Give to the Max Day 2011: Building a campaign for success!

As promised from last week’s post “Give to the Max Day 2011: The Future of Fundraising is Now…Don’t Miss Out!” I am providing a guide for nonprofits looking to setup an effective Give to the Max Day campaign. The big day is quickly approaching but never fear it is not too late to get a basic campaign built and maximize your fundraising efforts. Here are some simple tips to help you get started:

1. Set goals for your campaign. Yes, I know the goal is to raise money, but for many nonprofits that is not and should not be the only goal. Your Give to the Max Day efforts can reach fundraising goals while also raising brand awareness, increasing outreach, etc.
2. Identify your target audience.  Here we are again, back to the basics of any marketing campaign. You must identify what your target audience is and focus your messaging and outreach on that audience.
3. Create an overarching message for your campaign. What is the story, the hook for this day?  How are you going to grasp their attention on this day when so many other nonprofits will be asking for a gift? This is an essential component to any Give to the Max Day campaign SocialNicole creates for a nonprofit.
4. Pick your tools and tactics for your Give to the Max Day campaign. Of course this is a social media heavy campaign, but thinking of Give to the Max Day as simply an online social media and email effort is not the most effective strategy. You should be thinking about how you are going to break through the clutter- consider all the tools you have at your disposal. With each tool, decide how to use it effectively and outline in detail what you will do. Tools include but are not limited to:
   • Phone
   • Traditional stamped mail
   • Social media tools you have been active in and building strong communities. No point in asking during this day if you don’t have any networked communities set up, right?
   • Social media/New Media outreach integrated with traditional media outreach. Media outreach is what most people think of as public relations. You have to start early and pick up the phone to make media happen, especially for an event that has so many nonprofits competing for attention. What story are you going to try and “sell”?
   • Email marketing – this should be a series of strategically messaged emails. It is a balance of making sure you send enough communications, but not too much. You also need to have a unified message that carries through each email. But each email needs to be unique and have a hook. At SocialNicole we plan and write this series all at once using the overarching message from Step 3 as a guide.
   • Website – Don’t forget to create a Give to the Max Day landing page, a Give to the Max Day giving badge, etc. on your website. It is important you do this and have clear messaging for this day.
5. Assess your staffing and needs for the entire campaign. Make sure your plans match your resources and that you bring advocates and volunteers into the fold to help you accomplish your goals. Your success in this campaign will result from the people who surround you.
6. Create an editorial calendar. Detailing every outreach effort, messages, etc., and select staff and volunteer responsibilities to set things in motion. Assign specific tasks to people. At SocialNicole we like to use Tom’s Planner along with Basecamp to map out all the tasks, to-do lists, etc.
7. Decide on measurement of your efforts. Use the goals you set in #1 on this list to help you set your metrics. My company encourages no more than 3 metrics be applied as it will get confusing.  It is important to focus in on the important metrics, though- not every metric you can find.
8. Run the campaign.  After you have a written out your plan you are ready to get your advocates on board, build your messaging and begin implementation. Your campaign should be at least a few weeks long (we like to begin 4-6 weeks out), culminating on Give to the Max Day.  Never forget about follow-up messaging that needs to happen after the big day!
9. Evaluate your campaign. This is an essential piece of the planning/implementation process. You must take time after any campaign to evaluate your efforts and assess what you have done. This is how you will learn and shape future campaigns. Simply stating “We made $3,000 this year and last year we made $5,000,” does not say much about the campaign. Assessing all aspects of the campaign, the effectiveness of each aspect and looking over your overall goals, metrics etc., should be part of this process. Perhaps you raised less money but gained considerable notoriety. Is that important to you and do you want to understand why that happened? Take notes, report to your board and make sure you take advantage of these notes for next year.

Remember that although Give to the Max Day happens only one day of the year, it should be a strategic part of your overall fundraising efforts. All of your fundraising efforts are about building relationships with supporters and potential supporters that will hopefully encourage them to give again and perhaps to give more the next time. But if you simply participate in Give to the Max Day once per year and forget about the supporters and people you reached, not trying to bring those people into your communities online and offline and make them feel welcome, chances are they will not come back again. So don’t think of Give to the Max day as a short term one day event – think of it as a catalyst that if you are strategic will all your online and offline communications can become a thriving source of new and stronger relationships. Thinking you may need help with all of this? Please feel free to contact me over at SocialNicole Online Marketing. We are here to help!

Tagged as: basecamp project management, creating a nonprofit campaign, creating a nonprofit online campaign, Give to the Max Day 2011, GiveMN, how do I create an online fundraising campaign, Minnesota Give to the Max day, Minnesota nonprofit campaigns, MnGive, nonprofit social media marketing, online fundraising, Saint Paul Foundation, SocialNicole Online Marketing, toms planner

Article by Nicole Harrison

Hi I'm Nicole Harrison, founder of SocialNicole Online Marketing. This blog is all about using social technology to connect, engage and grow organizations. If you liked the post, consider signing up for our monthly enews packed full of everything social. Thanks for visiting!

Nicole has written 53 awesome articles for us at Nonprofit Talk | Nonprofits Empowered and Connected

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