Mark Your Calendars: How to Create Holiday Fundraising Digital Campaigns… Not Just at Year-End

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Welcome!

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Over 25 Awesome Ideas

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Presenters

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Sue Anne ReedThe Engage Group

@Sue_Anne

Kerri Karvetski Company K Media

@karvetski

Matt SeneyThe Lukens Company

@mattseney

2013 Holiday CampaignClient Type: Art MuseumCampaign Tracks:

• Membership• Gift Membership• Cyber Monday (Gift Membership)• Annual Fund

Campaigns ran from November through end of December:

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Campaign TrackWeek of

Nov. 4Week of Nov. 11

Week ofNov. 18

Week ofNov. 25

Cyber Monday

Week ofDec. 3

Week ofDec. 9

Week ofDec. 16

Week ofDec. 23

Week ofDec. 30

Membership Ads Gift Membership Ads

Gift Membership Email Gift Membership Lightbox

Cyber Monday Ads Cyber Monday Lightbox Cyber Monday Emails Annual Fund Emails

Annual Fund Lightbox

2013 Holiday CampaignSpecial Offers – It is important to provide a discount to incentivize action

• Membership – 20% off

• Gift Membership – 20% from launch through Cyber Monday; no discount after Cyber Monday through Christmas

• Cyber Monday – 20% off Gift Membership

• Annual Fund – tax deductable

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2013 Holiday CampaignCreative – It is important for creative to have a cohesive look and feel

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2013 Holiday CampaignTesting– It is important to test… but don’t over test!

Test #1: Cyber Monday “early-bird” specialWe split randomly split our email list and the day before Cyber Monday half

of the email recipients received an email reminding them to look for the Cyber Monday deal the next day. The other half received an email promoting an “early-bird” opportunity to get their Cyber Monday savings right then by clicking thru.

Goal: To determine if people would respond to “Cyber Monday” offer before Cyber Monday.

Test #2: Lightbox A/B From December 3 thru 25 we split tested the Gift Membership Lightbox and

the Annual Fund Lightbox. Goal: To determine if organic visitors to the website would respond better

to a Gift Membership promotion or an Annual Fund ask.

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2013 Holiday CampaignsResults

• 215 Memberships Purchases • 521 Gift Membership Purchases• 1,322 Cyber Monday Purchases • 229 Annual Fund Donations• Over $200,000 in gross revenue

Other HighlightsCyber Monday “early-bird” special test nearly matched last year’s entire

Cyber Monday total

Cyber Monday campaign generated 4x gross revenue over 2012 campaign

Generated 88% of museum’s total online goal for the Fiscal Year

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2013 Holiday CampaignsLessons for Next Year’s Campaigns

• Black Friday thru Cyber Monday Special Email, Digital Advertising, Landing Pages and Lightboxes

• Giving Tuesday Target donors, and possibly test higher level members

• Annual Fund Lightbox Test Test specific $ ask v. generic ask

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World Toilet Day - November

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October – Halloween2013 Halloween Pinterest Board

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September – Back to SchoolCAMPAIGN: Schools Not Slavery by Beyond Borders (w/Company K Media

consultant)

CONCEPT: Fundraising campaign with a match

EXECUTION:• 6 weeks, 7 emails (including

“thank you”)• 1st email with cultivation video

before Labor Day• Complement to direct-mail campaign

RESULTS:• Raised $30k total/$9.6k online• 41% of donors were new

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July+August – SummerCAMPAIGN: “Healthy Summer” by American Diabetes Association

(courtesy of agency Red Engine Digital)

CONCEPT: Cultivation campaign to engage online constituents duringsummer months

EXECUTION: • Healthy Summer Pledge• 3-part email series with tips (recipes, skin care, travel tips, exercise)• Website “ads” to entice visitors to sign the pledge • Soft ask in emails

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June: Father’s Day

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June: Father’s Day

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May: Memorial Day Special Timely use of a Lightbox to promote special offer to website visitors

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May: Mother’s DayGift Catalog (2013)

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May: Mother’s Day

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National Audubon Society Gift CatalogMother’s Day Promotions

• Two emails sent to 300,000 constituents each • Email campaigns highlighted “motherly” birds • Facebook posts also used to increase engagement • Ads on National Audubon Society drove significant traffic to catalog

• Over 450 orders were placed in week before Mother’s Day

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May: Mother’s Day

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April: Earth Day

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March – Oscars!2014 Oscars Pinterest Board

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March – Oscars!CAMPAIGN: 2014 Honesty Oscars by

ONE + AccountabilityLab

CONCEPT: Awareness/engagement campaign to spotlight creativity of NGOs and individuals fighting global corruption

EXECUTION: • Nominees chosen by AccountabilityLab• Nominees sent social media kits to promote to their own networks • ONE handled blogger outreach• No media outreach – 100% social

RESULTS: • More than 100,000 votes• 14 million potential impressions on Twitter

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February: National Audubon SocietyValentine’s Day Campaigns

• I ♥ Heart Birds (2013 & 2014) • Gift Catalog (2013)

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I ♥ Heart Birds (NAS)

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I ♥ Heart Birds (NAS)Results 2013 & 2014

• Premium used for both 2013 & 2014 campaigns (T-shirt in 2013 & Bumper Sticker in 2014)

• 2014 campaign had 904 donors • Bumper sticker was very successful at converting new donors and

over 70% were new donors

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National Audubon Society Gift Catalog

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National Audubon Society Gift CatalogValentine’s Day Promotions

• Gift Catalog had originally been launched for the 2012 Holiday season• Holiday images were replaced with generic images • “Penguins in love” were used as primary imagery for promotion • Gift catalog promotions happened at same time as 2013 I ♥ Birds • 160+ orders placed on 2/13 & 2/14

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January: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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January: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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Key Takeaways - Matt• Take advantage of Black Friday thru Cyber Monday / Giving Tuesday• Integrate multiple channels (Email, Advertising, Lightboxes, etc.)• Early-bird email offers – give people opportunity to get the deal

“before the deal”• Plan your campaign early, then execute it• Test… but don’t over test

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Key Takeaways - KerriPLAN•Lightbox Collaborative’s 2014 Editorial Calendar•Nonprofit Tech for Good’s 2014 Nonprofit Cause Awareness Days

BRAINSTORM•What is the core sentiment of the holiday?•What’s been done before? (nonprofits & businesses)

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Key Takeaways – Sue Anne • Be creative • Be thoughtful … don’t target holidays that don’t match your mission• Best examples are ones that take an integrated approach and

combine social & email (and even direct mail)

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