It’s almost our favorite time of the year: giving season! Fundraising comes in many different shapes and sizes — and navigating giving trends can be overwhelming.

End-of-year fundraising is one of the most important parts of an annual strategy for many nonprofits. According to Classy’s State of Modern Philanthropy Report, nearly one-third of all giving on their platform takes place between Giving Tuesday and December 31. That’s a lot of money donated in one month.

Fundraising is essential for most orgs, but how do you know you’re stacking up against everyone else? And how do you break through the noise? Here are four giving trends that we’re expecting this year that you can add to your strategy.

1. Mobile-friendly fundraising

The majority of people are accessing emails via smartphone. If your fundraising emails and initiatives aren’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a large chunk of potential donors! 

42% of people who view email on their mobile devices will delete emails that are not optimized for mobile. Don’t be that organization. Make. Your. Emails. Pretty. On. Mobile!

This year, we’re expecting to see more mobile-centric fundraising campaigns, including flexible giving options. 

What is a flexible giving option? Glad you asked.

Prepare to see more Apple Pay, Venmo, and PayPal options, making donating that much easier. We’re even seeing donate-via-text options spring up! These mobile-friendly options help reach a wider population of people who prefer to donate from their phones. 

On Classy, when digital wallets are enabled, organizations see an 11-14% increase in mobile conversion rates. At the end of the day, the easier it is to donate, the more enticing it will be for donors. 

2. Peer-to-peer fundraising

Peer-to-peer fundraising is when individuals organize personal campaigns to collect donations that go back to the organization’s original campaign. Remember when you donated to your friend’s birthday Facebook fundraiser for their favorite nonprofit? You participated in peer-to-peer fundraising!

This type of giving trend empowers individuals to get involved and promote your campaign to their friends, families, and networks, getting more eyes on your organization. 

Peer-to-peer fundraising advertises different organizations directly to people by people who are already passionate about them. Even if you didn’t donate, how many times have you seen a friend’s FB fundraiser? At least a dozen.

In 2019, Facebook promised to match the first $7 million that its users donated on Giving Tuesday. That $7 million match was gone in under 15 minutes.

Direct potential donors to your campaign by employing the power of peer-to-peer influence.

3. Virtual activations

In the era of Zoom meetings and Google Meet happy hours, we’re expecting to continue seeing giving trends that incorporate hybrid fundraising campaigns. Ensuring that donors have the option to get involved in many different ways provides accessibility. 

Nonprofits have started hosting in-person events, but we believe that offering a mix of in-person and virtual events will include more people in your fundraising efforts. 

Events such as live streams, virtual auctions, virtual concerts, and more are great ways to draw in a larger audience. Hybrid fundraising events involve those who aren’t comfortable going to in-person events, those who aren’t local, or those who have scheduling conflicts. 

Getting people involved means getting people invested. Reports have shown that Americans are giving now more than ever with charitable giving reaching ​​ $471 billion in 2020, according to the Giving USA 2021 Study. 

4. Unique email campaigns 

Strategizing, planning, and drafting end-of-year email campaigns is one of our specialties here at Whip Communications. One of our 2020 email campaigns saw a 24% increase in Giving Tuesday donations and a 148% increase in End of Year giving compared to 2019.

This giving season, there will be thousands of emails in your inbox asking for donations. To break through the “blah” of fundraising emails, you can expect to see organizations getting more creative and finding new giving trends.

When it comes to email campaigns, here are our recommendations: 

Pro tip: Sync your email and social media outreach strategy to maximize results. Social media is a great tool for fundraising and performs even better when coupled with a phenomenal email campaign.

Still have questions? Book a one-on-one call with us today!

---

Pin this for later! 📌