With 30% of all giving happening in the last month of the year, your year-end appeal is one of the most important ones you'll make all year.
From best practices to hands-on support, here at Flipcause, we've got you covered!
Here are our tips to make sure you're connecting with your donors and inspiring them to donate:
Crafting your year-end appeal campaign
Your fundraiser landing page is the central piece of your campaign; regardless of what marketing, communication, or announcement channels you use, everything should point to a dedicated landing page for your campaign - directly to where your supporters will be taking action.
Setting your goal
- Your fundraising goal should be ambitious, yet attainable. Here are some tips on how to set the right fundraising goal for your appeal.
- Display your goal and your progress meter on your campaign to help drive urgency and motivation.
Telling your story
- How you make your ask will make a huge difference on whether or not your supporters will donate. Check out our tips for crafting an appealing year-end appeal.
- Use the About Campaign section to include your story and main appeal. Videos and imagery makes a huge difference - it can increase donations by 50%. You can add video or images in-line with your campaign story as well.
Defining your call-to-action (CTA)
- For best results, word your call-to-action simply, directly, and add an element of urgency.
- You can then customize the text on your main call-to-action buttons on your campaign in the Tool Settings.
And to make sure you've dotted all your I's and crossed all your T's, you can reference our campaign pre-launch checklist.
Publishing and sharing your year-end appeal campaign
Ready to launch? The next step is making your campaign publicly available is to add it to your website and announce it to your community:
Website
- Just like any main fundraising push, make sure to make it easy to find on your website.
- We recommend adding a link directly to the campaign landing page from your website's main navigation menu, and you can also add it as a floating button or make a mention of it within the content of your website's homepage. Here are all the ways you can integrate a campaign into your website.
Email newsletter
- How you set up your email newsletter will also make an impact on your fundraising success, and you can find all our tips on that subject here.
- You can export your contacts in Flipcause and add them to your mailing list program.
- You can also use Flipcause reporting to help segment your audience, such as running major donor or LYBUNT/SYBUNT reports.
Direct mailer
- You can definitely use direct mail as part of your online fundraising, and this year it might be even more effective than ever. Read more here for how to include this channel into your outreach strategy.
- If you've been maintaining your Groups in Flipcause Contact Database, you can use Group reporting to pull your list of who to mail to. This helps you avoid sending multiple individual pieces of mail to multiple contacts who live together.
Social media
- As for social media posts, we have some tips on that too. We recommend crafting the messages and scheduling them in advance.
- Don't forget, you can also customize your campaign's social media settings to better dictate the stock description that displays when supporters go to share your campaign.
Reviewing your outcomes
Once your campaign has ended, it's time to reflect on your accomplishments, evaluate your success and especially, thank your donors.
And last but not certainly not least, after all your hard work, don't forget to celebrate everything you and your team has accomplished this year!
And if you'd like any help or support this holiday season for anything at Flipcause, including setting up your campaign, integrating it on your website, or getting the right reports, don't forget you can reach out to your Success Team and use our Concierge Services - we're here for you!