Image credit: https://madec.edu.au/tax-time/
Fundraising traditions often suggest that there are two optimal periods for appeals each year: tax time and
Christmas.
While concrete evidence supporting these specific dates may be scarce, it remains a widespread practice among charities across our shores to launch their multi-channel campaigns simultaneously during these periods.
Additionally, the concept of Matched Giving enters the picture just before the 30th of June deadline, leading to another surge in donations.
We emphasise a sense of urgency in our communication, urging our donors to seize the opportunity presented by the generous contribution(s) from our donors. Time is of the essence.
As fundraisers, we understand the importance of supporting our claims with evidence.
At Parachute Digital, we’ve observed the performance of our clients’ campaigns and discovered that several ideas we had intuitively believed to be true were indeed proven successful. We’d like to share these insights with you, hoping they will be valuable for your upcoming campaigns.
Firstly, let’s revel in the successes💃🏽🕺🏽
Over Tax and Winter appeals, we collaborated with incredible clients across Aus + NZ to raise over $500,0000… and the dollars are still rolling in. Woohoo! It’s a reason to celebrate. Congratulations to all involved – we take great pride in being associated with these organisations that are making a real difference in the community.
As our founder and globe-trotter Shanelle always says, “We are pleased as punch!” Now, on to sharing our treasured learnings!
Great images can make a campaign 🖼️
We know in our hearts that good images are essential. Reaching for iStock can work, but eye-catching creative
and good design can make a huge difference.
This year our campaign with The Big Issue was another tick in the column of ‘do what you know works’. Says Digital Consultant and papadum-lover, Dan:
“Dave, a Big Issue vendor for 27 years, was happy to share some brilliant images and they worked a treat in the paid Facebook campaign. After testing several variations and designs, this image of Dave within a pseudo Big Issue magazine cover was the standout performer.
It converted at 5.69%, compared to the next-best image with a conversion rate of 3.3%.
It’s a great image, which supports the proposition. Thanks Dave!”
Get your data ducks in order 🦆🦆🦆
If you’re housing one of your most important assets on software that is no longer supported, it’s going to come back to haunt you. 👻
The migration to GA4 has taught us to ensure systems and platforms are up to date and you are not clinging onto any obsolete programs well before you launch anything. (If you still need help, check out our guide.)
Using platforms that planned to be discontinued could see integrations breaking, mysterious deletions of crucial data, the disappearance of key contacts and worse.
Digital Consultant and Tay-Tay’s biggest fan, Liv, shares her top tips for success:
- Auditing your current platform setup and integrations well before any active campaigns to ensure you’re using the best option in the market for your budget and requirements.
- Engage other internal teams and third parties early – the earlier the better – and bring them on the journey with you from the early planning stages right up to implementation and lean on their knowledge and expertise where you can.
- Map your user journey out early, to identify and address any potential issues or gaps in your data flow.
- If a manual process is necessary, ensure you have agreed clear owners, responsibilities and frequency and accounted for the additional time (and stress!) that this might put on you and your team.
- Test, test, test! Test the data flow before setting the campaign live to ensure data/leads/donations – whatever your goal is being tracked and counted correctly.
Tie your campaign to what’s happening in the media 🗞️
Why not catapult your campaign by tying in your message to media stories? Using current news can strengthen a case for support, by showing why the cause is important, and using a story that’s reaching the masses.
Our client, the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) were quick to tap into recent news of the arrest of a prominent Union Leader in Cambodia as further proof that women in Cambodia were being exploited in the garment industry – the theme for IWDA’s tax appeal.
Liv explains how this was acted on:
“We edited an eDM that was already prepared, adding in the news. We then sent 2 versions, one referencing this relevant recent news, and one that did not include it.
The EDM referencing the relevant news included references in the subject line and opening paragraphs and drove a higher CTR, open rate, lead CVR and donations. Viola!
Our other learning was that the news event doesn’t already need to be on the wider public conscience as in this case the story wasn’t mentioned in many major news outlets.
It’s more about bringing your narrative to life through current news.”
A strong case for support 💪🏼
We understand that there can be many departments and services in a not-for-profit that need to sign off on campaign content and messaging, which runs the risk of diluting the fundraising message altogether.
When a campaign’s case for support is softened, reshaped, and changed, the reader ends up confused as to what the cause is. Remember, people don’t donate to organisations, they give to causes.
Says our sun-loving Senior Digital Consultant, Tania:
“A strong case for support is essential. It should spell out the problem easily for the donor and feel urgent, as well as show the impact a donor can have by supporting the cause.
As fundraisers, we need to advocate internally for the donor, so the organisation is donor centric”.
Otherwise, you’ll end up with a message which lacks urgency, emotion and a reason to give. And subsequently lower dollars raised!”
Too many fingers in the pie 🥧
This is not an easy one, we know.
Organisations that have different departments with their fingers in the fundraising pie can draw out the approval process. This means that you might miss opportunities to respond to a news story or a major gift that has just come through for dollar matching.
Sometimes getting something quick and dirty into the market delivers better results than perfect refined messaging. Says Digital Consultant and outdoor adventurer Vic:
“If you think this might be an issue, then let’s plan ahead!
Should we do a session with your marketing team ahead of time? Sometimes just doing a little education on fundraising language can help create more buy in so we can be agile during the campaign.
The results speak for themselves, so we can be agile during the campaign.”
Consider small bites 🍴
One action and one donation are better than no actions and no donations, especially if you think longer term. So, to nudge that first action, why not consider a very small ask?
Liv explains how this theory was put to the test with IWDA:
“We called upon 1,000 Australian Feminists to donate just $1 each towards the end of our tax appeal in an eDM.
With only a couple of days before the 30 June tax deadline, we focused on new supporters to help us reach our goal. You don’t want to introduce a smaller donation ask too early in case you talk to people who may have been considering a donation of a higher amount!
We also decreased the dollar handles for this specific ask – values between $5 – $20, instead of $80 – $200.
By calling on a finite number of people, with a specific ask, we were showing that our target was tangible with their help and the initial results point to this being an effective tactic.
The eDM drove our second highest number of donations, with a nearly 30% CVR.”
Multi-touchpoints = better results
Parachute’s co-Director, Mamta, can’t stress this enough: “Your appeals shouldn’t live in isolation. Be prolific and ensure you’re getting the message out across Digital, DM, in the media… wherever you can. The best results come when you tell a cohesive story across the right channels to the right audience.”
Case in point: $311k raised (so far) for Variety NZ’s Winter Appeal across email, Paid Search, Social, Organic Search, referral sources, TV feature, traditional ads, matched giving and word of mouth. And the DM dollars haven’t even been counted properly yet…
We hope our learnings through the tax appeal are helpful to you – consider them an early Christmas present before your Christmas Appeal planning… only 4 more months!🎄
Want to talk about how to brighten your Christmas campaign? Get in touch.