By: Sarah D’Amico
The end-of-year giving season is upon us, spanning Thanksgiving to Giving Tuesday to New Year’s Day. The giving season is connected to holiday shopping, which will be worth $807 billion this year, with many shoppers ready and willing to donate to causes they care about.
A great cause partnership can help nonprofits leverage this time to expand awareness of their cause and elevate their year-end fundraising. It’s also a great opportunity for corporate partners to increase brand awareness and strengthen customer loyalty. While implementing new ideas, it’s important to keep best practices in mind to ensure your campaign’s success.
Check out a few of our best practices below and let us know how you put them to work this year.
Cut through the holiday clutter with a clear call to action (CTA)
There’s a lot of holiday advertising noise. Break through with a good reason why someone should donate to your cause. Don’t make donors do the work. Clearly explain:
- What you’re asking donors to do
- Why their donation is important
- How you’ll be a good steward of their gift
1-800-Flowers and Feeding America have done a great job executing on a clear campaign call-to-action with social math to motivate donors and a clear plan for their dollars. $1 = 10 meals makes it easy to quickly see the significance of their donation and how just a few dollars can make a major impact.
Offer multichannel donation options
Meet your donors where they are by creating opportunities to give both in-store and online. U.S. consumers are 31% more likely to use retailer websites for holiday shopping this year. However, many are also planning to do part of their shopping in person. Talk to your partner about top channels they use to engage with their audiences and see how you can leverage those to promote your campaign. Exploring a combination of both in person campaign activations and mobile-friendly donation options, like texting capabilities and app push notifications, is more likely to increase support from consumers.
Time your campaign launch right
Launch your campaign before #GivingTuesday and keep the campaign running through New Year’s Day. Neiman Marcus and Boys and Girls Clubs of America nail timing. Their annual campaign runs from October 24 through January 31 and gives consumers the opportunity to donate both online and in-store. The campaign is promoted in-store, on websites and on social. This year, Neiman Marcus also hosted an in-person launch event showcasing some of the unique aspects of the 2022 campaign.
Use storytelling and great visuals
Storytelling adds emotion to your campaign. It humanizes the cause, making consumers more likely to give. A compelling story and visuals create strong mental images that make campaigns memorable. Stories should focus on communities served and how funds raised directly impact lives.
Outdoor Voices activewear and YMCA offer a great example. They teamed up for a limited-edition holiday activewear offering. The profits from the activewear collection went to the YMCA to help support more people getting access to exercise. The photography and video assets featured a diverse group of people modeling the collection. They also asked customers to submit their stories about the YMCA and shared them on their social media channels throughout the campaign. The imagery and stories created an emotional connection with consumers and increased brand recognition throughout the holiday season.
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