As Nov. 28 draws near, nonprofits are seeking #GivingTuesday success with their campaigns. For nonprofits new to #GivingTuesday, it’s even more important to start planning your communications early.
Rebuilding Together is a national housing organization, based in Washington, D.C., which started in 1973 by a group of volunteers in Texas when neighbors came together to repair a home. Today, the nonprofit has more than 145 affiliates across the U.S. with a mission to transform the lives of low-income homeowners by improving the safety and health of their homes and revitalizing communities.
In 2016, Rebuilding Together participated in Mightycause’s #GivingTuesday for the first time. As first year participants, Rebuilding Together raised more than $26,000 from 160 donors. They leveraged their fundraiser, “Don’t Forget to Remember #GivingTuesday” to garner most of their donations for #GivingTuesday.
Targeted Messaging
The organization fully utilized their fundraiser’s story to make a compelling case for donors of all interests to give. They broke their story into three pieces, “Who We Are,” “The Problem” and “The Solution.” Their solution focused on Low-Income Families, Seniors and Veterans, and broke down the impact a gift could make in a tangible way for each segment.
For the section focused on low-income families, the nonprofit described the impact by saying, “$45 provides a family with outdoor safety lighting. $150 provides a family with a new working toilet.” This helped donors with the ability to make small or large gifts fully understand the impact of their donation. The other projects, such as Seniors and Veterans, also outlined the different gift sizes and their impacts.
Matching Gift
Rebuilding Together secured a matching gift for #GivingTuesday, which enabled donors to double their impact. They made sure to mention the gift at the top of their story. “The year-end campaign where ONE dollar equals TWO. (We have a matching gift!).”
With just hours left to go on #GivingTuesday, their fundraiser organizer posted an Update on their Mightycause page letting donors know the match was extended through Dec. 31, meaning they could continue to give to their Mightycause page throughout the end of the year season, helping them transition easily into end of year giving. Their match was secured from a long-time board member and was a 1:1 match up to $10,000.
Additionally, that board member leveraged their corporation and their employees to match the funds raised by Rebuilding Together. For every employee who donated, the board member agreed to personally match their gift 1:1 as well as the corporation matching for all employees’ donations 1:1. The breakdown of funds raised by the match is as follows:
- 41 employees gave
- $2,003 raised by employees
- $2,003 matched by Board Member
- $2,003 matched by Board Member’s Corporation
Social Media Sharing
With so many affiliates around the country, Rebuilding Together utilized their large network to help spread the word for their fundraiser. They used the hashtag #razoogt16 on Facebook and Twitter posts to make sure they were included in the feed on Mightycause’s #GivingTuesday board and involved in the giving conversation happening on social media.
For #GivingTuesday success, Rebuilding Together sent out emails to their individual and corporate sponsors as well as asking all of their employees and board members to send out a series of three emails to their friends, family and colleagues. The first was sent in advance of #GivingTuesday, announcing Rebuilding Together’s campaign. The second was sent at launch, and the final email was sent at 6:00 p.m. the day of #GivingTuesday.
The key to participation is making it as easy as possible for people to share what they were doing. All emails were drafted by a staff member so employees and board members could easily customize and personalize the opening paragraph of the email and press send. They also prepared sample social media posts for Facebook and Twitter so employees and board members could copy and paste and post.
The Rebuilding Together staff member sent periodic updates to employees and board members letting them know how close they were to their final goal throughout the day with one final push at 6:00 p.m. Staff members later said the reminders were crucial as some had forgotten they were supposed to send out the final push.
2017 Campaign
Rebuilding Together plans again to participate in #GivingTuesday on Mightycause.
As a result of the recent hurricanes Harvey and Irma and their impact on Rebuilding Together communities in Texas and Florida, Rebuilding Together will focus their 2017 #GivingTuesday campaign on long-term disaster relief. They plan to secure another corporate match from a Board Member or corporate sponsor as well as ask their employees and Board Members to ask their friends, family and colleagues.
Start Planning Now
#GivingTuesday 2017 is fast approaching! Make sure to register your nonprofit today for #GivingTuesday on Mightycause and join the hundreds of other nonprofits that have had #GivingTuesday success: Register now.