3 Initiatives Better Than Giving Tuesday or Give To The Max Day

“You don’t eliminate a bad habit, you replace it,” says James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.

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While participating in Giving Tuesday or Give to the Max Day isn’t necessarily a bad habit it might be hard to take it out of your yearly schedule unless you replace it with something better, especially if you use these days to kick off your end-of-the-year giving.?

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Here are three higher ROI replacements for Giving Tuesday or Give to the Max Day:

1. Initiating a Thanks-To-The-Max month?
2. Stewarding your legacy givers
3. Establishing a New Donor Retention Program?

Let’s break them down!?

Thanks-To-The-Max Month

Have you ever seen a movie in theaters because of a trailer you randomly saw? I know I have.?

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In fact, 65 percent of moviegoers said that watching movie trailers influenced the movie they planned to see. Movie trailers create awareness of what to expect, based on increased awareness people make decisions.?

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Creating awareness is important. This is something that Giving Tuesday does really well. They create awareness around the importance of generosity, volunteering, and nonprofit work. But your organization can create awareness around your important work and the donors who make it possible through Thanks-To-The-Max Month. My colleague, Nick, developed and pioneered Thanks-To-The-Max at Minnehaha Academy where it was very successful.?

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There are three specific elements that make Thanks-To-The-Max Month so effective:

ELEMENT #1: Community and Organizational Engagement

This is where you help your entire organization — from fellow team members to direct recipients — understand the impact donors make and thank them. Hosting activities and events that allow individuals to engage and connect with the important role donors play in the life of your organization is usually the best way to do this.

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It’s easy for non-development team members and even beneficiaries sometimes to be disconnected from the value of donors. However, when you commit time and space to celebrate the impact made by all members of your organization you close this gap for recipients, donors, and non-development team members.?

ELEMENT #2: Development Team Expresses Gratitude

This is where your development team takes an active role in expressing gratitude to the rest of the staff. Effective fundraisers are masters at helping donors see and feel the impact of their generosity, but the best fundraisers are those who also steward the efforts of their colleagues as well. This element of Thanks-To-The-Max is important in helping fundraisers celebrate the work of their colleagues in ways that help them (and your donors) feel important.

ELEMENT #2: Donor Conversation Days

This is where your development team splits a list of all the donors and calls each one and engages those who pick up in a meaningful gratitude-filled conversation. Scripts should be crafted to start the conversation with sincere gratitude followed with a discovery question to deepen the donor relationship.?

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A discovery question could be something like this, “You’ve been so loyal all these years. What has inspired such loyal support.” Now you’re thanking your donors and cultivating a relationship with them for another ask at a later time. This experience takes the donor to a new level of gratitude. In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to make gifts after these calls — or increase their end of the year gift.?

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Nick also mentioned that making these calls in the fall helped Minnehaha Academy have a clear understanding of a donor’s preparation level for making a significant year end gift invitation.

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In summary, people who feel appreciated give more.

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Did Thanks-To-The-Max Out Perform Give To The Max?

We couldn’t resist asking Nick the question that was probably on the forefront of your mind, too: Did Thanks-To-The-Max out perform Give to the Max? Here is what he said:

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Without question! Not only did we see marked growth in retention but we saw significant growth in end of year giving, too. (Retention grew across the board but growth in retention of first-time donors is particularly valuable here.)

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We had toyed with the idea of moving Thanks-To-The-Max to a part of our year that wasn't so congested by the myriad of things that happen in the first third of the school year but being a loud voice of gratitude amidst the fray of calls/emails for gifts always felt too important to try something different.?

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In our third year of Thanks-To-The-Max execution, read rates of emails, consumption of social media content and answered phone calls skyrocketed. The lesson? When gratitude is cultural, your constituency looks forward to hearing from you!

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In conclusion, helping your entire organization cultivate and express gratitude toward donors is a precious and profound tool in fundraising.

Stewarding Your Legacy Givers

If you clean your kitchen once does it stay clean?

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No, most of us have to clean our kitchen weekly if not daily to keep them clean. It doesn’t stay clean on its own. Our kitchen requires regular energy to maintain. Donor relationships and bequest gifts take regular energy to maintain, as well.?

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Making yearly face-to-face visits with anyone who has told you that you are in their will is essential for the financial health and longevity of nonprofits. Many organizations thank bequest donors assuming their gift is finalized. However, most bequest gifts are revocable. There’s always a chance that a donor could change their mind about you.

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Unless an organization stays connected to the donors making this generous gift the odds of the gift disappearing are real. This is significant because the average bequest is 200x the size of an annual gift. That being the case, keeping these donors may be the largest impact we make and losing them could be the largest mistake we ever make!

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Retaining your existing legacy giving donors will retain significantly more money than the money you could ever raise on a Giving Tuesday.?

Establish A New Donor Retention Program

Have you ever walked into a church where there was a warm and energetic greeting team??

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After visiting multiple churches a friend of mine finally chose a home church because the greeting team learned her name as she walked in and said goodbye to her by name when she left. The welcome my friend received determined the church she stayed at. Welcoming someone new with attention and warmth makes the new person feel valued.?

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This is very similar to a donor's relationship with the organization they support. When an organization does a good job at welcoming and thanking a new donor for their support the nonprofit makes the donor feel valued. When donors feel valued the likelihood that they will make consecutive gifts increases dramatically.

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Statistically, for every five first-time donors only one will give again — that’s a typical donor retention rate of approximately 20%. However, when donors are thoughtfully thanked, donor retention is increased by 39% — which means three out of five first-time donors will give again! In other words, creating and implementing a strategic and heartfelt new donor experience significantly increases donor retention.

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Giving Tuesday is notorious for attracting new donors that never convert to long term donors. If you want to do Giving Tuesday or Give to the Max Day, take a year to establish a retention program so that in following years during Giving Tuesday you can actually develop ongoing? support for all the effort.?

What’s Next?

Contemplating a fundraising plan that doesn’t include Giving Tuesday or Give to the Max Day can make most people feel like they’re swimming upstream.?

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But like salmon that swim upstream to lay their eggs in fresh water and leave a legacy that will outlast them, choosing and implementing a strategic fundraising focus could allow your organization’s important work to continue for decades.?

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Going against the grain and swimming upstream is uncomfortable work, but the rewards are often long lasting.?

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If you’re ready to create and implement a legacy giving program or improve your new donor retention, but aren’t sure where to start, check out our coaching programs. Walking alongside nonprofits to think through and orchestrate the best kind of return and generosity for their important work is our specialty. We would be honored to support you in your important work!??

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And, as always, you’re welcome to book a call with us HERE!?