In November, Christmas is already lurking behind the door as we say in my home country Slovakia and the countdown has started. If you have not prepared any cracking Christmas fundraising campaign or ideas yet, don‘t panic! There is still enough time to get the best out of Christmas, the essential giving period of the year.
Several NGOs in Europe and worldwide have witnessed massive success with digital fundraising since outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The individual giving has been driven by innovation, shift to digital as well as extraordinary solidarity of individual donors who have continued to support their favourite causes. So get creative, brainstorm together with your team and launch your fundraising Christmas push revolved around one of the (affordable) ideas below!
5 quick ideas to boost your Christmas fundraising in a pandemic-friendly way
1. Decorate your website and social media profiles – if you have decorated in offline environment, why not to decorate in online as well? Change the main imagery of your website, your cover pictures and profile pictures frames of your team members on social media. Add call to action to your Christmas visuals and this will ensure that anyone who visits your website or social media profiles will be instantly informed about a possibility to donate to your NGO.
2. Online auction offering unique gifts – reach out to artists, jewelry makers and other creative souls around you with a request to support your organisation with an in-kind art donation. Launch an online auction of unique gifts worth bidding on. You can also offer non-material gifts, for example dinner with a famous person or something experience-based.
3. Offer “virtual gifts” – offer a possibility of online donations and gift certificates to your donors as original digital alternative to material gifts – buy a dinner for cat in a shelter, a tree to save forest or a night of accommodation for a person without shelter. You can also create a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign page and ask your individual donors to ask their family and friends to donate to your NGO instead of buying gifts.
4. Storytelling campaign – create simple storytelling campaign just for Facebook and/or Instagram featuring set of compelling stories tailored to the theme and goal of your NGO. Complement them with photos and in an ideal case also by video, which you can easily shoot with your smartphone nowadays. Do not forget about a clear call to action, regular updates of the featured stories and share the content widely! Such stories are a great way to really demonstrate the work your NGO does.
5. Matching gifts – get your individual donors excited about increasing their impact and raise more donations than ever by running a donation matching campaign! Find a local business or a major individual donor who is willing to match your donor’s gift to a certain amount and want to increase their public recognition. Limit the campaign for a day or two (maximum a week) as deadlines make wonders in fundraising campaigns. And make sure to communicate about the impact of your gift-matching campaign once the goal has been achieved!
Finally yet importantly – do not ignore January! The month of January is generally believed to be the blackout month and slow time of the year for fundraising. However, an increasing number of NGOs have been reporting rise of individual giving also during the first weeks of the New Year. Use to your advantage that donors are not being bombarded with fundraising requests and campaigns of other NGOs. Say thank you to your existing donors, continue pushing your storytelling campaign or encourage donors to monthly giving – and start your New Year with a (fundraising) bang!
