Between holiday gift giving, taking advantage of tax deductions, corporate matching programs and giving Tuesday, a large percentage of a nonprofit’s annual donations are received in the last 6 weeks of the year. In many cases those donations account for as much as 30% of total yearly donations in the last few weeks of the year1. It’s not unusual to start planning for holiday marketing campaigns in the summer, or earlier. However, it’s not too late to launch a campaign this gift-giving season even if you’re starting now.
The challenge many nonprofit marketers have is that media in the final month of the year is in high demand and at an increased cost. Not only are other charities vying for this coveted time, but big brands are buying up media for the holiday season, inventory that’s left is being sold at premium rates. For a cost-conscious charity, this can be daunting.
So how do nonprofits stand out as a brand/cause in the market, and grow their donor base during the giving season?
First, you must be in the game year-round and start planning for holiday marketing early (think August); building your brand is a year-round process. This is especially true for smaller nonprofits who can’t compete with some of the better-known charities, unless they have an already established brand. This can start with an online presence on any number of platforms and then extend out to more expensive, but higher funnel initiatives like Connected TV and Linear TV. If you start early in the year, you’ll also get great learnings on audience insights, messaging and creative which you can apply when you ramp up during giving season.
Second, although monthly donations are highly-valued, one time givers are more common this time of year. For marketers, focus on one-time donors for the holiday season, followed by investing in strong donor engagement, personalized communication and demonstrating impact of that donation throughout the year. Long term success is converting these donors to high value monthly donors.
Third, know who your donors are and where they are. Nonprofits tend to want to gear their marketing campaigns toward millennials. Millennials are spending money but are not necessarily your low-hanging fruit when it comes to charitable giving. The donor base for many charities are women, Boomers and Gen X-ers. This demo is still watching traditional TV along with streaming services. This audience is also on Facebook and other digital platforms and you need to make sure your marketing campaigns are fully integrated to capture these viewers whatever platform they are on.
Last, and certainly not least, you need to develop creative that appeals to your audience and developed to adapt to every platform and engagement. Though the core message might be the same, how you communicate that message on Facebook is very different than how you communicate on Linear TV. Your creative has to adapt to the platform your potential donor is on.
Creatively, video assets are one of the most impactful mediums to connect with your potential donors. The content must be strong, response-focused creative and clearly show what you are solving for. Video for nonprofits too often simply shows the results of the donations, focusing on all the good work they do. However, without explicitly showing needs, viewers have a more apathetic approach to giving. If the focus is on a strong need, viewers will donate more and in higher frequency. Think “We’ve built a well” vs “This community has no water”. How viewers interpret this, “Great, they’re doing good work and don’t really need my help” vs “they need my help now”.
Success during the holiday season should be a year-long focus, but there are a lot of things nonprofits can do now, to make sure they are coming out strong for the gift-giving season. Though a very competitive time of year for nonprofits, with the right approach the holiday season can make your year.
1 https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/