{"id":18675,"date":"2020-05-14T17:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T21:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/?p=18675"},"modified":"2021-07-30T15:41:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T19:41:49","slug":"5-steps-for-hosting-a-successful-university-giving-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/5-steps-for-hosting-a-successful-university-giving-day\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps for Hosting a Successful University Giving Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Successful university giving days regularly make the news. Purdue\u2019s 2019 day of giving raised $41 million<\/a> and Cornell\u2019s 2019 giving day brought in $7 million<\/a>! The most successful university giving days share several common characteristics and strategies. If your college is looking to host a successful giving day, look no further than our list of five steps for success! We\u2019ve compiled the common strategies used by schools like Purdue and our own experience to craft the most important things you can do to ensure giving-day-fundraising success.<\/p>\n

1: Define Your Value Proposition<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Before you begin publishing social media \u201cSave the Date!\u201d posts and sending out digital or mail appeals, determine what your giving day messaging and asks will be centered around.<\/p>\n

Pro tip: giving on its own is not enough.<\/strong> Your alumni, faculty and staff, and even current students can give their time and resources to a number of charitable causes at any given moment. Therefore, if you want your giving day to be compelling, you need your messaging to focus not only on giving, but on why<\/em> people should give to your college.<\/p>\n

An easy way to identify the \u201cwhy\u201d for your college or university is to create a value proposition for your giving day. Your value proposition is a short outline about what differentiates your giving day from other charitable causes your alumni and students can give to. According to Peter Smudde in Managing Public Relations<\/em>, your value proposition can be outlined as a simple two-part statement:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Theme\/slogan: The one super important thing that makes your cause truly unique.<\/li>\n
  2. Proof points: A handful of statements that directly support and provide evidence for the theme or slogan.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For instance, if your slogan is \u201c24 hours to make a difference,\u201d weave your proof points into your posts throughout the day. Describe how donations made during the 24 hours of your giving day can make a difference on campus and in the lives of students.<\/p>\n

    2: Embrace Multi-Channel Communication <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    A successful giving day requires a lot of hype. Your college\u2019s giving day (in the eyes of a marketer) is essentially the same as a product launch or storefront opening\u2014to make your kickoff successful you need to communicate with everyone you want involved more than once and on more than one platform.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>After surveying over 1,300 donors for our Generational Giving Report,<\/a> we discovered even more evidence in favor of a multi-channel approach. The fact is different generations prefer to give in different ways. Your class of \u201983 alumni will prefer to donate via mail while your current students will prefer making a gift directly through social media<\/strong>. So send out a direct mail appeal to your older alumni informing them of your 24 hour giving day; post hourly on social media with updates, asks, and messaging that thanks your alumni and donors for their generosity; and send emails with asks and challenge announcements.<\/p>\n

    3: Work with Major Donors to Create Matching Gifts<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    84% of donors say they\u2019re more likely to give if a match is offered.<\/a> So, creating different matching gift opportunities for your giving day will compel more of your audience to donate.<\/p>\n

    Ask your major donors if they\u2019d be willing to help motivate others to give by matching donations up to a certain amount. You can publicly share the donor\u2019s name on social media or in an email and say, \u201cJohn Smith, Class of \u201979, will be matching all donations made to the College of Arts and Sciences up to $4,000. Don\u2019t miss the opportunity to have your gift doubled!\u201d If your major donor prefers to remain anonymous that\u2019s alright too\u2014remind them that their generosity will still inspire others to give and have a ripple effect across your campus community.<\/p>\n

    If you strategically space your matching gifts throughout your 24-hour giving day you can create a continuous stream of momentum.<\/strong> You can use matching gifts to create a kickoff challenge for your giving day, spur giving during the final hours of your campaign, or even encourage giving to specific departments on campus.<\/p>\n

    4: Recruit Social Ambassadors <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Recruiting a network of social ambassadors can increase the number of people who see your giving day posts by hundreds\u2014even thousands. The average Facebook user has 338 friends<\/a>. If you have a group of just five supporters share your giving day posts on Facebook you\u2019ve reached an additional 1,600 people!  <\/strong>Social ambassadors exist to increase the visibility of your fundraising campaign resulting in more donations to your college.<\/p>\n

    You\u2019ll want to kick off creating your social media ambassador program by identify the folks you want to be your ambassadors. The people you add to your list should be active on social media. If someone has only 20 Facebook friends and hasn\u2019t logged into their social media accounts since 2011, they\u2019re not the right candidate for your social ambassador program. When adding people to your list, consider people that fall into the following categories:<\/p>\n