A nonprofit giving day is intended to help different organizations and higher education institutions bring awareness to their efforts and help them raise as many donations as they can within a short, defined period of time. Let’s explore the importance of giving day, how you can launch one for your organization, and how you can leverage wealth insights to boost your fundraising.
What Is a Giving Day?
So, what is a nonprofit giving day? A Giving Day is a 24-hour, online fundraising event. The purpose of holding one is twofold. The first reason to hold a Giving Day is to collect as many gifts as possible within a limited time period. Additionally, nonprofit Giving Days are held to increase awareness for your charity, foundation, or university. They are a great way to draw attention to your organization and incorporate your organization into the greater community.
Giving Days are initiated primarily by community foundations, cause-based nonprofits, and higher education institutions. They typically center on a specific geographic area, such as a city, state, or region. But, they can also be national or even international in scope. Technically, anyone, anywhere, can donate to your cause.
Examples of community foundations hosting a nonprofit Giving Day for charities in their regions are GiveMN and Arizona Gives Day. Another well-known global Day is Giving Tuesday. Created in 2012, Giving Tuesday is held every year on the Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It was designed to kick-off charitable “giving” during a season when people are already in a giving mood. What better way to encourage donations from those who are eager to contribute?
The Success of Nonprofit Giving Days
Holding a nonprofit Giving Day has increased in popularity. There are now hundreds of Giving Days happening across the United States and several on a global level. In fact, Giving Days are becoming a standard part of fundraising.
As their popularity increases, the question is: are Giving Days worth all of the work involved? Consider some of the proceeds from these 2019 Giving Days:
- Horizons Giving Day 2019 raised over $1.6 million for its 41 affiliates.
- The Big Give, a Giving Day supporting nonprofits throughout South Central Texas, brought in over $4.7 million for 545 participating nonprofits.
- Contributions reached over $11 million for A Giving Day for Amplify Austin, which supports Austin, Texas nonprofits.
With proper planning, promotion, and organized effort, nonprofits definitely have an opportunity to see rewards from the Giving Days they hold. Setting a limited time for these special donations creates a sense of urgency to raise funds. Of course those who are most interested in your cause will be more likely to give their support. And this is also a chance to gain new supporters because of the nonprofit’s increased visibility.
Reasons to Hold a Nonprofit Giving Day
A concentrated fundraising effort within such a limited period can go a long way toward getting people excited about your work. In the short-term, Giving Day helps connect supporters to the causes they care about. Long-term, you can continue to engage with donors in various ways to maintain and grow their contributions.
Here’s how your organization can benefit from a Giving Day:
1. Raise funds for your organization.
A primary reason for a Giving Day is to bring in the dollars necessary to continue your work.
2. Increase visibility and community awareness of your group.
The exposure gained through a Giving Day can boost your nonprofit’s standing in the community.
3. Re-engage with past volunteers and donors.
Chances are, those who contributed in the past will support you again.
4. Add new donors to your list.
This is the time to pick up those who have an interest in what you’re doing but have not yet contributed.
5. Enhance your donor data.
Giving Day will allow you to collect more information on the donors who are involved with your organization to aid future prospecting.
6. Strengthen the sense of community pride.
People like to be part of events that help others and creates a positive vibe.
7. Benefit from the work of others.
If your Giving Day is part of a multigroup effort, you can share the workload and make new connections.
8. Learn more about fundraising.
Your staff will learn new skills as part of creating a Giving Day fundraising event.
Participating in a Giving Day not only benefits the organization, but its supporters and surrounding communities as well. Many people like to give back when they are able to. And they like knowing that their contributions made a difference.
Launch a Giving Day for Your Organization
Giving Days take plenty of planning, enthusiasm, and follow up with both donors and prospects. A Giving Day is designed to run on the target day for 24 hours. But smaller nonprofits sometimes extend fundraising to a week or longer to allow supporters more time to contribute.
Additionally, a nonprofit can partner with community and civic foundations for a joint Giving Day event, That can be an effective way for the organizations to assist member nonprofits with the work involved. As it’s been said, many hands make light work.
Also, nonprofit Giving Days provide an excellent opportunity for a nonprofit to hone its marketing skills. It’s only by trying out different strategies will you know which ones produce the best results. And you’ll have new tactics you can use in other fundraising campaigns.
While raising funds in just 24 hours takes work, it is a worthwhile endeavor for a nonprofit. Raising funds is important, but so is gaining visibility and building your donor base for the future. That’s how you’ll be able to bring in even more contributions.
How WealthEngine Can Help You Find Giving Day Donors
So, as you begin searching for Giving Day donors, it’s important to identify which donors (of the ones you are already looking at) may be likely to give in the future. Using our platform, you have access to 250 million profiles in our database. Each of which contain insights on an individual’s wealth, Net Worth, Income, Propensity to Give, and more. With insights on an individual’s giving behaviors and history, you can easily focus your efforts and pinpoint which donors you’ll want to deepen your engagement with.
Additionally, using WealthEngine’s new WealthSignal™, featured in the upper right-hand corner of each individual profile, you can make quick appraisals about the individuals you look up within our database. With this indicator, you receive pertinent information on your existing and prospective donors. For example, WealthSignal™ can help you pick up on a donor’s Estimated Giving Capacity—how much an individual could give in the next five years. So, this section is especially helpful for prospect researchers as they determine how much an individual may give in the future.
Additionally, by conducting a wealth screening, you can upload a list of your contacts, apply wealth insights to that list, and uncover new information on your donors’ propensity and capacity to give. So, with these insights, you have the opportunity to identify existing donors who can give even more than you thought possible.