Successful Fundraising Stories at Community Boost
by Gia Chow | | Company Culture | 0 comments
3 min to read ✭
It’s always heartwarming and inspiring to hear successful nonprofit fundraising stories. With the right plan and a solid strategy, any nonprofit can be successful.
Here at Community Boost, we scale results for nonprofits of all shapes and sectors by leveraging the Google Ad Grant, Facebook and Instagram Ads, conversion design, and more. Our team of experts is dedicated to optimizing success for all of our clients, helping develop customized solutions to overcome any challenge.
In celebration of our client’s success, we wanted to highlight several fundraising stories from organizations that have gone above and beyond.
Love Justice International
Love Justice International works to end human trafficking and protect the world’s most vulnerable people. They were ready for a more strategic multi-channel digital marketing approach but without the bandwidth or expertise to execute, they approached Community Boost for help just before the end-of-year giving season kicked off. As a result, Love Justice International generated nearly $40,000 from Facebook ads across 74 donations between Giving Tuesday and Human Trafficking Awareness Day (January 11th). That’s a whopping 9.8x ROI!
Reach Out & Read
Reach Out & Read’s 30-hour giving challenge is the epitome of time-bound fundraising success. With a goal of raising $50,000 during a 30-hour window, Reach Out & Read worked with Community Boost to launch a 7-day Facebook ads campaign. With only $150 spent on advertising, this campaign generated over 8,200 impressions and 1,555 engagements at an average of 10 cents per engagement. Ultimately, the campaign raised $66,737, surpassing their initial goal of $50,000.
Thirst Project
Thirst Project is another excellent example of a Facebook and Instagram ads success story. Upon teaming up with Community Boost to validate their digital strategy, Thirst Project spent a total $616 and saw $6,842 in direct online donation revenue across 117 donations, which translates to an 11.1x return.
Tips to having a successful fundraising story
Success doesn’t happen overnight but it’s totally attainable. To put you on the right track here are four tips to get you one step closer to having your own great fundraising story.
1. Be proactive with outreach through email marketing
Regularly showcasing impact is important to keep supporters informed and involved. Although you can do this in a variety of ways (through a newsletter, by updating social media, etc.), we swear by email marketing.
Email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective, powerful ways to communicate with your audience. The key elements to a strong email marketing campaign is a catchy subject line, a clear call to action, and an email body that is relevant to your recipients.
To better target your audience and ensure that your message resonates, we recommend segmenting your email lists. Your donors aren’t a monolith, so your content shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all.
2. Use a strategic marketing plan
Another hallmark of successful fundraising is to have a strong marketing plan. If you’re just starting out, it can be overwhelming, especially since marketing plans look different depending on the industry you’re in and the services you offer. Generally, a marketing plan should include:
- Organization summary – the basic info on your org including your name, mission, and services offered
- Organization initiatives – what your marketing department is doing to help you meet your fundraising goals
- SWOT analysis – a deep-dive into what you’re doing well, potential opportunities, and challenges
- Target audience – the population that you’re marketing to
- Donor personas – fictional archetypes of your ideal donor based on the characteristics defined in your target market research
- Competitive analysis – a summary of how your organization stacks up against other organizations with a similar mission
- SMART goals – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals
- Marketing channels – the channels that you’ll be using to reach out to your target audience
Need help creating a strong plan?
3. Always say thank you
Next, don’t underestimate the power of gratitude. A thoughtful and genuine thank you makes your donors feel appreciated and valued, increasing the chances they will continue to support your cause for a long time to come.
When it comes to launching a donor thank you campaign, it’s important to keep in mind the following six best practices:
- Personalize your thank you messages
- Show your donors the impact of their gift
- Call your donors to thank them directly
- Add a personal touch by writing handwritten thank-you notes
- Share other opportunities for engagement such as ways to volunteer or upcoming events
- Ask your donors for feedback
4. Continue Learning and Innovating
Lastly, we can’t just do the same old things and expect different results. To drive growth and move your mission forward, it’s crucial to continuously innovate your nonprofit’s approach, so you can connect with your audience.
