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‘Tis the season for giving!
As the year draws to a close, we hope that you’re surrounded by your friends, family, and loved ones. It’s a special time of year that can also double as a great opportunity to gain the support of your favorite cause or initiative that will help you reach your personal and professional goals.
It is important to keep in mind that there are many people and charities reaching out this time of year so make sure that your fundraising campaign stands out. Whether your fundraising to make your TGP program possible or raising money for your favorite impact initiative, here are 10 tips to help you rock your fundraising during the holidays and over winter break.
1) Holiday-Themed Incentives
Many fundraising campaigns offer incentives for different amounts donated. In the spirit of the holidays, you could offer holiday-themed incentives such as candles, ornaments, cookies, knit scarves, etc. The higher the donation, the better the gift!
You can even make some of the incentives yourself to save money. Consider marketing the incentives as “the perfect gift for…” so people have double the incentive to donate: they’ll be doing good and they’ll be able to cross one present off their list.
Just keep in mind that if you’re marketing it as a gift, you’ll want to get it to them in time for the holidays!
Example:
- Donate $10 – Get 1 Dozen Sugar Cookies
- Donate $25 – Get a “S’Mores” Scented Candle
- Donate $50 – Get a Knit Scarf
2) 8 or 12 days of…
Why do one campaign when you can do TWELVE?
The two main holidays this time of year are known for gift giving happening over eight days (Hanukkah) or twelve days (The Twelve Days of Christmas). For your campaign, you could do an eight – or twelve-day push where each day offers a different challenge or incentive.
Its another way to keep people engaged with your campaign and they can always add more to their donation on different days if the incentive or challenge is right for them!
Consider creating a Facebook event where you can invite your friends and family. It’s a good way of keeping everyone updated with notifications and updates when you reach new milestones and when new incentives are out!
3) Put Your Gift Wrapping Skills to Work
While everyone is busy figuring out what gifts to buy, why not help them with one of the most tedious (but easy to do) tasks?
Gift wrapping is one of those time-consuming tasks that needs to be taken care of in this already busy season. Some people opt for department stores to do the wrapping; surely, they would rather the money go to a good cause.
You could charge a small fee per package wrapped, with all proceeds going to support your campaign. Curious how much you can actually accomplish with this?
Check it out:
20 gifts per hour x $3 per gift = $60 per hour
A full 8-hour day of wrapping will raise you nearly enough funds to secure your spot on a TGP program!*
*Assumes that it takes 3 minutes to wrap each gift
TIP: Make it eco-friendly! Offer gift-wrapping using recycled materials (old newspapers, magazines, etc.) or cloth for an additional fee!
4) Endless Holiday Decorations
Roll up your sleeves and get your creative skills together. You’d be surprised what a simple hot glue gun or twine can accomplish.
The holidays are often a time where people are decorating their house so jump in and make some eco-friendly or repurposed decorations that you can sell to your friends and family.
Create a set of wreaths and find other items in nature that can be used or repurposed like pinecones.
Assemble the wreaths and sell them. Here are a few DIY guides on how to crate your own wreaths: https://pebblemag.com/magazine/doing/5-diy-zero-waste-christmas-wreath-ideas
Similarly, there are endless amount of ornaments that you can make. We recommend incorporating as much recycling and re-purposing that you can. Use cardboard from leftover amazon boxes and use clothes are too worn to wrap the cardboard. From there, decorate however you’d like!
5) Host A Virtual Auction
In with the new gifts and out with the old, unused items this holiday season. With the incoming of new gifts, many people will be ready to get rid of some of the older things they have laying around their homes that they no longer use.
- Ask family & friends if they would like to donate those items
- Get creative & Spruce them up a bit
- Host a silent, virtual auction to sell those items and repurpose them to a new home
You can use platforms such as Facebook Live, Instagram Live, or Zoom. Be sure to advertise the date of the auction ahead of time to maximize attendance. Encourage your friends and family members to invite their friends and attend as part of a holiday party. Incorporate different games and feature each of the new silent auction items for everyone to purchase.
6) Host a Competition
Are your friends a bit rowdier and hot chocolate just won’t cut it? We got you.
A competition can be a fun way to get more people and charities involved. Whether you choose to compete over who can decorate the best cookies, build the best snowmen, make the best sculpture from leftover wrapping paper or <insert your favorite holiday game here>, there are a few ways competitions can be used to support fundraising.
- Friends from multiple fundraising campaigns can compete against each other, each campaign paying a fee to compete. The winner gets the sum total of the fees. Be sure to select and impartial panel of judges before the competition.
- Multiple campaigns compete against each other and all of the participants (at the competition or attending a party, for example) can vote for their favorite with a donation. Each campaign keeps the money they receive.
- Host a competition and charge an entrance fee to be a contestant. Everyone can vote for another contestant (other than themselves). There is one winning prize that is donated or less cost than the total amount raised. You keep the entrance fees as your campaign!
7) Flash Campaign/Matching Gift
In the spirit of competition, you could also run a flash campaign. Think – urgent, high energy, fast, its now or never!
In this sort of campaign, you secure a generous donor ahead of time who promises to match a certain number of donations.
With this donor lined up, you then run a 24-hour giving campaign where you need to hit that goal in order to get the matching funds. The sense of urgency to unlock these extra funds creates a fun vibe, and it gives you an excuse to reach out to friends and families through this one-day-only (you can promise to leave them alone the rest of the year) push.
8) Don’t Forget About the Mission
When fundraising at this time of year, be sure to make your outreach as targeted to the season as possible. Think of creative ways to highlight your cause and how it relates to the time of year. A few examples:
- If you are raising funds for a clean water charity, consider giving tips on how to make the holiday season more water efficient. For example, you could encourage donors to save the water that runs as the shower heats up and use it to water the Christmas tree or holiday poinsettias. Even if you don’t get a donation from this effort, you will still be (indirectly) supporting the cause you believe in.
- If you are raising money for an environmental cause, give tips on how to be more eco-friendly during the holidays. For a small fee, create a guide that includes a tip on what to do with leftover wrapping paper or how to build presents rather than buying or ordering gifts, for example.
9) Donate in Honor of Someone as a Gift
For the family member who already has everything.
Here’s an idea: Make a donation to a cause they are passionate about. Setting up this gifting option is a great way to support a larger mission and shows that you care about the recipients’ passions too! Its the gift that keeps on giving.
If you’re raising money for your TGP program, let people know that they’re investing in impactful, global, sustainability education! Education is a gift that lasts a lifetime and it doesn’t get much better than that.
10) Social Media Shenanigans
Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook (even if you aren’t a big Facebook user, a lot of your older donors probably are) and Twitter are great ways to advertise your campaign. Videos are especially popular. A few ways you can use social media for good and for fun:
- Post a funny holiday film talking about the reasons why people should donate to your campaign.
- Offer videos as a fun incentive. For example, for every donation of $20, you could promise to post a video of yourself singing carols.
- True story: a TGP alum ran a campaign on Facebook pledging that if he raised enough funds to meet his goal, he would dye his hair green. Needless to say, his eager friends were happy to help him reach his goal. He shortly posted a video of his hair transformation process and successfully pleased his donors!
Happy Fundraising!
No matter which strategy you follow, it’s worth being a little more creative this time of year so that your campaign gets the attention it deserves. As with fundraising any time of year, remember to focus on the “why” of your fundraising – and to thank your generous donors!
For ideas or collaboration, please reach out to our team at [email protected].
