GiveGab Hosts First Giving Day Leaders Forum

On July 25 and 26, 2017, GiveGab hosted their first Giving Day Leaders Forum to bring people together from across the country who hosted Giving Days on GiveGab.

Having powered more than thirty Giving Days so far, the GiveGab team organized this forum to inspire shared ideas between Giving Day leaders and help influence the creation of new platform features.

The forum focused on bringing Giving Day hosts together to collaborate and share on topics such as:

• Storytelling and Marketing Strategies
• Giving Day Best Practices
• Creative Ideas for Giving Day Hosts
• New GiveGab Features and Product Roadmap
• Giving Day Debriefs & Lessons Learned  
• And More!

Leaders from as far away as California and as close as our hometown of Ithaca, NY, attended the forum, with some leaders joining us remotely.  Altogether, there were twenty-six Giving Day Leaders who took part!  

Take a look at the video we put together featuring interviews with some of our Giving Day Leaders: 

Lessons Learned from Giving Day Leaders

1. Giving Day Platform Experience

Every Giving Day story is unique.  Some of our partners have only hosted their Giving Days with us, while others switched from an alternative platform for one reason or another.  Leaders shared the triumphs and struggles of their Giving Days and their experiences working with GiveGab.

The resounding theme among those in attendance was a high level of satisfaction with the superior customer support our GiveGab team provides throughout the entire partnership and during the 24 hours of giving.

Leaders were excited to meet the faces behind GiveGab’s chat bubble feature. The phrase “you’re actually real humans!” was naturally followed by laughter throughout the room and over the phone.  Many expressed that it was the support of the GiveGab team that helped the Giving Day Leaders and participating nonprofits achieve success.

2. Creative Marketing

Spreading awareness about a one-day event can be tricky, so we inquired about what marketing efforts worked for people, what didn’t, and new ideas for upcoming Giving Days.  Because so many Giving Days represent a community, be it geographically-based like Idaho Gives or a place of higher education like Cornell Giving Day, a combination of print and digital advertising are often utilized.

The following are some of the Giving Day marketing practices shared during the forum:

• Hiring a PR firm exclusively for the Giving Day
• Billboards, Taxi and Bus Shelter Ads
• Local Radio and Spotify Ads
• Local Newspaper and Magazine Ads
• Local Restaurant Promotions & Discounts
• Instagram Takeover Campaign
• Snapchat and Instagram Stories
• Facebook and Twitter Campaigns
• Facebook Groups and Events
• Google Ads
• Emails, Postcards, and Letters

3. Giving Day Best Practices

Things that went well for our Giving Day Leaders that they would do again included:

• Community Events
• Donation Stations
• Prize money to incentivize fundraising and engagement
• Website Training and Webinars
• Sharing of clearly defined fundraising goals
• Hosting Giving Day Kick-Off and Wrap-Up Parties
• Email Support and Training Materials provided by the GiveGab team
• GiveGab’s chat bubble feature for immediate access to Customer Support

4. GiveGab Product Updates & Roadmap

At GiveGab, we’re constantly leveraging user feedback to inform future product decisions and updates.  On day two of the forum, we shared the updates we have planned for the coming months and asked our guests to provide their product insights.

Our partners’ feedback will help us shape the next iteration of development on Matching and Peer-to-Peer fundraising. Along with providing invaluable insights into the development of GiveGab’s new donor management system, the Engage Donor CRM!

5. Post-Giving Day Strategy

Keeping up the momentum following a Giving Day is crucial for the success of hosting the day again in the future.  Those who participate in the day will want to feel as though the benefits extend far beyond the 24 hours.

Our Giving Day Leaders are eager to create a community where they can collaborate with each other all year-round to make each of their Giving Days as successful as possible.

Creating a virtual community through a group on Facebook or LinkedIn that’s used to keep people informed about Giving Day results and planning for a future day can be very helpful.  This strategy, along with others found in our Ultimate Guide to Giving Day Success can really boost results for the day itself and beyond.

Thank you to all our Giving Day partners for the hard work you do in raising awareness for these special giving events and supporting the important missions of all participating organizations!