[Replay] Giving Days: a love/hate relationship

As mayor giving days are approaching, we're replaying a conversation on the business case for and against them.

If you're new to the podcast, every Thursday we explore how to build deeper relationships with more of our donors in the Donor Growth Podcast (available on Apple Podcasts and most other platforms).

Are giving days the right strategy for your nonprofit? 

They're fun. They create a lot of excitement. They get people to act. They produce a lot of social proof. 

But are they the best use of your time and resources? 

In this conversation, we get into the pros and cons—and provide a bit of a framework for how to think about the business decisions behind participating in Giving Days at your nonprofit.

What is there to love about giving days?

1. Having deadlines gets people to act who otherwise would not. The enemy of fundraisers is not "I won't give," it is "I'll give later."
2. OK, admit it. You also get a little bit carried away by the excitement. Giving days are just plain fun.
3. Like any campaign, they are a good opportunity to go to leadership and ask for more budget. Money to play with new tech has to be good, right?
4. They produce social proof. All those people giving and posting about it online show others that you are a worthy cause.

Why might you hate giving days?

• They create a glut of donors that you (most shops) can't steward well.
• Do they really work? Everybody feels obligated to announce the HUGE SUCCESS of their giving day, but data shows that fewer and fewer people give to nonprofits every year. Do you sense the disconnect??!!
• Any behavior that is driven by excitement is going to be harder to maintain in time. It serves us better to promote stable, repeatable behaviors not adrenaline-induced giving crazes. So, we're training our donors to do the wrong things: impulse gifts.

What are your thoughts?

• Do you feel a lot of peer-pressure to do a giving day (or join one) from your leadership? How do you explain that this might not be the right strategy for you, even though "everybody else" is doing one?
• How do you manage up to engage your board around the concept of long-term, sustainable giving vs. promo-driven, impulsive behaviors?

GET CONNECTED

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Join the Donor Participation Project here—a community of fundraisers who get together every month to co-create solutions that increase donor participation. 

ABOUT

Mike Duerksen is the founder and CEO of BuildGood, a direct-response fundraising agency that helps nonprofits raise more money from individual donors. He also hosts the Build Good Fundraising Podcast.

Louis Diez advises nonprofits in annual fund development, digital fundraising, and engagement strategies. He's the founder and host of the Donor Participation Project and VP, Community at Almabase.