6 Tips For A Successful And Memorable Christmas Fundraising Campaign

Many fundraisers and non-profits often get carried away searching for the best Christmas fundraising ideas and leave out some salient aspects. However, the truth is that the best ideas may not always guarantee satisfactory outcomes. Having a successful Christmas fundraising campaign goes beyond opinions alone; you've got to factor in some other elements.

It’s great to have you here – reading this article – at this point. The Christmas season is gradually creeping in on us, and this is the right time to gather all the information you need to have a memorable fundraising campaign. We understand that fundraisers often face challenges during Christmas as they seek to take advantage of the Giving Season. And on the back of this, we have highlighted six (6) tips to make your Christmas fundraising campaign work.

Start Your Preparation Early

This tip gives more credence to the saying a stitch in time saves nine. Leaving plans for your Christmas fundraisers to the nth hour could do your entire campaign much more harm than good because you might miss out on some peculiar details given that you are planning so close to your campaign. 

Planning months ahead of your Christmas fundraiser saves you so much stress and helps you develop and test strategies to see which best fits supporting your campaign thrive the most. Going by the above position, you should start planning your Christmas fundraising campaign at least six months before your main event because this gives you ample time.

Tell A Heartfelt Story

Storytelling has an exciting way of capturing the eyes of your prospective donors as well as their emotions. It is a given that people are more prone to support when they know that there is a heartwarming story behind the cause they are supporting. 

You would be surprised that statistics may leave people gob-smacked, but storytelling speaks to their humaneness, albeit an adequately told story. You could put together; briefly, the charge that drives your mission and makes it into a beautiful piece, one which helps you appeal to prospective donors, or you could tell tales of the lives and notable things that have occurred during your mission; you can trust that this appeals to your donors. 

With the advent of technology, there's no limit to the platforms through which you can share your mission's story. You could share them through one or all of these; social media networks, print media, posts, flyers, and the rest. Note that a well-told story appeals to prospective donors more than raw numbers and facts.

Evaluate Different Fundraising Ideas, And Select A Simple And Effective One

As an organization, it is imperative that you know your capabilities and, more importantly, endeavor to work within them. As mentioned in one of the previous tips, with ample time on your hands, you get to evaluate different fundraising ideas and strategies that are feasible for a successful campaign. However, while doing this, you can go for something other than the most rigorous or elaborate and be sure to get the best results. 

Using the most straightforward ideas would be more efficient when considering your organization's capabilities. It is sacrosanct that you consider factors like your financial depths, workforce, etc., before embarking on a fundraising campaign idea. Once again, always bear in mind that the most straightforward ideas (explanations) are more often than not the best see Occam's razor!

Make It Easy For Volunteers To Come On Board

It's often rightfully stressed that one tree never makes a forest, no arguments there! There would be hiccups on the road to having a successful fundraising campaign, and sometimes these are often more than a burden for just one person to tackle head-on. 

Therefore, this creates the need for more than just a one-person team; though some might argue that going alone helps you go faster, you must be reminded that "going together takes you further." 

That said, you need to make your campaign as transparent as possible; this enables others to embark on the mission with you! It would be helpful if you also remembered that where some donate financially, others might volunteer their time or both. Therefore, it pays to make your mission very transparent.

Provide Convenient Means For Donation

It is one thing to be determined to give, and it is entirely another to have the proper channels of giving! It would be best if you considered making the donation process easy and equally safe for your successful fundraising campaign.

There are several options through which funds can be collected (a few of which will be highlighted here). Try to ensure you are considerate of your audience and pick which is best and easily accessible to them. 

You could have donation stands where donors could come to give their donations, cash-wise or with their credit cards.

You could use the peer-to-peer option, where you could organize gatherings, such as fun runs, get together, health walks, etc., all towards the end of encouraging your donors to equally have their family and friends get involved in your mission. 

Because some individuals are not socially inclined, your fundraising campaign should have an online donation option where people can anonymously and remotely contribute to the cause.

Think of crowdfunding; you could reach an even larger audience with a small donation. Crowdfunding is an excellent way to get your campaign viral and even more successful.

You could raise funds through Walks/Runs; this could be an event within your fundraising campaign or an idea that could stand alone. Either way, it's an effective way to raise funds (through participation fees) while also tackling the issue of the sedentary lifestyle of some of your donors/prospective donors.

The above-listed options for collecting donations during your fundraisers are pretty effective, but it is not an exclusive list!

Consolidate With Social Media

You would find it interesting to know that there are over 4.7 billion active social media users today! That's a whopping 59.3% of the entire global population, Yes! You thought right; most of your prospective donors are in that lot. 

Going by this, it would do your fundraising campaign better than harm if you prioritize pushing your mission on social media networks, telling your story using visual mediums, well-written articles, or even videos. 

The bottom line is if you miss out on catching the eyes and emotions of your donors and prospective donors on platforms where they frequent the most? Where else would you get their attention?

Conclusion 

Your next fundraiser's success lies in how much preparedness and strategizing you put in place before the event. After all, it's no longer news that failing to plan equates to planning to fail. 

That said, ensure you conduct extensive research about your niche and preferred audience before starting your fundraising campaign. Finally, implement some or all of the above tips and watch your fundraiser be a successful blast!