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The holiday season is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to start planning for your annual charitable giving program. There are multiple ways your organization can give back, and the earlier you start planning and getting donations, the bigger the impact you’ll have at the end of the year.
Here are four ways to raise the stakes on your charitable giving this year:
Micro donations.
Micro donations are gaining in popularity as they are an easy way to solicit greater numbers of donations without being burdensome to individual givers. With micro donations, individuals each give a little and collectively have a big impact. For example, if there are 200 people in a company and everyone donates just $5, that’s $1,000 dollars raised without having to rely on any one person to give a large sum of money. Micro donation campaigns are often shared via social media, so all you need to do is create a link where people can donate via PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle, and ask people to share and post about the campaign.
To create even more compelling micro donation campaigns, turn to video. MyCutTV is a video sharing app that allows creators to monetize their content. This is a great way for nonprofits to raise awareness and get donations, and organizations such as the National Diversity Council have already raised thousands of dollars on the platform. Founder of MyCutTV, Indi Wijay, explains that “we’re currently facing donor fatigue as well as fatigue from asking. With monetized videos, nonprofits now have an opportunity to raise money without having without having to go and ask for money.” The app is a one stop shop, where people can donate without having to every leave the platform.
Donate time or skills.
Not all donations need to be monetary – donating your time by volunteering directly with an organization or lending your skills to an organization who could use the assistance are both great ways to give back. You can volunteer with a local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter to have a positive impact in a child’s life or volunteer at a local business group to be a mentor to a business owner or new entrepreneur. There are many ways to share your time and knowledge with others, and a quick search of local organizations will turn up a wealth of opportunities.
Make a group donation.
Rather than having people individually donate to an organization of their choosing, have everyone pool their money and make one larger donation. This is a great way to give back to the community and to be able to make an even bigger impact. Make a list of a few local charities and have employees collectively choose which one to donate to. This gives everyone a say in the matter, as well as introduces people to other organizations they might not have known about. People can always choose to make additional donations to the organizations that didn’t get selected.
Match donations.
One of the easiest ways to increase your philanthropic impact is to implement corporate donation matching. This automatically doubles the amount of money that’s being donated and is a sign of goodwill from the company. For the employees who donate, it’s nice for them to know that the impact of their donation has been increased since it’s being matched.
Don’t wait to get started – implement one or more of these strategies now for this holiday season and make an even bigger impact this year.
