Black Friday – the day when Americans shed their turkey-induced lethargy for a stampede-style shopping frenzy.
Businesses know all about how to prepare for and make the most of this consumer-driven day. But do you?
Let’s take a look at what you can learn from Black Friday to make an awesome online fundraising campaign.
1. Be on the ball.
There’s nothing worse than trying to shop at a store that is woefully unprepared for the hordes bearing down on them with half-priced goodies. When you are setting up for a major fundraising campaign or event, be sure you will be able to handle the crowds. Make sure your website won’t crash due to heavy traffic, and that you have a system in place for dealing with and responding to lots of donations in a friendly, timely fashion.
2. Have a great team.
In order to handle these challenges, you need to be well staffed with dependable people. Stores call in their best, most capable employees to work on Black Friday. You need to gather an awesome-sauce group of people to run your fundraising campaign.
3. Target your efforts.
Businesses spend months preparing for Black Friday and thinking of ways to get people in the door – you should do the same for your big days, too. Do research about the people you are trying to reach. Target your fundraising materials where they will have the most effect, so when the day comes you’ll have lots of people lining up early to get a chance to be a part of your cause.
4. Do more.
Black Friday is about more, more, more. More deals, more stuff. When you’re doing your fundraising campaign, you need to go big. Show how you’re making a HUGE difference to LOTS of people. Fundraising is all about showing your impact. Make a big event out of it – go big or go home.
5. Turn consumerism around.
Besides applying Black Friday principles to your fundraising campaigns throughout the year, you can also take advantage of the holiday season and do something special over the next month. Lots of people get tired of the selfish buying culture on Black Friday and holiday gifts! Provide them with an opportunity to put their dollars towards something selfless – donating to a good cause (yours!).
Cancel out some of that mindless consumerism. You can also team up with businesses so that a portion of their profits on a particular day will go to your charity.
Is your nonprofit doing anything special for the holidays? We’d love to hear how!
