Giving Tuesday presents an excellent opportunity for nonprofits to make an impact during the season of giving. Taking place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, this holiday has grown from a small effort to a global day of giving to nonprofits.
MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) supports children and adults living with neuromuscular diseases. They sought to leverage this important day to drive revenue, while reiterating messaging surrounding their mission.
They worked with Data Axle Nonprofit to develop an email series consisting of nine emails to garner support and generate donations. The campaign kicked off on Nov. 20 and concluded on Nov. 30, the day after Giving Tuesday. To create more excitement and urgency for Giving Tuesday, the first $15,000 in donations were matched by an MDA donor.
The nine-email series featured a black Friday and cyber-Monday email to capitalize on the two biggest shopping days of the year. Using bold imagery and eye-catching graphics, with distinct and current calls-to-action, all emails were spaced out over ten days to create sustained visibility for prospective donors, keeping the organization top of mind as Giving Tuesday approached.
Additionally, the email series featured a pending gift statement as well as a message that highlighted that donations can make twice the impact. For example, $25 becomes $50; $50 becomes $100, and so on. To highlight the donors' impact, a campaign thank you email was sent the day after Giving Tuesday to express gratitude. The result was a 32% year-over-year increase in November online donation revenue.
