How Give Local 757! Surpassed Their $1 Million Milestone With GiveGab

The Peninsula Community Foundation hosted its first Giving Day, Give Local 757!, in 2014 to benefit the nonprofit community of Coastal Virginia. In its succeeding years, the Foundation saw little growth despite the great efforts put into coordinating this annual event. After switching to the GiveGab platform in 2020, Give Local 757! far surpassed the $1 Million mark, and reached another significant milestone in 2021, with over 10,000 donors participating in the Giving Day.

Tammy Flynn, Director of Philanthropy at the Peninsula Community Foundation attributes reaching these impressive milestones to the level of support GiveGab was able to provide the Foundation and their nonprofits.

“We almost doubled in dollars raised during our first year joining GiveGab, which is even more remarkable if you consider we had been doing this for six years on other platforms without experiencing this level of growth.” 

Prior to joining GiveGab, Give Local 757! was hosted through an alternative Giving Day platform that did not provide any user support to her participating organizations and donors. This meant it was Tammy’s responsibility to answer any and all questions regarding the Giving Day site. Because of this, she spent the majority of her time responding to emails and calls, barely leaving time for more strategic planning around Give Local 757!

Additionally, the Peninsula Community Foundation was responsible for creating the resources and trainings that her nonprofits relied on to successfully take part in this event. As a small Foundation new to running a Giving Day, Tammy and her team had limited resources and expertise for creating these educational materials. 

Tammy needed to work with an industry leader that was willing to pass along support in all aspects of their Giving Day and knew that GiveGab was their solution.

Once they joined GiveGab they were paired up with a dedicated Project Manager, available to offer the guidance, best practices, and general support that Tammy was lacking from her previous platform provider.

GiveGab was also able to alleviate many of the pain points that Tammy and her team were feeling by taking over answering support requests through GG Chat. Additionally, the GiveGab team helped by providing specially curated resources for the Giving Day participants including webinars, toolkits, and an expansive support center.

As a result, Tammy had significantly more time to focus on ways to continue expanding Give Local 757! She was able to accomplish this in several ways. First, she was able to cultivate a stronger relationship with her local news station whom she worked with to highlight both the Giving Day and the efforts of the participating nonprofits.

Tammy was also able to devote time to curate a special livestream which included nonprofit interviews, exciting updates, and prize announcements. 

Additionally, with GiveGab’s expertise, Tammy successfully empowered her participating nonprofits to explore more advanced fundraising strategies such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) fundraising. This equated to a large portion of Give Local 757!’s growth with P2P fundraising bringing in a total of $596,547 – 32% of all donations made during Give Local 757!

These factors led to Give Local 757! experiencing a record-breaking year in 2021 with $1.8 million raised for 218 Coastal Virginia organizations.

When asked if she had any final advice to share with community foundations considering running their own Giving Day, Tammy eagerly shared:

“I would 1000% percent encourage moving to GiveGab, no matter what system or platform you are currently on, you would not regret it one bit! The efforts to switch pays back in fold with all the extra work that will no longer be in your hands. GiveGab is a one-stop-shop to take your Giving Day to the next level.”

Topics Covered in this Case Study Include:

• A brief overview of the Peninsula Community Foundation and its history of hosting Give Local 757!
• Factors that led the Foundation to switch to GiveGab from another fundraising platform for their 2021 event
• The significance of working with a dedicated Project Manager and support team, and the impact it made on how Tammy managed the Giving Day
  • Tammy’s experience shifting her time and focus on growing Give Local 757! through marketing efforts and strategic partnerships with local media
  • Advice to Giving Day hosts considering switching to the GiveGab platform for their upcoming Giving Day

Read more about how Give Local 757! surpassed their $1 million milestone