Making the Most of a Last Minute Campaign

Photo Credit: Jason Leung

Has the Giving Season snuck up on you? Maybe your organization is small and your team is juggling too much, or maybe you’ve sworn off of Giving Tuesday only to experience fear of missing out as it approaches. 

Whatever the reason you haven’t started planning your campaign until a week before Giving Tuesday, all is not lost. You can still pull off a last minute save and start building a foundation for a more strategic campaign next year. 

Three Tips for Making It Work

1. Use what you have. 

If you already have a giving page and an account to send out mass emails, then you have what it takes to create a Giving Tuesday campaign. Focus on your email messaging and route your donors to the page you already have set up. Your emails don’t have to be long, just put together essential information, like in the ad lib below. 

Giving Tuesday Ad Lib

Hi {Donor Name},

You’ve always come through for (nonprofit name), and this Giving Tuesday you can make even more of a difference. We’re raising (campaign goal) to provide (aid) to (mission + constituency). Your donation will go even farther this year, thanks to a generous (dollar amount) matching gift from (matching gift donor). 

You can donate on our website at (donate page URL). Your generous donation helps us (succinct mission statement)!

{Signature}

2. Mine your data for low hanging fruit.

There are some quick lists you can pull to target donors, even if you don’t have time to come up with a comprehensive strategy. 

Depending on how you have your CommitChange database set up, these are easy to pull via tags and Supporters filtering. If you have questions on how to set up filters and pull Supporter lists, feel free to reach out to our support team at support@cc-staging.mystagingwebsite.com

3. Give your board members small fundraising or outreach goals.

Your board members are your biggest fans, so put them to work! Ask each board member to raise $500 for Giving Tuesday, or to reach out to 10-25 of their contacts with an ask that relates to why their care about your mission.