Education is a cause everyone can get behind. And that’s why #GivingTuesday is such a natural fit for education-based causes. Whether your nonprofit is a school or advocacy group, #GivingTuesday can help you reach more people, fund your programs, and build support in your community.
And hosting your #GivingTuesday campaign on Mightycause has lots of perks, including eligibility to win prizes, free fundraising training such as webinars, ebooks, and more!
Here are our top five tips for making the most of your school’s #GivingTuesday campaign this year.
Focus on the students
Highlight students in images, video, and in telling stories. People give back to schools because they want to support the students, so whatever it is you are raising funds for this #GivingTuesday, whether its new equipment for a science lab, a new scholarship program or field trips, make sure to show your supporters how these funds will impact students directly.
Focusing on the benefits for the students will be a key way to make your fundraising message appeal to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends of students who are being asked to make their gift.
Double your Donations with a Matching Gift
Make the most of those major donors and extra generous alumni that have supported your school over the years. Ask them to make this year’s major gift contribution in the form of a matching gift that you can use to leverage more support. Post your matching gift directly on your Mightycause page to get donors excited about the match incentive. As the day rolls on, the time to give and the dollars left on your match will tick down on your page, adding an extra sense of urgency for donors to make their gift before the match is up!
Promote your matching incentive on your Mightycause page, in your email communications and on social media. Share updates throughout the day on your progress toward the match, and watch your overall donations total soar with the matching gift and the extra gifts it can help you leverage.
Connect with younger supporters
Engage recent alumni to join the giving experience by making it accessible to them. Craft for ask specifically for small gifts if they are recent graduates or younger donors. It’s a great opportunity to help them make their first gift, and then you can steward and grow that relationship over time.
Connect with these younger supporters where they are. Make the most of social media and you can even text them the link to your donation page and they can easily make a gift on their phone. If these younger supporters don’t have the ability to make a donation, ask for their help in others way: sharing your campaign page with their network, starting a peer-to-peer fundraiser or sharing their personal story about their time at the school.
Empower others to raise the money for you
Organize a group of influential social media users who are passionate about your cause, and have them get the word out for you. Create a list of potential social media ambassadors who represent you key stakeholder groups: Students, parents, alumni, educators, staff, and the local business community. They can both post about your campaign, participate peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, and social media challenges.
Create a #GivingTuesday team fundraiser
Take your #GivingTuesday campaign up a notch and create a team fundraiser to encourage friendly competition. Create pages for different grades or different classes within each grade to allow them to compete against each other. Encourage teachers and students to share their class’s page with friends and family for that personal touch. Add fun incentives like a pizza party or ice cream social for the class that raises the most funds, or has the most donors give to their page. Host an assembly to get the school excited about the effort, or to recognize the winners in a special way!
Think beyond just the existing students and create a team where alumni from different years compete against each other for bragging rights or a special alumni event.
Create a Meaningful Thank You
You have access to a great tool at your disposal to say a meaningful thank you that will stand out from the crowd, people power. Gather all your students and teachers together to film a fun quick video of them all saying thank you! Once you have this video, add it to your thank you page on Mightycause that donors will see right after making their donation and post it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at the end of the campaign. Send the video personally to those first-time donors, or major donors who really made a difference in your campaign.
If you get students and teachers involved in the fundraising efforts (and we really think you should!) make sure to thank them too! Host an appreciation event with pizza, ice cream or other treats and share with them what your school will use the funds to support.