As we approach end-of-year fundraising season, we were thrilled to join our friends at Engaging Networks to offer a few pro tips that nonprofits of all types can use to plan out their campaigns.
Our approach to mapping story and campaign themes can apply to fundraising and advocacy campaigns at any time of the year, but are especially important as organizations plan for their most important time for fundraising.
How to map themes for year-end fundraising:
1. Find Conversion Trends
Analyze the biggest advocacy & fundraising conversion trends over your last 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Zero in on two themes that motivated people to donate and raised the most money or donations. These should be your first areas to focus on, and start to build your campaign around.
2. Boil it down to a 3-5 word pitch
Once you've identified your key themes and conversion trends, what are the 3-5 words you can distill your message into? For example:
- Save wolves from being extinct
- Abolish the electoral college
- End gun violence
All of these quickly communicate your goal and give people a chance to join you in your mission.
3. Map out smaller, short term campaigns or programs
Fuel people emotionally to connect with them, to be in solidarity with you, and be on this journey to create change together. To do that, map out a messaging arc from start to finish:
- Define messaging themes and overarching messages with a sense of urgency.
- Weave in storytelling.
- Who is the villain? What harm do they cause — and what can people do?
- Share how you/we win.
4. Test and pivot based on the latest news and events related to your work
Stay focused on your goals, build in progress updates, and thank every single donor. Don’t treat them like an ATM machine.
Following those steps, you’re sure to get a winning start to end-of-year fundraising for your nonprofit.
Want a hand? Give us a shout! We’re here and ready to help!
