge prior to asking any donor(s) for the lump sum.
Find one or more generous donors to give a lump sum of money with some challenges tied to the donation.
- Feel like your charity does not have one donor to give the lump sum? Ask a group of donors – those on the board, those who have given a nice sized gift each year, or those who you are trying to get over the line and you need something interesting to attract them. Find people who are already engaged in the organisation and who want to make sure the money they invest will make a difference.

Challenge gifts have been around for years in the US and elsewhere. There is nothing new about challenge gifts except few, if any, Australian charities are implementing the concept. Become one of the first. Take action today.