What the winners of America’s Giving Challenge can teach us
- Tue, November 24 2009
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
The winners of the second annual America’s Giving Challenge were announced today by The Case Foundation, Causes and PARADE. The 30-day national online competition resulted in more than 105,000 donations which helped to raise $2.1 million for nonprofit causes. As part of the Challenge, participants competed for daily and overall cash awards based on the number of donations to their cause, not dollars raised. A total of $170,000 in awards, $150,000 funded by the Case Foundation and $20,000 funded by the Aspen Institute, was announced at Challenge launch, and during the last week of the challenge, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced an additional contribution of $75,000 in award money.
For background on the Challenge and tips for participating in such events, go to this previous post.
How did the winners win? Often, it was good old fashioned organizing - taken online. Here is a story from one of the winners - Atlas Corps - shared by Causes on its blog:
“Atlas Corps’ success was possible because of two main strategies. First, we signed up 150 ‘Campaign Captains’ before the contest started. These Captains agreed to get between 5-10 of their friends to give to Atlas Corps during the contest. Second, we signed up about 50 people to join one of their Giving Clubs. People joined the 30-day, 20-day, 10-day and 5-day giving clubs and made a commitment to go online and donate each day. We also decided to try to win one of the early Day Challenges because we knew it would only get harder with each week. The $42,000 we raised in this contest will allow us to bring four new Atlas Corps Fellows to the U.S. in March 2010. This is a huge victory for us and one made possible by empowering our supporters to go out there and get their friends to donate to us.”
This holiday, don’t forget that when it comes to spreading the word, you are well served by thinking outside your own organization. The greatest value of the Giving Challenge is the new messengers it inspires and the engagement it prompts. Take a page from Atlas and ask your champions - whether they be volunteers, donors, beneficiaries, partners or fans - to not simply give but to also recruit.
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What wasn’t mentioned in the write-up about Atlas Corps is that the organization is a networking machine, and its head, Scott Beale, is one of the most connected individuals on the planet - no joke. I met Scott almost a decade ago, and haven’t been in the same room with him in at least six years—but he always sends personal notes, remembers birthdays, provides updates that are personalized to my interests. That’s not an internet thing, that’s a commitment to relationships. Scott has it. Atlast Corps demonstrates it. Everyone can learn from it.
It wasn’t just an effective strategy that Atlast Corps put together for the Giving Challenge. They cultivate their relationships ALL the time. That is a big lesson for nonprofits… you shouldn’t just focus when you have a big competition to win or a milestone to meet (which so many still do). If you want to create, and sustain, long-term, fundraising potential, its all the other days and other times that are important.
Great point, Brian, it is true that Scott is talented at relationship building—and that relationships are what drive everything.
Hi,
Really scott is always an active member.Throughout his career Scott has served as a key strategic business partner and developed a solid understanding of the critical financial, operational and human resource issues which companies face on a daily basis.
Thanks Brian and Katya!
It is great to read such a nice shout out from two media experts like you two.
I hope you are both enjoying the holidays!
Take care,
Scott
P.S. If you thought America’s Giving Challenge, was high stakes, we’re hoping to pull it off again and win up to a million with Chase & Facebook:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/374595
Hello. a very good contribution, and behind it a very good idea. We here in Germany have, unfortunately, rather a boring society and the monies are invested always wrong