November 18th is Minnesota’s annual day of giving or Give to the Max Day. Just like any day of giving, Give to the Max is an incredible opportunity many nonprofits in Minnesota have to maximize and excite donors around their cause and raise some extra funds as we head into the end of the year. But like anything in life, without a plan, you will not reach your potential in gifts.
Here are a few tips we give clients as they head into Give to the Max Day.
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Outline an email schedule – how are you contacting donors and past donors? Get in their inbox, not once, not twice but multiple times over the next 48 hours. Use compelling subject lines to draw their attention to open, read and click DONATE.
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Find a donor who will match gifts! Maybe all nonprofits should take a look at what retail companies do to excite consumers – two for one! If a donor feels like they can give more with their $20 or $200 gift – find someone to match that gift.
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Tell a story – if you work with K2 you know the story and “why” behind a gift is pivotal to fundraising. You need to move donors with an emotional appeal to give on this day. Use your stories, individuals, successes and the need for support, to drive the “why” to raise more funds.
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Engage your board – if you don’t have the mass email list to reach enough people, Give to the Max Day is a great opportunity to ask supporters and board members to forward an email asking their network to contribute. You do not need a large board to do this – remember giving starts one person at a time.
At the end of the day we are all humans with emotions driven to give and support causes we feel compelled to. On Give to the Max Day it is your job (the nonprofit) to tap into those emotions and make it easy for the donor to give.
Here are a few non-profit K2 is raising money for this year – please consider giving!
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Elevating Education Minnesota is a non-profit organization tasked with elevating public education through public awareness and engagement around the Page Amendment. The Page Amendment is a proposed change to Minnesota’s state constitution that would deem access to quality public education a fundamental right to all children. It puts children and parents at the center of education in Minnesota as a way to eliminate decades long education disparities.
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The St. Paul Police Foundation is a way for us to join together and support the people who dedicate themselves to serve us by making sure our community continues to be a safe place to live, work, and connect. Meeting this challenge has never been more important as Saint Paul and other communities face complex and evolving public safety challenges. Each day the amazing women and men of the Saint Paul Police Department dedicate themselves to being true public servants by connecting with and engaging the entire community. To help support them and the work they do, the Saint Paul Police Foundation is an important partner and resource to support the department, its officers, and its leadership.
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The Center of the American Experiment is more than a think tank. It not only researches and produces reports on Minnesota’s economy, education, health care, energy policy, employee freedom and state and local governance. It also crafts and proposes creative solutions that emphasize free enterprise, limited government, personal responsibility and government accountability. For more than 25 years, Center of the American Experiment has been the most impactful and effective public policy organization in Minnesota. It leads the way in creating and advocating policies that make Minnesota a freer, more prosperous and better-governed state.
Happy raising (and happy giving!)
-K2