This Wed, Oct 1, is the final day to register your nonprofit for participation in Georgia Gives Day. The annual one-day, statewide fundraising campaign for state-registered 501(c)3 nonprofits raised more than $2.5 million last year.
This year’s event will take place Nov. 13, and your registered nonprofit can participate in the fundraising.
If you participated in last year’s Georgia Gives Day, you don’t need to create a new online profile for the event although you can update yours if desired. For nonprofits participating for the first time, signing up is an easy process and the potential return is well worth the time.
From online registration to set up of a merchant account to receive your funds takes about four days. Unlike some online fundraising programs, there’s no set-up fee to participate in Georgia Gives Day.
In 2013, the Georgia Gives Day click and pledge program brought in $37,471 for participating coastal Georgia nonprofits.
While 53 nonprofits registered from the Savannah area, the majority of the money went to nonprofits on the south coast, who were galvanized to participate in no small part through the help of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits’ Momentum program in that region.
There’s tremendous room for growth in Savannah-area funding through Georgia Gives Day. The key is creation of a strong profile page backed up by donor and potential donor outreach via email,
social media and participation in the Georgia Gives incentive games and funds that are an added attraction on event day.
Games and prizes reward donations made through the Georgia Gives Day website, and this year $250,000 in such prizes has been collected for the day’s additional incentives. Some of the incentive prizes offered by donors are designated for specific geographic areas or programs while many are undesignated funds. Power Hours, Golden Tickets and Leaderboard games have the fewest awards restrictions.
Nonprofits may also post matching gifts/funds raised to challenge individuals to match on Georgia Gives Day. These funds must be given through the Georgia Gives Day website, and can be used to qualify for the available extra prizes and incentives.
Last year, the National Infantry Museum’s foundation received the largest incentives awards, more than $48,000. Other examples of extra dollar awards last year, many of which will be seen again this year, included a $5,000 prize to the nonprofit with the most unique donors, a $2,500 prize to the nonprofit with the most dollars raised on Georgia Gives Day, and Power Hour awards of $500-$1,000 for nonprofits with the most donors in a given hour.
After the Oct. 1 registration deadline, nonprofits will have time to set up their profile page on the Georgia Gives Day website (gagivesday.org). Fast turnaround is important, however, as a successful fundraising campaign requires creating a strong profile page backed up by a robust campaign of local donor outreach.
The Georgia Gives Day organization and the Georgia Center for Nonprofits are helping with the heavy lifting through their work to publicize the event via several tutorials to help nonprofits make the most of the opportunity and through strong relationships with nonprofit supporters across the state.
Visit gcn.org/Blog-Categories/Georgia-Gives-Day and gagivesday.org for general information and tutorials.
Tom Zimmerman, communications manager at the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, offers a summary of the power of Georgia Gives Day and how to make it work best.
“Last year, 10 percent of donors made their first ever donation to a nonprofit and 17 percent of donors gave to a new nonprofit, so we know that Georgia Gives Day is a day nonprofits can reach out to new donors,” Zimmerman said. “Build your profile, tell your story, link every $10 and $20 back to some tangible impact for your nonprofit and ask your supporters to use their influence on social media to bring in more new donors.”
This is an opportunity your nonprofit should not miss. Just be sure you can follow up your Georgia Gives Day registration with some donor outreach activity. Bet that’s something you’ve been meaning to do more of this year anyway.
Sarah Todd Clark is founder of Calhoun Enterprises, a resource for positive social change encompassing fundraising and organization development consulting. She can be reached at calhounent@gmail.com or (912) 224-2120.
By Sarah Todd Clark