Find email marketing best practices to improve alumni engagement and boost fundraising for schools, colleges & universities.
Published:
March 17, 2020
Updated:
March 17, 2020
Email marketing is crucial to the success of your online giving campaign. Does that sound like a used and abused fact to you?
While it may sound repetitive, it’s the gospel truth!
Advancement teams extensively use email marketing to promote their online giving campaigns but, what do they do differently to increase the sense of urgency?
Here’s a look at the 6 most effective email marketing hacks that can help you create a sense of urgency and drive more people to donate:
Segmenting your alumni into groups based on different parameters such as location, class year, interests, etc. and targeting them via personalized emails is a widely popular approach adopted by schools and universities worldwide.
Here’s how Centenary College of Louisiana personalizes emails for an affinity group - Women’s Basketball and asks group members to make a gift to support their cause.
Apart from sending generic emails inviting donations, leveraging your influencers helps create a personalized touch and acts as a strong incentive for your alumni to contribute. These influencers should be people who your alumni can relate to and would appreciate hearing from.
See how Scranton Preparatory School used the peer-to-peer approach via emails to increase its Giving Day donations by 546%. Read the full story here.
Creating more opportunities for class years to compete with one another and gamifying this approach can significantly boost your giving day donations. Ensure that there’s an incentive tied in with the challenge and lay down the rules clearly in your email.
Here’s how Calvert Hall College High School emails alumni about the inter-class challenge and lays down clear guidelines & incentives. This approach helped create a healthy competition between classes leading to the school increasing its Giving Day donations by twice as much in 3 years. Read the full story here.
With shorter campaigns where timing is crucial, adding a countdown timer or a goal meter in your email creates a sense of urgency. Also, consider sharing a story that your alumni would relate to and feel the urge to contribute towards.
See how North Shore Animal League America includes a countdown timer to appeal to its donors.
Whether it is a one-day or a week-long campaign, it’s always a best practice to keep your constituents informed of all that’s planned as a part of the campaign. Right from the campaign announcement down to thanking donors for their support, ensure that your audience is engaged throughout the campaign.
Here’s how Mercy High School announces its upcoming Giving campaign, complete with the information about the goal of the campaign and all relevant links.
Saying thank you never goes out of style. Sending donors a thoughtful thank you email is a great practice for not only expressing gratitude but more importantly, for building lasting relationships. A thank-you email goes a long way in retaining the same donors and getting them to contribute again.
Check out Scranton Preparatory School’s thoughtful ‘Thank You’ email to all alumni after the end of its #PrepDay campaign. Read the full story here.
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If you’re involved in fundraising efforts for your school, chances are you’ve already been hearing a lot about Giving Days. With this year’s #GivingTuesday i.e. December 3rd fast approaching, it’s likely you won’t stop hearing about it any time soon.
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Giving Day was first introduced in 2012 and has since helped institutions around the world boost their fundraising efforts tremendously. A well-planned Giving Day can entirely transform your fundraising approach by helping you acquire new donors, enrich the giving experience, and instill a culture of giving in your constituents.
However, the success of a Giving Day depends not only on planning but equally on its promotion. While there are many ways to promote Giving Days, in this blog post, we’re looking at the 8 most effective ones that have helped our customers achieve Giving Day success.
One of the best means for influencing donors is by carefully selecting a cause that they relate to and would most likely contribute towards. Making donors believe in your cause is pivotal to your fundraising efforts. Here’s how Archbishop Riordan High School targeted its alumni by asking them to contribute towards campus improvements.
If you’re on social media, you obviously know how hashtags can boost your marketing efforts. While #GivingTuesday is a generic hashtag that almost everyone follows during the Giving season, creating a unique hashtag, relevant to your cause is highly recommended. Using your own unique hashtag makes it easier for your community to share your posts on their network, and for you to effectively monitor and further promote your social message. Calvert Hall College High School made great use of a unique hashtag. Check the full post here.
You might have seen a lot of people use countdown posts as a part of their social media marketing plan. They have proven to be highly effective as they help serve as constant reminders for the upcoming event and also arouse curiosity.
Here’s how Scranton Preparatory School got this right.
A great way to capture the attention of donors is to create opportunities that influence them to actively engage. Unlike fundraising campaigns that are run over a period of time, Giving Days provide an opportunity for your constituents to donate to your cause within a 24-hour time frame. Other than the sense of urgency already being created, any low-effort activities on your part can help channel your donors toward making a contribution.
For the college’s 3rd Annual All Day Hall Day campaign, Calvert Hall College High School asked its followers on Facebook to show support by applying the All Day Hall Day filter to their profile pictures. Calvert Hall’s followers loved this approach and many took to applying the filter to their profile picture and pledging support to the Giving Day campaign. Here’s how Calvert Hall creatively provided an opportunity for its Facebook followers to actively engage & support the upcoming Giving campaign.
As of 2022, videos are undoubtedly the most powerful marketing tool.
People gaze five times longer at video than at static posts on Facebook & 71% of people have increased their online video viewing in 2018 alone.
As users on social media increasingly prefer the video format, it is a good practice to incorporate more videos in your Giving Day marketing strategy. Here are some ways in which schools have leveraged videos on their social media:
Creating a video that boasts of your school’s legacy is a great way of showing donors why their contributions matter. In this video, Calvert Hall College High School’s CAO/Director of Advancement, Joe Baker talks about all that Calvert Hall stands for and passionately urges donors to contribute to keep the tradition of the school intact. View the post here.
If you’re worried that a professional video might be too expensive or time-consuming, a simple slideshow video is the next best thing! Including pictures of students and faculty members clicked on-campus in the video can be a great way to influence participation from donors. Calvert Hall created an amazing music slideshow video for its 3rd All Day Hall Day giving campaign.
Going live on the day of the event is one of the most commonly employed methods to promote Giving Days. This helps donors view real-time progress and get an inside picture of the events and activities planned during the day.
According to SproutSocial, Facebook users spend 3X more time watching a live video than a pre-recorded one.
Here’s David Lin, Director of Boarding at Archbishop Riordan High School going live on the school’s campus, during 2019’s Giving Day campaign. View the post here.
When it comes to sharing updates about your giving day via videos, go beyond the usual formula of simply announcing these updates. Check out how Calvert Hall College High School created an awesome video, sharing updates from its 2018 All Day Hall Giving Day campaign.
The team responsible for running your giving campaign definitely deserves a special shout-out for their endless dedication and hard work. There’s no better way to do this than showcasing their efforts for donors to see. This creates a sense of gratitude and acts as a strong incentive for people to do their part by contributing towards a noble cause. Here again, Calvert Hall wins our hearts by creating a beautiful video dedicated to its passionate team members.
Email marketing continues to play a crucial role in the success of Giving Days for most schools.
Here’s a look at how email marketing has been leveraged by schools to boost Giving Day donations:
While schools start planning their Giving Days much ahead, why don’t a lot of them recognize the need to market their campaign in advance? From the initial announcement informing potential donors about the campaign right down to the thank-you email to all participants, every email must be well-timed and carefully crafted. At the same time, be careful not to overdo it by sending too many emails. Take a cue from Scranton Preparatory School’s immaculate planning for the school’s Giving Day 2022 campaign.
In addition to generating awareness about the upcoming Giving Day via emails, another way of capturing donors is by informing them of incentives. By providing exclusive benefits to select donors, the chances of securing early bird donations significantly increase.
Your approach to marketing a Giving Day can vary greatly depending on who you’re reaching out to. Long-time donors, for instance, are the most loyal of your followers and therefore, it is best to personalize your approach while asking for their contribution. Here’s how Scranton Preparatory School created a customized email invite for its Class of ‘79, asking for their support during the school’s Giving Day 2019 campaign.
Peer-to-peer fundraising has proven to be highly effective for most schools. Emails or referrals from peers help create a personalized touch and act as a strong incentive for fellow alumni to contribute.
8 Proven Ideas for Promoting Giving Days
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Having observed 100+ Giving Days, we have enough data to conclude that Giving Days can provide a major boost to your fundraising efforts.
A Giving Day is a powerful online fundraising campaign conducted for 24 hours with the purpose of raising money and finding new donors. On every calendar, there are special days, or holidays, dedicated for different purposes or activities. For example, most calendars automatically include holidays like Independence Day, Mother’s Day, and Halloween. A giving day could be one such special day marked on your school’s event calendar, dedicated to fundraising and known to your constituents as a special day for your school.
If you’re asking yourself why a designated day should be any different from any other day of the year, read on. While your constituents can donate throughout the year, asking them to participate in a 24-hour event exclusive to a cause helps create a sense of urgency. Giving Days also help create healthy competition and a sense of community as your constituents get an opportunity to contribute towards a common goal.
A well planned Giving Day can entirely transform your fundraising approach by helping you acquire new donors, enrich the giving experience, and instill a culture of giving in your constituents.
Need more information on how to plan for a Giving Day? Click on the image below to get a free copy of our Planning a Giving Day Handbook today!
Why are Giving Days so important?
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With the overwhelming success that Giving Tuesdays have shown to have brought to schools and universities across the globe, it is time we started talking about how to make the most of your Giving Tuesday.
Giving Tuesday, widely recognized as an annual day of giving, is a great opportunity for your school or university to engage with potential donors and raise funds.
With Giving Tuesday 2021 just around the corner, here’s our checklist to help you plan an awesome Giving Tuesday.
1. Choose your core team, define responsibilities, and have regular meetings to plan and track execution
2. Set a defined structure, target audience, and actionable goals while creating the plan
3. Finalize the budget
4. Identify and begin to solicit prospective donors and other sponsors
5. Create a branded donation page to showcase your school spirit. Data shows that donors are much more comfortable to donate on a donation page that looks like yours than to an unbranded Venmo or Paypal page.
1. A unique and compelling theme helps your donors connect better and acts as an incentive for them to donate to a cause that they believe in. One of our customers, Don Bosco Prep High School raised more than $25K, asking its alumni to donate towards the specific cause of building a Wellness Center for its students.
2. Build all of your communication collateral about the Giving Day around it
3. Create a unique hashtag to help spread the word about your Giving Day further and faster on social media.
1. Bring your ambassadors on board to promote your Giving Day and take ownership or share your team’s responsibilities
2. Solicit personal appeals from influential people of your school like teachers, famous alumni, board members, etc. further inspiring donors to donate
3. Spread the word about your Giving Day extensively amongst your faculty and staff inclusive of board members, class representatives, and chapter admins
1. With recent trends suggesting that an increasing number of donations are being made from mobile devices, ensure that your platform is mobile compatible
2. Enable peer-to-peer solicitation for your donors to reach out to their network
3. Display challenges and leaderboards to help donors get a sense of their contribution and encourage more participation through healthy competition
1. Create a detailed communication plan and calendar much ahead of your Giving Tuesday
2. Build a social media toolkit to help your team and ambassadors promote your Giving Tuesday campaign
3. Use Facebook or Instagram Live scheduling to actively engage with your donors and share with them live updates on the day itself to influence bigger contributions.
1. You don’t have to necessarily stick to one format or channel. Experiment with multiple formats such as images, videos, or long-form captions.
2. Videos can help a great deal in the promotion of your Giving Tuesday campaign and encourage donors. Just a short video created with a smartphone can create a more personalized approach aimed at your donors. Try to involve the head of school or faculty in creating these videos.
3. Utilize offline channels to promote your campaign. Publishing updates in your print newsletter and distributing flyers in local coffee shops are some of the techniques you can try to publicize your campaign offline.
Sending a simple and short thank you email to your donors at the end of the day is a great practice to let them know how thankful you are for their contribution. Ensure that this note doesn’t ask for another donation and instead, only is a means of expressing gratitude. The thank-you gesture has shown to have increased the chances of the same donors contributing again.
Giving Tuesday has become a global movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy with events throughout the year.
We wish your team make it BIG and make the best of this Giving Tuesday.
Need more pointers on planning your Giving Day?
Check out our Comprehensive Guide on Planning A Giving Day for Schools & Universities.
How to make the most of Giving Tuesday?
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Here are two main reasons why Online Giving is the best place to invest your time and talent.
1. It is the hottest form of giving right now – Online giving in Education sector has risen by a staggering 12.3 % and 15 % in last two years.
2. It has seen the largest adoption rates by the Millennials
62% of donors worldwide prefer to give online
Our experience with over hundred partner schools across the world had taught a few things about various friction points on Giving Pages. Some common examples include:
1. excessive steps or clicks in the giving process
2. multiple or conflicting calls-to-action, non-essential buttons, menus, or navigational elements.
Simple math tells us that:
1. Even under the assumption of a very conservative conversion rate of 1 % for every 1,000 visitors, you will have 10 donors.
2. For the same 1,000 visits to your online donation form, if 3% of them convert into donors, you’ll have 30 donors. That’s a 200% improvement! And depending on your average gift amount, this could equate to a significant increase for your organisation.
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7- Effective Online Giving Practices
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