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Read time: 7 minutes

If you’re a professional fundraiser, every day is giving day. Unfortunately, not all of our donors are themselves professional fundraisers — so creating a special, attention-grabbing Giving Day that gets your audiences excited and engaged can be a big boost during an otherwise quiet time of year. 

Think of it like your organization’s own Giving Tuesday — on your schedule, and on your terms! Competition can be fierce for inbox space and attention during Giving Tuesday and End of Year — typical tentpole campaigns for direct response fundraising programs. Launching a Giving Day can help build a strong, banner campaign, any time of year.

Launching a Giving Day at a cultural institution is particularly special because you can invite your community inside the building to participate in your philanthropic mission. Museums can have a hard time soliciting smaller dollar annual gifts tied to mission, rather than a new exhibit, and this is a great place to turn the focus to why donor support matters. And to unite departments across your organization. 

We’re going to look at two very different Giving Days to show what works!

Getting to the heart of a Giving Day: Museum of Science, Boston’s Pi Day

The Museum of Science, Boston is a cultural icon in Boston with over 700 interactive exhibits, a planetarium, IMAX theater, live shows, and a little known fact: it’s also an accredited zoo!

Pi Day, celebrating math and science, is the Museum’s signature day of giving. When we started working with the Museum, Pi Day was in its fifth year. There was name recognition, and a lot of things that were working well to build on, but also a few ways we thought we could optimize the campaign. 

The multichannel aspects of the campaign weren’t as strong as they could be. In 2021, the Museum sent 10 separate email sends, three Facebook posts, and didn’t do any paid advertising. 

They also felt too focused on Penny Pi, a Pi Day character the Museum had invented that was prominently featured across channels and was even an email signer. We love Penny Pi, but she isn’t clearly tied to the Museum’s mission.

We weren’t sure what messaging angle to take with Pi Day after taking a step back from Penny Pi, so we started with message testing. We tested different angles on how to present the Museum’s mission in the context of Pi Day to see what would resonate most with folks, as well as images and taglines for the campaign. The survey groups were members of the board, Museum donors, and the general public.

We had a clear winning statement: Science starts here and fuels a lifetime of learning. We were also able to see comments from participants about WHY it was such a powerful statement.

We incorporated the results into our creative — into the email content, across the website, and in our paid advertising. By uniting the creative, we built a cohesive campaign. If you saw an ad, and later read an email, you’d know it was the same, just from the language.

The results: in 2023 we ran half the number of email appeals, but raised more than DOUBLE the revenue from email — just from refining the messaging and brand graphics! On the website, a similar story — we doubled our revenue. And we were able to launch Facebook ads, a new channel for the Museum! 

The Museum also had a significant presence day-of in the lobby, facepainting and a photobooth and give-a-ways that helped to amplify their message with visitors. As Pi Day grows, the Museum is seeing folks who seek out the Museum on Pi Day, people who have a birthday on Pi Day, or got married on Pi Day, and are so excited to be part of the big day.

Overall, this was the strongest campaign for the Museum of the year, by a LOT — more than Giving Tuesday and End of Year COMBINED. The changes we made expanding across channels and focusing on the campaign led to great results — a 33% increase in revenue year over year.

Final fun fact: for anyone who gave $100 or more, we sent a free pie as a thank you!

Launching a Giving Day from scratch: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco’s Academy Day

The California Academy of Sciences is an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Academy is a powerful voice for biodiversity research and exploration, environmental education, and sustainability across the globe.

So why did we work with the Academy to launch a Giving Day? We had three goals:

  • to talk about the Academy’s new mission to regenerate the natural world and put their philanthropic mission front and center.
  • to bring people into the Academy to celebrate Giving Day with pay-what-you-can ticketing.
  • to bring in new donors, targeting a goal 170 new donors — chosen to align with the 170th anniversary of the Academy.

It takes time to create a Giving Day, and we knew to put our best foot forward. So we started five months in advance, creating an internal memo around what a Giving Day could be to share with the other departments and create buy-in from departments across the Academy.

From there we hosted a cross-departmental brainstorm. We wanted everyone across the organization to feel enthusiastic about what a Giving Day, now called Academy Day, would look like and how their department could help execute that vision.

After the brainstorm, we moved into detailed campaign planning, solidifying that cross-department support, and creating all the components for the inaugural Academy Day. Before we knew it, we were ready to launch!

With the partnership of the web team, we created a page to introduce the giving day and explain how Academy Day tied to the new mission.

To bring people into the Academy we highlighted all the on-site activities, and to bring in new donors we launched a special donation form that looked like a traditional crowdfunding page, with symbolic giving options to make this campaign feel really tangible.

We also ensured the campaign was cohesive across channels — a key way to do that was with premium and match offers. We had branded magnets, Academy Day tote bags, t-shirts, and stickers that were all promoted across channels thanks to our internal partners.

We were also able to support a day of pay-what-you-can admission on Academy Day itself, no small feat! To execute that, the team launched a targeted direct mail appeal to one of their donor circles asking them to become “Founders” of Academy Day. 

This pilot was able to bring in more than 5,000 visitors. The Bay Area is notoriously expensive and the Academy isn’t always accessible to the local community, so this was a big priority for the team. The on-site initiatives were a huge success: Academy Day saw significantly more visitors who were first time visitors, (+19% increase), a significantly more ethnically diverse crowd, and more guests with income under $59k (+8% increase).

The first Academy Day was a really strong start, thanks to all our partners! The team was able to pilot the pay-what you can ticket initiative and create a brand new tradition at the Academy. We exceeded our revenue goal by 16%. Results were stronger than the Giving Tuesday or End of Year campaign with a similar number of gifts, a huge win for a brand new campaign. And half of email revenue came from entirely NEW donors!

Big takeaways:

A Giving Day can become a big day for your community that can generate more and more excitement (and revenue!) every year.

You have to go big to make the day feel truly special. Giving Days work best as multichannel campaigns with exclusive matches and unique premiums.

Launching a Giving Day takes time. You have to secure buy-in, which can take a while, and it can be really difficult to launch all the initiatives you’re excited about in one year. But momentum builds year over year.

It takes some work, but the result is sweet as pi(e): a big tentpole campaign that unites external supporters and even departments within your organization.  

P.S. Were you inspired to support these amazing institutions? Pi Day and Academy Day are both around the corner! We would love to count you as a new donor in our reporting: Pi Day is 3/14 and Academy Day is 4/4.

_____

Emily Tillmawitz is a Senior Account Supervisor at M+R based in Brooklyn.

Johanna Levy is an Account Supervisor at M+R based in New York City, but not in Brooklyn. When she’s not planning fundraising campaigns, you can find her drinking iced coffee at the beach.

Read time: 2 minutes

Did you miss our latest webinar about Scout Quest, our privacy-focused one-of-a-kind online data co-op? Get the full webinar recording here

Here are the four biggest takeaways:

1) Huge Results for the Humane Society of the United States: Gabby Green from HSUS shared her experience using Scout Quest data to reactivate a huge inactive file. We identified 230,000 people on their file who were clicking on emails for other groups but not for them. They were able to immediately grow their email by 175,000 — and then see a nearly 200% ROI in only a few months.

2) Using Scout Quest Audiences for Advertising EVERYWHERE: We’ve used Scout Quest data to build AWESOME Lookalike Audiences on Facebook for a few years now, but on the webinar, Sarah Coughlon shared the HUGE news that we’re now going to be offering similar audiences for programmatic advertising. Meaning — you can use Scout Quest data to target display ads, connected TV, audio, and more. 

3) Scout Quest… for Direct Mail??: No, we’re not turning Scout Quest into a direct mail co-op (so many exist already!). But we ARE going to begin adding direct mail data so we can identify who on your email file are making direct mail gifts to other organizations. Why? So you can see which of your supporters respond in the mail — and could be worth sending mail to. 

4) The Timeline to Participate: To participate this spring, we’re hoping groups can commit to join soon! Here’s the timeline:

  • March 22: confirm participation and sign the participation agreement
  • April 5: data submissions due
  • April 26: data summary dashboards delivered to participants
  • May 3: deadline to decide what data to purchase
  • May 15: all data delivered and advertising audiences become available

Again: Get the full webinar recording here
Sign up for Scout Quest and get more info on the website here!
Have a question? Just not sure? Email us here!

Hope to talk with you soon! See you in the co-op!

P.S. Guess who will be releasing a Benchmarks study on April 24? (It’s us!)

The annual M+R Benchmarks Study will once again explore the labyrinth of nonprofit digital fundraising, advocacy, and marketing metrics. This year’s M+R Benchmarks will feature a virtual candyland of useful information about digital ads, email, mobile messaging, social media, web performance, and more. 

So fire up your racecar (or thimble, or boot, or whatever), and get ready for a tour of digital metrics that will take you from Baltic to Boardwalk. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 — go directly to mrbenchmarks.com on April 24 to download the full 2024 M+R Benchmarks Study!

Read time: 4 minutes

The bleak winter months of January and February are a slog to endure — especially if you’ve got kids who bring home approximately 72 illnesses per child per week. Most of us are biding our time for the sunshine-infused time change that is Spring Forward (reminder! Change those clocks this Sunday!) and look for those bright spots that indicate warmer weather is on the way.

For those of us in the nonprofit space, January and February are also the months that we’re compiling our year-end reports and gleaning learnings to bring into our next campaign. Now that the dust has settled on year-end, we’re taking a look at our top-performing ad strategies and creative from 2023 to inspire us in 2024.

If you want to explore some of our fav email creative from 2023, check out this post!

1. Mobile-first ads

We saw at year-end that mobile-first display ads are flourishing for nonprofits because they align with the shifting digital landscape and provide targeted and visually compelling content.

We developed mobile-first concepts for Planned Parenthood, which appeal to younger audiences who are primarily using their phones for online browsing. Added bonus: mobile display ads tend to be some of the most served creatives in the inventory! By starting with our smallest design size, we’re able to create designs that work best with a smaller footprint and then expand the ads to larger sizes with more complex animations and visuals.  

2. Be flexible.

Timely, urgent content drives response — especially for nonprofits in the international relief space providing emergency response. And, of course, that emphasis doesn’t change just because it’s year-end.

That means that even when we spend months planning year-end content, crises demand that we be flexible in our approach to ads. While we might have had entire campaigns of incredible EOY content, the crisis in Gaza demanded we pivot. In moments of great need, donors turn to trusted nonprofits to help make a difference.

While this Amnesty International creative doesn’t explicitly call out the war in Gaza, the urgency of the animations and focus on civilians was compelling for audiences wanting to help ensure access to life-saving humanitarian aid. 

3. Tap into influencers 

Take a page out of the NFL’s book—influencers offer nonprofits a unique opportunity to expand reach, build credibility, create impactful content, and drive engagement for their football games causes. By strategically leveraging influencer partnerships, nonprofits can effectively raise awareness, inspire action, and raise money.

Watch the full IRC ad here

In 2023, we saw influencer marketing take center stage in our fundraising campaigns. For the International Rescue Committee, Katya shared a personal message about how the organization has helped refugee families just like her own. The success of her story reinforces the importance of authentic content that inspires your audiences.  

4. Experiment with audio

Podcasts continue to grow in popularity and influence, with millions of listeners tuning in to podcasts regularly across various platforms. As the podcasting landscape expands, nonprofits have an opportunity to tap into this growing audience and elevate their visibility and impact through strategic podcast advertising initiatives.

Amnesty International audio ad


This monthly giving audio ad for Amnesty International leverages a conversational script between two announcers to give ✨podcast vibes✨ — a non-intrusive approach to maintain listener engagement and increase effectiveness.

5. Make it personal

Crafting personal stories lies at the heart of our work. These narratives have the remarkable ability to transcend statistics and facts, touching the hearts and minds of donors in profound ways. Personal stories can serve as a glimpse into the lives of those affected by the issues at hand, allowing donors to understand the human impact of their support.

One of the best examples we saw of this at year-end is this poignant connected television creative we developed for USA for UNHCR. Through this video, viewers are invited to step into the shoes of a refugee, experiencing firsthand the challenges, hopes, and dreams of individuals forced to flee their homes due to conflict or persecution. 

Watch the full USA for UNHCR ad here

As you can see, these are not your garden variety trends and tactics — and we’re thrilled to continue exploring the data with you. If ad performance brightens your day, stay tuned for the 2024 Benchmarks Study! Sign up here to be the first to know when the latest Benchmarks is released.

————

Amanda Person is a Managing Associate Creative Director at M+R based in Nashville, TN. When she’s not developing creative campaigns, you can find her hanging out with her kids, buried in a book, or taking a long walk with her dogs.

Read time: 3 minutes

This spring, we’re cooking up some exciting new updates for Scout Quest — M+R’s data co-op — and I hope you’ll join me at an upcoming webinar on Thursday, March 7 from 4–5pm ET to learn about those updates.

But let’s back up for a sec — what is Scout Quest? It’s a different kind of data co-op!

Participating organizations share their supporter email, action, donation, deliverability, engagement, and fundraising behavior. In return, they receive volumes of rich, useful data about their supporters to help in targeting, re-engagement, advertising, and more.

But it’s not what participants share that makes M+R’s co-op different. It’s what we don’t ask them to share: supporters’ privacy.

Scout Quest doesn’t ask you to give your donor or activist names or contact information to anyone. Behavioral data on how your supporters are interacting with other organizations — email and donation patterns — are powerful without sacrificing your supporters’ privacy and trust. 

We’ve had dozens of participants over the past couple years, and we’ve shared some of their results here and here and… well, all over our blog, really. 

I’m thrilled about some new features we’re rolling out this spring, and they all kick off with our webinar on March 7. I’ll be co-presenting with my M+R colleague Sarah Coughlon, as well as Gabby Green of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), who will share how HSUS used data from Scout Quest to give their email list a major boost ahead of Giving Tuesday last year. 

We’re ALSO going to reveal new details about how we’ll be expanding Scout Quest to cover direct mail data  as well as an all new way Scout Quest can be used to massively expand your advertising reach. 🎉

Already participated in Scout Quest? Never heard of us before? All are welcome! Sign up for the webinar today!

WEBINAR: March 7 at 4–5pm ET/1–2pm PT

DESCRIPTION: Learn how organizations are reaching, reactivating, and rejuvenating donors and prospects who might otherwise slip through the cracks with Scout Quest. Also learn about some of Scout Quest’s brand new features!

SPEAKERS: Gabby Green (Humane Society of the United States), Jonathan Benton (M+R), and Sarah Coughlon (M+R)

We hope you’ll come and find out what’s new with Scout Quest and how your organization can get involved! 

Or — if you already know you want to participate, just jump ahead! We’re currently accepting participants for the spring, so just reach out on our sign-up form on the Scout Quest website. The deadline to join our spring registration is March 22! 

______

Jonathan is a Senior Vice President at M+R. He helps lead the development of our data co-op (hey, that’s Scout Quest! The thing you’re reading about right now!) — as well as our reporting platforms (Scout Reports!), and our annual Benchmarks study. Jonathan also works closely on fundraising strategy for some of M+R’s longest-running clients. You can reach Jonathan at jbenton@mrss.com.  

Read time: 3 minutes

Here’s what’s on our calendars for the next couple of months. How about you? Let us know here if you’re planning on attending any of these conferences — we’d love to say hi, buy you a drink, ply you with delicious conference session knowledge, and other fun stuff.

Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC)
March 13 to 15, Portland, OR
We’re sending a van-load of M+R folks to Portland, including Partner Madeline Stanionis; Senior VPs Dustin Kight, Cameron Lefevre, and Nzinga Koné-Miller; Art Director Stacie Buell; and Managing Account Supervisor Diego Ruiz. We’re also hosting a party on 3.14 (aka Pi Day!). Here’s the fli fli flier ⬇️. Email pipipi@mrss.com to get on that guest list!

TNPA 2024 Nonprofit Fundraising Symposium
March 20 to 22, Washington, DC
M+R CEO Yoon Lee and Senior Vice President Liz Ertner are psyched to dig into the big questions our industry is grappling with. AI? Building a stronger culture of philanthropy? Future-proofing teams for change? Boy oh boy do we have thoughts. Will you be there? Let’s meet up and chat about it all over a drink or coffee!

America Votes State Summit
March 26 to 28, Washington, DC
Ooh la la, you definitely want to join M+R Win’s Executive Vice President Christian LoBue, Vice President Kate Ryan, and Vice President Miranda Carter for a much-needed happy hour. Add your name to the list of equally 2024-election-obsessed pals who will be eager to talk it out!

Road Ahead (Ballot Initiative Strategy Center)
April 9 to 11, Las Vegas, NV
Vice Presidents Kate Ryan and Jess Greene are pretty pumped to be in Las Vegas to meet, greet, and stay out of that hot, hot sun with other political do-gooders at BISC this year. Will you be one of them? Please say yes, so we can say hi, scheme, plan, dream, and all that together!

Not hitting the conferences circuit? No prob! 

We’re also hosting a few virtual offerings this spring.

On March 5 (3pm ET / 12pm PT), please join our webinar “Winning Elections Without Losing Everything” — a conversation between The Othering and Belonging Institute’s john a. powell and M+R Win’s Christian LoBue as they explore how political strategists, communication leaders, and organizers can tackle this election year head-on, guided by both our short-term goals for the cycle and the long-term health of our democracy. RSVP by clicking here

And on March 7 (4pm ET / 1pm PT), don’t miss M+R’s Jonathan Benton and Sarah Coughlon, who will be joined by Gabby Green from Humane Society of the United States to talk all about Scout Quest, including new features rolling out this spring. RSVP by clicking here.

Read time: 2 minutes

We are so excited about this conversation between M+R Win’s Christian LoBue and john a. powell from The Othering and Belonging Institute! Guaranteed to be informative and inspiring. Register here!

Elections present a myriad of challenges — the proliferation of misinformation, the widening gulfs of affective polarization and fragmentation, the rise of conflict entrepreneurs, and the weaponizing of difference all contribute to an atmosphere of deep discomfort and uncertainty. The stakes are high, and the path to victory often seems strewn with the wreckage of ethical compromise. The temptation to reduce people and groups to caricatures and strip away their humanity, to punish or humiliate those who try to bridge across differences, and to let ourselves get caught up in the win-at-all-costs mentality is real. Worse, it has long-term consequences for our democracy. But here’s the thing: we’re better than that. We truly believe that even in the heat of a campaign, we can stay true to our values, stand stronger for democracy, and lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.

Please join a conversation between The Othering and Belonging Institute’s john a. powell and M+R Win’s Christian LoBue as they explore how political strategists, communication leaders, and organizers can tackle this election year head-on, guided by both our short-term goals for the cycle and the long-term health of our democracy. Register here.

______

john a. powell is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties and a wide range of issues including race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, and democracy. He is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute (formerly Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society), which supports research to generate specific prescriptions for changes in policy and practice that address disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and socioeconomics in California and nationwide. john a. powell is the co-author, with Stephen Menendian, of the forthcoming book, Belonging without Othering, How We Save Ourselves and the World, with Stanford University Press.

Christian LoBue is the Executive Vice President of M+R Wina campaigner and strategist who has spent the last two decades working across progressive movements to build power, shape public opinion, and mobilize folks to WIN. 

Read time: 3 minutes

This spring, we’re cooking up some exciting new updates for Scout Quest — M+R’s data co-op — and I hope you’ll join me at an upcoming webinar on Thursday, March 7 from 4–5pm ET to learn about those updates.

But let’s back up for a sec — what is Scout Quest? It’s a different kind of data co-op!

Participating organizations share their supporter email, action, donation, deliverability, engagement, and fundraising behavior. In return, they receive volumes of rich, useful data about their supporters to help in targeting, re-engagement, advertising, and more.

But it’s not what participants share that makes M+R’s co-op different. It’s what we don’t ask them to share: supporters’ privacy.

Scout Quest doesn’t ask you to give your donor or activist names or contact information to anyone. Behavioral data on how your supporters are interacting with other organizations — email and donation patterns — are powerful without sacrificing your supporters’ privacy and trust. 

We’ve had dozens of participants over the past couple years, and we’ve shared some of their results here and here and… well, all over our blog, really. 

I’m thrilled about some new features we’re rolling out this spring, and they all kick off with our webinar on March 7. I’ll be co-presenting with my M+R colleague Sarah Coughlon, as well as Gabby Green of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), who will share how HSUS used data from Scout Quest to give their email list a major boost ahead of Giving Tuesday last year. 

We’re ALSO going to reveal new details about how we’ll be expanding Scout Quest to cover direct mail data as well as an all new way Scout Quest can be used to massively expand your advertising reach. 🎉

Already participated in Scout Quest? Never heard of us before? All are welcome! Sign up for the webinar today!

WEBINAR: March 7 at 4–5pm ET/1–2pm PT

DESCRIPTION: Learn how organizations are reaching, reactivating, and rejuvenating donors and prospects who might otherwise slip through the cracks with Scout Quest. Also learn about some of Scout Quest’s brand new features!

SPEAKERS: Gabby Green (Humane Society of the United States), Jonathan Benton (M+R), and Sarah Coughlon (M+R)

We hope you’ll come and find out what’s new with Scout Quest and how your organization can get involved! 

Or — if you already know you want to participate, just jump ahead! We’re currently accepting participants for the spring, so just reach out on our sign-up form on the Scout Quest website. The deadline to join our spring registration is March 22! 

______

Jonathan is a Senior Vice President at M+R. He helps lead the development of our data co-op (hey, that’s Scout Quest! The thing you’re reading about right now!) — as well as our reporting platforms (Scout Reports!), and our annual Benchmarks study. Jonathan also works closely on fundraising strategy for some of M+R’s longest-running clients. You can reach Jonathan at jbenton@mrss.com.  

Read time: 2 minutes

Elections present a myriad of challenges — the proliferation of misinformation, the widening gulfs of affective polarization and fragmentation, the rise of conflict entrepreneurs, and the weaponizing of difference all contribute to an atmosphere of deep discomfort and uncertainty. The stakes are high, and the path to victory often seems strewn with the wreckage of ethical compromise. The temptation to reduce people and groups to caricatures and strip away their humanity, to punish or humiliate those who try to bridge across differences, and to let ourselves get caught up in the win-at-all-costs mentality is real. Worse, it has long-term consequences for our democracy. But here’s the thing: we’re better than that. We truly believe that even in the heat of a campaign, we can stay true to our values, stand stronger for democracy, and lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.

Please join a conversation between The Othering and Belonging Institute’s john a. powell and M+R Win’s Christian LoBue as they explore how political strategists, communication leaders, and organizers can tackle this election year head-on, guided by both our short-term goals for the cycle and the long-term health of our democracy. Register here.

______

john a. powell is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties and a wide range of issues including race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, and democracy. He is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute (formerly Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society), which supports research to generate specific prescriptions for changes in policy and practice that address disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and socioeconomics in California and nationwide. john a. powell is the co-author, with Stephen Menendian, of the forthcoming book, Belonging without Othering, How We Save Ourselves and the World, with Stanford University Press.

Christian LoBue is the Executive Vice President of M+R Win, a campaigner and strategist who has spent the last two decades working across progressive movements to build power, shape public opinion, and mobilize folks to WIN. 

Read time: 4 minutes

Are you done running reports for your 2023 year-end fundraising? Good, it’s time to start planning for 2024 year-end fundraising! 

We reviewed some early 2023 returns a few of weeks back, and now we’re taking a closer look at email tactics. Email fundraising has become increasingly difficult, but many of the organizations in our sample of 24 nonprofits saw strong results this December. 

Keep these trends and tactics in mind as you start to pencil in plans for the coming end of year (and no, it is never too early to start).

Not putting all our eggs into the the 12/31 basket

Even for nonprofits that saw steady year-over-year December totals, the timing of that giving shifted. On 12/31, email revenue was down year over year, but the real downer was 12/30, where revenue dipped more significantly year over year. 

After disappointing results with a Saturday 12/31 deadline in 2022, many nonprofits worried about closing out December on a weekend again in 2023. For many, that meant shifting the email cadence, adding more and more urgent messages on 12/28 and 12/29. Others found success by creating self-contained, time-limited campaigns earlier in the month — a flash match, 72-hour member drive, or another way to create a deadline in mid-December, reducing reliance on a big 12/31. The good news is, we don’t have a weekend 12/31 deadline for the next few years — but it still might be worth rethinking the December calendar. Don’t shy away from non-end of year focused fundraising in December. As we’ve continued to see a shift away from annual year-end giving behavior towards donors being more event- or crisis-driven, failing to run campaigns or messaging that connects with those crisis donors can be a missed opportunity.

Adding a low-fi, personal touch

Surveying some of the nonprofits we work with, the average number of appeals in the end of year timeframe didn’t change from 2022 to 2023, but as we discussed above, some organizations moved emails to the calendar mid-month.

Even with this total holding steady, these organizations still sent a median of 15 appeals. Anticipating the crowded inboxes and limited attention of year end ending on a weekend, the competition was FIERCE. One way to stand out in a crowded inbox is with eye-catching design — animated graphics, countdown clocks, fun graphics, photography and more. We love to make the most of our canvas, and those tactics can be effective.

Before we take a look at some of those examples, we also saw great results from the opposite approach: using plain text appeals with personal language to connect to donors. Telling the story or your organization, connecting on an authentic, emotional level — that still matters.

It may seem dispiriting when you craft the perfect email and only .05% of your file clicks through, but we’re still seeing these types of personal appeals prove to be extremely impactful.

Making the match math matter

Hey, those tactics still work. Lots of nonprofits saw success in escalating their match on 12/30 and 12/31. The highest match multiplier we saw was a whopping 10X. Even if you don’t have a 10X match multiplier in reserve, organizations that were able to escalate their match from the typical match made a difference for donors (if your organization only ever has a 2X match but is able to reserve a 3X match for 12/31, for example). And illustrating it with an eye-catching graphic: perfection!

The experiences here and in our previous end-of-year wrap-up post are based on what a subset of M+R clients saw in 2023. For a more robust data set and many, many, many charts, stay tuned for the upcoming 2024 M+R Benchmarks Study! Sign up here to be the first to know when the latest Benchmarks is released.

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Johanna Levy is an Account Supervisor at M+R based in New York City. When she’s not planning fundraising campaigns, you can find her drinking iced coffee at the beach.