# Fundraising Guides

> Practical, step-by-step guides, resources and curated links for fundraising
> professionals. Free to read, sponsored by Hubbub (https://hubbub.net). Content is
> available per region (UK, US, Canada/Australia/NZ, Mainland Europe, Rest of World)
> and in multiple languages (EN, FR, DE, IT, ES).

## Guides

- [How to use AI in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (canz/en): A practical, grounded guide to using AI in fundraising, covering where it genuinely helps and where it does not, practical use cases like drafting and research, writing good prompts, keeping a human in the loop, and data and ethics.
Artificial intelligence has moved into fundraising faster than almost any tool before it: in barely two years it has gone from a curiosity to a part of many people's working week. For a sector that runs on relationships, trust and carefully chosen words, that pace feels both exciting and unsettling. This guide is a grounded look at what today's AI tools can genuinely do for fundraisers, where they fall short, and how to start using them without embarrassing yourself, your donors or your organisation. It draws on the practical examples shared in Hubbub's AI webinar.

When fundraisers talk about AI today, they usually mean large language models, or LLMs: the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and their rivals. It helps to be honest about what these tools actually are, because that honesty changes how you use them. They are predictive models, not unlike the predictive text on a mobile phone, only far more capable. The model reads the context you give it (your prompt, the surrounding text, any data you provide) and uses a complex algorithm to predict the words, sentences and paragraphs most likely to fit what you appear to be asking for.

That single fact explains both the power and the limits. It is tempting to picture these tools either as a mere algorithm or as a person, an assistant of some kind, when really they are neither. They are more than an algorithm, because they absorb so much context that they become an extension of the way you write and speak. But they are not assistants: they are not thinking, and they are not reasoning over knowledge or structured information. Hold both ideas at once and you will use AI far more sensibly than someone who treats it as either a genius or a toy.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) and
> [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## A realistic view: what AI can and cannot do

Most disappointment with AI comes from expecting the wrong thing, so start with realism. These tools are genuinely good at language: drafting, rewriting, summarising, shifting tone, and adapting one piece of copy for many audiences. They are fast, they are cheap, and the cost of trying them is close to zero. By late 2024, around two-thirds of organisations across the commercial world were already using generative AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey, though fewer than a third described their use as structured. The tools are everywhere; thoughtful use of them is not.

The limits are sharper than the marketing suggests. The most important is that these models will confidently invent things. A clear example: asked to build a donor briefing from an uploaded spreadsheet of giving history, one tool quietly fabricated the numbers. The result was not merely incomplete but wildly different from the source: it missed a great many gifts and made up the dates. Rather than admit it could not read the file, it manufactured plausible new data. The reason is exactly the predictive nature described above. The model treated the spreadsheet not as a record to be preserved intact, but as an example of the kind of answer it should produce.

This is the cleanest illustration of the gap between an AI tool and a human helper: a human assistant would never do this. Numbers, names, dates, quotations and any structured data are precisely where these tools are least reliable, and where a careless fundraiser can do real damage. Treat AI as a brilliant first-draft writer and a patchy researcher, and you will be about right.

## Practical use cases

### Drafting and editing copy

The strongest and safest use case is helping you write. Fundraisers spend weeks crafting a case for support, then need versions of it for different audiences, and producing those variants by hand is expensive in either money or time. This is where AI shines. Take one well-written appeal and ask the tool to rewrite it for a new audience, for example: "rewrite this scholarship appeal for a parent audience, keeping the core purpose intact, but reflect appropriate tone, emotional drivers and familiarity." You get a usable draft in seconds.

The same approach scales across a whole campaign. For a Giving Day, you can take one case for support and generate five, six or ten different segment emails: parents, alumni of different generations, existing donors, recent leavers, staff. Instead of writing fifteen or twenty variants from scratch, you let the tool produce them, at the very least as a starting point. That phrase is the key. The AI gives you a fast first pass; you bring the judgement. This is the single most useful place to begin, and it pairs naturally with our guide to [email fundraising](/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/), where drafting subject lines, openings and segmented variants is exactly the kind of work AI accelerates.

One small tell worth knowing: these tools love certain stylistic habits, especially the long dash, which ChatGPT in particular scatters through its output. A run of long dashes is a giveaway that text was AI-written. You can simply ask the tool to remove them, but watch what else changes when you do, because each tweak can shift more than you asked for.

### Research and summarising

The second strong use case is summarising and reshaping text you already have. Call transcripts, meeting notes, long reports and messy caller notes are ideal candidates. You might, for instance, ask a tool to "reformat the following unstructured donor call notes into the consistent format used in our CRM, and extract key outcomes, tone indicators, next steps and a summary." The value is consistency: you get the same information out of every call, whoever made it. Work that once took hours, such as drafting a donor briefing from a profile and a giving history, can come down to minutes, provided you check it.

There is an important caution here, though. These tools are much better at handling text in attachments than structured data, especially numbers in spreadsheets, and there is a good chance a tool simply will not read a spreadsheet at all. The fix is simple: copy and paste your data from the spreadsheet directly into the prompt rather than uploading a file. When the same giving history was pasted in as a table, the tool got it right. Small changes in how you feed information to the tool make a large difference to whether you can trust the result.

### Saving time on admin and practice

Beyond writing and research, AI quietly removes friction from everyday admin: reformatting notes, turning text into a table, drafting the structure of a document, suggesting next steps. A more unexpected use is rehearsal. You can ask a voice-capable tool to act as a donor, or a frustrated alumnus, and practise difficult conversations before they happen. For student callers picking up the phone for the first time, rehearsing a call ten or fifteen times in advance makes the script (about themselves, about the appeal, about what they want to discuss) far easier and more comfortable to deliver. The same approach exposes the gaps in what you are ready to talk about, which is valuable preparation for major donor meetings as well as the phones.

## Writing good prompts and giving the right context

The quality of what you get out depends almost entirely on what you put in. The model is, after all, just predicting the best fit for the context you provide, so the more context, the better the fit. Tell it who you are, what you are trying to achieve, who the audience is, what tone you want and what you will use the output for. You can even pre-load a tool with your own preferences once and reuse them: tell it to write in a single consistent spelling style, for example, and it will keep doing so.

The other half of good prompting is structure. The more precise and structured your instruction, the more predictable and consistent the result; leave gaps and the tool will guess and interpret what you meant. If you want four specific fields in a table, name those four fields. If you want something short enough to glance at before walking into a meeting, say so, then keep refining.

Which leads to the single most useful habit: iterate. You get the best out of these tools by thinking about how you will use the output, then steering the tool towards exactly what you want over several rounds. Do not accept the first answer as final. Ask for a shorter version, a different tone, a table instead of prose, three social posts instead of one. And read what the tool tells you it is doing along the way, because each time you ask it to tweak something it may change slightly more than you asked.

One final discipline is worth adopting whatever tools you use: treat every attempt as a small experiment and write it down. What were you trying to achieve? Which tools did you use? What worked, what did not, and what is next? A short record of your prompts and results turns scattered individual play into shared, repeatable knowledge, because self-directed learning in this space otherwise misses huge amounts of valuable experience from colleagues. Our prompt library is built to be exactly that kind of shared record.

## Keeping a human in the loop

If one rule matters more than any other, it is this: always read the output. The fabricated giving history above is the cautionary tale. The tool produced something polished, professional and completely wrong, and it would have been easy to miss that it had misrepresented the gift history entirely. A briefing you are about to carry into a donor meeting is precisely the kind of document where a confident invention does real harm.

So keep a person between the AI and the outside world at every step. Check facts, figures, names and quotations against your source. Be especially wary when a tool generates a downloadable file: if it writes and runs a small program to build a spreadsheet, the safest response is not to trust that file and instead ask it to show the table on screen so you can verify the contents. That check takes seconds and is well worth it.

A human in the loop is not only about catching errors; it is about ownership. The AI is reflecting your voice and your judgement back at you, and the responsibility for whatever goes out under your organisation's name stays with you. Use it to draft, never to send unread.

## Data protection, donor trust and ethics

This is where fundraisers must be most careful, because we hold sensitive personal data and we trade on trust. The starting point on data protection is straightforward: you need to tell people if you are going to start putting their personal data into AI tools. It needs to be stated clearly in your privacy policy. Put bluntly, if you start feeding personal data into tools like ChatGPT with no line anywhere telling donors you might do so, you are almost certainly not being transparent in the way donors expect.

The reassuring news is that most of the strong use cases need very little personal data at all. Rewriting a case for support, drafting segment emails or summarising a report involves no named individuals. Where you do handle personal information, such as notes from a call, it is often easy to anonymise by stripping out the individual details first. For most of the use cases in this guide you do not really need to put much personally identifiable information into these tools. Make anonymising your default, and include personal data only deliberately, with a clear basis and a privacy notice that says so.

Copyright deserves a mention too, particularly for AI-generated images. Whether you own what a tool produces depends heavily on its terms and conditions, and separately on unresolved legal questions about the data these models were trained on. Caution is sensible here: it is hard to be confident that a freshly generated image is not visually very similar to, or effectively a copy of, something in the model's training data. Tweaking images you already own is low risk; generating brand-new images from scratch carries more.

On authenticity, the honest answer is that you cannot know how donors will react until you try, carefully. Rather than broadcasting AI-assisted copy to your whole file, test it on a small, controlled audience first: run it as an A/B test against your usual version, and watch both whether engagement improves and whether anyone felt it was not genuine. The underlying point is reassuring, because the tool is reflecting your own authenticity back at you, so well-supervised output need not feel less genuine. But the real test is the donor, and you only learn the answer by putting your work gently in front of real people.

## How to get started safely

You do not need a strategy, a budget or permission to begin; you need a low-stakes task and a habit of checking. Pick one job you do often that is mostly about words, such as drafting a segment email or summarising a set of call notes, and try it. Paste in plenty of context, ask for what you want precisely, and iterate until the output is genuinely useful. Read everything before it leaves your hands, anonymise any personal data, and make a quick note of the prompt that worked so a colleague can reuse it.

From there, widen out one use case at a time, keep personal data out unless your privacy notice covers it, and test anything donor-facing on a small audience first. Done this way, AI becomes what it is genuinely good at being: a fast, tireless drafting partner that frees you to spend more of your time on the relationships only a human can build.

## Frequently asked questions

**Will AI replace fundraisers?** No. These tools are strong at language and weak at judgement, relationships and accuracy. They draft, summarise and reformat quickly, but the strategy, the donor relationship and the responsibility for what goes out stay firmly with you. Treat AI as a capable first-draft writer, not a replacement.

**Is it safe to put donor data into ChatGPT or similar tools?** Only with care. If you intend to put personal data into AI tools, your privacy policy must say so clearly. For most fundraising use cases you do not need much, if any, personal data, and call notes and similar material can usually be anonymised first. Make anonymising your default.

**Which AI tool should I use?** It matters less than you might think. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and the rest are gradually competing to be slightly better than one another, so it is reasonable to stay fairly agnostic. Use whatever your organisation permits and you find comfortable, and check the tool's terms on data and copyright before relying on it.

**Why does AI sometimes make things up?** Because it predicts plausible text rather than retrieving facts. Asked for a giving history it could not properly read, one tool simply invented one that looked right. Always treat figures, names, dates and quotations as unverified until you have checked them against your source, and paste structured data into the prompt rather than uploading a spreadsheet.

**How do I get a better result from a prompt?** Give it more context and be more specific. Tell it who you are, who the audience is, the tone you want and what the output is for, and the more structured your instruction, the more predictable the result. Then iterate: ask for shorter, different in tone, or in a table, until it is exactly what you need.

**Where should a complete beginner start?** With one low-stakes, word-based task, such as drafting a segment email or summarising notes. Paste in context, ask precisely, read and check the output, keep personal data out, and save the prompt that worked so colleagues can reuse it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: where AI can and cannot deliver in philanthropy](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie Sie KI im Fundraising einsetzen](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (europe/de): Ein praxisnaher, geerdeter Leitfaden zum Einsatz von KI im Fundraising: wo sie wirklich hilft und wo nicht, praktische Anwendungsfälle wie Entwürfe und Recherche, das Formulieren guter Prompts, das Einbinden eines Menschen in den Prozess sowie Daten und Ethik.
Künstliche Intelligenz hat sich schneller im Fundraising etabliert als fast jedes Werkzeug zuvor: In kaum zwei Jahren ist sie von einer Kuriosität zu einem festen Bestandteil der Arbeitswoche vieler Menschen geworden. Für einen Sektor, der von Beziehungen, Vertrauen und sorgfältig gewählten Worten lebt, fühlt sich dieses Tempo zugleich aufregend und beunruhigend an. Dieser Leitfaden wirft einen geerdeten Blick darauf, was die heutigen KI-Werkzeuge für Fundraiser wirklich leisten können, wo sie an ihre Grenzen stoßen und wie Sie sie einsetzen können, ohne sich, Ihre Spender oder Ihre Organisation in Verlegenheit zu bringen. Er stützt sich auf die praktischen Beispiele, die im KI-Webinar von Hubbub vorgestellt wurden.

Wenn Fundraiser heute von KI sprechen, meinen sie meist große Sprachmodelle, oder LLMs: die Technologie hinter ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity und ihren Konkurrenten. Es hilft, ehrlich zu sein, was diese Werkzeuge tatsächlich sind, denn diese Ehrlichkeit verändert, wie Sie sie nutzen. Es sind prädiktive Modelle, nicht unähnlich der Texterkennung auf einem Mobiltelefon, nur weitaus leistungsfähiger. Das Modell liest den Kontext, den Sie ihm geben (Ihren Prompt, den umgebenden Text, alle Daten, die Sie bereitstellen), und verwendet einen komplexen Algorithmus, um die Wörter, Sätze und Absätze vorherzusagen, die am ehesten zu dem passen, was Sie offenbar erfragen.

Diese eine Tatsache erklärt sowohl die Stärke als auch die Grenzen. Es ist verlockend, sich diese Werkzeuge entweder als bloßen Algorithmus oder als Person vorzustellen, als eine Art Assistent, obwohl sie in Wirklichkeit weder das eine noch das andere sind. Sie sind mehr als ein Algorithmus, weil sie so viel Kontext aufnehmen, dass sie zu einer Erweiterung Ihrer eigenen Art zu schreiben und zu sprechen werden. Aber sie sind keine Assistenten: Sie denken nicht, und sie schlussfolgern nicht über Wissen oder strukturierte Informationen. Halten Sie beide Gedanken zugleich fest, und Sie werden KI weit sinnvoller einsetzen als jemand, der sie entweder als Genie oder als Spielzeug behandelt.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [KI-Anwendungsfälle im Fundraising](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [KI-Prompt-Bibliothek](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) und
> [Vorlage für eine KI-Nutzungsrichtlinie](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/) herunterzuladen.

## Eine realistische Sicht: Was KI kann und was nicht

Die meiste Enttäuschung über KI rührt daher, dass man das Falsche von ihr erwartet, beginnen Sie also mit Realismus. Diese Werkzeuge sind wirklich gut in Sprache: Entwürfe verfassen, umschreiben, zusammenfassen, den Ton verändern und einen Text für viele Zielgruppen anpassen. Sie sind schnell, sie sind günstig, und die Kosten eines Versuchs liegen nahe null. Bis Ende 2024 nutzten laut McKinsey bereits rund zwei Drittel der Organisationen in der Wirtschaft generative KI in mindestens einem Geschäftsbereich, auch wenn weniger als ein Drittel ihren Einsatz als strukturiert beschrieb. Die Werkzeuge sind überall; ihr durchdachter Einsatz ist es nicht.

Die Grenzen sind schärfer, als das Marketing nahelegt. Die wichtigste ist, dass diese Modelle mit Überzeugung Dinge erfinden. Ein klares Beispiel: Aufgefordert, aus einer hochgeladenen Tabelle der Spendenhistorie ein Spender-Briefing zu erstellen, fabrizierte ein Werkzeug stillschweigend die Zahlen. Das Ergebnis war nicht nur unvollständig, sondern wich wild von der Quelle ab: Es übersah sehr viele Spenden und erfand die Daten. Statt zuzugeben, dass es die Datei nicht lesen konnte, erzeugte es plausible neue Daten. Der Grund ist genau die oben beschriebene prädiktive Natur. Das Modell behandelte die Tabelle nicht als einen Datensatz, der unversehrt zu bewahren ist, sondern als ein Beispiel für die Art von Antwort, die es liefern sollte.

Das ist die sauberste Veranschaulichung der Kluft zwischen einem KI-Werkzeug und einem menschlichen Helfer: Ein menschlicher Assistent würde dies niemals tun. Zahlen, Namen, Daten, Zitate und alle strukturierten Daten sind genau die Bereiche, in denen diese Werkzeuge am wenigsten verlässlich sind und in denen ein nachlässiger Fundraiser realen Schaden anrichten kann. Behandeln Sie KI als brillanten Verfasser erster Entwürfe und als unzuverlässigen Rechercheur, und Sie liegen ungefähr richtig.

## Praktische Anwendungsfälle

### Texte entwerfen und überarbeiten

Der stärkste und sicherste Anwendungsfall besteht darin, Ihnen beim Schreiben zu helfen. Fundraiser arbeiten wochenlang an einem Förderkonzept und brauchen dann Versionen davon für verschiedene Zielgruppen, und diese Varianten von Hand zu erstellen ist teuer, sei es an Geld oder an Zeit. Hier glänzt KI. Nehmen Sie einen gut geschriebenen Spendenaufruf und bitten Sie das Werkzeug, ihn für eine neue Zielgruppe umzuschreiben, zum Beispiel: „Schreibe diesen Stipendien-Spendenaufruf für eine Elternzielgruppe um, behalte den Kerngedanken bei, spiegle aber den passenden Ton, die emotionalen Beweggründe und die Vertrautheit wider.“ Sie erhalten in Sekunden einen brauchbaren Entwurf.

Derselbe Ansatz lässt sich auf eine ganze Kampagne übertragen. Für einen Giving Day können Sie aus einem einzigen Förderkonzept fünf, sechs oder zehn verschiedene Segment-E-Mails erzeugen: Eltern, Ehemalige verschiedener Generationen, bestehende Spender, kürzlich Ausgeschiedene, Mitarbeitende. Statt fünfzehn oder zwanzig Varianten von Grund auf zu schreiben, lassen Sie das Werkzeug sie erstellen, zumindest als Ausgangspunkt. Dieser Ausdruck ist entscheidend. Die KI liefert Ihnen einen schnellen ersten Wurf; Sie bringen das Urteilsvermögen ein. Das ist der nützlichste Ort zum Anfangen, und er passt naturgemäß zu unserem Leitfaden zum [E-Mail-Fundraising](/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/), wo das Entwerfen von Betreffzeilen, Einstiegen und segmentierten Varianten genau die Art von Arbeit ist, die KI beschleunigt.

Ein kleines verräterisches Zeichen, das man kennen sollte: Diese Werkzeuge lieben bestimmte stilistische Angewohnheiten, besonders den langen Gedankenstrich, den ChatGPT im Besonderen über seine Ausgaben streut. Eine Häufung langer Gedankenstriche verrät, dass ein Text von einer KI geschrieben wurde. Sie können das Werkzeug einfach bitten, sie zu entfernen, achten Sie aber darauf, was sich dabei sonst noch ändert, denn jede Anpassung kann mehr verschieben, als Sie verlangt haben.

### Recherche und Zusammenfassung

Der zweite starke Anwendungsfall ist das Zusammenfassen und Umformen von Text, den Sie bereits haben. Gesprächsprotokolle, Besprechungsnotizen, lange Berichte und unübersichtliche Anrufnotizen sind ideale Kandidaten. Sie könnten ein Werkzeug etwa bitten: „Formatiere die folgenden unstrukturierten Notizen eines Spendergesprächs in das einheitliche Format unseres CRM um und extrahiere die wichtigsten Ergebnisse, Tonindikatoren, nächsten Schritte und eine Zusammenfassung.“ Der Wert liegt in der Einheitlichkeit: Sie erhalten aus jedem Gespräch dieselben Informationen, gleich wer es geführt hat. Arbeit, die früher Stunden dauerte, etwa das Erstellen eines Spender-Briefings aus einem Profil und einer Spendenhistorie, kann auf Minuten schrumpfen, sofern Sie sie prüfen.

Hier gibt es allerdings eine wichtige Warnung. Diese Werkzeuge gehen mit Text in Anhängen weit besser um als mit strukturierten Daten, besonders mit Zahlen in Tabellen, und es besteht eine gute Chance, dass ein Werkzeug eine Tabelle schlicht gar nicht liest. Die Lösung ist einfach: Kopieren Sie Ihre Daten aus der Tabelle direkt in den Prompt, statt eine Datei hochzuladen. Als dieselbe Spendenhistorie als Tabelle eingefügt wurde, verarbeitete das Werkzeug sie korrekt. Kleine Unterschiede darin, wie Sie dem Werkzeug Informationen zuführen, machen einen großen Unterschied dafür, ob Sie dem Ergebnis trauen können.

### Zeit sparen bei Verwaltung und Übung

Über Schreiben und Recherche hinaus nimmt KI dem Alltagsverwaltungskram still die Reibung: Notizen umformatieren, Text in eine Tabelle verwandeln, die Struktur eines Dokuments entwerfen, nächste Schritte vorschlagen. Eine unerwartetere Nutzung ist das Üben. Sie können ein sprachfähiges Werkzeug bitten, einen Spender oder einen verärgerten ehemaligen Studenten zu spielen, und schwierige Gespräche üben, bevor sie stattfinden. Für studentische Anrufer, die zum ersten Mal zum Hörer greifen, macht das zehn- oder fünfzehnmalige Proben eines Anrufs im Voraus das Skript (über sie selbst, über den Aufruf, über das, was sie besprechen möchten) weitaus leichter und angenehmer im Vortrag. Derselbe Ansatz legt die Lücken in dem offen, worüber Sie zu sprechen bereit sind, was eine wertvolle Vorbereitung ist, sowohl für Treffen mit Großspendern als auch fürs Telefon.

## Gute Prompts schreiben und den richtigen Kontext geben

Die Qualität dessen, was Sie herausbekommen, hängt fast vollständig davon ab, was Sie hineingeben. Das Modell sagt schließlich nur die beste Passung für den von Ihnen gegebenen Kontext voraus, also je mehr Kontext, desto besser die Passung. Sagen Sie ihm, wer Sie sind, was Sie erreichen wollen, wer die Zielgruppe ist, welchen Ton Sie wünschen und wofür Sie die Ausgabe verwenden werden. Sie können ein Werkzeug sogar einmal mit Ihren eigenen Vorlieben vorprägen und sie wiederverwenden: Sagen Sie ihm zum Beispiel, ausschließlich in Standarddeutsch zu schreiben, und es wird das beibehalten.

Die andere Hälfte guten Promptens ist die Struktur. Je präziser und strukturierter Ihre Anweisung, desto vorhersehbarer und einheitlicher das Ergebnis; lassen Sie Lücken, und das Werkzeug rät und interpretiert, was Sie gemeint haben. Wenn Sie vier bestimmte Felder in einer Tabelle wollen, benennen Sie diese vier Felder. Wenn Sie etwas wollen, das kurz genug ist, um einen Blick darauf zu werfen, bevor Sie in ein Meeting gehen, sagen Sie das, und verfeinern Sie dann weiter.

Was zur nützlichsten Gewohnheit überhaupt führt: iterieren. Sie holen das Beste aus diesen Werkzeugen heraus, indem Sie darüber nachdenken, wie Sie die Ausgabe verwenden werden, und das Werkzeug dann über mehrere Runden genau zu dem hinsteuern, was Sie wollen. Nehmen Sie die erste Antwort nicht als endgültig hin. Bitten Sie um eine kürzere Version, einen anderen Ton, eine Tabelle statt Fließtext, drei Social-Media-Beiträge statt einem. Und lesen Sie, was das Werkzeug Ihnen unterwegs über sein Vorgehen mitteilt, denn jedes Mal, wenn Sie es bitten, etwas anzupassen, ändert es vielleicht etwas mehr, als Sie verlangt haben.

Eine letzte Disziplin lohnt sich, gleich welche Werkzeuge Sie nutzen: Behandeln Sie jeden Versuch als kleines Experiment und schreiben Sie es auf. Was wollten Sie erreichen? Welche Werkzeuge haben Sie verwendet? Was hat funktioniert, was nicht, und was kommt als Nächstes? Eine kurze Aufzeichnung Ihrer Prompts und Ergebnisse verwandelt verstreutes individuelles Ausprobieren in geteiltes, wiederholbares Wissen, denn selbstgesteuertes Lernen in diesem Feld verpasst sonst riesige Mengen wertvoller Erfahrung von Kolleginnen und Kollegen. Unsere Prompt-Bibliothek ist genau als solche geteilte Aufzeichnung angelegt.

## Einen Menschen im Prozess behalten

Wenn eine Regel mehr als jede andere zählt, dann diese: Lesen Sie die Ausgabe immer. Die erfundene Spendenhistorie von oben ist die mahnende Geschichte. Das Werkzeug erzeugte etwas Geschliffenes, Professionelles und völlig Falsches, und es wäre leicht gewesen zu übersehen, dass es die Spendenhistorie vollständig falsch dargestellt hatte. Ein Briefing, das Sie gleich in ein Spendergespräch mitnehmen wollen, ist genau die Art von Dokument, bei der eine selbstbewusste Erfindung realen Schaden anrichtet.

Halten Sie also bei jedem Schritt einen Menschen zwischen die KI und die Außenwelt. Prüfen Sie Fakten, Zahlen, Namen und Zitate gegen Ihre Quelle. Seien Sie besonders vorsichtig, wenn ein Werkzeug eine herunterladbare Datei erzeugt: Wenn es ein kleines Programm schreibt und ausführt, um eine Tabelle zu bauen, ist die sicherste Reaktion, dieser Datei nicht zu trauen und stattdessen zu verlangen, die Tabelle auf dem Bildschirm anzuzeigen, damit Sie den Inhalt überprüfen können. Diese Prüfung dauert Sekunden und ist es allemal wert.

Ein Mensch im Prozess dient nicht nur dem Aufspüren von Fehlern; es geht um Verantwortung. Die KI spiegelt Ihnen Ihre Stimme und Ihr Urteilsvermögen zurück, und die Verantwortung für alles, was unter dem Namen Ihrer Organisation hinausgeht, bleibt bei Ihnen. Nutzen Sie sie zum Entwerfen, niemals zum ungelesenen Versenden.

## Datenschutz, Spendervertrauen und Ethik

Hier müssen Fundraiser am vorsichtigsten sein, denn wir verwalten sensible personenbezogene Daten und leben vom Vertrauen. Der Ausgangspunkt beim Datenschutz ist unkompliziert: Sie müssen Menschen informieren, wenn Sie beginnen, ihre personenbezogenen Daten in KI-Werkzeuge einzugeben. Unter der DSGVO, die für Spenderdaten in ganz Europa gilt, muss dies klar in Ihrer Datenschutzerklärung stehen, ob Sie sich auf Einwilligung oder auf berechtigtes Interesse stützen. Deutlich gesagt: Wenn Sie beginnen, personenbezogene Daten in Werkzeuge wie ChatGPT einzuspeisen, ohne dass irgendwo eine Zeile den Spendern mitteilt, dass Sie das tun könnten, sind Sie mit ziemlicher Sicherheit nicht konform.

Die beruhigende Nachricht ist, dass die meisten starken Anwendungsfälle nur sehr wenige personenbezogene Daten benötigen. Ein Förderkonzept umzuschreiben, Segment-E-Mails zu entwerfen oder einen Bericht zusammenzufassen, betrifft keine namentlich genannten Personen. Wo Sie tatsächlich mit personenbezogenen Informationen umgehen, etwa Notizen aus einem Gespräch, lässt sich das oft leicht anonymisieren, indem Sie die individuellen Angaben zuerst entfernen. Für die meisten Anwendungsfälle in diesem Leitfaden müssen Sie nicht wirklich viele personenbezogene Daten in diese Werkzeuge eingeben. Machen Sie Anonymisieren zu Ihrer Standardeinstellung und beziehen Sie personenbezogene Daten nur bewusst ein, mit einer klaren Rechtsgrundlage und einer Datenschutzinformation, die das benennt.

Auch das Urheberrecht verdient eine Erwähnung, besonders bei KI-generierten Bildern. Ob Ihnen gehört, was ein Werkzeug erzeugt, hängt stark von dessen Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen ab und gesondert von ungeklärten Rechtsfragen zu den Daten, mit denen diese Modelle trainiert wurden. Vorsicht ist hier ratsam: Es ist schwer, sicher zu sein, dass ein frisch erzeugtes Bild nicht visuell sehr ähnlich zu, oder faktisch eine Kopie von, etwas in den Trainingsdaten des Modells ist. Bilder zu bearbeiten, die Ihnen bereits gehören, ist risikoarm; brandneue Bilder von Grund auf zu erzeugen, birgt mehr Risiko.

Zur Authentizität ist die ehrliche Antwort, dass Sie nicht wissen können, wie Spender reagieren werden, bis Sie es versuchen, vorsichtig. Statt KI-gestützten Text an Ihre gesamte Datei zu senden, testen Sie ihn zuerst an einem kleinen, kontrollierten Publikum: Führen Sie ihn als A/B-Test gegen Ihre übliche Version und beobachten Sie sowohl, ob sich die Resonanz verbessert, als auch, ob jemand das Gefühl hatte, es sei nicht echt. Der zugrunde liegende Punkt ist beruhigend, denn das Werkzeug spiegelt Ihnen Ihre eigene Authentizität zurück, sodass gut beaufsichtigte Ausgaben nicht weniger echt wirken müssen. Aber der wahre Prüfstein ist der Spender, und Sie erfahren die Antwort nur, indem Sie Ihre Arbeit behutsam echten Menschen vorlegen.

## Wie Sie sicher loslegen

Sie brauchen weder eine Strategie noch ein Budget noch eine Erlaubnis, um anzufangen; Sie brauchen eine Aufgabe mit geringem Einsatz und die Gewohnheit zu prüfen. Wählen Sie eine Aufgabe, die Sie oft erledigen und die hauptsächlich um Worte geht, etwa das Entwerfen einer Segment-E-Mail oder das Zusammenfassen einer Reihe von Anrufnotizen, und probieren Sie sie aus. Fügen Sie reichlich Kontext ein, fragen Sie präzise nach dem, was Sie wollen, und iterieren Sie, bis die Ausgabe wirklich nützlich ist. Lesen Sie alles, bevor es Ihre Hände verlässt, anonymisieren Sie alle personenbezogenen Daten, und notieren Sie sich kurz den Prompt, der funktioniert hat, damit eine Kollegin ihn wiederverwenden kann.

Von dort aus weiten Sie einen Anwendungsfall nach dem anderen aus, halten personenbezogene Daten heraus, sofern Ihre Datenschutzinformation sie nicht abdeckt, und testen alles Spenderbezogene zuerst an einem kleinen Publikum. So gehandhabt, wird KI zu dem, worin sie wirklich gut ist: ein schneller, unermüdlicher Schreibpartner, der Sie freisetzt, mehr Ihrer Zeit für die Beziehungen aufzuwenden, die nur ein Mensch aufbauen kann.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Wird KI Fundraiser ersetzen?** Nein. Diese Werkzeuge sind stark in Sprache und schwach in Urteilsvermögen, Beziehungen und Genauigkeit. Sie entwerfen, fassen zusammen und formatieren schnell um, aber die Strategie, die Spenderbeziehung und die Verantwortung für das, was hinausgeht, bleiben fest bei Ihnen. Behandeln Sie KI als fähigen Verfasser erster Entwürfe, nicht als Ersatz.

**Ist es sicher, Spenderdaten in ChatGPT oder ähnliche Werkzeuge einzugeben?** Nur mit Sorgfalt. Unter der DSGVO muss Ihre Datenschutzerklärung, wenn Sie personenbezogene Daten in KI-Werkzeuge eingeben wollen, dies klar benennen, ob Sie sich auf Einwilligung oder berechtigtes Interesse stützen. Für die meisten Fundraising-Anwendungsfälle brauchen Sie wenig bis gar keine personenbezogenen Daten, und Anrufnotizen sowie ähnliches Material lassen sich in der Regel zuvor anonymisieren. Machen Sie Anonymisieren zu Ihrer Standardeinstellung.

**Welches KI-Werkzeug sollte ich verwenden?** Das spielt weniger eine Rolle, als Sie vielleicht denken. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity und die übrigen wetteifern allmählich darum, ein wenig besser zu sein als die anderen, daher ist es vernünftig, recht agnostisch zu bleiben. Verwenden Sie, was Ihre Organisation erlaubt und womit Sie sich wohlfühlen, und prüfen Sie die Bedingungen des Werkzeugs zu Daten und Urheberrecht, bevor Sie sich darauf verlassen.

**Warum erfindet KI manchmal Dinge?** Weil sie plausiblen Text vorhersagt, statt Fakten abzurufen. Aufgefordert nach einer Spendenhistorie, die es nicht richtig lesen konnte, erfand ein Werkzeug einfach eine, die richtig aussah. Behandeln Sie Zahlen, Namen, Daten und Zitate stets als ungeprüft, bis Sie sie gegen Ihre Quelle abgeglichen haben, und fügen Sie strukturierte Daten in den Prompt ein, statt eine Tabelle hochzuladen.

**Wie erziele ich ein besseres Ergebnis aus einem Prompt?** Geben Sie ihm mehr Kontext und seien Sie konkreter. Sagen Sie ihm, wer Sie sind, wer die Zielgruppe ist, welchen Ton Sie wünschen und wofür die Ausgabe ist, und je strukturierter Ihre Anweisung, desto vorhersehbarer das Ergebnis. Dann iterieren Sie: Bitten Sie um kürzer, einen anderen Ton oder in Tabellenform, bis es genau das ist, was Sie brauchen.

**Wo sollte ein völliger Anfänger beginnen?** Mit einer wortbasierten Aufgabe mit geringem Einsatz, etwa dem Entwerfen einer Segment-E-Mail oder dem Zusammenfassen von Notizen. Fügen Sie Kontext ein, fragen Sie präzise, lesen und prüfen Sie die Ausgabe, halten Sie personenbezogene Daten heraus, und speichern Sie den Prompt, der funktioniert hat, damit Kolleginnen und Kollegen ihn wiederverwenden können.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [KI-Anwendungsfälle im Fundraising](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [KI-Prompt-Bibliothek](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [Vorlage für eine KI-Nutzungsrichtlinie](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Giving-Day-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Aufruf- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- [Hubbub-Blog: wo KI in der Philanthropie liefern kann und wo nicht](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [Wie Sie Fundraising-E-Mails schreiben, die funktionieren](/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Im vollständigen [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) finden Sie mehr.

- [How to use AI in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (europe/en): A practical, grounded guide to using AI in fundraising, covering where it genuinely helps and where it does not, practical use cases like drafting and research, writing good prompts, keeping a human in the loop, and data and ethics.
Artificial intelligence has moved into fundraising faster than almost any tool before it: in barely two years it has gone from a curiosity to a part of many people's working week. For a sector that runs on relationships, trust and carefully chosen words, that pace feels both exciting and unsettling. This guide is a grounded look at what today's AI tools can genuinely do for fundraisers, where they fall short, and how to start using them without embarrassing yourself, your donors or your organisation. It draws on the practical examples shared in Hubbub's AI webinar.

When fundraisers talk about AI today, they usually mean large language models, or LLMs: the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and their rivals. It helps to be honest about what these tools actually are, because that honesty changes how you use them. They are predictive models, not unlike the predictive text on a mobile phone, only far more capable. The model reads the context you give it (your prompt, the surrounding text, any data you provide) and uses a complex algorithm to predict the words, sentences and paragraphs most likely to fit what you appear to be asking for.

That single fact explains both the power and the limits. It is tempting to picture these tools either as a mere algorithm or as a person, an assistant of some kind, when really they are neither. They are more than an algorithm, because they absorb so much context that they become an extension of the way you write and speak. But they are not assistants: they are not thinking, and they are not reasoning over knowledge or structured information. Hold both ideas at once and you will use AI far more sensibly than someone who treats it as either a genius or a toy.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) and
> [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## A realistic view: what AI can and cannot do

Most disappointment with AI comes from expecting the wrong thing, so start with realism. These tools are genuinely good at language: drafting, rewriting, summarising, shifting tone, and adapting one piece of copy for many audiences. They are fast, they are cheap, and the cost of trying them is close to zero. By late 2024, around two-thirds of organisations across the commercial world were already using generative AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey, though fewer than a third described their use as structured. The tools are everywhere; thoughtful use of them is not.

The limits are sharper than the marketing suggests. The most important is that these models will confidently invent things. A clear example: asked to build a donor briefing from an uploaded spreadsheet of giving history, one tool quietly fabricated the numbers. The result was not merely incomplete but wildly different from the source: it missed a great many gifts and made up the dates. Rather than admit it could not read the file, it manufactured plausible new data. The reason is exactly the predictive nature described above. The model treated the spreadsheet not as a record to be preserved intact, but as an example of the kind of answer it should produce.

This is the cleanest illustration of the gap between an AI tool and a human helper: a human assistant would never do this. Numbers, names, dates, quotations and any structured data are precisely where these tools are least reliable, and where a careless fundraiser can do real damage. Treat AI as a brilliant first-draft writer and a patchy researcher, and you will be about right.

## Practical use cases

### Drafting and editing copy

The strongest and safest use case is helping you write. Fundraisers spend weeks crafting a case for support, then need versions of it for different audiences, and producing those variants by hand is expensive in either money or time. This is where AI shines. Take one well-written appeal and ask the tool to rewrite it for a new audience, for example: "rewrite this scholarship appeal for a parent audience, keeping the core purpose intact, but reflect appropriate tone, emotional drivers and familiarity." You get a usable draft in seconds.

The same approach scales across a whole campaign. For a Giving Day, you can take one case for support and generate five, six or ten different segment emails: parents, alumni of different generations, existing donors, recent leavers, staff. Instead of writing fifteen or twenty variants from scratch, you let the tool produce them, at the very least as a starting point. That phrase is the key. The AI gives you a fast first pass; you bring the judgement. This is the single most useful place to begin, and it pairs naturally with our guide to [email fundraising](/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/), where drafting subject lines, openings and segmented variants is exactly the kind of work AI accelerates.

One small tell worth knowing: these tools love certain stylistic habits, especially the long dash, which ChatGPT in particular scatters through its output. A run of long dashes is a giveaway that text was AI-written. You can simply ask the tool to remove them, but watch what else changes when you do, because each tweak can shift more than you asked for.

### Research and summarising

The second strong use case is summarising and reshaping text you already have. Call transcripts, meeting notes, long reports and messy caller notes are ideal candidates. You might, for instance, ask a tool to "reformat the following unstructured donor call notes into the consistent format used in our CRM, and extract key outcomes, tone indicators, next steps and a summary." The value is consistency: you get the same information out of every call, whoever made it. Work that once took hours, such as drafting a donor briefing from a profile and a giving history, can come down to minutes, provided you check it.

There is an important caution here, though. These tools are much better at handling text in attachments than structured data, especially numbers in spreadsheets, and there is a good chance a tool simply will not read a spreadsheet at all. The fix is simple: copy and paste your data from the spreadsheet directly into the prompt rather than uploading a file. When the same giving history was pasted in as a table, the tool got it right. Small changes in how you feed information to the tool make a large difference to whether you can trust the result.

### Saving time on admin and practice

Beyond writing and research, AI quietly removes friction from everyday admin: reformatting notes, turning text into a table, drafting the structure of a document, suggesting next steps. A more unexpected use is rehearsal. You can ask a voice-capable tool to act as a donor, or a frustrated alumnus, and practise difficult conversations before they happen. For student callers picking up the phone for the first time, rehearsing a call ten or fifteen times in advance makes the script (about themselves, about the appeal, about what they want to discuss) far easier and more comfortable to deliver. The same approach exposes the gaps in what you are ready to talk about, which is valuable preparation for major donor meetings as well as the phones.

## Writing good prompts and giving the right context

The quality of what you get out depends almost entirely on what you put in. The model is, after all, just predicting the best fit for the context you provide, so the more context, the better the fit. Tell it who you are, what you are trying to achieve, who the audience is, what tone you want and what you will use the output for. You can even pre-load a tool with your own preferences once and reuse them: tell it to write in British English only, for example, and it will keep doing so.

The other half of good prompting is structure. The more precise and structured your instruction, the more predictable and consistent the result; leave gaps and the tool will guess and interpret what you meant. If you want four specific fields in a table, name those four fields. If you want something short enough to glance at before walking into a meeting, say so, then keep refining.

Which leads to the single most useful habit: iterate. You get the best out of these tools by thinking about how you will use the output, then steering the tool towards exactly what you want over several rounds. Do not accept the first answer as final. Ask for a shorter version, a different tone, a table instead of prose, three social posts instead of one. And read what the tool tells you it is doing along the way, because each time you ask it to tweak something it may change slightly more than you asked.

One final discipline is worth adopting whatever tools you use: treat every attempt as a small experiment and write it down. What were you trying to achieve? Which tools did you use? What worked, what did not, and what is next? A short record of your prompts and results turns scattered individual play into shared, repeatable knowledge, because self-directed learning in this space otherwise misses huge amounts of valuable experience from colleagues. Our prompt library is built to be exactly that kind of shared record.

## Keeping a human in the loop

If one rule matters more than any other, it is this: always read the output. The fabricated giving history above is the cautionary tale. The tool produced something polished, professional and completely wrong, and it would have been easy to miss that it had misrepresented the gift history entirely. A briefing you are about to carry into a donor meeting is precisely the kind of document where a confident invention does real harm.

So keep a person between the AI and the outside world at every step. Check facts, figures, names and quotations against your source. Be especially wary when a tool generates a downloadable file: if it writes and runs a small program to build a spreadsheet, the safest response is not to trust that file and instead ask it to show the table on screen so you can verify the contents. That check takes seconds and is well worth it.

A human in the loop is not only about catching errors; it is about ownership. The AI is reflecting your voice and your judgement back at you, and the responsibility for whatever goes out under your organisation's name stays with you. Use it to draft, never to send unread.

## Data protection, donor trust and ethics

This is where fundraisers must be most careful, because we hold sensitive personal data and we trade on trust. The starting point on data protection is straightforward: you need to tell people if you are going to start putting their personal data into AI tools. Under GDPR, which applies to donor data across Europe, it needs to be stated clearly in your privacy policy, whether you rely on consent or on legitimate interests. Put bluntly, if you start feeding personal data into tools like ChatGPT with no line anywhere telling donors you might do so, you are almost certainly not compliant.

The reassuring news is that most of the strong use cases need very little personal data at all. Rewriting a case for support, drafting segment emails or summarising a report involves no named individuals. Where you do handle personal information, such as notes from a call, it is often easy to anonymise by stripping out the individual details first. For most of the use cases in this guide you do not really need to put much personally identifiable information into these tools. Make anonymising your default, and include personal data only deliberately, with a clear lawful basis and a privacy notice that says so.

Copyright deserves a mention too, particularly for AI-generated images. Whether you own what a tool produces depends heavily on its terms and conditions, and separately on unresolved legal questions about the data these models were trained on. Caution is sensible here: it is hard to be confident that a freshly generated image is not visually very similar to, or effectively a copy of, something in the model's training data. Tweaking images you already own is low risk; generating brand-new images from scratch carries more.

On authenticity, the honest answer is that you cannot know how donors will react until you try, carefully. Rather than broadcasting AI-assisted copy to your whole file, test it on a small, controlled audience first: run it as an A/B test against your usual version, and watch both whether engagement improves and whether anyone felt it was not genuine. The underlying point is reassuring, because the tool is reflecting your own authenticity back at you, so well-supervised output need not feel less genuine. But the real test is the donor, and you only learn the answer by putting your work gently in front of real people.

## How to get started safely

You do not need a strategy, a budget or permission to begin; you need a low-stakes task and a habit of checking. Pick one job you do often that is mostly about words, such as drafting a segment email or summarising a set of call notes, and try it. Paste in plenty of context, ask for what you want precisely, and iterate until the output is genuinely useful. Read everything before it leaves your hands, anonymise any personal data, and make a quick note of the prompt that worked so a colleague can reuse it.

From there, widen out one use case at a time, keep personal data out unless your privacy notice covers it, and test anything donor-facing on a small audience first. Done this way, AI becomes what it is genuinely good at being: a fast, tireless drafting partner that frees you to spend more of your time on the relationships only a human can build.

## Frequently asked questions

**Will AI replace fundraisers?** No. These tools are strong at language and weak at judgement, relationships and accuracy. They draft, summarise and reformat quickly, but the strategy, the donor relationship and the responsibility for what goes out stay firmly with you. Treat AI as a capable first-draft writer, not a replacement.

**Is it safe to put donor data into ChatGPT or similar tools?** Only with care. Under GDPR, if you intend to put personal data into AI tools, your privacy policy must say so clearly, whether you rely on consent or legitimate interests. For most fundraising use cases you do not need much, if any, personal data, and call notes and similar material can usually be anonymised first. Make anonymising your default.

**Which AI tool should I use?** It matters less than you might think. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and the rest are gradually competing to be slightly better than one another, so it is reasonable to stay fairly agnostic. Use whatever your organisation permits and you find comfortable, and check the tool's terms on data and copyright before relying on it.

**Why does AI sometimes make things up?** Because it predicts plausible text rather than retrieving facts. Asked for a giving history it could not properly read, one tool simply invented one that looked right. Always treat figures, names, dates and quotations as unverified until you have checked them against your source, and paste structured data into the prompt rather than uploading a spreadsheet.

**How do I get a better result from a prompt?** Give it more context and be more specific. Tell it who you are, who the audience is, the tone you want and what the output is for, and the more structured your instruction, the more predictable the result. Then iterate: ask for shorter, different in tone, or in a table, until it is exactly what you need.

**Where should a complete beginner start?** With one low-stakes, word-based task, such as drafting a segment email or summarising notes. Paste in context, ask precisely, read and check the output, keep personal data out, and save the prompt that worked so colleagues can reuse it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: where AI can and cannot deliver in philanthropy](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo usar la IA en la captación de fondos](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica y realista sobre el uso de la IA en la captación de fondos, que aborda dónde ayuda de verdad y dónde no, casos de uso concretos como la redacción y la investigación, cómo escribir buenas instrucciones, mantener a una persona en el proceso, así como los datos y la ética.
La inteligencia artificial ha entrado en la captación de fondos más rápido que casi cualquier otra herramienta antes que ella: en apenas dos años ha pasado de ser una curiosidad a formar parte de la semana laboral de muchas personas. Para un sector que se sostiene sobre las relaciones, la confianza y las palabras elegidas con cuidado, ese ritmo resulta a la vez emocionante e inquietante. Esta guía ofrece una mirada realista sobre lo que las herramientas de IA actuales pueden hacer de verdad por quienes captan fondos, sobre dónde se quedan cortas y sobre cómo empezar a usarlas sin dejar en mal lugar ni a usted, ni a sus donantes, ni a su organización. Se apoya en los ejemplos prácticos compartidos en el seminario web sobre IA de Hubbub.

Cuando quienes captan fondos hablan hoy de IA, suelen referirse a los grandes modelos de lenguaje, o LLM: la tecnología que hay detrás de ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity y sus rivales. Conviene ser honestos sobre lo que estas herramientas son en realidad, porque esa honestidad cambia la forma en que las usa. Son modelos predictivos, no muy distintos del texto predictivo de un teléfono móvil, solo que mucho más capaces. El modelo lee el contexto que usted le da (su instrucción, el texto circundante, cualquier dato que aporte) y usa un algoritmo complejo para predecir las palabras, frases y párrafos que con mayor probabilidad encajan con lo que parece estar pidiendo.

Ese único hecho explica tanto la potencia como los límites. Es tentador imaginar estas herramientas o bien como un simple algoritmo o bien como una persona, una especie de asistente, cuando en realidad no son ni lo uno ni lo otro. Son más que un algoritmo, porque absorben tanto contexto que se convierten en una extensión de su forma de escribir y de hablar. Pero no son asistentes: no piensan y no razonan sobre conocimiento ni información estructurada. Sostenga ambas ideas a la vez y usará la IA de forma mucho más sensata que quien la trata o como un genio o como un juguete.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestros
> [casos de uso de la IA en la captación de fondos](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [biblioteca de instrucciones de IA](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) y
> [plantilla de política de uso de la IA](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## Una visión realista: lo que la IA puede y no puede hacer

La mayor parte de la decepción con la IA viene de esperar lo que no toca, así que empiece por el realismo. Estas herramientas son genuinamente buenas con el lenguaje: redactar, reescribir, resumir, cambiar el tono y adaptar un mismo texto a muchos públicos. Son rápidas, son baratas y el coste de probarlas es casi nulo. A finales de 2024, alrededor de dos tercios de las organizaciones del mundo comercial ya usaban IA generativa en al menos una función de negocio, según McKinsey, aunque menos de un tercio describía su uso como estructurado. Las herramientas están por todas partes; su uso reflexivo, no.

Los límites son más nítidos de lo que sugiere el marketing. El más importante es que estos modelos inventan cosas con seguridad. Un ejemplo claro: al pedirle que elaborara una ficha informativa de un donante a partir de una hoja de cálculo del historial de donaciones que se subió, una herramienta fabricó las cifras a escondidas. El resultado no solo era incompleto, sino radicalmente distinto de la fuente: se saltaba muchísimas donaciones e inventaba las fechas. En lugar de admitir que no podía leer el archivo, fabricó datos nuevos plausibles. La razón es exactamente la naturaleza predictiva descrita más arriba. El modelo trató la hoja de cálculo no como un registro que preservar intacto, sino como un ejemplo del tipo de respuesta que debía producir.

Esta es la ilustración más limpia de la brecha entre una herramienta de IA y un ayudante humano: un asistente humano jamás haría esto. Cifras, nombres, fechas, citas y cualquier dato estructurado son precisamente donde estas herramientas son menos fiables, y donde quien capta fondos con descuido puede causar un daño real. Trate la IA como un brillante autor de primeros borradores y un investigador irregular, y andará bastante en lo cierto.

## Casos de uso prácticos

### Redactar y editar textos

El caso de uso más sólido y más seguro es ayudarle a escribir. Quienes captan fondos pasan semanas elaborando un argumentario de apoyo, y luego necesitan versiones de él para públicos distintos, y producir esas variantes a mano sale caro, en dinero o en tiempo. Aquí es donde la IA brilla. Tome un llamamiento bien escrito y pida a la herramienta que lo reescriba para un nuevo público, por ejemplo: «reescribe este llamamiento para becas dirigiéndolo a un público de madres y padres, manteniendo intacto el propósito de fondo, pero reflejando el tono, los resortes emocionales y la familiaridad apropiados». Obtiene un borrador utilizable en segundos.

El mismo enfoque se extiende a toda una campaña. Para un Día de la donación, puede partir de un solo argumentario de apoyo y generar cinco, seis o diez correos para segmentos distintos: madres y padres, antiguos alumnos de distintas generaciones, donantes actuales, recién egresados, personal. En lugar de escribir quince o veinte variantes desde cero, deja que la herramienta las produzca, cuando menos como punto de partida. Esa expresión es la clave. La IA le da un primer borrador rápido; usted aporta el criterio. Es el punto más útil por el que empezar, y encaja de forma natural con nuestra guía de [captación de fondos por correo electrónico](/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/), donde redactar asuntos, aperturas y variantes segmentadas es exactamente el tipo de trabajo que la IA acelera.

Un pequeño indicio que vale la pena conocer: a estas herramientas les encantan ciertos hábitos estilísticos, en especial la raya larga, que ChatGPT en particular esparce por sus textos. Una sucesión de rayas largas delata que un texto fue escrito por una IA. Puede simplemente pedir a la herramienta que las elimine, pero vigile qué más cambia cuando lo hace, porque cada ajuste puede mover más de lo que pidió.

### Investigación y síntesis

El segundo caso de uso sólido es resumir y remodelar un texto que ya tiene. Transcripciones de llamadas, notas de reuniones, informes largos y notas de llamadas desordenadas son candidatos ideales. Podría, por ejemplo, pedir a una herramienta que «reformatee las siguientes notas no estructuradas de una llamada con un donante al formato coherente que usamos en nuestro CRM, y extraiga los resultados clave, los indicadores de tono, los siguientes pasos y un resumen». El valor está en la coherencia: obtiene la misma información de cada llamada, sin importar quién la hizo. Un trabajo que antes llevaba horas, como redactar una ficha informativa de un donante a partir de un perfil y un historial de donaciones, puede reducirse a minutos, siempre que lo compruebe.

Aquí hay, no obstante, una advertencia importante. Estas herramientas manejan mucho mejor el texto en archivos adjuntos que los datos estructurados, en especial las cifras en hojas de cálculo, y hay bastantes probabilidades de que una herramienta simplemente no lea una hoja de cálculo. La solución es sencilla: copie y pegue sus datos de la hoja de cálculo directamente en la instrucción en lugar de subir un archivo. Cuando el mismo historial de donaciones se pegó como tabla, la herramienta lo procesó bien. Pequeñas diferencias en cómo le proporciona la información a la herramienta marcan una gran diferencia en si puede confiar en el resultado.

### Ahorrar tiempo en administración y práctica

Más allá de escribir e investigar, la IA elimina sin ruido la fricción de la administración cotidiana: reformatear notas, convertir un texto en tabla, esbozar la estructura de un documento, sugerir los siguientes pasos. Un uso más inesperado es el ensayo. Puede pedir a una herramienta con capacidad de voz que haga de donante, o de antiguo alumno molesto, y practicar conversaciones difíciles antes de que ocurran. Para estudiantes que descuelgan el teléfono por primera vez, ensayar una llamada diez o quince veces de antemano hace que el guion (sobre ellos mismos, sobre el llamamiento, sobre lo que quieren tratar) sea mucho más fácil y cómodo de pronunciar. El mismo enfoque saca a la luz las lagunas de aquello sobre lo que está listo para hablar, lo cual es una preparación valiosa tanto para las reuniones con grandes donantes como para el teléfono.

## Escribir buenas instrucciones y dar el contexto adecuado

La calidad de lo que obtiene depende casi por completo de lo que introduce. Al fin y al cabo, el modelo solo predice el mejor encaje para el contexto que usted proporciona, así que cuanto más contexto, mejor el encaje. Dígale quién es usted, qué intenta lograr, quién es el público, qué tono quiere y para qué usará el resultado. Incluso puede preconfigurar una herramienta con sus propias preferencias una sola vez y reutilizarlas: dígale que escriba únicamente en español estándar, por ejemplo, y seguirá haciéndolo.

La otra mitad de una buena instrucción es la estructura. Cuanto más precisa y estructurada sea su instrucción, más predecible y coherente será el resultado; deje huecos y la herramienta adivinará e interpretará lo que quiso decir. Si quiere cuatro campos concretos en una tabla, nombre esos cuatro campos. Si quiere algo lo bastante breve para echarle un vistazo antes de entrar a una reunión, dígalo, y siga refinando.

Lo que conduce al hábito más útil de todos: iterar. Saca lo mejor de estas herramientas pensando en cómo usará el resultado y luego dirigiendo la herramienta hacia exactamente lo que quiere a lo largo de varias rondas. No acepte la primera respuesta como definitiva. Pida una versión más corta, un tono distinto, una tabla en lugar de prosa, tres publicaciones para redes en lugar de una. Y lea lo que la herramienta le dice que está haciendo por el camino, porque cada vez que le pide ajustar algo puede cambiar un poco más de lo que pidió.

Vale la pena adoptar una última disciplina sea cual sea la herramienta que use: trate cada intento como un pequeño experimento y anótelo. ¿Qué intentaba lograr? ¿Qué herramientas usó? ¿Qué funcionó, qué no, y qué sigue? Un breve registro de sus instrucciones y resultados convierte el juego individual disperso en un saber compartido y repetible, porque el aprendizaje autodirigido en este terreno, de lo contrario, se pierde enormes cantidades de experiencia valiosa de los colegas. Nuestra biblioteca de instrucciones está pensada para ser exactamente ese tipo de registro compartido.

## Mantener a una persona en el proceso

Si una regla importa más que ninguna otra, es esta: lea siempre el resultado. El historial de donaciones inventado de más arriba es el relato aleccionador. La herramienta produjo algo pulido, profesional y completamente erróneo, y habría sido fácil no advertir que había tergiversado por completo el historial de donaciones. Una ficha informativa que está a punto de llevar a una reunión con un donante es precisamente el tipo de documento donde una invención segura de sí misma hace un daño real.

Así que mantenga a una persona entre la IA y el mundo exterior en cada paso. Compruebe hechos, cifras, nombres y citas contra su fuente. Sea especialmente cauto cuando una herramienta genere un archivo descargable: si escribe y ejecuta un pequeño programa para construir una hoja de cálculo, la respuesta más segura es no fiarse de ese archivo y pedirle en su lugar que muestre la tabla en pantalla para que pueda verificar el contenido. Esa comprobación lleva segundos y vale bien la pena.

Una persona en el proceso no sirve solo para detectar errores; tiene que ver con la responsabilidad. La IA le devuelve su voz y su criterio, y la responsabilidad de todo lo que salga bajo el nombre de su organización sigue siendo suya. Úsela para redactar, nunca para enviar sin leer.

## Protección de datos, confianza del donante y ética

Aquí es donde quienes captan fondos deben ser más cuidadosos, porque manejamos datos personales sensibles y vivimos de la confianza. El punto de partida sobre protección de datos es sencillo: tiene que informar a las personas si va a empezar a introducir sus datos personales en herramientas de IA. Bajo el RGPD, que se aplica a los datos de donantes en toda Europa, debe quedar claramente indicado en su política de privacidad, ya se apoye en el consentimiento o en el interés legítimo. Dicho sin rodeos: si empieza a alimentar herramientas como ChatGPT con datos personales sin que en ningún sitio una línea diga a los donantes que podría hacerlo, casi con seguridad no cumple la normativa.

La noticia tranquilizadora es que la mayoría de los casos de uso sólidos necesitan muy pocos datos personales. Reescribir un argumentario de apoyo, redactar correos por segmentos o resumir un informe no implica a personas identificadas por su nombre. Allí donde sí maneja información personal, como notas de una llamada, suele ser fácil anonimizarla eliminando antes los detalles individuales. Para la mayoría de los casos de uso de esta guía no necesita en realidad introducir mucha información identificable en estas herramientas. Haga de anonimizar su opción por defecto, e incluya datos personales solo de forma deliberada, con una base legal clara y un aviso de privacidad que lo diga.

El derecho de autor también merece mención, en particular para las imágenes generadas por IA. Si usted es propietario de lo que una herramienta produce depende en gran medida de sus términos y condiciones, y por separado de cuestiones legales sin resolver sobre los datos con los que se entrenaron estos modelos. Aquí la prudencia es sensata: es difícil tener la certeza de que una imagen recién generada no sea visualmente muy similar, o de hecho una copia, de algo presente en los datos de entrenamiento del modelo. Retocar imágenes que ya posee es de bajo riesgo; generar imágenes totalmente nuevas desde cero conlleva más.

Sobre la autenticidad, la respuesta honesta es que no puede saber cómo reaccionarán los donantes hasta que lo pruebe, con cautela. En lugar de difundir textos asistidos por IA a toda su base, pruébelos primero con un público pequeño y controlado: ejecútelos como una prueba A/B frente a su versión habitual, y observe tanto si mejora la interacción como si alguien sintió que no era genuino. La idea de fondo es tranquilizadora, porque la herramienta le devuelve su propia autenticidad, de modo que un resultado bien supervisado no tiene por qué parecer menos genuino. Pero la prueba real es el donante, y solo conoce la respuesta poniendo su trabajo con delicadeza delante de personas reales.

## Cómo empezar con seguridad

No necesita una estrategia, un presupuesto ni un permiso para empezar; necesita una tarea de bajo riesgo y el hábito de comprobar. Elija una tarea que haga a menudo y que trate sobre todo de palabras, como redactar un correo por segmento o resumir un conjunto de notas de llamadas, y pruébela. Pegue abundante contexto, pida con precisión lo que quiere e itere hasta que el resultado sea genuinamente útil. Lea todo antes de que salga de sus manos, anonimice cualquier dato personal y anote rápidamente la instrucción que funcionó para que un colega pueda reutilizarla.

A partir de ahí, amplíe un caso de uso cada vez, mantenga fuera los datos personales salvo que su aviso de privacidad los cubra, y pruebe primero con un público pequeño cualquier cosa dirigida a donantes. Hecho así, la IA se convierte en aquello en lo que es genuinamente buena: un socio de redacción rápido e incansable que le libera para dedicar más tiempo a las relaciones que solo una persona puede construir.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Reemplazará la IA a quienes captan fondos?** No. Estas herramientas son fuertes con el lenguaje y débiles en criterio, relaciones y exactitud. Redactan, resumen y reformatean con rapidez, pero la estrategia, la relación con el donante y la responsabilidad de lo que sale siguen firmemente en sus manos. Trate la IA como un competente autor de primeros borradores, no como un sustituto.

**¿Es seguro introducir datos de donantes en ChatGPT o herramientas similares?** Solo con cuidado. Bajo el RGPD, si tiene intención de introducir datos personales en herramientas de IA, su política de privacidad debe decirlo claramente, ya se apoye en el consentimiento o en el interés legítimo. Para la mayoría de los casos de uso en captación de fondos no necesita muchos datos personales, si es que necesita alguno, y las notas de llamadas y materiales similares suelen poder anonimizarse antes. Haga de anonimizar su opción por defecto.

**¿Qué herramienta de IA debería usar?** Importa menos de lo que podría pensar. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity y las demás compiten poco a poco por ser ligeramente mejores unas que otras, así que es razonable mantenerse bastante agnóstico. Use lo que su organización permita y con lo que se sienta cómodo, y revise los términos de la herramienta sobre datos y derechos de autor antes de fiarse de ella.

**¿Por qué a veces la IA se inventa cosas?** Porque predice texto plausible en lugar de recuperar hechos. Al pedirle un historial de donaciones que no podía leer bien, una herramienta sencillamente inventó uno que tenía buen aspecto. Trate siempre cifras, nombres, fechas y citas como no verificados hasta que los haya cotejado con su fuente, y pegue los datos estructurados en la instrucción en lugar de subir una hoja de cálculo.

**¿Cómo obtengo un mejor resultado de una instrucción?** Dele más contexto y sea más específico. Dígale quién es usted, quién es el público, el tono que quiere y para qué sirve el resultado, y cuanto más estructurada sea su instrucción, más predecible será el resultado. Luego itere: pida algo más corto, un tono distinto, o en tabla, hasta que sea exactamente lo que necesita.

**¿Por dónde debería empezar quien es principiante absoluto?** Por una tarea de bajo riesgo basada en palabras, como redactar un correo por segmento o resumir notas. Pegue contexto, pida con precisión, lea y compruebe el resultado, mantenga fuera los datos personales y guarde la instrucción que funcionó para que sus colegas puedan reutilizarla.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Casos de uso de la IA en la captación de fondos](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [Biblioteca de instrucciones de IA](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [Plantilla de política de uso de la IA](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador del Día de la donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina tus textos de llamamiento y de correo
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Blog de Hubbub: dónde la IA puede y no puede dar resultados en la filantropía](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Guía relacionada: [Cómo escribir correos de captación de fondos que funcionan](/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment utiliser l'IA dans la collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique et lucide sur l'utilisation de l'IA dans la collecte de fonds, qui aborde les domaines où elle aide réellement et ceux où elle n'aide pas, des cas d'usage concrets comme la rédaction et la recherche, la formulation de bonnes instructions, le maintien d'un humain dans la boucle, ainsi que les données et l'éthique.
L'intelligence artificielle s'est imposée dans la collecte de fonds plus vite que presque tout autre outil avant elle : en à peine deux ans, elle est passée du statut de curiosité à celui d'élément récurrent de la semaine de travail de bien des professionnels. Pour un secteur qui repose sur les relations, la confiance et des mots soigneusement choisis, ce rythme paraît à la fois enthousiasmant et déstabilisant. Ce guide propose un regard lucide sur ce que les outils d'IA actuels peuvent réellement apporter aux collecteurs de fonds, sur leurs limites, et sur la manière de commencer à les utiliser sans vous mettre dans l'embarras, ni vos donateurs, ni votre organisation. Il s'appuie sur les exemples pratiques partagés lors du webinaire de Hubbub consacré à l'IA.

Lorsque les collecteurs de fonds parlent d'IA aujourd'hui, ils désignent généralement les grands modèles de langage, ou LLM : la technologie derrière ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity et leurs concurrents. Il est utile d'être honnête sur ce que sont réellement ces outils, car cette honnêteté change la façon dont vous les utilisez. Ce sont des modèles prédictifs, assez proches de la saisie prédictive d'un téléphone portable, mais bien plus performants. Le modèle lit le contexte que vous lui fournissez (votre instruction, le texte environnant, toutes les données que vous communiquez) et utilise un algorithme complexe pour prédire les mots, les phrases et les paragraphes les plus susceptibles de correspondre à ce que vous semblez demander.

Ce seul fait explique à la fois la puissance et les limites. Il est tentant de se représenter ces outils soit comme un simple algorithme, soit comme une personne, une sorte d'assistant, alors qu'en réalité ils ne sont ni l'un ni l'autre. Ils sont plus qu'un algorithme, car ils absorbent tellement de contexte qu'ils deviennent une extension de votre manière d'écrire et de parler. Mais ce ne sont pas des assistants : ils ne pensent pas, et ils ne raisonnent pas à partir de connaissances ou d'informations structurées. Gardez ces deux idées en tête simultanément et vous utiliserez l'IA bien plus judicieusement que quelqu'un qui la traite soit comme un génie, soit comme un jouet.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger nos
> [cas d'usage de l'IA dans la collecte de fonds](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [bibliothèque d'instructions IA](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) et
> [modèle de politique d'usage de l'IA](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## Une vision réaliste : ce que l'IA peut et ne peut pas faire

La plupart des déceptions liées à l'IA viennent du fait que l'on en attend la mauvaise chose ; commencez donc par le réalisme. Ces outils sont véritablement bons en matière de langage : rédiger, réécrire, résumer, modifier le ton et adapter un même contenu à de nombreux publics. Ils sont rapides, peu coûteux, et le coût de l'essai est proche de zéro. Fin 2024, environ deux tiers des organisations du monde commercial utilisaient déjà l'IA générative dans au moins une fonction de l'entreprise, selon McKinsey, même si moins d'un tiers décrivaient cet usage comme structuré. Les outils sont partout ; leur usage réfléchi, beaucoup moins.

Les limites sont plus nettes que ne le laisse entendre le marketing. La plus importante est que ces modèles inventent des choses avec assurance. Un exemple clair : sollicité pour bâtir un dossier de donateur à partir d'un tableur de l'historique des dons téléversé, un outil a discrètement fabriqué les chiffres. Le résultat n'était pas seulement incomplet, mais radicalement différent de la source : il manquait un grand nombre de dons et inventait les dates. Plutôt que d'admettre qu'il ne pouvait pas lire le fichier, il a fabriqué de nouvelles données plausibles. La raison tient exactement à la nature prédictive décrite plus haut. Le modèle a traité le tableur non pas comme un enregistrement à préserver intact, mais comme un exemple du type de réponse qu'il devait produire.

C'est l'illustration la plus nette de l'écart entre un outil d'IA et un assistant humain : un assistant humain ne ferait jamais cela. Les chiffres, les noms, les dates, les citations et toute donnée structurée sont précisément les domaines où ces outils sont les moins fiables, et où un collecteur de fonds négligent peut causer de réels dégâts. Considérez l'IA comme un brillant rédacteur de premier jet et un chercheur inégal, et vous serez à peu près dans le vrai.

## Cas d'usage pratiques

### Rédiger et corriger des textes

Le cas d'usage le plus solide et le plus sûr consiste à vous aider à écrire. Les collecteurs de fonds passent des semaines à élaborer un argumentaire de soutien, puis ont besoin de versions adaptées à différents publics, et produire ces variantes à la main coûte cher, en argent ou en temps. C'est là que l'IA excelle. Prenez un appel bien rédigé et demandez à l'outil de le réécrire pour un nouveau public, par exemple : « réécris cet appel aux dons pour des bourses à destination d'un public de parents, en conservant intacte l'intention de fond, mais en reflétant le ton, les ressorts émotionnels et la familiarité appropriés ». Vous obtenez un brouillon exploitable en quelques secondes.

La même approche se déploie à l'échelle d'une campagne entière. Pour une Journée du don, vous pouvez partir d'un seul argumentaire de soutien et générer cinq, six ou dix e-mails de segments différents : parents, anciens élèves de différentes générations, donateurs existants, sortants récents, personnel. Au lieu de rédiger quinze ou vingt variantes en partant de zéro, vous laissez l'outil les produire, à tout le moins comme point de départ. Cette expression est essentielle. L'IA vous fournit un premier jet rapide ; vous apportez le discernement. C'est l'endroit le plus utile par lequel commencer, et cela s'articule naturellement avec notre guide sur [la collecte de fonds par e-mail](/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/), où la rédaction des objets, des accroches et des variantes segmentées est exactement le type de travail que l'IA accélère.

Un petit indice qu'il vaut la peine de connaître : ces outils raffolent de certaines habitudes stylistiques, en particulier le tiret long, que ChatGPT en particulier parsème dans ses productions. Une succession de tirets longs trahit un texte écrit par une IA. Vous pouvez simplement demander à l'outil de les supprimer, mais surveillez ce qui change par ailleurs lorsque vous le faites, car chaque ajustement peut déplacer plus que ce que vous aviez demandé.

### Recherche et synthèse

Le deuxième cas d'usage solide est de résumer et de remodeler un texte que vous possédez déjà. Les transcriptions d'appels, les comptes rendus de réunion, les longs rapports et les notes d'appel désordonnées sont des candidats idéaux. Vous pourriez, par exemple, demander à un outil de « reformater les notes d'appel de donateur non structurées suivantes dans le format cohérent utilisé dans notre CRM, et en extraire les résultats clés, les indicateurs de ton, les prochaines étapes et un résumé ». La valeur réside dans la cohérence : vous obtenez les mêmes informations pour chaque appel, quel qu'en soit l'auteur. Un travail qui prenait autrefois des heures, comme la rédaction d'un dossier de donateur à partir d'un profil et d'un historique de dons, peut se réduire à quelques minutes, à condition de le vérifier.

Il y a néanmoins une mise en garde importante. Ces outils gèrent bien mieux le texte des pièces jointes que les données structurées, en particulier les chiffres dans les tableurs, et il y a de fortes chances qu'un outil ne lise tout simplement pas un tableur. La solution est simple : copiez-collez vos données du tableur directement dans l'instruction plutôt que de téléverser un fichier. Lorsque le même historique de dons a été collé sous forme de tableau, l'outil l'a traité correctement. De petites variations dans la façon dont vous fournissez l'information à l'outil font une grande différence quant à votre capacité à faire confiance au résultat.

### Gagner du temps sur l'administratif et l'entraînement

Au-delà de la rédaction et de la recherche, l'IA élimine discrètement les frictions de l'administratif quotidien : reformater des notes, transformer un texte en tableau, esquisser la structure d'un document, suggérer les prochaines étapes. Un usage plus inattendu est l'entraînement. Vous pouvez demander à un outil doté de capacités vocales de jouer le rôle d'un donateur, ou d'un ancien élève mécontent, et de répéter des conversations difficiles avant qu'elles n'aient lieu. Pour des étudiants appelant pour la première fois, répéter un appel dix ou quinze fois à l'avance rend le script (à propos d'eux-mêmes, de l'appel, de ce qu'ils veulent aborder) bien plus facile et plus confortable à délivrer. La même approche révèle les lacunes de ce que vous êtes prêt à aborder, ce qui constitue une préparation précieuse aussi bien pour les rencontres avec les grands donateurs que pour le téléphone.

## Formuler de bonnes instructions et donner le bon contexte

La qualité de ce que vous obtenez dépend presque entièrement de ce que vous fournissez. Le modèle ne fait, après tout, que prédire la meilleure correspondance pour le contexte que vous donnez ; ainsi, plus il y a de contexte, meilleure est la correspondance. Dites-lui qui vous êtes, ce que vous cherchez à accomplir, quel est le public, le ton souhaité et l'usage que vous ferez de la production. Vous pouvez même préconfigurer un outil avec vos propres préférences une seule fois et les réutiliser : demandez-lui d'écrire uniquement en français standard, par exemple, et il continuera de le faire.

L'autre moitié d'une bonne formulation est la structure. Plus votre instruction est précise et structurée, plus le résultat est prévisible et cohérent ; laissez des vides et l'outil devinera et interprétera ce que vous vouliez dire. Si vous voulez quatre champs précis dans un tableau, nommez ces quatre champs. Si vous voulez quelque chose d'assez court pour y jeter un œil avant d'entrer en réunion, dites-le, puis continuez d'affiner.

Ce qui mène à l'habitude la plus utile de toutes : itérer. Vous tirez le meilleur de ces outils en réfléchissant à la façon dont vous utiliserez la production, puis en orientant l'outil vers exactement ce que vous voulez au fil de plusieurs tours. N'acceptez pas la première réponse comme définitive. Demandez une version plus courte, un ton différent, un tableau plutôt qu'un texte, trois publications sur les réseaux sociaux au lieu d'une. Et lisez ce que l'outil vous dit qu'il fait en chemin, car chaque fois que vous lui demandez d'ajuster quelque chose, il peut changer un peu plus que ce que vous aviez demandé.

Une dernière discipline mérite d'être adoptée quels que soient les outils que vous utilisez : traitez chaque tentative comme une petite expérience et consignez-la. Que cherchiez-vous à accomplir ? Quels outils avez-vous utilisés ? Qu'est-ce qui a fonctionné, qu'est-ce qui n'a pas fonctionné, et quelle est la suite ? Un bref relevé de vos instructions et de vos résultats transforme un jeu individuel dispersé en un savoir partagé et reproductible, car l'apprentissage autonome dans ce domaine passe sinon à côté d'une énorme quantité d'expérience précieuse de la part des collègues. Notre bibliothèque d'instructions est conçue pour être exactement ce type de relevé partagé.

## Garder un humain dans la boucle

S'il est une règle qui compte plus que toutes les autres, c'est celle-ci : lisez toujours la production. L'historique de dons fabriqué évoqué plus haut est le récit édifiant. L'outil a produit quelque chose de soigné, de professionnel et de complètement faux, et il aurait été facile de ne pas remarquer qu'il avait totalement dénaturé l'historique des dons. Un dossier que vous vous apprêtez à emporter dans une rencontre avec un donateur est précisément le type de document où une invention assurée fait de réels dégâts.

Gardez donc une personne entre l'IA et le monde extérieur à chaque étape. Vérifiez les faits, les chiffres, les noms et les citations par rapport à votre source. Soyez particulièrement vigilant lorsqu'un outil génère un fichier téléchargeable : s'il écrit et exécute un petit programme pour construire un tableur, la réponse la plus sûre est de ne pas faire confiance à ce fichier et de lui demander plutôt d'afficher le tableau à l'écran afin que vous puissiez en vérifier le contenu. Cette vérification prend quelques secondes et en vaut largement la peine.

Un humain dans la boucle ne sert pas seulement à repérer les erreurs ; il s'agit aussi d'appropriation. L'IA vous renvoie votre voix et votre discernement, et la responsabilité de tout ce qui sort sous le nom de votre organisation reste la vôtre. Utilisez-la pour rédiger, jamais pour envoyer sans avoir lu.

## Protection des données, confiance des donateurs et éthique

C'est là que les collecteurs de fonds doivent être les plus prudents, car nous détenons des données personnelles sensibles et nous misons sur la confiance. Le point de départ en matière de protection des données est simple : vous devez informer les personnes si vous comptez commencer à introduire leurs données personnelles dans des outils d'IA. Dans le cadre du RGPD, qui s'applique aux données des donateurs dans toute l'Europe, cela doit être clairement indiqué dans votre politique de confidentialité, que vous vous appuyiez sur le consentement ou sur l'intérêt légitime. Pour le dire crûment : si vous commencez à alimenter des outils comme ChatGPT avec des données personnelles sans qu'aucune ligne nulle part n'indique aux donateurs que vous pourriez le faire, vous n'êtes presque certainement pas en conformité.

La nouvelle rassurante est que la plupart des cas d'usage solides nécessitent très peu de données personnelles. Réécrire un argumentaire de soutien, rédiger des e-mails de segments ou résumer un rapport n'implique aucun individu nommé. Là où vous traitez bel et bien des informations personnelles, comme des notes issues d'un appel, il est souvent facile de les anonymiser en retirant d'abord les détails individuels. Pour la plupart des cas d'usage de ce guide, vous n'avez pas vraiment besoin d'introduire beaucoup d'informations personnellement identifiables dans ces outils. Faites de l'anonymisation votre réglage par défaut, et n'incluez des données personnelles que délibérément, avec une base légale claire et une mention d'information qui le précise.

Le droit d'auteur mérite aussi d'être mentionné, en particulier pour les images générées par IA. La question de savoir si vous possédez ce qu'un outil produit dépend fortement de ses conditions générales, et séparément de questions juridiques non résolues concernant les données sur lesquelles ces modèles ont été entraînés. La prudence est de mise ici : il est difficile d'avoir la certitude qu'une image fraîchement générée ne ressemble pas beaucoup, visuellement, à quelque chose présent dans les données d'entraînement du modèle, voire n'en soit pas une copie de fait. Retoucher des images que vous possédez déjà comporte peu de risques ; générer des images entièrement nouvelles à partir de zéro en comporte davantage.

Sur l'authenticité, la réponse honnête est que vous ne pouvez pas savoir comment les donateurs réagiront tant que vous n'avez pas essayé, avec prudence. Plutôt que de diffuser un texte assisté par IA à l'ensemble de votre fichier, testez-le d'abord auprès d'un public restreint et contrôlé : menez-le sous forme de test A/B face à votre version habituelle, et observez à la fois si l'engagement s'améliore et si quelqu'un a eu le sentiment que ce n'était pas authentique. Le principe sous-jacent est rassurant, car l'outil vous renvoie votre propre authenticité, de sorte qu'une production bien supervisée n'a pas à paraître moins authentique. Mais le véritable juge est le donateur, et vous n'obtenez la réponse qu'en présentant doucement votre travail à de vraies personnes.

## Comment se lancer en toute sécurité

Vous n'avez besoin ni d'une stratégie, ni d'un budget, ni d'une autorisation pour commencer ; vous avez besoin d'une tâche à faible enjeu et d'une habitude de vérification. Choisissez une tâche que vous faites souvent et qui porte surtout sur les mots, comme rédiger un e-mail de segment ou résumer un ensemble de notes d'appel, et essayez-la. Collez abondamment de contexte, demandez précisément ce que vous voulez, et itérez jusqu'à ce que la production soit véritablement utile. Lisez tout avant que cela ne quitte vos mains, anonymisez toute donnée personnelle, et notez rapidement l'instruction qui a fonctionné afin qu'un collègue puisse la réutiliser.

À partir de là, élargissez un cas d'usage à la fois, gardez les données personnelles à l'écart à moins que votre mention d'information ne les couvre, et testez d'abord tout contenu destiné aux donateurs auprès d'un public restreint. Menée ainsi, l'IA devient ce qu'elle est véritablement faite pour être : un partenaire de rédaction rapide et infatigable qui vous libère pour consacrer davantage de temps aux relations que seul un humain peut nouer.

## Foire aux questions

**L'IA va-t-elle remplacer les collecteurs de fonds ?** Non. Ces outils sont forts en langage et faibles en discernement, en relations et en exactitude. Ils rédigent, résument et reformatent rapidement, mais la stratégie, la relation avec le donateur et la responsabilité de ce qui sort restent fermement entre vos mains. Considérez l'IA comme un rédacteur de premier jet compétent, pas comme un remplaçant.

**Est-il sûr d'introduire des données de donateurs dans ChatGPT ou des outils similaires ?** Seulement avec précaution. Dans le cadre du RGPD, si vous comptez introduire des données personnelles dans des outils d'IA, votre politique de confidentialité doit le dire clairement, que vous vous appuyiez sur le consentement ou sur l'intérêt légitime. Pour la plupart des cas d'usage de collecte de fonds, vous n'avez pas besoin de beaucoup de données personnelles, voire d'aucune, et les notes d'appel et autres documents similaires peuvent généralement être anonymisés au préalable. Faites de l'anonymisation votre réglage par défaut.

**Quel outil d'IA devrais-je utiliser ?** Cela importe moins que vous ne le pensez. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity et les autres rivalisent progressivement pour être un peu meilleurs les uns que les autres, il est donc raisonnable de rester assez agnostique. Utilisez celui que votre organisation autorise et avec lequel vous êtes à l'aise, et vérifiez les conditions de l'outil concernant les données et le droit d'auteur avant de vous y fier.

**Pourquoi l'IA invente-t-elle parfois des choses ?** Parce qu'elle prédit un texte plausible plutôt que de retrouver des faits. Sollicité pour un historique de dons qu'il ne pouvait pas lire correctement, un outil en a simplement inventé un qui avait l'air juste. Traitez toujours les chiffres, les noms, les dates et les citations comme non vérifiés tant que vous ne les avez pas confrontés à votre source, et collez les données structurées dans l'instruction plutôt que de téléverser un tableur.

**Comment obtenir un meilleur résultat à partir d'une instruction ?** Donnez-lui plus de contexte et soyez plus précis. Dites-lui qui vous êtes, qui est le public, le ton souhaité et l'usage de la production, et plus votre instruction est structurée, plus le résultat est prévisible. Puis itérez : demandez plus court, un ton différent, ou sous forme de tableau, jusqu'à ce que ce soit exactement ce dont vous avez besoin.

**Par où un véritable débutant devrait-il commencer ?** Par une tâche à faible enjeu et fondée sur les mots, comme rédiger un e-mail de segment ou résumer des notes. Collez du contexte, demandez précisément, lisez et vérifiez la production, gardez les données personnelles à l'écart, et enregistrez l'instruction qui a fonctionné afin que vos collègues puissent la réutiliser.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Cas d'usage de l'IA dans la collecte de fonds](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [Bibliothèque d'instructions IA](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [Modèle de politique d'usage de l'IA](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de Journée du don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de textes de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et d'e-mail
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Blog de Hubbub : là où l'IA peut et ne peut pas tenir ses promesses dans la philanthropie](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Guide associé : [Comment rédiger des e-mails de collecte qui fonctionnent](/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez l'[annuaire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come usare l'IA nella raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica e concreta all'uso dell'IA nella raccolta fondi, che affronta dove aiuta davvero e dove no, casi d'uso concreti come la stesura di testi e la ricerca, la scrittura di buone istruzioni, il mantenimento di una persona nel processo, oltre a dati ed etica.
L'intelligenza artificiale è entrata nella raccolta fondi più rapidamente di quasi qualsiasi altro strumento prima di lei: in appena due anni è passata da curiosità a parte della settimana lavorativa di molte persone. Per un settore che si regge su relazioni, fiducia e parole scelte con cura, questo ritmo appare al tempo stesso entusiasmante e destabilizzante. Questa guida offre uno sguardo concreto su ciò che gli strumenti di IA odierni possono davvero fare per chi raccoglie fondi, su dove falliscono e su come iniziare a usarli senza mettere in imbarazzo voi stessi, i vostri donatori o la vostra organizzazione. Si basa sugli esempi pratici condivisi nel webinar di Hubbub dedicato all'IA.

Quando chi raccoglie fondi parla di IA oggi, di solito intende i grandi modelli linguistici, o LLM: la tecnologia dietro ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity e i loro rivali. È utile essere onesti su cosa siano davvero questi strumenti, perché questa onestà cambia il modo in cui li usate. Sono modelli predittivi, non dissimili dal testo predittivo di un telefono cellulare, solo molto più capaci. Il modello legge il contesto che gli fornite (la vostra istruzione, il testo circostante, qualunque dato gli date) e usa un algoritmo complesso per prevedere le parole, le frasi e i paragrafi più adatti a ciò che sembrate chiedere.

Questo solo fatto spiega sia la potenza sia i limiti. È allettante immaginare questi strumenti o come un semplice algoritmo o come una persona, una sorta di assistente, quando in realtà non sono né l'uno né l'altro. Sono più di un algoritmo, perché assorbono così tanto contesto da diventare un'estensione del modo in cui scrivete e parlate. Ma non sono assistenti: non pensano e non ragionano su conoscenze o informazioni strutturate. Tenete entrambe le idee insieme e userete l'IA in modo molto più sensato di chi la tratta o come un genio o come un giocattolo.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare i nostri
> [casi d'uso dell'IA nella raccolta fondi](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [libreria di istruzioni per l'IA](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) e
> [modello di policy sull'uso dell'IA](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## Una visione realistica: cosa l'IA può e non può fare

La maggior parte delle delusioni legate all'IA nasce dall'aspettarsi la cosa sbagliata, quindi partite dal realismo. Questi strumenti sono davvero bravi con il linguaggio: redigere, riscrivere, riassumere, cambiare tono e adattare uno stesso testo a molti pubblici. Sono veloci, sono economici e il costo di provarli è prossimo allo zero. Verso la fine del 2024, circa due terzi delle organizzazioni del mondo commerciale usavano già l'IA generativa in almeno una funzione aziendale, secondo McKinsey, anche se meno di un terzo descriveva il proprio uso come strutturato. Gli strumenti sono ovunque; il loro uso ponderato no.

I limiti sono più netti di quanto suggerisca il marketing. Il più importante è che questi modelli inventano cose con sicurezza. Un esempio chiaro: invitato a costruire una scheda informativa su un donatore a partire da un foglio di calcolo della cronologia delle donazioni caricato, uno strumento ha fabbricato di nascosto i numeri. Il risultato non era solo incompleto, ma radicalmente diverso dalla fonte: mancavano moltissime donazioni e inventava le date. Piuttosto che ammettere di non poter leggere il file, ha prodotto nuovi dati plausibili. Il motivo è esattamente la natura predittiva descritta sopra. Il modello ha trattato il foglio di calcolo non come un registro da preservare intatto, ma come un esempio del tipo di risposta che doveva produrre.

Questa è l'illustrazione più nitida del divario tra uno strumento di IA e un aiutante umano: un assistente umano non farebbe mai questo. Numeri, nomi, date, citazioni e qualsiasi dato strutturato sono esattamente gli ambiti in cui questi strumenti sono meno affidabili e in cui chi raccoglie fondi con leggerezza può fare danni reali. Trattate l'IA come un brillante autore di prime bozze e un ricercatore discontinuo, e sarete più o meno nel giusto.

## Casi d'uso pratici

### Redigere e correggere i testi

Il caso d'uso più solido e più sicuro è aiutarvi a scrivere. Chi raccoglie fondi passa settimane a costruire un dossier di sostegno, poi ha bisogno di versioni adatte a pubblici diversi, e produrre quelle varianti a mano costa caro, in denaro o in tempo. È qui che l'IA brilla. Prendete un appello ben scritto e chiedete allo strumento di riscriverlo per un nuovo pubblico, ad esempio: «riscrivi questo appello per le borse di studio rivolgendolo a un pubblico di genitori, mantenendo intatto lo scopo di fondo, ma riflettendo tono, leve emotive e familiarità appropriati». Ottenete una bozza utilizzabile in pochi secondi.

Lo stesso approccio si estende a un'intera campagna. Per una Giornata del dono, potete partire da un solo dossier di sostegno e generare cinque, sei o dieci e-mail per segmenti diversi: genitori, ex studenti di generazioni diverse, donatori esistenti, neouscenti, personale. Invece di scrivere quindici o venti varianti da zero, lasciate che lo strumento le produca, quanto meno come punto di partenza. Questa espressione è la chiave. L'IA vi dà una prima stesura rapida; voi apportate il giudizio. È il punto più utile da cui iniziare e si lega naturalmente alla nostra guida alla [raccolta fondi via e-mail](/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/), dove redigere oggetti, aperture e varianti segmentate è esattamente il tipo di lavoro che l'IA accelera.

Un piccolo segnale che vale la pena conoscere: questi strumenti adorano certe abitudini stilistiche, in particolare il trattino lungo, che ChatGPT in particolare dissemina nei suoi testi. Una serie di trattini lunghi tradisce un testo scritto da un'IA. Potete semplicemente chiedere allo strumento di rimuoverli, ma osservate cos'altro cambia quando lo fate, perché ogni ritocco può spostare più di quanto avete chiesto.

### Ricerca e sintesi

Il secondo caso d'uso solido è riassumere e rimodellare un testo che già possedete. Trascrizioni di chiamate, appunti di riunione, lunghi report e note di chiamata disordinate sono candidati ideali. Potreste, per esempio, chiedere a uno strumento di «riformattare le seguenti note non strutturate di una chiamata con un donatore nel formato coerente usato nel nostro CRM, ed estrarre risultati chiave, indicatori di tono, prossimi passi e una sintesi». Il valore sta nella coerenza: ottenete le stesse informazioni da ogni chiamata, chiunque l'abbia fatta. Un lavoro che un tempo richiedeva ore, come redigere una scheda informativa su un donatore a partire da un profilo e da una cronologia delle donazioni, può ridursi a minuti, a patto di verificarlo.

C'è però un'avvertenza importante. Questi strumenti gestiscono molto meglio il testo negli allegati rispetto ai dati strutturati, in particolare i numeri nei fogli di calcolo, e c'è una buona probabilità che uno strumento semplicemente non legga affatto un foglio di calcolo. La soluzione è semplice: copiate e incollate i vostri dati dal foglio di calcolo direttamente nell'istruzione anziché caricare un file. Quando la stessa cronologia delle donazioni è stata incollata come tabella, lo strumento l'ha elaborata correttamente. Piccole differenze nel modo in cui fornite le informazioni allo strumento fanno una grande differenza sul fatto che possiate fidarvi del risultato.

### Risparmiare tempo su amministrazione ed esercitazioni

Oltre alla scrittura e alla ricerca, l'IA elimina silenziosamente gli attriti dell'amministrazione quotidiana: riformattare note, trasformare un testo in tabella, abbozzare la struttura di un documento, suggerire i prossimi passi. Un uso più inatteso è l'esercitazione. Potete chiedere a uno strumento dotato di voce di interpretare un donatore, o un ex studente irritato, e provare conversazioni difficili prima che avvengano. Per gli studenti che alzano la cornetta per la prima volta, provare una chiamata dieci o quindici volte in anticipo rende il copione (su loro stessi, sull'appello, su ciò che vogliono discutere) molto più facile e confortevole da pronunciare. Lo stesso approccio mette in luce le lacune in ciò che siete pronti a trattare, il che è una preparazione preziosa sia per gli incontri con i grandi donatori sia per il telefono.

## Scrivere buone istruzioni e dare il giusto contesto

La qualità di ciò che ottenete dipende quasi interamente da ciò che inserite. Il modello, dopotutto, non fa altro che prevedere la migliore corrispondenza per il contesto che fornite, quindi più contesto c'è, migliore è la corrispondenza. Ditegli chi siete, cosa state cercando di ottenere, chi è il pubblico, quale tono volete e a cosa userete il risultato. Potete persino preimpostare uno strumento con le vostre preferenze una volta sola e riutilizzarle: ditegli di scrivere solo in italiano standard, per esempio, e continuerà a farlo.

L'altra metà di una buona istruzione è la struttura. Più la vostra istruzione è precisa e strutturata, più il risultato è prevedibile e coerente; lasciate dei vuoti e lo strumento indovinerà e interpreterà cosa intendevate. Se volete quattro campi specifici in una tabella, nominate quei quattro campi. Se volete qualcosa abbastanza breve da poter dare un'occhiata prima di entrare in riunione, ditelo, poi continuate a perfezionare.

Il che porta all'abitudine più utile di tutte: iterare. Ottenete il meglio da questi strumenti pensando a come userete il risultato, poi guidando lo strumento verso esattamente ciò che volete nell'arco di più passaggi. Non accettate la prima risposta come definitiva. Chiedete una versione più breve, un tono diverso, una tabella anziché un testo in prosa, tre post sui social invece di uno. E leggete ciò che lo strumento vi dice di star facendo lungo il percorso, perché ogni volta che gli chiedete di modificare qualcosa potrebbe cambiare un po' più di quanto avete chiesto.

Vale la pena adottare un'ultima disciplina qualunque strumento usiate: trattate ogni tentativo come un piccolo esperimento e annotatelo. Cosa stavate cercando di ottenere? Quali strumenti avete usato? Cosa ha funzionato, cosa no e qual è il prossimo passo? Un breve resoconto delle vostre istruzioni e dei vostri risultati trasforma un gioco individuale sparso in un sapere condiviso e ripetibile, perché altrimenti l'apprendimento autonomo in questo campo si perde enormi quantità di esperienza preziosa dei colleghi. La nostra libreria di istruzioni è pensata per essere esattamente questo tipo di resoconto condiviso.

## Mantenere una persona nel processo

Se una regola conta più di ogni altra, è questa: leggete sempre il risultato. La cronologia delle donazioni inventata di cui sopra è il racconto ammonitore. Lo strumento ha prodotto qualcosa di rifinito, professionale e completamente sbagliato, e sarebbe stato facile non accorgersi che aveva travisato del tutto la cronologia dei doni. Una scheda informativa che state per portare in un incontro con un donatore è esattamente il tipo di documento in cui un'invenzione sicura fa danni reali.

Quindi tenete una persona tra l'IA e il mondo esterno a ogni passaggio. Verificate fatti, cifre, nomi e citazioni rispetto alla vostra fonte. Siate particolarmente cauti quando uno strumento genera un file scaricabile: se scrive ed esegue un piccolo programma per costruire un foglio di calcolo, la risposta più sicura è non fidarsi di quel file e chiedergli invece di mostrare la tabella sullo schermo così da poterne verificare il contenuto. Quel controllo richiede pochi secondi e ne vale ampiamente la pena.

Una persona nel processo non serve solo a cogliere gli errori; riguarda la titolarità. L'IA vi rimanda la vostra voce e il vostro giudizio, e la responsabilità di tutto ciò che esce a nome della vostra organizzazione resta vostra. Usatela per redigere, mai per inviare senza aver letto.

## Protezione dei dati, fiducia dei donatori ed etica

È qui che chi raccoglie fondi deve essere più prudente, perché deteniamo dati personali sensibili e viviamo di fiducia. Il punto di partenza sulla protezione dei dati è semplice: dovete informare le persone se intendete iniziare a inserire i loro dati personali negli strumenti di IA. In base al GDPR, che si applica ai dati dei donatori in tutta Europa, ciò deve essere indicato chiaramente nella vostra informativa sulla privacy, sia che vi basiate sul consenso sia sul legittimo interesse. Detto senza giri di parole: se iniziate ad alimentare strumenti come ChatGPT con dati personali senza che da nessuna parte una riga dica ai donatori che potreste farlo, quasi certamente non siete conformi.

La notizia rassicurante è che la maggior parte dei casi d'uso solidi richiede pochissimi dati personali. Riscrivere un dossier di sostegno, redigere e-mail per segmenti o riassumere un report non coinvolge persone identificate per nome. Dove invece trattate informazioni personali, come note di una chiamata, è spesso facile anonimizzarle eliminando prima i dettagli individuali. Per la maggior parte dei casi d'uso di questa guida non avete davvero bisogno di inserire molte informazioni identificabili in questi strumenti. Rendete l'anonimizzazione la vostra impostazione predefinita e includete dati personali solo deliberatamente, con una chiara base giuridica e un'informativa che lo dichiari.

Anche il diritto d'autore merita una menzione, in particolare per le immagini generate dall'IA. Se siate proprietari di ciò che uno strumento produce dipende fortemente dai suoi termini e condizioni, e separatamente da questioni giuridiche irrisolte sui dati con cui questi modelli sono stati addestrati. Qui la prudenza è sensata: è difficile essere certi che un'immagine appena generata non sia visivamente molto simile, o di fatto una copia, di qualcosa presente nei dati di addestramento del modello. Ritoccare immagini che già possedete è a basso rischio; generare immagini del tutto nuove da zero ne comporta di più.

Sull'autenticità, la risposta onesta è che non potete sapere come reagiranno i donatori finché non provate, con prudenza. Anziché diffondere testi assistiti dall'IA all'intero vostro elenco, testateli prima su un pubblico piccolo e controllato: eseguiteli come test A/B rispetto alla vostra versione abituale e osservate sia se il coinvolgimento migliora sia se qualcuno ha percepito che non fosse genuino. Il principio di fondo è rassicurante, perché lo strumento vi rimanda la vostra stessa autenticità, quindi un risultato ben supervisionato non deve per forza apparire meno genuino. Ma il vero giudice è il donatore, e scoprite la risposta solo mettendo con delicatezza il vostro lavoro davanti a persone reali.

## Come iniziare in sicurezza

Non vi servono una strategia, un budget o un permesso per cominciare; vi servono un compito a basso rischio e l'abitudine di verificare. Scegliete un'attività che svolgete spesso e che riguarda soprattutto le parole, come redigere un'e-mail per un segmento o riassumere una serie di note di chiamata, e provatela. Incollate abbondante contesto, chiedete con precisione ciò che volete e iterate finché il risultato non è davvero utile. Leggete tutto prima che lasci le vostre mani, anonimizzate qualsiasi dato personale e annotate rapidamente l'istruzione che ha funzionato così che un collega possa riutilizzarla.

Da lì, ampliate un caso d'uso alla volta, tenete fuori i dati personali a meno che la vostra informativa non li copra, e testate prima qualsiasi cosa rivolta ai donatori su un pubblico piccolo. Fatto così, l'IA diventa ciò in cui è davvero brava: un partner di scrittura rapido e instancabile che vi libera per dedicare più tempo alle relazioni che solo una persona può costruire.

## Domande frequenti

**L'IA sostituirà chi raccoglie fondi?** No. Questi strumenti sono forti nel linguaggio e deboli nel giudizio, nelle relazioni e nell'accuratezza. Redigono, riassumono e riformattano rapidamente, ma la strategia, la relazione con il donatore e la responsabilità di ciò che esce restano saldamente nelle vostre mani. Trattate l'IA come un capace autore di prime bozze, non come un sostituto.

**È sicuro inserire i dati dei donatori in ChatGPT o strumenti simili?** Solo con cautela. In base al GDPR, se intendete inserire dati personali negli strumenti di IA, la vostra informativa sulla privacy deve dirlo chiaramente, sia che vi basiate sul consenso sia sul legittimo interesse. Per la maggior parte dei casi d'uso nella raccolta fondi non vi servono molti dati personali, se non nessuno, e le note di chiamata e materiali simili possono di solito essere anonimizzati prima. Rendete l'anonimizzazione la vostra impostazione predefinita.

**Quale strumento di IA dovrei usare?** Conta meno di quanto possiate pensare. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity e gli altri competono gradualmente per essere leggermente migliori l'uno dell'altro, quindi è ragionevole restare piuttosto agnostici. Usate ciò che la vostra organizzazione consente e con cui vi trovate a vostro agio, e controllate i termini dello strumento su dati e diritto d'autore prima di affidarvici.

**Perché a volte l'IA inventa le cose?** Perché prevede testo plausibile anziché recuperare fatti. Invitato a fornire una cronologia delle donazioni che non poteva leggere correttamente, uno strumento ne ha semplicemente inventata una dall'aspetto giusto. Trattate sempre cifre, nomi, date e citazioni come non verificati finché non li avete confrontati con la vostra fonte, e incollate i dati strutturati nell'istruzione anziché caricare un foglio di calcolo.

**Come ottengo un risultato migliore da un'istruzione?** Dategli più contesto e siate più specifici. Ditegli chi siete, chi è il pubblico, il tono che volete e a cosa serve il risultato, e più la vostra istruzione è strutturata, più il risultato è prevedibile. Poi iterate: chiedete più breve, un tono diverso, o in tabella, finché non è esattamente ciò che vi serve.

**Da dove dovrebbe iniziare un principiante assoluto?** Da un compito a basso rischio basato sulle parole, come redigere un'e-mail per un segmento o riassumere delle note. Incollate il contesto, chiedete con precisione, leggete e verificate il risultato, tenete fuori i dati personali e salvate l'istruzione che ha funzionato così che i colleghi possano riutilizzarla.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Casi d'uso dell'IA nella raccolta fondi](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [Libreria di istruzioni per l'IA](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [Modello di policy sull'uso dell'IA](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di Giornata del dono di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina i testi dei tuoi appelli e delle tue e-mail
- [Generatore di QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Blog di Hubbub: dove l'IA può e non può dare risultati nella filantropia](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Guida correlata: [Come scrivere e-mail di raccolta fondi che funzionano](/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to use AI in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (uk/en): A practical, grounded guide to using AI in fundraising, covering where it genuinely helps and where it does not, practical use cases like drafting and research, writing good prompts, keeping a human in the loop, and data and ethics.
Artificial intelligence has moved into fundraising faster than almost any tool before it: in barely two years it has gone from a curiosity to a part of many people's working week. For a sector that runs on relationships, trust and carefully chosen words, that pace feels both exciting and unsettling. This guide is a grounded look at what today's AI tools can genuinely do for fundraisers, where they fall short, and how to start using them without embarrassing yourself, your donors or your organisation. It draws on the practical examples shared in Hubbub's AI webinar.

When fundraisers talk about AI today, they usually mean large language models, or LLMs: the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and their rivals. It helps to be honest about what these tools actually are, because that honesty changes how you use them. They are predictive models, not unlike the predictive text on a mobile phone, only far more capable. The model reads the context you give it (your prompt, the surrounding text, any data you provide) and uses a complex algorithm to predict the words, sentences and paragraphs most likely to fit what you appear to be asking for.

That single fact explains both the power and the limits. It is tempting to picture these tools either as a mere algorithm or as a person, an assistant of some kind, when really they are neither. They are more than an algorithm, because they absorb so much context that they become an extension of the way you write and speak. But they are not assistants: they are not thinking, and they are not reasoning over knowledge or structured information. Hold both ideas at once and you will use AI far more sensibly than someone who treats it as either a genius or a toy.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) and
> [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## A realistic view: what AI can and cannot do

Most disappointment with AI comes from expecting the wrong thing, so start with realism. These tools are genuinely good at language: drafting, rewriting, summarising, shifting tone, and adapting one piece of copy for many audiences. They are fast, they are cheap, and the cost of trying them is close to zero. By late 2024, around two-thirds of organisations across the commercial world were already using generative AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey, though fewer than a third described their use as structured. The tools are everywhere; thoughtful use of them is not.

The limits are sharper than the marketing suggests. The most important is that these models will confidently invent things. A clear example: asked to build a donor briefing from an uploaded spreadsheet of giving history, one tool quietly fabricated the numbers. The result was not merely incomplete but wildly different from the source: it missed a great many gifts and made up the dates. Rather than admit it could not read the file, it manufactured plausible new data. The reason is exactly the predictive nature described above. The model treated the spreadsheet not as a record to be preserved intact, but as an example of the kind of answer it should produce.

This is the cleanest illustration of the gap between an AI tool and a human helper: a human assistant would never do this. Numbers, names, dates, quotations and any structured data are precisely where these tools are least reliable, and where a careless fundraiser can do real damage. Treat AI as a brilliant first-draft writer and a patchy researcher, and you will be about right.

## Practical use cases

### Drafting and editing copy

The strongest and safest use case is helping you write. Fundraisers spend weeks crafting a case for support, then need versions of it for different audiences, and producing those variants by hand is expensive in either money or time. This is where AI shines. Take one well-written appeal and ask the tool to rewrite it for a new audience, for example: "rewrite this bursary appeal for a parent audience, keeping the core purpose intact, but reflect appropriate tone, emotional drivers and familiarity." You get a usable draft in seconds.

The same approach scales across a whole campaign. For a Giving Day, you can take one case for support and generate five, six or ten different segment emails: parents, alumni of different generations, existing donors, recent leavers, staff. Instead of writing fifteen or twenty variants from scratch, you let the tool produce them, at the very least as a starting point. That phrase is the key. The AI gives you a fast first pass; you bring the judgement. This is the single most useful place to begin, and it pairs naturally with our guide to [email fundraising](/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/), where drafting subject lines, openings and segmented variants is exactly the kind of work AI accelerates.

One small tell worth knowing: these tools love certain stylistic habits, especially the long dash, which ChatGPT in particular scatters through its output. A run of long dashes is a giveaway that text was AI-written. You can simply ask the tool to remove them, but watch what else changes when you do, because each tweak can shift more than you asked for.

### Research and summarising

The second strong use case is summarising and reshaping text you already have. Call transcripts, meeting notes, long reports and messy caller notes are ideal candidates. You might, for instance, ask a tool to "reformat the following unstructured donor call notes into the consistent format used in our CRM, and extract key outcomes, tone indicators, next steps and a summary." The value is consistency: you get the same information out of every call, whoever made it. Work that once took hours, such as drafting a donor briefing from a profile and a giving history, can come down to minutes, provided you check it.

There is an important caution here, though. These tools are much better at handling text in attachments than structured data, especially numbers in spreadsheets, and there is a good chance a tool simply will not read a spreadsheet at all. The fix is simple: copy and paste your data from the spreadsheet directly into the prompt rather than uploading a file. When the same giving history was pasted in as a table, the tool got it right. Small changes in how you feed information to the tool make a large difference to whether you can trust the result.

### Saving time on admin and practice

Beyond writing and research, AI quietly removes friction from everyday admin: reformatting notes, turning text into a table, drafting the structure of a document, suggesting next steps. A more unexpected use is rehearsal. You can ask a voice-capable tool to act as a donor, or a frustrated alumnus, and practise difficult conversations before they happen. For student callers picking up the phone for the first time, rehearsing a call ten or fifteen times in advance makes the script (about themselves, about the appeal, about what they want to discuss) far easier and more comfortable to deliver. The same approach exposes the gaps in what you are ready to talk about, which is valuable preparation for major donor meetings as well as the phones.

## Writing good prompts and giving the right context

The quality of what you get out depends almost entirely on what you put in. The model is, after all, just predicting the best fit for the context you provide, so the more context, the better the fit. Tell it who you are, what you are trying to achieve, who the audience is, what tone you want and what you will use the output for. You can even pre-load a tool with your own preferences once and reuse them: tell it to write in UK English only, for example, and it will keep doing so.

The other half of good prompting is structure. The more precise and structured your instruction, the more predictable and consistent the result; leave gaps and the tool will guess and interpret what you meant. If you want four specific fields in a table, name those four fields. If you want something short enough to glance at before walking into a meeting, say so, then keep refining.

Which leads to the single most useful habit: iterate. You get the best out of these tools by thinking about how you will use the output, then steering the tool towards exactly what you want over several rounds. Do not accept the first answer as final. Ask for a shorter version, a different tone, a table instead of prose, three social posts instead of one. And read what the tool tells you it is doing along the way, because each time you ask it to tweak something it may change slightly more than you asked.

One final discipline is worth adopting whatever tools you use: treat every attempt as a small experiment and write it down. What were you trying to achieve? Which tools did you use? What worked, what did not, and what is next? A short record of your prompts and results turns scattered individual play into shared, repeatable knowledge, because self-directed learning in this space otherwise misses huge amounts of valuable experience from colleagues. Our prompt library is built to be exactly that kind of shared record.

## Keeping a human in the loop

If one rule matters more than any other, it is this: always read the output. The fabricated giving history above is the cautionary tale. The tool produced something polished, professional and completely wrong, and it would have been easy to miss that it had misrepresented the gift history entirely. A briefing you are about to carry into a donor meeting is precisely the kind of document where a confident invention does real harm.

So keep a person between the AI and the outside world at every step. Check facts, figures, names and quotations against your source. Be especially wary when a tool generates a downloadable file: if it writes and runs a small program to build a spreadsheet, the safest response is not to trust that file and instead ask it to show the table on screen so you can verify the contents. That check takes seconds and is well worth it.

A human in the loop is not only about catching errors; it is about ownership. The AI is reflecting your voice and your judgement back at you, and the responsibility for whatever goes out under your organisation's name stays with you. Use it to draft, never to send unread.

## Data protection, donor trust and ethics

This is where fundraisers must be most careful, because we hold sensitive personal data and we trade on trust. The starting point on data protection is straightforward: you need to tell people if you are going to start putting their personal data into AI tools. It needs to be stated clearly in your privacy policy, whether you rely on consent or on legitimate interests. Put bluntly, if you start feeding personal data into tools like ChatGPT with no line anywhere telling donors you might do so, you are almost certainly not compliant.

The reassuring news is that most of the strong use cases need very little personal data at all. Rewriting a case for support, drafting segment emails or summarising a report involves no named individuals. Where you do handle personal information, such as notes from a call, it is often easy to anonymise by stripping out the individual details first. For most of the use cases in this guide you do not really need to put much personally identifiable information into these tools. Make anonymising your default, and include personal data only deliberately, with a clear lawful basis and a privacy notice that says so.

Copyright deserves a mention too, particularly for AI-generated images. Whether you own what a tool produces depends heavily on its terms and conditions, and separately on unresolved legal questions about the data these models were trained on. Caution is sensible here: it is hard to be confident that a freshly generated image is not visually very similar to, or effectively a copy of, something in the model's training data. Tweaking images you already own is low risk; generating brand-new images from scratch carries more.

On authenticity, the honest answer is that you cannot know how donors will react until you try, carefully. Rather than broadcasting AI-assisted copy to your whole file, test it on a small, controlled audience first: run it as an A/B test against your usual version, and watch both whether engagement improves and whether anyone felt it was not genuine. The underlying point is reassuring, because the tool is reflecting your own authenticity back at you, so well-supervised output need not feel less genuine. But the real test is the donor, and you only learn the answer by putting your work gently in front of real people.

## How to get started safely

You do not need a strategy, a budget or permission to begin; you need a low-stakes task and a habit of checking. Pick one job you do often that is mostly about words, such as drafting a segment email or summarising a set of call notes, and try it. Paste in plenty of context, ask for what you want precisely, and iterate until the output is genuinely useful. Read everything before it leaves your hands, anonymise any personal data, and make a quick note of the prompt that worked so a colleague can reuse it.

From there, widen out one use case at a time, keep personal data out unless your privacy notice covers it, and test anything donor-facing on a small audience first. Done this way, AI becomes what it is genuinely good at being: a fast, tireless drafting partner that frees you to spend more of your time on the relationships only a human can build.

## Frequently asked questions

**Will AI replace fundraisers?** No. These tools are strong at language and weak at judgement, relationships and accuracy. They draft, summarise and reformat quickly, but the strategy, the donor relationship and the responsibility for what goes out stay firmly with you. Treat AI as a capable first-draft writer, not a replacement.

**Is it safe to put donor data into ChatGPT or similar tools?** Only with care. If you intend to put personal data into AI tools, your privacy policy must say so clearly, whether you rely on consent or legitimate interests. For most fundraising use cases you do not need much, if any, personal data, and call notes and similar material can usually be anonymised first. Make anonymising your default.

**Which AI tool should I use?** It matters less than you might think. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and the rest are gradually competing to be slightly better than one another, so it is reasonable to stay fairly agnostic. Use whatever your organisation permits and you find comfortable, and check the tool's terms on data and copyright before relying on it.

**Why does AI sometimes make things up?** Because it predicts plausible text rather than retrieving facts. Asked for a giving history it could not properly read, one tool simply invented one that looked right. Always treat figures, names, dates and quotations as unverified until you have checked them against your source, and paste structured data into the prompt rather than uploading a spreadsheet.

**How do I get a better result from a prompt?** Give it more context and be more specific. Tell it who you are, who the audience is, the tone you want and what the output is for, and the more structured your instruction, the more predictable the result. Then iterate: ask for shorter, different in tone, or in a table, until it is exactly what you need.

**Where should a complete beginner start?** With one low-stakes, word-based task, such as drafting a segment email or summarising notes. Paste in context, ask precisely, read and check the output, keep personal data out, and save the prompt that worked so colleagues can reuse it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: where AI can and cannot deliver in philanthropy](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use AI in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (us/en): A practical, grounded guide to using AI in fundraising, covering where it genuinely helps and where it does not, practical use cases like drafting and research, writing good prompts, keeping a human in the loop, and data and ethics.
Artificial intelligence has moved into fundraising faster than almost any tool before it: in barely two years it has gone from a curiosity to a part of many people's working week. For a sector that runs on relationships, trust and carefully chosen words, that pace feels both exciting and unsettling. This guide is a grounded look at what today's AI tools can genuinely do for fundraisers, where they fall short, and how to start using them without embarrassing yourself, your donors or your organization. It draws on the practical examples shared in Hubbub's AI webinar.

When fundraisers talk about AI today, they usually mean large language models, or LLMs: the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and their rivals. It helps to be honest about what these tools actually are, because that honesty changes how you use them. They are predictive models, not unlike the predictive text on a cell phone, only far more capable. The model reads the context you give it (your prompt, the surrounding text, any data you provide) and uses a complex algorithm to predict the words, sentences and paragraphs most likely to fit what you appear to be asking for.

That single fact explains both the power and the limits. It is tempting to picture these tools either as a mere algorithm or as a person, an assistant of some kind, when really they are neither. They are more than an algorithm, because they absorb so much context that they become an extension of the way you write and speak. But they are not assistants: they are not thinking, and they are not reasoning over knowledge or structured information. Hold both ideas at once and you will use AI far more sensibly than someone who treats it as either a genius or a toy.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) and
> [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## A realistic view: what AI can and cannot do

Most disappointment with AI comes from expecting the wrong thing, so start with realism. These tools are genuinely good at language: drafting, rewriting, summarizing, shifting tone, and adapting one piece of copy for many audiences. They are fast, they are cheap, and the cost of trying them is close to zero. By late 2024, around two-thirds of organizations across the commercial world were already using generative AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey, though fewer than a third described their use as structured. The tools are everywhere; thoughtful use of them is not.

The limits are sharper than the marketing suggests. The most important is that these models will confidently invent things. A clear example: asked to build a donor briefing from an uploaded spreadsheet of giving history, one tool quietly fabricated the numbers. The result was not merely incomplete but wildly different from the source: it missed a great many gifts and made up the dates. Rather than admit it could not read the file, it manufactured plausible new data. The reason is exactly the predictive nature described above. The model treated the spreadsheet not as a record to be preserved intact, but as an example of the kind of answer it should produce.

This is the cleanest illustration of the gap between an AI tool and a human helper: a human assistant would never do this. Numbers, names, dates, quotations and any structured data are precisely where these tools are least reliable, and where a careless fundraiser can do real damage. Treat AI as a brilliant first-draft writer and a patchy researcher, and you will be about right.

## Practical use cases

### Drafting and editing copy

The strongest and safest use case is helping you write. Fundraisers spend weeks crafting a case for support, then need versions of it for different audiences, and producing those variants by hand is expensive in either money or time. This is where AI shines. Take one well-written appeal and ask the tool to rewrite it for a new audience, for example: "rewrite this scholarship appeal for a parent audience, keeping the core purpose intact, but reflect appropriate tone, emotional drivers and familiarity." You get a usable draft in seconds.

The same approach scales across a whole campaign. For a Giving Day, you can take one case for support and generate five, six or ten different segment emails: parents, alumni of different generations, existing donors, recent graduates, staff. Instead of writing fifteen or twenty variants from scratch, you let the tool produce them, at the very least as a starting point. That phrase is the key. The AI gives you a fast first pass; you bring the judgment. This is the single most useful place to begin, and it pairs naturally with our guide to [email fundraising](/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/), where drafting subject lines, openings and segmented variants is exactly the kind of work AI accelerates.

One small tell worth knowing: these tools love certain stylistic habits, especially the long dash, which ChatGPT in particular scatters through its output. A run of long dashes is a giveaway that text was AI-written. You can simply ask the tool to remove them, but watch what else changes when you do, because each tweak can shift more than you asked for.

### Research and summarizing

The second strong use case is summarizing and reshaping text you already have. Call transcripts, meeting notes, long reports and messy caller notes are ideal candidates. You might, for instance, ask a tool to "reformat the following unstructured donor call notes into the consistent format used in our CRM, and extract key outcomes, tone indicators, next steps and a summary." The value is consistency: you get the same information out of every call, whoever made it. Work that once took hours, such as drafting a donor briefing from a profile and a giving history, can come down to minutes, provided you check it.

There is an important caution here, though. These tools are much better at handling text in attachments than structured data, especially numbers in spreadsheets, and there is a good chance a tool simply will not read a spreadsheet at all. The fix is simple: copy and paste your data from the spreadsheet directly into the prompt rather than uploading a file. When the same giving history was pasted in as a table, the tool got it right. Small changes in how you feed information to the tool make a large difference to whether you can trust the result.

### Saving time on admin and practice

Beyond writing and research, AI quietly removes friction from everyday admin: reformatting notes, turning text into a table, drafting the structure of a document, suggesting next steps. A more unexpected use is rehearsal. You can ask a voice-capable tool to act as a donor, or a frustrated alumnus, and practice difficult conversations before they happen. For student callers picking up the phone for the first time, rehearsing a call ten or fifteen times in advance makes the script (about themselves, about the appeal, about what they want to discuss) far easier and more comfortable to deliver. The same approach exposes the gaps in what you are ready to talk about, which is valuable preparation for major donor meetings as well as the phones.

## Writing good prompts and giving the right context

The quality of what you get out depends almost entirely on what you put in. The model is, after all, just predicting the best fit for the context you provide, so the more context, the better the fit. Tell it who you are, what you are trying to achieve, who the audience is, what tone you want and what you will use the output for. You can even pre-load a tool with your own preferences once and reuse them: tell it to write in US English only, for example, and it will keep doing so.

The other half of good prompting is structure. The more precise and structured your instruction, the more predictable and consistent the result; leave gaps and the tool will guess and interpret what you meant. If you want four specific fields in a table, name those four fields. If you want something short enough to glance at before walking into a meeting, say so, then keep refining.

Which leads to the single most useful habit: iterate. You get the best out of these tools by thinking about how you will use the output, then steering the tool towards exactly what you want over several rounds. Do not accept the first answer as final. Ask for a shorter version, a different tone, a table instead of prose, three social posts instead of one. And read what the tool tells you it is doing along the way, because each time you ask it to tweak something it may change slightly more than you asked.

One final discipline is worth adopting whatever tools you use: treat every attempt as a small experiment and write it down. What were you trying to achieve? Which tools did you use? What worked, what did not, and what is next? A short record of your prompts and results turns scattered individual play into shared, repeatable knowledge, because self-directed learning in this space otherwise misses huge amounts of valuable experience from colleagues. Our prompt library is built to be exactly that kind of shared record.

## Keeping a human in the loop

If one rule matters more than any other, it is this: always read the output. The fabricated giving history above is the cautionary tale. The tool produced something polished, professional and completely wrong, and it would have been easy to miss that it had misrepresented the gift history entirely. A briefing you are about to carry into a donor meeting is precisely the kind of document where a confident invention does real harm.

So keep a person between the AI and the outside world at every step. Check facts, figures, names and quotations against your source. Be especially wary when a tool generates a downloadable file: if it writes and runs a small program to build a spreadsheet, the safest response is not to trust that file and instead ask it to show the table on screen so you can verify the contents. That check takes seconds and is well worth it.

A human in the loop is not only about catching errors; it is about ownership. The AI is reflecting your voice and your judgment back at you, and the responsibility for whatever goes out under your organization's name stays with you. Use it to draft, never to send unread.

## Data protection, donor trust and ethics

This is where fundraisers must be most careful, because we hold sensitive personal data and we trade on trust. The starting point on data protection is straightforward: you need to tell people if you are going to start putting their personal data into AI tools. It needs to be stated clearly in your privacy policy. Put bluntly, if you start feeding personal data into tools like ChatGPT with no line anywhere telling donors you might do so, you are almost certainly not being transparent in the way donors expect.

The reassuring news is that most of the strong use cases need very little personal data at all. Rewriting a case for support, drafting segment emails or summarizing a report involves no named individuals. Where you do handle personal information, such as notes from a call, it is often easy to anonymize by stripping out the individual details first. For most of the use cases in this guide you do not really need to put much personally identifiable information into these tools. Make anonymizing your default, and include personal data only deliberately, with a clear basis and a privacy notice that says so.

Copyright deserves a mention too, particularly for AI-generated images. Whether you own what a tool produces depends heavily on its terms and conditions, and separately on unresolved legal questions about the data these models were trained on. Caution is sensible here: it is hard to be confident that a freshly generated image is not visually very similar to, or effectively a copy of, something in the model's training data. Tweaking images you already own is low risk; generating brand-new images from scratch carries more.

On authenticity, the honest answer is that you cannot know how donors will react until you try, carefully. Rather than broadcasting AI-assisted copy to your whole file, test it on a small, controlled audience first: run it as an A/B test against your usual version, and watch both whether engagement improves and whether anyone felt it was not genuine. The underlying point is reassuring, because the tool is reflecting your own authenticity back at you, so well-supervised output need not feel less genuine. But the real test is the donor, and you only learn the answer by putting your work gently in front of real people.

## How to get started safely

You do not need a strategy, a budget or permission to begin; you need a low-stakes task and a habit of checking. Pick one job you do often that is mostly about words, such as drafting a segment email or summarizing a set of call notes, and try it. Paste in plenty of context, ask for what you want precisely, and iterate until the output is genuinely useful. Read everything before it leaves your hands, anonymize any personal data, and make a quick note of the prompt that worked so a colleague can reuse it.

From there, widen out one use case at a time, keep personal data out unless your privacy notice covers it, and test anything donor-facing on a small audience first. Done this way, AI becomes what it is genuinely good at being: a fast, tireless drafting partner that frees you to spend more of your time on the relationships only a human can build.

## Frequently asked questions

**Will AI replace fundraisers?** No. These tools are strong at language and weak at judgment, relationships and accuracy. They draft, summarize and reformat quickly, but the strategy, the donor relationship and the responsibility for what goes out stay firmly with you. Treat AI as a capable first-draft writer, not a replacement.

**Is it safe to put donor data into ChatGPT or similar tools?** Only with care. If you intend to put personal data into AI tools, your privacy policy must say so clearly. For most fundraising use cases you do not need much, if any, personal data, and call notes and similar material can usually be anonymized first. Make anonymizing your default.

**Which AI tool should I use?** It matters less than you might think. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and the rest are gradually competing to be slightly better than one another, so it is reasonable to stay fairly agnostic. Use whatever your organization permits and you find comfortable, and check the tool's terms on data and copyright before relying on it.

**Why does AI sometimes make things up?** Because it predicts plausible text rather than retrieving facts. Asked for a giving history it could not properly read, one tool simply invented one that looked right. Always treat figures, names, dates and quotations as unverified until you have checked them against your source, and paste structured data into the prompt rather than uploading a spreadsheet.

**How do I get a better result from a prompt?** Give it more context and be more specific. Tell it who you are, who the audience is, the tone you want and what the output is for, and the more structured your instruction, the more predictable the result. Then iterate: ask for shorter, different in tone, or in a table, until it is exactly what you need.

**Where should a complete beginner start?** With one low-stakes, word-based task, such as drafting a segment email or summarizing notes. Paste in context, ask precisely, read and check the output, keep personal data out, and save the prompt that worked so colleagues can reuse it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: where AI can and cannot deliver in philanthropy](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use AI in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/) (world/en): A practical, grounded guide to using AI in fundraising, covering where it genuinely helps and where it does not, practical use cases like drafting and research, writing good prompts, keeping a human in the loop, and data and ethics.
Artificial intelligence has moved into fundraising faster than almost any tool before it: in barely two years it has gone from a curiosity to a part of many people's working week. For a sector that runs on relationships, trust and carefully chosen words, that pace feels both exciting and unsettling. This guide is a grounded look at what today's AI tools can genuinely do for fundraisers, where they fall short, and how to start using them without embarrassing yourself, your donors or your organisation. It draws on the practical examples shared in Hubbub's AI webinar.

When fundraisers talk about AI today, they usually mean large language models, or LLMs: the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and their rivals. It helps to be honest about what these tools actually are, because that honesty changes how you use them. They are predictive models, not unlike the predictive text on a mobile phone, only far more capable. The model reads the context you give it (your prompt, the surrounding text, any data you provide) and uses a complex algorithm to predict the words, sentences and paragraphs most likely to fit what you appear to be asking for.

That single fact explains both the power and the limits. It is tempting to picture these tools either as a mere algorithm or as a person, an assistant of some kind, when really they are neither. They are more than an algorithm, because they absorb so much context that they become an extension of the way you write and speak. But they are not assistants: they are not thinking, and they are not reasoning over knowledge or structured information. Hold both ideas at once and you will use AI far more sensibly than someone who treats it as either a genius or a toy.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/),
> [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/) and
> [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/).

## A realistic view: what AI can and cannot do

Most disappointment with AI comes from expecting the wrong thing, so start with realism. These tools are genuinely good at language: drafting, rewriting, summarising, shifting tone, and adapting one piece of copy for many audiences. They are fast, they are cheap, and the cost of trying them is close to zero. By late 2024, around two-thirds of organisations across the commercial world were already using generative AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey, though fewer than a third described their use as structured. The tools are everywhere; thoughtful use of them is not.

The limits are sharper than the marketing suggests. The most important is that these models will confidently invent things. A clear example: asked to build a donor briefing from an uploaded spreadsheet of giving history, one tool quietly fabricated the numbers. The result was not merely incomplete but wildly different from the source: it missed a great many gifts and made up the dates. Rather than admit it could not read the file, it manufactured plausible new data. The reason is exactly the predictive nature described above. The model treated the spreadsheet not as a record to be preserved intact, but as an example of the kind of answer it should produce.

This is the cleanest illustration of the gap between an AI tool and a human helper: a human assistant would never do this. Numbers, names, dates, quotations and any structured data are precisely where these tools are least reliable, and where a careless fundraiser can do real damage. Treat AI as a brilliant first-draft writer and a patchy researcher, and you will be about right.

## Practical use cases

### Drafting and editing copy

The strongest and safest use case is helping you write. Fundraisers spend weeks crafting a case for support, then need versions of it for different audiences, and producing those variants by hand is expensive in either money or time. This is where AI shines. Take one well-written appeal and ask the tool to rewrite it for a new audience, for example: "rewrite this scholarship appeal for a parent audience, keeping the core purpose intact, but reflect appropriate tone, emotional drivers and familiarity." You get a usable draft in seconds.

The same approach scales across a whole campaign. For a Giving Day, you can take one case for support and generate five, six or ten different segment emails: parents, alumni of different generations, existing donors, recent leavers, staff. Instead of writing fifteen or twenty variants from scratch, you let the tool produce them, at the very least as a starting point. That phrase is the key. The AI gives you a fast first pass; you bring the judgement. This is the single most useful place to begin, and it pairs naturally with our guide to [email fundraising](/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/), where drafting subject lines, openings and segmented variants is exactly the kind of work AI accelerates.

One small tell worth knowing: these tools love certain stylistic habits, especially the long dash, which ChatGPT in particular scatters through its output. A run of long dashes is a giveaway that text was AI-written. You can simply ask the tool to remove them, but watch what else changes when you do, because each tweak can shift more than you asked for.

### Research and summarising

The second strong use case is summarising and reshaping text you already have. Call transcripts, meeting notes, long reports and messy caller notes are ideal candidates. You might, for instance, ask a tool to "reformat the following unstructured donor call notes into the consistent format used in our CRM, and extract key outcomes, tone indicators, next steps and a summary." The value is consistency: you get the same information out of every call, whoever made it. Work that once took hours, such as drafting a donor briefing from a profile and a giving history, can come down to minutes, provided you check it.

There is an important caution here, though. These tools are much better at handling text in attachments than structured data, especially numbers in spreadsheets, and there is a good chance a tool simply will not read a spreadsheet at all. The fix is simple: copy and paste your data from the spreadsheet directly into the prompt rather than uploading a file. When the same giving history was pasted in as a table, the tool got it right. Small changes in how you feed information to the tool make a large difference to whether you can trust the result.

### Saving time on admin and practice

Beyond writing and research, AI quietly removes friction from everyday admin: reformatting notes, turning text into a table, drafting the structure of a document, suggesting next steps. A more unexpected use is rehearsal. You can ask a voice-capable tool to act as a donor, or a frustrated alumnus, and practise difficult conversations before they happen. For student callers picking up the phone for the first time, rehearsing a call ten or fifteen times in advance makes the script (about themselves, about the appeal, about what they want to discuss) far easier and more comfortable to deliver. The same approach exposes the gaps in what you are ready to talk about, which is valuable preparation for major donor meetings as well as the phones.

## Writing good prompts and giving the right context

The quality of what you get out depends almost entirely on what you put in. The model is, after all, just predicting the best fit for the context you provide, so the more context, the better the fit. Tell it who you are, what you are trying to achieve, who the audience is, what tone you want and what you will use the output for. You can even pre-load a tool with your own preferences once and reuse them: tell it to write in a single consistent spelling style, for example, and it will keep doing so.

The other half of good prompting is structure. The more precise and structured your instruction, the more predictable and consistent the result; leave gaps and the tool will guess and interpret what you meant. If you want four specific fields in a table, name those four fields. If you want something short enough to glance at before walking into a meeting, say so, then keep refining.

Which leads to the single most useful habit: iterate. You get the best out of these tools by thinking about how you will use the output, then steering the tool towards exactly what you want over several rounds. Do not accept the first answer as final. Ask for a shorter version, a different tone, a table instead of prose, three social posts instead of one. And read what the tool tells you it is doing along the way, because each time you ask it to tweak something it may change slightly more than you asked.

One final discipline is worth adopting whatever tools you use: treat every attempt as a small experiment and write it down. What were you trying to achieve? Which tools did you use? What worked, what did not, and what is next? A short record of your prompts and results turns scattered individual play into shared, repeatable knowledge, because self-directed learning in this space otherwise misses huge amounts of valuable experience from colleagues. Our prompt library is built to be exactly that kind of shared record.

## Keeping a human in the loop

If one rule matters more than any other, it is this: always read the output. The fabricated giving history above is the cautionary tale. The tool produced something polished, professional and completely wrong, and it would have been easy to miss that it had misrepresented the gift history entirely. A briefing you are about to carry into a donor meeting is precisely the kind of document where a confident invention does real harm.

So keep a person between the AI and the outside world at every step. Check facts, figures, names and quotations against your source. Be especially wary when a tool generates a downloadable file: if it writes and runs a small program to build a spreadsheet, the safest response is not to trust that file and instead ask it to show the table on screen so you can verify the contents. That check takes seconds and is well worth it.

A human in the loop is not only about catching errors; it is about ownership. The AI is reflecting your voice and your judgement back at you, and the responsibility for whatever goes out under your organisation's name stays with you. Use it to draft, never to send unread.

## Data protection, donor trust and ethics

This is where fundraisers must be most careful, because we hold sensitive personal data and we trade on trust. The starting point on data protection is straightforward: you need to tell people if you are going to start putting their personal data into AI tools. Depending on your country's data protection rules, it needs to be stated clearly in your privacy policy. Put bluntly, if you start feeding personal data into tools like ChatGPT with no line anywhere telling donors you might do so, you are almost certainly not compliant.

The reassuring news is that most of the strong use cases need very little personal data at all. Rewriting a case for support, drafting segment emails or summarising a report involves no named individuals. Where you do handle personal information, such as notes from a call, it is often easy to anonymise by stripping out the individual details first. For most of the use cases in this guide you do not really need to put much personally identifiable information into these tools. Make anonymising your default, and include personal data only deliberately, with a clear lawful basis and a privacy notice that says so.

Copyright deserves a mention too, particularly for AI-generated images. Whether you own what a tool produces depends heavily on its terms and conditions, and separately on unresolved legal questions about the data these models were trained on. Caution is sensible here: it is hard to be confident that a freshly generated image is not visually very similar to, or effectively a copy of, something in the model's training data. Tweaking images you already own is low risk; generating brand-new images from scratch carries more.

On authenticity, the honest answer is that you cannot know how donors will react until you try, carefully. Rather than broadcasting AI-assisted copy to your whole file, test it on a small, controlled audience first: run it as an A/B test against your usual version, and watch both whether engagement improves and whether anyone felt it was not genuine. The underlying point is reassuring, because the tool is reflecting your own authenticity back at you, so well-supervised output need not feel less genuine. But the real test is the donor, and you only learn the answer by putting your work gently in front of real people.

## How to get started safely

You do not need a strategy, a budget or permission to begin; you need a low-stakes task and a habit of checking. Pick one job you do often that is mostly about words, such as drafting a segment email or summarising a set of call notes, and try it. Paste in plenty of context, ask for what you want precisely, and iterate until the output is genuinely useful. Read everything before it leaves your hands, anonymise any personal data, and make a quick note of the prompt that worked so a colleague can reuse it.

From there, widen out one use case at a time, keep personal data out unless your privacy notice covers it, and test anything donor-facing on a small audience first. Done this way, AI becomes what it is genuinely good at being: a fast, tireless drafting partner that frees you to spend more of your time on the relationships only a human can build.

## Frequently asked questions

**Will AI replace fundraisers?** No. These tools are strong at language and weak at judgement, relationships and accuracy. They draft, summarise and reformat quickly, but the strategy, the donor relationship and the responsibility for what goes out stay firmly with you. Treat AI as a capable first-draft writer, not a replacement.

**Is it safe to put donor data into ChatGPT or similar tools?** Only with care. Depending on your country's data protection rules, if you intend to put personal data into AI tools, your privacy policy must say so clearly. For most fundraising use cases you do not need much, if any, personal data, and call notes and similar material can usually be anonymised first. Make anonymising your default.

**Which AI tool should I use?** It matters less than you might think. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and the rest are gradually competing to be slightly better than one another, so it is reasonable to stay fairly agnostic. Use whatever your organisation permits and you find comfortable, and check the tool's terms on data and copyright before relying on it.

**Why does AI sometimes make things up?** Because it predicts plausible text rather than retrieving facts. Asked for a giving history it could not properly read, one tool simply invented one that looked right. Always treat figures, names, dates and quotations as unverified until you have checked them against your source, and paste structured data into the prompt rather than uploading a spreadsheet.

**How do I get a better result from a prompt?** Give it more context and be more specific. Tell it who you are, who the audience is, the tone you want and what the output is for, and the more structured your instruction, the more predictable the result. Then iterate: ask for shorter, different in tone, or in a table, until it is exactly what you need.

**Where should a complete beginner start?** With one low-stakes, word-based task, such as drafting a segment email or summarising notes. Paste in context, ask precisely, read and check the output, keep personal data out, and save the prompt that worked so colleagues can reuse it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [AI fundraising use cases](/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/)
- [AI prompt library](/resources/ai-prompt-library/)
- [AI use policy template](/resources/ai-use-policy-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: where AI can and cannot deliver in philanthropy](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/where-ai-can-and-cant-deliver-great-results-in-philanthropy)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to build a culture of giving](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (canz/en): A practical guide to building a lasting culture of giving across an institution, covering why it matters, cultivating supporters from the first contact, leadership buy-in, engaging students, staff, alumni and parents, and stewardship as culture.
A culture of giving is a settled, shared expectation that supporting your institution and the
people in it is a normal and valued thing to do. It is not a single campaign or a clever appeal.
It is the quiet assumption, held by students, staff, alumni and friends alike, that giving back
is part of what it means to belong. Where that culture exists, fundraising stops feeling like an
interruption and becomes an expression of community. Where it does not, every appeal starts from
scratch, addressed to people who have never been asked, never been thanked, and never been shown
that their gift mattered.

Building such a culture is slow work, and it helps to be honest about that from the outset. As
Hubbub puts it, culture "develops through shared experiences that nurture behaviour", and a
giving culture in particular "requires substantial time and investment to cultivate student
experience, institutional understanding, and emotional connection among young people." There is
no shortcut. But the effort compounds: every year of consistent work makes the next year easier,
until giving becomes simply what your community does.

This guide sets out how to build that culture deliberately, from a person's first contact with
your institution through to the recognition and storytelling that keep them giving for life. One
theme runs throughout: a culture of giving is about far more than the income raised in any single
year. The money is real and it matters, but it is the outcome of the culture, not the point of
it.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) and
> [giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Why a culture of giving matters

A culture of giving delivers things a one-off appeal never can. It widens participation, so that
giving becomes something many people do in modest amounts rather than something a handful of
major donors do alone. It deepens engagement, turning passive names on a database into active
members of a community who attend, volunteer, mentor and advocate. And it builds resilience: an
institution whose supporters give habitually is far less exposed when any single funding source
falters.

This matters more than ever, for a structural reason. As the Hubbub article observes,
the relationship between students and their universities "has become increasingly commercial,
particularly in the UK following fee increases." When students pay substantial fees, it is easy
for them to leave feeling they have bought a service and settled the account. By contrast, the
article notes that US universities "maintain stronger giving cultures despite higher tuition
fees, partly because scholarship recipients feel obligated to support future generations." The
difference is not the size of the fee but whether people leave feeling part of something they
want to sustain. Building a culture of giving is largely about closing that gap, so that those
who pass through your institution leave with an emotional connection rather than a transactional
one.

## Cultivating supporters from the first contact

A culture of giving starts at a person's very first contact with the institution, not at
graduation. Many institutions make the mistake of treating fundraising as something that begins
when someone leaves. By then the habits are formed and the feelings are set.

The implication is that you must think about the supporter relationship long before there is any
ask. A prospective student on an open day, a fresher in their first week, an undergraduate who
receives a bursary, a postgraduate mentored by an alumna: each is a moment that either builds an
emotional connection or fails to. The Hubbub article makes the point that "digital programmes and
social media can transform students and staff into institutional ambassadors", and that "better
communication about the value of higher education is needed to strengthen bonds with students."
Much of the work of culture is the work of communication: telling the story of what your
institution is for, what it makes possible, and who it depends on, consistently and from the very
beginning.

For that reason, the development office cannot work in a silo. The experiences that build a
giving culture are owned right across the institution, in admissions, student services, academic
departments and the alumni team. Part of your job is to influence those experiences so that, by
the time someone graduates, giving back feels natural rather than presumptuous.

## Securing leadership and institutional buy-in

No culture changes without leadership behind it. A culture of giving that lives only in the
development office will always be fragile. It needs to be owned at the top: by the
vice-chancellor or head, by the senior team, by deans and heads of department, and ideally by the
governing body.

Leadership buy-in does two things. First, it unlocks resource and patience. A giving culture is a
multi-year investment that will not show its full return inside a single budget cycle. Senior
leaders who understand this protect the investment through the lean early years rather than
judging it on one year's income. Second, leadership lends the work legitimacy. When a
vice-chancellor talks publicly about philanthropy, judges a student fundraising challenge, or
writes personally to thank donors, it signals to the whole community that giving is valued at the
highest level. That signal normalises giving more powerfully than any campaign.

To secure that buy-in, you need a clear case for philanthropy: a short, compelling account of why
giving matters to your institution, what it makes possible, and what the long-term ambition is.
Our [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) helps you write
one. Frame it around culture and community rather than a financial target, because that is the
argument that wins patient support rather than impatient scrutiny.

## Embedding giving across the whole community

A culture of giving cannot rest on alumni alone. The institutions that build the strongest
cultures embed giving across the whole community: current students, staff, alumni and parents.
Each group plays a different part, and each reinforces the others.

**Students** are the future of every giving programme, and the period when their relationship
with the institution is most malleable. Engage them now and you are not only raising modest sums
today, you are forming the donors of the next thirty years. **Staff** giving sends a powerful
internal signal: when the people who work at an institution choose to give to it, it tells
students and alumni that those who know it best believe in it. **Alumni** are the traditional
heart of a development programme, but they give most readily when their student experience already
taught them that giving is normal. And **parents** are an often underused group with a genuine
stake in the institution's success, and a natural interest in supporting the experience their
child is having right now.

The point of considering all four groups together is that they are not separate audiences to be
worked in isolation. They are one community, and the culture you are building is the shared sense,
across all of them, that this is a place worth supporting.

## Student philanthropy and giving societies

Students deserve particular attention, because student philanthropy is where a culture of giving
is either seeded or lost. The crucial insight, which the Hubbub article states plainly, is that
"students won't fundraise for universities as nonprofits but will support their own passion
projects." Ask a student to raise money for the abstract idea of the institution and you will get
little. Help them raise money for their own club, society, team or cause, and they will pour
energy into it.

This is why student-led fundraising is so powerful as a culture-building tool. The article
describes student projects as "the content goldmine" that inspires donors and triggers chains of
giving, and it makes a reciprocal point worth dwelling on: when an institution helps students
fund their own projects, "students experience institutional support directly." That direct
experience of being supported is exactly what builds the emotional connection that, years later,
turns a graduate into a donor. It also produces, in the article's words, "rich, pre-qualified
donor profiles" that make future fundraising more efficient. Peer-to-peer models work because, as
the article notes, personal connections and "challenge" mechanics drive higher rates of giving
than impersonal appeals ever do.

Giving societies are the other half of student philanthropy: a structured way to recognise and
celebrate those who give, give regularly, or give their time. A well-designed society makes
membership feel meaningful, with its own identity, recognition and sense of belonging, and it
gives people a ladder to climb as their relationship with the institution deepens. Our
[giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/) helps you design one that fits
your community. The aim is the same as everything else in this guide: to make giving visible,
valued and normal.

## Stewardship, recognition and storytelling

If a single engine drives a culture of giving, it is stewardship. Acquiring a donor is the start
of a relationship, not the end of a transaction, and what happens after the gift determines
whether that person ever gives again. Thank people promptly and warmly. Show them, concretely,
what their gift made possible. Treat a first gift as the beginning of a conversation rather than a
box ticked.

Recognition matters because it makes giving visible, and visible giving is contagious. When people
see that donors are thanked, named where they wish to be, and genuinely valued, giving stops
feeling like a private act of charity and starts feeling like a normal part of belonging. That is
why public recognition, giving societies, donor walls, named funds and simple, heartfelt thanks
all do more than reward the individual: they tell everyone watching that this is a community where
people give.

Storytelling is what makes all of this land. Numbers persuade few people; stories move almost
everyone. The student whose bursary changed their life, the researcher whose work was funded by
small gifts, the club that travelled to a competition because hundreds of people each gave a
little: these are the stories that build culture, because they show the human outcome of giving
and invite others to be part of the next one. Tell them constantly, across every channel, and make
the donor part of the story rather than a footnote to it. To sharpen the words you use in appeals
and thank-you messages, the free [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) is a
useful second pair of eyes.

## Consistency year on year

Culture is built by repetition. A brilliant campaign that happens once and is never repeated
leaves no lasting mark. The same campaign run every year, at the same point in the calendar,
becomes a fixture that people anticipate, plan for and eventually take pride in. Consistency is
what turns an event into a tradition, and a tradition is simply culture made visible.

This is where recurring moments earn their keep. A [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
run annually, becomes a date the whole community knows is coming: a concentrated, high-energy
moment that rallies students, staff, alumni and parents around a shared push and reminds everyone,
every year, that this is a place where people give. A
[Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) does something complementary, putting
fundraising directly into students' hands and developing a generation of student fundraisers while
bringing large numbers of brand-new donors, parents, friends and local supporters into the wider
programme. Run either of these once and you have an event. Run them every year and you are
building culture.

These recurring moments also underpin the steadiest expression of a giving culture of all: a
[regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Giving Days and
Challenge Weeks acquire donors at scale and at speed, many of them new to the institution. A
regular giving programme is how you keep them, converting a one-off gift into a habit: a monthly
or annual commitment that turns a moment of generosity into a lasting relationship. The culture
feeds the programme, and the programme deepens the culture. Each year of consistent delivery
widens the base of people for whom giving is simply what they do, and that growing base is the
truest measure that a culture of giving has taken hold.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long does it take to build a culture of giving?** Years, not months. A giving culture is
built through repeated shared experiences and consistent stewardship, and it compounds over time.
Expect the early years to require patience and investment before the returns become obvious, and
secure leadership support on that basis.

**Isn't this just fundraising by another name?** No. Fundraising asks for gifts; a culture of
giving is the shared belief, across a whole community, that supporting the institution is normal
and valued. Fundraising becomes far easier and far more sustainable once that culture exists, but
the culture is the foundation rather than the campaign.

**Where should we start if we have almost no giving culture today?** Start with the experiences
that build emotional connection, and with consistency. Secure leadership buy-in, pick one
recurring moment such as a Giving Day or a Challenge Week and commit to running it every year, and
invest heavily in stewardship so that everyone who gives is thanked and shown their impact.

**How do we get students to give when they are already paying fees?** Don't ask them to fund the
institution in the abstract. Help them raise money for their own clubs, societies and causes, and
let them experience the institution supporting their projects directly. That experience of being
supported is what, over time, turns a fee-paying student into a lifelong donor.

**Why does leadership buy-in matter so much?** Because culture changes from the top. Leadership
unlocks the resource and patience a multi-year investment needs, and it lends legitimacy: when
senior leaders speak about philanthropy and thank donors personally, it signals to the whole
community that giving is valued at the highest level.

**How do we measure whether a culture of giving is taking hold?** Look beyond income to
participation: the number of people giving, the proportion who give again, the breadth across
students, staff, alumni and parents, and the number who give their time as well as their money. A
widening base of habitual givers is the clearest sign the culture is working.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: create a culture of giving at your university](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man eine Kultur des Gebens aufbaut](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zum Aufbau einer dauerhaften Kultur des Gebens in einer Institution: warum sie wichtig ist, wie man Förderinnen und Förderer vom ersten Kontakt an gewinnt, die Unterstützung der Leitung, das Engagement von Studierenden, Mitarbeitenden, Ehemaligen und Eltern sowie Beziehungspflege als Kultur.
Eine Kultur des Gebens ist eine gefestigte, gemeinsam geteilte Selbstverständlichkeit: Ihre
Institution und die Menschen in ihr zu unterstützen, ist etwas Normales und Wertgeschätztes. Sie ist
keine einzelne Kampagne und kein cleverer Spendenaufruf. Sie ist die stille Annahme, die Studierende,
Mitarbeitende, Ehemalige und Freunde gleichermaßen teilen, dass Zurückgeben ein Teil dessen ist, was
Zugehörigkeit bedeutet. Wo diese Kultur besteht, fühlt sich das Fundraising nicht länger wie eine
Störung an, sondern wird zum Ausdruck von Gemeinschaft. Wo sie fehlt, beginnt jeder Aufruf bei null,
gerichtet an Menschen, die nie gefragt, nie bedankt und denen nie gezeigt wurde, dass ihre Spende
etwas bewirkt hat.

Eine solche Kultur aufzubauen ist langsame Arbeit, und es hilft, das von Anfang an offen
einzugestehen. Wie Hubbub es ausdrückt, entsteht Kultur „durch gemeinsame Erfahrungen, die Verhalten
nähren“, und eine Kultur des Gebens im Besonderen „erfordert erheblich viel Zeit und Investition, um
das studentische Erleben, das Verständnis für die Institution und die emotionale Verbindung bei
jungen Menschen zu kultivieren“. Es gibt keine Abkürzung. Doch der Aufwand verzinst sich: Jedes Jahr
beständiger Arbeit macht das nächste leichter, bis das Geben einfach zu dem wird, was Ihre
Gemeinschaft tut.

Dieser Leitfaden zeigt, wie man diese Kultur bewusst aufbaut, vom ersten Kontakt eines Menschen mit
Ihrer Institution bis hin zur Anerkennung und zum Erzählen von Geschichten, die ihn ein Leben lang
zum Geben bewegen. Ein Thema zieht sich durch alles hindurch: Eine Kultur des Gebens ist weit mehr
als die in einem einzelnen Jahr eingenommenen Mittel. Das Geld ist real und es zählt, doch es ist das
Ergebnis der Kultur, nicht ihr Zweck.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unseren
> [Fahrplan für eine Kultur des Gebens](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> unsere [Vorlage für ein Plädoyer für Philanthropie](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) und
> unser [Rahmenwerk für einen Förderkreis](/resources/giving-society-framework/) herunterzuladen.

## Warum eine Kultur des Gebens wichtig ist

Eine Kultur des Gebens bewirkt Dinge, die ein einmaliger Aufruf niemals leisten kann. Sie verbreitert
die Beteiligung, sodass das Geben zu etwas wird, das viele Menschen in bescheidenem Umfang tun, statt
zu etwas, das einige wenige Großspender allein bewältigen. Sie vertieft das Engagement und verwandelt
passive Namen in einer Datenbank in aktive Mitglieder einer Gemeinschaft, die teilnehmen, sich
ehrenamtlich einbringen, andere begleiten und für die Institution eintreten. Und sie schafft
Widerstandskraft: Eine Institution, deren Unterstützende gewohnheitsmäßig geben, ist weitaus weniger
verwundbar, wenn eine einzelne Finanzierungsquelle einmal versiegt.

Das ist wichtiger denn je, und zwar aus einem strukturellen Grund. Wie der Hubbub-Artikel feststellt,
ist die Beziehung zwischen Studierenden und ihren Universitäten „zunehmend kommerziell geworden,
besonders im Vereinigten Königreich infolge der Gebührenerhöhungen“. Wenn Studierende erhebliche
Gebühren zahlen, fällt es ihnen leicht, mit dem Gefühl zu gehen, eine Dienstleistung gekauft und die
Rechnung beglichen zu haben. Im Gegensatz dazu hält der Artikel fest, dass US-amerikanische
Universitäten „trotz höherer Studiengebühren stärkere Kulturen des Gebens bewahren, teils weil sich
Stipendiatinnen und Stipendiaten verpflichtet fühlen, künftige Generationen zu unterstützen“. Der
Unterschied liegt nicht in der Höhe der Gebühr, sondern darin, ob Menschen mit dem Gefühl gehen, Teil
von etwas zu sein, das sie erhalten möchten. Eine Kultur des Gebens aufzubauen heißt zu großen Teilen,
diese Lücke zu schließen, damit jene, die durch Ihre Institution gehen, sie mit einer emotionalen statt
einer transaktionalen Verbindung verlassen.

## Förderinnen und Förderer vom ersten Kontakt an gewinnen

Eine Kultur des Gebens beginnt beim allerersten Kontakt eines Menschen mit der Institution, nicht beim
Studienabschluss. Viele Institutionen begehen den Fehler, Fundraising als etwas zu behandeln, das
beginnt, wenn jemand geht. Dann aber sind die Gewohnheiten geformt und die Gefühle gefestigt.

Daraus folgt, dass Sie an die Beziehung zu den Unterstützenden lange vor jeder Bitte denken müssen.
Ein angehender Studierender an einem Tag der offenen Tür, ein Erstsemester in der ersten Woche, eine
Bachelorstudentin, die ein Stipendium erhält, ein Masterstudent, der von einer Ehemaligen begleitet
wird: Jeder dieser Momente baut eine emotionale Verbindung auf oder versäumt es. Der Hubbub-Artikel
betont, dass „digitale Programme und soziale Medien Studierende und Mitarbeitende in Botschafterinnen
und Botschafter der Institution verwandeln können“ und dass „eine bessere Kommunikation über den Wert
der Hochschulbildung nötig ist, um die Bindung zu den Studierenden zu stärken“. Ein Großteil der
Kulturarbeit ist Kommunikationsarbeit: die Geschichte zu erzählen, wofür Ihre Institution steht, was
sie möglich macht und auf wen sie angewiesen ist, beständig und von Anfang an.

Aus diesem Grund kann die Entwicklungsabteilung nicht im Alleingang arbeiten. Die Erfahrungen, die eine
Kultur des Gebens aufbauen, sind über die gesamte Institution hinweg verankert: in der Zulassung, in
den Diensten für Studierende, in den Fachbereichen und im Ehemaligenteam. Ein Teil Ihrer Aufgabe
besteht darin, diese Erfahrungen so zu beeinflussen, dass sich das Zurückgeben zum Zeitpunkt des
Abschlusses natürlich anfühlt und nicht anmaßend.

## Die Unterstützung der Leitung und der Institution gewinnen

Keine Kultur verändert sich ohne die Leitung im Rücken. Eine Kultur des Gebens, die nur in der
Entwicklungsabteilung lebt, bleibt stets fragil. Sie muss an der Spitze getragen werden: von der
Rektorin oder dem Leiter, vom Führungsteam, von Dekaninnen und Fachbereichsleitern und idealerweise
vom Leitungsgremium.

Die Unterstützung der Leitung bewirkt zweierlei. Erstens setzt sie Mittel und Geduld frei. Eine Kultur
des Gebens ist eine mehrjährige Investition, die ihren vollen Ertrag nicht innerhalb eines einzigen
Haushaltszyklus zeigt. Führungskräfte, die das verstehen, schützen die Investition durch die mageren
Anfangsjahre hindurch, statt sie an den Einnahmen eines einzelnen Jahres zu messen. Zweitens verleiht
die Leitung der Arbeit Legitimität. Wenn eine Rektorin öffentlich über Philanthropie spricht, einen
studentischen Fundraising-Wettbewerb bewertet oder persönlich schreibt, um Spenderinnen und Spendern
zu danken, signalisiert das der gesamten Gemeinschaft, dass Geben auf höchster Ebene wertgeschätzt
wird. Dieses Signal normalisiert das Geben weitaus kraftvoller als jede Kampagne.

Um diese Unterstützung zu gewinnen, brauchen Sie ein klares Plädoyer für Philanthropie: eine kurze,
überzeugende Darstellung, warum Geben für Ihre Institution wichtig ist, was es möglich macht und worin
das langfristige Ziel besteht. Unsere
[Vorlage für ein Plädoyer für Philanthropie](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) hilft Ihnen,
eines zu schreiben. Bauen Sie es um Kultur und Gemeinschaft herum auf statt um ein finanzielles Ziel,
denn das ist das Argument, das geduldige Unterstützung gewinnt statt ungeduldiger Prüfung.

## Geben in der gesamten Gemeinschaft verankern

Eine Kultur des Gebens kann nicht allein auf den Ehemaligen ruhen. Die Institutionen, die die stärksten
Kulturen aufbauen, verankern das Geben in der gesamten Gemeinschaft: bei den aktuellen Studierenden,
den Mitarbeitenden, den Ehemaligen und den Eltern. Jede Gruppe spielt eine andere Rolle, und jede
verstärkt die anderen.

**Studierende** sind die Zukunft jedes Programms des Gebens und die Zeitspanne, in der ihre Beziehung
zur Institution am formbarsten ist. Binden Sie sie jetzt ein, und Sie sammeln nicht nur heute
bescheidene Summen, sondern formen die Spenderinnen und Spender der nächsten dreißig Jahre. Das Geben
der **Mitarbeitenden** sendet ein starkes internes Signal: Wenn die Menschen, die an einer Institution
arbeiten, sich entscheiden, ihr zu spenden, sagt das Studierenden und Ehemaligen, dass jene, die sie am
besten kennen, an sie glauben. **Ehemalige** sind das traditionelle Herz eines Entwicklungsprogramms,
doch sie geben am bereitwilligsten, wenn ihr studentisches Erleben sie bereits gelehrt hat, dass Geben
normal ist. Und **Eltern** sind eine oft zu wenig genutzte Gruppe mit einem echten Interesse am Erfolg
der Institution und einem natürlichen Anliegen, das Erleben zu unterstützen, das ihr Kind gerade jetzt
hat.

Der Sinn, alle vier Gruppen zusammen zu betrachten, liegt darin, dass sie keine getrennten
Zielgruppen sind, die isoliert bearbeitet werden müssen. Sie sind eine Gemeinschaft, und die Kultur,
die Sie aufbauen, ist das geteilte Gefühl über sie alle hinweg, dass dieser Ort es wert ist,
unterstützt zu werden.

## Studentische Philanthropie und Förderkreise

Studierende verdienen besondere Aufmerksamkeit, denn die studentische Philanthropie ist der Ort, an
dem eine Kultur des Gebens entweder gesät oder verloren wird. Die entscheidende Erkenntnis, die der
Hubbub-Artikel klar benennt, lautet: „Studierende sammeln keine Mittel für Universitäten als
gemeinnützige Organisationen, unterstützen aber ihre eigenen Herzensprojekte.“ Bitten Sie einen
Studierenden, Geld für die abstrakte Idee der Institution zu sammeln, und Sie erhalten wenig. Helfen
Sie ihm, Geld für seinen eigenen Verein, seine Vereinigung, sein Team oder seine Sache zu sammeln, und
er steckt all seine Energie hinein.

Deshalb ist von Studierenden geführtes Fundraising ein so kraftvolles Werkzeug zum Aufbau von Kultur.
Der Artikel beschreibt studentische Projekte als „die Goldgrube an Inhalten“, die Spenderinnen und
Spender inspiriert und Ketten des Gebens auslöst, und er formuliert einen wechselseitigen Gedanken,
bei dem es sich zu verweilen lohnt: Wenn eine Institution Studierenden hilft, ihre eigenen Projekte zu
finanzieren, „erfahren die Studierenden die Unterstützung der Institution unmittelbar“. Genau diese
unmittelbare Erfahrung, unterstützt zu werden, baut die emotionale Verbindung auf, die Jahre später
aus einer Absolventin eine Spenderin macht. Sie erzeugt zudem, in den Worten des Artikels, „reiche,
vorqualifizierte Spenderprofile“, die künftiges Fundraising effizienter machen. Peer-to-Peer-Modelle
funktionieren, weil, wie der Artikel anmerkt, persönliche Verbindungen und „Challenge“-Mechaniken
höhere Spendenquoten erzeugen, als es unpersönliche Aufrufe je tun.

Förderkreise sind die andere Hälfte der studentischen Philanthropie: eine strukturierte Weise,
diejenigen anzuerkennen und zu würdigen, die geben, regelmäßig geben oder ihre Zeit geben. Ein gut
gestalteter Kreis lässt die Mitgliedschaft bedeutungsvoll erscheinen, mit eigener Identität,
Anerkennung und Zugehörigkeitsgefühl, und er bietet den Menschen eine Leiter, die sie erklimmen können,
während ihre Beziehung zur Institution tiefer wird. Unser
[Rahmenwerk für einen Förderkreis](/resources/giving-society-framework/) hilft Ihnen, einen zu
gestalten, der zu Ihrer Gemeinschaft passt. Das Ziel ist dasselbe wie bei allem anderen in diesem
Leitfaden: das Geben sichtbar, wertgeschätzt und normal zu machen.

## Beziehungspflege, Anerkennung und das Erzählen von Geschichten

Wenn ein einzelner Motor eine Kultur des Gebens antreibt, dann ist es die Beziehungspflege. Eine
Spenderin zu gewinnen ist der Beginn einer Beziehung, nicht das Ende einer Transaktion, und was nach
der Spende geschieht, entscheidet darüber, ob dieser Mensch jemals wieder gibt. Danken Sie den
Menschen rasch und herzlich. Zeigen Sie ihnen konkret, was ihre Spende möglich gemacht hat. Behandeln
Sie eine erste Spende als Anfang eines Gesprächs statt als abgehaktes Kästchen.

Anerkennung ist wichtig, weil sie das Geben sichtbar macht, und sichtbares Geben ist ansteckend. Wenn
Menschen sehen, dass Spenderinnen und Spender bedankt, dort genannt, wo sie es wünschen, und
aufrichtig wertgeschätzt werden, fühlt sich Geben nicht länger wie ein privater Akt der
Wohltätigkeit an, sondern wird zu einem normalen Teil der Zugehörigkeit. Deshalb leisten öffentliche
Anerkennung, Förderkreise, Spenderwände, benannte Fonds und schlichter, von Herzen kommender Dank alle
mehr, als nur den Einzelnen zu belohnen: Sie sagen allen, die zusehen, dass dies eine Gemeinschaft
ist, in der man gibt.

Das Erzählen von Geschichten ist es, was all dies ankommen lässt. Zahlen überzeugen wenige Menschen;
Geschichten bewegen fast jeden. Der Studierende, dessen Stipendium sein Leben verändert hat, die
Forscherin, deren Arbeit durch kleine Spenden finanziert wurde, der Verein, der zu einem Wettbewerb
reisen konnte, weil Hunderte von Menschen je ein wenig gaben: Das sind die Geschichten, die Kultur
aufbauen, weil sie das menschliche Ergebnis des Gebens zeigen und andere einladen, Teil des nächsten
zu sein. Erzählen Sie sie unablässig, über jeden Kanal, und machen Sie die Spenderin zum Teil der
Geschichte statt zu einer Fußnote. Um die Worte zu schärfen, die Sie in Aufrufen und Dankesnachrichten
verwenden, ist der kostenlose [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) ein nützliches
zweites Augenpaar.

## Beständigkeit Jahr für Jahr

Kultur entsteht durch Wiederholung. Eine brillante Kampagne, die einmal stattfindet und nie
wiederholt wird, hinterlässt keine bleibende Spur. Dieselbe Kampagne, jedes Jahr zum gleichen
Zeitpunkt im Kalender durchgeführt, wird zu einem festen Bestandteil, den die Menschen erwarten,
planen und schließlich mit Stolz tragen. Beständigkeit ist es, die aus einer Veranstaltung eine
Tradition macht, und eine Tradition ist schlicht sichtbar gewordene Kultur.

Hier verdienen sich wiederkehrende Momente ihren Wert. Ein [Tag des Gebens](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
jährlich durchgeführt, wird zu einem Datum, von dem die gesamte Gemeinschaft weiß, dass es bevorsteht:
ein konzentrierter, energiegeladener Moment, der Studierende, Mitarbeitende, Ehemalige und Eltern zu
einem gemeinsamen Vorstoß zusammenführt und jeden Jahr für Jahr daran erinnert, dass dies ein Ort ist,
an dem man gibt. Eine [Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) leistet etwas
Ergänzendes, indem sie das Fundraising direkt in die Hände der Studierenden legt und eine Generation
studentischer Fundraiserinnen und Fundraiser heranbildet, während sie zugleich große Zahlen ganz neuer
Spender, Eltern, Freunde und lokaler Unterstützender in das größere Programm bringt. Führen Sie eines
davon einmal durch, und Sie haben eine Veranstaltung. Führen Sie sie jedes Jahr durch, und Sie bauen
Kultur auf.

Diese wiederkehrenden Momente untermauern auch den beständigsten Ausdruck einer Kultur des Gebens
überhaupt: ein [Programm für regelmäßiges Geben](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/).
Tage des Gebens und Challenge-Wochen gewinnen Spenderinnen und Spender in großer Zahl und mit hohem
Tempo, viele von ihnen neu für die Institution. Ein Programm für regelmäßiges Geben ist die Art, wie
Sie sie halten, indem Sie eine einmalige Spende in eine Gewohnheit verwandeln: eine monatliche oder
jährliche Zusage, die einen Moment der Großzügigkeit in eine dauerhafte Beziehung überführt. Die Kultur
nährt das Programm, und das Programm vertieft die Kultur. Jedes Jahr beständiger Umsetzung verbreitert
die Basis der Menschen, für die Geben einfach das ist, was sie tun, und diese wachsende Basis ist das
wahrste Maß dafür, dass eine Kultur des Gebens Wurzeln geschlagen hat.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Wie lange dauert es, eine Kultur des Gebens aufzubauen?** Jahre, nicht Monate. Eine Kultur des Gebens
entsteht durch wiederholte gemeinsame Erfahrungen und beständige Beziehungspflege, und sie verzinst
sich mit der Zeit. Rechnen Sie damit, dass die ersten Jahre Geduld und Investition erfordern, bevor die
Erträge offensichtlich werden, und sichern Sie sich auf dieser Grundlage die Unterstützung der Leitung.

**Ist das nicht nur Fundraising unter anderem Namen?** Nein. Fundraising bittet um Spenden; eine Kultur
des Gebens ist die geteilte Überzeugung über eine ganze Gemeinschaft hinweg, dass die Unterstützung der
Institution normal und wertgeschätzt ist. Fundraising wird weitaus leichter und weitaus tragfähiger,
sobald diese Kultur besteht, doch die Kultur ist das Fundament, nicht die Kampagne.

**Wo sollten wir anfangen, wenn wir heute fast keine Kultur des Gebens haben?** Beginnen Sie mit den
Erfahrungen, die emotionale Verbindung aufbauen, und mit Beständigkeit. Sichern Sie sich die
Unterstützung der Leitung, wählen Sie einen wiederkehrenden Moment wie einen Tag des Gebens oder eine
Challenge-Woche und verpflichten Sie sich, ihn jedes Jahr durchzuführen, und investieren Sie stark in
die Beziehungspflege, sodass allen, die geben, gedankt und ihre Wirkung gezeigt wird.

**Wie bewegen wir Studierende zum Geben, wenn sie bereits Gebühren zahlen?** Bitten Sie sie nicht, die
Institution im Abstrakten zu finanzieren. Helfen Sie ihnen, Geld für ihre eigenen Vereine,
Vereinigungen und Anliegen zu sammeln, und lassen Sie sie erleben, wie die Institution ihre Projekte
unmittelbar unterstützt. Diese Erfahrung, unterstützt zu werden, macht mit der Zeit aus einem
gebührenzahlenden Studierenden eine lebenslange Spenderin oder einen lebenslangen Spender.

**Warum ist die Unterstützung der Leitung so wichtig?** Weil Kultur sich von oben verändert. Die
Leitung setzt die Mittel und die Geduld frei, die eine mehrjährige Investition braucht, und sie
verleiht Legitimität: Wenn Führungskräfte über Philanthropie sprechen und Spenderinnen und Spendern
persönlich danken, signalisiert das der gesamten Gemeinschaft, dass Geben auf höchster Ebene
wertgeschätzt wird.

**Wie messen wir, ob eine Kultur des Gebens Wurzeln schlägt?** Schauen Sie über die Einnahmen hinaus
auf die Beteiligung: die Zahl der Menschen, die geben, den Anteil derer, die erneut geben, die Breite
über Studierende, Mitarbeitende, Ehemalige und Eltern hinweg und die Zahl derer, die ihre Zeit ebenso
geben wie ihr Geld. Eine wachsende Basis gewohnheitsmäßiger Gebender ist das klarste Zeichen, dass die
Kultur wirkt.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Fahrplan für eine Kultur des Gebens](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Vorlage für ein Plädoyer für Philanthropie](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Rahmenwerk für einen Förderkreis](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Giving-Day-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie die wahrscheinlichen Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Aufruf- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- [Hubbub-Blog: eine Kultur des Gebens an Ihrer Universität schaffen](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie man einen Tag des Gebens durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Wie man eine Challenge-Woche durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) und [Wie man ein Programm für regelmäßiges Geben aufbaut](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Fachverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to build a culture of giving](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (europe/en): A practical guide to building a lasting culture of giving across an institution, covering why it matters, cultivating supporters from the first contact, leadership buy-in, engaging students, staff, alumni and parents, and stewardship as culture.
A culture of giving is a settled, shared expectation that supporting your institution and the
people in it is a normal and valued thing to do. It is not a single campaign or a clever appeal.
It is the quiet assumption, held by students, staff, alumni and friends alike, that giving back
is part of what it means to belong. Where that culture exists, fundraising stops feeling like an
interruption and becomes an expression of community. Where it does not, every appeal starts from
scratch, addressed to people who have never been asked, never been thanked, and never been shown
that their gift mattered.

Building such a culture is slow work, and it helps to be honest about that from the outset. As
Hubbub puts it, culture "develops through shared experiences that nurture behaviour", and a
giving culture in particular "requires substantial time and investment to cultivate student
experience, institutional understanding, and emotional connection among young people." There is
no shortcut. But the effort compounds: every year of consistent work makes the next year easier,
until giving becomes simply what your community does.

This guide sets out how to build that culture deliberately, from a person's first contact with
your institution through to the recognition and storytelling that keep them giving for life. One
theme runs throughout: a culture of giving is about far more than the income raised in any single
year. The money is real and it matters, but it is the outcome of the culture, not the point of
it.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) and
> [giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Why a culture of giving matters

A culture of giving delivers things a one-off appeal never can. It widens participation, so that
giving becomes something many people do in modest amounts rather than something a handful of
major donors do alone. It deepens engagement, turning passive names on a database into active
members of a community who attend, volunteer, mentor and advocate. And it builds resilience: an
institution whose supporters give habitually is far less exposed when any single funding source
falters.

This matters more than ever, for a structural reason. As the Hubbub article observes,
the relationship between students and their universities "has become increasingly commercial,
particularly in the UK following fee increases." When students pay substantial fees, it is easy
for them to leave feeling they have bought a service and settled the account. By contrast, the
article notes that US universities "maintain stronger giving cultures despite higher tuition
fees, partly because scholarship recipients feel obligated to support future generations." The
difference is not the size of the fee but whether people leave feeling part of something they
want to sustain. Building a culture of giving is largely about closing that gap, so that those
who pass through your institution leave with an emotional connection rather than a transactional
one.

## Cultivating supporters from the first contact

A culture of giving starts at a person's very first contact with the institution, not at
graduation. Many institutions make the mistake of treating fundraising as something that begins
when someone leaves. By then the habits are formed and the feelings are set.

The implication is that you must think about the supporter relationship long before there is any
ask. A prospective student on an open day, a fresher in their first week, an undergraduate who
receives a bursary, a postgraduate mentored by an alumna: each is a moment that either builds an
emotional connection or fails to. The Hubbub article makes the point that "digital programmes and
social media can transform students and staff into institutional ambassadors", and that "better
communication about the value of higher education is needed to strengthen bonds with students."
Much of the work of culture is the work of communication: telling the story of what your
institution is for, what it makes possible, and who it depends on, consistently and from the very
beginning.

For that reason, the development office cannot work in a silo. The experiences that build a
giving culture are owned right across the institution, in admissions, student services, academic
departments and the alumni team. Part of your job is to influence those experiences so that, by
the time someone graduates, giving back feels natural rather than presumptuous.

## Securing leadership and institutional buy-in

No culture changes without leadership behind it. A culture of giving that lives only in the
development office will always be fragile. It needs to be owned at the top: by the
rector or head, by the senior team, by deans and heads of department, and ideally by the
governing body.

Leadership buy-in does two things. First, it unlocks resource and patience. A giving culture is a
multi-year investment that will not show its full return inside a single budget cycle. Senior
leaders who understand this protect the investment through the lean early years rather than
judging it on one year's income. Second, leadership lends the work legitimacy. When a
rector talks publicly about philanthropy, judges a student fundraising challenge, or
writes personally to thank donors, it signals to the whole community that giving is valued at the
highest level. That signal normalises giving more powerfully than any campaign.

To secure that buy-in, you need a clear case for philanthropy: a short, compelling account of why
giving matters to your institution, what it makes possible, and what the long-term ambition is.
Our [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) helps you write
one. Frame it around culture and community rather than a financial target, because that is the
argument that wins patient support rather than impatient scrutiny.

## Embedding giving across the whole community

A culture of giving cannot rest on alumni alone. The institutions that build the strongest
cultures embed giving across the whole community: current students, staff, alumni and parents.
Each group plays a different part, and each reinforces the others.

**Students** are the future of every giving programme, and the period when their relationship
with the institution is most malleable. Engage them now and you are not only raising modest sums
today, you are forming the donors of the next thirty years. **Staff** giving sends a powerful
internal signal: when the people who work at an institution choose to give to it, it tells
students and alumni that those who know it best believe in it. **Alumni** are the traditional
heart of a development programme, but they give most readily when their student experience already
taught them that giving is normal. And **parents** are an often underused group with a genuine
stake in the institution's success, and a natural interest in supporting the experience their
child is having right now.

The point of considering all four groups together is that they are not separate audiences to be
worked in isolation. They are one community, and the culture you are building is the shared sense,
across all of them, that this is a place worth supporting.

## Student philanthropy and giving societies

Students deserve particular attention, because student philanthropy is where a culture of giving
is either seeded or lost. The crucial insight, which the Hubbub article states plainly, is that
"students won't fundraise for universities as nonprofits but will support their own passion
projects." Ask a student to raise money for the abstract idea of the institution and you will get
little. Help them raise money for their own club, society, team or cause, and they will pour
energy into it.

This is why student-led fundraising is so powerful as a culture-building tool. The article
describes student projects as "the content goldmine" that inspires donors and triggers chains of
giving, and it makes a reciprocal point worth dwelling on: when an institution helps students
fund their own projects, "students experience institutional support directly." That direct
experience of being supported is exactly what builds the emotional connection that, years later,
turns a graduate into a donor. It also produces, in the article's words, "rich, pre-qualified
donor profiles" that make future fundraising more efficient. Peer-to-peer models work because, as
the article notes, personal connections and "challenge" mechanics drive higher rates of giving
than impersonal appeals ever do.

Giving societies are the other half of student philanthropy: a structured way to recognise and
celebrate those who give, give regularly, or give their time. A well-designed society makes
membership feel meaningful, with its own identity, recognition and sense of belonging, and it
gives people a ladder to climb as their relationship with the institution deepens. Our
[giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/) helps you design one that fits
your community. The aim is the same as everything else in this guide: to make giving visible,
valued and normal.

## Stewardship, recognition and storytelling

If a single engine drives a culture of giving, it is stewardship. Acquiring a donor is the start
of a relationship, not the end of a transaction, and what happens after the gift determines
whether that person ever gives again. Thank people promptly and warmly. Show them, concretely,
what their gift made possible. Treat a first gift as the beginning of a conversation rather than a
box ticked.

Recognition matters because it makes giving visible, and visible giving is contagious. When people
see that donors are thanked, named where they wish to be, and genuinely valued, giving stops
feeling like a private act of charity and starts feeling like a normal part of belonging. That is
why public recognition, giving societies, donor walls, named funds and simple, heartfelt thanks
all do more than reward the individual: they tell everyone watching that this is a community where
people give.

Storytelling is what makes all of this land. Numbers persuade few people; stories move almost
everyone. The student whose bursary changed their life, the researcher whose work was funded by
small gifts, the club that travelled to a competition because hundreds of people each gave a
little: these are the stories that build culture, because they show the human outcome of giving
and invite others to be part of the next one. Tell them constantly, across every channel, and make
the donor part of the story rather than a footnote to it. To sharpen the words you use in appeals
and thank-you messages, the free [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) is a
useful second pair of eyes.

## Consistency year on year

Culture is built by repetition. A brilliant campaign that happens once and is never repeated
leaves no lasting mark. The same campaign run every year, at the same point in the calendar,
becomes a fixture that people anticipate, plan for and eventually take pride in. Consistency is
what turns an event into a tradition, and a tradition is simply culture made visible.

This is where recurring moments earn their keep. A [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
run annually, becomes a date the whole community knows is coming: a concentrated, high-energy
moment that rallies students, staff, alumni and parents around a shared push and reminds everyone,
every year, that this is a place where people give. A
[Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) does something complementary, putting
fundraising directly into students' hands and developing a generation of student fundraisers while
bringing large numbers of brand-new donors, parents, friends and local supporters into the wider
programme. Run either of these once and you have an event. Run them every year and you are
building culture.

These recurring moments also underpin the steadiest expression of a giving culture of all: a
[regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Giving Days and
Challenge Weeks acquire donors at scale and at speed, many of them new to the institution. A
regular giving programme is how you keep them, converting a one-off gift into a habit: a monthly
or annual commitment that turns a moment of generosity into a lasting relationship. The culture
feeds the programme, and the programme deepens the culture. Each year of consistent delivery
widens the base of people for whom giving is simply what they do, and that growing base is the
truest measure that a culture of giving has taken hold.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long does it take to build a culture of giving?** Years, not months. A giving culture is
built through repeated shared experiences and consistent stewardship, and it compounds over time.
Expect the early years to require patience and investment before the returns become obvious, and
secure leadership support on that basis.

**Isn't this just fundraising by another name?** No. Fundraising asks for gifts; a culture of
giving is the shared belief, across a whole community, that supporting the institution is normal
and valued. Fundraising becomes far easier and far more sustainable once that culture exists, but
the culture is the foundation rather than the campaign.

**Where should we start if we have almost no giving culture today?** Start with the experiences
that build emotional connection, and with consistency. Secure leadership buy-in, pick one
recurring moment such as a Giving Day or a Challenge Week and commit to running it every year, and
invest heavily in stewardship so that everyone who gives is thanked and shown their impact.

**How do we get students to give when they are already paying fees?** Don't ask them to fund the
institution in the abstract. Help them raise money for their own clubs, societies and causes, and
let them experience the institution supporting their projects directly. That experience of being
supported is what, over time, turns a fee-paying student into a lifelong donor.

**Why does leadership buy-in matter so much?** Because culture changes from the top. Leadership
unlocks the resource and patience a multi-year investment needs, and it lends legitimacy: when
senior leaders speak about philanthropy and thank donors personally, it signals to the whole
community that giving is valued at the highest level.

**How do we measure whether a culture of giving is taking hold?** Look beyond income to
participation: the number of people giving, the proportion who give again, the breadth across
students, staff, alumni and parents, and the number who give their time as well as their money. A
widening base of habitual givers is the clearest sign the culture is working.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: create a culture of giving at your university](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo construir una cultura de la donación](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para construir una cultura de la donación duradera en una institución: por qué importa, cómo cultivar a los simpatizantes desde el primer contacto, el respaldo de la dirección, la implicación de estudiantes, personal, antiguos alumnos y familias, y la fidelización como cultura.
Una cultura de la donación es una expectativa compartida y asentada: apoyar a tu institución y a las
personas que la componen es algo normal y valorado. No es una sola campaña ni un llamamiento ingenioso.
Es la suposición silenciosa, compartida por igual entre estudiantes, personal, antiguos alumnos y
amigos, de que devolver forma parte de lo que significa pertenecer. Donde existe esa cultura, la
captación de fondos deja de sentirse como una intrusión y se convierte en la expresión de una
comunidad. Donde no existe, cada llamamiento parte de cero, dirigido a personas a las que nunca se ha
pedido nada, nunca se ha agradecido y a las que nunca se ha mostrado que su donación importaba.

Construir una cultura así es una labor lenta, y conviene ser honestos sobre ello desde el principio.
Como dice Hubbub, la cultura «se desarrolla a través de experiencias compartidas que nutren el
comportamiento», y una cultura de la donación en particular «requiere un tiempo y una inversión
considerables para cultivar la experiencia estudiantil, la comprensión de la institución y el vínculo
emocional entre los jóvenes». No hay atajos. Pero el esfuerzo se acumula: cada año de trabajo constante
hace más fácil el siguiente, hasta que donar se convierte simplemente en lo que hace tu comunidad.

Esta guía expone cómo construir esa cultura de forma deliberada, desde el primer contacto de una
persona con tu institución hasta el reconocimiento y la narración que la mantienen donando de por vida.
Un tema recorre todo el texto: una cultura de la donación va mucho más allá de los ingresos recaudados
en un solo año. El dinero es real y cuenta, pero es el resultado de la cultura, no su finalidad.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [hoja de ruta de la cultura de la donación](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> nuestra [plantilla de argumentario filantrópico](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) y
> nuestro [marco para un círculo de donantes](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Por qué importa una cultura de la donación

Una cultura de la donación aporta cosas que un llamamiento puntual nunca puede dar. Amplía la
participación, de modo que donar se convierte en algo que mucha gente hace en cantidades modestas, en
lugar de algo que unos pocos grandes donantes hacen en solitario. Profundiza el compromiso,
transformando nombres pasivos en una base de datos en miembros activos de una comunidad que asisten,
hacen voluntariado, ejercen de mentores y abogan por la institución. Y genera resiliencia: una
institución cuyos simpatizantes donan por hábito está mucho menos expuesta cuando una sola fuente de
financiación flaquea.

Esto importa más que nunca, por una razón estructural. Como observa el artículo de Hubbub, la relación
entre los estudiantes y sus universidades «se ha vuelto cada vez más comercial, en particular en el
Reino Unido tras los aumentos de las tasas». Cuando los estudiantes pagan tasas considerables, les
resulta fácil marcharse con la sensación de haber comprado un servicio y saldado la cuenta. Por el
contrario, el artículo señala que las universidades estadounidenses «mantienen culturas de la donación
más sólidas pese a tasas más altas, en parte porque los beneficiarios de becas se sienten obligados a
apoyar a las generaciones futuras». La diferencia no está en la cuantía de la tasa, sino en si las
personas se marchan o no con la sensación de formar parte de algo que desean sostener. Construir una
cultura de la donación consiste, en buena medida, en cerrar esa brecha, para que quienes pasan por tu
institución la dejen con un vínculo emocional en lugar de uno transaccional.

## Cultivar a los simpatizantes desde el primer contacto

Una cultura de la donación comienza en el primer contacto de una persona con la institución, no en la
graduación. Muchas instituciones cometen el error de tratar la captación de fondos como algo que empieza
cuando alguien se marcha. Para entonces los hábitos ya están formados y los sentimientos asentados.

La implicación es que debes pensar en la relación con el simpatizante mucho antes de que haya petición
alguna. Un futuro estudiante en una jornada de puertas abiertas, un novato en su primera semana, una
estudiante de grado que recibe una beca, un estudiante de posgrado al que acompaña una antigua alumna:
cada uno es un momento que construye un vínculo emocional o no logra hacerlo. El artículo de Hubbub
subraya que «los programas digitales y las redes sociales pueden transformar a estudiantes y personal en
embajadores de la institución» y que «hace falta una mejor comunicación sobre el valor de la educación
superior para fortalecer los lazos con los estudiantes». Gran parte del trabajo de cultura es trabajo de
comunicación: contar la historia de para qué sirve tu institución, de lo que hace posible y de quiénes
depende, de manera coherente y desde el mismísimo principio.

Por esa razón, la oficina de desarrollo no puede trabajar de forma aislada. Las experiencias que
construyen una cultura de la donación son responsabilidad de toda la institución: de admisiones, de los
servicios al estudiante, de los departamentos académicos y del equipo de antiguos alumnos. Parte de tu
labor consiste en influir en esas experiencias para que, cuando alguien se gradúe, devolver resulte
natural en lugar de presuntuoso.

## Conseguir el respaldo de la dirección y de la institución

Ninguna cultura cambia sin la dirección detrás. Una cultura de la donación que viva solo en la oficina
de desarrollo será siempre frágil. Tiene que hacerse propia desde arriba: por la rectora o el
responsable, por el equipo directivo, por los decanos y los jefes de departamento y, en el mejor de los
casos, por el órgano de gobierno.

El respaldo de la dirección logra dos cosas. Primero, libera recursos y paciencia. Una cultura de la
donación es una inversión plurianual que no mostrará su pleno rendimiento dentro de un solo ciclo
presupuestario. Los altos cargos que lo entienden protegen la inversión a lo largo de los flacos
primeros años, en lugar de juzgarla por los ingresos de un solo año. Segundo, la dirección dota de
legitimidad al trabajo. Cuando una rectora habla públicamente de filantropía, valora un reto de
captación de fondos estudiantil o escribe personalmente para agradecer a los donantes, transmite a toda
la comunidad que la donación se valora al más alto nivel. Esa señal normaliza la donación con mucha más
fuerza que cualquier campaña.

Para conseguir ese respaldo necesitas un argumentario filantrópico claro: una exposición breve y
convincente de por qué donar importa a tu institución, de lo que hace posible y de cuál es la ambición a
largo plazo. Nuestra
[plantilla de argumentario filantrópico](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) te ayuda a
redactar uno. Constrúyelo en torno a la cultura y la comunidad, y no en torno a un objetivo económico,
porque ese es el argumento que gana un apoyo paciente en lugar de un escrutinio impaciente.

## Arraigar la donación en toda la comunidad

Una cultura de la donación no puede descansar solo sobre los antiguos alumnos. Las instituciones que
construyen las culturas más sólidas arraigan la donación en toda la comunidad: estudiantes actuales,
personal, antiguos alumnos y familias. Cada grupo desempeña un papel distinto, y cada uno refuerza a
los demás.

Los **estudiantes** son el futuro de todo programa de donación, y el periodo en que su relación con la
institución es más maleable. Implícalos ahora y no solo recaudarás sumas modestas hoy: estarás formando
a los donantes de los próximos treinta años. La donación del **personal** envía una poderosa señal
interna: cuando las personas que trabajan en una institución eligen donarle, dice a estudiantes y
antiguos alumnos que quienes mejor la conocen creen en ella. Los **antiguos alumnos** son el corazón
tradicional de un programa de desarrollo, pero donan con más facilidad cuando su experiencia estudiantil
ya les enseñó que donar es normal. Y las **familias** son un grupo a menudo infrautilizado, con un
interés genuino en el éxito de la institución y una inclinación natural a apoyar la experiencia que su
hijo o hija está viviendo en este mismo momento.

El sentido de considerar juntos a los cuatro grupos es que no son públicos separados que haya que
trabajar de forma aislada. Son una sola comunidad, y la cultura que estás construyendo es la sensación
compartida, entre todos ellos, de que este es un lugar que merece la pena apoyar.

## Filantropía estudiantil y círculos de donantes

Los estudiantes merecen una atención particular, porque la filantropía estudiantil es el terreno donde
una cultura de la donación se siembra o se pierde. La idea crucial, que el artículo de Hubbub enuncia
sin rodeos, es que «los estudiantes no recaudarán fondos para las universidades como organizaciones sin
ánimo de lucro, pero sí apoyarán sus propios proyectos de pasión». Pide a un estudiante que recaude
dinero para la idea abstracta de la institución y obtendrás poca cosa. Ayúdale a recaudar dinero para su
propio club, su asociación, su equipo o su causa, y volcará en ello toda su energía.

Por eso la captación de fondos liderada por estudiantes es una herramienta tan poderosa para construir
cultura. El artículo describe los proyectos estudiantiles como «la mina de oro de contenido» que inspira
a los donantes y desencadena cadenas de donaciones, y formula un punto recíproco en el que vale la pena
detenerse: cuando una institución ayuda a los estudiantes a financiar sus propios proyectos, «los
estudiantes experimentan directamente el apoyo de la institución». Es precisamente esa experiencia
directa de ser apoyado la que construye el vínculo emocional que, años después, convierte a un graduado
en donante. Produce además, en palabras del artículo, «perfiles de donantes ricos y precualificados» que
hacen más eficiente la captación de fondos futura. Los modelos de persona a persona funcionan porque,
como señala el artículo, los vínculos personales y las mecánicas de «reto» generan tasas de donación más
altas de lo que jamás logran los llamamientos impersonales.

Los círculos de donantes son la otra mitad de la filantropía estudiantil: una manera estructurada de
reconocer y celebrar a quienes donan, donan con regularidad o donan su tiempo. Un círculo bien diseñado
hace que la pertenencia resulte significativa, con su propia identidad, su reconocimiento y su sentido de
pertenencia, y ofrece a las personas una escalera que ascender a medida que su relación con la
institución se profundiza. Nuestro
[marco para un círculo de donantes](/resources/giving-society-framework/) te ayuda a diseñar uno que
encaje con tu comunidad. El objetivo es el mismo que todo lo demás en esta guía: hacer que la donación
sea visible, valorada y normal.

## Fidelización, reconocimiento y narración

Si un solo motor impulsa una cultura de la donación, ese es la fidelización. Captar a un donante es el
inicio de una relación, no el final de una transacción, y lo que ocurre después de la donación determina
si esa persona volverá a donar alguna vez. Agradece a las personas con prontitud y calidez. Muéstrales,
de forma concreta, lo que su donación hizo posible. Trata una primera donación como el comienzo de una
conversación en lugar de como una casilla marcada.

El reconocimiento importa porque hace visible la donación, y la donación visible es contagiosa. Cuando
las personas ven que a los donantes se les agradece, se les nombra donde lo deseen y se les valora de
verdad, donar deja de sentirse como un acto privado de caridad y empieza a sentirse como una parte
normal de la pertenencia. Por eso el reconocimiento público, los círculos de donantes, los muros de
donantes, los fondos con nombre y los agradecimientos sencillos y sentidos hacen todos más que premiar
al individuo: dicen a cuantos miran que esta es una comunidad en la que se dona.

La narración es lo que hace que todo esto cale. Las cifras convencen a pocos; las historias conmueven a
casi todos. El estudiante cuya beca le cambió la vida, la investigadora cuyo trabajo se financió con
pequeñas donaciones, el club que pudo viajar a una competición porque cientos de personas donaron cada
una un poco: estas son las historias que construyen cultura, porque muestran el resultado humano de la
donación e invitan a otros a formar parte de la siguiente. Cuéntalas sin cesar, en todos los canales, y
haz del donante parte de la historia en lugar de una nota al pie. Para afinar las palabras que empleas
en los llamamientos y los mensajes de agradecimiento, el gratuito
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) es un útil segundo par de ojos.

## Constancia año tras año

La cultura se construye por repetición. Una campaña brillante que ocurre una vez y nunca se repite no
deja huella duradera. La misma campaña realizada cada año, en el mismo punto del calendario, se
convierte en una cita que la gente anticipa, planifica y acaba por reivindicar con orgullo. La
constancia es lo que convierte un evento en una tradición, y una tradición no es más que la cultura
hecha visible.

Aquí es donde los momentos recurrentes se ganan su valor. Un [día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
realizado cada año, se convierte en una fecha que toda la comunidad sabe que se acerca: un momento
concentrado y lleno de energía que reúne a estudiantes, personal, antiguos alumnos y familias en torno a
un impulso común y recuerda a todos, año tras año, que este es un lugar en el que se dona. Una
[semana del reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) hace algo complementario, al poner la
captación de fondos directamente en manos de los estudiantes y formar a una generación de captadores de
fondos estudiantiles, al tiempo que incorpora a un gran número de donantes completamente nuevos,
familias, amigos y simpatizantes locales al programa más amplio. Realiza cualquiera de ellos una sola
vez y tendrás un evento. Realízalos cada año y estarás construyendo cultura.

Estos momentos recurrentes sustentan además la expresión más constante de todas de una cultura de la
donación: un [programa de donación regular](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Los
días de la donación y las semanas del reto captan donantes a gran escala y con rapidez, muchos de ellos
nuevos para la institución. Un programa de donación regular es la forma de retenerlos, convirtiendo una
donación puntual en un hábito: un compromiso mensual o anual que transforma un momento de generosidad en
una relación duradera. La cultura alimenta el programa, y el programa profundiza la cultura. Cada año de
ejecución constante amplía la base de personas para quienes donar es simplemente lo que hacen, y esa base
creciente es la medida más veraz de que una cultura de la donación ha echado raíces.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuánto se tarda en construir una cultura de la donación?** Años, no meses. Una cultura de la donación
se construye a través de experiencias compartidas repetidas y una fidelización constante, y se acumula
con el tiempo. Espera que los primeros años exijan paciencia e inversión antes de que los retornos se
vuelvan evidentes, y asegúrate el apoyo de la dirección sobre esa base.

**¿No es esto simplemente captación de fondos con otro nombre?** No. La captación de fondos pide
donaciones; una cultura de la donación es la convicción compartida, por parte de toda una comunidad, de
que apoyar a la institución es normal y valorado. La captación de fondos se vuelve mucho más fácil y mucho
más sostenible una vez que existe esa cultura, pero la cultura es el cimiento, no la campaña.

**¿Por dónde deberíamos empezar si hoy apenas tenemos cultura de la donación?** Empieza por las
experiencias que construyen el vínculo emocional, y por la constancia. Asegúrate el respaldo de la
dirección, elige un momento recurrente como un día de la donación o una semana del reto y comprométete a
realizarlo cada año, e invierte con decisión en la fidelización para que todo el que done reciba
agradecimiento y se le muestre su impacto.

**¿Cómo logramos que los estudiantes donen cuando ya están pagando tasas?** No les pidas que financien la
institución en abstracto. Ayúdales a recaudar dinero para sus propios clubes, asociaciones y causas, y
deja que experimenten cómo la institución apoya directamente sus proyectos. Esa experiencia de ser
apoyado es lo que, con el tiempo, convierte a un estudiante que paga tasas en un donante de por vida.

**¿Por qué importa tanto el respaldo de la dirección?** Porque la cultura cambia desde arriba. La
dirección libera los recursos y la paciencia que requiere una inversión plurianual, y dota de
legitimidad: cuando los altos cargos hablan de filantropía y agradecen personalmente a los donantes,
transmiten a toda la comunidad que la donación se valora al más alto nivel.

**¿Cómo medimos si una cultura de la donación está echando raíces?** Mira más allá de los ingresos, hacia
la participación: el número de personas que donan, la proporción de quienes vuelven a donar, la amplitud
entre estudiantes, personal, antiguos alumnos y familias, y el número de quienes donan su tiempo además
de su dinero. Una base creciente de donantes habituales es la señal más clara de que la cultura está
funcionando.

---

### Pack de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Hoja de ruta de la cultura de la donación](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Plantilla de argumentario filantrópico](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Marco para un círculo de donantes](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador del día de la donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina los textos de tus llamamientos y correos electrónicos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Blog de Hubbub: crear una cultura de la donación en tu universidad](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo organizar un día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Cómo organizar una semana del reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) y [Cómo construir un programa de donación regular](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment bâtir une culture du don](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour bâtir une culture du don durable au sein d'une institution : pourquoi elle compte, cultiver les soutiens dès le premier contact, l'adhésion de la direction, l'engagement des étudiants, du personnel, des anciens et des parents, et la fidélisation comme culture.
Une culture du don est une attente partagée et bien ancrée : soutenir votre institution et les
personnes qui la composent est une chose normale et valorisée. Ce n'est pas une simple campagne ni
un appel astucieux. C'est l'idée tacite, partagée aussi bien par les étudiants, le personnel, les
anciens que les amis de l'institution, que rendre la pareille fait partie de ce que signifie
appartenir à une communauté. Là où cette culture existe, la collecte de fonds cesse d'être vécue
comme une intrusion et devient l'expression d'une communauté. Là où elle n'existe pas, chaque appel
repart de zéro, adressé à des personnes que l'on n'a jamais sollicitées, jamais remerciées, et à qui
l'on n'a jamais montré que leur don comptait.

Bâtir une telle culture est un travail de longue haleine, et il vaut mieux être honnête à ce sujet
dès le départ. Comme le dit Hubbub, la culture « se développe par des expériences partagées qui
nourrissent les comportements », et une culture du don en particulier « exige un temps et un
investissement considérables pour cultiver l'expérience étudiante, la compréhension de
l'institution et le lien émotionnel chez les jeunes ». Il n'y a pas de raccourci. Mais l'effort
porte ses fruits de façon cumulative : chaque année de travail constant rend la suivante plus
facile, jusqu'à ce que donner devienne simplement ce que fait votre communauté.

Ce guide explique comment bâtir cette culture de manière délibérée, depuis le tout premier contact
d'une personne avec votre institution jusqu'à la reconnaissance et la narration qui la conduisent à
donner toute sa vie. Un thème traverse l'ensemble : une culture du don ne se résume pas, loin de là,
aux revenus collectés en une seule année. L'argent est réel et il compte, mais il est le résultat de
la culture, et non sa finalité.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [feuille de route de la culture du don](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> [modèle d'argumentaire philanthropique](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) et
> [cadre de cercle de donateurs](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Pourquoi une culture du don est importante

Une culture du don apporte des choses qu'un appel ponctuel ne pourra jamais offrir. Elle élargit la
participation, de sorte que donner devienne une chose que beaucoup de gens font à hauteur de leurs
moyens, plutôt qu'une chose que seuls quelques grands donateurs accomplissent. Elle approfondit
l'engagement, transformant des noms passifs sur une base de données en membres actifs d'une
communauté qui participent, se portent volontaires, accompagnent et défendent l'institution. Et elle
renforce la résilience : une institution dont les soutiens donnent par habitude est bien moins
exposée lorsqu'une source de financement vient à faiblir.

Cela compte plus que jamais, pour une raison structurelle. Comme l'observe l'article de Hubbub, la
relation entre les étudiants et leur université « est devenue de plus en plus commerciale, en
particulier au Royaume-Uni à la suite de l'augmentation des frais de scolarité ». Lorsque les
étudiants paient des frais substantiels, il leur est facile de partir avec le sentiment d'avoir
acheté un service et soldé leur compte. À l'inverse, l'article note que les universités américaines
« maintiennent des cultures du don plus fortes malgré des frais de scolarité plus élevés, en partie
parce que les boursiers se sentent tenus de soutenir les générations futures ». La différence ne
tient pas au montant des frais, mais au fait de partir ou non avec le sentiment de faire partie de
quelque chose que l'on a envie de faire perdurer. Bâtir une culture du don consiste en grande partie
à combler cet écart, afin que celles et ceux qui passent par votre institution la quittent avec un
lien émotionnel plutôt que transactionnel.

## Cultiver les soutiens dès le premier contact

Une culture du don commence dès le tout premier contact d'une personne avec l'institution, et non au
moment de la remise des diplômes. Beaucoup d'institutions commettent l'erreur de considérer la
collecte de fonds comme une chose qui commence au moment où quelqu'un s'en va. À ce stade, les
habitudes sont prises et les sentiments figés.

Cela implique que vous devez penser à la relation avec le soutien bien avant toute sollicitation. Un
étudiant potentiel lors d'une journée portes ouvertes, un primo-arrivant durant sa première semaine,
un étudiant de premier cycle qui reçoit une bourse, un étudiant de troisième cycle accompagné par une
ancienne : chacun de ces moments construit un lien émotionnel, ou échoue à le faire. L'article de
Hubbub souligne que « les programmes numériques et les réseaux sociaux peuvent transformer les
étudiants et le personnel en ambassadeurs de l'institution », et qu'il faut « mieux communiquer sur
la valeur de l'enseignement supérieur pour renforcer les liens avec les étudiants ». Une grande part
du travail de culture est un travail de communication : raconter l'histoire de ce à quoi sert votre
institution, de ce qu'elle rend possible et de ceux dont elle dépend, de manière constante et dès le
tout début.

Pour cette raison, le service du développement ne peut pas travailler en vase clos. Les expériences
qui construisent une culture du don sont portées dans toute l'institution : aux admissions, dans les
services aux étudiants, dans les départements universitaires et au sein de l'équipe des anciens. Une
partie de votre rôle consiste à influencer ces expériences afin que, au moment où quelqu'un obtient
son diplôme, rendre la pareille semble naturel plutôt que présomptueux.

## Obtenir l'adhésion de la direction et de l'institution

Aucune culture ne change sans le soutien de la direction. Une culture du don qui ne vit qu'au sein du
service du développement sera toujours fragile. Elle doit être portée au plus haut niveau : par le
recteur ou le dirigeant, par l'équipe dirigeante, par les doyens et les chefs de département, et
idéalement par le conseil d'administration.

L'adhésion de la direction produit deux effets. D'abord, elle débloque des ressources et de la
patience. Une culture du don est un investissement pluriannuel qui ne montrera pas son plein
rendement à l'intérieur d'un seul cycle budgétaire. Les dirigeants qui le comprennent protègent
l'investissement durant les premières années maigres, plutôt que de le juger sur les revenus d'une
seule année. Ensuite, la direction confère de la légitimité au travail. Lorsqu'un recteur parle
publiquement de philanthropie, préside un défi de collecte étudiant, ou écrit personnellement pour
remercier les donateurs, cela signale à toute la communauté que le don est valorisé au plus haut
niveau. Ce signal normalise le don bien plus puissamment que n'importe quelle campagne.

Pour obtenir cette adhésion, il vous faut un argumentaire philanthropique clair : un exposé court et
convaincant des raisons pour lesquelles le don importe à votre institution, de ce qu'il rend
possible et de l'ambition à long terme. Notre
[modèle d'argumentaire philanthropique](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) vous aide à en
rédiger un. Construisez-le autour de la culture et de la communauté plutôt qu'autour d'un objectif
financier, car c'est l'argument qui suscite un soutien patient plutôt qu'un examen impatient.

## Ancrer le don dans toute la communauté

Une culture du don ne peut reposer sur les seuls anciens. Les institutions qui bâtissent les
cultures les plus solides ancrent le don dans toute la communauté : les étudiants actuels, le
personnel, les anciens et les parents. Chaque groupe joue un rôle différent, et chacun renforce les
autres.

Les **étudiants** sont l'avenir de tout programme de don, et la période où leur relation avec
l'institution est la plus malléable. Mobilisez-les maintenant et vous ne collectez pas seulement de
modestes sommes aujourd'hui : vous formez les donateurs des trente prochaines années. Le don du
**personnel** envoie un puissant signal interne : lorsque les personnes qui travaillent dans une
institution choisissent de lui donner, cela dit aux étudiants et aux anciens que celles et ceux qui
la connaissent le mieux croient en elle. Les **anciens** sont le cœur traditionnel d'un programme de
développement, mais ils donnent d'autant plus volontiers que leur expérience étudiante leur a déjà
appris que donner est normal. Et les **parents** sont un groupe souvent sous-exploité, qui a un
intérêt réel dans la réussite de l'institution et un goût naturel pour soutenir l'expérience que vit
leur enfant en ce moment même.

L'intérêt de considérer ces quatre groupes ensemble, c'est qu'ils ne sont pas des publics distincts
à travailler de manière isolée. Ils forment une seule communauté, et la culture que vous bâtissez
est le sentiment partagé, à travers tous ces groupes, que ce lieu mérite d'être soutenu.

## Philanthropie étudiante et cercles de donateurs

Les étudiants méritent une attention particulière, car la philanthropie étudiante est le terrain où
une culture du don est soit semée, soit perdue. L'idée cruciale, que l'article de Hubbub énonce sans
détour, est que « les étudiants ne collecteront pas de fonds pour les universités en tant
qu'organisations à but non lucratif, mais soutiendront leurs propres projets qui les passionnent ».
Demandez à un étudiant de collecter pour l'idée abstraite de l'institution et vous obtiendrez peu de
chose. Aidez-le à collecter pour son propre club, son association, son équipe ou sa cause, et il y
mettra une énergie débordante.

C'est pourquoi la collecte menée par les étudiants est un outil si puissant pour construire une
culture. L'article décrit les projets étudiants comme « la mine d'or de contenu » qui inspire les
donateurs et déclenche des chaînes de dons, et il formule un point réciproque qui mérite qu'on s'y
attarde : lorsqu'une institution aide les étudiants à financer leurs propres projets, « les étudiants
font directement l'expérience du soutien de l'institution ». Cette expérience directe d'être soutenu
est précisément ce qui construit le lien émotionnel qui, des années plus tard, transforme un diplômé
en donateur. Elle produit aussi, selon les mots de l'article, de « riches profils de donateurs
préqualifiés » qui rendent la collecte future plus efficace. Les modèles pair à pair fonctionnent
parce que, comme le note l'article, les liens personnels et les mécaniques de « défi » suscitent des
taux de don plus élevés que ne le feront jamais les appels impersonnels.

Les cercles de donateurs sont l'autre moitié de la philanthropie étudiante : une façon structurée de
reconnaître et de célébrer celles et ceux qui donnent, donnent régulièrement, ou donnent de leur
temps. Un cercle bien conçu rend l'appartenance porteuse de sens, avec sa propre identité, sa
reconnaissance et son sentiment d'appartenance, et il offre aux gens une échelle à gravir à mesure
que leur relation avec l'institution s'approfondit. Notre
[cadre de cercle de donateurs](/resources/giving-society-framework/) vous aide à en concevoir un qui
corresponde à votre communauté. L'objectif est le même que pour tout le reste de ce guide : rendre le
don visible, valorisé et normal.

## Fidélisation, reconnaissance et narration

S'il est un moteur qui anime une culture du don, c'est la fidélisation. Acquérir un donateur est le
début d'une relation, et non la fin d'une transaction, et ce qui se passe après le don détermine si
cette personne donnera de nouveau un jour. Remerciez les gens rapidement et chaleureusement.
Montrez-leur, concrètement, ce que leur don a rendu possible. Traitez un premier don comme le début
d'une conversation plutôt que comme une case cochée.

La reconnaissance compte parce qu'elle rend le don visible, et un don visible est contagieux. Lorsque
les gens voient que les donateurs sont remerciés, nommés là où ils le souhaitent, et réellement
valorisés, le don cesse d'être vécu comme un acte de charité privé pour devenir une part normale de
l'appartenance. C'est pourquoi la reconnaissance publique, les cercles de donateurs, les murs de
donateurs, les fonds nommés et les remerciements simples et sincères font tous plus que récompenser
l'individu : ils disent à tous ceux qui regardent que ceci est une communauté où l'on donne.

La narration est ce qui fait que tout cela porte. Les chiffres persuadent peu de gens ; les histoires
en touchent presque tous. L'étudiant dont la bourse a changé la vie, la chercheuse dont les travaux
ont été financés par de petits dons, le club qui a pu se rendre à une compétition parce que des
centaines de personnes ont chacune donné un peu : ce sont les histoires qui construisent la culture,
parce qu'elles montrent le résultat humain du don et invitent les autres à participer au prochain.
Racontez-les sans cesse, sur tous les canaux, et faites du donateur une partie de l'histoire plutôt
qu'une note de bas de page. Pour affiner les mots que vous employez dans les appels et les messages
de remerciement, le [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) gratuit est un précieux
deuxième regard.

## La constance d'une année sur l'autre

La culture se construit par la répétition. Une campagne brillante qui n'a lieu qu'une fois et n'est
jamais reconduite ne laisse aucune trace durable. La même campagne menée chaque année, au même moment
du calendrier, devient un rendez-vous que les gens anticipent, planifient et finissent par revendiquer
avec fierté. La constance est ce qui transforme un événement en tradition, et une tradition n'est rien
d'autre que la culture rendue visible.

C'est là que les moments récurrents prouvent leur valeur. Une [journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
organisée chaque année, devient une date que toute la communauté sait à venir : un moment concentré et
plein d'énergie qui rassemble étudiants, personnel, anciens et parents autour d'un élan commun et
rappelle à tous, chaque année, que ceci est un lieu où l'on donne. Une
[semaine de défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) fait quelque chose de complémentaire,
en plaçant la collecte directement entre les mains des étudiants et en formant une génération de
collecteurs étudiants, tout en amenant un grand nombre de donateurs tout neufs, de parents, d'amis et
de soutiens locaux dans le programme plus large. Organisez l'un ou l'autre une seule fois et vous avez
un événement. Organisez-les chaque année et vous bâtissez une culture.

Ces moments récurrents sous-tendent aussi l'expression la plus régulière de toutes d'une culture du
don : un [programme de don régulier](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Les
journées du don et les semaines de défi acquièrent des donateurs à grande échelle et à grande vitesse,
dont beaucoup sont nouveaux pour l'institution. Un programme de don régulier est la façon de les
fidéliser, en convertissant un don ponctuel en une habitude : un engagement mensuel ou annuel qui
transforme un moment de générosité en une relation durable. La culture alimente le programme, et le
programme approfondit la culture. Chaque année de mise en œuvre constante élargit la base de personnes
pour qui donner est simplement ce qu'elles font, et cette base grandissante est la mesure la plus vraie
qu'une culture du don a pris racine.

## Foire aux questions

**Combien de temps faut-il pour bâtir une culture du don ?** Des années, pas des mois. Une culture du
don se construit par des expériences partagées répétées et une fidélisation constante, et elle se
cumule avec le temps. Attendez-vous à ce que les premières années exigent de la patience et de
l'investissement avant que les retombées ne deviennent évidentes, et obtenez le soutien de la
direction sur cette base.

**N'est-ce pas simplement de la collecte de fonds sous un autre nom ?** Non. La collecte de fonds
demande des dons ; une culture du don est la conviction partagée, à travers toute une communauté, que
soutenir l'institution est normal et valorisé. La collecte devient bien plus facile et bien plus
durable une fois cette culture en place, mais la culture est le fondement plutôt que la campagne.

**Par où commencer si nous n'avons presque aucune culture du don aujourd'hui ?** Commencez par les
expériences qui construisent le lien émotionnel, et par la constance. Obtenez l'adhésion de la
direction, choisissez un moment récurrent tel qu'une journée du don ou une semaine de défi et
engagez-vous à l'organiser chaque année, et investissez massivement dans la fidélisation pour que
tous ceux qui donnent soient remerciés et voient leur impact.

**Comment amener les étudiants à donner alors qu'ils paient déjà des frais de scolarité ?** Ne leur
demandez pas de financer l'institution dans l'abstrait. Aidez-les à collecter pour leurs propres
clubs, associations et causes, et laissez-les faire l'expérience d'une institution qui soutient
directement leurs projets. Cette expérience d'être soutenu est ce qui, avec le temps, transforme un
étudiant payant des frais de scolarité en donateur à vie.

**Pourquoi l'adhésion de la direction compte-t-elle autant ?** Parce que la culture change depuis le
sommet. La direction débloque les ressources et la patience qu'exige un investissement pluriannuel, et
elle confère de la légitimité : lorsque les dirigeants parlent de philanthropie et remercient
personnellement les donateurs, cela signale à toute la communauté que le don est valorisé au plus haut
niveau.

**Comment mesurer si une culture du don prend racine ?** Regardez au-delà des revenus, du côté de la
participation : le nombre de personnes qui donnent, la proportion de celles qui redonnent, l'ampleur à
travers les étudiants, le personnel, les anciens et les parents, et le nombre de celles qui donnent de
leur temps autant que de leur argent. Une base grandissante de donateurs réguliers est le signe le
plus clair que la culture fonctionne.

---

### Pack de ressources des membres

Connectez-vous avec votre adresse e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Feuille de route de la culture du don](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Modèle d'argumentaire philanthropique](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Cadre de cercle de donateurs](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée du don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et d'e-mail
- [Générateur de QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Blog Hubbub : créer une culture du don dans votre université](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Guides connexes : [Comment organiser une journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Comment organiser une semaine de défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) et [Comment bâtir un programme de don régulier](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come costruire una cultura del dono](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per costruire una cultura del dono duratura in un'istituzione: perché conta, come coltivare i sostenitori fin dal primo contatto, l'adesione della dirigenza, il coinvolgimento di studenti, personale, ex studenti e genitori, e la cura della relazione come cultura.
Una cultura del dono è un'aspettativa condivisa e radicata: sostenere la tua istituzione e le persone
che la compongono è una cosa normale e apprezzata. Non è una singola campagna né un appello astuto. È
il presupposto silenzioso, condiviso da studenti, personale, ex studenti e amici, che restituire fa
parte di ciò che significa appartenere. Dove questa cultura esiste, la raccolta fondi smette di
sembrare un'intrusione e diventa l'espressione di una comunità. Dove non esiste, ogni appello riparte
da zero, rivolto a persone a cui non è mai stato chiesto nulla, che non sono mai state ringraziate e a
cui non è mai stato mostrato che il loro dono contava.

Costruire una cultura simile è un lavoro lento, ed è utile essere onesti su questo fin dall'inizio.
Come afferma Hubbub, la cultura «si sviluppa attraverso esperienze condivise che alimentano il
comportamento», e una cultura del dono in particolare «richiede tempo e investimenti considerevoli per
coltivare l'esperienza studentesca, la comprensione dell'istituzione e il legame emotivo tra i
giovani». Non esistono scorciatoie. Ma lo sforzo si capitalizza: ogni anno di lavoro costante rende il
successivo più facile, finché donare diventa semplicemente ciò che la tua comunità fa.

Questa guida illustra come costruire quella cultura in modo deliberato, dal primissimo contatto di una
persona con la tua istituzione fino al riconoscimento e alla narrazione che la inducono a donare per
tutta la vita. Un tema attraversa l'intero percorso: una cultura del dono riguarda ben più dei proventi
raccolti in un singolo anno. Il denaro è reale e conta, ma è il risultato della cultura, non il suo
scopo.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare la nostra
> [roadmap della cultura del dono](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> il [modello di argomentazione filantropica](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) e il
> [quadro per un circolo di donatori](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Perché una cultura del dono è importante

Una cultura del dono offre cose che un appello una tantum non potrà mai dare. Allarga la
partecipazione, così che donare diventi qualcosa che molte persone fanno in modesta misura, anziché
qualcosa che pochi grandi donatori compiono da soli. Approfondisce il coinvolgimento, trasformando
nomi passivi in un database in membri attivi di una comunità che partecipano, fanno volontariato,
fanno da mentori e si fanno portavoce. E costruisce resilienza: un'istituzione i cui sostenitori
donano per abitudine è assai meno esposta quando una singola fonte di finanziamento vacilla.

Questo conta più che mai, per una ragione strutturale. Come osserva l'articolo di Hubbub, il rapporto
tra gli studenti e le loro università «è diventato sempre più commerciale, in particolare nel Regno
Unito a seguito dell'aumento delle rette». Quando gli studenti pagano rette consistenti, è facile per
loro andarsene con la sensazione di aver acquistato un servizio e saldato il conto. Al contrario,
l'articolo nota che le università statunitensi «mantengono culture del dono più solide nonostante rette
più elevate, in parte perché i beneficiari di borse di studio si sentono in dovere di sostenere le
generazioni future». La differenza non sta nell'entità della retta, ma nel fatto che le persone se ne
vadano o meno con la sensazione di far parte di qualcosa che desiderano sostenere. Costruire una
cultura del dono significa in larga misura colmare quel divario, affinché coloro che passano per la tua
istituzione la lascino con un legame emotivo anziché transazionale.

## Coltivare i sostenitori fin dal primo contatto

Una cultura del dono inizia dal primissimo contatto di una persona con l'istituzione, non alla laurea.
Molte istituzioni commettono l'errore di trattare la raccolta fondi come qualcosa che comincia quando
qualcuno se ne va. A quel punto le abitudini sono formate e i sentimenti consolidati.

L'implicazione è che devi pensare alla relazione con il sostenitore molto prima che ci sia qualsiasi
richiesta. Uno studente potenziale a un open day, una matricola alla sua prima settimana, una studentessa
triennale che riceve una borsa di studio, uno studente magistrale seguito da un'ex studentessa: ciascuno
è un momento che costruisce un legame emotivo oppure manca di farlo. L'articolo di Hubbub sottolinea che
«i programmi digitali e i social media possono trasformare studenti e personale in ambasciatori
dell'istituzione» e che «serve una migliore comunicazione sul valore dell'istruzione superiore per
rafforzare i legami con gli studenti». Gran parte del lavoro sulla cultura è lavoro di comunicazione:
raccontare la storia di a cosa serve la tua istituzione, di ciò che rende possibile e di chi dipende, in
modo coerente e fin dal principio.

Per questa ragione l'ufficio sviluppo non può lavorare in isolamento. Le esperienze che costruiscono una
cultura del dono sono di competenza dell'intera istituzione: nelle ammissioni, nei servizi agli
studenti, nei dipartimenti accademici e nel team degli ex studenti. Parte del tuo compito è influenzare
quelle esperienze affinché, al momento in cui qualcuno si laurea, restituire risulti naturale anziché
presuntuoso.

## Ottenere l'adesione della dirigenza e dell'istituzione

Nessuna cultura cambia senza la dirigenza alle spalle. Una cultura del dono che viva solo nell'ufficio
sviluppo sarà sempre fragile. Va fatta propria ai vertici: dal rettore o dal responsabile, dal gruppo
dirigente, dai presidi e dai capi dipartimento e, idealmente, dall'organo di governo.

L'adesione della dirigenza produce due effetti. Primo, sblocca risorse e pazienza. Una cultura del dono
è un investimento pluriennale che non mostrerà il suo pieno rendimento all'interno di un solo ciclo di
bilancio. I dirigenti che lo comprendono proteggono l'investimento attraverso i primi anni magri,
anziché giudicarlo sui proventi di un singolo anno. Secondo, la dirigenza conferisce legittimità al
lavoro. Quando un rettore parla pubblicamente di filantropia, giudica una sfida di raccolta fondi
studentesca o scrive personalmente per ringraziare i donatori, segnala a tutta la comunità che il dono
è apprezzato ai massimi livelli. Quel segnale normalizza il dono con più forza di qualsiasi campagna.

Per ottenere quell'adesione ti serve una chiara argomentazione filantropica: un resoconto breve e
convincente del perché donare conta per la tua istituzione, di ciò che rende possibile e di quale sia
l'ambizione a lungo termine. Il nostro
[modello di argomentazione filantropica](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) ti aiuta a
scriverne uno. Costruiscilo attorno alla cultura e alla comunità anziché attorno a un obiettivo
finanziario, perché è questa l'argomentazione che conquista un sostegno paziente anziché uno scrutinio
impaziente.

## Radicare il dono in tutta la comunità

Una cultura del dono non può poggiare sui soli ex studenti. Le istituzioni che costruiscono le culture
più solide radicano il dono in tutta la comunità: studenti attuali, personale, ex studenti e genitori.
Ogni gruppo svolge un ruolo diverso, e ciascuno rafforza gli altri.

Gli **studenti** sono il futuro di ogni programma di dono, e il periodo in cui la loro relazione con
l'istituzione è più malleabile. Coinvolgili ora e non raccoglierai soltanto modeste somme oggi: starai
formando i donatori dei prossimi trent'anni. Il dono del **personale** invia un potente segnale interno:
quando le persone che lavorano in un'istituzione scelgono di donarle, dice a studenti ed ex studenti che
coloro che la conoscono meglio credono in essa. Gli **ex studenti** sono il cuore tradizionale di un
programma di sviluppo, ma donano con maggiore prontezza quando la loro esperienza studentesca ha già
insegnato loro che donare è normale. E i **genitori** sono un gruppo spesso poco sfruttato, con un
autentico interesse nel successo dell'istituzione e una naturale propensione a sostenere l'esperienza
che il loro figlio sta vivendo proprio in questo momento.

Il senso di considerare insieme tutti e quattro i gruppi è che non sono pubblici separati da lavorare in
isolamento. Sono un'unica comunità, e la cultura che stai costruendo è la percezione condivisa, da parte
di tutti loro, che questo è un luogo che merita di essere sostenuto.

## Filantropia studentesca e circoli di donatori

Gli studenti meritano un'attenzione particolare, perché la filantropia studentesca è il terreno in cui
una cultura del dono viene seminata oppure perduta. L'intuizione cruciale, che l'articolo di Hubbub
afferma senza giri di parole, è che «gli studenti non raccoglieranno fondi per le università come enti
non profit, ma sosterranno i propri progetti del cuore». Chiedi a uno studente di raccogliere denaro per
l'idea astratta dell'istituzione e otterrai ben poco. Aiutalo a raccogliere denaro per il proprio club,
la propria associazione, la propria squadra o la propria causa, e vi riverserà tutta la sua energia.

Ecco perché la raccolta fondi guidata dagli studenti è uno strumento così potente per costruire cultura.
L'articolo descrive i progetti studenteschi come «la miniera d'oro di contenuti» che ispira i donatori e
innesca catene di donazioni, e formula un punto reciproco su cui vale la pena soffermarsi: quando
un'istituzione aiuta gli studenti a finanziare i propri progetti, «gli studenti sperimentano
direttamente il sostegno dell'istituzione». Proprio quella esperienza diretta di essere sostenuti
costruisce il legame emotivo che, anni dopo, trasforma un laureato in un donatore. Produce inoltre, nelle
parole dell'articolo, «profili di donatori ricchi e pre-qualificati» che rendono più efficiente la
raccolta fondi futura. I modelli peer-to-peer funzionano perché, come nota l'articolo, i legami personali
e le meccaniche da «sfida» generano tassi di donazione più elevati di quanto facciano mai gli appelli
impersonali.

I circoli di donatori sono l'altra metà della filantropia studentesca: un modo strutturato di
riconoscere e celebrare coloro che donano, donano con regolarità o donano il proprio tempo. Un circolo
ben progettato rende l'appartenenza ricca di significato, con una propria identità, un proprio
riconoscimento e un senso di appartenenza, e offre alle persone una scala da salire man mano che la loro
relazione con l'istituzione si approfondisce. Il nostro
[quadro per un circolo di donatori](/resources/giving-society-framework/) ti aiuta a progettarne uno
adatto alla tua comunità. L'obiettivo è lo stesso di tutto il resto di questa guida: rendere il dono
visibile, apprezzato e normale.

## Cura della relazione, riconoscimento e narrazione

Se un singolo motore alimenta una cultura del dono, è la cura della relazione. Acquisire un donatore è
l'inizio di una relazione, non la fine di una transazione, e ciò che accade dopo il dono determina se
quella persona donerà mai di nuovo. Ringrazia le persone con prontezza e calore. Mostra loro, in modo
concreto, ciò che il loro dono ha reso possibile. Tratta un primo dono come l'inizio di una
conversazione anziché come una casella spuntata.

Il riconoscimento conta perché rende il dono visibile, e un dono visibile è contagioso. Quando le
persone vedono che i donatori sono ringraziati, nominati dove lo desiderano e sinceramente apprezzati,
donare smette di sembrare un atto privato di carità e inizia a sembrare una parte normale
dell'appartenenza. È per questo che il riconoscimento pubblico, i circoli di donatori, le pareti dei
donatori, i fondi intitolati e i ringraziamenti semplici e sentiti fanno tutti più che premiare il
singolo: dicono a chiunque osservi che questa è una comunità in cui si dona.

La narrazione è ciò che fa attecchire tutto questo. I numeri convincono poche persone; le storie
commuovono quasi tutti. Lo studente la cui borsa di studio gli ha cambiato la vita, la ricercatrice il
cui lavoro è stato finanziato da piccole donazioni, il club che ha potuto recarsi a una competizione
perché centinaia di persone hanno donato ciascuna un po': sono queste le storie che costruiscono
cultura, perché mostrano il risultato umano del dono e invitano gli altri a far parte del prossimo.
Raccontale di continuo, su ogni canale, e fai del donatore parte della storia anziché una nota a piè di
pagina. Per affinare le parole che usi negli appelli e nei messaggi di ringraziamento, il gratuito
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) è un utile secondo paio d'occhi.

## Coerenza anno dopo anno

La cultura si costruisce con la ripetizione. Una campagna brillante che accade una volta e non viene
mai ripetuta non lascia alcun segno duraturo. La stessa campagna condotta ogni anno, nello stesso punto
del calendario, diventa un appuntamento fisso che le persone attendono, pianificano e finiscono per
rivendicare con orgoglio. La coerenza è ciò che trasforma un evento in una tradizione, e una tradizione
non è che la cultura resa visibile.

È qui che i momenti ricorrenti si guadagnano il proprio valore. Una [giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
condotta ogni anno, diventa una data che tutta la comunità sa essere in arrivo: un momento concentrato e
carico di energia che raduna studenti, personale, ex studenti e genitori attorno a uno slancio comune e
ricorda a tutti, anno dopo anno, che questo è un luogo in cui si dona. Una
[settimana di sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) fa qualcosa di complementare, mettendo
la raccolta fondi direttamente nelle mani degli studenti e formando una generazione di raccoglitori
fondi studenteschi, portando al contempo un gran numero di donatori nuovissimi, genitori, amici e
sostenitori locali nel programma più ampio. Conducine una sola volta e avrai un evento. Conducile ogni
anno e starai costruendo cultura.

Questi momenti ricorrenti sostengono anche l'espressione più costante di tutte di una cultura del dono:
un [programma di donazione regolare](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Le giornate
del dono e le settimane di sfida acquisiscono donatori su larga scala e con rapidità, molti dei quali
nuovi per l'istituzione. Un programma di donazione regolare è il modo in cui li trattieni, convertendo
un dono una tantum in un'abitudine: un impegno mensile o annuale che trasforma un momento di generosità
in una relazione duratura. La cultura alimenta il programma, e il programma approfondisce la cultura.
Ogni anno di realizzazione coerente allarga la base di persone per cui donare è semplicemente ciò che
fanno, e quella base in crescita è la misura più veritiera che una cultura del dono ha messo radici.

## Domande frequenti

**Quanto tempo ci vuole per costruire una cultura del dono?** Anni, non mesi. Una cultura del dono si
costruisce attraverso esperienze condivise ripetute e una cura costante della relazione, e si
capitalizza nel tempo. Aspettati che i primi anni richiedano pazienza e investimento prima che i
ritorni diventino evidenti, e assicurati il sostegno della dirigenza su questa base.

**Non è semplicemente raccolta fondi con un altro nome?** No. La raccolta fondi chiede donazioni; una
cultura del dono è la convinzione condivisa, da parte di un'intera comunità, che sostenere l'istituzione
sia normale e apprezzato. La raccolta fondi diventa assai più facile e assai più sostenibile una volta
che quella cultura esiste, ma la cultura è il fondamento, non la campagna.

**Da dove dovremmo cominciare se oggi non abbiamo quasi alcuna cultura del dono?** Comincia dalle
esperienze che costruiscono il legame emotivo, e dalla coerenza. Assicurati l'adesione della dirigenza,
scegli un momento ricorrente come una giornata del dono o una settimana di sfida e impegnati a
condurlo ogni anno, e investi con decisione nella cura della relazione affinché chiunque doni venga
ringraziato e gli venga mostrato il proprio impatto.

**Come facciamo a far donare gli studenti quando stanno già pagando le rette?** Non chiedere loro di
finanziare l'istituzione in astratto. Aiutali a raccogliere denaro per i propri club, le proprie
associazioni e le proprie cause, e lascia che sperimentino l'istituzione mentre sostiene direttamente i
loro progetti. Quella esperienza di essere sostenuti è ciò che, col tempo, trasforma uno studente che
paga le rette in un donatore a vita.

**Perché l'adesione della dirigenza conta così tanto?** Perché la cultura cambia dall'alto. La dirigenza
sblocca le risorse e la pazienza che un investimento pluriennale richiede, e conferisce legittimità:
quando i dirigenti parlano di filantropia e ringraziano personalmente i donatori, segnalano a tutta la
comunità che il dono è apprezzato ai massimi livelli.

**Come misuriamo se una cultura del dono sta mettendo radici?** Guarda oltre i proventi, alla
partecipazione: il numero di persone che donano, la proporzione di coloro che donano di nuovo,
l'ampiezza tra studenti, personale, ex studenti e genitori, e il numero di coloro che donano il proprio
tempo oltre al proprio denaro. Una base in crescita di donatori abituali è il segno più chiaro che la
cultura sta funzionando.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua email per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Roadmap della cultura del dono](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Modello di argomentazione filantropica](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Quadro per un circolo di donatori](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore della giornata del dono di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina i testi dei tuoi appelli e delle tue email
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Letture di approfondimento

- [Blog Hubbub: creare una cultura del dono nella tua università](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Guide correlate: [Come organizzare una giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Come organizzare una settimana di sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) e [Come costruire un programma di donazione regolare](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to build a culture of giving](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (uk/en): A practical guide to building a lasting culture of giving across an institution, covering why it matters, cultivating supporters from the first contact, leadership buy-in, engaging students, staff, alumni and parents, and stewardship as culture.
A culture of giving is a settled, shared expectation that supporting your institution and the
people in it is a normal and valued thing to do. It is not a single campaign or a clever appeal.
It is the quiet assumption, held by students, staff, alumni and friends alike, that giving back
is part of what it means to belong. Where that culture exists, fundraising stops feeling like an
interruption and becomes an expression of community. Where it does not, every appeal starts from
scratch, addressed to people who have never been asked, never been thanked, and never been shown
that their gift mattered.

Building such a culture is slow work, and it helps to be honest about that from the outset. As
Hubbub puts it, culture "develops through shared experiences that nurture behaviour", and a
giving culture in particular "requires substantial time and investment to cultivate student
experience, institutional understanding, and emotional connection among young people." There is
no shortcut. But the effort compounds: every year of consistent work makes the next year easier,
until giving becomes simply what your community does.

This guide sets out how to build that culture deliberately, from a person's first contact with
your institution through to the recognition and storytelling that keep them giving for life. One
theme runs throughout: a culture of giving is about far more than the income raised in any single
year. The money is real and it matters, but it is the outcome of the culture, not the point of
it.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) and
> [giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Why a culture of giving matters

A culture of giving delivers things a one-off appeal never can. It widens participation, so that
giving becomes something many people do in modest amounts rather than something a handful of
major donors do alone. It deepens engagement, turning passive names on a database into active
members of a community who attend, volunteer, mentor and advocate. And it builds resilience: an
institution whose supporters give habitually is far less exposed when any single funding source
falters.

This matters more than ever in the UK, for a structural reason. As the Hubbub article observes,
the relationship between students and their universities "has become increasingly commercial,
particularly in the UK following fee increases." When students pay substantial fees, it is easy
for them to leave feeling they have bought a service and settled the account. By contrast, the
article notes that US universities "maintain stronger giving cultures despite higher tuition
fees, partly because scholarship recipients feel obligated to support future generations." The
difference is not the size of the fee but whether people leave feeling part of something they
want to sustain. Building a culture of giving is largely about closing that gap, so that those
who pass through your institution leave with an emotional connection rather than a transactional
one.

## Cultivating supporters from the first contact

A culture of giving starts at a person's very first contact with the institution, not at
graduation. Many institutions make the mistake of treating fundraising as something that begins
when someone leaves. By then the habits are formed and the feelings are set.

The implication is that you must think about the supporter relationship long before there is any
ask. A prospective student on an open day, a fresher in their first week, an undergraduate who
receives a bursary, a postgraduate mentored by an alumna: each is a moment that either builds an
emotional connection or fails to. The Hubbub article makes the point that "digital programmes and
social media can transform students and staff into institutional ambassadors", and that "better
communication about the value of higher education is needed to strengthen bonds with students."
Much of the work of culture is the work of communication: telling the story of what your
institution is for, what it makes possible, and who it depends on, consistently and from the very
beginning.

For that reason, the development office cannot work in a silo. The experiences that build a
giving culture are owned right across the institution, in admissions, student services, academic
departments and the alumni team. Part of your job is to influence those experiences so that, by
the time someone graduates, giving back feels natural rather than presumptuous.

## Securing leadership and institutional buy-in

No culture changes without leadership behind it. A culture of giving that lives only in the
development office will always be fragile. It needs to be owned at the top: by the
vice-chancellor or head, by the senior team, by deans and heads of department, and ideally by the
governing body.

Leadership buy-in does two things. First, it unlocks resource and patience. A giving culture is a
multi-year investment that will not show its full return inside a single budget cycle. Senior
leaders who understand this protect the investment through the lean early years rather than
judging it on one year's income. Second, leadership lends the work legitimacy. When a
vice-chancellor talks publicly about philanthropy, judges a student fundraising challenge, or
writes personally to thank donors, it signals to the whole community that giving is valued at the
highest level. That signal normalises giving more powerfully than any campaign.

To secure that buy-in, you need a clear case for philanthropy: a short, compelling account of why
giving matters to your institution, what it makes possible, and what the long-term ambition is.
Our [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) helps you write
one. Frame it around culture and community rather than a financial target, because that is the
argument that wins patient support rather than impatient scrutiny.

## Embedding giving across the whole community

A culture of giving cannot rest on alumni alone. The institutions that build the strongest
cultures embed giving across the whole community: current students, staff, alumni and parents.
Each group plays a different part, and each reinforces the others.

**Students** are the future of every giving programme, and the period when their relationship
with the institution is most malleable. Engage them now and you are not only raising modest sums
today, you are forming the donors of the next thirty years. **Staff** giving sends a powerful
internal signal: when the people who work at an institution choose to give to it, it tells
students and alumni that those who know it best believe in it. **Alumni** are the traditional
heart of a development programme, but they give most readily when their student experience already
taught them that giving is normal. And **parents** are an often underused group with a genuine
stake in the institution's success, and a natural interest in supporting the experience their
child is having right now.

The point of considering all four groups together is that they are not separate audiences to be
worked in isolation. They are one community, and the culture you are building is the shared sense,
across all of them, that this is a place worth supporting.

## Student philanthropy and giving societies

Students deserve particular attention, because student philanthropy is where a culture of giving
is either seeded or lost. The crucial insight, which the Hubbub article states plainly, is that
"students won't fundraise for universities as nonprofits but will support their own passion
projects." Ask a student to raise money for the abstract idea of the institution and you will get
little. Help them raise money for their own club, society, team or cause, and they will pour
energy into it.

This is why student-led fundraising is so powerful as a culture-building tool. The article
describes student projects as "the content goldmine" that inspires donors and triggers chains of
giving, and it makes a reciprocal point worth dwelling on: when an institution helps students
fund their own projects, "students experience institutional support directly." That direct
experience of being supported is exactly what builds the emotional connection that, years later,
turns a graduate into a donor. It also produces, in the article's words, "rich, pre-qualified
donor profiles" that make future fundraising more efficient. Peer-to-peer models work because, as
the article notes, personal connections and "challenge" mechanics drive higher rates of giving
than impersonal appeals ever do.

Giving societies are the other half of student philanthropy: a structured way to recognise and
celebrate those who give, give regularly, or give their time. A well-designed society makes
membership feel meaningful, with its own identity, recognition and sense of belonging, and it
gives people a ladder to climb as their relationship with the institution deepens. Our
[giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/) helps you design one that fits
your community. The aim is the same as everything else in this guide: to make giving visible,
valued and normal.

## Stewardship, recognition and storytelling

If a single engine drives a culture of giving, it is stewardship. Acquiring a donor is the start
of a relationship, not the end of a transaction, and what happens after the gift determines
whether that person ever gives again. Thank people promptly and warmly. Show them, concretely,
what their gift made possible. Treat a first gift as the beginning of a conversation rather than a
box ticked.

Recognition matters because it makes giving visible, and visible giving is contagious. When people
see that donors are thanked, named where they wish to be, and genuinely valued, giving stops
feeling like a private act of charity and starts feeling like a normal part of belonging. That is
why public recognition, giving societies, donor walls, named funds and simple, heartfelt thanks
all do more than reward the individual: they tell everyone watching that this is a community where
people give.

Storytelling is what makes all of this land. Numbers persuade few people; stories move almost
everyone. The student whose bursary changed their life, the researcher whose work was funded by
small gifts, the club that travelled to a competition because hundreds of people each gave a
little: these are the stories that build culture, because they show the human outcome of giving
and invite others to be part of the next one. Tell them constantly, across every channel, and make
the donor part of the story rather than a footnote to it. To sharpen the words you use in appeals
and thank-you messages, the free [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) is a
useful second pair of eyes.

## Consistency year on year

Culture is built by repetition. A brilliant campaign that happens once and is never repeated
leaves no lasting mark. The same campaign run every year, at the same point in the calendar,
becomes a fixture that people anticipate, plan for and eventually take pride in. Consistency is
what turns an event into a tradition, and a tradition is simply culture made visible.

This is where recurring moments earn their keep. A [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
run annually, becomes a date the whole community knows is coming: a concentrated, high-energy
moment that rallies students, staff, alumni and parents around a shared push and reminds everyone,
every year, that this is a place where people give. A
[Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) does something complementary, putting
fundraising directly into students' hands and developing a generation of student fundraisers while
bringing large numbers of brand-new donors, parents, friends and local supporters into the wider
programme. Run either of these once and you have an event. Run them every year and you are
building culture.

These recurring moments also underpin the steadiest expression of a giving culture of all: a
[regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Giving Days and
Challenge Weeks acquire donors at scale and at speed, many of them new to the institution. A
regular giving programme is how you keep them, converting a one-off gift into a habit: a monthly
or annual commitment that turns a moment of generosity into a lasting relationship. The culture
feeds the programme, and the programme deepens the culture. Each year of consistent delivery
widens the base of people for whom giving is simply what they do, and that growing base is the
truest measure that a culture of giving has taken hold.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long does it take to build a culture of giving?** Years, not months. A giving culture is
built through repeated shared experiences and consistent stewardship, and it compounds over time.
Expect the early years to require patience and investment before the returns become obvious, and
secure leadership support on that basis.

**Isn't this just fundraising by another name?** No. Fundraising asks for gifts; a culture of
giving is the shared belief, across a whole community, that supporting the institution is normal
and valued. Fundraising becomes far easier and far more sustainable once that culture exists, but
the culture is the foundation rather than the campaign.

**Where should we start if we have almost no giving culture today?** Start with the experiences
that build emotional connection, and with consistency. Secure leadership buy-in, pick one
recurring moment such as a Giving Day or a Challenge Week and commit to running it every year, and
invest heavily in stewardship so that everyone who gives is thanked and shown their impact.

**How do we get students to give when they are already paying fees?** Don't ask them to fund the
institution in the abstract. Help them raise money for their own clubs, societies and causes, and
let them experience the institution supporting their projects directly. That experience of being
supported is what, over time, turns a fee-paying student into a lifelong donor.

**Why does leadership buy-in matter so much?** Because culture changes from the top. Leadership
unlocks the resource and patience a multi-year investment needs, and it lends legitimacy: when
senior leaders speak about philanthropy and thank donors personally, it signals to the whole
community that giving is valued at the highest level.

**How do we measure whether a culture of giving is taking hold?** Look beyond income to
participation: the number of people giving, the proportion who give again, the breadth across
students, staff, alumni and parents, and the number who give their time as well as their money. A
widening base of habitual givers is the clearest sign the culture is working.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: create a culture of giving at your university](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to build a culture of giving](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (us/en): A practical guide to building a lasting culture of giving across an institution, covering why it matters, cultivating supporters from the first contact, leadership buy-in, engaging students, staff, alumni and parents, and stewardship as culture.
A culture of giving is a settled, shared expectation that supporting your institution and the
people in it is a normal and valued thing to do. It is not a single campaign or a clever appeal.
It is the quiet assumption, held by students, staff, alumni and friends alike, that giving back
is part of what it means to belong. Where that culture exists, fundraising stops feeling like an
interruption and becomes an expression of community. Where it does not, every appeal starts from
scratch, addressed to people who have never been asked, never been thanked, and never been shown
that their gift mattered.

Building such a culture is slow work, and it helps to be honest about that from the outset. As
Hubbub puts it, culture "develops through shared experiences that nurture behaviour", and a
giving culture in particular "requires substantial time and investment to cultivate student
experience, institutional understanding, and emotional connection among young people." There is
no shortcut. But the effort compounds: every year of consistent work makes the next year easier,
until giving becomes simply what your community does.

This guide sets out how to build that culture deliberately, from a person's first contact with
your institution through to the recognition and storytelling that keep them giving for life. One
theme runs throughout: a culture of giving is about far more than the income raised in any single
year. The money is real and it matters, but it is the outcome of the culture, not the point of
it.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) and
> [giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Why a culture of giving matters

A culture of giving delivers things a one-off appeal never can. It widens participation, so that
giving becomes something many people do in modest amounts rather than something a handful of
major donors do alone. It deepens engagement, turning passive names on a database into active
members of a community who attend, volunteer, mentor and advocate. And it builds resilience: an
institution whose supporters give habitually is far less exposed when any single funding source
falters.

This matters more than ever, for a structural reason. As the Hubbub article observes,
the relationship between students and their universities "has become increasingly commercial,
particularly in the UK following fee increases." When students pay substantial tuition, it is easy
for them to leave feeling they have bought a service and settled the account. By contrast, the
article notes that US universities "maintain stronger giving cultures despite higher tuition
fees, partly because scholarship recipients feel obligated to support future generations." The
difference is not the size of the fee but whether people leave feeling part of something they
want to sustain. Building a culture of giving is largely about closing that gap, so that those
who pass through your institution leave with an emotional connection rather than a transactional
one.

## Cultivating supporters from the first contact

A culture of giving starts at a person's very first contact with the institution, not at
graduation. Many institutions make the mistake of treating fundraising as something that begins
when someone leaves. By then the habits are formed and the feelings are set.

The implication is that you must think about the supporter relationship long before there is any
ask. A prospective student on a campus visit, a freshman in their first week, an undergraduate who
receives a scholarship, a graduate student mentored by an alumna: each is a moment that either builds an
emotional connection or fails to. The Hubbub article makes the point that "digital programmes and
social media can transform students and staff into institutional ambassadors", and that "better
communication about the value of higher education is needed to strengthen bonds with students."
Much of the work of culture is the work of communication: telling the story of what your
institution is for, what it makes possible, and who it depends on, consistently and from the very
beginning.

For that reason, the development office cannot work in a silo. The experiences that build a
giving culture are owned right across the institution, in admissions, student services, academic
departments and the alumni team. Part of your job is to influence those experiences so that, by
the time someone graduates, giving back feels natural rather than presumptuous.

## Securing leadership and institutional buy-in

No culture changes without leadership behind it. A culture of giving that lives only in the
development office will always be fragile. It needs to be owned at the top: by the
president or head, by the senior team, by deans and department chairs, and ideally by the
board of trustees.

Leadership buy-in does two things. First, it unlocks resource and patience. A giving culture is a
multi-year investment that will not show its full return inside a single budget cycle. Senior
leaders who understand this protect the investment through the lean early years rather than
judging it on one year's income. Second, leadership lends the work legitimacy. When a
president talks publicly about philanthropy, judges a student fundraising challenge, or
writes personally to thank donors, it signals to the whole community that giving is valued at the
highest level. That signal normalizes giving more powerfully than any campaign.

To secure that buy-in, you need a clear case for philanthropy: a short, compelling account of why
giving matters to your institution, what it makes possible, and what the long-term ambition is.
Our [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) helps you write
one. Frame it around culture and community rather than a financial target, because that is the
argument that wins patient support rather than impatient scrutiny.

## Embedding giving across the whole community

A culture of giving cannot rest on alumni alone. The institutions that build the strongest
cultures embed giving across the whole community: current students, staff, alumni and parents.
Each group plays a different part, and each reinforces the others.

**Students** are the future of every giving program, and the period when their relationship
with the institution is most malleable. Engage them now and you are not only raising modest sums
today, you are forming the donors of the next thirty years. **Staff** giving sends a powerful
internal signal: when the people who work at an institution choose to give to it, it tells
students and alumni that those who know it best believe in it. **Alumni** are the traditional
heart of a development program, but they give most readily when their student experience already
taught them that giving is normal. And **parents** are an often underused group with a genuine
stake in the institution's success, and a natural interest in supporting the experience their
child is having right now.

The point of considering all four groups together is that they are not separate audiences to be
worked in isolation. They are one community, and the culture you are building is the shared sense,
across all of them, that this is a place worth supporting.

## Student philanthropy and giving societies

Students deserve particular attention, because student philanthropy is where a culture of giving
is either seeded or lost. The crucial insight, which the Hubbub article states plainly, is that
"students won't fundraise for universities as nonprofits but will support their own passion
projects." Ask a student to raise money for the abstract idea of the institution and you will get
little. Help them raise money for their own club, society, team or cause, and they will pour
energy into it.

This is why student-led fundraising is so powerful as a culture-building tool. The article
describes student projects as "the content goldmine" that inspires donors and triggers chains of
giving, and it makes a reciprocal point worth dwelling on: when an institution helps students
fund their own projects, "students experience institutional support directly." That direct
experience of being supported is exactly what builds the emotional connection that, years later,
turns a graduate into a donor. It also produces, in the article's words, "rich, pre-qualified
donor profiles" that make future fundraising more efficient. Peer-to-peer models work because, as
the article notes, personal connections and "challenge" mechanics drive higher rates of giving
than impersonal appeals ever do.

Giving societies are the other half of student philanthropy: a structured way to recognize and
celebrate those who give, give regularly, or give their time. A well-designed society makes
membership feel meaningful, with its own identity, recognition and sense of belonging, and it
gives people a ladder to climb as their relationship with the institution deepens. Our
[giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/) helps you design one that fits
your community. The aim is the same as everything else in this guide: to make giving visible,
valued and normal.

## Stewardship, recognition and storytelling

If a single engine drives a culture of giving, it is stewardship. Acquiring a donor is the start
of a relationship, not the end of a transaction, and what happens after the gift determines
whether that person ever gives again. Thank people promptly and warmly. Show them, concretely,
what their gift made possible. Treat a first gift as the beginning of a conversation rather than a
box ticked.

Recognition matters because it makes giving visible, and visible giving is contagious. When people
see that donors are thanked, named where they wish to be, and genuinely valued, giving stops
feeling like a private act of charity and starts feeling like a normal part of belonging. That is
why public recognition, giving societies, donor walls, named funds and simple, heartfelt thanks
all do more than reward the individual: they tell everyone watching that this is a community where
people give.

Storytelling is what makes all of this land. Numbers persuade few people; stories move almost
everyone. The student whose scholarship changed their life, the researcher whose work was funded by
small gifts, the club that traveled to a competition because hundreds of people each gave a
little: these are the stories that build culture, because they show the human outcome of giving
and invite others to be part of the next one. Tell them constantly, across every channel, and make
the donor part of the story rather than a footnote to it. To sharpen the words you use in appeals
and thank-you messages, the free [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) is a
useful second pair of eyes.

## Consistency year on year

Culture is built by repetition. A brilliant campaign that happens once and is never repeated
leaves no lasting mark. The same campaign run every year, at the same point in the calendar,
becomes a fixture that people anticipate, plan for and eventually take pride in. Consistency is
what turns an event into a tradition, and a tradition is simply culture made visible.

This is where recurring moments earn their keep. A [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
run annually, becomes a date the whole community knows is coming: a concentrated, high-energy
moment that rallies students, staff, alumni and parents around a shared push and reminds everyone,
every year, that this is a place where people give. A
[Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) does something complementary, putting
fundraising directly into students' hands and developing a generation of student fundraisers while
bringing large numbers of brand-new donors, parents, friends and local supporters into the wider
program. Run either of these once and you have an event. Run them every year and you are
building culture.

These recurring moments also underpin the steadiest expression of a giving culture of all: a
[regular giving program](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Giving Days and
Challenge Weeks acquire donors at scale and at speed, many of them new to the institution. A
regular giving program is how you keep them, converting a one-off gift into a habit: a monthly
or annual commitment that turns a moment of generosity into a lasting relationship. The culture
feeds the program, and the program deepens the culture. Each year of consistent delivery
widens the base of people for whom giving is simply what they do, and that growing base is the
truest measure that a culture of giving has taken hold.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long does it take to build a culture of giving?** Years, not months. A giving culture is
built through repeated shared experiences and consistent stewardship, and it compounds over time.
Expect the early years to require patience and investment before the returns become obvious, and
secure leadership support on that basis.

**Isn't this just fundraising by another name?** No. Fundraising asks for gifts; a culture of
giving is the shared belief, across a whole community, that supporting the institution is normal
and valued. Fundraising becomes far easier and far more sustainable once that culture exists, but
the culture is the foundation rather than the campaign.

**Where should we start if we have almost no giving culture today?** Start with the experiences
that build emotional connection, and with consistency. Secure leadership buy-in, pick one
recurring moment such as a Giving Day or a Challenge Week and commit to running it every year, and
invest heavily in stewardship so that everyone who gives is thanked and shown their impact.

**How do we get students to give when they are already paying tuition?** Don't ask them to fund the
institution in the abstract. Help them raise money for their own clubs, societies and causes, and
let them experience the institution supporting their projects directly. That experience of being
supported is what, over time, turns a tuition-paying student into a lifelong donor.

**Why does leadership buy-in matter so much?** Because culture changes from the top. Leadership
unlocks the resource and patience a multi-year investment needs, and it lends legitimacy: when
senior leaders speak about philanthropy and thank donors personally, it signals to the whole
community that giving is valued at the highest level.

**How do we measure whether a culture of giving is taking hold?** Look beyond income to
participation: the number of people giving, the proportion who give again, the breadth across
students, staff, alumni and parents, and the number who give their time as well as their money. A
widening base of habitual givers is the clearest sign the culture is working.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: create a culture of giving at your university](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to build a culture of giving](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) (world/en): A practical guide to building a lasting culture of giving across an institution, covering why it matters, cultivating supporters from the first contact, leadership buy-in, engaging students, staff, alumni and parents, and stewardship as culture.
A culture of giving is a settled, shared expectation that supporting your institution and the
people in it is a normal and valued thing to do. It is not a single campaign or a clever appeal.
It is the quiet assumption, held by students, staff, alumni and friends alike, that giving back
is part of what it means to belong. Where that culture exists, fundraising stops feeling like an
interruption and becomes an expression of community. Where it does not, every appeal starts from
scratch, addressed to people who have never been asked, never been thanked, and never been shown
that their gift mattered.

Building such a culture is slow work, and it helps to be honest about that from the outset. As
Hubbub puts it, culture "develops through shared experiences that nurture behaviour", and a
giving culture in particular "requires substantial time and investment to cultivate student
experience, institutional understanding, and emotional connection among young people." There is
no shortcut. But the effort compounds: every year of consistent work makes the next year easier,
until giving becomes simply what your community does.

This guide sets out how to build that culture deliberately, from a person's first contact with
your institution through to the recognition and storytelling that keep them giving for life. One
theme runs throughout: a culture of giving is about far more than the income raised in any single
year. The money is real and it matters, but it is the outcome of the culture, not the point of
it.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/),
> [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) and
> [giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/).

## Why a culture of giving matters

A culture of giving delivers things a one-off appeal never can. It widens participation, so that
giving becomes something many people do in modest amounts rather than something a handful of
major donors do alone. It deepens engagement, turning passive names on a database into active
members of a community who attend, volunteer, mentor and advocate. And it builds resilience: an
institution whose supporters give habitually is far less exposed when any single funding source
falters.

This matters more than ever, for a structural reason. As the Hubbub article observes,
the relationship between students and their universities "has become increasingly commercial,
particularly in the UK following fee increases." When students pay substantial fees, it is easy
for them to leave feeling they have bought a service and settled the account. By contrast, the
article notes that US universities "maintain stronger giving cultures despite higher tuition
fees, partly because scholarship recipients feel obligated to support future generations." The
difference is not the size of the fee but whether people leave feeling part of something they
want to sustain. Building a culture of giving is largely about closing that gap, so that those
who pass through your institution leave with an emotional connection rather than a transactional
one.

## Cultivating supporters from the first contact

A culture of giving starts at a person's very first contact with the institution, not at
graduation. Many institutions make the mistake of treating fundraising as something that begins
when someone leaves. By then the habits are formed and the feelings are set.

The implication is that you must think about the supporter relationship long before there is any
ask. A prospective student on an open day, a fresher in their first week, an undergraduate who
receives a bursary, a postgraduate mentored by an alumna: each is a moment that either builds an
emotional connection or fails to. The Hubbub article makes the point that "digital programmes and
social media can transform students and staff into institutional ambassadors", and that "better
communication about the value of higher education is needed to strengthen bonds with students."
Much of the work of culture is the work of communication: telling the story of what your
institution is for, what it makes possible, and who it depends on, consistently and from the very
beginning.

For that reason, the development office cannot work in a silo. The experiences that build a
giving culture are owned right across the institution, in admissions, student services, academic
departments and the alumni team. Part of your job is to influence those experiences so that, by
the time someone graduates, giving back feels natural rather than presumptuous.

## Securing leadership and institutional buy-in

No culture changes without leadership behind it. A culture of giving that lives only in the
development office will always be fragile. It needs to be owned at the top: by the
head of the institution, by the senior team, by deans and heads of department, and ideally by the
governing body.

Leadership buy-in does two things. First, it unlocks resource and patience. A giving culture is a
multi-year investment that will not show its full return inside a single budget cycle. Senior
leaders who understand this protect the investment through the lean early years rather than
judging it on one year's income. Second, leadership lends the work legitimacy. When a
senior leader talks publicly about philanthropy, judges a student fundraising challenge, or
writes personally to thank donors, it signals to the whole community that giving is valued at the
highest level. That signal normalises giving more powerfully than any campaign.

To secure that buy-in, you need a clear case for philanthropy: a short, compelling account of why
giving matters to your institution, what it makes possible, and what the long-term ambition is.
Our [case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/) helps you write
one. Frame it around culture and community rather than a financial target, because that is the
argument that wins patient support rather than impatient scrutiny.

## Embedding giving across the whole community

A culture of giving cannot rest on alumni alone. The institutions that build the strongest
cultures embed giving across the whole community: current students, staff, alumni and parents.
Each group plays a different part, and each reinforces the others.

**Students** are the future of every giving programme, and the period when their relationship
with the institution is most malleable. Engage them now and you are not only raising modest sums
today, you are forming the donors of the next thirty years. **Staff** giving sends a powerful
internal signal: when the people who work at an institution choose to give to it, it tells
students and alumni that those who know it best believe in it. **Alumni** are the traditional
heart of a development programme, but they give most readily when their student experience already
taught them that giving is normal. And **parents** are an often underused group with a genuine
stake in the institution's success, and a natural interest in supporting the experience their
child is having right now.

The point of considering all four groups together is that they are not separate audiences to be
worked in isolation. They are one community, and the culture you are building is the shared sense,
across all of them, that this is a place worth supporting.

## Student philanthropy and giving societies

Students deserve particular attention, because student philanthropy is where a culture of giving
is either seeded or lost. The crucial insight, which the Hubbub article states plainly, is that
"students won't fundraise for universities as nonprofits but will support their own passion
projects." Ask a student to raise money for the abstract idea of the institution and you will get
little. Help them raise money for their own club, society, team or cause, and they will pour
energy into it.

This is why student-led fundraising is so powerful as a culture-building tool. The article
describes student projects as "the content goldmine" that inspires donors and triggers chains of
giving, and it makes a reciprocal point worth dwelling on: when an institution helps students
fund their own projects, "students experience institutional support directly." That direct
experience of being supported is exactly what builds the emotional connection that, years later,
turns a graduate into a donor. It also produces, in the article's words, "rich, pre-qualified
donor profiles" that make future fundraising more efficient. Peer-to-peer models work because, as
the article notes, personal connections and "challenge" mechanics drive higher rates of giving
than impersonal appeals ever do.

Giving societies are the other half of student philanthropy: a structured way to recognise and
celebrate those who give, give regularly, or give their time. A well-designed society makes
membership feel meaningful, with its own identity, recognition and sense of belonging, and it
gives people a ladder to climb as their relationship with the institution deepens. Our
[giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/) helps you design one that fits
your community. The aim is the same as everything else in this guide: to make giving visible,
valued and normal.

## Stewardship, recognition and storytelling

If a single engine drives a culture of giving, it is stewardship. Acquiring a donor is the start
of a relationship, not the end of a transaction, and what happens after the gift determines
whether that person ever gives again. Thank people promptly and warmly. Show them, concretely,
what their gift made possible. Treat a first gift as the beginning of a conversation rather than a
box ticked.

Recognition matters because it makes giving visible, and visible giving is contagious. When people
see that donors are thanked, named where they wish to be, and genuinely valued, giving stops
feeling like a private act of charity and starts feeling like a normal part of belonging. That is
why public recognition, giving societies, donor walls, named funds and simple, heartfelt thanks
all do more than reward the individual: they tell everyone watching that this is a community where
people give.

Storytelling is what makes all of this land. Numbers persuade few people; stories move almost
everyone. The student whose bursary changed their life, the researcher whose work was funded by
small gifts, the club that travelled to a competition because hundreds of people each gave a
little: these are the stories that build culture, because they show the human outcome of giving
and invite others to be part of the next one. Tell them constantly, across every channel, and make
the donor part of the story rather than a footnote to it. To sharpen the words you use in appeals
and thank-you messages, the free [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) is a
useful second pair of eyes.

## Consistency year on year

Culture is built by repetition. A brilliant campaign that happens once and is never repeated
leaves no lasting mark. The same campaign run every year, at the same point in the calendar,
becomes a fixture that people anticipate, plan for and eventually take pride in. Consistency is
what turns an event into a tradition, and a tradition is simply culture made visible.

This is where recurring moments earn their keep. A [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
run annually, becomes a date the whole community knows is coming: a concentrated, high-energy
moment that rallies students, staff, alumni and parents around a shared push and reminds everyone,
every year, that this is a place where people give. A
[Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) does something complementary, putting
fundraising directly into students' hands and developing a generation of student fundraisers while
bringing large numbers of brand-new donors, parents, friends and local supporters into the wider
programme. Run either of these once and you have an event. Run them every year and you are
building culture.

These recurring moments also underpin the steadiest expression of a giving culture of all: a
[regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/). Giving Days and
Challenge Weeks acquire donors at scale and at speed, many of them new to the institution. A
regular giving programme is how you keep them, converting a one-off gift into a habit: a monthly
or annual commitment that turns a moment of generosity into a lasting relationship. The culture
feeds the programme, and the programme deepens the culture. Each year of consistent delivery
widens the base of people for whom giving is simply what they do, and that growing base is the
truest measure that a culture of giving has taken hold.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long does it take to build a culture of giving?** Years, not months. A giving culture is
built through repeated shared experiences and consistent stewardship, and it compounds over time.
Expect the early years to require patience and investment before the returns become obvious, and
secure leadership support on that basis.

**Isn't this just fundraising by another name?** No. Fundraising asks for gifts; a culture of
giving is the shared belief, across a whole community, that supporting the institution is normal
and valued. Fundraising becomes far easier and far more sustainable once that culture exists, but
the culture is the foundation rather than the campaign.

**Where should we start if we have almost no giving culture today?** Start with the experiences
that build emotional connection, and with consistency. Secure leadership buy-in, pick one
recurring moment such as a Giving Day or a Challenge Week and commit to running it every year, and
invest heavily in stewardship so that everyone who gives is thanked and shown their impact.

**How do we get students to give when they are already paying fees?** Don't ask them to fund the
institution in the abstract. Help them raise money for their own clubs, societies and causes, and
let them experience the institution supporting their projects directly. That experience of being
supported is what, over time, turns a fee-paying student into a lifelong donor.

**Why does leadership buy-in matter so much?** Because culture changes from the top. Leadership
unlocks the resource and patience a multi-year investment needs, and it lends legitimacy: when
senior leaders speak about philanthropy and thank donors personally, it signals to the whole
community that giving is valued at the highest level.

**How do we measure whether a culture of giving is taking hold?** Look beyond income to
participation: the number of people giving, the proportion who give again, the breadth across
students, staff, alumni and parents, and the number who give their time as well as their money. A
widening base of habitual givers is the clearest sign the culture is working.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Culture of giving roadmap](/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/)
- [Case for philanthropy template](/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/)
- [Giving society framework](/resources/giving-society-framework/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: create a culture of giving at your university](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/create-a-culture-of-giving-at-your-university)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to optimise donation pages and online conversion](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (canz/en): A practical guide to improving your donation pages and online conversion, covering reducing friction, page design and copy, suggested amounts and charitable tax receipts, mobile, trust, and testing what works.
You can write the most compelling appeal in the sector, tell a perfect story, pay an agency to
craft every word, and still lose the gift at the final step. The donation page is where all of
that work either pays off or quietly falls apart. It is the moment a supporter who has already
decided to give either completes the gift or gives up, and far more give up than most fundraisers
realise. This guide is about closing that gap. It explains why the page matters so much, how to
remove the friction that turns willing donors away, and how to test your way to a form that
converts. The sections move from the psychology of the giving journey, through the practical work
of friction, design, amounts, mobile and trust, to measuring and improving conversion.

The case for caring about this is simple. The benchmark from M&R Benchmarks is that, from the
point at which someone lands on your donation page, good conversion is around 21 per cent. As Kat,
Hubbub's commercial director, put it: "two in 10 of the people who are on your website will end up
making their gift." That is the sector norm. On Hubbub's own giving day platforms, by contrast,
"we see conversion rates from the donation page of about 70 per cent." The difference between two
in ten and seven in ten is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a campaign that
limps and one that flies, and almost all of that difference comes down to the page itself.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) and
> [conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Why the donation page is where campaigns are won or lost

Before you change a single field, it helps to understand where the donation page sits in the
donor's journey. A useful way to picture that journey is as an emotional climb rather than a
transaction. The NextAfter report "The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages" maps a donor being
interrupted in their ordinary day by an email, a letter or a phone call, then led up an emotional
path of small decisions until they reach a high point and decide, yes, I want to give. Only then
do they cross what the report calls the conversion horizon and meet your form. The striking part
is the proportion. As Kat described it, "95 per cent of getting somebody to say yes is that
decision making process and getting them to the emotional high point." The form is the last 5 per
cent, but it is the 5 per cent where the gift is taken or lost.

This matters because the emotional high point is also a budget. A donor who is deeply moved,
giving in response to a crisis they care about passionately, will tolerate a clumsy form and push
through anyway. A donor who is mildly engaged, busy and short of time will abandon at the first
irritation. As Kat framed it, the lower the emotional connection, "that friction is much less
tolerated", and then you reach "the point of abandonment". You cannot guarantee every donor
arrives at full emotional intensity, so the safe strategy is to keep the form so smooth that even
a lightly engaged supporter sails through it.

This connects directly to how you drive traffic. The work of building emotion happens in the
[email](/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/), the direct mail and the phone call, not on the form.
Those channels should give the donor what they need to say yes, and the form is the final step. If
you are running a [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), this is doubly true: you are
sending large volumes of warm traffic to your pages in a compressed window, and every percentage
point of conversion is multiplied across thousands of visits. Get the emotional build-up right in
your comms, then make sure the page does not waste the goodwill donors arrive with.

## Removing friction from the giving journey

If the page is where gifts are lost, friction is how they are lost. Jonathan, one of Hubbub's
founders, made the central point bluntly: "It's about psychology. It's not about functionality."
The question in a donor's mind is not whether the form technically works. It is whether they can
look at the thing in front of them, understand it, and figure out what to do quickly and without
anxiety. The job is to stand in the donor's shoes, and when you cannot do that easily, to test it.

A framework from the NextAfter and Hubbub collaboration names four common types of friction.
Having the labels makes them far easier to hunt down on your own pages.

**Decision friction** is asking people to decide between too many options. An empty box that says
"what would you like to give to?" is hard work, because the donor has no idea what the options even
are. A long, ungrouped list of designations is barely better. The fix is to make the choice for
them where you can: direct them to a single recommended cause, or to "where the need is greatest",
which both reflects your priorities and relieves the donor of the decision. As Jonathan noted,
donor choice is a wonderful thing, but "the best place to do that is in stewardship comms". When
you are actually asking for a gift, point them at one thing.

**Confusion friction** is forcing people to make a decision they are not equipped to make. This is
where internal language leaks onto the form: words like "designation", "restricted" and
"unrestricted" that "mean a lot to us, mean nothing to the donor for the most part". Consider a
consent block where the first two channels are opt-in and the second two are opt-out, all four
looking visually identical. It is not designed to trick anyone, but "some people filling this out
will think that this is a trick because it's sufficiently confusing". Even decoding it forces a
pause, and every pause is a chance to abandon.

**Field number friction** is overloading people with fields you would love to have but do not
actually need right now. Jonathan was candid that this is "probably where the biggest trade off
happens in the sector". The honest test is to ask what you genuinely need to retain this donor and
keep the conversation going, rather than what would be nice to know. Most of a donor's value is not
in the first gift but in "the lifetime value of a donor", the chance to keep talking to them. So
capture enough to contact and thank them, and leave the rest for later.

**Steps friction** is too many clicks, page reloads and stages. It creeps in because forms tend to
combine collecting information about the donor with processing payment, and people keep adding
sections in between: address validation, a volunteering question, an account login. Worst of all
is asking for the same information twice, which Jonathan singled out as a personal bugbear: you
capture a name and address, hand off to a payment gateway, and the gateway asks for it all again.
That repetition does not just frustrate, it can make a donor "lose respect a little bit for the
organisation that we're trying to support".

There is one more form of friction the framework does not name but which afflicts the sector
badly: forms that are simply broken. Because nobody is alerted when a form breaks, and because
supporters tend to give up rather than email you, a broken form can sit dead for days or weeks
unnoticed. Build in a regular check, at least once a month and ideally every week, so that a person
actually completes a test gift on your live infrastructure on a schedule.

## Page design and copy that convert

The cheapest, most powerful test you can run costs nothing. As Jonathan put it, "the cheapest
possible way of assessing your online giving experience is to get a family or a friend to do it."
Sit someone outside your organisation in front of the form, watch them try to give, and say
nothing. "You will learn enormous amounts about which words make sense, which words don't make
sense, which buttons are in the right place." If only you test it, you will skip every problem,
because everything makes perfect sense to the person who built it. This is the antidote to
fundraiser bias: the things that make sense to us are the things we assume make sense to our
donors.

In practice, that means writing copy in the donor's language, not yours. Strip out acronyms and
internal jargon. If you must ask for a piece of information, explain why. Take a form asking which
subject an alumnus studied: it means nothing until you add a line such as, the subject with the
most donors unlocks an extra $5,000 of challenge funding. Now the ask makes sense and the donor
gives it willingly. Order long lists alphabetically so people can find their answer, and be wary
of decorative images that look attractive but make the real choice harder to scan. Keep the page
visually calm, lead with the cause and the impact, and let the form itself be the simplest thing
on the screen.

Above all, make the page match the message that brought the donor there. The journey up the "donor
mountain", as Kat described it, is a series of micro-decisions: do I open the email, do I click the
link, does the page match what I just read, do I feel safe. If the page looks and sounds like the
appeal, each of those small decisions is a yes.

## Asking for the right amounts and capturing tax-receiptable gifts

Suggested amounts are one of the most reliable conversion tools you have, and the reason is
psychological rather than mechanical. Leave the amount box empty and you force the donor to worry:
"what have other people given? Would I be the only one giving at this level? Is this too little? Is
this too much?" Fill it with a suggested figure and, as Jonathan explained, "all of that's gone."
A pre-filled $25 quietly signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while
leaving the donor free to change it up or down. Anchoring matters too: the options you present
shape what feels normal, so choose your suggested levels deliberately.

Regular giving deserves its own clean decision rather than being tangled into the amount question.
A common mistake is a form that lists a jumble of one-off and monthly options together, leaving the
donor unsure what they are even selecting. The better pattern is a simple binary up front: would
you consider a regular gift, yes or no? A yes leads to "what would you like to give every month?";
a no leads to a one-off ask. One confusing question becomes two clear ones, and you avoid odd,
organisation-driven figures like $83.50 a month that exist only because someone divided an annual
target by twelve. As Jonathan put it, "think about what makes sense for the donor", not what is
tidy for your reporting.

Depending on where your donors are, tax-effective giving is the obvious place to add value without
adding much friction. In Canada that means issuing an official charitable tax receipt the donor can
claim; in Australia it means making the most of deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, where
eligible gifts are tax-deductible; in New Zealand it means flagging that donors can claim a
donation tax credit on receipted gifts. Treat the receipt as a clear, well-worded promise: tell the
donor plainly that they will receive a receipt they can use at tax time, and keep the wording simple
and honest. Do not bury it among unrelated questions, and do not let it become another moment of
confusion friction. A clear statement about the tax receipt is reassurance that costs nothing and
lifts confidence right at the point of giving.

## Mobile and speed

Donors increasingly arrive on a phone, often straight from an email opened on the move, and the bar
they judge you against is set elsewhere. Giving online does not happen in a vacuum: people compare
your form with their banking app, their supermarket checkout and their government services, and
"it's all the same to the donor." Banking interfaces that were frustrating a few years ago are now
slick; even government forms, as Jonathan noted of the pandemic-era testing systems, were "really
simple to use" and "very well designed for the actual user". If your donation page feels clunky
next to those, supporters notice.

In concrete terms, the page must load fast, render cleanly on a small screen, present large and
easily tapped buttons, and minimise typing. Every extra field is heavier on a phone than on a
desktop, so field number friction and steps friction both bite harder on mobile. Make sure the
experience carries across devices too, so a donor who opens your email on their phone and finishes
on their laptop meets the same page and the same feeling either way. And remember the channels that
funnel people to mobile in the first place: a QR code on a poster, a table card or a screen can
take an in-person moment straight to a frictionless page, which only works if that page is genuinely
built for the phone in their hand.

## Building trust and reassurance

Confidence and friction are two sides of one coin. As Kat put it, "as soon as that confidence dips,
that's where the friction point is", and that dip can turn a willing donor away "not because they
don't want to give to the charity, not because they don't care, but because the friction on the
form is just too much for them to endure." A donation page asks people to hand over money and
personal data, so it has to feel safe at the exact moment they are deciding to trust you.

Much of this is reassurance by design. Keep security visible and current, because expectations
around handling data and payment information safely have risen sharply. Make the page look like it
belongs to your organisation, so it plainly matches the email or letter that sent the donor there
and nothing feels like a detour to an unfamiliar site. Be honest and brief about why you are asking
for anything beyond the essentials. And avoid the quiet trust-killers: a form that asks the same
thing twice, a confusing consent block, or worse, a broken form, all chip away at the sense that
this is a competent organisation worth supporting. Trust is not a badge you add at the end; it is
the cumulative effect of a page that behaves exactly as the donor expects.

## Testing and measuring conversion

You cannot improve what you do not measure, so decisions should rest on data rather than opinion.
The starting point is instrumentation. Hook your platform up to Google Analytics with goals so you
can see conversion from the donation page, and look at web traffic alongside it. If a provider runs
your platform, they "should be looking at your platform on Google Analytics for their own good as
well as yours", so ask them for the numbers. Even without analytics you can improvise a signal, as
Kat did at the University of Southampton by counting the gap between people who started the form and
those who completed payment, enough to prove the form was losing gifts and to make the case for
change.

Once you can see your baseline, run real tests rather than guesses. NextAfter's friction calculator
will walk you through your form question by question and score it, which can give you "the
firepower" to push for improvement internally. Better still, A/B test changes inside a live
campaign rather than swapping a form and waiting to see what arrives. As Kat advised, do not "just
put up a new donation form and see what comes your way"; make it part of an active appeal so the
test means something. Bring the sceptics into the process too, the IT, finance and procurement
colleagues who can otherwise block change, because "nobody likes being told what to do", and let
the data, not anyone's opinion, settle the argument.

Finally, treat this as an investment rather than a cost. The argument worth repeating to any budget
holder is this: moving from two in ten donors converting to seven in ten does not just raise more
money on the day, it brings more people into relationship, lifts lifetime giving and builds the
pipeline. Spending a little to remove friction returns far more than leaving the leak unfixed.

## Frequently asked questions

**What conversion rate should I expect from my donation page?** As a sector benchmark, around 21
per cent, or two in ten visitors, is considered good according to M&R Benchmarks. Well-optimised
platforms can do far better; Hubbub reported conversion of about 70 per cent on their giving day
pages. Treat the benchmark as a floor to beat, not a ceiling to settle for, and measure your own
baseline first.

**What is the single biggest cause of lost donations?** Friction, and specifically the
psychological kind: "it's about psychology, it's not about functionality." Most lost gifts come
from forms that are confusing, ask for too much, or take too many steps, rather than from forms
that are technically broken, though broken forms cause real and often unnoticed losses too.

**Should I use suggested donation amounts?** Yes. A suggested amount removes the anxiety of a blank
box, signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while still letting the
donor change it. Choose your suggested figures deliberately, since they anchor what feels normal.

**How do I handle one-off versus regular giving on the same form?** Separate the decision out. Ask
a simple yes or no question up front about whether the donor would consider a regular gift, then
route them to a monthly or a one-off ask accordingly. Do not mix one-off and monthly amounts in a
single confusing list.

**How often should I check my donation form?** Have someone complete a real test gift on your live
form regularly, at least once a month and ideally weekly. Broken forms rarely announce themselves,
because supporters tend to give up rather than report a problem, so the only reliable way to catch
faults is to test them yourself.

**Where should I send traffic from an email or Giving Day?** Send people straight to the most
relevant page, not to a generic landing page or platform front page. Segment your audience and make
the choice for them where you can, so each donor lands on a page tuned to them with the fewest
possible clicks between the appeal and the completed gift.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: WD-40 for your online donation forms](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [So optimieren Sie Spendenseiten und die Online-Conversion](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (europe/de): Ein praxisnaher Leitfaden zur Verbesserung Ihrer Spendenseiten und Online-Conversion: Reibung verringern, Seitengestaltung und Texte, vorgeschlagene Beträge und steuerwirksames Spenden, Mobilgeräte, Vertrauen sowie das Testen dessen, was funktioniert.
Sie können den überzeugendsten Spendenaufruf der Branche verfassen, eine perfekte Geschichte
erzählen, eine Agentur dafür bezahlen, jedes Wort sorgfältig zu formulieren, und die Spende trotzdem
beim letzten Schritt verlieren. Die Spendenseite ist der Ort, an dem sich all diese Arbeit entweder
auszahlt oder still zerfällt. Es ist der Moment, in dem eine Unterstützerin, die sich bereits zum
Spenden entschieden hat, die Spende entweder abschließt oder aufgibt, und weit mehr geben auf, als
die meisten Fundraiser ahnen. In diesem Leitfaden geht es darum, diese Lücke zu schließen. Er
erklärt, warum die Seite so wichtig ist, wie Sie die Reibung beseitigen, die spendenbereite Menschen
abwendet, und wie Sie sich zu einem Formular vortesten, das konvertiert. Die Abschnitte bewegen sich
von der Psychologie der Spendenreise über die praktische Arbeit an Reibung, Design, Beträgen,
Mobilgeräten und Vertrauen bis hin zum Messen und Verbessern der Conversion.

Der Grund, sich darum zu kümmern, ist einfach. Der Richtwert von M&R Benchmarks besagt, dass ab dem
Moment, in dem jemand auf Ihrer Spendenseite landet, eine gute Conversion bei etwa 21 Prozent liegt.
Wie Kat, die kaufmännische Leiterin von Hubbub, es ausdrückte: „Zwei von zehn Menschen, die auf Ihrer
Website sind, werden am Ende ihre Spende tätigen.“ Das ist die Branchennorm. Auf den
Spendentag-Plattformen von Hubbub hingegen „sehen wir Conversion-Raten von der Spendenseite von etwa
70 Prozent.“ Der Unterschied zwischen zwei von zehn und sieben von zehn ist kein Rundungsfehler. Es
ist der Unterschied zwischen einer Kampagne, die hinkt, und einer, die abhebt, und nahezu dieser
gesamte Unterschied liegt an der Seite selbst.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Checkliste für Spendenseiten](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [Textvorlage für Spendenformulare](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) und
> [Checkliste zur Conversion-Optimierung](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/) herunterzuladen.

## Warum Kampagnen auf der Spendenseite gewonnen oder verloren werden

Bevor Sie ein einziges Feld ändern, hilft es zu verstehen, wo die Spendenseite in der Reise der
Spendenden steht. Eine hilfreiche Art, sich diese Reise vorzustellen, ist als emotionaler Aufstieg
statt als Transaktion. Der NextAfter-Bericht „The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages“ zeichnet eine
spendende Person, die in ihrem gewöhnlichen Tag durch eine E-Mail, einen Brief oder einen Anruf
unterbrochen wird und dann einen emotionalen Pfad kleiner Entscheidungen hinaufgeführt wird, bis sie
einen Höhepunkt erreicht und beschließt: Ja, ich möchte spenden. Erst dann überschreitet sie das, was
der Bericht den Conversion-Horizont nennt, und trifft auf Ihr Formular. Das Auffallende ist das
Verhältnis. Wie Kat es beschrieb: „95 Prozent davon, jemanden zum Ja zu bewegen, sind dieser
Entscheidungsprozess und das Hinführen zum emotionalen Höhepunkt.“ Das Formular sind die letzten 5
Prozent, aber es sind die 5 Prozent, in denen die Spende gewonnen oder verloren wird.

Das ist wichtig, weil der emotionale Höhepunkt zugleich ein Budget ist. Eine zutiefst bewegte
spendende Person, die als Reaktion auf eine Krise gibt, die ihr leidenschaftlich am Herzen liegt,
wird ein umständliches Formular dulden und sich trotzdem durchkämpfen. Eine nur schwach engagierte,
beschäftigte und in Zeitnot befindliche Person bricht beim ersten Ärgernis ab. Wie Kat es formulierte:
Je geringer die emotionale Verbindung, desto weniger wird „diese Reibung toleriert“, und dann erreicht
man „den Punkt des Abbruchs“. Sie können nicht garantieren, dass jede spendende Person mit voller
emotionaler Intensität ankommt, deshalb besteht die sichere Strategie darin, das Formular so glatt zu
halten, dass selbst eine kaum engagierte Unterstützerin mühelos hindurchgleitet.

Das hängt unmittelbar damit zusammen, wie Sie Traffic erzeugen. Der Aufbau von Emotion geschieht in
der [E-Mail](/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/), im Direktmailing und im Telefonanruf, nicht auf
dem Formular. Diese Kanäle sollten der spendenden Person geben, was sie braucht, um Ja zu sagen, und
das Formular ist der letzte Schritt. Wenn Sie einen
[Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) durchführen, gilt das doppelt: Sie senden große
Mengen warmen Traffics in einem komprimierten Zeitfenster auf Ihre Seiten, und jeder Prozentpunkt an
Conversion wird über Tausende von Besuchen multipliziert. Bringen Sie den emotionalen Aufbau in Ihrer
Kommunikation auf den Punkt und sorgen Sie dann dafür, dass die Seite den guten Willen, mit dem die
Spendenden ankommen, nicht verschwendet.

## Reibung aus der Spendenreise entfernen

Wenn die Seite der Ort ist, an dem Spenden verloren gehen, dann ist Reibung die Art und Weise, wie
sie verloren gehen. Jonathan, einer der Gründer von Hubbub, brachte den Kernpunkt unverblümt auf den
Punkt: „Es geht um Psychologie. Es geht nicht um Funktionalität.“ Die Frage im Kopf einer spendenden
Person ist nicht, ob das Formular technisch funktioniert. Es ist die Frage, ob sie das, was vor ihr
liegt, anschauen, verstehen und schnell sowie ohne Beklemmung herausfinden kann, was zu tun ist. Die
Aufgabe besteht darin, sich in die Lage der spendenden Person zu versetzen, und wenn Ihnen das nicht
leichtfällt, sie zu testen.

Ein Modell aus der Zusammenarbeit von NextAfter und Hubbub benennt vier häufige Arten von Reibung.
Diese Bezeichnungen zu haben, macht es weit einfacher, sie auf Ihren eigenen Seiten aufzuspüren.

**Entscheidungsreibung** bedeutet, von Menschen zu verlangen, sich zwischen zu vielen Optionen zu
entscheiden. Ein leeres Feld mit der Frage „Wofür möchten Sie spenden?“ ist mühsam, weil die spendende
Person keine Ahnung hat, welche Optionen es überhaupt gibt. Eine lange, ungruppierte Liste von
Verwendungszwecken ist kaum besser. Die Lösung besteht darin, die Wahl für sie zu treffen, wo Sie
können: Lenken Sie sie zu einem einzigen empfohlenen Zweck oder zu „dort, wo der Bedarf am größten
ist“, was sowohl Ihre Prioritäten widerspiegelt als auch die spendende Person von der Entscheidung
entlastet. Wie Jonathan anmerkte, ist die Wahlfreiheit der Spendenden eine wunderbare Sache, aber „der
beste Ort dafür ist die Pflegekommunikation“. Wenn Sie tatsächlich um eine Spende bitten, lenken Sie
sie auf eine einzige Sache.

**Verwirrungsreibung** bedeutet, Menschen zu einer Entscheidung zu zwingen, für die sie nicht
gerüstet sind. Hier sickert interne Sprache ins Formular: Wörter wie „Verwendungszweck“,
„zweckgebunden“ und „frei verwendbar“, die „für uns viel bedeuten, für die spendende Person aber
größtenteils nichts“. Denken Sie an einen Einwilligungsblock, bei dem die ersten beiden Kanäle Opt-in
und die zweiten beiden Opt-out sind, wobei alle vier optisch identisch aussehen. Er ist nicht darauf
ausgelegt, irgendjemanden zu täuschen, aber „manche Menschen, die das ausfüllen, werden denken, dass
es sich um eine Falle handelt, weil es hinreichend verwirrend ist“. Selbst es zu entschlüsseln,
erzwingt eine Pause, und jede Pause ist eine Gelegenheit zum Abbruch.

**Feldzahlreibung** bedeutet, Menschen mit Feldern zu überfrachten, die Sie gern hätten, aber gerade
jetzt nicht wirklich brauchen. Jonathan gab freimütig zu, dass hier „wahrscheinlich der größte
Kompromiss der Branche“ stattfindet. Der ehrliche Test besteht darin, zu fragen, was Sie wirklich
brauchen, um diese spendende Person zu halten und das Gespräch fortzuführen, statt was nett zu wissen
wäre. Der Großteil des Werts einer spendenden Person liegt nicht in der ersten Spende, sondern im
„Lebenszeitwert einer spendenden Person“, der Möglichkeit, weiter mit ihr zu sprechen. Erfassen Sie
also genug, um sie zu kontaktieren und ihr zu danken, und lassen Sie den Rest für später.

**Schrittreibung** bedeutet zu viele Klicks, Seitenneuladungen und Stufen. Sie schleicht sich ein,
weil Formulare dazu neigen, das Erfassen von Informationen über die spendende Person mit der
Zahlungsabwicklung zu vermengen, und ständig Abschnitte dazwischen eingefügt werden:
Adressvalidierung, eine Frage zum Ehrenamt, ein Konto-Login. Am schlimmsten ist es, dieselbe
Information zweimal abzufragen, was Jonathan als ein persönliches Ärgernis hervorhob: Sie erfassen
einen Namen und eine Adresse, übergeben an ein Zahlungsgateway, und das Gateway fragt alles erneut ab.
Diese Wiederholung frustriert nicht nur, sie kann dazu führen, dass eine spendende Person „ein wenig
den Respekt vor der Organisation verliert, die wir zu unterstützen versuchen“.

Es gibt noch eine weitere Form von Reibung, die das Modell nicht benennt, die die Branche aber schwer
plagt: Formulare, die schlicht defekt sind. Weil niemand benachrichtigt wird, wenn ein Formular
ausfällt, und weil Unterstützende eher aufgeben, als Ihnen zu schreiben, kann ein defektes Formular
tage- oder wochenlang unbemerkt tot daliegen. Bauen Sie eine regelmäßige Kontrolle ein, mindestens
einmal im Monat und idealerweise jede Woche, sodass eine Person tatsächlich planmäßig eine Testspende
auf Ihrer Live-Infrastruktur abschließt.

## Seitengestaltung und Texte, die konvertieren

Der günstigste und zugleich wirkungsvollste Test, den Sie durchführen können, kostet nichts. Wie
Jonathan es ausdrückte: „Die billigste Art, Ihr Online-Spendenerlebnis zu beurteilen, ist, ein
Familienmitglied oder einen Freund zu bitten, es durchzuführen.“ Setzen Sie jemanden von außerhalb
Ihrer Organisation vor das Formular, sehen Sie zu, wie er versucht zu spenden, und sagen Sie nichts.
„Sie werden enorm viel darüber lernen, welche Wörter Sinn ergeben, welche nicht, welche Schaltflächen
am richtigen Platz sind.“ Wenn nur Sie es testen, übergehen Sie jedes Problem, weil für die Person,
die es gebaut hat, alles vollkommen einleuchtend ist. Das ist das Gegenmittel zum Fundraiser-Bias:
Was für uns Sinn ergibt, ist das, von dem wir annehmen, dass es für unsere Spendenden Sinn ergibt.

In der Praxis bedeutet das, den Text in der Sprache der spendenden Person zu verfassen, nicht in
Ihrer. Streichen Sie Abkürzungen und internen Jargon. Wenn Sie eine Information abfragen müssen,
erklären Sie, warum. Nehmen Sie ein Formular, das fragt, welches Fach eine ehemalige Studentin
studiert hat: Es bedeutet nichts, bis Sie eine Zeile hinzufügen wie etwa: Das Fach mit den meisten
Spendenden schaltet zusätzliche 5.000 € an Matching-Mitteln frei. Jetzt ergibt die Frage Sinn und die
spendende Person beantwortet sie bereitwillig. Ordnen Sie lange Listen alphabetisch, damit die Leute
ihre Antwort finden, und seien Sie vorsichtig mit dekorativen Bildern, die hübsch aussehen, aber das
eigentliche Auswählen erschweren. Halten Sie die Seite optisch ruhig, stellen Sie den Zweck und die
Wirkung voran, und lassen Sie das Formular selbst das Einfachste auf dem Bildschirm sein.

Vor allem aber lassen Sie die Seite zu der Botschaft passen, die die spendende Person hergebracht
hat. Der Aufstieg auf den „Spenden-Berg“, wie Kat es beschrieb, ist eine Reihe von
Mikro-Entscheidungen: Öffne ich die E-Mail, klicke ich auf den Link, passt die Seite zu dem, was ich
gerade gelesen habe, fühle ich mich sicher. Wenn die Seite aussieht und klingt wie der Aufruf, ist
jede dieser kleinen Entscheidungen ein Ja.

## Die richtigen Beträge erfragen und steuerwirksame Spenden erfassen

Vorgeschlagene Beträge gehören zu den zuverlässigsten Conversion-Werkzeugen, die Sie haben, und der
Grund ist psychologisch statt mechanisch. Lassen Sie das Betragsfeld leer, und Sie zwingen die
spendende Person zur Sorge: „Was haben andere gegeben? Wäre ich die Einzige, die auf diesem Niveau
gibt? Ist das zu wenig? Ist das zu viel?“ Füllen Sie es mit einer vorgeschlagenen Zahl, und, wie
Jonathan erklärte, „ist all das verschwunden.“ Ein vorausgefüllter Betrag von 25 € signalisiert leise,
was erwartet wird, und gibt die Erlaubnis, auf diesem Niveau zu spenden, während es der spendenden
Person freisteht, ihn nach oben oder unten zu ändern. Auch das Verankern ist von Bedeutung: Die
Optionen, die Sie präsentieren, prägen, was sich normal anfühlt, also wählen Sie Ihre vorgeschlagenen
Stufen bewusst.

Das regelmäßige Spenden verdient eine eigene, klare Entscheidung, statt in die Betragsfrage verwoben
zu werden. Ein häufiger Fehler ist ein Formular, das ein Durcheinander aus einmaligen und monatlichen
Optionen auflistet und die spendende Person im Unklaren lässt, was sie überhaupt auswählt. Das bessere
Muster ist eine einfache Ja-oder-Nein-Entscheidung zu Beginn: Würden Sie eine regelmäßige Spende in
Betracht ziehen, ja oder nein? Ein Ja führt zu „Wie viel möchten Sie jeden Monat geben?“; ein Nein
führt zu einer einmaligen Bitte. Aus einer verwirrenden Frage werden zwei klare, und Sie vermeiden
sonderbare, von der Organisation getriebene Zahlen wie 83,50 € im Monat, die nur existieren, weil
jemand ein Jahresziel durch zwölf geteilt hat. Wie Jonathan es ausdrückte: „Denken Sie darüber nach,
was für die spendende Person Sinn ergibt“, nicht darüber, was für Ihr Reporting ordentlich ist.

Steuerwirksames Spenden ist der naheliegende Ort, um Wert hinzuzufügen, ohne viel Reibung
hinzuzufügen, auch wenn die Details je nach Land variieren. Viele europäische Rechtsräume erlauben es
Spendenden, einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung auf Spenden an förderfähige Organisationen
geltend zu machen, also machen Sie dort, wo das gilt, den Vorteil deutlich und sagen Sie der
spendenden Person klar, dass sie die Quittung oder Bestätigung erhält, die sie benötigt, um ihn
geltend zu machen. Für grenzüberschreitende Spenden ermöglicht Transnational Giving Europe Spendenden
in teilnehmenden Ländern, steuerwirksam an Organisationen in einem anderen Mitgliedsland zu geben, was
erwähnenswert ist, wenn Sie über Grenzen hinweg sammeln. Behandeln Sie jede Steuerbestätigung als ein
klares, gut formuliertes Versprechen statt als vergrabene Klausel, und lassen Sie sie nicht zu einem
weiteren Moment der Verwirrungsreibung werden. Eine klare, ehrliche Zeile über den Steuervorteil ist
eine Beruhigung, die nichts kostet und das Vertrauen genau im Moment des Spendens hebt.

## Mobilgeräte und Geschwindigkeit

Spendende kommen zunehmend auf einem Telefon an, oft direkt aus einer unterwegs geöffneten E-Mail, und
die Messlatte, an der sie Sie messen, wird anderswo gesetzt. Online-Spenden geschieht nicht im
luftleeren Raum: Menschen vergleichen Ihr Formular mit ihrer Banking-App, ihrer Supermarktkasse und
ihren Behördendiensten, und „für die spendende Person ist das alles dasselbe.“ Banking-Oberflächen,
die vor ein paar Jahren frustrierend waren, sind heute geschliffen; selbst Behördenformulare waren,
wie Jonathan über die Testsysteme der Pandemiezeit anmerkte, „wirklich einfach zu bedienen“ und „sehr
gut für den tatsächlichen Nutzer gestaltet“. Wenn sich Ihre Spendenseite daneben umständlich anfühlt,
bemerken die Unterstützenden das.

Konkret muss die Seite schnell laden, auf einem kleinen Bildschirm sauber dargestellt werden, große
und leicht antippbare Schaltflächen bieten und das Tippen minimieren. Jedes zusätzliche Feld wiegt auf
einem Telefon schwerer als auf einem Desktop, sodass Feldzahlreibung und Schrittreibung beide auf
Mobilgeräten stärker zubeißen. Sorgen Sie auch dafür, dass sich das Erlebnis über Geräte hinweg
trägt, damit eine spendende Person, die Ihre E-Mail auf dem Telefon öffnet und auf dem Laptop
abschließt, in beiden Fällen auf dieselbe Seite und dasselbe Gefühl trifft. Und denken Sie an die
Kanäle, die Menschen überhaupt erst zum Mobilgerät leiten: Ein QR-Code auf einem Plakat, einer
Tischkarte oder einem Bildschirm kann einen Moment vor Ort direkt auf eine reibungslose Seite führen,
was nur funktioniert, wenn diese Seite wirklich für das Telefon in ihrer Hand gebaut ist.

## Vertrauen und Beruhigung aufbauen

Vertrauen und Reibung sind zwei Seiten derselben Medaille. Wie Kat es ausdrückte: „Sobald dieses
Vertrauen sinkt, ist dort der Reibungspunkt“, und dieser Einbruch kann eine spendenbereite Person
abwenden, „nicht weil sie nicht an die Organisation spenden möchte, nicht weil ihr egal ist, sondern
weil die Reibung auf dem Formular schlicht zu groß ist, um sie auszuhalten.“ Eine Spendenseite bittet
Menschen, Geld und persönliche Daten herauszugeben, also muss sie sich genau in dem Moment sicher
anfühlen, in dem sie sich entscheiden, Ihnen zu vertrauen.

Vieles davon ist Beruhigung durch Gestaltung. Halten Sie die Sicherheit sichtbar und aktuell, denn
die Erwartungen an den sicheren Umgang mit Daten und Zahlungsinformationen sind stark gestiegen.
Lassen Sie die Seite so aussehen, als gehöre sie zu Ihrer Organisation, sodass sie eindeutig zu der
E-Mail oder dem Brief passt, der die spendende Person hergeschickt hat, und nichts sich wie ein
Umweg zu einer unbekannten Website anfühlt. Seien Sie ehrlich und knapp dabei, warum Sie etwas über
das Wesentliche hinaus erfragen. Und vermeiden Sie die stillen Vertrauenskiller: ein Formular, das
dasselbe zweimal abfragt, ein verwirrender Einwilligungsblock oder, schlimmer noch, ein defektes
Formular, all das untergräbt das Gefühl, dass dies eine kompetente, unterstützenswerte Organisation
ist. Vertrauen ist kein Siegel, das man am Ende hinzufügt; es ist die kumulative Wirkung einer Seite,
die sich genau so verhält, wie die spendende Person es erwartet.

## Conversion testen und messen

Sie können nicht verbessern, was Sie nicht messen, daher sollten Entscheidungen auf Daten statt auf
Meinungen beruhen. Der Ausgangspunkt ist die Instrumentierung. Verbinden Sie Ihre Plattform mit
Google Analytics samt Zielen, damit Sie die Conversion von der Spendenseite sehen können, und
betrachten Sie den Webtraffic daneben. Wenn ein Anbieter Ihre Plattform betreibt, „sollte er Ihre
Plattform zu seinem eigenen Wohl wie zu Ihrem in Google Analytics betrachten“, also fragen Sie ihn
nach den Zahlen. Selbst ohne Analytics können Sie sich ein Signal improvisieren, wie es Kat an der
University of Southampton tat, indem sie die Lücke zwischen den Menschen zählte, die das Formular
begannen, und denen, die die Zahlung abschlossen, genug, um zu beweisen, dass das Formular Spenden
verlor, und um den Fall für eine Veränderung zu machen.

Sobald Sie Ihren Ausgangswert sehen können, führen Sie echte Tests statt Vermutungen durch. Der
Reibungsrechner von NextAfter führt Sie Frage für Frage durch Ihr Formular und bewertet es, was Ihnen
„die Schlagkraft“ geben kann, um intern auf Verbesserung zu drängen. Besser noch: Führen Sie
A/B-Tests innerhalb einer laufenden Kampagne durch, statt ein Formular auszutauschen und abzuwarten,
was hereinkommt. Wie Kat riet, stellen Sie nicht „einfach ein neues Spendenformular online und sehen,
was auf Sie zukommt“; machen Sie es zum Teil eines aktiven Aufrufs, damit der Test etwas bedeutet.
Holen Sie auch die Skeptiker mit ins Boot, die Kolleginnen und Kollegen aus IT, Finanzen und Einkauf,
die Veränderung sonst blockieren können, denn „niemand lässt sich gern vorschreiben, was er zu tun
hat“, und lassen Sie die Daten, nicht irgendjemandes Meinung, den Streit entscheiden.

Betrachten Sie dies schließlich als Investition statt als Kosten. Das Argument, das es wert ist, jedem
Budgetverantwortlichen gegenüber wiederholt zu werden, lautet: Der Schritt von zwei von zehn
Spendenden, die konvertieren, zu sieben von zehn sammelt nicht nur am Tag selbst mehr Geld, er bringt
mehr Menschen in eine Beziehung, hebt das lebenslange Spenden und baut die Pipeline auf. Ein wenig
auszugeben, um Reibung zu beseitigen, bringt weit mehr zurück, als das Leck unrepariert zu lassen.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Welche Conversion-Rate sollte ich von meiner Spendenseite erwarten?** Als Branchen-Richtwert gelten
laut M&R Benchmarks etwa 21 Prozent, also zwei von zehn Besuchern, als gut. Gut optimierte Plattformen
können weit besser abschneiden; Hubbub berichtete von einer Conversion von etwa 70 Prozent auf seinen
Spendentag-Seiten. Betrachten Sie den Richtwert als zu übertreffende Untergrenze, nicht als Obergrenze,
mit der man sich zufriedengibt, und messen Sie zuerst Ihren eigenen Ausgangswert.

**Was ist die größte einzelne Ursache für verlorene Spenden?** Reibung, und zwar speziell die
psychologische Art: „Es geht um Psychologie, es geht nicht um Funktionalität.“ Die meisten verlorenen
Spenden stammen von Formularen, die verwirrend sind, zu viel verlangen oder zu viele Schritte haben,
und nicht von technisch defekten Formularen, auch wenn defekte Formulare ebenfalls echte und oft
unbemerkte Verluste verursachen.

**Sollte ich vorgeschlagene Spendenbeträge verwenden?** Ja. Ein vorgeschlagener Betrag beseitigt die
Beklemmung des leeren Felds, signalisiert, was erwartet wird, und gibt die Erlaubnis, auf diesem
Niveau zu spenden, während die spendende Person ihn weiterhin ändern kann. Wählen Sie Ihre
vorgeschlagenen Zahlen bewusst, da sie verankern, was sich normal anfühlt.

**Wie handhabe ich einmaliges gegenüber regelmäßigem Spenden auf demselben Formular?** Trennen Sie die
Entscheidung heraus. Stellen Sie vorab eine einfache Ja-oder-Nein-Frage, ob die spendende Person eine
regelmäßige Spende in Betracht ziehen würde, und leiten Sie sie dann entsprechend zu einer monatlichen
oder einmaligen Bitte. Mischen Sie nicht einmalige und monatliche Beträge in einer einzigen
verwirrenden Liste.

**Wie oft sollte ich mein Spendenformular prüfen?** Lassen Sie regelmäßig jemanden eine echte
Testspende auf Ihrem Live-Formular abschließen, mindestens einmal im Monat und idealerweise
wöchentlich. Defekte Formulare kündigen sich selten an, weil Unterstützende eher aufgeben, als ein
Problem zu melden, daher ist der einzige verlässliche Weg, Fehler zu erkennen, sie selbst zu testen.

**Wohin sollte ich Traffic aus einer E-Mail oder einem Spendentag leiten?** Schicken Sie Menschen
direkt zur relevantesten Seite, nicht zu einer generischen Landingpage oder Plattform-Startseite.
Segmentieren Sie Ihr Publikum und treffen Sie die Wahl für sie, wo Sie können, sodass jede spendende
Person auf einer auf sie abgestimmten Seite landet, mit so wenigen Klicks wie möglich zwischen dem
Aufruf und der abgeschlossenen Spende.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Checkliste für Spendenseiten](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Textvorlage für Spendenformulare](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Checkliste zur Conversion-Optimierung](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Aufruf- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- [Webinar: WD-40 für Ihre Online-Spendenformulare](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [So schreiben Sie Fundraising-E-Mails, die funktionieren](/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Im vollständigen [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) finden Sie mehr.

- [How to optimise donation pages and online conversion](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (europe/en): A practical guide to improving your donation pages and online conversion, covering reducing friction, page design and copy, suggested amounts and tax-effective giving, mobile, trust, and testing what works.
You can write the most compelling appeal in the sector, tell a perfect story, pay an agency to
craft every word, and still lose the gift at the final step. The donation page is where all of
that work either pays off or quietly falls apart. It is the moment a supporter who has already
decided to give either completes the gift or gives up, and far more give up than most fundraisers
realise. This guide is about closing that gap. It explains why the page matters so much, how to
remove the friction that turns willing donors away, and how to test your way to a form that
converts. The sections move from the psychology of the giving journey, through the practical work
of friction, design, amounts, mobile and trust, to measuring and improving conversion.

The case for caring about this is simple. The benchmark from M&R Benchmarks is that, from the
point at which someone lands on your donation page, good conversion is around 21 per cent. As Kat,
Hubbub's commercial director, put it: "two in 10 of the people who are on your website will end up
making their gift." That is the sector norm. On Hubbub's own giving day platforms, by contrast,
"we see conversion rates from the donation page of about 70 per cent." The difference between two
in ten and seven in ten is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a campaign that
limps and one that flies, and almost all of that difference comes down to the page itself.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) and
> [conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Why the donation page is where campaigns are won or lost

Before you change a single field, it helps to understand where the donation page sits in the
donor's journey. A useful way to picture that journey is as an emotional climb rather than a
transaction. The NextAfter report "The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages" maps a donor being
interrupted in their ordinary day by an email, a letter or a phone call, then led up an emotional
path of small decisions until they reach a high point and decide, yes, I want to give. Only then
do they cross what the report calls the conversion horizon and meet your form. The striking part
is the proportion. As Kat described it, "95 per cent of getting somebody to say yes is that
decision making process and getting them to the emotional high point." The form is the last 5 per
cent, but it is the 5 per cent where the gift is taken or lost.

This matters because the emotional high point is also a budget. A donor who is deeply moved,
giving in response to a crisis they care about passionately, will tolerate a clumsy form and push
through anyway. A donor who is mildly engaged, busy and short of time will abandon at the first
irritation. As Kat framed it, the lower the emotional connection, "that friction is much less
tolerated", and then you reach "the point of abandonment". You cannot guarantee every donor
arrives at full emotional intensity, so the safe strategy is to keep the form so smooth that even
a lightly engaged supporter sails through it.

This connects directly to how you drive traffic. The work of building emotion happens in the
[email](/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/), the direct mail and the phone call, not on the form.
Those channels should give the donor what they need to say yes, and the form is the final step. If
you are running a [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), this is doubly true: you are
sending large volumes of warm traffic to your pages in a compressed window, and every percentage
point of conversion is multiplied across thousands of visits. Get the emotional build-up right in
your comms, then make sure the page does not waste the goodwill donors arrive with.

## Removing friction from the giving journey

If the page is where gifts are lost, friction is how they are lost. Jonathan, one of Hubbub's
founders, made the central point bluntly: "It's about psychology. It's not about functionality."
The question in a donor's mind is not whether the form technically works. It is whether they can
look at the thing in front of them, understand it, and figure out what to do quickly and without
anxiety. The job is to stand in the donor's shoes, and when you cannot do that easily, to test it.

A framework from the NextAfter and Hubbub collaboration names four common types of friction.
Having the labels makes them far easier to hunt down on your own pages.

**Decision friction** is asking people to decide between too many options. An empty box that says
"what would you like to give to?" is hard work, because the donor has no idea what the options even
are. A long, ungrouped list of designations is barely better. The fix is to make the choice for
them where you can: direct them to a single recommended cause, or to "where the need is greatest",
which both reflects your priorities and relieves the donor of the decision. As Jonathan noted,
donor choice is a wonderful thing, but "the best place to do that is in stewardship comms". When
you are actually asking for a gift, point them at one thing.

**Confusion friction** is forcing people to make a decision they are not equipped to make. This is
where internal language leaks onto the form: words like "designation", "restricted" and
"unrestricted" that "mean a lot to us, mean nothing to the donor for the most part". Consider a
consent block where the first two channels are opt-in and the second two are opt-out, all four
looking visually identical. It is not designed to trick anyone, but "some people filling this out
will think that this is a trick because it's sufficiently confusing". Even decoding it forces a
pause, and every pause is a chance to abandon.

**Field number friction** is overloading people with fields you would love to have but do not
actually need right now. Jonathan was candid that this is "probably where the biggest trade off
happens in the sector". The honest test is to ask what you genuinely need to retain this donor and
keep the conversation going, rather than what would be nice to know. Most of a donor's value is not
in the first gift but in "the lifetime value of a donor", the chance to keep talking to them. So
capture enough to contact and thank them, and leave the rest for later.

**Steps friction** is too many clicks, page reloads and stages. It creeps in because forms tend to
combine collecting information about the donor with processing payment, and people keep adding
sections in between: address validation, a volunteering question, an account login. Worst of all
is asking for the same information twice, which Jonathan singled out as a personal bugbear: you
capture a name and address, hand off to a payment gateway, and the gateway asks for it all again.
That repetition does not just frustrate, it can make a donor "lose respect a little bit for the
organisation that we're trying to support".

There is one more form of friction the framework does not name but which afflicts the sector
badly: forms that are simply broken. Because nobody is alerted when a form breaks, and because
supporters tend to give up rather than email you, a broken form can sit dead for days or weeks
unnoticed. Build in a regular check, at least once a month and ideally every week, so that a person
actually completes a test gift on your live infrastructure on a schedule.

## Page design and copy that convert

The cheapest, most powerful test you can run costs nothing. As Jonathan put it, "the cheapest
possible way of assessing your online giving experience is to get a family or a friend to do it."
Sit someone outside your organisation in front of the form, watch them try to give, and say
nothing. "You will learn enormous amounts about which words make sense, which words don't make
sense, which buttons are in the right place." If only you test it, you will skip every problem,
because everything makes perfect sense to the person who built it. This is the antidote to
fundraiser bias: the things that make sense to us are the things we assume make sense to our
donors.

In practice, that means writing copy in the donor's language, not yours. Strip out acronyms and
internal jargon. If you must ask for a piece of information, explain why. Take a form asking which
subject an alumnus studied: it means nothing until you add a line such as, the subject with the
most donors unlocks an extra €5,000 of challenge funding. Now the ask makes sense and the donor
gives it willingly. Order long lists alphabetically so people can find their answer, and be wary
of decorative images that look attractive but make the real choice harder to scan. Keep the page
visually calm, lead with the cause and the impact, and let the form itself be the simplest thing
on the screen.

Above all, make the page match the message that brought the donor there. The journey up the "donor
mountain", as Kat described it, is a series of micro-decisions: do I open the email, do I click the
link, does the page match what I just read, do I feel safe. If the page looks and sounds like the
appeal, each of those small decisions is a yes.

## Asking for the right amounts and capturing tax-effective gifts

Suggested amounts are one of the most reliable conversion tools you have, and the reason is
psychological rather than mechanical. Leave the amount box empty and you force the donor to worry:
"what have other people given? Would I be the only one giving at this level? Is this too little? Is
this too much?" Fill it with a suggested figure and, as Jonathan explained, "all of that's gone."
A pre-filled €25 quietly signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while
leaving the donor free to change it up or down. Anchoring matters too: the options you present
shape what feels normal, so choose your suggested levels deliberately.

Regular giving deserves its own clean decision rather than being tangled into the amount question.
A common mistake is a form that lists a jumble of one-off and monthly options together, leaving the
donor unsure what they are even selecting. The better pattern is a simple binary up front: would
you consider a regular gift, yes or no? A yes leads to "what would you like to give every month?";
a no leads to a one-off ask. One confusing question becomes two clear ones, and you avoid odd,
organisation-driven figures like €83.50 a month that exist only because someone divided an annual
target by twelve. As Jonathan put it, "think about what makes sense for the donor", not what is
tidy for your reporting.

Tax-effective giving is the obvious place to add value without adding much friction, though the
detail varies by country. Many European jurisdictions let donors claim a tax deduction or
reduction on gifts to eligible charities, so where that applies, make the benefit clear and tell
the donor plainly that they will receive whatever receipt or confirmation they need to claim it.
For cross-border gifts, Transnational Giving Europe lets donors in participating countries give tax-
effectively to charities in another member country, which is worth flagging if you raise across
borders. Treat any tax confirmation as a clear, well-worded promise rather than a buried clause, and
do not let it become another moment of confusion friction. A clear, honest line about the tax
benefit is reassurance that costs nothing and lifts confidence right at the point of giving.

## Mobile and speed

Donors increasingly arrive on a phone, often straight from an email opened on the move, and the bar
they judge you against is set elsewhere. Giving online does not happen in a vacuum: people compare
your form with their banking app, their supermarket checkout and their government services, and
"it's all the same to the donor." Banking interfaces that were frustrating a few years ago are now
slick; even government forms, as Jonathan noted of the pandemic-era testing systems, were "really
simple to use" and "very well designed for the actual user". If your donation page feels clunky
next to those, supporters notice.

In concrete terms, the page must load fast, render cleanly on a small screen, present large and
easily tapped buttons, and minimise typing. Every extra field is heavier on a phone than on a
desktop, so field number friction and steps friction both bite harder on mobile. Make sure the
experience carries across devices too, so a donor who opens your email on their phone and finishes
on their laptop meets the same page and the same feeling either way. And remember the channels that
funnel people to mobile in the first place: a QR code on a poster, a table card or a screen can
take an in-person moment straight to a frictionless page, which only works if that page is genuinely
built for the phone in their hand.

## Building trust and reassurance

Confidence and friction are two sides of one coin. As Kat put it, "as soon as that confidence dips,
that's where the friction point is", and that dip can turn a willing donor away "not because they
don't want to give to the charity, not because they don't care, but because the friction on the
form is just too much for them to endure." A donation page asks people to hand over money and
personal data, so it has to feel safe at the exact moment they are deciding to trust you.

Much of this is reassurance by design. Keep security visible and current, because expectations
around handling data and payment information safely have risen sharply. Make the page look like it
belongs to your organisation, so it plainly matches the email or letter that sent the donor there
and nothing feels like a detour to an unfamiliar site. Be honest and brief about why you are asking
for anything beyond the essentials. And avoid the quiet trust-killers: a form that asks the same
thing twice, a confusing consent block, or worse, a broken form, all chip away at the sense that
this is a competent organisation worth supporting. Trust is not a badge you add at the end; it is
the cumulative effect of a page that behaves exactly as the donor expects.

## Testing and measuring conversion

You cannot improve what you do not measure, so decisions should rest on data rather than opinion.
The starting point is instrumentation. Hook your platform up to Google Analytics with goals so you
can see conversion from the donation page, and look at web traffic alongside it. If a provider runs
your platform, they "should be looking at your platform on Google Analytics for their own good as
well as yours", so ask them for the numbers. Even without analytics you can improvise a signal, as
Kat did at the University of Southampton by counting the gap between people who started the form and
those who completed payment, enough to prove the form was losing gifts and to make the case for
change.

Once you can see your baseline, run real tests rather than guesses. NextAfter's friction calculator
will walk you through your form question by question and score it, which can give you "the
firepower" to push for improvement internally. Better still, A/B test changes inside a live
campaign rather than swapping a form and waiting to see what arrives. As Kat advised, do not "just
put up a new donation form and see what comes your way"; make it part of an active appeal so the
test means something. Bring the sceptics into the process too, the IT, finance and procurement
colleagues who can otherwise block change, because "nobody likes being told what to do", and let
the data, not anyone's opinion, settle the argument.

Finally, treat this as an investment rather than a cost. The argument worth repeating to any budget
holder is this: moving from two in ten donors converting to seven in ten does not just raise more
money on the day, it brings more people into relationship, lifts lifetime giving and builds the
pipeline. Spending a little to remove friction returns far more than leaving the leak unfixed.

## Frequently asked questions

**What conversion rate should I expect from my donation page?** As a sector benchmark, around 21
per cent, or two in ten visitors, is considered good according to M&R Benchmarks. Well-optimised
platforms can do far better; Hubbub reported conversion of about 70 per cent on their giving day
pages. Treat the benchmark as a floor to beat, not a ceiling to settle for, and measure your own
baseline first.

**What is the single biggest cause of lost donations?** Friction, and specifically the
psychological kind: "it's about psychology, it's not about functionality." Most lost gifts come
from forms that are confusing, ask for too much, or take too many steps, rather than from forms
that are technically broken, though broken forms cause real and often unnoticed losses too.

**Should I use suggested donation amounts?** Yes. A suggested amount removes the anxiety of a blank
box, signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while still letting the
donor change it. Choose your suggested figures deliberately, since they anchor what feels normal.

**How do I handle one-off versus regular giving on the same form?** Separate the decision out. Ask
a simple yes or no question up front about whether the donor would consider a regular gift, then
route them to a monthly or a one-off ask accordingly. Do not mix one-off and monthly amounts in a
single confusing list.

**How often should I check my donation form?** Have someone complete a real test gift on your live
form regularly, at least once a month and ideally weekly. Broken forms rarely announce themselves,
because supporters tend to give up rather than report a problem, so the only reliable way to catch
faults is to test them yourself.

**Where should I send traffic from an email or Giving Day?** Send people straight to the most
relevant page, not to a generic landing page or platform front page. Segment your audience and make
the choice for them where you can, so each donor lands on a page tuned to them with the fewest
possible clicks between the appeal and the completed gift.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: WD-40 for your online donation forms](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo optimizar las páginas de donación y la conversión online](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para mejorar tus páginas de donación y tu conversión online, que aborda la reducción de la fricción, el diseño y los textos de la página, los importes sugeridos y la donación fiscalmente ventajosa, el móvil, la confianza y la medición de lo que funciona.
Puedes escribir el llamamiento más convincente del sector, contar una historia perfecta, pagar a una
agencia para que pula cada palabra, y aun así perder la donación en el último paso. La página de
donación es donde todo ese trabajo da sus frutos o se desmorona en silencio. Es el momento en que un
donante que ya ha decidido donar o completa el gesto o se rinde, y se rinden muchas más personas de
las que la mayoría de los responsables de captación imaginan. Esta guía trata de cerrar esa brecha.
Explica por qué la página importa tanto, cómo eliminar la fricción que ahuyenta a los donantes
dispuestos y cómo llegar, mediante pruebas, a un formulario que convierte. Las secciones avanzan desde
la psicología del recorrido de donación, pasando por el trabajo práctico sobre la fricción, el diseño,
los importes, el móvil y la confianza, hasta la medición y la mejora de la conversión.

El motivo para preocuparse por esto es sencillo. La referencia de M&R Benchmarks indica que, desde el
momento en que alguien aterriza en tu página de donación, una buena conversión ronda el 21 por ciento.
Como lo expresó Kat, directora comercial de Hubbub: «dos de cada diez personas que están en tu sitio
web acabarán haciendo su donación». Esa es la norma del sector. En las plataformas de jornada de
donación de Hubbub, en cambio, «vemos tasas de conversión desde la página de donación de alrededor del
70 por ciento». La diferencia entre dos de cada diez y siete de cada diez no es un error de redondeo.
Es la diferencia entre una campaña que cojea y una que despega, y casi toda esa diferencia se reduce a
la página en sí.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [lista de comprobación de la página de donación](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> la [plantilla de texto del formulario de donación](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) y la
> [lista de comprobación de optimización de la conversión](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Por qué las campañas se ganan o se pierden en la página de donación

Antes de cambiar un solo campo, conviene entender dónde se sitúa la página de donación en el recorrido
del donante. Una forma útil de imaginar ese recorrido es verlo como una ascensión emocional en lugar
de una transacción. El informe de NextAfter «The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages» retrata a un donante
interrumpido en su día corriente por un correo electrónico, una carta o una llamada telefónica, y luego
conducido por un camino emocional de pequeñas decisiones hasta alcanzar una cima y decidir: sí, quiero
donar. Solo entonces cruza lo que el informe llama el horizonte de conversión y se encuentra con tu
formulario. Lo llamativo es la proporción. Como lo describió Kat: «el 95 por ciento de lograr que
alguien diga que sí es ese proceso de toma de decisiones y llevarlo hasta la cima emocional». El
formulario es el último 5 por ciento, pero es el 5 por ciento en el que la donación se gana o se
pierde.

Esto importa porque la cima emocional es también un presupuesto. Un donante profundamente conmovido,
que dona en respuesta a una crisis que le importa apasionadamente, tolerará un formulario torpe y
seguirá adelante de todos modos. Un donante poco implicado, ocupado y con poco tiempo abandonará a la
primera molestia. Como lo planteó Kat, cuanto menor es la conexión emocional, «menos se tolera esa
fricción», y entonces se llega «al punto de abandono». No puedes garantizar que cada donante llegue con
plena intensidad emocional, así que la estrategia segura es mantener el formulario tan fluido que
incluso un simpatizante poco implicado lo recorra sin tropiezos.

Esto se conecta directamente con cómo generas tráfico. El trabajo de construir emoción ocurre en el
[correo electrónico](/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/), en el correo directo y en la llamada
telefónica, no en el formulario. Esos canales deben dar al donante lo que necesita para decir que sí, y
el formulario es el último paso. Si estás organizando una
[jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), esto es doblemente cierto: estás
enviando grandes volúmenes de tráfico cálido a tus páginas en una ventana de tiempo comprimida, y cada
punto porcentual de conversión se multiplica a través de miles de visitas. Cuida bien la construcción
emocional en tus comunicaciones y luego asegúrate de que la página no desperdicie la buena disposición
con la que llegan los donantes.

## Eliminar la fricción del recorrido de donación

Si la página es donde se pierden las donaciones, la fricción es cómo se pierden. Jonathan, uno de los
fundadores de Hubbub, expresó el punto central sin rodeos: «Es cuestión de psicología. No es cuestión
de funcionalidad». La pregunta en la mente de un donante no es si el formulario funciona técnicamente.
Es si puede mirar lo que tiene delante, entenderlo y averiguar qué hacer con rapidez y sin ansiedad. La
tarea consiste en ponerse en los zapatos del donante, y cuando no resulta fácil hacerlo, en probarlo.

Un marco surgido de la colaboración entre NextAfter y Hubbub nombra cuatro tipos comunes de fricción.
Tener esas etiquetas las hace mucho más fáciles de rastrear en tus propias páginas.

**La fricción de decisión** consiste en pedir a la gente que elija entre demasiadas opciones. Una
casilla vacía que pregunta «¿a qué te gustaría donar?» da trabajo, porque el donante no tiene ni idea
de cuáles son siquiera las opciones. Una lista larga de destinos sin agrupar es apenas mejor. La
solución es hacer la elección por ellos donde puedas: dirígelos a una única causa recomendada, o a
«donde la necesidad es mayor», lo cual refleja tus prioridades y a la vez libera al donante de la
decisión. Como señaló Jonathan, la libertad de elección del donante es algo maravilloso, pero «el mejor
lugar para ofrecerla son las comunicaciones de fidelización». Cuando de verdad estás pidiendo una
donación, dirígelo hacia una sola cosa.

**La fricción de confusión** consiste en obligar a la gente a tomar una decisión para la que no está
preparada. Es aquí donde el lenguaje interno se cuela en el formulario: palabras como «asignación»,
«restringido» y «no restringido» que «significan mucho para nosotros, pero para el donante no
significan nada en su mayor parte». Piensa en un bloque de consentimiento en el que los dos primeros
canales son de aceptación expresa y los dos siguientes de exclusión voluntaria, los cuatro con un
aspecto visualmente idéntico. No está diseñado para engañar a nadie, pero «algunas personas que lo
rellenen pensarán que se trata de una trampa, porque es lo bastante confuso». Incluso descifrarlo
obliga a una pausa, y cada pausa es una oportunidad de abandonar.

**La fricción del número de campos** consiste en sobrecargar a la gente con campos que te encantaría
tener pero que en realidad no necesitas ahora mismo. Jonathan reconoció con franqueza que aquí «es
probablemente donde se produce el mayor compromiso del sector». La prueba honesta es preguntarse qué
necesitas de verdad para retener a este donante y mantener viva la conversación, en lugar de qué estaría
bien saber. La mayor parte del valor de un donante no está en la primera donación, sino en «el valor a
lo largo de la vida de un donante», la posibilidad de seguir hablando con él. Recoge, por tanto, lo
suficiente para contactarlo y darle las gracias, y deja el resto para más adelante.

**La fricción de pasos** consiste en demasiados clics, recargas de página y etapas. Se cuela porque los
formularios tienden a combinar la recogida de información sobre el donante con el procesamiento del
pago, y la gente no para de añadir secciones intermedias: validación de la dirección, una pregunta
sobre voluntariado, un inicio de sesión de cuenta. Lo peor de todo es pedir la misma información dos
veces, algo que Jonathan señaló como una manía personal: recoges un nombre y una dirección, lo pasas a
una pasarela de pago, y la pasarela lo vuelve a pedir todo. Esa repetición no solo frustra, puede hacer
que un donante «pierda un poco el respeto por la organización a la que intentamos apoyar».

Hay otra forma de fricción que el marco no nombra pero que aqueja gravemente al sector: los formularios
que sencillamente están rotos. Como a nadie se le avisa cuando un formulario se rompe, y como los
simpatizantes tienden a rendirse en lugar de escribirte, un formulario roto puede quedar muerto durante
días o semanas sin que nadie lo note. Establece una comprobación regular, al menos una vez al mes e
idealmente cada semana, de modo que una persona complete realmente una donación de prueba en tu
infraestructura en producción, de forma planificada.

## Diseño y textos de página que convierten

La prueba más potente y barata que puedes realizar no cuesta nada. Como lo expresó Jonathan, «la forma
más barata de evaluar tu experiencia de donación online es pedir a un familiar o a un amigo que la
haga». Sienta a alguien ajeno a tu organización frente al formulario, obsérvalo mientras intenta donar
y no digas nada. «Aprenderás muchísimo sobre qué palabras tienen sentido, cuáles no, y qué botones
están en el lugar correcto». Si solo lo pruebas tú, te saltarás todos los problemas, porque para la
persona que lo construyó todo tiene perfecto sentido. Este es el antídoto contra el sesgo del
captador: lo que tiene sentido para nosotros es lo que damos por hecho que tiene sentido para nuestros
donantes.

En la práctica, eso significa redactar los textos en el idioma del donante, no en el tuyo. Elimina las
siglas y la jerga interna. Si tienes que pedir un dato, explica por qué. Toma un formulario que pregunta
qué materia estudió un antiguo alumno: no significa nada hasta que añades una línea del tipo: la materia
con más donantes desbloquea 5.000 € adicionales de fondos de contrapartida. Ahora la petición tiene
sentido y el donante la facilita de buen grado. Ordena las listas largas alfabéticamente para que la
gente encuentre su respuesta, y desconfía de las imágenes decorativas que resultan atractivas pero
dificultan ver la elección real. Mantén la página visualmente tranquila, pon por delante la causa y el
impacto, y deja que el formulario en sí sea lo más sencillo de la pantalla.

Por encima de todo, haz que la página coincida con el mensaje que trajo al donante. La ascensión por la
«montaña del donante», como la describió Kat, es una serie de microdecisiones: ¿abro el correo, hago
clic en el enlace, coincide la página con lo que acabo de leer, me siento seguro? Si la página tiene el
aspecto y el tono del llamamiento, cada una de esas pequeñas decisiones es un sí.

## Pedir los importes adecuados y captar donaciones fiscalmente ventajosas

Los importes sugeridos están entre las herramientas de conversión más fiables que tienes, y la razón es
psicológica más que mecánica. Deja vacía la casilla del importe y obligas al donante a inquietarse:
«¿cuánto han dado los demás? ¿Sería el único que dona en este nivel? ¿Es demasiado poco? ¿Es demasiado?».
Rellénala con una cifra sugerida y, como explicó Jonathan, «todo eso desaparece». Un importe
precargado de 25 € señala discretamente lo que se espera y da permiso para donar en ese nivel, dejando
al donante libre de subirlo o bajarlo. El anclaje también cuenta: las opciones que presentas moldean lo
que parece normal, así que elige tus niveles sugeridos de forma deliberada.

La donación periódica merece su propia decisión limpia en lugar de enredarse con la cuestión del
importe. Un error frecuente es un formulario que enumera de forma desordenada opciones puntuales y
mensuales, dejando al donante sin saber qué está seleccionando siquiera. El mejor patrón es una sencilla
elección binaria por adelantado: ¿considerarías una donación periódica, sí o no? Un sí lleva a «¿cuánto
te gustaría donar cada mes?»; un no lleva a una petición puntual. Una pregunta confusa se convierte en
dos preguntas claras, y evitas cifras extrañas, impuestas por la organización, como 83,50 € al mes, que
solo existen porque alguien dividió un objetivo anual entre doce. Como dijo Jonathan, «piensa en qué
tiene sentido para el donante», no en qué resulta ordenado para tus informes.

La donación fiscalmente ventajosa es el lugar evidente para añadir valor sin añadir mucha fricción,
aunque el detalle varía según el país. Muchas jurisdicciones europeas permiten a los donantes
beneficiarse de una deducción o reducción fiscal en las donaciones a entidades elegibles, así que donde
eso aplique, deja claro el beneficio y dile al donante con franqueza que recibirá el recibo o la
confirmación que necesite para acogerse a él. Para las donaciones transfronterizas, Transnational
Giving Europe permite a los donantes de los países participantes donar de forma fiscalmente ventajosa a
entidades de otro país miembro, algo que vale la pena señalar si captas fondos más allá de las
fronteras. Trata cualquier confirmación fiscal como una promesa clara y bien redactada en lugar de una
cláusula enterrada, y no dejes que se convierta en otro momento de fricción de confusión. Una línea
clara y honesta sobre el beneficio fiscal es una tranquilidad que no cuesta nada y que aumenta la
confianza justo en el momento de donar.

## Móvil y velocidad

Los donantes llegan cada vez más desde un teléfono, a menudo directamente desde un correo abierto sobre
la marcha, y el listón con el que te juzgan se fija en otra parte. Donar online no ocurre en el vacío:
la gente compara tu formulario con su aplicación bancaria, la caja de su supermercado y los servicios
de su administración pública, y «para el donante todo es lo mismo». Las interfaces bancarias que eran
frustrantes hace unos años ahora son fluidas; incluso los formularios de la administración pública,
como señaló Jonathan a propósito de los sistemas de pruebas de la época de la pandemia, eran «realmente
fáciles de usar» y «estaban muy bien diseñados para el usuario real». Si tu página de donación parece
engorrosa junto a aquellos, los simpatizantes lo notan.

En términos concretos, la página debe cargar rápido, mostrarse con claridad en una pantalla pequeña,
presentar botones grandes y fáciles de pulsar, y minimizar la escritura. Cada campo adicional pesa más
en un teléfono que en un ordenador de escritorio, de modo que la fricción del número de campos y la
fricción de pasos muerden ambas con más fuerza en el móvil. Asegúrate también de que la experiencia se
traslade entre dispositivos, para que un donante que abre tu correo en su teléfono y termina en su
portátil encuentre la misma página y la misma sensación en ambos casos. Y recuerda los canales que
encaminan a la gente al móvil en primer lugar: un código QR en un cartel, una tarjeta de mesa o una
pantalla puede llevar un momento presencial directamente a una página sin fricción, lo cual solo
funciona si esa página está realmente construida para el teléfono que tienen en la mano.

## Construir confianza y tranquilidad

La confianza y la fricción son las dos caras de una misma moneda. Como lo expresó Kat, «en cuanto esa
confianza baja, ahí está el punto de fricción», y esa caída puede ahuyentar a un donante dispuesto «no
porque no quiera donar a la organización, no porque no le importe, sino porque la fricción del
formulario es sencillamente demasiado para soportarla». Una página de donación pide a la gente que
entregue dinero y datos personales, así que tiene que transmitir seguridad en el momento exacto en que
deciden confiar en ti.

Gran parte de esto es tranquilidad mediante el diseño. Mantén la seguridad visible y al día, porque las
expectativas sobre el tratamiento seguro de los datos y la información de pago han crecido con fuerza.
Haz que la página parezca pertenecer a tu organización, de modo que coincida claramente con el correo o
la carta que envió allí al donante y que nada dé la impresión de un desvío a un sitio desconocido. Sé
honesto y breve sobre por qué pides algo más allá de lo esencial. Y evita los silenciosos asesinos de
la confianza: un formulario que pide lo mismo dos veces, un bloque de consentimiento confuso o, peor
aún, un formulario roto, todos van erosionando la sensación de que se trata de una organización
competente y digna de apoyo. La confianza no es una insignia que se añade al final; es el efecto
acumulado de una página que se comporta exactamente como el donante espera.

## Probar y medir la conversión

No puedes mejorar lo que no mides, así que las decisiones deberían apoyarse en los datos más que en la
opinión. El punto de partida es la instrumentación. Conecta tu plataforma a Google Analytics con
objetivos para poder ver la conversión desde la página de donación, y observa el tráfico web en
paralelo. Si un proveedor gestiona tu plataforma, «debería estar mirando tu plataforma en Google
Analytics por su propio bien además del tuyo», así que pídele los números. Incluso sin analítica puedes
improvisar una señal, como hizo Kat en la Universidad de Southampton contando la brecha entre las
personas que empezaban el formulario y las que completaban el pago, lo suficiente para demostrar que el
formulario perdía donaciones y para justificar el cambio.

Una vez que puedas ver tu punto de partida, realiza pruebas reales en lugar de conjeturas. La calculadora
de fricción de NextAfter te guiará por tu formulario pregunta a pregunta y lo puntuará, lo que puede
darte «la potencia de fuego» para impulsar la mejora internamente. Mejor aún, haz pruebas A/B dentro de
una campaña activa en lugar de cambiar un formulario y esperar a ver qué llega. Como aconsejó Kat, no
«pongas sin más un nuevo formulario de donación y esperes a ver qué te llega»; hazlo parte de un
llamamiento activo para que la prueba signifique algo. Implica también a los escépticos en el proceso,
los colegas de informática, finanzas y compras que de otro modo pueden bloquear el cambio, porque «a
nadie le gusta que le digan lo que tiene que hacer», y deja que sean los datos, no la opinión de nadie,
los que zanjen la discusión.

Por último, trata esto como una inversión en lugar de un coste. El argumento que vale la pena repetir a
cualquier responsable de presupuesto es este: pasar de dos donantes de cada diez que convierten a siete
de cada diez no solo recauda más dinero en la jornada, sino que incorpora a más personas a una relación,
eleva la donación a lo largo de la vida y construye la cartera. Gastar un poco para eliminar la fricción
devuelve mucho más que dejar la fuga sin reparar.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Qué tasa de conversión debería esperar de mi página de donación?** Como referencia del sector,
alrededor del 21 por ciento, es decir, dos visitantes de cada diez, se considera bueno según M&R
Benchmarks. Las plataformas bien optimizadas pueden hacerlo mucho mejor; Hubbub informó de una
conversión de alrededor del 70 por ciento en sus páginas de jornada de donación. Trata la referencia
como un suelo a superar, no como un techo con el que conformarse, y mide primero tu propio punto de
partida.

**¿Cuál es la mayor causa individual de donaciones perdidas?** La fricción, y en concreto la de tipo
psicológico: «es cuestión de psicología, no es cuestión de funcionalidad». La mayoría de las donaciones
perdidas proceden de formularios confusos, que piden demasiado o que tienen demasiados pasos, más que
de formularios técnicamente rotos, aunque los formularios rotos también causan pérdidas reales y a
menudo inadvertidas.

**¿Debería usar importes de donación sugeridos?** Sí. Un importe sugerido elimina la ansiedad de la
casilla vacía, señala lo que se espera y da permiso para donar en ese nivel, dejando aun así al donante
libre de cambiarlo. Elige tus cifras sugeridas de forma deliberada, ya que anclan lo que parece normal.

**¿Cómo gestiono la donación puntual frente a la periódica en el mismo formulario?** Separa la decisión.
Plantea por adelantado una sencilla pregunta de sí o no sobre si el donante consideraría una donación
periódica, y luego encamínalo en consecuencia hacia una petición mensual o puntual. No mezcles importes
puntuales y mensuales en una única lista confusa.

**¿Con qué frecuencia debería comprobar mi formulario de donación?** Haz que alguien complete con
regularidad una donación de prueba real en tu formulario en producción, al menos una vez al mes e
idealmente cada semana. Los formularios rotos rara vez se anuncian, porque los simpatizantes tienden a
rendirse en lugar de informar de un problema, así que la única forma fiable de detectar los fallos es
probarlos tú mismo.

**¿A dónde debería dirigir el tráfico de un correo electrónico o de una jornada de donación?** Envía a
la gente directamente a la página más pertinente, no a una página de aterrizaje genérica o a la portada
de la plataforma. Segmenta tu audiencia y haz la elección por ellos donde puedas, para que cada donante
aterrice en una página ajustada a él, con los menos clics posibles entre el llamamiento y la donación
completada.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Lista de comprobación de la página de donación](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Plantilla de texto del formulario de donación](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Lista de comprobación de optimización de la conversión](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de jornada de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina los textos de tus llamamientos y correos electrónicos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas complementarias

- [Webinar: WD-40 para tus formularios de donación online](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Guía relacionada: [Cómo escribir correos de captación de fondos que funcionan](/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para saber más.

- [Comment optimiser vos pages de don et la conversion en ligne](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour améliorer vos pages de don et votre conversion en ligne, qui aborde la réduction des frictions, le design et le texte des pages, les montants suggérés et le don fiscalement avantageux, le mobile, la confiance et la mesure de ce qui fonctionne.
Vous pouvez rédiger l'appel le plus convaincant du secteur, raconter une histoire parfaite, payer
une agence pour ciseler chaque mot, et perdre malgré tout le don à la dernière étape. La page de
don est l'endroit où tout ce travail finit par porter ses fruits ou s'effondre en silence. C'est le
moment où un donateur qui a déjà décidé de donner finalise son geste ou abandonne, et bien plus de
gens abandonnent que la plupart des collecteurs de fonds ne l'imaginent. Ce guide vise à combler cet
écart. Il explique pourquoi la page compte tant, comment supprimer les frictions qui font fuir les
donateurs disposés, et comment tester pour aboutir à un formulaire qui convertit. Les sections
progressent depuis la psychologie du parcours de don, en passant par le travail concret sur les
frictions, le design, les montants, le mobile et la confiance, jusqu'à la mesure et l'amélioration de
la conversion.

L'argument en faveur de cette démarche est simple. La référence du M&R Benchmarks indique qu'à
partir du moment où une personne arrive sur votre page de don, une bonne conversion se situe autour
de 21 pour cent. Comme l'a formulé Kat, directrice commerciale de Hubbub : « deux personnes sur dix
présentes sur votre site finiront par faire leur don. » C'est la norme du secteur. Sur les
plateformes de journée de don de Hubbub, en revanche, « nous observons des taux de conversion depuis
la page de don d'environ 70 pour cent. » La différence entre deux sur dix et sept sur dix n'est pas
une erreur d'arrondi. C'est la différence entre une campagne qui boite et une campagne qui s'envole,
et presque toute cette différence se joue sur la page elle-même.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [check-list de page de don](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [modèle de texte de formulaire de don](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) et
> [check-list d'optimisation de la conversion](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Pourquoi la page de don est le terrain où les campagnes se gagnent ou se perdent

Avant de modifier le moindre champ, il est utile de comprendre où se situe la page de don dans le
parcours du donateur. Une façon utile de se représenter ce parcours est de le voir comme une montée
émotionnelle plutôt que comme une transaction. Le rapport de NextAfter « The State of Nonprofit Donor
Pages » dépeint un donateur interrompu dans son quotidien ordinaire par un e-mail, une lettre ou un
appel téléphonique, puis conduit le long d'un chemin émotionnel fait de petites décisions jusqu'à
atteindre un sommet et décider : oui, je veux donner. Ce n'est qu'alors qu'il franchit ce que le
rapport appelle l'horizon de conversion et rencontre votre formulaire. Le plus frappant, c'est la
proportion. Comme l'a décrit Kat, « 95 pour cent du fait d'amener quelqu'un à dire oui, c'est ce
processus de décision et le fait de l'amener au sommet émotionnel. » Le formulaire, c'est les
derniers 5 pour cent, mais ce sont les 5 pour cent où le don est obtenu ou perdu.

Cela compte parce que le sommet émotionnel est aussi un budget. Un donateur profondément ému, qui
donne en réponse à une crise qui lui tient passionnément à cœur, tolérera un formulaire maladroit et
ira au bout malgré tout. Un donateur faiblement engagé, occupé et pressé abandonnera à la première
contrariété. Comme l'a formulé Kat, plus la connexion émotionnelle est faible, « cette friction est
bien moins tolérée », et l'on atteint alors « le point d'abandon ». Vous ne pouvez pas garantir que
chaque donateur arrive à pleine intensité émotionnelle, alors la stratégie sûre consiste à rendre le
formulaire si fluide que même un soutien faiblement engagé le traverse sans encombre.

Cela se rattache directement à la manière dont vous générez du trafic. Le travail de construction de
l'émotion se fait dans l'[e-mail](/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/), le publipostage et l'appel
téléphonique, pas sur le formulaire. Ces canaux doivent donner au donateur ce dont il a besoin pour
dire oui, et le formulaire est l'ultime étape. Si vous organisez une
[journée de don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/), c'est doublement vrai : vous envoyez de
gros volumes de trafic chaud vers vos pages dans une fenêtre de temps resserrée, et chaque point de
pourcentage de conversion se trouve multiplié à travers des milliers de visites. Réussissez la montée
émotionnelle dans vos communications, puis assurez-vous que la page ne gaspille pas la bonne volonté
avec laquelle les donateurs arrivent.

## Supprimer les frictions du parcours de don

Si la page est l'endroit où les dons se perdent, la friction est la façon dont ils se perdent.
Jonathan, l'un des fondateurs de Hubbub, a énoncé l'essentiel sans détour : « C'est une question de
psychologie. Ce n'est pas une question de fonctionnalité. » La question dans l'esprit d'un donateur
n'est pas de savoir si le formulaire fonctionne techniquement. C'est de savoir s'il peut regarder ce
qu'il a sous les yeux, le comprendre, et déterminer quoi faire rapidement et sans anxiété. Le travail
consiste à se mettre à la place du donateur, et lorsque vous n'y parvenez pas facilement, à le
tester.

Un cadre issu de la collaboration entre NextAfter et Hubbub nomme quatre types courants de friction.
Disposer de ces étiquettes les rend bien plus faciles à traquer sur vos propres pages.

**La friction de décision** consiste à demander aux gens de choisir parmi trop d'options. Une case
vide qui demande « à quoi souhaitez-vous donner ? » représente un effort, parce que le donateur n'a
aucune idée des options possibles. Une longue liste de destinations non regroupée n'est guère mieux.
La solution est de faire le choix à leur place quand vous le pouvez : orientez-les vers une seule
cause recommandée, ou vers « là où le besoin est le plus grand », ce qui reflète à la fois vos
priorités et soulage le donateur de la décision. Comme l'a noté Jonathan, le choix du donateur est
une chose merveilleuse, mais « le meilleur endroit pour le faire, c'est dans les communications de
fidélisation ». Lorsque vous demandez réellement un don, dirigez-le vers une seule chose.

**La friction de confusion** consiste à forcer les gens à prendre une décision pour laquelle ils ne
sont pas armés. C'est là que le langage interne déborde sur le formulaire : des mots comme
« affectation », « restreint » et « non restreint » qui « signifient beaucoup pour nous, mais ne
signifient pour ainsi dire rien pour le donateur ». Pensez à un bloc de consentement où les deux
premiers canaux sont en opt-in et les deux suivants en opt-out, les quatre ayant un aspect
visuellement identique. Ce n'est pas conçu pour tromper qui que ce soit, mais « certaines personnes
qui le remplissent penseront qu'il s'agit d'un piège, parce que c'est suffisamment déroutant ». Même
le simple fait de le décoder impose une pause, et chaque pause est une occasion d'abandonner.

**La friction du nombre de champs** consiste à surcharger les gens de champs que vous adoreriez avoir
mais dont vous n'avez pas réellement besoin maintenant. Jonathan a reconnu sans détour que c'est
« sans doute là que se joue le plus grand compromis du secteur ». Le test honnête consiste à se
demander ce dont vous avez véritablement besoin pour fidéliser ce donateur et poursuivre la
conversation, plutôt que ce qu'il serait agréable de savoir. L'essentiel de la valeur d'un donateur
ne réside pas dans le premier don mais dans « la valeur à vie d'un donateur », la possibilité de
continuer à lui parler. Recueillez donc assez pour le contacter et le remercier, et laissez le reste
pour plus tard.

**La friction d'étapes** consiste en trop de clics, de rechargements de page et de phases. Elle
s'installe parce que les formulaires tendent à combiner la collecte d'informations sur le donateur
avec le traitement du paiement, et que l'on ne cesse d'ajouter des sections entre les deux :
validation d'adresse, question sur le bénévolat, connexion à un compte. Le pire de tout est de
demander deux fois la même information, ce que Jonathan a désigné comme une bête noire personnelle :
vous recueillez un nom et une adresse, transmettez à une passerelle de paiement, et la passerelle
redemande le tout. Cette répétition ne fait pas que frustrer, elle peut amener un donateur à « perdre
un peu de respect pour l'organisation que nous essayons de soutenir ».

Il existe une autre forme de friction que le cadre ne nomme pas mais qui afflige gravement le
secteur : les formulaires tout simplement défaillants. Parce que personne n'est alerté quand un
formulaire tombe en panne, et parce que les soutiens tendent à abandonner plutôt qu'à vous écrire, un
formulaire défaillant peut rester inopérant pendant des jours ou des semaines sans que personne ne le
remarque. Mettez en place une vérification régulière, au moins une fois par mois et idéalement chaque
semaine, pour qu'une personne réalise effectivement un don test sur votre infrastructure en
production, de manière planifiée.

## Un design et un texte de page qui convertissent

Le test le plus puissant et le moins coûteux que vous puissiez mener ne coûte rien. Comme l'a
exprimé Jonathan, « la façon la moins chère d'évaluer votre expérience de don en ligne est de
demander à un membre de votre famille ou à un ami de la faire. » Asseyez quelqu'un d'extérieur à
votre organisation devant le formulaire, regardez-le essayer de donner, et ne dites rien. « Vous
apprendrez énormément sur les mots qui ont du sens, les mots qui n'en ont pas, et les boutons qui
sont au bon endroit. » Si vous êtes le seul à le tester, vous passerez à côté de chaque problème,
parce que tout a un sens parfait pour la personne qui l'a conçu. C'est l'antidote au biais du
collecteur de fonds : ce qui a du sens pour nous est ce que nous supposons avoir du sens pour nos
donateurs.

En pratique, cela signifie rédiger le texte dans la langue du donateur, pas la vôtre. Éliminez les
acronymes et le jargon interne. Si vous devez demander une information, expliquez pourquoi. Prenez un
formulaire qui demande quelle matière un ancien étudiant a étudiée : cela ne signifie rien tant que
vous n'ajoutez pas une ligne du type, la matière comptant le plus de donateurs débloque 5 000 €
supplémentaires de fonds de contrepartie. La demande prend alors tout son sens et le donateur la
fournit volontiers. Classez les longues listes par ordre alphabétique pour que les gens trouvent leur
réponse, et méfiez-vous des images décoratives qui paraissent attrayantes mais compliquent le repérage
du vrai choix. Gardez la page visuellement calme, mettez la cause et l'impact en avant, et laissez le
formulaire être l'élément le plus simple de l'écran.

Par-dessus tout, faites en sorte que la page corresponde au message qui a amené le donateur. La
montée de la « montagne du donateur », comme l'a décrite Kat, est une série de micro-décisions :
est-ce que j'ouvre l'e-mail, est-ce que je clique sur le lien, est-ce que la page correspond à ce que
je viens de lire, est-ce que je me sens en sécurité. Si la page ressemble et sonne comme l'appel,
chacune de ces petites décisions est un oui.

## Demander les bons montants et capter les dons fiscalement avantageux

Les montants suggérés font partie des outils de conversion les plus fiables dont vous disposez, et la
raison en est psychologique plutôt que mécanique. Laissez la case du montant vide et vous forcez le
donateur à s'inquiéter : « qu'ont donné les autres ? Serais-je le seul à donner à ce niveau ? Est-ce
trop peu ? Est-ce trop ? » Remplissez-la avec un chiffre suggéré et, comme l'a expliqué Jonathan,
« tout cela disparaît. » Un montant pré-rempli de 25 € indique discrètement ce qui est attendu et
donne la permission de donner à ce niveau, tout en laissant le donateur libre de le revoir à la
hausse ou à la baisse. L'ancrage compte aussi : les options que vous présentez façonnent ce qui paraît
normal, alors choisissez vos niveaux suggérés de façon délibérée.

Le don régulier mérite sa propre décision claire plutôt que d'être mêlé à la question du montant. Une
erreur courante est un formulaire qui mélange pêle-mêle des options ponctuelles et mensuelles,
laissant le donateur incertain de ce qu'il sélectionne réellement. Le meilleur schéma est un choix
binaire simple en amont : envisageriez-vous un don régulier, oui ou non ? Un oui mène à « combien
souhaitez-vous donner chaque mois ? » ; un non mène à une demande ponctuelle. Une question
déroutante devient deux questions claires, et vous évitez les montants étranges, dictés par
l'organisation, comme 83,50 € par mois, qui n'existent que parce que quelqu'un a divisé un objectif
annuel par douze. Comme l'a formulé Jonathan, « pensez à ce qui a du sens pour le donateur », et non à
ce qui est commode pour vos rapports.

Le don fiscalement avantageux est l'endroit évident pour ajouter de la valeur sans ajouter beaucoup
de friction, même si le détail varie selon le pays. De nombreuses juridictions européennes permettent
aux donateurs de bénéficier d'une déduction ou d'une réduction d'impôt sur les dons à des organismes
éligibles, alors là où cela s'applique, rendez l'avantage clair et dites au donateur sans détour qu'il
recevra le reçu ou la confirmation dont il a besoin pour en bénéficier. Pour les dons
transfrontaliers, Transnational Giving Europe permet aux donateurs des pays participants de donner de
manière fiscalement avantageuse à des organismes d'un autre pays membre, ce qui mérite d'être signalé
si vous collectez au-delà des frontières. Traitez toute confirmation fiscale comme une promesse
claire et bien rédigée plutôt que comme une clause enterrée, et ne la laissez pas devenir un nouveau
moment de friction de confusion. Une ligne claire et honnête sur l'avantage fiscal est une assurance
qui ne coûte rien et qui renforce la confiance au moment précis du don.

## Mobile et rapidité

Les donateurs arrivent de plus en plus sur un téléphone, souvent directement depuis un e-mail ouvert
en déplacement, et la barre à laquelle ils vous jugent est fixée ailleurs. Donner en ligne ne se
produit pas dans le vide : les gens comparent votre formulaire à leur application bancaire, à la caisse
de leur supermarché et à leurs services administratifs, et « pour le donateur, c'est tout pareil. »
Les interfaces bancaires qui étaient frustrantes il y a quelques années sont désormais fluides ; même
les formulaires administratifs, comme l'a noté Jonathan à propos des systèmes de tests de l'ère
pandémique, étaient « vraiment simples à utiliser » et « très bien conçus pour l'utilisateur réel ».
Si votre page de don paraît laborieuse à côté de cela, les soutiens le remarquent.

Concrètement, la page doit se charger vite, s'afficher proprement sur un petit écran, présenter des
boutons grands et faciles à toucher, et réduire la saisie au minimum. Chaque champ supplémentaire pèse
plus lourd sur un téléphone que sur un ordinateur, si bien que la friction du nombre de champs et la
friction d'étapes mordent plus fort sur mobile. Veillez aussi à ce que l'expérience se prolonge d'un
appareil à l'autre, afin qu'un donateur qui ouvre votre e-mail sur son téléphone et termine sur son
ordinateur portable retrouve la même page et le même ressenti des deux côtés. Et n'oubliez pas les
canaux qui dirigent les gens vers le mobile en premier lieu : un QR code sur une affiche, un carton de
table ou un écran peut conduire un moment en présentiel directement vers une page sans friction, ce
qui ne fonctionne que si cette page est réellement conçue pour le téléphone qu'ils ont en main.

## Bâtir la confiance et la réassurance

La confiance et la friction sont les deux faces d'une même pièce. Comme l'a formulé Kat, « dès que
cette confiance fléchit, c'est là que se trouve le point de friction », et ce fléchissement peut faire
fuir un donateur disposé « non pas parce qu'il ne veut pas donner à l'association, non pas parce qu'il
s'en moque, mais parce que la friction sur le formulaire est tout simplement trop forte pour qu'il la
supporte. » Une page de don demande aux gens de remettre de l'argent et des données personnelles, elle
doit donc inspirer un sentiment de sécurité au moment précis où ils décident de vous faire confiance.

Une grande partie de cela relève de la réassurance par le design. Gardez la sécurité visible et à
jour, car les attentes en matière de traitement sûr des données et des informations de paiement ont
fortement augmenté. Faites en sorte que la page paraisse appartenir à votre organisation, de sorte
qu'elle corresponde clairement à l'e-mail ou à la lettre qui a amené le donateur et que rien ne donne
l'impression d'un détour vers un site inconnu. Soyez honnête et bref sur la raison pour laquelle vous
demandez quoi que ce soit au-delà de l'essentiel. Et évitez les tueurs de confiance silencieux : un
formulaire qui demande deux fois la même chose, un bloc de consentement déroutant, ou pire, un
formulaire défaillant, tout cela érode le sentiment qu'il s'agit d'une organisation compétente, digne
d'être soutenue. La confiance n'est pas un badge que l'on ajoute à la fin ; c'est l'effet cumulé d'une
page qui se comporte exactement comme le donateur s'y attend.

## Tester et mesurer la conversion

Vous ne pouvez pas améliorer ce que vous ne mesurez pas, alors les décisions doivent reposer sur les
données plutôt que sur l'opinion. Le point de départ est l'instrumentation. Reliez votre plateforme à
Google Analytics avec des objectifs pour pouvoir voir la conversion depuis la page de don, et
examinez le trafic web en parallèle. Si un prestataire gère votre plateforme, il « devrait surveiller
votre plateforme sur Google Analytics pour son propre bien comme pour le vôtre », alors demandez-lui
les chiffres. Même sans analytique, vous pouvez improviser un signal, comme l'a fait Kat à
l'Université de Southampton en comptant l'écart entre les personnes ayant commencé le formulaire et
celles ayant finalisé le paiement, ce qui a suffi à prouver que le formulaire perdait des dons et à
justifier le changement.

Une fois votre niveau de référence visible, menez de vrais tests plutôt que des suppositions. Le
calculateur de friction de NextAfter vous guidera question par question à travers votre formulaire et
le notera, ce qui peut vous donner « la force de frappe » nécessaire pour pousser à l'amélioration en
interne. Mieux encore, faites des tests A/B au sein d'une campagne en cours plutôt que de remplacer un
formulaire et d'attendre de voir ce qui arrive. Comme l'a conseillé Kat, ne « mettez pas simplement en
ligne un nouveau formulaire de don et attendez de voir ce qui vient à vous » ; intégrez-le à un appel
actif pour que le test ait du sens. Associez aussi les sceptiques à la démarche, les collègues de
l'informatique, de la finance et des achats qui peuvent autrement bloquer le changement, parce que
« personne n'aime se faire dicter sa conduite », et laissez les données, non l'opinion de quiconque,
trancher le débat.

Enfin, considérez cela comme un investissement plutôt que comme un coût. L'argument qui mérite d'être
répété à tout responsable budgétaire est celui-ci : passer de deux donateurs sur dix qui convertissent
à sept sur dix ne fait pas que collecter plus d'argent le jour même, cela amène davantage de
personnes dans une relation, augmente le don à vie et construit le pipeline. Dépenser un peu pour
supprimer la friction rapporte bien plus que de laisser la fuite non réparée.

## Foire aux questions

**Quel taux de conversion dois-je attendre de ma page de don ?** En guise de référence sectorielle,
environ 21 pour cent, soit deux visiteurs sur dix, est considéré comme bon selon le M&R Benchmarks.
Des plateformes bien optimisées peuvent faire bien mieux ; Hubbub a rapporté une conversion d'environ
70 pour cent sur ses pages de journée de don. Traitez la référence comme un seuil à dépasser, et non
comme un plafond à accepter, et mesurez d'abord votre propre niveau de référence.

**Quelle est la première cause de dons perdus ?** La friction, et plus précisément la friction de
nature psychologique : « c'est une question de psychologie, ce n'est pas une question de
fonctionnalité. » La plupart des dons perdus proviennent de formulaires déroutants, qui en demandent
trop ou qui comptent trop d'étapes, plutôt que de formulaires techniquement défaillants, même si les
formulaires défaillants causent eux aussi des pertes réelles et souvent inaperçues.

**Dois-je utiliser des montants de don suggérés ?** Oui. Un montant suggéré supprime l'anxiété de la
case vide, indique ce qui est attendu et donne la permission de donner à ce niveau, tout en laissant
le donateur libre de le modifier. Choisissez vos chiffres suggérés de façon délibérée, car ils ancrent
ce qui paraît normal.

**Comment gérer le don ponctuel face au don régulier sur le même formulaire ?** Séparez la décision.
Posez une simple question par oui ou par non en amont pour savoir si le donateur envisagerait un don
régulier, puis orientez-le vers une demande mensuelle ou ponctuelle en conséquence. Ne mélangez pas les
montants ponctuels et mensuels dans une seule liste déroutante.

**À quelle fréquence dois-je vérifier mon formulaire de don ?** Faites en sorte que quelqu'un réalise
régulièrement un don test réel sur votre formulaire en production, au moins une fois par mois et
idéalement chaque semaine. Les formulaires défaillants s'annoncent rarement, car les soutiens tendent
à abandonner plutôt qu'à signaler un problème, si bien que le seul moyen fiable de détecter les
défauts est de les tester vous-même.

**Vers où dois-je diriger le trafic d'un e-mail ou d'une journée de don ?** Envoyez les gens
directement vers la page la plus pertinente, et non vers une page d'accueil générique ou la page
d'accueil de la plateforme. Segmentez votre audience et faites le choix à leur place quand vous le
pouvez, afin que chaque donateur arrive sur une page adaptée à lui, avec le moins de clics possible
entre l'appel et le don finalisé.

---

### Pack de ressources des membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Check-list de page de don](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Modèle de texte de formulaire de don](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Check-list d'optimisation de la conversion](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée de don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous fixer un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de vos appels et de vos e-mails
- [Générateur de QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Webinaire : du WD-40 pour vos formulaires de don en ligne](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Guide associé : [Comment rédiger des e-mails de collecte qui fonctionnent](/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez l'[annuaire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come ottimizzare le pagine di donazione e la conversione online](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per migliorare le pagine di donazione e la conversione online, che affronta la riduzione degli attriti, il design e i testi delle pagine, gli importi suggeriti e le donazioni fiscalmente agevolate, il mobile, la fiducia e i test su ciò che funziona.
Potete scrivere l'appello più convincente del settore, raccontare una storia perfetta, pagare
un'agenzia per cesellare ogni parola, e perdere comunque la donazione all'ultimo passaggio. La
pagina di donazione è il punto in cui tutto quel lavoro o dà i suoi frutti o crolla in silenzio. È il
momento in cui un sostenitore che ha già deciso di donare o completa il gesto o rinuncia, e rinunciano
molte più persone di quante la maggior parte dei fundraiser immagini. Questa guida vuole colmare quel
divario. Spiega perché la pagina conta così tanto, come rimuovere l'attrito che allontana i donatori
ben disposti e come arrivare, attraverso i test, a un modulo che converte. Le sezioni procedono dalla
psicologia del percorso di donazione, passando per il lavoro concreto sull'attrito, il design, gli
importi, il mobile e la fiducia, fino alla misurazione e al miglioramento della conversione.

La ragione per cui occuparsene è semplice. Il benchmark di M&R Benchmarks indica che, dal momento in
cui qualcuno arriva sulla vostra pagina di donazione, una buona conversione si aggira intorno al 21
per cento. Come ha detto Kat, direttrice commerciale di Hubbub: «due persone su dieci presenti sul
vostro sito finiranno per fare la loro donazione». Questa è la norma del settore. Sulle piattaforme
per le giornate di donazione di Hubbub, al contrario, «vediamo tassi di conversione dalla pagina di
donazione di circa il 70 per cento». La differenza tra due su dieci e sette su dieci non è un errore
di arrotondamento. È la differenza tra una campagna che zoppica e una che spicca il volo, e quasi
tutta quella differenza si gioca sulla pagina stessa.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedete per scaricare la nostra
> [checklist della pagina di donazione](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> il [modello di testo per il modulo di donazione](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) e la
> [checklist di ottimizzazione della conversione](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Perché le campagne si vincono o si perdono sulla pagina di donazione

Prima di modificare anche un solo campo, è utile capire dove si colloca la pagina di donazione nel
percorso del donatore. Un modo utile di immaginare quel percorso è vederlo come una salita emotiva
anziché come una transazione. Il rapporto di NextAfter «The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages»
rappresenta un donatore interrotto nella sua giornata ordinaria da un'e-mail, una lettera o una
telefonata, poi condotto lungo un percorso emotivo fatto di piccole decisioni fino a raggiungere un
culmine e a decidere: sì, voglio donare. Solo allora attraversa quello che il rapporto chiama
l'orizzonte di conversione e incontra il vostro modulo. La cosa sorprendente è la proporzione. Come
l'ha descritta Kat: «il 95 per cento del portare qualcuno a dire sì è quel processo decisionale e il
condurlo al culmine emotivo». Il modulo è l'ultimo 5 per cento, ma è il 5 per cento in cui la
donazione viene presa o persa.

Questo conta perché il culmine emotivo è anche un budget. Un donatore profondamente commosso, che dona
in risposta a una crisi che gli sta appassionatamente a cuore, tollererà un modulo goffo e andrà
comunque fino in fondo. Un donatore poco coinvolto, indaffarato e a corto di tempo abbandonerà alla
prima seccatura. Come l'ha inquadrata Kat, più bassa è la connessione emotiva, «meno quell'attrito
viene tollerato», e a quel punto si raggiunge «il punto di abbandono». Non potete garantire che ogni
donatore arrivi alla piena intensità emotiva, quindi la strategia sicura è mantenere il modulo così
fluido che persino un sostenitore poco coinvolto lo attraversi senza intoppi.

Questo si collega direttamente al modo in cui generate traffico. Il lavoro di costruzione
dell'emozione avviene nell'[e-mail](/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/), nel direct mail e nella
telefonata, non sul modulo. Quei canali dovrebbero dare al donatore ciò di cui ha bisogno per dire sì,
e il modulo è il passaggio finale. Se state organizzando una
[giornata di donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), questo è doppiamente vero: state
inviando grandi volumi di traffico caldo alle vostre pagine in una finestra di tempo compressa, e ogni
punto percentuale di conversione viene moltiplicato su migliaia di visite. Curate bene la costruzione
emotiva nelle vostre comunicazioni, poi assicuratevi che la pagina non sprechi la buona disposizione
con cui i donatori arrivano.

## Rimuovere l'attrito dal percorso di donazione

Se la pagina è il punto in cui le donazioni si perdono, l'attrito è il modo in cui si perdono.
Jonathan, uno dei fondatori di Hubbub, ha espresso il punto centrale senza mezzi termini: «È una
questione di psicologia. Non è una questione di funzionalità». La domanda nella mente di un donatore
non è se il modulo funzioni tecnicamente. È se può guardare ciò che ha davanti, capirlo e capire cosa
fare in fretta e senza ansia. Il compito è mettersi nei panni del donatore, e quando non ci si riesce
con facilità, testarlo.

Un quadro nato dalla collaborazione tra NextAfter e Hubbub nomina quattro tipi comuni di attrito.
Avere queste etichette li rende molto più facili da scovare sulle vostre pagine.

**L'attrito decisionale** consiste nel chiedere alle persone di scegliere tra troppe opzioni. Una
casella vuota che chiede «a cosa vorresti donare?» è faticosa, perché il donatore non ha idea di quali
siano le opzioni. Un lungo elenco di destinazioni non raggruppato è ben poco meglio. La soluzione è
fare la scelta al posto loro dove potete: indirizzateli verso un'unica causa raccomandata, o verso
«dove il bisogno è maggiore», cosa che riflette le vostre priorità e al tempo stesso solleva il
donatore dalla decisione. Come ha osservato Jonathan, la libertà di scelta del donatore è una cosa
meravigliosa, ma «il posto migliore per offrirla è nelle comunicazioni di fidelizzazione». Quando
state effettivamente chiedendo una donazione, indirizzatelo verso un'unica cosa.

**L'attrito da confusione** consiste nel costringere le persone a prendere una decisione per cui non
sono attrezzate. È qui che il linguaggio interno tracima sul modulo: parole come «destinazione»,
«vincolato» e «non vincolato» che «significano molto per noi, ma per il donatore per lo più non
significano nulla». Pensate a un blocco di consenso in cui i primi due canali sono opt-in e i secondi
due opt-out, tutti e quattro visivamente identici. Non è progettato per ingannare nessuno, ma «alcune
persone che lo compilano penseranno che sia un inganno, perché è abbastanza confuso». Persino
decifrarlo impone una pausa, e ogni pausa è un'occasione per abbandonare.

**L'attrito del numero di campi** consiste nel sovraccaricare le persone con campi che adorereste
avere ma di cui in realtà non avete bisogno ora. Jonathan ha ammesso con franchezza che è «probabilmente
il punto in cui si gioca il compromesso più grande del settore». Il test onesto è chiedersi cosa vi
serve davvero per trattenere questo donatore e tenere viva la conversazione, anziché cosa sarebbe bello
sapere. La maggior parte del valore di un donatore non sta nella prima donazione, ma nel «valore nel
tempo di un donatore», la possibilità di continuare a parlargli. Raccogliete quindi quanto basta per
contattarlo e ringraziarlo, e lasciate il resto per dopo.

**L'attrito dei passaggi** consiste in troppi clic, ricaricamenti di pagina e fasi. Si insinua perché
i moduli tendono a combinare la raccolta di informazioni sul donatore con l'elaborazione del pagamento,
e si continuano ad aggiungere sezioni nel mezzo: validazione dell'indirizzo, una domanda sul
volontariato, l'accesso a un account. La cosa peggiore di tutte è chiedere la stessa informazione due
volte, che Jonathan ha indicato come una sua bestia nera personale: raccogliete nome e indirizzo,
passate la mano a un gateway di pagamento, e il gateway li richiede di nuovo tutti. Questa ripetizione
non si limita a frustrare, può portare un donatore a «perdere un po' di rispetto per l'organizzazione
che stiamo cercando di sostenere».

C'è un'altra forma di attrito che il quadro non nomina ma che affligge gravemente il settore: i moduli
semplicemente guasti. Poiché nessuno viene avvisato quando un modulo si rompe, e poiché i sostenitori
tendono a rinunciare anziché scrivervi, un modulo guasto può restare inattivo per giorni o settimane
senza che nessuno se ne accorga. Prevedete un controllo regolare, almeno una volta al mese e idealmente
ogni settimana, così che una persona porti effettivamente a termine una donazione di prova sulla vostra
infrastruttura in produzione, a cadenza pianificata.

## Design e testi di pagina che convertono

Il test più potente ed economico che potete eseguire non costa nulla. Come ha detto Jonathan, «il modo
più economico per valutare la vostra esperienza di donazione online è chiedere a un familiare o a un
amico di provarla». Fate sedere qualcuno esterno alla vostra organizzazione davanti al modulo,
guardatelo mentre cerca di donare e non dite nulla. «Imparerete moltissimo su quali parole hanno
senso, quali no, quali pulsanti sono al posto giusto». Se lo testate solo voi, salterete ogni
problema, perché tutto ha perfettamente senso per la persona che lo ha costruito. Questo è l'antidoto
al bias del fundraiser: ciò che ha senso per noi è ciò che diamo per scontato abbia senso per i nostri
donatori.

In pratica, questo significa scrivere i testi nella lingua del donatore, non nella vostra. Eliminate
acronimi e gergo interno. Se dovete chiedere un'informazione, spiegate perché. Prendete un modulo che
chiede quale materia abbia studiato un ex studente: non significa nulla finché non aggiungete una riga
del tipo: la materia con più donatori sblocca ulteriori 5.000 € di fondi di contropartita. Ora la
richiesta ha senso e il donatore la fornisce volentieri. Ordinate gli elenchi lunghi in ordine
alfabetico così che le persone trovino la loro risposta, e diffidate delle immagini decorative che
sembrano gradevoli ma rendono più difficile individuare la scelta reale. Mantenete la pagina
visivamente calma, mettete in primo piano la causa e l'impatto, e lasciate che il modulo stesso sia la
cosa più semplice sullo schermo.

Soprattutto, fate sì che la pagina corrisponda al messaggio che ha portato il donatore lì. La salita
della «montagna del donatore», come l'ha descritta Kat, è una serie di micro-decisioni: apro l'e-mail,
clicco sul link, la pagina corrisponde a ciò che ho appena letto, mi sento al sicuro. Se la pagina ha
l'aspetto e il tono dell'appello, ognuna di quelle piccole decisioni è un sì.

## Chiedere gli importi giusti e raccogliere donazioni fiscalmente agevolate

Gli importi suggeriti sono tra gli strumenti di conversione più affidabili che avete, e la ragione è
psicologica anziché meccanica. Lasciate vuota la casella dell'importo e costringete il donatore a
preoccuparsi: «quanto hanno dato gli altri? Sarei l'unico a donare a questo livello? È troppo poco? È
troppo?». Riempitela con una cifra suggerita e, come ha spiegato Jonathan, «tutto questo sparisce». Un
importo precompilato di 25 € segnala discretamente ciò che ci si aspetta e dà il permesso di donare a
quel livello, lasciando comunque il donatore libero di aumentarlo o diminuirlo. Conta anche
l'ancoraggio: le opzioni che presentate plasmano ciò che appare normale, quindi scegliete i livelli
suggeriti in modo deliberato.

La donazione regolare merita una sua decisione netta anziché essere intrecciata alla questione
dell'importo. Un errore comune è un modulo che elenca alla rinfusa opzioni una tantum e mensili,
lasciando il donatore incerto su cosa stia perfino selezionando. Lo schema migliore è una semplice
scelta binaria all'inizio: prenderesti in considerazione una donazione regolare, sì o no? Un sì porta a
«quanto vorresti donare ogni mese?»; un no porta a una richiesta una tantum. Una domanda confusa
diventa due domande chiare, ed evitate cifre strane, dettate dall'organizzazione, come 83,50 € al mese,
che esistono solo perché qualcuno ha diviso un obiettivo annuale per dodici. Come ha detto Jonathan,
«pensate a cosa ha senso per il donatore», non a cosa è ordinato per la vostra rendicontazione.

La donazione fiscalmente agevolata è il punto ovvio in cui aggiungere valore senza aggiungere molto
attrito, anche se i dettagli variano da paese a paese. Molte giurisdizioni europee consentono ai
donatori di richiedere una detrazione o una deduzione fiscale sulle donazioni a enti ammissibili,
quindi dove ciò vale, rendete chiaro il beneficio e dite al donatore con franchezza che riceverà la
ricevuta o la conferma di cui ha bisogno per richiederlo. Per le donazioni transfrontaliere,
Transnational Giving Europe consente ai donatori nei paesi partecipanti di donare in modo fiscalmente
agevolato a enti di un altro paese membro, cosa che vale la pena segnalare se raccogliete oltre
confine. Trattate qualsiasi conferma fiscale come una promessa chiara e ben formulata anziché come una
clausola sepolta, e non lasciate che diventi un altro momento di attrito da confusione. Una riga
chiara e onesta sul beneficio fiscale è una rassicurazione che non costa nulla e che accresce la
fiducia proprio nel momento della donazione.

## Mobile e velocità

I donatori arrivano sempre più spesso da un telefono, spesso direttamente da un'e-mail aperta in
movimento, e l'asticella con cui vi giudicano è fissata altrove. Donare online non avviene nel vuoto:
le persone confrontano il vostro modulo con la loro app bancaria, la cassa del supermercato e i
servizi della pubblica amministrazione, e «per il donatore è tutto uguale». Le interfacce bancarie che
erano frustranti qualche anno fa ora sono scorrevoli; persino i moduli della pubblica amministrazione,
come ha osservato Jonathan a proposito dei sistemi di test dell'era pandemica, erano «davvero semplici
da usare» e «progettati molto bene per l'utente reale». Se la vostra pagina di donazione sembra
macchinosa accanto a quelli, i sostenitori lo notano.

In concreto, la pagina deve caricarsi velocemente, visualizzarsi in modo pulito su uno schermo
piccolo, presentare pulsanti grandi e facili da toccare e ridurre al minimo la digitazione. Ogni campo
in più pesa di più su un telefono che su un desktop, quindi l'attrito del numero di campi e l'attrito
dei passaggi mordono entrambi più forte sul mobile. Assicuratevi anche che l'esperienza si trasferisca
tra i dispositivi, così che un donatore che apre la vostra e-mail sul telefono e completa sul portatile
ritrovi la stessa pagina e la stessa sensazione in entrambi i casi. E ricordate i canali che indirizzano
le persone al mobile in primo luogo: un codice QR su un manifesto, un cartoncino da tavolo o uno
schermo può portare un momento dal vivo direttamente a una pagina priva di attrito, cosa che funziona
solo se quella pagina è davvero costruita per il telefono che hanno in mano.

## Costruire fiducia e rassicurazione

Fiducia e attrito sono due facce della stessa medaglia. Come ha detto Kat, «non appena quella fiducia
cala, è lì che c'è il punto di attrito», e quel calo può allontanare un donatore ben disposto «non
perché non voglia donare all'organizzazione, non perché non gli importi, ma perché l'attrito sul
modulo è semplicemente troppo da sopportare». Una pagina di donazione chiede alle persone di
consegnare denaro e dati personali, quindi deve trasmettere sicurezza nell'esatto momento in cui
decidono di fidarsi di voi.

Gran parte di questo è rassicurazione attraverso il design. Mantenete la sicurezza visibile e
aggiornata, perché le aspettative sul trattamento sicuro di dati e informazioni di pagamento sono
cresciute notevolmente. Fate sì che la pagina sembri appartenere alla vostra organizzazione, così che
corrisponda chiaramente all'e-mail o alla lettera che ha portato lì il donatore e che nulla dia
l'impressione di una deviazione verso un sito sconosciuto. Siate onesti e concisi sul perché chiedete
qualcosa oltre l'essenziale. Ed evitate gli ammazza-fiducia silenziosi: un modulo che chiede la stessa
cosa due volte, un blocco di consenso confuso o, peggio, un modulo guasto, tutti erodono la sensazione
che questa sia un'organizzazione competente e degna di sostegno. La fiducia non è un distintivo che si
aggiunge alla fine; è l'effetto cumulativo di una pagina che si comporta esattamente come il donatore
si aspetta.

## Testare e misurare la conversione

Non potete migliorare ciò che non misurate, quindi le decisioni dovrebbero poggiare sui dati anziché
sull'opinione. Il punto di partenza è la strumentazione. Collegate la vostra piattaforma a Google
Analytics con degli obiettivi così da poter vedere la conversione dalla pagina di donazione, e
osservate il traffico web in parallelo. Se un fornitore gestisce la vostra piattaforma, «dovrebbe
guardare la vostra piattaforma su Google Analytics per il proprio bene oltre che per il vostro»,
quindi chiedetegli i numeri. Anche senza analytics potete improvvisare un segnale, come ha fatto Kat
all'Università di Southampton contando il divario tra le persone che iniziavano il modulo e quelle che
completavano il pagamento, abbastanza da dimostrare che il modulo perdeva donazioni e da motivare il
cambiamento.

Una volta che potete vedere il vostro punto di partenza, eseguite test reali anziché supposizioni. Il
calcolatore di attrito di NextAfter vi guiderà attraverso il modulo domanda per domanda e gli
attribuirà un punteggio, cosa che può darvi «la potenza di fuoco» per spingere al miglioramento
internamente. Meglio ancora, eseguite test A/B all'interno di una campagna attiva anziché sostituire un
modulo e aspettare di vedere cosa arriva. Come ha consigliato Kat, non «mettete semplicemente online un
nuovo modulo di donazione e aspettate di vedere cosa vi arriva»; rendetelo parte di un appello attivo
così che il test significhi qualcosa. Coinvolgete nel processo anche gli scettici, i colleghi di IT,
finanza e acquisti che altrimenti possono bloccare il cambiamento, perché «a nessuno piace sentirsi
dire cosa fare», e lasciate che siano i dati, non l'opinione di qualcuno, a chiudere la questione.

Infine, considerate tutto questo un investimento anziché un costo. L'argomento che vale la pena
ripetere a qualsiasi responsabile di budget è questo: passare da due donatori su dieci che convertono a
sette su dieci non si limita a raccogliere più denaro nella giornata, porta più persone in una
relazione, accresce le donazioni nel tempo e costruisce la pipeline. Spendere un po' per rimuovere
l'attrito rende molto più che lasciare la falla non riparata.

## Domande frequenti

**Quale tasso di conversione dovrei aspettarmi dalla mia pagina di donazione?** Come benchmark di
settore, circa il 21 per cento, ovvero due visitatori su dieci, è considerato buono secondo M&R
Benchmarks. Le piattaforme ben ottimizzate possono fare molto meglio; Hubbub ha riportato una
conversione di circa il 70 per cento sulle proprie pagine delle giornate di donazione. Trattate il
benchmark come una soglia da superare, non come un tetto a cui accontentarsi, e misurate prima il
vostro punto di partenza.

**Qual è la singola causa più grande di donazioni perse?** L'attrito, e in particolare quello di tipo
psicologico: «è una questione di psicologia, non è una questione di funzionalità». La maggior parte
delle donazioni perse deriva da moduli confusi, che chiedono troppo o che hanno troppi passaggi,
anziché da moduli tecnicamente guasti, anche se i moduli guasti causano a loro volta perdite reali e
spesso inosservate.

**Dovrei usare importi di donazione suggeriti?** Sì. Un importo suggerito rimuove l'ansia della casella
vuota, segnala ciò che ci si aspetta e dà il permesso di donare a quel livello, lasciando comunque il
donatore libero di modificarlo. Scegliete le cifre suggerite in modo deliberato, poiché ancorano ciò
che appare normale.

**Come gestisco la donazione una tantum rispetto a quella regolare sullo stesso modulo?** Separate la
decisione. Ponete una semplice domanda con risposta sì o no all'inizio sul fatto che il donatore
prenderebbe in considerazione una donazione regolare, poi indirizzatelo di conseguenza verso una
richiesta mensile o una tantum. Non mescolate importi una tantum e mensili in un unico elenco confuso.

**Ogni quanto dovrei controllare il mio modulo di donazione?** Fate in modo che qualcuno completi
regolarmente una donazione di prova reale sul vostro modulo in produzione, almeno una volta al mese e
idealmente ogni settimana. I moduli guasti raramente si annunciano, perché i sostenitori tendono a
rinunciare anziché segnalare un problema, quindi l'unico modo affidabile per individuare i guasti è
testarli voi stessi.

**Dove dovrei indirizzare il traffico da un'e-mail o da una giornata di donazione?** Mandate le
persone direttamente alla pagina più pertinente, non a una landing page generica o alla home page della
piattaforma. Segmentate il vostro pubblico e fate la scelta al posto loro dove potete, così che ogni
donatore arrivi su una pagina calibrata su di lui, con il minor numero possibile di clic tra l'appello
e la donazione completata.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedete con la vostra e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Checklist della pagina di donazione](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Modello di testo per il modulo di donazione](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Checklist di ottimizzazione della conversione](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di giornata di donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellate i risultati probabili prima di impegnarvi su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affinate i testi dei vostri appelli e delle vostre e-mail
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collegate i momenti dal vivo direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Webinar: WD-40 per i vostri moduli di donazione online](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Guida correlata: [Come scrivere e-mail di raccolta fondi che funzionano](/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultate la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to optimise donation pages and online conversion](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (uk/en): A practical guide to improving your donation pages and online conversion, covering reducing friction, page design and copy, suggested amounts and Gift Aid, mobile, trust, and testing what works.
You can write the most compelling appeal in the sector, tell a perfect story, pay an agency to
craft every word, and still lose the gift at the final step. The donation page is where all of
that work either pays off or quietly falls apart. It is the moment a supporter who has already
decided to give either completes the gift or gives up, and far more give up than most fundraisers
realise. This guide is about closing that gap. It explains why the page matters so much, how to
remove the friction that turns willing donors away, and how to test your way to a form that
converts. The sections move from the psychology of the giving journey, through the practical work
of friction, design, amounts, mobile and trust, to measuring and improving conversion.

The case for caring about this is simple. The benchmark from M&R Benchmarks is that, from the
point at which someone lands on your donation page, good conversion is around 21 per cent. As Kat,
Hubbub's commercial director, put it: "two in 10 of the people who are on your website will end up
making their gift." That is the sector norm. On Hubbub's own giving day platforms, by contrast,
"we see conversion rates from the donation page of about 70 per cent." The difference between two
in ten and seven in ten is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a campaign that
limps and one that flies, and almost all of that difference comes down to the page itself.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) and
> [conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Why the donation page is where campaigns are won or lost

Before you change a single field, it helps to understand where the donation page sits in the
donor's journey. A useful way to picture that journey is as an emotional climb rather than a
transaction. The NextAfter report "The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages" maps a donor being
interrupted in their ordinary day by an email, a letter or a phone call, then led up an emotional
path of small decisions until they reach a high point and decide, yes, I want to give. Only then
do they cross what the report calls the conversion horizon and meet your form. The striking part
is the proportion. As Kat described it, "95 per cent of getting somebody to say yes is that
decision making process and getting them to the emotional high point." The form is the last 5 per
cent, but it is the 5 per cent where the gift is taken or lost.

This matters because the emotional high point is also a budget. A donor who is deeply moved,
giving in response to a crisis they care about passionately, will tolerate a clumsy form and push
through anyway. A donor who is mildly engaged, busy and short of time will abandon at the first
irritation. As Kat framed it, the lower the emotional connection, "that friction is much less
tolerated", and then you reach "the point of abandonment". You cannot guarantee every donor
arrives at full emotional intensity, so the safe strategy is to keep the form so smooth that even
a lightly engaged supporter sails through it.

This connects directly to how you drive traffic. The work of building emotion happens in the
[email](/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/), the direct mail and the phone call, not on the form.
Those channels should give the donor what they need to say yes, and the form is the final step. If
you are running a [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), this is doubly true: you are
sending large volumes of warm traffic to your pages in a compressed window, and every percentage
point of conversion is multiplied across thousands of visits. Get the emotional build-up right in
your comms, then make sure the page does not waste the goodwill donors arrive with.

## Removing friction from the giving journey

If the page is where gifts are lost, friction is how they are lost. Jonathan, one of Hubbub's
founders, made the central point bluntly: "It's about psychology. It's not about functionality."
The question in a donor's mind is not whether the form technically works. It is whether they can
look at the thing in front of them, understand it, and figure out what to do quickly and without
anxiety. The job is to stand in the donor's shoes, and when you cannot do that easily, to test it.

A framework from the NextAfter and Hubbub collaboration names four common types of friction.
Having the labels makes them far easier to hunt down on your own pages.

**Decision friction** is asking people to decide between too many options. An empty box that says
"what would you like to give to?" is hard work, because the donor has no idea what the options even
are. A long, ungrouped list of designations is barely better. The fix is to make the choice for
them where you can: direct them to a single recommended cause, or to "where the need is greatest",
which both reflects your priorities and relieves the donor of the decision. As Jonathan noted,
donor choice is a wonderful thing, but "the best place to do that is in stewardship comms". When
you are actually asking for a gift, point them at one thing.

**Confusion friction** is forcing people to make a decision they are not equipped to make. This is
where internal language leaks onto the form: words like "designation", "restricted" and
"unrestricted" that "mean a lot to us, mean nothing to the donor for the most part". Consider a
consent block where the first two channels are opt-in and the second two are opt-out, all four
looking visually identical. It is not designed to trick anyone, but "some people filling this out
will think that this is a trick because it's sufficiently confusing". Even decoding it forces a
pause, and every pause is a chance to abandon.

**Field number friction** is overloading people with fields you would love to have but do not
actually need right now. Jonathan was candid that this is "probably where the biggest trade off
happens in the sector". The honest test is to ask what you genuinely need to retain this donor and
keep the conversation going, rather than what would be nice to know. Most of a donor's value is not
in the first gift but in "the lifetime value of a donor", the chance to keep talking to them. So
capture enough to contact and thank them, and leave the rest for later.

**Steps friction** is too many clicks, page reloads and stages. It creeps in because forms tend to
combine collecting information about the donor with processing payment, and people keep adding
sections in between: address validation, a volunteering question, an account login. Worst of all
is asking for the same information twice, which Jonathan singled out as a personal bugbear: you
capture a name and address, hand off to a payment gateway, and the gateway asks for it all again.
That repetition does not just frustrate, it can make a donor "lose respect a little bit for the
organisation that we're trying to support".

There is one more form of friction the framework does not name but which afflicts the sector
badly: forms that are simply broken. Because nobody is alerted when a form breaks, and because
supporters tend to give up rather than email you, a broken form can sit dead for days or weeks
unnoticed. Build in a regular check, at least once a month and ideally every week, so that a person
actually completes a test gift on your live infrastructure on a schedule.

## Page design and copy that convert

The cheapest, most powerful test you can run costs nothing. As Jonathan put it, "the cheapest
possible way of assessing your online giving experience is to get a family or a friend to do it."
Sit someone outside your organisation in front of the form, watch them try to give, and say
nothing. "You will learn enormous amounts about which words make sense, which words don't make
sense, which buttons are in the right place." If only you test it, you will skip every problem,
because everything makes perfect sense to the person who built it. This is the antidote to
fundraiser bias: the things that make sense to us are the things we assume make sense to our
donors.

In practice, that means writing copy in the donor's language, not yours. Strip out acronyms and
internal jargon. If you must ask for a piece of information, explain why. Take a form asking which
subject an alumnus studied: it means nothing until you add a line such as, the subject with the
most donors unlocks an extra £5,000 of challenge funding. Now the ask makes sense and the donor
gives it willingly. Order long lists alphabetically so people can find their answer, and be wary
of decorative images that look attractive but make the real choice harder to scan. Keep the page
visually calm, lead with the cause and the impact, and let the form itself be the simplest thing
on the screen.

Above all, make the page match the message that brought the donor there. The journey up the "donor
mountain", as Kat described it, is a series of micro-decisions: do I open the email, do I click the
link, does the page match what I just read, do I feel safe. If the page looks and sounds like the
appeal, each of those small decisions is a yes.

## Asking for the right amounts and capturing Gift Aid

Suggested amounts are one of the most reliable conversion tools you have, and the reason is
psychological rather than mechanical. Leave the amount box empty and you force the donor to worry:
"what have other people given? Would I be the only one giving at this level? Is this too little? Is
this too much?" Fill it with a suggested figure and, as Jonathan explained, "all of that's gone."
A pre-filled £25 quietly signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while
leaving the donor free to change it up or down. Anchoring matters too: the options you present
shape what feels normal, so choose your suggested levels deliberately.

Regular giving deserves its own clean decision rather than being tangled into the amount question.
A common mistake is a form that lists a jumble of one-off and monthly options together, leaving the
donor unsure what they are even selecting. The better pattern is a simple binary up front: would
you consider a regular gift, yes or no? A yes leads to "what would you like to give every month?";
a no leads to a one-off ask. One confusing question becomes two clear ones, and you avoid odd,
organisation-driven figures like £83.50 a month that exist only because someone divided an annual
target by twelve. As Jonathan put it, "think about what makes sense for the donor", not what is
tidy for your reporting.

For UK charities, Gift Aid is the obvious place to add value without adding much friction, because
it increases the gift by 25p in the pound at no cost to the donor. Treat it as a single, clearly
worded declaration with a plain explanation of what the donor is confirming, ideally pre-ticked
only where you are confident it applies and the wording makes the eligibility condition obvious.
Do not bury it among unrelated questions, and do not let it become another moment of confusion
friction. A well-placed Gift Aid box can lift the value of every eligible gift by a quarter, which
is one of the highest returns available anywhere on the page.

## Mobile and speed

Donors increasingly arrive on a phone, often straight from an email opened on the move, and the bar
they judge you against is set elsewhere. Giving online does not happen in a vacuum: people compare
your form with their banking app, their supermarket checkout and their government services, and
"it's all the same to the donor." Banking interfaces that were frustrating a few years ago are now
slick; even government forms, as Jonathan noted of the pandemic-era testing systems, were "really
simple to use" and "very well designed for the actual user". If your donation page feels clunky
next to those, supporters notice.

In concrete terms, the page must load fast, render cleanly on a small screen, present large and
easily tapped buttons, and minimise typing. Every extra field is heavier on a phone than on a
desktop, so field number friction and steps friction both bite harder on mobile. Make sure the
experience carries across devices too, so a donor who opens your email on their phone and finishes
on their laptop meets the same page and the same feeling either way. And remember the channels that
funnel people to mobile in the first place: a QR code on a poster, a table card or a screen can
take an in-person moment straight to a frictionless page, which only works if that page is genuinely
built for the phone in their hand.

## Building trust and reassurance

Confidence and friction are two sides of one coin. As Kat put it, "as soon as that confidence dips,
that's where the friction point is", and that dip can turn a willing donor away "not because they
don't want to give to the charity, not because they don't care, but because the friction on the
form is just too much for them to endure." A donation page asks people to hand over money and
personal data, so it has to feel safe at the exact moment they are deciding to trust you.

Much of this is reassurance by design. Keep security visible and current, because expectations
around handling data and payment information safely have risen sharply. Make the page look like it
belongs to your organisation, so it plainly matches the email or letter that sent the donor there
and nothing feels like a detour to an unfamiliar site. Be honest and brief about why you are asking
for anything beyond the essentials. And avoid the quiet trust-killers: a form that asks the same
thing twice, a confusing consent block, or worse, a broken form, all chip away at the sense that
this is a competent organisation worth supporting. Trust is not a badge you add at the end; it is
the cumulative effect of a page that behaves exactly as the donor expects.

## Testing and measuring conversion

You cannot improve what you do not measure, so decisions should rest on data rather than opinion.
The starting point is instrumentation. Hook your platform up to Google Analytics with goals so you
can see conversion from the donation page, and look at web traffic alongside it. If a provider runs
your platform, they "should be looking at your platform on Google Analytics for their own good as
well as yours", so ask them for the numbers. Even without analytics you can improvise a signal, as
Kat did at the University of Southampton by counting the gap between people who started the form and
those who completed payment, enough to prove the form was losing gifts and to make the case for
change.

Once you can see your baseline, run real tests rather than guesses. NextAfter's friction calculator
will walk you through your form question by question and score it, which can give you "the
firepower" to push for improvement internally. Better still, A/B test changes inside a live
campaign rather than swapping a form and waiting to see what arrives. As Kat advised, do not "just
put up a new donation form and see what comes your way"; make it part of an active appeal so the
test means something. Bring the sceptics into the process too, the IT, finance and procurement
colleagues who can otherwise block change, because "nobody likes being told what to do", and let
the data, not anyone's opinion, settle the argument.

Finally, treat this as an investment rather than a cost. The argument worth repeating to any budget
holder is this: moving from two in ten donors converting to seven in ten does not just raise more
money on the day, it brings more people into relationship, lifts lifetime giving and builds the
pipeline. Spending a little to remove friction returns far more than leaving the leak unfixed.

## Frequently asked questions

**What conversion rate should I expect from my donation page?** As a sector benchmark, around 21
per cent, or two in ten visitors, is considered good according to M&R Benchmarks. Well-optimised
platforms can do far better; Hubbub reported conversion of about 70 per cent on their giving day
pages. Treat the benchmark as a floor to beat, not a ceiling to settle for, and measure your own
baseline first.

**What is the single biggest cause of lost donations?** Friction, and specifically the
psychological kind: "it's about psychology, it's not about functionality." Most lost gifts come
from forms that are confusing, ask for too much, or take too many steps, rather than from forms
that are technically broken, though broken forms cause real and often unnoticed losses too.

**Should I use suggested donation amounts?** Yes. A suggested amount removes the anxiety of a blank
box, signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while still letting the
donor change it. Choose your suggested figures deliberately, since they anchor what feels normal.

**How do I handle one-off versus regular giving on the same form?** Separate the decision out. Ask
a simple yes or no question up front about whether the donor would consider a regular gift, then
route them to a monthly or a one-off ask accordingly. Do not mix one-off and monthly amounts in a
single confusing list.

**How often should I check my donation form?** Have someone complete a real test gift on your live
form regularly, at least once a month and ideally weekly. Broken forms rarely announce themselves,
because supporters tend to give up rather than report a problem, so the only reliable way to catch
faults is to test them yourself.

**Where should I send traffic from an email or Giving Day?** Send people straight to the most
relevant page, not to a generic landing page or platform front page. Segment your audience and make
the choice for them where you can, so each donor lands on a page tuned to them with the fewest
possible clicks between the appeal and the completed gift.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: WD-40 for your online donation forms](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to optimize donation pages and online conversion](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (us/en): A practical guide to improving your donation pages and online conversion, covering reducing friction, page design and copy, suggested amounts and tax-deductible giving, mobile, trust, and testing what works.
You can write the most compelling appeal in the sector, tell a perfect story, pay an agency to
craft every word, and still lose the gift at the final step. The donation page is where all of
that work either pays off or quietly falls apart. It is the moment a supporter who has already
decided to give either completes the gift or gives up, and far more give up than most fundraisers
realize. This guide is about closing that gap. It explains why the page matters so much, how to
remove the friction that turns willing donors away, and how to test your way to a form that
converts. The sections move from the psychology of the giving journey, through the practical work
of friction, design, amounts, mobile and trust, to measuring and improving conversion.

The case for caring about this is simple. The benchmark from M&R Benchmarks is that, from the
point at which someone lands on your donation page, good conversion is around 21 percent. As Kat,
Hubbub's commercial director, put it: "two in 10 of the people who are on your website will end up
making their gift." That is the sector norm. On Hubbub's own giving day platforms, by contrast,
"we see conversion rates from the donation page of about 70 per cent." The difference between two
in ten and seven in ten is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a campaign that
limps and one that flies, and almost all of that difference comes down to the page itself.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) and
> [conversion optimization checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Why the donation page is where campaigns are won or lost

Before you change a single field, it helps to understand where the donation page sits in the
donor's journey. A useful way to picture that journey is as an emotional climb rather than a
transaction. The NextAfter report "The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages" maps a donor being
interrupted in their ordinary day by an email, a letter or a phone call, then led up an emotional
path of small decisions until they reach a high point and decide, yes, I want to give. Only then
do they cross what the report calls the conversion horizon and meet your form. The striking part
is the proportion. As Kat described it, "95 per cent of getting somebody to say yes is that
decision making process and getting them to the emotional high point." The form is the last 5 per
cent, but it is the 5 per cent where the gift is taken or lost.

This matters because the emotional high point is also a budget. A donor who is deeply moved,
giving in response to a crisis they care about passionately, will tolerate a clumsy form and push
through anyway. A donor who is mildly engaged, busy and short of time will abandon at the first
irritation. As Kat framed it, the lower the emotional connection, "that friction is much less
tolerated", and then you reach "the point of abandonment". You cannot guarantee every donor
arrives at full emotional intensity, so the safe strategy is to keep the form so smooth that even
a lightly engaged supporter sails through it.

This connects directly to how you drive traffic. The work of building emotion happens in the
[email](/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/), the direct mail and the phone call, not on the form.
Those channels should give the donor what they need to say yes, and the form is the final step. If
you are running a [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), this is doubly true: you are
sending large volumes of warm traffic to your pages in a compressed window, and every percentage
point of conversion is multiplied across thousands of visits. Get the emotional build-up right in
your comms, then make sure the page does not waste the goodwill donors arrive with.

## Removing friction from the giving journey

If the page is where gifts are lost, friction is how they are lost. Jonathan, one of Hubbub's
founders, made the central point bluntly: "It's about psychology. It's not about functionality."
The question in a donor's mind is not whether the form technically works. It is whether they can
look at the thing in front of them, understand it, and figure out what to do quickly and without
anxiety. The job is to stand in the donor's shoes, and when you cannot do that easily, to test it.

A framework from the NextAfter and Hubbub collaboration names four common types of friction.
Having the labels makes them far easier to hunt down on your own pages.

**Decision friction** is asking people to decide between too many options. An empty box that says
"what would you like to give to?" is hard work, because the donor has no idea what the options even
are. A long, ungrouped list of designations is barely better. The fix is to make the choice for
them where you can: direct them to a single recommended cause, or to "where the need is greatest",
which both reflects your priorities and relieves the donor of the decision. As Jonathan noted,
donor choice is a wonderful thing, but "the best place to do that is in stewardship comms". When
you are actually asking for a gift, point them at one thing.

**Confusion friction** is forcing people to make a decision they are not equipped to make. This is
where internal language leaks onto the form: words like "designation", "restricted" and
"unrestricted" that "mean a lot to us, mean nothing to the donor for the most part". Consider a
consent block where the first two channels are opt-in and the second two are opt-out, all four
looking visually identical. It is not designed to trick anyone, but "some people filling this out
will think that this is a trick because it's sufficiently confusing". Even decoding it forces a
pause, and every pause is a chance to abandon.

**Field number friction** is overloading people with fields you would love to have but do not
actually need right now. Jonathan was candid that this is "probably where the biggest trade off
happens in the sector". The honest test is to ask what you genuinely need to retain this donor and
keep the conversation going, rather than what would be nice to know. Most of a donor's value is not
in the first gift but in "the lifetime value of a donor", the chance to keep talking to them. So
capture enough to contact and thank them, and leave the rest for later.

**Steps friction** is too many clicks, page reloads and stages. It creeps in because forms tend to
combine collecting information about the donor with processing payment, and people keep adding
sections in between: address validation, a volunteering question, an account login. Worst of all
is asking for the same information twice, which Jonathan singled out as a personal bugbear: you
capture a name and address, hand off to a payment gateway, and the gateway asks for it all again.
That repetition does not just frustrate, it can make a donor "lose respect a little bit for the
organisation that we're trying to support".

There is one more form of friction the framework does not name but which afflicts the sector
badly: forms that are simply broken. Because nobody is alerted when a form breaks, and because
supporters tend to give up rather than email you, a broken form can sit dead for days or weeks
unnoticed. Build in a regular check, at least once a month and ideally every week, so that a person
actually completes a test gift on your live infrastructure on a schedule.

## Page design and copy that convert

The cheapest, most powerful test you can run costs nothing. As Jonathan put it, "the cheapest
possible way of assessing your online giving experience is to get a family or a friend to do it."
Sit someone outside your organization in front of the form, watch them try to give, and say
nothing. "You will learn enormous amounts about which words make sense, which words don't make
sense, which buttons are in the right place." If only you test it, you will skip every problem,
because everything makes perfect sense to the person who built it. This is the antidote to
fundraiser bias: the things that make sense to us are the things we assume make sense to our
donors.

In practice, that means writing copy in the donor's language, not yours. Strip out acronyms and
internal jargon. If you must ask for a piece of information, explain why. Take a form asking which
subject an alumnus studied: it means nothing until you add a line such as, the subject with the
most donors unlocks an extra $5,000 of challenge funding. Now the ask makes sense and the donor
gives it willingly. Order long lists alphabetically so people can find their answer, and be wary
of decorative images that look attractive but make the real choice harder to scan. Keep the page
visually calm, lead with the cause and the impact, and let the form itself be the simplest thing
on the screen.

Above all, make the page match the message that brought the donor there. The journey up the "donor
mountain", as Kat described it, is a series of micro-decisions: do I open the email, do I click the
link, does the page match what I just read, do I feel safe. If the page looks and sounds like the
appeal, each of those small decisions is a yes.

## Asking for the right amounts and capturing tax-deductible gifts

Suggested amounts are one of the most reliable conversion tools you have, and the reason is
psychological rather than mechanical. Leave the amount box empty and you force the donor to worry:
"what have other people given? Would I be the only one giving at this level? Is this too little? Is
this too much?" Fill it with a suggested figure and, as Jonathan explained, "all of that's gone."
A pre-filled $25 quietly signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while
leaving the donor free to change it up or down. Anchoring matters too: the options you present
shape what feels normal, so choose your suggested levels deliberately.

Regular giving deserves its own clean decision rather than being tangled into the amount question.
A common mistake is a form that lists a jumble of one-off and monthly options together, leaving the
donor unsure what they are even selecting. The better pattern is a simple binary up front: would
you consider a recurring gift, yes or no? A yes leads to "what would you like to give every month?";
a no leads to a one-time ask. One confusing question becomes two clear ones, and you avoid odd,
organization-driven figures like $83.50 a month that exist only because someone divided an annual
target by twelve. As Jonathan put it, "think about what makes sense for the donor", not what is
tidy for your reporting.

For US 501(c)(3) charities, tax-deductible giving is the obvious place to add value without adding
much friction, because it lets eligible donors deduct their gift when they itemize, at no cost to
you. Treat the tax-deduction receipt as a clear, well-worded promise: tell the donor plainly that
they will receive an acknowledgment they can use for their taxes, and make the wording simple and
honest. Do not bury it among unrelated questions, and do not let it become another moment of
confusion friction. A clear statement that the gift is tax-deductible and that a receipt will
follow is reassurance that costs nothing and lifts confidence right at the point of giving.

## Mobile and speed

Donors increasingly arrive on a phone, often straight from an email opened on the move, and the bar
they judge you against is set elsewhere. Giving online does not happen in a vacuum: people compare
your form with their banking app, their store checkout and their government services, and
"it's all the same to the donor." Banking interfaces that were frustrating a few years ago are now
slick; even government forms, as Jonathan noted of the pandemic-era testing systems, were "really
simple to use" and "very well designed for the actual user". If your donation page feels clunky
next to those, supporters notice.

In concrete terms, the page must load fast, render cleanly on a small screen, present large and
easily tapped buttons, and minimize typing. Every extra field is heavier on a phone than on a
desktop, so field number friction and steps friction both bite harder on mobile. Make sure the
experience carries across devices too, so a donor who opens your email on their phone and finishes
on their laptop meets the same page and the same feeling either way. And remember the channels that
funnel people to mobile in the first place: a QR code on a poster, a table card or a screen can
take an in-person moment straight to a frictionless page, which only works if that page is genuinely
built for the phone in their hand.

## Building trust and reassurance

Confidence and friction are two sides of one coin. As Kat put it, "as soon as that confidence dips,
that's where the friction point is", and that dip can turn a willing donor away "not because they
don't want to give to the charity, not because they don't care, but because the friction on the
form is just too much for them to endure." A donation page asks people to hand over money and
personal data, so it has to feel safe at the exact moment they are deciding to trust you.

Much of this is reassurance by design. Keep security visible and current, because expectations
around handling data and payment information safely have risen sharply. Make the page look like it
belongs to your organization, so it plainly matches the email or letter that sent the donor there
and nothing feels like a detour to an unfamiliar site. Be honest and brief about why you are asking
for anything beyond the essentials. And avoid the quiet trust-killers: a form that asks the same
thing twice, a confusing consent block, or worse, a broken form, all chip away at the sense that
this is a competent organization worth supporting. Trust is not a badge you add at the end; it is
the cumulative effect of a page that behaves exactly as the donor expects.

## Testing and measuring conversion

You cannot improve what you do not measure, so decisions should rest on data rather than opinion.
The starting point is instrumentation. Hook your platform up to Google Analytics with goals so you
can see conversion from the donation page, and look at web traffic alongside it. If a provider runs
your platform, they "should be looking at your platform on Google Analytics for their own good as
well as yours", so ask them for the numbers. Even without analytics you can improvise a signal, as
Kat did at the University of Southampton by counting the gap between people who started the form and
those who completed payment, enough to prove the form was losing gifts and to make the case for
change.

Once you can see your baseline, run real tests rather than guesses. NextAfter's friction calculator
will walk you through your form question by question and score it, which can give you "the
firepower" to push for improvement internally. Better still, A/B test changes inside a live
campaign rather than swapping a form and waiting to see what arrives. As Kat advised, do not "just
put up a new donation form and see what comes your way"; make it part of an active appeal so the
test means something. Bring the skeptics into the process too, the IT, finance and procurement
colleagues who can otherwise block change, because "nobody likes being told what to do", and let
the data, not anyone's opinion, settle the argument.

Finally, treat this as an investment rather than a cost. The argument worth repeating to any budget
holder is this: moving from two in ten donors converting to seven in ten does not just raise more
money on the day, it brings more people into relationship, lifts lifetime giving and builds the
pipeline. Spending a little to remove friction returns far more than leaving the leak unfixed.

## Frequently asked questions

**What conversion rate should I expect from my donation page?** As a sector benchmark, around 21
percent, or two in ten visitors, is considered good according to M&R Benchmarks. Well-optimized
platforms can do far better; Hubbub reported conversion of about 70 per cent on their giving day
pages. Treat the benchmark as a floor to beat, not a ceiling to settle for, and measure your own
baseline first.

**What is the single biggest cause of lost donations?** Friction, and specifically the
psychological kind: "it's about psychology, it's not about functionality." Most lost gifts come
from forms that are confusing, ask for too much, or take too many steps, rather than from forms
that are technically broken, though broken forms cause real and often unnoticed losses too.

**Should I use suggested donation amounts?** Yes. A suggested amount removes the anxiety of a blank
box, signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while still letting the
donor change it. Choose your suggested figures deliberately, since they anchor what feels normal.

**How do I handle one-time versus recurring giving on the same form?** Separate the decision out. Ask
a simple yes or no question up front about whether the donor would consider a recurring gift, then
route them to a monthly or a one-time ask accordingly. Do not mix one-time and monthly amounts in a
single confusing list.

**How often should I check my donation form?** Have someone complete a real test gift on your live
form regularly, at least once a month and ideally weekly. Broken forms rarely announce themselves,
because supporters tend to give up rather than report a problem, so the only reliable way to catch
faults is to test them yourself.

**Where should I send traffic from an email or Giving Day?** Send people straight to the most
relevant page, not to a generic landing page or platform front page. Segment your audience and make
the choice for them where you can, so each donor lands on a page tuned to them with the fewest
possible clicks between the appeal and the completed gift.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: WD-40 for your online donation forms](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to optimise donation pages and online conversion](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) (world/en): A practical guide to improving your donation pages and online conversion, covering reducing friction, page design and copy, suggested amounts and tax-effective giving, mobile, trust, and testing what works.
You can write the most compelling appeal in the sector, tell a perfect story, pay an agency to
craft every word, and still lose the gift at the final step. The donation page is where all of
that work either pays off or quietly falls apart. It is the moment a supporter who has already
decided to give either completes the gift or gives up, and far more give up than most fundraisers
realise. This guide is about closing that gap. It explains why the page matters so much, how to
remove the friction that turns willing donors away, and how to test your way to a form that
converts. The sections move from the psychology of the giving journey, through the practical work
of friction, design, amounts, mobile and trust, to measuring and improving conversion.

The case for caring about this is simple. The benchmark from M&R Benchmarks is that, from the
point at which someone lands on your donation page, good conversion is around 21 per cent. As Kat,
Hubbub's commercial director, put it: "two in 10 of the people who are on your website will end up
making their gift." That is the sector norm. On Hubbub's own giving day platforms, by contrast,
"we see conversion rates from the donation page of about 70 per cent." The difference between two
in ten and seven in ten is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a campaign that
limps and one that flies, and almost all of that difference comes down to the page itself.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/),
> [donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/) and
> [conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/).

## Why the donation page is where campaigns are won or lost

Before you change a single field, it helps to understand where the donation page sits in the
donor's journey. A useful way to picture that journey is as an emotional climb rather than a
transaction. The NextAfter report "The State of Nonprofit Donor Pages" maps a donor being
interrupted in their ordinary day by an email, a letter or a phone call, then led up an emotional
path of small decisions until they reach a high point and decide, yes, I want to give. Only then
do they cross what the report calls the conversion horizon and meet your form. The striking part
is the proportion. As Kat described it, "95 per cent of getting somebody to say yes is that
decision making process and getting them to the emotional high point." The form is the last 5 per
cent, but it is the 5 per cent where the gift is taken or lost.

This matters because the emotional high point is also a budget. A donor who is deeply moved,
giving in response to a crisis they care about passionately, will tolerate a clumsy form and push
through anyway. A donor who is mildly engaged, busy and short of time will abandon at the first
irritation. As Kat framed it, the lower the emotional connection, "that friction is much less
tolerated", and then you reach "the point of abandonment". You cannot guarantee every donor
arrives at full emotional intensity, so the safe strategy is to keep the form so smooth that even
a lightly engaged supporter sails through it.

This connects directly to how you drive traffic. The work of building emotion happens in the
[email](/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/), the direct mail and the phone call, not on the form.
Those channels should give the donor what they need to say yes, and the form is the final step. If
you are running a [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), this is doubly true: you are
sending large volumes of warm traffic to your pages in a compressed window, and every percentage
point of conversion is multiplied across thousands of visits. Get the emotional build-up right in
your comms, then make sure the page does not waste the goodwill donors arrive with.

## Removing friction from the giving journey

If the page is where gifts are lost, friction is how they are lost. Jonathan, one of Hubbub's
founders, made the central point bluntly: "It's about psychology. It's not about functionality."
The question in a donor's mind is not whether the form technically works. It is whether they can
look at the thing in front of them, understand it, and figure out what to do quickly and without
anxiety. The job is to stand in the donor's shoes, and when you cannot do that easily, to test it.

A framework from the NextAfter and Hubbub collaboration names four common types of friction.
Having the labels makes them far easier to hunt down on your own pages.

**Decision friction** is asking people to decide between too many options. An empty box that says
"what would you like to give to?" is hard work, because the donor has no idea what the options even
are. A long, ungrouped list of designations is barely better. The fix is to make the choice for
them where you can: direct them to a single recommended cause, or to "where the need is greatest",
which both reflects your priorities and relieves the donor of the decision. As Jonathan noted,
donor choice is a wonderful thing, but "the best place to do that is in stewardship comms". When
you are actually asking for a gift, point them at one thing.

**Confusion friction** is forcing people to make a decision they are not equipped to make. This is
where internal language leaks onto the form: words like "designation", "restricted" and
"unrestricted" that "mean a lot to us, mean nothing to the donor for the most part". Consider a
consent block where the first two channels are opt-in and the second two are opt-out, all four
looking visually identical. It is not designed to trick anyone, but "some people filling this out
will think that this is a trick because it's sufficiently confusing". Even decoding it forces a
pause, and every pause is a chance to abandon.

**Field number friction** is overloading people with fields you would love to have but do not
actually need right now. Jonathan was candid that this is "probably where the biggest trade off
happens in the sector". The honest test is to ask what you genuinely need to retain this donor and
keep the conversation going, rather than what would be nice to know. Most of a donor's value is not
in the first gift but in "the lifetime value of a donor", the chance to keep talking to them. So
capture enough to contact and thank them, and leave the rest for later.

**Steps friction** is too many clicks, page reloads and stages. It creeps in because forms tend to
combine collecting information about the donor with processing payment, and people keep adding
sections in between: address validation, a volunteering question, an account login. Worst of all
is asking for the same information twice, which Jonathan singled out as a personal bugbear: you
capture a name and address, hand off to a payment gateway, and the gateway asks for it all again.
That repetition does not just frustrate, it can make a donor "lose respect a little bit for the
organisation that we're trying to support".

There is one more form of friction the framework does not name but which afflicts the sector
badly: forms that are simply broken. Because nobody is alerted when a form breaks, and because
supporters tend to give up rather than email you, a broken form can sit dead for days or weeks
unnoticed. Build in a regular check, at least once a month and ideally every week, so that a person
actually completes a test gift on your live infrastructure on a schedule.

## Page design and copy that convert

The cheapest, most powerful test you can run costs nothing. As Jonathan put it, "the cheapest
possible way of assessing your online giving experience is to get a family or a friend to do it."
Sit someone outside your organisation in front of the form, watch them try to give, and say
nothing. "You will learn enormous amounts about which words make sense, which words don't make
sense, which buttons are in the right place." If only you test it, you will skip every problem,
because everything makes perfect sense to the person who built it. This is the antidote to
fundraiser bias: the things that make sense to us are the things we assume make sense to our
donors.

In practice, that means writing copy in the donor's language, not yours. Strip out acronyms and
internal jargon. If you must ask for a piece of information, explain why. Take a form asking which
subject an alumnus studied: it means nothing until you add a line such as, the subject with the
most donors unlocks an extra 5,000 in challenge funding. Now the ask makes sense and the donor
gives it willingly. Order long lists alphabetically so people can find their answer, and be wary
of decorative images that look attractive but make the real choice harder to scan. Keep the page
visually calm, lead with the cause and the impact, and let the form itself be the simplest thing
on the screen.

Above all, make the page match the message that brought the donor there. The journey up the "donor
mountain", as Kat described it, is a series of micro-decisions: do I open the email, do I click the
link, does the page match what I just read, do I feel safe. If the page looks and sounds like the
appeal, each of those small decisions is a yes.

## Asking for the right amounts and capturing tax-effective gifts

Suggested amounts are one of the most reliable conversion tools you have, and the reason is
psychological rather than mechanical. Leave the amount box empty and you force the donor to worry:
"what have other people given? Would I be the only one giving at this level? Is this too little? Is
this too much?" Fill it with a suggested figure and, as Jonathan explained, "all of that's gone."
A pre-filled amount quietly signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level,
while leaving the donor free to change it up or down. Anchoring matters too: the options you present
shape what feels normal, so choose your suggested levels deliberately.

Regular giving deserves its own clean decision rather than being tangled into the amount question.
A common mistake is a form that lists a jumble of one-off and monthly options together, leaving the
donor unsure what they are even selecting. The better pattern is a simple binary up front: would
you consider a regular gift, yes or no? A yes leads to "what would you like to give every month?";
a no leads to a one-off ask. One confusing question becomes two clear ones, and you avoid odd,
organisation-driven monthly figures that exist only because someone divided an annual target by
twelve. As Jonathan put it, "think about what makes sense for the donor", not what is tidy for your
reporting.

Tax-effective giving can add value without adding much friction, but the rules depend entirely on
your country. In many places, donors can claim some form of tax relief on gifts to eligible
charities, sometimes through a receipt the donor claims and sometimes through a top-up the charity
reclaims. Check what applies where your donors are, and where there is a benefit, make it clear and
tell the donor plainly what receipt or confirmation they will get. Treat any tax confirmation as a
clear, well-worded promise rather than a buried clause, and do not let it become another moment of
confusion friction. A clear, honest line about the tax benefit is reassurance that costs nothing and
lifts confidence right at the point of giving.

## Mobile and speed

Donors increasingly arrive on a phone, often straight from an email opened on the move, and the bar
they judge you against is set elsewhere. Giving online does not happen in a vacuum: people compare
your form with their banking app, their supermarket checkout and their government services, and
"it's all the same to the donor." Banking interfaces that were frustrating a few years ago are now
slick; even government forms, as Jonathan noted of the pandemic-era testing systems, were "really
simple to use" and "very well designed for the actual user". If your donation page feels clunky
next to those, supporters notice.

In concrete terms, the page must load fast, render cleanly on a small screen, present large and
easily tapped buttons, and minimise typing. Every extra field is heavier on a phone than on a
desktop, so field number friction and steps friction both bite harder on mobile. Make sure the
experience carries across devices too, so a donor who opens your email on their phone and finishes
on their laptop meets the same page and the same feeling either way. And remember the channels that
funnel people to mobile in the first place: a QR code on a poster, a table card or a screen can
take an in-person moment straight to a frictionless page, which only works if that page is genuinely
built for the phone in their hand.

## Building trust and reassurance

Confidence and friction are two sides of one coin. As Kat put it, "as soon as that confidence dips,
that's where the friction point is", and that dip can turn a willing donor away "not because they
don't want to give to the charity, not because they don't care, but because the friction on the
form is just too much for them to endure." A donation page asks people to hand over money and
personal data, so it has to feel safe at the exact moment they are deciding to trust you.

Much of this is reassurance by design. Keep security visible and current, because expectations
around handling data and payment information safely have risen sharply. Make the page look like it
belongs to your organisation, so it plainly matches the email or letter that sent the donor there
and nothing feels like a detour to an unfamiliar site. Be honest and brief about why you are asking
for anything beyond the essentials. And avoid the quiet trust-killers: a form that asks the same
thing twice, a confusing consent block, or worse, a broken form, all chip away at the sense that
this is a competent organisation worth supporting. Trust is not a badge you add at the end; it is
the cumulative effect of a page that behaves exactly as the donor expects.

## Testing and measuring conversion

You cannot improve what you do not measure, so decisions should rest on data rather than opinion.
The starting point is instrumentation. Hook your platform up to Google Analytics with goals so you
can see conversion from the donation page, and look at web traffic alongside it. If a provider runs
your platform, they "should be looking at your platform on Google Analytics for their own good as
well as yours", so ask them for the numbers. Even without analytics you can improvise a signal, as
Kat did at the University of Southampton by counting the gap between people who started the form and
those who completed payment, enough to prove the form was losing gifts and to make the case for
change.

Once you can see your baseline, run real tests rather than guesses. NextAfter's friction calculator
will walk you through your form question by question and score it, which can give you "the
firepower" to push for improvement internally. Better still, A/B test changes inside a live
campaign rather than swapping a form and waiting to see what arrives. As Kat advised, do not "just
put up a new donation form and see what comes your way"; make it part of an active appeal so the
test means something. Bring the sceptics into the process too, the IT, finance and procurement
colleagues who can otherwise block change, because "nobody likes being told what to do", and let
the data, not anyone's opinion, settle the argument.

Finally, treat this as an investment rather than a cost. The argument worth repeating to any budget
holder is this: moving from two in ten donors converting to seven in ten does not just raise more
money on the day, it brings more people into relationship, lifts lifetime giving and builds the
pipeline. Spending a little to remove friction returns far more than leaving the leak unfixed.

## Frequently asked questions

**What conversion rate should I expect from my donation page?** As a sector benchmark, around 21
per cent, or two in ten visitors, is considered good according to M&R Benchmarks. Well-optimised
platforms can do far better; Hubbub reported conversion of about 70 per cent on their giving day
pages. Treat the benchmark as a floor to beat, not a ceiling to settle for, and measure your own
baseline first.

**What is the single biggest cause of lost donations?** Friction, and specifically the
psychological kind: "it's about psychology, it's not about functionality." Most lost gifts come
from forms that are confusing, ask for too much, or take too many steps, rather than from forms
that are technically broken, though broken forms cause real and often unnoticed losses too.

**Should I use suggested donation amounts?** Yes. A suggested amount removes the anxiety of a blank
box, signals what is expected and gives permission to give at that level, while still letting the
donor change it. Choose your suggested figures deliberately, since they anchor what feels normal.

**How do I handle one-off versus regular giving on the same form?** Separate the decision out. Ask
a simple yes or no question up front about whether the donor would consider a regular gift, then
route them to a monthly or a one-off ask accordingly. Do not mix one-off and monthly amounts in a
single confusing list.

**How often should I check my donation form?** Have someone complete a real test gift on your live
form regularly, at least once a month and ideally weekly. Broken forms rarely announce themselves,
because supporters tend to give up rather than report a problem, so the only reliable way to catch
faults is to test them yourself.

**Where should I send traffic from an email or Giving Day?** Send people straight to the most
relevant page, not to a generic landing page or platform front page. Segment your audience and make
the choice for them where you can, so each donor lands on a page tuned to them with the fewest
possible clicks between the appeal and the completed gift.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donation page checklist](/resources/donation-page-checklist/)
- [Donation form copy template](/resources/donation-form-copy-template/)
- [Conversion optimisation checklist](/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: WD-40 for your online donation forms](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wd-40-for-your-online-donation-forms)
- Related guide: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/)
- Sector body: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to acquire and retain donors](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (canz/en): A practical guide to donor acquisition and retention, covering lead generation, donor personas, the welcome experience, what drives retention, donor churn, the crucial second gift, reactivation and the metrics that matter.
Most fundraising programmes pour the bulk of their energy into the top of the funnel, chasing new donors, and far less into keeping the ones they already have. The habit is understandable: acquisition is visible, it produces fresh names and immediate income, and it feels like growth. But a programme that only acquires is filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Every new donor you bring in this year is partly, and sometimes wholly, cancelled out by the donors who quietly slip away. The leaky bucket is the single most useful image in donor development: if you do not mend the holes, you have to pour faster and faster just to stay level.

This guide treats acquisition and retention as two halves of one job. It covers how to bring new supporters in through lead generation, how to understand who they are with donor personas, how to welcome them well, what actually keeps them giving, why they lapse, the crucial second gift, how to win back the ones who have drifted, and the handful of metrics that tell you whether any of it is working. It draws throughout on Hubbub's work with charities and on the wider evidence their team has gathered.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) and
> [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## The leaky bucket: why retention matters as much as acquisition

Start with the arithmetic, because it is sobering. The national average donor retention rate sits at around 46 per cent, which means a typical organisation loses more than half of its donors every year. Put the other way round, the average attrition rate is 54 per cent. Acquire a thousand new donors while losing more than half of last year's cohort, and you are running hard to stand still.

The long-term cost of leakage is larger than it looks. Hubbub models two otherwise identical organisations over ten years, one losing 10 per cent of its donors a year and the other losing 25 per cent. That 15-point gap in churn is not a rounding error. Where both bring in new donors and grow their gifts, the lower-churn organisation ends up generating around $1,288,078 more in revenue, some 81 per cent more, and retaining 997 more donors, roughly 130 per cent more, than its leakier twin. The two started in the same place. The only difference was how well they held on to people.

Retention compounds quietly in a way acquisition never does. A retained donor costs almost nothing to keep relative to the cost of finding a new one, gives again, often gives more, and becomes a candidate for regular giving, a larger gift, or a bequest. Remember too that roughly 80 per cent of fundraising income tends to come from around 20 per cent of donors. Those major supporters did not arrive as major donors. They began as ordinary first-time givers who were retained, stewarded and developed over time. Lose them early and you never find out who they might have become.

None of this is an argument against acquisition. You will always need new donors to replace natural losses and to grow. It is an argument for treating retention as the foundation that acquisition is built on, rather than an afterthought.

## Acquisition channels and lead generation

Acquisition works best as a funnel rather than a single ask. People move from awareness, through interest and engagement, to a first gift, and lead generation is the work of guiding them along that path rather than demanding a donation from a complete stranger. The most effective programmes plan the whole funnel at once, including what happens after someone gives, instead of treating the first gift as the finish line.

Several channels feed the top of that funnel. Your website is the hub: every piece of content you produce should live there, supported by search engine optimisation so people can find you, and by retargeting so the ones who visited but did not act see you again. Social media widens the reach, and the format should follow the audience, with visual content suited to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and written content working well over email and on Facebook with older supporters. Events, peer-to-peer campaigns and in-person moments bring in donors who would rarely surface through a cold appeal; a format such as our [Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) guide shows how an event can deliver large numbers of brand-new supporters in a single week.

Two disciplines make lead generation pay. The first is a content strategy that serves two audiences at once, the prospects you are trying to attract and the supporters you already have, so the same effort does double duty. The second is lead scoring: rather than chasing volume, you rank prospects by how engaged and how likely to give they are, and concentrate your limited time on the warmest. Quality of leads matters more than quantity, because a thousand names who never give are a cost, not an asset.

Above all, the way you acquire shapes how well you retain. Tactics built only to maximise immediate cash and headline donor numbers, with little regard for genuine engagement or the start of a relationship, reliably produce higher churn later. You end up on a treadmill, endlessly replacing the donors your own acquisition methods taught to leave. Acquiring fewer donors who care about your cause beats acquiring many who do not.

## Donor personas: understanding your audience

You cannot tailor what you do not understand, and donor personas are how good programmes turn a faceless database into a handful of people they can picture. A persona is a fictionalised but data-grounded profile of a type of supporter, built from your actual donors rather than from assumptions. It pulls demographics, behaviour and preferences into a recognisable character your whole team can hold in mind when they write an appeal, plan an event or design a web page.

The payoff is measurable rather than merely tidy. Organisations that use personas report shorter average times between a constituent's first interaction and their first donation, and shorter times between a first gift and a second. Personas improve both acquisition and retention, the two outcomes this guide is built around.

Building them is methodical. Start by segmenting your data into meaningful groups, by age, by giving status, by graduation year, by whatever divisions actually matter for your cause. For each group, gather what you can on how they tend to give, whether online, by phone or by post, on the campaigns or triggers that first prompted them to donate, on their demographics, on how they prefer to be contacted, and on what motivates them. Draw on more than one source: your donor database, your website analytics for online givers, and, importantly, direct conversations with engaged donors who will tell you things no spreadsheet can. Then write each persona up as a short profile with a name, a stock photo, a brief biography, their goals and motivations, and their contact preferences, kept deliberately concise and led by the data.

Once they exist, personas only earn their keep if they are used. Share them across the whole organisation and apply them everywhere: the wording of your asks, the shape of your events, your stewardship plans, your communications and even your website design. The point is to stop sending one message to everyone and start speaking to each segment in the terms that move it.

## The welcome and onboarding experience

The riskiest moment in a donor's life with you is the gap between their first gift and their second, and the welcome experience is what carries them across it. A new donor has taken a leap of faith. What you do in the next few days tells them whether that faith was well placed, so a warm, prompt, well-judged welcome is one of the highest-return things a fundraising team can do.

The first act is the thank-you, and timing matters more than polish. Acknowledge a gift quickly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the donor still feels the warmth of having given. Make it personal: a genuine signature, the name and contact details of a real person, and language that sounds like a human being rather than a receipt. A simple call or voicemail can be more powerful still. As fundraising researcher Penelope Burk has found, "donors who receive a call or voicemail are significantly more likely to make that all-important second gift and to increase their gift amount." Few welcome tactics are cheaper or more effective than picking up the phone.

Beyond the thank-you, a good onboarding sequence orients the new supporter. A welcome pack or series can explain what their support makes possible, set out the benefits and opportunities of being involved, point to ways to engage beyond giving such as volunteering, and begin to show impact rather than immediately asking again. Balance is the thing: mix solicitation with genuinely informative content like newsletters and stories, so the relationship does not start and end with a hand held out. Our [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) lays out a sequence you can adapt, and the wider craft of moving people through these early stages is covered in our guide to [donor stewardship](/canz/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## What drives retention

Retention is not a single tactic but a posture, and the sector has a name for it: relationship fundraising. Ken Burnett, who coined the term, defines it as an approach centred "not around raising money but on developing to its full potential the unique and special relationship between a charity and its supporter." The income follows from the relationship, not the other way around. Programmes that internalise this keep their donors; programmes that treat each donor as a wallet to be reopened do not.

In practice, several behaviours drive the relationship forward. Acknowledge gifts promptly and personally, every time, not just the first. Engage donors before and after a gift rather than only at the point of asking, through tours, events, updates and stories, so you build a connection that does not depend on a transaction. Above all, banish the feeling every lapsed donor describes in some form: "I only hear from you when you want money." If the only contact a supporter has from you is an ask, you have taught them to associate your name with being taken from rather than being part of something.

It helps to understand what people are actually seeking when they give, because it is rarely the transaction. The fundraising thinker Simone Joyaux identifies seven things donors want from their involvement: to be heard, to tell their stories, to realise their dreams, to join a fight, to join a tribe, to feel flattered, and, simply, to matter. A retention strategy worth the name is really a programme for delivering those feelings, consistently, over years.

## Donor churn: why supporters lapse

Churn is the measure of the leak. Hubbub defines it plainly as the percentage of donors who do not give again within twelve months, calculated as the donors lost over a twelve-month period divided by the total donors in that period. A 25 per cent churn rate means a quarter of your donors quietly fail to return each year, and as the ten-year comparison above showed, small differences in that rate compound into enormous differences in donors and revenue.

Supporters lapse for reasons that are mostly within your control. Some are acquired through tactics that were never built for retention, drawn in by a one-off prompt with no relationship behind it, so their departure was effectively decided at the point of acquisition. Many lapse because they felt unthanked, unheard, or contacted only when money was wanted, the precise failures that good retention practice exists to prevent. Others drift simply because nobody noticed they had gone quiet and nobody reached out. A smaller number leave for reasons you genuinely cannot touch, a change in their circumstances or their priorities, but these are the minority. The uncomfortable truth in most churn analysis is that the majority of lapsing is a response to how the donor was treated, which is also the good news, because it means churn is something you can act on rather than merely suffer.

The first step is to see it. Analyse the patterns in your database, segment your lapsing donors, and look for the moments where people tend to fall away, very often the gap after the first gift. Free sector tools such as the AFP's Fundraising Fitness Test and Growth-in-Giving Report help you benchmark, and a donor churn calculator lets you model how a given rate plays out for your own programme over time. You cannot fix a leak you have not located.

## The crucial second gift

If one number decides a programme's future, it is the proportion of first-time donors who give a second time. First-gift retention is notoriously the weakest point in almost every programme, and it is also the highest-leverage one, because a donor who gives twice is dramatically more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. The second gift is the moment a one-off response hardens into a habit.

Almost everything in the earlier sections converges here. The prompt, personal thank-you; the welcome sequence that shows impact before it asks again; the phone call that Penelope Burk's research links directly to second gifts and larger ones: all of it is, in the end, in service of converting that first gift into a second. This is why the welcome experience deserves disproportionate attention and resource. A modest improvement in your first-to-second gift conversion rate ripples through every retention and lifetime-value figure you track for years afterwards, because each donor who clears that hurdle is far more likely to clear all the ones that follow.

The practical implication is to design your programme around the second gift deliberately rather than hoping it happens. Map the journey from first gift onward, decide what you will send and when, make at least one piece of that early contact a genuine thank-you with no ask attached, and treat a second gift not as a happy accident but as the explicit goal of the first ninety days. Our work on [building a regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) goes further, because converting a strong first or second gift into a committed monthly relationship is the surest way to lock in long-term retention.

## Reactivating lapsed donors

Not every departing donor is gone for good. A supporter who gave to you once chose you for a reason, and that reason often still exists, which makes lapsed donors a warmer prospect than cold strangers and reactivation a more efficient use of effort than pure acquisition. The key is to treat win-back as a deliberate programme rather than an occasional guilty afterthought.

Begin by defining what lapsed means for your programme and segmenting accordingly, because a donor who has missed one year needs a different approach from one who last gave five years ago. For the more recently lapsed, a well-judged win-back message that acknowledges the absence without scolding, reminds them of the impact they helped create, and makes it easy to return, can recover a meaningful share. Lead with what their past support achieved and what is possible now, not with the fact that they stopped. Where you can, tailor the approach by persona, since a reason that re-engages one segment will fall flat with another. Our [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/) gives you a tested starting point to adapt.

Be realistic about the limits. Reactivation will not recover everyone, and the effort is best concentrated on the segments most likely to respond and most valuable if they do. But a structured win-back programme, run consistently, plugs one of the larger holes in the bucket, and it nearly always costs less than acquiring an equivalent number of brand-new donors.

## The metrics that matter

You cannot manage what you do not measure, and donor development rewards a small set of metrics watched closely far more than a large dashboard glanced at occasionally. Three matter most.

**Retention rate** is the share of last year's donors who gave again this year, the direct inverse of attrition. Against a sector average near 46 per cent, even modest improvements are valuable, and the long-run prize is large: Hubbub's modelling shows that lifting retention from 46 per cent to 90 per cent turns a ten-year loss of 786 donors into a net gain of 1,552. Track it overall and, more usefully, by segment and by cohort, paying particular attention to first-gift retention, which is where most programmes leak hardest.

**Donor churn** is the same picture from the other side, the percentage of donors who do not return within twelve months. Calculate it as lost donors over a period divided by total donors in that period, model how your current rate compounds over five and ten years, and use that projection to make the case internally for investing in retention rather than only in acquisition.

**Lifetime value** captures the total worth of a donor over the whole of their relationship with you, not just their first gift. It is the metric that justifies spending on welcome and stewardship, because it reveals that a retained donor is worth a multiple of an acquired one, and it reframes the cost of a thank-you call or a welcome series as an investment with a clear return. Alongside these three, watch time-to-conversion, how long it takes a new contact to make a first gift and then a second, since shortening those gaps, exactly what good personas and onboarding do, lifts every other number on the list.

The discipline that ties it all together is reviewing regularly, with quarterly a sensible rhythm, and giving each strategy enough time to prove itself, with serious assessment points at around six and twelve months. Donor development is a long game, and the programmes that win it are the ones that measure patiently, mend the leaks they find, and keep the bucket full year after year.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it really cheaper to retain a donor than to acquire one?** Yes, and usually by a wide margin. Acquiring a new donor carries real cost in advertising, content, events and staff time, whereas keeping an existing one largely costs the price of good stewardship. Retained donors also give again, often give more, and can develop into major or regular givers, so the return on retention compounds in a way acquisition spending does not.

**What is a good donor retention rate?** The national average is around 46 per cent, so anything meaningfully above that is doing well, but the more useful target is to beat your own previous year and to improve first-gift retention specifically. Small, steady gains compound powerfully: Hubbub's modelling shows the difference between high and low retention runs to hundreds of donors and over a million dollars across a decade.

**Why is the second gift singled out as so important?** Because first-gift retention is the weakest point in almost every programme, and a donor who gives a second time is far more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. Converting first-time donors into second-time donors is the highest-leverage improvement most programmes can make.

**Do small charities really need donor personas?** They benefit as much as large ones, often more, because their resources are tighter and personas help them aim limited effort where it counts. Personas are built from your own donor data, conversations and analytics, so you do not need a big budget, only a willingness to look at who your supporters actually are.

**How quickly should we thank a new donor?** Promptly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the gift still feels fresh to them. Make the thank-you personal, with a real signature and a real contact, and where you can, add a call or voicemail, which research links directly to more second gifts and larger ones.

**Where should we start if our retention is poor?** Start by measuring, so you know your retention rate, your churn and where in the journey people lapse, then fix the welcome experience and the second gift first, since that is where most programmes leak hardest and where improvement pays back fastest.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Hubbub blogs: [effective lead generation](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [donor churn](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) and [improving donor retention](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Related guides: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/canz/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man Spender gewinnt und bindet](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zur Spendergewinnung und Spenderbindung, der Leadgenerierung, Spender-Personas, das Willkommenserlebnis, die Treiber der Bindung, die Spenderabwanderung, die entscheidende zweite Spende, die Reaktivierung und die wichtigen Kennzahlen behandelt.
Die meisten Fundraisingprogramme stecken den Großteil ihrer Energie in den oberen Teil des Trichters, in die Jagd nach neuen Spendern, und weit weniger in das Halten derjenigen, die sie bereits haben. Die Gewohnheit ist verständlich: Gewinnung ist sichtbar, sie bringt neue Namen und sofortige Einnahmen hervor und fühlt sich nach Wachstum an. Doch ein Programm, das nur gewinnt, füllt einen Eimer mit einem Loch im Boden. Jeder neue Spender, den Sie dieses Jahr gewinnen, wird teilweise, und manchmal ganz, durch die Spender ausgeglichen, die sich still davonschleichen. Der undichte Eimer ist das nützlichste Bild in der Spenderentwicklung: Wenn Sie die Löcher nicht stopfen, müssen Sie immer schneller nachgießen, nur um auf demselben Stand zu bleiben.

Dieser Leitfaden behandelt Gewinnung und Bindung als zwei Hälften einer einzigen Aufgabe. Er beschreibt, wie man durch Leadgenerierung neue Unterstützer hereinholt, wie man mithilfe von Spender-Personas versteht, wer sie sind, wie man sie gut willkommen heißt, was sie tatsächlich zum Weiterspenden bewegt, warum sie abspringen, die entscheidende zweite Spende, wie man diejenigen zurückgewinnt, die abgedriftet sind, und die Handvoll Kennzahlen, die Ihnen sagen, ob all das funktioniert. Er stützt sich durchgehend auf Hubbubs Arbeit mit gemeinnützigen Organisationen und auf die breiteren Erkenntnisse, die ihr Team gesammelt hat.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Vorlage für einen Spendergewinnungsplan](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [Vorlage für die Willkommensreise](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) und
> [Vorlage für die Rückgewinnungs-E-Mail](/resources/win-back-email-template/) herunterzuladen.

## Der undichte Eimer: Warum Bindung genauso wichtig ist wie Gewinnung

Beginnen wir mit der Rechnung, denn sie ist ernüchternd. Die nationale durchschnittliche Spenderbindungsrate liegt bei etwa 46 Prozent, was bedeutet, dass eine typische Organisation jedes Jahr mehr als die Hälfte ihrer Spender verliert. Andersherum gesagt liegt die durchschnittliche Abwanderungsrate bei 54 Prozent. Gewinnen Sie tausend neue Spender und verlieren Sie zugleich mehr als die Hälfte der Kohorte des Vorjahres, dann rennen Sie sich die Lunge aus dem Leib, nur um auf der Stelle zu treten.

Die langfristigen Kosten des Lecks sind größer, als sie aussehen. Hubbub modelliert zwei ansonsten identische Organisationen über zehn Jahre, von denen die eine 10 Prozent ihrer Spender pro Jahr verliert und die andere 25 Prozent. Diese Lücke von 15 Punkten bei der Abwanderung ist kein Rundungsfehler. Während beide neue Spender gewinnen und ihre Spenden steigern, erwirtschaftet die Organisation mit geringerer Abwanderung am Ende rund 1.288.078 € mehr an Einnahmen, etwa 81 Prozent mehr, und behält 997 Spender mehr, also rund 130 Prozent mehr, als ihr undichteres Gegenstück. Die beiden starteten am selben Punkt. Der einzige Unterschied war, wie gut sie ihre Menschen hielten.

Bindung verzinst sich still auf eine Weise, die Gewinnung niemals erreicht. Ein gebundener Spender kostet im Verhältnis zu den Kosten, einen neuen zu finden, fast nichts im Erhalt, spendet erneut, spendet oft mehr und wird zu einem Kandidaten für eine regelmäßige Spende, eine größere Gabe oder ein Vermächtnis. Denken Sie auch daran, dass etwa 80 Prozent der Fundraising-Einnahmen tendenziell von etwa 20 Prozent der Spender stammen. Diese großen Unterstützer kamen nicht als Großspender an. Sie begannen als gewöhnliche Erstspender, die im Lauf der Zeit gebunden, betreut und entwickelt wurden. Verlieren Sie sie früh, und Sie erfahren nie, was aus ihnen hätte werden können.

Nichts davon ist ein Argument gegen Gewinnung. Sie werden stets neue Spender brauchen, um natürliche Verluste zu ersetzen und zu wachsen. Es ist ein Argument dafür, Bindung als das Fundament zu behandeln, auf dem Gewinnung aufbaut, statt als einen nachträglichen Einfall.

## Gewinnungskanäle und Leadgenerierung

Gewinnung funktioniert am besten als Trichter und nicht als einzelne Bitte. Menschen bewegen sich von der Aufmerksamkeit über Interesse und Engagement bis zu einer ersten Spende, und Leadgenerierung ist die Arbeit, sie auf diesem Weg zu begleiten, statt von einem völlig Fremden eine Spende zu verlangen. Die wirksamsten Programme planen den gesamten Trichter auf einmal, einschließlich dessen, was geschieht, nachdem jemand gespendet hat, statt die erste Spende als Ziellinie zu behandeln.

Mehrere Kanäle speisen das obere Ende dieses Trichters. Ihre Website ist die Drehscheibe: Jeder Inhalt, den Sie erstellen, sollte dort wohnen, gestützt durch Suchmaschinenoptimierung, damit die Menschen Sie finden, und durch Retargeting, damit diejenigen, die besucht, aber nicht gehandelt haben, Sie wiedersehen. Soziale Medien verbreitern die Reichweite, und das Format sollte dem Publikum folgen, mit visuellen Inhalten, die zu Plattformen wie Instagram und TikTok passen, und schriftlichen Inhalten, die per E-Mail und auf Facebook bei älteren Unterstützern gut funktionieren. Veranstaltungen, Peer-to-Peer-Kampagnen und persönliche Momente bringen Spender herein, die durch einen Kaltappell selten auftauchen würden; ein Format wie unser Leitfaden [Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) zeigt, wie eine Veranstaltung in einer einzigen Woche große Zahlen brandneuer Unterstützer liefern kann.

Zwei Disziplinen machen Leadgenerierung lohnend. Die erste ist eine Inhaltsstrategie, die zwei Zielgruppen zugleich bedient, die Interessenten, die Sie anziehen wollen, und die Unterstützer, die Sie bereits haben, sodass derselbe Aufwand doppelten Dienst tut. Die zweite ist das Lead-Scoring: Statt der Menge hinterherzujagen, ordnen Sie Interessenten danach ein, wie engagiert und wie wahrscheinlich spendenbereit sie sind, und konzentrieren Ihre begrenzte Zeit auf die wärmsten. Die Qualität der Leads zählt mehr als die Menge, denn tausend Namen, die nie spenden, sind ein Kostenfaktor, kein Vermögenswert.

Vor allem prägt die Art, wie Sie gewinnen, wie gut Sie binden. Taktiken, die nur darauf gebaut sind, den sofortigen Geldzufluss und die schlagzeilenträchtigen Spenderzahlen zu maximieren, mit wenig Rücksicht auf echtes Engagement oder den Beginn einer Beziehung, erzeugen zuverlässig später eine höhere Abwanderung. Sie landen auf einem Laufband und ersetzen endlos die Spender, denen Ihre eigenen Gewinnungsmethoden das Gehen beigebracht haben. Weniger Spender zu gewinnen, denen Ihre Sache am Herzen liegt, schlägt das Gewinnen vieler, denen sie es nicht ist.

## Spender-Personas: Ihre Zielgruppe verstehen

Man kann nicht maßschneidern, was man nicht versteht, und Spender-Personas sind die Art, wie gute Programme eine gesichtslose Datenbank in eine Handvoll Menschen verwandeln, die sie sich vorstellen können. Eine Persona ist ein fiktives, aber datengestütztes Profil eines Unterstützertyps, aufgebaut aus Ihren tatsächlichen Spendern statt aus Annahmen. Sie fügt Demografie, Verhalten und Vorlieben zu einer wiedererkennbaren Figur zusammen, die Ihr gesamtes Team im Kopf behalten kann, wenn es einen Appell schreibt, eine Veranstaltung plant oder eine Webseite gestaltet.

Der Nutzen ist messbar und nicht bloß ordentlich. Organisationen, die Personas verwenden, berichten von kürzeren durchschnittlichen Zeiten zwischen der ersten Interaktion eines Kontakts und seiner ersten Spende sowie von kürzeren Zeiten zwischen einer ersten und einer zweiten Gabe. Personas verbessern sowohl Gewinnung als auch Bindung, die beiden Ergebnisse, um die dieser Leitfaden aufgebaut ist.

Sie zu erstellen ist methodisch. Beginnen Sie damit, Ihre Daten in sinnvolle Gruppen zu segmentieren, nach Alter, nach Spendenstatus, nach Abschlussjahrgang, nach welchen Unterteilungen auch immer für Ihre Sache tatsächlich von Bedeutung sind. Sammeln Sie für jede Gruppe, was Sie können, darüber, wie sie tendenziell spenden, ob online, telefonisch oder per Post, über die Kampagnen oder Auslöser, die sie zuerst zum Spenden bewegten, über ihre Demografie, darüber, wie sie kontaktiert werden möchten, und darüber, was sie motiviert. Schöpfen Sie aus mehr als einer Quelle: Ihrer Spenderdatenbank, der Webanalyse für Online-Spender und, wichtig, direkten Gesprächen mit engagierten Spendern, die Ihnen Dinge sagen, die keine Tabelle kann. Schreiben Sie dann jede Persona als kurzes Profil mit einem Namen, einem Symbolfoto, einer kurzen Biografie, ihren Zielen und Beweggründen und ihren Kontaktvorlieben, bewusst knapp gehalten und von den Daten geleitet.

Sobald sie existieren, verdienen Personas ihren Platz nur, wenn sie genutzt werden. Teilen Sie sie in der gesamten Organisation und wenden Sie sie überall an: bei der Formulierung Ihrer Bitten, der Gestalt Ihrer Veranstaltungen, Ihren Betreuungsplänen, Ihrer Kommunikation und sogar Ihrem Webdesign. Der Sinn ist, aufzuhören, allen eine einzige Botschaft zu senden, und damit zu beginnen, jedes Segment in den Begriffen anzusprechen, die es bewegen.

## Das Willkommens- und Onboarding-Erlebnis

Der riskanteste Moment im Leben eines Spenders mit Ihnen ist die Lücke zwischen seiner ersten und seiner zweiten Spende, und das Willkommenserlebnis ist es, das ihn darüber hinwegträgt. Ein neuer Spender hat einen Vertrauensvorschuss gewagt. Was Sie in den nächsten Tagen tun, sagt ihm, ob dieses Vertrauen gut angelegt war, sodass ein warmes, prompt erfolgendes, gut abgewogenes Willkommen zu den ertragreichsten Dingen gehört, die ein Fundraising-Team tun kann.

Der erste Akt ist der Dank, und das Timing zählt mehr als die Politur. Bestätigen Sie eine Spende rasch, idealerweise innerhalb von 24 bis 72 Stunden, solange der Spender noch die Wärme des Gebens verspürt. Machen Sie ihn persönlich: eine echte Unterschrift, der Name und die Kontaktdaten einer realen Person und eine Sprache, die nach einem Menschen klingt und nicht nach einer Quittung. Ein einfacher Anruf oder eine Mailbox-Nachricht kann noch wirkungsvoller sein. Wie die Fundraising-Forscherin Penelope Burk festgestellt hat, „sind Spender, die einen Anruf oder eine Mailbox-Nachricht erhalten, deutlich eher bereit, diese so wichtige zweite Spende zu tätigen und ihren Spendenbetrag zu erhöhen." Wenige Willkommenstaktiken sind günstiger oder wirksamer, als zum Hörer zu greifen.

Über den Dank hinaus orientiert eine gute Onboarding-Sequenz den neuen Unterstützer. Ein Willkommenspaket oder eine Willkommensserie kann erklären, was seine Unterstützung möglich macht, die Vorteile und Chancen des Mitmachens darlegen, auf Wege hinweisen, sich über das Spenden hinaus einzubringen, etwa durch Freiwilligenarbeit, und beginnen, Wirkung zu zeigen, statt sofort wieder zu bitten. Die Balance ist das Entscheidende: Mischen Sie die Bitte mit wirklich informativen Inhalten wie Newslettern und Geschichten, damit die Beziehung nicht mit einer ausgestreckten Hand beginnt und endet. Unsere [Vorlage für die Willkommensreise](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) legt eine Sequenz dar, die Sie anpassen können, und das umfassendere Handwerk, Menschen durch diese frühen Phasen zu führen, wird in unserem Leitfaden zur [Spenderbetreuung](/europe/de/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) behandelt.

## Was die Bindung antreibt

Bindung ist keine einzelne Taktik, sondern eine Haltung, und die Branche hat einen Namen dafür: Beziehungs-Fundraising. Ken Burnett, der den Begriff prägte, definiert es als einen Ansatz, der sich „nicht ums Geldsammeln dreht, sondern um die Entwicklung der einzigartigen und besonderen Beziehung zwischen einer Organisation und ihrem Unterstützer zu ihrem vollen Potenzial." Die Einnahmen folgen aus der Beziehung, nicht umgekehrt. Programme, die das verinnerlichen, behalten ihre Spender; Programme, die jeden Spender als eine wieder zu öffnende Geldbörse behandeln, tun es nicht.

In der Praxis treiben mehrere Verhaltensweisen die Beziehung voran. Bestätigen Sie Spenden prompt und persönlich, jedes Mal, nicht nur beim ersten Mal. Binden Sie Spender vor und nach einer Spende ein, statt nur im Moment der Bitte, durch Führungen, Veranstaltungen, Updates und Geschichten, sodass Sie eine Verbindung aufbauen, die nicht von einer Transaktion abhängt. Verbannen Sie vor allem das Gefühl, das jeder abgewanderte Spender in irgendeiner Form beschreibt: „Ich höre nur von euch, wenn ihr Geld wollt." Wenn der einzige Kontakt, den ein Unterstützer von Ihnen hat, eine Bitte ist, haben Sie ihm beigebracht, Ihren Namen damit zu verbinden, dass ihm etwas genommen wird, statt damit, Teil von etwas zu sein.

Es hilft zu verstehen, was Menschen tatsächlich suchen, wenn sie spenden, denn es ist selten die Transaktion. Die Fundraising-Denkerin Simone Joyaux benennt sieben Dinge, die Spender von ihrem Engagement wollen: gehört zu werden, ihre Geschichten zu erzählen, ihre Träume zu verwirklichen, sich einem Kampf anzuschließen, sich einem Stamm anzuschließen, sich geschmeichelt zu fühlen und, schlicht, zu zählen. Eine Bindungsstrategie, die den Namen verdient, ist in Wahrheit ein Programm, um diese Gefühle beständig über Jahre hinweg zu liefern.

## Spenderabwanderung: Warum Unterstützer abspringen

Abwanderung ist das Maß des Lecks. Hubbub definiert sie schlicht als den Prozentsatz der Spender, die nicht innerhalb von zwölf Monaten erneut spenden, berechnet als die über einen Zeitraum von zwölf Monaten verlorenen Spender geteilt durch die Gesamtzahl der Spender in diesem Zeitraum. Eine Abwanderungsrate von 25 Prozent bedeutet, dass ein Viertel Ihrer Spender jedes Jahr still nicht zurückkehrt, und wie der Zehnjahresvergleich oben gezeigt hat, summieren sich kleine Unterschiede in dieser Rate zu enormen Unterschieden bei Spendern und Einnahmen.

Unterstützer springen aus Gründen ab, die meist in Ihrer Hand liegen. Manche werden durch Taktiken gewonnen, die nie auf Bindung ausgelegt waren, durch einen einmaligen Anstoß ohne Beziehung dahinter hereingeholt, sodass ihr Abgang faktisch im Moment der Gewinnung entschieden war. Viele springen ab, weil sie sich nicht bedankt, nicht gehört oder nur dann kontaktiert fühlten, wenn Geld gewollt war, genau die Versäumnisse, die gute Bindungspraxis verhindern soll. Andere driften einfach ab, weil niemand bemerkte, dass sie still geworden waren, und niemand die Hand ausstreckte. Eine kleinere Zahl geht aus Gründen, die Sie wirklich nicht beeinflussen können, einer Veränderung ihrer Umstände oder ihrer Prioritäten, doch das ist die Minderheit. Die unbequeme Wahrheit in den meisten Abwanderungsanalysen ist, dass der Großteil des Abspringens eine Reaktion darauf ist, wie der Spender behandelt wurde, was zugleich die gute Nachricht ist, denn es bedeutet, dass Abwanderung etwas ist, worauf Sie reagieren können, statt es nur zu erleiden.

Der erste Schritt ist, sie zu sehen. Analysieren Sie die Muster in Ihrer Datenbank, segmentieren Sie Ihre abspringenden Spender und suchen Sie nach den Momenten, in denen Menschen tendenziell wegfallen, sehr oft die Lücke nach der ersten Spende. Kostenlose Branchenwerkzeuge wie der Fundraising Fitness Test und der Growth-in-Giving Report der AFP helfen Ihnen beim Benchmarking, und ein Spenderabwanderungs-Rechner lässt Sie modellieren, wie sich eine gegebene Rate für Ihr eigenes Programm über die Zeit auswirkt. Sie können kein Leck reparieren, das Sie nicht geortet haben.

## Die entscheidende zweite Spende

Wenn eine Zahl über die Zukunft eines Programms entscheidet, dann ist es der Anteil der Erstspender, die ein zweites Mal spenden. Die Erstspenden-Bindung ist bekanntermaßen der schwächste Punkt in fast jedem Programm, und sie ist zugleich der mit der größten Hebelwirkung, denn ein Spender, der zweimal spendet, wird dramatisch wahrscheinlicher weiter spenden als einer, der nur einmal gespendet hat. Die zweite Spende ist der Moment, in dem eine einmalige Reaktion zur Gewohnheit erstarrt.

Fast alles aus den vorangegangenen Abschnitten läuft hier zusammen. Der prompte, persönliche Dank; die Willkommenssequenz, die Wirkung zeigt, bevor sie erneut bittet; der Telefonanruf, den Penelope Burks Forschung direkt mit zweiten und größeren Spenden verknüpft: All das dient am Ende dazu, jene erste Spende in eine zweite umzuwandeln. Deshalb verdient das Willkommenserlebnis unverhältnismäßig viel Aufmerksamkeit und Ressourcen. Eine bescheidene Verbesserung Ihrer Umwandlungsrate von der ersten zur zweiten Spende durchzieht jede Bindungs- und Lebenswertkennzahl, die Sie auf Jahre hinaus verfolgen, denn jeder Spender, der diese Hürde nimmt, nimmt weit wahrscheinlicher auch alle folgenden.

Die praktische Folgerung ist, Ihr Programm bewusst um die zweite Spende herum zu gestalten, statt zu hoffen, dass sie geschieht. Kartieren Sie die Reise ab der ersten Spende, entscheiden Sie, was Sie wann senden, machen Sie mindestens einen Teil dieses frühen Kontakts zu einem echten Dank ohne angehängte Bitte und behandeln Sie eine zweite Spende nicht als glücklichen Zufall, sondern als das ausdrückliche Ziel der ersten neunzig Tage. Unsere Arbeit zum [Aufbau eines regelmäßigen Spendenprogramms](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) geht weiter, denn eine starke erste oder zweite Spende in eine verbindliche monatliche Beziehung umzuwandeln, ist der sicherste Weg, die langfristige Bindung festzuzurren.

## Inaktive Spender reaktivieren

Nicht jeder scheidende Spender ist für immer verloren. Ein Unterstützer, der Ihnen einmal gespendet hat, hat Sie aus einem Grund gewählt, und dieser Grund besteht oft noch, was inaktive Spender zu einem wärmeren Interessenten macht als kalte Fremde und Reaktivierung zu einem effizienteren Einsatz von Aufwand als reine Gewinnung. Der Schlüssel ist, Rückgewinnung als ein bewusstes Programm zu behandeln und nicht als gelegentlichen, schuldbewussten Nachgedanken.

Beginnen Sie damit, zu definieren, was „inaktiv" für Ihr Programm bedeutet, und segmentieren Sie entsprechend, denn ein Spender, der ein Jahr ausgesetzt hat, braucht eine andere Herangehensweise als einer, der zuletzt vor fünf Jahren gespendet hat. Für die jüngst Inaktiven kann eine gut abgewogene Rückgewinnungsbotschaft, die die Abwesenheit anerkennt, ohne zu schelten, sie an die Wirkung erinnert, die sie mitschaffen halfen, und die Rückkehr leicht macht, einen bedeutsamen Anteil zurückholen. Stellen Sie an den Anfang, was ihre frühere Unterstützung bewirkt hat und was jetzt möglich ist, nicht die Tatsache, dass sie aufgehört haben. Wo Sie können, passen Sie den Ansatz nach Persona an, da ein Grund, der ein Segment erneut einbindet, bei einem anderen ins Leere läuft. Unsere [Vorlage für die Rückgewinnungs-E-Mail](/resources/win-back-email-template/) gibt Ihnen einen erprobten Ausgangspunkt zum Anpassen.

Seien Sie realistisch hinsichtlich der Grenzen. Reaktivierung wird nicht jeden zurückholen, und der Aufwand wird am besten auf die Segmente konzentriert, die am ehesten reagieren und am wertvollsten sind, wenn sie es tun. Doch ein strukturiertes Rückgewinnungsprogramm, beständig durchgeführt, stopft eines der größeren Löcher im Eimer, und es kostet fast immer weniger, als eine gleichwertige Zahl brandneuer Spender zu gewinnen.

## Die Kennzahlen, die zählen

Man kann nicht steuern, was man nicht misst, und Spenderentwicklung belohnt ein kleines Set von Kennzahlen, das genau beobachtet wird, weit mehr als ein großes Dashboard, das nur gelegentlich erblickt wird. Drei zählen am meisten.

**Die Bindungsrate** ist der Anteil der vorjährigen Spender, die dieses Jahr erneut gespendet haben, das direkte Gegenteil der Abwanderung. Gegenüber einem Branchendurchschnitt nahe 46 Prozent sind selbst bescheidene Verbesserungen wertvoll, und der langfristige Gewinn ist groß: Hubbubs Modellierung zeigt, dass die Anhebung der Bindung von 46 Prozent auf 90 Prozent einen Zehnjahresverlust von 786 Spendern in einen Nettogewinn von 1.552 verwandelt. Verfolgen Sie sie insgesamt und, nützlicher, nach Segment und nach Kohorte, und achten Sie besonders auf die Erstspenden-Bindung, dort, wo die meisten Programme am stärksten lecken.

**Die Spenderabwanderung** ist dasselbe Bild von der anderen Seite, der Prozentsatz der Spender, die nicht innerhalb von zwölf Monaten zurückkehren. Berechnen Sie sie als verlorene Spender über einen Zeitraum geteilt durch die Gesamtspender in diesem Zeitraum, modellieren Sie, wie sich Ihre aktuelle Rate über fünf und zehn Jahre summiert, und nutzen Sie diese Projektion, um intern den Fall für Investitionen in die Bindung statt nur in die Gewinnung zu machen.

**Der Lebenswert** erfasst den Gesamtwert eines Spenders über die gesamte Dauer seiner Beziehung mit Ihnen, nicht nur seine erste Spende. Es ist die Kennzahl, die Ausgaben für Willkommen und Betreuung rechtfertigt, denn sie offenbart, dass ein gebundener Spender ein Vielfaches eines gewonnenen wert ist, und sie rückt die Kosten eines Dankanrufs oder einer Willkommensserie als Investition mit klarem Ertrag ins Licht. Beobachten Sie neben diesen dreien die Konversionszeit, wie lange ein neuer Kontakt braucht, um eine erste und dann eine zweite Spende zu tätigen, denn das Verkürzen dieser Lücken, genau das, was gute Personas und gutes Onboarding tun, hebt jede andere Zahl auf der Liste.

Die Disziplin, die alles zusammenbindet, ist das regelmäßige Überprüfen, mit einem vierteljährlichen Rhythmus als vernünftigem Takt, und jeder Strategie genug Zeit zu geben, sich zu bewähren, mit ernsthaften Bewertungspunkten bei etwa sechs und zwölf Monaten. Spenderentwicklung ist ein langes Spiel, und die Programme, die es gewinnen, sind diejenigen, die geduldig messen, die Lecks reparieren, die sie finden, und den Eimer Jahr für Jahr voll halten.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Ist es wirklich günstiger, einen Spender zu binden, als einen zu gewinnen?** Ja, und meist mit großem Abstand. Einen neuen Spender zu gewinnen verursacht reale Kosten für Werbung, Inhalte, Veranstaltungen und Personalzeit, während das Halten eines bestehenden weitgehend nur den Preis guter Betreuung kostet. Gebundene Spender spenden zudem erneut, spenden oft mehr und können sich zu Groß- oder Dauerspendern entwickeln, sodass sich der Ertrag der Bindung auf eine Weise verzinst, wie es Gewinnungsausgaben nicht tun.

**Was ist eine gute Spenderbindungsrate?** Der nationale Durchschnitt liegt bei etwa 46 Prozent, sodass alles deutlich darüber gut abschneidet, doch das nützlichere Ziel ist, Ihr eigenes Vorjahr zu schlagen und speziell die Erstspenden-Bindung zu verbessern. Kleine, stetige Zugewinne summieren sich kraftvoll: Hubbubs Modellierung zeigt, dass der Unterschied zwischen hoher und niedriger Bindung über ein Jahrzehnt Hunderte von Spendern und über eine Million Euro ausmacht.

**Warum wird die zweite Spende als so wichtig herausgestellt?** Weil die Erstspenden-Bindung in fast jedem Programm der schwächste Punkt ist und ein Spender, der ein zweites Mal spendet, weit wahrscheinlicher weiter spendet als einer, der nur einmal gespendet hat. Erstspender in Zweitspender umzuwandeln ist die Verbesserung mit der größten Hebelwirkung, die die meisten Programme vornehmen können.

**Brauchen kleine Organisationen wirklich Spender-Personas?** Sie profitieren ebenso wie große, oft mehr, denn ihre Ressourcen sind knapper, und Personas helfen ihnen, begrenzten Aufwand dorthin zu lenken, wo er zählt. Personas werden aus Ihren eigenen Spenderdaten, Gesprächen und Analysen aufgebaut, sodass Sie kein großes Budget brauchen, nur die Bereitschaft, hinzusehen, wer Ihre Unterstützer wirklich sind.

**Wie schnell sollten wir einem neuen Spender danken?** Prompt, idealerweise innerhalb von 24 bis 72 Stunden, solange die Spende ihm noch frisch erscheint. Machen Sie den Dank persönlich, mit einer echten Unterschrift und einem echten Kontakt, und fügen Sie, wo Sie können, einen Anruf oder eine Mailbox-Nachricht hinzu, die die Forschung direkt mit mehr zweiten und größeren Spenden verknüpft.

**Wo sollten wir anfangen, wenn unsere Bindung schwach ist?** Beginnen Sie mit dem Messen, damit Sie Ihre Bindungsrate, Ihre Abwanderung und die Stelle in der Reise kennen, an der Menschen abspringen, und beheben Sie dann zuerst das Willkommenserlebnis und die zweite Spende, da dort die meisten Programme am stärksten lecken und Verbesserung sich am schnellsten auszahlt.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Vorlage für einen Spendergewinnungsplan](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Vorlage für die Willkommensreise](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Vorlage für die Rückgewinnungs-E-Mail](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Giving-Day-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Prüfer](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihren Appell- und E-Mail-Text
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verknüpfen Sie persönliche Momente direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- Hubbub-Blogs: [wirksame Leadgenerierung](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [Spenderabwanderung](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) und [Spenderbindung verbessern](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Spenderbetreuung und Spenderreisen](/europe/de/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) und [Wie man ein regelmäßiges Spendenprogramm aufbaut](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to acquire and retain donors](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (europe/en): A practical guide to donor acquisition and retention, covering lead generation, donor personas, the welcome experience, what drives retention, donor churn, the crucial second gift, reactivation and the metrics that matter.
Most fundraising programmes pour the bulk of their energy into the top of the funnel, chasing new donors, and far less into keeping the ones they already have. The habit is understandable: acquisition is visible, it produces fresh names and immediate income, and it feels like growth. But a programme that only acquires is filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Every new donor you bring in this year is partly, and sometimes wholly, cancelled out by the donors who quietly slip away. The leaky bucket is the single most useful image in donor development: if you do not mend the holes, you have to pour faster and faster just to stay level.

This guide treats acquisition and retention as two halves of one job. It covers how to bring new supporters in through lead generation, how to understand who they are with donor personas, how to welcome them well, what actually keeps them giving, why they lapse, the crucial second gift, how to win back the ones who have drifted, and the handful of metrics that tell you whether any of it is working. It draws throughout on Hubbub's work with charities and on the wider evidence their team has gathered.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) and
> [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## The leaky bucket: why retention matters as much as acquisition

Start with the arithmetic, because it is sobering. The national average donor retention rate sits at around 46 per cent, which means a typical organisation loses more than half of its donors every year. Put the other way round, the average attrition rate is 54 per cent. Acquire a thousand new donors while losing more than half of last year's cohort, and you are running hard to stand still.

The long-term cost of leakage is larger than it looks. Hubbub models two otherwise identical organisations over ten years, one losing 10 per cent of its donors a year and the other losing 25 per cent. That 15-point gap in churn is not a rounding error. Where both bring in new donors and grow their gifts, the lower-churn organisation ends up generating around €1,288,078 more in revenue, some 81 per cent more, and retaining 997 more donors, roughly 130 per cent more, than its leakier twin. The two started in the same place. The only difference was how well they held on to people.

Retention compounds quietly in a way acquisition never does. A retained donor costs almost nothing to keep relative to the cost of finding a new one, gives again, often gives more, and becomes a candidate for regular giving, a larger gift, or a legacy. Remember too that roughly 80 per cent of fundraising income tends to come from around 20 per cent of donors. Those major supporters did not arrive as major donors. They began as ordinary first-time givers who were retained, stewarded and developed over time. Lose them early and you never find out who they might have become.

None of this is an argument against acquisition. You will always need new donors to replace natural losses and to grow. It is an argument for treating retention as the foundation that acquisition is built on, rather than an afterthought.

## Acquisition channels and lead generation

Acquisition works best as a funnel rather than a single ask. People move from awareness, through interest and engagement, to a first gift, and lead generation is the work of guiding them along that path rather than demanding a donation from a complete stranger. The most effective programmes plan the whole funnel at once, including what happens after someone gives, instead of treating the first gift as the finish line.

Several channels feed the top of that funnel. Your website is the hub: every piece of content you produce should live there, supported by search engine optimisation so people can find you, and by retargeting so the ones who visited but did not act see you again. Social media widens the reach, and the format should follow the audience, with visual content suited to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and written content working well over email and on Facebook with older supporters. Events, peer-to-peer campaigns and in-person moments bring in donors who would rarely surface through a cold appeal; a format such as our [Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) guide shows how an event can deliver large numbers of brand-new supporters in a single week.

Two disciplines make lead generation pay. The first is a content strategy that serves two audiences at once, the prospects you are trying to attract and the supporters you already have, so the same effort does double duty. The second is lead scoring: rather than chasing volume, you rank prospects by how engaged and how likely to give they are, and concentrate your limited time on the warmest. Quality of leads matters more than quantity, because a thousand names who never give are a cost, not an asset.

Above all, the way you acquire shapes how well you retain. Tactics built only to maximise immediate cash and headline donor numbers, with little regard for genuine engagement or the start of a relationship, reliably produce higher churn later. You end up on a treadmill, endlessly replacing the donors your own acquisition methods taught to leave. Acquiring fewer donors who care about your cause beats acquiring many who do not.

## Donor personas: understanding your audience

You cannot tailor what you do not understand, and donor personas are how good programmes turn a faceless database into a handful of people they can picture. A persona is a fictionalised but data-grounded profile of a type of supporter, built from your actual donors rather than from assumptions. It pulls demographics, behaviour and preferences into a recognisable character your whole team can hold in mind when they write an appeal, plan an event or design a web page.

The payoff is measurable rather than merely tidy. Organisations that use personas report shorter average times between a constituent's first interaction and their first donation, and shorter times between a first gift and a second. Personas improve both acquisition and retention, the two outcomes this guide is built around.

Building them is methodical. Start by segmenting your data into meaningful groups, by age, by giving status, by graduation year, by whatever divisions actually matter for your cause. For each group, gather what you can on how they tend to give, whether online, by phone or by post, on the campaigns or triggers that first prompted them to donate, on their demographics, on how they prefer to be contacted, and on what motivates them. Draw on more than one source: your donor database, your website analytics for online givers, and, importantly, direct conversations with engaged donors who will tell you things no spreadsheet can. Then write each persona up as a short profile with a name, a stock photo, a brief biography, their goals and motivations, and their contact preferences, kept deliberately concise and led by the data.

Once they exist, personas only earn their keep if they are used. Share them across the whole organisation and apply them everywhere: the wording of your asks, the shape of your events, your stewardship plans, your communications and even your website design. The point is to stop sending one message to everyone and start speaking to each segment in the terms that move it.

## The welcome and onboarding experience

The riskiest moment in a donor's life with you is the gap between their first gift and their second, and the welcome experience is what carries them across it. A new donor has taken a leap of faith. What you do in the next few days tells them whether that faith was well placed, so a warm, prompt, well-judged welcome is one of the highest-return things a fundraising team can do.

The first act is the thank-you, and timing matters more than polish. Acknowledge a gift quickly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the donor still feels the warmth of having given. Make it personal: a genuine signature, the name and contact details of a real person, and language that sounds like a human being rather than a receipt. A simple call or voicemail can be more powerful still. As fundraising researcher Penelope Burk has found, "donors who receive a call or voicemail are significantly more likely to make that all-important second gift and to increase their gift amount." Few welcome tactics are cheaper or more effective than picking up the phone.

Beyond the thank-you, a good onboarding sequence orients the new supporter. A welcome pack or series can explain what their support makes possible, set out the benefits and opportunities of being involved, point to ways to engage beyond giving such as volunteering, and begin to show impact rather than immediately asking again. Balance is the thing: mix solicitation with genuinely informative content like newsletters and stories, so the relationship does not start and end with a hand held out. Our [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) lays out a sequence you can adapt, and the wider craft of moving people through these early stages is covered in our guide to [donor stewardship](/europe/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## What drives retention

Retention is not a single tactic but a posture, and the sector has a name for it: relationship fundraising. Ken Burnett, who coined the term, defines it as an approach centred "not around raising money but on developing to its full potential the unique and special relationship between a charity and its supporter." The income follows from the relationship, not the other way around. Programmes that internalise this keep their donors; programmes that treat each donor as a wallet to be reopened do not.

In practice, several behaviours drive the relationship forward. Acknowledge gifts promptly and personally, every time, not just the first. Engage donors before and after a gift rather than only at the point of asking, through tours, events, updates and stories, so you build a connection that does not depend on a transaction. Above all, banish the feeling every lapsed donor describes in some form: "I only hear from you when you want money." If the only contact a supporter has from you is an ask, you have taught them to associate your name with being taken from rather than being part of something.

It helps to understand what people are actually seeking when they give, because it is rarely the transaction. The fundraising thinker Simone Joyaux identifies seven things donors want from their involvement: to be heard, to tell their stories, to realise their dreams, to join a fight, to join a tribe, to feel flattered, and, simply, to matter. A retention strategy worth the name is really a programme for delivering those feelings, consistently, over years.

## Donor churn: why supporters lapse

Churn is the measure of the leak. Hubbub defines it plainly as the percentage of donors who do not give again within twelve months, calculated as the donors lost over a twelve-month period divided by the total donors in that period. A 25 per cent churn rate means a quarter of your donors quietly fail to return each year, and as the ten-year comparison above showed, small differences in that rate compound into enormous differences in donors and revenue.

Supporters lapse for reasons that are mostly within your control. Some are acquired through tactics that were never built for retention, drawn in by a one-off prompt with no relationship behind it, so their departure was effectively decided at the point of acquisition. Many lapse because they felt unthanked, unheard, or contacted only when money was wanted, the precise failures that good retention practice exists to prevent. Others drift simply because nobody noticed they had gone quiet and nobody reached out. A smaller number leave for reasons you genuinely cannot touch, a change in their circumstances or their priorities, but these are the minority. The uncomfortable truth in most churn analysis is that the majority of lapsing is a response to how the donor was treated, which is also the good news, because it means churn is something you can act on rather than merely suffer.

The first step is to see it. Analyse the patterns in your database, segment your lapsing donors, and look for the moments where people tend to fall away, very often the gap after the first gift. Free sector tools such as the AFP's Fundraising Fitness Test and Growth-in-Giving Report help you benchmark, and a donor churn calculator lets you model how a given rate plays out for your own programme over time. You cannot fix a leak you have not located.

## The crucial second gift

If one number decides a programme's future, it is the proportion of first-time donors who give a second time. First-gift retention is notoriously the weakest point in almost every programme, and it is also the highest-leverage one, because a donor who gives twice is dramatically more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. The second gift is the moment a one-off response hardens into a habit.

Almost everything in the earlier sections converges here. The prompt, personal thank-you; the welcome sequence that shows impact before it asks again; the phone call that Penelope Burk's research links directly to second gifts and larger ones: all of it is, in the end, in service of converting that first gift into a second. This is why the welcome experience deserves disproportionate attention and resource. A modest improvement in your first-to-second gift conversion rate ripples through every retention and lifetime-value figure you track for years afterwards, because each donor who clears that hurdle is far more likely to clear all the ones that follow.

The practical implication is to design your programme around the second gift deliberately rather than hoping it happens. Map the journey from first gift onward, decide what you will send and when, make at least one piece of that early contact a genuine thank-you with no ask attached, and treat a second gift not as a happy accident but as the explicit goal of the first ninety days. Our work on [building a regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) goes further, because converting a strong first or second gift into a committed monthly relationship is the surest way to lock in long-term retention.

## Reactivating lapsed donors

Not every departing donor is gone for good. A supporter who gave to you once chose you for a reason, and that reason often still exists, which makes lapsed donors a warmer prospect than cold strangers and reactivation a more efficient use of effort than pure acquisition. The key is to treat win-back as a deliberate programme rather than an occasional guilty afterthought.

Begin by defining what lapsed means for your programme and segmenting accordingly, because a donor who has missed one year needs a different approach from one who last gave five years ago. For the more recently lapsed, a well-judged win-back message that acknowledges the absence without scolding, reminds them of the impact they helped create, and makes it easy to return, can recover a meaningful share. Lead with what their past support achieved and what is possible now, not with the fact that they stopped. Where you can, tailor the approach by persona, since a reason that re-engages one segment will fall flat with another. Our [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/) gives you a tested starting point to adapt.

Be realistic about the limits. Reactivation will not recover everyone, and the effort is best concentrated on the segments most likely to respond and most valuable if they do. But a structured win-back programme, run consistently, plugs one of the larger holes in the bucket, and it nearly always costs less than acquiring an equivalent number of brand-new donors.

## The metrics that matter

You cannot manage what you do not measure, and donor development rewards a small set of metrics watched closely far more than a large dashboard glanced at occasionally. Three matter most.

**Retention rate** is the share of last year's donors who gave again this year, the direct inverse of attrition. Against a sector average near 46 per cent, even modest improvements are valuable, and the long-run prize is large: Hubbub's modelling shows that lifting retention from 46 per cent to 90 per cent turns a ten-year loss of 786 donors into a net gain of 1,552. Track it overall and, more usefully, by segment and by cohort, paying particular attention to first-gift retention, which is where most programmes leak hardest.

**Donor churn** is the same picture from the other side, the percentage of donors who do not return within twelve months. Calculate it as lost donors over a period divided by total donors in that period, model how your current rate compounds over five and ten years, and use that projection to make the case internally for investing in retention rather than only in acquisition.

**Lifetime value** captures the total worth of a donor over the whole of their relationship with you, not just their first gift. It is the metric that justifies spending on welcome and stewardship, because it reveals that a retained donor is worth a multiple of an acquired one, and it reframes the cost of a thank-you call or a welcome series as an investment with a clear return. Alongside these three, watch time-to-conversion, how long it takes a new contact to make a first gift and then a second, since shortening those gaps, exactly what good personas and onboarding do, lifts every other number on the list.

The discipline that ties it all together is reviewing regularly, with quarterly a sensible rhythm, and giving each strategy enough time to prove itself, with serious assessment points at around six and twelve months. Donor development is a long game, and the programmes that win it are the ones that measure patiently, mend the leaks they find, and keep the bucket full year after year.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it really cheaper to retain a donor than to acquire one?** Yes, and usually by a wide margin. Acquiring a new donor carries real cost in advertising, content, events and staff time, whereas keeping an existing one largely costs the price of good stewardship. Retained donors also give again, often give more, and can develop into major or regular givers, so the return on retention compounds in a way acquisition spending does not.

**What is a good donor retention rate?** The national average is around 46 per cent, so anything meaningfully above that is doing well, but the more useful target is to beat your own previous year and to improve first-gift retention specifically. Small, steady gains compound powerfully: Hubbub's modelling shows the difference between high and low retention runs to hundreds of donors and over a million euros across a decade.

**Why is the second gift singled out as so important?** Because first-gift retention is the weakest point in almost every programme, and a donor who gives a second time is far more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. Converting first-time donors into second-time donors is the highest-leverage improvement most programmes can make.

**Do small charities really need donor personas?** They benefit as much as large ones, often more, because their resources are tighter and personas help them aim limited effort where it counts. Personas are built from your own donor data, conversations and analytics, so you do not need a big budget, only a willingness to look at who your supporters actually are.

**How quickly should we thank a new donor?** Promptly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the gift still feels fresh to them. Make the thank-you personal, with a real signature and a real contact, and where you can, add a call or voicemail, which research links directly to more second gifts and larger ones.

**Where should we start if our retention is poor?** Start by measuring, so you know your retention rate, your churn and where in the journey people lapse, then fix the welcome experience and the second gift first, since that is where most programmes leak hardest and where improvement pays back fastest.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Hubbub blogs: [effective lead generation](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [donor churn](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) and [improving donor retention](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Related guides: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/europe/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo captar y fidelizar donantes](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica sobre la captación y la fidelización de donantes, que abarca la generación de oportunidades, los perfiles de donante, la experiencia de bienvenida, lo que impulsa la fidelización, la fuga de donantes, el crucial segundo donativo, la reactivación y las métricas que importan.
La mayoría de los programas de captación de fondos vuelca el grueso de su energía en la parte alta del embudo, a la caza de nuevos donantes, y mucho menos en conservar a los que ya tiene. El hábito es comprensible: la captación es visible, produce nombres nuevos e ingresos inmediatos, y se siente como crecimiento. Pero un programa que solo capta está llenando un cubo con un agujero en el fondo. Cada nuevo donante que traes este año queda en parte, y a veces del todo, anulado por los donantes que se escabullen en silencio. El cubo agujereado es la imagen más útil del desarrollo de donantes: si no reparas los agujeros, tienes que verter cada vez más rápido solo para mantener el nivel.

Esta guía trata la captación y la fidelización como las dos mitades de una sola tarea. Aborda cómo atraer nuevos apoyos mediante la generación de oportunidades, cómo entender quiénes son con los perfiles de donante, cómo darles una buena bienvenida, qué los mantiene realmente donando, por qué se desvinculan, el crucial segundo donativo, cómo recuperar a quienes se han alejado y el puñado de métricas que te dicen si todo ello funciona. Se apoya a lo largo de todo el texto en el trabajo de Hubbub con entidades benéficas y en la evidencia más amplia que su equipo ha reunido.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de plan de captación de donantes](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [plantilla de recorrido de bienvenida](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) y
> [plantilla de correo de recuperación](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## El cubo agujereado: por qué la fidelización importa tanto como la captación

Empecemos por la aritmética, porque da que pensar. La tasa media nacional de fidelización de donantes se sitúa en torno al 46 por ciento, lo que significa que una organización típica pierde más de la mitad de sus donantes cada año. Dicho al revés, la tasa media de abandono es del 54 por ciento. Capta mil nuevos donantes mientras pierdes más de la mitad de la cohorte del año pasado, y estarás corriendo a todo pulmón solo para quedarte quieto.

El coste a largo plazo de la fuga es mayor de lo que parece. Hubbub modela dos organizaciones por lo demás idénticas a lo largo de diez años, una que pierde el 10 por ciento de sus donantes al año y otra el 25 por ciento. Esa brecha de 15 puntos en el abandono no es un error de redondeo. Mientras ambas atraen nuevos donantes y aumentan sus donativos, la organización con menor abandono acaba generando alrededor de 1.288.078 € más de ingresos, un 81 por ciento más, y reteniendo 997 donantes más, alrededor de un 130 por ciento más, que su gemela más permeable. Las dos partieron del mismo punto. La única diferencia fue lo bien que supieron retener a las personas.

La fidelización se compone en silencio de un modo que la captación nunca iguala. Un donante fidelizado cuesta casi nada de mantener en comparación con el coste de encontrar uno nuevo, vuelve a donar, dona a menudo más y se convierte en candidato a la donación periódica, a un donativo mayor o a un legado. Recuerda también que en torno al 80 por ciento de los ingresos por captación de fondos tiende a provenir de alrededor del 20 por ciento de los donantes. Esos grandes apoyos no llegaron como grandes donantes. Empezaron como simples donantes primerizos que fueron fidelizados, acompañados y desarrollados con el tiempo. Piérdelos pronto y nunca sabrás en qué podrían haberse convertido.

Nada de esto es un argumento contra la captación. Siempre necesitarás nuevos donantes para reemplazar las pérdidas naturales y para crecer. Es un argumento para tratar la fidelización como el cimiento sobre el que se construye la captación, en lugar de como una ocurrencia tardía.

## Canales de captación y generación de oportunidades

La captación funciona mejor como un embudo que como una única petición. Las personas pasan de la notoriedad, a través del interés y la implicación, hasta un primer donativo, y la generación de oportunidades es el trabajo de guiarlas por ese camino en lugar de exigir un donativo a un perfecto desconocido. Los programas más eficaces planifican el embudo entero de una vez, incluido lo que ocurre después de que alguien dona, en lugar de tratar el primer donativo como la línea de meta.

Varios canales alimentan la parte alta de ese embudo. Tu sitio web es el eje: cada contenido que produzcas debería residir allí, respaldado por la optimización para motores de búsqueda para que la gente te encuentre, y por el retargeting para que quienes visitaron sin actuar vuelvan a verte. Las redes sociales amplían el alcance, y el formato debe seguir a la audiencia, con contenido visual adecuado para plataformas como Instagram y TikTok, y contenido escrito que funciona bien por correo electrónico y en Facebook con los apoyos de mayor edad. Los eventos, las campañas entre pares y los momentos presenciales atraen donantes que rara vez aflorarían mediante una petición en frío; un formato como nuestra guía [Semana del reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) muestra cómo un evento puede aportar grandes cantidades de apoyos completamente nuevos en una sola semana.

Dos disciplinas hacen rentable la generación de oportunidades. La primera es una estrategia de contenidos que sirve a dos audiencias a la vez, los posibles donantes que intentas atraer y los apoyos que ya tienes, de modo que el mismo esfuerzo cumpla una doble función. La segunda es la puntuación de oportunidades: en lugar de perseguir el volumen, clasificas a los posibles donantes según cuán implicados están y cuán probable es que donen, y concentras tu tiempo limitado en los más cálidos. La calidad de las oportunidades importa más que la cantidad, porque mil nombres que nunca donan son un coste, no un activo.

Sobre todo, la forma en que captas moldea lo bien que fidelizas. Las tácticas construidas solo para maximizar el efectivo inmediato y las cifras de donantes de titular, con escaso cuidado por una implicación genuina o por el inicio de una relación, producen de forma fiable un mayor abandono más adelante. Acabas en una cinta de correr, reemplazando sin fin a los donantes a quienes tus propios métodos de captación enseñaron a marcharse. Captar menos donantes a quienes les importa tu causa supera a captar muchos a quienes no.

## Perfiles de donante: entender a tu audiencia

No puedes adaptar lo que no comprendes, y los perfiles de donante son la forma en que los buenos programas convierten una base de datos sin rostro en un puñado de personas que pueden imaginar. Un perfil es una semblanza ficticia pero anclada en datos de un tipo de apoyo, construida a partir de tus donantes reales en lugar de suposiciones. Reúne datos demográficos, comportamiento y preferencias en un personaje reconocible que todo tu equipo puede tener presente cuando redacta una petición, planifica un evento o diseña una página web.

El beneficio es medible y no meramente ordenado. Las organizaciones que usan perfiles informan de tiempos medios más cortos entre la primera interacción de un contacto y su primer donativo, y de tiempos más cortos entre un primer y un segundo donativo. Los perfiles mejoran tanto la captación como la fidelización, los dos resultados en torno a los que se construye esta guía.

Construirlos es metódico. Empieza segmentando tus datos en grupos significativos, por edad, por estado de donación, por año de promoción, por cualquier división que de verdad importe para tu causa. Para cada grupo, reúne lo que puedas sobre cómo tienden a donar, ya sea en línea, por teléfono o por correo, sobre las campañas o detonantes que primero los impulsaron a donar, sobre sus datos demográficos, sobre cómo prefieren que se les contacte y sobre qué los motiva. Recurre a más de una fuente: tu base de datos de donantes, las analíticas de tu sitio web para los donantes en línea y, algo importante, conversaciones directas con donantes implicados que te dirán cosas que ninguna hoja de cálculo puede. Después redacta cada perfil como una breve semblanza con un nombre, una foto genérica, una biografía breve, sus objetivos y motivaciones, y sus preferencias de contacto, mantenido deliberadamente conciso y guiado por los datos.

Una vez que existen, los perfiles solo se ganan su sitio si se usan. Compártelos por toda la organización y aplícalos en todas partes: en la redacción de tus peticiones, en la forma de tus eventos, en tus planes de acompañamiento, en tus comunicaciones e incluso en el diseño de tu sitio web. El objetivo es dejar de enviar un único mensaje a todos y empezar a hablar a cada segmento en los términos que lo mueven.

## La experiencia de bienvenida e incorporación

El momento más arriesgado en la vida de un donante contigo es el intervalo entre su primer donativo y el segundo, y la experiencia de bienvenida es lo que lo lleva al otro lado. Un nuevo donante ha dado un salto de fe. Lo que hagas en los días siguientes le dice si esa fe estaba bien puesta, de modo que una bienvenida cálida, pronta y bien medida es una de las cosas de mayor rendimiento que un equipo de captación de fondos puede hacer.

El primer acto es el agradecimiento, y el momento importa más que el pulido. Acusa recibo de un donativo con rapidez, idealmente dentro de las 24 a 72 horas, mientras el donante aún siente el calor de haber dado. Hazlo personal: una firma auténtica, el nombre y los datos de contacto de una persona real, y un lenguaje que suene a ser humano en lugar de a recibo. Una simple llamada o un mensaje de voz pueden ser aún más poderosos. Como ha descubierto la investigadora de captación de fondos Penelope Burk, «los donantes que reciben una llamada o un mensaje de voz son notablemente más propensos a hacer ese segundo donativo tan crucial y a aumentar el importe de su donativo». Pocas tácticas de bienvenida son más baratas o más eficaces que descolgar el teléfono.

Más allá del agradecimiento, una buena secuencia de incorporación orienta al nuevo apoyo. Un kit o una serie de bienvenida puede explicar qué hace posible su apoyo, exponer los beneficios y las oportunidades de implicarse, señalar formas de participar más allá de donar como el voluntariado, y empezar a mostrar impacto en lugar de volver a pedir de inmediato. El equilibrio es lo clave: mezcla la petición con contenido genuinamente informativo como boletines e historias, para que la relación no empiece y termine con una mano tendida. Nuestra [plantilla de recorrido de bienvenida](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) expone una secuencia que puedes adaptar, y el arte más amplio de acompañar a las personas a través de estas primeras etapas se trata en nuestra guía sobre el [acompañamiento de donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## Qué impulsa la fidelización

La fidelización no es una táctica aislada sino una actitud, y el sector tiene un nombre para ello: captación de fondos relacional. Ken Burnett, que acuñó el término, la define como un enfoque centrado «no en recaudar dinero sino en desarrollar a su pleno potencial la relación única y especial entre una entidad benéfica y su apoyo». El ingreso se deriva de la relación, no al revés. Los programas que interiorizan esto conservan a sus donantes; los programas que tratan a cada donante como una cartera que reabrir no lo hacen.

En la práctica, varios comportamientos hacen avanzar la relación. Acusa recibo de los donativos con prontitud y de forma personal, cada vez, no solo la primera. Implica a los donantes antes y después de un donativo en lugar de solo en el momento de pedir, mediante visitas, eventos, actualizaciones e historias, de modo que construyas un vínculo que no dependa de una transacción. Sobre todo, destierra el sentimiento que todo donante perdido describe de alguna forma: «Solo sé de vosotros cuando queréis dinero». Si el único contacto que un apoyo tiene de ti es una petición, le has enseñado a asociar tu nombre con que se le quita algo en lugar de con formar parte de algo.

Ayuda comprender qué buscan realmente las personas cuando donan, porque rara vez es la transacción. La pensadora de la captación de fondos Simone Joyaux identifica siete cosas que los donantes quieren de su implicación: ser escuchados, contar sus historias, hacer realidad sus sueños, sumarse a una lucha, sumarse a una tribu, sentirse halagados y, sencillamente, importar. Una estrategia de fidelización que merezca el nombre es en realidad un programa para ofrecer esos sentimientos, de manera constante, a lo largo de los años.

## La fuga de donantes: por qué los apoyos se desvinculan

La fuga es la medida del escape. Hubbub la define sin rodeos como el porcentaje de donantes que no vuelven a donar en doce meses, calculado como los donantes perdidos a lo largo de un periodo de doce meses divididos por el total de donantes en ese periodo. Una tasa de fuga del 25 por ciento significa que una cuarta parte de tus donantes deja de volver en silencio cada año, y como mostró la comparación a diez años de arriba, pequeñas diferencias en esa tasa se componen en diferencias enormes de donantes e ingresos.

Los apoyos se desvinculan por razones que en su mayoría están bajo tu control. Algunos se captan mediante tácticas que nunca se construyeron para la fidelización, atraídos por un estímulo puntual sin relación detrás, de modo que su marcha quedó de hecho decidida en el momento de la captación. Muchos se desvinculan porque se sintieron sin agradecer, sin escuchar, o contactados solo cuando se quería dinero, precisamente los fallos que la buena práctica de fidelización existe para prevenir. Otros se alejan simplemente porque nadie notó que se habían quedado callados y nadie tendió la mano. Un número menor se va por razones que de verdad no puedes tocar, un cambio en sus circunstancias o en sus prioridades, pero son la minoría. La verdad incómoda en la mayoría de los análisis de fuga es que la mayor parte de las desvinculaciones es una respuesta a cómo se trató al donante, lo cual es también la buena noticia, porque significa que la fuga es algo sobre lo que puedes actuar en lugar de limitarte a padecerlo.

El primer paso es verla. Analiza los patrones en tu base de datos, segmenta a tus donantes en desvinculación y busca los momentos en que las personas tienden a caer, muy a menudo el intervalo después del primer donativo. Herramientas sectoriales gratuitas como el Fundraising Fitness Test y el Growth-in-Giving Report de la AFP te ayudan a compararte, y un calculadora de fuga de donantes te permite modelar cómo se desenvuelve una tasa dada para tu propio programa a lo largo del tiempo. No puedes reparar un escape que no has localizado.

## El crucial segundo donativo

Si un número decide el futuro de un programa, es la proporción de donantes primerizos que donan una segunda vez. La fidelización al primer donativo es, notoriamente, el punto más débil en casi todos los programas, y es también el de mayor apalancamiento, porque un donante que dona dos veces es muchísimo más propenso a seguir donando que uno que ha donado solo una vez. El segundo donativo es el momento en que una respuesta puntual se endurece en un hábito.

Casi todo lo de las secciones anteriores converge aquí. El agradecimiento pronto y personal; la secuencia de bienvenida que muestra impacto antes de volver a pedir; la llamada telefónica que la investigación de Penelope Burk vincula directamente con segundos donativos y con otros mayores: todo ello está, al final, al servicio de convertir ese primer donativo en un segundo. Por eso la experiencia de bienvenida merece una atención y unos recursos desproporcionados. Una mejora modesta en tu tasa de conversión del primer al segundo donativo repercute en cada cifra de fidelización y de valor de por vida que sigues durante años, porque cada donante que supera ese obstáculo es mucho más propenso a superar todos los que siguen.

La implicación práctica es diseñar tu programa deliberadamente en torno al segundo donativo en lugar de esperar que ocurra. Traza el recorrido a partir del primer donativo, decide qué enviarás y cuándo, haz de al menos un elemento de ese contacto temprano un agradecimiento genuino sin petición adjunta, y trata un segundo donativo no como un feliz accidente sino como el objetivo explícito de los primeros noventa días. Nuestro trabajo sobre la [construcción de un programa de donación periódica](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) va más allá, porque convertir un sólido primer o segundo donativo en una relación mensual comprometida es la forma más segura de afianzar la fidelización a largo plazo.

## Reactivar a los donantes inactivos

No todo donante que se marcha está perdido para siempre. Un apoyo que te donó una vez te eligió por una razón, y esa razón a menudo sigue existiendo, lo que hace de los donantes inactivos un prospecto más cálido que los extraños en frío y de la reactivación un uso más eficiente del esfuerzo que la captación pura. La clave es tratar la recuperación como un programa deliberado en lugar de como una ocurrencia tardía, ocasional y culpable.

Empieza por definir qué significa «inactivo» para tu programa y segmenta en consecuencia, porque un donante que ha saltado un año necesita un enfoque distinto del de uno que donó por última vez hace cinco años. Para los inactivos más recientes, un mensaje de recuperación bien medido que reconozca la ausencia sin reprender, les recuerde el impacto que ayudaron a crear y facilite el regreso, puede recobrar una parte significativa. Encabeza con lo que su apoyo pasado logró y lo que es posible ahora, no con el hecho de que se detuvieron. Donde puedas, adapta el enfoque por perfil, ya que una razón que reimplica a un segmento caerá en saco roto con otro. Nuestra [plantilla de correo de recuperación](/resources/win-back-email-template/) te da un punto de partida probado para adaptar.

Sé realista sobre los límites. La reactivación no recuperará a todos, y el esfuerzo se concentra mejor en los segmentos más propensos a responder y más valiosos si lo hacen. Pero un programa de recuperación estructurado, ejecutado con constancia, tapona uno de los agujeros mayores del cubo, y casi siempre cuesta menos que captar un número equivalente de donantes completamente nuevos.

## Las métricas que importan

No puedes gestionar lo que no mides, y el desarrollo de donantes recompensa mucho más a un pequeño conjunto de métricas vigiladas de cerca que a un gran panel mirado de vez en cuando. Tres importan más.

**La tasa de fidelización** es la proporción de los donantes del año pasado que volvieron a donar este año, el inverso directo del abandono. Frente a una media sectorial cercana al 46 por ciento, incluso mejoras modestas son valiosas, y el premio a largo plazo es grande: la modelización de Hubbub muestra que elevar la fidelización del 46 por ciento al 90 por ciento convierte una pérdida a diez años de 786 donantes en una ganancia neta de 1.552. Síguela en conjunto y, de forma más útil, por segmento y por cohorte, prestando especial atención a la fidelización al primer donativo, que es donde la mayoría de los programas pierde con más fuerza.

**La fuga de donantes** es la misma imagen desde el otro lado, el porcentaje de donantes que no regresan en doce meses. Calcúlala como donantes perdidos a lo largo de un periodo divididos por el total de donantes en ese periodo, modela cómo se compone tu tasa actual a cinco y diez años, y usa esa proyección para defender internamente la inversión en fidelización en lugar de solo en captación.

**El valor de por vida** capta el valor total de un donante a lo largo de toda su relación contigo, no solo su primer donativo. Es la métrica que justifica gastar en bienvenida y acompañamiento, porque revela que un donante fidelizado vale un múltiplo de uno captado, y reformula el coste de una llamada de agradecimiento o de una serie de bienvenida como una inversión con un rendimiento claro. Junto a estas tres, vigila el tiempo de conversión, cuánto tarda un nuevo contacto en hacer un primer donativo y luego un segundo, ya que acortar esos intervalos, justo lo que hacen unos buenos perfiles y una buena incorporación, eleva todos los demás números de la lista.

La disciplina que lo une todo es revisar con regularidad, con un ritmo trimestral como cadencia sensata, y dar a cada estrategia tiempo suficiente para demostrarse, con puntos de evaluación serios en torno a los seis y los doce meses. El desarrollo de donantes es un juego de largo aliento, y los programas que lo ganan son los que miden con paciencia, reparan las fugas que encuentran y mantienen el cubo lleno año tras año.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿De verdad es más barato fidelizar a un donante que captar uno?** Sí, y normalmente por un amplio margen. Captar un nuevo donante acarrea un coste real en publicidad, contenidos, eventos y tiempo de personal, mientras que conservar uno existente cuesta en gran medida solo el precio de un buen acompañamiento. Los donantes fidelizados además vuelven a donar, donan a menudo más y pueden desarrollarse en grandes donantes o donantes periódicos, de modo que el rendimiento de la fidelización se compone de una forma que el gasto en captación no hace.

**¿Qué es una buena tasa de fidelización de donantes?** La media nacional ronda el 46 por ciento, así que cualquier valor sensiblemente por encima va bien, pero el objetivo más útil es superar tu propio año anterior y mejorar específicamente la fidelización al primer donativo. Pequeñas ganancias constantes se componen con fuerza: la modelización de Hubbub muestra que la diferencia entre una fidelización alta y una baja asciende a cientos de donantes y a más de un millón de euros a lo largo de una década.

**¿Por qué se señala el segundo donativo como tan importante?** Porque la fidelización al primer donativo es el punto más débil en casi todos los programas, y un donante que dona una segunda vez es mucho más propenso a seguir donando que uno que ha donado solo una vez. Convertir a los donantes primerizos en donantes de segundo donativo es la mejora de mayor apalancamiento que la mayoría de los programas puede realizar.

**¿De verdad necesitan las pequeñas entidades benéficas perfiles de donante?** Se benefician tanto como las grandes, a menudo más, porque sus recursos son más ajustados y los perfiles las ayudan a dirigir un esfuerzo limitado donde cuenta. Los perfiles se construyen a partir de tus propios datos de donantes, conversaciones y analíticas, así que no necesitas un gran presupuesto, solo la voluntad de mirar quiénes son realmente tus apoyos.

**¿Con qué rapidez deberíamos agradecer a un nuevo donante?** Con prontitud, idealmente dentro de las 24 a 72 horas, mientras el donativo aún le resulta fresco. Haz el agradecimiento personal, con una firma real y un contacto real, y donde puedas añade una llamada o un mensaje de voz, que la investigación vincula directamente con más segundos donativos y otros mayores.

**¿Por dónde deberíamos empezar si nuestra fidelización es pobre?** Empieza por medir, para que conozcas tu tasa de fidelización, tu fuga y en qué punto del recorrido se desvinculan las personas, y luego arregla primero la experiencia de bienvenida y el segundo donativo, ya que es ahí donde la mayoría de los programas pierde con más fuerza y donde la mejora rinde más rápido.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de plan de captación de donantes](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Plantilla de recorrido de bienvenida](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Plantilla de correo de recuperación](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador del Día de la Donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tus peticiones y correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): enlaza los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- Blogs de Hubbub: [generación de oportunidades eficaz](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [fuga de donantes](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) y [mejorar la fidelización de donantes](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Guías relacionadas: [Acompañamiento y recorridos de donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) y [Cómo construir un programa de donación periódica](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el directorio completo de [enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment acquérir et fidéliser des donateurs](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique sur l'acquisition et la fidélisation des donateurs, couvrant la génération de prospects, les personas de donateurs, l'expérience d'accueil, les leviers de la fidélisation, l'attrition des donateurs, le deuxième don crucial, la réactivation et les indicateurs qui comptent.
La plupart des programmes de collecte de fonds consacrent l'essentiel de leur énergie au sommet de l'entonnoir, à la chasse aux nouveaux donateurs, et bien moins à conserver ceux qu'ils ont déjà. L'habitude est compréhensible : l'acquisition est visible, elle produit de nouveaux noms et un revenu immédiat, et elle donne une impression de croissance. Mais un programme qui ne fait qu'acquérir remplit un seau percé au fond. Chaque nouveau donateur que vous attirez cette année est en partie, et parfois entièrement, annulé par les donateurs qui s'éclipsent discrètement. Le seau percé est l'image la plus utile du développement des donateurs : si vous ne réparez pas les trous, vous devez verser de plus en plus vite simplement pour rester au même niveau.

Ce guide traite l'acquisition et la fidélisation comme les deux moitiés d'une seule mission. Il explique comment attirer de nouveaux soutiens grâce à la génération de prospects, comment comprendre qui ils sont à l'aide des personas de donateurs, comment bien les accueillir, ce qui les pousse réellement à continuer de donner, pourquoi ils décrochent, le deuxième don crucial, comment reconquérir ceux qui se sont éloignés, et la poignée d'indicateurs qui vous disent si tout cela fonctionne. Il s'appuie tout du long sur le travail de Hubbub avec les associations et sur les données plus larges que son équipe a rassemblées.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de plan d'acquisition de donateurs](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [modèle de parcours d'accueil](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) et
> [modèle d'e-mail de reconquête](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## Le seau percé : pourquoi la fidélisation compte autant que l'acquisition

Commençons par l'arithmétique, car elle donne à réfléchir. Le taux moyen national de fidélisation des donateurs se situe autour de 46 pour cent, ce qui signifie qu'une organisation type perd plus de la moitié de ses donateurs chaque année. Autrement dit, le taux d'attrition moyen est de 54 pour cent. Acquérez un millier de nouveaux donateurs tout en perdant plus de la moitié de la cohorte de l'an dernier, et vous courez à perdre haleine simplement pour faire du surplace.

Le coût à long terme de la fuite est plus important qu'il n'y paraît. Hubbub modélise deux organisations par ailleurs identiques sur dix ans, l'une perdant 10 pour cent de ses donateurs par an et l'autre 25 pour cent. Cet écart de 15 points dans l'attrition n'est pas une simple erreur d'arrondi. Alors que toutes deux attirent de nouveaux donateurs et augmentent leurs dons, l'organisation à faible attrition finit par générer environ 1 288 078 € de revenus supplémentaires, soit quelque 81 pour cent de plus, et par retenir 997 donateurs de plus, soit environ 130 pour cent de plus, que sa jumelle plus poreuse. Les deux étaient parties du même point. La seule différence résidait dans la qualité avec laquelle elles ont su garder leurs soutiens.

La fidélisation se cumule discrètement d'une manière que l'acquisition n'égale jamais. Un donateur fidélisé ne coûte presque rien à conserver par rapport au coût d'en trouver un nouveau, il donne à nouveau, donne souvent davantage, et devient un candidat au don régulier, à un don plus important ou à un legs. Souvenez-vous aussi qu'environ 80 pour cent des revenus de collecte proviennent généralement d'environ 20 pour cent des donateurs. Ces grands soutiens ne sont pas arrivés en tant que grands donateurs. Ils ont commencé comme de simples primo-donateurs qui ont été fidélisés, accompagnés et développés au fil du temps. Perdez-les tôt et vous ne saurez jamais ce qu'ils auraient pu devenir.

Rien de tout cela n'est un argument contre l'acquisition. Vous aurez toujours besoin de nouveaux donateurs pour remplacer les pertes naturelles et pour croître. C'est un argument pour traiter la fidélisation comme le socle sur lequel l'acquisition est bâtie, plutôt que comme une réflexion après coup.

## Canaux d'acquisition et génération de prospects

L'acquisition fonctionne mieux comme un entonnoir que comme une simple sollicitation. Les gens passent de la notoriété, à travers l'intérêt et l'engagement, jusqu'à un premier don, et la génération de prospects consiste à les guider le long de ce chemin plutôt qu'à exiger un don d'un parfait inconnu. Les programmes les plus efficaces planifient l'entonnoir entier d'un coup, y compris ce qui se passe après qu'une personne a donné, au lieu de traiter le premier don comme la ligne d'arrivée.

Plusieurs canaux alimentent le sommet de cet entonnoir. Votre site web est le pivot : chaque contenu que vous produisez devrait y résider, soutenu par l'optimisation pour les moteurs de recherche afin que les gens vous trouvent, et par le reciblage afin que ceux qui ont visité sans agir vous revoient. Les réseaux sociaux élargissent la portée, et le format doit suivre l'audience, avec un contenu visuel adapté à des plateformes comme Instagram et TikTok, et un contenu écrit qui fonctionne bien par e-mail et sur Facebook auprès des soutiens plus âgés. Les événements, les campagnes de pair à pair et les moments en présentiel amènent des donateurs qui émergeraient rarement par un appel à froid ; un format tel que notre guide [Semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) montre comment un événement peut livrer un grand nombre de tout nouveaux soutiens en une seule semaine.

Deux disciplines rendent la génération de prospects payante. La première est une stratégie de contenu qui sert deux audiences à la fois, les prospects que vous cherchez à attirer et les soutiens que vous avez déjà, afin que le même effort fasse double emploi. La seconde est le scoring des prospects : plutôt que de courir après le volume, vous classez les prospects selon leur degré d'engagement et leur probabilité de donner, et vous concentrez votre temps limité sur les plus chauds. La qualité des prospects compte davantage que la quantité, car un millier de noms qui ne donnent jamais sont un coût, pas un atout.

Surtout, la manière dont vous acquérez façonne la qualité de votre fidélisation. Les tactiques conçues uniquement pour maximiser l'argent immédiat et les chiffres de donateurs en une, sans grand souci d'un véritable engagement ou du début d'une relation, produisent de manière fiable une attrition plus élevée par la suite. Vous finissez sur un tapis roulant, remplaçant sans fin les donateurs que vos propres méthodes d'acquisition ont appris à partir. Acquérir moins de donateurs qui se soucient de votre cause vaut mieux qu'en acquérir beaucoup qui s'en moquent.

## Personas de donateurs : comprendre votre audience

On ne peut pas adapter ce que l'on ne comprend pas, et les personas de donateurs sont la façon dont les bons programmes transforment une base de données anonyme en une poignée de personnes qu'ils peuvent se représenter. Un persona est un profil fictif mais ancré dans les données d'un type de soutien, construit à partir de vos donateurs réels plutôt que d'hypothèses. Il rassemble données démographiques, comportements et préférences en un personnage reconnaissable que toute votre équipe peut garder à l'esprit lorsqu'elle rédige un appel, planifie un événement ou conçoit une page web.

Le bénéfice est mesurable plutôt que simplement élégant. Les organisations qui utilisent des personas constatent des délais moyens plus courts entre la première interaction d'un contact et son premier don, et des délais plus courts entre un premier don et un deuxième. Les personas améliorent à la fois l'acquisition et la fidélisation, les deux résultats autour desquels ce guide est bâti.

Les construire est méthodique. Commencez par segmenter vos données en groupes pertinents, par âge, par statut de don, par année de promotion, par toute division qui compte réellement pour votre cause. Pour chaque groupe, rassemblez ce que vous pouvez sur leur manière de donner, que ce soit en ligne, par téléphone ou par courrier, sur les campagnes ou déclencheurs qui les ont d'abord incités à donner, sur leurs caractéristiques démographiques, sur leur mode de contact préféré et sur ce qui les motive. Puisez à plus d'une source : votre base de données de donateurs, les analyses de votre site web pour les donateurs en ligne et, surtout, des conversations directes avec des donateurs engagés qui vous diront des choses qu'aucun tableur ne pourra. Rédigez ensuite chaque persona sous la forme d'un court profil avec un nom, une photo générique, une brève biographie, ses objectifs et motivations, et ses préférences de contact, délibérément concis et guidé par les données.

Une fois qu'ils existent, les personas ne gagnent leur place que s'ils sont utilisés. Partagez-les dans toute l'organisation et appliquez-les partout : la formulation de vos sollicitations, la forme de vos événements, vos plans d'accompagnement, vos communications et même la conception de votre site web. L'idée est de cesser d'envoyer un seul message à tout le monde et de commencer à parler à chaque segment dans les termes qui le font agir.

## L'expérience d'accueil et d'intégration

Le moment le plus risqué de la vie d'un donateur avec vous est l'intervalle entre son premier don et son deuxième, et l'expérience d'accueil est ce qui le fait traverser cet intervalle. Un nouveau donateur a fait un acte de foi. Ce que vous faites dans les jours qui suivent lui dit si cette foi était bien placée, si bien qu'un accueil chaleureux, prompt et bien dosé est l'une des actions au plus fort rendement qu'une équipe de collecte puisse entreprendre.

Le premier acte est le remerciement, et le moment compte plus que le raffinement. Accusez réception d'un don rapidement, idéalement dans les 24 à 72 heures, tant que le donateur ressent encore la chaleur d'avoir donné. Rendez-le personnel : une signature authentique, le nom et les coordonnées d'une vraie personne, et un langage qui sonne comme un être humain plutôt que comme un reçu. Un simple appel ou message vocal peut être plus puissant encore. Comme l'a constaté la chercheuse en collecte de fonds Penelope Burk, « les donateurs qui reçoivent un appel ou un message vocal sont nettement plus susceptibles de faire ce deuxième don si crucial et d'augmenter le montant de leur don. » Peu de tactiques d'accueil sont moins coûteuses ou plus efficaces que de décrocher le téléphone.

Au-delà du remerciement, une bonne séquence d'intégration oriente le nouveau soutien. Un pack ou une série de bienvenue peut expliquer ce que son soutien rend possible, présenter les avantages et les occasions de s'impliquer, indiquer des façons de s'engager au-delà du don comme le bénévolat, et commencer à montrer l'impact plutôt que de redemander aussitôt. L'équilibre est la clé : mêlez la sollicitation à un contenu véritablement informatif comme des bulletins et des récits, afin que la relation ne commence et ne finisse pas par une main tendue. Notre [modèle de parcours d'accueil](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) présente une séquence que vous pouvez adapter, et l'art plus large d'accompagner les gens à travers ces premières étapes est traité dans notre guide sur [l'accompagnement des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## Ce qui anime la fidélisation

La fidélisation n'est pas une tactique isolée mais une posture, et le secteur lui a donné un nom : la collecte de fonds relationnelle. Ken Burnett, qui a forgé le terme, la définit comme une approche centrée « non pas sur la collecte d'argent mais sur le développement, à son plein potentiel, de la relation unique et spéciale entre une association et son soutien. » Le revenu découle de la relation, et non l'inverse. Les programmes qui intériorisent cela gardent leurs donateurs ; ceux qui traitent chaque donateur comme un portefeuille à rouvrir ne les gardent pas.

En pratique, plusieurs comportements font avancer la relation. Accusez réception des dons promptement et personnellement, à chaque fois, pas seulement la première. Mobilisez les donateurs avant et après un don plutôt qu'au seul moment de la sollicitation, par des visites, des événements, des nouvelles et des récits, afin de bâtir un lien qui ne dépende pas d'une transaction. Surtout, bannissez le sentiment que tout donateur perdu décrit sous une forme ou une autre : « Je n'ai de vos nouvelles que lorsque vous voulez de l'argent. » Si le seul contact qu'un soutien a avec vous est une sollicitation, vous lui avez appris à associer votre nom au fait qu'on lui prend quelque chose plutôt qu'à celui de faire partie de quelque chose.

Il est utile de comprendre ce que les gens recherchent réellement lorsqu'ils donnent, car c'est rarement la transaction. La penseuse de la collecte de fonds Simone Joyaux identifie sept choses que les donateurs attendent de leur engagement : être entendus, raconter leurs histoires, réaliser leurs rêves, rejoindre un combat, rejoindre une tribu, se sentir flattés et, tout simplement, compter. Une stratégie de fidélisation digne de ce nom est en réalité un programme pour offrir ces sentiments, de façon constante, au fil des ans.

## L'attrition des donateurs : pourquoi les soutiens décrochent

L'attrition est la mesure de la fuite. Hubbub la définit simplement comme le pourcentage de donateurs qui ne redonnent pas dans les douze mois, calculé comme les donateurs perdus sur une période de douze mois divisés par le total des donateurs de cette période. Un taux d'attrition de 25 pour cent signifie qu'un quart de vos donateurs ne reviennent discrètement pas chaque année, et comme l'a montré la comparaison sur dix ans ci-dessus, de petites différences dans ce taux se cumulent en différences énormes de donateurs et de revenus.

Les soutiens décrochent pour des raisons qui sont majoritairement sous votre contrôle. Certains sont acquis par des tactiques qui n'ont jamais été conçues pour la fidélisation, attirés par une incitation ponctuelle sans relation derrière, si bien que leur départ était de fait décidé au moment de l'acquisition. Beaucoup décrochent parce qu'ils se sont sentis non remerciés, non écoutés, ou contactés seulement lorsqu'on voulait de l'argent, précisément les défaillances que de bonnes pratiques de fidélisation existent pour prévenir. D'autres s'éloignent simplement parce que personne n'a remarqué qu'ils étaient devenus silencieux et que personne n'a tendu la main. Un plus petit nombre part pour des raisons que vous ne pouvez vraiment pas toucher, un changement dans leur situation ou leurs priorités, mais ce sont la minorité. La vérité inconfortable de la plupart des analyses d'attrition est que la majorité des décrochages est une réponse à la façon dont le donateur a été traité, ce qui est aussi la bonne nouvelle, car cela signifie que l'attrition est quelque chose sur quoi vous pouvez agir plutôt que simplement subir.

La première étape est de la voir. Analysez les schémas de votre base de données, segmentez vos donateurs décrocheurs et cherchez les moments où les gens tendent à partir, très souvent l'intervalle après le premier don. Des outils sectoriels gratuits comme le Fundraising Fitness Test et le Growth-in-Giving Report de l'AFP vous aident à vous comparer, et un calculateur d'attrition des donateurs vous permet de modéliser comment un taux donné se déroule pour votre propre programme au fil du temps. Vous ne pouvez pas réparer une fuite que vous n'avez pas localisée.

## Le deuxième don crucial

S'il est un chiffre qui décide de l'avenir d'un programme, c'est la proportion de primo-donateurs qui donnent une deuxième fois. La fidélisation au premier don est notoirement le point le plus faible de presque tous les programmes, et c'est aussi celui qui offre le plus d'effet de levier, car un donateur qui donne deux fois est nettement plus susceptible de continuer à donner que celui qui n'a donné qu'une fois. Le deuxième don est le moment où une réponse ponctuelle se durcit en une habitude.

Presque tout ce qui précède converge ici. Le remerciement prompt et personnel ; la séquence d'accueil qui montre l'impact avant de redemander ; l'appel téléphonique que la recherche de Penelope Burk relie directement aux deuxièmes dons et aux dons plus importants : tout cela est, au fond, au service de la conversion de ce premier don en un deuxième. C'est pourquoi l'expérience d'accueil mérite une attention et des ressources disproportionnées. Une amélioration modeste de votre taux de conversion du premier au deuxième don se répercute sur chaque chiffre de fidélisation et de valeur vie que vous suivez pendant des années, car chaque donateur qui franchit cet obstacle est bien plus susceptible de franchir tous les suivants.

L'implication pratique est de concevoir votre programme délibérément autour du deuxième don plutôt que d'espérer qu'il se produise. Cartographiez le parcours à partir du premier don, décidez de ce que vous enverrez et quand, faites d'au moins un élément de ce premier contact un véritable remerciement sans aucune sollicitation, et traitez un deuxième don non comme un heureux hasard mais comme l'objectif explicite des quatre-vingt-dix premiers jours. Notre travail sur [la construction d'un programme de don régulier](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) va plus loin, car convertir un premier ou deuxième don solide en une relation mensuelle engagée est le moyen le plus sûr de verrouiller la fidélisation à long terme.

## Réactiver les donateurs inactifs

Tout donateur qui s'en va n'est pas perdu pour toujours. Un soutien qui vous a donné une fois vous a choisi pour une raison, et cette raison existe souvent encore, ce qui fait des donateurs inactifs un prospect plus chaud que des inconnus à froid et de la réactivation un usage plus efficace de l'effort que l'acquisition pure. La clé est de traiter la reconquête comme un programme délibéré plutôt que comme une réflexion coupable et occasionnelle.

Commencez par définir ce que « inactif » signifie pour votre programme et segmentez en conséquence, car un donateur qui a sauté une année appelle une approche différente de celui qui a donné pour la dernière fois il y a cinq ans. Pour les plus récemment inactifs, un message de reconquête bien jugé qui reconnaît l'absence sans réprimander, leur rappelle l'impact qu'ils ont contribué à créer et facilite le retour, peut en récupérer une part appréciable. Mettez en avant ce que leur soutien passé a accompli et ce qui est possible maintenant, non le fait qu'ils ont cessé. Lorsque vous le pouvez, adaptez l'approche par persona, puisqu'une raison qui ré-engage un segment tombera à plat avec un autre. Notre [modèle d'e-mail de reconquête](/resources/win-back-email-template/) vous donne un point de départ éprouvé à adapter.

Soyez réaliste quant aux limites. La réactivation ne récupérera pas tout le monde, et l'effort est mieux concentré sur les segments les plus susceptibles de répondre et les plus précieux s'ils le font. Mais un programme de reconquête structuré, mené avec constance, colmate l'un des plus grands trous du seau, et il coûte presque toujours moins cher que d'acquérir un nombre équivalent de tout nouveaux donateurs.

## Les indicateurs qui comptent

On ne peut pas gérer ce que l'on ne mesure pas, et le développement des donateurs récompense bien davantage un petit ensemble d'indicateurs surveillés de près qu'un grand tableau de bord consulté de temps à autre. Trois comptent le plus.

**Le taux de fidélisation** est la part des donateurs de l'an dernier qui ont redonné cette année, l'inverse direct de l'attrition. Face à une moyenne sectorielle proche de 46 pour cent, même de modestes améliorations sont précieuses, et le gain à long terme est considérable : la modélisation de Hubbub montre que faire passer la fidélisation de 46 pour cent à 90 pour cent transforme une perte sur dix ans de 786 donateurs en un gain net de 1 552. Suivez-le globalement et, plus utilement, par segment et par cohorte, en prêtant une attention particulière à la fidélisation au premier don, là où la plupart des programmes fuient le plus.

**L'attrition des donateurs** est la même image vue de l'autre côté, le pourcentage de donateurs qui ne reviennent pas dans les douze mois. Calculez-la comme les donateurs perdus sur une période divisés par le total des donateurs de cette période, modélisez comment votre taux actuel se cumule sur cinq et dix ans, et utilisez cette projection pour défendre en interne l'investissement dans la fidélisation plutôt que dans la seule acquisition.

**La valeur vie** capture la valeur totale d'un donateur sur l'ensemble de sa relation avec vous, et non son seul premier don. C'est l'indicateur qui justifie de dépenser pour l'accueil et l'accompagnement, car il révèle qu'un donateur fidélisé vaut un multiple d'un donateur acquis, et il recadre le coût d'un appel de remerciement ou d'une série de bienvenue comme un investissement au rendement clair. À côté de ces trois, surveillez le délai de conversion, le temps qu'il faut à un nouveau contact pour faire un premier don puis un deuxième, car raccourcir ces intervalles, exactement ce que font de bons personas et un bon accueil, fait monter tous les autres chiffres de la liste.

La discipline qui relie tout cela est de passer en revue régulièrement, un rythme trimestriel étant sensé, et de donner à chaque stratégie assez de temps pour faire ses preuves, avec des points d'évaluation sérieux autour de six et douze mois. Le développement des donateurs est un jeu de longue haleine, et les programmes qui le gagnent sont ceux qui mesurent patiemment, réparent les fuites qu'ils trouvent et gardent le seau plein année après année.

## Foire aux questions

**Est-il vraiment moins coûteux de fidéliser un donateur que d'en acquérir un ?** Oui, et généralement de loin. Acquérir un nouveau donateur comporte un coût réel en publicité, contenu, événements et temps de personnel, alors que conserver un donateur existant ne coûte guère plus que le prix d'un bon accompagnement. Les donateurs fidélisés redonnent aussi, donnent souvent davantage, et peuvent se développer en grands donateurs ou en donateurs réguliers, si bien que le rendement de la fidélisation se cumule d'une manière que la dépense d'acquisition ne fait pas.

**Qu'est-ce qu'un bon taux de fidélisation des donateurs ?** La moyenne nationale est d'environ 46 pour cent, donc tout ce qui se situe nettement au-dessus se porte bien, mais l'objectif le plus utile est de battre votre propre année précédente et d'améliorer spécifiquement la fidélisation au premier don. De petits gains réguliers se cumulent puissamment : la modélisation de Hubbub montre que la différence entre une fidélisation élevée et faible se chiffre en centaines de donateurs et plus d'un million d'euros sur une décennie.

**Pourquoi le deuxième don est-il désigné comme si important ?** Parce que la fidélisation au premier don est le point le plus faible de presque tous les programmes, et qu'un donateur qui donne une deuxième fois est bien plus susceptible de continuer à donner que celui qui n'a donné qu'une fois. Convertir des primo-donateurs en donateurs de deuxième don est l'amélioration au plus fort effet de levier que la plupart des programmes puissent réaliser.

**Les petites associations ont-elles vraiment besoin de personas de donateurs ?** Elles en profitent autant que les grandes, souvent davantage, car leurs ressources sont plus serrées et les personas les aident à diriger un effort limité là où il compte. Les personas sont construits à partir de vos propres données de donateurs, conversations et analyses, si bien que vous n'avez pas besoin d'un gros budget, seulement de la volonté de regarder qui sont réellement vos soutiens.

**À quelle vitesse devrions-nous remercier un nouveau donateur ?** Promptement, idéalement dans les 24 à 72 heures, tant que le don leur semble encore frais. Rendez le remerciement personnel, avec une vraie signature et un vrai contact, et lorsque vous le pouvez, ajoutez un appel ou un message vocal, que la recherche relie directement à davantage de deuxièmes dons et à des dons plus importants.

**Par où commencer si notre fidélisation est faible ?** Commencez par mesurer, afin de connaître votre taux de fidélisation, votre attrition et l'endroit du parcours où les gens décrochent, puis corrigez d'abord l'expérience d'accueil et le deuxième don, puisque c'est là que la plupart des programmes fuient le plus et où l'amélioration rapporte le plus vite.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de plan d'acquisition de donateurs](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Modèle de parcours d'accueil](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Modèle d'e-mail de reconquête](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de Journée du Don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de vos appels et e-mails
- [Générateur de QR Code](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- Blogs de Hubbub : [génération de prospects efficace](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [attrition des donateurs](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) et [améliorer la fidélisation des donateurs](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Guides connexes : [Accompagnement et parcours des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) et [Comment construire un programme de don régulier](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismes sectoriels : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez l'annuaire complet des [liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come acquisire e fidelizzare i donatori](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica all'acquisizione e alla fidelizzazione dei donatori, che copre la generazione di contatti, le personas dei donatori, l'esperienza di benvenuto, ciò che alimenta la fidelizzazione, l'abbandono dei donatori, il cruciale secondo dono, la riattivazione e le metriche che contano.
La maggior parte dei programmi di raccolta fondi riversa il grosso delle proprie energie nella parte alta dell'imbuto, a caccia di nuovi donatori, e molto meno nel mantenere quelli che ha già. L'abitudine è comprensibile: l'acquisizione è visibile, produce nomi nuovi e reddito immediato e dà la sensazione di crescita. Ma un programma che si limita ad acquisire riempie un secchio bucato sul fondo. Ogni nuovo donatore che porti dentro quest'anno viene in parte, e talvolta del tutto, annullato dai donatori che scivolano via in silenzio. Il secchio bucato è l'immagine più utile nello sviluppo dei donatori: se non ripari i buchi, devi versare sempre più in fretta solo per restare allo stesso livello.

Questa guida tratta acquisizione e fidelizzazione come le due metà di un unico lavoro. Spiega come portare dentro nuovi sostenitori tramite la generazione di contatti, come capire chi sono con le personas dei donatori, come accoglierli bene, cosa li spinge davvero a continuare a donare, perché si allontanano, il cruciale secondo dono, come riconquistare chi si è disperso e la manciata di metriche che ti dicono se tutto questo funziona. Si appoggia per tutto il testo sul lavoro di Hubbub con le organizzazioni benefiche e sulle evidenze più ampie che il suo team ha raccolto.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di piano di acquisizione donatori](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [modello di percorso di benvenuto](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) e
> [modello di e-mail di riconquista](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## Il secchio bucato: perché la fidelizzazione conta quanto l'acquisizione

Partiamo dall'aritmetica, perché fa riflettere. Il tasso medio nazionale di fidelizzazione dei donatori si attesta intorno al 46 per cento, il che significa che un'organizzazione tipica perde più della metà dei suoi donatori ogni anno. Detto al contrario, il tasso medio di abbandono è del 54 per cento. Acquisisci un migliaio di nuovi donatori mentre ne perdi più della metà della coorte dell'anno scorso, e corri a perdifiato solo per restare fermo.

Il costo a lungo termine della perdita è più grande di quanto sembri. Hubbub modella due organizzazioni per il resto identiche su dieci anni, una che perde il 10 per cento dei suoi donatori l'anno e l'altra il 25 per cento. Quel divario di 15 punti nell'abbandono non è un errore di arrotondamento. Mentre entrambe attirano nuovi donatori e aumentano i loro doni, l'organizzazione con minore abbandono finisce per generare circa 1.288.078 € di reddito in più, all'incirca l'81 per cento in più, e per trattenere 997 donatori in più, all'incirca il 130 per cento in più, rispetto alla sua gemella più colabrodo. Le due erano partite dallo stesso punto. L'unica differenza era quanto bene avessero saputo trattenere le persone.

La fidelizzazione si compone in silenzio in un modo che l'acquisizione non eguaglia mai. Un donatore fidelizzato costa quasi nulla da mantenere rispetto al costo di trovarne uno nuovo, dona di nuovo, dona spesso di più e diventa un candidato al dono regolare, a un dono più grande o a un lascito. Ricorda anche che circa l'80 per cento del reddito da raccolta fondi tende a provenire da circa il 20 per cento dei donatori. Quei grandi sostenitori non sono arrivati come grandi donatori. Hanno iniziato come comuni donatori alla prima volta che sono stati fidelizzati, accompagnati e sviluppati nel tempo. Perdili presto e non saprai mai cosa sarebbero potuti diventare.

Niente di tutto questo è un argomento contro l'acquisizione. Avrai sempre bisogno di nuovi donatori per rimpiazzare le perdite naturali e per crescere. È un argomento per trattare la fidelizzazione come la fondazione su cui si costruisce l'acquisizione, anziché come un ripensamento.

## Canali di acquisizione e generazione di contatti

L'acquisizione funziona meglio come imbuto che come singola richiesta. Le persone si muovono dalla consapevolezza, attraverso l'interesse e il coinvolgimento, fino a un primo dono, e la generazione di contatti è il lavoro di guidarle lungo quel percorso anziché esigere una donazione da un perfetto sconosciuto. I programmi più efficaci pianificano l'intero imbuto in una volta, incluso ciò che accade dopo che qualcuno ha donato, anziché trattare il primo dono come il traguardo.

Diversi canali alimentano la parte alta di quell'imbuto. Il tuo sito web è il fulcro: ogni contenuto che produci dovrebbe risiedere lì, sostenuto dall'ottimizzazione per i motori di ricerca affinché le persone ti trovino, e dal retargeting affinché chi ha visitato senza agire ti riveda. I social media allargano la portata, e il formato deve seguire il pubblico, con contenuti visivi adatti a piattaforme come Instagram e TikTok, e contenuti scritti che funzionano bene via e-mail e su Facebook con i sostenitori più anziani. Eventi, campagne peer-to-peer e momenti di persona portano donatori che raramente emergerebbero da un appello a freddo; un formato come la nostra guida [Settimana della sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) mostra come un evento possa fornire grandi numeri di sostenitori del tutto nuovi in una sola settimana.

Due discipline rendono redditizia la generazione di contatti. La prima è una strategia di contenuti che serve due pubblici allo stesso tempo, i potenziali sostenitori che cerchi di attrarre e i sostenitori che hai già, così che lo stesso sforzo svolga un doppio compito. La seconda è il punteggio dei contatti: anziché rincorrere il volume, classifichi i potenziali sostenitori in base a quanto sono coinvolti e a quanto è probabile che donino, e concentri il tuo tempo limitato sui più caldi. La qualità dei contatti conta più della quantità, perché mille nomi che non donano mai sono un costo, non una risorsa.

Soprattutto, il modo in cui acquisisci plasma quanto bene fidelizzi. Le tattiche costruite solo per massimizzare la liquidità immediata e i numeri di donatori da titolo, con scarso riguardo per un coinvolgimento autentico o per l'inizio di una relazione, producono in modo affidabile un abbandono più alto in seguito. Finisci su un tapis roulant, rimpiazzando all'infinito i donatori a cui i tuoi stessi metodi di acquisizione hanno insegnato ad andarsene. Acquisire meno donatori a cui sta a cuore la tua causa batte acquisirne molti a cui non importa.

## Personas dei donatori: capire il proprio pubblico

Non puoi cucire su misura ciò che non comprendi, e le personas dei donatori sono il modo in cui i buoni programmi trasformano un database senza volto in una manciata di persone che possono immaginare. Una persona è un profilo romanzato ma radicato nei dati di un tipo di sostenitore, costruito a partire dai tuoi donatori reali anziché da supposizioni. Riunisce dati demografici, comportamenti e preferenze in un personaggio riconoscibile che l'intero team può tenere a mente quando scrive un appello, pianifica un evento o progetta una pagina web.

Il vantaggio è misurabile e non semplicemente ordinato. Le organizzazioni che usano le personas riferiscono tempi medi più brevi tra la prima interazione di un contatto e la sua prima donazione, e tempi più brevi tra un primo e un secondo dono. Le personas migliorano sia l'acquisizione sia la fidelizzazione, i due risultati attorno a cui è costruita questa guida.

Costruirle è metodico. Comincia segmentando i tuoi dati in gruppi significativi, per età, per stato di donazione, per anno di diploma, per qualunque suddivisione conti davvero per la tua causa. Per ogni gruppo, raccogli ciò che puoi su come tendono a donare, se online, per telefono o per posta, sulle campagne o gli stimoli che li hanno spinti per primi a donare, sui loro dati demografici, su come preferiscono essere contattati e su cosa li motiva. Attingi a più di una fonte: il tuo database donatori, le analisi del tuo sito web per i donatori online e, cosa importante, conversazioni dirette con donatori coinvolti che ti diranno cose che nessun foglio di calcolo può. Poi scrivi ogni persona come un breve profilo con un nome, una foto generica, una breve biografia, i suoi obiettivi e motivazioni e le sue preferenze di contatto, tenuto deliberatamente conciso e guidato dai dati.

Una volta che esistono, le personas si guadagnano il posto solo se vengono usate. Condividile in tutta l'organizzazione e applicale ovunque: nella formulazione delle tue richieste, nella forma dei tuoi eventi, nei tuoi piani di accompagnamento, nelle tue comunicazioni e perfino nel design del tuo sito web. Il punto è smettere di inviare un solo messaggio a tutti e cominciare a parlare a ciascun segmento nei termini che lo muovono.

## L'esperienza di benvenuto e di inserimento

Il momento più rischioso nella vita di un donatore con te è il divario tra il suo primo dono e il secondo, e l'esperienza di benvenuto è ciò che lo porta dall'altra parte. Un nuovo donatore ha fatto un atto di fiducia. Ciò che fai nei giorni successivi gli dice se quella fiducia era ben riposta, così un benvenuto caloroso, tempestivo e ben calibrato è una delle cose a più alto rendimento che un team di raccolta fondi possa fare.

Il primo atto è il ringraziamento, e la tempistica conta più della raffinatezza. Riconosci un dono rapidamente, idealmente entro 24-72 ore, mentre il donatore sente ancora il calore dell'aver donato. Rendilo personale: una firma autentica, il nome e i recapiti di una persona reale, e un linguaggio che suoni come un essere umano anziché come una ricevuta. Una semplice telefonata o un messaggio vocale possono essere ancora più potenti. Come ha rilevato la ricercatrice di raccolta fondi Penelope Burk, «i donatori che ricevono una telefonata o un messaggio vocale sono molto più propensi a fare quel secondo dono così cruciale e ad aumentare l'importo del loro dono». Poche tattiche di benvenuto sono più economiche o più efficaci che alzare il telefono.

Oltre al ringraziamento, una buona sequenza di inserimento orienta il nuovo sostenitore. Un kit o una serie di benvenuto può spiegare cosa rende possibile il suo sostegno, illustrare i vantaggi e le opportunità del coinvolgimento, indicare modi di impegnarsi al di là del donare come il volontariato, e cominciare a mostrare l'impatto anziché chiedere subito di nuovo. L'equilibrio è la chiave: mescola la richiesta con contenuti davvero informativi come newsletter e storie, così la relazione non comincia e finisce con una mano tesa. Il nostro [modello di percorso di benvenuto](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) espone una sequenza che puoi adattare, e l'arte più ampia di accompagnare le persone attraverso queste prime fasi è trattata nella nostra guida all'[accompagnamento dei donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## Cosa alimenta la fidelizzazione

La fidelizzazione non è una singola tattica ma un atteggiamento, e il settore ha un nome per questo: raccolta fondi relazionale. Ken Burnett, che ha coniato il termine, la definisce come un approccio incentrato «non sul raccogliere denaro ma sullo sviluppare al suo pieno potenziale la relazione unica e speciale tra un'organizzazione e il suo sostenitore». Il reddito segue dalla relazione, non viceversa. I programmi che interiorizzano questo mantengono i loro donatori; i programmi che trattano ogni donatore come un portafoglio da riaprire non lo fanno.

In pratica, diversi comportamenti fanno avanzare la relazione. Riconosci i doni in modo tempestivo e personale, ogni volta, non solo la prima. Coinvolgi i donatori prima e dopo un dono anziché solo nel momento della richiesta, attraverso visite, eventi, aggiornamenti e storie, così da costruire un legame che non dipenda da una transazione. Soprattutto, bandisci la sensazione che ogni donatore perso descrive in qualche forma: «Mi fate sapere di voi solo quando volete soldi». Se l'unico contatto che un sostenitore ha da te è una richiesta, gli hai insegnato ad associare il tuo nome al fatto che gli si toglie qualcosa anziché al far parte di qualcosa.

Aiuta capire cosa le persone cercano davvero quando donano, perché raramente è la transazione. La pensatrice della raccolta fondi Simone Joyaux individua sette cose che i donatori vogliono dal loro coinvolgimento: essere ascoltati, raccontare le proprie storie, realizzare i propri sogni, unirsi a una battaglia, unirsi a una tribù, sentirsi lusingati e, semplicemente, contare. Una strategia di fidelizzazione che meriti il nome è in realtà un programma per offrire quelle sensazioni, in modo costante, nel corso degli anni.

## L'abbandono dei donatori: perché i sostenitori si allontanano

L'abbandono è la misura della perdita. Hubbub lo definisce semplicemente come la percentuale di donatori che non donano di nuovo entro dodici mesi, calcolata come i donatori persi in un periodo di dodici mesi divisi per il totale dei donatori in quel periodo. Un tasso di abbandono del 25 per cento significa che un quarto dei tuoi donatori non torna in silenzio ogni anno, e come ha mostrato il confronto decennale qui sopra, piccole differenze in quel tasso si compongono in differenze enormi di donatori e reddito.

I sostenitori si allontanano per ragioni che sono per lo più sotto il tuo controllo. Alcuni vengono acquisiti tramite tattiche mai costruite per la fidelizzazione, attratti da uno stimolo isolato senza relazione alle spalle, così la loro partenza era di fatto decisa al momento dell'acquisizione. Molti si allontanano perché si sono sentiti non ringraziati, non ascoltati o contattati solo quando si volevano soldi, esattamente i fallimenti che una buona pratica di fidelizzazione esiste per prevenire. Altri si disperdono semplicemente perché nessuno ha notato che erano diventati silenziosi e nessuno ha teso la mano. Un numero più piccolo se ne va per ragioni che davvero non puoi toccare, un cambiamento nelle loro circostanze o nelle loro priorità, ma sono la minoranza. La verità scomoda nella maggior parte delle analisi sull'abbandono è che la maggioranza degli allontanamenti è una risposta a come il donatore è stato trattato, il che è anche la buona notizia, perché significa che l'abbandono è qualcosa su cui puoi agire anziché limitarti a subirlo.

Il primo passo è vederlo. Analizza gli schemi nel tuo database, segmenta i tuoi donatori in allontanamento e cerca i momenti in cui le persone tendono a cadere, molto spesso il divario dopo il primo dono. Strumenti di settore gratuiti come il Fundraising Fitness Test e il Growth-in-Giving Report dell'AFP ti aiutano a confrontarti, e un calcolatore di abbandono dei donatori ti permette di modellare come un dato tasso si svolge per il tuo programma nel tempo. Non puoi riparare una perdita che non hai localizzato.

## Il cruciale secondo dono

Se un numero decide il futuro di un programma, è la percentuale di donatori alla prima volta che donano una seconda volta. La fidelizzazione al primo dono è notoriamente il punto più debole in quasi ogni programma, ed è anche quello a maggiore leva, perché un donatore che dona due volte è enormemente più propenso a continuare a donare di uno che ha donato solo una volta. Il secondo dono è il momento in cui una risposta isolata si indurisce in abitudine.

Quasi tutto ciò che precede converge qui. Il ringraziamento tempestivo e personale; la sequenza di benvenuto che mostra l'impatto prima di chiedere di nuovo; la telefonata che la ricerca di Penelope Burk collega direttamente ai secondi doni e a quelli più grandi: tutto questo è, in fin dei conti, al servizio della conversione di quel primo dono in un secondo. Ecco perché l'esperienza di benvenuto merita un'attenzione e risorse sproporzionate. Un modesto miglioramento del tuo tasso di conversione dal primo al secondo dono si ripercuote su ogni cifra di fidelizzazione e di valore nel tempo che monitori per anni a venire, perché ogni donatore che supera quell'ostacolo è molto più propenso a superare tutti quelli che seguono.

L'implicazione pratica è progettare il tuo programma deliberatamente attorno al secondo dono anziché sperare che accada. Mappa il percorso a partire dal primo dono, decidi cosa invierai e quando, fai di almeno un elemento di quel contatto iniziale un ringraziamento autentico senza richieste allegate, e tratta un secondo dono non come un felice incidente ma come l'obiettivo esplicito dei primi novanta giorni. Il nostro lavoro sulla [costruzione di un programma di dono regolare](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) va oltre, perché convertire un solido primo o secondo dono in una relazione mensile impegnata è il modo più sicuro per bloccare la fidelizzazione a lungo termine.

## Riattivare i donatori inattivi

Non ogni donatore che se ne va è perduto per sempre. Un sostenitore che ti ha donato una volta ti ha scelto per una ragione, e quella ragione spesso esiste ancora, il che rende i donatori inattivi un prospetto più caldo di estranei a freddo e la riattivazione un uso più efficiente dello sforzo rispetto alla pura acquisizione. La chiave è trattare la riconquista come un programma deliberato anziché come un ripensamento occasionale e colpevole.

Comincia definendo cosa significa «inattivo» per il tuo programma e segmenta di conseguenza, perché un donatore che ha saltato un anno richiede un approccio diverso da uno che ha donato l'ultima volta cinque anni fa. Per i più recentemente inattivi, un messaggio di riconquista ben calibrato che riconosce l'assenza senza rimproverare, li ricorda dell'impatto che hanno contribuito a creare e rende facile tornare, può recuperare una quota significativa. Metti in primo piano ciò che il loro sostegno passato ha realizzato e cosa è possibile ora, non il fatto che hanno smesso. Dove puoi, adatta l'approccio per persona, poiché una ragione che ricoinvolge un segmento cadrà nel vuoto con un altro. Il nostro [modello di e-mail di riconquista](/resources/win-back-email-template/) ti dà un punto di partenza collaudato da adattare.

Sii realistico sui limiti. La riattivazione non recupererà tutti, e lo sforzo è meglio concentrarlo sui segmenti più propensi a rispondere e più preziosi se lo fanno. Ma un programma di riconquista strutturato, condotto con costanza, tappa uno dei buchi più grandi del secchio, e quasi sempre costa meno che acquisire un numero equivalente di donatori del tutto nuovi.

## Le metriche che contano

Non puoi gestire ciò che non misuri, e lo sviluppo dei donatori premia molto di più un piccolo insieme di metriche osservate da vicino che un grande cruscotto guardato di tanto in tanto. Tre contano di più.

**Il tasso di fidelizzazione** è la quota dei donatori dell'anno scorso che hanno donato di nuovo quest'anno, l'inverso diretto dell'abbandono. A fronte di una media di settore vicina al 46 per cento, perfino miglioramenti modesti sono preziosi, e il premio nel lungo periodo è grande: la modellazione di Hubbub mostra che portare la fidelizzazione dal 46 per cento al 90 per cento trasforma una perdita decennale di 786 donatori in un guadagno netto di 1.552. Monitoralo nel complesso e, più utilmente, per segmento e per coorte, prestando particolare attenzione alla fidelizzazione al primo dono, dove la maggior parte dei programmi perde di più.

**L'abbandono dei donatori** è la stessa immagine dall'altro lato, la percentuale di donatori che non tornano entro dodici mesi. Calcolalo come donatori persi in un periodo divisi per il totale dei donatori in quel periodo, modella come il tuo tasso attuale si compone su cinque e dieci anni, e usa quella proiezione per sostenere internamente l'investimento nella fidelizzazione anziché solo nell'acquisizione.

**Il valore nel tempo** cattura il valore totale di un donatore lungo l'intera durata della sua relazione con te, non solo il suo primo dono. È la metrica che giustifica la spesa per il benvenuto e l'accompagnamento, perché rivela che un donatore fidelizzato vale un multiplo di uno acquisito, e riformula il costo di una telefonata di ringraziamento o di una serie di benvenuto come un investimento dal rendimento chiaro. Accanto a queste tre, monitora il tempo di conversione, quanto impiega un nuovo contatto a fare un primo dono e poi un secondo, poiché accorciare quei divari, esattamente ciò che fanno buone personas e un buon inserimento, solleva ogni altro numero dell'elenco.

La disciplina che lega tutto insieme è la revisione regolare, con un ritmo trimestrale come cadenza sensata, e il dare a ogni strategia tempo sufficiente per dimostrare il proprio valore, con punti di valutazione seri intorno ai sei e ai dodici mesi. Lo sviluppo dei donatori è un gioco di lunga lena, e i programmi che lo vincono sono quelli che misurano con pazienza, riparano le perdite che trovano e mantengono il secchio pieno anno dopo anno.

## Domande frequenti

**È davvero più economico fidelizzare un donatore che acquisirne uno?** Sì, e di solito di molto. Acquisire un nuovo donatore comporta un costo reale in pubblicità, contenuti, eventi e tempo del personale, mentre mantenere uno esistente costa in gran parte solo il prezzo di un buon accompagnamento. I donatori fidelizzati donano anche di nuovo, donano spesso di più e possono svilupparsi in grandi o regolari donatori, così il rendimento della fidelizzazione si compone in un modo che la spesa di acquisizione non fa.

**Qual è un buon tasso di fidelizzazione dei donatori?** La media nazionale è di circa il 46 per cento, quindi qualunque valore sensibilmente al di sopra va bene, ma l'obiettivo più utile è battere il tuo anno precedente e migliorare specificamente la fidelizzazione al primo dono. Piccoli guadagni costanti si compongono con forza: la modellazione di Hubbub mostra che la differenza tra alta e bassa fidelizzazione ammonta a centinaia di donatori e a oltre un milione di euro nell'arco di un decennio.

**Perché il secondo dono viene additato come così importante?** Perché la fidelizzazione al primo dono è il punto più debole in quasi ogni programma, e un donatore che dona una seconda volta è molto più propenso a continuare a donare di uno che ha donato solo una volta. Convertire i donatori alla prima volta in donatori alla seconda è il miglioramento a maggiore leva che la maggior parte dei programmi possa fare.

**Le piccole organizzazioni hanno davvero bisogno delle personas dei donatori?** Ne traggono beneficio quanto quelle grandi, spesso di più, perché le loro risorse sono più limitate e le personas le aiutano a indirizzare uno sforzo limitato dove conta. Le personas si costruiscono dai tuoi stessi dati sui donatori, conversazioni e analisi, quindi non ti serve un grande budget, solo la volontà di guardare chi sono davvero i tuoi sostenitori.

**Quanto rapidamente dovremmo ringraziare un nuovo donatore?** Tempestivamente, idealmente entro 24-72 ore, mentre il dono gli appare ancora fresco. Rendi il ringraziamento personale, con una firma vera e un contatto vero, e dove puoi aggiungi una telefonata o un messaggio vocale, che la ricerca collega direttamente a più secondi doni e a doni più grandi.

**Da dove dovremmo cominciare se la nostra fidelizzazione è scarsa?** Comincia misurando, così da conoscere il tuo tasso di fidelizzazione, il tuo abbandono e dove nel percorso le persone si allontanano, poi sistema per prima cosa l'esperienza di benvenuto e il secondo dono, dato che è lì che la maggior parte dei programmi perde di più e dove il miglioramento ripaga più in fretta.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di piano di acquisizione donatori](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Modello di percorso di benvenuto](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Modello di e-mail di riconquista](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore della Giornata del Dono di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina il testo dei tuoi appelli e delle tue e-mail
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti di persona direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Letture di approfondimento

- Blog di Hubbub: [generazione di contatti efficace](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [abbandono dei donatori](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) e [migliorare la fidelizzazione dei donatori](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Guide correlate: [Accompagnamento e percorsi dei donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) e [Come costruire un programma di dono regolare](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la directory completa dei [link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to acquire and retain donors](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (uk/en): A practical guide to donor acquisition and retention, covering lead generation, donor personas, the welcome experience, what drives retention, donor churn, the crucial second gift, reactivation and the metrics that matter.
Most fundraising programmes pour the bulk of their energy into the top of the funnel, chasing new donors, and far less into keeping the ones they already have. The habit is understandable: acquisition is visible, it produces fresh names and immediate income, and it feels like growth. But a programme that only acquires is filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Every new donor you bring in this year is partly, and sometimes wholly, cancelled out by the donors who quietly slip away. The leaky bucket is the single most useful image in donor development: if you do not mend the holes, you have to pour faster and faster just to stay level.

This guide treats acquisition and retention as two halves of one job. It covers how to bring new supporters in through lead generation, how to understand who they are with donor personas, how to welcome them well, what actually keeps them giving, why they lapse, the crucial second gift, how to win back the ones who have drifted, and the handful of metrics that tell you whether any of it is working. It draws throughout on Hubbub's work with charities and on the wider evidence their team has gathered.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) and
> [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## The leaky bucket: why retention matters as much as acquisition

Start with the arithmetic, because it is sobering. The national average donor retention rate sits at around 46 per cent, which means a typical organisation loses more than half of its donors every year. Put the other way round, the average attrition rate is 54 per cent. Acquire a thousand new donors while losing more than half of last year's cohort, and you are running hard to stand still.

The long-term cost of leakage is larger than it looks. Hubbub models two otherwise identical organisations over ten years, one losing 10 per cent of its donors a year and the other losing 25 per cent. That 15-point gap in churn is not a rounding error. Where both bring in new donors and grow their gifts, the lower-churn organisation ends up generating around £1,288,078 more in revenue, some 81 per cent more, and retaining 997 more donors, roughly 130 per cent more, than its leakier twin. The two started in the same place. The only difference was how well they held on to people.

Retention compounds quietly in a way acquisition never does. A retained donor costs almost nothing to keep relative to the cost of finding a new one, gives again, often gives more, and becomes a candidate for regular giving, a larger gift, or a legacy. Remember too that roughly 80 per cent of fundraising income tends to come from around 20 per cent of donors. Those major supporters did not arrive as major donors. They began as ordinary first-time givers who were retained, stewarded and developed over time. Lose them early and you never find out who they might have become.

None of this is an argument against acquisition. You will always need new donors to replace natural losses and to grow. It is an argument for treating retention as the foundation that acquisition is built on, rather than an afterthought.

## Acquisition channels and lead generation

Acquisition works best as a funnel rather than a single ask. People move from awareness, through interest and engagement, to a first gift, and lead generation is the work of guiding them along that path rather than demanding a donation from a complete stranger. The most effective programmes plan the whole funnel at once, including what happens after someone gives, instead of treating the first gift as the finish line.

Several channels feed the top of that funnel. Your website is the hub: every piece of content you produce should live there, supported by search engine optimisation so people can find you, and by retargeting so the ones who visited but did not act see you again. Social media widens the reach, and the format should follow the audience, with visual content suited to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and written content working well over email and on Facebook with older supporters. Events, peer-to-peer campaigns and in-person moments bring in donors who would rarely surface through a cold appeal; a format such as our [Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) guide shows how an event can deliver large numbers of brand-new supporters in a single week.

Two disciplines make lead generation pay. The first is a content strategy that serves two audiences at once, the prospects you are trying to attract and the supporters you already have, so the same effort does double duty. The second is lead scoring: rather than chasing volume, you rank prospects by how engaged and how likely to give they are, and concentrate your limited time on the warmest. Quality of leads matters more than quantity, because a thousand names who never give are a cost, not an asset.

Above all, the way you acquire shapes how well you retain. Tactics built only to maximise immediate cash and headline donor numbers, with little regard for genuine engagement or the start of a relationship, reliably produce higher churn later. You end up on a treadmill, endlessly replacing the donors your own acquisition methods taught to leave. Acquiring fewer donors who care about your cause beats acquiring many who do not.

## Donor personas: understanding your audience

You cannot tailor what you do not understand, and donor personas are how good programmes turn a faceless database into a handful of people they can picture. A persona is a fictionalised but data-grounded profile of a type of supporter, built from your actual donors rather than from assumptions. It pulls demographics, behaviour and preferences into a recognisable character your whole team can hold in mind when they write an appeal, plan an event or design a web page.

The payoff is measurable rather than merely tidy. Organisations that use personas report shorter average times between a constituent's first interaction and their first donation, and shorter times between a first gift and a second. Personas improve both acquisition and retention, the two outcomes this guide is built around.

Building them is methodical. Start by segmenting your data into meaningful groups, by age, by giving status, by graduation year, by whatever divisions actually matter for your cause. For each group, gather what you can on how they tend to give, whether online, by phone or by post, on the campaigns or triggers that first prompted them to donate, on their demographics, on how they prefer to be contacted, and on what motivates them. Draw on more than one source: your donor database, your website analytics for online givers, and, importantly, direct conversations with engaged donors who will tell you things no spreadsheet can. Then write each persona up as a short profile with a name, a stock photo, a brief biography, their goals and motivations, and their contact preferences, kept deliberately concise and led by the data.

Once they exist, personas only earn their keep if they are used. Share them across the whole organisation and apply them everywhere: the wording of your asks, the shape of your events, your stewardship plans, your communications and even your website design. The point is to stop sending one message to everyone and start speaking to each segment in the terms that move it.

## The welcome and onboarding experience

The riskiest moment in a donor's life with you is the gap between their first gift and their second, and the welcome experience is what carries them across it. A new donor has taken a leap of faith. What you do in the next few days tells them whether that faith was well placed, so a warm, prompt, well-judged welcome is one of the highest-return things a fundraising team can do.

The first act is the thank-you, and timing matters more than polish. Acknowledge a gift quickly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the donor still feels the warmth of having given. Make it personal: a genuine signature, the name and contact details of a real person, and language that sounds like a human being rather than a receipt. A simple call or voicemail can be more powerful still. As fundraising researcher Penelope Burk has found, "donors who receive a call or voicemail are significantly more likely to make that all-important second gift and to increase their gift amount." Few welcome tactics are cheaper or more effective than picking up the phone.

Beyond the thank-you, a good onboarding sequence orients the new supporter. A welcome pack or series can explain what their support makes possible, set out the benefits and opportunities of being involved, point to ways to engage beyond giving such as volunteering, and begin to show impact rather than immediately asking again. Balance is the thing: mix solicitation with genuinely informative content like newsletters and stories, so the relationship does not start and end with a hand held out. Our [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) lays out a sequence you can adapt, and the wider craft of moving people through these early stages is covered in our guide to [donor stewardship](/uk/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## What drives retention

Retention is not a single tactic but a posture, and the sector has a name for it: relationship fundraising. Ken Burnett, who coined the term, defines it as an approach centred "not around raising money but on developing to its full potential the unique and special relationship between a charity and its supporter." The income follows from the relationship, not the other way around. Programmes that internalise this keep their donors; programmes that treat each donor as a wallet to be reopened do not.

In practice, several behaviours drive the relationship forward. Acknowledge gifts promptly and personally, every time, not just the first. Engage donors before and after a gift rather than only at the point of asking, through tours, events, updates and stories, so you build a connection that does not depend on a transaction. Above all, banish the feeling every lapsed donor describes in some form: "I only hear from you when you want money." If the only contact a supporter has from you is an ask, you have taught them to associate your name with being taken from rather than being part of something.

It helps to understand what people are actually seeking when they give, because it is rarely the transaction. The fundraising thinker Simone Joyaux identifies seven things donors want from their involvement: to be heard, to tell their stories, to realise their dreams, to join a fight, to join a tribe, to feel flattered, and, simply, to matter. A retention strategy worth the name is really a programme for delivering those feelings, consistently, over years.

## Donor churn: why supporters lapse

Churn is the measure of the leak. Hubbub defines it plainly as the percentage of donors who do not give again within twelve months, calculated as the donors lost over a twelve-month period divided by the total donors in that period. A 25 per cent churn rate means a quarter of your donors quietly fail to return each year, and as the ten-year comparison above showed, small differences in that rate compound into enormous differences in donors and revenue.

Supporters lapse for reasons that are mostly within your control. Some are acquired through tactics that were never built for retention, drawn in by a one-off prompt with no relationship behind it, so their departure was effectively decided at the point of acquisition. Many lapse because they felt unthanked, unheard, or contacted only when money was wanted, the precise failures that good retention practice exists to prevent. Others drift simply because nobody noticed they had gone quiet and nobody reached out. A smaller number leave for reasons you genuinely cannot touch, a change in their circumstances or their priorities, but these are the minority. The uncomfortable truth in most churn analysis is that the majority of lapsing is a response to how the donor was treated, which is also the good news, because it means churn is something you can act on rather than merely suffer.

The first step is to see it. Analyse the patterns in your database, segment your lapsing donors, and look for the moments where people tend to fall away, very often the gap after the first gift. Free sector tools such as the AFP's Fundraising Fitness Test and Growth-in-Giving Report help you benchmark, and a donor churn calculator lets you model how a given rate plays out for your own programme over time. You cannot fix a leak you have not located.

## The crucial second gift

If one number decides a programme's future, it is the proportion of first-time donors who give a second time. First-gift retention is notoriously the weakest point in almost every programme, and it is also the highest-leverage one, because a donor who gives twice is dramatically more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. The second gift is the moment a one-off response hardens into a habit.

Almost everything in the earlier sections converges here. The prompt, personal thank-you; the welcome sequence that shows impact before it asks again; the phone call that Penelope Burk's research links directly to second gifts and larger ones: all of it is, in the end, in service of converting that first gift into a second. This is why the welcome experience deserves disproportionate attention and resource. A modest improvement in your first-to-second gift conversion rate ripples through every retention and lifetime-value figure you track for years afterwards, because each donor who clears that hurdle is far more likely to clear all the ones that follow.

The practical implication is to design your programme around the second gift deliberately rather than hoping it happens. Map the journey from first gift onward, decide what you will send and when, make at least one piece of that early contact a genuine thank-you with no ask attached, and treat a second gift not as a happy accident but as the explicit goal of the first ninety days. Our work on [building a regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) goes further, because converting a strong first or second gift into a committed monthly relationship is the surest way to lock in long-term retention.

## Reactivating lapsed donors

Not every departing donor is gone for good. A supporter who gave to you once chose you for a reason, and that reason often still exists, which makes lapsed donors a warmer prospect than cold strangers and reactivation a more efficient use of effort than pure acquisition. The key is to treat win-back as a deliberate programme rather than an occasional guilty afterthought.

Begin by defining what lapsed means for your programme and segmenting accordingly, because a donor who has missed one year needs a different approach from one who last gave five years ago. For the more recently lapsed, a well-judged win-back message that acknowledges the absence without scolding, reminds them of the impact they helped create, and makes it easy to return, can recover a meaningful share. Lead with what their past support achieved and what is possible now, not with the fact that they stopped. Where you can, tailor the approach by persona, since a reason that re-engages one segment will fall flat with another. Our [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/) gives you a tested starting point to adapt.

Be realistic about the limits. Reactivation will not recover everyone, and the effort is best concentrated on the segments most likely to respond and most valuable if they do. But a structured win-back programme, run consistently, plugs one of the larger holes in the bucket, and it nearly always costs less than acquiring an equivalent number of brand-new donors.

## The metrics that matter

You cannot manage what you do not measure, and donor development rewards a small set of metrics watched closely far more than a large dashboard glanced at occasionally. Three matter most.

**Retention rate** is the share of last year's donors who gave again this year, the direct inverse of attrition. Against a sector average near 46 per cent, even modest improvements are valuable, and the long-run prize is large: Hubbub's modelling shows that lifting retention from 46 per cent to 90 per cent turns a ten-year loss of 786 donors into a net gain of 1,552. Track it overall and, more usefully, by segment and by cohort, paying particular attention to first-gift retention, which is where most programmes leak hardest.

**Donor churn** is the same picture from the other side, the percentage of donors who do not return within twelve months. Calculate it as lost donors over a period divided by total donors in that period, model how your current rate compounds over five and ten years, and use that projection to make the case internally for investing in retention rather than only in acquisition.

**Lifetime value** captures the total worth of a donor over the whole of their relationship with you, not just their first gift. It is the metric that justifies spending on welcome and stewardship, because it reveals that a retained donor is worth a multiple of an acquired one, and it reframes the cost of a thank-you call or a welcome series as an investment with a clear return. Alongside these three, watch time-to-conversion, how long it takes a new contact to make a first gift and then a second, since shortening those gaps, exactly what good personas and onboarding do, lifts every other number on the list.

The discipline that ties it all together is reviewing regularly, with quarterly a sensible rhythm, and giving each strategy enough time to prove itself, with serious assessment points at around six and twelve months. Donor development is a long game, and the programmes that win it are the ones that measure patiently, mend the leaks they find, and keep the bucket full year after year.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it really cheaper to retain a donor than to acquire one?** Yes, and usually by a wide margin. Acquiring a new donor carries real cost in advertising, content, events and staff time, whereas keeping an existing one largely costs the price of good stewardship. Retained donors also give again, often give more, and can develop into major or regular givers, so the return on retention compounds in a way acquisition spending does not.

**What is a good donor retention rate?** The national average is around 46 per cent, so anything meaningfully above that is doing well, but the more useful target is to beat your own previous year and to improve first-gift retention specifically. Small, steady gains compound powerfully: Hubbub's modelling shows the difference between high and low retention runs to hundreds of donors and over a million pounds across a decade.

**Why is the second gift singled out as so important?** Because first-gift retention is the weakest point in almost every programme, and a donor who gives a second time is far more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. Converting first-time donors into second-time donors is the highest-leverage improvement most programmes can make.

**Do small charities really need donor personas?** They benefit as much as large ones, often more, because their resources are tighter and personas help them aim limited effort where it counts. Personas are built from your own donor data, conversations and analytics, so you do not need a big budget, only a willingness to look at who your supporters actually are.

**How quickly should we thank a new donor?** Promptly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the gift still feels fresh to them. Make the thank-you personal, with a real signature and a real contact, and where you can, add a call or voicemail, which research links directly to more second gifts and larger ones.

**Where should we start if our retention is poor?** Start by measuring, so you know your retention rate, your churn and where in the journey people lapse, then fix the welcome experience and the second gift first, since that is where most programmes leak hardest and where improvement pays back fastest.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Hubbub blogs: [effective lead generation](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [donor churn](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) and [improving donor retention](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Related guides: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/uk/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to acquire and retain donors](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (us/en): A practical guide to donor acquisition and retention, covering lead generation, donor personas, the welcome experience, what drives retention, donor churn, the crucial second gift, reactivation and the metrics that matter.
Most fundraising programs pour the bulk of their energy into the top of the funnel, chasing new donors, and far less into keeping the ones they already have. The habit is understandable: acquisition is visible, it produces fresh names and immediate income, and it feels like growth. But a program that only acquires is filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Every new donor you bring in this year is partly, and sometimes wholly, canceled out by the donors who quietly slip away. The leaky bucket is the single most useful image in donor development: if you do not mend the holes, you have to pour faster and faster just to stay level.

This guide treats acquisition and retention as two halves of one job. It covers how to bring new supporters in through lead generation, how to understand who they are with donor personas, how to welcome them well, what actually keeps them giving, why they lapse, the crucial second gift, how to win back the ones who have drifted, and the handful of metrics that tell you whether any of it is working. It draws throughout on Hubbub's work with nonprofits and on the wider evidence their team has gathered.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) and
> [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## The leaky bucket: why retention matters as much as acquisition

Start with the arithmetic, because it is sobering. The national average donor retention rate sits at around 46 percent, which means a typical organization loses more than half of its donors every year. Put the other way round, the average attrition rate is 54 percent. Acquire a thousand new donors while losing more than half of last year's cohort, and you are running hard to stand still.

The long-term cost of leakage is larger than it looks. Hubbub models two otherwise identical organizations over ten years, one losing 10 percent of its donors a year and the other losing 25 percent. That 15-point gap in churn is not a rounding error. Where both bring in new donors and grow their gifts, the lower-churn organization ends up generating around $1,288,078 more in revenue, some 81 percent more, and retaining 997 more donors, roughly 130 percent more, than its leakier twin. The two started in the same place. The only difference was how well they held on to people.

Retention compounds quietly in a way acquisition never does. A retained donor costs almost nothing to keep relative to the cost of finding a new one, gives again, often gives more, and becomes a candidate for recurring giving, a larger gift, or a planned gift. Remember too that roughly 80 percent of fundraising income tends to come from around 20 percent of donors. Those major supporters did not arrive as major donors. They began as ordinary first-time givers who were retained, stewarded and developed over time. Lose them early and you never find out who they might have become.

None of this is an argument against acquisition. You will always need new donors to replace natural losses and to grow. It is an argument for treating retention as the foundation that acquisition is built on, rather than an afterthought.

## Acquisition channels and lead generation

Acquisition works best as a funnel rather than a single ask. People move from awareness, through interest and engagement, to a first gift, and lead generation is the work of guiding them along that path rather than demanding a donation from a complete stranger. The most effective programs plan the whole funnel at once, including what happens after someone gives, instead of treating the first gift as the finish line.

Several channels feed the top of that funnel. Your website is the hub: every piece of content you produce should live there, supported by search engine optimization so people can find you, and by retargeting so the ones who visited but did not act see you again. Social media widens the reach, and the format should follow the audience, with visual content suited to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and written content working well over email and on Facebook with older supporters. Events, peer-to-peer campaigns and in-person moments bring in donors who would rarely surface through a cold appeal; a format such as our [Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) guide shows how an event can deliver large numbers of brand-new supporters in a single week.

Two disciplines make lead generation pay. The first is a content strategy that serves two audiences at once, the prospects you are trying to attract and the supporters you already have, so the same effort does double duty. The second is lead scoring: rather than chasing volume, you rank prospects by how engaged and how likely to give they are, and concentrate your limited time on the warmest. Quality of leads matters more than quantity, because a thousand names who never give are a cost, not an asset.

Above all, the way you acquire shapes how well you retain. Tactics built only to maximize immediate cash and headline donor numbers, with little regard for genuine engagement or the start of a relationship, reliably produce higher churn later. You end up on a treadmill, endlessly replacing the donors your own acquisition methods taught to leave. Acquiring fewer donors who care about your cause beats acquiring many who do not.

## Donor personas: understanding your audience

You cannot tailor what you do not understand, and donor personas are how good programs turn a faceless database into a handful of people they can picture. A persona is a fictionalized but data-grounded profile of a type of supporter, built from your actual donors rather than from assumptions. It pulls demographics, behavior and preferences into a recognizable character your whole team can hold in mind when they write an appeal, plan an event or design a web page.

The payoff is measurable rather than merely tidy. Organizations that use personas report shorter average times between a constituent's first interaction and their first donation, and shorter times between a first gift and a second. Personas improve both acquisition and retention, the two outcomes this guide is built around.

Building them is methodical. Start by segmenting your data into meaningful groups, by age, by giving status, by graduation year, by whatever divisions actually matter for your cause. For each group, gather what you can on how they tend to give, whether online, by phone or by mail, on the campaigns or triggers that first prompted them to donate, on their demographics, on how they prefer to be contacted, and on what motivates them. Draw on more than one source: your donor database, your website analytics for online givers, and, importantly, direct conversations with engaged donors who will tell you things no spreadsheet can. Then write each persona up as a short profile with a name, a stock photo, a brief biography, their goals and motivations, and their contact preferences, kept deliberately concise and led by the data.

Once they exist, personas only earn their keep if they are used. Share them across the whole organization and apply them everywhere: the wording of your asks, the shape of your events, your stewardship plans, your communications and even your website design. The point is to stop sending one message to everyone and start speaking to each segment in the terms that move it.

## The welcome and onboarding experience

The riskiest moment in a donor's life with you is the gap between their first gift and their second, and the welcome experience is what carries them across it. A new donor has taken a leap of faith. What you do in the next few days tells them whether that faith was well placed, so a warm, prompt, well-judged welcome is one of the highest-return things a fundraising team can do.

The first act is the thank-you, and timing matters more than polish. Acknowledge a gift quickly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the donor still feels the warmth of having given. Make it personal: a genuine signature, the name and contact details of a real person, and language that sounds like a human being rather than a receipt. A simple call or voicemail can be more powerful still. As fundraising researcher Penelope Burk has found, "donors who receive a call or voicemail are significantly more likely to make that all-important second gift and to increase their gift amount." Few welcome tactics are cheaper or more effective than picking up the phone.

Beyond the thank-you, a good onboarding sequence orients the new supporter. A welcome pack or series can explain what their support makes possible, set out the benefits and opportunities of being involved, point to ways to engage beyond giving such as volunteering, and begin to show impact rather than immediately asking again. Balance is the thing: mix solicitation with genuinely informative content like newsletters and stories, so the relationship does not start and end with a hand held out. Our [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) lays out a sequence you can adapt, and the wider craft of moving people through these early stages is covered in our guide to [donor stewardship](/us/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## What drives retention

Retention is not a single tactic but a posture, and the sector has a name for it: relationship fundraising. Ken Burnett, who coined the term, defines it as an approach centered "not around raising money but on developing to its full potential the unique and special relationship between a charity and its supporter." The income follows from the relationship, not the other way around. Programs that internalize this keep their donors; programs that treat each donor as a wallet to be reopened do not.

In practice, several behaviors drive the relationship forward. Acknowledge gifts promptly and personally, every time, not just the first. Engage donors before and after a gift rather than only at the point of asking, through tours, events, updates and stories, so you build a connection that does not depend on a transaction. Above all, banish the feeling every lapsed donor describes in some form: "I only hear from you when you want money." If the only contact a supporter has from you is an ask, you have taught them to associate your name with being taken from rather than being part of something.

It helps to understand what people are actually seeking when they give, because it is rarely the transaction. The fundraising thinker Simone Joyaux identifies seven things donors want from their involvement: to be heard, to tell their stories, to realize their dreams, to join a fight, to join a tribe, to feel flattered, and, simply, to matter. A retention strategy worth the name is really a program for delivering those feelings, consistently, over years.

## Donor churn: why supporters lapse

Churn is the measure of the leak. Hubbub defines it plainly as the percentage of donors who do not give again within twelve months, calculated as the donors lost over a twelve-month period divided by the total donors in that period. A 25 percent churn rate means a quarter of your donors quietly fail to return each year, and as the ten-year comparison above showed, small differences in that rate compound into enormous differences in donors and revenue.

Supporters lapse for reasons that are mostly within your control. Some are acquired through tactics that were never built for retention, drawn in by a one-off prompt with no relationship behind it, so their departure was effectively decided at the point of acquisition. Many lapse because they felt unthanked, unheard, or contacted only when money was wanted, the precise failures that good retention practice exists to prevent. Others drift simply because nobody noticed they had gone quiet and nobody reached out. A smaller number leave for reasons you genuinely cannot touch, a change in their circumstances or their priorities, but these are the minority. The uncomfortable truth in most churn analysis is that the majority of lapsing is a response to how the donor was treated, which is also the good news, because it means churn is something you can act on rather than merely suffer.

The first step is to see it. Analyze the patterns in your database, segment your lapsing donors, and look for the moments where people tend to fall away, very often the gap after the first gift. Free sector tools such as the AFP's Fundraising Fitness Test and Growth-in-Giving Report help you benchmark, and a donor churn calculator lets you model how a given rate plays out for your own program over time. You cannot fix a leak you have not located.

## The crucial second gift

If one number decides a program's future, it is the proportion of first-time donors who give a second time. First-gift retention is notoriously the weakest point in almost every program, and it is also the highest-leverage one, because a donor who gives twice is dramatically more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. The second gift is the moment a one-off response hardens into a habit.

Almost everything in the earlier sections converges here. The prompt, personal thank-you; the welcome sequence that shows impact before it asks again; the phone call that Penelope Burk's research links directly to second gifts and larger ones: all of it is, in the end, in service of converting that first gift into a second. This is why the welcome experience deserves disproportionate attention and resource. A modest improvement in your first-to-second gift conversion rate ripples through every retention and lifetime-value figure you track for years afterward, because each donor who clears that hurdle is far more likely to clear all the ones that follow.

The practical implication is to design your program around the second gift deliberately rather than hoping it happens. Map the journey from first gift onward, decide what you will send and when, make at least one piece of that early contact a genuine thank-you with no ask attached, and treat a second gift not as a happy accident but as the explicit goal of the first ninety days. Our work on [building a recurring giving program](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) goes further, because converting a strong first or second gift into a committed monthly relationship is the surest way to lock in long-term retention.

## Reactivating lapsed donors

Not every departing donor is gone for good. A supporter who gave to you once chose you for a reason, and that reason often still exists, which makes lapsed donors a warmer prospect than cold strangers and reactivation a more efficient use of effort than pure acquisition. The key is to treat win-back as a deliberate program rather than an occasional guilty afterthought.

Begin by defining what lapsed means for your program and segmenting accordingly, because a donor who has missed one year needs a different approach from one who last gave five years ago. For the more recently lapsed, a well-judged win-back message that acknowledges the absence without scolding, reminds them of the impact they helped create, and makes it easy to return, can recover a meaningful share. Lead with what their past support achieved and what is possible now, not with the fact that they stopped. Where you can, tailor the approach by persona, since a reason that re-engages one segment will fall flat with another. Our [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/) gives you a tested starting point to adapt.

Be realistic about the limits. Reactivation will not recover everyone, and the effort is best concentrated on the segments most likely to respond and most valuable if they do. But a structured win-back program, run consistently, plugs one of the larger holes in the bucket, and it nearly always costs less than acquiring an equivalent number of brand-new donors.

## The metrics that matter

You cannot manage what you do not measure, and donor development rewards a small set of metrics watched closely far more than a large dashboard glanced at occasionally. Three matter most.

**Retention rate** is the share of last year's donors who gave again this year, the direct inverse of attrition. Against a sector average near 46 percent, even modest improvements are valuable, and the long-run prize is large: Hubbub's modeling shows that lifting retention from 46 percent to 90 percent turns a ten-year loss of 786 donors into a net gain of 1,552. Track it overall and, more usefully, by segment and by cohort, paying particular attention to first-gift retention, which is where most programs leak hardest.

**Donor churn** is the same picture from the other side, the percentage of donors who do not return within twelve months. Calculate it as lost donors over a period divided by total donors in that period, model how your current rate compounds over five and ten years, and use that projection to make the case internally for investing in retention rather than only in acquisition.

**Lifetime value** captures the total worth of a donor over the whole of their relationship with you, not just their first gift. It is the metric that justifies spending on welcome and stewardship, because it reveals that a retained donor is worth a multiple of an acquired one, and it reframes the cost of a thank-you call or a welcome series as an investment with a clear return. Alongside these three, watch time-to-conversion, how long it takes a new contact to make a first gift and then a second, since shortening those gaps, exactly what good personas and onboarding do, lifts every other number on the list.

The discipline that ties it all together is reviewing regularly, with quarterly a sensible rhythm, and giving each strategy enough time to prove itself, with serious assessment points at around six and twelve months. Donor development is a long game, and the programs that win it are the ones that measure patiently, mend the leaks they find, and keep the bucket full year after year.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it really cheaper to retain a donor than to acquire one?** Yes, and usually by a wide margin. Acquiring a new donor carries real cost in advertising, content, events and staff time, whereas keeping an existing one largely costs the price of good stewardship. Retained donors also give again, often give more, and can develop into major or recurring givers, so the return on retention compounds in a way acquisition spending does not.

**What is a good donor retention rate?** The national average is around 46 percent, so anything meaningfully above that is doing well, but the more useful target is to beat your own previous year and to improve first-gift retention specifically. Small, steady gains compound powerfully: Hubbub's modeling shows the difference between high and low retention runs to hundreds of donors and over a million dollars across a decade.

**Why is the second gift singled out as so important?** Because first-gift retention is the weakest point in almost every program, and a donor who gives a second time is far more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. Converting first-time donors into second-time donors is the highest-leverage improvement most programs can make.

**Do small nonprofits really need donor personas?** They benefit as much as large ones, often more, because their resources are tighter and personas help them aim limited effort where it counts. Personas are built from your own donor data, conversations and analytics, so you do not need a big budget, only a willingness to look at who your supporters actually are.

**How quickly should we thank a new donor?** Promptly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the gift still feels fresh to them. Make the thank-you personal, with a real signature and a real contact, and where you can, add a call or voicemail, which research links directly to more second gifts and larger ones.

**Where should we start if our retention is poor?** Start by measuring, so you know your retention rate, your churn and where in the journey people lapse, then fix the welcome experience and the second gift first, since that is where most programs leak hardest and where improvement pays back fastest.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Hubbub blogs: [effective lead generation](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [donor churn](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) and [improving donor retention](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Related guides: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/us/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) and [How to build a recurring giving program](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to acquire and retain donors](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) (world/en): A practical guide to donor acquisition and retention, covering lead generation, donor personas, the welcome experience, what drives retention, donor churn, the crucial second gift, reactivation and the metrics that matter.
Most fundraising programmes pour the bulk of their energy into the top of the funnel, chasing new donors, and far less into keeping the ones they already have. The habit is understandable: acquisition is visible, it produces fresh names and immediate income, and it feels like growth. But a programme that only acquires is filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Every new donor you bring in this year is partly, and sometimes wholly, cancelled out by the donors who quietly slip away. The leaky bucket is the single most useful image in donor development: if you do not mend the holes, you have to pour faster and faster just to stay level.

This guide treats acquisition and retention as two halves of one job. It covers how to bring new supporters in through lead generation, how to understand who they are with donor personas, how to welcome them well, what actually keeps them giving, why they lapse, the crucial second gift, how to win back the ones who have drifted, and the handful of metrics that tell you whether any of it is working. It draws throughout on Hubbub's work with charities and on the wider evidence their team has gathered.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/),
> [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) and
> [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/).

## The leaky bucket: why retention matters as much as acquisition

Start with the arithmetic, because it is sobering. The national average donor retention rate sits at around 46 per cent, which means a typical organisation loses more than half of its donors every year. Put the other way round, the average attrition rate is 54 per cent. Acquire a thousand new donors while losing more than half of last year's cohort, and you are running hard to stand still.

The long-term cost of leakage is larger than it looks. Hubbub models two otherwise identical organisations over ten years, one losing 10 per cent of its donors a year and the other losing 25 per cent. That 15-point gap in churn is not a rounding error. Where both bring in new donors and grow their gifts, the lower-churn organisation ends up generating around 81 per cent more in revenue and retaining 997 more donors, roughly 130 per cent more, than its leakier twin. The two started in the same place. The only difference was how well they held on to people.

Retention compounds quietly in a way acquisition never does. A retained donor costs almost nothing to keep relative to the cost of finding a new one, gives again, often gives more, and becomes a candidate for regular giving, a larger gift, or a legacy. Remember too that roughly 80 per cent of fundraising income tends to come from around 20 per cent of donors. Those major supporters did not arrive as major donors. They began as ordinary first-time givers who were retained, stewarded and developed over time. Lose them early and you never find out who they might have become.

None of this is an argument against acquisition. You will always need new donors to replace natural losses and to grow. It is an argument for treating retention as the foundation that acquisition is built on, rather than an afterthought.

## Acquisition channels and lead generation

Acquisition works best as a funnel rather than a single ask. People move from awareness, through interest and engagement, to a first gift, and lead generation is the work of guiding them along that path rather than demanding a donation from a complete stranger. The most effective programmes plan the whole funnel at once, including what happens after someone gives, instead of treating the first gift as the finish line.

Several channels feed the top of that funnel. Your website is the hub: every piece of content you produce should live there, supported by search engine optimisation so people can find you, and by retargeting so the ones who visited but did not act see you again. Social media widens the reach, and the format should follow the audience, with visual content suited to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and written content working well over email and on Facebook with older supporters. Events, peer-to-peer campaigns and in-person moments bring in donors who would rarely surface through a cold appeal; a format such as our [Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) guide shows how an event can deliver large numbers of brand-new supporters in a single week.

Two disciplines make lead generation pay. The first is a content strategy that serves two audiences at once, the prospects you are trying to attract and the supporters you already have, so the same effort does double duty. The second is lead scoring: rather than chasing volume, you rank prospects by how engaged and how likely to give they are, and concentrate your limited time on the warmest. Quality of leads matters more than quantity, because a thousand names who never give are a cost, not an asset.

Above all, the way you acquire shapes how well you retain. Tactics built only to maximise immediate cash and headline donor numbers, with little regard for genuine engagement or the start of a relationship, reliably produce higher churn later. You end up on a treadmill, endlessly replacing the donors your own acquisition methods taught to leave. Acquiring fewer donors who care about your cause beats acquiring many who do not.

## Donor personas: understanding your audience

You cannot tailor what you do not understand, and donor personas are how good programmes turn a faceless database into a handful of people they can picture. A persona is a fictionalised but data-grounded profile of a type of supporter, built from your actual donors rather than from assumptions. It pulls demographics, behaviour and preferences into a recognisable character your whole team can hold in mind when they write an appeal, plan an event or design a web page.

The payoff is measurable rather than merely tidy. Organisations that use personas report shorter average times between a constituent's first interaction and their first donation, and shorter times between a first gift and a second. Personas improve both acquisition and retention, the two outcomes this guide is built around.

Building them is methodical. Start by segmenting your data into meaningful groups, by age, by giving status, by graduation year, by whatever divisions actually matter for your cause. For each group, gather what you can on how they tend to give, whether online, by phone or by post, on the campaigns or triggers that first prompted them to donate, on their demographics, on how they prefer to be contacted, and on what motivates them. Draw on more than one source: your donor database, your website analytics for online givers, and, importantly, direct conversations with engaged donors who will tell you things no spreadsheet can. Then write each persona up as a short profile with a name, a stock photo, a brief biography, their goals and motivations, and their contact preferences, kept deliberately concise and led by the data.

Once they exist, personas only earn their keep if they are used. Share them across the whole organisation and apply them everywhere: the wording of your asks, the shape of your events, your stewardship plans, your communications and even your website design. The point is to stop sending one message to everyone and start speaking to each segment in the terms that move it.

## The welcome and onboarding experience

The riskiest moment in a donor's life with you is the gap between their first gift and their second, and the welcome experience is what carries them across it. A new donor has taken a leap of faith. What you do in the next few days tells them whether that faith was well placed, so a warm, prompt, well-judged welcome is one of the highest-return things a fundraising team can do.

The first act is the thank-you, and timing matters more than polish. Acknowledge a gift quickly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the donor still feels the warmth of having given. Make it personal: a genuine signature, the name and contact details of a real person, and language that sounds like a human being rather than a receipt. A simple call or voicemail can be more powerful still. As fundraising researcher Penelope Burk has found, "donors who receive a call or voicemail are significantly more likely to make that all-important second gift and to increase their gift amount." Few welcome tactics are cheaper or more effective than picking up the phone.

Beyond the thank-you, a good onboarding sequence orients the new supporter. A welcome pack or series can explain what their support makes possible, set out the benefits and opportunities of being involved, point to ways to engage beyond giving such as volunteering, and begin to show impact rather than immediately asking again. Balance is the thing: mix solicitation with genuinely informative content like newsletters and stories, so the relationship does not start and end with a hand held out. Our [welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/) lays out a sequence you can adapt, and the wider craft of moving people through these early stages is covered in our guide to [donor stewardship](/world/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/).

## What drives retention

Retention is not a single tactic but a posture, and the sector has a name for it: relationship fundraising. Ken Burnett, who coined the term, defines it as an approach centred "not around raising money but on developing to its full potential the unique and special relationship between a charity and its supporter." The income follows from the relationship, not the other way around. Programmes that internalise this keep their donors; programmes that treat each donor as a wallet to be reopened do not.

In practice, several behaviours drive the relationship forward. Acknowledge gifts promptly and personally, every time, not just the first. Engage donors before and after a gift rather than only at the point of asking, through tours, events, updates and stories, so you build a connection that does not depend on a transaction. Above all, banish the feeling every lapsed donor describes in some form: "I only hear from you when you want money." If the only contact a supporter has from you is an ask, you have taught them to associate your name with being taken from rather than being part of something.

It helps to understand what people are actually seeking when they give, because it is rarely the transaction. The fundraising thinker Simone Joyaux identifies seven things donors want from their involvement: to be heard, to tell their stories, to realise their dreams, to join a fight, to join a tribe, to feel flattered, and, simply, to matter. A retention strategy worth the name is really a programme for delivering those feelings, consistently, over years.

## Donor churn: why supporters lapse

Churn is the measure of the leak. Hubbub defines it plainly as the percentage of donors who do not give again within twelve months, calculated as the donors lost over a twelve-month period divided by the total donors in that period. A 25 per cent churn rate means a quarter of your donors quietly fail to return each year, and as the ten-year comparison above showed, small differences in that rate compound into enormous differences in donors and revenue.

Supporters lapse for reasons that are mostly within your control. Some are acquired through tactics that were never built for retention, drawn in by a one-off prompt with no relationship behind it, so their departure was effectively decided at the point of acquisition. Many lapse because they felt unthanked, unheard, or contacted only when money was wanted, the precise failures that good retention practice exists to prevent. Others drift simply because nobody noticed they had gone quiet and nobody reached out. A smaller number leave for reasons you genuinely cannot touch, a change in their circumstances or their priorities, but these are the minority. The uncomfortable truth in most churn analysis is that the majority of lapsing is a response to how the donor was treated, which is also the good news, because it means churn is something you can act on rather than merely suffer.

The first step is to see it. Analyse the patterns in your database, segment your lapsing donors, and look for the moments where people tend to fall away, very often the gap after the first gift. Free sector tools such as the AFP's Fundraising Fitness Test and Growth-in-Giving Report help you benchmark, and a donor churn calculator lets you model how a given rate plays out for your own programme over time. You cannot fix a leak you have not located.

## The crucial second gift

If one number decides a programme's future, it is the proportion of first-time donors who give a second time. First-gift retention is notoriously the weakest point in almost every programme, and it is also the highest-leverage one, because a donor who gives twice is dramatically more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. The second gift is the moment a one-off response hardens into a habit.

Almost everything in the earlier sections converges here. The prompt, personal thank-you; the welcome sequence that shows impact before it asks again; the phone call that Penelope Burk's research links directly to second gifts and larger ones: all of it is, in the end, in service of converting that first gift into a second. This is why the welcome experience deserves disproportionate attention and resource. A modest improvement in your first-to-second gift conversion rate ripples through every retention and lifetime-value figure you track for years afterwards, because each donor who clears that hurdle is far more likely to clear all the ones that follow.

The practical implication is to design your programme around the second gift deliberately rather than hoping it happens. Map the journey from first gift onward, decide what you will send and when, make at least one piece of that early contact a genuine thank-you with no ask attached, and treat a second gift not as a happy accident but as the explicit goal of the first ninety days. Our work on [building a regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) goes further, because converting a strong first or second gift into a committed monthly relationship is the surest way to lock in long-term retention.

## Reactivating lapsed donors

Not every departing donor is gone for good. A supporter who gave to you once chose you for a reason, and that reason often still exists, which makes lapsed donors a warmer prospect than cold strangers and reactivation a more efficient use of effort than pure acquisition. The key is to treat win-back as a deliberate programme rather than an occasional guilty afterthought.

Begin by defining what lapsed means for your programme and segmenting accordingly, because a donor who has missed one year needs a different approach from one who last gave five years ago. For the more recently lapsed, a well-judged win-back message that acknowledges the absence without scolding, reminds them of the impact they helped create, and makes it easy to return, can recover a meaningful share. Lead with what their past support achieved and what is possible now, not with the fact that they stopped. Where you can, tailor the approach by persona, since a reason that re-engages one segment will fall flat with another. Our [win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/) gives you a tested starting point to adapt.

Be realistic about the limits. Reactivation will not recover everyone, and the effort is best concentrated on the segments most likely to respond and most valuable if they do. But a structured win-back programme, run consistently, plugs one of the larger holes in the bucket, and it nearly always costs less than acquiring an equivalent number of brand-new donors.

## The metrics that matter

You cannot manage what you do not measure, and donor development rewards a small set of metrics watched closely far more than a large dashboard glanced at occasionally. Three matter most.

**Retention rate** is the share of last year's donors who gave again this year, the direct inverse of attrition. Against a sector average near 46 per cent, even modest improvements are valuable, and the long-run prize is large: Hubbub's modelling shows that lifting retention from 46 per cent to 90 per cent turns a ten-year loss of 786 donors into a net gain of 1,552. Track it overall and, more usefully, by segment and by cohort, paying particular attention to first-gift retention, which is where most programmes leak hardest.

**Donor churn** is the same picture from the other side, the percentage of donors who do not return within twelve months. Calculate it as lost donors over a period divided by total donors in that period, model how your current rate compounds over five and ten years, and use that projection to make the case internally for investing in retention rather than only in acquisition.

**Lifetime value** captures the total worth of a donor over the whole of their relationship with you, not just their first gift. It is the metric that justifies spending on welcome and stewardship, because it reveals that a retained donor is worth a multiple of an acquired one, and it reframes the cost of a thank-you call or a welcome series as an investment with a clear return. Alongside these three, watch time-to-conversion, how long it takes a new contact to make a first gift and then a second, since shortening those gaps, exactly what good personas and onboarding do, lifts every other number on the list.

The discipline that ties it all together is reviewing regularly, with quarterly a sensible rhythm, and giving each strategy enough time to prove itself, with serious assessment points at around six and twelve months. Donor development is a long game, and the programmes that win it are the ones that measure patiently, mend the leaks they find, and keep the bucket full year after year.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it really cheaper to retain a donor than to acquire one?** Yes, and usually by a wide margin. Acquiring a new donor carries real cost in advertising, content, events and staff time, whereas keeping an existing one largely costs the price of good stewardship. Retained donors also give again, often give more, and can develop into major or regular givers, so the return on retention compounds in a way acquisition spending does not.

**What is a good donor retention rate?** The national average is around 46 per cent, so anything meaningfully above that is doing well, but the more useful target is to beat your own previous year and to improve first-gift retention specifically. Small, steady gains compound powerfully: Hubbub's modelling shows the difference between high and low retention runs to hundreds of donors and substantial revenue across a decade.

**Why is the second gift singled out as so important?** Because first-gift retention is the weakest point in almost every programme, and a donor who gives a second time is far more likely to keep giving than one who has given only once. Converting first-time donors into second-time donors is the highest-leverage improvement most programmes can make.

**Do small charities really need donor personas?** They benefit as much as large ones, often more, because their resources are tighter and personas help them aim limited effort where it counts. Personas are built from your own donor data, conversations and analytics, so you do not need a big budget, only a willingness to look at who your supporters actually are.

**How quickly should we thank a new donor?** Promptly, ideally within 24 to 72 hours, while the gift still feels fresh to them. Make the thank-you personal, with a real signature and a real contact, and where you can, add a call or voicemail, which research links directly to more second gifts and larger ones.

**Where should we start if our retention is poor?** Start by measuring, so you know your retention rate, your churn and where in the journey people lapse, then fix the welcome experience and the second gift first, since that is where most programmes leak hardest and where improvement pays back fastest.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor acquisition plan template](/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/)
- [Welcome journey template](/resources/welcome-journey-template/)
- [Win-back email template](/resources/win-back-email-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Hubbub blogs: [effective lead generation](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities), [donor churn](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/donor-churn-how-is-it-affecting-your-fundraising-goals) and [improving donor retention](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/are-your-donors-jumping-ship-improve-donor-retention-with-these-strategies)
- Related guides: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/world/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to steward donors and design donor journeys](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (canz/en): A practical guide to donor stewardship and designing donor journeys, covering why stewardship drives retention, mapping the journey, thanking well, impact reporting, video and digital stewardship, and turning one-off donors into regular supporters.
Stewardship is everything you do with a donor after they have given: the thank-you, the impact
update, the phone call, the next invitation to be involved, and the steady drip of contact that
reminds someone why they gave in the first place. Acquisition gets a new supporter through the
door. Stewardship decides whether they stay, give again, and grow into the kind of committed donor
every organisation depends on. Yet it is the part of the cycle most teams under-resource, because
the money for a new gift feels more urgent than the money for a gift you have already banked.

This guide is about closing that gap. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on
the experience of three practitioners: Kat Carter of Hubbub, Rose Cohen of the University of
Exeter, and Dr Adrian Sargeant of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. The argument running
through it is simple. Stewardship is not a nicety bolted on at the end. It is the activity that
protects the return on everything else you do. The sections below work through what stewardship
is, how to map a donor journey, and the practical building blocks: thanking, impact reporting,
segmentation, format, cadence, conversion and measurement.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) and
> [thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## What stewardship is, and why it drives retention

Stewardship is more than saying thank you. As Kat Carter framed it, the real prize is not the
thank-you but what it leads to: "The main goal is donor retention. We want to acquire those donors
and get them giving. And then we want to retain them and keep them giving so that we can have them
for a good long while and move them into other activities, whether they be major gifts, legacy
giving, higher end annual giving, or maybe even just volunteering."

The case for taking retention seriously is brutal, because the sector is not good at it.
Dr Adrian Sargeant, one of the leading voices on donor loyalty, put it bluntly: "In a sense, not
much has changed in 20 years in terms of loyalty and retention. We weren't very good at it 20
years ago. We're terrible at it today." He pointed to a pattern of attrition that should give
every fundraiser pause: "We know that between that first gift and second year retention that we're
only able to retain less than 70 per cent of donors. That's a terrible pattern of attrition. That
is an enormous level of churn. And of course, that comes at great expense to nonprofits who are
wasting time and money communicating with people who aren't necessarily going to give again."

The flip side is where stewardship earns its place. Small improvements in retention compound into
enormous gains in lifetime value, because a donor you keep this year is a donor you can keep next
year, and the year after, and one who may upgrade, recommend a friend, volunteer, or eventually
leave a legacy. In Sargeant's words: "Even small improvements you can engineer in retention in the
here and now translate to whopping improvements in the lifetime value of a fundraising database."
He made the scale concrete: "So 10 per cent increase in retention and loyalty now can lead to
something like a 200 per cent increase in the lifetime value of that fundraising database." The
reason is compounding: "You lose fewer people this year. You've got more next year and the year
thereafter. People hang around for longer. They upgrade their giving. They recommend a friend.
They do volunteering. They give to the emergency appeal." Stewardship, then, is not a soft
activity. It is the lever with the highest return in fundraising, and the one most often left
half-pulled.

## The donor journey, and why you should map it

A donor journey is the planned path a supporter travels from their first gift to wherever you want
them to end up: a second gift, a regular commitment, an upgrade, a legacy conversation. Mapping it
forces you to be deliberate about the moments in between, rather than leaving the relationship to
chance and the occasional generic newsletter.

The mechanics are not complicated. You decide where a donor starts, where you want them to finish,
and what happens in between. As Kat Carter described it, you might "take a first time donor and get
them to repeat that gift or upgrade that gift. You can say this is where they're starting. This is
where I want them to finish. And these are the activities that are going to happen in between." The
same discipline applies at every level of giving. A long-standing regular donor you hope to
cultivate towards a major gift needs a different journey from a first-time online donor, but both
deserve one that is designed rather than assumed.

Mapping makes stewardship visible and accountable. Once the journey is on paper, you can see the
gaps: the long silences, the months where a donor hears nothing, and the places where your
communications pull in different directions. Carter's caution is worth heeding. A journey "does
take a little bit of time. But if you take the time to do that in the beginning, then everything
else can follow from it. And then you just have to make sure that they're updated and thought about
on a kind of regular basis to make sure everyone's on the right track."

The case for mapping is sharpest in the gap between how we communicate before a gift and after it.
During an appeal the communications flow freely; the moment the gift lands, they fall away. Carter
noted that only around a third of donors hear anything in the first month after giving,
and then contact tails off sharply. The consequence is predictable: "When we stop communicating,
and our stewardship goes cold, and our donor retention declines, it then starts an uphill battle,
and it's very difficult to come back from." A mapped journey is the simplest insurance against that
silence.

## Thanking well, and thanking promptly

If retention is the goal, the thank-you is still the first move, and it deserves its own moment
rather than being folded into the next ask. This matters most in the days immediately after a big,
intense fundraising push. After a [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), you have
hundreds or thousands of donors who have just acted on a wave of emotion, and the worst thing you
can do is go quiet on them, or treat the receipt email as the end of the relationship. The day
after a Giving Day is a stewardship opportunity, not an admin task.

A good thank-you does three things. It is prompt, so the donor feels their gift mattered while the
feeling of giving is still fresh. It is specific, so it connects the gift to something real rather
than offering a generic acknowledgement. And it carries no ask, so the donor experiences being
appreciated rather than being asked again. Rose Cohen described exactly this kind of contact at
Exeter: a stewardship communication "thanking them for their support and demonstrating the impact
and what they're going to use the money for and exactly what that's going to enable that team to
do. It was just a pure stewardship communication, no ask attached at all."

The same principle extends to the phone. Exeter built "pure stewardship calls" into their telephone
programme, and Cohen named it as one of her two most impactful changes. The shift was in
sequencing: "I think in the past we've focused too much on conversion and upgrading donors too
quickly. So now we always start with a pure stewardship and then we alternate between that and
asking to give again or upgrading for regular donors if they're regular donors. And I think that's
transformed our stewardship and our results." A thank-you that exists only to thank, with nothing
attached, is one of the cheapest and most powerful things you can send. Our
[thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) give you a warm
starting point to adapt.

## Impact reporting: show donors what their gift did

Trust is one of the great drivers of loyalty, and it is built largely through impact reporting.
Sargeant named it alongside satisfaction and commitment: "Trust in the organisation, trust that the
organisation is going to do what it says it's going to do with the money and with the impact that
your gift is going to have on the beneficiary group." Impact reporting is how you earn that trust,
gift after gift.

The most effective impact reporting is specific, human and free of jargon. It tells a story about
what changed because of the donor's money, ideally in the words of the people closest to the work.
Cohen's example from Exeter is instructive. For World Cancer Research Day, her team emailed their
cancer donors a video of the lead researcher, thanking them and explaining precisely what their
support would fund. The result was a 71 per cent open rate, well above their general stewardship
communications, and "some really nice comments back from it as well."

Reporting back also gives you a reason to communicate that has nothing to do with asking, which is
exactly the kind of contact that builds a relationship rather than spending it. The discipline is
to make impact the centre of your stewardship calendar, not an afterthought squeezed into an annual
report. Our [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) helps you
structure an update that leads with what the donor's gift achieved.

## Designing segmented journeys for digital donors

The biggest practical shift in Exeter's approach was moving from general communications to
segmented ones. The problem with the general approach is familiar to anyone fundraising for a broad
organisation: you end up talking about everything to everyone. As Cohen put it, "the breadth of
funds that people can give to universities and education means that we were talking about a lot of
stuff. And I think we were losing people because someone perhaps that has given to support students
might not necessarily want to hear about our climate change research, for example." Open rates
fell, and that decline was the signal to change.

The answer was what Exeter call tracks: aligning each donor to the area they care about and talking
to them about that. "We're trying to align all of our donor database with a particular track. So
the area that they're most interested in." A donor who gave to a cancer appeal goes on the cancer
track and hears about cancer research. "If someone's shown an interest in that area, that's what
we're going to talk to them about. We're going to show them the impact of that giving. Hopefully
then they'll give again. They'll convert to a regular gift or they'll upgrade."

Segmentation also sharpens the small details that drive engagement. Subject lines are a good
example: when a communication is bespoke, say so, and make it recognisable. Rather than a generic
"thank you from the University", the email came from the named researcher behind the original
appeal, so the donor's reaction was, in Carter's paraphrase, "Oh, I gave to that. OK, I'm
interested. I'm going to open this." A subject line that says "the impact you've made on cancer
research" lands very differently from one that says "your gift". Our
[donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) gives you a
framework for mapping these tracks across your supporter base.

Language threads through everything Exeter tested. Following Sargeant's work on relationship
fundraising, both Exeter and Hubbub have experimented with emotional rather than transactional
wording, talking about a donor's kindness rather than their donation. As Cohen put it, "your
kindness will have an impact, not just your donation. So it's that emotional connection rather than
just transactional." Early results have been positive, both in asks and in retention, and it costs
nothing to test.

## Video and other engaging stewardship formats

Stewardship does not have to be expensive to be effective, but it does have to be engaging, and the
format matters. Video is the clearest example. The Exeter researcher video that achieved a 71 per
cent open rate worked because it put a real human face to the impact, and because it disrupted the
usual flow of stewardship email with something the donor wanted to watch. Every stewardship message
is, as Carter described it, an opportunity to "disrupt the noise within email" and remind the donor
of the impact they made and how good it felt.

The phone is the other under-used channel, and digital fundraising actually makes it more viable.
Carter highlighted that when organisations run Giving Days, "60 to 75 per cent of those who give a
giving day gift leave their phone number. That's good, clean, recent data that you can use to pick
up the phone and have a good conversation, a personal conversation about impact and a chance to
speak to your donors directly." A stewardship call, framed as impact and gratitude rather than a
fresh ask, is among the warmest contacts you can make. Exeter found that their pure-stewardship
calls produced better pick-up rates, longer and stronger conversations, and, when the next ask did
come, a higher giving rate.

None of this needs to be elaborate, a point Cohen returned to: "Stewardship for me is all about
telling those stories and it can be done on low budget, but with high impact. So, yeah, I'd say
just try it and see how you get on."

## Setting a regular cadence

The single most common stewardship failing is going quiet. Teams fear over-communicating and so
under-communicate, and the donor drifts away. Carter's challenge to that instinct is direct: most
organisations email their donors far too little. Once a month is a sensible target to aim for, and
if that feels like a lot, "maybe every two months, maybe once a quarter and starting to talk more
frequently." The principle is to stay top of mind, so that the donor is reminded of their impact on
a continual basis rather than hearing from you once a year.

The fear of being a nuisance is understandable but usually misplaced. As Carter observed, "Lots of
brands will send you emails every day from a kind of commercial environment, and they wouldn't do
that if it didn't work. Not everybody is going to click every email. Not everybody is going to buy
something from every email. And so not every donor will donate from every email. But if you give
them enough opportunities, they will at the right time when it's right for them." The job of the
cadence is to be present in that moment when the donor is ready to act, identify with you, or simply
feel good about giving again.

This does not mean emailing blindly. The same metrics that tell you to communicate more will tell
you when to ease off. Open rates, click rates, unsubscribes and spam triggers are your early warning
system, and a good cadence is one you adjust by watching them, not one you set and forget.

## Turning one-off donors into regular givers

A one-off gift is not the end of a relationship, it is the start of one, and the worst thing you can
do is wait passively for the next campaign before you speak to that donor again. Asked whether
Giving Day donors needed to wait for the next Giving Day before being asked again, Carter's answer
was emphatic: "Don't wait. Start them on a stewardship journey. Start them on a retention journey.
Put them into a track. Do that kind of donor planning. And just as you would start to ask all your
other donors, give them the opportunity."

The route from one-off to regular runs through stewardship first and the ask second. You thank, you
report impact, you keep the donor warm on a track that matters to them, and then, at the next
natural opportunity, you ask again. That ask might be a telephone campaign, a direct mail piece or
an appeal, and it need not be tied to a repeat of the original event. Exeter proved the point:
having run a Giving Day some years earlier and not repeated it, they continued to ask those donors
through other channels, "and they do give again because it's that affinity." If the prospect of
asking recent donors makes you nervous, Carter's advice is to test it on a small sample first, look
at the early data, and then roll it out with confidence rather than assumption.

The mechanism that makes all of this work is the journey. A first-time donor placed on a track,
thanked properly, shown their impact and asked again at the right moment is a candidate for a
regular gift or an upgrade. A first-time donor left alone after the receipt email is, statistically,
already half gone.

## Measuring stewardship

Stewardship that is not measured tends to drift back to the bottom of the priority list, so the
final discipline is to track it. The headline metrics are retention rates: overall retention,
first-time donor retention, repeat donor retention and regular-giving retention. These are the
numbers that tell you whether your stewardship is working, and they are the numbers Sargeant's whole
argument rests on. Second-gift conversion, the proportion of first-time donors who give again, is
the sharpest of these, because first-time retention is where the sector haemorrhages supporters and
where small gains compound the most.

Alongside retention, watch the engagement metrics that act as leading indicators: open rates, click
rates, the cadence of donations against income, unsubscribes and spam triggers. Exeter's own
turnaround was visible in exactly these figures. Falling open rates on generic emails were the
warning that prompted the change, and a 71 per cent open rate on a targeted stewardship email was
the early proof that it was working. In non-digital channels, the equivalent measures are telephone
pick-up rates and the quality and length of conversations, both of which improved once Exeter moved
to pure stewardship calls.

One more measure is worth borrowing from Sargeant, because satisfaction is the single biggest driver
of loyalty and almost nobody tracks it. The remedy is a short donor survey, a few minutes to
complete, that asks how donors feel about the service they receive and gives them room to raise
anything that has not worked. The follow-up matters more than the fix. Sargeant described the service
recovery paradox: "People who've had an issue, if they tell you about it and you fix it for them,
they are a heck of a lot more loyal than if they'd never had a problem in the first place." Even
where you cannot fix something, listening and acknowledging builds loyalty, which is why he prefers
to call complaints "opportunities to build loyalty".

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between stewardship and a thank-you?** A thank-you is one moment within
stewardship. Stewardship is the whole ongoing relationship after the gift: thanking, reporting
impact, staying in touch on a regular cadence, and inviting the donor into the next thing. As Kat
Carter put it, the thank-you is not the goal; donor retention is, and stewardship is how you reach
it.

**How often should we contact donors?** More often than most teams do. Aim for roughly monthly, and
if that feels too much, every two months or quarterly is a reasonable starting point. The aim is to
stay top of mind and keep reminding donors of their impact, while watching open rates, unsubscribes
and spam triggers to know when to ease off.

**Is it really worth investing in retention rather than acquisition?** Yes. Retention compounds.
Dr Adrian Sargeant cites a 10 per cent improvement in retention leading to something like a 200 per
cent increase in the lifetime value of a database, because donors you keep upgrade, recommend
friends, volunteer and may eventually leave a legacy. Acquisition without stewardship simply refills
a leaking bucket.

**Should we ask recent donors to give again, or wait?** Do not wait. Start them on a stewardship
journey straight away, thank them, report impact, and ask again at the next natural opportunity,
whether that is a telephone campaign, direct mail or an appeal. If you are nervous, test on a small
sample first and look at the early data before rolling it out.

**Do we need a big budget or special technology for good stewardship?** No. Rose Cohen of Exeter was
clear that their results came from telling stories well, segmenting donors onto tracks they care
about, and pure stewardship contact, all done on a low budget with high impact. Keep it simple to
start with, prove it works, and grow from there.

**Which metrics matter most for stewardship?** Retention rates first: overall, first-time, repeat
and regular-giving retention, plus second-gift conversion. Then engagement indicators such as open
rates, click rates, unsubscribes and, for telephone, pick-up rates and conversation quality.
Consider a short donor satisfaction survey too, since satisfaction is the biggest driver of loyalty
and almost nobody measures it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [creating engaging stewardship journeys for digital donors](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) and [creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Hubbub blog: why thanking deserves its own moment](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Related guide: [How to build a regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Spenderbindung und die Gestaltung von Spenderreisen](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (europe/de): Ein praxisnaher Leitfaden zur Spenderbindung und zur Gestaltung von Spenderreisen, der erklärt, warum Spenderbindung die Bindungsrate steigert, wie man die Reise abbildet, gut dankt, über Wirkung berichtet, Video und digitale Betreuung nutzt und einmalige Spender zu regelmäßigen Unterstützern macht.
Spenderbindung ist alles, was Sie mit einer Spenderin oder einem Spender tun, nachdem sie gegeben haben: das Dankeschön, die Wirkungsaktualisierung, der Telefonanruf, die nächste Einladung zur Beteiligung und der stetige Strom an Kontakten, der jemanden daran erinnert, warum er ursprünglich gespendet hat. Die Akquise bringt eine neue Unterstützerin durch die Tür. Die Spenderbindung entscheidet, ob sie bleibt, erneut gibt und zu der Art von engagiertem Spender heranwächst, von der jede Organisation abhängt. Dennoch ist es der Teil des Zyklus, den die meisten Teams am wenigsten mit Ressourcen ausstatten, weil das Geld für eine neue Spende dringender erscheint als das Geld für eine Spende, die bereits eingegangen ist.

In diesem Leitfaden geht es darum, diese Lücke zu schließen. Er stützt sich auf bewährte Verfahren der Beraterinnen und Berater von Hubbub und auf die Erfahrung von drei Fachleuten: Kat Carter von Hubbub, Rose Cohen von der University of Exeter und Dr. Adrian Sargeant vom Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. Das durchgängige Argument ist einfach. Spenderbindung ist keine nette Beigabe, die am Ende angehängt wird. Sie ist die Tätigkeit, die den Ertrag all dessen schützt, was Sie sonst tun. Die folgenden Abschnitte arbeiten heraus, was Spenderbindung ist, wie man eine Spenderreise abbildet, und die praktischen Bausteine: Danken, Wirkungsberichte, Segmentierung, Format, Taktung, Konversion und Messung.

> **Praktische Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Vorlage für die Spenderbindungsreise](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> unsere [E-Mail-Vorlage für den Wirkungsbericht](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) und unsere
> [Vorlagen für Dankesnachrichten](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) herunterzuladen.

## Was Spenderbindung ist und warum sie die Bindungsrate steigert

Spenderbindung ist mehr als Danke sagen. Wie Kat Carter es formulierte, ist der eigentliche Gewinn nicht das Dankeschön, sondern das, wozu es führt: „Das Hauptziel ist die Spenderbindung. Wir wollen diese Spender gewinnen und sie zum Spenden bringen. Und dann wollen wir sie halten und dafür sorgen, dass sie weiter spenden, damit wir sie für eine schöne lange Zeit behalten und sie zu anderen Aktivitäten hinführen können, seien es Großspenden, Nachlassspenden, höhere jährliche Spenden oder vielleicht sogar einfach ehrenamtliche Arbeit."

Das Argument, die Bindung ernst zu nehmen, ist brutal, denn der Sektor ist nicht gut darin. Dr. Adrian Sargeant, eine der führenden Stimmen zur Spendertreue, sagte es unverblümt: „In gewisser Weise hat sich in 20 Jahren in puncto Treue und Bindung nicht viel geändert. Wir waren vor 20 Jahren nicht sehr gut darin. Wir sind heute miserabel darin." Er wies auf ein Abwanderungsmuster hin, das jeder Fundraiserin und jedem Fundraiser zu denken geben sollte: „Wir wissen, dass wir zwischen der ersten Spende und der Bindung im zweiten Jahr nur weniger als 70 Prozent der Spender halten können. Das ist ein furchtbares Abwanderungsmuster. Das ist ein enormes Maß an Fluktuation. Und natürlich geschieht das unter großen Kosten für gemeinnützige Organisationen, die Zeit und Geld damit verschwenden, mit Menschen zu kommunizieren, die nicht unbedingt wieder spenden werden."

Die Kehrseite ist genau dort, wo sich die Spenderbindung ihren Platz verdient. Kleine Verbesserungen der Bindung summieren sich zu enormen Zuwächsen beim Lebenszeitwert, denn eine Spenderin, die Sie dieses Jahr halten, ist eine Spenderin, die Sie nächstes Jahr halten können, und das Jahr darauf, und die ihre Spende erhöhen, eine Freundin empfehlen, ehrenamtlich arbeiten oder schließlich ein Vermächtnis hinterlassen kann. In Sargeants Worten: „Selbst kleine Verbesserungen, die Sie im Hier und Jetzt bei der Bindung erreichen können, übersetzen sich in gewaltige Verbesserungen beim Lebenszeitwert einer Fundraising-Datenbank." Er machte die Größenordnung greifbar: „Eine Steigerung der Bindung und Treue um 10 Prozent jetzt kann also zu etwa einer Steigerung des Lebenszeitwerts dieser Fundraising-Datenbank um 200 Prozent führen." Der Grund ist die Aufzinsung: „Sie verlieren dieses Jahr weniger Menschen. Sie haben nächstes Jahr und im Jahr danach mehr. Die Menschen bleiben länger. Sie erhöhen ihre Spende. Sie empfehlen eine Freundin. Sie arbeiten ehrenamtlich. Sie spenden für den Nothilfeaufruf." Spenderbindung ist also keine weiche Tätigkeit. Sie ist der Hebel mit dem höchsten Ertrag im Fundraising und derjenige, der am häufigsten nur zur Hälfte gezogen wird.

## Die Spenderreise und warum Sie sie abbilden sollten

Eine Spenderreise ist der geplante Weg, den eine Unterstützerin von ihrer ersten Spende bis dorthin zurücklegt, wo Sie sie haben möchten: eine zweite Spende, eine regelmäßige Verpflichtung, eine Erhöhung, ein Gespräch über ein Vermächtnis. Sie abzubilden zwingt Sie, bewusst mit den dazwischenliegenden Momenten umzugehen, statt die Beziehung dem Zufall und dem gelegentlichen generischen Newsletter zu überlassen.

Die Mechanik ist nicht kompliziert. Sie entscheiden, wo eine Spenderin beginnt, wo sie ankommen soll und was dazwischen geschieht. Wie Kat Carter es beschrieb, könnten Sie „eine Erstspenderin nehmen und sie dazu bringen, diese Spende zu wiederholen oder zu erhöhen. Sie können sagen: Hier fängt sie an. Hier möchte ich, dass sie ankommt. Und das sind die Aktivitäten, die dazwischen stattfinden werden." Dieselbe Disziplin gilt auf jeder Spendenebene. Eine langjährige regelmäßige Spenderin, die Sie hoffentlich zu einer Großspende hinführen, braucht eine andere Reise als eine Online-Erstspenderin, aber beide verdienen eine Reise, die gestaltet und nicht vorausgesetzt ist.

Das Abbilden macht Spenderbindung sichtbar und nachvollziehbar. Sobald die Reise auf dem Papier steht, können Sie die Lücken sehen: die langen Schweigephasen, die Monate, in denen eine Spenderin nichts hört, und die Stellen, an denen Ihre Kommunikation in verschiedene Richtungen zieht. Carters Mahnung verdient Beachtung. Eine Reise „braucht tatsächlich ein bisschen Zeit. Aber wenn Sie sich die Zeit nehmen, das am Anfang zu tun, dann kann alles andere daraus folgen. Und dann müssen Sie nur dafür sorgen, dass sie aktualisiert und regelmäßig bedacht wird, um sicherzustellen, dass alle auf dem richtigen Weg sind."

Das Argument für das Abbilden ist am schärfsten in der Lücke zwischen der Art, wie wir vor einer Spende und nach ihr kommunizieren. Während eines Aufrufs fließt die Kommunikation reichlich; in dem Moment, in dem die Spende eingeht, versiegt sie. Carter merkte an, dass nur etwa ein Drittel der Spender im ersten Monat nach der Spende überhaupt etwas hört, und danach der Kontakt stark abnimmt. Die Folge ist vorhersehbar: „Wenn wir aufhören zu kommunizieren und unsere Betreuung erkaltet und unsere Spenderbindung sinkt, beginnt ein Kampf gegen den Strom, von dem es sehr schwer ist, zurückzukommen." Eine abgebildete Reise ist die einfachste Versicherung gegen dieses Schweigen.

## Gut danken und prompt danken

Wenn Bindung das Ziel ist, bleibt das Dankeschön dennoch der erste Zug, und es verdient seinen eigenen Moment, statt in die nächste Bitte gefaltet zu werden. Das ist am wichtigsten in den Tagen unmittelbar nach einem großen, intensiven Fundraising-Vorstoß. Nach einem [Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) haben Sie Hunderte oder Tausende von Spendern, die gerade auf einer Welle der Emotion gehandelt haben, und das Schlimmste, was Sie tun können, ist, gegenüber ihnen zu verstummen oder die Quittungs-E-Mail als Ende der Beziehung zu behandeln. Der Tag nach einem Spendentag ist eine Gelegenheit zur Spenderbindung, keine Verwaltungsaufgabe.

Ein gutes Dankeschön tut drei Dinge. Es ist prompt, damit die Spenderin spürt, dass ihre Spende wichtig war, solange das Gefühl des Gebens noch frisch ist. Es ist konkret, damit es die Spende mit etwas Realem verbindet, statt eine generische Bestätigung anzubieten. Und es enthält keine Bitte, sodass die Spenderin erlebt, geschätzt zu werden, statt erneut gebeten zu werden. Rose Cohen beschrieb genau diese Art von Kontakt in Exeter: eine Betreuungskommunikation, „die ihnen für ihre Unterstützung dankt und die Wirkung aufzeigt und wofür sie das Geld verwenden werden und was genau das diesem Team ermöglichen wird. Es war eine reine Betreuungskommunikation, ganz ohne angehängte Bitte."

Dasselbe Prinzip erstreckt sich auf das Telefon. Exeter baute „reine Betreuungsanrufe" in sein Telefonprogramm ein, und Cohen nannte dies als eine ihrer zwei wirkungsvollsten Änderungen. Die Verschiebung lag in der Abfolge: „Ich glaube, in der Vergangenheit haben wir uns zu sehr auf Konversion und das zu schnelle Hochstufen von Spendern konzentriert. Also beginnen wir jetzt immer mit reiner Betreuung und wechseln dann zwischen dieser und der Bitte, erneut zu spenden oder bei regelmäßigen Spendern zu erhöhen, wenn sie regelmäßige Spender sind. Und ich glaube, das hat unsere Betreuung und unsere Ergebnisse verwandelt." Ein Dankeschön, das nur dazu da ist, zu danken, ohne etwas Angehängtes, ist eines der kostengünstigsten und wirkungsvollsten Dinge, die Sie senden können. Unsere [Vorlagen für Dankesnachrichten](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) geben Ihnen einen warmen Ausgangspunkt zum Anpassen.

## Wirkungsberichte: Zeigen Sie Spendern, was ihre Spende bewirkt hat

Vertrauen ist einer der großen Treiber der Treue, und es wird größtenteils durch Wirkungsberichte aufgebaut. Sargeant nannte es neben Zufriedenheit und Bindung: „Vertrauen in die Organisation, Vertrauen, dass die Organisation tun wird, was sie sagt, dass sie mit dem Geld tun wird, und in die Wirkung, die Ihre Spende auf die Gruppe der Begünstigten haben wird." Wirkungsberichte sind die Art, wie Sie sich dieses Vertrauen verdienen, Spende für Spende.

Die wirkungsvollsten Wirkungsberichte sind konkret, menschlich und frei von Fachjargon. Sie erzählen eine Geschichte darüber, was sich durch das Geld der Spenderin verändert hat, idealerweise in den Worten der Menschen, die der Arbeit am nächsten stehen. Cohens Beispiel aus Exeter ist aufschlussreich. Zum Weltkrebsforschungstag mailte ihr Team den krebsbezogenen Spendern ein Video der leitenden Forscherin, das ihnen dankte und genau erklärte, was ihre Unterstützung finanzieren würde. Das Ergebnis war eine Öffnungsrate von 71 Prozent, weit über ihren allgemeinen Betreuungskommunikationen, und „auch einige wirklich schöne Rückmeldungen darauf".

Zurückzuberichten gibt Ihnen außerdem einen Grund zu kommunizieren, der nichts mit dem Bitten zu tun hat, und das ist genau die Art von Kontakt, die eine Beziehung aufbaut, statt sie zu verbrauchen. Die Disziplin besteht darin, Wirkung in den Mittelpunkt Ihres Betreuungskalenders zu stellen, und nicht als nachträglichen Einfall, der in einen Jahresbericht gequetscht wird. Unsere [E-Mail-Vorlage für den Wirkungsbericht](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) hilft Ihnen, eine Aktualisierung zu strukturieren, die mit dem beginnt, was die Spende der Spenderin erreicht hat.

## Segmentierte Reisen für digitale Spender gestalten

Die größte praktische Verschiebung in Exeters Ansatz war der Wechsel von allgemeiner zu segmentierter Kommunikation. Das Problem des allgemeinen Ansatzes ist jedem vertraut, der für eine breit aufgestellte Organisation Fundraising betreibt: Man redet am Ende mit allen über alles. Wie Cohen es ausdrückte: „die Bandbreite an Fonds, für die man an Universitäten und Bildung spenden kann, bedeutete, dass wir über eine Menge Dinge sprachen. Und ich glaube, wir verloren Menschen, weil jemand, der vielleicht zur Unterstützung von Studierenden gespendet hat, nicht unbedingt von unserer Klimaforschung hören wollte, zum Beispiel." Die Öffnungsraten fielen, und dieser Rückgang war das Signal zur Änderung.

Die Antwort war das, was Exeter „Tracks" (Spuren) nennt: jeden Spender an den Bereich auszurichten, der ihm am Herzen liegt, und mit ihm darüber zu sprechen. „Wir versuchen, unsere gesamte Spenderdatenbank an einer bestimmten Spur auszurichten. Also dem Bereich, an dem sie am meisten interessiert sind." Ein Spender, der für einen Krebsaufruf gegeben hat, kommt auf die Krebsspur und hört über Krebsforschung. „Wenn jemand Interesse an diesem Bereich gezeigt hat, dann ist es das, worüber wir mit ihm sprechen werden. Wir werden ihm die Wirkung dieses Gebens zeigen. Hoffentlich gibt er dann erneut. Er wandelt sich zu einer regelmäßigen Spende um oder erhöht."

Segmentierung schärft auch die kleinen Details, die Engagement antreiben. Betreffzeilen sind ein gutes Beispiel: Wenn eine Kommunikation maßgeschneidert ist, sagen Sie es, und machen Sie sie erkennbar. Statt eines generischen „Danke von der Universität" kam die E-Mail von der namentlich genannten Forscherin hinter dem ursprünglichen Aufruf, sodass die Reaktion des Spenders, in Carters Umschreibung, war: „Oh, dafür habe ich gespendet. Okay, das interessiert mich. Ich werde das öffnen." Eine Betreffzeile, die lautet „die Wirkung, die Sie auf die Krebsforschung hatten", kommt ganz anders an als eine, die lautet „Ihre Spende". Unsere [Vorlage für die Spenderbindungsreise](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) gibt Ihnen einen Rahmen, um diese Spuren über Ihre Unterstützerbasis hinweg abzubilden.

Sprache zieht sich durch alles, was Exeter getestet hat. Im Anschluss an Sargeants Arbeit zum beziehungsorientierten Fundraising haben sowohl Exeter als auch Hubbub mit emotionalen statt transaktionalen Formulierungen experimentiert, indem sie von der Freundlichkeit einer Spenderin statt von ihrer Spende sprachen. Wie Cohen es ausdrückte: „Ihre Freundlichkeit wird eine Wirkung haben, nicht nur Ihre Spende. Es ist also diese emotionale Verbindung statt nur eine transaktionale." Frühe Ergebnisse waren positiv, sowohl bei Bitten als auch bei der Bindung, und es kostet nichts, es zu testen.

## Video und andere ansprechende Betreuungsformate

Spenderbindung muss nicht teuer sein, um wirksam zu sein, aber sie muss ansprechend sein, und das Format ist wichtig. Video ist das deutlichste Beispiel. Das Forschervideo aus Exeter, das eine Öffnungsrate von 71 Prozent erreichte, funktionierte, weil es der Wirkung ein echtes menschliches Gesicht gab und weil es den üblichen Fluss von Betreuungs-E-Mails mit etwas durchbrach, das der Spender sehen wollte. Jede Betreuungsnachricht ist, wie Carter es beschrieb, eine Gelegenheit, „den Lärm im E-Mail-Postfach zu durchbrechen" und den Spender an die Wirkung zu erinnern, die er erzielt hat, und wie gut sich das anfühlte.

Das Telefon ist der andere unterausgenutzte Kanal, und digitales Fundraising macht es tatsächlich tragfähiger. Carter hob hervor, dass, wenn Organisationen Spendentage durchführen, „60 bis 75 Prozent derjenigen, die eine Spendentagsspende geben, ihre Telefonnummer hinterlassen. Das sind gute, saubere, aktuelle Daten, die Sie nutzen können, um zum Hörer zu greifen und ein gutes Gespräch zu führen, ein persönliches Gespräch über Wirkung und eine Gelegenheit, direkt mit Ihren Spendern zu sprechen." Ein Betreuungsanruf, gerahmt als Wirkung und Dankbarkeit statt als frische Bitte, gehört zu den wärmsten Kontakten, die Sie herstellen können. Exeter stellte fest, dass ihre reinen Betreuungsanrufe bessere Annahmequoten, längere und stärkere Gespräche und, wenn die nächste Bitte kam, eine höhere Spendenrate hervorbrachten.

Nichts davon muss aufwendig sein, ein Punkt, auf den Cohen zurückkam: „Spenderbindung dreht sich für mich ganz darum, diese Geschichten zu erzählen, und das lässt sich mit kleinem Budget, aber großer Wirkung machen. Also, ja, ich würde sagen, probieren Sie es einfach aus und schauen Sie, wie es läuft."

## Eine regelmäßige Taktung festlegen

Das mit Abstand häufigste Versäumnis bei der Spenderbindung ist das Verstummen. Teams fürchten, zu viel zu kommunizieren, und kommunizieren deshalb zu wenig, und die Spenderin driftet davon. Carters Herausforderung an diesen Instinkt ist direkt: Die meisten Organisationen mailen ihren Spendern viel zu wenig. Einmal im Monat ist ein vernünftiges Ziel, das man anstreben kann, und wenn sich das nach viel anfühlt, „vielleicht alle zwei Monate, vielleicht einmal im Quartal, und anfangen, häufiger zu sprechen". Das Prinzip ist, präsent zu bleiben, sodass die Spenderin fortlaufend an ihre Wirkung erinnert wird, statt einmal im Jahr von Ihnen zu hören.

Die Angst, lästig zu sein, ist verständlich, aber meist fehl am Platz. Wie Carter beobachtete: „Viele Marken schicken Ihnen jeden Tag E-Mails aus einem kommerziellen Umfeld, und das würden sie nicht tun, wenn es nicht funktionierte. Nicht jeder wird auf jede E-Mail klicken. Nicht jeder wird aus jeder E-Mail etwas kaufen. Und so wird nicht jeder Spender aus jeder E-Mail spenden. Aber wenn Sie ihnen genügend Gelegenheiten geben, werden sie es zum richtigen Zeitpunkt tun, wenn es für sie passt." Die Aufgabe der Taktung ist, in jenem Moment präsent zu sein, in dem die Spenderin bereit ist zu handeln, sich mit Ihnen zu identifizieren oder sich einfach gut dabei zu fühlen, erneut zu spenden.

Das bedeutet nicht, blind zu mailen. Dieselben Kennzahlen, die Ihnen sagen, mehr zu kommunizieren, sagen Ihnen auch, wann Sie zurückfahren sollten. Öffnungsraten, Klickraten, Abmeldungen und Spam-Auslöser sind Ihr Frühwarnsystem, und eine gute Taktung ist eine, die Sie anpassen, indem Sie sie beobachten, nicht eine, die Sie festlegen und vergessen.

## Einmalige Spender in regelmäßige Geber verwandeln

Eine einmalige Spende ist nicht das Ende einer Beziehung, sie ist der Anfang, und das Schlimmste, was Sie tun können, ist, passiv auf die nächste Kampagne zu warten, bevor Sie wieder mit diesem Spender sprechen. Auf die Frage, ob Spendentagsspender bis zum nächsten Spendentag warten müssten, bevor sie erneut gebeten würden, war Carters Antwort nachdrücklich: „Warten Sie nicht. Starten Sie sie auf einer Betreuungsreise. Starten Sie sie auf einer Bindungsreise. Setzen Sie sie auf eine Spur. Machen Sie diese Art der Spenderplanung. Und genau wie Sie anfangen würden, alle Ihre anderen Spender zu bitten, geben Sie ihnen die Gelegenheit."

Der Weg von einmalig zu regelmäßig führt zuerst über die Betreuung und erst dann über die Bitte. Sie danken, Sie berichten über Wirkung, Sie halten den Spender warm auf einer Spur, die ihm wichtig ist, und dann, bei der nächsten natürlichen Gelegenheit, bitten Sie erneut. Diese Bitte könnte eine Telefonkampagne, ein Mailing oder ein Aufruf sein, und sie muss nicht an eine Wiederholung der ursprünglichen Veranstaltung gebunden sein. Exeter bewies den Punkt: Sie hatten einige Jahre zuvor einen Spendentag durchgeführt und ihn nicht wiederholt, baten diese Spender aber weiterhin über andere Kanäle, „und sie geben tatsächlich erneut, weil es diese Affinität ist". Wenn Sie die Aussicht, kürzliche Spender zu bitten, nervös macht, ist Carters Rat, es zuerst an einer kleinen Stichprobe zu testen, sich die frühen Daten anzusehen und es dann mit Zuversicht statt mit Vermutung auszurollen.

Der Mechanismus, der all das funktionieren lässt, ist die Reise. Eine Erstspenderin, die auf eine Spur gesetzt, richtig bedankt, deren Wirkung gezeigt und die zum richtigen Zeitpunkt erneut gebeten wird, ist eine Kandidatin für eine regelmäßige Spende oder eine Erhöhung. Eine Erstspenderin, die nach der Quittungs-E-Mail allein gelassen wird, ist statistisch gesehen bereits zur Hälfte verloren.

## Spenderbindung messen

Spenderbindung, die nicht gemessen wird, neigt dazu, wieder ans untere Ende der Prioritätenliste zu rutschen, daher ist die letzte Disziplin, sie zu verfolgen. Die wichtigsten Kennzahlen sind Bindungsraten: Gesamtbindung, Bindung von Erstspendern, Bindung von Wiederholungsspendern und Bindung bei regelmäßigem Geben. Das sind die Zahlen, die Ihnen sagen, ob Ihre Spenderbindung funktioniert, und es sind die Zahlen, auf denen Sargeants gesamtes Argument ruht. Die Zweitspenden-Konversion, der Anteil der Erstspender, die erneut geben, ist die schärfste davon, denn die Erstspender-Bindung ist dort, wo der Sektor Unterstützer ausbluten lässt und wo kleine Gewinne sich am meisten summieren.

Beobachten Sie neben der Bindung die Engagement-Kennzahlen, die als Frühindikatoren dienen: Öffnungsraten, Klickraten, die Taktung der Spenden gegen die Einnahmen, Abmeldungen und Spam-Auslöser. Exeters eigene Wende war genau in diesen Zahlen sichtbar. Fallende Öffnungsraten bei generischen E-Mails waren die Warnung, die die Änderung auslöste, und eine Öffnungsrate von 71 Prozent bei einer gezielten Betreuungs-E-Mail war der frühe Beweis, dass es funktionierte. In nicht-digitalen Kanälen sind die entsprechenden Maße die telefonischen Annahmequoten und die Qualität und Länge der Gespräche, die sich beide verbesserten, als Exeter zu reinen Betreuungsanrufen überging.

Ein weiteres Maß lohnt es sich, von Sargeant zu übernehmen, denn Zufriedenheit ist der mit Abstand größte Treiber der Treue, und fast niemand verfolgt sie. Das Mittel ist eine kurze Spenderumfrage, ein paar Minuten zum Ausfüllen, die fragt, wie Spender den Service empfinden, den sie erhalten, und ihnen Raum gibt, alles anzusprechen, was nicht funktioniert hat. Die Nachverfolgung zählt mehr als die Behebung. Sargeant beschrieb das Paradox der Servicewiederherstellung: „Menschen, die ein Problem hatten, sind, wenn sie es Ihnen mitteilen und Sie es für sie beheben, ein gutes Stück loyaler, als wenn sie überhaupt nie ein Problem gehabt hätten." Selbst dort, wo Sie etwas nicht beheben können, baut Zuhören und Anerkennen Treue auf, weshalb er es vorzieht, Beschwerden „Gelegenheiten, Treue aufzubauen" zu nennen.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Spenderbindung und einem Dankeschön?** Ein Dankeschön ist ein Moment innerhalb der Spenderbindung. Spenderbindung ist die gesamte fortlaufende Beziehung nach der Spende: Danken, über Wirkung berichten, in regelmäßiger Taktung in Kontakt bleiben und den Spender zur nächsten Sache einladen. Wie Kat Carter es ausdrückte, ist das Dankeschön nicht das Ziel; die Spenderbindung ist es, und Spenderbetreuung ist die Art, wie Sie es erreichen.

**Wie oft sollten wir Spender kontaktieren?** Häufiger, als es die meisten Teams tun. Streben Sie etwa monatlich an, und wenn sich das nach zu viel anfühlt, sind alle zwei Monate oder vierteljährlich ein vernünftiger Ausgangspunkt. Das Ziel ist, präsent zu bleiben und Spender weiter an ihre Wirkung zu erinnern, während Sie Öffnungsraten, Abmeldungen und Spam-Auslöser beobachten, um zu wissen, wann Sie zurückfahren sollten.

**Lohnt es sich wirklich, in Bindung statt in Akquise zu investieren?** Ja. Bindung summiert sich. Dr. Adrian Sargeant nennt eine Verbesserung der Bindung um 10 Prozent, die zu etwa einer Steigerung des Lebenszeitwerts einer Datenbank um 200 Prozent führt, denn Spender, die Sie halten, erhöhen, empfehlen Freunde, arbeiten ehrenamtlich und hinterlassen vielleicht schließlich ein Vermächtnis. Akquise ohne Spenderbindung füllt einfach einen löchrigen Eimer wieder auf.

**Sollen wir kürzliche Spender bitten, erneut zu geben, oder warten?** Warten Sie nicht. Starten Sie sie sofort auf einer Betreuungsreise, danken Sie ihnen, berichten Sie über Wirkung und bitten Sie erneut bei der nächsten natürlichen Gelegenheit, sei es eine Telefonkampagne, ein Mailing oder ein Aufruf. Wenn Sie nervös sind, testen Sie zuerst an einer kleinen Stichprobe und sehen Sie sich die frühen Daten an, bevor Sie es ausrollen.

**Brauchen wir ein großes Budget oder spezielle Technik für gute Spenderbindung?** Nein. Rose Cohen aus Exeter war klar, dass ihre Ergebnisse daher kamen, Geschichten gut zu erzählen, Spender auf Spuren zu segmentieren, die ihnen wichtig sind, und reinen Betreuungskontakt, alles mit kleinem Budget und großer Wirkung. Halten Sie es zu Beginn einfach, beweisen Sie, dass es funktioniert, und wachsen Sie von dort aus.

**Welche Kennzahlen sind für die Spenderbindung am wichtigsten?** Zuerst die Bindungsraten: Gesamt, Erstspender, Wiederholungsspender und regelmäßiges Geben, plus die Zweitspenden-Konversion. Dann Engagement-Indikatoren wie Öffnungsraten, Klickraten, Abmeldungen und, beim Telefon, Annahmequoten und Gesprächsqualität. Erwägen Sie auch eine kurze Spenderzufriedenheitsumfrage, denn Zufriedenheit ist der größte Treiber der Treue, und fast niemand misst sie.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Vorlage für die Spenderbindungsreise](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [E-Mail-Vorlage für den Wirkungsbericht](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Vorlagen für Dankesnachrichten](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Tools

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Prüfer](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihren Aufruf- und E-Mail-Text
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- Webinare: [ansprechende Betreuungsreisen für digitale Spender gestalten](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) und [ansprechende Video-Betreuung gestalten](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Hubbub-Blog: warum das Danken seinen eigenen Moment verdient](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [Wie man ein regelmäßiges Spendenprogramm aufbaut](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to steward donors and design donor journeys](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (europe/en): A practical guide to donor stewardship and designing donor journeys, covering why stewardship drives retention, mapping the journey, thanking well, impact reporting, video and digital stewardship, and turning one-off donors into regular supporters.
Stewardship is everything you do with a donor after they have given: the thank-you, the impact
update, the phone call, the next invitation to be involved, and the steady drip of contact that
reminds someone why they gave in the first place. Acquisition gets a new supporter through the
door. Stewardship decides whether they stay, give again, and grow into the kind of committed donor
every organisation depends on. Yet it is the part of the cycle most teams under-resource, because
the money for a new gift feels more urgent than the money for a gift you have already banked.

This guide is about closing that gap. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on
the experience of three practitioners: Kat Carter of Hubbub, Rose Cohen of the University of
Exeter, and Dr Adrian Sargeant of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. The argument running
through it is simple. Stewardship is not a nicety bolted on at the end. It is the activity that
protects the return on everything else you do. The sections below work through what stewardship
is, how to map a donor journey, and the practical building blocks: thanking, impact reporting,
segmentation, format, cadence, conversion and measurement.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) and
> [thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## What stewardship is, and why it drives retention

Stewardship is more than saying thank you. As Kat Carter framed it, the real prize is not the
thank-you but what it leads to: "The main goal is donor retention. We want to acquire those donors
and get them giving. And then we want to retain them and keep them giving so that we can have them
for a good long while and move them into other activities, whether they be major gifts, legacy
giving, higher end annual giving, or maybe even just volunteering."

The case for taking retention seriously is brutal, because the sector is not good at it.
Dr Adrian Sargeant, one of the leading voices on donor loyalty, put it bluntly: "In a sense, not
much has changed in 20 years in terms of loyalty and retention. We weren't very good at it 20
years ago. We're terrible at it today." He pointed to a pattern of attrition that should give
every fundraiser pause: "We know that between that first gift and second year retention that we're
only able to retain less than 70 per cent of donors. That's a terrible pattern of attrition. That
is an enormous level of churn. And of course, that comes at great expense to nonprofits who are
wasting time and money communicating with people who aren't necessarily going to give again."

The flip side is where stewardship earns its place. Small improvements in retention compound into
enormous gains in lifetime value, because a donor you keep this year is a donor you can keep next
year, and the year after, and one who may upgrade, recommend a friend, volunteer, or eventually
leave a legacy. In Sargeant's words: "Even small improvements you can engineer in retention in the
here and now translate to whopping improvements in the lifetime value of a fundraising database."
He made the scale concrete: "So 10 per cent increase in retention and loyalty now can lead to
something like a 200 per cent increase in the lifetime value of that fundraising database." The
reason is compounding: "You lose fewer people this year. You've got more next year and the year
thereafter. People hang around for longer. They upgrade their giving. They recommend a friend.
They do volunteering. They give to the emergency appeal." Stewardship, then, is not a soft
activity. It is the lever with the highest return in fundraising, and the one most often left
half-pulled.

## The donor journey, and why you should map it

A donor journey is the planned path a supporter travels from their first gift to wherever you want
them to end up: a second gift, a regular commitment, an upgrade, a legacy conversation. Mapping it
forces you to be deliberate about the moments in between, rather than leaving the relationship to
chance and the occasional generic newsletter.

The mechanics are not complicated. You decide where a donor starts, where you want them to finish,
and what happens in between. As Kat Carter described it, you might "take a first time donor and get
them to repeat that gift or upgrade that gift. You can say this is where they're starting. This is
where I want them to finish. And these are the activities that are going to happen in between." The
same discipline applies at every level of giving. A long-standing regular donor you hope to
cultivate towards a major gift needs a different journey from a first-time online donor, but both
deserve one that is designed rather than assumed.

Mapping makes stewardship visible and accountable. Once the journey is on paper, you can see the
gaps: the long silences, the months where a donor hears nothing, and the places where your
communications pull in different directions. Carter's caution is worth heeding. A journey "does
take a little bit of time. But if you take the time to do that in the beginning, then everything
else can follow from it. And then you just have to make sure that they're updated and thought about
on a kind of regular basis to make sure everyone's on the right track."

The case for mapping is sharpest in the gap between how we communicate before a gift and after it.
During an appeal the communications flow freely; the moment the gift lands, they fall away. Carter
noted that only around a third of donors hear anything in the first month after giving,
and then contact tails off sharply. The consequence is predictable: "When we stop communicating,
and our stewardship goes cold, and our donor retention declines, it then starts an uphill battle,
and it's very difficult to come back from." A mapped journey is the simplest insurance against that
silence.

## Thanking well, and thanking promptly

If retention is the goal, the thank-you is still the first move, and it deserves its own moment
rather than being folded into the next ask. This matters most in the days immediately after a big,
intense fundraising push. After a [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), you have
hundreds or thousands of donors who have just acted on a wave of emotion, and the worst thing you
can do is go quiet on them, or treat the receipt email as the end of the relationship. The day
after a Giving Day is a stewardship opportunity, not an admin task.

A good thank-you does three things. It is prompt, so the donor feels their gift mattered while the
feeling of giving is still fresh. It is specific, so it connects the gift to something real rather
than offering a generic acknowledgement. And it carries no ask, so the donor experiences being
appreciated rather than being asked again. Rose Cohen described exactly this kind of contact at
Exeter: a stewardship communication "thanking them for their support and demonstrating the impact
and what they're going to use the money for and exactly what that's going to enable that team to
do. It was just a pure stewardship communication, no ask attached at all."

The same principle extends to the phone. Exeter built "pure stewardship calls" into their telephone
programme, and Cohen named it as one of her two most impactful changes. The shift was in
sequencing: "I think in the past we've focused too much on conversion and upgrading donors too
quickly. So now we always start with a pure stewardship and then we alternate between that and
asking to give again or upgrading for regular donors if they're regular donors. And I think that's
transformed our stewardship and our results." A thank-you that exists only to thank, with nothing
attached, is one of the cheapest and most powerful things you can send. Our
[thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) give you a warm
starting point to adapt.

## Impact reporting: show donors what their gift did

Trust is one of the great drivers of loyalty, and it is built largely through impact reporting.
Sargeant named it alongside satisfaction and commitment: "Trust in the organisation, trust that the
organisation is going to do what it says it's going to do with the money and with the impact that
your gift is going to have on the beneficiary group." Impact reporting is how you earn that trust,
gift after gift.

The most effective impact reporting is specific, human and free of jargon. It tells a story about
what changed because of the donor's money, ideally in the words of the people closest to the work.
Cohen's example from Exeter is instructive. For World Cancer Research Day, her team emailed their
cancer donors a video of the lead researcher, thanking them and explaining precisely what their
support would fund. The result was a 71 per cent open rate, well above their general stewardship
communications, and "some really nice comments back from it as well."

Reporting back also gives you a reason to communicate that has nothing to do with asking, which is
exactly the kind of contact that builds a relationship rather than spending it. The discipline is
to make impact the centre of your stewardship calendar, not an afterthought squeezed into an annual
report. Our [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) helps you
structure an update that leads with what the donor's gift achieved.

## Designing segmented journeys for digital donors

The biggest practical shift in Exeter's approach was moving from general communications to
segmented ones. The problem with the general approach is familiar to anyone fundraising for a broad
organisation: you end up talking about everything to everyone. As Cohen put it, "the breadth of
funds that people can give to universities and education means that we were talking about a lot of
stuff. And I think we were losing people because someone perhaps that has given to support students
might not necessarily want to hear about our climate change research, for example." Open rates
fell, and that decline was the signal to change.

The answer was what Exeter call tracks: aligning each donor to the area they care about and talking
to them about that. "We're trying to align all of our donor database with a particular track. So
the area that they're most interested in." A donor who gave to a cancer appeal goes on the cancer
track and hears about cancer research. "If someone's shown an interest in that area, that's what
we're going to talk to them about. We're going to show them the impact of that giving. Hopefully
then they'll give again. They'll convert to a regular gift or they'll upgrade."

Segmentation also sharpens the small details that drive engagement. Subject lines are a good
example: when a communication is bespoke, say so, and make it recognisable. Rather than a generic
"thank you from the University", the email came from the named researcher behind the original
appeal, so the donor's reaction was, in Carter's paraphrase, "Oh, I gave to that. OK, I'm
interested. I'm going to open this." A subject line that says "the impact you've made on cancer
research" lands very differently from one that says "your gift". Our
[donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) gives you a
framework for mapping these tracks across your supporter base.

Language threads through everything Exeter tested. Following Sargeant's work on relationship
fundraising, both Exeter and Hubbub have experimented with emotional rather than transactional
wording, talking about a donor's kindness rather than their donation. As Cohen put it, "your
kindness will have an impact, not just your donation. So it's that emotional connection rather than
just transactional." Early results have been positive, both in asks and in retention, and it costs
nothing to test.

## Video and other engaging stewardship formats

Stewardship does not have to be expensive to be effective, but it does have to be engaging, and the
format matters. Video is the clearest example. The Exeter researcher video that achieved a 71 per
cent open rate worked because it put a real human face to the impact, and because it disrupted the
usual flow of stewardship email with something the donor wanted to watch. Every stewardship message
is, as Carter described it, an opportunity to "disrupt the noise within email" and remind the donor
of the impact they made and how good it felt.

The phone is the other under-used channel, and digital fundraising actually makes it more viable.
Carter highlighted that when organisations run Giving Days, "60 to 75 per cent of those who give a
giving day gift leave their phone number. That's good, clean, recent data that you can use to pick
up the phone and have a good conversation, a personal conversation about impact and a chance to
speak to your donors directly." A stewardship call, framed as impact and gratitude rather than a
fresh ask, is among the warmest contacts you can make. Exeter found that their pure-stewardship
calls produced better pick-up rates, longer and stronger conversations, and, when the next ask did
come, a higher giving rate.

None of this needs to be elaborate, a point Cohen returned to: "Stewardship for me is all about
telling those stories and it can be done on low budget, but with high impact. So, yeah, I'd say
just try it and see how you get on."

## Setting a regular cadence

The single most common stewardship failing is going quiet. Teams fear over-communicating and so
under-communicate, and the donor drifts away. Carter's challenge to that instinct is direct: most
organisations email their donors far too little. Once a month is a sensible target to aim for, and
if that feels like a lot, "maybe every two months, maybe once a quarter and starting to talk more
frequently." The principle is to stay top of mind, so that the donor is reminded of their impact on
a continual basis rather than hearing from you once a year.

The fear of being a nuisance is understandable but usually misplaced. As Carter observed, "Lots of
brands will send you emails every day from a kind of commercial environment, and they wouldn't do
that if it didn't work. Not everybody is going to click every email. Not everybody is going to buy
something from every email. And so not every donor will donate from every email. But if you give
them enough opportunities, they will at the right time when it's right for them." The job of the
cadence is to be present in that moment when the donor is ready to act, identify with you, or simply
feel good about giving again.

This does not mean emailing blindly. The same metrics that tell you to communicate more will tell
you when to ease off. Open rates, click rates, unsubscribes and spam triggers are your early warning
system, and a good cadence is one you adjust by watching them, not one you set and forget.

## Turning one-off donors into regular givers

A one-off gift is not the end of a relationship, it is the start of one, and the worst thing you can
do is wait passively for the next campaign before you speak to that donor again. Asked whether
Giving Day donors needed to wait for the next Giving Day before being asked again, Carter's answer
was emphatic: "Don't wait. Start them on a stewardship journey. Start them on a retention journey.
Put them into a track. Do that kind of donor planning. And just as you would start to ask all your
other donors, give them the opportunity."

The route from one-off to regular runs through stewardship first and the ask second. You thank, you
report impact, you keep the donor warm on a track that matters to them, and then, at the next
natural opportunity, you ask again. That ask might be a telephone campaign, a direct mail piece or
an appeal, and it need not be tied to a repeat of the original event. Exeter proved the point:
having run a Giving Day some years earlier and not repeated it, they continued to ask those donors
through other channels, "and they do give again because it's that affinity." If the prospect of
asking recent donors makes you nervous, Carter's advice is to test it on a small sample first, look
at the early data, and then roll it out with confidence rather than assumption.

The mechanism that makes all of this work is the journey. A first-time donor placed on a track,
thanked properly, shown their impact and asked again at the right moment is a candidate for a
regular gift or an upgrade. A first-time donor left alone after the receipt email is, statistically,
already half gone.

## Measuring stewardship

Stewardship that is not measured tends to drift back to the bottom of the priority list, so the
final discipline is to track it. The headline metrics are retention rates: overall retention,
first-time donor retention, repeat donor retention and regular-giving retention. These are the
numbers that tell you whether your stewardship is working, and they are the numbers Sargeant's whole
argument rests on. Second-gift conversion, the proportion of first-time donors who give again, is
the sharpest of these, because first-time retention is where the sector haemorrhages supporters and
where small gains compound the most.

Alongside retention, watch the engagement metrics that act as leading indicators: open rates, click
rates, the cadence of donations against income, unsubscribes and spam triggers. Exeter's own
turnaround was visible in exactly these figures. Falling open rates on generic emails were the
warning that prompted the change, and a 71 per cent open rate on a targeted stewardship email was
the early proof that it was working. In non-digital channels, the equivalent measures are telephone
pick-up rates and the quality and length of conversations, both of which improved once Exeter moved
to pure stewardship calls.

One more measure is worth borrowing from Sargeant, because satisfaction is the single biggest driver
of loyalty and almost nobody tracks it. The remedy is a short donor survey, a few minutes to
complete, that asks how donors feel about the service they receive and gives them room to raise
anything that has not worked. The follow-up matters more than the fix. Sargeant described the service
recovery paradox: "People who've had an issue, if they tell you about it and you fix it for them,
they are a heck of a lot more loyal than if they'd never had a problem in the first place." Even
where you cannot fix something, listening and acknowledging builds loyalty, which is why he prefers
to call complaints "opportunities to build loyalty".

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between stewardship and a thank-you?** A thank-you is one moment within
stewardship. Stewardship is the whole ongoing relationship after the gift: thanking, reporting
impact, staying in touch on a regular cadence, and inviting the donor into the next thing. As Kat
Carter put it, the thank-you is not the goal; donor retention is, and stewardship is how you reach
it.

**How often should we contact donors?** More often than most teams do. Aim for roughly monthly, and
if that feels too much, every two months or quarterly is a reasonable starting point. The aim is to
stay top of mind and keep reminding donors of their impact, while watching open rates, unsubscribes
and spam triggers to know when to ease off.

**Is it really worth investing in retention rather than acquisition?** Yes. Retention compounds.
Dr Adrian Sargeant cites a 10 per cent improvement in retention leading to something like a 200 per
cent increase in the lifetime value of a database, because donors you keep upgrade, recommend
friends, volunteer and may eventually leave a legacy. Acquisition without stewardship simply refills
a leaking bucket.

**Should we ask recent donors to give again, or wait?** Do not wait. Start them on a stewardship
journey straight away, thank them, report impact, and ask again at the next natural opportunity,
whether that is a telephone campaign, direct mail or an appeal. If you are nervous, test on a small
sample first and look at the early data before rolling it out.

**Do we need a big budget or special technology for good stewardship?** No. Rose Cohen of Exeter was
clear that their results came from telling stories well, segmenting donors onto tracks they care
about, and pure stewardship contact, all done on a low budget with high impact. Keep it simple to
start with, prove it works, and grow from there.

**Which metrics matter most for stewardship?** Retention rates first: overall, first-time, repeat
and regular-giving retention, plus second-gift conversion. Then engagement indicators such as open
rates, click rates, unsubscribes and, for telephone, pick-up rates and conversation quality.
Consider a short donor satisfaction survey too, since satisfaction is the biggest driver of loyalty
and almost nobody measures it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [creating engaging stewardship journeys for digital donors](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) and [creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Hubbub blog: why thanking deserves its own moment](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Related guide: [How to build a regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo cuidar a los donantes y diseñar recorridos del donante](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica sobre el cuidado de los donantes y el diseño de recorridos del donante, que explica por qué el cuidado impulsa la fidelización, cómo trazar el recorrido, agradecer bien, informar del impacto, usar el vídeo y el cuidado digital, y convertir a los donantes puntuales en apoyos regulares.
El cuidado del donante es todo lo que hacéis con un donante después de que ha dado: el agradecimiento, la actualización sobre el impacto, la llamada telefónica, la siguiente invitación a participar y el flujo constante de contacto que recuerda a alguien por qué dio en primer lugar. La captación hace que un nuevo apoyo cruce la puerta. El cuidado decide si se queda, vuelve a dar y crece hasta convertirse en ese tipo de donante comprometido del que depende toda organización. Sin embargo, es la parte del ciclo a la que la mayoría de los equipos dedica menos recursos, porque el dinero de una nueva donación parece más urgente que el de una donación que ya habéis ingresado.

Esta guía trata de cerrar esa brecha. Se basa en las buenas prácticas de los consultores de Hubbub y en la experiencia de tres profesionales: Kat Carter de Hubbub, Rose Cohen de la University of Exeter y el Dr Adrian Sargeant del Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. El argumento que la recorre es sencillo. El cuidado no es un añadido amable colocado al final. Es la actividad que protege el retorno de todo lo demás que hacéis. Las secciones siguientes abordan qué es el cuidado, cómo trazar un recorrido del donante y los componentes prácticos: agradecer, informar del impacto, segmentar, el formato, la cadencia, la conversión y la medición.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de recorrido de cuidado del donante](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> nuestra [plantilla de correo para el informe de impacto](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) y nuestras
> [plantillas de mensajes de agradecimiento](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## Qué es el cuidado del donante y por qué impulsa la fidelización

El cuidado es mucho más que dar las gracias. Como lo planteó Kat Carter, el verdadero premio no es el agradecimiento sino aquello a lo que conduce: «El objetivo principal es la fidelización de los donantes. Queremos captar a esos donantes y hacer que den. Y luego queremos fidelizarlos y conseguir que sigan dando, de modo que podamos tenerlos durante un buen tiempo y llevarlos hacia otras actividades, ya sean grandes donaciones, legados, donaciones anuales más altas o quizá incluso simplemente voluntariado.»

El argumento para tomarse en serio la fidelización es brutal, porque el sector no es bueno en ello. El Dr Adrian Sargeant, una de las voces principales sobre la lealtad de los donantes, lo dijo sin rodeos: «En cierto sentido, no ha cambiado mucho en 20 años en cuanto a lealtad y fidelización. No éramos muy buenos hace 20 años. Somos pésimos hoy.» Señaló un patrón de pérdida que debería hacer reflexionar a cualquier captador de fondos: «Sabemos que entre la primera donación y la fidelización del segundo año solo somos capaces de retener a menos del 70 por ciento de los donantes. Es un terrible patrón de pérdida. Es un nivel enorme de rotación. Y, por supuesto, eso supone un gran gasto para las entidades sin ánimo de lucro, que malgastan tiempo y dinero comunicándose con personas que no necesariamente van a volver a dar.»

El reverso de la moneda es justamente donde el cuidado se gana su lugar. Pequeñas mejoras en la fidelización se acumulan en enormes ganancias de valor a lo largo de la vida, porque un donante que conserváis este año es un donante que podéis conservar el año que viene, y el siguiente, y que puede aumentar su donación, recomendar a un amigo, hacer voluntariado o, con el tiempo, dejar un legado. En palabras de Sargeant: «Incluso pequeñas mejoras que podéis lograr en la fidelización aquí y ahora se traducen en mejoras enormes del valor a lo largo de la vida de una base de datos de captación de fondos.» Hizo concreta la magnitud: «Así que un aumento del 10 por ciento en la fidelización y la lealtad ahora puede llevar a algo así como un aumento del 200 por ciento del valor a lo largo de la vida de esa base de datos de captación de fondos.» La razón es la acumulación: «Perdéis a menos gente este año. Tenéis a más el año que viene y el siguiente. La gente se queda más tiempo. Aumentan su donación. Recomiendan a un amigo. Hacen voluntariado. Dan al llamamiento de emergencia.» El cuidado, por tanto, no es una actividad menor. Es la palanca con el mayor retorno en la captación de fondos, y la que más a menudo se acciona solo a medias.

## El recorrido del donante y por qué deberíais trazarlo

Un recorrido del donante es el camino planificado que un apoyo recorre desde su primera donación hasta donde queréis que llegue: una segunda donación, un compromiso regular, un aumento, una conversación sobre un legado. Trazarlo os obliga a ser deliberados sobre los momentos intermedios, en lugar de dejar la relación al azar y al boletín genérico ocasional.

La mecánica no es complicada. Decidís dónde empieza un donante, dónde queréis que termine y qué ocurre en medio. Como lo describió Kat Carter, podríais «tomar a un donante que dona por primera vez y conseguir que repita esa donación o que la aumente. Podéis decir: aquí es donde empieza. Aquí es donde quiero que termine. Y estas son las actividades que van a ocurrir en medio.» La misma disciplina se aplica a todos los niveles de donación. Un donante regular de muchos años al que esperáis cultivar hacia una gran donación necesita un recorrido distinto del de un donante en línea que dona por primera vez, pero ambos merecen un recorrido diseñado en lugar de dado por supuesto.

El trazado hace que el cuidado sea visible y exigible. Una vez que el recorrido está sobre el papel, podéis ver las lagunas: los largos silencios, los meses en que un donante no recibe nada y los puntos en los que vuestras comunicaciones tiran en direcciones distintas. La advertencia de Carter merece atención. Un recorrido «lleva, en efecto, un poco de tiempo. Pero si os tomáis el tiempo de hacerlo al principio, entonces todo lo demás puede derivarse de él. Y luego solo tenéis que aseguraros de que se actualiza y se piensa de forma periódica para comprobar que todo el mundo va por buen camino.»

El argumento a favor del trazado es más agudo en la brecha entre cómo comunicamos antes de una donación y después. Durante un llamamiento las comunicaciones fluyen en abundancia; en el momento en que llega la donación, se agotan. Carter observó que solo alrededor de un tercio de los donantes recibe algo en el primer mes después de dar, y luego el contacto cae bruscamente. La consecuencia es predecible: «Cuando dejamos de comunicar, y nuestro cuidado se enfría, y nuestra fidelización decae, entonces empieza una batalla cuesta arriba de la que es muy difícil volver.» Un recorrido trazado es el seguro más sencillo contra ese silencio.

## Agradecer bien y agradecer con prontitud

Si la fidelización es el objetivo, el agradecimiento sigue siendo el primer movimiento, y merece su propio momento en lugar de quedar plegado dentro de la siguiente petición. Esto importa sobre todo en los días inmediatamente posteriores a un gran e intenso impulso de captación. Después de un [día de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), tenéis a cientos o miles de donantes que acaban de actuar sobre una ola de emoción, y lo peor que podéis hacer es quedaros en silencio con ellos o tratar el correo de recibo como el final de la relación. El día después de un día de donación es una oportunidad de cuidado, no una tarea administrativa.

Un buen agradecimiento hace tres cosas. Es pronto, para que el donante sienta que su donación importó mientras la sensación de dar aún está fresca. Es específico, para que conecte la donación con algo real en lugar de ofrecer un acuse genérico. Y no lleva ninguna petición, de modo que el donante experimenta ser apreciado en lugar de ser solicitado de nuevo. Rose Cohen describió exactamente este tipo de contacto en Exeter: una comunicación de cuidado «agradeciéndoles su apoyo y demostrando el impacto y para qué van a usar el dinero y exactamente qué va a permitir hacer a ese equipo. Era una pura comunicación de cuidado, sin ninguna petición adjunta.»

El mismo principio se extiende al teléfono. Exeter incorporó «llamadas de puro cuidado» a su programa telefónico, y Cohen lo señaló como uno de sus dos cambios de mayor impacto. El cambio estaba en la secuencia: «Creo que en el pasado nos hemos centrado demasiado en la conversión y en subir de nivel a los donantes demasiado rápido. Así que ahora siempre empezamos con un puro cuidado y luego alternamos entre eso y pedir que vuelvan a dar o que aumenten para los donantes regulares, si son donantes regulares. Y creo que eso ha transformado nuestro cuidado y nuestros resultados.» Un agradecimiento que existe solo para agradecer, sin nada adjunto, es una de las cosas más económicas y poderosas que podéis enviar. Nuestras [plantillas de mensajes de agradecimiento](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) os dan un punto de partida cálido para adaptar.

## Informar del impacto: mostrad a los donantes lo que logró su donación

La confianza es uno de los grandes motores de la lealtad, y se construye en gran medida a través del informe de impacto. Sargeant la nombró junto a la satisfacción y el compromiso: «La confianza en la organización, la confianza en que la organización va a hacer lo que dice que va a hacer con el dinero y con el impacto que vuestra donación va a tener en el grupo de beneficiarios.» El informe de impacto es la forma en que os ganáis esa confianza, donación tras donación.

El informe de impacto más eficaz es específico, humano y libre de jerga. Cuenta una historia sobre lo que cambió gracias al dinero del donante, idealmente con las palabras de las personas más cercanas al trabajo. El ejemplo de Cohen en Exeter es instructivo. Para el Día Mundial de la Investigación del Cáncer, su equipo envió por correo a sus donantes vinculados al cáncer un vídeo de la investigadora principal, agradeciéndoles y explicando con precisión qué financiaría su apoyo. El resultado fue una tasa de apertura del 71 por ciento, muy por encima de sus comunicaciones de cuidado habituales, y «también algunos comentarios de respuesta realmente bonitos».

Informar de vuelta también os da una razón para comunicar que no tiene nada que ver con pedir, que es justamente el tipo de contacto que construye una relación en lugar de gastarla. La disciplina consiste en poner el impacto en el centro de vuestro calendario de cuidado, y no como una ocurrencia tardía encajada en un informe anual. Nuestra [plantilla de correo para el informe de impacto](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) os ayuda a estructurar una actualización que encabeza con lo que logró la donación del donante.

## Diseñar recorridos segmentados para los donantes digitales

El mayor cambio práctico en el enfoque de Exeter fue pasar de comunicaciones generales a comunicaciones segmentadas. El problema del enfoque general es familiar para cualquiera que capte fondos para una organización amplia: acabáis hablando de todo a todo el mundo. Como lo expresó Cohen, «la amplitud de fondos a los que la gente puede donar para las universidades y la educación hacía que habláramos de un montón de cosas. Y creo que estábamos perdiendo gente porque alguien que quizá ha donado para apoyar a estudiantes no necesariamente quería oír hablar de nuestra investigación sobre el cambio climático, por ejemplo.» Las tasas de apertura cayeron, y ese descenso fue la señal para cambiar.

La respuesta fue lo que en Exeter llaman «vías» (tracks): alinear a cada donante con el área que le importa y hablarle de ella. «Estamos intentando alinear toda nuestra base de datos de donantes con una vía concreta. Es decir, el área que más les interesa.» Un donante que dio a un llamamiento sobre el cáncer entra en la vía del cáncer y oye hablar de investigación del cáncer. «Si alguien ha mostrado interés por esa área, es de eso de lo que le vamos a hablar. Le vamos a mostrar el impacto de esa donación. Con suerte, entonces volverá a dar. Se convertirá en una donación regular o aumentará.»

La segmentación también afina los pequeños detalles que impulsan la participación. Los asuntos del correo son un buen ejemplo: cuando una comunicación está hecha a medida, decidlo, y hacedla reconocible. En lugar de un genérico «gracias de parte de la universidad», el correo venía de la investigadora nombrada que estaba detrás del llamamiento original, de modo que la reacción del donante era, en la paráfrasis de Carter, «Ah, doné a eso. Vale, me interesa. Voy a abrirlo.» Un asunto que dice «el impacto que has tenido en la investigación del cáncer» llega de forma muy distinta a uno que dice «tu donación». Nuestra [plantilla de recorrido de cuidado del donante](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) os da un marco para trazar estas vías a lo largo de vuestra base de apoyos.

El lenguaje atraviesa todo lo que Exeter ha probado. Siguiendo el trabajo de Sargeant sobre la captación relacional, tanto Exeter como Hubbub han experimentado con una redacción emocional en lugar de transaccional, hablando de la generosidad de un donante en lugar de su donación. Como lo expresó Cohen, «tu generosidad tendrá un impacto, no solo tu donación. Así que es esa conexión emocional en lugar de solo transaccional.» Los primeros resultados han sido positivos, tanto en las peticiones como en la fidelización, y no cuesta nada probarlo.

## El vídeo y otros formatos de cuidado atractivos

El cuidado no tiene que ser caro para ser eficaz, pero sí tiene que ser atractivo, y el formato importa. El vídeo es el ejemplo más claro. El vídeo de la investigadora de Exeter que logró una tasa de apertura del 71 por ciento funcionó porque puso un verdadero rostro humano al impacto, y porque rompió el flujo habitual del correo de cuidado con algo que el donante quería ver. Cada mensaje de cuidado es, como lo describió Carter, una oportunidad para «romper el ruido dentro del correo electrónico» y recordar al donante el impacto que tuvo y lo bien que se sintió.

El teléfono es el otro canal infrautilizado, y la captación digital en realidad lo hace más viable. Carter destacó que cuando las organizaciones realizan días de donación, «entre el 60 y el 75 por ciento de quienes hacen una donación en un día de donación dejan su número de teléfono. Son datos buenos, limpios y recientes que podéis usar para descolgar el teléfono y tener una buena conversación, una conversación personal sobre el impacto y una oportunidad de hablar directamente con vuestros donantes.» Una llamada de cuidado, planteada como impacto y gratitud en lugar de una nueva petición, está entre los contactos más cálidos que podéis hacer. Exeter comprobó que sus llamadas de puro cuidado producían mejores tasas de respuesta, conversaciones más largas y sólidas y, cuando llegaba la siguiente petición, una tasa de donación más alta.

Nada de esto necesita ser elaborado, un punto al que Cohen volvió: «Para mí, el cuidado consiste en contar esas historias, y se puede hacer con bajo presupuesto pero con alto impacto. Así que, sí, diría que simplemente probadlo y ved cómo os va.»

## Establecer una cadencia regular

El fallo más común en el cuidado es quedarse en silencio. Los equipos temen comunicar en exceso y por eso comunican demasiado poco, y el donante se aleja. El reto que Carter opone a ese instinto es directo: la mayoría de las organizaciones envían demasiado pocos correos a sus donantes. Una vez al mes es un objetivo sensato al que aspirar, y si eso parece mucho, «quizá cada dos meses, quizá una vez al trimestre y empezar a hablar con más frecuencia». El principio es seguir presentes en la mente, de modo que al donante se le recuerde su impacto de forma continua en lugar de saber de vosotros una vez al año.

El temor a ser una molestia es comprensible, pero suele estar fuera de lugar. Como observó Carter, «muchas marcas os envían correos todos los días desde un entorno comercial, y no lo harían si no funcionara. No todo el mundo va a hacer clic en cada correo. No todo el mundo va a comprar algo desde cada correo. Y así no todos los donantes donarán desde cada correo. Pero si les dais suficientes oportunidades, lo harán en el momento adecuado, cuando sea el momento para ellos.» El trabajo de la cadencia es estar presente en ese momento en el que el donante está listo para actuar, para identificarse con vosotros o simplemente para sentirse bien volviendo a dar.

Esto no significa enviar correos a ciegas. Las mismas métricas que os dicen que comuniquéis más os dirán cuándo aflojar. Las tasas de apertura, las tasas de clic, las bajas y los activadores de spam son vuestro sistema de alerta temprana, y una buena cadencia es la que ajustáis observándolos, no la que fijáis y olvidáis.

## Convertir a los donantes puntuales en donantes regulares

Una donación puntual no es el final de una relación, es el comienzo, y lo peor que podéis hacer es esperar pasivamente a la siguiente campaña antes de volver a hablar con ese donante. Ante la pregunta de si los donantes de un día de donación debían esperar al siguiente día de donación antes de que se les volviera a pedir, la respuesta de Carter fue rotunda: «No esperéis. Arrancadlos en un recorrido de cuidado. Arrancadlos en un recorrido de fidelización. Ponedlos en una vía. Haced ese tipo de planificación del donante. Y, igual que empezaríais a pedir a todos vuestros demás donantes, dadles la oportunidad.»

El camino de lo puntual a lo regular pasa primero por el cuidado y después por la petición. Agradecéis, informáis del impacto, mantenéis caliente al donante en una vía que le importa, y luego, en la siguiente oportunidad natural, volvéis a pedir. Esa petición podría ser una campaña telefónica, una pieza de correo directo o un llamamiento, y no tiene por qué estar ligada a una repetición del evento original. Exeter lo demostró: tras haber realizado un día de donación algunos años antes y no haberlo repetido, siguieron pidiendo a esos donantes a través de otros canales, «y sí vuelven a dar porque es esa afinidad». Si la perspectiva de pedir a donantes recientes os pone nerviosos, el consejo de Carter es probarlo primero en una pequeña muestra, mirar los primeros datos y luego desplegarlo con confianza en lugar de por suposición.

El mecanismo que hace que todo esto funcione es el recorrido. Un donante que dona por primera vez, colocado en una vía, agradecido como es debido, al que se le muestra su impacto y al que se le vuelve a pedir en el momento adecuado, es un candidato a una donación regular o a un aumento. Un donante que dona por primera vez y al que se deja solo tras el correo de recibo está, estadísticamente, ya medio perdido.

## Medir el cuidado

El cuidado que no se mide tiende a deslizarse de nuevo al fondo de la lista de prioridades, así que la disciplina final es hacerle seguimiento. Las métricas principales son las tasas de fidelización: fidelización global, fidelización de donantes que dan por primera vez, fidelización de donantes recurrentes y fidelización de la donación regular. Son los números que os dicen si vuestro cuidado funciona, y son los números en los que descansa todo el argumento de Sargeant. La conversión a la segunda donación, la proporción de donantes que dan por primera vez y vuelven a dar, es la más afilada de estas, porque la fidelización de la primera donación es donde el sector pierde apoyos en masa y donde las pequeñas ganancias se acumulan más.

Junto a la fidelización, vigilad las métricas de participación que actúan como indicadores adelantados: tasas de apertura, tasas de clic, la cadencia de las donaciones frente a los ingresos, bajas y activadores de spam. El propio giro de Exeter fue visible precisamente en estas cifras. Las tasas de apertura en descenso en los correos genéricos fueron la advertencia que desencadenó el cambio, y una tasa de apertura del 71 por ciento en un correo de cuidado segmentado fue la primera prueba de que funcionaba. En los canales no digitales, las medidas equivalentes son las tasas de respuesta telefónica y la calidad y duración de las conversaciones, ambas mejoraron una vez que Exeter pasó a las llamadas de puro cuidado.

Vale la pena tomar prestada de Sargeant una medida más, porque la satisfacción es, con diferencia, el mayor motor de la lealtad y casi nadie le hace seguimiento. El remedio es una breve encuesta a los donantes, de unos minutos para completar, que pregunta cómo se sienten los donantes respecto al servicio que reciben y les da espacio para plantear cualquier cosa que no haya funcionado. El seguimiento importa más que la solución. Sargeant describió la paradoja de la recuperación del servicio: «Las personas que han tenido un problema, si os lo cuentan y vosotros se lo resolvéis, son muchísimo más leales que si nunca hubieran tenido un problema en primer lugar.» Incluso allí donde no podáis resolver algo, escuchar y reconocer construye lealtad, por lo que él prefiere llamar a las quejas «oportunidades para construir lealtad».

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuál es la diferencia entre el cuidado y un agradecimiento?** Un agradecimiento es un momento dentro del cuidado. El cuidado es toda la relación continua después de la donación: agradecer, informar del impacto, mantenerse en contacto con una cadencia regular e invitar al donante a lo siguiente. Como lo expresó Kat Carter, el agradecimiento no es el objetivo; la fidelización de los donantes lo es, y el cuidado es la forma en que se alcanza.

**¿Con qué frecuencia deberíamos contactar a los donantes?** Más a menudo de lo que lo hace la mayoría de los equipos. Apuntad a aproximadamente una vez al mes, y si eso parece demasiado, cada dos meses o trimestralmente es un punto de partida razonable. El objetivo es seguir presentes en la mente y seguir recordando a los donantes su impacto, mientras vigiláis las tasas de apertura, las bajas y los activadores de spam para saber cuándo aflojar.

**¿Merece realmente la pena invertir en fidelización en lugar de en captación?** Sí. La fidelización se acumula. El Dr Adrian Sargeant cita una mejora del 10 por ciento en la fidelización que conduce a algo así como un aumento del 200 por ciento del valor a lo largo de la vida de una base de datos, porque los donantes que conserváis aumentan, recomiendan a amigos, hacen voluntariado y pueden acabar dejando un legado. La captación sin cuidado simplemente vuelve a llenar un cubo agujereado.

**¿Deberíamos pedir a los donantes recientes que vuelvan a dar, o esperar?** No esperéis. Arrancadlos de inmediato en un recorrido de cuidado, agradecedles, informad del impacto y volved a pedir en la siguiente oportunidad natural, ya sea una campaña telefónica, correo directo o un llamamiento. Si estáis nerviosos, probad primero en una pequeña muestra y mirad los primeros datos antes de desplegarlo.

**¿Necesitamos un gran presupuesto o tecnología especial para un buen cuidado?** No. Rose Cohen de Exeter fue clara en que sus resultados vinieron de contar bien las historias, segmentar a los donantes en vías que les importan y el contacto de puro cuidado, todo ello con bajo presupuesto y alto impacto. Mantenedlo sencillo para empezar, demostrad que funciona y creced a partir de ahí.

**¿Qué métricas importan más para el cuidado?** Primero las tasas de fidelización: global, primera donación, recurrentes y donación regular, más la conversión a la segunda donación. Luego los indicadores de participación como las tasas de apertura, las tasas de clic, las bajas y, para el teléfono, las tasas de respuesta y la calidad de las conversaciones. Considerad también una breve encuesta de satisfacción de los donantes, ya que la satisfacción es el mayor motor de la lealtad y casi nadie la mide.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de recorrido de cuidado del donante](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Plantilla de correo para el informe de impacto](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Plantillas de mensajes de agradecimiento](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de día de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tu llamamiento y tus correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- Webinarios: [crear recorridos de cuidado atractivos para los donantes digitales](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) y [crear un cuidado en vídeo atractivo](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Blog de Hubbub: por qué agradecer merece su propio momento](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Guía relacionada: [Cómo construir un programa de donación regular](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment fidéliser les donateurs et concevoir des parcours de don](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique sur la fidélisation des donateurs et la conception de parcours de don, qui explique pourquoi la fidélisation favorise la rétention, comment cartographier le parcours, bien remercier, rendre compte de l'impact, utiliser la vidéo et la fidélisation numérique, et transformer les donateurs ponctuels en soutiens réguliers.
La fidélisation, c'est tout ce que vous faites avec un donateur après qu'il a donné : le remerciement, la mise à jour sur l'impact, l'appel téléphonique, la prochaine invitation à s'impliquer et le flux régulier de contacts qui rappellent à quelqu'un pourquoi il a donné au départ. L'acquisition fait franchir la porte à un nouveau soutien. La fidélisation détermine s'il reste, donne à nouveau et devient le type de donateur engagé dont dépend toute organisation. Pourtant, c'est la partie du cycle que la plupart des équipes négligent en termes de ressources, parce que l'argent d'un nouveau don paraît plus urgent que celui d'un don déjà encaissé.

Ce guide a pour but de combler cet écart. Il s'appuie sur les bonnes pratiques des consultants de Hubbub et sur l'expérience de trois professionnels : Kat Carter de Hubbub, Rose Cohen de l'University of Exeter et le Dr Adrian Sargeant de l'Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. L'argument qui le traverse est simple. La fidélisation n'est pas un petit plus ajouté à la fin. C'est l'activité qui protège le retour sur tout le reste de ce que vous faites. Les sections ci-dessous abordent ce qu'est la fidélisation, comment cartographier un parcours de don et les éléments pratiques : remercier, rendre compte de l'impact, segmenter, le format, le rythme, la conversion et la mesure.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de parcours de fidélisation des donateurs](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> notre [modèle d'e-mail de compte rendu d'impact](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) et nos
> [modèles de messages de remerciement](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## Ce qu'est la fidélisation, et pourquoi elle favorise la rétention

La fidélisation, c'est bien plus que dire merci. Comme l'a exprimé Kat Carter, le véritable enjeu n'est pas le remerciement mais ce à quoi il mène : « L'objectif principal est la rétention des donateurs. Nous voulons acquérir ces donateurs et les amener à donner. Et ensuite nous voulons les fidéliser et faire en sorte qu'ils continuent de donner, afin de les garder pendant une bonne période et de les orienter vers d'autres activités, qu'il s'agisse de grands dons, de legs, de dons annuels plus élevés, ou peut-être même simplement de bénévolat. »

L'argument en faveur d'une prise au sérieux de la rétention est brutal, car le secteur n'y excelle pas. Le Dr Adrian Sargeant, l'une des grandes voix sur la fidélité des donateurs, l'a dit sans détour : « En un sens, peu de choses ont changé en 20 ans en matière de fidélité et de rétention. Nous n'étions pas très bons il y a 20 ans. Nous sommes catastrophiques aujourd'hui. » Il a pointé un schéma d'attrition qui devrait faire réfléchir tout collecteur de fonds : « Nous savons qu'entre le premier don et la rétention de la deuxième année, nous ne parvenons à retenir que moins de 70 pour cent des donateurs. C'est un terrible schéma d'attrition. C'est un niveau de désengagement énorme. Et bien sûr, cela coûte très cher aux associations qui gaspillent temps et argent à communiquer avec des personnes qui ne donneront pas forcément à nouveau. »

Le revers de la médaille est précisément là où la fidélisation prend toute sa valeur. De petites améliorations de la rétention se cumulent en gains énormes de valeur à vie, parce qu'un donateur que vous gardez cette année est un donateur que vous pouvez garder l'année prochaine, et l'année suivante, et qui peut augmenter son don, recommander un ami, faire du bénévolat ou finir par laisser un legs. Selon les mots de Sargeant : « Même de petites améliorations que vous pouvez obtenir dans la rétention ici et maintenant se traduisent par des améliorations colossales de la valeur à vie d'une base de données de collecte de fonds. » Il a rendu l'échelle concrète : « Ainsi, une augmentation de 10 pour cent de la rétention et de la fidélité aujourd'hui peut entraîner quelque chose comme une augmentation de 200 pour cent de la valeur à vie de cette base de données de collecte. » La raison en est le cumul : « Vous perdez moins de monde cette année. Vous en avez davantage l'année prochaine et l'année suivante. Les gens restent plus longtemps. Ils augmentent leur don. Ils recommandent un ami. Ils font du bénévolat. Ils donnent à l'appel d'urgence. » La fidélisation n'est donc pas une activité accessoire. C'est le levier au rendement le plus élevé de la collecte de fonds, et celui que l'on actionne le plus souvent à moitié.

## Le parcours de don, et pourquoi le cartographier

Un parcours de don est le chemin planifié qu'un soutien suit, de son premier don jusqu'au point où vous voulez l'amener : un deuxième don, un engagement régulier, une augmentation, une conversation sur les legs. Le cartographier vous oblige à être délibéré sur les moments intermédiaires, plutôt que de laisser la relation au hasard et à la lettre d'information générique occasionnelle.

Les mécanismes ne sont pas compliqués. Vous décidez du point de départ d'un donateur, du point où vous voulez qu'il arrive et de ce qui se passe entre les deux. Comme l'a décrit Kat Carter, vous pourriez « prendre un donateur qui donne pour la première fois et l'amener à répéter ce don ou à l'augmenter. Vous pouvez dire : voici où il commence. Voici où je veux qu'il arrive. Et voici les activités qui vont se produire entre les deux. » La même discipline s'applique à tous les niveaux de don. Un donateur régulier de longue date que vous espérez orienter vers un grand don a besoin d'un parcours différent de celui d'un donateur en ligne qui donne pour la première fois, mais tous deux méritent un parcours conçu plutôt que présumé.

La cartographie rend la fidélisation visible et redevable. Une fois le parcours couché sur le papier, vous pouvez voir les lacunes : les longs silences, les mois où un donateur n'entend rien, et les endroits où vos communications tirent dans des directions différentes. La mise en garde de Carter mérite d'être entendue. Un parcours « demande effectivement un peu de temps. Mais si vous prenez le temps de le faire au début, alors tout le reste peut en découler. Et ensuite il faut simplement s'assurer qu'il est mis à jour et qu'on y réfléchit régulièrement pour vérifier que tout le monde est sur la bonne voie. »

L'argument en faveur de la cartographie est le plus saillant dans l'écart entre la façon dont nous communiquons avant un don et après. Pendant un appel, les communications coulent à flots ; au moment où le don arrive, elles se tarissent. Carter a noté que seulement un tiers environ des donateurs entendent quoi que ce soit dans le premier mois suivant leur don, puis le contact diminue fortement. La conséquence est prévisible : « Quand nous cessons de communiquer, que notre fidélisation se refroidit et que notre rétention décline, cela engage alors une bataille acharnée dont il est très difficile de revenir. » Un parcours cartographié est l'assurance la plus simple contre ce silence.

## Bien remercier, et remercier promptement

Si la rétention est l'objectif, le remerciement reste le premier geste, et il mérite son propre moment plutôt que d'être fondu dans la prochaine demande. Cela compte surtout dans les jours qui suivent immédiatement un grand effort de collecte intense. Après une [journée de générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/), vous avez des centaines ou des milliers de donateurs qui viennent d'agir sur une vague d'émotion, et la pire chose à faire est de garder le silence ou de traiter l'e-mail de reçu comme la fin de la relation. Le lendemain d'une journée de générosité est une occasion de fidélisation, pas une tâche administrative.

Un bon remerciement fait trois choses. Il est prompt, pour que le donateur sente que son don a compté tant que le sentiment de donner est encore frais. Il est précis, afin de relier le don à quelque chose de réel plutôt que d'offrir un accusé de réception générique. Et il ne comporte aucune demande, de sorte que le donateur vit l'expérience d'être apprécié plutôt que d'être à nouveau sollicité. Rose Cohen a décrit exactement ce type de contact à Exeter : une communication de fidélisation « les remerciant pour leur soutien et démontrant l'impact et ce à quoi ils vont employer l'argent et exactement ce que cela va permettre à cette équipe de faire. C'était une pure communication de fidélisation, sans aucune demande rattachée. »

Le même principe vaut pour le téléphone. Exeter a intégré des « appels de pure fidélisation » dans son programme téléphonique, et Cohen l'a cité comme l'un de ses deux changements les plus marquants. Le changement portait sur l'enchaînement : « Je pense que par le passé nous nous sommes trop concentrés sur la conversion et sur l'augmentation des dons trop rapidement. Alors maintenant nous commençons toujours par de la pure fidélisation, puis nous alternons entre cela et la demande de donner à nouveau ou d'augmenter pour les donateurs réguliers s'ils sont réguliers. Et je pense que cela a transformé notre fidélisation et nos résultats. » Un remerciement qui n'existe que pour remercier, sans rien d'attaché, est l'une des choses les plus économiques et les plus puissantes que vous puissiez envoyer. Nos [modèles de messages de remerciement](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) vous donnent un point de départ chaleureux à adapter.

## Le compte rendu d'impact : montrez aux donateurs ce que leur don a accompli

La confiance est l'un des grands moteurs de la fidélité, et elle se construit en grande partie par le compte rendu d'impact. Sargeant l'a cité aux côtés de la satisfaction et de l'engagement : « La confiance dans l'organisation, la confiance que l'organisation va faire ce qu'elle dit qu'elle va faire avec l'argent et avec l'impact que votre don va avoir sur le groupe de bénéficiaires. » Le compte rendu d'impact est la façon dont vous gagnez cette confiance, don après don.

Le compte rendu d'impact le plus efficace est précis, humain et dénué de jargon. Il raconte une histoire sur ce qui a changé grâce à l'argent du donateur, idéalement avec les mots des personnes les plus proches du travail. L'exemple de Cohen à Exeter est instructif. Pour la Journée mondiale de la recherche contre le cancer, son équipe a envoyé aux donateurs liés au cancer une vidéo du chercheur principal, les remerciant et expliquant précisément ce que leur soutien financerait. Le résultat a été un taux d'ouverture de 71 pour cent, bien au-dessus de leurs communications de fidélisation habituelles, et « de très beaux retours également ».

Rendre compte vous donne aussi une raison de communiquer qui n'a rien à voir avec une demande, ce qui est exactement le type de contact qui construit une relation plutôt que de la dépenser. La discipline consiste à faire de l'impact le centre de votre calendrier de fidélisation, et non une réflexion tardive glissée dans un rapport annuel. Notre [modèle d'e-mail de compte rendu d'impact](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) vous aide à structurer une mise à jour qui met en avant ce que le don du donateur a accompli.

## Concevoir des parcours segmentés pour les donateurs numériques

Le plus grand changement pratique dans l'approche d'Exeter a été le passage de communications générales à des communications segmentées. Le problème de l'approche générale est familier à quiconque collecte des fonds pour une organisation à large périmètre : on finit par parler de tout à tout le monde. Comme l'a dit Cohen : « l'étendue des fonds auxquels les gens peuvent donner pour les universités et l'éducation signifiait que nous parlions de beaucoup de choses. Et je pense que nous perdions des gens parce que quelqu'un qui a peut-être donné pour soutenir des étudiants ne voulait pas forcément entendre parler de notre recherche sur le changement climatique, par exemple. » Les taux d'ouverture ont chuté, et ce déclin a été le signal du changement.

La réponse a été ce qu'Exeter appelle des « pistes » (tracks) : aligner chaque donateur sur le domaine qui lui tient à cœur et lui en parler. « Nous essayons d'aligner toute notre base de données de donateurs sur une piste particulière. C'est-à-dire le domaine qui les intéresse le plus. » Un donateur qui a donné à un appel sur le cancer rejoint la piste cancer et entend parler de la recherche sur le cancer. « Si quelqu'un a montré un intérêt pour ce domaine, c'est de cela que nous allons lui parler. Nous allons lui montrer l'impact de ce don. Avec un peu de chance, il donnera de nouveau. Il se convertira en don régulier ou il augmentera son don. »

La segmentation affine aussi les petits détails qui stimulent l'engagement. Les objets d'e-mail en sont un bon exemple : quand une communication est sur mesure, dites-le, et rendez-la reconnaissable. Plutôt qu'un générique « merci de la part de l'université », l'e-mail provenait du chercheur nommé à l'origine de l'appel, de sorte que la réaction du donateur était, selon la paraphrase de Carter : « Ah, j'ai donné à ça. D'accord, ça m'intéresse. Je vais ouvrir. » Un objet qui dit « l'impact que vous avez eu sur la recherche contre le cancer » est reçu très différemment d'un objet qui dit « votre don ». Notre [modèle de parcours de fidélisation des donateurs](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) vous donne un cadre pour cartographier ces pistes sur l'ensemble de votre base de soutiens.

Le langage traverse tout ce qu'Exeter a testé. Dans la lignée des travaux de Sargeant sur la collecte relationnelle, Exeter comme Hubbub ont expérimenté une formulation émotionnelle plutôt que transactionnelle, en parlant de la générosité d'un donateur plutôt que de son don. Comme l'a dit Cohen : « votre générosité aura un impact, pas seulement votre don. C'est donc cette connexion émotionnelle plutôt que purement transactionnelle. » Les premiers résultats ont été positifs, tant pour les demandes que pour la rétention, et cela ne coûte rien d'essayer.

## La vidéo et autres formats de fidélisation engageants

La fidélisation n'a pas besoin d'être coûteuse pour être efficace, mais elle doit être engageante, et le format compte. La vidéo en est l'exemple le plus clair. La vidéo du chercheur d'Exeter qui a atteint un taux d'ouverture de 71 pour cent a fonctionné parce qu'elle mettait un véritable visage humain sur l'impact, et parce qu'elle rompait le flux habituel des e-mails de fidélisation avec quelque chose que le donateur avait envie de regarder. Chaque message de fidélisation est, comme l'a décrit Carter, une occasion de « rompre le bruit au sein de la boîte de réception » et de rappeler au donateur l'impact qu'il a eu et à quel point cela lui a fait du bien.

Le téléphone est l'autre canal sous-utilisé, et la collecte numérique le rend en fait plus viable. Carter a souligné que lorsque les organisations organisent des journées de générosité, « 60 à 75 pour cent de ceux qui font un don lors d'une journée de générosité laissent leur numéro de téléphone. Ce sont de bonnes données, propres et récentes, que vous pouvez utiliser pour décrocher le téléphone et avoir une bonne conversation, une conversation personnelle sur l'impact, et l'occasion de parler directement à vos donateurs. » Un appel de fidélisation, présenté comme un message d'impact et de gratitude plutôt qu'une nouvelle demande, est l'un des contacts les plus chaleureux que vous puissiez établir. Exeter a constaté que ses appels de pure fidélisation produisaient de meilleurs taux de décrochage, des conversations plus longues et plus solides, et, lorsque la demande suivante arrivait, un taux de don plus élevé.

Rien de tout cela n'a besoin d'être élaboré, un point sur lequel Cohen est revenue : « Pour moi, la fidélisation consiste avant tout à raconter ces histoires, et cela peut se faire avec un petit budget mais un fort impact. Donc, oui, je dirais simplement essayez et voyez comment ça se passe. »

## Établir un rythme régulier

Le défaut de fidélisation le plus courant est de garder le silence. Les équipes craignent de trop communiquer et donc communiquent trop peu, et le donateur s'éloigne. Le défi que Carter oppose à cet instinct est direct : la plupart des organisations envoient beaucoup trop peu d'e-mails à leurs donateurs. Une fois par mois est un objectif raisonnable à viser, et si cela paraît beaucoup, « peut-être tous les deux mois, peut-être une fois par trimestre, et commencer à parler plus fréquemment ». Le principe est de rester présent à l'esprit, afin que le donateur se voie rappeler son impact de façon continue plutôt que d'avoir de vos nouvelles une fois par an.

La crainte d'être importun est compréhensible mais généralement infondée. Comme l'a observé Carter : « Beaucoup de marques vous envoient des e-mails tous les jours dans un environnement commercial, et elles ne le feraient pas si ça ne marchait pas. Tout le monde ne va pas cliquer sur chaque e-mail. Tout le monde ne va pas acheter quelque chose à partir de chaque e-mail. Et donc tous les donateurs ne donneront pas à partir de chaque e-mail. Mais si vous leur donnez suffisamment d'occasions, ils le feront au bon moment, quand cela leur convient. » Le rôle du rythme est d'être présent à ce moment où le donateur est prêt à agir, à s'identifier à vous, ou simplement à se sentir bien en donnant à nouveau.

Cela ne signifie pas envoyer des e-mails aveuglément. Les mêmes indicateurs qui vous disent de communiquer davantage vous diront quand lever le pied. Les taux d'ouverture, les taux de clic, les désabonnements et les déclencheurs de spam sont votre système d'alerte précoce, et un bon rythme est celui que l'on ajuste en les surveillant, et non celui que l'on définit une fois pour toutes.

## Transformer les donateurs ponctuels en donateurs réguliers

Un don ponctuel n'est pas la fin d'une relation, c'est le début, et la pire chose à faire est d'attendre passivement la prochaine campagne avant de reparler à ce donateur. Interrogée pour savoir si les donateurs d'une journée de générosité devaient attendre la prochaine journée de générosité avant d'être à nouveau sollicités, la réponse de Carter a été catégorique : « N'attendez pas. Lancez-les sur un parcours de fidélisation. Lancez-les sur un parcours de rétention. Mettez-les sur une piste. Faites ce travail de planification du donateur. Et tout comme vous commenceriez à solliciter tous vos autres donateurs, donnez-leur l'occasion. »

Le chemin du don ponctuel au don régulier passe par la fidélisation d'abord et la demande ensuite. Vous remerciez, vous rendez compte de l'impact, vous gardez le donateur au chaud sur une piste qui lui importe, puis, à la prochaine occasion naturelle, vous demandez à nouveau. Cette demande peut être une campagne téléphonique, un publipostage ou un appel, et elle n'a pas besoin d'être liée à une répétition de l'événement d'origine. Exeter l'a prouvé : ayant organisé une journée de générosité quelques années plus tôt sans la renouveler, ils ont continué à solliciter ces donateurs par d'autres canaux, « et ils donnent à nouveau parce que c'est cette affinité ». Si la perspective de solliciter des donateurs récents vous rend nerveux, le conseil de Carter est de le tester d'abord sur un petit échantillon, de regarder les premières données, puis de le déployer avec confiance plutôt que par supposition.

Le mécanisme qui fait fonctionner tout cela est le parcours. Un donateur qui donne pour la première fois, placé sur une piste, remercié comme il faut, à qui l'on a montré son impact et que l'on sollicite à nouveau au bon moment, est un candidat au don régulier ou à l'augmentation. Un donateur qui donne pour la première fois et qu'on laisse seul après l'e-mail de reçu est, statistiquement, déjà à moitié parti.

## Mesurer la fidélisation

Une fidélisation qui n'est pas mesurée a tendance à redescendre au bas de la liste des priorités, donc la dernière discipline est de la suivre. Les indicateurs phares sont les taux de rétention : rétention globale, rétention des nouveaux donateurs, rétention des donateurs récurrents et rétention des dons réguliers. Ce sont les chiffres qui vous disent si votre fidélisation fonctionne, et ce sont les chiffres sur lesquels repose tout l'argument de Sargeant. La conversion au deuxième don, la proportion de nouveaux donateurs qui donnent à nouveau, est le plus aiguisé d'entre eux, car la rétention des nouveaux donateurs est l'endroit où le secteur perd des soutiens en masse et où les petits gains se cumulent le plus.

Aux côtés de la rétention, surveillez les indicateurs d'engagement qui font office de signaux avancés : taux d'ouverture, taux de clic, le rythme des dons par rapport aux revenus, désabonnements et déclencheurs de spam. Le redressement d'Exeter était visible précisément dans ces chiffres. La baisse des taux d'ouverture sur les e-mails génériques a été l'avertissement qui a déclenché le changement, et un taux d'ouverture de 71 pour cent sur un e-mail de fidélisation ciblé a été la première preuve que cela fonctionnait. Dans les canaux non numériques, les mesures équivalentes sont les taux de décrochage téléphonique et la qualité et la longueur des conversations, deux éléments qui se sont améliorés une fois qu'Exeter est passé aux appels de pure fidélisation.

Une mesure de plus mérite d'être empruntée à Sargeant, car la satisfaction est le plus grand moteur de la fidélité et presque personne ne la suit. Le remède est une courte enquête auprès des donateurs, quelques minutes à remplir, qui demande comment les donateurs perçoivent le service qu'ils reçoivent et leur laisse de la place pour soulever tout ce qui n'a pas fonctionné. Le suivi compte plus que la résolution. Sargeant a décrit le paradoxe du rétablissement du service : « Les gens qui ont eu un problème, s'ils vous en parlent et que vous le réglez pour eux, sont nettement plus fidèles que s'ils n'avaient jamais eu de problème au départ. » Même là où vous ne pouvez rien régler, écouter et reconnaître bâtit la fidélité, et c'est pourquoi il préfère qualifier les réclamations d'« occasions de construire la fidélité ».

## Foire aux questions

**Quelle est la différence entre la fidélisation et un remerciement ?** Un remerciement est un moment au sein de la fidélisation. La fidélisation est toute la relation continue après le don : remercier, rendre compte de l'impact, rester en contact à un rythme régulier et inviter le donateur dans l'étape suivante. Comme l'a dit Kat Carter, le remerciement n'est pas l'objectif ; la rétention des donateurs l'est, et la fidélisation est la façon dont vous l'atteignez.

**À quelle fréquence devrions-nous contacter les donateurs ?** Plus souvent que la plupart des équipes ne le font. Visez environ une fois par mois, et si cela paraît trop, tous les deux mois ou tous les trimestres est un point de départ raisonnable. Le but est de rester présent à l'esprit et de continuer à rappeler aux donateurs leur impact, tout en surveillant les taux d'ouverture, les désabonnements et les déclencheurs de spam pour savoir quand lever le pied.

**Vaut-il vraiment la peine d'investir dans la rétention plutôt que dans l'acquisition ?** Oui. La rétention se cumule. Le Dr Adrian Sargeant cite une amélioration de 10 pour cent de la rétention conduisant à quelque chose comme une augmentation de 200 pour cent de la valeur à vie d'une base de données, car les donateurs que vous gardez augmentent leur don, recommandent des amis, font du bénévolat et peuvent finir par laisser un legs. L'acquisition sans fidélisation ne fait que remplir un seau percé.

**Devrions-nous solliciter à nouveau les donateurs récents, ou attendre ?** N'attendez pas. Lancez-les immédiatement sur un parcours de fidélisation, remerciez-les, rendez compte de l'impact, et sollicitez à nouveau à la prochaine occasion naturelle, qu'il s'agisse d'une campagne téléphonique, d'un publipostage ou d'un appel. Si vous êtes nerveux, testez d'abord sur un petit échantillon et regardez les premières données avant de déployer.

**Avons-nous besoin d'un gros budget ou d'une technologie particulière pour une bonne fidélisation ?** Non. Rose Cohen d'Exeter a été claire : leurs résultats sont venus du fait de bien raconter des histoires, de segmenter les donateurs sur des pistes qui leur tiennent à cœur, et d'un contact de pure fidélisation, le tout avec un petit budget et un fort impact. Restez simple pour commencer, prouvez que cela fonctionne, et développez à partir de là.

**Quels indicateurs comptent le plus pour la fidélisation ?** Les taux de rétention d'abord : globale, nouveaux donateurs, récurrents et dons réguliers, plus la conversion au deuxième don. Ensuite les indicateurs d'engagement comme les taux d'ouverture, les taux de clic, les désabonnements et, pour le téléphone, les taux de décrochage et la qualité des conversations. Envisagez aussi une courte enquête de satisfaction des donateurs, car la satisfaction est le plus grand moteur de la fidélité et presque personne ne la mesure.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de parcours de fidélisation des donateurs](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Modèle d'e-mail de compte rendu d'impact](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Modèles de messages de remerciement](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée de générosité de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de votre appel et de vos e-mails
- [Générateur de QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- Webinaires : [créer des parcours de fidélisation engageants pour les donateurs numériques](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) et [créer une fidélisation vidéo engageante](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Blog Hubbub : pourquoi le remerciement mérite son propre moment](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Guide associé : [Comment construire un programme de don régulier](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come curare i donatori e progettare i percorsi del donatore](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica alla cura dei donatori e alla progettazione dei percorsi del donatore, che spiega perché la cura favorisce la fidelizzazione, come mappare il percorso, ringraziare bene, rendicontare l'impatto, usare il video e la cura digitale, e trasformare i donatori occasionali in sostenitori regolari.
La cura del donatore è tutto ciò che fate con un donatore dopo che ha donato: il ringraziamento, l'aggiornamento sull'impatto, la telefonata, il prossimo invito a partecipare e il flusso costante di contatti che ricorda a una persona perché ha donato in primo luogo. L'acquisizione fa entrare un nuovo sostenitore dalla porta. La cura decide se resta, dona di nuovo e cresce fino a diventare quel tipo di donatore impegnato da cui ogni organizzazione dipende. Eppure è la parte del ciclo che la maggior parte dei team dota di meno risorse, perché il denaro per una nuova donazione sembra più urgente di quello per una donazione che avete già incassato.

Questa guida parla di colmare quel divario. Si basa sulle migliori pratiche dei consulenti di Hubbub e sull'esperienza di tre professionisti: Kat Carter di Hubbub, Rose Cohen della University of Exeter e il Dr Adrian Sargeant dell'Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. L'argomento che la attraversa è semplice. La cura non è un di più aggiunto alla fine. È l'attività che protegge il ritorno su tutto il resto di ciò che fate. Le sezioni seguenti affrontano che cosa sia la cura, come mappare un percorso del donatore e i tasselli pratici: ringraziare, rendicontare l'impatto, segmentare, il formato, la cadenza, la conversione e la misurazione.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedete per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di percorso di cura del donatore](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> il nostro [modello di e-mail per il report di impatto](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) e i nostri
> [modelli di messaggi di ringraziamento](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## Che cos'è la cura del donatore e perché favorisce la fidelizzazione

La cura è molto più che dire grazie. Come ha spiegato Kat Carter, la vera posta in gioco non è il ringraziamento ma ciò a cui porta: «L'obiettivo principale è la fidelizzazione dei donatori. Vogliamo acquisire quei donatori e farli donare. E poi vogliamo fidelizzarli e fare in modo che continuino a donare, così da poterli avere per un buon periodo e spostarli verso altre attività, che siano grandi donazioni, lasciti, donazioni annuali più elevate, o forse anche solo volontariato.»

L'argomento a favore di prendere sul serio la fidelizzazione è brutale, perché il settore non è bravo a farlo. Il Dr Adrian Sargeant, una delle voci principali sulla fedeltà dei donatori, l'ha detto senza giri di parole: «In un certo senso, in 20 anni non è cambiato molto in termini di fedeltà e fidelizzazione. Non eravamo molto bravi 20 anni fa. Siamo pessimi oggi.» Ha indicato uno schema di abbandono che dovrebbe far riflettere ogni raccoglitore di fondi: «Sappiamo che tra la prima donazione e la fidelizzazione del secondo anno riusciamo a trattenere meno del 70 per cento dei donatori. È un terribile schema di abbandono. È un livello enorme di ricambio. E ovviamente ciò comporta una grande spesa per gli enti non profit che sprecano tempo e denaro comunicando con persone che non necessariamente doneranno di nuovo.»

Il rovescio della medaglia è proprio dove la cura si guadagna il suo posto. Piccoli miglioramenti nella fidelizzazione si sommano in enormi guadagni di valore nel tempo, perché un donatore che trattenete quest'anno è un donatore che potete trattenere l'anno prossimo, e quello dopo, e che può aumentare la donazione, raccomandare un amico, fare volontariato o, alla fine, lasciare un lascito. Nelle parole di Sargeant: «Anche piccoli miglioramenti che riuscite a ingegnerizzare nella fidelizzazione qui e ora si traducono in miglioramenti enormi del valore nel tempo di un database di raccolta fondi.» Ha reso concreta la portata: «Quindi un aumento del 10 per cento nella fidelizzazione e nella fedeltà ora può portare a qualcosa come un aumento del 200 per cento del valore nel tempo di quel database di raccolta fondi.» La ragione è la capitalizzazione: «Perdete meno persone quest'anno. Ne avete di più l'anno prossimo e quello successivo. Le persone restano più a lungo. Aumentano la donazione. Raccomandano un amico. Fanno volontariato. Donano all'appello di emergenza.» La cura, dunque, non è un'attività di poco conto. È la leva con il ritorno più alto nella raccolta fondi, e quella più spesso tirata solo a metà.

## Il percorso del donatore e perché dovreste mapparlo

Un percorso del donatore è il cammino pianificato che un sostenitore compie dalla sua prima donazione fino a dove volete che arrivi: una seconda donazione, un impegno regolare, un aumento, una conversazione su un lascito. Mapparlo vi costringe a essere intenzionali sui momenti intermedi, anziché lasciare la relazione al caso e all'occasionale newsletter generica.

I meccanismi non sono complicati. Decidete dove un donatore inizia, dove volete che arrivi e cosa accade nel mezzo. Come l'ha descritto Kat Carter, potreste «prendere un donatore alla prima donazione e portarlo a ripetere quella donazione o ad aumentarla. Potete dire: ecco da dove parte. Ecco dove voglio che arrivi. E queste sono le attività che accadranno nel mezzo.» La stessa disciplina si applica a ogni livello di donazione. Un donatore regolare di lunga data che sperate di coltivare verso una grande donazione ha bisogno di un percorso diverso da quello di un donatore online alla prima donazione, ma entrambi meritano un percorso progettato anziché dato per scontato.

La mappatura rende la cura visibile e responsabile. Una volta che il percorso è sulla carta, potete vedere le lacune: i lunghi silenzi, i mesi in cui un donatore non sente nulla e i punti in cui le vostre comunicazioni tirano in direzioni diverse. L'ammonimento di Carter merita ascolto. Un percorso «richiede in effetti un po' di tempo. Ma se vi prendete il tempo di farlo all'inizio, allora tutto il resto può derivarne. E poi dovete solo assicurarvi che venga aggiornato e considerato su base regolare per fare in modo che tutti siano sulla strada giusta.»

L'argomento a favore della mappatura è più netto nel divario tra come comunichiamo prima di una donazione e dopo. Durante un appello le comunicazioni scorrono abbondanti; nel momento in cui la donazione arriva, si esauriscono. Carter ha osservato che solo circa un terzo dei donatori sente qualcosa nel primo mese dopo aver donato, e poi il contatto cala bruscamente. La conseguenza è prevedibile: «Quando smettiamo di comunicare, la nostra cura si raffredda e la nostra fidelizzazione cala, allora comincia una battaglia in salita da cui è molto difficile tornare.» Un percorso mappato è l'assicurazione più semplice contro quel silenzio.

## Ringraziare bene e ringraziare prontamente

Se la fidelizzazione è l'obiettivo, il ringraziamento resta comunque la prima mossa, e merita un proprio momento anziché essere ripiegato nella richiesta successiva. Questo conta soprattutto nei giorni immediatamente successivi a una grande, intensa spinta di raccolta fondi. Dopo una [giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), avete centinaia o migliaia di donatori che hanno appena agito sull'onda di un'emozione, e la cosa peggiore che potete fare è ammutolire con loro o trattare l'e-mail di ricevuta come la fine della relazione. Il giorno dopo una giornata della donazione è un'opportunità di cura, non un compito amministrativo.

Un buon ringraziamento fa tre cose. È pronto, così il donatore sente che la sua donazione è contata mentre la sensazione di donare è ancora fresca. È specifico, così collega la donazione a qualcosa di reale anziché offrire un riscontro generico. E non porta alcuna richiesta, così il donatore vive l'esperienza di essere apprezzato anziché di essere di nuovo sollecitato. Rose Cohen ha descritto esattamente questo tipo di contatto a Exeter: una comunicazione di cura «che li ringraziava per il loro sostegno e dimostrava l'impatto e a cosa avrebbero usato il denaro ed esattamente cosa avrebbe permesso di fare a quel team. Era una pura comunicazione di cura, senza alcuna richiesta allegata.»

Lo stesso principio si estende al telefono. Exeter ha inserito «chiamate di pura cura» nel proprio programma telefonico, e Cohen l'ha indicato come uno dei suoi due cambiamenti più incisivi. Lo spostamento riguardava la sequenza: «Penso che in passato ci siamo concentrati troppo sulla conversione e sull'aumentare i donatori troppo in fretta. Quindi ora iniziamo sempre con una pura cura e poi alterniamo tra quella e la richiesta di donare di nuovo o di aumentare per i donatori regolari, se sono donatori regolari. E penso che questo abbia trasformato la nostra cura e i nostri risultati.» Un ringraziamento che esiste solo per ringraziare, senza nulla allegato, è una delle cose più economiche e potenti che potete inviare. I nostri [modelli di messaggi di ringraziamento](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) vi offrono un punto di partenza caloroso da adattare.

## Rendicontare l'impatto: mostrate ai donatori cosa ha fatto la loro donazione

La fiducia è uno dei grandi motori della fedeltà, e si costruisce in gran parte attraverso la rendicontazione dell'impatto. Sargeant l'ha citata accanto alla soddisfazione e all'impegno: «La fiducia nell'organizzazione, la fiducia che l'organizzazione farà ciò che dice che farà con il denaro e con l'impatto che la vostra donazione avrà sul gruppo di beneficiari.» La rendicontazione dell'impatto è il modo in cui vi guadagnate quella fiducia, donazione dopo donazione.

La rendicontazione dell'impatto più efficace è specifica, umana e priva di gergo. Racconta una storia su cosa è cambiato grazie al denaro del donatore, idealmente con le parole delle persone più vicine al lavoro. L'esempio di Cohen da Exeter è istruttivo. Per la Giornata mondiale della ricerca sul cancro, il suo team ha inviato ai donatori legati al cancro un video della ricercatrice principale, ringraziandoli e spiegando con precisione cosa avrebbe finanziato il loro sostegno. Il risultato è stato un tasso di apertura del 71 per cento, ben al di sopra delle loro comunicazioni di cura abituali, e «anche alcuni commenti davvero belli in risposta».

Rendicontare vi dà anche una ragione per comunicare che non ha nulla a che fare con il chiedere, ed è esattamente il tipo di contatto che costruisce una relazione anziché spenderla. La disciplina sta nel mettere l'impatto al centro del vostro calendario di cura, e non come un ripensamento infilato in un rapporto annuale. Il nostro [modello di e-mail per il report di impatto](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) vi aiuta a strutturare un aggiornamento che mette in primo piano ciò che la donazione del donatore ha realizzato.

## Progettare percorsi segmentati per i donatori digitali

Il maggior cambiamento pratico nell'approccio di Exeter è stato il passaggio da comunicazioni generiche a comunicazioni segmentate. Il problema dell'approccio generico è familiare a chiunque raccolga fondi per un'organizzazione ad ampio raggio: si finisce per parlare di tutto a tutti. Come ha detto Cohen, «l'ampiezza dei fondi a cui le persone possono donare per le università e l'istruzione faceva sì che parlassimo di un sacco di cose. E penso che stessimo perdendo persone perché qualcuno che magari ha donato per sostenere gli studenti non necessariamente voleva sentir parlare della nostra ricerca sul cambiamento climatico, per esempio.» I tassi di apertura sono calati, e quel calo è stato il segnale per cambiare.

La risposta è ciò che a Exeter chiamano «tracce» (tracks): allineare ogni donatore all'area che gli sta a cuore e parlargliene. «Stiamo cercando di allineare tutto il nostro database di donatori a una traccia specifica. Cioè l'area a cui sono più interessati.» Un donatore che ha donato a un appello sul cancro va sulla traccia del cancro e sente parlare di ricerca sul cancro. «Se qualcuno ha mostrato interesse per quell'area, è di quello che gli parleremo. Gli mostreremo l'impatto di quella donazione. Si spera che poi doni di nuovo. Si convertirà in una donazione regolare o aumenterà.»

La segmentazione affina anche i piccoli dettagli che alimentano il coinvolgimento. Gli oggetti delle e-mail sono un buon esempio: quando una comunicazione è su misura, ditelo, e rendetela riconoscibile. Anziché un generico «grazie dall'università», l'e-mail proveniva dalla ricercatrice indicata per nome dietro l'appello originale, così la reazione del donatore era, nella parafrasi di Carter, «Ah, ho donato a questo. Ok, mi interessa. La aprirò.» Un oggetto che dice «l'impatto che hai avuto sulla ricerca sul cancro» arriva in modo molto diverso da uno che dice «la tua donazione». Il nostro [modello di percorso di cura del donatore](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) vi offre uno schema per mappare queste tracce su tutta la vostra base di sostenitori.

Il linguaggio attraversa tutto ciò che Exeter ha testato. Sulla scia del lavoro di Sargeant sulla raccolta fondi relazionale, sia Exeter sia Hubbub hanno sperimentato un linguaggio emotivo anziché transazionale, parlando della gentilezza di un donatore anziché della sua donazione. Come ha detto Cohen, «la tua gentilezza avrà un impatto, non solo la tua donazione. Quindi è quella connessione emotiva anziché solo transazionale.» I primi risultati sono stati positivi, sia nelle richieste sia nella fidelizzazione, e non costa nulla testarlo.

## Il video e altri formati di cura coinvolgenti

La cura non deve essere costosa per essere efficace, ma deve essere coinvolgente, e il formato conta. Il video è l'esempio più chiaro. Il video della ricercatrice di Exeter che ha raggiunto un tasso di apertura del 71 per cento ha funzionato perché ha dato un vero volto umano all'impatto, e perché ha interrotto il consueto flusso delle e-mail di cura con qualcosa che il donatore voleva guardare. Ogni messaggio di cura è, come l'ha descritto Carter, un'opportunità per «rompere il rumore all'interno della posta elettronica» e ricordare al donatore l'impatto che ha avuto e quanto è stato bello.

Il telefono è l'altro canale sottoutilizzato, e la raccolta fondi digitale in realtà lo rende più praticabile. Carter ha sottolineato che quando le organizzazioni gestiscono giornate della donazione, «il 60-75 per cento di chi fa una donazione in una giornata della donazione lascia il proprio numero di telefono. Sono dati buoni, puliti e recenti che potete usare per alzare la cornetta e fare una bella conversazione, una conversazione personale sull'impatto e un'occasione per parlare direttamente con i vostri donatori.» Una chiamata di cura, impostata come impatto e gratitudine anziché come una nuova richiesta, è tra i contatti più calorosi che possiate stabilire. Exeter ha riscontrato che le sue chiamate di pura cura producevano migliori tassi di risposta, conversazioni più lunghe e più solide e, quando arrivava la richiesta successiva, un tasso di donazione più alto.

Niente di tutto questo deve essere elaborato, un punto su cui Cohen è tornata: «Per me la cura riguarda tutto il raccontare quelle storie, e si può fare con un budget basso ma con alto impatto. Quindi, sì, direi semplicemente provateci e vedete come va.»

## Stabilire una cadenza regolare

La mancanza più comune nella cura è ammutolire. I team temono di comunicare troppo e quindi comunicano troppo poco, e il donatore si allontana. La sfida che Carter oppone a questo istinto è diretta: la maggior parte delle organizzazioni invia ai propri donatori troppo poche e-mail. Una volta al mese è un obiettivo sensato a cui puntare, e se sembra molto, «magari ogni due mesi, magari una volta a trimestre e iniziare a parlare più di frequente». Il principio è restare ben presenti nella mente, così che al donatore venga ricordato il suo impatto in modo continuo anziché sentire da voi una volta all'anno.

Il timore di essere fastidiosi è comprensibile ma di solito fuori luogo. Come ha osservato Carter, «molti marchi vi inviano e-mail ogni giorno in un ambiente commerciale, e non lo farebbero se non funzionasse. Non tutti cliccheranno su ogni e-mail. Non tutti compreranno qualcosa da ogni e-mail. E così non tutti i donatori doneranno da ogni e-mail. Ma se date loro abbastanza occasioni, lo faranno al momento giusto, quando è giusto per loro.» Il compito della cadenza è essere presenti in quel momento in cui il donatore è pronto ad agire, a identificarsi con voi o semplicemente a sentirsi bene nel donare di nuovo.

Questo non significa inviare e-mail alla cieca. Le stesse metriche che vi dicono di comunicare di più vi diranno quando rallentare. Tassi di apertura, tassi di clic, disiscrizioni e attivatori di spam sono il vostro sistema di allerta precoce, e una buona cadenza è una che regolate osservandoli, non una che impostate e dimenticate.

## Trasformare i donatori occasionali in donatori regolari

Una donazione occasionale non è la fine di una relazione, è l'inizio, e la cosa peggiore che potete fare è aspettare passivamente la prossima campagna prima di parlare di nuovo con quel donatore. Alla domanda se i donatori di una giornata della donazione dovessero aspettare la prossima giornata della donazione prima di essere sollecitati di nuovo, la risposta di Carter è stata categorica: «Non aspettate. Avviateli su un percorso di cura. Avviateli su un percorso di fidelizzazione. Metteteli su una traccia. Fate quel tipo di pianificazione del donatore. E proprio come iniziereste a chiedere a tutti gli altri vostri donatori, date loro l'opportunità.»

Il percorso dall'occasionale al regolare passa prima per la cura e poi per la richiesta. Ringraziate, rendicontate l'impatto, tenete caldo il donatore su una traccia che gli interessa, e poi, alla successiva occasione naturale, chiedete di nuovo. Quella richiesta potrebbe essere una campagna telefonica, un mailing o un appello, e non deve essere legata a una ripetizione dell'evento originale. Exeter lo ha dimostrato: avendo organizzato una giornata della donazione qualche anno prima senza ripeterla, hanno continuato a sollecitare quei donatori attraverso altri canali, «e donano di nuovo proprio per quell'affinità». Se la prospettiva di sollecitare donatori recenti vi rende nervosi, il consiglio di Carter è di testarla prima su un piccolo campione, guardare i primi dati e poi diffonderla con fiducia anziché per supposizione.

Il meccanismo che fa funzionare tutto questo è il percorso. Un donatore alla prima donazione messo su una traccia, ringraziato come si deve, a cui è stato mostrato il suo impatto e che viene sollecitato di nuovo al momento giusto è un candidato a una donazione regolare o a un aumento. Un donatore alla prima donazione lasciato solo dopo l'e-mail di ricevuta è, statisticamente, già perso a metà.

## Misurare la cura

La cura che non viene misurata tende a scivolare di nuovo in fondo alla lista delle priorità, quindi la disciplina finale è monitorarla. Le metriche principali sono i tassi di fidelizzazione: fidelizzazione complessiva, fidelizzazione dei donatori alla prima donazione, fidelizzazione dei donatori ricorrenti e fidelizzazione delle donazioni regolari. Sono i numeri che vi dicono se la vostra cura sta funzionando, e sono i numeri su cui poggia tutto l'argomento di Sargeant. La conversione alla seconda donazione, la quota di donatori alla prima donazione che donano di nuovo, è la più affilata di queste, perché la fidelizzazione alla prima donazione è il punto in cui il settore perde sostenitori in massa e dove i piccoli guadagni si sommano di più.

Accanto alla fidelizzazione, osservate le metriche di coinvolgimento che fungono da indicatori anticipatori: tassi di apertura, tassi di clic, la cadenza delle donazioni rispetto ai ricavi, disiscrizioni e attivatori di spam. La svolta di Exeter era visibile proprio in queste cifre. I tassi di apertura in calo sulle e-mail generiche sono stati l'avvertimento che ha innescato il cambiamento, e un tasso di apertura del 71 per cento su un'e-mail di cura mirata è stata la prima prova che funzionava. Nei canali non digitali, le misure equivalenti sono i tassi di risposta telefonica e la qualità e la lunghezza delle conversazioni, entrambe migliorate una volta che Exeter è passata alle chiamate di pura cura.

Un'altra misura vale la pena prenderla in prestito da Sargeant, perché la soddisfazione è di gran lunga il maggior motore della fedeltà e quasi nessuno la monitora. Il rimedio è un breve sondaggio sui donatori, di pochi minuti da compilare, che chiede come si sentono i donatori riguardo al servizio che ricevono e dà loro spazio per sollevare qualsiasi cosa non abbia funzionato. Il seguito conta più della soluzione. Sargeant ha descritto il paradosso del recupero del servizio: «Le persone che hanno avuto un problema, se ve lo dicono e voi lo risolvete per loro, sono molto più leali che se non avessero mai avuto un problema in primo luogo.» Anche dove non potete risolvere qualcosa, ascoltare e riconoscere costruisce fedeltà, ed è per questo che preferisce chiamare i reclami «opportunità per costruire fedeltà».

## Domande frequenti

**Qual è la differenza tra la cura e un ringraziamento?** Un ringraziamento è un momento all'interno della cura. La cura è tutta la relazione continuativa dopo la donazione: ringraziare, rendicontare l'impatto, restare in contatto a una cadenza regolare e invitare il donatore alla cosa successiva. Come ha detto Kat Carter, il ringraziamento non è l'obiettivo; la fidelizzazione dei donatori lo è, e la cura è il modo in cui ci arrivate.

**Con quale frequenza dovremmo contattare i donatori?** Più spesso di quanto faccia la maggior parte dei team. Puntate a circa una volta al mese, e se sembra troppo, ogni due mesi o trimestrale è un punto di partenza ragionevole. L'obiettivo è restare ben presenti nella mente e continuare a ricordare ai donatori il loro impatto, osservando tassi di apertura, disiscrizioni e attivatori di spam per sapere quando rallentare.

**Vale davvero la pena investire nella fidelizzazione anziché nell'acquisizione?** Sì. La fidelizzazione si capitalizza. Il Dr Adrian Sargeant cita un miglioramento del 10 per cento nella fidelizzazione che porta a qualcosa come un aumento del 200 per cento del valore nel tempo di un database, perché i donatori che trattenete aumentano, raccomandano amici, fanno volontariato e possono alla fine lasciare un lascito. L'acquisizione senza cura riempie semplicemente un secchio bucato.

**Dovremmo chiedere ai donatori recenti di donare di nuovo, o aspettare?** Non aspettate. Avviateli subito su un percorso di cura, ringraziateli, rendicontate l'impatto e chiedete di nuovo alla successiva occasione naturale, che sia una campagna telefonica, un mailing o un appello. Se siete nervosi, testate prima su un piccolo campione e guardate i primi dati prima di diffonderlo.

**Servono un grande budget o una tecnologia speciale per una buona cura?** No. Rose Cohen di Exeter è stata chiara nel dire che i loro risultati sono venuti dal raccontare bene le storie, dal segmentare i donatori su tracce a cui tengono e dal contatto di pura cura, il tutto con un budget basso e un alto impatto. Tenete le cose semplici all'inizio, dimostrate che funziona e crescete da lì.

**Quali metriche contano di più per la cura?** Prima i tassi di fidelizzazione: complessivo, prima donazione, ricorrenti e donazioni regolari, più la conversione alla seconda donazione. Poi gli indicatori di coinvolgimento come tassi di apertura, tassi di clic, disiscrizioni e, per il telefono, tassi di risposta e qualità delle conversazioni. Considerate anche un breve sondaggio sulla soddisfazione dei donatori, dato che la soddisfazione è il maggior motore della fedeltà e quasi nessuno la misura.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedete con la vostra e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di percorso di cura del donatore](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Modello di e-mail per il report di impatto](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Modelli di messaggi di ringraziamento](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore della giornata della donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellate i risultati probabili prima di impegnarvi su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affinate il testo del vostro appello e delle vostre e-mail
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collegate i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- Webinar: [creare percorsi di cura coinvolgenti per i donatori digitali](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) e [creare una cura video coinvolgente](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Blog Hubbub: perché il ringraziamento merita un proprio momento](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Guida correlata: [Come costruire un programma di donazione regolare](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultate la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to steward donors and design donor journeys](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (uk/en): A practical guide to donor stewardship and designing donor journeys, covering why stewardship drives retention, mapping the journey, thanking well, impact reporting, video and digital stewardship, and turning one-off donors into regular supporters.
Stewardship is everything you do with a donor after they have given: the thank-you, the impact
update, the phone call, the next invitation to be involved, and the steady drip of contact that
reminds someone why they gave in the first place. Acquisition gets a new supporter through the
door. Stewardship decides whether they stay, give again, and grow into the kind of committed donor
every organisation depends on. Yet it is the part of the cycle most teams under-resource, because
the money for a new gift feels more urgent than the money for a gift you have already banked.

This guide is about closing that gap. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on
the experience of three practitioners: Kat Carter of Hubbub, Rose Cohen of the University of
Exeter, and Dr Adrian Sargent of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. The argument running
through it is simple. Stewardship is not a nicety bolted on at the end. It is the activity that
protects the return on everything else you do. The sections below work through what stewardship
is, how to map a donor journey, and the practical building blocks: thanking, impact reporting,
segmentation, format, cadence, conversion and measurement.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) and
> [thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## What stewardship is, and why it drives retention

Stewardship is more than saying thank you. As Kat Carter framed it, the real prize is not the
thank-you but what it leads to: "The main goal is donor retention. We want to acquire those donors
and get them giving. And then we want to retain them and keep them giving so that we can have them
for a good long while and move them into other activities, whether they be major gifts, legacy
giving, higher end annual giving, or maybe even just volunteering."

The case for taking retention seriously is brutal, because the sector is not good at it.
Dr Adrian Sargent, one of the leading voices on donor loyalty, put it bluntly: "In a sense, not
much has changed in 20 years in terms of loyalty and retention. We weren't very good at it 20
years ago. We're terrible at it today." He pointed to a pattern of attrition that should give
every fundraiser pause: "We know that between that first gift and second year retention that we're
only able to retain less than 70 per cent of donors. That's a terrible pattern of attrition. That
is an enormous level of churn. And of course, that comes at great expense to nonprofits who are
wasting time and money communicating with people who aren't necessarily going to give again."

The flip side is where stewardship earns its place. Small improvements in retention compound into
enormous gains in lifetime value, because a donor you keep this year is a donor you can keep next
year, and the year after, and one who may upgrade, recommend a friend, volunteer, or eventually
leave a legacy. In Sargent's words: "Even small improvements you can engineer in retention in the
here and now translate to whopping improvements in the lifetime value of a fundraising database."
He made the scale concrete: "So 10 per cent increase in retention and loyalty now can lead to
something like a 200 per cent increase in the lifetime value of that fundraising database." The
reason is compounding: "You lose fewer people this year. You've got more next year and the year
thereafter. People hang around for longer. They upgrade their giving. They recommend a friend.
They do volunteering. They give to the emergency appeal." Stewardship, then, is not a soft
activity. It is the lever with the highest return in fundraising, and the one most often left
half-pulled.

## The donor journey, and why you should map it

A donor journey is the planned path a supporter travels from their first gift to wherever you want
them to end up: a second gift, a regular commitment, an upgrade, a legacy conversation. Mapping it
forces you to be deliberate about the moments in between, rather than leaving the relationship to
chance and the occasional generic newsletter.

The mechanics are not complicated. You decide where a donor starts, where you want them to finish,
and what happens in between. As Kat Carter described it, you might "take a first time donor and get
them to repeat that gift or upgrade that gift. You can say this is where they're starting. This is
where I want them to finish. And these are the activities that are going to happen in between." The
same discipline applies at every level of giving. A long-standing regular donor you hope to
cultivate towards a major gift needs a different journey from a first-time online donor, but both
deserve one that is designed rather than assumed.

Mapping makes stewardship visible and accountable. Once the journey is on paper, you can see the
gaps: the long silences, the months where a donor hears nothing, and the places where your
communications pull in different directions. Carter's caution is worth heeding. A journey "does
take a little bit of time. But if you take the time to do that in the beginning, then everything
else can follow from it. And then you just have to make sure that they're updated and thought about
on a kind of regular basis to make sure everyone's on the right track."

The case for mapping is sharpest in the gap between how we communicate before a gift and after it.
During an appeal the communications flow freely; the moment the gift lands, they fall away. Carter
noted that in the UK only around a third of donors hear anything in the first month after giving,
and then contact tails off sharply. The consequence is predictable: "When we stop communicating,
and our stewardship goes cold, and our donor retention declines, it then starts an uphill battle,
and it's very difficult to come back from." A mapped journey is the simplest insurance against that
silence.

## Thanking well, and thanking promptly

If retention is the goal, the thank-you is still the first move, and it deserves its own moment
rather than being folded into the next ask. This matters most in the days immediately after a big,
intense fundraising push. After a [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), you have
hundreds or thousands of donors who have just acted on a wave of emotion, and the worst thing you
can do is go quiet on them, or treat the receipt email as the end of the relationship. The day
after a Giving Day is a stewardship opportunity, not an admin task.

A good thank-you does three things. It is prompt, so the donor feels their gift mattered while the
feeling of giving is still fresh. It is specific, so it connects the gift to something real rather
than offering a generic acknowledgement. And it carries no ask, so the donor experiences being
appreciated rather than being asked again. Rose Cohen described exactly this kind of contact at
Exeter: a stewardship communication "thanking them for their support and demonstrating the impact
and what they're going to use the money for and exactly what that's going to enable that team to
do. It was just a pure stewardship communication, no ask attached at all."

The same principle extends to the phone. Exeter built "pure stewardship calls" into their telephone
programme, and Cohen named it as one of her two most impactful changes. The shift was in
sequencing: "I think in the past we've focused too much on conversion and upgrading donors too
quickly. So now we always start with a pure stewardship and then we alternate between that and
asking to give again or upgrading for regular donors if they're regular donors. And I think that's
transformed our stewardship and our results." A thank-you that exists only to thank, with nothing
attached, is one of the cheapest and most powerful things you can send. Our
[thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) give you a warm
starting point to adapt.

## Impact reporting: show donors what their gift did

Trust is one of the great drivers of loyalty, and it is built largely through impact reporting.
Sargent named it alongside satisfaction and commitment: "Trust in the organisation, trust that the
organisation is going to do what it says it's going to do with the money and with the impact that
your gift is going to have on the beneficiary group." Impact reporting is how you earn that trust,
gift after gift.

The most effective impact reporting is specific, human and free of jargon. It tells a story about
what changed because of the donor's money, ideally in the words of the people closest to the work.
Cohen's example from Exeter is instructive. For World Cancer Research Day, her team emailed their
cancer donors a video of the lead researcher, thanking them and explaining precisely what their
support would fund. The result was a 71 per cent open rate, well above their general stewardship
communications, and "some really nice comments back from it as well."

Reporting back also gives you a reason to communicate that has nothing to do with asking, which is
exactly the kind of contact that builds a relationship rather than spending it. The discipline is
to make impact the centre of your stewardship calendar, not an afterthought squeezed into an annual
report. Our [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) helps you
structure an update that leads with what the donor's gift achieved.

## Designing segmented journeys for digital donors

The biggest practical shift in Exeter's approach was moving from general communications to
segmented ones. The problem with the general approach is familiar to anyone fundraising for a broad
organisation: you end up talking about everything to everyone. As Cohen put it, "the breadth of
funds that people can give to universities and education means that we were talking about a lot of
stuff. And I think we were losing people because someone perhaps that has given to support students
might not necessarily want to hear about our climate change research, for example." Open rates
fell, and that decline was the signal to change.

The answer was what Exeter call tracks: aligning each donor to the area they care about and talking
to them about that. "We're trying to align all of our donor database with a particular track. So
the area that they're most interested in." A donor who gave to a cancer appeal goes on the cancer
track and hears about cancer research. "If someone's shown an interest in that area, that's what
we're going to talk to them about. We're going to show them the impact of that giving. Hopefully
then they'll give again. They'll convert to a regular gift or they'll upgrade."

Segmentation also sharpens the small details that drive engagement. Subject lines are a good
example: when a communication is bespoke, say so, and make it recognisable. Rather than a generic
"thank you from the University", the email came from the named researcher behind the original
appeal, so the donor's reaction was, in Carter's paraphrase, "Oh, I gave to that. OK, I'm
interested. I'm going to open this." A subject line that says "the impact you've made on cancer
research" lands very differently from one that says "your gift". Our
[donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) gives you a
framework for mapping these tracks across your supporter base.

Language threads through everything Exeter tested. Following Sargent's work on relationship
fundraising, both Exeter and Hubbub have experimented with emotional rather than transactional
wording, talking about a donor's kindness rather than their donation. As Cohen put it, "your
kindness will have an impact, not just your donation. So it's that emotional connection rather than
just transactional." Early results have been positive, both in asks and in retention, and it costs
nothing to test.

## Video and other engaging stewardship formats

Stewardship does not have to be expensive to be effective, but it does have to be engaging, and the
format matters. Video is the clearest example. The Exeter researcher video that achieved a 71 per
cent open rate worked because it put a real human face to the impact, and because it disrupted the
usual flow of stewardship email with something the donor wanted to watch. Every stewardship message
is, as Carter described it, an opportunity to "disrupt the noise within email" and remind the donor
of the impact they made and how good it felt.

The phone is the other under-used channel, and digital fundraising actually makes it more viable.
Carter highlighted that when organisations run Giving Days, "60 to 75 per cent of those who give a
giving day gift leave their phone number. That's good, clean, recent data that you can use to pick
up the phone and have a good conversation, a personal conversation about impact and a chance to
speak to your donors directly." A stewardship call, framed as impact and gratitude rather than a
fresh ask, is among the warmest contacts you can make. Exeter found that their pure-stewardship
calls produced better pick-up rates, longer and stronger conversations, and, when the next ask did
come, a higher giving rate.

None of this needs to be elaborate, a point Cohen returned to: "Stewardship for me is all about
telling those stories and it can be done on low budget, but with high impact. So, yeah, I'd say
just try it and see how you get on."

## Setting a regular cadence

The single most common stewardship failing is going quiet. Teams fear over-communicating and so
under-communicate, and the donor drifts away. Carter's challenge to that instinct is direct: most
organisations email their donors far too little. Once a month is a sensible target to aim for, and
if that feels like a lot, "maybe every two months, maybe once a quarter and starting to talk more
frequently." The principle is to stay top of mind, so that the donor is reminded of their impact on
a continual basis rather than hearing from you once a year.

The fear of being a nuisance is understandable but usually misplaced. As Carter observed, "Lots of
brands will send you emails every day from a kind of commercial environment, and they wouldn't do
that if it didn't work. Not everybody is going to click every email. Not everybody is going to buy
something from every email. And so not every donor will donate from every email. But if you give
them enough opportunities, they will at the right time when it's right for them." The job of the
cadence is to be present in that moment when the donor is ready to act, identify with you, or simply
feel good about giving again.

This does not mean emailing blindly. The same metrics that tell you to communicate more will tell
you when to ease off. Open rates, click rates, unsubscribes and spam triggers are your early warning
system, and a good cadence is one you adjust by watching them, not one you set and forget.

## Turning one-off donors into regular givers

A one-off gift is not the end of a relationship, it is the start of one, and the worst thing you can
do is wait passively for the next campaign before you speak to that donor again. Asked whether
Giving Day donors needed to wait for the next Giving Day before being asked again, Carter's answer
was emphatic: "Don't wait. Start them on a stewardship journey. Start them on a retention journey.
Put them into a track. Do that kind of donor planning. And just as you would start to ask all your
other donors, give them the opportunity."

The route from one-off to regular runs through stewardship first and the ask second. You thank, you
report impact, you keep the donor warm on a track that matters to them, and then, at the next
natural opportunity, you ask again. That ask might be a telephone campaign, a direct mail piece or
an appeal, and it need not be tied to a repeat of the original event. Exeter proved the point:
having run a Giving Day some years earlier and not repeated it, they continued to ask those donors
through other channels, "and they do give again because it's that affinity." If the prospect of
asking recent donors makes you nervous, Carter's advice is to test it on a small sample first, look
at the early data, and then roll it out with confidence rather than assumption.

The mechanism that makes all of this work is the journey. A first-time donor placed on a track,
thanked properly, shown their impact and asked again at the right moment is a candidate for a
regular gift or an upgrade. A first-time donor left alone after the receipt email is, statistically,
already half gone.

## Measuring stewardship

Stewardship that is not measured tends to drift back to the bottom of the priority list, so the
final discipline is to track it. The headline metrics are retention rates: overall retention,
first-time donor retention, repeat donor retention and regular-giving retention. These are the
numbers that tell you whether your stewardship is working, and they are the numbers Sargent's whole
argument rests on. Second-gift conversion, the proportion of first-time donors who give again, is
the sharpest of these, because first-time retention is where the sector haemorrhages supporters and
where small gains compound the most.

Alongside retention, watch the engagement metrics that act as leading indicators: open rates, click
rates, the cadence of donations against income, unsubscribes and spam triggers. Exeter's own
turnaround was visible in exactly these figures. Falling open rates on generic emails were the
warning that prompted the change, and a 71 per cent open rate on a targeted stewardship email was
the early proof that it was working. In non-digital channels, the equivalent measures are telephone
pick-up rates and the quality and length of conversations, both of which improved once Exeter moved
to pure stewardship calls.

One more measure is worth borrowing from Sargent, because satisfaction is the single biggest driver
of loyalty and almost nobody tracks it. The remedy is a short donor survey, a few minutes to
complete, that asks how donors feel about the service they receive and gives them room to raise
anything that has not worked. The follow-up matters more than the fix. Sargent described the service
recovery paradox: "People who've had an issue, if they tell you about it and you fix it for them,
they are a heck of a lot more loyal than if they'd never had a problem in the first place." Even
where you cannot fix something, listening and acknowledging builds loyalty, which is why he prefers
to call complaints "opportunities to build loyalty".

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between stewardship and a thank-you?** A thank-you is one moment within
stewardship. Stewardship is the whole ongoing relationship after the gift: thanking, reporting
impact, staying in touch on a regular cadence, and inviting the donor into the next thing. As Kat
Carter put it, the thank-you is not the goal; donor retention is, and stewardship is how you reach
it.

**How often should we contact donors?** More often than most teams do. Aim for roughly monthly, and
if that feels too much, every two months or quarterly is a reasonable starting point. The aim is to
stay top of mind and keep reminding donors of their impact, while watching open rates, unsubscribes
and spam triggers to know when to ease off.

**Is it really worth investing in retention rather than acquisition?** Yes. Retention compounds.
Dr Adrian Sargent cites a 10 per cent improvement in retention leading to something like a 200 per
cent increase in the lifetime value of a database, because donors you keep upgrade, recommend
friends, volunteer and may eventually leave a legacy. Acquisition without stewardship simply refills
a leaking bucket.

**Should we ask recent donors to give again, or wait?** Do not wait. Start them on a stewardship
journey straight away, thank them, report impact, and ask again at the next natural opportunity,
whether that is a telephone campaign, direct mail or an appeal. If you are nervous, test on a small
sample first and look at the early data before rolling it out.

**Do we need a big budget or special technology for good stewardship?** No. Rose Cohen of Exeter was
clear that their results came from telling stories well, segmenting donors onto tracks they care
about, and pure stewardship contact, all done on a low budget with high impact. Keep it simple to
start with, prove it works, and grow from there.

**Which metrics matter most for stewardship?** Retention rates first: overall, first-time, repeat
and regular-giving retention, plus second-gift conversion. Then engagement indicators such as open
rates, click rates, unsubscribes and, for telephone, pick-up rates and conversation quality.
Consider a short donor satisfaction survey too, since satisfaction is the biggest driver of loyalty
and almost nobody measures it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [creating engaging stewardship journeys for digital donors](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) and [creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Hubbub blog: why thanking deserves its own moment](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Related guide: [How to build a regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to steward donors and design donor journeys](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (us/en): A practical guide to donor stewardship and designing donor journeys, covering why stewardship drives retention, mapping the journey, thanking well, impact reporting, video and digital stewardship, and turning one-time donors into regular supporters.
Stewardship is everything you do with a donor after they have given: the thank-you, the impact
update, the phone call, the next invitation to be involved, and the steady drip of contact that
reminds someone why they gave in the first place. Acquisition gets a new supporter through the
door. Stewardship decides whether they stay, give again, and grow into the kind of committed donor
every organization depends on. Yet it is the part of the cycle most teams under-resource, because
the money for a new gift feels more urgent than the money for a gift you have already banked.

This guide is about closing that gap. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on
the experience of three practitioners: Kat Carter of Hubbub, Rose Cohen of the University of
Exeter, and Dr Adrian Sargeant of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. The argument running
through it is simple. Stewardship is not a nicety bolted on at the end. It is the activity that
protects the return on everything else you do. The sections below work through what stewardship
is, how to map a donor journey, and the practical building blocks: thanking, impact reporting,
segmentation, format, cadence, conversion and measurement.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) and
> [thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## What stewardship is, and why it drives retention

Stewardship is more than saying thank you. As Kat Carter framed it, the real prize is not the
thank-you but what it leads to: "The main goal is donor retention. We want to acquire those donors
and get them giving. And then we want to retain them and keep them giving so that we can have them
for a good long while and move them into other activities, whether they be major gifts, legacy
giving, higher end annual giving, or maybe even just volunteering."

The case for taking retention seriously is brutal, because the sector is not good at it.
Dr Adrian Sargeant, one of the leading voices on donor loyalty, put it bluntly: "In a sense, not
much has changed in 20 years in terms of loyalty and retention. We weren't very good at it 20
years ago. We're terrible at it today." He pointed to a pattern of attrition that should give
every fundraiser pause: "We know that between that first gift and second year retention that we're
only able to retain less than 70 per cent of donors. That's a terrible pattern of attrition. That
is an enormous level of churn. And of course, that comes at great expense to nonprofits who are
wasting time and money communicating with people who aren't necessarily going to give again."

The flip side is where stewardship earns its place. Small improvements in retention compound into
enormous gains in lifetime value, because a donor you keep this year is a donor you can keep next
year, and the year after, and one who may upgrade, recommend a friend, volunteer, or eventually
leave a legacy. In Sargeant's words: "Even small improvements you can engineer in retention in the
here and now translate to whopping improvements in the lifetime value of a fundraising database."
He made the scale concrete: "So 10 per cent increase in retention and loyalty now can lead to
something like a 200 per cent increase in the lifetime value of that fundraising database." The
reason is compounding: "You lose fewer people this year. You've got more next year and the year
thereafter. People hang around for longer. They upgrade their giving. They recommend a friend.
They do volunteering. They give to the emergency appeal." Stewardship, then, is not a soft
activity. It is the lever with the highest return in fundraising, and the one most often left
half-pulled.

## The donor journey, and why you should map it

A donor journey is the planned path a supporter travels from their first gift to wherever you want
them to end up: a second gift, a regular commitment, an upgrade, a legacy conversation. Mapping it
forces you to be deliberate about the moments in between, rather than leaving the relationship to
chance and the occasional generic newsletter.

The mechanics are not complicated. You decide where a donor starts, where you want them to finish,
and what happens in between. As Kat Carter described it, you might "take a first time donor and get
them to repeat that gift or upgrade that gift. You can say this is where they're starting. This is
where I want them to finish. And these are the activities that are going to happen in between." The
same discipline applies at every level of giving. A long-standing regular donor you hope to
cultivate towards a major gift needs a different journey from a first-time online donor, but both
deserve one that is designed rather than assumed.

Mapping makes stewardship visible and accountable. Once the journey is on paper, you can see the
gaps: the long silences, the months where a donor hears nothing, and the places where your
communications pull in different directions. Carter's caution is worth heeding. A journey "does
take a little bit of time. But if you take the time to do that in the beginning, then everything
else can follow from it. And then you just have to make sure that they're updated and thought about
on a kind of regular basis to make sure everyone's on the right track."

The case for mapping is sharpest in the gap between how we communicate before a gift and after it.
During an appeal the communications flow freely; the moment the gift lands, they fall away. Carter
noted that only around a third of donors hear anything in the first month after giving,
and then contact tails off sharply. The consequence is predictable: "When we stop communicating,
and our stewardship goes cold, and our donor retention declines, it then starts an uphill battle,
and it's very difficult to come back from." A mapped journey is the simplest insurance against that
silence.

## Thanking well, and thanking promptly

If retention is the goal, the thank-you is still the first move, and it deserves its own moment
rather than being folded into the next ask. This matters most in the days immediately after a big,
intense fundraising push. After a [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), you have
hundreds or thousands of donors who have just acted on a wave of emotion, and the worst thing you
can do is go quiet on them, or treat the receipt email as the end of the relationship. The day
after a Giving Day is a stewardship opportunity, not an admin task.

A good thank-you does three things. It is prompt, so the donor feels their gift mattered while the
feeling of giving is still fresh. It is specific, so it connects the gift to something real rather
than offering a generic acknowledgement. And it carries no ask, so the donor experiences being
appreciated rather than being asked again. Rose Cohen described exactly this kind of contact at
Exeter: a stewardship communication "thanking them for their support and demonstrating the impact
and what they're going to use the money for and exactly what that's going to enable that team to
do. It was just a pure stewardship communication, no ask attached at all."

The same principle extends to the phone. Exeter built "pure stewardship calls" into their telephone
program, and Cohen named it as one of her two most impactful changes. The shift was in
sequencing: "I think in the past we've focused too much on conversion and upgrading donors too
quickly. So now we always start with a pure stewardship and then we alternate between that and
asking to give again or upgrading for regular donors if they're regular donors. And I think that's
transformed our stewardship and our results." A thank-you that exists only to thank, with nothing
attached, is one of the cheapest and most powerful things you can send. Our
[thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) give you a warm
starting point to adapt.

## Impact reporting: show donors what their gift did

Trust is one of the great drivers of loyalty, and it is built largely through impact reporting.
Sargeant named it alongside satisfaction and commitment: "Trust in the organization, trust that the
organization is going to do what it says it's going to do with the money and with the impact that
your gift is going to have on the beneficiary group." Impact reporting is how you earn that trust,
gift after gift.

The most effective impact reporting is specific, human and free of jargon. It tells a story about
what changed because of the donor's money, ideally in the words of the people closest to the work.
Cohen's example from Exeter is instructive. For World Cancer Research Day, her team emailed their
cancer donors a video of the lead researcher, thanking them and explaining precisely what their
support would fund. The result was a 71 per cent open rate, well above their general stewardship
communications, and "some really nice comments back from it as well."

Reporting back also gives you a reason to communicate that has nothing to do with asking, which is
exactly the kind of contact that builds a relationship rather than spending it. The discipline is
to make impact the center of your stewardship calendar, not an afterthought squeezed into an annual
report. Our [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) helps you
structure an update that leads with what the donor's gift achieved.

## Designing segmented journeys for digital donors

The biggest practical shift in Exeter's approach was moving from general communications to
segmented ones. The problem with the general approach is familiar to anyone fundraising for a broad
organization: you end up talking about everything to everyone. As Cohen put it, "the breadth of
funds that people can give to universities and education means that we were talking about a lot of
stuff. And I think we were losing people because someone perhaps that has given to support students
might not necessarily want to hear about our climate change research, for example." Open rates
fell, and that decline was the signal to change.

The answer was what Exeter call tracks: aligning each donor to the area they care about and talking
to them about that. "We're trying to align all of our donor database with a particular track. So
the area that they're most interested in." A donor who gave to a cancer appeal goes on the cancer
track and hears about cancer research. "If someone's shown an interest in that area, that's what
we're going to talk to them about. We're going to show them the impact of that giving. Hopefully
then they'll give again. They'll convert to a regular gift or they'll upgrade."

Segmentation also sharpens the small details that drive engagement. Subject lines are a good
example: when a communication is bespoke, say so, and make it recognizable. Rather than a generic
"thank you from the University", the email came from the named researcher behind the original
appeal, so the donor's reaction was, in Carter's paraphrase, "Oh, I gave to that. OK, I'm
interested. I'm going to open this." A subject line that says "the impact you've made on cancer
research" lands very differently from one that says "your gift". Our
[donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) gives you a
framework for mapping these tracks across your supporter base.

Language threads through everything Exeter tested. Following Sargeant's work on relationship
fundraising, both Exeter and Hubbub have experimented with emotional rather than transactional
wording, talking about a donor's kindness rather than their donation. As Cohen put it, "your
kindness will have an impact, not just your donation. So it's that emotional connection rather than
just transactional." Early results have been positive, both in asks and in retention, and it costs
nothing to test.

## Video and other engaging stewardship formats

Stewardship does not have to be expensive to be effective, but it does have to be engaging, and the
format matters. Video is the clearest example. The Exeter researcher video that achieved a 71 per
cent open rate worked because it put a real human face to the impact, and because it disrupted the
usual flow of stewardship email with something the donor wanted to watch. Every stewardship message
is, as Carter described it, an opportunity to "disrupt the noise within email" and remind the donor
of the impact they made and how good it felt.

The phone is the other under-used channel, and digital fundraising actually makes it more viable.
Carter highlighted that when organizations run Giving Days, "60 to 75 per cent of those who give a
giving day gift leave their phone number. That's good, clean, recent data that you can use to pick
up the phone and have a good conversation, a personal conversation about impact and a chance to
speak to your donors directly." A stewardship call, framed as impact and gratitude rather than a
fresh ask, is among the warmest contacts you can make. Exeter found that their pure-stewardship
calls produced better pick-up rates, longer and stronger conversations, and, when the next ask did
come, a higher giving rate.

None of this needs to be elaborate, a point Cohen returned to: "Stewardship for me is all about
telling those stories and it can be done on low budget, but with high impact. So, yeah, I'd say
just try it and see how you get on."

## Setting a regular cadence

The single most common stewardship failing is going quiet. Teams fear over-communicating and so
under-communicate, and the donor drifts away. Carter's challenge to that instinct is direct: most
organizations email their donors far too little. Once a month is a sensible target to aim for, and
if that feels like a lot, "maybe every two months, maybe once a quarter and starting to talk more
frequently." The principle is to stay top of mind, so that the donor is reminded of their impact on
a continual basis rather than hearing from you once a year.

The fear of being a nuisance is understandable but usually misplaced. As Carter observed, "Lots of
brands will send you emails every day from a kind of commercial environment, and they wouldn't do
that if it didn't work. Not everybody is going to click every email. Not everybody is going to buy
something from every email. And so not every donor will donate from every email. But if you give
them enough opportunities, they will at the right time when it's right for them." The job of the
cadence is to be present in that moment when the donor is ready to act, identify with you, or simply
feel good about giving again.

This does not mean emailing blindly. The same metrics that tell you to communicate more will tell
you when to ease off. Open rates, click rates, unsubscribes and spam triggers are your early warning
system, and a good cadence is one you adjust by watching them, not one you set and forget.

## Turning one-time donors into regular givers

A one-time gift is not the end of a relationship, it is the start of one, and the worst thing you can
do is wait passively for the next campaign before you speak to that donor again. Asked whether
Giving Day donors needed to wait for the next Giving Day before being asked again, Carter's answer
was emphatic: "Don't wait. Start them on a stewardship journey. Start them on a retention journey.
Put them into a track. Do that kind of donor planning. And just as you would start to ask all your
other donors, give them the opportunity."

The route from one-time to regular runs through stewardship first and the ask second. You thank, you
report impact, you keep the donor warm on a track that matters to them, and then, at the next
natural opportunity, you ask again. That ask might be a telephone campaign, a direct mail piece or
an appeal, and it need not be tied to a repeat of the original event. Exeter proved the point:
having run a Giving Day some years earlier and not repeated it, they continued to ask those donors
through other channels, "and they do give again because it's that affinity." If the prospect of
asking recent donors makes you nervous, Carter's advice is to test it on a small sample first, look
at the early data, and then roll it out with confidence rather than assumption.

The mechanism that makes all of this work is the journey. A first-time donor placed on a track,
thanked properly, shown their impact and asked again at the right moment is a candidate for a
regular gift or an upgrade. A first-time donor left alone after the receipt email is, statistically,
already half gone.

## Measuring stewardship

Stewardship that is not measured tends to drift back to the bottom of the priority list, so the
final discipline is to track it. The headline metrics are retention rates: overall retention,
first-time donor retention, repeat donor retention and regular-giving retention. These are the
numbers that tell you whether your stewardship is working, and they are the numbers Sargeant's whole
argument rests on. Second-gift conversion, the proportion of first-time donors who give again, is
the sharpest of these, because first-time retention is where the sector hemorrhages supporters and
where small gains compound the most.

Alongside retention, watch the engagement metrics that act as leading indicators: open rates, click
rates, the cadence of donations against income, unsubscribes and spam triggers. Exeter's own
turnaround was visible in exactly these figures. Falling open rates on generic emails were the
warning that prompted the change, and a 71 per cent open rate on a targeted stewardship email was
the early proof that it was working. In non-digital channels, the equivalent measures are telephone
pick-up rates and the quality and length of conversations, both of which improved once Exeter moved
to pure stewardship calls.

One more measure is worth borrowing from Sargeant, because satisfaction is the single biggest driver
of loyalty and almost nobody tracks it. The remedy is a short donor survey, a few minutes to
complete, that asks how donors feel about the service they receive and gives them room to raise
anything that has not worked. The follow-up matters more than the fix. Sargeant described the service
recovery paradox: "People who've had an issue, if they tell you about it and you fix it for them,
they are a heck of a lot more loyal than if they'd never had a problem in the first place." Even
where you cannot fix something, listening and acknowledging builds loyalty, which is why he prefers
to call complaints "opportunities to build loyalty".

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between stewardship and a thank-you?** A thank-you is one moment within
stewardship. Stewardship is the whole ongoing relationship after the gift: thanking, reporting
impact, staying in touch on a regular cadence, and inviting the donor into the next thing. As Kat
Carter put it, the thank-you is not the goal; donor retention is, and stewardship is how you reach
it.

**How often should we contact donors?** More often than most teams do. Aim for roughly monthly, and
if that feels too much, every two months or quarterly is a reasonable starting point. The aim is to
stay top of mind and keep reminding donors of their impact, while watching open rates, unsubscribes
and spam triggers to know when to ease off.

**Is it really worth investing in retention rather than acquisition?** Yes. Retention compounds.
Dr Adrian Sargeant cites a 10 per cent improvement in retention leading to something like a 200 per
cent increase in the lifetime value of a database, because donors you keep upgrade, recommend
friends, volunteer and may eventually leave a legacy. Acquisition without stewardship simply refills
a leaking bucket.

**Should we ask recent donors to give again, or wait?** Do not wait. Start them on a stewardship
journey straight away, thank them, report impact, and ask again at the next natural opportunity,
whether that is a telephone campaign, direct mail or an appeal. If you are nervous, test on a small
sample first and look at the early data before rolling it out.

**Do we need a big budget or special technology for good stewardship?** No. Rose Cohen of Exeter was
clear that their results came from telling stories well, segmenting donors onto tracks they care
about, and pure stewardship contact, all done on a low budget with high impact. Keep it simple to
start with, prove it works, and grow from there.

**Which metrics matter most for stewardship?** Retention rates first: overall, first-time, repeat
and regular-giving retention, plus second-gift conversion. Then engagement indicators such as open
rates, click rates, unsubscribes and, for telephone, pick-up rates and conversation quality.
Consider a short donor satisfaction survey too, since satisfaction is the biggest driver of loyalty
and almost nobody measures it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [creating engaging stewardship journeys for digital donors](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) and [creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Hubbub blog: why thanking deserves its own moment](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Related guide: [How to build a regular giving programme](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to steward donors and design donor journeys](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) (world/en): A practical guide to donor stewardship and designing donor journeys, covering why stewardship drives retention, mapping the journey, thanking well, impact reporting, video and digital stewardship, and turning one-off donors into regular supporters.
Stewardship is everything you do with a donor after they have given: the thank-you, the impact
update, the phone call, the next invitation to be involved, and the steady drip of contact that
reminds someone why they gave in the first place. Acquisition gets a new supporter through the
door. Stewardship decides whether they stay, give again, and grow into the kind of committed donor
every organisation depends on. Yet it is the part of the cycle most teams under-resource, because
the money for a new gift feels more urgent than the money for a gift you have already banked.

This guide is about closing that gap. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on
the experience of three practitioners: Kat Carter of Hubbub, Rose Cohen of the University of
Exeter, and Dr Adrian Sargeant of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. The argument running
through it is simple. Stewardship is not a nicety bolted on at the end. It is the activity that
protects the return on everything else you do. The sections below work through what stewardship
is, how to map a donor journey, and the practical building blocks: thanking, impact reporting,
segmentation, format, cadence, conversion and measurement.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/),
> [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) and
> [thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/).

## What stewardship is, and why it drives retention

Stewardship is more than saying thank you. As Kat Carter framed it, the real prize is not the
thank-you but what it leads to: "The main goal is donor retention. We want to acquire those donors
and get them giving. And then we want to retain them and keep them giving so that we can have them
for a good long while and move them into other activities, whether they be major gifts, legacy
giving, higher end annual giving, or maybe even just volunteering."

The case for taking retention seriously is brutal, because the sector is not good at it.
Dr Adrian Sargeant, one of the leading voices on donor loyalty, put it bluntly: "In a sense, not
much has changed in 20 years in terms of loyalty and retention. We weren't very good at it 20
years ago. We're terrible at it today." He pointed to a pattern of attrition that should give
every fundraiser pause: "We know that between that first gift and second year retention that we're
only able to retain less than 70 per cent of donors. That's a terrible pattern of attrition. That
is an enormous level of churn. And of course, that comes at great expense to nonprofits who are
wasting time and money communicating with people who aren't necessarily going to give again."

The flip side is where stewardship earns its place. Small improvements in retention compound into
enormous gains in lifetime value, because a donor you keep this year is a donor you can keep next
year, and the year after, and one who may upgrade, recommend a friend, volunteer, or eventually
leave a legacy. In Sargeant's words: "Even small improvements you can engineer in retention in the
here and now translate to whopping improvements in the lifetime value of a fundraising database."
He made the scale concrete: "So 10 per cent increase in retention and loyalty now can lead to
something like a 200 per cent increase in the lifetime value of that fundraising database." The
reason is compounding: "You lose fewer people this year. You've got more next year and the year
thereafter. People hang around for longer. They upgrade their giving. They recommend a friend.
They do volunteering. They give to the emergency appeal." Stewardship, then, is not a soft
activity. It is the lever with the highest return in fundraising, and the one most often left
half-pulled.

## The donor journey, and why you should map it

A donor journey is the planned path a supporter travels from their first gift to wherever you want
them to end up: a second gift, a regular commitment, an upgrade, a legacy conversation. Mapping it
forces you to be deliberate about the moments in between, rather than leaving the relationship to
chance and the occasional generic newsletter.

The mechanics are not complicated. You decide where a donor starts, where you want them to finish,
and what happens in between. As Kat Carter described it, you might "take a first time donor and get
them to repeat that gift or upgrade that gift. You can say this is where they're starting. This is
where I want them to finish. And these are the activities that are going to happen in between." The
same discipline applies at every level of giving. A long-standing regular donor you hope to
cultivate towards a major gift needs a different journey from a first-time online donor, but both
deserve one that is designed rather than assumed.

Mapping makes stewardship visible and accountable. Once the journey is on paper, you can see the
gaps: the long silences, the months where a donor hears nothing, and the places where your
communications pull in different directions. Carter's caution is worth heeding. A journey "does
take a little bit of time. But if you take the time to do that in the beginning, then everything
else can follow from it. And then you just have to make sure that they're updated and thought about
on a kind of regular basis to make sure everyone's on the right track."

The case for mapping is sharpest in the gap between how we communicate before a gift and after it.
During an appeal the communications flow freely; the moment the gift lands, they fall away. Carter
noted that only around a third of donors hear anything in the first month after giving,
and then contact tails off sharply. The consequence is predictable: "When we stop communicating,
and our stewardship goes cold, and our donor retention declines, it then starts an uphill battle,
and it's very difficult to come back from." A mapped journey is the simplest insurance against that
silence.

## Thanking well, and thanking promptly

If retention is the goal, the thank-you is still the first move, and it deserves its own moment
rather than being folded into the next ask. This matters most in the days immediately after a big,
intense fundraising push. After a [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), you have
hundreds or thousands of donors who have just acted on a wave of emotion, and the worst thing you
can do is go quiet on them, or treat the receipt email as the end of the relationship. The day
after a Giving Day is a stewardship opportunity, not an admin task.

A good thank-you does three things. It is prompt, so the donor feels their gift mattered while the
feeling of giving is still fresh. It is specific, so it connects the gift to something real rather
than offering a generic acknowledgement. And it carries no ask, so the donor experiences being
appreciated rather than being asked again. Rose Cohen described exactly this kind of contact at
Exeter: a stewardship communication "thanking them for their support and demonstrating the impact
and what they're going to use the money for and exactly what that's going to enable that team to
do. It was just a pure stewardship communication, no ask attached at all."

The same principle extends to the phone. Exeter built "pure stewardship calls" into their telephone
programme, and Cohen named it as one of her two most impactful changes. The shift was in
sequencing: "I think in the past we've focused too much on conversion and upgrading donors too
quickly. So now we always start with a pure stewardship and then we alternate between that and
asking to give again or upgrading for regular donors if they're regular donors. And I think that's
transformed our stewardship and our results." A thank-you that exists only to thank, with nothing
attached, is one of the cheapest and most powerful things you can send. Our
[thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/) give you a warm
starting point to adapt.

## Impact reporting: show donors what their gift did

Trust is one of the great drivers of loyalty, and it is built largely through impact reporting.
Sargeant named it alongside satisfaction and commitment: "Trust in the organisation, trust that the
organisation is going to do what it says it's going to do with the money and with the impact that
your gift is going to have on the beneficiary group." Impact reporting is how you earn that trust,
gift after gift.

The most effective impact reporting is specific, human and free of jargon. It tells a story about
what changed because of the donor's money, ideally in the words of the people closest to the work.
Cohen's example from Exeter is instructive. For World Cancer Research Day, her team emailed their
cancer donors a video of the lead researcher, thanking them and explaining precisely what their
support would fund. The result was a 71 per cent open rate, well above their general stewardship
communications, and "some really nice comments back from it as well."

Reporting back also gives you a reason to communicate that has nothing to do with asking, which is
exactly the kind of contact that builds a relationship rather than spending it. The discipline is
to make impact the centre of your stewardship calendar, not an afterthought squeezed into an annual
report. Our [impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/) helps you
structure an update that leads with what the donor's gift achieved.

## Designing segmented journeys for digital donors

The biggest practical shift in Exeter's approach was moving from general communications to
segmented ones. The problem with the general approach is familiar to anyone fundraising for a broad
organisation: you end up talking about everything to everyone. As Cohen put it, "the breadth of
funds that people can give to universities and education means that we were talking about a lot of
stuff. And I think we were losing people because someone perhaps that has given to support students
might not necessarily want to hear about our climate change research, for example." Open rates
fell, and that decline was the signal to change.

The answer was what Exeter call tracks: aligning each donor to the area they care about and talking
to them about that. "We're trying to align all of our donor database with a particular track. So
the area that they're most interested in." A donor who gave to a cancer appeal goes on the cancer
track and hears about cancer research. "If someone's shown an interest in that area, that's what
we're going to talk to them about. We're going to show them the impact of that giving. Hopefully
then they'll give again. They'll convert to a regular gift or they'll upgrade."

Segmentation also sharpens the small details that drive engagement. Subject lines are a good
example: when a communication is bespoke, say so, and make it recognisable. Rather than a generic
"thank you from the University", the email came from the named researcher behind the original
appeal, so the donor's reaction was, in Carter's paraphrase, "Oh, I gave to that. OK, I'm
interested. I'm going to open this." A subject line that says "the impact you've made on cancer
research" lands very differently from one that says "your gift". Our
[donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/) gives you a
framework for mapping these tracks across your supporter base.

Language threads through everything Exeter tested. Following Sargeant's work on relationship
fundraising, both Exeter and Hubbub have experimented with emotional rather than transactional
wording, talking about a donor's kindness rather than their donation. As Cohen put it, "your
kindness will have an impact, not just your donation. So it's that emotional connection rather than
just transactional." Early results have been positive, both in asks and in retention, and it costs
nothing to test.

## Video and other engaging stewardship formats

Stewardship does not have to be expensive to be effective, but it does have to be engaging, and the
format matters. Video is the clearest example. The Exeter researcher video that achieved a 71 per
cent open rate worked because it put a real human face to the impact, and because it disrupted the
usual flow of stewardship email with something the donor wanted to watch. Every stewardship message
is, as Carter described it, an opportunity to "disrupt the noise within email" and remind the donor
of the impact they made and how good it felt.

The phone is the other under-used channel, and digital fundraising actually makes it more viable.
Carter highlighted that when organisations run Giving Days, "60 to 75 per cent of those who give a
giving day gift leave their phone number. That's good, clean, recent data that you can use to pick
up the phone and have a good conversation, a personal conversation about impact and a chance to
speak to your donors directly." A stewardship call, framed as impact and gratitude rather than a
fresh ask, is among the warmest contacts you can make. Exeter found that their pure-stewardship
calls produced better pick-up rates, longer and stronger conversations, and, when the next ask did
come, a higher giving rate.

None of this needs to be elaborate, a point Cohen returned to: "Stewardship for me is all about
telling those stories and it can be done on low budget, but with high impact. So, yeah, I'd say
just try it and see how you get on."

## Setting a regular cadence

The single most common stewardship failing is going quiet. Teams fear over-communicating and so
under-communicate, and the donor drifts away. Carter's challenge to that instinct is direct: most
organisations email their donors far too little. Once a month is a sensible target to aim for, and
if that feels like a lot, "maybe every two months, maybe once a quarter and starting to talk more
frequently." The principle is to stay top of mind, so that the donor is reminded of their impact on
a continual basis rather than hearing from you once a year.

The fear of being a nuisance is understandable but usually misplaced. As Carter observed, "Lots of
brands will send you emails every day from a kind of commercial environment, and they wouldn't do
that if it didn't work. Not everybody is going to click every email. Not everybody is going to buy
something from every email. And so not every donor will donate from every email. But if you give
them enough opportunities, they will at the right time when it's right for them." The job of the
cadence is to be present in that moment when the donor is ready to act, identify with you, or simply
feel good about giving again.

This does not mean emailing blindly. The same metrics that tell you to communicate more will tell
you when to ease off. Open rates, click rates, unsubscribes and spam triggers are your early warning
system, and a good cadence is one you adjust by watching them, not one you set and forget.

## Turning one-off donors into regular givers

A one-off gift is not the end of a relationship, it is the start of one, and the worst thing you can
do is wait passively for the next campaign before you speak to that donor again. Asked whether
Giving Day donors needed to wait for the next Giving Day before being asked again, Carter's answer
was emphatic: "Don't wait. Start them on a stewardship journey. Start them on a retention journey.
Put them into a track. Do that kind of donor planning. And just as you would start to ask all your
other donors, give them the opportunity."

The route from one-off to regular runs through stewardship first and the ask second. You thank, you
report impact, you keep the donor warm on a track that matters to them, and then, at the next
natural opportunity, you ask again. That ask might be a telephone campaign, a direct mail piece or
an appeal, and it need not be tied to a repeat of the original event. Exeter proved the point:
having run a Giving Day some years earlier and not repeated it, they continued to ask those donors
through other channels, "and they do give again because it's that affinity." If the prospect of
asking recent donors makes you nervous, Carter's advice is to test it on a small sample first, look
at the early data, and then roll it out with confidence rather than assumption.

The mechanism that makes all of this work is the journey. A first-time donor placed on a track,
thanked properly, shown their impact and asked again at the right moment is a candidate for a
regular gift or an upgrade. A first-time donor left alone after the receipt email is, statistically,
already half gone.

## Measuring stewardship

Stewardship that is not measured tends to drift back to the bottom of the priority list, so the
final discipline is to track it. The headline metrics are retention rates: overall retention,
first-time donor retention, repeat donor retention and regular-giving retention. These are the
numbers that tell you whether your stewardship is working, and they are the numbers Sargeant's whole
argument rests on. Second-gift conversion, the proportion of first-time donors who give again, is
the sharpest of these, because first-time retention is where the sector haemorrhages supporters and
where small gains compound the most.

Alongside retention, watch the engagement metrics that act as leading indicators: open rates, click
rates, the cadence of donations against income, unsubscribes and spam triggers. Exeter's own
turnaround was visible in exactly these figures. Falling open rates on generic emails were the
warning that prompted the change, and a 71 per cent open rate on a targeted stewardship email was
the early proof that it was working. In non-digital channels, the equivalent measures are telephone
pick-up rates and the quality and length of conversations, both of which improved once Exeter moved
to pure stewardship calls.

One more measure is worth borrowing from Sargeant, because satisfaction is the single biggest driver
of loyalty and almost nobody tracks it. The remedy is a short donor survey, a few minutes to
complete, that asks how donors feel about the service they receive and gives them room to raise
anything that has not worked. The follow-up matters more than the fix. Sargeant described the service
recovery paradox: "People who've had an issue, if they tell you about it and you fix it for them,
they are a heck of a lot more loyal than if they'd never had a problem in the first place." Even
where you cannot fix something, listening and acknowledging builds loyalty, which is why he prefers
to call complaints "opportunities to build loyalty".

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between stewardship and a thank-you?** A thank-you is one moment within
stewardship. Stewardship is the whole ongoing relationship after the gift: thanking, reporting
impact, staying in touch on a regular cadence, and inviting the donor into the next thing. As Kat
Carter put it, the thank-you is not the goal; donor retention is, and stewardship is how you reach
it.

**How often should we contact donors?** More often than most teams do. Aim for roughly monthly, and
if that feels too much, every two months or quarterly is a reasonable starting point. The aim is to
stay top of mind and keep reminding donors of their impact, while watching open rates, unsubscribes
and spam triggers to know when to ease off.

**Is it really worth investing in retention rather than acquisition?** Yes. Retention compounds.
Dr Adrian Sargeant cites a 10 per cent improvement in retention leading to something like a 200 per
cent increase in the lifetime value of a database, because donors you keep upgrade, recommend
friends, volunteer and may eventually leave a legacy. Acquisition without stewardship simply refills
a leaking bucket.

**Should we ask recent donors to give again, or wait?** Do not wait. Start them on a stewardship
journey straight away, thank them, report impact, and ask again at the next natural opportunity,
whether that is a telephone campaign, direct mail or an appeal. If you are nervous, test on a small
sample first and look at the early data before rolling it out.

**Do we need a big budget or special technology for good stewardship?** No. Rose Cohen of Exeter was
clear that their results came from telling stories well, segmenting donors onto tracks they care
about, and pure stewardship contact, all done on a low budget with high impact. Keep it simple to
start with, prove it works, and grow from there.

**Which metrics matter most for stewardship?** Retention rates first: overall, first-time, repeat
and regular-giving retention, plus second-gift conversion. Then engagement indicators such as open
rates, click rates, unsubscribes and, for telephone, pick-up rates and conversation quality.
Consider a short donor satisfaction survey too, since satisfaction is the biggest driver of loyalty
and almost nobody measures it.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Donor stewardship journey template](/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/)
- [Impact report email template](/resources/impact-report-email-template/)
- [Thank-you message templates](/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [creating engaging stewardship journeys for digital donors](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-stewardship-journeys-for-digital-donors) and [creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- [Hubbub blog: why thanking deserves its own moment](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/the-day-after-the-giving-day-why-thanking-deserves-its-own-moment)
- Related guide: [How to build a regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to write fundraising emails that work](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/) (canz/en): A practical guide to fundraising email, the channel that drives the majority of online donations, covering your list and data, segmentation, the anatomy of a great appeal email, the campaign sequence, deliverability, testing and measurement.
Email is the engine of digital fundraising. It is not the most glamorous channel, and it rarely
gets the attention that social media does, but it is the one that moves money. On a
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), the large majority of donations arrive in
response to an email landing in someone's inbox at the right moment, with the right message,
from a sender they trust. Everything else, the social posts, the donor wall, the countdown,
works to support and amplify what email does. Get your email right and you have built the
machine that drives your campaign. Get it wrong and no amount of clever content elsewhere will
rescue the numbers.

This guide draws on Hubbub's experience of running and supporting hundreds of digital campaigns,
and in particular on Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, who spends much of her time writing
emails on behalf of customers, giving feedback on their drafts and sending campaigns for them.
She sets out the central challenge plainly: people receive a great deal of email, "about 100 to
120 every day", and most of them are not waiting to give. "People aren't usually waking up in
the morning with the internal motivation to get up and make a donation," she says. "The goal as
a fundraiser is to guide your supporters along this journey inspiring them to make that
donation." That is the job of every fundraising email you send, and the sections below work
through how to do it: from the list your email lands in, through segmentation and the craft of
the appeal itself, to the sequence, deliverability, the donation form, and how you test and
measure the whole thing.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/),
> [email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) and
> [subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Why email is the engine of digital fundraising

To write a good fundraising email, it helps to understand what is happening in a donor's mind
when it arrives. Everyone begins their day at what Kat Carter calls the status quo, "just going
about our business, enjoying our day, doing our day today". Your email is the interrupter, the
thing that breaks through that status quo and asks for a moment of attention. From there, the
donor has to be carried up an emotional journey: engaged by the timing, the sender and the
subject line, moved by the story and the words, and finally taken to the donation form to say
yes.

The crucial point is that giving is not buying. "In giving the emotional high point happens
before the transaction takes place," Kat Carter explains. "So in giving we often receive the
benefit first." A donor gives because they feel fortunate, or grateful, or moved by a story, and
the gift is the expression of that feeling. Your email's job is to create the emotional high
point, then make it as easy as possible to act on. Email conversion is, in her words, "made up
of many moving parts", which is why it pays to think about every one of them rather than dash off
some copy and hope.

## Your list and your data: the foundation

None of the craft that follows matters if your email does not arrive, or arrives at someone who
will never open it. A clean, contactable, well-permissioned list is the foundation of all email
fundraising, and it is the part teams most often neglect.

Start with the basics. Are your email addresses current and deliverable? Do you hold consent to
contact these people, and can you evidence it? Are bounces and complaints being cleared out
rather than allowed to accumulate? A list full of dead addresses and disengaged contacts does
not just waste effort, it actively harms your ability to reach the people who do want to hear
from you, because mailbox providers read high bounce and low engagement rates as a signal that
you are not a sender to be trusted.

Then look at the data attached to each contact, because personalisation depends on it. Kat
Carter is blunt about the cost of not having it: "Sometimes we see some emails where it says like
dear members dear friends. If you're not collecting that data start collecting that data and then
use that data." First names, giving history, the date and amount of a last gift, the cause
someone supported last time: each is a lever you can pull to make an email feel personal and
relevant, and you cannot pull a lever you have not collected. Treat your data as an asset you
build deliberately, at the point of every donation and every interaction.

## Segmentation

Once your list is clean and rich, segmentation is how you make it work harder. The same appeal
should not go to everyone in the same words. A first-time prospect, a loyal regular donor and a
lapsed supporter sit at different points in their relationship with you, and they respond to
different things.

Two kinds of people sit in any audience, and the split matters. "In the beginning of a campaign
you will get the people who have high affinity who all you have to do is ask," Kat Carter says.
"But then you'll get skeptics, and there are more skeptics in your audience than there are those
who are ready to go in terms of that low hanging fruit, so you got to get those skeptics on
board." Your warm segment needs a clear ask and little else. Your sceptical majority needs
reassurance, social proof and more than one touch before they move.

Segmentation also lets you put the data you already hold to work. For lapsed donors, Kat Carter
describes putting "their last gift and date and amount into the information so that you can try
and encourage them to give", a tactic that lifted conversion in testing. The principle is simple:
the more specific and relevant the email feels to the person reading it, the more attention they
pay. "When you get more specific, donors start paying more attention," she says. "So I would
encourage you to be more specific with all elements of your emails."

## The anatomy of a great fundraising email

A strong appeal email is built from a few parts, each doing a distinct job: the subject line and
sender, the opening, the story, social proof and the call to action.

**The subject line and the sender.** This is the envelope, and it decides whether your email is
opened at all. The sender deserves more thought than it usually gets. It can come from your
organisation's brand identity, but it can also come from a person, "a professor, it could be you,
it could be a parent, a significant person that is giving weight to the email that you're
sending". A personal sender can transform open rates: in one test Kat Carter cites, moving from
an organisation name to an individual's name took the open rate from 12 per cent to 51 per cent,
with seven times more submissions. The subject line then has to earn the click. Ask a question,
make a statement, invite participation or use the reader's name, and be specific. There is also a
useful nuance of language, which Kat Carter draws from a session by Adrian Sargeant: prefer "your
kindness" to "your gift", "because it is someone's kindness. Yes, they are making a gift, but
it's about kindness."

**The opening.** Reward the open immediately. Use the reader's first name where you have it, and
get to something that matters to them quickly. This is where readability counts: a personal tone,
a clean design, a sensible flow, and copy that reads like a human wrote it to a human.

**The story.** This is the heart of the email, the part that carries the reader from mild
interest to the emotional charge that makes them give. Kat Carter describes two structures worth
borrowing. The first is the story of self, story of us, story of now, developed by Marshall Ganz:
a short personal story, related to a shared experience, ending in a clear call to action. The
three parts depend on each other. "If you tell a great story of self and story of us, but you
don't include a clear call to action as your story of now, your audience will get all emotionally
fired up, but without a clear direction of their next step and their energy will dissipate." The
second is the hero's journey, Joseph Campbell's structure of separation, descent and return.
Whichever you use, make the donor central. The lesson Kat Carter draws from Barack Obama's
storytelling is the power of "you" language: "looking for ways that how can I turn a we or an I
into you and making the donor central to that message."

**Social proof.** People give when they see others giving. Celebrate momentum, name the community
and let donors hear from each other. "People like us do things like this," Kat Carter says,
quoting Seth Godin, "and this is how you can start to create that culture of giving." Quotes from
other donors and a visible donor wall both do this work.

**A single, clear call to action.** This is where most appeal emails fail. The job of the email
is to inspire and enable the gift, then send the reader straight to the donation form to complete
it. A soft "find out more" is a wasted opportunity. "This isn't about finding out more," Kat
Carter insists. "This is about, make your gift. You need to inspire and enable that donor to make
that gift in that email, and then send them on the journey to complete that gift." A soft call to
action lets people drift to a page where "they're like, Oh, this isn't where I wanted to be and
then they leave". One clear ask, one clear button, one destination.

## A campaign sequence, not a one-off send

A single email is rarely a campaign. The skeptics, who are the majority, almost never give on the
first touch, which is why Hubbub builds sequences rather than relying on a single send. "This is
one of the reasons why we suggest in giving days that you send emails before the event, as well
as emails on the day," Kat Carter says, "because it's getting those skeptics involved."

On a Giving Day, that sequence is intense by design. Hubbub has tested the volume: "we've, yeah,
we've tested started with a lot. And by a lot I mean 12. So we've gone down to eight to 10",
spread across the campaign, "maybe five on day one, six on day two". Outside a Giving Day the
cadence is gentler, but the principle holds: a planned series that builds, rather than a single
hopeful blast. Set expectations up front. Tell people in your save-the-date email that you will
be in touch more often during the campaign, and give them a clean way to opt out of that campaign
specifically. "Everything is not for everybody," she says, and the occasional unsubscribe from
people for whom your campaign is not a fit is a healthy sign, not a failure.

Write the whole sequence before the campaign begins, and give each email a job: build
anticipation, launch, report momentum, create urgency, make a final push, thank. As the campaign
peaks, change what you can between sends to keep attention fresh. "Every email we're causing more
and more people to pay attention," Kat Carter says, "we're changing subject lines we're changing
who it's from we're changing the message, and we're starting to really use everything in our
arsenal to get those donors to pay attention."

## Design and mobile

Most of your emails will be read on a phone, and a fundraising email that looks broken on mobile
will not convert, however good the words. Mobile responsiveness is, in Kat Carter's words, "really
important in terms of conversions". Keep the design clean and the flow obvious, with the call to
action easy to find and easy to tap.

Whether to use images is a question to test rather than assume. Hubbub has seen it both ways: in
one case an email with imagery drew the bigger click-through rate, in another the plain email won.
In one test the plain-text email drew more opens but a lower average gift, so the right choice may
even depend on which donors you are writing to. "It's not a one size fits all approach," she says,
"and you have to test on your own audience."

## Deliverability: staying out of the spam folder

An email that lands in spam might as well not have been sent. Deliverability is partly technical
and partly behavioural, and the behavioural part is the one fundraisers control.

The technical foundations matter and are worth asking your provider or IT team to confirm: the
authentication records that prove you are who you say you are, a consistent sending domain, and a
reputable email service. The behavioural side is where your list discipline pays off. Mailbox
providers watch how people respond to you. Healthy engagement, opens, clicks and replies, tells
them you are wanted. Hard bounces, spam complaints and long stretches of being ignored tell them
the opposite. So keep your list clean, remove people who never engage, and make unsubscribing
easy, including a campaign-specific unsubscribe for intensive pushes like a Giving Day. A donor
who quietly marks you as spam does far more damage to your deliverability than one who simply opts
out.

## Asking well, and tax-efficient giving

A clear ask is more persuasive when it is concrete. Suggesting a specific amount, and showing what
it achieves, beats leaving the donor to guess. Tax-efficient giving varies across the region:
Canadian charities can issue charitable tax receipts, Australian donations to DGR-endorsed
charities are tax-deductible, and New Zealand donors can claim a donation tax credit. Where any of
these apply, it is worth making the benefit visible in the ask itself. Where you have match
funding, the effect compounds. Kat Carter describes one Giving Day email that used "a suggested
gift because we had match giving. So we're talking about doubling the gift", to really demonstrate
that you are only asking for this amount, and you hope that they can give that amount. Telling a
donor that their gift attracts a tax receipt or credit, and then matched on top, turns a modest
ask into a powerful one. Make any tax benefit clear at the point of giving, and send a prompt
receipt so donors have what they need at tax time.

## Friction: do not lose them at the form

You can write the perfect email and still lose the gift on the donation page. Kat Carter notes
that "typically 83% of the people on the general donation page reach this moment of decision and
decide not to move forward". Friction is the enemy, and she identifies four kinds drawn from
NextAfter's research: decision friction (too many options), confusion friction (forcing a choice
the donor is not equipped to make), field friction (asking for too much information) and step
friction (too many clicks and page loads). "Nothing is worse than a form that says step one of
six." If your email does its job but your form lets you down, "that form isn't doing its job, and
it should be renovated and or replaced". Do not, she warns, "let your donors get excited and then
get on a bad journey and not end up making that gift".

## Testing and what to measure

Email fundraising rewards a habit of disciplined testing, and the rules are straightforward. Test
on a meaningful sample relative to your audience. Change one thing at a time, "don't change the
from name and the subject line and the story all in one go, because you won't know which one
caused the uplift". And test more than once before you trust a result, "three, five, eight times"
for something you intend to roll out. Negative results count too: "knowing that something doesn't
work is just as good as knowing that something does work".

When it comes to measurement, watch the funnel rather than a single number. Open rates and click
rates tell you whether your envelope and subject line are working. Click-through rates, measured
against those who opened rather than the whole list, tell you whether your content holds them. But
the number that matters most is conversion. "That really is your most important KPI is conversion
rate," Kat Carter says, "because if people are opening an email, but it's not converting, well you
got them to do one part, but what happened with the story, maybe that wasn't what it needed to
be." Watch unsubscribes too, as a signal of whether your frequency and relevance are right. To
measure conversion properly you need to follow the donor past the inbox and onto the donation
page, which is why Hubbub encourages every customer to tag their links with UTM parameters, so you
can see not just which emails were opened but which ones actually raised money.

One measurement habit is the most neglected: keep stewarding after the gift. Sending often falls
off a cliff the moment someone donates, which makes no sense. "Why is it that when somebody gives
we stopped telling them about their gift?" Kat Carter asks. Donors, she points out, would rather
hear about the good their gift is doing than receive yet another sales email from someone else.
Telling them is both good stewardship and the groundwork for the next gift.

## How email works alongside social media

Email and social media are not rivals, and the temptation to treat one as a replacement for the
other is a mistake. Social media builds presence, reach and familiarity. Email asks and converts.
The two are most powerful together, and they reinforce each other in a way worth designing for
deliberately.

Kat Carter makes the point through the example of a personal sender. The reason an email from a
named individual works so well is often that the recipient already knows that person from
elsewhere: "they have a presence on social media and I also follow them there. So to me they're
almost now becoming like friends." A senior figure who is visible on social channels arrives in
the inbox as a familiar voice rather than a stranger. So use social media to build the profile of
your causes, your campaigns and your senders, then let email do the asking to an audience that has
been warmed up. On a Giving Day, the social feed celebrates milestones publicly while email drives
the individual decisions to give. Plan them as one communications effort, not two.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many emails should we send during a Giving Day?** Hubbub has tested this extensively and
settled on roughly eight to ten across a 36-hour day, for example five on day one and six on day
two, including a final-hour push before the thank-you. The key is to set the expectation in
advance and offer a campaign-specific unsubscribe, so people who do not want the intensity can opt
out cleanly.

**What is the best time of day to send?** Hubbub generally sends at 11 in the morning or 2 in the
afternoon, timed to natural breaks in the day, a cup of tea, the return from lunch. For an
international audience, adjust to their local 11 and 2. Better still, let your email platform's
data tell you when your specific recipients tend to open, and refine from there.

**Should the email come from a person or from the organisation?** Both work, and it depends on the
message. A personal sender can dramatically lift opens, but the effect fades if you overuse the
same name, so deploy it strategically. It works best when the sender already has a presence your
audience recognises, which is where your social media profile earns its keep.

**What is the single most important number to measure?** Conversion rate. Opens and clicks tell
you whether the envelope and content are working, but conversion tells you whether the email
actually raised money. Use UTM-tagged links so you can track the gift all the way from the inbox
to the donation form, because many email platforms stop reporting at the click.

**What is the right call to action for a stewardship email rather than an ask?** Invite the donor
to share their story or their reason for giving, by replying to the email if you have no other
facility. It is a low-pressure ask that people enjoy answering, and it gives you the donor content
that is otherwise so hard to gather.

**Does this only apply to fundraising appeals?** No. As Kat Carter notes, the same tactics work
"for events or alumni events or mentoring or anything that you are going out to people and asking
for their attention". Any email that needs to break through the inbox benefits from a strong
sender, a specific subject line, a clear story and a single call to action.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [tips for creating engaging emails](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) and [creating dynamic communications plans that drive results](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie Sie Fundraising-E-Mails schreiben, die funktionieren](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zur Fundraising-E-Mail, dem Kanal, der die Mehrheit der Online-Spenden erzeugt, behandelt Ihre Liste und Ihre Daten, die Segmentierung, die Anatomie einer großartigen Appell-E-Mail, die Kampagnensequenz, die Zustellbarkeit, das Testen und die Messung.
E-Mail ist der Motor des digitalen Fundraisings. Sie ist nicht der glamouröseste Kanal und erhält
selten die Aufmerksamkeit, die soziale Medien bekommen, aber sie ist der Kanal, der Geld bewegt. An
einem [Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) trifft die große Mehrheit der Spenden als
Reaktion auf eine E-Mail ein, die zum richtigen Zeitpunkt mit der richtigen Botschaft von einem
Absender, dem man vertraut, im Posteingang von jemandem landet. Alles andere, die Social-Media-Posts,
die Spenderwand, der Countdown, dient dazu, das zu unterstützen und zu verstärken, was die E-Mail
leistet. Bringen Sie Ihre E-Mail in Ordnung, und Sie haben die Maschine gebaut, die Ihre Kampagne
antreibt. Machen Sie es falsch, und kein noch so cleverer Inhalt an anderer Stelle wird die Zahlen
retten.

Dieser Leitfaden stützt sich auf Hubbubs Erfahrung aus der Durchführung und Begleitung von Hunderten
digitaler Kampagnen, und insbesondere auf Kat Carter, eine Beraterin bei Hubbub, die einen Großteil
ihrer Zeit damit verbringt, E-Mails im Auftrag von Kunden zu schreiben, deren Entwürfe zu
kommentieren und Kampagnen für sie zu versenden. Sie benennt die zentrale Herausforderung
unverblümt: Menschen erhalten sehr viele E-Mails, "etwa 100 bis 120 jeden Tag", und die meisten von
ihnen warten nicht darauf, zu spenden. "Menschen wachen normalerweise nicht morgens mit der inneren
Motivation auf, aufzustehen und eine Spende zu machen", sagt sie. "Das Ziel als Fundraiser ist es,
Ihre Unterstützer auf dieser Reise zu begleiten und sie zu inspirieren, diese Spende zu machen." Das
ist die Aufgabe jeder Fundraising-E-Mail, die Sie versenden, und die folgenden Abschnitte
behandeln, wie man das macht: von der Liste, in der Ihre E-Mail landet, über die Segmentierung und
das Handwerk des Appells selbst, bis hin zur Sequenz, zur Zustellbarkeit, zum Spendenformular und
dazu, wie Sie das Ganze testen und messen.

> **Sofort einsetzbare Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Fundraising-E-Mail-Vorlagen](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/), unseren
> [E-Mail-Kampagnenplaner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) und unsere
> [Sammlung von Betreffzeilen](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/) herunterzuladen.

## Warum E-Mail der Motor des digitalen Fundraisings ist

Um eine gute Fundraising-E-Mail zu schreiben, hilft es zu verstehen, was im Kopf eines Spenders
geschieht, wenn sie eintrifft. Jeder beginnt seinen Tag in dem, was Kat Carter den Status quo nennt,
"einfach unseren Geschäften nachgehen, unseren Tag genießen, unseren Alltag erledigen". Ihre E-Mail
ist der Unterbrecher, das, was durch diesen Status quo durchbricht und um einen Moment Aufmerksamkeit
bittet. Von dort aus muss der Spender eine emotionale Reise hinaufgetragen werden: gewonnen durch
das Timing, den Absender und die Betreffzeile, bewegt durch die Geschichte und die Worte, und
schließlich zum Spendenformular geführt, um Ja zu sagen.

Der entscheidende Punkt ist, dass Geben nicht Kaufen ist. "Beim Geben geschieht der emotionale
Höhepunkt, bevor die Transaktion stattfindet", erklärt Kat Carter. "Beim Geben erhalten wir den
Nutzen also oft zuerst." Ein Spender gibt, weil er sich glücklich, dankbar oder von einer Geschichte
bewegt fühlt, und die Gabe ist der Ausdruck dieses Gefühls. Die Aufgabe Ihrer E-Mail ist es, den
emotionalen Höhepunkt zu schaffen und es dann so einfach wie möglich zu machen, danach zu handeln.
Die E-Mail-Konversion besteht, in ihren Worten, "aus vielen beweglichen Teilen", weshalb es sich
lohnt, über jeden einzelnen nachzudenken, statt schnell einen Text hinzuschreiben und zu hoffen.

## Ihre Liste und Ihre Daten: das Fundament

Nichts von dem Handwerk, das folgt, spielt eine Rolle, wenn Ihre E-Mail nicht ankommt oder bei
jemandem ankommt, der sie nie öffnen wird. Eine saubere, erreichbare, gut einwilligungsbasierte Liste
ist das Fundament jedes E-Mail-Fundraisings, und es ist der Teil, den Teams am häufigsten
vernachlässigen.

Beginnen Sie mit den Grundlagen. Sind Ihre E-Mail-Adressen aktuell und zustellbar? Haben Sie die
Einwilligung, diese Menschen zu kontaktieren, und können Sie sie nachweisen? Werden Bounces und
Beschwerden bereinigt, statt sie sich ansammeln zu lassen? Eine Liste voller toter Adressen und
desinteressierter Kontakte verschwendet nicht nur Mühe, sie schadet aktiv Ihrer Fähigkeit, die
Menschen zu erreichen, die tatsächlich von Ihnen hören wollen, denn Mailbox-Anbieter lesen hohe
Bounce- und niedrige Engagement-Raten als Signal, dass Sie kein vertrauenswürdiger Absender sind.

Schauen Sie sich dann die Daten an, die an jeden Kontakt angehängt sind, denn die Personalisierung
hängt davon ab. Kat Carter ist offen über die Kosten, sie nicht zu haben: "Manchmal sehen wir
E-Mails, in denen so etwas wie liebe Mitglieder, liebe Freunde steht. Wenn Sie diese Daten nicht
erheben, fangen Sie an, diese Daten zu erheben, und nutzen Sie dann diese Daten." Vornamen, die
Spendenhistorie, das Datum und der Betrag der letzten Spende, die Sache, die jemand zuletzt
unterstützt hat: Jedes ist ein Hebel, den Sie ziehen können, um eine E-Mail persönlich und relevant
wirken zu lassen, und Sie können keinen Hebel ziehen, den Sie nicht erhoben haben. Behandeln Sie Ihre
Daten als ein Gut, das Sie bewusst aufbauen, bei jeder Spende und jeder Interaktion.

## Segmentierung

Sobald Ihre Liste sauber und reichhaltig ist, ist die Segmentierung der Weg, sie härter arbeiten zu
lassen. Derselbe Appell sollte nicht mit denselben Worten an alle gehen. Ein Erstspender-Interessent,
ein treuer regelmäßiger Spender und ein abgewanderter Unterstützer befinden sich an unterschiedlichen
Punkten ihrer Beziehung zu Ihnen, und sie reagieren auf unterschiedliche Dinge.

Zwei Arten von Menschen sitzen in jeder Zielgruppe, und die Aufteilung ist wichtig. "Am Anfang einer
Kampagne erhalten Sie die Menschen mit hoher Affinität, bei denen Sie nur fragen müssen", sagt Kat
Carter. "Aber dann bekommen Sie Skeptiker, und es gibt mehr Skeptiker in Ihrer Zielgruppe als
diejenigen, die im Sinne der niedrig hängenden Früchte bereit sind loszulegen, also müssen Sie diese
Skeptiker ins Boot holen." Ihr warmes Segment braucht eine klare Bitte und wenig mehr. Ihre
skeptische Mehrheit braucht Beruhigung, sozialen Beweis und mehr als eine Berührung, bevor sie sich
bewegt.

Die Segmentierung lässt Sie auch die Daten, die Sie bereits besitzen, zur Geltung bringen. Für
abgewanderte Spender beschreibt Kat Carter, "ihre letzte Spende, das Datum und den Betrag in die
Information" einzubauen, "damit Sie versuchen können, sie zum Spenden zu ermutigen", eine Taktik, die
die Konversion in Tests steigerte. Das Prinzip ist einfach: Je spezifischer und relevanter sich die
E-Mail für die lesende Person anfühlt, desto mehr Aufmerksamkeit schenkt sie ihr. "Wenn Sie
spezifischer werden, beginnen Spender, mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken", sagt sie. "Ich würde Sie
also ermutigen, mit allen Elementen Ihrer E-Mails spezifischer zu sein."

## Die Anatomie einer großartigen Fundraising-E-Mail

Eine starke Appell-E-Mail ist aus einigen Teilen aufgebaut, von denen jeder eine eigene Aufgabe
erfüllt: die Betreffzeile und der Absender, die Eröffnung, die Geschichte, der soziale Beweis und der
Handlungsaufruf.

**Die Betreffzeile und der Absender.** Das ist der Umschlag, und er entscheidet, ob Ihre E-Mail
überhaupt geöffnet wird. Der Absender verdient mehr Nachdenken, als ihm gewöhnlich zuteilwird. Er
kann aus der Markenidentität Ihrer Organisation kommen, aber er kann auch von einer Person kommen,
"einem Professor, es könnten Sie sein, es könnte ein Elternteil sein, eine bedeutende Person, die der
E-Mail, die Sie senden, Gewicht verleiht". Ein persönlicher Absender kann die Öffnungsraten
verwandeln: In einem von Kat Carter zitierten Test ließ der Wechsel von einem Organisationsnamen zum
Namen einer Einzelperson die Öffnungsrate von 12 Prozent auf 51 Prozent steigen, mit siebenmal mehr
Einreichungen. Die Betreffzeile muss sich dann den Klick verdienen. Stellen Sie eine Frage, machen
Sie eine Aussage, laden Sie zur Teilnahme ein oder verwenden Sie den Namen des Lesers, und seien Sie
spezifisch. Es gibt auch eine nützliche sprachliche Nuance, die Kat Carter aus einer Sitzung von
Adrian Sargeant ableitet: Bevorzugen Sie "Ihre Freundlichkeit" gegenüber "Ihrer Spende", "denn es ist
die Freundlichkeit von jemandem. Ja, sie machen eine Spende, aber es geht um Freundlichkeit."

**Die Eröffnung.** Belohnen Sie das Öffnen sofort. Verwenden Sie den Vornamen des Lesers, wo Sie ihn
haben, und kommen Sie schnell zu etwas, das ihm wichtig ist. Hier zählt die Lesbarkeit: ein
persönlicher Ton, ein sauberes Design, ein sinnvoller Fluss und ein Text, der sich liest, als hätte
ihn ein Mensch für einen Menschen geschrieben.

**Die Geschichte.** Das ist das Herz der E-Mail, der Teil, der den Leser von mildem Interesse zu der
emotionalen Ladung trägt, die ihn zum Spenden bringt. Kat Carter beschreibt zwei Strukturen, die es
sich zu entleihen lohnt. Die erste ist die Geschichte des Selbst, die Geschichte des Wir, die
Geschichte des Jetzt, entwickelt von Marshall Ganz: eine kurze persönliche Geschichte, verbunden mit
einer gemeinsamen Erfahrung, die in einem klaren Handlungsaufruf endet. Die drei Teile hängen
voneinander ab. "Wenn Sie eine großartige Geschichte des Selbst und eine Geschichte des Wir erzählen,
aber keinen klaren Handlungsaufruf als Ihre Geschichte des Jetzt einbauen, wird sich Ihre Zielgruppe
emotional ereifern, aber ohne klare Richtung für ihren nächsten Schritt, und ihre Energie wird sich
verflüchtigen." Die zweite ist die Heldenreise, Joseph Campbells Struktur aus Trennung, Abstieg und
Rückkehr. Welche Sie auch verwenden, machen Sie den Spender zum Mittelpunkt. Die Lektion, die Kat
Carter aus Barack Obamas Erzählkunst zieht, ist die Kraft der "Du"-Sprache: "Nach Wegen zu suchen,
wie ich ein Wir oder ein Ich in ein Du verwandeln und den Spender zum Mittelpunkt dieser Botschaft
machen kann."

**Sozialer Beweis.** Menschen geben, wenn sie andere geben sehen. Feiern Sie die Dynamik, benennen Sie
die Gemeinschaft und lassen Sie Spender voneinander hören. "Menschen wie wir tun Dinge wie diese", sagt
Kat Carter und zitiert Seth Godin, "und so können Sie beginnen, diese Kultur des Gebens zu schaffen."
Zitate von anderen Spendern und eine sichtbare Spenderwand leisten beide diese Arbeit.

**Ein einziger, klarer Handlungsaufruf.** Hier scheitern die meisten Appell-E-Mails. Die Aufgabe der
E-Mail ist es, die Spende zu inspirieren und zu ermöglichen und den Leser dann direkt zum
Spendenformular zu schicken, um sie abzuschließen. Ein zaghaftes "Mehr erfahren" ist eine vergebene
Gelegenheit. "Hier geht es nicht darum, mehr zu erfahren", besteht Kat Carter. "Hier geht es darum:
Machen Sie Ihre Spende. Sie müssen diesen Spender inspirieren und befähigen, diese Spende in dieser
E-Mail zu machen, und ihn dann auf die Reise schicken, um diese Spende abzuschließen." Ein zaghafter
Handlungsaufruf lässt die Menschen zu einer Seite abdriften, wo "sie sich denken, oh, das ist nicht,
wo ich sein wollte, und dann gehen sie". Eine klare Bitte, ein klarer Button, ein Ziel.

## Eine Kampagnensequenz, kein einmaliger Versand

Eine einzelne E-Mail ist selten eine Kampagne. Die Skeptiker, die die Mehrheit sind, spenden fast nie
bei der ersten Berührung, weshalb Hubbub Sequenzen aufbaut, statt sich auf einen einzelnen Versand zu
verlassen. "Das ist einer der Gründe, warum wir bei Spendentagen empfehlen, E-Mails vor dem Ereignis
sowie E-Mails am Tag selbst zu versenden", sagt Kat Carter, "denn es geht darum, diese Skeptiker
einzubinden."

An einem Spendentag ist diese Sequenz absichtlich intensiv. Hubbub hat das Volumen getestet: "wir
haben, ja, wir haben mit vielen begonnen. Und mit vielen meine ich 12. Wir sind also auf acht bis zehn
heruntergegangen", verteilt über die Kampagne, "vielleicht fünf am ersten Tag, sechs am zweiten Tag".
Außerhalb eines Spendentags ist die Taktung sanfter, aber das Prinzip gilt: eine geplante Serie, die
sich aufbaut, statt eines einzelnen hoffnungsvollen Schlags. Setzen Sie die Erwartungen von Anfang an.
Sagen Sie den Menschen in Ihrer Save-the-Date-E-Mail, dass Sie sich während der Kampagne häufiger
melden werden, und geben Sie ihnen einen sauberen Weg, sich speziell von dieser Kampagne abzumelden.
"Nicht alles ist für jeden", sagt sie, und die gelegentliche Abmeldung von Menschen, für die Ihre
Kampagne nicht passt, ist ein gesundes Zeichen, kein Misserfolg.

Schreiben Sie die ganze Sequenz vor Beginn der Kampagne und geben Sie jeder E-Mail eine Aufgabe:
Vorfreude aufbauen, starten, über die Dynamik berichten, Dringlichkeit erzeugen, einen letzten Schub
machen, danken. Während die Kampagne ihren Höhepunkt erreicht, ändern Sie, was Sie zwischen den
Versendungen können, um die Aufmerksamkeit frisch zu halten. "Mit jeder E-Mail bringen wir mehr und
mehr Menschen dazu, aufmerksam zu sein", sagt Kat Carter, "wir ändern Betreffzeilen, wir ändern, von
wem sie ist, wir ändern die Botschaft, und wir beginnen, wirklich alles in unserem Arsenal
einzusetzen, um diese Spender dazu zu bringen, aufmerksam zu sein."

## Design und Mobil

Die meisten Ihrer E-Mails werden auf einem Telefon gelesen, und eine Fundraising-E-Mail, die auf dem
Mobilgerät kaputt aussieht, wird nicht konvertieren, so gut die Worte auch sein mögen. Die mobile
Reaktionsfähigkeit ist, in Kat Carters Worten, "in Bezug auf Konversionen wirklich wichtig". Halten
Sie das Design sauber und den Fluss offensichtlich, mit einem Handlungsaufruf, der leicht zu finden
und leicht anzutippen ist.

Ob man Bilder verwendet, ist eine Frage, die man testen, statt voraussetzen sollte. Hubbub hat es in
beide Richtungen erlebt: In einem Fall erzielte eine E-Mail mit Bildern die höhere Klickrate, in einem
anderen gewann die schlichte E-Mail. In einem Test erzielte die Nur-Text-E-Mail mehr Öffnungen, aber
eine niedrigere durchschnittliche Spende, sodass die richtige Wahl sogar davon abhängen kann, welchen
Spendern Sie schreiben. "Es ist kein Einheitsansatz für alle", sagt sie, "und Sie müssen an Ihrer
eigenen Zielgruppe testen."

## Zustellbarkeit: aus dem Spam-Ordner heraushalten

Eine E-Mail, die im Spam landet, hätte genauso gut nicht gesendet werden können. Die Zustellbarkeit
ist teils technisch und teils verhaltensbezogen, und der verhaltensbezogene Teil ist derjenige, den
Fundraiser kontrollieren.

Die technischen Grundlagen sind wichtig und es lohnt sich, Ihren Anbieter oder Ihr IT-Team zu bitten,
sie zu bestätigen: die Authentifizierungseinträge, die beweisen, dass Sie sind, wer Sie zu sein
behaupten, eine konsistente Versanddomäne und ein renommierter E-Mail-Dienst. Die verhaltensbezogene
Seite ist dort, wo sich Ihre Listendisziplin auszahlt. Mailbox-Anbieter beobachten, wie Menschen auf
Sie reagieren. Gesundes Engagement, Öffnungen, Klicks und Antworten, sagt ihnen, dass Sie erwünscht
sind. Hard Bounces, Spam-Beschwerden und lange Phasen des Ignoriertwerdens sagen ihnen das Gegenteil.
Halten Sie also Ihre Liste sauber, entfernen Sie Menschen, die sich nie engagieren, und machen Sie das
Abmelden einfach, einschließlich einer kampagnenspezifischen Abmeldung für intensive Vorstöße wie einen
Spendentag. Ein Spender, der Sie still als Spam markiert, richtet weit mehr Schaden an Ihrer
Zustellbarkeit an als einer, der sich einfach abmeldet.

## Gut bitten und steuereffizientes Spenden

Eine klare Bitte ist überzeugender, wenn sie konkret ist. Einen bestimmten Betrag vorzuschlagen und zu
zeigen, was er bewirkt, ist besser, als den Spender raten zu lassen. Viele europäische Länder bieten
Steuerabzüge oder -ermäßigungen auf gemeinnützige Spenden, und grenzüberschreitende Spenden können über
Transnational Giving Europe steuereffizient erfolgen, sodass es sich dort, wo dies zutrifft, lohnt, den
Vorteil in der Bitte selbst sichtbar zu machen. Wo Sie über Matching-Mittel verfügen, verstärkt sich
der Effekt. Kat Carter beschreibt eine Spendentag-E-Mail, die "eine vorgeschlagene Spende verwendete,
weil wir Matching-Spenden hatten. Wir sprechen also davon, die Spende zu verdoppeln", um wirklich zu
zeigen, dass Sie nur um diesen Betrag bitten und hoffen, dass sie diesen Betrag geben können. Einem
Spender zu sagen, dass seine Spende für einen Steuerabzug infrage kommen könnte und dann obendrein
verdoppelt wird, verwandelt eine bescheidene Bitte in eine kraftvolle. Machen Sie jeden Steuervorteil
am Punkt des Spendens klar und senden Sie eine prompte Quittung, damit die Spender haben, was sie zur
Geltendmachung brauchen.

## Reibung: Verlieren Sie sie nicht am Formular

Sie können die perfekte E-Mail schreiben und die Spende trotzdem auf der Spendenseite verlieren. Kat
Carter merkt an, dass "typischerweise 83 % der Menschen auf der allgemeinen Spendenseite diesen
Entscheidungsmoment erreichen und sich entscheiden, nicht weiterzumachen". Reibung ist der Feind, und
sie identifiziert vier Arten, abgeleitet aus der Forschung von NextAfter: Entscheidungsreibung (zu
viele Optionen), Verwirrungsreibung (eine Wahl erzwingen, für die der Spender nicht gerüstet ist),
Feldreibung (nach zu vielen Informationen fragen) und Schrittreibung (zu viele Klicks und
Seitenladungen). "Nichts ist schlimmer als ein Formular, das sagt Schritt eins von sechs." Wenn Ihre
E-Mail ihre Aufgabe erfüllt, aber Ihr Formular Sie im Stich lässt, "erfüllt dieses Formular seine
Aufgabe nicht, und es sollte renoviert und/oder ersetzt werden". Lassen Sie, warnt sie, "Ihre Spender
nicht begeistert werden und dann auf eine schlechte Reise geraten und am Ende diese Spende nicht
machen".

## Testen und was man messen sollte

E-Mail-Fundraising belohnt die Gewohnheit des disziplinierten Testens, und die Regeln sind
unkompliziert. Testen Sie an einer bedeutsamen Stichprobe im Verhältnis zu Ihrer Zielgruppe. Ändern Sie
eine Sache nach der anderen, "ändern Sie nicht den Absendernamen und die Betreffzeile und die
Geschichte auf einmal, denn dann wissen Sie nicht, welche den Aufschwung verursacht hat". Und testen
Sie mehr als einmal, bevor Sie einem Ergebnis vertrauen, "drei, fünf, acht Mal" für etwas, das Sie
ausrollen wollen. Negative Ergebnisse zählen auch: "Zu wissen, dass etwas nicht funktioniert, ist
genauso gut, wie zu wissen, dass etwas funktioniert."

Wenn es um die Messung geht, beobachten Sie den Trichter statt einer einzelnen Zahl. Öffnungsraten und
Klickraten sagen Ihnen, ob Ihr Umschlag und Ihre Betreffzeile funktionieren. Durchklickraten, gemessen
an denen, die geöffnet haben, statt an der ganzen Liste, sagen Ihnen, ob Ihr Inhalt sie hält. Aber die
Zahl, die am meisten zählt, ist die Konversion. "Das ist wirklich Ihr wichtigster KPI, die
Konversionsrate", sagt Kat Carter, "denn wenn Menschen eine E-Mail öffnen, sie aber nicht konvertiert,
nun, dann haben Sie sie dazu gebracht, einen Teil zu tun, aber was ist mit der Geschichte passiert,
vielleicht war das nicht, was es sein musste." Beobachten Sie auch Abmeldungen, als Signal dafür, ob
Ihre Frequenz und Relevanz stimmen. Um die Konversion richtig zu messen, müssen Sie dem Spender über
den Posteingang hinaus und auf die Spendenseite folgen, weshalb Hubbub jeden Kunden ermutigt, seine
Links mit UTM-Parametern zu markieren, damit Sie nicht nur sehen können, welche E-Mails geöffnet
wurden, sondern welche tatsächlich Geld eingebracht haben.

Eine Messgewohnheit wird am meisten vernachlässigt: Pflegen Sie die Beziehung nach der Spende weiter.
Das Versenden bricht oft in dem Moment ab, in dem jemand spendet, was keinen Sinn ergibt. "Warum hören
wir auf, jemandem von seiner Spende zu erzählen, wenn er gibt?", fragt Kat Carter. Spender, weist sie
darauf hin, würden lieber vom Guten hören, das ihre Spende bewirkt, als noch eine Verkaufs-E-Mail von
jemand anderem zu erhalten. Es ihnen zu erzählen ist sowohl gute Beziehungspflege als auch die
Grundlage für die nächste Spende.

## Wie E-Mail neben sozialen Medien funktioniert

E-Mail und soziale Medien sind keine Rivalen, und die Versuchung, das eine als Ersatz für das andere
zu behandeln, ist ein Fehler. Soziale Medien bauen Präsenz, Reichweite und Vertrautheit auf. E-Mail
bittet und konvertiert. Die beiden sind zusammen am kraftvollsten, und sie verstärken sich gegenseitig
auf eine Weise, die es sich lohnt, bewusst zu gestalten.

Kat Carter verdeutlicht den Punkt am Beispiel eines persönlichen Absenders. Der Grund, warum eine
E-Mail von einer namentlich genannten Einzelperson so gut funktioniert, ist oft, dass der Empfänger
diese Person bereits anderswo kennt: "Sie haben eine Präsenz in den sozialen Medien und ich folge
ihnen auch dort. Für mich werden sie also fast schon zu Freunden." Eine hochrangige Figur, die auf
sozialen Kanälen sichtbar ist, kommt im Posteingang als vertraute Stimme an, statt als Fremder.
Nutzen Sie also soziale Medien, um das Profil Ihrer Anliegen, Ihrer Kampagnen und Ihrer Absender
aufzubauen, und lassen Sie dann die E-Mail das Bitten bei einer Zielgruppe übernehmen, die aufgewärmt
wurde. An einem Spendentag feiert der Social-Feed Meilensteine öffentlich, während die E-Mail die
individuellen Entscheidungen zum Spenden antreibt. Planen Sie sie als eine
Kommunikationsanstrengung, nicht als zwei.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Wie viele E-Mails sollten wir während eines Spendentags versenden?** Hubbub hat dies ausgiebig
getestet und sich auf etwa acht bis zehn über einen 36-Stunden-Tag festgelegt, zum Beispiel fünf am
ersten Tag und sechs am zweiten, einschließlich eines Vorstoßes in der letzten Stunde vor dem
Dankeschön. Der Schlüssel ist, die Erwartung im Voraus zu setzen und eine kampagnenspezifische
Abmeldung anzubieten, damit Menschen, die die Intensität nicht wollen, sich sauber abmelden können.

**Welche Tageszeit ist die beste zum Versenden?** Hubbub versendet im Allgemeinen um 11 Uhr morgens
oder um 14 Uhr nachmittags, abgestimmt auf natürliche Pausen im Tag, eine Tasse Tee, die Rückkehr vom
Mittagessen. Für ein internationales Publikum passen Sie auf deren lokale 11 und 14 Uhr an. Noch
besser: Lassen Sie die Daten Ihrer E-Mail-Plattform Ihnen sagen, wann Ihre spezifischen Empfänger
tendenziell öffnen, und verfeinern Sie von dort aus.

**Sollte die E-Mail von einer Person oder von der Organisation kommen?** Beides funktioniert, und es
hängt von der Botschaft ab. Ein persönlicher Absender kann die Öffnungen dramatisch steigern, aber der
Effekt verblasst, wenn Sie denselben Namen überstrapazieren, also setzen Sie ihn strategisch ein. Er
funktioniert am besten, wenn der Absender bereits eine Präsenz hat, die Ihre Zielgruppe erkennt, und da
verdient sich Ihr Social-Media-Profil seinen Lohn.

**Welche Zahl ist die einzige wichtigste zum Messen?** Die Konversionsrate. Öffnungen und Klicks sagen
Ihnen, ob der Umschlag und der Inhalt funktionieren, aber die Konversion sagt Ihnen, ob die E-Mail
tatsächlich Geld eingebracht hat. Verwenden Sie UTM-markierte Links, damit Sie die Spende den ganzen
Weg vom Posteingang bis zum Spendenformular verfolgen können, denn viele E-Mail-Plattformen hören beim
Klick auf zu berichten.

**Welcher Handlungsaufruf ist der richtige für eine Beziehungspflege-E-Mail statt einer Bitte?** Laden
Sie den Spender ein, seine Geschichte oder seinen Grund für das Spenden zu teilen, indem er auf die
E-Mail antwortet, wenn Sie keine andere Möglichkeit haben. Es ist eine druckfreie Bitte, die Menschen
gerne beantworten, und sie liefert Ihnen die Spenderinhalte, die sonst so schwer zu sammeln sind.

**Gilt das nur für Fundraising-Appelle?** Nein. Wie Kat Carter anmerkt, funktionieren dieselben
Taktiken "für Veranstaltungen oder Alumni-Veranstaltungen oder Mentoring oder alles, wofür Sie auf
Menschen zugehen und um ihre Aufmerksamkeit bitten". Jede E-Mail, die durch den Posteingang
durchbrechen muss, profitiert von einem starken Absender, einer spezifischen Betreffzeile, einer
klaren Geschichte und einem einzigen Handlungsaufruf.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Fundraising-E-Mail-Vorlagen](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [E-Mail-Kampagnenplaner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Sammlung von Betreffzeilen](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Prüfer](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihren Appell- und E-Mail-Text
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie persönliche Momente direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- Webinare: [Tipps für die Erstellung ansprechender E-Mails](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) und [dynamische Kommunikationspläne erstellen, die Ergebnisse erzielen](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [Wie man einen Spendentag durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr.

- [How to write fundraising emails that work](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/) (europe/en): A practical guide to fundraising email, the channel that drives the majority of online donations, covering your list and data, segmentation, the anatomy of a great appeal email, the campaign sequence, deliverability, testing and measurement.
Email is the engine of digital fundraising. It is not the most glamorous channel, and it rarely
gets the attention that social media does, but it is the one that moves money. On a
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), the large majority of donations arrive in
response to an email landing in someone's inbox at the right moment, with the right message,
from a sender they trust. Everything else, the social posts, the donor wall, the countdown,
works to support and amplify what email does. Get your email right and you have built the
machine that drives your campaign. Get it wrong and no amount of clever content elsewhere will
rescue the numbers.

This guide draws on Hubbub's experience of running and supporting hundreds of digital campaigns,
and in particular on Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, who spends much of her time writing
emails on behalf of customers, giving feedback on their drafts and sending campaigns for them.
She sets out the central challenge plainly: people receive a great deal of email, "about 100 to
120 every day", and most of them are not waiting to give. "People aren't usually waking up in
the morning with the internal motivation to get up and make a donation," she says. "The goal as
a fundraiser is to guide your supporters along this journey inspiring them to make that
donation." That is the job of every fundraising email you send, and the sections below work
through how to do it: from the list your email lands in, through segmentation and the craft of
the appeal itself, to the sequence, deliverability, the donation form, and how you test and
measure the whole thing.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/),
> [email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) and
> [subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Why email is the engine of digital fundraising

To write a good fundraising email, it helps to understand what is happening in a donor's mind
when it arrives. Everyone begins their day at what Kat Carter calls the status quo, "just going
about our business, enjoying our day, doing our day today". Your email is the interrupter, the
thing that breaks through that status quo and asks for a moment of attention. From there, the
donor has to be carried up an emotional journey: engaged by the timing, the sender and the
subject line, moved by the story and the words, and finally taken to the donation form to say
yes.

The crucial point is that giving is not buying. "In giving the emotional high point happens
before the transaction takes place," Kat Carter explains. "So in giving we often receive the
benefit first." A donor gives because they feel fortunate, or grateful, or moved by a story, and
the gift is the expression of that feeling. Your email's job is to create the emotional high
point, then make it as easy as possible to act on. Email conversion is, in her words, "made up
of many moving parts", which is why it pays to think about every one of them rather than dash off
some copy and hope.

## Your list and your data: the foundation

None of the craft that follows matters if your email does not arrive, or arrives at someone who
will never open it. A clean, contactable, well-permissioned list is the foundation of all email
fundraising, and it is the part teams most often neglect.

Start with the basics. Are your email addresses current and deliverable? Do you hold consent to
contact these people, and can you evidence it? Are bounces and complaints being cleared out
rather than allowed to accumulate? A list full of dead addresses and disengaged contacts does
not just waste effort, it actively harms your ability to reach the people who do want to hear
from you, because mailbox providers read high bounce and low engagement rates as a signal that
you are not a sender to be trusted.

Then look at the data attached to each contact, because personalisation depends on it. Kat
Carter is blunt about the cost of not having it: "Sometimes we see some emails where it says like
dear members dear friends. If you're not collecting that data start collecting that data and then
use that data." First names, giving history, the date and amount of a last gift, the cause
someone supported last time: each is a lever you can pull to make an email feel personal and
relevant, and you cannot pull a lever you have not collected. Treat your data as an asset you
build deliberately, at the point of every donation and every interaction.

## Segmentation

Once your list is clean and rich, segmentation is how you make it work harder. The same appeal
should not go to everyone in the same words. A first-time prospect, a loyal regular donor and a
lapsed supporter sit at different points in their relationship with you, and they respond to
different things.

Two kinds of people sit in any audience, and the split matters. "In the beginning of a campaign
you will get the people who have high affinity who all you have to do is ask," Kat Carter says.
"But then you'll get skeptics, and there are more skeptics in your audience than there are those
who are ready to go in terms of that low hanging fruit, so you got to get those skeptics on
board." Your warm segment needs a clear ask and little else. Your sceptical majority needs
reassurance, social proof and more than one touch before they move.

Segmentation also lets you put the data you already hold to work. For lapsed donors, Kat Carter
describes putting "their last gift and date and amount into the information so that you can try
and encourage them to give", a tactic that lifted conversion in testing. The principle is simple:
the more specific and relevant the email feels to the person reading it, the more attention they
pay. "When you get more specific, donors start paying more attention," she says. "So I would
encourage you to be more specific with all elements of your emails."

## The anatomy of a great fundraising email

A strong appeal email is built from a few parts, each doing a distinct job: the subject line and
sender, the opening, the story, social proof and the call to action.

**The subject line and the sender.** This is the envelope, and it decides whether your email is
opened at all. The sender deserves more thought than it usually gets. It can come from your
organisation's brand identity, but it can also come from a person, "a professor, it could be you,
it could be a parent, a significant person that is giving weight to the email that you're
sending". A personal sender can transform open rates: in one test Kat Carter cites, moving from
an organisation name to an individual's name took the open rate from 12 per cent to 51 per cent,
with seven times more submissions. The subject line then has to earn the click. Ask a question,
make a statement, invite participation or use the reader's name, and be specific. There is also a
useful nuance of language, which Kat Carter draws from a session by Adrian Sargeant: prefer "your
kindness" to "your gift", "because it is someone's kindness. Yes, they are making a gift, but
it's about kindness."

**The opening.** Reward the open immediately. Use the reader's first name where you have it, and
get to something that matters to them quickly. This is where readability counts: a personal tone,
a clean design, a sensible flow, and copy that reads like a human wrote it to a human.

**The story.** This is the heart of the email, the part that carries the reader from mild
interest to the emotional charge that makes them give. Kat Carter describes two structures worth
borrowing. The first is the story of self, story of us, story of now, developed by Marshall Ganz:
a short personal story, related to a shared experience, ending in a clear call to action. The
three parts depend on each other. "If you tell a great story of self and story of us, but you
don't include a clear call to action as your story of now, your audience will get all emotionally
fired up, but without a clear direction of their next step and their energy will dissipate." The
second is the hero's journey, Joseph Campbell's structure of separation, descent and return.
Whichever you use, make the donor central. The lesson Kat Carter draws from Barack Obama's
storytelling is the power of "you" language: "looking for ways that how can I turn a we or an I
into you and making the donor central to that message."

**Social proof.** People give when they see others giving. Celebrate momentum, name the community
and let donors hear from each other. "People like us do things like this," Kat Carter says,
quoting Seth Godin, "and this is how you can start to create that culture of giving." Quotes from
other donors and a visible donor wall both do this work.

**A single, clear call to action.** This is where most appeal emails fail. The job of the email
is to inspire and enable the gift, then send the reader straight to the donation form to complete
it. A soft "find out more" is a wasted opportunity. "This isn't about finding out more," Kat
Carter insists. "This is about, make your gift. You need to inspire and enable that donor to make
that gift in that email, and then send them on the journey to complete that gift." A soft call to
action lets people drift to a page where "they're like, Oh, this isn't where I wanted to be and
then they leave". One clear ask, one clear button, one destination.

## A campaign sequence, not a one-off send

A single email is rarely a campaign. The skeptics, who are the majority, almost never give on the
first touch, which is why Hubbub builds sequences rather than relying on a single send. "This is
one of the reasons why we suggest in giving days that you send emails before the event, as well
as emails on the day," Kat Carter says, "because it's getting those skeptics involved."

On a Giving Day, that sequence is intense by design. Hubbub has tested the volume: "we've, yeah,
we've tested started with a lot. And by a lot I mean 12. So we've gone down to eight to 10",
spread across the campaign, "maybe five on day one, six on day two". Outside a Giving Day the
cadence is gentler, but the principle holds: a planned series that builds, rather than a single
hopeful blast. Set expectations up front. Tell people in your save-the-date email that you will
be in touch more often during the campaign, and give them a clean way to opt out of that campaign
specifically. "Everything is not for everybody," she says, and the occasional unsubscribe from
people for whom your campaign is not a fit is a healthy sign, not a failure.

Write the whole sequence before the campaign begins, and give each email a job: build
anticipation, launch, report momentum, create urgency, make a final push, thank. As the campaign
peaks, change what you can between sends to keep attention fresh. "Every email we're causing more
and more people to pay attention," Kat Carter says, "we're changing subject lines we're changing
who it's from we're changing the message, and we're starting to really use everything in our
arsenal to get those donors to pay attention."

## Design and mobile

Most of your emails will be read on a phone, and a fundraising email that looks broken on mobile
will not convert, however good the words. Mobile responsiveness is, in Kat Carter's words, "really
important in terms of conversions". Keep the design clean and the flow obvious, with the call to
action easy to find and easy to tap.

Whether to use images is a question to test rather than assume. Hubbub has seen it both ways: in
one case an email with imagery drew the bigger click-through rate, in another the plain email won.
In one test the plain-text email drew more opens but a lower average gift, so the right choice may
even depend on which donors you are writing to. "It's not a one size fits all approach," she says,
"and you have to test on your own audience."

## Deliverability: staying out of the spam folder

An email that lands in spam might as well not have been sent. Deliverability is partly technical
and partly behavioural, and the behavioural part is the one fundraisers control.

The technical foundations matter and are worth asking your provider or IT team to confirm: the
authentication records that prove you are who you say you are, a consistent sending domain, and a
reputable email service. The behavioural side is where your list discipline pays off. Mailbox
providers watch how people respond to you. Healthy engagement, opens, clicks and replies, tells
them you are wanted. Hard bounces, spam complaints and long stretches of being ignored tell them
the opposite. So keep your list clean, remove people who never engage, and make unsubscribing
easy, including a campaign-specific unsubscribe for intensive pushes like a Giving Day. A donor
who quietly marks you as spam does far more damage to your deliverability than one who simply opts
out.

## Asking well, and tax-efficient giving

A clear ask is more persuasive when it is concrete. Suggesting a specific amount, and showing what
it achieves, beats leaving the donor to guess. Many European countries offer tax deductions or
reductions on charitable gifts, and cross-border gifts can be made tax-efficiently through
Transnational Giving Europe, so where these apply it is worth making the benefit visible in the
ask itself. Where you have match funding, the effect compounds. Kat Carter describes one Giving
Day email that used "a suggested gift because we had match giving. So we're talking about doubling
the gift", to really demonstrate that you are only asking for this amount, and you hope that they
can give that amount. Telling a donor that their gift may qualify for a tax deduction, and then
matched on top, turns a modest ask into a powerful one. Make any tax benefit clear at the point of
giving, and send a prompt receipt so donors have what they need to claim it.

## Friction: do not lose them at the form

You can write the perfect email and still lose the gift on the donation page. Kat Carter notes
that "typically 83% of the people on the general donation page reach this moment of decision and
decide not to move forward". Friction is the enemy, and she identifies four kinds drawn from
NextAfter's research: decision friction (too many options), confusion friction (forcing a choice
the donor is not equipped to make), field friction (asking for too much information) and step
friction (too many clicks and page loads). "Nothing is worse than a form that says step one of
six." If your email does its job but your form lets you down, "that form isn't doing its job, and
it should be renovated and or replaced". Do not, she warns, "let your donors get excited and then
get on a bad journey and not end up making that gift".

## Testing and what to measure

Email fundraising rewards a habit of disciplined testing, and the rules are straightforward. Test
on a meaningful sample relative to your audience. Change one thing at a time, "don't change the
from name and the subject line and the story all in one go, because you won't know which one
caused the uplift". And test more than once before you trust a result, "three, five, eight times"
for something you intend to roll out. Negative results count too: "knowing that something doesn't
work is just as good as knowing that something does work".

When it comes to measurement, watch the funnel rather than a single number. Open rates and click
rates tell you whether your envelope and subject line are working. Click-through rates, measured
against those who opened rather than the whole list, tell you whether your content holds them. But
the number that matters most is conversion. "That really is your most important KPI is conversion
rate," Kat Carter says, "because if people are opening an email, but it's not converting, well you
got them to do one part, but what happened with the story, maybe that wasn't what it needed to
be." Watch unsubscribes too, as a signal of whether your frequency and relevance are right. To
measure conversion properly you need to follow the donor past the inbox and onto the donation
page, which is why Hubbub encourages every customer to tag their links with UTM parameters, so you
can see not just which emails were opened but which ones actually raised money.

One measurement habit is the most neglected: keep stewarding after the gift. Sending often falls
off a cliff the moment someone donates, which makes no sense. "Why is it that when somebody gives
we stopped telling them about their gift?" Kat Carter asks. Donors, she points out, would rather
hear about the good their gift is doing than receive yet another sales email from someone else.
Telling them is both good stewardship and the groundwork for the next gift.

## How email works alongside social media

Email and social media are not rivals, and the temptation to treat one as a replacement for the
other is a mistake. Social media builds presence, reach and familiarity. Email asks and converts.
The two are most powerful together, and they reinforce each other in a way worth designing for
deliberately.

Kat Carter makes the point through the example of a personal sender. The reason an email from a
named individual works so well is often that the recipient already knows that person from
elsewhere: "they have a presence on social media and I also follow them there. So to me they're
almost now becoming like friends." A senior figure who is visible on social channels arrives in
the inbox as a familiar voice rather than a stranger. So use social media to build the profile of
your causes, your campaigns and your senders, then let email do the asking to an audience that has
been warmed up. On a Giving Day, the social feed celebrates milestones publicly while email drives
the individual decisions to give. Plan them as one communications effort, not two.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many emails should we send during a Giving Day?** Hubbub has tested this extensively and
settled on roughly eight to ten across a 36-hour day, for example five on day one and six on day
two, including a final-hour push before the thank-you. The key is to set the expectation in
advance and offer a campaign-specific unsubscribe, so people who do not want the intensity can opt
out cleanly.

**What is the best time of day to send?** Hubbub generally sends at 11 in the morning or 2 in the
afternoon, timed to natural breaks in the day, a cup of tea, the return from lunch. For an
international audience, adjust to their local 11 and 2. Better still, let your email platform's
data tell you when your specific recipients tend to open, and refine from there.

**Should the email come from a person or from the organisation?** Both work, and it depends on the
message. A personal sender can dramatically lift opens, but the effect fades if you overuse the
same name, so deploy it strategically. It works best when the sender already has a presence your
audience recognises, which is where your social media profile earns its keep.

**What is the single most important number to measure?** Conversion rate. Opens and clicks tell
you whether the envelope and content are working, but conversion tells you whether the email
actually raised money. Use UTM-tagged links so you can track the gift all the way from the inbox
to the donation form, because many email platforms stop reporting at the click.

**What is the right call to action for a stewardship email rather than an ask?** Invite the donor
to share their story or their reason for giving, by replying to the email if you have no other
facility. It is a low-pressure ask that people enjoy answering, and it gives you the donor content
that is otherwise so hard to gather.

**Does this only apply to fundraising appeals?** No. As Kat Carter notes, the same tactics work
"for events or alumni events or mentoring or anything that you are going out to people and asking
for their attention". Any email that needs to break through the inbox benefits from a strong
sender, a specific subject line, a clear story and a single call to action.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [tips for creating engaging emails](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) and [creating dynamic communications plans that drive results](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo redactar correos electrónicos de captación de fondos que funcionan](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica del correo electrónico de captación de fondos, el canal que genera la mayoría de las donaciones en línea, que aborda tu lista y tus datos, la segmentación, la anatomía de un gran correo de petición, la secuencia de campaña, la entregabilidad, las pruebas y la medición.
El correo electrónico es el motor de la captación de fondos digital. No es el canal más glamuroso, y
rara vez recibe la atención que reciben las redes sociales, pero es el que mueve el dinero. En un
[día de la generosidad](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), la gran mayoría de las donaciones
llegan en respuesta a un correo electrónico que aterriza en la bandeja de entrada de alguien en el
momento adecuado, con el mensaje adecuado, de un remitente en quien confía. Todo lo demás, las
publicaciones en redes sociales, el muro de donantes, la cuenta atrás, sirve para apoyar y amplificar
lo que hace el correo electrónico. Acierta con tu correo electrónico y habrás construido la máquina
que impulsa tu campaña. Fállalo y ningún contenido ingenioso en otro lugar rescatará las cifras.

Esta guía se nutre de la experiencia de Hubbub al dirigir y apoyar cientos de campañas digitales, y en
particular de Kat Carter, consultora en Hubbub, que dedica gran parte de su tiempo a redactar correos
electrónicos en nombre de los clientes, a comentar sus borradores y a enviar campañas por ellos.
Plantea el desafío central con claridad: las personas reciben muchísimos correos electrónicos, "unos
100 a 120 cada día", y la mayoría de ellas no están esperando para donar. "Las personas no suelen
despertarse por la mañana con la motivación interna de levantarse y hacer una donación", dice. "El
objetivo como captador de fondos es guiar a tus seguidores a lo largo de este recorrido inspirándolos
a hacer esa donación." Ese es el trabajo de cada correo electrónico de captación de fondos que envías,
y las secciones siguientes explican cómo hacerlo: desde la lista en la que aterriza tu correo, pasando
por la segmentación y el arte de la petición en sí, hasta la secuencia, la entregabilidad, el
formulario de donación y cómo pruebas y mides todo el conjunto.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestras
> [plantillas de correos de captación de fondos](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/), nuestro
> [planificador de campañas de correo](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) y nuestro
> [archivo de asuntos de correo](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Por qué el correo electrónico es el motor de la captación de fondos digital

Para redactar un buen correo de captación de fondos, ayuda entender qué ocurre en la mente de un
donante cuando llega. Todos empezamos el día en lo que Kat Carter llama el statu quo, "simplemente
ocupándonos de nuestros asuntos, disfrutando de nuestro día, haciendo nuestra rutina diaria". Tu
correo es el interruptor, lo que irrumpe en ese statu quo y pide un momento de atención. A partir de
ahí, hay que llevar al donante por un recorrido emocional: enganchado por la oportunidad, el remitente
y el asunto, conmovido por la historia y las palabras, y finalmente llevado al formulario de donación
para decir que sí.

El punto crucial es que dar no es comprar. "Al dar, el punto álgido emocional sucede antes de que
tenga lugar la transacción", explica Kat Carter. "Así que al dar a menudo recibimos el beneficio
primero." Un donante da porque se siente afortunado, o agradecido, o conmovido por una historia, y el
donativo es la expresión de ese sentimiento. El trabajo de tu correo es crear el punto álgido
emocional y luego hacer que actuar sobre él sea lo más fácil posible. La conversión por correo
electrónico está, en sus palabras, "compuesta de muchas piezas en movimiento", razón por la cual vale
la pena pensar en cada una de ellas en lugar de improvisar un texto y confiar en la suerte.

## Tu lista y tus datos: el cimiento

Nada del arte que sigue importa si tu correo no llega, o llega a alguien que nunca lo abrirá. Una lista
limpia, contactable y bien consentida es el cimiento de toda captación de fondos por correo
electrónico, y es la parte que los equipos descuidan con más frecuencia.

Empieza por lo básico. ¿Están tus direcciones de correo actualizadas y son entregables? ¿Posees el
consentimiento para contactar a estas personas, y puedes evidenciarlo? ¿Se eliminan los rebotes y las
quejas en lugar de dejarlos acumularse? Una lista llena de direcciones muertas y contactos
desvinculados no solo desperdicia esfuerzo, sino que perjudica activamente tu capacidad de llegar a
las personas que sí quieren saber de ti, porque los proveedores de buzón interpretan altas tasas de
rebote y bajo compromiso como una señal de que no eres un remitente de fiar.

Luego observa los datos asociados a cada contacto, porque la personalización depende de ellos. Kat
Carter es franca sobre el coste de no tenerlos: "A veces vemos correos que dicen algo como queridos
miembros, queridos amigos. Si no estás recopilando esos datos, empieza a recopilarlos y luego úsalos."
Los nombres de pila, el historial de donaciones, la fecha y el importe del último donativo, la causa
que alguien apoyó la última vez: cada uno es una palanca que puedes accionar para que un correo
resulte personal y relevante, y no puedes accionar una palanca que no has recopilado. Trata tus datos
como un activo que construyes deliberadamente, en cada donación y en cada interacción.

## La segmentación

Una vez que tu lista está limpia y es rica, la segmentación es la manera de hacerla trabajar más. La
misma petición no debería ir a todo el mundo con las mismas palabras. Un posible donante primerizo, un
donante regular leal y un seguidor inactivo se sitúan en puntos diferentes de su relación contigo, y
responden a cosas diferentes.

Dos tipos de personas se encuentran en cualquier audiencia, y la distinción importa. "Al principio de
una campaña conseguirás a las personas de alta afinidad a las que solo tienes que pedir", dice Kat
Carter. "Pero luego conseguirás a los escépticos, y hay más escépticos en tu audiencia que personas
listas para arrancar en términos de fruta al alcance de la mano, así que tienes que subir a bordo a
esos escépticos." Tu segmento cálido necesita una petición clara y poco más. Tu mayoría escéptica
necesita tranquilidad, prueba social y más de un contacto antes de moverse.

La segmentación también te permite poner a trabajar los datos que ya posees. Para los donantes
inactivos, Kat Carter describe poner "su último donativo, con fecha e importe, en la información para
que puedas intentar animarlos a donar", una táctica que elevó la conversión en las pruebas. El
principio es simple: cuanto más específico y relevante le resulte el correo a quien lo lee, más
atención presta. "Cuando te vuelves más específico, los donantes empiezan a prestar más atención",
dice. "Así que te animaría a ser más específico con todos los elementos de tus correos."

## La anatomía de un gran correo de captación de fondos

Un correo de petición sólido se construye a partir de unas pocas partes, cada una con un trabajo
distinto: el asunto y el remitente, la apertura, la historia, la prueba social y la llamada a la
acción.

**El asunto y el remitente.** Este es el sobre, y decide si tu correo se abre o no. El remitente
merece más reflexión de la que suele recibir. Puede provenir de la identidad de marca de tu
organización, pero también puede provenir de una persona, "un profesor, podrías ser tú, podría ser un
padre o madre, una persona significativa que da peso al correo que estás enviando". Un remitente
personal puede transformar las tasas de apertura: en una prueba que cita Kat Carter, pasar del nombre
de una organización al nombre de un individuo llevó la tasa de apertura del 12 por ciento al 51 por
ciento, con siete veces más envíos. El asunto tiene entonces que ganarse el clic. Haz una pregunta,
formula una afirmación, invita a participar o usa el nombre del lector, y sé específico. Hay también
un útil matiz de lenguaje, que Kat Carter extrae de una sesión de Adrian Sargeant: prefiere "tu
amabilidad" a "tu donativo", "porque es la amabilidad de alguien. Sí, están haciendo un donativo, pero
se trata de amabilidad."

**La apertura.** Recompensa la apertura de inmediato. Usa el nombre de pila del lector donde lo
tengas, y llega rápido a algo que le importe. Aquí es donde cuenta la legibilidad: un tono personal, un
diseño limpio, un flujo sensato, y un texto que se lee como si un humano lo hubiera escrito para un
humano.

**La historia.** Este es el corazón del correo, la parte que lleva al lector de un interés leve a la
carga emocional que lo hace donar. Kat Carter describe dos estructuras que vale la pena tomar
prestadas. La primera es la historia de uno mismo, la historia de nosotros, la historia del ahora,
desarrollada por Marshall Ganz: una breve historia personal, relacionada con una experiencia
compartida, que termina con una llamada a la acción clara. Las tres partes dependen unas de otras. "Si
cuentas una gran historia de uno mismo y una historia de nosotros, pero no incluyes una llamada a la
acción clara como tu historia del ahora, tu audiencia se encenderá emocionalmente, pero sin una
dirección clara para su siguiente paso, y su energía se disipará." La segunda es el viaje del héroe, la
estructura de Joseph Campbell de separación, descenso y retorno. Cualquiera que uses, haz central al
donante. La lección que Kat Carter extrae del arte narrativo de Barack Obama es el poder del lenguaje
del "tú": "buscar maneras de convertir un nosotros o un yo en un tú y hacer al donante central en ese
mensaje."

**La prueba social.** Las personas dan cuando ven a otros dar. Celebra el impulso, nombra a la
comunidad y deja que los donantes se escuchen entre sí. "Las personas como nosotros hacen cosas como
esta", dice Kat Carter, citando a Seth Godin, "y así es como puedes empezar a crear esa cultura de la
generosidad." Las citas de otros donantes y un muro de donantes visible hacen ambos este trabajo.

**Una única y clara llamada a la acción.** Aquí es donde la mayoría de los correos de petición
fracasan. El trabajo del correo es inspirar y posibilitar el donativo, y luego enviar al lector
directamente al formulario de donación para completarlo. Un tibio "saber más" es una oportunidad
desperdiciada. "Esto no va de saber más", insiste Kat Carter. "Esto va de: haz tu donativo. Tienes que
inspirar y posibilitar que ese donante haga ese donativo en ese correo, y luego enviarlo por el
recorrido para completar ese donativo." Una llamada a la acción tibia deja que la gente vaya a la
deriva hacia una página donde "piensan, ah, no es aquí donde quería estar, y luego se van." Una
petición clara, un botón claro, un destino.

## Una secuencia de campaña, no un envío aislado

Un solo correo rara vez es una campaña. Los escépticos, que son la mayoría, casi nunca donan en el
primer contacto, razón por la cual Hubbub construye secuencias en lugar de depender de un único envío.
"Esta es una de las razones por las que sugerimos, en los días de la generosidad, enviar correos antes
del evento, así como correos el día mismo", dice Kat Carter, "porque sirve para implicar a esos
escépticos."

En un día de la generosidad, esa secuencia es intensa por diseño. Hubbub ha probado el volumen:
"hemos, sí, hemos empezado con muchos. Y por muchos quiero decir 12. Así que hemos bajado a ocho-diez",
repartidos a lo largo de la campaña, "quizá cinco el primer día, seis el segundo día". Fuera de un día
de la generosidad la cadencia es más suave, pero el principio se mantiene: una serie planificada que se
construye, en lugar de un único envío lleno de esperanza. Fija las expectativas desde el principio.
Dile a la gente, en tu correo de reserva la fecha, que estarás en contacto con más frecuencia durante
la campaña, y dales una forma limpia de darse de baja de esa campaña específicamente. "No todo es para
todo el mundo", dice, y la baja ocasional de personas para quienes tu campaña no encaja es una señal
sana, no un fracaso.

Escribe toda la secuencia antes de que comience la campaña, y dale a cada correo un trabajo: generar
expectación, lanzar, informar del impulso, crear urgencia, hacer un empujón final, agradecer. A medida
que la campaña alcanza su pico, cambia lo que puedas entre envíos para mantener fresca la atención.
"Con cada correo hacemos que más y más personas presten atención", dice Kat Carter, "cambiamos los
asuntos, cambiamos de quién es, cambiamos el mensaje, y empezamos a usar de verdad todo nuestro arsenal
para hacer que esos donantes presten atención."

## Diseño y móvil

La mayoría de tus correos se leerán en un teléfono, y un correo de captación de fondos que se ve roto
en el móvil no convertirá, por buenas que sean las palabras. La capacidad de respuesta móvil es, en
palabras de Kat Carter, "realmente importante en términos de conversiones". Mantén el diseño limpio y
el flujo evidente, con la llamada a la acción fácil de encontrar y fácil de pulsar.

Si usar imágenes es una cuestión para probar más que para dar por supuesta. Hubbub lo ha visto de
ambas maneras: en un caso un correo con imágenes obtuvo la mayor tasa de clics, en otro ganó el correo
sencillo. En una prueba el correo en texto plano obtuvo más aperturas pero un donativo medio inferior,
de modo que la elección correcta puede incluso depender de a qué donantes estás escribiendo. "No es un
enfoque único para todos", dice, "y tienes que probar con tu propia audiencia."

## Entregabilidad: mantenerse fuera de la carpeta de spam

Un correo que aterriza en el spam bien podría no haberse enviado. La entregabilidad es en parte
técnica y en parte conductual, y la parte conductual es la que controlan los captadores de fondos.

Los cimientos técnicos importan y vale la pena pedir a tu proveedor o equipo de TI que los confirme:
los registros de autenticación que prueban que eres quien dices ser, un dominio de envío coherente y
un servicio de correo de buena reputación. El lado conductual es donde da frutos tu disciplina de
lista. Los proveedores de buzón observan cómo te responden las personas. Un compromiso saludable,
aperturas, clics y respuestas, les dice que eres deseado. Los rebotes duros, las quejas de spam y los
largos periodos de ser ignorado les dicen lo contrario. Así que mantén limpia tu lista, retira a las
personas que nunca se vinculan, y facilita la baja, incluida una baja específica de la campaña para
los empujones intensivos como un día de la generosidad. Un donante que te marca en silencio como spam
hace mucho más daño a tu entregabilidad que uno que simplemente se da de baja.

## Pedir bien, y la donación fiscalmente ventajosa

Una petición clara es más persuasiva cuando es concreta. Sugerir un importe específico, y mostrar lo
que logra, es mejor que dejar al donante adivinar. Muchos países europeos ofrecen deducciones o
reducciones fiscales sobre los donativos benéficos, y los donativos transfronterizos pueden hacerse de
forma fiscalmente ventajosa a través de Transnational Giving Europe, así que donde esto se aplique vale
la pena hacer visible el beneficio en la propia petición. Donde dispongas de fondos de contrapartida,
el efecto se multiplica. Kat Carter describe un correo de un día de la generosidad que usaba "un
donativo sugerido porque teníamos donaciones de contrapartida. Así que estamos hablando de duplicar el
donativo", para demostrar de verdad que solo estás pidiendo este importe, y esperas que puedan dar ese
importe. Decirle a un donante que su donativo podría reunir los requisitos para una deducción fiscal, y
luego duplicarse encima, convierte una petición modesta en una poderosa. Deja claro cualquier
beneficio fiscal en el momento de donar, y envía un recibo puntual para que los donantes tengan lo que
necesitan para reclamarlo.

## Fricción: no los pierdas en el formulario

Puedes redactar el correo perfecto y aun así perder el donativo en la página de donación. Kat Carter
señala que "normalmente el 83 % de las personas en la página de donación general llegan a este momento
de decisión y deciden no seguir adelante". La fricción es el enemigo, y ella identifica cuatro tipos
extraídos de la investigación de NextAfter: fricción de decisión (demasiadas opciones), fricción de
confusión (forzar una elección que el donante no está equipado para tomar), fricción de campo (pedir
demasiada información) y fricción de paso (demasiados clics y cargas de página). "Nada es peor que un
formulario que dice paso uno de seis." Si tu correo hace su trabajo pero tu formulario te falla, "ese
formulario no está haciendo su trabajo, y debería renovarse o reemplazarse." No, advierte, "dejes que
tus donantes se entusiasmen y luego se metan en un mal recorrido y acaben sin hacer ese donativo."

## Pruebas y qué medir

La captación de fondos por correo electrónico premia el hábito de las pruebas disciplinadas, y las
reglas son sencillas. Prueba sobre una muestra significativa en relación con tu audiencia. Cambia una
cosa a la vez, "no cambies el nombre del remitente y el asunto y la historia todo de golpe, porque no
sabrás cuál causó la mejora." Y prueba más de una vez antes de fiarte de un resultado, "tres, cinco,
ocho veces" para algo que pretendas implantar. Los resultados negativos también cuentan: "saber que
algo no funciona es tan valioso como saber que algo funciona."

Cuando se trata de medir, observa el embudo en lugar de un solo número. Las tasas de apertura y las
tasas de clic te dicen si tu sobre y tu asunto funcionan. Las tasas de clics, medidas respecto a
quienes abrieron en lugar de la lista entera, te dicen si tu contenido los retiene. Pero el número que
más importa es la conversión. "Ese es realmente tu KPI más importante, la tasa de conversión", dice
Kat Carter, "porque si las personas abren un correo, pero no convierte, bueno, lograste que hicieran
una parte, pero qué pasó con la historia, quizá no era lo que tenía que ser." Observa también las
bajas, como señal de si tu frecuencia y relevancia son las adecuadas. Para medir la conversión
correctamente tienes que seguir al donante más allá de la bandeja de entrada y hasta la página de
donación, razón por la cual Hubbub anima a cada cliente a etiquetar sus enlaces con parámetros UTM,
para que puedas ver no solo qué correos se abrieron sino cuáles realmente recaudaron dinero.

Un hábito de medición es el más descuidado: sigue cultivando la relación después del donativo. El
envío a menudo se detiene en seco en el momento en que alguien dona, lo cual no tiene sentido. "¿Por
qué, cuando alguien da, dejamos de hablarle de su donativo?", pregunta Kat Carter. Los donantes,
señala, preferirían saber del bien que hace su donativo a recibir otro correo de venta más de otra
persona. Decírselo es a la vez una buena cultivación de la relación y la base para el siguiente
donativo.

## Cómo funciona el correo electrónico junto a las redes sociales

El correo electrónico y las redes sociales no son rivales, y la tentación de tratar uno como
sustituto del otro es un error. Las redes sociales construyen presencia, alcance y familiaridad. El
correo electrónico pide y convierte. Los dos son más poderosos juntos, y se refuerzan mutuamente de
una manera que vale la pena diseñar deliberadamente.

Kat Carter expone el punto a través del ejemplo de un remitente personal. La razón por la que un correo
de un individuo con nombre funciona tan bien es a menudo que el destinatario ya conoce a esa persona de
otro lugar: "tienen presencia en las redes sociales y yo también los sigo allí. Así que para mí casi se
están convirtiendo ya en amigos." Una figura de alto rango que es visible en los canales sociales
llega a la bandeja de entrada como una voz familiar en lugar de un extraño. Así que usa las redes
sociales para construir el perfil de tus causas, tus campañas y tus remitentes, y luego deja que el
correo electrónico haga la petición a una audiencia que ha sido precalentada. En un día de la
generosidad, el feed social celebra los hitos públicamente mientras el correo electrónico impulsa las
decisiones individuales de donar. Planifícalos como un único esfuerzo de comunicación, no dos.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuántos correos deberíamos enviar durante un día de la generosidad?** Hubbub ha probado esto
extensamente y se ha decantado por unos ocho a diez a lo largo de un día de 36 horas, por ejemplo
cinco el primer día y seis el segundo, incluido un empujón en la última hora antes del agradecimiento.
La clave es fijar la expectativa por adelantado y ofrecer una baja específica de la campaña, para que
las personas que no quieran la intensidad puedan retirarse limpiamente.

**¿Cuál es la mejor hora del día para enviar?** Hubbub envía generalmente a las 11 de la mañana o a las
14 de la tarde, ajustado a las pausas naturales del día, una taza de té, la vuelta del almuerzo. Para
una audiencia internacional, ajústate a sus 11 y 14 locales. Mejor aún, deja que los datos de tu
plataforma de correo te digan cuándo tienden a abrir tus destinatarios específicos, y refina a partir
de ahí.

**¿Debería el correo venir de una persona o de la organización?** Ambos funcionan, y depende del
mensaje. Un remitente personal puede elevar las aperturas de forma drástica, pero el efecto se
desvanece si abusas del mismo nombre, así que despliégalo estratégicamente. Funciona mejor cuando el
remitente ya tiene una presencia que tu audiencia reconoce, y ahí es donde tu perfil en redes sociales
se gana su valor.

**¿Cuál es el único número más importante que medir?** La tasa de conversión. Las aperturas y los clics
te dicen si el sobre y el contenido funcionan, pero la conversión te dice si el correo realmente
recaudó dinero. Usa enlaces etiquetados con UTM para poder rastrear el donativo a lo largo de todo el
camino, desde la bandeja de entrada hasta el formulario de donación, porque muchas plataformas de
correo dejan de informar en el clic.

**¿Cuál es la llamada a la acción adecuada para un correo de cultivación de la relación en lugar de una
petición?** Invita al donante a compartir su historia o su razón para donar, respondiendo al correo si
no tienes otra vía. Es una petición sin presión que a la gente le gusta responder, y te proporciona el
contenido de donantes que de otro modo es tan difícil de reunir.

**¿Esto solo se aplica a las peticiones de captación de fondos?** No. Como señala Kat Carter, las
mismas tácticas funcionan "para eventos o eventos de exalumnos o mentorías o cualquier cosa para la que
te dirijas a las personas pidiendo su atención." Cualquier correo que necesite irrumpir en la bandeja
de entrada se beneficia de un remitente fuerte, un asunto específico, una historia clara y una única
llamada a la acción.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantillas de correos de captación de fondos](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Planificador de campañas de correo](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Archivo de asuntos de correo](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Herramientas

- [El simulador de día de la generosidad de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tus peticiones y correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): vincula los momentos presenciales directamente a una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- Seminarios web: [consejos para crear correos atractivos](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) y [crear planes de comunicación dinámicos que generan resultados](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Guía relacionada: [Cómo organizar un día de la generosidad](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) completo para más información.

- [Comment rédiger des e-mails de collecte de fonds qui fonctionnent](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique de l'e-mail de collecte de fonds, le canal qui génère la majorité des dons en ligne, abordant votre liste et vos données, la segmentation, l'anatomie d'un excellent e-mail d'appel, la séquence de campagne, la délivrabilité, les tests et la mesure.
L'e-mail est le moteur de la collecte de fonds numérique. Ce n'est pas le canal le plus
prestigieux, et il attire rarement l'attention que reçoivent les réseaux sociaux, mais c'est celui
qui fait bouger l'argent. Lors d'une [journée de générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
la grande majorité des dons arrivent en réponse à un e-mail qui atterrit dans la boîte de réception
de quelqu'un au bon moment, avec le bon message, de la part d'un expéditeur en qui il a confiance.
Tout le reste, les publications sur les réseaux sociaux, le mur des donateurs, le compte à rebours,
sert à soutenir et à amplifier ce que fait l'e-mail. Réussissez votre e-mail et vous aurez construit
la machine qui propulse votre campagne. Ratez-le et aucun contenu astucieux ailleurs ne sauvera les
chiffres.

Ce guide s'appuie sur l'expérience de Hubbub, qui a mené et accompagné des centaines de campagnes
numériques, et en particulier sur Kat Carter, consultante chez Hubbub, qui passe une grande partie
de son temps à rédiger des e-mails pour le compte de clients, à commenter leurs brouillons et à
envoyer des campagnes en leur nom. Elle expose clairement le défi central : les gens reçoivent
énormément d'e-mails, "environ 100 à 120 par jour", et la plupart d'entre eux n'attendent pas de
faire un don. "Les gens ne se réveillent généralement pas le matin avec la motivation intérieure de
se lever et de faire un don", dit-elle. "L'objectif du collecteur de fonds est de guider vos
soutiens tout au long de ce parcours en les inspirant à faire ce don." C'est le travail de chaque
e-mail de collecte de fonds que vous envoyez, et les sections ci-dessous expliquent comment le
faire : de la liste sur laquelle votre e-mail atterrit, à la segmentation et à l'art de l'appel
lui-même, en passant par la séquence, la délivrabilité, le formulaire de don et la manière dont vous
testez et mesurez l'ensemble.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger nos
> [modèles d'e-mails de collecte de fonds](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/),
> notre [planificateur de campagne e-mail](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) et notre
> [recueil d'objets d'e-mails](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Pourquoi l'e-mail est le moteur de la collecte de fonds numérique

Pour rédiger un bon e-mail de collecte de fonds, il est utile de comprendre ce qui se passe dans
l'esprit d'un donateur lorsqu'il le reçoit. Chacun commence sa journée dans ce que Kat Carter appelle
le statu quo, "à simplement vaquer à nos occupations, profiter de notre journée, faire notre train-train
quotidien". Votre e-mail est l'interrupteur, ce qui perce ce statu quo et réclame un instant
d'attention. À partir de là, le donateur doit être porté le long d'un parcours émotionnel : engagé
par le moment choisi, l'expéditeur et l'objet, ému par l'histoire et les mots, et finalement amené
au formulaire de don pour dire oui.

Le point crucial est que donner n'est pas acheter. "Dans le don, le point culminant émotionnel se
produit avant que la transaction n'ait lieu", explique Kat Carter. "Donc, dans le don, nous
recevons souvent le bénéfice en premier." Un donateur donne parce qu'il se sent chanceux, ou
reconnaissant, ou ému par une histoire, et le don est l'expression de ce sentiment. Le travail de
votre e-mail est de créer le point culminant émotionnel, puis de rendre l'action aussi facile que
possible. La conversion par e-mail est, selon ses mots, "composée de nombreux éléments en
mouvement", c'est pourquoi il vaut la peine de réfléchir à chacun d'eux plutôt que de griffonner un
texte en espérant que ça marche.

## Votre liste et vos données : la fondation

Rien de l'art qui suit n'a d'importance si votre e-mail n'arrive pas, ou arrive chez quelqu'un qui
ne l'ouvrira jamais. Une liste propre, joignable et bien consentie est la fondation de toute
collecte de fonds par e-mail, et c'est la partie que les équipes négligent le plus souvent.

Commencez par les bases. Vos adresses e-mail sont-elles à jour et délivrables ? Détenez-vous le
consentement pour contacter ces personnes, et pouvez-vous en apporter la preuve ? Les rebonds et les
plaintes sont-ils éliminés plutôt que laissés s'accumuler ? Une liste pleine d'adresses mortes et de
contacts désengagés ne fait pas que gaspiller des efforts, elle nuit activement à votre capacité
d'atteindre les personnes qui veulent vraiment avoir de vos nouvelles, car les fournisseurs de
messagerie interprètent des taux de rebond élevés et un faible engagement comme un signe que vous
n'êtes pas un expéditeur digne de confiance.

Examinez ensuite les données rattachées à chaque contact, car la personnalisation en dépend. Kat
Carter est franche sur le coût de leur absence : "Parfois, nous voyons des e-mails qui disent par
exemple cher membre, cher ami. Si vous ne collectez pas ces données, commencez à les collecter, puis
utilisez ces données." Les prénoms, l'historique des dons, la date et le montant du dernier don, la
cause soutenue la dernière fois : chacun est un levier que vous pouvez actionner pour rendre un
e-mail personnel et pertinent, et vous ne pouvez pas actionner un levier que vous n'avez pas
collecté. Traitez vos données comme un atout que vous construisez délibérément, à chaque don et à
chaque interaction.

## La segmentation

Une fois votre liste propre et riche, la segmentation est le moyen de la faire travailler davantage.
Le même appel ne devrait pas être envoyé à tout le monde dans les mêmes termes. Un prospect qui
donne pour la première fois, un donateur régulier fidèle et un soutien perdu se situent à des points
différents de leur relation avec vous, et ils réagissent à des choses différentes.

Deux types de personnes se trouvent dans toute audience, et la distinction compte. "Au début d'une
campagne, vous obtiendrez les personnes à forte affinité, auxquelles il vous suffit de demander",
dit Kat Carter. "Mais ensuite vous aurez les sceptiques, et il y a plus de sceptiques dans votre
audience que de personnes prêtes à partir, en termes de fruits faciles à cueillir, donc vous devez
rallier ces sceptiques." Votre segment chaleureux a besoin d'une demande claire et de peu d'autre
chose. Votre majorité sceptique a besoin de réassurance, de preuve sociale et de plus d'un contact
avant de bouger.

La segmentation vous permet aussi de mettre à profit les données que vous détenez déjà. Pour les
donateurs perdus, Kat Carter décrit le fait de mettre "leur dernier don, sa date et son montant dans
l'information afin que vous puissiez essayer de les encourager à donner", une tactique qui a augmenté
la conversion lors des tests. Le principe est simple : plus l'e-mail semble spécifique et pertinent
pour la personne qui le lit, plus elle y prête attention. "Quand vous devenez plus spécifique, les
donateurs commencent à prêter davantage attention", dit-elle. "Je vous encourage donc à être plus
spécifique avec tous les éléments de vos e-mails."

## L'anatomie d'un excellent e-mail de collecte de fonds

Un e-mail d'appel solide est construit à partir de quelques éléments, chacun remplissant une fonction
distincte : l'objet et l'expéditeur, l'introduction, l'histoire, la preuve sociale et l'appel à
l'action.

**L'objet et l'expéditeur.** C'est l'enveloppe, et il décide si votre e-mail est ouvert ou non.
L'expéditeur mérite plus de réflexion qu'on ne lui en accorde habituellement. Il peut provenir de
l'identité de marque de votre organisation, mais il peut aussi provenir d'une personne, "un
professeur, ce pourrait être vous, ce pourrait être un parent, une personne importante qui donne du
poids à l'e-mail que vous envoyez". Un expéditeur personnel peut transformer les taux d'ouverture :
dans un test cité par Kat Carter, passer du nom d'une organisation au nom d'un individu a fait
grimper le taux d'ouverture de 12 pour cent à 51 pour cent, avec sept fois plus de soumissions.
L'objet doit ensuite mériter le clic. Posez une question, faites une affirmation, invitez à la
participation ou utilisez le nom du lecteur, et soyez spécifique. Il y a aussi une nuance de langage
utile, que Kat Carter tire d'une session d'Adrian Sargeant : préférez "votre gentillesse" à "votre
don", "parce que c'est la gentillesse de quelqu'un. Oui, ils font un don, mais il s'agit de
gentillesse."

**L'introduction.** Récompensez l'ouverture immédiatement. Utilisez le prénom du lecteur lorsque
vous l'avez, et arrivez rapidement à quelque chose qui compte pour lui. C'est là que la lisibilité
importe : un ton personnel, un design soigné, un déroulé sensé, et un texte qui se lit comme s'il
avait été écrit par un humain pour un humain.

**L'histoire.** C'est le cœur de l'e-mail, la partie qui porte le lecteur d'un intérêt léger à la
charge émotionnelle qui le pousse à donner. Kat Carter décrit deux structures qu'il vaut la peine
d'emprunter. La première est l'histoire de soi, l'histoire de nous, l'histoire du maintenant, mise
au point par Marshall Ganz : une courte histoire personnelle, reliée à une expérience partagée, se
terminant par un appel à l'action clair. Les trois parties dépendent les unes des autres. "Si vous
racontez une excellente histoire de soi et une histoire de nous, mais que vous n'incluez pas un
appel à l'action clair comme histoire du maintenant, votre audience s'enflammera émotionnellement,
mais sans direction claire pour son prochain pas, et son énergie se dissipera." La seconde est le
voyage du héros, la structure de Joseph Campbell faite de séparation, de descente et de retour. Quelle
que soit celle que vous utilisez, placez le donateur au centre. La leçon que Kat Carter tire de l'art
de raconter de Barack Obama est la puissance du langage du "vous" : "chercher des moyens de
transformer un nous ou un je en vous et de rendre le donateur central à ce message."

**La preuve sociale.** Les gens donnent quand ils voient d'autres donner. Célébrez l'élan, nommez la
communauté et laissez les donateurs entendre les uns les autres. "Des gens comme nous font des choses
comme celle-ci", dit Kat Carter, citant Seth Godin, "et c'est ainsi que vous pouvez commencer à créer
cette culture du don." Les citations d'autres donateurs et un mur des donateurs visible font tous deux
ce travail.

**Un appel à l'action unique et clair.** C'est là que la plupart des e-mails d'appel échouent. Le
travail de l'e-mail est d'inspirer et de permettre le don, puis d'envoyer le lecteur directement au
formulaire de don pour le compléter. Un timide "en savoir plus" est une occasion gâchée. "Il ne
s'agit pas d'en savoir plus", insiste Kat Carter. "Il s'agit de : faites votre don. Vous devez
inspirer et permettre à ce donateur de faire ce don dans cet e-mail, puis l'envoyer sur le parcours
pour compléter ce don." Un appel à l'action timide laisse les gens dériver vers une page où "ils se
disent, oh, ce n'est pas là que je voulais être, et ils partent". Une demande claire, un bouton clair,
une destination.

## Une séquence de campagne, pas un envoi isolé

Un seul e-mail est rarement une campagne. Les sceptiques, qui sont majoritaires, ne donnent presque
jamais au premier contact, c'est pourquoi Hubbub construit des séquences plutôt que de se reposer sur
un envoi unique. "C'est l'une des raisons pour lesquelles nous suggérons, lors des journées de
générosité, d'envoyer des e-mails avant l'événement, ainsi que des e-mails le jour même", dit Kat
Carter, "parce que cela implique ces sceptiques."

Lors d'une journée de générosité, cette séquence est intense par conception. Hubbub a testé le
volume : "nous avons, oui, nous avons commencé avec beaucoup. Et par beaucoup, je veux dire 12. Donc
nous sommes descendus à huit à dix", répartis sur la campagne, "peut-être cinq le premier jour, six
le deuxième jour". En dehors d'une journée de générosité, la cadence est plus douce, mais le principe
tient : une série planifiée qui monte en puissance, plutôt qu'un envoi unique plein d'espoir. Fixez
les attentes dès le départ. Dites aux gens, dans votre e-mail de réservation de date, que vous serez
en contact plus souvent pendant la campagne, et donnez-leur un moyen propre de se désabonner de cette
campagne spécifiquement. "Tout n'est pas pour tout le monde", dit-elle, et le désabonnement
occasionnel de personnes pour qui votre campagne ne convient pas est un signe sain, pas un échec.

Écrivez toute la séquence avant le début de la campagne, et donnez à chaque e-mail une mission :
créer l'anticipation, lancer, rapporter l'élan, créer l'urgence, faire un dernier effort, remercier.
À mesure que la campagne atteint son pic, changez ce que vous pouvez entre les envois pour garder
l'attention fraîche. "À chaque e-mail, nous amenons de plus en plus de gens à prêter attention", dit
Kat Carter, "nous changeons les objets, nous changeons l'expéditeur, nous changeons le message, et
nous commençons à vraiment utiliser tout notre arsenal pour amener ces donateurs à prêter attention."

## Design et mobile

La plupart de vos e-mails seront lus sur un téléphone, et un e-mail de collecte de fonds qui semble
cassé sur mobile ne convertira pas, aussi bons que soient les mots. La compatibilité mobile est, selon
les mots de Kat Carter, "vraiment importante en termes de conversions". Gardez un design soigné et un
déroulé évident, avec l'appel à l'action facile à trouver et facile à toucher.

L'opportunité d'utiliser des images est une question à tester plutôt qu'à présumer. Hubbub l'a constaté
dans les deux sens : dans un cas, un e-mail avec images a généré le meilleur taux de clics, dans un
autre, l'e-mail simple l'a emporté. Dans un test, l'e-mail en texte brut a généré plus d'ouvertures
mais un don moyen inférieur, de sorte que le bon choix peut même dépendre des donateurs auxquels vous
écrivez. "Ce n'est pas une approche universelle", dit-elle, "et vous devez tester sur votre propre
audience."

## Délivrabilité : rester hors du dossier spam

Un e-mail qui atterrit dans les spams aurait tout aussi bien pu ne pas être envoyé. La délivrabilité
est en partie technique et en partie comportementale, et la partie comportementale est celle que les
collecteurs de fonds contrôlent.

Les fondations techniques comptent et il vaut la peine de demander à votre fournisseur ou à votre
équipe informatique de les confirmer : les enregistrements d'authentification qui prouvent que vous
êtes bien qui vous prétendez être, un domaine d'envoi cohérent, et un service de messagerie réputé.
Le côté comportemental est là où votre discipline de liste porte ses fruits. Les fournisseurs de
messagerie observent comment les gens réagissent à vous. Un engagement sain, des ouvertures, des clics
et des réponses, leur dit que vous êtes désiré. Les rebonds durs, les plaintes pour spam et les
longues périodes d'indifférence leur disent le contraire. Alors gardez votre liste propre, retirez les
personnes qui ne s'engagent jamais, et facilitez le désabonnement, y compris un désabonnement
spécifique à la campagne pour les sollicitations intensives comme une journée de générosité. Un
donateur qui vous marque discrètement comme spam fait bien plus de dégâts à votre délivrabilité qu'un
donateur qui se désabonne simplement.

## Bien demander, et le don fiscalement avantageux

Une demande claire est plus persuasive lorsqu'elle est concrète. Suggérer un montant précis, et
montrer ce qu'il permet d'accomplir, vaut mieux que de laisser le donateur deviner. De nombreux pays
européens offrent des déductions ou des réductions fiscales sur les dons caritatifs, et les dons
transfrontaliers peuvent être faits de manière fiscalement avantageuse via Transnational Giving
Europe, donc là où cela s'applique, il vaut la peine de rendre l'avantage visible dans la demande
elle-même. Là où vous disposez d'un financement de contrepartie, l'effet se cumule. Kat Carter décrit
un e-mail de journée de générosité qui utilisait "un don suggéré parce que nous avions un don de
contrepartie. Donc nous parlons de doubler le don", pour vraiment démontrer que vous ne demandez que
ce montant, et que vous espérez qu'ils peuvent donner ce montant. Dire à un donateur que son don peut
être éligible à une déduction fiscale, puis être doublé par-dessus, transforme une demande modeste en
une demande puissante. Rendez tout avantage fiscal clair au moment du don, et envoyez un reçu rapide
afin que les donateurs aient ce dont ils ont besoin pour le réclamer.

## La friction : ne les perdez pas au formulaire

Vous pouvez écrire l'e-mail parfait et perdre tout de même le don sur la page de don. Kat Carter note
que "généralement, 83 % des personnes sur la page de don générale atteignent ce moment de décision et
décident de ne pas aller plus loin". La friction est l'ennemie, et elle en identifie quatre types
issus des recherches de NextAfter : la friction de décision (trop d'options), la friction de confusion
(forcer un choix que le donateur n'est pas équipé pour faire), la friction de champ (demander trop
d'informations) et la friction d'étape (trop de clics et de chargements de page). "Rien n'est pire
qu'un formulaire qui dit étape un sur six." Si votre e-mail fait son travail mais que votre formulaire
vous laisse tomber, "ce formulaire ne fait pas son travail, et il devrait être rénové et/ou remplacé".
Ne, prévient-elle, "laissez pas vos donateurs s'enthousiasmer puis s'engager sur un mauvais parcours
et finir par ne pas faire ce don".

## Tests et ce qu'il faut mesurer

La collecte de fonds par e-mail récompense l'habitude de tests rigoureux, et les règles sont simples.
Testez sur un échantillon significatif par rapport à votre audience. Changez une seule chose à la
fois, "ne changez pas le nom de l'expéditeur, l'objet et l'histoire d'un seul coup, car vous ne saurez
pas lequel a provoqué l'amélioration". Et testez plus d'une fois avant de faire confiance à un
résultat, "trois, cinq, huit fois" pour quelque chose que vous comptez déployer. Les résultats
négatifs comptent aussi : "savoir que quelque chose ne fonctionne pas est tout aussi précieux que de
savoir que quelque chose fonctionne".

En matière de mesure, surveillez l'entonnoir plutôt qu'un chiffre unique. Les taux d'ouverture et les
taux de clic vous disent si votre enveloppe et votre objet fonctionnent. Les taux de clics, mesurés
par rapport à ceux qui ont ouvert plutôt qu'à toute la liste, vous disent si votre contenu les retient.
Mais le chiffre qui compte le plus est la conversion. "Cela, c'est vraiment votre KPI le plus
important, le taux de conversion", dit Kat Carter, "parce que si les gens ouvrent un e-mail, mais qu'il
ne convertit pas, eh bien vous les avez amenés à faire une partie, mais que s'est-il passé avec
l'histoire, peut-être que ce n'était pas ce qu'il fallait." Surveillez aussi les désabonnements, comme
signal indiquant si votre fréquence et votre pertinence sont justes. Pour mesurer correctement la
conversion, vous devez suivre le donateur au-delà de la boîte de réception et jusqu'à la page de don,
c'est pourquoi Hubbub encourage chaque client à baliser ses liens avec des paramètres UTM, afin que
vous puissiez voir non seulement quels e-mails ont été ouverts mais lesquels ont réellement collecté
de l'argent.

Une habitude de mesure est la plus négligée : continuez à fidéliser après le don. L'envoi s'arrête
souvent net au moment où quelqu'un donne, ce qui n'a aucun sens. "Pourquoi, lorsque quelqu'un donne,
cessons-nous de lui parler de son don ?", demande Kat Carter. Les donateurs, souligne-t-elle,
préféreraient entendre parler du bien que fait leur don plutôt que de recevoir encore un e-mail de
vente de quelqu'un d'autre. Le leur dire est à la fois une bonne fidélisation et le terreau du
prochain don.

## Comment l'e-mail fonctionne aux côtés des réseaux sociaux

L'e-mail et les réseaux sociaux ne sont pas des rivaux, et la tentation de traiter l'un comme un
remplacement de l'autre est une erreur. Les réseaux sociaux construisent la présence, la portée et la
familiarité. L'e-mail demande et convertit. Les deux sont les plus puissants ensemble, et ils se
renforcent mutuellement d'une manière qu'il vaut la peine de concevoir délibérément.

Kat Carter illustre le point par l'exemple d'un expéditeur personnel. La raison pour laquelle un
e-mail provenant d'un individu nommé fonctionne si bien est souvent que le destinataire connaît déjà
cette personne par ailleurs : "ils ont une présence sur les réseaux sociaux et je les suis aussi
là-bas. Donc pour moi, ils deviennent presque comme des amis maintenant." Une personnalité de haut
rang qui est visible sur les canaux sociaux arrive dans la boîte de réception comme une voix familière
plutôt qu'un inconnu. Alors utilisez les réseaux sociaux pour construire le profil de vos causes, de
vos campagnes et de vos expéditeurs, puis laissez l'e-mail faire la demande à une audience qui a été
préchauffée. Lors d'une journée de générosité, le fil social célèbre publiquement les jalons tandis
que l'e-mail pilote les décisions individuelles de donner. Planifiez-les comme un seul effort de
communication, pas deux.

## Questions fréquentes

**Combien d'e-mails devrions-nous envoyer pendant une journée de générosité ?** Hubbub a testé cela
en profondeur et s'est fixé sur environ huit à dix sur une journée de 36 heures, par exemple cinq le
premier jour et six le deuxième, y compris une sollicitation de dernière heure avant le remerciement.
L'essentiel est de fixer l'attente à l'avance et d'offrir un désabonnement spécifique à la campagne,
afin que les personnes qui ne veulent pas de l'intensité puissent se retirer proprement.

**Quel est le meilleur moment de la journée pour envoyer ?** Hubbub envoie généralement à 11 heures
du matin ou à 14 heures, calé sur les pauses naturelles de la journée, une tasse de thé, le retour du
déjeuner. Pour une audience internationale, ajustez à leurs 11 et 14 heures locales. Mieux encore,
laissez les données de votre plateforme d'e-mailing vous dire quand vos destinataires spécifiques ont
tendance à ouvrir, et affinez à partir de là.

**L'e-mail devrait-il provenir d'une personne ou de l'organisation ?** Les deux fonctionnent, et cela
dépend du message. Un expéditeur personnel peut considérablement augmenter les ouvertures, mais
l'effet s'estompe si vous surutilisez le même nom, alors déployez-le stratégiquement. Cela fonctionne
mieux lorsque l'expéditeur a déjà une présence que votre audience reconnaît, et c'est là que votre
profil sur les réseaux sociaux gagne sa place.

**Quel est le chiffre le plus important à mesurer ?** Le taux de conversion. Les ouvertures et les
clics vous disent si l'enveloppe et le contenu fonctionnent, mais la conversion vous dit si l'e-mail
a réellement collecté de l'argent. Utilisez des liens balisés UTM afin de pouvoir suivre le don tout
au long du chemin, de la boîte de réception au formulaire de don, car de nombreuses plateformes
d'e-mailing cessent leur rapport au clic.

**Quel est le bon appel à l'action pour un e-mail de fidélisation plutôt qu'une demande ?** Invitez
le donateur à partager son histoire ou sa raison de donner, en répondant à l'e-mail si vous n'avez
aucun autre moyen. C'est une demande sans pression à laquelle les gens aiment répondre, et elle vous
donne le contenu de donateur qui est autrement si difficile à rassembler.

**Cela s'applique-t-il uniquement aux appels de collecte de fonds ?** Non. Comme le note Kat Carter,
les mêmes tactiques fonctionnent "pour les événements ou les événements pour anciens élèves ou le
mentorat ou tout ce pour quoi vous allez vers les gens et demandez leur attention". Tout e-mail qui
doit percer dans la boîte de réception bénéficie d'un expéditeur fort, d'un objet spécifique, d'une
histoire claire et d'un appel à l'action unique.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèles d'e-mails de collecte de fonds](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Planificateur de campagne e-mail](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Recueil d'objets d'e-mails](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Outils

- [Le simulateur de journée de générosité de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez votre texte d'appel et d'e-mail
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- Webinaires : [conseils pour créer des e-mails engageants](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) et [créer des plans de communication dynamiques qui produisent des résultats](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Guide associé : [Comment organiser une journée de générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire de liens](/europe/fr/links/) complet pour en savoir plus.

- [Come scrivere e-mail di raccolta fondi che funzionano](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica all'e-mail di raccolta fondi, il canale che genera la maggior parte delle donazioni online, che affronta la tua lista e i tuoi dati, la segmentazione, l'anatomia di un'ottima e-mail di appello, la sequenza della campagna, la recapitabilità, i test e la misurazione.
L'e-mail è il motore della raccolta fondi digitale. Non è il canale più affascinante e raramente
riceve l'attenzione che ottengono i social media, ma è quello che muove il denaro. In una
[giornata della generosità](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), la grande maggioranza delle
donazioni arriva in risposta a un'e-mail che atterra nella casella di posta di qualcuno al momento
giusto, con il messaggio giusto, da un mittente di cui si fida. Tutto il resto, i post sui social, il
muro dei donatori, il conto alla rovescia, serve a sostenere e amplificare ciò che fa l'e-mail.
Imposta bene la tua e-mail e avrai costruito la macchina che alimenta la tua campagna. Sbagliala e
nessun contenuto astuto altrove salverà i numeri.

Questa guida attinge all'esperienza di Hubbub nel condurre e sostenere centinaia di campagne digitali,
e in particolare a Kat Carter, consulente presso Hubbub, che trascorre gran parte del suo tempo a
scrivere e-mail per conto dei clienti, a dare un riscontro sulle loro bozze e a inviare campagne per
loro. Espone la sfida centrale in modo chiaro: le persone ricevono moltissime e-mail, "circa 100-120
ogni giorno", e la maggior parte di esse non aspetta di donare. "Le persone di solito non si svegliano
al mattino con la motivazione interiore di alzarsi e fare una donazione", dice. "L'obiettivo del
fundraiser è guidare i propri sostenitori lungo questo percorso, ispirandoli a fare quella donazione."
Questo è il compito di ogni e-mail di raccolta fondi che invii, e le sezioni seguenti illustrano come
farlo: dalla lista in cui atterra la tua e-mail, attraverso la segmentazione e l'arte dell'appello
stesso, fino alla sequenza, alla recapitabilità, al modulo di donazione e a come testi e misuri il
tutto.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare i nostri
> [modelli di e-mail di raccolta fondi](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/), il nostro
> [pianificatore di campagne e-mail](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) e la nostra
> [raccolta di oggetti per e-mail](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Perché l'e-mail è il motore della raccolta fondi digitale

Per scrivere una buona e-mail di raccolta fondi, aiuta capire cosa accade nella mente di un donatore
quando arriva. Ognuno inizia la propria giornata in quello che Kat Carter chiama lo status quo,
"semplicemente facendo le nostre cose, godendoci la giornata, svolgendo la nostra routine
quotidiana". La tua e-mail è l'interruttore, ciò che irrompe in quello status quo e chiede un momento
di attenzione. Da lì, il donatore deve essere accompagnato lungo un percorso emotivo: coinvolto dal
tempismo, dal mittente e dall'oggetto, commosso dalla storia e dalle parole, e infine portato al
modulo di donazione per dire di sì.

Il punto cruciale è che donare non è acquistare. "Nel donare il picco emotivo avviene prima che la
transazione abbia luogo", spiega Kat Carter. "Quindi nel donare spesso riceviamo il beneficio per
primo." Un donatore dona perché si sente fortunato, o grato, o commosso da una storia, e il dono è
l'espressione di quel sentimento. Il compito della tua e-mail è creare il picco emotivo, poi rendere
il più facile possibile agire di conseguenza. La conversione via e-mail è, nelle sue parole,
"composta da molte parti in movimento", motivo per cui conviene pensare a ognuna di esse piuttosto che
buttar giù del testo e sperare.

## La tua lista e i tuoi dati: le fondamenta

Nulla dell'arte che segue conta se la tua e-mail non arriva, o arriva a qualcuno che non la aprirà
mai. Una lista pulita, raggiungibile e ben autorizzata è la base di ogni raccolta fondi via e-mail,
ed è la parte che i team trascurano più spesso.

Comincia dalle basi. I tuoi indirizzi e-mail sono attuali e recapitabili? Possiedi il consenso a
contattare queste persone e puoi dimostrarlo? I rimbalzi e i reclami vengono ripuliti anziché essere
lasciati accumulare? Una lista piena di indirizzi morti e contatti disimpegnati non solo spreca
fatica, ma danneggia attivamente la tua capacità di raggiungere le persone che vogliono davvero avere
tue notizie, perché i provider di posta interpretano alti tassi di rimbalzo e basso coinvolgimento
come un segnale che non sei un mittente affidabile.

Poi osserva i dati allegati a ciascun contatto, perché la personalizzazione dipende da essi. Kat
Carter è schietta sul costo del non averli: "A volte vediamo e-mail che dicono tipo cari membri, cari
amici. Se non stai raccogliendo quei dati, inizia a raccoglierli e poi usali." I nomi, lo storico
delle donazioni, la data e l'importo dell'ultimo dono, la causa che qualcuno ha sostenuto l'ultima
volta: ciascuno è una leva che puoi azionare per far sembrare un'e-mail personale e pertinente, e non
puoi azionare una leva che non hai raccolto. Tratta i tuoi dati come una risorsa che costruisci
deliberatamente, a ogni donazione e a ogni interazione.

## La segmentazione

Una volta che la tua lista è pulita e ricca, la segmentazione è il modo per farla lavorare di più. Lo
stesso appello non dovrebbe andare a tutti con le stesse parole. Un potenziale donatore alla prima
donazione, un donatore regolare e fedele e un sostenitore inattivo si trovano in punti diversi della
loro relazione con te, e rispondono a cose diverse.

Due tipi di persone si trovano in ogni pubblico, e la distinzione conta. "All'inizio di una campagna
otterrai le persone ad alta affinità a cui basta chiedere", dice Kat Carter. "Ma poi avrai gli
scettici, e ci sono più scettici nel tuo pubblico di quanti siano quelli pronti a partire in termini
di frutti facili da cogliere, quindi devi tirare a bordo quegli scettici." Il tuo segmento caldo ha
bisogno di una richiesta chiara e poco altro. La tua maggioranza scettica ha bisogno di rassicurazione,
prova sociale e più di un contatto prima di muoversi.

La segmentazione ti permette anche di mettere a frutto i dati che già possiedi. Per i donatori
inattivi, Kat Carter descrive il mettere "il loro ultimo dono, con data e importo, nelle informazioni
in modo da poter provare a incoraggiarli a donare", una tattica che ha aumentato la conversione nei
test. Il principio è semplice: più l'e-mail sembra specifica e pertinente per chi la legge, più
attenzione vi presta. "Quando diventi più specifico, i donatori iniziano a prestare più attenzione",
dice. "Quindi ti incoraggerei a essere più specifico con tutti gli elementi delle tue e-mail."

## L'anatomia di un'ottima e-mail di raccolta fondi

Una solida e-mail di appello è costruita a partire da alcune parti, ognuna delle quali svolge un
compito distinto: l'oggetto e il mittente, l'apertura, la storia, la prova sociale e la chiamata
all'azione.

**L'oggetto e il mittente.** Questa è la busta, e decide se la tua e-mail viene aperta o meno. Il
mittente merita più riflessione di quanta ne riceva di solito. Può provenire dall'identità di marca
della tua organizzazione, ma può anche provenire da una persona, "un professore, potresti essere tu,
potrebbe essere un genitore, una persona significativa che dà peso all'e-mail che stai inviando". Un
mittente personale può trasformare i tassi di apertura: in un test citato da Kat Carter, passare dal
nome di un'organizzazione al nome di un individuo ha portato il tasso di apertura dal 12 per cento al
51 per cento, con sette volte più invii. L'oggetto deve poi guadagnarsi il clic. Poni una domanda, fai
un'affermazione, invita alla partecipazione o usa il nome del lettore, e sii specifico. C'è anche
un'utile sfumatura di linguaggio, che Kat Carter trae da una sessione di Adrian Sargeant: preferisci
"la tua gentilezza" a "il tuo dono", "perché è la gentilezza di qualcuno. Sì, stanno facendo un dono,
ma si tratta di gentilezza."

**L'apertura.** Ricompensa l'apertura immediatamente. Usa il nome del lettore dove ce l'hai, e arriva
in fretta a qualcosa che gli importa. È qui che conta la leggibilità: un tono personale, un design
pulito, un flusso sensato e un testo che si legge come se lo avesse scritto un umano per un umano.

**La storia.** Questo è il cuore dell'e-mail, la parte che porta il lettore da un lieve interesse alla
carica emotiva che lo spinge a donare. Kat Carter descrive due strutture che vale la pena prendere in
prestito. La prima è la storia di sé, la storia di noi, la storia dell'ora, sviluppata da Marshall
Ganz: una breve storia personale, collegata a un'esperienza condivisa, che termina con una chiara
chiamata all'azione. Le tre parti dipendono l'una dall'altra. "Se racconti un'ottima storia di sé e
una storia di noi, ma non includi una chiara chiamata all'azione come tua storia dell'ora, il tuo
pubblico si accenderà emotivamente, ma senza una chiara direzione per il prossimo passo, e la sua
energia si dissiperà." La seconda è il viaggio dell'eroe, la struttura di Joseph Campbell fatta di
separazione, discesa e ritorno. Qualunque tu usi, metti il donatore al centro. La lezione che Kat
Carter trae dall'arte narrativa di Barack Obama è la potenza del linguaggio del "tu": "cercare modi
per trasformare un noi o un io in un tu e rendere il donatore centrale in quel messaggio."

**La prova sociale.** Le persone donano quando vedono altri donare. Celebra lo slancio, dai un nome
alla comunità e lascia che i donatori si sentano a vicenda. "Le persone come noi fanno cose come
questa", dice Kat Carter, citando Seth Godin, "ed è così che puoi iniziare a creare quella cultura del
dono." Le citazioni di altri donatori e un muro dei donatori visibile svolgono entrambi questo lavoro.

**Una singola, chiara chiamata all'azione.** È qui che la maggior parte delle e-mail di appello
fallisce. Il compito dell'e-mail è ispirare e abilitare il dono, poi inviare il lettore direttamente
al modulo di donazione per completarlo. Un tenue "scopri di più" è un'occasione sprecata. "Non si
tratta di scoprire di più", insiste Kat Carter. "Si tratta di: fai il tuo dono. Devi ispirare e
abilitare quel donatore a fare quel dono in quell'e-mail, e poi mandarlo nel percorso per completare
quel dono." Una tenue chiamata all'azione lascia che le persone vadano alla deriva verso una pagina
dove "pensano, oh, non è qui che volevo essere, e poi se ne vanno". Una richiesta chiara, un pulsante
chiaro, una destinazione.

## Una sequenza di campagna, non un invio isolato

Una singola e-mail è raramente una campagna. Gli scettici, che sono la maggioranza, non donano quasi
mai al primo contatto, motivo per cui Hubbub costruisce sequenze invece di affidarsi a un singolo
invio. "Questo è uno dei motivi per cui suggeriamo, nelle giornate della generosità, di inviare e-mail
prima dell'evento, oltre a e-mail nel giorno stesso", dice Kat Carter, "perché serve a coinvolgere
quegli scettici."

In una giornata della generosità, quella sequenza è intensa per progettazione. Hubbub ha testato il
volume: "abbiamo, sì, abbiamo iniziato con molte. E con molte intendo 12. Quindi siamo scesi a otto-
dieci", distribuite lungo la campagna, "forse cinque il primo giorno, sei il secondo giorno". Al di
fuori di una giornata della generosità la cadenza è più dolce, ma il principio regge: una serie
pianificata che cresce, piuttosto che un singolo invio pieno di speranza. Stabilisci le aspettative
fin dall'inizio. Di' alle persone, nella tua e-mail di salva-la-data, che ti farai sentire più spesso
durante la campagna, e dai loro un modo pulito per disiscriversi specificamente da quella campagna.
"Non tutto è per tutti", dice, e l'occasionale disiscrizione di persone per cui la tua campagna non è
adatta è un segno sano, non un fallimento.

Scrivi l'intera sequenza prima dell'inizio della campagna, e dai a ogni e-mail un compito: costruire
l'attesa, lanciare, riferire lo slancio, creare urgenza, fare una spinta finale, ringraziare. Mentre
la campagna raggiunge il picco, cambia ciò che puoi tra un invio e l'altro per mantenere fresca
l'attenzione. "A ogni e-mail facciamo prestare attenzione a sempre più persone", dice Kat Carter,
"cambiamo gli oggetti, cambiamo da chi proviene, cambiamo il messaggio, e iniziamo a usare davvero
tutto il nostro arsenale per far prestare attenzione a quei donatori."

## Design e mobile

La maggior parte delle tue e-mail verrà letta su un telefono, e un'e-mail di raccolta fondi che sembra
rotta su mobile non convertirà, per quanto buone siano le parole. La reattività mobile è, nelle parole
di Kat Carter, "davvero importante in termini di conversioni". Mantieni il design pulito e il flusso
ovvio, con la chiamata all'azione facile da trovare e facile da toccare.

Se usare immagini è una questione da testare piuttosto che da dare per scontata. Hubbub l'ha visto in
entrambi i modi: in un caso un'e-mail con immagini ha ottenuto il tasso di clic più alto, in un altro
ha vinto l'e-mail semplice. In un test l'e-mail in solo testo ha ottenuto più aperture ma una
donazione media inferiore, quindi la scelta giusta può perfino dipendere da quali donatori stai
scrivendo. "Non è un approccio valido per tutti", dice, "e devi testare sul tuo pubblico."

## Recapitabilità: restare fuori dalla cartella spam

Un'e-mail che atterra nello spam tanto vale che non fosse stata inviata. La recapitabilità è in parte
tecnica e in parte comportamentale, e la parte comportamentale è quella che i fundraiser controllano.

Le fondamenta tecniche contano e vale la pena chiedere al tuo provider o al team IT di confermarle: i
record di autenticazione che dimostrano che sei chi dici di essere, un dominio di invio coerente e un
servizio e-mail affidabile. Il lato comportamentale è dove ripaga la tua disciplina della lista. I
provider di posta osservano come le persone rispondono a te. Un coinvolgimento sano, aperture, clic e
risposte, dice loro che sei desiderato. Rimbalzi definitivi, reclami per spam e lunghi periodi di
essere ignorato dicono loro il contrario. Quindi mantieni la lista pulita, rimuovi le persone che non
si impegnano mai e rendi facile la disiscrizione, inclusa una disiscrizione specifica per la campagna
nelle spinte intensive come una giornata della generosità. Un donatore che ti contrassegna in silenzio
come spam fa molti più danni alla tua recapitabilità di uno che semplicemente si disiscrive.

## Chiedere bene, e il dono fiscalmente vantaggioso

Una richiesta chiara è più persuasiva quando è concreta. Suggerire un importo specifico, e mostrare
cosa permette di realizzare, è meglio che lasciar indovinare il donatore. Molti paesi europei offrono
detrazioni o riduzioni fiscali sui doni di beneficenza, e i doni transfrontalieri possono essere fatti
in modo fiscalmente vantaggioso tramite Transnational Giving Europe, quindi dove ciò si applica vale
la pena rendere il vantaggio visibile nella richiesta stessa. Dove disponi di fondi di
contropartita, l'effetto si moltiplica. Kat Carter descrive un'e-mail di una giornata della
generosità che usava "un dono suggerito perché avevamo donazioni di contropartita. Quindi stiamo
parlando di raddoppiare il dono", per dimostrare davvero che stai chiedendo solo questo importo, e
speri che possano donare quell'importo. Dire a un donatore che il suo dono potrebbe qualificarsi per
una detrazione fiscale, e poi essere raddoppiato per giunta, trasforma una richiesta modesta in una
potente. Rendi chiaro qualsiasi vantaggio fiscale al momento del dono, e invia una ricevuta tempestiva
affinché i donatori abbiano ciò che serve loro per richiederlo.

## Attrito: non perderli al modulo

Puoi scrivere l'e-mail perfetta e perdere comunque il dono sulla pagina di donazione. Kat Carter nota
che "tipicamente l'83% delle persone sulla pagina di donazione generale raggiunge questo momento di
decisione e decide di non andare avanti". L'attrito è il nemico, e ne identifica quattro tipi tratti
dalla ricerca di NextAfter: attrito decisionale (troppe opzioni), attrito di confusione (forzare una
scelta che il donatore non è attrezzato a fare), attrito di campo (chiedere troppe informazioni) e
attrito di passaggio (troppi clic e caricamenti di pagina). "Niente è peggio di un modulo che dice
passaggio uno di sei." Se la tua e-mail fa il suo lavoro ma il tuo modulo ti delude, "quel modulo non
sta facendo il suo lavoro, e dovrebbe essere ristrutturato e/o sostituito." Non, avverte, "lasciare
che i tuoi donatori si entusiasmino e poi finiscano su un percorso sbagliato e non concludano quel
dono."

## Test e cosa misurare

La raccolta fondi via e-mail premia l'abitudine al test disciplinato, e le regole sono semplici. Testa
su un campione significativo rispetto al tuo pubblico. Cambia una cosa alla volta, "non cambiare il
nome del mittente e l'oggetto e la storia tutto insieme, perché non saprai quale ha causato il
miglioramento." E testa più di una volta prima di fidarti di un risultato, "tre, cinque, otto volte"
per qualcosa che intendi lanciare. Contano anche i risultati negativi: "sapere che qualcosa non
funziona è altrettanto utile quanto sapere che qualcosa funziona."

Quando si tratta di misurazione, osserva l'imbuto piuttosto che un singolo numero. I tassi di apertura
e i tassi di clic ti dicono se la tua busta e il tuo oggetto funzionano. I tassi di clic, misurati
rispetto a chi ha aperto piuttosto che all'intera lista, ti dicono se il tuo contenuto li trattiene.
Ma il numero che conta di più è la conversione. "Quello è davvero il tuo KPI più importante, il tasso
di conversione", dice Kat Carter, "perché se le persone aprono un'e-mail, ma non converte, beh, le hai
fatte fare una parte, ma cos'è successo con la storia, forse non era ciò che doveva essere." Osserva
anche le disiscrizioni, come segnale del fatto che la tua frequenza e pertinenza siano giuste. Per
misurare la conversione correttamente devi seguire il donatore oltre la casella di posta e fino alla
pagina di donazione, motivo per cui Hubbub incoraggia ogni cliente a marcare i propri link con
parametri UTM, così da poter vedere non solo quali e-mail sono state aperte ma quali hanno
effettivamente raccolto denaro.

Un'abitudine di misurazione è la più trascurata: continua a coltivare la relazione dopo il dono.
L'invio spesso si interrompe nel momento in cui qualcuno dona, il che non ha senso. "Perché, quando
qualcuno dona, smettiamo di parlargli del suo dono?", chiede Kat Carter. I donatori, sottolinea,
preferirebbero sentir parlare del bene che fa il loro dono piuttosto che ricevere l'ennesima e-mail di
vendita da qualcun altro. Dirglielo è sia una buona cura della relazione sia il terreno per il
prossimo dono.

## Come l'e-mail funziona insieme ai social media

L'e-mail e i social media non sono rivali, e la tentazione di trattare l'uno come sostituto dell'altro
è un errore. I social media costruiscono presenza, portata e familiarità. L'e-mail chiede e converte.
I due sono più potenti insieme, e si rafforzano a vicenda in un modo che vale la pena progettare
deliberatamente.

Kat Carter chiarisce il punto attraverso l'esempio di un mittente personale. Il motivo per cui
un'e-mail da un individuo con nome e cognome funziona così bene è spesso che il destinatario conosce
già quella persona da altrove: "hanno una presenza sui social media e li seguo anche lì. Quindi per me
stanno quasi diventando come amici ora." Una figura di alto livello che è visibile sui canali social
arriva nella casella di posta come una voce familiare anziché un estraneo. Quindi usa i social media
per costruire il profilo delle tue cause, delle tue campagne e dei tuoi mittenti, poi lascia che sia
l'e-mail a fare la richiesta a un pubblico che è stato riscaldato. In una giornata della generosità,
il feed social celebra i traguardi pubblicamente mentre l'e-mail guida le singole decisioni di donare.
Pianificali come un unico sforzo di comunicazione, non due.

## Domande frequenti

**Quante e-mail dovremmo inviare durante una giornata della generosità?** Hubbub ha testato questo a
fondo e si è stabilizzato su circa otto-dieci nell'arco di una giornata di 36 ore, per esempio cinque
il primo giorno e sei il secondo, inclusa una spinta nell'ultima ora prima del ringraziamento. La
chiave è stabilire l'aspettativa in anticipo e offrire una disiscrizione specifica per la campagna,
così che le persone che non vogliono l'intensità possano ritirarsi in modo pulito.

**Qual è il momento migliore della giornata per inviare?** Hubbub invia generalmente alle 11 del
mattino o alle 14 del pomeriggio, in corrispondenza delle pause naturali della giornata, una tazza di
tè, il rientro dal pranzo. Per un pubblico internazionale, adattati alle loro 11 e 14 locali. Meglio
ancora, lascia che i dati della tua piattaforma e-mail ti dicano quando i tuoi destinatari specifici
tendono ad aprire, e affina da lì.

**L'e-mail dovrebbe provenire da una persona o dall'organizzazione?** Entrambi funzionano, e dipende
dal messaggio. Un mittente personale può aumentare drasticamente le aperture, ma l'effetto svanisce se
abusi dello stesso nome, quindi impiegalo strategicamente. Funziona meglio quando il mittente ha già
una presenza che il tuo pubblico riconosce, ed è qui che il tuo profilo sui social media si guadagna
il suo valore.

**Qual è il singolo numero più importante da misurare?** Il tasso di conversione. Le aperture e i clic
ti dicono se la busta e il contenuto funzionano, ma la conversione ti dice se l'e-mail ha
effettivamente raccolto denaro. Usa link marcati con UTM così da poter tracciare il dono lungo tutto
il percorso, dalla casella di posta al modulo di donazione, perché molte piattaforme e-mail smettono
di riferire al clic.

**Qual è la chiamata all'azione giusta per un'e-mail di cura della relazione anziché una richiesta?**
Invita il donatore a condividere la sua storia o il suo motivo per donare, rispondendo all'e-mail se
non hai altra possibilità. È una richiesta senza pressioni a cui le persone amano rispondere, e ti
fornisce i contenuti dei donatori che altrimenti sono così difficili da raccogliere.

**Questo vale solo per gli appelli di raccolta fondi?** No. Come nota Kat Carter, le stesse tattiche
funzionano "per eventi o eventi per ex studenti o tutoraggio o qualsiasi cosa per cui ti rivolgi alle
persone chiedendo la loro attenzione." Qualsiasi e-mail che deve irrompere nella casella di posta
beneficia di un mittente forte, di un oggetto specifico, di una storia chiara e di una singola
chiamata all'azione.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modelli di e-mail di raccolta fondi](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Pianificatore di campagne e-mail](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Raccolta di oggetti per e-mail](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Strumenti

- [Il simulatore di giornata della generosità di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi di raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina il testo dei tuoi appelli e delle tue e-mail
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- Webinar: [consigli per creare e-mail coinvolgenti](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) e [creare piani di comunicazione dinamici che producono risultati](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Guida correlata: [Come organizzare una giornata della generosità](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory dei link](/europe/it/links/) completa per saperne di più.

- [How to write fundraising emails that work](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/) (uk/en): A practical guide to fundraising email, the channel that drives the majority of online donations, covering your list and data, segmentation, the anatomy of a great appeal email, the campaign sequence, deliverability, testing and measurement.
Email is the engine of digital fundraising. It is not the most glamorous channel, and it rarely
gets the attention that social media does, but it is the one that moves money. On a
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), the large majority of donations arrive in
response to an email landing in someone's inbox at the right moment, with the right message,
from a sender they trust. Everything else, the social posts, the donor wall, the countdown,
works to support and amplify what email does. Get your email right and you have built the
machine that drives your campaign. Get it wrong and no amount of clever content elsewhere will
rescue the numbers.

This guide draws on Hubbub's experience of running and supporting hundreds of digital campaigns,
and in particular on Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, who spends much of her time writing
emails on behalf of customers, giving feedback on their drafts and sending campaigns for them.
She sets out the central challenge plainly: people receive a great deal of email, "about 100 to
120 every day", and most of them are not waiting to give. "People aren't usually waking up in
the morning with the internal motivation to get up and make a donation," she says. "The goal as
a fundraiser is to guide your supporters along this journey inspiring them to make that
donation." That is the job of every fundraising email you send, and the sections below work
through how to do it: from the list your email lands in, through segmentation and the craft of
the appeal itself, to the sequence, deliverability, the donation form, and how you test and
measure the whole thing.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/),
> [email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) and
> [subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Why email is the engine of digital fundraising

To write a good fundraising email, it helps to understand what is happening in a donor's mind
when it arrives. Everyone begins their day at what Kat Carter calls the status quo, "just going
about our business, enjoying our day, doing our day today". Your email is the interrupter, the
thing that breaks through that status quo and asks for a moment of attention. From there, the
donor has to be carried up an emotional journey: engaged by the timing, the sender and the
subject line, moved by the story and the words, and finally taken to the donation form to say
yes.

The crucial point is that giving is not buying. "In giving the emotional high point happens
before the transaction takes place," Kat Carter explains. "So in giving we often receive the
benefit first." A donor gives because they feel fortunate, or grateful, or moved by a story, and
the gift is the expression of that feeling. Your email's job is to create the emotional high
point, then make it as easy as possible to act on. Email conversion is, in her words, "made up
of many moving parts", which is why it pays to think about every one of them rather than dash off
some copy and hope.

## Your list and your data: the foundation

None of the craft that follows matters if your email does not arrive, or arrives at someone who
will never open it. A clean, contactable, well-permissioned list is the foundation of all email
fundraising, and it is the part teams most often neglect.

Start with the basics. Are your email addresses current and deliverable? Do you hold consent to
contact these people, and can you evidence it? Are bounces and complaints being cleared out
rather than allowed to accumulate? A list full of dead addresses and disengaged contacts does
not just waste effort, it actively harms your ability to reach the people who do want to hear
from you, because mailbox providers read high bounce and low engagement rates as a signal that
you are not a sender to be trusted.

Then look at the data attached to each contact, because personalisation depends on it. Kat
Carter is blunt about the cost of not having it: "Sometimes we see some emails where it says like
dear members dear friends. If you're not collecting that data start collecting that data and then
use that data." First names, giving history, the date and amount of a last gift, the cause
someone supported last time: each is a lever you can pull to make an email feel personal and
relevant, and you cannot pull a lever you have not collected. Treat your data as an asset you
build deliberately, at the point of every donation and every interaction.

## Segmentation

Once your list is clean and rich, segmentation is how you make it work harder. The same appeal
should not go to everyone in the same words. A first-time prospect, a loyal regular donor and a
lapsed supporter sit at different points in their relationship with you, and they respond to
different things.

Two kinds of people sit in any audience, and the split matters. "In the beginning of a campaign
you will get the people who have high affinity who all you have to do is ask," Kat Carter says.
"But then you'll get skeptics, and there are more skeptics in your audience than there are those
who are ready to go in terms of that low hanging fruit, so you got to get those skeptics on
board." Your warm segment needs a clear ask and little else. Your sceptical majority needs
reassurance, social proof and more than one touch before they move.

Segmentation also lets you put the data you already hold to work. For lapsed donors, Kat Carter
describes putting "their last gift and date and amount into the information so that you can try
and encourage them to give", a tactic that lifted conversion in testing. The principle is simple:
the more specific and relevant the email feels to the person reading it, the more attention they
pay. "When you get more specific, donors start paying more attention," she says. "So I would
encourage you to be more specific with all elements of your emails."

## The anatomy of a great fundraising email

A strong appeal email is built from a few parts, each doing a distinct job: the subject line and
sender, the opening, the story, social proof and the call to action.

**The subject line and the sender.** This is the envelope, and it decides whether your email is
opened at all. The sender deserves more thought than it usually gets. It can come from your
organisation's brand identity, but it can also come from a person, "a professor, it could be you,
it could be a parent, a significant person that is giving weight to the email that you're
sending". A personal sender can transform open rates: in one test Kat Carter cites, moving from
an organisation name to an individual's name took the open rate from 12 per cent to 51 per cent,
with seven times more submissions. The subject line then has to earn the click. Ask a question,
make a statement, invite participation or use the reader's name, and be specific. There is also a
useful nuance of language, which Kat Carter draws from a session by Adrian Sargeant: prefer "your
kindness" to "your gift", "because it is someone's kindness. Yes, they are making a gift, but
it's about kindness."

**The opening.** Reward the open immediately. Use the reader's first name where you have it, and
get to something that matters to them quickly. This is where readability counts: a personal tone,
a clean design, a sensible flow, and copy that reads like a human wrote it to a human.

**The story.** This is the heart of the email, the part that carries the reader from mild
interest to the emotional charge that makes them give. Kat Carter describes two structures worth
borrowing. The first is the story of self, story of us, story of now, developed by Marshall Ganz:
a short personal story, related to a shared experience, ending in a clear call to action. The
three parts depend on each other. "If you tell a great story of self and story of us, but you
don't include a clear call to action as your story of now, your audience will get all emotionally
fired up, but without a clear direction of their next step and their energy will dissipate." The
second is the hero's journey, Joseph Campbell's structure of separation, descent and return.
Whichever you use, make the donor central. The lesson Kat Carter draws from Barack Obama's
storytelling is the power of "you" language: "looking for ways that how can I turn a we or an I
into you and making the donor central to that message."

**Social proof.** People give when they see others giving. Celebrate momentum, name the community
and let donors hear from each other. "People like us do things like this," Kat Carter says,
quoting Seth Godin, "and this is how you can start to create that culture of giving." Quotes from
other donors and a visible donor wall both do this work.

**A single, clear call to action.** This is where most appeal emails fail. The job of the email
is to inspire and enable the gift, then send the reader straight to the donation form to complete
it. A soft "find out more" is a wasted opportunity. "This isn't about finding out more," Kat
Carter insists. "This is about, make your gift. You need to inspire and enable that donor to make
that gift in that email, and then send them on the journey to complete that gift." A soft call to
action lets people drift to a page where "they're like, Oh, this isn't where I wanted to be and
then they leave". One clear ask, one clear button, one destination.

## A campaign sequence, not a one-off send

A single email is rarely a campaign. The skeptics, who are the majority, almost never give on the
first touch, which is why Hubbub builds sequences rather than relying on a single send. "This is
one of the reasons why we suggest in giving days that you send emails before the event, as well
as emails on the day," Kat Carter says, "because it's getting those skeptics involved."

On a Giving Day, that sequence is intense by design. Hubbub has tested the volume: "we've, yeah,
we've tested started with a lot. And by a lot I mean 12. So we've gone down to eight to 10",
spread across the campaign, "maybe five on day one, six on day two". Outside a Giving Day the
cadence is gentler, but the principle holds: a planned series that builds, rather than a single
hopeful blast. Set expectations up front. Tell people in your save-the-date email that you will
be in touch more often during the campaign, and give them a clean way to opt out of that campaign
specifically. "Everything is not for everybody," she says, and the occasional unsubscribe from
people for whom your campaign is not a fit is a healthy sign, not a failure.

Write the whole sequence before the campaign begins, and give each email a job: build
anticipation, launch, report momentum, create urgency, make a final push, thank. As the campaign
peaks, change what you can between sends to keep attention fresh. "Every email we're causing more
and more people to pay attention," Kat Carter says, "we're changing subject lines we're changing
who it's from we're changing the message, and we're starting to really use everything in our
arsenal to get those donors to pay attention."

## Design and mobile

Most of your emails will be read on a phone, and a fundraising email that looks broken on mobile
will not convert, however good the words. Mobile responsiveness is, in Kat Carter's words, "really
important in terms of conversions". Keep the design clean and the flow obvious, with the call to
action easy to find and easy to tap.

Whether to use images is a question to test rather than assume. Hubbub has seen it both ways: in
one case an email with imagery drew the bigger click-through rate, in another the plain email won.
In one test the plain-text email drew more opens but a lower average gift, so the right choice may
even depend on which donors you are writing to. "It's not a one size fits all approach," she says,
"and you have to test on your own audience."

## Deliverability: staying out of the spam folder

An email that lands in spam might as well not have been sent. Deliverability is partly technical
and partly behavioural, and the behavioural part is the one fundraisers control.

The technical foundations matter and are worth asking your provider or IT team to confirm: the
authentication records that prove you are who you say you are, a consistent sending domain, and a
reputable email service. The behavioural side is where your list discipline pays off. Mailbox
providers watch how people respond to you. Healthy engagement, opens, clicks and replies, tells
them you are wanted. Hard bounces, spam complaints and long stretches of being ignored tell them
the opposite. So keep your list clean, remove people who never engage, and make unsubscribing
easy, including a campaign-specific unsubscribe for intensive pushes like a Giving Day. A donor
who quietly marks you as spam does far more damage to your deliverability than one who simply opts
out.

## Asking well, and the Gift Aid prompt

A clear ask is more persuasive when it is concrete. Suggesting a specific amount, and showing what
it achieves, beats leaving the donor to guess. For UK charities, Gift Aid is part of that maths
and worth making visible in the ask itself. Where you have match funding, the effect compounds.
Kat Carter describes one Giving Day email that used "a suggested gift because we had match giving.
So we're talking about doubling the gift, how much it's worth with gift aid to really demonstrate,
we're only asking for this amount, and we hope that you can give that amount." Telling a UK donor
that their gift can be increased by Gift Aid at no cost to them, and then matched on top, turns a
modest ask into a powerful one. Prompt for the Gift Aid declaration clearly at the point of
giving, and remember that every reclaimed pound is income you have already raised but not yet
collected.

## Friction: do not lose them at the form

You can write the perfect email and still lose the gift on the donation page. Kat Carter notes
that "typically 83% of the people on the general donation page reach this moment of decision and
decide not to move forward". Friction is the enemy, and she identifies four kinds drawn from
NextAfter's research: decision friction (too many options), confusion friction (forcing a choice
the donor is not equipped to make), field friction (asking for too much information) and step
friction (too many clicks and page loads). "Nothing is worse than a form that says step one of
six." If your email does its job but your form lets you down, "that form isn't doing its job, and
it should be renovated and or replaced". Do not, she warns, "let your donors get excited and then
get on a bad journey and not end up making that gift".

## Testing and what to measure

Email fundraising rewards a habit of disciplined testing, and the rules are straightforward. Test
on a meaningful sample relative to your audience. Change one thing at a time, "don't change the
from name and the subject line and the story all in one go, because you won't know which one
caused the uplift". And test more than once before you trust a result, "three, five, eight times"
for something you intend to roll out. Negative results count too: "knowing that something doesn't
work is just as good as knowing that something does work".

When it comes to measurement, watch the funnel rather than a single number. Open rates and click
rates tell you whether your envelope and subject line are working. Click-through rates, measured
against those who opened rather than the whole list, tell you whether your content holds them. But
the number that matters most is conversion. "That really is your most important KPI is conversion
rate," Kat Carter says, "because if people are opening an email, but it's not converting, well you
got them to do one part, but what happened with the story, maybe that wasn't what it needed to
be." Watch unsubscribes too, as a signal of whether your frequency and relevance are right. To
measure conversion properly you need to follow the donor past the inbox and onto the donation
page, which is why Hubbub encourages every customer to tag their links with UTM parameters, so you
can see not just which emails were opened but which ones actually raised money.

One measurement habit is the most neglected: keep stewarding after the gift. Sending often falls
off a cliff the moment someone donates, which makes no sense. "Why is it that when somebody gives
we stopped telling them about their gift?" Kat Carter asks. Donors, she points out, would rather
hear about the good their gift is doing than receive yet another sales email from someone else.
Telling them is both good stewardship and the groundwork for the next gift.

## How email works alongside social media

Email and social media are not rivals, and the temptation to treat one as a replacement for the
other is a mistake. Social media builds presence, reach and familiarity. Email asks and converts.
The two are most powerful together, and they reinforce each other in a way worth designing for
deliberately.

Kat Carter makes the point through the example of a personal sender. The reason an email from a
named individual works so well is often that the recipient already knows that person from
elsewhere: "they have a presence on social media and I also follow them there. So to me they're
almost now becoming like friends." A senior figure who is visible on social channels arrives in
the inbox as a familiar voice rather than a stranger. So use social media to build the profile of
your causes, your campaigns and your senders, then let email do the asking to an audience that has
been warmed up. On a Giving Day, the social feed celebrates milestones publicly while email drives
the individual decisions to give. Plan them as one communications effort, not two.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many emails should we send during a Giving Day?** Hubbub has tested this extensively and
settled on roughly eight to ten across a 36-hour day, for example five on day one and six on day
two, including a final-hour push before the thank-you. The key is to set the expectation in
advance and offer a campaign-specific unsubscribe, so people who do not want the intensity can opt
out cleanly.

**What is the best time of day to send?** Hubbub generally sends at 11 in the morning or 2 in the
afternoon, timed to natural breaks in the day, a cup of tea, the return from lunch. For an
international audience, adjust to their local 11 and 2. Better still, let your email platform's
data tell you when your specific recipients tend to open, and refine from there.

**Should the email come from a person or from the organisation?** Both work, and it depends on the
message. A personal sender can dramatically lift opens, but the effect fades if you overuse the
same name, so deploy it strategically. It works best when the sender already has a presence your
audience recognises, which is where your social media profile earns its keep.

**What is the single most important number to measure?** Conversion rate. Opens and clicks tell
you whether the envelope and content are working, but conversion tells you whether the email
actually raised money. Use UTM-tagged links so you can track the gift all the way from the inbox
to the donation form, because many email platforms stop reporting at the click.

**What is the right call to action for a stewardship email rather than an ask?** Invite the donor
to share their story or their reason for giving, by replying to the email if you have no other
facility. It is a low-pressure ask that people enjoy answering, and it gives you the donor content
that is otherwise so hard to gather.

**Does this only apply to fundraising appeals?** No. As Kat Carter notes, the same tactics work
"for events or alumni events or mentoring or anything that you are going out to people and asking
for their attention". Any email that needs to break through the inbox benefits from a strong
sender, a specific subject line, a clear story and a single call to action.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [tips for creating engaging emails](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) and [creating dynamic communications plans that drive results](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to write fundraising emails that work](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/) (us/en): A practical guide to fundraising email, the channel that drives the majority of online donations, covering your list and data, segmentation, the anatomy of a great appeal email, the campaign sequence, deliverability, testing and measurement.
Email is the engine of digital fundraising. It is not the most glamorous channel, and it rarely
gets the attention that social media does, but it is the one that moves money. On a
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), the large majority of donations arrive in
response to an email landing in someone's inbox at the right moment, with the right message,
from a sender they trust. Everything else, the social posts, the donor wall, the countdown,
works to support and amplify what email does. Get your email right and you have built the
machine that drives your campaign. Get it wrong and no amount of clever content elsewhere will
rescue the numbers.

This guide draws on Hubbub's experience of running and supporting hundreds of digital campaigns,
and in particular on Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, who spends much of her time writing
emails on behalf of customers, giving feedback on their drafts and sending campaigns for them.
She sets out the central challenge plainly: people receive a great deal of email, "about 100 to
120 every day", and most of them are not waiting to give. "People aren't usually waking up in
the morning with the internal motivation to get up and make a donation," she says. "The goal as
a fundraiser is to guide your supporters along this journey inspiring them to make that
donation." That is the job of every fundraising email you send, and the sections below work
through how to do it: from the list your email lands in, through segmentation and the craft of
the appeal itself, to the sequence, deliverability, the donation form, and how you test and
measure the whole thing.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/),
> [email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) and
> [subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Why email is the engine of digital fundraising

To write a good fundraising email, it helps to understand what is happening in a donor's mind
when it arrives. Everyone begins their day at what Kat Carter calls the status quo, "just going
about our business, enjoying our day, doing our day today". Your email is the interrupter, the
thing that breaks through that status quo and asks for a moment of attention. From there, the
donor has to be carried up an emotional journey: engaged by the timing, the sender and the
subject line, moved by the story and the words, and finally taken to the donation form to say
yes.

The crucial point is that giving is not buying. "In giving the emotional high point happens
before the transaction takes place," Kat Carter explains. "So in giving we often receive the
benefit first." A donor gives because they feel fortunate, or grateful, or moved by a story, and
the gift is the expression of that feeling. Your email's job is to create the emotional high
point, then make it as easy as possible to act on. Email conversion is, in her words, "made up
of many moving parts", which is why it pays to think about every one of them rather than dash off
some copy and hope.

## Your list and your data: the foundation

None of the craft that follows matters if your email does not arrive, or arrives at someone who
will never open it. A clean, contactable, well-permissioned list is the foundation of all email
fundraising, and it is the part teams most often neglect.

Start with the basics. Are your email addresses current and deliverable? Do you hold consent to
contact these people, and can you evidence it? Are bounces and complaints being cleared out
rather than allowed to accumulate? A list full of dead addresses and disengaged contacts does
not just waste effort, it actively harms your ability to reach the people who do want to hear
from you, because mailbox providers read high bounce and low engagement rates as a signal that
you are not a sender to be trusted.

Then look at the data attached to each contact, because personalization depends on it. Kat
Carter is blunt about the cost of not having it: "Sometimes we see some emails where it says like
dear members dear friends. If you're not collecting that data start collecting that data and then
use that data." First names, giving history, the date and amount of a last gift, the cause
someone supported last time: each is a lever you can pull to make an email feel personal and
relevant, and you cannot pull a lever you have not collected. Treat your data as an asset you
build deliberately, at the point of every donation and every interaction.

## Segmentation

Once your list is clean and rich, segmentation is how you make it work harder. The same appeal
should not go to everyone in the same words. A first-time prospect, a loyal regular donor and a
lapsed supporter sit at different points in their relationship with you, and they respond to
different things.

Two kinds of people sit in any audience, and the split matters. "In the beginning of a campaign
you will get the people who have high affinity who all you have to do is ask," Kat Carter says.
"But then you'll get skeptics, and there are more skeptics in your audience than there are those
who are ready to go in terms of that low hanging fruit, so you got to get those skeptics on
board." Your warm segment needs a clear ask and little else. Your skeptical majority needs
reassurance, social proof and more than one touch before they move.

Segmentation also lets you put the data you already hold to work. For lapsed donors, Kat Carter
describes putting "their last gift and date and amount into the information so that you can try
and encourage them to give", a tactic that lifted conversion in testing. The principle is simple:
the more specific and relevant the email feels to the person reading it, the more attention they
pay. "When you get more specific, donors start paying more attention," she says. "So I would
encourage you to be more specific with all elements of your emails."

## The anatomy of a great fundraising email

A strong appeal email is built from a few parts, each doing a distinct job: the subject line and
sender, the opening, the story, social proof and the call to action.

**The subject line and the sender.** This is the envelope, and it decides whether your email is
opened at all. The sender deserves more thought than it usually gets. It can come from your
organization's brand identity, but it can also come from a person, "a professor, it could be you,
it could be a parent, a significant person that is giving weight to the email that you're
sending". A personal sender can transform open rates: in one test Kat Carter cites, moving from
an organization name to an individual's name took the open rate from 12 percent to 51 percent,
with seven times more submissions. The subject line then has to earn the click. Ask a question,
make a statement, invite participation or use the reader's name, and be specific. There is also a
useful nuance of language, which Kat Carter draws from a session by Adrian Sargeant: prefer "your
kindness" to "your gift", "because it is someone's kindness. Yes, they are making a gift, but
it's about kindness."

**The opening.** Reward the open immediately. Use the reader's first name where you have it, and
get to something that matters to them quickly. This is where readability counts: a personal tone,
a clean design, a sensible flow, and copy that reads like a human wrote it to a human.

**The story.** This is the heart of the email, the part that carries the reader from mild
interest to the emotional charge that makes them give. Kat Carter describes two structures worth
borrowing. The first is the story of self, story of us, story of now, developed by Marshall Ganz:
a short personal story, related to a shared experience, ending in a clear call to action. The
three parts depend on each other. "If you tell a great story of self and story of us, but you
don't include a clear call to action as your story of now, your audience will get all emotionally
fired up, but without a clear direction of their next step and their energy will dissipate." The
second is the hero's journey, Joseph Campbell's structure of separation, descent and return.
Whichever you use, make the donor central. The lesson Kat Carter draws from Barack Obama's
storytelling is the power of "you" language: "looking for ways that how can I turn a we or an I
into you and making the donor central to that message."

**Social proof.** People give when they see others giving. Celebrate momentum, name the community
and let donors hear from each other. "People like us do things like this," Kat Carter says,
quoting Seth Godin, "and this is how you can start to create that culture of giving." Quotes from
other donors and a visible donor wall both do this work.

**A single, clear call to action.** This is where most appeal emails fail. The job of the email
is to inspire and enable the gift, then send the reader straight to the donation form to complete
it. A soft "find out more" is a wasted opportunity. "This isn't about finding out more," Kat
Carter insists. "This is about, make your gift. You need to inspire and enable that donor to make
that gift in that email, and then send them on the journey to complete that gift." A soft call to
action lets people drift to a page where "they're like, Oh, this isn't where I wanted to be and
then they leave". One clear ask, one clear button, one destination.

## A campaign sequence, not a one-off send

A single email is rarely a campaign. The skeptics, who are the majority, almost never give on the
first touch, which is why Hubbub builds sequences rather than relying on a single send. "This is
one of the reasons why we suggest in giving days that you send emails before the event, as well
as emails on the day," Kat Carter says, "because it's getting those skeptics involved."

On a Giving Day, that sequence is intense by design. Hubbub has tested the volume: "we've, yeah,
we've tested started with a lot. And by a lot I mean 12. So we've gone down to eight to 10",
spread across the campaign, "maybe five on day one, six on day two". Outside a Giving Day the
cadence is gentler, but the principle holds: a planned series that builds, rather than a single
hopeful blast. Set expectations up front. Tell people in your save-the-date email that you will
be in touch more often during the campaign, and give them a clean way to opt out of that campaign
specifically. "Everything is not for everybody," she says, and the occasional unsubscribe from
people for whom your campaign is not a fit is a healthy sign, not a failure.

Write the whole sequence before the campaign begins, and give each email a job: build
anticipation, launch, report momentum, create urgency, make a final push, thank. As the campaign
peaks, change what you can between sends to keep attention fresh. "Every email we're causing more
and more people to pay attention," Kat Carter says, "we're changing subject lines we're changing
who it's from we're changing the message, and we're starting to really use everything in our
arsenal to get those donors to pay attention."

## Design and mobile

Most of your emails will be read on a phone, and a fundraising email that looks broken on mobile
will not convert, however good the words. Mobile responsiveness is, in Kat Carter's words, "really
important in terms of conversions". Keep the design clean and the flow obvious, with the call to
action easy to find and easy to tap.

Whether to use images is a question to test rather than assume. Hubbub has seen it both ways: in
one case an email with imagery drew the bigger click-through rate, in another the plain email won.
In one test the plain-text email drew more opens but a lower average gift, so the right choice may
even depend on which donors you are writing to. "It's not a one size fits all approach," she says,
"and you have to test on your own audience."

## Deliverability: staying out of the spam folder

An email that lands in spam might as well not have been sent. Deliverability is partly technical
and partly behavioral, and the behavioral part is the one fundraisers control.

The technical foundations matter and are worth asking your provider or IT team to confirm: the
authentication records that prove you are who you say you are, a consistent sending domain, and a
reputable email service. The behavioral side is where your list discipline pays off. Mailbox
providers watch how people respond to you. Healthy engagement, opens, clicks and replies, tells
them you are wanted. Hard bounces, spam complaints and long stretches of being ignored tell them
the opposite. So keep your list clean, remove people who never engage, and make unsubscribing
easy, including a campaign-specific unsubscribe for intensive pushes like a Giving Day. A donor
who quietly marks you as spam does far more damage to your deliverability than one who simply opts
out.

## Asking well, and tax-deductible giving

A clear ask is more persuasive when it is concrete. Suggesting a specific amount, and showing what
it achieves, beats leaving the donor to guess. For US donors, gifts to 501(c)(3) organizations are
tax-deductible, and it is worth making that visible in the ask itself. Where you have match
funding, the effect compounds. Kat Carter describes one Giving Day email that used "a suggested
gift because we had match giving. So we're talking about doubling the gift", to really demonstrate
that you are only asking for this amount, and you hope that they can give that amount. Telling a donor that
their gift is tax-deductible, and then matched on top, turns a modest ask into a powerful one. Make
the tax-deductible status clear at the point of giving, and send a prompt gift receipt so donors
have what they need at tax time.

## Friction: do not lose them at the form

You can write the perfect email and still lose the gift on the donation page. Kat Carter notes
that "typically 83% of the people on the general donation page reach this moment of decision and
decide not to move forward". Friction is the enemy, and she identifies four kinds drawn from
NextAfter's research: decision friction (too many options), confusion friction (forcing a choice
the donor is not equipped to make), field friction (asking for too much information) and step
friction (too many clicks and page loads). "Nothing is worse than a form that says step one of
six." If your email does its job but your form lets you down, "that form isn't doing its job, and
it should be renovated and or replaced". Do not, she warns, "let your donors get excited and then
get on a bad journey and not end up making that gift".

## Testing and what to measure

Email fundraising rewards a habit of disciplined testing, and the rules are straightforward. Test
on a meaningful sample relative to your audience. Change one thing at a time, "don't change the
from name and the subject line and the story all in one go, because you won't know which one
caused the uplift". And test more than once before you trust a result, "three, five, eight times"
for something you intend to roll out. Negative results count too: "knowing that something doesn't
work is just as good as knowing that something does work".

When it comes to measurement, watch the funnel rather than a single number. Open rates and click
rates tell you whether your envelope and subject line are working. Click-through rates, measured
against those who opened rather than the whole list, tell you whether your content holds them. But
the number that matters most is conversion. "That really is your most important KPI is conversion
rate," Kat Carter says, "because if people are opening an email, but it's not converting, well you
got them to do one part, but what happened with the story, maybe that wasn't what it needed to
be." Watch unsubscribes too, as a signal of whether your frequency and relevance are right. To
measure conversion properly you need to follow the donor past the inbox and onto the donation
page, which is why Hubbub encourages every customer to tag their links with UTM parameters, so you
can see not just which emails were opened but which ones actually raised money.

One measurement habit is the most neglected: keep stewarding after the gift. Sending often falls
off a cliff the moment someone donates, which makes no sense. "Why is it that when somebody gives
we stopped telling them about their gift?" Kat Carter asks. Donors, she points out, would rather
hear about the good their gift is doing than receive yet another sales email from someone else.
Telling them is both good stewardship and the groundwork for the next gift.

## How email works alongside social media

Email and social media are not rivals, and the temptation to treat one as a replacement for the
other is a mistake. Social media builds presence, reach and familiarity. Email asks and converts.
The two are most powerful together, and they reinforce each other in a way worth designing for
deliberately.

Kat Carter makes the point through the example of a personal sender. The reason an email from a
named individual works so well is often that the recipient already knows that person from
elsewhere: "they have a presence on social media and I also follow them there. So to me they're
almost now becoming like friends." A senior figure who is visible on social channels arrives in
the inbox as a familiar voice rather than a stranger. So use social media to build the profile of
your causes, your campaigns and your senders, then let email do the asking to an audience that has
been warmed up. On a Giving Day, the social feed celebrates milestones publicly while email drives
the individual decisions to give. Plan them as one communications effort, not two.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many emails should we send during a Giving Day?** Hubbub has tested this extensively and
settled on roughly eight to ten across a 36-hour day, for example five on day one and six on day
two, including a final-hour push before the thank-you. The key is to set the expectation in
advance and offer a campaign-specific unsubscribe, so people who do not want the intensity can opt
out cleanly.

**What is the best time of day to send?** Hubbub generally sends at 11 in the morning or 2 in the
afternoon, timed to natural breaks in the day, a coffee break, the return from lunch. For an
international audience, adjust to their local 11 and 2. Better still, let your email platform's
data tell you when your specific recipients tend to open, and refine from there.

**Should the email come from a person or from the organization?** Both work, and it depends on the
message. A personal sender can dramatically lift opens, but the effect fades if you overuse the
same name, so deploy it strategically. It works best when the sender already has a presence your
audience recognizes, which is where your social media profile earns its keep.

**What is the single most important number to measure?** Conversion rate. Opens and clicks tell
you whether the envelope and content are working, but conversion tells you whether the email
actually raised money. Use UTM-tagged links so you can track the gift all the way from the inbox
to the donation form, because many email platforms stop reporting at the click.

**What is the right call to action for a stewardship email rather than an ask?** Invite the donor
to share their story or their reason for giving, by replying to the email if you have no other
facility. It is a low-pressure ask that people enjoy answering, and it gives you the donor content
that is otherwise so hard to gather.

**Does this only apply to fundraising appeals?** No. As Kat Carter notes, the same tactics work
"for events or alumni events or mentoring or anything that you are going out to people and asking
for their attention". Any email that needs to break through the inbox benefits from a strong
sender, a specific subject line, a clear story and a single call to action.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [tips for creating engaging emails](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) and [creating dynamic communications plans that drive results](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to write fundraising emails that work](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/) (world/en): A practical guide to fundraising email, the channel that drives the majority of online donations, covering your list and data, segmentation, the anatomy of a great appeal email, the campaign sequence, deliverability, testing and measurement.
Email is the engine of digital fundraising. It is not the most glamorous channel, and it rarely
gets the attention that social media does, but it is the one that moves money. On a
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), the large majority of donations arrive in
response to an email landing in someone's inbox at the right moment, with the right message,
from a sender they trust. Everything else, the social posts, the donor wall, the countdown,
works to support and amplify what email does. Get your email right and you have built the
machine that drives your campaign. Get it wrong and no amount of clever content elsewhere will
rescue the numbers.

This guide draws on Hubbub's experience of running and supporting hundreds of digital campaigns,
and in particular on Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, who spends much of her time writing
emails on behalf of customers, giving feedback on their drafts and sending campaigns for them.
She sets out the central challenge plainly: people receive a great deal of email, "about 100 to
120 every day", and most of them are not waiting to give. "People aren't usually waking up in
the morning with the internal motivation to get up and make a donation," she says. "The goal as
a fundraiser is to guide your supporters along this journey inspiring them to make that
donation." That is the job of every fundraising email you send, and the sections below work
through how to do it: from the list your email lands in, through segmentation and the craft of
the appeal itself, to the sequence, deliverability, the donation form, and how you test and
measure the whole thing.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/),
> [email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/) and
> [subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/).

## Why email is the engine of digital fundraising

To write a good fundraising email, it helps to understand what is happening in a donor's mind
when it arrives. Everyone begins their day at what Kat Carter calls the status quo, "just going
about our business, enjoying our day, doing our day today". Your email is the interrupter, the
thing that breaks through that status quo and asks for a moment of attention. From there, the
donor has to be carried up an emotional journey: engaged by the timing, the sender and the
subject line, moved by the story and the words, and finally taken to the donation form to say
yes.

The crucial point is that giving is not buying. "In giving the emotional high point happens
before the transaction takes place," Kat Carter explains. "So in giving we often receive the
benefit first." A donor gives because they feel fortunate, or grateful, or moved by a story, and
the gift is the expression of that feeling. Your email's job is to create the emotional high
point, then make it as easy as possible to act on. Email conversion is, in her words, "made up
of many moving parts", which is why it pays to think about every one of them rather than dash off
some copy and hope.

## Your list and your data: the foundation

None of the craft that follows matters if your email does not arrive, or arrives at someone who
will never open it. A clean, contactable, well-permissioned list is the foundation of all email
fundraising, and it is the part teams most often neglect.

Start with the basics. Are your email addresses current and deliverable? Do you hold consent to
contact these people, and can you evidence it? Are bounces and complaints being cleared out
rather than allowed to accumulate? A list full of dead addresses and disengaged contacts does
not just waste effort, it actively harms your ability to reach the people who do want to hear
from you, because mailbox providers read high bounce and low engagement rates as a signal that
you are not a sender to be trusted.

Then look at the data attached to each contact, because personalisation depends on it. Kat
Carter is blunt about the cost of not having it: "Sometimes we see some emails where it says like
dear members dear friends. If you're not collecting that data start collecting that data and then
use that data." First names, giving history, the date and amount of a last gift, the cause
someone supported last time: each is a lever you can pull to make an email feel personal and
relevant, and you cannot pull a lever you have not collected. Treat your data as an asset you
build deliberately, at the point of every donation and every interaction.

## Segmentation

Once your list is clean and rich, segmentation is how you make it work harder. The same appeal
should not go to everyone in the same words. A first-time prospect, a loyal regular donor and a
lapsed supporter sit at different points in their relationship with you, and they respond to
different things.

Two kinds of people sit in any audience, and the split matters. "In the beginning of a campaign
you will get the people who have high affinity who all you have to do is ask," Kat Carter says.
"But then you'll get skeptics, and there are more skeptics in your audience than there are those
who are ready to go in terms of that low hanging fruit, so you got to get those skeptics on
board." Your warm segment needs a clear ask and little else. Your sceptical majority needs
reassurance, social proof and more than one touch before they move.

Segmentation also lets you put the data you already hold to work. For lapsed donors, Kat Carter
describes putting "their last gift and date and amount into the information so that you can try
and encourage them to give", a tactic that lifted conversion in testing. The principle is simple:
the more specific and relevant the email feels to the person reading it, the more attention they
pay. "When you get more specific, donors start paying more attention," she says. "So I would
encourage you to be more specific with all elements of your emails."

## The anatomy of a great fundraising email

A strong appeal email is built from a few parts, each doing a distinct job: the subject line and
sender, the opening, the story, social proof and the call to action.

**The subject line and the sender.** This is the envelope, and it decides whether your email is
opened at all. The sender deserves more thought than it usually gets. It can come from your
organisation's brand identity, but it can also come from a person, "a professor, it could be you,
it could be a parent, a significant person that is giving weight to the email that you're
sending". A personal sender can transform open rates: in one test Kat Carter cites, moving from
an organisation name to an individual's name took the open rate from 12 per cent to 51 per cent,
with seven times more submissions. The subject line then has to earn the click. Ask a question,
make a statement, invite participation or use the reader's name, and be specific. There is also a
useful nuance of language, which Kat Carter draws from a session by Adrian Sargeant: prefer "your
kindness" to "your gift", "because it is someone's kindness. Yes, they are making a gift, but
it's about kindness."

**The opening.** Reward the open immediately. Use the reader's first name where you have it, and
get to something that matters to them quickly. This is where readability counts: a personal tone,
a clean design, a sensible flow, and copy that reads like a human wrote it to a human.

**The story.** This is the heart of the email, the part that carries the reader from mild
interest to the emotional charge that makes them give. Kat Carter describes two structures worth
borrowing. The first is the story of self, story of us, story of now, developed by Marshall Ganz:
a short personal story, related to a shared experience, ending in a clear call to action. The
three parts depend on each other. "If you tell a great story of self and story of us, but you
don't include a clear call to action as your story of now, your audience will get all emotionally
fired up, but without a clear direction of their next step and their energy will dissipate." The
second is the hero's journey, Joseph Campbell's structure of separation, descent and return.
Whichever you use, make the donor central. The lesson Kat Carter draws from Barack Obama's
storytelling is the power of "you" language: "looking for ways that how can I turn a we or an I
into you and making the donor central to that message."

**Social proof.** People give when they see others giving. Celebrate momentum, name the community
and let donors hear from each other. "People like us do things like this," Kat Carter says,
quoting Seth Godin, "and this is how you can start to create that culture of giving." Quotes from
other donors and a visible donor wall both do this work.

**A single, clear call to action.** This is where most appeal emails fail. The job of the email
is to inspire and enable the gift, then send the reader straight to the donation form to complete
it. A soft "find out more" is a wasted opportunity. "This isn't about finding out more," Kat
Carter insists. "This is about, make your gift. You need to inspire and enable that donor to make
that gift in that email, and then send them on the journey to complete that gift." A soft call to
action lets people drift to a page where "they're like, Oh, this isn't where I wanted to be and
then they leave". One clear ask, one clear button, one destination.

## A campaign sequence, not a one-off send

A single email is rarely a campaign. The skeptics, who are the majority, almost never give on the
first touch, which is why Hubbub builds sequences rather than relying on a single send. "This is
one of the reasons why we suggest in giving days that you send emails before the event, as well
as emails on the day," Kat Carter says, "because it's getting those skeptics involved."

On a Giving Day, that sequence is intense by design. Hubbub has tested the volume: "we've, yeah,
we've tested started with a lot. And by a lot I mean 12. So we've gone down to eight to 10",
spread across the campaign, "maybe five on day one, six on day two". Outside a Giving Day the
cadence is gentler, but the principle holds: a planned series that builds, rather than a single
hopeful blast. Set expectations up front. Tell people in your save-the-date email that you will
be in touch more often during the campaign, and give them a clean way to opt out of that campaign
specifically. "Everything is not for everybody," she says, and the occasional unsubscribe from
people for whom your campaign is not a fit is a healthy sign, not a failure.

Write the whole sequence before the campaign begins, and give each email a job: build
anticipation, launch, report momentum, create urgency, make a final push, thank. As the campaign
peaks, change what you can between sends to keep attention fresh. "Every email we're causing more
and more people to pay attention," Kat Carter says, "we're changing subject lines we're changing
who it's from we're changing the message, and we're starting to really use everything in our
arsenal to get those donors to pay attention."

## Design and mobile

Most of your emails will be read on a phone, and a fundraising email that looks broken on mobile
will not convert, however good the words. Mobile responsiveness is, in Kat Carter's words, "really
important in terms of conversions". Keep the design clean and the flow obvious, with the call to
action easy to find and easy to tap.

Whether to use images is a question to test rather than assume. Hubbub has seen it both ways: in
one case an email with imagery drew the bigger click-through rate, in another the plain email won.
In one test the plain-text email drew more opens but a lower average gift, so the right choice may
even depend on which donors you are writing to. "It's not a one size fits all approach," she says,
"and you have to test on your own audience."

## Deliverability: staying out of the spam folder

An email that lands in spam might as well not have been sent. Deliverability is partly technical
and partly behavioural, and the behavioural part is the one fundraisers control.

The technical foundations matter and are worth asking your provider or IT team to confirm: the
authentication records that prove you are who you say you are, a consistent sending domain, and a
reputable email service. The behavioural side is where your list discipline pays off. Mailbox
providers watch how people respond to you. Healthy engagement, opens, clicks and replies, tells
them you are wanted. Hard bounces, spam complaints and long stretches of being ignored tell them
the opposite. So keep your list clean, remove people who never engage, and make unsubscribing
easy, including a campaign-specific unsubscribe for intensive pushes like a Giving Day. A donor
who quietly marks you as spam does far more damage to your deliverability than one who simply opts
out.

## Asking well, and tax-efficient giving

A clear ask is more persuasive when it is concrete. Suggesting a specific amount, and showing what
it achieves, beats leaving the donor to guess. Whether a gift is tax-efficient depends on your
country's rules, so where local tax relief or a receipt is available it is worth making the
benefit visible in the ask itself. Where you have match funding, the effect compounds. Kat Carter
describes one Giving Day email that used "a suggested gift because we had match giving. So we're
talking about doubling the gift", to really demonstrate that you are only asking for this amount,
and you hope that they can give that amount. Telling a donor that their gift may qualify for tax
relief or a receipt, and then matched on top, turns a modest ask into a powerful one. Make any tax
benefit clear at the point of giving, and send a prompt receipt so donors have what they need to
claim it.

## Friction: do not lose them at the form

You can write the perfect email and still lose the gift on the donation page. Kat Carter notes
that "typically 83% of the people on the general donation page reach this moment of decision and
decide not to move forward". Friction is the enemy, and she identifies four kinds drawn from
NextAfter's research: decision friction (too many options), confusion friction (forcing a choice
the donor is not equipped to make), field friction (asking for too much information) and step
friction (too many clicks and page loads). "Nothing is worse than a form that says step one of
six." If your email does its job but your form lets you down, "that form isn't doing its job, and
it should be renovated and or replaced". Do not, she warns, "let your donors get excited and then
get on a bad journey and not end up making that gift".

## Testing and what to measure

Email fundraising rewards a habit of disciplined testing, and the rules are straightforward. Test
on a meaningful sample relative to your audience. Change one thing at a time, "don't change the
from name and the subject line and the story all in one go, because you won't know which one
caused the uplift". And test more than once before you trust a result, "three, five, eight times"
for something you intend to roll out. Negative results count too: "knowing that something doesn't
work is just as good as knowing that something does work".

When it comes to measurement, watch the funnel rather than a single number. Open rates and click
rates tell you whether your envelope and subject line are working. Click-through rates, measured
against those who opened rather than the whole list, tell you whether your content holds them. But
the number that matters most is conversion. "That really is your most important KPI is conversion
rate," Kat Carter says, "because if people are opening an email, but it's not converting, well you
got them to do one part, but what happened with the story, maybe that wasn't what it needed to
be." Watch unsubscribes too, as a signal of whether your frequency and relevance are right. To
measure conversion properly you need to follow the donor past the inbox and onto the donation
page, which is why Hubbub encourages every customer to tag their links with UTM parameters, so you
can see not just which emails were opened but which ones actually raised money.

One measurement habit is the most neglected: keep stewarding after the gift. Sending often falls
off a cliff the moment someone donates, which makes no sense. "Why is it that when somebody gives
we stopped telling them about their gift?" Kat Carter asks. Donors, she points out, would rather
hear about the good their gift is doing than receive yet another sales email from someone else.
Telling them is both good stewardship and the groundwork for the next gift.

## How email works alongside social media

Email and social media are not rivals, and the temptation to treat one as a replacement for the
other is a mistake. Social media builds presence, reach and familiarity. Email asks and converts.
The two are most powerful together, and they reinforce each other in a way worth designing for
deliberately.

Kat Carter makes the point through the example of a personal sender. The reason an email from a
named individual works so well is often that the recipient already knows that person from
elsewhere: "they have a presence on social media and I also follow them there. So to me they're
almost now becoming like friends." A senior figure who is visible on social channels arrives in
the inbox as a familiar voice rather than a stranger. So use social media to build the profile of
your causes, your campaigns and your senders, then let email do the asking to an audience that has
been warmed up. On a Giving Day, the social feed celebrates milestones publicly while email drives
the individual decisions to give. Plan them as one communications effort, not two.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many emails should we send during a Giving Day?** Hubbub has tested this extensively and
settled on roughly eight to ten across a 36-hour day, for example five on day one and six on day
two, including a final-hour push before the thank-you. The key is to set the expectation in
advance and offer a campaign-specific unsubscribe, so people who do not want the intensity can opt
out cleanly.

**What is the best time of day to send?** Hubbub generally sends at 11 in the morning or 2 in the
afternoon, timed to natural breaks in the day, a cup of tea, the return from lunch. For an
international audience, adjust to their local 11 and 2. Better still, let your email platform's
data tell you when your specific recipients tend to open, and refine from there.

**Should the email come from a person or from the organisation?** Both work, and it depends on the
message. A personal sender can dramatically lift opens, but the effect fades if you overuse the
same name, so deploy it strategically. It works best when the sender already has a presence your
audience recognises, which is where your social media profile earns its keep.

**What is the single most important number to measure?** Conversion rate. Opens and clicks tell
you whether the envelope and content are working, but conversion tells you whether the email
actually raised money. Use UTM-tagged links so you can track the gift all the way from the inbox
to the donation form, because many email platforms stop reporting at the click.

**What is the right call to action for a stewardship email rather than an ask?** Invite the donor
to share their story or their reason for giving, by replying to the email if you have no other
facility. It is a low-pressure ask that people enjoy answering, and it gives you the donor content
that is otherwise so hard to gather.

**Does this only apply to fundraising appeals?** No. As Kat Carter notes, the same tactics work
"for events or alumni events or mentoring or anything that you are going out to people and asking
for their attention". Any email that needs to break through the inbox benefits from a strong
sender, a specific subject line, a clear story and a single call to action.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Fundraising email templates](/resources/fundraising-email-templates/)
- [Email campaign planner](/resources/email-campaign-planner/)
- [Subject line swipe file](/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [tips for creating engaging emails](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/tips-for-creating-engaging-emails) and [creating dynamic communications plans that drive results](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/giving-days-creating-dynamic-communications-plans-that-drive-results)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use match funding and challenges](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (canz/en): A practical guide to match funding and challenge mechanics, covering why they work, match structures, charitable tax receipts and credits, the main challenge types, sourcing the match pot, and how to use them across giving days, challenge weeks and crowdfunding.
Match funding and challenges are the two mechanics that lift a fundraising campaign from steady
to exceptional. Used well, they shape how much people give, how early they give, and whether
they give at all. This guide explains what match funding is and why it works, how to structure
a match, how charitable tax receipts and credits stack into the maths, the main challenge types and when to reach for
each, where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it, and how to put all of this to work
across a [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and a
[crowdfunding campaign](/canz/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/),
> [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) and
> [challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## What match funding is and why it works

Match funding takes a leadership or major gift and holds it back, then uses it to double the
gifts of everyone else during a campaign. Rather than spending the major gift straight away,
you put it to work as a multiplier, so an ordinary supporter giving $50 sees their gift become
$100. The donor's generosity stops being one gift among many and becomes the engine that
unlocks hundreds of others.

A match works because of three things about how people decide to give. The first is **urgency**.
A match is almost always time-limited or capped, so the offer to have your gift doubled is
visibly running out, which turns a vague intention to give "at some point" into a reason to give
now. The second is **social proof**. A match signals that people of standing and means already
back the cause, reassuring a wary donor that they are joining something credible rather than
taking a risk alone. The third is **loss aversion**, the well-evidenced tendency for people to
feel the prospect of missing out more keenly than an equivalent gain; framed as "give now or
your gift will not be doubled," a match works on a donor's reluctance to leave value on the
table. Together these forces explain why people give more, and give earlier, when a match is in
play.

The effect is measurable. In a study of three universities that had used match funding in their
crowdfunding programmes for more than two years, matched projects attracted roughly twice as
many donations as unmatched ones, the average donation size nearly doubled, and the total
raised, setting aside the matched funds themselves, could be as much as three times higher.
The University of York's Deputy Director of Development put the mechanism plainly: "Matched
funding gives crowdfunding projects an initial boost, getting their campaigns off to a flying
start. This momentum builds confidence in asking." That last point matters: a match does not
only change donor behaviour, it changes how confidently your fundraisers and project leaders
make the ask in the first place.

## How to structure a match

There is more than one way to build a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve. Map this out before you go to donors, because the structure you choose shapes
the conversation you have with them. The five structures below cover most campaigns.

A **straight 1:1 match**, dollar for dollar, is the simplest to communicate and the safest
default. Every supporter understands it instantly, and it carries no awkward arithmetic. For
most campaigns it is the right starting point.

A **higher-ratio match**, such as 2:1 or 3:1, costs more to fund but lands hard when you want to
galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects who
need an extra reason to act. Use it deliberately and sparingly, because if every gift is tripled
the offer stops feeling special.

A **capped match**, framed as "the first $50,000 will be doubled," is where most of the urgency
comes from. Because donors understand the pot can run out, they bring their gifts forward to
make sure they are matched. The cap is not a limitation to apologise for; it is the thing that
makes the offer bite.

A **segment-specific match** targets a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni
match or a parents' match. It lifts results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell,
because you can write directly to those supporters about an offer made for them.

A **themed match** is tied to a particular project or fund, so that every gift to the bursary
fund, or to a specific building or piece of equipment, is doubled. This sharpens the case for
support and suits donors who care about one outcome rather than the institution as a whole.

Whichever structure you choose, two operational rules hold. Never announce a match you have not
confirmed in writing, because a campaign built on hoped-for funds is built on sand. And decide
in advance how you will handle the moment the match is exhausted: running out of matched funding
mid-campaign is a good problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is opening a
fresh challenge, releasing a stretch match from a donor held in reserve, or simply telling
supporters the matched pot has been claimed thanks to their generosity.

## Stacking tax receipts and credits into the maths and the message

Across Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the tax treatment of giving is a benefit to the donor
rather than an uplift that adds to your income the way a match does. In Canada, a registered
charity issues a charitable tax receipt the donor can use to claim a tax credit. In Australia,
gifts to a deductible gift recipient (DGR) are tax-deductible. In New Zealand, donations to an
approved donee organisation earn the donor a donation tax credit. In each case the benefit lowers
the real cost of giving for the supporter, but it is the match that doubles the money reaching the
cause. Matched dollar for dollar, a single $100 decision becomes $200 of value for the cause: the
donor's $100 and the matched $100.

Most campaigns leave the tax detail unspoken in the appeal, which is fine, because the match does
the heavy lifting in the message. The example below, drawn from a giving day appeal, shows the
tone to aim for:

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> $50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A $100 gift becomes $200. Give before the match runs out."

Notice what that copy does. It leads with urgency, names the cap, and quantifies the doubling in
plain dollars. Keep any tax-receipt or tax-credit detail simple in the appeal itself, leave it to
the donation flow and the receipt, and let the match carry the emotional weight of the message.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the
community hits a collective target. Challenges gamify a campaign and are especially good at
drawing in non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation,
not just their dollars, make a visible difference. A $10 gift may feel small against a $50,000
target, but as the thirtieth donation that unlocks $1,000 it feels decisive. Most strong
campaigns run several challenges so there is always a live reason to give. The seven types below
each suit a different moment.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock $1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours of a campaign, when you most need to show momentum.
Front-loading a challenge like this can produce a genuine surge: a "first 25 donors" challenge
produced an unexpected rush at nine o'clock on the launch morning of one University of York
Challenge Week.

A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors releases a further $5,000, gives you a
rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell the moment you hit it. Milestones
work best in a series, so that each one cleared sets up the next.

A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or trigger a bonus,
concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around. It is one of the most
reliable ways to lift a quiet afternoon, because everyone knows the clock is running.

A **head-to-head challenge** sets groups against each other, for example houses, year groups,
faculties, sports clubs or alumni regions. This is the mechanic that turns supporters into
recruiters, because they start rallying their own people up the leaderboard. York found that
head-to-head match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels sparked late flurries of giving, as
groups raced to overtake a near rival.

A **participation challenge**, keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised, is
the best tool for culture-building and donor acquisition, because it tells every supporter that
their gift counts as much as anyone's. It is the natural choice when the goal is a wider donor
base rather than a bigger headline figure.

A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees or senior leaders pledge a sum if a set
number of new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a real stake in the
outcome. Visible leadership matters: at one York Challenge Week, the Vice-Chancellor judged a
video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club, which drew the community in
and signalled institutional backing.

A **stretch or bonus challenge**, held in reserve and released only if the campaign exceeds
target, keeps momentum alive right to the final hour. It is your insurance against the late lull
that can set in once the main goal is in sight.

Two design lessons run across all of these. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large
ones, because frequent unlocks keep a campaign interesting and give you constant reasons to
message. And layer your challenges so there is something any group or individual can achieve
alongside the bigger collective targets, which keeps everyone in the game rather than just the
front-runners. One operational point is worth borrowing from York, who found students making
token £1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges and raised the minimum gift to
£3. As their Philanthropy Officer reported, "That did really seem to have a positive effect in
increasing the value, and no one complained."

## Where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors, from trustees, and from corporate partners and trusts and
foundations. Sometimes it comes from central funds already earmarked to support a cause, for
instance money set aside for clubs and societies, but the ambition over time should be to fund
more of it from genuinely new income. Either way, sourcing the pot deserves as much care as the
public campaign, because it is the single biggest determinant of how the campaign performs.

Start early, ideally four to six months before the campaign, by identifying prospects with both
the capacity and the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your strongest candidates
are usually existing major donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have already shown
they care about the cause. **Corporate partners** are a natural fit too, especially where a match
can be tied to a theme that aligns with their interests or where they can be recognised as a
campaign sponsor; a corporate match also gives the business a clean, measurable story about the
impact of its money.

When you make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large
gift. This is the heart of the proposition and the reason it converts. A match donor is not only
giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of other people, and that multiplier
is what makes the gift feel different from a straightforward donation. Be specific: explain that
their $25,000, used as a match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and could double the
campaign's total, and tie that to a tangible outcome the combined sum will fund. Offer
recognition that fits the donor's preference, whether that is naming the challenge after them or
their family, listing them as a match donor with their permission, or keeping it entirely
private. Our [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) gives you a
structure for this conversation.

Then steward the match donor before, during and after the campaign. Beforehand, brief them
properly, confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, such
as lending their name to a challenge or recording a short video. During the campaign, show them
their match being claimed in real time, because seeing a gift at work is the most powerful
stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the specific impact: how many donors the match
unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the combined total will fund. That report is the most
important conversation for next year, because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives
again, and frequently gives more. The pipeline runs in both directions, too. Highgate School
found that their giving day created future match donors, noting that "three individuals who made
a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will increase their gift to be part
of the match pool for our next Giving Day." New donors acquired through a campaign can become the
leadership and match donors of the next.

As a planning rule of thumb across most time-bound campaigns, aim to secure roughly half of your
target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is $100,000, look to line up around $50,000.
More match funding, deployed through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.
Our [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) helps you reconcile
the pot you can secure with the target you want to set.

## Using match and challenges across your campaigns

The same mechanics behave differently depending on the campaign they sit inside, so it is worth
thinking about how to deploy them in each format.

On a **[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, match funding is the single biggest
lever you have, and challenges are how you keep the 24 to 36 hours moving. The art is to sequence
them so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock challenge at launch to establish
momentum, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a stretch
challenge held back for the closing push. Because email drives the large majority of gifts on a
giving day, tie each send to a live challenge or a match that is running down, so every message
carries news rather than just another reminder. Use our
[challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) to map each challenge to a
trigger, a time and a message.

On a **[Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, match funding and incentives
drive the urgency and the friendly competition that make the week move, and the emphasis shifts
towards participation and group rivalry. Here you can layer individual challenges that any group
can achieve, a group challenge that builds team spirit, and head-to-head match-ups between clubs
at similar donor levels. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones, front-load an
early target to spark a launch-morning surge, and get your leadership involved as a judge or
champion. The pot can come from central funds already set aside to support clubs and societies,
or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the week, with the long-term
aim of funding more of it from new income.

On a **[crowdfunding campaign](/canz/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**, match funding
plays a slightly different role, because crowdfunding runs over weeks rather than hours and is
led by the project owners themselves. Here the match works most powerfully as an opening boost
that gets a project off the ground and builds the project owner's confidence to keep asking, as
York's Deputy Director of Development described. The evidence is striking: matched crowdfunding
projects can attract around twice as many donations, see the average gift nearly double, and
raise substantially more in total. Project owners with a match in place also tend to set higher
goals and promote harder, precisely because there is a pot to unlock. The practical implication
is to allocate match funding where it will do the most good, often to projects that are credible
and well-led but need momentum, and to make the match visible on the project page so every
prospective donor sees that their gift will go further.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between match funding and a challenge?** A match doubles an individual's
gift, dollar for dollar or at a higher ratio, the moment they give. A challenge releases a pot of
funding when the community as a whole reaches a collective target, such as a number of donors or
a total raised. Matches reward the size of a gift; challenges reward participation. Strong
campaigns use both.

**How much match funding should we aim for?** As a guide, around half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise $100,000, look to secure roughly $50,000. More match
funding, used through well-timed challenges, generally lifts participation.

**Does match funding really change how much people give?** Yes. Studies of matched crowdfunding
projects found roughly twice as many donations, an average gift that nearly doubled, and
significantly higher totals overall. The urgency of a capped, time-limited match pulls gifts
forward and lifts their size.

**Where does the match pot come from?** From leadership, major and legacy donors, trustees,
corporate partners, and trusts and foundations, and sometimes from central funds already
earmarked for a cause. Ask early, four to six months ahead, and frame the match as high-leverage
philanthropy that unlocks the generosity of hundreds of others.

**How do we handle tax receipts and credits in the maths?** Treat them as a benefit to the donor
rather than added income to the cause. A Canadian charitable tax receipt, an Australian DGR
deduction or a New Zealand donation tax credit lowers the real cost of giving, while the match is
what doubles the money reaching your cause. Keep the headline about the doubling and leave the
tax detail to the donation flow and the receipt.

**What if we run out of match funding mid-campaign?** Plan for it in advance. Running out is a
good problem, but it needs a response ready: open a fresh challenge, release a stretch match from
a donor held in reserve, or tell supporters clearly that the matched pot has been claimed thanks
to their generosity.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: how match funding affects crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](/canz/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie Sie Matching-Förderung und Challenges einsetzen](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zu den Mechanismen der Matching-Förderung und von Challenges, der erklärt, warum sie funktionieren, welche Matching-Strukturen es gibt, wie steuerbegünstigtes Spenden hineinspielt, welche Challenge-Typen es gibt, wie der Matching-Topf aufgebaut wird und wie sie bei Spendentagen, Challenge-Wochen und Crowdfunding-Kampagnen eingesetzt werden.
Matching-Förderung und Challenges sind die beiden Mechanismen, die eine Fundraising-Kampagne von
solide zu herausragend heben. Richtig eingesetzt, bestimmen sie, wie viel Menschen spenden, wie
früh sie spenden und ob sie überhaupt spenden. Dieser Leitfaden erklärt, was Matching-Förderung ist
und warum sie funktioniert, wie Sie ein Matching strukturieren, wie steuerbegünstigtes Spenden in
die Rechnung einfließt, welche Challenge-Typen es gibt und wann Sie zu welchem greifen, woher der
Matching-Topf kommt und wie Sie darum bitten, und wie Sie all dies bei einem
[Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/), einer
[Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) und einer
[Crowdfunding-Kampagne](/europe/de/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) einsetzen.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unseren
> [Matching- und Challenge-Planer](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/), unsere
> [Vorlage für die Matching-Anfrage](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) und unser
> [Arbeitsblatt zur Challenge-Gestaltung](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) herunterzuladen.

## Was Matching-Förderung ist und warum sie funktioniert

Matching-Förderung nimmt eine Leitungs- oder Großspende und hält sie zurück, um damit dann während
einer Kampagne die Spenden aller anderen zu verdoppeln. Statt die Großspende sofort auszugeben,
setzen Sie sie als Multiplikator ein, sodass eine gewöhnliche Unterstützerin, die 50 € spendet,
ihre Spende auf 100 € anwachsen sieht. Die Großzügigkeit des Spenders ist nicht länger eine Spende
unter vielen, sondern wird zum Motor, der Hunderte weiterer Spenden freisetzt.

Ein Matching funktioniert wegen dreier Aspekte, wie Menschen über das Spenden entscheiden. Der
erste ist **Dringlichkeit**. Ein Matching ist fast immer zeitlich begrenzt oder gedeckelt, sodass
das Angebot, die eigene Spende verdoppeln zu lassen, sichtbar zur Neige geht, was eine vage
Absicht, "irgendwann" zu spenden, in einen Grund verwandelt, jetzt zu spenden. Der zweite ist der
**soziale Beweis**. Ein Matching signalisiert, dass Menschen mit Ansehen und Mitteln die Sache
bereits unterstützen, und versichert einem zögerlichen Spender, dass er sich etwas Glaubwürdigem
anschließt, statt allein ein Risiko einzugehen. Der dritte ist die **Verlustaversion**, die gut
belegte Neigung von Menschen, die Aussicht auf einen entgangenen Vorteil stärker zu empfinden als
einen gleichwertigen Gewinn; formuliert als "spenden Sie jetzt, sonst wird Ihre Spende nicht
verdoppelt", spielt ein Matching mit dem Widerwillen des Spenders, Wert auf dem Tisch liegen zu
lassen. Zusammen erklären diese Kräfte, warum Menschen mehr spenden und früher spenden, wenn ein
Matching im Spiel ist.

Der Effekt ist messbar. In einer Studie über drei Universitäten, die seit mehr als zwei Jahren
Matching-Förderung in ihren Crowdfunding-Programmen eingesetzt hatten, zogen Projekte mit Matching
rund doppelt so viele Spenden an wie Projekte ohne, die durchschnittliche Spendenhöhe verdoppelte
sich fast, und der Gesamtbetrag, die Matching-Mittel selbst nicht eingerechnet, konnte bis zu
dreimal höher ausfallen. Der stellvertretende Entwicklungsdirektor der University of York brachte
den Mechanismus auf den Punkt: "Matching-Förderung gibt Crowdfunding-Projekten einen anfänglichen
Schub und verhilft ihren Kampagnen zu einem fliegenden Start. Diese Dynamik stärkt das Vertrauen
beim Bitten." Dieser letzte Punkt ist wichtig: Ein Matching verändert nicht nur das Verhalten der
Spender, sondern auch, mit welchem Selbstvertrauen Ihre Fundraiser und Projektleiter die Bitte
überhaupt erst aussprechen.

## Wie Sie ein Matching strukturieren

Es gibt mehr als eine Möglichkeit, ein Matching aufzubauen, und die richtige Wahl hängt davon ab,
was Sie erreichen wollen. Legen Sie dies fest, bevor Sie auf Spender zugehen, denn die gewählte
Struktur prägt das Gespräch, das Sie mit ihnen führen. Die folgenden fünf Strukturen decken die
meisten Kampagnen ab.

Ein **einfaches 1:1-Matching**, Euro für Euro, ist am leichtesten zu vermitteln und die sicherste
Standardwahl. Jede Unterstützerin versteht es sofort, und es birgt keine umständliche Rechnerei.
Für die meisten Kampagnen ist es der richtige Ausgangspunkt.

Ein **Matching mit höherem Verhältnis**, etwa 2:1 oder 3:1, kostet mehr in der Finanzierung, wirkt
aber stark, wenn Sie einen bestimmten Vorstoß anstacheln wollen, zum Beispiel eine Power Hour oder
eine Aktion, um kalte Interessenten zu gewinnen, die einen zusätzlichen Grund zum Handeln brauchen.
Setzen Sie es bewusst und sparsam ein, denn wenn jede Spende verdreifacht wird, wirkt das Angebot
nicht mehr besonders.

Ein **gedeckeltes Matching**, formuliert als "die ersten 50.000 € werden verdoppelt", ist die
Quelle des größten Teils der Dringlichkeit. Weil Spender verstehen, dass der Topf zur Neige gehen
kann, ziehen sie ihre Spenden vor, um sicherzugehen, dass sie verdoppelt werden. Die Deckelung ist
keine Einschränkung, für die man sich entschuldigen müsste; sie ist das, was dem Angebot Biss
verleiht.

Ein **segmentspezifisches Matching** zielt auf eine Gruppe, die üblicherweise unterdurchschnittlich
abschneidet, etwa ein Matching für junge Ehemalige oder ein Matching für Eltern. Es hebt die
Ergebnisse in diesem Segment und liefert Ihnen eine frische Geschichte, weil Sie diese Unterstützer
direkt über ein eigens für sie gemachtes Angebot ansprechen können.

Ein **thematisches Matching** ist an ein bestimmtes Projekt oder einen bestimmten Fonds gebunden,
sodass jede Spende an den Stipendienfonds oder an ein bestimmtes Gebäude oder Gerät verdoppelt wird.
Das schärft das Argument für die Unterstützung und eignet sich für Spender, denen ein bestimmtes
Ergebnis am Herzen liegt und nicht die Institution als Ganzes.

Welche Struktur Sie auch wählen, zwei operative Regeln gelten. Kündigen Sie niemals ein Matching an,
das Sie nicht schriftlich bestätigt haben, denn eine auf erhoffte Mittel gebaute Kampagne ist auf
Sand gebaut. Und entscheiden Sie im Voraus, wie Sie mit dem Moment umgehen, in dem das Matching
aufgebraucht ist: Mitten in der Kampagne keine Matching-Mittel mehr zu haben, ist ein gutes Problem,
braucht aber dennoch eine geplante Antwort, sei es das Eröffnen einer neuen Challenge, das
Freigeben eines zusätzlichen Matchings von einem in Reserve gehaltenen Spender oder schlicht die
Mitteilung an die Unterstützer, dass der Matching-Topf dank ihrer Großzügigkeit ausgeschöpft ist.

## Steuerbegünstigtes Spenden in die Rechnung und in die Botschaft einbinden

In ganz Europa bieten die meisten Länder Spendern einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung auf
Spenden an förderfähige Organisationen, und bei grenzüberschreitenden Spenden ermöglicht das
Netzwerk Transnational Giving Europe einem Spender in einem teilnehmenden Land, steuerbegünstigt an
einen Begünstigten in einem anderen zu spenden. Die Regeln und Sätze variieren stark von Land zu
Land, sodass der Vorteil die tatsächlichen Kosten des Spendens für die Unterstützerin senkt, statt
Ihre Einnahmen zu erhöhen, wie es ein Matching tut. Euro für Euro verdoppelt, wird aus einer
einzelnen 100-€-Entscheidung ein Wert von 200 € für die Sache: die 100 € des Spenders und die 100 €
aus dem Matching.

Die meisten Kampagnen lassen das steuerliche Detail im Aufruf unerwähnt, was in Ordnung ist, weil
das Matching die Hauptarbeit in der Botschaft leistet. Das folgende Beispiel, einem Spendentag-Aufruf
entnommen, zeigt den anzustrebenden Ton:

> "Spenden Sie früh, um sicherzustellen, dass Ihre Spende verdoppelt wird. Dank unserer
> Matching-Spender werden die ersten 50.000 €, die während des Spendentags gesammelt werden,
> verdoppelt, die einzige Zeit im Jahr, in der Ihre Spende doppelt so weit reicht. Aus einer Spende
> von 100 € werden 200 €. Spenden Sie, bevor das Matching aufgebraucht ist."

Achten Sie darauf, was dieser Text leistet. Er beginnt mit Dringlichkeit, nennt die Deckelung und
beziffert die Verdopplung in schlichten Euro. Halten Sie alle Angaben zum Steuerabzug im Aufruf
selbst einfach, überlassen Sie sie dem Spendenprozess und der Quittung, und lassen Sie das Matching
das emotionale Gewicht der Botschaft tragen.

## Challenge-Typen und wie Sie sie einsetzen

Wo ein Matching eine einzelne Spende verdoppelt, gibt eine Challenge einen Topf frei, wenn die
Gemeinschaft ein kollektives Ziel erreicht. Challenges spielifizieren eine Kampagne und sind
besonders gut darin, Nicht-Spender und Kleinspender hereinzuholen, weil sie Menschen sehen lassen,
dass ihre Teilnahme, nicht nur ihre Euro, einen sichtbaren Unterschied macht. Eine Spende von 10 €
mag gegen ein Ziel von 50.000 € klein wirken, aber als die dreißigste Spende, die 1.000 €
freischaltet, wirkt sie entscheidend. Die meisten starken Kampagnen führen mehrere Challenges
durch, damit es stets einen lebendigen Grund zum Spenden gibt. Die folgenden sieben Typen eignen
sich jeweils für einen anderen Moment.

Eine **Schwellen- oder Freischalt-Challenge**, etwa "die ersten 30 Spender schalten 1.000 € frei",
belohnt frühes Handeln und ist ideal für die ersten Stunden einer Kampagne, wenn Sie am dringendsten
Dynamik zeigen müssen. Eine solche Challenge an den Anfang zu legen, kann einen echten Ansturm
erzeugen: Eine "erste 25 Spender"-Challenge erzeugte um neun Uhr am Starttag einer Challenge-Woche
der University of York einen unerwarteten Andrang.

Eine **Meilenstein-Challenge**, bei der das Erreichen von 200 Spendern weitere 5.000 € freigibt,
gibt Ihnen einen Sammelpunkt, auf den Sie hinarbeiten, und eine natürliche Geschichte, die Sie in
dem Moment erzählen, in dem Sie ihn erreichen. Meilensteine funktionieren am besten in Serie, sodass
jeder erreichte den nächsten vorbereitet.

Eine **Power Hour oder goldene Stunde**, in der Spenden innerhalb einer festgelegten Stunde
verdoppelt werden oder einen Bonus auslösen, konzentriert den Verkehr in ein Zeitfenster, um das
herum Sie Vorfreude aufbauen können. Es ist eine der zuverlässigsten Methoden, einen ruhigen
Nachmittag zu beleben, weil alle wissen, dass die Uhr läuft.

Eine **Kopf-an-Kopf-Challenge** stellt Gruppen gegeneinander, zum Beispiel Häuser, Jahrgänge,
Fakultäten, Sportvereine oder Ehemaligen-Regionen. Dies ist der Mechanismus, der Unterstützer in
Werber verwandelt, weil sie beginnen, ihre eigenen Leute die Rangliste hinaufzutreiben. York stellte
fest, dass Kopf-an-Kopf-Duelle zwischen Vereinen mit ähnlichem Spenderniveau späte Spendenschübe
auslösten, als Gruppen darum wetteiferten, einen knappen Rivalen zu überholen.

Eine **Teilnahme-Challenge**, ausgerichtet auf die Zahl der Spender statt auf den gesammelten
Betrag, ist das beste Werkzeug für den Kulturaufbau und die Spendergewinnung, weil sie jeder
Unterstützerin sagt, dass ihre Spende genauso zählt wie jede andere. Sie ist die natürliche Wahl,
wenn das Ziel eine breitere Spenderbasis statt einer höheren Schlagzeile ist.

Eine **Vorstands- oder Leitungs-Challenge**, bei der Vorstandsmitglieder oder leitende
Führungskräfte eine Summe zusagen, wenn eine festgelegte Zahl neuer Spender spendet, sammelt
sowohl Mittel als auch gibt Ihrer Leitung einen echten Anteil am Ergebnis. Sichtbare Führung ist
wichtig: Bei einer Challenge-Woche von York beurteilte der Vizekanzler eine Video-Challenge, die
zusätzliche 100 £ für den Siegerverein freischaltete, was die Gemeinschaft einbezog und die
institutionelle Unterstützung signalisierte.

Eine **Stretch- oder Bonus-Challenge**, in Reserve gehalten und nur freigegeben, wenn die Kampagne
das Ziel übertrifft, hält die Dynamik bis zur letzten Stunde aufrecht. Sie ist Ihre Absicherung
gegen die späte Flaute, die einsetzen kann, sobald das Hauptziel in Sicht ist.

Zwei Gestaltungslektionen ziehen sich durch alle diese Challenges. Führen Sie viele kleinere
Challenges statt weniger großer durch, denn häufige Freischaltungen halten eine Kampagne
interessant und geben Ihnen ständig Anlässe zum Kommunizieren. Und schichten Sie Ihre Challenges so,
dass es immer etwas gibt, das jede Gruppe oder Einzelperson neben den größeren kollektiven Zielen
erreichen kann, was alle im Spiel hält und nicht nur die Spitzenreiter. Ein operativer Punkt lohnt
sich, von York zu übernehmen, das feststellte, dass Studierende symbolische 1-£-Spenden machten, um
ihre Spenderzahlen für Challenges aufzublähen, und die Mindestspende auf 3 £ anhob. Wie ihr
Philanthropie-Beauftragter berichtete: "Das schien wirklich einen positiven Effekt zu haben, den
Wert zu erhöhen, und niemand beschwerte sich."

## Woher der Matching-Topf kommt und wie Sie darum bitten

Matching- und Challenge-Mittel erscheinen nicht von selbst. Sie werden Spende für Spende eingeworben:
bei Ihren Leitungs-, Groß- und Nachlassspendern, bei Vorstandsmitgliedern sowie bei
Unternehmenspartnern und Stiftungen. Manchmal stammen sie aus zentralen Mitteln, die bereits zur
Unterstützung einer Sache vorgesehen sind, etwa Geld, das für Vereine und Gesellschaften
zurückgelegt wurde, doch das Ziel sollte mit der Zeit sein, mehr davon aus wirklich neuen Einnahmen
zu finanzieren. So oder so verdient der Aufbau des Topfes ebenso viel Sorgfalt wie die öffentliche
Kampagne, denn er ist der einzelne wichtigste Faktor dafür, wie die Kampagne abschneidet.

Fangen Sie früh an, idealerweise vier bis sechs Monate vor der Kampagne, indem Sie Interessenten
ermitteln, die sowohl die Fähigkeit als auch die Neigung haben, ein Matching zu finanzieren oder
einer Challenge ihren Namen zu geben. Ihre stärksten Kandidaten sind in der Regel bestehende
Großspender, Vorstandsmitglieder und engagierte regelmäßige Spender, die bereits gezeigt haben,
dass ihnen die Sache am Herzen liegt. **Unternehmenspartner** passen ebenfalls natürlich gut,
besonders dort, wo ein Matching an ein Thema gebunden werden kann, das mit ihren Interessen
übereinstimmt, oder wo sie als Kampagnensponsor anerkannt werden können; ein Unternehmens-Matching
gibt dem Unternehmen zudem eine klare, messbare Geschichte über die Wirkung seines Geldes.

Wenn Sie die Bitte aussprechen, rahmen Sie das Matching als Philanthropie mit hoher Hebelwirkung
statt als bloß große Spende. Das ist der Kern des Angebots und der Grund, warum es überzeugt. Ein
Matching-Spender gibt nicht nur Geld, er setzt die Großzügigkeit Hunderter anderer Menschen frei,
und dieser Multiplikator ist es, der die Spende anders wirken lässt als eine schlichte Spende. Seien
Sie konkret: Erklären Sie, dass ihre 25.000 €, als Matching eingesetzt, voraussichtlich mehrere
Hundert Spenden inspirieren und den Gesamtbetrag der Kampagne verdoppeln könnten, und verknüpfen Sie
das mit einem greifbaren Ergebnis, das die kombinierte Summe finanzieren wird. Bieten Sie eine
Anerkennung an, die der Vorliebe des Spenders entspricht, sei es die Benennung der Challenge nach
ihm oder seiner Familie, die Nennung als Matching-Spender mit seiner Erlaubnis oder die vollständige
Vertraulichkeit. Unsere
[Vorlage für die Matching-Anfrage](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) gibt Ihnen eine Struktur
für dieses Gespräch.

Begleiten Sie den Matching-Spender dann vor, während und nach der Kampagne. Vorab briefen Sie ihn
ordentlich, bestätigen die Vereinbarung schriftlich und geben ihm eine Rolle, an der er sich
beteiligt fühlen kann, etwa einer Challenge seinen Namen zu leihen oder ein kurzes Video
aufzunehmen. Während der Kampagne zeigen Sie ihm sein Matching in Echtzeit, wie es eingelöst wird,
denn eine Spende bei der Arbeit zu sehen, ist die wirkungsvollste Begleitung, die es gibt. Danach
berichten Sie über die konkrete Wirkung: wie viele Spender das Matching freisetzte, wie viel es
hebelte und was der kombinierte Gesamtbetrag finanzieren wird. Dieser Bericht ist das wichtigste
Gespräch für das nächste Jahr, denn ein gut begleiteter Matching-Spender spendet sehr oft erneut und
gibt häufig mehr. Die Pipeline läuft auch in beide Richtungen. Die Highgate School stellte fest,
dass ihr Spendentag künftige Matching-Spender hervorbrachte, und merkte an, dass "drei Personen, die
an unserem Spendentag zum ersten Mal gespendet haben, gesagt haben, dass sie ihre Spende erhöhen
werden, um Teil des Matching-Topfes für unseren nächsten Spendentag zu sein." Neue Spender, die
durch eine Kampagne gewonnen werden, können zu den Leitungs- und Matching-Spendern der nächsten
werden.

Als Faustregel für die Planung bei den meisten zeitlich begrenzten Kampagnen sollten Sie darauf
abzielen, rund die Hälfte Ihres Ziels an Matching- und Challenge-Mitteln zu sichern. Wenn Ihr Ziel
100.000 € beträgt, peilen Sie an, etwa 50.000 € aufzustellen. Mehr Matching-Förderung, durch gut
getimte Challenges eingesetzt, bedeutet in der Regel mehr Teilnahme. Unser
[Matching- und Challenge-Planer](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) hilft Ihnen, den Topf, den
Sie sichern können, mit dem Ziel in Einklang zu bringen, das Sie sich setzen wollen.

## Matching und Challenges in Ihren Kampagnen einsetzen

Dieselben Mechanismen verhalten sich je nach Kampagne, in der sie stecken, unterschiedlich, daher
lohnt es sich, darüber nachzudenken, wie Sie sie in jedem Format einsetzen.

Bei einem **[Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/)** ist Matching-Förderung der
größte einzelne Hebel, über den Sie verfügen, und Challenges sind die Art, wie Sie die 24 bis 36
Stunden in Bewegung halten. Die Kunst besteht darin, sie so zu sequenzieren, dass es stets einen
lebendigen Grund zum Spenden gibt: eine Freischalt-Challenge beim Start, um Dynamik aufzubauen,
Meilensteine über den Tag, eine Power Hour, um einen ruhigen Nachmittag zu beleben, und eine
Stretch-Challenge, die für den Schlussspurt zurückgehalten wird. Weil E-Mail die große Mehrheit der
Spenden an einem Spendentag antreibt, verknüpfen Sie jeden Versand mit einer laufenden Challenge
oder einem zur Neige gehenden Matching, sodass jede Nachricht eine Neuigkeit trägt und nicht bloß
eine weitere Erinnerung. Nutzen Sie unser
[Arbeitsblatt zur Challenge-Gestaltung](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/), um jede Challenge
einem Auslöser, einer Zeit und einer Botschaft zuzuordnen.

Bei einer **[Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)** treiben
Matching-Förderung und Anreize die Dringlichkeit und den freundschaftlichen Wettbewerb an, die die
Woche in Bewegung bringen, und der Schwerpunkt verlagert sich auf Teilnahme und Gruppenrivalität.
Hier können Sie individuelle Challenges schichten, die jede Gruppe erreichen kann, eine
Gruppen-Challenge, die den Teamgeist stärkt, und Kopf-an-Kopf-Duelle zwischen Vereinen mit ähnlichem
Spenderniveau. Führen Sie viele kleinere Challenges statt weniger großer durch, legen Sie ein frühes
Ziel an den Anfang, um einen Ansturm am Startmorgen auszulösen, und binden Sie Ihre Leitung als
Jurorin oder Champion ein. Der Topf kann aus zentralen Mitteln stammen, die bereits zur
Unterstützung von Vereinen und Gesellschaften zurückgelegt wurden, oder aus Groß- und
Unternehmensspenden, die eigens für die Woche eingeworben werden, mit dem langfristigen Ziel, mehr
davon aus neuen Einnahmen zu finanzieren.

Bei einer **[Crowdfunding-Kampagne](/europe/de/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)** spielt
Matching-Förderung eine etwas andere Rolle, weil Crowdfunding über Wochen statt über Stunden läuft
und von den Projektträgern selbst geführt wird. Hier wirkt das Matching am stärksten als
anfänglicher Schub, der ein Projekt vom Boden holt und das Selbstvertrauen des Projektträgers
stärkt, weiter zu bitten, wie es Yorks stellvertretender Entwicklungsdirektor beschrieb. Die Belege
sind eindrucksvoll: Crowdfunding-Projekte mit Matching können rund doppelt so viele Spenden anziehen,
die durchschnittliche Spende sich fast verdoppeln sehen und insgesamt deutlich mehr einnehmen.
Projektträger mit einem Matching neigen außerdem dazu, höhere Ziele zu setzen und stärker zu werben,
gerade weil es einen Topf freizuschalten gibt. Die praktische Konsequenz ist, Matching-Förderung
dort einzusetzen, wo sie am meisten bewirkt, oft bei Projekten, die glaubwürdig und gut geführt
sind, aber Dynamik brauchen, und das Matching auf der Projektseite sichtbar zu machen, damit jeder
potenzielle Spender sieht, dass seine Spende weiter reicht.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Matching-Förderung und einer Challenge?** Ein Matching verdoppelt
die Spende einer Einzelperson, Euro für Euro oder in einem höheren Verhältnis, in dem Moment, in dem
sie spendet. Eine Challenge gibt einen Topf frei, wenn die Gemeinschaft als Ganzes ein kollektives
Ziel erreicht, etwa eine Zahl von Spendern oder einen gesammelten Gesamtbetrag. Matchings belohnen
die Höhe einer Spende; Challenges belohnen die Teilnahme. Starke Kampagnen nutzen beides.

**Wie viel Matching-Förderung sollten wir anstreben?** Als Richtwert rund die Hälfte Ihres Ziels an
Matching- und Challenge-Mitteln. Wenn Sie 100.000 € sammeln möchten, peilen Sie an, etwa 50.000 € zu
sichern. Mehr Matching-Förderung, durch gut getimte Challenges eingesetzt, hebt in der Regel die
Teilnahme.

**Verändert Matching-Förderung wirklich, wie viel Menschen spenden?** Ja. Studien zu
Crowdfunding-Projekten mit Matching fanden rund doppelt so viele Spenden, eine durchschnittliche
Spende, die sich fast verdoppelte, und insgesamt deutlich höhere Gesamtbeträge. Die Dringlichkeit
eines gedeckelten, zeitlich begrenzten Matchings zieht Spenden vor und hebt ihre Höhe.

**Woher kommt der Matching-Topf?** Von Leitungs-, Groß- und Nachlassspendern, Vorstandsmitgliedern,
Unternehmenspartnern und Stiftungen sowie manchmal aus zentralen Mitteln, die bereits für eine Sache
vorgesehen sind. Bitten Sie früh, vier bis sechs Monate im Voraus, und rahmen Sie das Matching als
Philanthropie mit hoher Hebelwirkung, die die Großzügigkeit Hunderter anderer freisetzt.

**Wie behandeln wir steuerbegünstigtes Spenden in der Rechnung?** Behandeln Sie es als Vorteil für
den Spender und nicht als zusätzliche Einnahme für die Sache. Die meisten europäischen Länder bieten
einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung auf förderfähige Spenden, und Transnational Giving
Europe ermöglicht steuerbegünstigte grenzüberschreitende Spenden zwischen teilnehmenden Ländern,
aber die Regeln variieren je nach Land. Das Matching ist es, das das bei Ihrer Sache ankommende Geld
verdoppelt, halten Sie die Schlagzeile also bei der Verdopplung und überlassen Sie das steuerliche
Detail dem Spendenprozess und der Quittung.

**Was tun, wenn uns mitten in der Kampagne die Matching-Mittel ausgehen?** Planen Sie es im Voraus.
Dass sie ausgehen, ist ein gutes Problem, braucht aber eine bereitliegende Antwort: eine neue
Challenge eröffnen, ein Stretch-Matching von einem in Reserve gehaltenen Spender freigeben oder den
Unterstützern klar mitteilen, dass der Matching-Topf dank ihrer Großzügigkeit ausgeschöpft ist.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Matching- und Challenge-Planer](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Vorlage für die Matching-Anfrage](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Arbeitsblatt zur Challenge-Gestaltung](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihren Aufruf- und E-Mail-Text
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Präsenzmomente direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- [Hubbub-Blog: wie Matching-Förderung das Crowdfunding beeinflusst](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie Sie einen Spendentag durchführen](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Wie Sie eine Challenge-Woche durchführen](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) und [Wie Sie eine Crowdfunding-Kampagne durchführen](/europe/de/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to use match funding and challenges](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (europe/en): A practical guide to match funding and challenge mechanics, covering why they work, match structures, tax-efficient giving, the main challenge types, sourcing the match pot, and how to use them across giving days, challenge weeks and crowdfunding.
Match funding and challenges are the two mechanics that lift a fundraising campaign from steady
to exceptional. Used well, they shape how much people give, how early they give, and whether
they give at all. This guide explains what match funding is and why it works, how to structure
a match, how tax-efficient giving stacks into the maths, the main challenge types and when to reach for
each, where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it, and how to put all of this to work
across a [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and a
[crowdfunding campaign](/europe/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/),
> [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) and
> [challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## What match funding is and why it works

Match funding takes a leadership or major gift and holds it back, then uses it to double the
gifts of everyone else during a campaign. Rather than spending the major gift straight away,
you put it to work as a multiplier, so an ordinary supporter giving €50 sees their gift become
€100. The donor's generosity stops being one gift among many and becomes the engine that
unlocks hundreds of others.

A match works because of three things about how people decide to give. The first is **urgency**.
A match is almost always time-limited or capped, so the offer to have your gift doubled is
visibly running out, which turns a vague intention to give "at some point" into a reason to give
now. The second is **social proof**. A match signals that people of standing and means already
back the cause, reassuring a wary donor that they are joining something credible rather than
taking a risk alone. The third is **loss aversion**, the well-evidenced tendency for people to
feel the prospect of missing out more keenly than an equivalent gain; framed as "give now or
your gift will not be doubled," a match works on a donor's reluctance to leave value on the
table. Together these forces explain why people give more, and give earlier, when a match is in
play.

The effect is measurable. In a study of three universities that had used match funding in their
crowdfunding programmes for more than two years, matched projects attracted roughly twice as
many donations as unmatched ones, the average donation size nearly doubled, and the total
raised, setting aside the matched funds themselves, could be as much as three times higher.
The University of York's Deputy Director of Development put the mechanism plainly: "Matched
funding gives crowdfunding projects an initial boost, getting their campaigns off to a flying
start. This momentum builds confidence in asking." That last point matters: a match does not
only change donor behaviour, it changes how confidently your fundraisers and project leaders
make the ask in the first place.

## How to structure a match

There is more than one way to build a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve. Map this out before you go to donors, because the structure you choose shapes
the conversation you have with them. The five structures below cover most campaigns.

A **straight 1:1 match**, euro for euro, is the simplest to communicate and the safest
default. Every supporter understands it instantly, and it carries no awkward arithmetic. For
most campaigns it is the right starting point.

A **higher-ratio match**, such as 2:1 or 3:1, costs more to fund but lands hard when you want to
galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects who
need an extra reason to act. Use it deliberately and sparingly, because if every gift is tripled
the offer stops feeling special.

A **capped match**, framed as "the first €50,000 will be doubled," is where most of the urgency
comes from. Because donors understand the pot can run out, they bring their gifts forward to
make sure they are matched. The cap is not a limitation to apologise for; it is the thing that
makes the offer bite.

A **segment-specific match** targets a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni
match or a parents' match. It lifts results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell,
because you can write directly to those supporters about an offer made for them.

A **themed match** is tied to a particular project or fund, so that every gift to the bursary
fund, or to a specific building or piece of equipment, is doubled. This sharpens the case for
support and suits donors who care about one outcome rather than the institution as a whole.

Whichever structure you choose, two operational rules hold. Never announce a match you have not
confirmed in writing, because a campaign built on hoped-for funds is built on sand. And decide
in advance how you will handle the moment the match is exhausted: running out of matched funding
mid-campaign is a good problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is opening a
fresh challenge, releasing a stretch match from a donor held in reserve, or simply telling
supporters the matched pot has been claimed thanks to their generosity.

## Stacking tax-efficient giving into the maths and the message

Across Europe, most countries offer donors a tax deduction or tax reduction on gifts to eligible
organisations, and for cross-border gifts the Transnational Giving Europe network lets a donor in
one participating country give tax-efficiently to a beneficiary in another. The rules and rates
vary widely by country, so the benefit lowers the real cost of giving for the supporter rather
than adding to your income the way a match does. Matched euro for euro, a single €100 decision
becomes €200 of value for the cause: the donor's €100 and the matched €100.

Most campaigns leave the tax detail unspoken in the appeal, which is fine, because the match does
the heavy lifting in the message. The example below, drawn from a giving day appeal, shows the
tone to aim for:

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> €50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A €100 gift becomes €200. Give before the match runs out."

Notice what that copy does. It leads with urgency, names the cap, and quantifies the doubling in
plain euros. Keep any tax-deduction detail simple in the appeal itself, leave it to the donation
flow and the receipt, and let the match carry the emotional weight of the message.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the
community hits a collective target. Challenges gamify a campaign and are especially good at
drawing in non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation,
not just their euros, make a visible difference. A €10 gift may feel small against a €50,000
target, but as the thirtieth donation that unlocks €1,000 it feels decisive. Most strong
campaigns run several challenges so there is always a live reason to give. The seven types below
each suit a different moment.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock €1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours of a campaign, when you most need to show momentum.
Front-loading a challenge like this can produce a genuine surge: a "first 25 donors" challenge
produced an unexpected rush at nine o'clock on the launch morning of one University of York
Challenge Week.

A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors releases a further €5,000, gives you a
rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell the moment you hit it. Milestones
work best in a series, so that each one cleared sets up the next.

A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or trigger a bonus,
concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around. It is one of the most
reliable ways to lift a quiet afternoon, because everyone knows the clock is running.

A **head-to-head challenge** sets groups against each other, for example houses, year groups,
faculties, sports clubs or alumni regions. This is the mechanic that turns supporters into
recruiters, because they start rallying their own people up the leaderboard. York found that
head-to-head match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels sparked late flurries of giving, as
groups raced to overtake a near rival.

A **participation challenge**, keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised, is
the best tool for culture-building and donor acquisition, because it tells every supporter that
their gift counts as much as anyone's. It is the natural choice when the goal is a wider donor
base rather than a bigger headline figure.

A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees or senior leaders pledge a sum if a set
number of new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a real stake in the
outcome. Visible leadership matters: at one York Challenge Week, the Vice-Chancellor judged a
video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club, which drew the community in
and signalled institutional backing.

A **stretch or bonus challenge**, held in reserve and released only if the campaign exceeds
target, keeps momentum alive right to the final hour. It is your insurance against the late lull
that can set in once the main goal is in sight.

Two design lessons run across all of these. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large
ones, because frequent unlocks keep a campaign interesting and give you constant reasons to
message. And layer your challenges so there is something any group or individual can achieve
alongside the bigger collective targets, which keeps everyone in the game rather than just the
front-runners. One operational point is worth borrowing from York, who found students making
token £1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges and raised the minimum gift to
£3. As their Philanthropy Officer reported, "That did really seem to have a positive effect in
increasing the value, and no one complained."

## Where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors, from trustees, and from corporate partners and trusts and
foundations. Sometimes it comes from central funds already earmarked to support a cause, for
instance money set aside for clubs and societies, but the ambition over time should be to fund
more of it from genuinely new income. Either way, sourcing the pot deserves as much care as the
public campaign, because it is the single biggest determinant of how the campaign performs.

Start early, ideally four to six months before the campaign, by identifying prospects with both
the capacity and the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your strongest candidates
are usually existing major donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have already shown
they care about the cause. **Corporate partners** are a natural fit too, especially where a match
can be tied to a theme that aligns with their interests or where they can be recognised as a
campaign sponsor; a corporate match also gives the business a clean, measurable story about the
impact of its money.

When you make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large
gift. This is the heart of the proposition and the reason it converts. A match donor is not only
giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of other people, and that multiplier
is what makes the gift feel different from a straightforward donation. Be specific: explain that
their €25,000, used as a match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and could double the
campaign's total, and tie that to a tangible outcome the combined sum will fund. Offer
recognition that fits the donor's preference, whether that is naming the challenge after them or
their family, listing them as a match donor with their permission, or keeping it entirely
private. Our [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) gives you a
structure for this conversation.

Then steward the match donor before, during and after the campaign. Beforehand, brief them
properly, confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, such
as lending their name to a challenge or recording a short video. During the campaign, show them
their match being claimed in real time, because seeing a gift at work is the most powerful
stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the specific impact: how many donors the match
unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the combined total will fund. That report is the most
important conversation for next year, because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives
again, and frequently gives more. The pipeline runs in both directions, too. Highgate School
found that their giving day created future match donors, noting that "three individuals who made
a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will increase their gift to be part
of the match pool for our next Giving Day." New donors acquired through a campaign can become the
leadership and match donors of the next.

As a planning rule of thumb across most time-bound campaigns, aim to secure roughly half of your
target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is €100,000, look to line up around €50,000.
More match funding, deployed through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.
Our [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) helps you reconcile
the pot you can secure with the target you want to set.

## Using match and challenges across your campaigns

The same mechanics behave differently depending on the campaign they sit inside, so it is worth
thinking about how to deploy them in each format.

On a **[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, match funding is the single biggest
lever you have, and challenges are how you keep the 24 to 36 hours moving. The art is to sequence
them so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock challenge at launch to establish
momentum, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a stretch
challenge held back for the closing push. Because email drives the large majority of gifts on a
giving day, tie each send to a live challenge or a match that is running down, so every message
carries news rather than just another reminder. Use our
[challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) to map each challenge to a
trigger, a time and a message.

On a **[Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, match funding and incentives
drive the urgency and the friendly competition that make the week move, and the emphasis shifts
towards participation and group rivalry. Here you can layer individual challenges that any group
can achieve, a group challenge that builds team spirit, and head-to-head match-ups between clubs
at similar donor levels. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones, front-load an
early target to spark a launch-morning surge, and get your leadership involved as a judge or
champion. The pot can come from central funds already set aside to support clubs and societies,
or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the week, with the long-term
aim of funding more of it from new income.

On a **[crowdfunding campaign](/europe/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**, match funding
plays a slightly different role, because crowdfunding runs over weeks rather than hours and is
led by the project owners themselves. Here the match works most powerfully as an opening boost
that gets a project off the ground and builds the project owner's confidence to keep asking, as
York's Deputy Director of Development described. The evidence is striking: matched crowdfunding
projects can attract around twice as many donations, see the average gift nearly double, and
raise substantially more in total. Project owners with a match in place also tend to set higher
goals and promote harder, precisely because there is a pot to unlock. The practical implication
is to allocate match funding where it will do the most good, often to projects that are credible
and well-led but need momentum, and to make the match visible on the project page so every
prospective donor sees that their gift will go further.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between match funding and a challenge?** A match doubles an individual's
gift, euro for euro or at a higher ratio, the moment they give. A challenge releases a pot of
funding when the community as a whole reaches a collective target, such as a number of donors or
a total raised. Matches reward the size of a gift; challenges reward participation. Strong
campaigns use both.

**How much match funding should we aim for?** As a guide, around half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise €100,000, look to secure roughly €50,000. More match
funding, used through well-timed challenges, generally lifts participation.

**Does match funding really change how much people give?** Yes. Studies of matched crowdfunding
projects found roughly twice as many donations, an average gift that nearly doubled, and
significantly higher totals overall. The urgency of a capped, time-limited match pulls gifts
forward and lifts their size.

**Where does the match pot come from?** From leadership, major and legacy donors, trustees,
corporate partners, and trusts and foundations, and sometimes from central funds already
earmarked for a cause. Ask early, four to six months ahead, and frame the match as high-leverage
philanthropy that unlocks the generosity of hundreds of others.

**How do we handle tax-efficient giving in the maths?** Treat it as a benefit to the donor rather
than added income to the cause. Most European countries offer a tax deduction or reduction on
eligible gifts, and Transnational Giving Europe enables tax-efficient cross-border gifts between
participating countries, but the rules vary by country. The match is what doubles the money
reaching your cause, so keep the headline about the doubling and leave the tax detail to the
donation flow and the receipt.

**What if we run out of match funding mid-campaign?** Plan for it in advance. Running out is a
good problem, but it needs a response ready: open a fresh challenge, release a stretch match from
a donor held in reserve, or tell supporters clearly that the matched pot has been claimed thanks
to their generosity.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: how match funding affects crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](/europe/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo usar la financiación de contrapartida y los desafíos](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica sobre los mecanismos de financiación de contrapartida y los desafíos, que explica por qué funcionan, las estructuras de contrapartida, las donaciones fiscalmente eficientes, los principales tipos de desafío, cómo conseguir el fondo de contrapartida y cómo usarlos en jornadas de donación, semanas de desafíos y campañas de financiación colectiva.
La financiación de contrapartida y los desafíos son los dos mecanismos que elevan una campaña de
captación de fondos de constante a excepcional. Bien usados, determinan cuánto dona la gente, con
qué antelación dona y si dona en absoluto. Esta guía explica qué es la financiación de contrapartida
y por qué funciona, cómo estructurar una contrapartida, cómo las donaciones fiscalmente eficientes
se integran en las cuentas, los principales tipos de desafío y cuándo recurrir a cada uno, de dónde
sale el fondo de contrapartida y cómo solicitarlo, y cómo poner todo esto en práctica en una
[jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), una
[semana de desafíos](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) y una
[campaña de financiación colectiva](/europe/es/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestro
> [planificador de contrapartida y desafíos](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/), nuestra
> [plantilla de solicitud de financiación de contrapartida](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) y
> nuestra [hoja de diseño de desafíos](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## Qué es la financiación de contrapartida y por qué funciona

La financiación de contrapartida toma una donación de liderazgo o una gran donación y la reserva,
para luego usarla para duplicar las donaciones de todos los demás durante una campaña. En lugar de
gastar la gran donación de inmediato, la pones a trabajar como un multiplicador, de modo que un
simpatizante corriente que dona 50 € ve cómo su donación se convierte en 100 €. La generosidad del
donante deja de ser una donación más entre muchas y se convierte en el motor que desbloquea
cientos de otras.

Una contrapartida funciona por tres aspectos de cómo las personas deciden donar. El primero es la
**urgencia**. Una contrapartida casi siempre está limitada en el tiempo o con un tope, de modo que
la oferta de ver duplicada tu donación se agota visiblemente, lo que convierte una vaga intención de
donar "en algún momento" en una razón para donar ahora. El segundo es la **prueba social**. Una
contrapartida señala que personas de prestigio y recursos ya respaldan la causa, lo que tranquiliza
a un donante dubitativo al saber que se une a algo creíble en lugar de correr un riesgo en solitario.
El tercero es la **aversión a la pérdida**, la tendencia bien documentada de las personas a sentir
con más intensidad la perspectiva de perderse algo que una ganancia equivalente; planteada como
"dona ahora o tu donación no se duplicará", una contrapartida actúa sobre la reticencia del donante
a dejar valor sobre la mesa. Juntas, estas fuerzas explican por qué las personas donan más, y donan
antes, cuando hay una contrapartida en juego.

El efecto es medible. En un estudio de tres universidades que habían usado la financiación de
contrapartida en sus programas de financiación colectiva durante más de dos años, los proyectos con
contrapartida atrajeron aproximadamente el doble de donaciones que los que no la tenían, el importe
medio de las donaciones casi se duplicó, y el total recaudado, sin contar los propios fondos de
contrapartida, podía llegar a ser hasta tres veces mayor. El subdirector de desarrollo de la
Universidad de York resumió el mecanismo con claridad: "La financiación de contrapartida da a los
proyectos de financiación colectiva un impulso inicial, haciendo que sus campañas arranquen a toda
velocidad. Este impulso refuerza la confianza a la hora de pedir." Ese último punto importa: una
contrapartida no solo cambia el comportamiento del donante, cambia con cuánta confianza tus
captadores de fondos y responsables de proyecto hacen la petición en primer lugar.

## Cómo estructurar una contrapartida

Hay más de una forma de construir una contrapartida, y la elección correcta depende de lo que
intentes lograr. Define esto antes de acudir a los donantes, porque la estructura que elijas moldea
la conversación que tendrás con ellos. Las cinco estructuras siguientes cubren la mayoría de las
campañas.

Una **contrapartida simple 1:1**, euro por euro, es la más fácil de comunicar y la opción
predeterminada más segura. Todo simpatizante la entiende al instante, y no conlleva ninguna
aritmética incómoda. Para la mayoría de las campañas es el punto de partida adecuado.

Una **contrapartida de ratio más alto**, como 2:1 o 3:1, cuesta más de financiar pero impacta con
fuerza cuando quieres galvanizar un empuje específico, por ejemplo una hora de poder o un esfuerzo
por convertir a posibles donantes fríos que necesitan una razón adicional para actuar. Úsala de
forma deliberada y con moderación, porque si cada donación se triplica, la oferta deja de parecer
especial.

Una **contrapartida con tope**, planteada como "los primeros 50.000 € se duplicarán", es de donde
proviene la mayor parte de la urgencia. Como los donantes entienden que el fondo puede agotarse,
adelantan sus donaciones para asegurarse de que se igualen. El tope no es una limitación por la que
disculparse; es lo que da mordiente a la oferta.

Una **contrapartida específica para un segmento** apunta a un grupo que suele rendir por debajo de
lo esperado, como una contrapartida para jóvenes exalumnos o una contrapartida para padres. Mejora
los resultados en ese segmento y te brinda una historia nueva que contar, porque puedes escribir
directamente a esos simpatizantes sobre una oferta pensada para ellos.

Una **contrapartida temática** está ligada a un proyecto o un fondo concreto, de modo que cada
donación al fondo de becas, o a un edificio o equipo específico, se duplica. Esto afina el
argumento de apoyo y se adapta a los donantes a quienes les importa un único resultado más que la
institución en su conjunto.

Sea cual sea la estructura que elijas, rigen dos reglas operativas. Nunca anuncies una contrapartida
que no hayas confirmado por escrito, porque una campaña construida sobre fondos esperados está
construida sobre arena. Y decide de antemano cómo gestionarás el momento en que la contrapartida se
agote: quedarse sin fondos de contrapartida a mitad de campaña es un buen problema, pero aun así
necesita una respuesta planificada, ya sea abrir un nuevo desafío, liberar una contrapartida
adicional de un donante reservado, o simplemente comunicar a los simpatizantes que el fondo de
contrapartida se ha reclamado gracias a su generosidad.

## Integrar las donaciones fiscalmente eficientes en las cuentas y en el mensaje

En toda Europa, la mayoría de los países ofrecen a los donantes una deducción o una reducción fiscal
sobre las donaciones a organizaciones elegibles, y para las donaciones transfronterizas la red
Transnational Giving Europe permite a un donante de un país participante donar de forma fiscalmente
eficiente a un beneficiario de otro. Las normas y los tipos varían mucho de un país a otro, de modo
que el beneficio reduce el coste real de donar para el simpatizante en lugar de sumarse a tus
ingresos como hace una contrapartida. Igualada euro por euro, una sola decisión de 100 € se convierte
en 200 € de valor para la causa: los 100 € del donante y los 100 € de la contrapartida.

La mayoría de las campañas dejan el detalle fiscal sin mencionar en la apelación, lo cual está bien,
porque la contrapartida hace el trabajo pesado en el mensaje. El ejemplo siguiente, extraído de una
apelación de jornada de donación, muestra el tono al que aspirar:

> "Haz tu donación pronto para asegurarte de que se iguale. Gracias a nuestros donantes de
> contrapartida, los primeros 50.000 € recaudados durante la jornada de donación se duplicarán, el
> único momento del año en que tu donación puede llegar el doble de lejos. Una donación de 100 € se
> convierte en 200 €. Dona antes de que la contrapartida se agote."

Fíjate en lo que hace ese texto. Empieza con la urgencia, nombra el tope y cuantifica la duplicación
en euros sencillos. Mantén cualquier detalle sobre la deducción fiscal sencillo en la propia
apelación, déjalo para el flujo de donación y el recibo, y deja que la contrapartida cargue con el
peso emocional del mensaje.

## Tipos de desafío y cómo usarlos

Donde una contrapartida duplica una donación individual, un desafío libera un fondo cuando la
comunidad alcanza un objetivo colectivo. Los desafíos convierten una campaña en un juego y son
especialmente eficaces para atraer a no donantes y a donantes de pequeña cuantía, porque permiten a
las personas ver que su participación, y no solo sus euros, marca una diferencia visible. Una
donación de 10 € puede parecer pequeña frente a un objetivo de 50.000 €, pero como la trigésima
donación que desbloquea 1.000 € resulta decisiva. La mayoría de las campañas sólidas llevan a cabo
varios desafíos para que siempre haya una razón viva para donar. Los siete tipos siguientes se
adaptan cada uno a un momento distinto.

Un **desafío de umbral o de desbloqueo**, como "los primeros 30 donantes desbloquean 1.000 €",
recompensa la acción temprana y es ideal para las primeras horas de una campaña, cuando más
necesitas mostrar impulso. Concentrar un desafío así al principio puede producir un repunte
genuino: un desafío de "los primeros 25 donantes" produjo una avalancha inesperada a las nueve de la
mañana del lanzamiento de una de las semanas de desafíos de la Universidad de York.

Un **desafío de hito**, en el que alcanzar 200 donantes libera otros 5.000 €, te da un punto de
encuentro hacia el que empujar y una historia natural que contar en el momento en que lo alcanzas.
Los hitos funcionan mejor en serie, de modo que cada uno superado prepara el siguiente.

Una **hora de poder u hora dorada**, en la que las donaciones realizadas dentro de una hora
establecida se duplican o activan una bonificación, concentra el tráfico en una ventana en torno a
la cual puedes generar expectación. Es una de las formas más fiables de levantar una tarde tranquila,
porque todo el mundo sabe que el reloj corre.

Un **desafío cara a cara** enfrenta a grupos entre sí, por ejemplo casas, promociones, facultades,
clubes deportivos o regiones de exalumnos. Es el mecanismo que convierte a los simpatizantes en
reclutadores, porque empiezan a movilizar a su propia gente para subir en la clasificación. York
constató que los enfrentamientos cara a cara entre clubes con niveles de donantes similares
desataban arranques tardíos de donaciones, mientras los grupos competían por adelantar a un rival
cercano.

Un **desafío de participación**, basado en el número de donantes en lugar del importe recaudado, es
la mejor herramienta para construir cultura y captar donantes, porque le dice a cada simpatizante
que su donación cuenta tanto como la de cualquiera. Es la elección natural cuando el objetivo es una
base de donantes más amplia en lugar de una cifra destacada mayor.

Un **desafío de la junta o del liderazgo**, en el que los patronos o los altos cargos se comprometen
a aportar una suma si un número determinado de nuevos donantes dona, recauda fondos y a la vez da a
tu liderazgo un interés real en el resultado. Un liderazgo visible importa: en una semana de desafíos
de York, el rector juzgó un desafío de vídeo que desbloqueó 100 £ adicionales para el club ganador,
lo que atrajo a la comunidad y señaló el respaldo institucional.

Un **desafío de ampliación o bonificación**, guardado en reserva y liberado solo si la campaña
supera el objetivo, mantiene vivo el impulso hasta la última hora. Es tu seguro contra el bajón
tardío que puede instalarse una vez que el objetivo principal está a la vista.

Dos lecciones de diseño atraviesan todos estos desafíos. Lleva a cabo muchos desafíos pequeños en
lugar de unos pocos grandes, porque los desbloqueos frecuentes mantienen interesante una campaña y
te dan motivos constantes para comunicar. Y escalona tus desafíos de modo que siempre haya algo que
cualquier grupo o individuo pueda lograr junto a los objetivos colectivos más grandes, lo que
mantiene a todos en el juego y no solo a los que van en cabeza. Vale la pena tomar prestado un punto
operativo de York, que constató que algunos estudiantes hacían donaciones simbólicas de 1 £ para
inflar su número de donantes en los desafíos y elevó la donación mínima a 3 £. Como informó su
responsable de filantropía: "Eso pareció tener realmente un efecto positivo en el aumento del valor,
y nadie se quejó."

## De dónde sale el fondo de contrapartida y cómo solicitarlo

La financiación de contrapartida y de desafíos no aparece por sí sola. Se recauda, donación a
donación, de tus donantes de liderazgo, grandes donantes y donantes de legados, de los patronos, y
de socios corporativos y fundaciones. A veces proviene de fondos centrales ya destinados a apoyar
una causa, por ejemplo dinero reservado para clubes y asociaciones, pero la ambición con el tiempo
debería ser financiar una mayor parte de ello con ingresos genuinamente nuevos. En cualquier caso,
conseguir el fondo merece tanto cuidado como la campaña pública, porque es el factor que más
determina el rendimiento de la campaña.

Empieza pronto, idealmente de cuatro a seis meses antes de la campaña, identificando a posibles
donantes que tengan tanto la capacidad como la inclinación de financiar una contrapartida o dar
nombre a un desafío. Tus candidatos más sólidos suelen ser los grandes donantes existentes, los
patronos y los donantes habituales comprometidos que ya han demostrado que les importa la causa. Los
**socios corporativos** también encajan de forma natural, sobre todo cuando una contrapartida puede
ligarse a un tema que se alinee con sus intereses o cuando pueden ser reconocidos como patrocinadores
de la campaña; una contrapartida corporativa también ofrece a la empresa una historia clara y
medible sobre el impacto de su dinero.

Cuando hagas la petición, presenta la contrapartida como filantropía de alto apalancamiento en lugar
de como una simple gran donación. Ese es el corazón de la propuesta y la razón por la que convierte.
Un donante de contrapartida no solo está dando dinero, está desbloqueando la generosidad de cientos
de personas más, y ese multiplicador es lo que hace que la donación se sienta distinta de una
donación corriente. Sé concreto: explica que sus 25.000 €, usados como contrapartida, probablemente
inspirarán varios cientos de donaciones y podrían duplicar el total de la campaña, y liga eso a un
resultado tangible que la suma combinada financiará. Ofrece un reconocimiento que se ajuste a la
preferencia del donante, ya sea poner su nombre o el de su familia al desafío, mencionarlo como
donante de contrapartida con su permiso, o mantenerlo del todo privado. Nuestra
[plantilla de solicitud de financiación de contrapartida](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) te
ofrece una estructura para esta conversación.

Luego acompaña al donante de contrapartida antes, durante y después de la campaña. De antemano,
infórmale como es debido, confirma el acuerdo por escrito y dale un papel del que pueda sentirse
parte, como prestar su nombre a un desafío o grabar un breve vídeo. Durante la campaña, muéstrale su
contrapartida reclamándose en tiempo real, porque ver una donación en acción es la forma de
acompañamiento más poderosa que existe. Después, informa del impacto concreto: a cuántos donantes
desbloqueó la contrapartida, cuánto apalancó y qué financiará el total combinado. Ese informe es la
conversación más importante para el año siguiente, porque un donante de contrapartida bien acompañado
muy a menudo vuelve a donar, y con frecuencia dona más. El flujo también discurre en ambas
direcciones. La Highgate School constató que su jornada de donación creaba futuros donantes de
contrapartida, señalando que "tres personas que hicieron una donación por primera vez en nuestra
jornada de donación han dicho que aumentarán su donación para formar parte del fondo de contrapartida
de nuestra próxima jornada de donación." Los nuevos donantes captados a través de una campaña pueden
convertirse en los donantes de liderazgo y de contrapartida de la siguiente.

Como regla general de planificación para la mayoría de las campañas con plazo, procura asegurar
aproximadamente la mitad de tu objetivo en fondos de contrapartida y de desafío. Si tu objetivo es
100.000 €, trata de reunir alrededor de 50.000 €. Más financiación de contrapartida, desplegada a
través de desafíos bien sincronizados, suele significar más participación. Nuestro
[planificador de contrapartida y desafíos](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) te ayuda a
conciliar el fondo que puedes asegurar con el objetivo que quieres fijar.

## Usar la contrapartida y los desafíos en tus campañas

Los mismos mecanismos se comportan de forma distinta según la campaña en la que se inserten, así que
vale la pena pensar en cómo desplegarlos en cada formato.

En una **[jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, la financiación de
contrapartida es la mayor palanca individual de la que dispones, y los desafíos son la forma de
mantener en movimiento las 24 a 36 horas. El arte consiste en secuenciarlos de modo que siempre haya
una razón viva para donar: un desafío de desbloqueo en el lanzamiento para establecer el impulso,
hitos a lo largo del día, una hora de poder para levantar una tarde tranquila, y un desafío de
ampliación guardado para el empuje final. Como el correo electrónico genera la gran mayoría de las
donaciones en una jornada de donación, liga cada envío a un desafío en curso o a una contrapartida
que se está agotando, para que cada mensaje lleve una novedad en lugar de un recordatorio más. Usa
nuestra [hoja de diseño de desafíos](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) para asignar a cada
desafío un detonante, un momento y un mensaje.

En una **[semana de desafíos](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, la financiación de
contrapartida y los incentivos impulsan la urgencia y la competencia amistosa que hacen avanzar la
semana, y el énfasis se desplaza hacia la participación y la rivalidad entre grupos. Aquí puedes
escalonar desafíos individuales que cualquier grupo pueda lograr, un desafío de grupo que cree
espíritu de equipo, y enfrentamientos cara a cara entre clubes con niveles de donantes similares.
Lleva a cabo muchos desafíos pequeños en lugar de unos pocos grandes, coloca un objetivo temprano al
principio para desatar un repunte la mañana del lanzamiento, e implica a tu liderazgo como juez o
campeón. El fondo puede provenir de fondos centrales ya reservados para apoyar a clubes y
asociaciones, o de donaciones de grandes donantes y empresas solicitadas específicamente para la
semana, con el objetivo a largo plazo de financiar una mayor parte de ello con nuevos ingresos.

En una **[campaña de financiación colectiva](/europe/es/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**,
la financiación de contrapartida desempeña un papel ligeramente distinto, porque la financiación
colectiva transcurre a lo largo de semanas en lugar de horas y la dirigen los propios responsables
de los proyectos. Aquí la contrapartida actúa con más fuerza como un impulso inicial que pone en
marcha un proyecto y refuerza la confianza del responsable del proyecto para seguir pidiendo, como
describió el subdirector de desarrollo de York. La evidencia es llamativa: los proyectos de
financiación colectiva con contrapartida pueden atraer alrededor del doble de donaciones, ver cómo
la donación media casi se duplica y recaudar sustancialmente más en total. Los responsables de
proyecto con una contrapartida en marcha también tienden a fijar objetivos más altos y a promocionar
con más empeño, precisamente porque hay un fondo que desbloquear. La implicación práctica es destinar
la financiación de contrapartida donde haga más bien, a menudo a proyectos creíbles y bien dirigidos
pero que necesitan impulso, y hacer visible la contrapartida en la página del proyecto para que cada
posible donante vea que su donación llegará más lejos.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuál es la diferencia entre la financiación de contrapartida y un desafío?** Una contrapartida
duplica la donación de un individuo, euro por euro o a un ratio más alto, en el momento en que dona.
Un desafío libera un fondo cuando la comunidad en su conjunto alcanza un objetivo colectivo, como un
número de donantes o un total recaudado. Las contrapartidas recompensan el tamaño de una donación;
los desafíos recompensan la participación. Las campañas sólidas usan ambos.

**¿A cuánta financiación de contrapartida deberíamos aspirar?** A modo de guía, alrededor de la mitad
de tu objetivo en fondos de contrapartida y de desafío. Si quieres recaudar 100.000 €, trata de
asegurar unos 50.000 €. Más financiación de contrapartida, usada a través de desafíos bien
sincronizados, suele elevar la participación.

**¿Cambia realmente la financiación de contrapartida cuánto dona la gente?** Sí. Los estudios sobre
proyectos de financiación colectiva con contrapartida hallaron aproximadamente el doble de
donaciones, una donación media que casi se duplicó y totales mucho más altos en conjunto. La urgencia
de una contrapartida con tope y limitada en el tiempo adelanta las donaciones y eleva su tamaño.

**¿De dónde sale el fondo de contrapartida?** De donantes de liderazgo, grandes donantes y donantes
de legados, patronos, socios corporativos y fundaciones, y a veces de fondos centrales ya destinados
a una causa. Pide pronto, de cuatro a seis meses antes, y presenta la contrapartida como filantropía
de alto apalancamiento que desbloquea la generosidad de cientos de personas más.

**¿Cómo gestionamos las donaciones fiscalmente eficientes en las cuentas?** Trátalas como un
beneficio para el donante en lugar de como un ingreso añadido para la causa. La mayoría de los países
europeos ofrecen una deducción o una reducción fiscal sobre las donaciones elegibles, y Transnational
Giving Europe permite donaciones transfronterizas fiscalmente eficientes entre países participantes,
pero las normas varían de un país a otro. La contrapartida es lo que duplica el dinero que llega a tu
causa, así que mantén el titular sobre la duplicación y deja el detalle fiscal para el flujo de
donación y el recibo.

**¿Qué hacemos si nos quedamos sin financiación de contrapartida a mitad de campaña?** Planifícalo de
antemano. Quedarse sin ella es un buen problema, pero necesita una respuesta lista: abrir un nuevo
desafío, liberar una contrapartida de ampliación de un donante reservado, o comunicar con claridad a
los simpatizantes que el fondo de contrapartida se ha reclamado gracias a su generosidad.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Planificador de contrapartida y desafíos](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Plantilla de solicitud de financiación de contrapartida](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Hoja de diseño de desafíos](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de jornada de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tu apelación y de tus correos electrónicos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Blog de Hubbub: cómo afecta la financiación de contrapartida a la financiación colectiva](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo organizar una jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Cómo organizar una semana de desafíos](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) y [Cómo llevar a cabo una campaña de financiación colectiva](/europe/es/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment utiliser le financement de contrepartie et les défis](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique sur les mécanismes de financement de contrepartie et de défis, qui explique pourquoi ils fonctionnent, les structures de contrepartie, les dons fiscalement avantageux, les principaux types de défis, la constitution du fonds de contrepartie et leur utilisation lors des journées de générosité, des semaines de défis et des campagnes de financement participatif.
Le financement de contrepartie et les défis sont les deux mécanismes qui font passer une campagne
de collecte de fonds de régulière à exceptionnelle. Bien utilisés, ils déterminent combien les
gens donnent, à quel moment ils donnent et s'ils donnent tout court. Ce guide explique ce qu'est
le financement de contrepartie et pourquoi il fonctionne, comment structurer une contrepartie,
comment les dons fiscalement avantageux s'intègrent dans le calcul, les principaux types de défis
et quand recourir à chacun, d'où vient le fonds de contrepartie et comment le solliciter, et
comment mettre tout cela en oeuvre lors d'une
[journée de générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/), d'une
[semaine de défis](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) et d'une
[campagne de financement participatif](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [planificateur de contrepartie et de défis](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/),
> notre [modèle de demande de financement de contrepartie](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) et
> notre [feuille de conception de défi](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## Ce qu'est le financement de contrepartie et pourquoi il fonctionne

Le financement de contrepartie consiste à prendre un don de direction ou un don majeur et à le
mettre de côté, puis à l'utiliser pour doubler les dons de tous les autres pendant une campagne.
Plutôt que de dépenser le don majeur immédiatement, vous le faites travailler comme un
multiplicateur, de sorte qu'un simple sympathisant qui donne 50 € voit son don devenir 100 €. La
générosité du donateur cesse d'être un don parmi d'autres et devient le moteur qui en déclenche
des centaines d'autres.

Une contrepartie fonctionne en raison de trois aspects de la manière dont les gens décident de
donner. Le premier est l'**urgence**. Une contrepartie est presque toujours limitée dans le temps
ou plafonnée, de sorte que l'offre de voir son don doublé s'épuise visiblement, ce qui transforme
une vague intention de donner "un jour" en une raison de donner maintenant. Le deuxième est la
**preuve sociale**. Une contrepartie indique que des personnes de standing et de moyens soutiennent
déjà la cause, rassurant un donateur hésitant sur le fait qu'il rejoint quelque chose de crédible
plutôt que de prendre un risque seul. Le troisième est l'**aversion à la perte**, cette tendance
bien documentée des gens à ressentir plus vivement la perspective de manquer quelque chose qu'un
gain équivalent ; présentée comme "donnez maintenant sinon votre don ne sera pas doublé", une
contrepartie joue sur la réticence du donateur à laisser de la valeur sur la table. Ensemble, ces
forces expliquent pourquoi les gens donnent davantage, et donnent plus tôt, lorsqu'une
contrepartie est en jeu.

L'effet est mesurable. Dans une étude portant sur trois universités ayant utilisé le financement
de contrepartie dans leurs programmes de financement participatif pendant plus de deux ans, les
projets avec contrepartie ont attiré environ deux fois plus de dons que ceux sans contrepartie, le
montant moyen des dons a presque doublé, et le total collecté, sans compter les fonds de
contrepartie eux-mêmes, pouvait être jusqu'à trois fois plus élevé. Le directeur adjoint du
développement de l'Université de York a résumé le mécanisme simplement : "Le financement de
contrepartie donne aux projets de financement participatif un élan initial, leur permettant de
démarrer sur les chapeaux de roue. Cette dynamique renforce la confiance pour solliciter." Ce
dernier point est important : une contrepartie ne modifie pas seulement le comportement du
donateur, elle change la confiance avec laquelle vos collecteurs et responsables de projet font la
demande en premier lieu.

## Comment structurer une contrepartie

Il existe plus d'une façon de construire une contrepartie, et le bon choix dépend de ce que vous
cherchez à accomplir. Définissez cela avant d'aller voir les donateurs, car la structure que vous
choisissez détermine la conversation que vous aurez avec eux. Les cinq structures ci-dessous
couvrent la plupart des campagnes.

Une **contrepartie simple 1:1**, euro pour euro, est la plus facile à communiquer et l'option par
défaut la plus sûre. Chaque sympathisant la comprend instantanément, et elle ne comporte aucune
arithmétique embarrassante. Pour la plupart des campagnes, c'est le bon point de départ.

Une **contrepartie à ratio plus élevé**, comme 2:1 ou 3:1, coûte plus cher à financer mais frappe
fort lorsque vous voulez galvaniser une poussée spécifique, par exemple une heure de pouvoir ou un
effort pour convertir des prospects froids qui ont besoin d'une raison supplémentaire d'agir.
Utilisez-la délibérément et avec parcimonie, car si chaque don est triplé, l'offre cesse de
paraître spéciale.

Une **contrepartie plafonnée**, formulée comme "les premiers 50 000 € seront doublés", est l'endroit
d'où provient l'essentiel de l'urgence. Parce que les donateurs comprennent que le fonds peut
s'épuiser, ils avancent leurs dons pour s'assurer qu'ils sont doublés. Le plafond n'est pas une
limitation dont il faut s'excuser ; c'est ce qui donne du mordant à l'offre.

Une **contrepartie ciblée par segment** vise un groupe qui sous-performe habituellement, comme une
contrepartie pour les jeunes diplômés ou une contrepartie pour les parents. Elle améliore les
résultats dans ce segment et vous donne une nouvelle histoire à raconter, car vous pouvez écrire
directement à ces sympathisants au sujet d'une offre conçue pour eux.

Une **contrepartie thématique** est liée à un projet ou à un fonds particulier, de sorte que chaque
don au fonds de bourses, ou à un bâtiment ou un équipement spécifique, est doublé. Cela affine
l'argumentaire de soutien et convient aux donateurs qui se soucient d'un résultat précis plutôt
que de l'institution dans son ensemble.

Quelle que soit la structure choisie, deux règles opérationnelles s'appliquent. N'annoncez jamais
une contrepartie que vous n'avez pas confirmée par écrit, car une campagne bâtie sur des fonds
espérés est bâtie sur du sable. Et décidez à l'avance comment vous gérerez le moment où la
contrepartie sera épuisée : épuiser le financement de contrepartie en pleine campagne est un bon
problème, mais il nécessite tout de même une réponse planifiée, qu'il s'agisse d'ouvrir un nouveau
défi, de libérer une contrepartie supplémentaire d'un donateur gardé en réserve, ou simplement
d'annoncer aux sympathisants que le fonds de contrepartie a été réclamé grâce à leur générosité.

## Intégrer les dons fiscalement avantageux dans le calcul et le message

À travers l'Europe, la plupart des pays offrent aux donateurs une déduction ou une réduction
fiscale sur les dons aux organisations éligibles, et pour les dons transfrontaliers, le réseau
Transnational Giving Europe permet à un donateur d'un pays participant de donner de manière
fiscalement avantageuse à un bénéficiaire dans un autre. Les règles et les taux varient
considérablement d'un pays à l'autre, de sorte que l'avantage réduit le coût réel du don pour le
sympathisant plutôt que d'ajouter à vos revenus comme le fait une contrepartie. Doublée euro pour
euro, une seule décision de 100 € devient 200 € de valeur pour la cause : les 100 € du donateur et
les 100 € de la contrepartie.

La plupart des campagnes laissent le détail fiscal implicite dans l'appel, ce qui est très bien, car
la contrepartie fait le gros du travail dans le message. L'exemple ci-dessous, tiré d'un appel de
journée de générosité, montre le ton à viser :

> "Faites votre don tôt pour vous assurer qu'il soit doublé. Grâce à nos donateurs de
> contrepartie, les premiers 50 000 € collectés pendant la journée de générosité seront doublés,
> la seule période de l'année où votre don peut compter double. Un don de 100 € devient 200 €.
> Donnez avant que la contrepartie ne s'épuise."

Remarquez ce que fait ce texte. Il commence par l'urgence, nomme le plafond et quantifie le
doublement en euros simples. Gardez tout détail de déduction fiscale simple dans l'appel
lui-même, laissez-le au parcours de don et au reçu, et laissez la contrepartie porter le poids
émotionnel du message.

## Les types de défis et comment les utiliser

Là où une contrepartie double un don individuel, un défi libère un fonds lorsque la communauté
atteint un objectif collectif. Les défis ludifient une campagne et sont particulièrement efficaces
pour attirer les non-donateurs et les petits donateurs, car ils permettent aux gens de voir que
leur participation, et pas seulement leurs euros, fait une différence visible. Un don de 10 € peut
sembler dérisoire face à un objectif de 50 000 €, mais en tant que trentième don qui débloque
1 000 €, il paraît décisif. La plupart des campagnes solides mènent plusieurs défis afin qu'il y
ait toujours une raison vivante de donner. Les sept types ci-dessous conviennent chacun à un moment
différent.

Un **défi de seuil ou de déblocage**, comme "les 30 premiers donateurs débloquent 1 000 €",
récompense l'action précoce et est idéal pour les premières heures d'une campagne, lorsque vous
avez le plus besoin de montrer une dynamique. Concentrer un tel défi en début de campagne peut
produire une véritable poussée : un défi des "25 premiers donateurs" a produit une ruée inattendue
à neuf heures le matin du lancement de l'une des semaines de défis de l'Université de York.

Un **défi d'étape**, où atteindre 200 donateurs libère 5 000 € supplémentaires, vous donne un point
de ralliement vers lequel pousser et une histoire naturelle à raconter au moment où vous l'atteignez.
Les étapes fonctionnent le mieux en série, de sorte que chacune franchie prépare la suivante.

Une **heure de pouvoir ou heure dorée**, durant laquelle les dons effectués dans une heure donnée
sont doublés ou déclenchent un bonus, concentre le trafic dans une fenêtre autour de laquelle vous
pouvez créer de l'anticipation. C'est l'un des moyens les plus fiables de relancer un après-midi
calme, car tout le monde sait que le compte à rebours est lancé.

Un **défi en tête-à-tête** oppose des groupes les uns aux autres, par exemple des maisons, des
promotions, des facultés, des clubs sportifs ou des régions de diplômés. C'est le mécanisme qui
transforme les sympathisants en recruteurs, car ils se mettent à mobiliser leurs propres troupes
pour grimper dans le classement. York a constaté que les affrontements en tête-à-tête entre clubs
à des niveaux de donateurs similaires déclenchaient des poussées tardives de dons, les groupes se
disputant la place pour dépasser un rival proche.

Un **défi de participation**, indexé sur le nombre de donateurs plutôt que sur le montant collecté,
est le meilleur outil pour bâtir une culture et acquérir des donateurs, car il indique à chaque
sympathisant que son don compte autant que celui de n'importe qui. C'est le choix naturel lorsque
l'objectif est une base de donateurs plus large plutôt qu'un chiffre vedette plus élevé.

Un **défi du conseil ou de la direction**, où les administrateurs ou les cadres dirigeants
s'engagent à verser une somme si un nombre déterminé de nouveaux donateurs donnent, collecte des
fonds tout en donnant à votre direction un véritable intérêt dans le résultat. Une direction
visible compte : lors d'une semaine de défis de York, le vice-chancelier a jugé un défi vidéo qui a
débloqué 100 £ supplémentaires pour le club gagnant, ce qui a attiré la communauté et a signalé le
soutien de l'institution.

Un **défi d'extension ou défi bonus**, gardé en réserve et libéré seulement si la campagne dépasse
l'objectif, maintient la dynamique vivante jusqu'à la dernière heure. C'est votre assurance contre
le relâchement tardif qui peut s'installer une fois l'objectif principal en vue.

Deux leçons de conception traversent tous ces défis. Menez de nombreux petits défis plutôt que
quelques grands, car des déblocages fréquents maintiennent l'intérêt d'une campagne et vous donnent
des raisons constantes de communiquer. Et superposez vos défis de sorte qu'il y ait toujours
quelque chose que n'importe quel groupe ou individu puisse accomplir aux côtés des objectifs
collectifs plus importants, ce qui garde tout le monde dans la partie plutôt que seulement les
meneurs. Un point opérationnel mérite d'être emprunté à York, qui a constaté que des étudiants
faisaient des dons symboliques de 1 £ pour gonfler leur nombre de donateurs dans les défis et a
relevé le don minimum à 3 £. Comme l'a rapporté leur responsable de la philanthropie : "Cela a
vraiment semblé avoir un effet positif en augmentant la valeur, et personne ne s'est plaint."

## D'où vient le fonds de contrepartie et comment le solliciter

Le financement de contrepartie et de défis n'apparaît pas tout seul. Il se collecte, don après
don, auprès de vos donateurs de direction, de vos donateurs majeurs et de legs, de vos
administrateurs, ainsi que de partenaires d'entreprise et de fondations et fonds de dotation.
Parfois il provient de fonds centraux déjà affectés au soutien d'une cause, par exemple de l'argent
réservé aux clubs et associations, mais l'ambition au fil du temps devrait être de le financer
davantage à partir de revenus réellement nouveaux. Quoi qu'il en soit, la constitution du fonds
mérite autant de soin que la campagne publique, car c'est le facteur déterminant le plus important
de la performance de la campagne.

Commencez tôt, idéalement quatre à six mois avant la campagne, en identifiant des prospects ayant à
la fois la capacité et l'inclination à financer une contrepartie ou à nommer un défi. Vos meilleurs
candidats sont généralement les donateurs majeurs existants, les administrateurs et les donateurs
réguliers engagés qui ont déjà montré qu'ils tenaient à la cause. Les **partenaires d'entreprise**
conviennent aussi naturellement, surtout lorsqu'une contrepartie peut être liée à un thème en accord
avec leurs intérêts ou lorsqu'ils peuvent être reconnus comme parrains de la campagne ; une
contrepartie d'entreprise donne aussi à l'entreprise une histoire claire et mesurable sur l'impact
de son argent.

Lorsque vous faites la demande, présentez la contrepartie comme une philanthropie à fort effet de
levier plutôt que comme un simple don important. C'est le coeur de la proposition et la raison pour
laquelle elle convainc. Un donateur de contrepartie ne donne pas seulement de l'argent, il débloque
la générosité de centaines d'autres personnes, et ce multiplicateur est ce qui rend le don
différent d'un don ordinaire. Soyez précis : expliquez que leurs 25 000 €, utilisés comme
contrepartie, sont susceptibles d'inspirer plusieurs centaines de dons et pourraient doubler le
total de la campagne, et reliez cela à un résultat tangible que la somme combinée financera. Offrez
une reconnaissance adaptée à la préférence du donateur, qu'il s'agisse de nommer le défi en son
honneur ou en celui de sa famille, de le mentionner comme donateur de contrepartie avec sa
permission, ou de le garder entièrement privé. Notre
[modèle de demande de financement de contrepartie](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) vous
donne une structure pour cette conversation.

Ensuite, accompagnez le donateur de contrepartie avant, pendant et après la campagne. Au préalable,
informez-le correctement, confirmez l'arrangement par écrit et donnez-lui un rôle dont il peut se
sentir partie prenante, comme prêter son nom à un défi ou enregistrer une courte vidéo. Pendant la
campagne, montrez-lui sa contrepartie réclamée en temps réel, car voir un don à l'oeuvre est la
forme d'accompagnement la plus puissante qui soit. Ensuite, rapportez l'impact précis : combien de
donateurs la contrepartie a débloqués, combien elle a mobilisé et ce que le total combiné financera.
Ce rapport est la conversation la plus importante pour l'année suivante, car un donateur de
contrepartie bien accompagné redonne très souvent, et donne fréquemment davantage. Le pipeline
fonctionne aussi dans les deux sens. La Highgate School a constaté que sa journée de générosité
créait de futurs donateurs de contrepartie, notant que "trois personnes qui ont fait un don pour la
première fois lors de notre journée de générosité ont déclaré qu'elles augmenteraient leur don pour
faire partie du fonds de contrepartie de notre prochaine journée de générosité." Les nouveaux
donateurs acquis lors d'une campagne peuvent devenir les donateurs de direction et de contrepartie
de la suivante.

Comme règle de planification générale pour la plupart des campagnes limitées dans le temps, visez à
sécuriser environ la moitié de votre objectif en fonds de contrepartie et de défis. Si votre
objectif est de 100 000 €, cherchez à réunir environ 50 000 €. Plus de financement de contrepartie,
déployé à travers des défis bien synchronisés, signifie généralement plus de participation. Notre
[planificateur de contrepartie et de défis](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) vous aide à
concilier le fonds que vous pouvez sécuriser avec l'objectif que vous voulez fixer.

## Utiliser la contrepartie et les défis dans vos campagnes

Les mêmes mécanismes se comportent différemment selon la campagne dans laquelle ils s'inscrivent,
il vaut donc la peine de réfléchir à la manière de les déployer dans chaque format.

Lors d'une **[journée de générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, le financement de
contrepartie est le plus grand levier dont vous disposez, et les défis sont la manière de maintenir
le mouvement pendant les 24 à 36 heures. L'art consiste à les enchaîner de sorte qu'il y ait
toujours une raison vivante de donner : un défi de déblocage au lancement pour établir la
dynamique, des étapes tout au long de la journée, une heure de pouvoir pour relancer un après-midi
calme, et un défi d'extension gardé pour la poussée finale. Parce que l'e-mail génère la grande
majorité des dons lors d'une journée de générosité, reliez chaque envoi à un défi en cours ou à une
contrepartie qui s'épuise, afin que chaque message porte une nouvelle plutôt qu'un simple rappel de
plus. Utilisez notre [feuille de conception de défi](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) pour
associer chaque défi à un déclencheur, à un moment et à un message.

Lors d'une **[semaine de défis](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, le financement de
contrepartie et les incitations alimentent l'urgence et la compétition amicale qui font avancer la
semaine, et l'accent se déplace vers la participation et la rivalité entre groupes. Ici, vous pouvez
superposer des défis individuels que n'importe quel groupe peut accomplir, un défi de groupe qui
construit l'esprit d'équipe, et des affrontements en tête-à-tête entre clubs à des niveaux de
donateurs similaires. Menez de nombreux petits défis plutôt que quelques grands, concentrez un
objectif précoce en début de campagne pour déclencher une poussée le matin du lancement, et
impliquez votre direction comme juge ou champion. Le fonds peut provenir de fonds centraux déjà
réservés au soutien des clubs et associations, ou de dons de donateurs majeurs et d'entreprises
sollicités spécifiquement pour la semaine, avec l'objectif à long terme d'en financer davantage à
partir de revenus nouveaux.

Lors d'une **[campagne de financement participatif](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**,
le financement de contrepartie joue un rôle légèrement différent, car le financement participatif
se déroule sur des semaines plutôt que sur des heures et est mené par les porteurs de projet
eux-mêmes. Ici, la contrepartie agit le plus puissamment comme un élan initial qui permet à un
projet de décoller et renforce la confiance du porteur de projet pour continuer à solliciter, comme
l'a décrit le directeur adjoint du développement de York. Les preuves sont frappantes : les projets
de financement participatif avec contrepartie peuvent attirer environ deux fois plus de dons, voir
le don moyen presque doubler et collecter sensiblement plus au total. Les porteurs de projet
disposant d'une contrepartie ont aussi tendance à fixer des objectifs plus élevés et à promouvoir
plus fort, précisément parce qu'il y a un fonds à débloquer. L'implication pratique est d'allouer le
financement de contrepartie là où il fera le plus de bien, souvent à des projets crédibles et bien
menés mais qui ont besoin d'élan, et de rendre la contrepartie visible sur la page du projet afin
que chaque donateur potentiel voie que son don ira plus loin.

## Foire aux questions

**Quelle est la différence entre le financement de contrepartie et un défi ?** Une contrepartie
double le don d'un individu, euro pour euro ou à un ratio plus élevé, au moment où il donne. Un défi
libère un fonds lorsque la communauté dans son ensemble atteint un objectif collectif, comme un
nombre de donateurs ou un total collecté. Les contreparties récompensent la taille d'un don ; les
défis récompensent la participation. Les campagnes solides utilisent les deux.

**Combien de financement de contrepartie devrions-nous viser ?** À titre indicatif, environ la
moitié de votre objectif en fonds de contrepartie et de défis. Si vous voulez collecter 100 000 €,
cherchez à sécuriser environ 50 000 €. Plus de financement de contrepartie, utilisé à travers des
défis bien synchronisés, augmente généralement la participation.

**Le financement de contrepartie change-t-il vraiment combien les gens donnent ?** Oui. Les études
sur les projets de financement participatif avec contrepartie ont relevé environ deux fois plus de
dons, un don moyen qui a presque doublé et des totaux nettement plus élevés dans l'ensemble.
L'urgence d'une contrepartie plafonnée et limitée dans le temps avance les dons et augmente leur
taille.

**D'où vient le fonds de contrepartie ?** Des donateurs de direction, des donateurs majeurs et de
legs, des administrateurs, des partenaires d'entreprise, des fondations et fonds de dotation, et
parfois de fonds centraux déjà affectés à une cause. Demandez tôt, quatre à six mois à l'avance, et
présentez la contrepartie comme une philanthropie à fort effet de levier qui débloque la générosité
de centaines d'autres.

**Comment gérons-nous les dons fiscalement avantageux dans le calcul ?** Traitez-les comme un
avantage pour le donateur plutôt que comme un revenu ajouté à la cause. La plupart des pays européens
offrent une déduction ou une réduction fiscale sur les dons éligibles, et Transnational Giving
Europe permet des dons transfrontaliers fiscalement avantageux entre pays participants, mais les
règles varient selon les pays. C'est la contrepartie qui double l'argent parvenant à votre cause,
alors gardez l'accent sur le doublement et laissez le détail fiscal au parcours de don et au reçu.

**Que faire si nous épuisons le financement de contrepartie en pleine campagne ?** Anticipez-le.
Épuiser le fonds est un bon problème, mais il nécessite une réponse prête : ouvrir un nouveau défi,
libérer une contrepartie d'extension d'un donateur gardé en réserve, ou annoncer clairement aux
sympathisants que le fonds de contrepartie a été réclamé grâce à leur générosité.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Planificateur de contrepartie et de défis](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Modèle de demande de financement de contrepartie](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Feuille de conception de défi](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée de générosité de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de votre appel et de vos e-mails
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Blog Hubbub : comment le financement de contrepartie affecte le financement participatif](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Guides connexes : [Comment organiser une journée de générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Comment organiser une semaine de défis](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) et [Comment mener une campagne de financement participatif](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Organismes sectoriels : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come usare il finanziamento abbinato e le sfide](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica ai meccanismi del finanziamento abbinato e delle sfide, che spiega perché funzionano, le strutture di abbinamento, le donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose, i principali tipi di sfida, come reperire il fondo di abbinamento e come usarli durante giornate della donazione, settimane di sfide e campagne di crowdfunding.
Il finanziamento abbinato e le sfide sono i due meccanismi che fanno passare una campagna di
raccolta fondi da costante a eccezionale. Usati bene, determinano quanto le persone donano, quanto
presto donano e se donano affatto. Questa guida spiega cos'è il finanziamento abbinato e perché
funziona, come strutturare un abbinamento, come le donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose si integrano
nei conti, i principali tipi di sfida e quando ricorrere a ciascuno, da dove proviene il fondo di
abbinamento e come chiederlo, e come mettere tutto questo all'opera durante una
[giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), una
[settimana di sfide](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) e una
[campagna di crowdfunding](/europe/it/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [pianificatore di abbinamento e sfide](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/), il nostro
> [modello di richiesta di finanziamento abbinato](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) e la
> nostra [scheda di progettazione della sfida](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## Cos'è il finanziamento abbinato e perché funziona

Il finanziamento abbinato prende una donazione di leadership o una grande donazione e la trattiene,
per poi usarla per raddoppiare le donazioni di tutti gli altri durante una campagna. Anziché
spendere subito la grande donazione, la fai lavorare come un moltiplicatore, così che un comune
sostenitore che dona 50 € veda la propria donazione diventare 100 €. La generosità del donatore
smette di essere una donazione tra tante e diventa il motore che ne sblocca centinaia di altre.

Un abbinamento funziona per via di tre aspetti di come le persone decidono di donare. Il primo è
l'**urgenza**. Un abbinamento è quasi sempre limitato nel tempo o con un tetto, così che l'offerta
di vedere raddoppiata la propria donazione si stia visibilmente esaurendo, il che trasforma una
vaga intenzione di donare "prima o poi" in un motivo per donare ora. Il secondo è la **prova
sociale**. Un abbinamento segnala che persone di prestigio e mezzi sostengono già la causa,
rassicurando un donatore esitante che sta aderendo a qualcosa di credibile anziché correre un
rischio da solo. Il terzo è l'**avversione alla perdita**, la tendenza ben documentata delle
persone a percepire più intensamente la prospettiva di perdere qualcosa rispetto a un guadagno
equivalente; presentato come "dona ora altrimenti la tua donazione non sarà raddoppiata", un
abbinamento fa leva sulla riluttanza del donatore a lasciare del valore sul tavolo. Insieme, queste
forze spiegano perché le persone donano di più, e donano prima, quando c'è un abbinamento in gioco.

L'effetto è misurabile. In uno studio su tre università che avevano usato il finanziamento abbinato
nei loro programmi di crowdfunding per più di due anni, i progetti con abbinamento hanno attratto
circa il doppio delle donazioni rispetto a quelli senza, l'importo medio delle donazioni è quasi
raddoppiato, e il totale raccolto, escludendo i fondi di abbinamento stessi, poteva essere fino a
tre volte più alto. Il vicedirettore dello sviluppo dell'Università di York ha riassunto il
meccanismo con chiarezza: "Il finanziamento abbinato dà ai progetti di crowdfunding una spinta
iniziale, facendo partire le loro campagne a razzo. Questo slancio rafforza la fiducia nel
chiedere." Quest'ultimo punto è importante: un abbinamento non cambia solo il comportamento del
donatore, cambia con quanta sicurezza i tuoi raccoglitori fondi e responsabili di progetto fanno la
richiesta in primo luogo.

## Come strutturare un abbinamento

C'è più di un modo per costruire un abbinamento, e la scelta giusta dipende da ciò che cerchi di
ottenere. Definisci questo prima di rivolgerti ai donatori, perché la struttura che scegli plasma la
conversazione che avrai con loro. Le cinque strutture seguenti coprono la maggior parte delle
campagne.

Un **abbinamento semplice 1:1**, euro per euro, è il più facile da comunicare e l'opzione predefinita
più sicura. Ogni sostenitore lo capisce all'istante, e non comporta alcuna aritmetica imbarazzante.
Per la maggior parte delle campagne è il giusto punto di partenza.

Un **abbinamento a rapporto più alto**, come 2:1 o 3:1, costa di più da finanziare ma colpisce duro
quando vuoi galvanizzare una spinta specifica, per esempio una power hour o uno sforzo per convertire
potenziali donatori freddi che hanno bisogno di un motivo in più per agire. Usalo in modo deliberato
e con parsimonia, perché se ogni donazione viene triplicata l'offerta smette di sembrare speciale.

Un **abbinamento con tetto**, formulato come "i primi 50.000 € saranno raddoppiati", è da dove
proviene la maggior parte dell'urgenza. Poiché i donatori capiscono che il fondo può esaurirsi,
anticipano le loro donazioni per assicurarsi che siano abbinate. Il tetto non è una limitazione di
cui scusarsi; è ciò che dà mordente all'offerta.

Un **abbinamento mirato a un segmento** punta a un gruppo che di solito rende meno, come un
abbinamento per i giovani ex studenti o un abbinamento per i genitori. Migliora i risultati in quel
segmento e ti offre una nuova storia da raccontare, perché puoi scrivere direttamente a quei
sostenitori a proposito di un'offerta pensata per loro.

Un **abbinamento tematico** è legato a un progetto o a un fondo particolare, così che ogni donazione
al fondo per le borse di studio, o a un edificio o a un'attrezzatura specifici, sia raddoppiata.
Questo affina l'argomentazione a sostegno e si adatta ai donatori a cui sta a cuore un singolo
risultato piuttosto che l'istituzione nel suo complesso.

Qualunque struttura tu scelga, valgono due regole operative. Non annunciare mai un abbinamento che
non hai confermato per iscritto, perché una campagna costruita su fondi sperati è costruita sulla
sabbia. E decidi in anticipo come gestirai il momento in cui l'abbinamento si esaurirà: esaurire il
finanziamento abbinato a metà campagna è un buon problema, ma richiede comunque una risposta
pianificata, che sia aprire una nuova sfida, rilasciare un abbinamento aggiuntivo da un donatore
tenuto in riserva, o semplicemente comunicare ai sostenitori che il fondo di abbinamento è stato
reclamato grazie alla loro generosità.

## Integrare le donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose nei conti e nel messaggio

In tutta Europa, la maggior parte dei paesi offre ai donatori una detrazione o una riduzione fiscale
sulle donazioni a organizzazioni idonee, e per le donazioni transfrontaliere la rete Transnational
Giving Europe consente a un donatore in un paese partecipante di donare in modo fiscalmente
vantaggioso a un beneficiario in un altro. Le regole e le aliquote variano notevolmente da paese a
paese, perciò il vantaggio abbassa il costo reale della donazione per il sostenitore anziché
aggiungersi alle vostre entrate come fa un abbinamento. Abbinata euro per euro, una singola decisione
da 100 € diventa 200 € di valore per la causa: i 100 € del donatore e i 100 € dell'abbinamento.

La maggior parte delle campagne lascia il dettaglio fiscale non detto nell'appello, il che va bene,
perché l'abbinamento fa il grosso del lavoro nel messaggio. L'esempio seguente, tratto da un appello
per una giornata della donazione, mostra il tono a cui mirare:

> "Fai la tua donazione presto per assicurarti che sia abbinata. Grazie ai nostri donatori di
> abbinamento, i primi 50.000 € raccolti durante la giornata della donazione saranno raddoppiati,
> l'unico momento dell'anno in cui la tua donazione può valere il doppio. Una donazione di 100 €
> diventa 200 €. Dona prima che l'abbinamento si esaurisca."

Nota cosa fa questo testo. Apre con l'urgenza, nomina il tetto e quantifica il raddoppio in semplici
euro. Mantieni ogni dettaglio sulla detrazione fiscale semplice nell'appello stesso, lascialo al
percorso di donazione e alla ricevuta, e lascia che l'abbinamento porti il peso emotivo del
messaggio.

## Tipi di sfida e come usarli

Dove un abbinamento raddoppia una singola donazione, una sfida rilascia un fondo quando la comunità
raggiunge un obiettivo collettivo. Le sfide rendono una campagna un gioco e sono particolarmente
efficaci nell'attrarre non donatori e donatori di piccola entità, perché permettono alle persone di
vedere che la loro partecipazione, e non solo i loro euro, fa una differenza visibile. Una donazione
da 10 € può sembrare piccola di fronte a un obiettivo di 50.000 €, ma come trentesima donazione che
sblocca 1.000 € appare decisiva. La maggior parte delle campagne solide conduce diverse sfide
affinché ci sia sempre un motivo vivo per donare. I sette tipi seguenti si adattano ciascuno a un
momento diverso.

Una **sfida a soglia o di sblocco**, come "i primi 30 donatori sbloccano 1.000 €", premia l'azione
tempestiva ed è ideale per le prime ore di una campagna, quando hai più bisogno di mostrare slancio.
Concentrare una sfida del genere all'inizio può produrre un vero impennata: una sfida dei "primi 25
donatori" ha prodotto una corsa inaspettata alle nove del mattino di lancio di una delle settimane
di sfide dell'Università di York.

Una **sfida a tappe**, in cui raggiungere 200 donatori rilascia altri 5.000 €, ti dà un punto di
raccolta verso cui spingere e una storia naturale da raccontare nel momento in cui la raggiungi. Le
tappe funzionano meglio in serie, così che ciascuna superata prepari la successiva.

Una **power hour o ora d'oro**, in cui le donazioni entro un'ora stabilita vengono raddoppiate o
attivano un bonus, concentra il traffico in una finestra attorno a cui puoi creare attesa. È uno dei
modi più affidabili per risollevare un pomeriggio fiacco, perché tutti sanno che il tempo sta
scorrendo.

Una **sfida testa a testa** contrappone gruppi tra loro, per esempio case, anni di corso, facoltà,
club sportivi o regioni di ex studenti. È il meccanismo che trasforma i sostenitori in reclutatori,
perché iniziano a mobilitare i propri compagni su per la classifica. York ha riscontrato che gli
scontri testa a testa tra club a livelli di donatori simili scatenavano impennate tardive di
donazioni, mentre i gruppi facevano a gara per superare un rivale vicino.

Una **sfida di partecipazione**, basata sul numero di donatori anziché sull'importo raccolto, è lo
strumento migliore per costruire cultura e acquisire donatori, perché dice a ogni sostenitore che la
sua donazione conta quanto quella di chiunque altro. È la scelta naturale quando l'obiettivo è una
base di donatori più ampia piuttosto che una cifra di rilievo più alta.

Una **sfida del consiglio o della leadership**, in cui amministratori o dirigenti si impegnano a
versare una somma se un numero stabilito di nuovi donatori dona, raccoglie fondi e al tempo stesso
dà alla vostra leadership un reale interesse nel risultato. Una leadership visibile conta: a una
settimana di sfide di York, il rettore ha giudicato una sfida video che ha sbloccato 100 £
aggiuntive per il club vincitore, il che ha coinvolto la comunità e ha segnalato il sostegno
istituzionale.

Una **sfida stretch o bonus**, tenuta in riserva e rilasciata solo se la campagna supera
l'obiettivo, mantiene vivo lo slancio fino all'ultima ora. È la vostra assicurazione contro il calo
tardivo che può subentrare una volta che l'obiettivo principale è in vista.

Due lezioni di progettazione attraversano tutte queste sfide. Conduci molte sfide più piccole
anziché poche grandi, perché sblocchi frequenti mantengono interessante una campagna e ti danno
motivi costanti per comunicare. E stratifica le tue sfide così che ci sia sempre qualcosa che
qualsiasi gruppo o individuo possa raggiungere accanto agli obiettivi collettivi più grandi, il che
tiene tutti in gioco e non solo i battistrada. Vale la pena prendere in prestito un punto operativo
da York, che ha riscontrato studenti che facevano donazioni simboliche da 1 £ per gonfiare il
proprio numero di donatori nelle sfide e ha alzato la donazione minima a 3 £. Come ha riferito il
loro responsabile della filantropia: "Questo è sembrato davvero avere un effetto positivo
nell'aumentare il valore, e nessuno si è lamentato."

## Da dove proviene il fondo di abbinamento e come chiederlo

Il finanziamento di abbinamento e sfide non compare da solo. Viene raccolto, donazione dopo
donazione, dai vostri donatori di leadership, grandi donatori e donatori di lasciti, dagli
amministratori, e da partner aziendali e fondazioni. A volte proviene da fondi centrali già destinati
a sostenere una causa, per esempio denaro accantonato per club e associazioni, ma l'ambizione nel
tempo dovrebbe essere finanziarne una quota maggiore da entrate genuinamente nuove. In ogni caso,
reperire il fondo merita la stessa cura della campagna pubblica, perché è il singolo fattore più
determinante del rendimento della campagna.

Comincia presto, idealmente da quattro a sei mesi prima della campagna, individuando potenziali
donatori che abbiano sia la capacità sia la propensione a finanziare un abbinamento o a dare il nome
a una sfida. I tuoi candidati più forti sono di solito i grandi donatori esistenti, gli
amministratori e i donatori regolari impegnati che hanno già dimostrato di tenere alla causa. Anche i
**partner aziendali** si prestano in modo naturale, soprattutto dove un abbinamento può essere legato
a un tema in linea con i loro interessi o dove possono essere riconosciuti come sponsor della
campagna; un abbinamento aziendale offre inoltre all'azienda una storia chiara e misurabile
sull'impatto del suo denaro.

Quando fai la richiesta, presenta l'abbinamento come filantropia ad alta leva piuttosto che come una
semplice grande donazione. È il cuore della proposta e il motivo per cui converte. Un donatore di
abbinamento non sta solo dando denaro, sta sbloccando la generosità di centinaia di altre persone, e
questo moltiplicatore è ciò che rende la donazione diversa da una donazione qualunque. Sii preciso:
spiega che i loro 25.000 €, usati come abbinamento, probabilmente ispireranno diverse centinaia di
donazioni e potrebbero raddoppiare il totale della campagna, e collega questo a un risultato
tangibile che la somma combinata finanzierà. Offri un riconoscimento adatto alla preferenza del
donatore, che si tratti di intitolare la sfida a lui o alla sua famiglia, di elencarlo come donatore
di abbinamento con il suo permesso, o di mantenerlo del tutto privato. Il nostro
[modello di richiesta di finanziamento abbinato](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) ti offre
una struttura per questa conversazione.

Poi cura il donatore di abbinamento prima, durante e dopo la campagna. In anticipo, informalo come
si deve, conferma l'accordo per iscritto e dagli un ruolo di cui possa sentirsi parte, come prestare
il proprio nome a una sfida o registrare un breve video. Durante la campagna, mostragli il suo
abbinamento reclamato in tempo reale, perché vedere una donazione all'opera è la forma di cura più
potente che ci sia. In seguito, riferisci l'impatto specifico: quanti donatori l'abbinamento ha
sbloccato, quanto ha fatto leva e cosa finanzierà il totale combinato. Questo resoconto è la
conversazione più importante per l'anno successivo, perché un donatore di abbinamento ben curato
molto spesso dona di nuovo, e frequentemente dona di più. Il flusso scorre anche in entrambe le
direzioni. La Highgate School ha riscontrato che la sua giornata della donazione creava futuri
donatori di abbinamento, notando che "tre persone che hanno fatto una donazione per la prima volta
durante la nostra giornata della donazione hanno detto che aumenteranno la loro donazione per far
parte del fondo di abbinamento della nostra prossima giornata della donazione." I nuovi donatori
acquisiti attraverso una campagna possono diventare i donatori di leadership e di abbinamento della
successiva.

Come regola pratica di pianificazione per la maggior parte delle campagne a tempo, punta ad
assicurarti circa la metà del tuo obiettivo in fondi di abbinamento e di sfida. Se il tuo obiettivo
è 100.000 €, cerca di mettere insieme circa 50.000 €. Più finanziamento abbinato, dispiegato
attraverso sfide ben temporizzate, di solito significa più partecipazione. Il nostro
[pianificatore di abbinamento e sfide](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) ti aiuta a conciliare
il fondo che puoi assicurarti con l'obiettivo che vuoi fissare.

## Usare abbinamento e sfide nelle vostre campagne

Gli stessi meccanismi si comportano diversamente a seconda della campagna in cui si inseriscono,
perciò vale la pena riflettere su come dispiegarli in ciascun formato.

In una **[giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, il finanziamento
abbinato è la singola leva più grande di cui disponi, e le sfide sono il modo in cui mantieni in
movimento le 24-36 ore. L'arte sta nel sequenziarle così che ci sia sempre un motivo vivo per donare:
una sfida di sblocco al lancio per stabilire lo slancio, tappe nell'arco della giornata, una power
hour per risollevare un pomeriggio fiacco, e una sfida stretch tenuta da parte per la spinta finale.
Poiché l'e-mail genera la grande maggioranza delle donazioni in una giornata della donazione, lega
ogni invio a una sfida in corso o a un abbinamento che si sta esaurendo, così che ogni messaggio
porti una notizia anziché l'ennesimo promemoria. Usa la nostra
[scheda di progettazione della sfida](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) per mappare ogni sfida
a un innesco, a un orario e a un messaggio.

In una **[settimana di sfide](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, il finanziamento
abbinato e gli incentivi alimentano l'urgenza e la competizione amichevole che fanno muovere la
settimana, e l'accento si sposta verso la partecipazione e la rivalità tra gruppi. Qui puoi
stratificare sfide individuali che qualsiasi gruppo può raggiungere, una sfida di gruppo che
costruisce spirito di squadra, e scontri testa a testa tra club a livelli di donatori simili.
Conduci molte sfide più piccole anziché poche grandi, colloca un obiettivo iniziale all'inizio per
scatenare un'impennata nel mattino di lancio, e coinvolgi la tua leadership come giudice o campione.
Il fondo può provenire da fondi centrali già accantonati per sostenere club e associazioni, o da
donazioni di grandi donatori e aziende sollecitate appositamente per la settimana, con l'obiettivo a
lungo termine di finanziarne una quota maggiore da nuove entrate.

In una **[campagna di crowdfunding](/europe/it/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**, il
finanziamento abbinato gioca un ruolo leggermente diverso, perché il crowdfunding si svolge nell'arco
di settimane anziché di ore ed è guidato dagli stessi titolari dei progetti. Qui l'abbinamento agisce
con maggiore potenza come spinta iniziale che fa decollare un progetto e rafforza la fiducia del
titolare del progetto nel continuare a chiedere, come ha descritto il vicedirettore dello sviluppo
di York. Le prove sono sorprendenti: i progetti di crowdfunding con abbinamento possono attrarre
circa il doppio delle donazioni, vedere la donazione media quasi raddoppiare e raccogliere
sostanzialmente di più in totale. I titolari di progetto con un abbinamento in atto tendono inoltre
a fissare obiettivi più alti e a promuovere con più vigore, proprio perché c'è un fondo da sbloccare.
L'implicazione pratica è destinare il finanziamento abbinato dove farà più bene, spesso a progetti
credibili e ben guidati ma che hanno bisogno di slancio, e rendere l'abbinamento visibile sulla
pagina del progetto così che ogni potenziale donatore veda che la sua donazione andrà più lontano.

## Domande frequenti

**Qual è la differenza tra finanziamento abbinato e una sfida?** Un abbinamento raddoppia la
donazione di un individuo, euro per euro o a un rapporto più alto, nel momento in cui dona. Una sfida
rilascia un fondo quando la comunità nel suo complesso raggiunge un obiettivo collettivo, come un
numero di donatori o un totale raccolto. Gli abbinamenti premiano l'entità di una donazione; le sfide
premiano la partecipazione. Le campagne solide usano entrambi.

**A quanto finanziamento abbinato dovremmo puntare?** Come indicazione, circa la metà del vostro
obiettivo in fondi di abbinamento e di sfida. Se volete raccogliere 100.000 €, cercate di assicurarvi
circa 50.000 €. Più finanziamento abbinato, usato attraverso sfide ben temporizzate, di solito
aumenta la partecipazione.

**Il finanziamento abbinato cambia davvero quanto le persone donano?** Sì. Gli studi sui progetti di
crowdfunding con abbinamento hanno riscontrato circa il doppio delle donazioni, una donazione media
quasi raddoppiata e totali complessivamente molto più alti. L'urgenza di un abbinamento con tetto e
limitato nel tempo anticipa le donazioni e ne aumenta l'entità.

**Da dove proviene il fondo di abbinamento?** Da donatori di leadership, grandi donatori e donatori
di lasciti, amministratori, partner aziendali e fondazioni, e a volte da fondi centrali già destinati
a una causa. Chiedi presto, da quattro a sei mesi prima, e presenta l'abbinamento come filantropia
ad alta leva che sblocca la generosità di centinaia di altri.

**Come gestiamo le donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose nei conti?** Trattale come un vantaggio per il
donatore anziché come entrata aggiuntiva per la causa. La maggior parte dei paesi europei offre una
detrazione o una riduzione fiscale sulle donazioni idonee, e Transnational Giving Europe consente
donazioni transfrontaliere fiscalmente vantaggiose tra paesi partecipanti, ma le regole variano da
paese a paese. È l'abbinamento a raddoppiare il denaro che arriva alla vostra causa, perciò mantieni
il messaggio principale sul raddoppio e lascia il dettaglio fiscale al percorso di donazione e alla
ricevuta.

**Cosa facciamo se esauriamo il finanziamento abbinato a metà campagna?** Pianificalo in anticipo.
Esaurirlo è un buon problema, ma serve una risposta pronta: aprire una nuova sfida, rilasciare un
abbinamento stretch da un donatore tenuto in riserva, o comunicare chiaramente ai sostenitori che il
fondo di abbinamento è stato reclamato grazie alla loro generosità.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Pianificatore di abbinamento e sfide](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Modello di richiesta di finanziamento abbinato](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Scheda di progettazione della sfida](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di giornata della donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina il testo del tuo appello e delle tue e-mail
- [Generatore di QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti di persona direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Blog Hubbub: come il finanziamento abbinato influisce sul crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Guide correlate: [Come organizzare una giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [Come organizzare una settimana di sfide](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) e [Come condurre una campagna di crowdfunding](/europe/it/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to use match funding and challenges](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (uk/en): A practical guide to match funding and challenge mechanics, covering why they work, match structures, Gift Aid, the main challenge types, sourcing the match pot, and how to use them across giving days, challenge weeks and crowdfunding.
Match funding and challenges are the two mechanics that lift a fundraising campaign from steady
to exceptional. Used well, they shape how much people give, how early they give, and whether
they give at all. This guide explains what match funding is and why it works, how to structure
a match, how Gift Aid stacks into the maths, the main challenge types and when to reach for
each, where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it, and how to put all of this to work
across a [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and a
[crowdfunding campaign](/uk/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/),
> [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) and
> [challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## What match funding is and why it works

Match funding takes a leadership or major gift and holds it back, then uses it to double the
gifts of everyone else during a campaign. Rather than spending the major gift straight away,
you put it to work as a multiplier, so an ordinary supporter giving £50 sees their gift become
£100. The donor's generosity stops being one gift among many and becomes the engine that
unlocks hundreds of others.

A match works because of three things about how people decide to give. The first is **urgency**.
A match is almost always time-limited or capped, so the offer to have your gift doubled is
visibly running out, which turns a vague intention to give "at some point" into a reason to give
now. The second is **social proof**. A match signals that people of standing and means already
back the cause, reassuring a wary donor that they are joining something credible rather than
taking a risk alone. The third is **loss aversion**, the well-evidenced tendency for people to
feel the prospect of missing out more keenly than an equivalent gain; framed as "give now or
your gift will not be doubled," a match works on a donor's reluctance to leave value on the
table. Together these forces explain why people give more, and give earlier, when a match is in
play.

The effect is measurable. In a study of three universities that had used match funding in their
crowdfunding programmes for more than two years, matched projects attracted roughly twice as
many donations as unmatched ones, the average donation size nearly doubled, and the total
raised, setting aside the matched funds themselves, could be as much as three times higher.
The University of York's Deputy Director of Development put the mechanism plainly: "Matched
funding gives crowdfunding projects an initial boost, getting their campaigns off to a flying
start. This momentum builds confidence in asking." That last point matters: a match does not
only change donor behaviour, it changes how confidently your fundraisers and project leaders
make the ask in the first place.

## How to structure a match

There is more than one way to build a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve. Map this out before you go to donors, because the structure you choose shapes
the conversation you have with them. The five structures below cover most campaigns.

A **straight 1:1 match**, pound for pound, is the simplest to communicate and the safest
default. Every supporter understands it instantly, and it carries no awkward arithmetic. For
most campaigns it is the right starting point.

A **higher-ratio match**, such as 2:1 or 3:1, costs more to fund but lands hard when you want to
galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects who
need an extra reason to act. Use it deliberately and sparingly, because if every gift is tripled
the offer stops feeling special.

A **capped match**, framed as "the first £50,000 will be doubled," is where most of the urgency
comes from. Because donors understand the pot can run out, they bring their gifts forward to
make sure they are matched. The cap is not a limitation to apologise for; it is the thing that
makes the offer bite.

A **segment-specific match** targets a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni
match or a parents' match. It lifts results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell,
because you can write directly to those supporters about an offer made for them.

A **themed match** is tied to a particular project or fund, so that every gift to the bursary
fund, or to a specific building or piece of equipment, is doubled. This sharpens the case for
support and suits donors who care about one outcome rather than the institution as a whole.

Whichever structure you choose, two operational rules hold. Never announce a match you have not
confirmed in writing, because a campaign built on hoped-for funds is built on sand. And decide
in advance how you will handle the moment the match is exhausted: running out of matched funding
mid-campaign is a good problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is opening a
fresh challenge, releasing a stretch match from a donor held in reserve, or simply telling
supporters the matched pot has been claimed thanks to their generosity.

## Stacking Gift Aid into the maths and the message

In the UK, Gift Aid is a second multiplier sitting alongside the match, and it is a gift to your
messaging as much as to your income. A £100 gift from an eligible UK taxpayer is worth £125 once
Gift Aid is reclaimed. Matched pound for pound, that single £100 decision becomes £250 of value:
the donor's £100, the matched £100, the £25 of Gift Aid on the donor's gift, and any Gift Aid
claimable on a matched gift made by an eligible individual.

Most campaigns leave this compounding unspoken, which is a missed opportunity. Spelling it out
makes the offer feel as generous as it genuinely is, and it does so honestly. The example below,
drawn from a giving day appeal, shows the tone to aim for:

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> £50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A £100 gift becomes £200, and with Gift Aid it is worth even more. Give before the
> match runs out."

Notice what that copy does. It leads with urgency, names the cap, quantifies the doubling in
plain pounds, and treats Gift Aid as a bonus on top rather than the headline. Keep the Gift Aid
detail simple in the appeal itself, leave eligibility to the donation flow and the small print,
and let the match carry the emotional weight of the message.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the
community hits a collective target. Challenges gamify a campaign and are especially good at
drawing in non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation,
not just their pounds, make a visible difference. A £10 gift may feel small against a £50,000
target, but as the thirtieth donation that unlocks £1,000 it feels decisive. Most strong
campaigns run several challenges so there is always a live reason to give. The seven types below
each suit a different moment.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock £1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours of a campaign, when you most need to show momentum.
Front-loading a challenge like this can produce a genuine surge: a "first 25 donors" challenge
produced an unexpected rush at nine o'clock on the launch morning of one University of York
Challenge Week.

A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors releases a further £5,000, gives you a
rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell the moment you hit it. Milestones
work best in a series, so that each one cleared sets up the next.

A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or trigger a bonus,
concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around. It is one of the most
reliable ways to lift a quiet afternoon, because everyone knows the clock is running.

A **head-to-head challenge** sets groups against each other, for example houses, year groups,
faculties, sports clubs or alumni regions. This is the mechanic that turns supporters into
recruiters, because they start rallying their own people up the leaderboard. York found that
head-to-head match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels sparked late flurries of giving, as
groups raced to overtake a near rival.

A **participation challenge**, keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised, is
the best tool for culture-building and donor acquisition, because it tells every supporter that
their gift counts as much as anyone's. It is the natural choice when the goal is a wider donor
base rather than a bigger headline figure.

A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees or senior leaders pledge a sum if a set
number of new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a real stake in the
outcome. Visible leadership matters: at one York Challenge Week, the Vice-Chancellor judged a
video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club, which drew the community in
and signalled institutional backing.

A **stretch or bonus challenge**, held in reserve and released only if the campaign exceeds
target, keeps momentum alive right to the final hour. It is your insurance against the late lull
that can set in once the main goal is in sight.

Two design lessons run across all of these. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large
ones, because frequent unlocks keep a campaign interesting and give you constant reasons to
message. And layer your challenges so there is something any group or individual can achieve
alongside the bigger collective targets, which keeps everyone in the game rather than just the
front-runners. One operational point is worth borrowing from York, who found students making
token £1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges and raised the minimum gift to
£3. As their Philanthropy Officer reported, "That did really seem to have a positive effect in
increasing the value, and no one complained."

## Where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors, from trustees, and from corporate partners and trusts and
foundations. Sometimes it comes from central funds already earmarked to support a cause, for
instance money set aside for clubs and societies, but the ambition over time should be to fund
more of it from genuinely new income. Either way, sourcing the pot deserves as much care as the
public campaign, because it is the single biggest determinant of how the campaign performs.

Start early, ideally four to six months before the campaign, by identifying prospects with both
the capacity and the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your strongest candidates
are usually existing major donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have already shown
they care about the cause. **Corporate partners** are a natural fit too, especially where a match
can be tied to a theme that aligns with their interests or where they can be recognised as a
campaign sponsor; a corporate match also gives the business a clean, measurable story about the
impact of its money.

When you make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large
gift. This is the heart of the proposition and the reason it converts. A match donor is not only
giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of other people, and that multiplier
is what makes the gift feel different from a straightforward donation. Be specific: explain that
their £25,000, used as a match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and could double the
campaign's total, and tie that to a tangible outcome the combined sum will fund. Offer
recognition that fits the donor's preference, whether that is naming the challenge after them or
their family, listing them as a match donor with their permission, or keeping it entirely
private. Our [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) gives you a
structure for this conversation.

Then steward the match donor before, during and after the campaign. Beforehand, brief them
properly, confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, such
as lending their name to a challenge or recording a short video. During the campaign, show them
their match being claimed in real time, because seeing a gift at work is the most powerful
stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the specific impact: how many donors the match
unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the combined total will fund. That report is the most
important conversation for next year, because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives
again, and frequently gives more. The pipeline runs in both directions, too. Highgate School
found that their giving day created future match donors, noting that "three individuals who made
a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will increase their gift to be part
of the match pool for our next Giving Day." New donors acquired through a campaign can become the
leadership and match donors of the next.

As a planning rule of thumb across most time-bound campaigns, aim to secure roughly half of your
target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is £100,000, look to line up around £50,000.
More match funding, deployed through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.
Our [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) helps you reconcile
the pot you can secure with the target you want to set.

## Using match and challenges across your campaigns

The same mechanics behave differently depending on the campaign they sit inside, so it is worth
thinking about how to deploy them in each format.

On a **[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, match funding is the single biggest
lever you have, and challenges are how you keep the 24 to 36 hours moving. The art is to sequence
them so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock challenge at launch to establish
momentum, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a stretch
challenge held back for the closing push. Because email drives the large majority of gifts on a
giving day, tie each send to a live challenge or a match that is running down, so every message
carries news rather than just another reminder. Use our
[challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) to map each challenge to a
trigger, a time and a message.

On a **[Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, match funding and incentives
drive the urgency and the friendly competition that make the week move, and the emphasis shifts
towards participation and group rivalry. Here you can layer individual challenges that any group
can achieve, a group challenge that builds team spirit, and head-to-head match-ups between clubs
at similar donor levels. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones, front-load an
early target to spark a launch-morning surge, and get your leadership involved as a judge or
champion. The pot can come from central funds already set aside to support clubs and societies,
or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the week, with the long-term
aim of funding more of it from new income.

On a **[crowdfunding campaign](/uk/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**, match funding
plays a slightly different role, because crowdfunding runs over weeks rather than hours and is
led by the project owners themselves. Here the match works most powerfully as an opening boost
that gets a project off the ground and builds the project owner's confidence to keep asking, as
York's Deputy Director of Development described. The evidence is striking: matched crowdfunding
projects can attract around twice as many donations, see the average gift nearly double, and
raise substantially more in total. Project owners with a match in place also tend to set higher
goals and promote harder, precisely because there is a pot to unlock. The practical implication
is to allocate match funding where it will do the most good, often to projects that are credible
and well-led but need momentum, and to make the match visible on the project page so every
prospective donor sees that their gift will go further.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between match funding and a challenge?** A match doubles an individual's
gift, pound for pound or at a higher ratio, the moment they give. A challenge releases a pot of
funding when the community as a whole reaches a collective target, such as a number of donors or
a total raised. Matches reward the size of a gift; challenges reward participation. Strong
campaigns use both.

**How much match funding should we aim for?** As a guide, around half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise £100,000, look to secure roughly £50,000. More match
funding, used through well-timed challenges, generally lifts participation.

**Does match funding really change how much people give?** Yes. Studies of matched crowdfunding
projects found roughly twice as many donations, an average gift that nearly doubled, and
significantly higher totals overall. The urgency of a capped, time-limited match pulls gifts
forward and lifts their size.

**Where does the match pot come from?** From leadership, major and legacy donors, trustees,
corporate partners, and trusts and foundations, and sometimes from central funds already
earmarked for a cause. Ask early, four to six months ahead, and frame the match as high-leverage
philanthropy that unlocks the generosity of hundreds of others.

**How do we handle Gift Aid in the maths?** Treat it as a bonus on top of the match. A £100 gift
from an eligible UK taxpayer is worth £125 with Gift Aid, and matched 1:1 that single decision
becomes £250 of value. Keep the headline about the doubling and let Gift Aid add to it, with
eligibility handled in the donation flow.

**What if we run out of match funding mid-campaign?** Plan for it in advance. Running out is a
good problem, but it needs a response ready: open a fresh challenge, release a stretch match from
a donor held in reserve, or tell supporters clearly that the matched pot has been claimed thanks
to their generosity.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: how match funding affects crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](/uk/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use match funding and challenges](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (us/en): A practical guide to match funding and challenge mechanics, covering why they work, match structures, tax-deductible giving, the main challenge types, sourcing the match pot, and how to use them across giving days, challenge weeks and crowdfunding.
Match funding and challenges are the two mechanics that lift a fundraising campaign from steady
to exceptional. Used well, they shape how much people give, how early they give, and whether
they give at all. This guide explains what match funding is and why it works, how to structure
a match, how tax-deductible giving stacks into the math, the main challenge types and when to reach for
each, where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it, and how to put all of this to work
across a [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and a
[crowdfunding campaign](/us/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/),
> [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) and
> [challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## What match funding is and why it works

Match funding takes a leadership or major gift and holds it back, then uses it to double the
gifts of everyone else during a campaign. Rather than spending the major gift straight away,
you put it to work as a multiplier, so an ordinary supporter giving $50 sees their gift become
$100. The donor's generosity stops being one gift among many and becomes the engine that
unlocks hundreds of others.

A match works because of three things about how people decide to give. The first is **urgency**.
A match is almost always time-limited or capped, so the offer to have your gift doubled is
visibly running out, which turns a vague intention to give "at some point" into a reason to give
now. The second is **social proof**. A match signals that people of standing and means already
back the cause, reassuring a wary donor that they are joining something credible rather than
taking a risk alone. The third is **loss aversion**, the well-evidenced tendency for people to
feel the prospect of missing out more keenly than an equivalent gain; framed as "give now or
your gift will not be doubled," a match works on a donor's reluctance to leave value on the
table. Together these forces explain why people give more, and give earlier, when a match is in
play.

The effect is measurable. In a study of three universities that had used match funding in their
crowdfunding programs for more than two years, matched projects attracted roughly twice as
many donations as unmatched ones, the average donation size nearly doubled, and the total
raised, setting aside the matched funds themselves, could be as much as three times higher.
The University of York's Deputy Director of Development put the mechanism plainly: "Matched
funding gives crowdfunding projects an initial boost, getting their campaigns off to a flying
start. This momentum builds confidence in asking." That last point matters: a match does not
only change donor behavior, it changes how confidently your fundraisers and project leaders
make the ask in the first place.

## How to structure a match

There is more than one way to build a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve. Map this out before you go to donors, because the structure you choose shapes
the conversation you have with them. The five structures below cover most campaigns.

A **straight 1:1 match**, dollar for dollar, is the simplest to communicate and the safest
default. Every supporter understands it instantly, and it carries no awkward arithmetic. For
most campaigns it is the right starting point.

A **higher-ratio match**, such as 2:1 or 3:1, costs more to fund but lands hard when you want to
galvanize a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects who
need an extra reason to act. Use it deliberately and sparingly, because if every gift is tripled
the offer stops feeling special.

A **capped match**, framed as "the first $50,000 will be doubled," is where most of the urgency
comes from. Because donors understand the pot can run out, they bring their gifts forward to
make sure they are matched. The cap is not a limitation to apologize for; it is the thing that
makes the offer bite.

A **segment-specific match** targets a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni
match or a parents' match. It lifts results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell,
because you can write directly to those supporters about an offer made for them.

A **themed match** is tied to a particular project or fund, so that every gift to the scholarship
fund, or to a specific building or piece of equipment, is doubled. This sharpens the case for
support and suits donors who care about one outcome rather than the institution as a whole.

Whichever structure you choose, two operational rules hold. Never announce a match you have not
confirmed in writing, because a campaign built on hoped-for funds is built on sand. And decide
in advance how you will handle the moment the match is exhausted: running out of matched funding
mid-campaign is a good problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is opening a
fresh challenge, releasing a stretch match from a donor held in reserve, or simply telling
supporters the matched pot has been claimed thanks to their generosity.

## Stacking tax-deductible giving into the math and the message

In the US, a gift to a 501(c)(3) organization is tax-deductible for donors who itemize, and that
is worth folding into your messaging as much as into a donor's own planning. There is no separate
uplift mechanic that adds to your income the way a match does, but the deduction lowers the real
cost of giving for many supporters, so a $100 gift can cost an itemizing donor less than $100
after tax. Matched dollar for dollar, that single $100 decision becomes $200 of value for the
cause: the donor's $100 and the matched $100.

Most campaigns leave the deductibility unspoken, which is fine, because the match does the heavy
lifting in the message. The example below, drawn from a giving day appeal, shows the tone to aim
for:

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> $50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A $100 gift becomes $200. Give before the match runs out."

Notice what that copy does. It leads with urgency, names the cap, and quantifies the doubling in
plain dollars. Keep any tax-deductibility detail simple in the appeal itself, leave it to the
donation flow and the receipt, and let the match carry the emotional weight of the message.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the
community hits a collective target. Challenges gamify a campaign and are especially good at
drawing in non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation,
not just their dollars, make a visible difference. A $10 gift may feel small against a $50,000
target, but as the thirtieth donation that unlocks $1,000 it feels decisive. Most strong
campaigns run several challenges so there is always a live reason to give. The seven types below
each suit a different moment.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock $1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours of a campaign, when you most need to show momentum.
Front-loading a challenge like this can produce a genuine surge: a "first 25 donors" challenge
produced an unexpected rush at nine o'clock on the launch morning of one University of York
Challenge Week.

A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors releases a further $5,000, gives you a
rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell the moment you hit it. Milestones
work best in a series, so that each one cleared sets up the next.

A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or trigger a bonus,
concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around. It is one of the most
reliable ways to lift a quiet afternoon, because everyone knows the clock is running.

A **head-to-head challenge** sets groups against each other, for example houses, year groups,
faculties, sports clubs or alumni regions. This is the mechanic that turns supporters into
recruiters, because they start rallying their own people up the leaderboard. York found that
head-to-head match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels sparked late flurries of giving, as
groups raced to overtake a near rival.

A **participation challenge**, keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised, is
the best tool for culture-building and donor acquisition, because it tells every supporter that
their gift counts as much as anyone's. It is the natural choice when the goal is a wider donor
base rather than a bigger headline figure.

A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees or senior leaders pledge a sum if a set
number of new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a real stake in the
outcome. Visible leadership matters: at one York Challenge Week, the Vice-Chancellor judged a
video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club, which drew the community in
and signaled institutional backing.

A **stretch or bonus challenge**, held in reserve and released only if the campaign exceeds
target, keeps momentum alive right to the final hour. It is your insurance against the late lull
that can set in once the main goal is in sight.

Two design lessons run across all of these. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large
ones, because frequent unlocks keep a campaign interesting and give you constant reasons to
message. And layer your challenges so there is something any group or individual can achieve
alongside the bigger collective targets, which keeps everyone in the game rather than just the
front-runners. One operational point is worth borrowing from York, who found students making
token £1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges and raised the minimum gift to
£3. As their Philanthropy Officer reported, "That did really seem to have a positive effect in
increasing the value, and no one complained."

## Where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors, from trustees, and from corporate partners and foundations.
Sometimes it comes from central funds already earmarked to support a cause, for
instance money set aside for clubs and organizations, but the ambition over time should be to fund
more of it from genuinely new income. Either way, sourcing the pot deserves as much care as the
public campaign, because it is the single biggest determinant of how the campaign performs.

Start early, ideally four to six months before the campaign, by identifying prospects with both
the capacity and the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your strongest candidates
are usually existing major donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have already shown
they care about the cause. **Corporate partners** are a natural fit too, especially where a match
can be tied to a theme that aligns with their interests or where they can be recognized as a
campaign sponsor; a corporate match also gives the business a clean, measurable story about the
impact of its money.

When you make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large
gift. This is the heart of the proposition and the reason it converts. A match donor is not only
giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of other people, and that multiplier
is what makes the gift feel different from a straightforward donation. Be specific: explain that
their $25,000, used as a match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and could double the
campaign's total, and tie that to a tangible outcome the combined sum will fund. Offer
recognition that fits the donor's preference, whether that is naming the challenge after them or
their family, listing them as a match donor with their permission, or keeping it entirely
private. Our [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) gives you a
structure for this conversation.

Then steward the match donor before, during and after the campaign. Beforehand, brief them
properly, confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, such
as lending their name to a challenge or recording a short video. During the campaign, show them
their match being claimed in real time, because seeing a gift at work is the most powerful
stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the specific impact: how many donors the match
unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the combined total will fund. That report is the most
important conversation for next year, because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives
again, and frequently gives more. The pipeline runs in both directions, too. Highgate School
found that their giving day created future match donors, noting that "three individuals who made
a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will increase their gift to be part
of the match pool for our next Giving Day." New donors acquired through a campaign can become the
leadership and match donors of the next.

As a planning rule of thumb across most time-bound campaigns, aim to secure roughly half of your
target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is $100,000, look to line up around $50,000.
More match funding, deployed through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.
Our [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) helps you reconcile
the pot you can secure with the target you want to set.

## Using match and challenges across your campaigns

The same mechanics behave differently depending on the campaign they sit inside, so it is worth
thinking about how to deploy them in each format.

On a **[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, match funding is the single biggest
lever you have, and challenges are how you keep the 24 to 36 hours moving. The art is to sequence
them so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock challenge at launch to establish
momentum, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a stretch
challenge held back for the closing push. Because email drives the large majority of gifts on a
giving day, tie each send to a live challenge or a match that is running down, so every message
carries news rather than just another reminder. Use our
[challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) to map each challenge to a
trigger, a time and a message.

On a **[Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, match funding and incentives
drive the urgency and the friendly competition that make the week move, and the emphasis shifts
towards participation and group rivalry. Here you can layer individual challenges that any group
can achieve, a group challenge that builds team spirit, and head-to-head match-ups between clubs
at similar donor levels. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones, front-load an
early target to spark a launch-morning surge, and get your leadership involved as a judge or
champion. The pot can come from central funds already set aside to support clubs and organizations,
or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the week, with the long-term
aim of funding more of it from new income.

On a **[crowdfunding campaign](/us/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**, match funding
plays a slightly different role, because crowdfunding runs over weeks rather than hours and is
led by the project owners themselves. Here the match works most powerfully as an opening boost
that gets a project off the ground and builds the project owner's confidence to keep asking, as
York's Deputy Director of Development described. The evidence is striking: matched crowdfunding
projects can attract around twice as many donations, see the average gift nearly double, and
raise substantially more in total. Project owners with a match in place also tend to set higher
goals and promote harder, precisely because there is a pot to unlock. The practical implication
is to allocate match funding where it will do the most good, often to projects that are credible
and well-led but need momentum, and to make the match visible on the project page so every
prospective donor sees that their gift will go further.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between match funding and a challenge?** A match doubles an individual's
gift, dollar for dollar or at a higher ratio, the moment they give. A challenge releases a pot of
funding when the community as a whole reaches a collective target, such as a number of donors or
a total raised. Matches reward the size of a gift; challenges reward participation. Strong
campaigns use both.

**How much match funding should we aim for?** As a guide, around half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise $100,000, look to secure roughly $50,000. More match
funding, used through well-timed challenges, generally lifts participation.

**Does match funding really change how much people give?** Yes. Studies of matched crowdfunding
projects found roughly twice as many donations, an average gift that nearly doubled, and
significantly higher totals overall. The urgency of a capped, time-limited match pulls gifts
forward and lifts their size.

**Where does the match pot come from?** From leadership, major and legacy donors, trustees,
corporate partners, and foundations, and sometimes from central funds already
earmarked for a cause. Ask early, four to six months ahead, and frame the match as high-leverage
philanthropy that unlocks the generosity of hundreds of others.

**How do we handle tax-deductible giving in the math?** Treat the deduction as a benefit to the
donor rather than added income to the cause. A gift to a 501(c)(3) organization is tax-deductible
for donors who itemize, which lowers the real cost of giving, while the match is what doubles the
money reaching your cause. Keep the headline about the doubling and leave deductibility to the
donation flow and the receipt.

**What if we run out of match funding mid-campaign?** Plan for it in advance. Running out is a
good problem, but it needs a response ready: open a fresh challenge, release a stretch match from
a donor held in reserve, or tell supporters clearly that the matched pot has been claimed thanks
to their generosity.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: how match funding affects crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](/us/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use match funding and challenges](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/match-funding-and-challenges/) (world/en): A practical guide to match funding and challenge mechanics, covering why they work, match structures, tax-efficient giving, the main challenge types, sourcing the match pot, and how to use them across giving days, challenge weeks and crowdfunding.
Match funding and challenges are the two mechanics that lift a fundraising campaign from steady
to exceptional. Used well, they shape how much people give, how early they give, and whether
they give at all. This guide explains what match funding is and why it works, how to structure
a match, how tax-efficient giving stacks into the maths, the main challenge types and when to reach for
each, where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it, and how to put all of this to work
across a [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and a
[crowdfunding campaign](/world/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/).

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/),
> [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) and
> [challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/).

## What match funding is and why it works

Match funding takes a leadership or major gift and holds it back, then uses it to double the
gifts of everyone else during a campaign. Rather than spending the major gift straight away,
you put it to work as a multiplier, so an ordinary supporter giving 50 in your local currency sees their gift become
100. The donor's generosity stops being one gift among many and becomes the engine that
unlocks hundreds of others.

A match works because of three things about how people decide to give. The first is **urgency**.
A match is almost always time-limited or capped, so the offer to have your gift doubled is
visibly running out, which turns a vague intention to give "at some point" into a reason to give
now. The second is **social proof**. A match signals that people of standing and means already
back the cause, reassuring a wary donor that they are joining something credible rather than
taking a risk alone. The third is **loss aversion**, the well-evidenced tendency for people to
feel the prospect of missing out more keenly than an equivalent gain; framed as "give now or
your gift will not be doubled," a match works on a donor's reluctance to leave value on the
table. Together these forces explain why people give more, and give earlier, when a match is in
play.

The effect is measurable. In a study of three universities that had used match funding in their
crowdfunding programmes for more than two years, matched projects attracted roughly twice as
many donations as unmatched ones, the average donation size nearly doubled, and the total
raised, setting aside the matched funds themselves, could be as much as three times higher.
The University of York's Deputy Director of Development put the mechanism plainly: "Matched
funding gives crowdfunding projects an initial boost, getting their campaigns off to a flying
start. This momentum builds confidence in asking." That last point matters: a match does not
only change donor behaviour, it changes how confidently your fundraisers and project leaders
make the ask in the first place.

## How to structure a match

There is more than one way to build a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve. Map this out before you go to donors, because the structure you choose shapes
the conversation you have with them. The five structures below cover most campaigns.

A **straight 1:1 match**, like for like, is the simplest to communicate and the safest
default. Every supporter understands it instantly, and it carries no awkward arithmetic. For
most campaigns it is the right starting point.

A **higher-ratio match**, such as 2:1 or 3:1, costs more to fund but lands hard when you want to
galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects who
need an extra reason to act. Use it deliberately and sparingly, because if every gift is tripled
the offer stops feeling special.

A **capped match**, framed as "the first 50,000 will be doubled," is where most of the urgency
comes from. Because donors understand the pot can run out, they bring their gifts forward to
make sure they are matched. The cap is not a limitation to apologise for; it is the thing that
makes the offer bite.

A **segment-specific match** targets a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni
match or a parents' match. It lifts results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell,
because you can write directly to those supporters about an offer made for them.

A **themed match** is tied to a particular project or fund, so that every gift to the bursary
fund, or to a specific building or piece of equipment, is doubled. This sharpens the case for
support and suits donors who care about one outcome rather than the institution as a whole.

Whichever structure you choose, two operational rules hold. Never announce a match you have not
confirmed in writing, because a campaign built on hoped-for funds is built on sand. And decide
in advance how you will handle the moment the match is exhausted: running out of matched funding
mid-campaign is a good problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is opening a
fresh challenge, releasing a stretch match from a donor held in reserve, or simply telling
supporters the matched pot has been claimed thanks to their generosity.

## Stacking tax-efficient giving into the maths and the message

In many countries, donors can claim some form of tax relief on their gifts, whether a deduction,
a credit, an uplift the charity reclaims, or another mechanism, and the rules depend entirely on
your country. Whatever form it takes, treat it as a benefit that lowers the real cost of giving
for the supporter rather than something that adds to your income the way a match does. Matched
like for like, a single gift of 100 becomes 200 of value for the cause: the donor's 100 and the
matched 100.

Most campaigns leave the tax detail unspoken in the appeal, which is fine, because the match does
the heavy lifting in the message. The example below, drawn from a giving day appeal, shows the
tone to aim for:

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> 50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A gift of 100 becomes 200. Give before the match runs out."

Notice what that copy does. It leads with urgency, names the cap, and quantifies the doubling in
plain numbers. Keep any tax-relief detail simple in the appeal itself, leave it to the donation
flow and the receipt, and let the match carry the emotional weight of the message.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the
community hits a collective target. Challenges gamify a campaign and are especially good at
drawing in non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation,
not just their money, make a visible difference. A gift of 10 may feel small against a target of
50,000, but as the thirtieth donation that unlocks 1,000 it feels decisive. Most strong
campaigns run several challenges so there is always a live reason to give. The seven types below
each suit a different moment.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock 1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours of a campaign, when you most need to show momentum.
Front-loading a challenge like this can produce a genuine surge: a "first 25 donors" challenge
produced an unexpected rush at nine o'clock on the launch morning of one University of York
Challenge Week.

A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors releases a further 5,000, gives you a
rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell the moment you hit it. Milestones
work best in a series, so that each one cleared sets up the next.

A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or trigger a bonus,
concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around. It is one of the most
reliable ways to lift a quiet afternoon, because everyone knows the clock is running.

A **head-to-head challenge** sets groups against each other, for example houses, year groups,
faculties, sports clubs or alumni regions. This is the mechanic that turns supporters into
recruiters, because they start rallying their own people up the leaderboard. York found that
head-to-head match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels sparked late flurries of giving, as
groups raced to overtake a near rival.

A **participation challenge**, keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised, is
the best tool for culture-building and donor acquisition, because it tells every supporter that
their gift counts as much as anyone's. It is the natural choice when the goal is a wider donor
base rather than a bigger headline figure.

A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees or senior leaders pledge a sum if a set
number of new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a real stake in the
outcome. Visible leadership matters: at one York Challenge Week, the Vice-Chancellor judged a
video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club, which drew the community in
and signalled institutional backing.

A **stretch or bonus challenge**, held in reserve and released only if the campaign exceeds
target, keeps momentum alive right to the final hour. It is your insurance against the late lull
that can set in once the main goal is in sight.

Two design lessons run across all of these. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large
ones, because frequent unlocks keep a campaign interesting and give you constant reasons to
message. And layer your challenges so there is something any group or individual can achieve
alongside the bigger collective targets, which keeps everyone in the game rather than just the
front-runners. One operational point is worth borrowing from York, who found students making
token £1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges and raised the minimum gift to
£3. As their Philanthropy Officer reported, "That did really seem to have a positive effect in
increasing the value, and no one complained."

## Where the match pot comes from and how to ask for it

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors, from trustees, and from corporate partners and trusts and
foundations. Sometimes it comes from central funds already earmarked to support a cause, for
instance money set aside for clubs and societies, but the ambition over time should be to fund
more of it from genuinely new income. Either way, sourcing the pot deserves as much care as the
public campaign, because it is the single biggest determinant of how the campaign performs.

Start early, ideally four to six months before the campaign, by identifying prospects with both
the capacity and the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your strongest candidates
are usually existing major donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have already shown
they care about the cause. **Corporate partners** are a natural fit too, especially where a match
can be tied to a theme that aligns with their interests or where they can be recognised as a
campaign sponsor; a corporate match also gives the business a clean, measurable story about the
impact of its money.

When you make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large
gift. This is the heart of the proposition and the reason it converts. A match donor is not only
giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of other people, and that multiplier
is what makes the gift feel different from a straightforward donation. Be specific: explain that
their gift of 25,000, used as a match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and could double the
campaign's total, and tie that to a tangible outcome the combined sum will fund. Offer
recognition that fits the donor's preference, whether that is naming the challenge after them or
their family, listing them as a match donor with their permission, or keeping it entirely
private. Our [match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/) gives you a
structure for this conversation.

Then steward the match donor before, during and after the campaign. Beforehand, brief them
properly, confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, such
as lending their name to a challenge or recording a short video. During the campaign, show them
their match being claimed in real time, because seeing a gift at work is the most powerful
stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the specific impact: how many donors the match
unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the combined total will fund. That report is the most
important conversation for next year, because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives
again, and frequently gives more. The pipeline runs in both directions, too. Highgate School
found that their giving day created future match donors, noting that "three individuals who made
a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will increase their gift to be part
of the match pool for our next Giving Day." New donors acquired through a campaign can become the
leadership and match donors of the next.

As a planning rule of thumb across most time-bound campaigns, aim to secure roughly half of your
target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is 100,000, look to line up around 50,000.
More match funding, deployed through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.
Our [match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/) helps you reconcile
the pot you can secure with the target you want to set.

## Using match and challenges across your campaigns

The same mechanics behave differently depending on the campaign they sit inside, so it is worth
thinking about how to deploy them in each format.

On a **[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)**, match funding is the single biggest
lever you have, and challenges are how you keep the 24 to 36 hours moving. The art is to sequence
them so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock challenge at launch to establish
momentum, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a stretch
challenge held back for the closing push. Because email drives the large majority of gifts on a
giving day, tie each send to a live challenge or a match that is running down, so every message
carries news rather than just another reminder. Use our
[challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/) to map each challenge to a
trigger, a time and a message.

On a **[Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)**, match funding and incentives
drive the urgency and the friendly competition that make the week move, and the emphasis shifts
towards participation and group rivalry. Here you can layer individual challenges that any group
can achieve, a group challenge that builds team spirit, and head-to-head match-ups between clubs
at similar donor levels. Run many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones, front-load an
early target to spark a launch-morning surge, and get your leadership involved as a judge or
champion. The pot can come from central funds already set aside to support clubs and societies,
or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the week, with the long-term
aim of funding more of it from new income.

On a **[crowdfunding campaign](/world/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)**, match funding
plays a slightly different role, because crowdfunding runs over weeks rather than hours and is
led by the project owners themselves. Here the match works most powerfully as an opening boost
that gets a project off the ground and builds the project owner's confidence to keep asking, as
York's Deputy Director of Development described. The evidence is striking: matched crowdfunding
projects can attract around twice as many donations, see the average gift nearly double, and
raise substantially more in total. Project owners with a match in place also tend to set higher
goals and promote harder, precisely because there is a pot to unlock. The practical implication
is to allocate match funding where it will do the most good, often to projects that are credible
and well-led but need momentum, and to make the match visible on the project page so every
prospective donor sees that their gift will go further.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between match funding and a challenge?** A match doubles an individual's
gift, like for like or at a higher ratio, the moment they give. A challenge releases a pot of
funding when the community as a whole reaches a collective target, such as a number of donors or
a total raised. Matches reward the size of a gift; challenges reward participation. Strong
campaigns use both.

**How much match funding should we aim for?** As a guide, around half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise 100,000, look to secure roughly 50,000. More match
funding, used through well-timed challenges, generally lifts participation.

**Does match funding really change how much people give?** Yes. Studies of matched crowdfunding
projects found roughly twice as many donations, an average gift that nearly doubled, and
significantly higher totals overall. The urgency of a capped, time-limited match pulls gifts
forward and lifts their size.

**Where does the match pot come from?** From leadership, major and legacy donors, trustees,
corporate partners, and trusts and foundations, and sometimes from central funds already
earmarked for a cause. Ask early, four to six months ahead, and frame the match as high-leverage
philanthropy that unlocks the generosity of hundreds of others.

**How do we handle tax-efficient giving in the maths?** Treat it as a benefit to the donor rather
than added income to the cause. Whether your country offers a deduction, a credit, a reclaimable
uplift or another mechanism depends entirely on local rules, so check what applies where you are.
The match is what doubles the money reaching your cause, so keep the headline about the doubling
and leave the tax detail to the donation flow and the receipt.

**What if we run out of match funding mid-campaign?** Plan for it in advance. Running out is a
good problem, but it needs a response ready: open a fresh challenge, release a stretch match from
a donor held in reserve, or tell supporters clearly that the matched pot has been claimed thanks
to their generosity.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Match and challenge planner](/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/)
- [Match funding ask template](/resources/match-funding-ask-template/)
- [Challenge design worksheet](/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: how match funding affects crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/matchfunding-how-it-affects-universities-crowdfunding-programs)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), [How to run a Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) and [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](/world/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Challenge Week](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) (canz/en): A practical, best-practice guide to running a Challenge Week, the week-long appeal where student clubs and societies fundraise for themselves with central support. Covers planning, recruiting and training groups, communications, match funding and incentives, delivery and stewardship, with real lessons from the University of York.
A Challenge Week is a centrally organised, week-long fundraising appeal that invites student
clubs, societies and academic groups to raise money for their own activities, inside a
structure built and supported by the central development office. The office sets the framework,
provides the platform, training and resources, and runs light-touch communications to alumni
and supporters. The groups do the primary outreach, sharing their stories and rallying
donations from their own communities through social media, email and personal networks.

The simplest way to describe it is **Giving Day meets crowdfunding**. As Kat Carter, a
consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Crowdfunding is year-round. Giving Day happens in usually 36
hours. And then Challenge Week is a week." Like a [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
it has a fixed timeframe, match funding and central communications. Like crowdfunding, every
group has its own project page and owns its own promotion.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/york-challenge-week.jpg" alt="University of York Sport Union Challenge Week" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>The University of York's sport-focused Challenge Week grew from 10 clubs in 2023 to 17 in 2025.</figcaption>
</figure>

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
design and run Challenge Weeks, and on the experience of the University of York, whose team has
grown the format year on year. It is honest about one thing from the outset: a Challenge Week
is about much more than the money. Done well, it builds community, develops a generation of
student fundraisers, and brings large numbers of brand-new donors into your wider giving
programme.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/),
> [group onboarding email](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/),
> [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/),
> [content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/),
> [match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) and
> [donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/).

## Why run a Challenge Week

A well-delivered Challenge Week serves several goals at once, and income is deliberately not the
first of them. The primary objectives are **community engagement**, strengthening the
connections between current students, alumni, staff and local supporters; **student
participation**, empowering student leaders to champion their cause and build real fundraising
skills; and **donor acquisition**, bringing new supporters into your programme. Income is a
genuine benefit, but treat it as a secondary measure of success. The more you emphasise fun,
creativity and impact, the stronger the engagement, and engagement is what drives the giving.

The audience a Challenge Week reaches is the reason it is so valuable, because it does not lean
on your alumni file. As Jessica, the University of York's Philanthropy Officer, explains: "Our
intention has been to really make students the fundraisers in Challenge Week, and also try and
access non-alumni donors, family and friends primarily, rather than adding to the alumni
fundraising programme." In York's first year, "97% of all of the donors to Challenge Week were
completely new donors to the university." Those are parents, friends, peers and local
supporters who would rarely surface through a conventional appeal, and who can be stewarded
towards your wider programme over time.

It is also a forgiving format for teams that are not yet ready for a full Giving Day, or who
cannot resource year-round crowdfunding. You can start small, prove the model, and grow it.

## The central team's role

The central fundraising team is the engine room of a Challenge Week. Your job spans six tasks:
**plan** (choose dates, confirm the structure, set goals and prepare the platform), **recruit**
(secure a strong set of participating groups), **train** (give every group the knowledge and
tools to promote well), **promote** (run the central communications that amplify the groups'
own efforts), **support** (troubleshoot, motivate and celebrate through the week), and
**steward** (make sure donors and participants are thanked and kept engaged afterwards).

The single most important behaviour, and the one York's team singles out as their top piece of
advice, is direct relationship-building with the groups. In Jessica's words, it is about
"taking the initiative to have the direct engagement with the clubs and build those
relationships with the students who are going to be doing the fundraising, rather than trying
to go through someone else or just sending out generic stuff."

## Planning your Challenge Week

Good planning settles four questions before the week begins: your goals, your dates, your groups
and their targets.

**Set your goals.** Decide what success looks like first: the number of participating groups,
the number of donors (overall and new), the income you hope groups raise, the level of social
media engagement, and the number of ambassadors recruited. Lead with participation and
new-donor numbers rather than income. Our
[goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/) turns these into a one-page target
sheet.

**Choose your dates.** Align the week with a high-energy point in the academic year, such as a
sports tournament, a societies showcase, or an exam-free stretch, and avoid major academic
deadlines. York moved their week from June to March specifically so it ran in the build-up to
their varsity rivalry against Lancaster, and extended it to nine days so it spanned **two
weekends**, giving students with heavy teaching loads more chance to take part.

**Select your groups.** There are two broad approaches. A **focused** Challenge Week keeps
invitations to one type of group: if the week is about sport, you invite sports clubs, which
works well where the student and alumni connection runs through sport. A **combination**
Challenge Week mixes sports clubs, cultural and arts societies, academic teams and special
interest groups, which suits institutions whose community is broader. Whichever you choose,
resist an open call. York hand-picked and approached groups directly, and Kat Carter's advice
to anyone starting out is to "start small, make it easy to manage and then grow it from the
first year, and choose something that resonates with your audience."

One relationship matters more than any other at this stage. "You want to get your student union
on side," says Kat Carter, "because those sports clubs and societies, the students will be going
to them as a first port of call." Bring the union in early, and consider sharing the platform
and its costs with them.

**Help groups set achievable targets.** Guide each group towards a realistic but motivating
goal anchored in something tangible: a piece of equipment, travel to a tournament, a festival
or a competition. A concrete "what your gift buys" is far easier to fundraise around than a
round number.

## Recruiting and onboarding groups

Choosing the right clubs and societies, and onboarding them simply, is decisive. Make the first
approach personal: reach out directly to club presidents, captains and society leaders to gauge
their interest, and hold an online information session where they can learn more and ask
questions. Where you can, use examples and testimonials from past Challenge Weeks to inspire
them.

Be clear about the benefits, which are not only financial: tangible funding for their group,
real skills in fundraising, marketing, project management and leadership, and positive
publicity and community pride. Be equally clear about expectations, and set a minimum bar:
a level of promotional activity (for example, three posts a week), a fundraising goal (in
donors or income), and attendance at training.

York deliberately built a robust application process, because commitment is everything. As Tom,
the University of York's Head of Fundraising and Community Engagement, puts it: "You've got to
be fully committed as a club to be taking part. We really made sure we had every assurance
possible before gambling on wasting everyone's time." That bar exists for a reason, which leads
to the hardest lesson in the whole format.

> "You can't force people to become crowdfunders or fundraisers. If students aren't motivated
> to go and put the time and effort in, inevitably a project won't get off the ground."
>
> Tom, University of York

Keep the onboarding light to run but rich in content: one live session, recorded for anyone who
misses it, followed by a digital toolkit, rather than a string of separate briefings. Our
[onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/) gives you a first
invitation to adapt.

## Training and resources for participants

Training is where you set groups up to succeed, and it rests on a simple truth that Kat Carter
states plainly: "These students are not fundraisers, they're students. So we need to give them
the intel on how to fundraise well, because that's what we do well." Students and academics will
lean on your expertise, so give it generously.

Cover four core topics. **Goal setting**: how to choose the right target and the tangible
outcome it delivers. **Storytelling**: how to share their group's impact in a personal, emotive
way while making a clear case for what they need. **Promotion channels**: how to build a simple
plan across social media, email and personal asks. **Audience mapping**: working out which
friends, family, fellow students and local supporters are most likely to give, so effort is
focused where it counts.

Back the training with a participant toolkit so no group starts from a blank page. It should
include sample appeal copy, social media graphics and templates, email templates for launch,
mid-week and thank-you, simple imagery guidelines, and a set of creative "mini-challenge" ideas.
Our [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/) collects these
together. To help groups sharpen their words, point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/).

## Communications strategy

Although the groups carry the core promotion, the central office runs its own coordinated
communications to amplify them, and the two work best in step. The good news is that the central
effort is lighter than a Giving Day: roughly one email a day, rather than the Giving Day's
intensity.

On the central side, set a schedule for when you will email alumni and supporters, and for
regular posts on institutional channels. At group level, encourage personal, authentic content,
photos, short videos, behind-the-scenes updates and challenge progress, and ask groups to email
any contact lists they hold. A light-touch content calendar keeps everyone aligned: a teaser
and "save the date" two weeks out; a countdown and "share your challenge" one week out; a big
announcement and launch posts on day one; leaderboard updates and donor thank-yous mid-week; an
urgent push and final countdown on the last day; and results and thank-you messages afterwards.

Write everything you plan to send and share **before** the week begins. That single discipline
is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic. Our
[content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/) lays the schedule out, and
Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) on email and social go
deeper on each channel.

## Match funding and incentives

Match funding and incentives drive the urgency and the competition that make a Challenge Week
move. You can fund the pot from central money already earmarked to support clubs and societies,
or solicit new gifts from major donors and corporate partners to create a match and challenge
fund. The most effective incentives include **milestone unlocks** ("once we hit 50 donors, $500
is unlocked"), **top-performer rewards** (extra funding for the group with the most donors),
**random donor draws** (a prize for a supporter chosen at random), and **physical challenges**
(funding unlocked when a team completes a feat). Our
[match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) helps you map each
incentive to a trigger and a promotion plan.

York's experience points to a few design rules worth following. Layer your challenges: include
**individual** challenges that any group can achieve, a **group** challenge that builds team
spirit, and **head-to-head** match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels, which spark late
flurries of giving. Run **many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones**, because
frequent unlocks keep the week interesting and give you constant reasons to message. Front-load
the momentum with an early target: a "first 25 donors" challenge produced an unexpected surge at
nine o'clock on York's launch morning. And get your leadership involved, as York did when their
Vice-Chancellor judged a video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club.

One small but valuable lesson concerns the minimum gift. York found students were making token
£1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges, so they raised the minimum to £3.
"That did really seem to have a positive effect in increasing the value," says Jessica, "and no
one complained."

## Delivering the week

By the time the week arrives, your communications are written and your groups are trained, so
your job narrows to execution and motivation. Share daily updates with alumni audiences by email
and social, keep leaderboards visible to fuel friendly competition, and stay in daily contact
with the clubs and societies to keep them going. Remind groups of the advice from training,
spotlight standout groups and the most creative challenges, and offer quick motivational calls
to any group falling behind. The week runs on the rails you built for it, and your energy
through it is part of what carries the groups.

## Stewardship and follow-up

What happens after the week determines whether you have run an event or started a relationship.
Thank everyone promptly: donors should hear from both the group they supported and the central
office, and participants should be recognised for their effort and their results. Share the
outcomes openly, the total raised, the number of donors and the best stories. Then keep the
momentum going. Keep donors informed about the impact of their gift and invite them to give
again at the next natural moment in your programme, whether that is a Giving Day or a regular
gift. Keep your participating student leaders engaged for future campaigns with occasional
updates on good news and outcomes. Our
[donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/) gives groups a warm,
ready-made message to send.

This long game is the real return on a Challenge Week. The students who fundraise become
familiar with your platform and your cause, and the new donors you acquire can be cultivated for
years. As Tom reflects on what the format unlocked at York: "You've leveraged some existing
funding. You've unlocked 1,500 donors. I can't think of anything else that can do that in this
sector, to be honest."

## Case study: the University of York

York's Challenge Week began with a single ambitious sports club. "There's always one sports
club who is always asking and asking for extra support, and that is our boat club," says Tom.
"We encouraged them to do a one-club challenge week, and they were able to raise just over
£10,000 in a week. So that's where the idea of a Challenge Week was really born." The wider need
was just as clear: in the first post-Covid round, the university "received £40,000 worth of
applications" from sports clubs against a fund that had historically been far smaller.

The first full Challenge Week ran in June 2023, in the university's 60th anniversary year, with
**10 sports clubs**. It raised around **£30,000** and brought in **796 donors**, an
extraordinary **97% of them new to the university**, supported by 140 ambassadors. In 2024 the
team moved the week to March, extended it to nine days across two weekends, and grew to **15
clubs**, raising **over £40,000 from more than 1,400 donors** with a record **521 ambassadors**.
Crucially, the value per club climbed too. "Average amount raised per club massively increased,
from around £950 to £1,600," says Jessica. "It's not just adding more clubs, it's also
increasing the value driven by each of the clubs."

By their third Challenge Week, in **March 2025**, York featured **17 sports clubs** and raised
**£53,892** from **more than 1,800 donors**, with **523 ambassadors**. The creative challenges
that year captured the community's imagination: a 12-hour "Dawn till Dusk" archery event, a
Yorkshire Three Peaks hike, a handstand marathon and a rowing world-record attempt. The success
factors stayed consistent throughout: strong student leadership, clear and consistent central
support, match funding to spur participation, and fun, visible challenges that drew the wider
community in.

York's advice to anyone considering the format is to treat it as a low-risk way in. "What we
found here is a really clever way of running a short-term trial of crowdfunding that can have a
really immediate impact in a key area where you've recognised there's an urgency and a need,"
says Tom. For the full story in York's own words, see their recorded
[Challenge Week webinar](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week).

## Frequently asked questions

**How is a Challenge Week different from a Giving Day or crowdfunding?** It sits between them. A
Giving Day is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for institutional priorities. Crowdfunding
runs year-round and is led by the groups themselves. A Challenge Week is development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the fundraising is for clubs and societies, run over about a week.

**How long should it run?** Most run for about a week. York runs theirs over nine days
deliberately, so it spans two weekends and gives busy students more time to take part.

**Who actually does the fundraising?** The student clubs and societies do the primary outreach
to their own networks. The central team provides the platform, training, match funding and
supporting communications.

**How many groups should we start with?** Start small and curated rather than with an open call.
York launched with 10 hand-picked sports clubs and grew from there.

**Where does the match funding come from?** Often from central funds already set aside to support
clubs and societies, or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the
week. The aim over time is to fund more of it from genuinely new income.

**Is income the main measure of success?** No. Community engagement, student participation and
new-donor acquisition come first. Income is a valuable benefit rather than the sole goal.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Challenge Week goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/)
- [Group onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/)
- [Participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/)
- [Content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/)
- [Match funding and incentives planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/)
- [Donor thank-you email template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Challenge Week platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/challenge-week)
- Webinars: [York Challenge Week](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week) and [Challenge Weeks: Not Quite Giving Day, Not Quite Crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/challenge-week)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Challenge Week](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) (europe/en): A practical, best-practice guide to running a Challenge Week, the week-long appeal where student clubs and societies fundraise for themselves with central support. Covers planning, recruiting and training groups, communications, match funding and incentives, delivery and stewardship, with real lessons from the University of York.
A Challenge Week is a centrally organised, week-long fundraising appeal that invites student
clubs, societies and academic groups to raise money for their own activities, inside a
structure built and supported by the central development office. The office sets the framework,
provides the platform, training and resources, and runs light-touch communications to alumni
and supporters. The groups do the primary outreach, sharing their stories and rallying
donations from their own communities through social media, email and personal networks.

The simplest way to describe it is **Giving Day meets crowdfunding**. As Kat Carter, a
consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Crowdfunding is year-round. Giving Day happens in usually 36
hours. And then Challenge Week is a week." Like a [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
it has a fixed timeframe, match funding and central communications. Like crowdfunding, every
group has its own project page and owns its own promotion.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/york-challenge-week.jpg" alt="University of York Sport Union Challenge Week" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>The University of York's sport-focused Challenge Week grew from 10 clubs in 2023 to 17 in 2025.</figcaption>
</figure>

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
design and run Challenge Weeks, and on the experience of the University of York, whose team has
grown the format year on year. It is honest about one thing from the outset: a Challenge Week
is about much more than the money. Done well, it builds community, develops a generation of
student fundraisers, and brings large numbers of brand-new donors into your wider giving
programme.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/),
> [group onboarding email](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/),
> [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/),
> [content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/),
> [match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) and
> [donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/).

## Why run a Challenge Week

A well-delivered Challenge Week serves several goals at once, and income is deliberately not the
first of them. The primary objectives are **community engagement**, strengthening the
connections between current students, alumni, staff and local supporters; **student
participation**, empowering student leaders to champion their cause and build real fundraising
skills; and **donor acquisition**, bringing new supporters into your programme. Income is a
genuine benefit, but treat it as a secondary measure of success. The more you emphasise fun,
creativity and impact, the stronger the engagement, and engagement is what drives the giving.

The audience a Challenge Week reaches is the reason it is so valuable, because it does not lean
on your alumni file. As Jessica, the University of York's Philanthropy Officer, explains: "Our
intention has been to really make students the fundraisers in Challenge Week, and also try and
access non-alumni donors, family and friends primarily, rather than adding to the alumni
fundraising programme." In York's first year, "97% of all of the donors to Challenge Week were
completely new donors to the university." Those are parents, friends, peers and local
supporters who would rarely surface through a conventional appeal, and who can be stewarded
towards your wider programme over time.

It is also a forgiving format for teams that are not yet ready for a full Giving Day, or who
cannot resource year-round crowdfunding. You can start small, prove the model, and grow it.

## The central team's role

The central fundraising team is the engine room of a Challenge Week. Your job spans six tasks:
**plan** (choose dates, confirm the structure, set goals and prepare the platform), **recruit**
(secure a strong set of participating groups), **train** (give every group the knowledge and
tools to promote well), **promote** (run the central communications that amplify the groups'
own efforts), **support** (troubleshoot, motivate and celebrate through the week), and
**steward** (make sure donors and participants are thanked and kept engaged afterwards).

The single most important behaviour, and the one York's team singles out as their top piece of
advice, is direct relationship-building with the groups. In Jessica's words, it is about
"taking the initiative to have the direct engagement with the clubs and build those
relationships with the students who are going to be doing the fundraising, rather than trying
to go through someone else or just sending out generic stuff."

## Planning your Challenge Week

Good planning settles four questions before the week begins: your goals, your dates, your groups
and their targets.

**Set your goals.** Decide what success looks like first: the number of participating groups,
the number of donors (overall and new), the income you hope groups raise, the level of social
media engagement, and the number of ambassadors recruited. Lead with participation and
new-donor numbers rather than income. Our
[goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/) turns these into a one-page target
sheet.

**Choose your dates.** Align the week with a high-energy point in the academic year, such as a
sports tournament, a societies showcase, or an exam-free stretch, and avoid major academic
deadlines. York moved their week from June to March specifically so it ran in the build-up to
their varsity rivalry against Lancaster, and extended it to nine days so it spanned **two
weekends**, giving students with heavy teaching loads more chance to take part.

**Select your groups.** There are two broad approaches. A **focused** Challenge Week keeps
invitations to one type of group: if the week is about sport, you invite sports clubs, which
works well where the student and alumni connection runs through sport. A **combination**
Challenge Week mixes sports clubs, cultural and arts societies, academic teams and special
interest groups, which suits institutions whose community is broader. Whichever you choose,
resist an open call. York hand-picked and approached groups directly, and Kat Carter's advice
to anyone starting out is to "start small, make it easy to manage and then grow it from the
first year, and choose something that resonates with your audience."

One relationship matters more than any other at this stage. "You want to get your student union
on side," says Kat Carter, "because those sports clubs and societies, the students will be going
to them as a first port of call." Bring the union in early, and consider sharing the platform
and its costs with them.

**Help groups set achievable targets.** Guide each group towards a realistic but motivating
goal anchored in something tangible: a piece of equipment, travel to a tournament, a festival
or a competition. A concrete "what your gift buys" is far easier to fundraise around than a
round number.

## Recruiting and onboarding groups

Choosing the right clubs and societies, and onboarding them simply, is decisive. Make the first
approach personal: reach out directly to club presidents, captains and society leaders to gauge
their interest, and hold an online information session where they can learn more and ask
questions. Where you can, use examples and testimonials from past Challenge Weeks to inspire
them.

Be clear about the benefits, which are not only financial: tangible funding for their group,
real skills in fundraising, marketing, project management and leadership, and positive
publicity and community pride. Be equally clear about expectations, and set a minimum bar:
a level of promotional activity (for example, three posts a week), a fundraising goal (in
donors or income), and attendance at training.

York deliberately built a robust application process, because commitment is everything. As Tom,
the University of York's Head of Fundraising and Community Engagement, puts it: "You've got to
be fully committed as a club to be taking part. We really made sure we had every assurance
possible before gambling on wasting everyone's time." That bar exists for a reason, which leads
to the hardest lesson in the whole format.

> "You can't force people to become crowdfunders or fundraisers. If students aren't motivated
> to go and put the time and effort in, inevitably a project won't get off the ground."
>
> Tom, University of York

Keep the onboarding light to run but rich in content: one live session, recorded for anyone who
misses it, followed by a digital toolkit, rather than a string of separate briefings. Our
[onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/) gives you a first
invitation to adapt.

## Training and resources for participants

Training is where you set groups up to succeed, and it rests on a simple truth that Kat Carter
states plainly: "These students are not fundraisers, they're students. So we need to give them
the intel on how to fundraise well, because that's what we do well." Students and academics will
lean on your expertise, so give it generously.

Cover four core topics. **Goal setting**: how to choose the right target and the tangible
outcome it delivers. **Storytelling**: how to share their group's impact in a personal, emotive
way while making a clear case for what they need. **Promotion channels**: how to build a simple
plan across social media, email and personal asks. **Audience mapping**: working out which
friends, family, fellow students and local supporters are most likely to give, so effort is
focused where it counts.

Back the training with a participant toolkit so no group starts from a blank page. It should
include sample appeal copy, social media graphics and templates, email templates for launch,
mid-week and thank-you, simple imagery guidelines, and a set of creative "mini-challenge" ideas.
Our [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/) collects these
together. To help groups sharpen their words, point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/).

## Communications strategy

Although the groups carry the core promotion, the central office runs its own coordinated
communications to amplify them, and the two work best in step. The good news is that the central
effort is lighter than a Giving Day: roughly one email a day, rather than the Giving Day's
intensity.

On the central side, set a schedule for when you will email alumni and supporters, and for
regular posts on institutional channels. At group level, encourage personal, authentic content,
photos, short videos, behind-the-scenes updates and challenge progress, and ask groups to email
any contact lists they hold. A light-touch content calendar keeps everyone aligned: a teaser
and "save the date" two weeks out; a countdown and "share your challenge" one week out; a big
announcement and launch posts on day one; leaderboard updates and donor thank-yous mid-week; an
urgent push and final countdown on the last day; and results and thank-you messages afterwards.

Write everything you plan to send and share **before** the week begins. That single discipline
is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic. Our
[content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/) lays the schedule out, and
Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) on email and social go
deeper on each channel.

## Match funding and incentives

Match funding and incentives drive the urgency and the competition that make a Challenge Week
move. You can fund the pot from central money already earmarked to support clubs and societies,
or solicit new gifts from major donors and corporate partners to create a match and challenge
fund. The most effective incentives include **milestone unlocks** ("once we hit 50 donors, €500
is unlocked"), **top-performer rewards** (extra funding for the group with the most donors),
**random donor draws** (a prize for a supporter chosen at random), and **physical challenges**
(funding unlocked when a team completes a feat). Our
[match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) helps you map each
incentive to a trigger and a promotion plan.

York's experience points to a few design rules worth following. Layer your challenges: include
**individual** challenges that any group can achieve, a **group** challenge that builds team
spirit, and **head-to-head** match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels, which spark late
flurries of giving. Run **many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones**, because
frequent unlocks keep the week interesting and give you constant reasons to message. Front-load
the momentum with an early target: a "first 25 donors" challenge produced an unexpected surge at
nine o'clock on York's launch morning. And get your leadership involved, as York did when their
Vice-Chancellor judged a video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club.

One small but valuable lesson concerns the minimum gift. York found students were making token
£1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges, so they raised the minimum to £3.
"That did really seem to have a positive effect in increasing the value," says Jessica, "and no
one complained."

## Delivering the week

By the time the week arrives, your communications are written and your groups are trained, so
your job narrows to execution and motivation. Share daily updates with alumni audiences by email
and social, keep leaderboards visible to fuel friendly competition, and stay in daily contact
with the clubs and societies to keep them going. Remind groups of the advice from training,
spotlight standout groups and the most creative challenges, and offer quick motivational calls
to any group falling behind. The week runs on the rails you built for it, and your energy
through it is part of what carries the groups.

## Stewardship and follow-up

What happens after the week determines whether you have run an event or started a relationship.
Thank everyone promptly: donors should hear from both the group they supported and the central
office, and participants should be recognised for their effort and their results. Share the
outcomes openly, the total raised, the number of donors and the best stories. Then keep the
momentum going. Keep donors informed about the impact of their gift and invite them to give
again at the next natural moment in your programme, whether that is a Giving Day or a regular
gift. Keep your participating student leaders engaged for future campaigns with occasional
updates on good news and outcomes. Our
[donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/) gives groups a warm,
ready-made message to send.

This long game is the real return on a Challenge Week. The students who fundraise become
familiar with your platform and your cause, and the new donors you acquire can be cultivated for
years. As Tom reflects on what the format unlocked at York: "You've leveraged some existing
funding. You've unlocked 1,500 donors. I can't think of anything else that can do that in this
sector, to be honest."

## Case study: the University of York

York's Challenge Week began with a single ambitious sports club. "There's always one sports
club who is always asking and asking for extra support, and that is our boat club," says Tom.
"We encouraged them to do a one-club challenge week, and they were able to raise just over
£10,000 in a week. So that's where the idea of a Challenge Week was really born." The wider need
was just as clear: in the first post-Covid round, the university "received £40,000 worth of
applications" from sports clubs against a fund that had historically been far smaller.

The first full Challenge Week ran in June 2023, in the university's 60th anniversary year, with
**10 sports clubs**. It raised around **£30,000** and brought in **796 donors**, an
extraordinary **97% of them new to the university**, supported by 140 ambassadors. In 2024 the
team moved the week to March, extended it to nine days across two weekends, and grew to **15
clubs**, raising **over £40,000 from more than 1,400 donors** with a record **521 ambassadors**.
Crucially, the value per club climbed too. "Average amount raised per club massively increased,
from around £950 to £1,600," says Jessica. "It's not just adding more clubs, it's also
increasing the value driven by each of the clubs."

By their third Challenge Week, in **March 2025**, York featured **17 sports clubs** and raised
**£53,892** from **more than 1,800 donors**, with **523 ambassadors**. The creative challenges
that year captured the community's imagination: a 12-hour "Dawn till Dusk" archery event, a
Yorkshire Three Peaks hike, a handstand marathon and a rowing world-record attempt. The success
factors stayed consistent throughout: strong student leadership, clear and consistent central
support, match funding to spur participation, and fun, visible challenges that drew the wider
community in.

York's advice to anyone considering the format is to treat it as a low-risk way in. "What we
found here is a really clever way of running a short-term trial of crowdfunding that can have a
really immediate impact in a key area where you've recognised there's an urgency and a need,"
says Tom. For the full story in York's own words, see their recorded
[Challenge Week webinar](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week).

## Frequently asked questions

**How is a Challenge Week different from a Giving Day or crowdfunding?** It sits between them. A
Giving Day is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for institutional priorities. Crowdfunding
runs year-round and is led by the groups themselves. A Challenge Week is development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the fundraising is for clubs and societies, run over about a week.

**How long should it run?** Most run for about a week. York runs theirs over nine days
deliberately, so it spans two weekends and gives busy students more time to take part.

**Who actually does the fundraising?** The student clubs and societies do the primary outreach
to their own networks. The central team provides the platform, training, match funding and
supporting communications.

**How many groups should we start with?** Start small and curated rather than with an open call.
York launched with 10 hand-picked sports clubs and grew from there.

**Where does the match funding come from?** Often from central funds already set aside to support
clubs and societies, or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the
week. The aim over time is to fund more of it from genuinely new income.

**Is income the main measure of success?** No. Community engagement, student participation and
new-donor acquisition come first. Income is a valuable benefit rather than the sole goal.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Challenge Week goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/)
- [Group onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/)
- [Participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/)
- [Content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/)
- [Match funding and incentives planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/)
- [Donor thank-you email template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Challenge Week platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/challenge-week)
- Webinars: [York Challenge Week](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week) and [Challenge Weeks: Not Quite Giving Day, Not Quite Crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/challenge-week)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Challenge Week](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) (uk/en): A practical, best-practice guide to running a Challenge Week, the week-long appeal where student clubs and societies fundraise for themselves with central support. Covers planning, recruiting and training groups, communications, match funding and incentives, delivery and stewardship, with real lessons from the University of York.
A Challenge Week is a centrally organised, week-long fundraising appeal that invites student
clubs, societies and academic groups to raise money for their own activities, inside a
structure built and supported by the central development office. The office sets the framework,
provides the platform, training and resources, and runs light-touch communications to alumni
and supporters. The groups do the primary outreach, sharing their stories and rallying
donations from their own communities through social media, email and personal networks.

The simplest way to describe it is **Giving Day meets crowdfunding**. As Kat Carter, a
consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Crowdfunding is year-round. Giving Day happens in usually 36
hours. And then Challenge Week is a week." Like a [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
it has a fixed timeframe, match funding and central communications. Like crowdfunding, every
group has its own project page and owns its own promotion.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/york-challenge-week.jpg" alt="University of York Sport Union Challenge Week" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>The University of York's sport-focused Challenge Week grew from 10 clubs in 2023 to 17 in 2025.</figcaption>
</figure>

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
design and run Challenge Weeks, and on the experience of the University of York, whose team has
grown the format year on year. It is honest about one thing from the outset: a Challenge Week
is about much more than the money. Done well, it builds community, develops a generation of
student fundraisers, and brings large numbers of brand-new donors into your wider giving
programme.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/),
> [group onboarding email](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/),
> [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/),
> [content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/),
> [match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) and
> [donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/).

## Why run a Challenge Week

A well-delivered Challenge Week serves several goals at once, and income is deliberately not the
first of them. The primary objectives are **community engagement**, strengthening the
connections between current students, alumni, staff and local supporters; **student
participation**, empowering student leaders to champion their cause and build real fundraising
skills; and **donor acquisition**, bringing new supporters into your programme. Income is a
genuine benefit, but treat it as a secondary measure of success. The more you emphasise fun,
creativity and impact, the stronger the engagement, and engagement is what drives the giving.

The audience a Challenge Week reaches is the reason it is so valuable, because it does not lean
on your alumni file. As Jessica, the University of York's Philanthropy Officer, explains: "Our
intention has been to really make students the fundraisers in Challenge Week, and also try and
access non-alumni donors, family and friends primarily, rather than adding to the alumni
fundraising programme." In York's first year, "97% of all of the donors to Challenge Week were
completely new donors to the university." Those are parents, friends, peers and local
supporters who would rarely surface through a conventional appeal, and who can be stewarded
towards your wider programme over time.

It is also a forgiving format for teams that are not yet ready for a full Giving Day, or who
cannot resource year-round crowdfunding. You can start small, prove the model, and grow it.

## The central team's role

The central fundraising team is the engine room of a Challenge Week. Your job spans six tasks:
**plan** (choose dates, confirm the structure, set goals and prepare the platform), **recruit**
(secure a strong set of participating groups), **train** (give every group the knowledge and
tools to promote well), **promote** (run the central communications that amplify the groups'
own efforts), **support** (troubleshoot, motivate and celebrate through the week), and
**steward** (make sure donors and participants are thanked and kept engaged afterwards).

The single most important behaviour, and the one York's team singles out as their top piece of
advice, is direct relationship-building with the groups. In Jessica's words, it is about
"taking the initiative to have the direct engagement with the clubs and build those
relationships with the students who are going to be doing the fundraising, rather than trying
to go through someone else or just sending out generic stuff."

## Planning your Challenge Week

Good planning settles four questions before the week begins: your goals, your dates, your groups
and their targets.

**Set your goals.** Decide what success looks like first: the number of participating groups,
the number of donors (overall and new), the income you hope groups raise, the level of social
media engagement, and the number of ambassadors recruited. Lead with participation and
new-donor numbers rather than income. Our
[goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/) turns these into a one-page target
sheet.

**Choose your dates.** Align the week with a high-energy point in the academic year, such as a
sports tournament, a societies showcase, or an exam-free stretch, and avoid major academic
deadlines. York moved their week from June to March specifically so it ran in the build-up to
their varsity rivalry against Lancaster, and extended it to nine days so it spanned **two
weekends**, giving students with heavy teaching loads more chance to take part.

**Select your groups.** There are two broad approaches. A **focused** Challenge Week keeps
invitations to one type of group: if the week is about sport, you invite sports clubs, which
works well where the student and alumni connection runs through sport. A **combination**
Challenge Week mixes sports clubs, cultural and arts societies, academic teams and special
interest groups, which suits institutions whose community is broader. Whichever you choose,
resist an open call. York hand-picked and approached groups directly, and Kat Carter's advice
to anyone starting out is to "start small, make it easy to manage and then grow it from the
first year, and choose something that resonates with your audience."

One relationship matters more than any other at this stage. "You want to get your student union
on side," says Kat Carter, "because those sports clubs and societies, the students will be going
to them as a first port of call." Bring the union in early, and consider sharing the platform
and its costs with them.

**Help groups set achievable targets.** Guide each group towards a realistic but motivating
goal anchored in something tangible: a piece of equipment, travel to a tournament, a festival
or a competition. A concrete "what your gift buys" is far easier to fundraise around than a
round number.

## Recruiting and onboarding groups

Choosing the right clubs and societies, and onboarding them simply, is decisive. Make the first
approach personal: reach out directly to club presidents, captains and society leaders to gauge
their interest, and hold an online information session where they can learn more and ask
questions. Where you can, use examples and testimonials from past Challenge Weeks to inspire
them.

Be clear about the benefits, which are not only financial: tangible funding for their group,
real skills in fundraising, marketing, project management and leadership, and positive
publicity and community pride. Be equally clear about expectations, and set a minimum bar:
a level of promotional activity (for example, three posts a week), a fundraising goal (in
donors or income), and attendance at training.

York deliberately built a robust application process, because commitment is everything. As Tom,
the University of York's Head of Fundraising and Community Engagement, puts it: "You've got to
be fully committed as a club to be taking part. We really made sure we had every assurance
possible before gambling on wasting everyone's time." That bar exists for a reason, which leads
to the hardest lesson in the whole format.

> "You can't force people to become crowdfunders or fundraisers. If students aren't motivated
> to go and put the time and effort in, inevitably a project won't get off the ground."
>
> Tom, University of York

Keep the onboarding light to run but rich in content: one live session, recorded for anyone who
misses it, followed by a digital toolkit, rather than a string of separate briefings. Our
[onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/) gives you a first
invitation to adapt.

## Training and resources for participants

Training is where you set groups up to succeed, and it rests on a simple truth that Kat Carter
states plainly: "These students are not fundraisers, they're students. So we need to give them
the intel on how to fundraise well, because that's what we do well." Students and academics will
lean on your expertise, so give it generously.

Cover four core topics. **Goal setting**: how to choose the right target and the tangible
outcome it delivers. **Storytelling**: how to share their group's impact in a personal, emotive
way while making a clear case for what they need. **Promotion channels**: how to build a simple
plan across social media, email and personal asks. **Audience mapping**: working out which
friends, family, fellow students and local supporters are most likely to give, so effort is
focused where it counts.

Back the training with a participant toolkit so no group starts from a blank page. It should
include sample appeal copy, social media graphics and templates, email templates for launch,
mid-week and thank-you, simple imagery guidelines, and a set of creative "mini-challenge" ideas.
Our [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/) collects these
together. To help groups sharpen their words, point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/).

## Communications strategy

Although the groups carry the core promotion, the central office runs its own coordinated
communications to amplify them, and the two work best in step. The good news is that the central
effort is lighter than a Giving Day: roughly one email a day, rather than the Giving Day's
intensity.

On the central side, set a schedule for when you will email alumni and supporters, and for
regular posts on institutional channels. At group level, encourage personal, authentic content,
photos, short videos, behind-the-scenes updates and challenge progress, and ask groups to email
any contact lists they hold. A light-touch content calendar keeps everyone aligned: a teaser
and "save the date" two weeks out; a countdown and "share your challenge" one week out; a big
announcement and launch posts on day one; leaderboard updates and donor thank-yous mid-week; an
urgent push and final countdown on the last day; and results and thank-you messages afterwards.

Write everything you plan to send and share **before** the week begins. That single discipline
is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic. Our
[content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/) lays the schedule out, and
Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) on email and social go
deeper on each channel.

## Match funding and incentives

Match funding and incentives drive the urgency and the competition that make a Challenge Week
move. You can fund the pot from central money already earmarked to support clubs and societies,
or solicit new gifts from major donors and corporate partners to create a match and challenge
fund. The most effective incentives include **milestone unlocks** ("once we hit 50 donors, £500
is unlocked"), **top-performer rewards** (extra funding for the group with the most donors),
**random donor draws** (a prize for a supporter chosen at random), and **physical challenges**
(funding unlocked when a team completes a feat). Our
[match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) helps you map each
incentive to a trigger and a promotion plan.

York's experience points to a few design rules worth following. Layer your challenges: include
**individual** challenges that any group can achieve, a **group** challenge that builds team
spirit, and **head-to-head** match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels, which spark late
flurries of giving. Run **many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones**, because
frequent unlocks keep the week interesting and give you constant reasons to message. Front-load
the momentum with an early target: a "first 25 donors" challenge produced an unexpected surge at
nine o'clock on York's launch morning. And get your leadership involved, as York did when their
Vice-Chancellor judged a video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club.

One small but valuable lesson concerns the minimum gift. York found students were making token
£1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges, so they raised the minimum to £3.
"That did really seem to have a positive effect in increasing the value," says Jessica, "and no
one complained."

## Delivering the week

By the time the week arrives, your communications are written and your groups are trained, so
your job narrows to execution and motivation. Share daily updates with alumni audiences by email
and social, keep leaderboards visible to fuel friendly competition, and stay in daily contact
with the clubs and societies to keep them going. Remind groups of the advice from training,
spotlight standout groups and the most creative challenges, and offer quick motivational calls
to any group falling behind. The week runs on the rails you built for it, and your energy
through it is part of what carries the groups.

## Stewardship and follow-up

What happens after the week determines whether you have run an event or started a relationship.
Thank everyone promptly: donors should hear from both the group they supported and the central
office, and participants should be recognised for their effort and their results. Share the
outcomes openly, the total raised, the number of donors and the best stories. Then keep the
momentum going. Keep donors informed about the impact of their gift and invite them to give
again at the next natural moment in your programme, whether that is a Giving Day or a regular
gift. Keep your participating student leaders engaged for future campaigns with occasional
updates on good news and outcomes. Our
[donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/) gives groups a warm,
ready-made message to send.

This long game is the real return on a Challenge Week. The students who fundraise become
familiar with your platform and your cause, and the new donors you acquire can be cultivated for
years. As Tom reflects on what the format unlocked at York: "You've leveraged some existing
funding. You've unlocked 1,500 donors. I can't think of anything else that can do that in this
sector, to be honest."

## Case study: the University of York

York's Challenge Week began with a single ambitious sports club. "There's always one sports
club who is always asking and asking for extra support, and that is our boat club," says Tom.
"We encouraged them to do a one-club challenge week, and they were able to raise just over
£10,000 in a week. So that's where the idea of a Challenge Week was really born." The wider need
was just as clear: in the first post-Covid round, the university "received £40,000 worth of
applications" from sports clubs against a fund that had historically been far smaller.

The first full Challenge Week ran in June 2023, in the university's 60th anniversary year, with
**10 sports clubs**. It raised around **£30,000** and brought in **796 donors**, an
extraordinary **97% of them new to the university**, supported by 140 ambassadors. In 2024 the
team moved the week to March, extended it to nine days across two weekends, and grew to **15
clubs**, raising **over £40,000 from more than 1,400 donors** with a record **521 ambassadors**.
Crucially, the value per club climbed too. "Average amount raised per club massively increased,
from around £950 to £1,600," says Jessica. "It's not just adding more clubs, it's also
increasing the value driven by each of the clubs."

By their third Challenge Week, in **March 2025**, York featured **17 sports clubs** and raised
**£53,892** from **more than 1,800 donors**, with **523 ambassadors**. The creative challenges
that year captured the community's imagination: a 12-hour "Dawn till Dusk" archery event, a
Yorkshire Three Peaks hike, a handstand marathon and a rowing world-record attempt. The success
factors stayed consistent throughout: strong student leadership, clear and consistent central
support, match funding to spur participation, and fun, visible challenges that drew the wider
community in.

York's advice to anyone considering the format is to treat it as a low-risk way in. "What we
found here is a really clever way of running a short-term trial of crowdfunding that can have a
really immediate impact in a key area where you've recognised there's an urgency and a need,"
says Tom. For the full story in York's own words, see their recorded
[Challenge Week webinar](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week).

## Frequently asked questions

**How is a Challenge Week different from a Giving Day or crowdfunding?** It sits between them. A
Giving Day is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for institutional priorities. Crowdfunding
runs year-round and is led by the groups themselves. A Challenge Week is development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the fundraising is for clubs and societies, run over about a week.

**How long should it run?** Most run for about a week. York runs theirs over nine days
deliberately, so it spans two weekends and gives busy students more time to take part.

**Who actually does the fundraising?** The student clubs and societies do the primary outreach
to their own networks. The central team provides the platform, training, match funding and
supporting communications.

**How many groups should we start with?** Start small and curated rather than with an open call.
York launched with 10 hand-picked sports clubs and grew from there.

**Where does the match funding come from?** Often from central funds already set aside to support
clubs and societies, or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the
week. The aim over time is to fund more of it from genuinely new income.

**Is income the main measure of success?** No. Community engagement, student participation and
new-donor acquisition come first. Income is a valuable benefit rather than the sole goal.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Challenge Week goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/)
- [Group onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/)
- [Participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/)
- [Content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/)
- [Match funding and incentives planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/)
- [Donor thank-you email template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Challenge Week platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/challenge-week)
- Webinars: [York Challenge Week](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week) and [Challenge Weeks: Not Quite Giving Day, Not Quite Crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/challenge-week)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Challenge Week](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) (us/en): A practical, best-practice guide to running a Challenge Week, the week-long appeal where student clubs and societies fundraise for themselves with central support. Covers planning, recruiting and training groups, communications, match funding and incentives, delivery and stewardship, with real lessons from the University of York.
A Challenge Week is a centrally organized, week-long fundraising appeal that invites student
clubs, societies and academic groups to raise money for their own activities, inside a
structure built and supported by the central development office. The office sets the framework,
provides the platform, training and resources, and runs light-touch communications to alumni
and supporters. The groups do the primary outreach, sharing their stories and rallying
donations from their own communities through social media, email and personal networks.

The simplest way to describe it is **Giving Day meets crowdfunding**. As Kat Carter, a
consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Crowdfunding is year-round. Giving Day happens in usually 36
hours. And then Challenge Week is a week." Like a [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
it has a fixed timeframe, match funding and central communications. Like crowdfunding, every
group has its own project page and owns its own promotion.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/york-challenge-week.jpg" alt="University of York Sport Union Challenge Week" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>The University of York's sport-focused Challenge Week grew from 10 clubs in 2023 to 17 in 2025.</figcaption>
</figure>

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
design and run Challenge Weeks, and on the experience of the University of York, whose team has
grown the format year on year. It is honest about one thing from the outset: a Challenge Week
is about much more than the money. Done well, it builds community, develops a generation of
student fundraisers, and brings large numbers of brand-new donors into your wider giving
program.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/),
> [group onboarding email](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/),
> [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/),
> [content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/),
> [match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) and
> [donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/).

## Why run a Challenge Week

A well-delivered Challenge Week serves several goals at once, and income is deliberately not the
first of them. The primary objectives are **community engagement**, strengthening the
connections between current students, alumni, staff and local supporters; **student
participation**, empowering student leaders to champion their cause and build real fundraising
skills; and **donor acquisition**, bringing new supporters into your program. Income is a
genuine benefit, but treat it as a secondary measure of success. The more you emphasize fun,
creativity and impact, the stronger the engagement, and engagement is what drives the giving.

The audience a Challenge Week reaches is the reason it is so valuable, because it does not lean
on your alumni file. As Jessica, the University of York's Philanthropy Officer, explains: "Our
intention has been to really make students the fundraisers in Challenge Week, and also try and
access non-alumni donors, family and friends primarily, rather than adding to the alumni
fundraising programme." In York's first year, "97% of all of the donors to Challenge Week were
completely new donors to the university." Those are parents, friends, peers and local
supporters who would rarely surface through a conventional appeal, and who can be stewarded
towards your wider program over time.

It is also a forgiving format for teams that are not yet ready for a full Giving Day, or who
cannot resource year-round crowdfunding. You can start small, prove the model, and grow it.

## The central team's role

The central fundraising team is the engine room of a Challenge Week. Your job spans six tasks:
**plan** (choose dates, confirm the structure, set goals and prepare the platform), **recruit**
(secure a strong set of participating groups), **train** (give every group the knowledge and
tools to promote well), **promote** (run the central communications that amplify the groups'
own efforts), **support** (troubleshoot, motivate and celebrate through the week), and
**steward** (make sure donors and participants are thanked and kept engaged afterwards).

The single most important behavior, and the one York's team singles out as their top piece of
advice, is direct relationship-building with the groups. In Jessica's words, it is about
"taking the initiative to have the direct engagement with the clubs and build those
relationships with the students who are going to be doing the fundraising, rather than trying
to go through someone else or just sending out generic stuff."

## Planning your Challenge Week

Good planning settles four questions before the week begins: your goals, your dates, your groups
and their targets.

**Set your goals.** Decide what success looks like first: the number of participating groups,
the number of donors (overall and new), the income you hope groups raise, the level of social
media engagement, and the number of ambassadors recruited. Lead with participation and
new-donor numbers rather than income. Our
[goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/) turns these into a one-page target
sheet.

**Choose your dates.** Align the week with a high-energy point in the academic year, such as a
sports tournament, a societies showcase, or an exam-free stretch, and avoid major academic
deadlines. York moved their week from June to March specifically so it ran in the build-up to
their varsity rivalry against Lancaster, and extended it to nine days so it spanned **two
weekends**, giving students with heavy teaching loads more chance to take part.

**Select your groups.** There are two broad approaches. A **focused** Challenge Week keeps
invitations to one type of group: if the week is about sport, you invite sports clubs, which
works well where the student and alumni connection runs through sport. A **combination**
Challenge Week mixes sports clubs, cultural and arts societies, academic teams and special
interest groups, which suits institutions whose community is broader. Whichever you choose,
resist an open call. York hand-picked and approached groups directly, and Kat Carter's advice
to anyone starting out is to "start small, make it easy to manage and then grow it from the
first year, and choose something that resonates with your audience."

One relationship matters more than any other at this stage. "You want to get your student union
on side," says Kat Carter, "because those sports clubs and societies, the students will be going
to them as a first port of call." Bring the union in early, and consider sharing the platform
and its costs with them.

**Help groups set achievable targets.** Guide each group towards a realistic but motivating
goal anchored in something tangible: a piece of equipment, travel to a tournament, a festival
or a competition. A concrete "what your gift buys" is far easier to fundraise around than a
round number.

## Recruiting and onboarding groups

Choosing the right clubs and societies, and onboarding them simply, is decisive. Make the first
approach personal: reach out directly to club presidents, captains and society leaders to gauge
their interest, and hold an online information session where they can learn more and ask
questions. Where you can, use examples and testimonials from past Challenge Weeks to inspire
them.

Be clear about the benefits, which are not only financial: tangible funding for their group,
real skills in fundraising, marketing, project management and leadership, and positive
publicity and community pride. Be equally clear about expectations, and set a minimum bar:
a level of promotional activity (for example, three posts a week), a fundraising goal (in
donors or income), and attendance at training.

York deliberately built a robust application process, because commitment is everything. As Tom,
the University of York's Head of Fundraising and Community Engagement, puts it: "You've got to
be fully committed as a club to be taking part. We really made sure we had every assurance
possible before gambling on wasting everyone's time." That bar exists for a reason, which leads
to the hardest lesson in the whole format.

> "You can't force people to become crowdfunders or fundraisers. If students aren't motivated
> to go and put the time and effort in, inevitably a project won't get off the ground."
>
> Tom, University of York

Keep the onboarding light to run but rich in content: one live session, recorded for anyone who
misses it, followed by a digital toolkit, rather than a string of separate briefings. Our
[onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/) gives you a first
invitation to adapt.

## Training and resources for participants

Training is where you set groups up to succeed, and it rests on a simple truth that Kat Carter
states plainly: "These students are not fundraisers, they're students. So we need to give them
the intel on how to fundraise well, because that's what we do well." Students and academics will
lean on your expertise, so give it generously.

Cover four core topics. **Goal setting**: how to choose the right target and the tangible
outcome it delivers. **Storytelling**: how to share their group's impact in a personal, emotive
way while making a clear case for what they need. **Promotion channels**: how to build a simple
plan across social media, email and personal asks. **Audience mapping**: working out which
friends, family, fellow students and local supporters are most likely to give, so effort is
focused where it counts.

Back the training with a participant toolkit so no group starts from a blank page. It should
include sample appeal copy, social media graphics and templates, email templates for launch,
mid-week and thank-you, simple imagery guidelines, and a set of creative "mini-challenge" ideas.
Our [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/) collects these
together. To help groups sharpen their words, point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/).

## Communications strategy

Although the groups carry the core promotion, the central office runs its own coordinated
communications to amplify them, and the two work best in step. The good news is that the central
effort is lighter than a Giving Day: roughly one email a day, rather than the Giving Day's
intensity.

On the central side, set a schedule for when you will email alumni and supporters, and for
regular posts on institutional channels. At group level, encourage personal, authentic content,
photos, short videos, behind-the-scenes updates and challenge progress, and ask groups to email
any contact lists they hold. A light-touch content calendar keeps everyone aligned: a teaser
and "save the date" two weeks out; a countdown and "share your challenge" one week out; a big
announcement and launch posts on day one; leaderboard updates and donor thank-yous mid-week; an
urgent push and final countdown on the last day; and results and thank-you messages afterwards.

Write everything you plan to send and share **before** the week begins. That single discipline
is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic. Our
[content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/) lays the schedule out, and
Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) on email and social go
deeper on each channel.

## Match funding and incentives

Match funding and incentives drive the urgency and the competition that make a Challenge Week
move. You can fund the pot from central money already earmarked to support clubs and societies,
or solicit new gifts from major donors and corporate partners to create a match and challenge
fund. The most effective incentives include **milestone unlocks** ("once we hit 50 donors, $500
is unlocked"), **top-performer rewards** (extra funding for the group with the most donors),
**random donor draws** (a prize for a supporter chosen at random), and **physical challenges**
(funding unlocked when a team completes a feat). Our
[match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) helps you map each
incentive to a trigger and a promotion plan.

York's experience points to a few design rules worth following. Layer your challenges: include
**individual** challenges that any group can achieve, a **group** challenge that builds team
spirit, and **head-to-head** match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels, which spark late
flurries of giving. Run **many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones**, because
frequent unlocks keep the week interesting and give you constant reasons to message. Front-load
the momentum with an early target: a "first 25 donors" challenge produced an unexpected surge at
nine o'clock on York's launch morning. And get your leadership involved, as York did when their
Vice-Chancellor judged a video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club.

One small but valuable lesson concerns the minimum gift. York found students were making token
£1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges, so they raised the minimum to £3.
"That did really seem to have a positive effect in increasing the value," says Jessica, "and no
one complained."

## Delivering the week

By the time the week arrives, your communications are written and your groups are trained, so
your job narrows to execution and motivation. Share daily updates with alumni audiences by email
and social, keep leaderboards visible to fuel friendly competition, and stay in daily contact
with the clubs and societies to keep them going. Remind groups of the advice from training,
spotlight standout groups and the most creative challenges, and offer quick motivational calls
to any group falling behind. The week runs on the rails you built for it, and your energy
through it is part of what carries the groups.

## Stewardship and follow-up

What happens after the week determines whether you have run an event or started a relationship.
Thank everyone promptly: donors should hear from both the group they supported and the central
office, and participants should be recognized for their effort and their results. Share the
outcomes openly, the total raised, the number of donors and the best stories. Then keep the
momentum going. Keep donors informed about the impact of their gift and invite them to give
again at the next natural moment in your program, whether that is a Giving Day or a regular
gift. Keep your participating student leaders engaged for future campaigns with occasional
updates on good news and outcomes. Our
[donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/) gives groups a warm,
ready-made message to send.

This long game is the real return on a Challenge Week. The students who fundraise become
familiar with your platform and your cause, and the new donors you acquire can be cultivated for
years. As Tom reflects on what the format unlocked at York: "You've leveraged some existing
funding. You've unlocked 1,500 donors. I can't think of anything else that can do that in this
sector, to be honest."

## Case study: the University of York

York's Challenge Week began with a single ambitious sports club. "There's always one sports
club who is always asking and asking for extra support, and that is our boat club," says Tom.
"We encouraged them to do a one-club challenge week, and they were able to raise just over
£10,000 in a week. So that's where the idea of a Challenge Week was really born." The wider need
was just as clear: in the first post-Covid round, the university "received £40,000 worth of
applications" from sports clubs against a fund that had historically been far smaller.

The first full Challenge Week ran in June 2023, in the university's 60th anniversary year, with
**10 sports clubs**. It raised around **£30,000** and brought in **796 donors**, an
extraordinary **97% of them new to the university**, supported by 140 ambassadors. In 2024 the
team moved the week to March, extended it to nine days across two weekends, and grew to **15
clubs**, raising **over £40,000 from more than 1,400 donors** with a record **521 ambassadors**.
Crucially, the value per club climbed too. "Average amount raised per club massively increased,
from around £950 to £1,600," says Jessica. "It's not just adding more clubs, it's also
increasing the value driven by each of the clubs."

By their third Challenge Week, in **March 2025**, York featured **17 sports clubs** and raised
**£53,892** from **more than 1,800 donors**, with **523 ambassadors**. The creative challenges
that year captured the community's imagination: a 12-hour "Dawn till Dusk" archery event, a
Yorkshire Three Peaks hike, a handstand marathon and a rowing world-record attempt. The success
factors stayed consistent throughout: strong student leadership, clear and consistent central
support, match funding to spur participation, and fun, visible challenges that drew the wider
community in.

York's advice to anyone considering the format is to treat it as a low-risk way in. "What we
found here is a really clever way of running a short-term trial of crowdfunding that can have a
really immediate impact in a key area where you've recognized there's an urgency and a need,"
says Tom. For the full story in York's own words, see their recorded
[Challenge Week webinar](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week).

## Frequently asked questions

**How is a Challenge Week different from a Giving Day or crowdfunding?** It sits between them. A
Giving Day is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for institutional priorities. Crowdfunding
runs year-round and is led by the groups themselves. A Challenge Week is development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the fundraising is for clubs and societies, run over about a week.

**How long should it run?** Most run for about a week. York runs theirs over nine days
deliberately, so it spans two weekends and gives busy students more time to take part.

**Who actually does the fundraising?** The student clubs and societies do the primary outreach
to their own networks. The central team provides the platform, training, match funding and
supporting communications.

**How many groups should we start with?** Start small and curated rather than with an open call.
York launched with 10 hand-picked sports clubs and grew from there.

**Where does the match funding come from?** Often from central funds already set aside to support
clubs and societies, or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the
week. The aim over time is to fund more of it from genuinely new income.

**Is income the main measure of success?** No. Community engagement, student participation and
new-donor acquisition come first. Income is a valuable benefit rather than the sole goal.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Challenge Week goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/)
- [Group onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/)
- [Participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/)
- [Content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/)
- [Match funding and incentives planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/)
- [Donor thank-you email template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Challenge Week platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/challenge-week)
- Webinars: [York Challenge Week](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week) and [Challenge Weeks: Not Quite Giving Day, Not Quite Crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/challenge-week)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Challenge Week](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) (world/en): A practical, best-practice guide to running a Challenge Week, the week-long appeal where student clubs and societies fundraise for themselves with central support. Covers planning, recruiting and training groups, communications, match funding and incentives, delivery and stewardship, with real lessons from the University of York.
A Challenge Week is a centrally organised, week-long fundraising appeal that invites student
clubs, societies and academic groups to raise money for their own activities, inside a
structure built and supported by the central development office. The office sets the framework,
provides the platform, training and resources, and runs light-touch communications to alumni
and supporters. The groups do the primary outreach, sharing their stories and rallying
donations from their own communities through social media, email and personal networks.

The simplest way to describe it is **Giving Day meets crowdfunding**. As Kat Carter, a
consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Crowdfunding is year-round. Giving Day happens in usually 36
hours. And then Challenge Week is a week." Like a [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/),
it has a fixed timeframe, match funding and central communications. Like crowdfunding, every
group has its own project page and owns its own promotion.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/york-challenge-week.jpg" alt="University of York Sport Union Challenge Week" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>The University of York's sport-focused Challenge Week grew from 10 clubs in 2023 to 17 in 2025.</figcaption>
</figure>

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
design and run Challenge Weeks, and on the experience of the University of York, whose team has
grown the format year on year. It is honest about one thing from the outset: a Challenge Week
is about much more than the money. Done well, it builds community, develops a generation of
student fundraisers, and brings large numbers of brand-new donors into your wider giving
programme.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/),
> [group onboarding email](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/),
> [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/),
> [content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/),
> [match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) and
> [donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/).

## Why run a Challenge Week

A well-delivered Challenge Week serves several goals at once, and income is deliberately not the
first of them. The primary objectives are **community engagement**, strengthening the
connections between current students, alumni, staff and local supporters; **student
participation**, empowering student leaders to champion their cause and build real fundraising
skills; and **donor acquisition**, bringing new supporters into your programme. Income is a
genuine benefit, but treat it as a secondary measure of success. The more you emphasise fun,
creativity and impact, the stronger the engagement, and engagement is what drives the giving.

The audience a Challenge Week reaches is the reason it is so valuable, because it does not lean
on your alumni file. As Jessica, the University of York's Philanthropy Officer, explains: "Our
intention has been to really make students the fundraisers in Challenge Week, and also try and
access non-alumni donors, family and friends primarily, rather than adding to the alumni
fundraising programme." In York's first year, "97% of all of the donors to Challenge Week were
completely new donors to the university." Those are parents, friends, peers and local
supporters who would rarely surface through a conventional appeal, and who can be stewarded
towards your wider programme over time.

It is also a forgiving format for teams that are not yet ready for a full Giving Day, or who
cannot resource year-round crowdfunding. You can start small, prove the model, and grow it.

## The central team's role

The central fundraising team is the engine room of a Challenge Week. Your job spans six tasks:
**plan** (choose dates, confirm the structure, set goals and prepare the platform), **recruit**
(secure a strong set of participating groups), **train** (give every group the knowledge and
tools to promote well), **promote** (run the central communications that amplify the groups'
own efforts), **support** (troubleshoot, motivate and celebrate through the week), and
**steward** (make sure donors and participants are thanked and kept engaged afterwards).

The single most important behaviour, and the one York's team singles out as their top piece of
advice, is direct relationship-building with the groups. In Jessica's words, it is about
"taking the initiative to have the direct engagement with the clubs and build those
relationships with the students who are going to be doing the fundraising, rather than trying
to go through someone else or just sending out generic stuff."

## Planning your Challenge Week

Good planning settles four questions before the week begins: your goals, your dates, your groups
and their targets.

**Set your goals.** Decide what success looks like first: the number of participating groups,
the number of donors (overall and new), the income you hope groups raise, the level of social
media engagement, and the number of ambassadors recruited. Lead with participation and
new-donor numbers rather than income. Our
[goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/) turns these into a one-page target
sheet.

**Choose your dates.** Align the week with a high-energy point in the academic year, such as a
sports tournament, a societies showcase, or an exam-free stretch, and avoid major academic
deadlines. York moved their week from June to March specifically so it ran in the build-up to
their varsity rivalry against Lancaster, and extended it to nine days so it spanned **two
weekends**, giving students with heavy teaching loads more chance to take part.

**Select your groups.** There are two broad approaches. A **focused** Challenge Week keeps
invitations to one type of group: if the week is about sport, you invite sports clubs, which
works well where the student and alumni connection runs through sport. A **combination**
Challenge Week mixes sports clubs, cultural and arts societies, academic teams and special
interest groups, which suits institutions whose community is broader. Whichever you choose,
resist an open call. York hand-picked and approached groups directly, and Kat Carter's advice
to anyone starting out is to "start small, make it easy to manage and then grow it from the
first year, and choose something that resonates with your audience."

One relationship matters more than any other at this stage. "You want to get your student union
on side," says Kat Carter, "because those sports clubs and societies, the students will be going
to them as a first port of call." Bring the union in early, and consider sharing the platform
and its costs with them.

**Help groups set achievable targets.** Guide each group towards a realistic but motivating
goal anchored in something tangible: a piece of equipment, travel to a tournament, a festival
or a competition. A concrete "what your gift buys" is far easier to fundraise around than a
round number.

## Recruiting and onboarding groups

Choosing the right clubs and societies, and onboarding them simply, is decisive. Make the first
approach personal: reach out directly to club presidents, captains and society leaders to gauge
their interest, and hold an online information session where they can learn more and ask
questions. Where you can, use examples and testimonials from past Challenge Weeks to inspire
them.

Be clear about the benefits, which are not only financial: tangible funding for their group,
real skills in fundraising, marketing, project management and leadership, and positive
publicity and community pride. Be equally clear about expectations, and set a minimum bar:
a level of promotional activity (for example, three posts a week), a fundraising goal (in
donors or income), and attendance at training.

York deliberately built a robust application process, because commitment is everything. As Tom,
the University of York's Head of Fundraising and Community Engagement, puts it: "You've got to
be fully committed as a club to be taking part. We really made sure we had every assurance
possible before gambling on wasting everyone's time." That bar exists for a reason, which leads
to the hardest lesson in the whole format.

> "You can't force people to become crowdfunders or fundraisers. If students aren't motivated
> to go and put the time and effort in, inevitably a project won't get off the ground."
>
> Tom, University of York

Keep the onboarding light to run but rich in content: one live session, recorded for anyone who
misses it, followed by a digital toolkit, rather than a string of separate briefings. Our
[onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/) gives you a first
invitation to adapt.

## Training and resources for participants

Training is where you set groups up to succeed, and it rests on a simple truth that Kat Carter
states plainly: "These students are not fundraisers, they're students. So we need to give them
the intel on how to fundraise well, because that's what we do well." Students and academics will
lean on your expertise, so give it generously.

Cover four core topics. **Goal setting**: how to choose the right target and the tangible
outcome it delivers. **Storytelling**: how to share their group's impact in a personal, emotive
way while making a clear case for what they need. **Promotion channels**: how to build a simple
plan across social media, email and personal asks. **Audience mapping**: working out which
friends, family, fellow students and local supporters are most likely to give, so effort is
focused where it counts.

Back the training with a participant toolkit so no group starts from a blank page. It should
include sample appeal copy, social media graphics and templates, email templates for launch,
mid-week and thank-you, simple imagery guidelines, and a set of creative "mini-challenge" ideas.
Our [participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/) collects these
together. To help groups sharpen their words, point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/).

## Communications strategy

Although the groups carry the core promotion, the central office runs its own coordinated
communications to amplify them, and the two work best in step. The good news is that the central
effort is lighter than a Giving Day: roughly one email a day, rather than the Giving Day's
intensity.

On the central side, set a schedule for when you will email alumni and supporters, and for
regular posts on institutional channels. At group level, encourage personal, authentic content,
photos, short videos, behind-the-scenes updates and challenge progress, and ask groups to email
any contact lists they hold. A light-touch content calendar keeps everyone aligned: a teaser
and "save the date" two weeks out; a countdown and "share your challenge" one week out; a big
announcement and launch posts on day one; leaderboard updates and donor thank-yous mid-week; an
urgent push and final countdown on the last day; and results and thank-you messages afterwards.

Write everything you plan to send and share **before** the week begins. That single discipline
is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic. Our
[content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/) lays the schedule out, and
Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) on email and social go
deeper on each channel.

## Match funding and incentives

Match funding and incentives drive the urgency and the competition that make a Challenge Week
move. You can fund the pot from central money already earmarked to support clubs and societies,
or solicit new gifts from major donors and corporate partners to create a match and challenge
fund. The most effective incentives include **milestone unlocks** ("once we hit 50 donors, a set
amount in your local currency is unlocked"), **top-performer rewards** (extra funding for the
group with the most donors), **random donor draws** (a prize for a supporter chosen at random),
and **physical challenges** (funding unlocked when a team completes a feat). Our
[match funding planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/) helps you map each
incentive to a trigger and a promotion plan.

York's experience points to a few design rules worth following. Layer your challenges: include
**individual** challenges that any group can achieve, a **group** challenge that builds team
spirit, and **head-to-head** match-ups between clubs at similar donor levels, which spark late
flurries of giving. Run **many smaller challenges rather than a few large ones**, because
frequent unlocks keep the week interesting and give you constant reasons to message. Front-load
the momentum with an early target: a "first 25 donors" challenge produced an unexpected surge at
nine o'clock on York's launch morning. And get your leadership involved, as York did when their
Vice-Chancellor judged a video challenge that unlocked an extra £100 for the winning club.

One small but valuable lesson concerns the minimum gift. York found students were making token
£1 donations to inflate their donor counts for challenges, so they raised the minimum to £3.
"That did really seem to have a positive effect in increasing the value," says Jessica, "and no
one complained."

## Delivering the week

By the time the week arrives, your communications are written and your groups are trained, so
your job narrows to execution and motivation. Share daily updates with alumni audiences by email
and social, keep leaderboards visible to fuel friendly competition, and stay in daily contact
with the clubs and societies to keep them going. Remind groups of the advice from training,
spotlight standout groups and the most creative challenges, and offer quick motivational calls
to any group falling behind. The week runs on the rails you built for it, and your energy
through it is part of what carries the groups.

## Stewardship and follow-up

What happens after the week determines whether you have run an event or started a relationship.
Thank everyone promptly: donors should hear from both the group they supported and the central
office, and participants should be recognised for their effort and their results. Share the
outcomes openly, the total raised, the number of donors and the best stories. Then keep the
momentum going. Keep donors informed about the impact of their gift and invite them to give
again at the next natural moment in your programme, whether that is a Giving Day or a regular
gift. Keep your participating student leaders engaged for future campaigns with occasional
updates on good news and outcomes. Our
[donor thank-you template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/) gives groups a warm,
ready-made message to send.

This long game is the real return on a Challenge Week. The students who fundraise become
familiar with your platform and your cause, and the new donors you acquire can be cultivated for
years. As Tom reflects on what the format unlocked at York: "You've leveraged some existing
funding. You've unlocked 1,500 donors. I can't think of anything else that can do that in this
sector, to be honest."

## Case study: the University of York

York's Challenge Week began with a single ambitious sports club. "There's always one sports
club who is always asking and asking for extra support, and that is our boat club," says Tom.
"We encouraged them to do a one-club challenge week, and they were able to raise just over
£10,000 in a week. So that's where the idea of a Challenge Week was really born." The wider need
was just as clear: in the first post-Covid round, the university "received £40,000 worth of
applications" from sports clubs against a fund that had historically been far smaller.

The first full Challenge Week ran in June 2023, in the university's 60th anniversary year, with
**10 sports clubs**. It raised around **£30,000** and brought in **796 donors**, an
extraordinary **97% of them new to the university**, supported by 140 ambassadors. In 2024 the
team moved the week to March, extended it to nine days across two weekends, and grew to **15
clubs**, raising **over £40,000 from more than 1,400 donors** with a record **521 ambassadors**.
Crucially, the value per club climbed too. "Average amount raised per club massively increased,
from around £950 to £1,600," says Jessica. "It's not just adding more clubs, it's also
increasing the value driven by each of the clubs."

By their third Challenge Week, in **March 2025**, York featured **17 sports clubs** and raised
**£53,892** from **more than 1,800 donors**, with **523 ambassadors**. The creative challenges
that year captured the community's imagination: a 12-hour "Dawn till Dusk" archery event, a
Yorkshire Three Peaks hike, a handstand marathon and a rowing world-record attempt. The success
factors stayed consistent throughout: strong student leadership, clear and consistent central
support, match funding to spur participation, and fun, visible challenges that drew the wider
community in.

York's advice to anyone considering the format is to treat it as a low-risk way in. "What we
found here is a really clever way of running a short-term trial of crowdfunding that can have a
really immediate impact in a key area where you've recognised there's an urgency and a need,"
says Tom. For the full story in York's own words, see their recorded
[Challenge Week webinar](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week).

## Frequently asked questions

**How is a Challenge Week different from a Giving Day or crowdfunding?** It sits between them. A
Giving Day is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for institutional priorities. Crowdfunding
runs year-round and is led by the groups themselves. A Challenge Week is development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the fundraising is for clubs and societies, run over about a week.

**How long should it run?** Most run for about a week. York runs theirs over nine days
deliberately, so it spans two weekends and gives busy students more time to take part.

**Who actually does the fundraising?** The student clubs and societies do the primary outreach
to their own networks. The central team provides the platform, training, match funding and
supporting communications.

**How many groups should we start with?** Start small and curated rather than with an open call.
York launched with 10 hand-picked sports clubs and grew from there.

**Where does the match funding come from?** Often from central funds already set aside to support
clubs and societies, or from major-donor and corporate gifts solicited specifically for the
week. The aim over time is to fund more of it from genuinely new income.

**Is income the main measure of success?** No. Community engagement, student participation and
new-donor acquisition come first. Income is a valuable benefit rather than the sole goal.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Challenge Week goals planner](/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/)
- [Group onboarding email template](/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/)
- [Participant toolkit](/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/)
- [Content calendar](/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/)
- [Match funding and incentives planner](/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/)
- [Donor thank-you email template](/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Challenge Week platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/challenge-week)
- Webinars: [York Challenge Week](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week) and [Challenge Weeks: Not Quite Giving Day, Not Quite Crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/challenge-week)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (canz/en): A practical guide to running a crowdfunding campaign or programme, where project owners raise funds for their own causes with central support. Covers choosing projects, building pages, targets and rewards, match funding, communications, launch momentum and stewardship.
Crowdfunding raises money by putting the people closest to a cause in charge of raising it. Each
owner runs their own project page, and your central team provides the platform, the guidance and
the support that make them effective. A student society raising for a tour, a research group
funding a piece of equipment, a department backing a hardship fund: each owns its appeal, sets its
target, and goes out to its own network. Your office sets the framework, vets the projects,
supplies the tools and templates, and runs light coordinating communications. The crowd does the
rest.

That ownership is what sets crowdfunding apart from your fixed-moment campaigns. A
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for a
handful of institutional priorities, where your team writes the appeal and owns the ask. A
[Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) sits in between: development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the money goes to clubs and societies who do their own promotion across
about a week. Crowdfunding takes that project-owner model and removes the calendar box around it.
Projects launch when their owners are ready, run for as long as suits the cause, and live alongside
one another all year. Put simply, crowdfunding is year-round, a Giving Day happens in about 36
hours, and a Challenge Week is a week.

This guide draws on best practice developed by Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
build crowdfunding programmes, and on the experience of universities who have run them at scale.
Two feature throughout: the University of Essex, whose long-running "Click" programme supplies most
of the worked examples, and the University of York. It is honest about one thing from the outset.
Crowdfunding is as much about building a culture of giving as it is about the money it raises. Done
well, it brings brand-new supporters into your programme, teaches a generation of project owners
how philanthropy actually works, and gives you a steady stream of fundable, donor-friendly causes.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> [page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) and
> [communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Why run a crowdfunding campaign

The first reason is reach. Project owners go to people you would never find on your alumni file:
course mates, teammates, parents, friends, colleagues and local supporters who give because they
have a personal connection to the person making the ask. A conventional appeal rarely surfaces
these donors, and once they have given they can be stewarded towards your wider programme. York's
crowdfunding has done exactly this, widening its supporter base so that, in the figures it reports,
around 91 per cent of its crowdfunding alumni donors were new to the institution.

The second reason is that crowdfunding builds fundraisers. A student who has to write their own
case for support, map their own audience and chase their own donations learns what fundraising
really involves. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer at the University of Essex, describes the
effect of the Click programme on students:

> "It teaches the students about philanthropy. It teaches staff about philanthropy, because
> oftentimes people think, oh, you just get money just to get money. They don't see the actual
> background work that goes into it. It's a good way for the university to teach people about
> philanthropy as a student, before they become an alumni."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

The third reason is that crowdfunding takes pressure off the rest of your fundraising. Every
department, society and research team that can run a credible self-serve appeal is one fewer ask
landing on your major-gift officers' desks. As DeeDee Paul puts it, when departments use the
platform with their own contacts, "all we do is monitor it and give you your money at the end of
it," which frees the major-gift team "to focus on something else." Income is a genuine benefit, and
at scale a real one: Essex's Click programme has raised more than £256,000 from over 4,590 donors
across 320-plus projects since 2015. But the income tends to follow from the engagement, not the
other way round.

## One campaign or an ongoing programme

There are two ways to run crowdfunding, and it pays to decide early which you are building. A
**single campaign** is a time-boxed push: you recruit a cohort of projects, launch them around a
shared moment, and wrap up. This is the closest crowdfunding gets to a Challenge Week, and a
sensible way to prove the model before committing to more. An **ongoing programme** keeps the
platform open all year, with projects launching and finishing on a rolling basis as owners come
forward. This is how Essex runs Click and how York runs its YuStart programme, both operating
continuously for years rather than in bursts.

The trade-off is momentum versus convenience. A single campaign concentrates attention, which makes
communications easier and competition livelier, but it asks every project to be ready at the same
time. An ongoing programme meets owners when they are ready and spreads your support effort across
the year, but it loses the shared urgency of a deadline, so you have to manufacture momentum project
by project. Many institutions do both: a year-round programme as the backbone, with occasional
concentrated campaigns or a Challenge Week layered on top to create peaks. If you are starting from
nothing, begin with one well-supported campaign or a small cohort, learn from it, and grow.

## Choosing and vetting projects and project owners

The quality of your crowdfunding rests on the quality of the projects you let onto the platform, so
you need clear criteria and someone who applies them. At Essex, prospective owners submit an
inquiry, and a dedicated team member reviews each one against the programme's rules before it goes
live. Two criteria do most of the work. First, the project has to fit your mission: Essex requires
every Click project to be tied to the owner's academic purpose, whether a course-linked trip, a
piece of research or a study-abroad placement. Second, the project has to be worth the effort.
Essex sets a floor of at least £100 to launch, on the simple logic that, as DeeDee Paul puts it, a
tiny target is "a waste of time" for both the owner and the team supporting them: "We want to make
sure that if you're going to invest your time, it's invested well."

Vetting the owner matters as much as vetting the project, because the single biggest predictor of
success is whether the person behind it will do the work. Essex has run more than 445 projects at a
98 per cent success rate, and the team is candid about why their one failure happened:

> "We just had our first failed project. The only reason why it fails is because the person didn't
> even put any effort into trying to fundraise for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

You cannot make someone a fundraiser. What you can do is set expectations clearly at the point of
sign-off and screen out projects where the owner is hoping the money will arrive by itself. A short
conversation before approval, walking the owner through what they are committing to, is worth far
more than a long application form. Our
[crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) gives owners a
structured place to set out their goal, audience and plan, and gives you a clear basis on which to
approve.

## Building a compelling project page and telling the story

A project page has one job: to turn a visitor who cares about the person into a donor who gives to
the cause. The mechanics matter, and a good platform handles them: a clear target and progress bar,
a range of suggested gift amounts rather than a single fixed figure, and a choice
of one-off, card and recurring options so people can give in the way that suits them. Essex
deliberately offered several giving routes and a spread of amounts so as not to deter anyone,
setting suggested levels but always leaving the donor free to give what they can. In DeeDee Paul's
words, "every donation makes a difference."

The harder part is the story, and it is where owners need the most help. The temptation, as DeeDee
Paul warns, is to fall back on the institutional ask: "You don't want to be like, oh, just donate
because of scholarships or because we need money. You want to tell the stories." A strong page opens
with a person and a specific need, shows what the money will buy in concrete terms, and makes the
reader feel that their gift completes something rather than topping up a general fund. Encourage
owners to write as themselves, in their own voice, with their own photographs, and to say plainly
what happens if the target is met.

The donations that result often carry their own stories back to you. Essex's platform lets donors
leave a message with their gift, and those messages have become a fundraising asset in their own
right, used in campaigns and at scholarship receptions. One donor who gave £30,000 in memory of her
late husband, an Essex graduate the office had never previously been in contact with, left a message
explaining that she wanted "to leave a legacy" because the university had made such an impact on his
life. Give owners a head start on their words with our
[page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), and point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to sharpen the result.

## Setting targets and using rewards

A good target is realistic, motivating and anchored in something tangible. Help owners price their
project from the bottom up, around the equipment, the travel or the activity it pays for, rather
than picking a round number and hoping. A target tied to a concrete outcome is far easier to
fundraise against, because every donor can see exactly what their gift completes, and a target the
owner can plausibly hit with their own network is one they will actually pursue.

How the target behaves when it is reached is a design decision in itself. Some programmes run on an
all-or-nothing basis, where the owner keeps the money only if the target is met, which sharpens the
final push but raises the stakes. Others, like Essex, release the funds once the minimum is reached
and let owners keep anything above it: "Once you reach your minimum goal, sometimes people go over
the goal. Either way, you still get the match funding as long as you reach the minimum goal."
Whichever you choose, be explicit about it on every page so donors and owners know the rules.

Rewards are an optional layer that can lift conversion when they fit the cause. In the classic
crowdfunding model, donors at different levels receive a small token of thanks: a mention, an
invitation, a piece of the thing they funded. In a cause-led setting the most powerful "reward" is
often simply impact and acknowledgement, a heartfelt update and a thank-you, rather than merchandise
that eats into the money raised. Keep rewards cheap to fulfil, genuinely tied to the project, and
never let them become the reason people give.

## Match funding to drive urgency

Match funding is the single most effective lever you have, because it changes the maths of the ask
for every donor: give now and your dollar counts double. York reports that its matched projects raise
around three times as much as unmatched ones, which is reason enough to build a match pot into your
programme from the start. The match can come from central funds already earmarked to support the
kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major donors and corporate partners solicited
specifically to create a challenge fund.

How you structure the match shapes behaviour. Essex offers a straightforward pledge to match what
each project raises up to £500, which gives owners a clear, motivating headline: hit the minimum and
the institution tops you up. That cap also keeps the pot fair across many projects rather than
letting a single large campaign absorb it. Be aware, though, of the behaviour match can encourage at
the margins. Essex notes that some owners lean on a guaranteed source close to home, knowing that
"if I raise the minimum amount, then I'll get the match funding," whereas the owners who genuinely
work their networks tend to be halfway to target well before the deadline. A match designed to
reward breadth of support, rather than simply reaching a number, keeps the incentive pointing the
right way. Plan the mechanics with our
[communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), which includes a place
to map each match trigger to the message that announces it.

## Communications: owner-led, centrally supported

Crowdfunding communications run on two tracks that have to stay in step. The primary track is the
owner's own outreach to their own people, and it is where most of the money comes from. The
secondary track is your central amplification: institutional social posts, newsletters and emails
that lend credibility, drive traffic to live projects and celebrate milestones. The owners carry the
appeal; you carry the megaphone.

On the owner side, the job is to equip and then to nudge. Most project owners are not fundraisers, so
give them a simple promotion plan to follow: a launch message to their close network, regular
authentic updates through the project, and a final push as the deadline nears. Encourage personal,
specific content, photos, short videos and progress posts, rather than polished marketing. Above
all, build in active follow-up, because the difference between a funded project and a failed one is
often just persistence. Essex does not leave owners to sink or swim. The team checks in roughly a
week after a project goes live to ask, in DeeDee Paul's words, "are you actually actively trying to
get the money in?", and if an owner has stalled, they "sit down with you and figure out an
alternative way." She describes the touch as supportive rather than controlling: "I don't want to
say micromanaging you, but at least keeping you motivated to do your project until the end."

On the central side, the lightest-touch version is awareness and routing: making sure everyone knows
the platform exists and where to find it. Essex publicises Click with banners across campus,
welcome-week stalls and start-of-term sessions for the departments that use it most, but its most
powerful channel is word of mouth, because a programme that has run for years becomes the obvious
first port of call: "If you need money, you can just check out the Click platform." For a
concentrated campaign rather than a rolling programme, lift the central effort to roughly one
coordinated email a day, and write everything before it begins so delivery is calm rather than
frantic. Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) go deeper on email
and social.

## Launch and maintaining momentum

A project's first 48 hours set its trajectory, so coach owners to line up their warmest supporters
to give early. A page that already shows momentum, with several gifts and visible progress,
reassures later donors that the project is real and worth backing, whereas an empty page invites
hesitation. Encourage owners to tell their inner circle the launch date in advance and ask them to
give on day one, so the page opens with movement rather than silence.

Through the middle of a project, momentum is a job, not an accident. Owners should post progress,
thank donors publicly, mark the halfway point, and create fresh reasons to give: a match milestone
unlocked, a deadline approaching, a stretch goal in sight. For a concentrated campaign, keep a
visible leaderboard or progress view and use it to spark friendly competition between projects. For
a rolling programme, your central team's role is to keep momentum alive project by project,
spotlighting live appeals, celebrating successes publicly and prompting owners who go quiet. The
through-line in everything Essex describes is the same: the projects that succeed are the ones whose
owners keep working them, and your support exists to keep that work going.

## Stewardship and converting crowdfunding donors

What happens after a project funds determines whether you have run a transaction or started a
relationship. Both the owner and the central office should thank every donor promptly, and owners
should report back on what the money achieved: the trip taken, the show staged, the equipment
bought. At Essex, the projects with the strongest ongoing relationship, such as the theatre school,
are the ones that close the loop, inviting the team to performances and reporting back on impact.
That habit of feedback is what turns a one-off donor into a familiar supporter.

The bigger prize is conversion. Crowdfunding brings in large numbers of people who are new to you,
and a good platform captures, with consent, who they are and what they cared about, so you can build
on the gift. Essex uses the donation data and the messages donors leave to re-engage supporters it
would otherwise never have known: when a gift arrives from someone outside the regular file, the
team can reach out, thank them and ask what motivated them. Over time, even the project owners
convert. Now that it tracks the data, Essex has found that a share of former Click users have
themselves become alumni donors, names that have quietly kept giving since they graduated. That long
arc, from student fundraiser to lifelong supporter, is the real return on a crowdfunding programme,
and it only materialises if you steward deliberately rather than letting projects end at their
deadline. Be honest about the resource this takes: Essex is frank that without a dedicated
stewardship role, follow-up across every project is hard to sustain, which is an argument for
staffing the programme properly as it grows.

## Measuring success

Set your measures before you launch, and lead with engagement rather than income alone. The most
useful metrics are the number of live projects, the project success rate (the share that hit
target), the number of donors and how many are new to you, the total raised and the average per
project, and, over the longer term, how many crowdfunding donors and owners go on to give again.
Benchmark numbers from established programmes give you something to aim at: Essex reports a 98 per
cent success rate across 445-plus projects, and York a 94 per cent rate across 240-plus projects. A
high success rate is itself a measure of how well you are vetting and supporting, not just of how
easy the targets are. Track new-donor acquisition and downstream conversion as seriously as you
track dollars, because that is where crowdfunding pays off long after a given project closes.

## Case study: the University of Essex

The University of Essex has run its crowdfunding programme, branded "Click" on the strapline "help is
only a Click away," since 2015. It is now a mature, year-round operation: more than 320 projects
supported, over £256,000 raised and more than 4,590 donors over its lifetime, and a 2017 Heist Award
for Best Alumni, Development or Fundraising Initiative along the way. In its first year alone the
programme delivered 38 projects, £48,000 and 791 donors at a 97 per cent success rate. The model is
self-serve but closely supported: students and staff submit an inquiry, a dedicated team member
reviews it against the academic criteria, and approved projects go live with a target, a match of up
to £500 and active follow-up. Across more than 445 projects the programme has held a 98 per cent
success rate, with its single failure down to an owner who simply did not do the work.

What Essex stresses most, with hindsight, is not the mechanics but the fit. Asked for her top advice
to teams thinking about crowdfunding, DeeDee Paul keeps returning to the same point:

> "You have to know your audience. Your audience is what's going to make it successful. You could
> have the amazing platform, but if people don't really care about this kind of thing, it's not
> going to work. So once you know the demographic you're targeting, it's easy to go for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

That fit, plus dedicated support for project owners and disciplined use of the data that giving
generates, is what has turned Click from a new idea into a fixture of how Essex raises money. York's
YuStart programme points the same way, helping turn York, in its own phrase, into "a fundraising
university, rather than a university that fundraises."

## Frequently asked questions

**How is crowdfunding different from a Giving Day or a Challenge Week?** All three are
project-or-priority-led appeals, but the timeframe and ownership differ. A
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for
institutional priorities. A [Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) is
development-office-led but the money goes to clubs and societies, run over about a week. Crowdfunding
is year-round and led by the project owners themselves, with your team providing the platform and
support.

**Should we run a single campaign or an ongoing programme?** Either works. A single, time-boxed
campaign concentrates attention and is a low-risk way to prove the model. An ongoing programme, like
the ones Essex and York run, keeps the platform open all year and meets owners when they are ready.
Many institutions run a year-round programme with occasional concentrated peaks layered on top. If
you are starting out, start small and grow.

**How do we stop projects from failing?** Vet the owner, not just the project, and support them
through it. The biggest predictor of failure is an owner who will not do the work, so set
expectations clearly before approval and screen out projects relying on the money arriving by
itself. Then follow up actively: check in early, and help any owner who has stalled find a way
forward. Essex's 98 per cent success rate rests on exactly this kind of hands-on support.

**Where does the match funding come from, and how much should it be?** Often from central funds
already earmarked to support the kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major-donor and
corporate gifts solicited to create a challenge fund. A clear, capped match works well: Essex matches
each project up to £500, which keeps the pot fair across many projects. Match is worth prioritising,
because matched projects can raise several times more than unmatched ones.

**How long should a project run?** Long enough to build momentum but short enough to keep urgency: a
few weeks is typical. A deadline that is too far off invites procrastination, while too tight a
window leaves no room to recover a slow start. Make the deadline visible on the page and use it to
drive the final push.

**Are crowdfunding gifts tax-efficient?** It depends on where you are. In Canada, registered charities
can issue charitable tax receipts; in Australia, gifts to DGR-endorsed charities can be tax-deductible;
in New Zealand, donations to approved donee organisations can attract a donation tax credit. A good
platform captures the details needed to issue the right receipt, so check what applies and make sure
owners can point donors to it in their ask.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Crowdfunding page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Crowdfunding communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's guide to cause-led crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Case studies: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) and [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man eine Crowdfunding-Kampagne durchführt](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (europe/de): Ein praxisnaher Leitfaden für die Durchführung einer Crowdfunding-Kampagne oder eines Programms, bei dem Projektverantwortliche mit zentraler Unterstützung Mittel für ihre eigenen Anliegen sammeln. Er behandelt die Auswahl der Projekte, den Aufbau von Seiten, Ziele und Gegenleistungen, Fördermittel-Verdopplung, Kommunikation, den Schwung des Starts und die Bindung.
Crowdfunding sammelt Geld, indem es die Menschen, die einem Anliegen am nächsten stehen, mit dem
Sammeln betraut. Jede verantwortliche Person betreibt ihre eigene Projektseite, und Ihr zentrales
Team stellt die Plattform, die Anleitung und die Unterstützung bereit, die sie wirksam machen. Eine
studentische Vereinigung, die für eine Tournee sammelt, eine Forschungsgruppe, die ein Gerät
finanziert, ein Fachbereich, der einen Notfallfonds unterstützt: Jede ist Eigentümerin ihres
Aufrufs, setzt ihr Ziel und wendet sich an ihr eigenes Netzwerk. Ihr Büro steckt den Rahmen ab,
prüft die Projekte, liefert die Werkzeuge und Vorlagen und führt eine leichte koordinierende
Kommunikation. Die Crowd erledigt den Rest.

Diese Eigenverantwortung ist es, die Crowdfunding von Ihren terminfesten Kampagnen unterscheidet. Ein
[Tag des Gebens](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ist ein etwa 36-stündiger, zentral
gesteuerter Vorstoß für eine Handvoll institutioneller Prioritäten, bei dem Ihr Team den Aufruf
verfasst und die Bitte verantwortet. Eine [Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
liegt dazwischen: vom Entwicklungsbüro geführt wie ein Tag des Gebens, doch das Geld geht an Clubs und
Vereinigungen, die über etwa eine Woche ihre eigene Werbung betreiben. Crowdfunding übernimmt dieses
Modell der Projektverantwortung und entfernt den Kalenderrahmen darum herum. Projekte starten, wenn
ihre Verantwortlichen bereit sind, laufen so lange, wie es dem Anliegen entspricht, und bestehen das
ganze Jahr über nebeneinander. Kurz gesagt: Crowdfunding läuft ganzjährig, ein Tag des Gebens dauert
etwa 36 Stunden und eine Challenge-Woche dauert eine Woche.

Dieser Leitfaden stützt sich auf bewährte Praktiken, die von Hubbubs Beratern entwickelt wurden,
welche Institutionen beim Aufbau von Crowdfunding-Programmen geholfen haben, sowie auf die Erfahrung
von Universitäten, die solche Programme in großem Maßstab durchgeführt haben. Zwei tauchen durchweg
auf: die University of Essex, deren langjähriges Programm „Click“ die meisten der praktischen
Beispiele liefert, und die University of York. In einem Punkt ist er von Anfang an ehrlich.
Crowdfunding geht es ebenso sehr darum, eine Kultur des Gebens aufzubauen, wie um das Geld, das es
einbringt. Gut gemacht, bringt es ganz neue Unterstützer in Ihr Programm, lehrt eine Generation von
Projektverantwortlichen, wie Philanthropie tatsächlich funktioniert, und beschert Ihnen einen
stetigen Strom förderfähiger, spenderfreundlicher Anliegen.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Vorlage für den Crowdfunding-Projektplan](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/), unsere
> [Vorlage für den Seitentext](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) und unsere
> [Vorlage für den Kommunikationsplan](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/) herunterzuladen.

## Warum eine Crowdfunding-Kampagne durchführen

Der erste Grund ist die Reichweite. Projektverantwortliche wenden sich an Menschen, die Sie in Ihrer
Ehemaligendatei nie finden würden: Kommilitonen, Teamkollegen, Eltern, Freunde, Kolleginnen und lokale
Unterstützer, die spenden, weil sie eine persönliche Verbindung zu der bittenden Person haben. Ein
herkömmlicher Aufruf bringt diese Spender selten zum Vorschein, und sobald sie gespendet haben,
können sie zu Ihrem breiteren Programm hingeführt werden. Yorks Crowdfunding hat genau das getan und
seine Unterstützerbasis so verbreitert, dass laut den von ihr berichteten Zahlen rund 91 Prozent
ihrer Crowdfunding-Ehemaligenspender neu für die Institution waren.

Der zweite Grund ist, dass Crowdfunding Fundraiser heranbildet. Ein Studierender, der seine eigene
Argumentation verfassen, sein eigenes Publikum kartieren und seinen eigenen Spenden nachgehen muss,
lernt, was Fundraising wirklich bedeutet. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer an der University
of Essex, beschreibt die Wirkung des Click-Programms auf die Studierenden:

> „Es vermittelt den Studierenden, was Philanthropie ist. Es vermittelt dem Personal, was
> Philanthropie ist, denn oft denken die Leute: ach, man bekommt einfach Geld, um Geld zu bekommen.
> Sie sehen nicht die eigentliche Hintergrundarbeit, die dahintersteckt. Es ist ein guter Weg für die
> Universität, den Menschen schon als Studierende beizubringen, was Philanthropie ist, bevor sie
> Ehemalige werden.“
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Der dritte Grund ist, dass Crowdfunding den Druck vom Rest Ihres Fundraisings nimmt. Jeder
Fachbereich, jede Vereinigung und jedes Forschungsteam, das einen glaubwürdigen Aufruf in
Eigenregie durchführen kann, ist eine Bitte weniger, die auf dem Schreibtisch Ihrer
Großspendenbeauftragten landet. Wie DeeDee Paul es ausdrückt, wenn Fachbereiche die Plattform mit
ihren eigenen Kontakten nutzen: „Alles, was wir tun, ist, es zu beobachten und Ihnen am Ende Ihr
Geld zu geben“, was das Großspendenteam freistellt, „sich auf etwas anderes zu konzentrieren“. Die
Einnahmen sind ein echter Vorteil, und in großem Maßstab ein realer: Essex' Click-Programm hat seit
2015 mehr als 256.000 £ von über 4.590 Spendern über mehr als 320 Projekte hinweg gesammelt. Doch die
Einnahmen folgen tendenziell aus dem Engagement, nicht umgekehrt.

## Eine einzelne Kampagne oder ein laufendes Programm

Es gibt zwei Wege, Crowdfunding durchzuführen, und es lohnt sich, früh zu entscheiden, was man
aufbaut. Eine **einzelne Kampagne** ist ein zeitlich begrenzter Vorstoß: Sie rekrutieren eine
Kohorte von Projekten, starten sie rund um einen gemeinsamen Moment und schließen ab. Das ist das,
was Crowdfunding einer Challenge-Woche am nächsten kommt, und ein sinnvoller Weg, das Modell zu
erproben, bevor man sich auf mehr festlegt. Ein **laufendes Programm** hält die Plattform das ganze
Jahr über offen, wobei Projekte fortlaufend starten und enden, sobald Verantwortliche an Sie
herantreten. So führt Essex Click und so führt York sein YuStart-Programm, beide laufen seit Jahren
kontinuierlich statt in Schüben.

Der Kompromiss lautet Schwung gegen Bequemlichkeit. Eine einzelne Kampagne bündelt die
Aufmerksamkeit, was die Kommunikation erleichtert und den Wettbewerb lebendiger macht, doch sie
verlangt von jedem Projekt, gleichzeitig bereit zu sein. Ein laufendes Programm trifft die
Verantwortlichen, wenn sie bereit sind, und verteilt Ihren Unterstützungsaufwand über das Jahr, doch
es verliert die geteilte Dringlichkeit einer Frist, sodass Sie den Schwung Projekt für Projekt
erzeugen müssen. Viele Institutionen tun beides: ein ganzjähriges Programm als Rückgrat, mit
gelegentlichen konzentrierten Kampagnen oder einer Challenge-Woche obendrauf, um Spitzen zu schaffen.
Wenn Sie bei null anfangen, beginnen Sie mit einer gut unterstützten Kampagne oder einer kleinen
Kohorte, lernen Sie daraus und wachsen Sie.

## Projekte und Projektverantwortliche auswählen und prüfen

Die Qualität Ihres Crowdfundings beruht auf der Qualität der Projekte, die Sie auf die Plattform
lassen, daher brauchen Sie klare Kriterien und jemanden, der sie anwendet. Bei Essex reichen
angehende Verantwortliche eine Anfrage ein, und ein dafür zuständiges Teammitglied prüft jede einzelne
anhand der Programmregeln, bevor sie online geht. Zwei Kriterien leisten den größten Teil der Arbeit.
Erstens muss das Projekt zu Ihrer Mission passen: Essex verlangt, dass jedes Click-Projekt an den
akademischen Zweck der verantwortlichen Person gebunden ist, sei es eine kursbezogene Reise, ein
Forschungsvorhaben oder ein Auslandsaufenthalt. Zweitens muss das Projekt den Aufwand wert sein.
Essex setzt eine Untergrenze von mindestens 100 £ für den Start, nach der einfachen Logik, dass, wie
DeeDee Paul es ausdrückt, ein winziges Ziel „Zeitverschwendung“ sowohl für die verantwortliche Person
als auch für das unterstützende Team ist: „Wir wollen sicherstellen, dass Ihre Zeit, wenn Sie sie
investieren, gut investiert ist.“

Die verantwortliche Person zu prüfen ist ebenso wichtig wie das Projekt zu prüfen, denn der mit
Abstand größte Erfolgsindikator ist, ob die Person dahinter die Arbeit leisten wird. Essex hat mehr
als 445 Projekte mit einer Erfolgsquote von 98 Prozent durchgeführt, und das Team spricht offen
darüber, warum es zu seinem einzigen Scheitern kam:

> „Wir hatten gerade unser erstes gescheitertes Projekt. Der einzige Grund, warum es scheitert, ist,
> dass die Person sich nicht einmal die Mühe gemacht hat, dafür Geld zu sammeln.“
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Man kann niemanden zum Fundraiser machen. Was Sie tun können, ist, die Erwartungen beim Freigeben
klar zu setzen und Projekte auszusortieren, bei denen die verantwortliche Person hofft, das Geld werde
von selbst kommen. Ein kurzes Gespräch vor der Genehmigung, das die verantwortliche Person durch das
führt, worauf sie sich einlässt, ist weit mehr wert als ein langes Antragsformular. Unsere
[Vorlage für den Crowdfunding-Projektplan](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) gibt den
Verantwortlichen einen strukturierten Ort, um ihr Ziel, ihr Publikum und ihren Plan darzulegen, und
gibt Ihnen eine klare Grundlage für die Genehmigung.

## Eine überzeugende Projektseite gestalten und die Geschichte erzählen

Eine Projektseite hat eine einzige Aufgabe: aus einem Besucher, der die Person mag, einen Spender zu
machen, der für das Anliegen gibt. Die Mechanik zählt, und eine gute Plattform übernimmt sie: ein
klares Ziel und ein Fortschrittsbalken, eine Auswahl vorgeschlagener Spendenbeträge statt einer
einzigen festen Zahl, und die Wahl zwischen Einmal-, Karten- und wiederkehrenden Optionen, damit die
Menschen so geben können, wie es ihnen passt. Essex bot bewusst mehrere Spendenwege und eine Spanne
von Beträgen an, um niemanden abzuschrecken, indem es vorgeschlagene Stufen festlegte, dem Spender
aber stets die Freiheit ließ, zu geben, was er kann. In DeeDee Pauls Worten: „Jede Spende macht einen
Unterschied.“

Der schwierigere Teil ist die Geschichte, und dort brauchen die Verantwortlichen die meiste Hilfe.
Die Versuchung besteht, wie DeeDee Paul warnt, darin, auf die institutionelle Bitte zurückzufallen:
„Man will nicht sagen: ach, spenden Sie einfach für Stipendien oder weil wir Geld brauchen. Man will
die Geschichten erzählen.“ Eine starke Seite beginnt mit einer Person und einem konkreten Bedarf,
zeigt in greifbaren Begriffen, was das Geld bewirken wird, und lässt den Leser spüren, dass seine
Gabe etwas vollendet, statt einen allgemeinen Fonds aufzustocken. Ermutigen Sie die Verantwortlichen,
als sie selbst zu schreiben, in ihrer eigenen Stimme, mit ihren eigenen Fotos, und klar zu sagen, was
geschieht, wenn das Ziel erreicht wird.

Die daraus entstehenden Spenden tragen oft ihre eigenen Geschichten zu Ihnen zurück. Essex' Plattform
erlaubt es Spendern, mit ihrer Gabe eine Nachricht zu hinterlassen, und diese Nachrichten sind zu
einem Fundraising-Aktivposten für sich geworden, eingesetzt in Kampagnen und bei
Stipendienempfängen. Eine Spenderin, die 30.000 £ im Gedenken an ihren verstorbenen Mann gab, einen
Essex-Absolventen, mit dem das Büro zuvor nie Kontakt gehabt hatte, hinterließ eine Nachricht, in
der sie erklärte, sie wolle „ein Vermächtnis hinterlassen“, weil die Universität sein Leben so stark
geprägt habe. Geben Sie den Verantwortlichen mit unserer
[Vorlage für den Seitentext](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) einen Vorsprung bei ihren
Worten und verweisen Sie sie auf den kostenlosen
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/), um das Ergebnis zu schärfen.

## Ziele setzen und Gegenleistungen einsetzen

Ein gutes Ziel ist realistisch, motivierend und in etwas Greifbarem verankert. Helfen Sie den
Verantwortlichen, ihr Projekt von Grund auf zu kalkulieren, rund um die Ausrüstung, die Reise oder
die Aktivität, die es finanziert, statt eine runde Zahl zu wählen und zu hoffen. Ein an ein konkretes
Ergebnis gebundenes Ziel lässt sich weit leichter bewerben, weil jeder Spender genau sehen kann, was
seine Gabe vollendet, und ein Ziel, das die verantwortliche Person mit ihrem eigenen Netzwerk
plausibel erreichen kann, ist eines, das sie auch tatsächlich verfolgen wird.

Wie sich das Ziel verhält, wenn es erreicht wird, ist für sich genommen eine Gestaltungsentscheidung.
Manche Programme laufen nach dem Alles-oder-nichts-Prinzip, bei dem die verantwortliche Person das
Geld nur behält, wenn das Ziel erreicht wird, was den Endspurt schärft, aber den Einsatz erhöht.
Andere, wie Essex, geben die Mittel frei, sobald das Minimum erreicht ist, und lassen die
Verantwortlichen alles darüber Hinausgehende behalten: „Sobald Sie Ihr Mindestziel erreichen,
überschreiten die Leute es manchmal. So oder so erhalten Sie weiterhin die Fördermittel-Verdopplung,
solange Sie das Mindestziel erreichen.“ Was auch immer Sie wählen, seien Sie auf jeder Seite explizit
darüber, damit Spender und Verantwortliche die Regeln kennen.

Gegenleistungen sind eine optionale Ebene, die die Konversion heben kann, wenn sie zum Anliegen
passen. Im klassischen Crowdfunding-Modell erhalten Spender unterschiedlicher Stufen ein kleines
Zeichen des Dankes: eine Erwähnung, eine Einladung, ein Stück von dem, was sie finanziert haben. In
einem anliegengeleiteten Umfeld ist die wirkungsvollste „Gegenleistung“ oft schlicht Wirkung und
Anerkennung, eine herzliche Rückmeldung und ein Dankeschön, statt Merchandise, das vom gesammelten
Geld zehrt. Halten Sie Gegenleistungen günstig in der Erfüllung, echt an das Projekt gebunden, und
lassen Sie sie nie zum Grund werden, aus dem die Leute geben.

## Fördermittel-Verdopplung, um Dringlichkeit zu erzeugen

Die Fördermittel-Verdopplung ist der wirksamste Hebel, den Sie haben, denn sie verändert die Rechnung
der Bitte für jeden Spender: Geben Sie jetzt, und Ihr Euro zählt doppelt. York berichtet, dass seine
verdoppelten Projekte rund dreimal so viel einbringen wie nicht verdoppelte, was Grund genug ist, von
Anfang an einen Verdopplungstopf in Ihr Programm einzubauen. Die Verdopplung kann aus zentralen
Mitteln stammen, die bereits für die Unterstützung jener Art von Projekten vorgesehen sind, die Sie
per Crowdfunding finanzieren, oder von Großspendern und Unternehmenspartnern, die gezielt zur
Schaffung eines Challenge-Fonds gewonnen wurden.

Wie Sie die Verdopplung strukturieren, prägt das Verhalten. Essex bietet eine schlichte Zusage, das,
was jedes Projekt sammelt, bis zu 500 £ zu verdoppeln, was den Verantwortlichen eine klare,
motivierende Schlagzeile gibt: Erreichen Sie das Minimum, und die Institution stockt auf. Diese
Deckelung hält den Topf auch über viele Projekte hinweg fair, statt eine einzelne große Kampagne ihn
aufsaugen zu lassen. Seien Sie sich jedoch des Verhaltens bewusst, das die Verdopplung am Rand
fördern kann. Essex merkt an, dass manche Verantwortliche sich auf eine garantierte Quelle in der
Nähe stützen, weil sie wissen: „Wenn ich den Mindestbetrag sammle, dann bekomme ich die
Fördermittel-Verdopplung“, während jene Verantwortlichen, die ihre Netzwerke wirklich bearbeiten,
oft schon lange vor der Frist auf halbem Weg zum Ziel sind. Eine Verdopplung, die darauf ausgelegt
ist, die Breite der Unterstützung zu belohnen, statt bloß eine Zahl zu erreichen, hält den Anreiz in
die richtige Richtung. Planen Sie die Mechanik mit unserer
[Vorlage für den Kommunikationsplan](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), die einen Platz
enthält, um jeden Verdopplungsauslöser der Botschaft zuzuordnen, die ihn ankündigt.

## Kommunikation: von den Verantwortlichen geführt, zentral unterstützt

Die Crowdfunding-Kommunikation läuft auf zwei Spuren, die im Gleichschritt bleiben müssen. Die
primäre Spur ist die eigene Ansprache der verantwortlichen Person an ihre eigenen Leute, und von dort
kommt der größte Teil des Geldes. Die sekundäre Spur ist Ihre zentrale Verstärkung: institutionelle
Social-Media-Beiträge, Newsletter und E-Mails, die Glaubwürdigkeit verleihen, Verkehr zu laufenden
Projekten lenken und Meilensteine feiern. Die Verantwortlichen tragen den Aufruf; Sie tragen das
Megafon.

Auf Seiten der Verantwortlichen besteht die Aufgabe darin, auszustatten und dann anzustupsen. Die
meisten Projektverantwortlichen sind keine Fundraiser, geben Sie ihnen also einen einfachen
Werbeplan zum Befolgen: eine Startbotschaft an ihr enges Netzwerk, regelmäßige, authentische
Aktualisierungen während des Projekts und einen letzten Vorstoß, wenn die Frist naht. Ermutigen Sie
zu persönlichen, konkreten Inhalten, Fotos, kurzen Videos und Fortschrittsbeiträgen, statt zu
geschliffenem Marketing. Bauen Sie vor allem ein aktives Nachfassen ein, denn der Unterschied
zwischen einem finanzierten und einem gescheiterten Projekt ist oft nur Beharrlichkeit. Essex
überlässt die Verantwortlichen nicht sich selbst. Das Team meldet sich etwa eine Woche nach dem Start
eines Projekts und fragt, in DeeDee Pauls Worten: „Versuchen Sie wirklich aktiv, das Geld
hereinzuholen?“, und wenn jemand ins Stocken geraten ist, „setzen sie sich mit Ihnen zusammen und
finden einen anderen Weg“. Sie beschreibt die Berührung als unterstützend statt kontrollierend: „Ich
will nicht sagen, dass ich Sie mikromanage, aber zumindest halte ich Sie motiviert, Ihr Projekt bis
zum Ende durchzuziehen.“

Auf der zentralen Seite ist die leichteste Variante Bewusstsein und Lenkung: dafür zu sorgen, dass
alle wissen, dass die Plattform existiert und wo sie zu finden ist. Essex bewirbt Click mit Bannern
über den Campus, Ständen in der Begrüßungswoche und Sitzungen zu Semesterbeginn für die Fachbereiche,
die es am meisten nutzen, doch der wirkungsvollste Kanal ist die Mundpropaganda, denn ein Programm,
das seit Jahren läuft, wird zur naheliegenden ersten Anlaufstelle: „Wenn Sie Geld brauchen, können
Sie einfach die Click-Plattform anschauen.“ Für eine konzentrierte Kampagne statt eines laufenden
Programms heben Sie den zentralen Aufwand auf etwa eine koordinierte E-Mail pro Tag und schreiben Sie
alles vor dem Beginn, damit die Auslieferung ruhig statt hektisch verläuft. Hubbubs
[Praxisleitfäden](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) gehen tiefer auf E-Mail und Social
Media ein.

## Start und Aufrechterhaltung des Schwungs

Die ersten 48 Stunden eines Projekts legen seine Bahn fest, also coachen Sie die Verantwortlichen, ihre
wärmsten Unterstützer dafür aufzustellen, früh zu geben. Eine Seite, die bereits Schwung zeigt, mit
mehreren Gaben und sichtbarem Fortschritt, beruhigt spätere Spender darin, dass das Projekt echt und
unterstützenswert ist, während eine leere Seite zum Zögern einlädt. Ermutigen Sie die
Verantwortlichen, ihrem engsten Kreis das Startdatum im Voraus mitzuteilen und sie zu bitten, am
ersten Tag zu geben, damit die Seite mit Bewegung statt mit Stille öffnet.

In der Mitte eines Projekts ist Schwung eine Aufgabe, kein Zufall. Die Verantwortlichen sollten
Fortschritte posten, Spendern öffentlich danken, den Halbzeitpunkt markieren und frische Gründe zum
Geben schaffen: ein freigeschalteter Verdopplungs-Meilenstein, eine nahende Frist, ein in Sicht
geratenes Streckenziel. Für eine konzentrierte Kampagne führen Sie eine sichtbare Bestenliste oder
Fortschrittsansicht und nutzen Sie sie, um einen freundschaftlichen Wettbewerb zwischen Projekten
anzufachen. Für ein laufendes Programm besteht die Rolle Ihres zentralen Teams darin, den Schwung
Projekt für Projekt am Leben zu halten, laufende Aufrufe hervorzuheben, Erfolge öffentlich zu feiern
und Verantwortliche anzustupsen, die verstummen. Der rote Faden in allem, was Essex beschreibt, ist
derselbe: Die Projekte, die gelingen, sind die, deren Verantwortliche weiter daran arbeiten, und Ihre
Unterstützung besteht dazu, diese Arbeit am Laufen zu halten.

## Bindung und Umwandlung von Crowdfunding-Spendern

Was nach der Finanzierung eines Projekts geschieht, entscheidet darüber, ob Sie eine Transaktion
durchgeführt oder eine Beziehung begonnen haben. Sowohl die verantwortliche Person als auch das
zentrale Büro sollten jedem Spender umgehend danken, und die Verantwortlichen sollten Rückmeldung
geben, was das Geld bewirkt hat: die unternommene Reise, die inszenierte Aufführung, die gekaufte
Ausrüstung. Bei Essex sind die Projekte mit der stärksten fortlaufenden Beziehung, etwa die
Theaterschule, jene, die den Kreis schließen, das Team zu Aufführungen einladen und über die Wirkung
berichten. Diese Gewohnheit der Rückmeldung ist es, die aus einem einmaligen Spender einen vertrauten
Unterstützer macht.

Der größere Gewinn ist die Umwandlung. Crowdfunding bringt eine große Zahl von Menschen ein, die Ihnen
neu sind, und eine gute Plattform erfasst mit Einwilligung, wer sie sind und was ihnen am Herzen lag,
sodass Sie auf der Gabe aufbauen können. Essex nutzt die Spendendaten und die von Spendern
hinterlassenen Nachrichten, um Unterstützer wieder anzusprechen, die es sonst nie kennengelernt
hätte: Wenn eine Gabe von jemandem außerhalb der regulären Datei eintrifft, kann das Team auf die
Person zugehen, ihr danken und fragen, was sie motiviert hat. Mit der Zeit wandeln sich sogar die
Projektverantwortlichen. Nun, da es die Daten verfolgt, hat Essex festgestellt, dass ein Teil der
früheren Click-Nutzer selbst zu Ehemaligenspendern geworden ist, Namen, die seit ihrem Abschluss
still weiter gegeben haben. Dieser lange Bogen, vom studentischen Fundraiser zum lebenslangen
Unterstützer, ist der eigentliche Ertrag eines Crowdfunding-Programms, und er stellt sich nur ein,
wenn Sie bewusst binden, statt Projekte an ihrer Frist enden zu lassen. Seien Sie ehrlich über die
Ressourcen, die dies erfordert: Essex sagt offen, dass ohne eine eigene Stelle für die Bindung das
Nachfassen über jedes Projekt schwer durchzuhalten ist, was ein Argument dafür ist, das Programm
ordentlich zu besetzen, während es wächst.

## Erfolg messen

Legen Sie Ihre Messgrößen vor dem Start fest und stellen Sie das Engagement voran, nicht die
Einnahmen allein. Die nützlichsten Kennzahlen sind die Zahl der laufenden Projekte, die
Projekterfolgsquote (der Anteil, der das Ziel erreicht hat), die Zahl der Spender und wie viele Ihnen
neu sind, die Gesamtsumme und der Durchschnitt pro Projekt sowie, längerfristig, wie viele
Crowdfunding-Spender und -Verantwortliche erneut spenden. Vergleichszahlen aus etablierten Programmen
geben Ihnen ein Ziel zum Anstreben: Essex berichtet eine Erfolgsquote von 98 Prozent über mehr als
445 Projekte und York eine Quote von 94 Prozent über mehr als 240 Projekte. Eine hohe Erfolgsquote
ist selbst ein Maß dafür, wie gut Sie prüfen und unterstützen, nicht nur dafür, wie leicht die Ziele
sind. Verfolgen Sie die Gewinnung neuer Spender und die nachgelagerte Umwandlung ebenso ernsthaft wie
die Euros, denn dort zahlt sich Crowdfunding aus, lange nachdem ein bestimmtes Projekt geschlossen
ist.

## Fallstudie: die University of Essex

Die University of Essex führt ihr Crowdfunding-Programm, unter der Marke „Click“ mit dem Slogan „help
is only a Click away“, seit 2015. Es ist inzwischen ein ausgereifter, ganzjähriger Betrieb: mehr als
320 unterstützte Projekte, über 256.000 £ gesammelt und mehr als 4.590 Spender über seine Laufzeit,
sowie ein Heist Award 2017 für die beste Initiative im Bereich Ehemalige, Entwicklung oder
Fundraising auf dem Weg dorthin. Allein in seinem ersten Jahr lieferte das Programm 38 Projekte,
48.000 £ und 791 Spender bei einer Erfolgsquote von 97 Prozent. Das Modell ist selbstbedient, aber
eng begleitet: Studierende und Personal reichen eine Anfrage ein, ein dafür zuständiges Teammitglied
prüft sie anhand der akademischen Kriterien, und genehmigte Projekte gehen mit einem Ziel, einer
Verdopplung von bis zu 500 £ und aktivem Nachfassen online. Über mehr als 445 Projekte hinweg hat das
Programm eine Erfolgsquote von 98 Prozent gehalten, wobei sein einziges Scheitern auf eine
verantwortliche Person zurückging, die schlicht die Arbeit nicht leistete.

Was Essex im Rückblick am meisten betont, ist nicht die Mechanik, sondern die Passung. Auf die Frage
nach ihrem besten Rat an Teams, die über Crowdfunding nachdenken, kehrt DeeDee Paul immer wieder zum
selben Punkt zurück:

> „Sie müssen Ihr Publikum kennen. Ihr Publikum ist das, was es erfolgreich machen wird. Sie könnten
> die großartigste Plattform haben, aber wenn die Leute sich für diese Art von Sache nicht wirklich
> interessieren, wird es nicht funktionieren. Sobald Sie also die Zielgruppe kennen, die Sie
> ansprechen, ist es leicht, loszulegen.“
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Diese Passung, zusammen mit eigens bereitgestellter Unterstützung für Projektverantwortliche und der
disziplinierten Nutzung der Daten, die das Geben erzeugt, ist es, was Click von einer neuen Idee zu
einem festen Bestandteil davon gemacht hat, wie Essex Geld sammelt. Yorks YuStart-Programm weist in
dieselbe Richtung und hilft, York, in seinen eigenen Worten, in „eine Fundraising-Universität zu
verwandeln, statt in eine Universität, die Fundraising betreibt“.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Wie unterscheidet sich Crowdfunding von einem Tag des Gebens oder einer Challenge-Woche?** Alle
drei sind projekt- oder prioritätengeleitete Aufrufe, doch Zeitrahmen und Eigenverantwortung
unterscheiden sich. Ein [Tag des Gebens](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ist ein etwa
36-stündiger, zentral gesteuerter Vorstoß für institutionelle Prioritäten. Eine
[Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) wird vom Entwicklungsbüro geführt, doch
das Geld geht an Clubs und Vereinigungen, durchgeführt über etwa eine Woche. Crowdfunding läuft
ganzjährig und wird von den Projektverantwortlichen selbst geführt, wobei Ihr Team die Plattform und
Unterstützung bereitstellt.

**Sollen wir eine einzelne Kampagne oder ein laufendes Programm durchführen?** Beides funktioniert.
Eine einzelne, zeitlich begrenzte Kampagne bündelt die Aufmerksamkeit und ist ein risikoarmer Weg,
das Modell zu erproben. Ein laufendes Programm, wie jene, die Essex und York führen, hält die
Plattform das ganze Jahr über offen und trifft die Verantwortlichen, wenn sie bereit sind. Viele
Institutionen führen ein ganzjähriges Programm mit gelegentlichen konzentrierten Spitzen obendrauf.
Wenn Sie anfangen, beginnen Sie klein und wachsen Sie.

**Wie verhindern wir, dass Projekte scheitern?** Prüfen Sie die verantwortliche Person, nicht nur das
Projekt, und unterstützen Sie sie dabei. Der größte Indikator für ein Scheitern ist eine
verantwortliche Person, die die Arbeit nicht leistet, setzen Sie also die Erwartungen vor der
Genehmigung klar und sortieren Sie Projekte aus, die darauf bauen, dass das Geld von selbst
eintrifft. Dann fassen Sie aktiv nach: Melden Sie sich früh und helfen Sie jeder ins Stocken
geratenen verantwortlichen Person, einen Weg nach vorn zu finden. Essex' Erfolgsquote von 98 Prozent
beruht genau auf dieser Art praktischer Unterstützung.

**Woher kommt die Fördermittel-Verdopplung, und wie hoch sollte sie sein?** Oft aus zentralen
Mitteln, die bereits für die Unterstützung der Art von Projekten vorgesehen sind, die Sie per
Crowdfunding finanzieren, oder aus Großspender- und Unternehmensgaben, die zur Schaffung eines
Challenge-Fonds gewonnen wurden. Eine klare, gedeckelte Verdopplung funktioniert gut: Essex verdoppelt
jedes Projekt bis zu 500 £, was den Topf über viele Projekte hinweg fair hält. Die Verdopplung ist es
wert, priorisiert zu werden, denn verdoppelte Projekte können ein Vielfaches mehr einbringen als
nicht verdoppelte.

**Wie lange sollte ein Projekt laufen?** Lange genug, um Schwung aufzubauen, aber kurz genug, um die
Dringlichkeit zu wahren: einige Wochen sind typisch. Eine zu weit entfernte Frist lädt zum
Aufschieben ein, während ein zu enges Fenster keinen Raum lässt, einen langsamen Start aufzuholen.
Machen Sie die Frist auf der Seite sichtbar und nutzen Sie sie, um den letzten Vorstoß anzutreiben.

**Sind Crowdfunding-Gaben steuerlich begünstigt?** Das hängt vom Land ab. Viele europäische Länder
bieten einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung auf wohltätige Gaben, und grenzüberschreitende
Gaben innerhalb Europas können oft über Transnational Giving Europe steuerlich begünstigt erfolgen.
Prüfen Sie die Regeln dort, wo Ihre Spender ansässig sind, und stellen Sie sicher, dass die
Verantwortlichen die Spender in ihrer Bitte auf das einschlägige Schema hinweisen können.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Vorlage für den Crowdfunding-Projektplan](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Vorlage für den Crowdfunding-Seitentext](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Vorlage für den Crowdfunding-Kommunikationsplan](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Simulator für den Tag des Gebens](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Aufruf- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verknüpfen Sie Vor-Ort-Momente direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- [Hubbubs Leitfaden zum anliegengeleiteten Crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Fallstudien: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) und [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie man einen Tag des Gebens durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) und [Wie man eine Challenge-Woche durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Im vollständigen [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) finden Sie mehr.

- [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (europe/en): A practical guide to running a crowdfunding campaign or programme, where project owners raise funds for their own causes with central support. Covers choosing projects, building pages, targets and rewards, match funding, communications, launch momentum and stewardship.
Crowdfunding raises money by putting the people closest to a cause in charge of raising it. Each
owner runs their own project page, and your central team provides the platform, the guidance and
the support that make them effective. A student society raising for a tour, a research group
funding a piece of equipment, a department backing a hardship fund: each owns its appeal, sets its
target, and goes out to its own network. Your office sets the framework, vets the projects,
supplies the tools and templates, and runs light coordinating communications. The crowd does the
rest.

That ownership is what sets crowdfunding apart from your fixed-moment campaigns. A
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for a
handful of institutional priorities, where your team writes the appeal and owns the ask. A
[Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) sits in between: development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the money goes to clubs and societies who do their own promotion across
about a week. Crowdfunding takes that project-owner model and removes the calendar box around it.
Projects launch when their owners are ready, run for as long as suits the cause, and live alongside
one another all year. Put simply, crowdfunding is year-round, a Giving Day happens in about 36
hours, and a Challenge Week is a week.

This guide draws on best practice developed by Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
build crowdfunding programmes, and on the experience of universities who have run them at scale.
Two feature throughout: the University of Essex, whose long-running "Click" programme supplies most
of the worked examples, and the University of York. It is honest about one thing from the outset.
Crowdfunding is as much about building a culture of giving as it is about the money it raises. Done
well, it brings brand-new supporters into your programme, teaches a generation of project owners
how philanthropy actually works, and gives you a steady stream of fundable, donor-friendly causes.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> [page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) and
> [communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Why run a crowdfunding campaign

The first reason is reach. Project owners go to people you would never find on your alumni file:
course mates, teammates, parents, friends, colleagues and local supporters who give because they
have a personal connection to the person making the ask. A conventional appeal rarely surfaces
these donors, and once they have given they can be stewarded towards your wider programme. York's
crowdfunding has done exactly this, widening its supporter base so that, in the figures it reports,
around 91 per cent of its crowdfunding alumni donors were new to the institution.

The second reason is that crowdfunding builds fundraisers. A student who has to write their own
case for support, map their own audience and chase their own donations learns what fundraising
really involves. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer at the University of Essex, describes the
effect of the Click programme on students:

> "It teaches the students about philanthropy. It teaches staff about philanthropy, because
> oftentimes people think, oh, you just get money just to get money. They don't see the actual
> background work that goes into it. It's a good way for the university to teach people about
> philanthropy as a student, before they become an alumni."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

The third reason is that crowdfunding takes pressure off the rest of your fundraising. Every
department, society and research team that can run a credible self-serve appeal is one fewer ask
landing on your major-gift officers' desks. As DeeDee Paul puts it, when departments use the
platform with their own contacts, "all we do is monitor it and give you your money at the end of
it," which frees the major-gift team "to focus on something else." Income is a genuine benefit, and
at scale a real one: Essex's Click programme has raised more than £256,000 from over 4,590 donors
across 320-plus projects since 2015. But the income tends to follow from the engagement, not the
other way round.

## One campaign or an ongoing programme

There are two ways to run crowdfunding, and it pays to decide early which you are building. A
**single campaign** is a time-boxed push: you recruit a cohort of projects, launch them around a
shared moment, and wrap up. This is the closest crowdfunding gets to a Challenge Week, and a
sensible way to prove the model before committing to more. An **ongoing programme** keeps the
platform open all year, with projects launching and finishing on a rolling basis as owners come
forward. This is how Essex runs Click and how York runs its YuStart programme, both operating
continuously for years rather than in bursts.

The trade-off is momentum versus convenience. A single campaign concentrates attention, which makes
communications easier and competition livelier, but it asks every project to be ready at the same
time. An ongoing programme meets owners when they are ready and spreads your support effort across
the year, but it loses the shared urgency of a deadline, so you have to manufacture momentum project
by project. Many institutions do both: a year-round programme as the backbone, with occasional
concentrated campaigns or a Challenge Week layered on top to create peaks. If you are starting from
nothing, begin with one well-supported campaign or a small cohort, learn from it, and grow.

## Choosing and vetting projects and project owners

The quality of your crowdfunding rests on the quality of the projects you let onto the platform, so
you need clear criteria and someone who applies them. At Essex, prospective owners submit an
inquiry, and a dedicated team member reviews each one against the programme's rules before it goes
live. Two criteria do most of the work. First, the project has to fit your mission: Essex requires
every Click project to be tied to the owner's academic purpose, whether a course-linked trip, a
piece of research or a study-abroad placement. Second, the project has to be worth the effort.
Essex sets a floor of at least £100 to launch, on the simple logic that, as DeeDee Paul puts it, a
tiny target is "a waste of time" for both the owner and the team supporting them: "We want to make
sure that if you're going to invest your time, it's invested well."

Vetting the owner matters as much as vetting the project, because the single biggest predictor of
success is whether the person behind it will do the work. Essex has run more than 445 projects at a
98 per cent success rate, and the team is candid about why their one failure happened:

> "We just had our first failed project. The only reason why it fails is because the person didn't
> even put any effort into trying to fundraise for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

You cannot make someone a fundraiser. What you can do is set expectations clearly at the point of
sign-off and screen out projects where the owner is hoping the money will arrive by itself. A short
conversation before approval, walking the owner through what they are committing to, is worth far
more than a long application form. Our
[crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) gives owners a
structured place to set out their goal, audience and plan, and gives you a clear basis on which to
approve.

## Building a compelling project page and telling the story

A project page has one job: to turn a visitor who cares about the person into a donor who gives to
the cause. The mechanics matter, and a good platform handles them: a clear target and progress bar,
a range of suggested gift amounts rather than a single fixed figure, and a choice
of one-off, card and recurring options so people can give in the way that suits them. Essex
deliberately offered several giving routes and a spread of amounts so as not to deter anyone,
setting suggested levels but always leaving the donor free to give what they can. In DeeDee Paul's
words, "every donation makes a difference."

The harder part is the story, and it is where owners need the most help. The temptation, as DeeDee
Paul warns, is to fall back on the institutional ask: "You don't want to be like, oh, just donate
because of scholarships or because we need money. You want to tell the stories." A strong page opens
with a person and a specific need, shows what the money will buy in concrete terms, and makes the
reader feel that their gift completes something rather than topping up a general fund. Encourage
owners to write as themselves, in their own voice, with their own photographs, and to say plainly
what happens if the target is met.

The donations that result often carry their own stories back to you. Essex's platform lets donors
leave a message with their gift, and those messages have become a fundraising asset in their own
right, used in campaigns and at scholarship receptions. One donor who gave £30,000 in memory of her
late husband, an Essex graduate the office had never previously been in contact with, left a message
explaining that she wanted "to leave a legacy" because the university had made such an impact on his
life. Give owners a head start on their words with our
[page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), and point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to sharpen the result.

## Setting targets and using rewards

A good target is realistic, motivating and anchored in something tangible. Help owners price their
project from the bottom up, around the equipment, the travel or the activity it pays for, rather
than picking a round number and hoping. A target tied to a concrete outcome is far easier to
fundraise against, because every donor can see exactly what their gift completes, and a target the
owner can plausibly hit with their own network is one they will actually pursue.

How the target behaves when it is reached is a design decision in itself. Some programmes run on an
all-or-nothing basis, where the owner keeps the money only if the target is met, which sharpens the
final push but raises the stakes. Others, like Essex, release the funds once the minimum is reached
and let owners keep anything above it: "Once you reach your minimum goal, sometimes people go over
the goal. Either way, you still get the match funding as long as you reach the minimum goal."
Whichever you choose, be explicit about it on every page so donors and owners know the rules.

Rewards are an optional layer that can lift conversion when they fit the cause. In the classic
crowdfunding model, donors at different levels receive a small token of thanks: a mention, an
invitation, a piece of the thing they funded. In a cause-led setting the most powerful "reward" is
often simply impact and acknowledgement, a heartfelt update and a thank-you, rather than merchandise
that eats into the money raised. Keep rewards cheap to fulfil, genuinely tied to the project, and
never let them become the reason people give.

## Match funding to drive urgency

Match funding is the single most effective lever you have, because it changes the maths of the ask
for every donor: give now and your euro counts double. York reports that its matched projects raise
around three times as much as unmatched ones, which is reason enough to build a match pot into your
programme from the start. The match can come from central funds already earmarked to support the
kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major donors and corporate partners solicited
specifically to create a challenge fund.

How you structure the match shapes behaviour. Essex offers a straightforward pledge to match what
each project raises up to £500, which gives owners a clear, motivating headline: hit the minimum and
the institution tops you up. That cap also keeps the pot fair across many projects rather than
letting a single large campaign absorb it. Be aware, though, of the behaviour match can encourage at
the margins. Essex notes that some owners lean on a guaranteed source close to home, knowing that
"if I raise the minimum amount, then I'll get the match funding," whereas the owners who genuinely
work their networks tend to be halfway to target well before the deadline. A match designed to
reward breadth of support, rather than simply reaching a number, keeps the incentive pointing the
right way. Plan the mechanics with our
[communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), which includes a place
to map each match trigger to the message that announces it.

## Communications: owner-led, centrally supported

Crowdfunding communications run on two tracks that have to stay in step. The primary track is the
owner's own outreach to their own people, and it is where most of the money comes from. The
secondary track is your central amplification: institutional social posts, newsletters and emails
that lend credibility, drive traffic to live projects and celebrate milestones. The owners carry the
appeal; you carry the megaphone.

On the owner side, the job is to equip and then to nudge. Most project owners are not fundraisers, so
give them a simple promotion plan to follow: a launch message to their close network, regular
authentic updates through the project, and a final push as the deadline nears. Encourage personal,
specific content, photos, short videos and progress posts, rather than polished marketing. Above
all, build in active follow-up, because the difference between a funded project and a failed one is
often just persistence. Essex does not leave owners to sink or swim. The team checks in roughly a
week after a project goes live to ask, in DeeDee Paul's words, "are you actually actively trying to
get the money in?", and if an owner has stalled, they "sit down with you and figure out an
alternative way." She describes the touch as supportive rather than controlling: "I don't want to
say micromanaging you, but at least keeping you motivated to do your project until the end."

On the central side, the lightest-touch version is awareness and routing: making sure everyone knows
the platform exists and where to find it. Essex publicises Click with banners across campus,
welcome-week stalls and start-of-term sessions for the departments that use it most, but its most
powerful channel is word of mouth, because a programme that has run for years becomes the obvious
first port of call: "If you need money, you can just check out the Click platform." For a
concentrated campaign rather than a rolling programme, lift the central effort to roughly one
coordinated email a day, and write everything before it begins so delivery is calm rather than
frantic. Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) go deeper on email
and social.

## Launch and maintaining momentum

A project's first 48 hours set its trajectory, so coach owners to line up their warmest supporters
to give early. A page that already shows momentum, with several gifts and visible progress,
reassures later donors that the project is real and worth backing, whereas an empty page invites
hesitation. Encourage owners to tell their inner circle the launch date in advance and ask them to
give on day one, so the page opens with movement rather than silence.

Through the middle of a project, momentum is a job, not an accident. Owners should post progress,
thank donors publicly, mark the halfway point, and create fresh reasons to give: a match milestone
unlocked, a deadline approaching, a stretch goal in sight. For a concentrated campaign, keep a
visible leaderboard or progress view and use it to spark friendly competition between projects. For
a rolling programme, your central team's role is to keep momentum alive project by project,
spotlighting live appeals, celebrating successes publicly and prompting owners who go quiet. The
through-line in everything Essex describes is the same: the projects that succeed are the ones whose
owners keep working them, and your support exists to keep that work going.

## Stewardship and converting crowdfunding donors

What happens after a project funds determines whether you have run a transaction or started a
relationship. Both the owner and the central office should thank every donor promptly, and owners
should report back on what the money achieved: the trip taken, the show staged, the equipment
bought. At Essex, the projects with the strongest ongoing relationship, such as the theatre school,
are the ones that close the loop, inviting the team to performances and reporting back on impact.
That habit of feedback is what turns a one-off donor into a familiar supporter.

The bigger prize is conversion. Crowdfunding brings in large numbers of people who are new to you,
and a good platform captures, with consent, who they are and what they cared about, so you can build
on the gift. Essex uses the donation data and the messages donors leave to re-engage supporters it
would otherwise never have known: when a gift arrives from someone outside the regular file, the
team can reach out, thank them and ask what motivated them. Over time, even the project owners
convert. Now that it tracks the data, Essex has found that a share of former Click users have
themselves become alumni donors, names that have quietly kept giving since they graduated. That long
arc, from student fundraiser to lifelong supporter, is the real return on a crowdfunding programme,
and it only materialises if you steward deliberately rather than letting projects end at their
deadline. Be honest about the resource this takes: Essex is frank that without a dedicated
stewardship role, follow-up across every project is hard to sustain, which is an argument for
staffing the programme properly as it grows.

## Measuring success

Set your measures before you launch, and lead with engagement rather than income alone. The most
useful metrics are the number of live projects, the project success rate (the share that hit
target), the number of donors and how many are new to you, the total raised and the average per
project, and, over the longer term, how many crowdfunding donors and owners go on to give again.
Benchmark numbers from established programmes give you something to aim at: Essex reports a 98 per
cent success rate across 445-plus projects, and York a 94 per cent rate across 240-plus projects. A
high success rate is itself a measure of how well you are vetting and supporting, not just of how
easy the targets are. Track new-donor acquisition and downstream conversion as seriously as you
track euros, because that is where crowdfunding pays off long after a given project closes.

## Case study: the University of Essex

The University of Essex has run its crowdfunding programme, branded "Click" on the strapline "help is
only a Click away," since 2015. It is now a mature, year-round operation: more than 320 projects
supported, over £256,000 raised and more than 4,590 donors over its lifetime, and a 2017 Heist Award
for Best Alumni, Development or Fundraising Initiative along the way. In its first year alone the
programme delivered 38 projects, £48,000 and 791 donors at a 97 per cent success rate. The model is
self-serve but closely supported: students and staff submit an inquiry, a dedicated team member
reviews it against the academic criteria, and approved projects go live with a target, a match of up
to £500 and active follow-up. Across more than 445 projects the programme has held a 98 per cent
success rate, with its single failure down to an owner who simply did not do the work.

What Essex stresses most, with hindsight, is not the mechanics but the fit. Asked for her top advice
to teams thinking about crowdfunding, DeeDee Paul keeps returning to the same point:

> "You have to know your audience. Your audience is what's going to make it successful. You could
> have the amazing platform, but if people don't really care about this kind of thing, it's not
> going to work. So once you know the demographic you're targeting, it's easy to go for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

That fit, plus dedicated support for project owners and disciplined use of the data that giving
generates, is what has turned Click from a new idea into a fixture of how Essex raises money. York's
YuStart programme points the same way, helping turn York, in its own phrase, into "a fundraising
university, rather than a university that fundraises."

## Frequently asked questions

**How is crowdfunding different from a Giving Day or a Challenge Week?** All three are
project-or-priority-led appeals, but the timeframe and ownership differ. A
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for
institutional priorities. A [Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) is
development-office-led but the money goes to clubs and societies, run over about a week. Crowdfunding
is year-round and led by the project owners themselves, with your team providing the platform and
support.

**Should we run a single campaign or an ongoing programme?** Either works. A single, time-boxed
campaign concentrates attention and is a low-risk way to prove the model. An ongoing programme, like
the ones Essex and York run, keeps the platform open all year and meets owners when they are ready.
Many institutions run a year-round programme with occasional concentrated peaks layered on top. If
you are starting out, start small and grow.

**How do we stop projects from failing?** Vet the owner, not just the project, and support them
through it. The biggest predictor of failure is an owner who will not do the work, so set
expectations clearly before approval and screen out projects relying on the money arriving by
itself. Then follow up actively: check in early, and help any owner who has stalled find a way
forward. Essex's 98 per cent success rate rests on exactly this kind of hands-on support.

**Where does the match funding come from, and how much should it be?** Often from central funds
already earmarked to support the kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major-donor and
corporate gifts solicited to create a challenge fund. A clear, capped match works well: Essex matches
each project up to £500, which keeps the pot fair across many projects. Match is worth prioritising,
because matched projects can raise several times more than unmatched ones.

**How long should a project run?** Long enough to build momentum but short enough to keep urgency: a
few weeks is typical. A deadline that is too far off invites procrastination, while too tight a
window leaves no room to recover a slow start. Make the deadline visible on the page and use it to
drive the final push.

**Are crowdfunding gifts tax-efficient?** It depends on the country. Many European countries offer a
tax deduction or reduction on charitable gifts, and cross-border gifts within Europe can often be made
tax-efficiently through Transnational Giving Europe. Check the rules where your donors are based, and
make sure owners can point donors to the relevant scheme in their ask.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Crowdfunding page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Crowdfunding communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's guide to cause-led crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Case studies: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) and [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo llevar a cabo una campaña de micromecenazgo](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para llevar a cabo una campaña o un programa de micromecenazgo, en el que los responsables de los proyectos recaudan fondos para sus propias causas con apoyo central. Cubre la elección de proyectos, la creación de páginas, los objetivos y las recompensas, la financiación de contrapartida, la comunicación, el impulso del lanzamiento y la fidelización.
El micromecenazgo recauda dinero poniendo a cargo de la recaudación a las personas más cercanas a una
causa. Cada responsable gestiona su propia página de proyecto, y vuestro equipo central proporciona
la plataforma, la orientación y el apoyo que los hacen eficaces. Una asociación de estudiantes que
recauda para una gira, un grupo de investigación que financia un equipo, un departamento que respalda
un fondo de emergencia: cada uno es dueño de su llamamiento, fija su objetivo y se dirige a su propia
red. Vuestra oficina establece el marco, examina los proyectos, suministra las herramientas y las
plantillas, y lleva una ligera comunicación de coordinación. La multitud hace el resto.

Esa propiedad es lo que distingue al micromecenazgo de vuestras campañas de momento fijo. Un
[día de la generosidad](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) es un empuje de unas 36 horas,
dirigido desde el centro, para un puñado de prioridades institucionales, en el que vuestro equipo
redacta el llamamiento y asume la petición. Una
[semana de reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) se sitúa en un punto intermedio:
dirigida por la oficina de desarrollo como un día de la generosidad, pero el dinero va a clubes y
asociaciones que hacen su propia promoción a lo largo de una semana aproximadamente. El
micromecenazgo retoma ese modelo de responsable de proyecto y le quita el marco del calendario. Los
proyectos se lanzan cuando sus responsables están listos, duran tanto como conviene a la causa y
conviven unos junto a otros todo el año. En pocas palabras, el micromecenazgo es permanente, un día
de la generosidad ocurre en unas 36 horas y una semana de reto dura una semana.

Esta guía se basa en las buenas prácticas desarrolladas por los consultores de Hubbub, que han
ayudado a instituciones a construir programas de micromecenazgo, y en la experiencia de universidades
que los han llevado a cabo a gran escala. Dos aparecen a lo largo de todo el texto: la University of
Essex, cuyo programa «Click», en marcha desde hace tiempo, aporta la mayoría de los ejemplos
prácticos, y la University of York. Es honesta en un punto desde el principio. El micromecenazgo tiene
tanto que ver con construir una cultura de la generosidad como con el dinero que recauda. Bien hecho,
trae donantes completamente nuevos a vuestro programa, enseña a una generación de responsables de
proyecto cómo funciona realmente la filantropía y os da un flujo constante de causas financiables y
atractivas para los donantes.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de plan de proyecto de micromecenazgo](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> nuestra [plantilla de texto de página](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) y nuestra
> [plantilla de plan de comunicación](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Por qué llevar a cabo una campaña de micromecenazgo

La primera razón es el alcance. Los responsables de los proyectos acuden a personas que nunca
encontraríais en vuestro fichero de antiguos alumnos: compañeros de curso, compañeros de equipo,
padres, amigos, colegas y simpatizantes locales que donan porque tienen una conexión personal con
quien hace la petición. Un llamamiento convencional rara vez hace aflorar a estos donantes, y una vez
que han donado pueden ser conducidos hacia vuestro programa más amplio. El micromecenazgo de York ha
hecho exactamente esto, ampliando su base de simpatizantes hasta el punto de que, según las cifras
que reporta, alrededor del 91 por ciento de sus donantes antiguos alumnos procedentes del
micromecenazgo eran nuevos para la institución.

La segunda razón es que el micromecenazgo forma captadores de fondos. Un estudiante que tiene que
redactar su propio argumento, mapear su propio público y perseguir sus propias donaciones aprende lo
que realmente implica la captación de fondos. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer en la
University of Essex, describe el efecto del programa Click sobre los estudiantes:

> «Enseña a los estudiantes qué es la filantropía. Enseña al personal qué es la filantropía, porque a
> menudo la gente piensa: ah, simplemente recibes dinero por recibir dinero. No ven todo el trabajo
> de fondo que hay detrás. Es una buena manera de que la universidad enseñe a la gente qué es la
> filantropía siendo estudiante, antes de que se convierta en antiguo alumno.»
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

La tercera razón es que el micromecenazgo alivia la presión sobre el resto de vuestra captación. Cada
departamento, asociación y equipo de investigación capaz de llevar a cabo un llamamiento creíble por
su cuenta es una petición menos que aterriza en la mesa de vuestros responsables de grandes
donaciones. Como dice DeeDee Paul, cuando los departamentos usan la plataforma con sus propios
contactos, «todo lo que hacemos es supervisarlo y daros vuestro dinero al final», lo que libera al
equipo de grandes donaciones para «centrarse en otra cosa». El ingreso es un beneficio genuino, y a
gran escala uno real: el programa Click de Essex ha recaudado más de 256.000 £ de más de 4.590
donantes en más de 320 proyectos desde 2015. Pero el ingreso tiende a derivarse del compromiso, no al
revés.

## Una sola campaña o un programa continuado

Hay dos maneras de llevar a cabo el micromecenazgo, y conviene decidir pronto cuál estáis
construyendo. Una **campaña única** es un empuje acotado en el tiempo: reclutáis una cohorte de
proyectos, los lanzáis en torno a un momento compartido y cerráis. Es lo más parecido que tiene el
micromecenazgo a una semana de reto, y una forma sensata de probar el modelo antes de comprometerse a
más. Un **programa continuado** mantiene la plataforma abierta todo el año, con proyectos que se
lanzan y terminan de forma progresiva a medida que los responsables se presentan. Así gestiona Essex
Click y así gestiona York su programa YuStart, ambos operando de manera continua durante años en
lugar de a ráfagas.

El compromiso es entre impulso y comodidad. Una campaña única concentra la atención, lo que facilita
la comunicación y aviva la competencia, pero exige que cada proyecto esté listo al mismo tiempo. Un
programa continuado encuentra a los responsables cuando están listos y reparte vuestro esfuerzo de
apoyo a lo largo del año, pero pierde la urgencia compartida de un plazo, de modo que tenéis que
fabricar el impulso proyecto a proyecto. Muchas instituciones hacen ambas cosas: un programa
permanente como columna vertebral, con campañas concentradas ocasionales o una semana de reto
superpuestas para crear picos. Si partís de cero, empezad con una campaña bien apoyada o una pequeña
cohorte, aprended de ella y creced.

## Elegir y examinar los proyectos y los responsables de los proyectos

La calidad de vuestro micromecenazgo descansa en la calidad de los proyectos que dejáis entrar en la
plataforma, así que necesitáis criterios claros y alguien que los aplique. En Essex, los posibles
responsables presentan una solicitud, y un miembro dedicado del equipo revisa cada una frente a las
reglas del programa antes de que salga en directo. Dos criterios hacen la mayor parte del trabajo.
Primero, el proyecto tiene que encajar con vuestra misión: Essex exige que cada proyecto Click esté
vinculado a la finalidad académica del responsable, ya sea un viaje ligado a un curso, un trabajo de
investigación o una estancia de estudios en el extranjero. Segundo, el proyecto tiene que merecer el
esfuerzo. Essex fija un umbral de al menos 100 £ para arrancar, con la lógica sencilla de que, como
dice DeeDee Paul, un objetivo minúsculo es «una pérdida de tiempo» tanto para el responsable como para
el equipo que lo apoya: «Queremos asegurarnos de que, si vais a invertir vuestro tiempo, esté bien
invertido.»

Examinar al responsable importa tanto como examinar el proyecto, porque el mayor predictor de éxito es
si la persona que está detrás hará el trabajo. Essex ha llevado a cabo más de 445 proyectos con una
tasa de éxito del 98 por ciento, y el equipo es franco sobre por qué ocurrió su único fracaso:

> «Acabamos de tener nuestro primer proyecto fallido. La única razón por la que fracasa es que la
> persona ni siquiera hizo el menor esfuerzo por intentar recaudar para él.»
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

No se puede convertir a alguien en captador de fondos. Lo que sí podéis hacer es fijar las
expectativas con claridad en el momento de la aprobación y descartar los proyectos en los que el
responsable espera que el dinero llegue por sí solo. Una breve conversación antes de la aprobación,
que guíe al responsable por aquello a lo que se está comprometiendo, vale mucho más que un largo
formulario de solicitud. Nuestra
[plantilla de plan de proyecto de micromecenazgo](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) da a
los responsables un lugar estructurado para exponer su objetivo, su público y su plan, y os da una
base clara sobre la que aprobar.

## Construir una página de proyecto convincente y contar la historia

Una página de proyecto tiene un solo cometido: convertir a un visitante a quien le importa la persona
en un donante que dona a la causa. La mecánica importa, y una buena plataforma se encarga de ella: un
objetivo claro y una barra de progreso, una gama de importes de donación sugeridos en lugar de una
única cifra fija, y una elección entre opciones puntual, con tarjeta y recurrente, para que la gente
pueda donar de la manera que le convenga. Essex ofreció deliberadamente varias vías de donación y un
abanico de importes para no disuadir a nadie, fijando niveles sugeridos pero dejando siempre al
donante libre de dar lo que pueda. En palabras de DeeDee Paul, «cada donación marca la diferencia».

La parte más difícil es la historia, y es donde los responsables más necesitan ayuda. La tentación,
como advierte DeeDee Paul, es recurrir a la petición institucional: «No quieres decir: ah, donad solo
por las becas o porque necesitamos dinero. Quieres contar las historias.» Una página potente abre con
una persona y una necesidad concreta, muestra en términos tangibles lo que comprará el dinero y hace
sentir al lector que su donativo completa algo en lugar de engrosar un fondo general. Animad a los
responsables a escribir como ellos mismos, con su propia voz, con sus propias fotografías, y a decir
con claridad qué ocurre si se alcanza el objetivo.

Las donaciones resultantes a menudo os devuelven sus propias historias. La plataforma de Essex permite
a los donantes dejar un mensaje con su donativo, y esos mensajes se han convertido en un activo de
captación por derecho propio, usados en campañas y en recepciones de becas. Una donante que entregó
30.000 £ en memoria de su difunto marido, un titulado de Essex con quien la oficina nunca había estado
en contacto antes, dejó un mensaje en el que explicaba que quería «dejar un legado» porque la
universidad había tenido un impacto tan grande en su vida. Dad a los responsables una ventaja con sus
palabras gracias a nuestra
[plantilla de texto de página](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), y orientadlos hacia el
gratuito [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) para afinar el resultado.

## Fijar objetivos y usar recompensas

Un buen objetivo es realista, motivador y anclado en algo tangible. Ayudad a los responsables a
presupuestar su proyecto desde la base, en torno al equipo, el viaje o la actividad que financia, en
lugar de elegir una cifra redonda y confiar en la suerte. Un objetivo ligado a un resultado concreto
es mucho más fácil de defender ante los donantes, porque cada uno ve exactamente qué completa su
donativo, y un objetivo que el responsable pueda alcanzar de forma plausible con su propia red es uno
que perseguirá de verdad.

Cómo se comporta el objetivo cuando se alcanza es en sí mismo una decisión de diseño. Algunos
programas funcionan sobre la base de todo o nada, en la que el responsable se queda con el dinero solo
si se alcanza el objetivo, lo que agudiza el empuje final pero eleva la apuesta. Otros, como Essex,
liberan los fondos en cuanto se alcanza el mínimo y dejan a los responsables quedarse con todo lo que
lo supere: «Una vez que alcanzas tu objetivo mínimo, a veces la gente lo supera. De cualquier modo,
sigues recibiendo la financiación de contrapartida siempre que alcances el objetivo mínimo.» Sea cual
sea vuestra elección, sed explícitos al respecto en cada página para que donantes y responsables
conozcan las reglas.

Las recompensas son una capa opcional que puede elevar la conversión cuando encajan con la causa. En
el modelo clásico de micromecenazgo, los donantes de distintos niveles reciben una pequeña muestra de
agradecimiento: una mención, una invitación, una parte de aquello que financiaron. En un contexto
guiado por la causa, la «recompensa» más poderosa suele ser sencillamente el impacto y el
reconocimiento, una actualización sentida y un agradecimiento, en lugar de merchandising que se come
el dinero recaudado. Mantened las recompensas baratas de cumplir, genuinamente ligadas al proyecto, y
no dejéis nunca que se conviertan en la razón por la que la gente dona.

## La financiación de contrapartida para generar urgencia

La financiación de contrapartida es la palanca más eficaz de que disponéis, porque cambia la
aritmética de la petición para cada donante: dona ahora y tu euro cuenta el doble. York reporta que
sus proyectos con contrapartida recaudan alrededor de tres veces más que los que no la tienen, razón
suficiente para incorporar un fondo de contrapartida a vuestro programa desde el principio. La
contrapartida puede provenir de fondos centrales ya destinados a apoyar el tipo de proyectos que
financiáis por micromecenazgo, o de grandes donantes y socios corporativos solicitados específicamente
para crear un fondo de reto.

Cómo estructuráis la contrapartida moldea los comportamientos. Essex ofrece un compromiso sencillo de
igualar lo que cada proyecto recaude hasta 500 £, lo que da a los responsables un titular claro y
motivador: alcanza el mínimo y la institución completa. Ese tope también mantiene el fondo equitativo
entre muchos proyectos en lugar de dejar que una sola gran campaña lo absorba. Sed conscientes, no
obstante, del comportamiento que la contrapartida puede fomentar en los márgenes. Essex señala que
algunos responsables se apoyan en una fuente garantizada cercana, sabiendo que «si recaudo la cantidad
mínima, entonces obtendré la financiación de contrapartida», mientras que los responsables que
trabajan de verdad sus redes tienden a estar a mitad de camino del objetivo mucho antes del plazo. Una
contrapartida diseñada para premiar la amplitud del apoyo, en lugar de simplemente alcanzar una cifra,
mantiene el incentivo apuntando en la dirección correcta. Planificad la mecánica con nuestra
[plantilla de plan de comunicación](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), que incluye un
lugar para asociar cada disparador de contrapartida con el mensaje que lo anuncia.

## Comunicación: dirigida por los responsables, apoyada desde el centro

La comunicación del micromecenazgo corre sobre dos vías que tienen que ir acompasadas. La vía
principal es el alcance del propio responsable hacia su propia gente, y es de ahí de donde viene la
mayor parte del dinero. La vía secundaria es vuestra amplificación central: publicaciones
institucionales en redes sociales, boletines y correos que aportan credibilidad, dirigen tráfico a
los proyectos en marcha y celebran los hitos. Los responsables llevan el llamamiento; vosotros lleváis
el megáfono.

Del lado de los responsables, el trabajo consiste en equipar y luego empujar. La mayoría de los
responsables de proyecto no son captadores de fondos, así que dadles un plan de promoción sencillo de
seguir: un mensaje de lanzamiento a su red cercana, actualizaciones regulares y auténticas a lo largo
del proyecto, y un último empuje a medida que se acerca el plazo. Animad a un contenido personal y
concreto, fotos, vídeos cortos y publicaciones de progreso, en lugar de un marketing pulido. Sobre
todo, incorporad un seguimiento activo, porque la diferencia entre un proyecto financiado y uno
fallido a menudo es solo la perseverancia. Essex no deja a los responsables hundirse o nadar. El
equipo se pone en contacto aproximadamente una semana después de que un proyecto sale en directo para
preguntar, en palabras de DeeDee Paul, «¿estáis de verdad intentando activamente que entre el
dinero?», y si un responsable se ha estancado, «se sientan con vosotros y averiguan una vía
alternativa». Ella describe el contacto como de apoyo más que de control: «No quiero decir que os esté
microgestionando, pero al menos os mantengo motivados para llevar vuestro proyecto hasta el final.»

Del lado central, la versión más ligera es concienciación y encauzamiento: asegurarse de que todos
sepan que la plataforma existe y dónde encontrarla. Essex publicita Click con pancartas por todo el
campus, puestos en la semana de bienvenida y sesiones de inicio de trimestre para los departamentos
que más la usan, pero su canal más poderoso es el boca a boca, porque un programa que lleva años en
marcha se convierte en el primer punto de referencia obvio: «Si necesitáis dinero, podéis simplemente
echar un vistazo a la plataforma Click.» Para una campaña concentrada en lugar de un programa
continuado, subid el esfuerzo central a aproximadamente un correo coordinado al día, y escribid todo
antes de empezar para que el envío sea sereno en lugar de frenético. Las
[guías prácticas](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) de Hubbub profundizan en el correo y
las redes sociales.

## Lanzamiento y mantenimiento del impulso

Las primeras 48 horas de un proyecto fijan su trayectoria, así que entrenad a los responsables para
alinear a sus simpatizantes más cercanos de modo que donen pronto. Una página que ya muestra impulso,
con varios donativos y un progreso visible, tranquiliza a los donantes posteriores sobre que el
proyecto es real y merece respaldo, mientras que una página vacía invita a la duda. Animad a los
responsables a comunicar la fecha de lanzamiento por adelantado a su círculo íntimo y a pedirles que
donen el primer día, para que la página abra con movimiento en lugar de con silencio.

A mitad de un proyecto, el impulso es un trabajo, no un accidente. Los responsables deberían publicar
el progreso, agradecer públicamente a los donantes, marcar el punto medio y crear nuevas razones para
donar: un hito de contrapartida desbloqueado, un plazo que se acerca, un objetivo adicional a la
vista. Para una campaña concentrada, mantened una clasificación o una vista de progreso visible y
usadla para encender una competencia amistosa entre proyectos. Para un programa continuado, el papel
de vuestro equipo central es mantener vivo el impulso proyecto a proyecto, destacando los llamamientos
en marcha, celebrando públicamente los éxitos y animando a los responsables que se quedan callados. El
hilo conductor en todo lo que describe Essex es el mismo: los proyectos que triunfan son aquellos
cuyos responsables siguen trabajándolos, y vuestro apoyo existe para mantener ese trabajo en marcha.

## Fidelización y conversión de los donantes del micromecenazgo

Lo que ocurre después de que un proyecto se financia determina si habéis llevado a cabo una
transacción o iniciado una relación. Tanto el responsable como la oficina central deberían agradecer
sin demora a cada donante, y los responsables deberían rendir cuentas de lo que logró el dinero: el
viaje realizado, la función montada, el equipo comprado. En Essex, los proyectos con la relación
continuada más sólida, como la escuela de teatro, son los que cierran el círculo, invitando al equipo
a las funciones e informando del impacto. Ese hábito de retroalimentación es lo que convierte a un
donante puntual en un simpatizante familiar.

El premio mayor es la conversión. El micromecenazgo trae a gran número de personas que os son nuevas,
y una buena plataforma captura, con consentimiento, quiénes son y qué les importaba, para que podáis
construir sobre el donativo. Essex usa los datos de donación y los mensajes que dejan los donantes
para volver a captar a simpatizantes que de otro modo nunca habría conocido: cuando llega un donativo
de alguien fuera del fichero habitual, el equipo puede ponerse en contacto, agradecerle y preguntarle
qué lo motivó. Con el tiempo, incluso los responsables de los proyectos se convierten. Ahora que hace
seguimiento de los datos, Essex ha descubierto que una parte de los antiguos usuarios de Click se han
convertido ellos mismos en donantes antiguos alumnos, nombres que han seguido donando en silencio
desde que se graduaron. Ese arco largo, del estudiante captador de fondos al simpatizante de por vida,
es el verdadero retorno de un programa de micromecenazgo, y solo se materializa si fidelizáis de forma
deliberada en lugar de dejar que los proyectos terminen en su plazo. Sed honestos sobre los recursos
que esto exige: Essex reconoce sin rodeos que, sin un puesto dedicado a la fidelización, el
seguimiento de cada proyecto es difícil de sostener, lo que es un argumento para dotar al programa de
personal como es debido a medida que crece.

## Medir el éxito

Estableced vuestras medidas antes de lanzar, y poned por delante el compromiso en lugar del ingreso
por sí solo. Las métricas más útiles son el número de proyectos en marcha, la tasa de éxito de los
proyectos (la proporción que alcanzó su objetivo), el número de donantes y cuántos os son nuevos, el
total recaudado y la media por proyecto y, a más largo plazo, cuántos donantes y responsables del
micromecenazgo vuelven a donar. Los números de referencia de los programas consolidados os dan algo a
lo que aspirar: Essex reporta una tasa de éxito del 98 por ciento en más de 445 proyectos, y York una
tasa del 94 por ciento en más de 240 proyectos. Una tasa de éxito alta es en sí misma una medida de
lo bien que estáis examinando y apoyando, no solo de lo fáciles que son los objetivos. Haced
seguimiento de la captación de nuevos donantes y de la conversión posterior con la misma seriedad con
que hacéis seguimiento de los euros, porque ahí es donde el micromecenazgo rinde mucho después de que
un proyecto dado se cierra.

## Caso de estudio: la University of Essex

La University of Essex lleva a cabo su programa de micromecenazgo, bajo la marca «Click» con el lema
«help is only a Click away», desde 2015. Es ahora una operación madura y permanente: más de 320
proyectos apoyados, más de 256.000 £ recaudados y más de 4.590 donantes a lo largo de su vida, además
de un premio Heist 2017 a la mejor iniciativa de antiguos alumnos, desarrollo o captación de fondos
por el camino. Solo en su primer año el programa entregó 38 proyectos, 48.000 £ y 791 donantes con una
tasa de éxito del 97 por ciento. El modelo es de autoservicio pero estrechamente apoyado: estudiantes
y personal presentan una solicitud, un miembro dedicado del equipo la revisa frente a los criterios
académicos, y los proyectos aprobados salen en directo con un objetivo, una contrapartida de hasta
500 £ y un seguimiento activo. A lo largo de más de 445 proyectos el programa ha mantenido una tasa de
éxito del 98 por ciento, con su único fracaso debido a un responsable que sencillamente no hizo el
trabajo.

Lo que Essex más subraya, en retrospectiva, no es la mecánica sino el encaje. Cuando se le pregunta su
mejor consejo para los equipos que están considerando el micromecenazgo, DeeDee Paul vuelve una y otra
vez al mismo punto:

> «Tenéis que conocer a vuestro público. Vuestro público es lo que va a hacer que tenga éxito.
> Podríais tener la plataforma más asombrosa, pero si a la gente no le importa de verdad este tipo de
> cosa, no va a funcionar. Así que, una vez que conocéis el perfil al que os dirigís, es fácil
> lanzarse.»
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Ese encaje, sumado a un apoyo dedicado a los responsables de los proyectos y a un uso disciplinado de
los datos que genera la donación, es lo que ha convertido Click de una idea nueva en un elemento fijo
de cómo Essex recauda dinero. El programa YuStart de York apunta en la misma dirección, ayudando a
convertir a York, en sus propias palabras, en «una universidad captadora de fondos, en lugar de una
universidad que capta fondos».

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿En qué se diferencia el micromecenazgo de un día de la generosidad o una semana de reto?** Los tres
son llamamientos guiados por proyectos o prioridades, pero el marco temporal y la propiedad difieren.
Un [día de la generosidad](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) es un empuje de unas 36 horas,
dirigido desde el centro, para prioridades institucionales. Una
[semana de reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) está dirigida por la oficina de
desarrollo, pero el dinero va a clubes y asociaciones, a lo largo de una semana aproximadamente. El
micromecenazgo es permanente y está dirigido por los propios responsables de los proyectos, con
vuestro equipo proporcionando la plataforma y el apoyo.

**¿Deberíamos llevar a cabo una campaña única o un programa continuado?** Ambos funcionan. Una campaña
única y acotada en el tiempo concentra la atención y es una manera de bajo riesgo de probar el modelo.
Un programa continuado, como los que llevan a cabo Essex y York, mantiene la plataforma abierta todo
el año y encuentra a los responsables cuando están listos. Muchas instituciones llevan a cabo un
programa permanente con picos concentrados ocasionales superpuestos. Si estáis empezando, comenzad en
pequeño y creced.

**¿Cómo evitamos que los proyectos fracasen?** Examinad al responsable, no solo el proyecto, y
apoyadlo a lo largo del proceso. El mayor predictor de fracaso es un responsable que no hará el
trabajo, así que fijad las expectativas con claridad antes de la aprobación y descartad los proyectos
que dependen de que el dinero llegue por sí solo. Luego haced seguimiento activo: poneos en contacto
pronto y ayudad a cualquier responsable que se haya estancado a encontrar una vía hacia adelante. La
tasa de éxito del 98 por ciento de Essex descansa exactamente en este tipo de apoyo de cerca.

**¿De dónde viene la financiación de contrapartida, y de cuánto debería ser?** A menudo de fondos
centrales ya destinados a apoyar el tipo de proyectos que financiáis por micromecenazgo, o de
donativos de grandes donantes y empresas solicitados para crear un fondo de reto. Una contrapartida
clara y con tope funciona bien: Essex iguala cada proyecto hasta 500 £, lo que mantiene el fondo
equitativo entre muchos proyectos. La contrapartida vale la pena de priorizar, porque los proyectos
con contrapartida pueden recaudar varias veces más que los que no la tienen.

**¿Cuánto debería durar un proyecto?** Lo bastante largo para construir impulso pero lo bastante corto
para mantener la urgencia: unas pocas semanas es lo típico. Un plazo demasiado lejano invita a la
procrastinación, mientras que una ventana demasiado ajustada no deja margen para recuperar un arranque
lento. Haced el plazo visible en la página y usadlo para impulsar el empuje final.

**¿Los donativos de micromecenazgo son fiscalmente ventajosos?** Depende del país. Muchos países
europeos ofrecen una deducción o una reducción fiscal sobre los donativos benéficos, y los donativos
transfronterizos dentro de Europa a menudo pueden realizarse de forma fiscalmente ventajosa a través
de Transnational Giving Europe. Comprobad las reglas allá donde residan vuestros donantes, y aseguraos
de que los responsables puedan orientar a los donantes hacia el régimen pertinente en su petición.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de plan de proyecto de micromecenazgo](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Plantilla de texto de página de micromecenazgo](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Plantilla de plan de comunicación de micromecenazgo](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador del día de la generosidad de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina los textos de tu llamamiento y tus correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): enlaza los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [La guía de Hubbub sobre micromecenazgo guiado por la causa](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Casos de estudio: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) y [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo llevar a cabo un día de la generosidad](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) y [Cómo llevar a cabo una semana de reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) completo para saber más.

- [Comment mener une campagne de financement participatif](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour mener une campagne ou un programme de financement participatif, où les porteurs de projets collectent des fonds pour leurs propres causes avec un soutien centralisé. Il couvre le choix des projets, la création des pages, les objectifs et contreparties, l'abondement, la communication, l'élan du lancement et la fidélisation.
Le financement participatif collecte de l'argent en confiant la collecte aux personnes les plus
proches d'une cause. Chaque porteur gère sa propre page de projet, et votre équipe centrale fournit
la plateforme, les conseils et le soutien qui les rendent efficaces. Une association étudiante qui
collecte pour une tournée, un groupe de recherche qui finance un équipement, un département qui
soutient un fonds d'urgence : chacun est maître de son appel, fixe son objectif et s'adresse à son
propre réseau. Votre service définit le cadre, vérifie les projets, fournit les outils et les
modèles, et assure une communication de coordination légère. La foule fait le reste.

C'est cette appropriation qui distingue le financement participatif de vos campagnes à moment fixe.
Une [journée de la générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) est un effort d'environ 36
heures, piloté par la centrale, pour quelques priorités institutionnelles, où votre équipe rédige
l'appel et porte la demande. Une [semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) se situe
entre les deux : pilotée par le service de développement comme une journée de la générosité, mais
l'argent va aux clubs et associations, qui assurent eux-mêmes leur promotion sur environ une semaine.
Le financement participatif reprend ce modèle de porteur de projet et lui retire le cadre du
calendrier. Les projets sont lancés quand leurs porteurs sont prêts, durent aussi longtemps que la
cause l'exige et coexistent toute l'année. En somme, le financement participatif est permanent, une
journée de la générosité dure environ 36 heures et une semaine défi dure une semaine.

Ce guide s'appuie sur les bonnes pratiques élaborées par les consultants de Hubbub, qui ont aidé des
institutions à bâtir des programmes de financement participatif, ainsi que sur l'expérience
d'universités qui les ont menés à grande échelle. Deux reviennent tout au long du texte : la
University of Essex, dont le programme « Click », mené de longue date, fournit la plupart des
exemples concrets, et la University of York. Le guide est honnête sur un point dès le départ. Le
financement participatif consiste autant à bâtir une culture du don qu'à collecter de l'argent. Bien
mené, il amène de tout nouveaux donateurs dans votre programme, apprend à une génération de porteurs
de projets comment fonctionne réellement la philanthropie et vous fournit un flux régulier de causes
finançables et attrayantes pour les donateurs.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de plan de projet de financement participatif](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> notre [modèle de texte de page](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) et notre
> [modèle de plan de communication](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Pourquoi mener une campagne de financement participatif

La première raison est la portée. Les porteurs de projets s'adressent à des personnes que vous ne
trouveriez jamais dans votre fichier d'anciens élèves : camarades de promotion, coéquipiers, parents,
amis, collègues et soutiens locaux qui donnent parce qu'ils ont un lien personnel avec la personne
qui sollicite. Un appel classique fait rarement émerger ces donateurs, et une fois qu'ils ont donné,
ils peuvent être orientés vers votre programme plus large. Le financement participatif de York a fait
exactement cela, élargissant sa base de soutiens à tel point que, selon les chiffres qu'elle
rapporte, environ 91 pour cent de ses donateurs anciens élèves issus du financement participatif
étaient nouveaux pour l'institution.

La deuxième raison est que le financement participatif forme des collecteurs de fonds. Un étudiant
qui doit rédiger son propre argumentaire, cartographier son propre public et relancer ses propres
dons apprend ce qu'implique vraiment la collecte de fonds. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer à
la University of Essex, décrit l'effet du programme Click sur les étudiants :

> « Cela apprend aux étudiants ce qu'est la philanthropie. Cela apprend au personnel ce qu'est la
> philanthropie, car bien souvent les gens pensent : oh, on reçoit juste de l'argent pour avoir de
> l'argent. Ils ne voient pas tout le travail de fond qu'il y a derrière. C'est un bon moyen pour
> l'université d'apprendre aux gens ce qu'est la philanthropie quand ils sont étudiants, avant qu'ils
> ne deviennent anciens élèves. »
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

La troisième raison est que le financement participatif allège la pression sur le reste de votre
collecte. Chaque département, association et équipe de recherche capable de mener un appel crédible en
autonomie représente une sollicitation de moins sur le bureau de vos responsables des grands dons.
Comme le dit DeeDee Paul, lorsque les départements utilisent la plateforme avec leurs propres
contacts, « tout ce que nous faisons, c'est superviser et vous remettre votre argent à la fin », ce
qui libère l'équipe des grands dons pour « se concentrer sur autre chose ». Le revenu est un avantage
réel, et à grande échelle un vrai bénéfice : le programme Click d'Essex a collecté plus de 256 000 £
auprès de plus de 4 590 donateurs sur plus de 320 projets depuis 2015. Mais le revenu tend à découler
de l'engagement, et non l'inverse.

## Une campagne unique ou un programme continu

Il y a deux façons de mener un financement participatif, et il est utile de décider tôt ce que vous
construisez. Une **campagne unique** est un effort circonscrit dans le temps : vous recrutez une
cohorte de projets, vous les lancez autour d'un moment commun, puis vous concluez. C'est ce qui se
rapproche le plus d'une semaine défi, et une façon sensée de prouver le modèle avant de s'engager
davantage. Un **programme continu** maintient la plateforme ouverte toute l'année, avec des projets
qui se lancent et s'achèvent au fil de l'eau à mesure que des porteurs se présentent. C'est ainsi
qu'Essex gère Click et que York gère son programme YuStart, tous deux fonctionnant en continu depuis
des années plutôt que par à-coups.

L'arbitrage se joue entre élan et commodité. Une campagne unique concentre l'attention, ce qui
facilite la communication et rend la concurrence plus vive, mais elle demande à chaque projet d'être
prêt en même temps. Un programme continu rencontre les porteurs quand ils sont prêts et étale votre
effort de soutien sur l'année, mais il perd l'urgence partagée d'une échéance, si bien que vous devez
fabriquer l'élan projet par projet. De nombreuses institutions font les deux : un programme permanent
comme colonne vertébrale, avec des campagnes concentrées ponctuelles ou une semaine défi superposées
pour créer des pics. Si vous partez de zéro, commencez par une campagne bien soutenue ou une petite
cohorte, tirez-en les leçons et développez.

## Choisir et vérifier les projets et les porteurs de projets

La qualité de votre financement participatif repose sur la qualité des projets que vous laissez
accéder à la plateforme, vous avez donc besoin de critères clairs et de quelqu'un qui les applique. À
Essex, les porteurs potentiels soumettent une demande, et un membre dédié de l'équipe examine chacune
d'elles au regard des règles du programme avant sa mise en ligne. Deux critères font l'essentiel du
travail. D'abord, le projet doit correspondre à votre mission : Essex exige que chaque projet Click
soit lié à la finalité académique du porteur, qu'il s'agisse d'un voyage lié à un cours, d'un travail
de recherche ou d'un séjour d'études à l'étranger. Ensuite, le projet doit valoir l'effort. Essex
fixe un seuil d'au moins 100 £ pour démarrer, selon la logique simple que, comme le dit DeeDee Paul,
un objectif minuscule est « une perte de temps » à la fois pour le porteur et pour l'équipe qui le
soutient : « Nous voulons nous assurer que, si vous allez investir votre temps, il est bien investi. »

Vérifier le porteur compte autant que vérifier le projet, car le plus grand prédicteur de réussite
est de savoir si la personne derrière fera le travail. Essex a mené plus de 445 projets avec un taux
de réussite de 98 pour cent, et l'équipe est franche sur la raison de son unique échec :

> « Nous venons d'avoir notre premier projet en échec. La seule raison de cet échec, c'est que la
> personne n'a même pas fait le moindre effort pour collecter des fonds. »
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

On ne peut pas faire de quelqu'un un collecteur de fonds. Ce que vous pouvez faire, c'est définir
clairement les attentes au moment de la validation et écarter les projets dont le porteur espère que
l'argent arrivera tout seul. Une courte conversation avant l'approbation, qui explique au porteur ce
à quoi il s'engage, vaut bien plus qu'un long formulaire de candidature. Notre
[modèle de plan de projet de financement participatif](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
offre aux porteurs un cadre structuré pour exposer leur objectif, leur public et leur plan, et vous
donne une base claire pour approuver.

## Créer une page de projet convaincante et raconter l'histoire

Une page de projet a une seule mission : transformer un visiteur qui tient à la personne en un
donateur qui donne à la cause. Les mécanismes comptent, et une bonne plateforme les prend en charge :
un objectif clair et une barre de progression, un éventail de montants de don suggérés plutôt qu'un
seul chiffre fixe, et un choix entre options ponctuelle, par carte et récurrente, pour que chacun
puisse donner de la manière qui lui convient. Essex a délibérément proposé plusieurs voies de don et
un éventail de montants pour ne décourager personne, en fixant des paliers suggérés tout en laissant
toujours le donateur libre de donner ce qu'il peut. Selon les mots de DeeDee Paul, « chaque don fait
la différence ».

La partie la plus ardue, c'est l'histoire, et c'est là que les porteurs ont le plus besoin d'aide. La
tentation, comme l'avertit DeeDee Paul, est de se rabattre sur la demande institutionnelle : « Il ne
faut pas se contenter de dire : oh, donnez juste pour les bourses ou parce qu'on a besoin d'argent.
Il faut raconter les histoires. » Une page forte commence par une personne et un besoin précis,
montre ce que l'argent permettra d'acheter en termes concrets, et fait sentir au lecteur que son don
achève quelque chose plutôt que de compléter un fonds général. Encouragez les porteurs à écrire en
leur nom propre, dans leur propre voix, avec leurs propres photos, et à dire clairement ce qui se
passe si l'objectif est atteint.

Les dons qui en résultent rapportent souvent leurs propres histoires. La plateforme d'Essex permet
aux donateurs de laisser un message avec leur don, et ces messages sont devenus un atout de collecte
à part entière, utilisés dans les campagnes et lors des réceptions de bourses. Une donatrice qui a
versé 30 000 £ à la mémoire de son défunt mari, un diplômé d'Essex avec lequel le service n'avait
jamais été en contact auparavant, a laissé un message expliquant qu'elle voulait « laisser un
héritage » parce que l'université avait eu un tel impact sur sa vie. Donnez aux porteurs une longueur
d'avance sur leurs mots avec notre
[modèle de texte de page](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), et orientez-les vers le
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) gratuit pour affiner le résultat.

## Fixer les objectifs et utiliser les contreparties

Un bon objectif est réaliste, motivant et ancré dans quelque chose de tangible. Aidez les porteurs à
chiffrer leur projet à partir de la base, autour de l'équipement, du voyage ou de l'activité qu'il
finance, plutôt que de choisir un chiffre rond en espérant. Un objectif lié à un résultat concret est
bien plus facile à défendre auprès des donateurs, car chacun voit exactement ce que son don achève,
et un objectif que le porteur peut plausiblement atteindre avec son propre réseau est un objectif
qu'il poursuivra réellement.

La façon dont l'objectif se comporte une fois atteint est en soi une décision de conception. Certains
programmes fonctionnent en tout ou rien, où le porteur ne garde l'argent que si l'objectif est
atteint, ce qui aiguise la dernière ligne droite mais augmente les enjeux. D'autres, comme Essex,
débloquent les fonds dès que le minimum est atteint et laissent les porteurs conserver tout ce qui
dépasse : « Une fois que vous atteignez votre objectif minimum, parfois les gens dépassent
l'objectif. Dans les deux cas, vous obtenez quand même l'abondement tant que vous atteignez l'objectif
minimum. » Quel que soit votre choix, soyez explicite à ce sujet sur chaque page pour que donateurs
et porteurs connaissent les règles.

Les contreparties sont une couche optionnelle qui peut améliorer la conversion lorsqu'elles
correspondent à la cause. Dans le modèle classique du financement participatif, les donateurs de
différents paliers reçoivent un petit signe de remerciement : une mention, une invitation, une part
de ce qu'ils ont financé. Dans un contexte centré sur la cause, la « contrepartie » la plus
puissante est souvent simplement l'impact et la reconnaissance, une mise à jour sincère et un merci,
plutôt qu'un produit dérivé qui grignote l'argent collecté. Gardez les contreparties peu coûteuses à
honorer, réellement liées au projet, et ne les laissez jamais devenir la raison pour laquelle les
gens donnent.

## L'abondement pour créer de l'urgence

L'abondement est le levier le plus efficace dont vous disposez, car il change le calcul de la demande
pour chaque donateur : donnez maintenant et votre euro compte double. York rapporte que ses projets
abondés collectent environ trois fois plus que les projets non abondés, ce qui est une raison
suffisante pour intégrer une cagnotte d'abondement à votre programme dès le départ. L'abondement peut
provenir de fonds centraux déjà affectés au soutien du type de projets que vous financez par la
foule, ou de grands donateurs et partenaires d'entreprise sollicités spécifiquement pour créer un
fonds de contrepartie.

La façon dont vous structurez l'abondement façonne les comportements. Essex propose un engagement
simple à doubler ce que chaque projet collecte jusqu'à 500 £, ce qui donne aux porteurs un message
clair et motivant : atteignez le minimum et l'institution complète. Ce plafond garde aussi la
cagnotte équitable entre de nombreux projets plutôt que de laisser une seule grande campagne
l'absorber. Soyez toutefois conscient du comportement que l'abondement peut encourager à la marge.
Essex note que certains porteurs s'appuient sur une source garantie proche d'eux, sachant que « si je
collecte le montant minimum, alors j'obtiendrai l'abondement », tandis que les porteurs qui mobilisent
réellement leurs réseaux ont tendance à être à mi-chemin de l'objectif bien avant l'échéance. Un
abondement conçu pour récompenser l'ampleur du soutien, plutôt que le simple fait d'atteindre un
chiffre, maintient l'incitation dans la bonne direction. Planifiez les mécanismes avec notre
[modèle de plan de communication](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), qui prévoit un
espace pour associer chaque déclencheur d'abondement au message qui l'annonce.

## Communication : pilotée par les porteurs, soutenue par la centrale

La communication d'un financement participatif se déroule sur deux voies qui doivent rester
synchronisées. La voie principale est la sensibilisation du porteur auprès de ses propres proches, et
c'est de là que vient la majeure partie de l'argent. La voie secondaire est votre amplification
centrale : publications institutionnelles sur les réseaux sociaux, lettres d'information et courriels
qui apportent de la crédibilité, amènent du trafic vers les projets en cours et célèbrent les jalons.
Les porteurs portent l'appel ; vous portez le porte-voix.

Du côté des porteurs, le travail consiste à équiper puis à relancer. La plupart des porteurs de
projets ne sont pas des collecteurs de fonds, alors donnez-leur un plan de promotion simple à suivre :
un message de lancement à leur réseau proche, des mises à jour régulières et authentiques tout au
long du projet, et une dernière poussée à l'approche de l'échéance. Encouragez un contenu personnel
et précis, des photos, de courtes vidéos et des publications de progression, plutôt qu'un marketing
léché. Surtout, prévoyez un suivi actif, car la différence entre un projet financé et un projet en
échec n'est souvent qu'une question de persévérance. Essex ne laisse pas les porteurs se débrouiller
seuls. L'équipe prend des nouvelles environ une semaine après la mise en ligne d'un projet pour
demander, selon les mots de DeeDee Paul, « êtes-vous réellement en train d'essayer activement de
faire rentrer l'argent ? », et si un porteur s'est essoufflé, ils « s'assoient avec vous et trouvent
une autre solution ». Elle décrit cette approche comme un soutien plutôt qu'un contrôle : « Je ne
veux pas dire que je vous micro-gère, mais au moins que je vous garde motivé pour mener votre projet
jusqu'au bout. »

Du côté central, la version la plus légère relève de la sensibilisation et de l'orientation : faire
en sorte que chacun sache que la plateforme existe et où la trouver. Essex fait la promotion de Click
avec des banderoles sur le campus, des stands lors de la semaine d'accueil et des sessions de début de
trimestre pour les départements qui l'utilisent le plus, mais son canal le plus puissant est le
bouche-à-oreille, car un programme qui tourne depuis des années devient le premier réflexe évident :
« Si vous avez besoin d'argent, vous pouvez simplement consulter la plateforme Click. » Pour une
campagne concentrée plutôt qu'un programme continu, portez l'effort central à environ un courriel
coordonné par jour, et rédigez tout avant le début pour que la diffusion soit sereine plutôt que
frénétique. Les [guides pratiques](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) de Hubbub
approfondissent le courriel et les réseaux sociaux.

## Lancement et maintien de l'élan

Les 48 premières heures d'un projet déterminent sa trajectoire, alors coachez les porteurs pour
qu'ils alignent leurs soutiens les plus chaleureux afin qu'ils donnent tôt. Une page qui montre déjà
de l'élan, avec plusieurs dons et une progression visible, rassure les donateurs ultérieurs sur le
fait que le projet est réel et mérite d'être soutenu, alors qu'une page vide invite à l'hésitation.
Encouragez les porteurs à annoncer la date de lancement à l'avance à leur cercle proche et à leur
demander de donner dès le premier jour, pour que la page s'ouvre avec du mouvement plutôt qu'avec du
silence.

Au milieu d'un projet, l'élan est un travail, pas un hasard. Les porteurs doivent publier leur
progression, remercier publiquement les donateurs, marquer le cap de la moitié et créer de nouvelles
raisons de donner : un palier d'abondement débloqué, une échéance qui approche, un objectif
supplémentaire en vue. Pour une campagne concentrée, tenez un classement ou une vue de progression
visible et utilisez-le pour susciter une saine émulation entre projets. Pour un programme continu, le
rôle de votre équipe centrale est de maintenir l'élan projet par projet, en mettant en avant les
appels en cours, en célébrant publiquement les réussites et en relançant les porteurs qui se font
silencieux. Le fil conducteur de tout ce que décrit Essex est le même : les projets qui réussissent
sont ceux dont les porteurs continuent à les faire vivre, et votre soutien existe pour que ce travail
se poursuive.

## Fidélisation et conversion des donateurs du financement participatif

Ce qui se passe après le financement d'un projet détermine si vous avez mené une transaction ou
amorcé une relation. Le porteur comme le service central devraient remercier promptement chaque
donateur, et les porteurs devraient rendre compte de ce que l'argent a permis d'accomplir : le voyage
effectué, le spectacle monté, l'équipement acheté. À Essex, les projets dotés de la relation continue
la plus solide, comme l'école de théâtre, sont ceux qui bouclent la boucle, invitant l'équipe aux
représentations et rendant compte de l'impact. Cette habitude de retour est ce qui transforme un
donateur ponctuel en un soutien familier.

Le plus grand gain est la conversion. Le financement participatif amène un grand nombre de personnes
qui vous sont nouvelles, et une bonne plateforme capture, avec consentement, qui elles sont et ce qui
leur tenait à cœur, afin que vous puissiez tirer parti du don. Essex utilise les données de don et les
messages laissés par les donateurs pour réengager des soutiens qu'elle n'aurait autrement jamais
connus : lorsqu'un don arrive de quelqu'un hors du fichier habituel, l'équipe peut le contacter, le
remercier et lui demander ce qui l'a motivé. Avec le temps, même les porteurs de projets se
convertissent. Maintenant qu'elle suit les données, Essex a constaté qu'une partie des anciens
utilisateurs de Click sont eux-mêmes devenus donateurs anciens élèves, des noms qui ont
discrètement continué à donner depuis l'obtention de leur diplôme. Cet arc long, de l'étudiant
collecteur de fonds au soutien à vie, est le véritable retour d'un programme de financement
participatif, et il ne se concrétise que si vous fidélisez délibérément plutôt que de laisser les
projets s'achever à leur échéance. Soyez honnête sur les ressources que cela demande : Essex
reconnaît sans détour que, sans un poste dédié à la fidélisation, le suivi de chaque projet est
difficile à tenir, ce qui plaide pour doter le programme de personnel à mesure qu'il grandit.

## Mesurer le succès

Définissez vos indicateurs avant de lancer, et mettez l'engagement en avant plutôt que le seul
revenu. Les indicateurs les plus utiles sont le nombre de projets en cours, le taux de réussite des
projets (la part qui atteint son objectif), le nombre de donateurs et la proportion de nouveaux, le
total collecté et la moyenne par projet, et, à plus long terme, combien de donateurs et de porteurs
du financement participatif continuent de donner. Les chiffres de référence des programmes établis
vous donnent un cap : Essex rapporte un taux de réussite de 98 pour cent sur plus de 445 projets, et
York un taux de 94 pour cent sur plus de 240 projets. Un taux de réussite élevé est en soi une mesure
de la qualité de votre vérification et de votre soutien, et pas seulement de la facilité des
objectifs. Suivez l'acquisition de nouveaux donateurs et la conversion en aval aussi sérieusement que
vous suivez les euros, car c'est là que le financement participatif porte ses fruits longtemps après
la clôture d'un projet donné.

## Étude de cas : la University of Essex

La University of Essex mène son programme de financement participatif, baptisé « Click » sur le
slogan « help is only a Click away », depuis 2015. C'est désormais une opération mature et permanente :
plus de 320 projets soutenus, plus de 256 000 £ collectés et plus de 4 590 donateurs sur toute sa
durée, ainsi qu'un prix Heist 2017 pour la meilleure initiative d'anciens élèves, de développement ou
de collecte de fonds en chemin. Au cours de sa seule première année, le programme a réalisé 38
projets, 48 000 £ et 791 donateurs avec un taux de réussite de 97 pour cent. Le modèle est en
autonomie mais étroitement soutenu : étudiants et personnel soumettent une demande, un membre dédié
de l'équipe l'examine au regard des critères académiques, et les projets approuvés sont mis en ligne
avec un objectif, un abondement jusqu'à 500 £ et un suivi actif. Sur plus de 445 projets, le
programme a maintenu un taux de réussite de 98 pour cent, son unique échec étant dû à un porteur qui
n'a tout simplement pas fait le travail.

Ce qu'Essex souligne le plus, avec le recul, ce ne sont pas les mécanismes mais l'adéquation. Quand
on lui demande son meilleur conseil aux équipes qui envisagent le financement participatif, DeeDee
Paul revient sans cesse au même point :

> « Vous devez connaître votre public. Votre public est ce qui va faire le succès. Vous pouvez avoir
> la plateforme la plus extraordinaire, mais si les gens ne se soucient pas vraiment de ce genre de
> chose, ça ne marchera pas. Donc, une fois que vous connaissez le profil que vous ciblez, c'est
> facile de se lancer. »
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Cette adéquation, ajoutée à un soutien dédié aux porteurs de projets et à une utilisation rigoureuse
des données que le don génère, est ce qui a transformé Click d'une idée nouvelle en un pilier de la
manière dont Essex collecte des fonds. Le programme YuStart de York va dans le même sens, contribuant
à faire de York, selon sa propre formule, « une université qui collecte des fonds, plutôt qu'une
université qui fait de la collecte de fonds ».

## Foire aux questions

**En quoi le financement participatif diffère-t-il d'une journée de la générosité ou d'une semaine
défi ?** Les trois sont des appels portés par des projets ou des priorités, mais le calendrier et
l'appropriation diffèrent. Une [journée de la générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) est
un effort d'environ 36 heures, piloté par la centrale, pour des priorités institutionnelles. Une
[semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) est pilotée par le service de
développement, mais l'argent va aux clubs et associations, sur environ une semaine. Le financement
participatif est permanent et porté par les porteurs de projets eux-mêmes, votre équipe fournissant
la plateforme et le soutien.

**Devons-nous mener une campagne unique ou un programme continu ?** Les deux fonctionnent. Une
campagne unique et circonscrite dans le temps concentre l'attention et constitue un moyen peu risqué
de prouver le modèle. Un programme continu, comme ceux que mènent Essex et York, maintient la
plateforme ouverte toute l'année et rencontre les porteurs quand ils sont prêts. De nombreuses
institutions mènent un programme permanent avec des pics concentrés ponctuels superposés. Si vous
débutez, commencez petit et développez.

**Comment éviter que des projets échouent ?** Vérifiez le porteur, pas seulement le projet, et
soutenez-le tout du long. Le plus grand prédicteur d'échec est un porteur qui ne fera pas le travail,
alors définissez clairement les attentes avant l'approbation et écartez les projets qui comptent sur
l'argent arrivant tout seul. Ensuite, assurez un suivi actif : prenez des nouvelles tôt et aidez tout
porteur qui s'est essoufflé à trouver une voie. Le taux de réussite de 98 pour cent d'Essex repose
exactement sur ce type de soutien de proximité.

**D'où vient l'abondement, et quel montant prévoir ?** Souvent de fonds centraux déjà affectés au
soutien du type de projets que vous financez par la foule, ou de dons de grands donateurs et
d'entreprises sollicités pour créer un fonds de contrepartie. Un abondement clair et plafonné
fonctionne bien : Essex double chaque projet jusqu'à 500 £, ce qui garde la cagnotte équitable entre
de nombreux projets. L'abondement mérite d'être priorisé, car les projets abondés peuvent collecter
plusieurs fois plus que les projets non abondés.

**Combien de temps un projet doit-il durer ?** Assez longtemps pour bâtir de l'élan mais assez court
pour garder l'urgence : quelques semaines, c'est typique. Une échéance trop lointaine invite à la
procrastination, tandis qu'une fenêtre trop serrée ne laisse aucune marge pour rattraper un démarrage
lent. Rendez l'échéance visible sur la page et utilisez-la pour mener la dernière poussée.

**Les dons de financement participatif sont-ils fiscalement avantageux ?** Cela dépend du pays. De
nombreux pays européens offrent une déduction ou une réduction d'impôt sur les dons caritatifs, et
les dons transfrontaliers au sein de l'Europe peuvent souvent être effectués de manière fiscalement
avantageuse via Transnational Giving Europe. Vérifiez les règles là où vos donateurs résident, et
assurez-vous que les porteurs peuvent orienter les donateurs vers le dispositif pertinent dans leur
demande.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre adresse e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de plan de projet de financement participatif](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Modèle de texte de page de financement participatif](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Modèle de plan de communication de financement participatif](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée de la générosité de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et de courriel
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Le guide de Hubbub sur le financement participatif au service d'une cause](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Études de cas : [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) et [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Guides associés : [Comment mener une journée de la générosité](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) et [Comment mener une semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire de liens](/europe/fr/links/) complet pour en savoir plus.

- [Come condurre una campagna di crowdfunding](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per condurre una campagna o un programma di crowdfunding, in cui i titolari dei progetti raccolgono fondi per le proprie cause con il supporto centrale. Copre la scelta dei progetti, la costruzione delle pagine, gli obiettivi e le ricompense, il fondo di contropartita, la comunicazione, lo slancio del lancio e la fidelizzazione.
Il crowdfunding raccoglie denaro affidando la raccolta alle persone più vicine a una causa. Ogni
titolare gestisce la propria pagina di progetto, e il vostro team centrale fornisce la piattaforma,
la guida e il supporto che li rendono efficaci. Un'associazione studentesca che raccoglie per una
tournée, un gruppo di ricerca che finanzia un'attrezzatura, un dipartimento che sostiene un fondo di
emergenza: ciascuno è titolare del proprio appello, fissa il proprio obiettivo e si rivolge alla
propria rete. Il vostro ufficio definisce il quadro, verifica i progetti, fornisce gli strumenti e i
modelli e cura una leggera comunicazione di coordinamento. La folla fa il resto.

È questa titolarità a distinguere il crowdfunding dalle vostre campagne a momento fisso. Una
[giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) è una spinta di circa 36 ore, guidata
dal centro, per una manciata di priorità istituzionali, in cui è il vostro team a scrivere l'appello
e a farsi carico della richiesta. Una [settimana sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
si colloca a metà strada: guidata dall'ufficio sviluppo come una giornata del dono, ma il denaro va
a club e associazioni che curano da soli la propria promozione lungo circa una settimana. Il
crowdfunding riprende quel modello di titolarità del progetto e ne rimuove la cornice del calendario.
I progetti partono quando i loro titolari sono pronti, durano quanto serve alla causa e convivono
l'uno accanto all'altro tutto l'anno. In breve, il crowdfunding è permanente, una giornata del dono
dura circa 36 ore e una settimana sfida dura una settimana.

Questa guida attinge alle buone pratiche sviluppate dai consulenti di Hubbub, che hanno aiutato le
istituzioni a costruire programmi di crowdfunding, e all'esperienza di università che li hanno
condotti su larga scala. Due ricorrono in tutto il testo: la University of Essex, il cui programma
«Click», attivo da tempo, fornisce la maggior parte degli esempi concreti, e la University of York.
La guida è onesta su un punto fin dall'inizio. Il crowdfunding riguarda tanto la costruzione di una
cultura del dono quanto il denaro che raccoglie. Fatto bene, porta sostenitori del tutto nuovi nel
vostro programma, insegna a una generazione di titolari di progetto come funziona davvero la
filantropia e vi offre un flusso costante di cause finanziabili e gradite ai donatori.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di piano di progetto di crowdfunding](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/), il
> nostro [modello di testo per la pagina](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) e il nostro
> [modello di piano di comunicazione](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Perché condurre una campagna di crowdfunding

La prima ragione è la portata. I titolari dei progetti si rivolgono a persone che non trovereste mai
nel vostro archivio ex studenti: compagni di corso, compagni di squadra, genitori, amici, colleghi e
sostenitori locali che donano perché hanno un legame personale con chi fa la richiesta. Un appello
convenzionale raramente fa emergere questi donatori, e una volta che hanno donato possono essere
accompagnati verso il vostro programma più ampio. Il crowdfunding di York ha fatto esattamente
questo, allargando la propria base di sostenitori al punto che, nei dati che riporta, circa il 91 per
cento dei suoi donatori ex studenti provenienti dal crowdfunding erano nuovi per l'istituzione.

La seconda ragione è che il crowdfunding forma fundraiser. Uno studente che deve scrivere il proprio
caso di sostegno, mappare il proprio pubblico e inseguire le proprie donazioni impara cosa comporta
davvero il fundraising. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer alla University of Essex, descrive
l'effetto del programma Click sugli studenti:

> «Insegna agli studenti cos'è la filantropia. Insegna al personale cos'è la filantropia, perché
> spesso le persone pensano: ah, ricevi semplicemente del denaro per ricevere del denaro. Non vedono
> tutto il lavoro di fondo che c'è dietro. È un buon modo per l'università di insegnare alle persone
> cos'è la filantropia da studenti, prima che diventino ex studenti.»
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

La terza ragione è che il crowdfunding alleggerisce la pressione sul resto del vostro fundraising.
Ogni dipartimento, associazione e gruppo di ricerca capace di condurre un appello credibile in
autonomia è una richiesta in meno che arriva sulla scrivania dei vostri responsabili dei grandi doni.
Come dice DeeDee Paul, quando i dipartimenti usano la piattaforma con i propri contatti, «tutto
quello che facciamo è monitorarlo e darvi il vostro denaro alla fine», il che libera il team dei
grandi doni per «concentrarsi su qualcos'altro». L'entrata è un beneficio reale, e su larga scala
concreto: il programma Click di Essex ha raccolto più di 256.000 £ da oltre 4.590 donatori su più di
320 progetti dal 2015. Ma l'entrata tende a seguire dall'impegno, non il contrario.

## Una singola campagna o un programma continuativo

Ci sono due modi di condurre un crowdfunding, e conviene decidere presto quale state costruendo. Una
**singola campagna** è una spinta circoscritta nel tempo: reclutate una coorte di progetti, li
lanciate attorno a un momento condiviso e chiudete. È ciò che il crowdfunding ha di più simile a una
settimana sfida, e un modo sensato per dimostrare il modello prima di impegnarsi oltre. Un
**programma continuativo** mantiene la piattaforma aperta tutto l'anno, con progetti che partono e
finiscono in modo progressivo man mano che i titolari si fanno avanti. È così che Essex gestisce
Click e York il suo programma YuStart, entrambi attivi in modo continuo da anni anziché a ondate.

Il compromesso è tra slancio e comodità. Una singola campagna concentra l'attenzione, il che rende la
comunicazione più facile e la competizione più vivace, ma chiede a ogni progetto di essere pronto
nello stesso momento. Un programma continuativo incontra i titolari quando sono pronti e distribuisce
il vostro sforzo di supporto lungo l'anno, ma perde l'urgenza condivisa di una scadenza, così dovete
fabbricare lo slancio progetto per progetto. Molte istituzioni fanno entrambe le cose: un programma
permanente come spina dorsale, con campagne concentrate occasionali o una settimana sfida sovrapposte
per creare dei picchi. Se partite da zero, cominciate con una campagna ben supportata o una piccola
coorte, imparate da essa e crescete.

## Scegliere e verificare i progetti e i titolari dei progetti

La qualità del vostro crowdfunding poggia sulla qualità dei progetti che lasciate entrare sulla
piattaforma, quindi vi servono criteri chiari e qualcuno che li applichi. A Essex, i potenziali
titolari presentano una richiesta, e un membro dedicato del team esamina ciascuna a fronte delle
regole del programma prima che vada online. Due criteri svolgono la maggior parte del lavoro. Primo,
il progetto deve corrispondere alla vostra missione: Essex esige che ogni progetto Click sia legato
alla finalità accademica del titolare, che si tratti di un viaggio collegato a un corso, di un lavoro
di ricerca o di un soggiorno di studio all'estero. Secondo, il progetto deve valere lo sforzo. Essex
fissa una soglia di almeno 100 £ per partire, secondo la logica semplice che, come dice DeeDee Paul,
un obiettivo minuscolo è «una perdita di tempo» sia per il titolare sia per il team che lo sostiene:
«Vogliamo assicurarci che, se investite il vostro tempo, sia investito bene.»

Verificare il titolare conta quanto verificare il progetto, perché il singolo predittore di successo
più importante è se la persona che c'è dietro farà il lavoro. Essex ha condotto più di 445 progetti
con un tasso di successo del 98 per cento, e il team è franco sul perché si sia verificato il suo
unico fallimento:

> «Abbiamo appena avuto il nostro primo progetto fallito. L'unico motivo per cui fallisce è che la
> persona non ci ha nemmeno provato a fare raccolta fondi.»
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Non si può rendere qualcuno un fundraiser. Quello che potete fare è fissare le aspettative con
chiarezza al momento dell'approvazione ed escludere i progetti in cui il titolare spera che il denaro
arrivi da solo. Una breve conversazione prima dell'approvazione, che accompagni il titolare in ciò a
cui si sta impegnando, vale molto più di un lungo modulo di candidatura. Il nostro
[modello di piano di progetto di crowdfunding](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) offre
ai titolari uno spazio strutturato per esporre obiettivo, pubblico e piano, e vi dà una base chiara
su cui approvare.

## Costruire una pagina di progetto convincente e raccontare la storia

Una pagina di progetto ha un solo compito: trasformare un visitatore a cui sta a cuore la persona in
un donatore che dona alla causa. La meccanica conta, e una buona piattaforma se ne occupa: un
obiettivo chiaro e una barra di avanzamento, una gamma di importi di donazione suggeriti anziché una
singola cifra fissa, e una scelta tra opzioni una tantum, con carta e ricorrente, così che le persone
possano donare nel modo che fa per loro. Essex ha deliberatamente offerto diverse vie di donazione e
una gamma di importi per non scoraggiare nessuno, fissando livelli suggeriti ma lasciando sempre il
donatore libero di donare ciò che può. Nelle parole di DeeDee Paul, «ogni donazione fa la
differenza».

La parte più difficile è la storia, ed è dove i titolari hanno più bisogno di aiuto. La tentazione,
come avverte DeeDee Paul, è di ripiegare sulla richiesta istituzionale: «Non volete dire: ah, donate
solo per le borse di studio o perché abbiamo bisogno di denaro. Volete raccontare le storie.» Una
pagina forte apre con una persona e un bisogno specifico, mostra in termini concreti cosa comprerà il
denaro e fa sentire al lettore che il suo dono completa qualcosa anziché ingrossare un fondo
generale. Incoraggiate i titolari a scrivere come sé stessi, con la propria voce, con le proprie
foto, e a dire chiaramente cosa accade se l'obiettivo viene raggiunto.

Le donazioni che ne derivano spesso vi riportano le proprie storie. La piattaforma di Essex permette
ai donatori di lasciare un messaggio con il loro dono, e quei messaggi sono diventati una risorsa di
raccolta fondi a sé stante, usati nelle campagne e ai ricevimenti per le borse di studio. Una
donatrice che ha versato 30.000 £ in memoria del marito defunto, un laureato di Essex con cui
l'ufficio non era mai stato in contatto prima, ha lasciato un messaggio in cui spiegava di voler
«lasciare un'eredità» perché l'università aveva avuto un impatto così forte sulla sua vita. Date ai
titolari un vantaggio sulle parole con il nostro
[modello di testo per la pagina](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), e indirizzateli verso
il gratuito [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) per affinare il risultato.

## Fissare gli obiettivi e usare le ricompense

Un buon obiettivo è realistico, motivante e ancorato a qualcosa di tangibile. Aiutate i titolari a
quantificare il loro progetto dal basso, attorno all'attrezzatura, al viaggio o all'attività che
finanzia, anziché scegliere una cifra tonda e sperare. Un obiettivo legato a un risultato concreto è
molto più facile da sostenere presso i donatori, perché ognuno vede esattamente cosa completa il
proprio dono, e un obiettivo che il titolare può plausibilmente raggiungere con la propria rete è uno
che inseguirà davvero.

Come si comporta l'obiettivo quando viene raggiunto è di per sé una decisione di progettazione.
Alcuni programmi funzionano sul principio del tutto o niente, in cui il titolare tiene il denaro solo
se l'obiettivo è raggiunto, il che affina la spinta finale ma alza la posta. Altri, come Essex,
sbloccano i fondi non appena viene raggiunto il minimo e lasciano ai titolari tutto ciò che lo supera:
«Una volta raggiunto l'obiettivo minimo, a volte le persone lo superano. In entrambi i casi, ricevete
comunque il fondo di contropartita purché raggiungiate l'obiettivo minimo.» Qualunque cosa
scegliate, siate espliciti al riguardo su ogni pagina, così che donatori e titolari conoscano le
regole.

Le ricompense sono uno strato facoltativo che può sollevare la conversione quando si adattano alla
causa. Nel modello classico del crowdfunding, i donatori di livelli diversi ricevono un piccolo segno
di ringraziamento: una menzione, un invito, una parte della cosa che hanno finanziato. In un contesto
guidato dalla causa, la «ricompensa» più potente è spesso semplicemente l'impatto e il riconoscimento,
un aggiornamento sentito e un grazie, anziché gadget che erodono il denaro raccolto. Tenete le
ricompense economiche da onorare, autenticamente legate al progetto, e non lasciate mai che diventino
il motivo per cui le persone donano.

## Il fondo di contropartita per creare urgenza

Il fondo di contropartita è la leva più efficace di cui disponete, perché cambia il calcolo della
richiesta per ogni donatore: dona ora e il tuo euro conta doppio. York riporta che i suoi progetti
con contropartita raccolgono circa tre volte tanto rispetto a quelli senza, motivo sufficiente per
inserire un fondo di contropartita nel vostro programma fin dall'inizio. La contropartita può
provenire da fondi centrali già destinati a sostenere il tipo di progetti che finanziate con il
crowdfunding, oppure da grandi donatori e partner aziendali sollecitati appositamente per creare un
fondo sfida.

Come strutturate la contropartita plasma i comportamenti. Essex offre un impegno semplice a
raddoppiare ciò che ogni progetto raccoglie fino a 500 £, il che dà ai titolari un messaggio chiaro e
motivante: raggiungete il minimo e l'istituzione integra. Quel tetto mantiene anche il fondo equo tra
molti progetti anziché lasciare che una singola grande campagna lo assorba. Siate però consapevoli
del comportamento che la contropartita può incoraggiare ai margini. Essex nota che alcuni titolari si
appoggiano a una fonte garantita vicina a casa, sapendo che «se raccolgo l'importo minimo, allora
otterrò il fondo di contropartita», mentre i titolari che lavorano davvero le proprie reti tendono a
essere a metà strada dall'obiettivo ben prima della scadenza. Una contropartita progettata per
premiare l'ampiezza del sostegno, anziché il semplice raggiungimento di una cifra, mantiene
l'incentivo puntato nella direzione giusta. Pianificate la meccanica con il nostro
[modello di piano di comunicazione](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), che include uno
spazio per associare ogni innesco di contropartita al messaggio che lo annuncia.

## Comunicazione: guidata dai titolari, supportata dal centro

La comunicazione del crowdfunding corre su due binari che devono restare allineati. Il binario
principale è la sensibilizzazione del titolare verso le proprie persone, ed è da lì che viene la
maggior parte del denaro. Il binario secondario è la vostra amplificazione centrale: post
istituzionali sui social, newsletter ed e-mail che prestano credibilità, portano traffico ai progetti
attivi e celebrano i traguardi. I titolari portano l'appello; voi portate il megafono.

Sul versante dei titolari, il compito è equipaggiare e poi sollecitare. La maggior parte dei titolari
di progetto non è fatta di fundraiser, quindi date loro un semplice piano di promozione da seguire:
un messaggio di lancio alla loro rete stretta, aggiornamenti regolari e autentici lungo tutto il
progetto, e una spinta finale all'avvicinarsi della scadenza. Incoraggiate contenuti personali e
specifici, foto, brevi video e post di avanzamento, anziché un marketing levigato. Soprattutto,
inserite un follow-up attivo, perché la differenza tra un progetto finanziato e uno fallito spesso è
solo la perseveranza. Essex non lascia i titolari ad affondare o nuotare. Il team si fa vivo circa una
settimana dopo che un progetto è andato online per chiedere, nelle parole di DeeDee Paul, «state
davvero provando attivamente a far entrare il denaro?», e se un titolare si è bloccato, «si siedono
con voi e individuano una strada alternativa». Lei descrive il tocco come di supporto anziché di
controllo: «Non voglio dire che vi sto microgestendo, ma almeno vi tengo motivati a portare avanti il
vostro progetto fino in fondo.»

Sul versante centrale, la versione più leggera è consapevolezza e instradamento: assicurarsi che
tutti sappiano che la piattaforma esiste e dove trovarla. Essex pubblicizza Click con striscioni in
tutto il campus, banchetti nella settimana di benvenuto e sessioni di inizio trimestre per i
dipartimenti che la usano di più, ma il suo canale più potente è il passaparola, perché un programma
attivo da anni diventa il primo punto di riferimento ovvio: «Se avete bisogno di denaro, potete
semplicemente dare un'occhiata alla piattaforma Click.» Per una campagna concentrata anziché un
programma continuativo, alzate lo sforzo centrale a circa un'e-mail coordinata al giorno, e scrivete
tutto prima dell'inizio così che la diffusione sia serena anziché frenetica. Le
[guide pratiche](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) di Hubbub approfondiscono e-mail e
social.

## Lancio e mantenimento dello slancio

Le prime 48 ore di un progetto ne fissano la traiettoria, quindi guidate i titolari ad allineare i
loro sostenitori più caldi affinché donino presto. Una pagina che mostra già slancio, con diversi
doni e un avanzamento visibile, rassicura i donatori successivi sul fatto che il progetto è reale e
merita sostegno, mentre una pagina vuota invita all'esitazione. Incoraggiate i titolari a comunicare
in anticipo la data di lancio alla loro cerchia ristretta e a chiedere loro di donare il primo
giorno, così che la pagina apra con movimento anziché con silenzio.

A metà di un progetto, lo slancio è un lavoro, non un caso. I titolari dovrebbero pubblicare i
progressi, ringraziare pubblicamente i donatori, segnare il traguardo di metà e creare nuove ragioni
per donare: un traguardo di contropartita sbloccato, una scadenza che si avvicina, un obiettivo
aggiuntivo in vista. Per una campagna concentrata, tenete una classifica o una vista di avanzamento
visibile e usatela per accendere una sana competizione tra progetti. Per un programma continuativo,
il ruolo del vostro team centrale è tenere vivo lo slancio progetto per progetto, mettendo in risalto
gli appelli attivi, celebrando pubblicamente i successi e sollecitando i titolari che si zittiscono.
Il filo conduttore in tutto ciò che descrive Essex è lo stesso: i progetti che riescono sono quelli i
cui titolari continuano a lavorarci, e il vostro supporto esiste per tenere in moto quel lavoro.

## Fidelizzazione e conversione dei donatori del crowdfunding

Ciò che accade dopo che un progetto è finanziato determina se avete condotto una transazione o avviato
una relazione. Sia il titolare sia l'ufficio centrale dovrebbero ringraziare prontamente ogni
donatore, e i titolari dovrebbero rendicontare cosa ha realizzato il denaro: il viaggio compiuto, lo
spettacolo allestito, l'attrezzatura acquistata. A Essex, i progetti con la relazione continuativa
più solida, come la scuola di teatro, sono quelli che chiudono il cerchio, invitando il team agli
spettacoli e rendicontando l'impatto. Quell'abitudine al riscontro è ciò che trasforma un donatore
occasionale in un sostenitore familiare.

Il premio più grande è la conversione. Il crowdfunding porta gran numero di persone che vi sono
nuove, e una buona piattaforma cattura, con il consenso, chi sono e cosa stava loro a cuore, così che
possiate costruire sul dono. Essex usa i dati di donazione e i messaggi lasciati dai donatori per
riconquistare sostenitori che altrimenti non avrebbe mai conosciuto: quando arriva un dono da
qualcuno fuori dall'archivio abituale, il team può contattarlo, ringraziarlo e chiedergli cosa lo ha
motivato. Col tempo, anche i titolari dei progetti si convertono. Ora che ne traccia i dati, Essex ha
scoperto che una quota di ex utenti di Click è diventata essa stessa donatrice ex studente, nomi che
hanno continuato silenziosamente a donare da quando si sono laureati. Quell'arco lungo, dallo studente
fundraiser al sostenitore a vita, è il vero ritorno di un programma di crowdfunding, e si materializza
solo se fidelizzate deliberatamente anziché lasciare che i progetti finiscano alla loro scadenza.
Siate onesti sulle risorse che questo richiede: Essex è franca nel dire che senza un ruolo dedicato
alla fidelizzazione, il follow-up su ogni progetto è difficile da sostenere, il che è un argomento per
dotare il programma di personale adeguato man mano che cresce.

## Misurare il successo

Stabilite le vostre misure prima del lancio e mettete in primo piano l'engagement anziché la sola
entrata. Le metriche più utili sono il numero di progetti attivi, il tasso di successo dei progetti
(la quota che ha centrato l'obiettivo), il numero di donatori e quanti vi sono nuovi, il totale
raccolto e la media per progetto e, nel più lungo termine, quanti donatori e titolari del
crowdfunding tornano a donare. I numeri di riferimento dei programmi consolidati vi danno un traguardo
a cui puntare: Essex riporta un tasso di successo del 98 per cento su più di 445 progetti, e York un
tasso del 94 per cento su più di 240 progetti. Un alto tasso di successo è di per sé una misura di
quanto bene state verificando e supportando, non solo di quanto siano facili gli obiettivi.
Monitorate l'acquisizione di nuovi donatori e la conversione a valle con la stessa serietà con cui
monitorate gli euro, perché è lì che il crowdfunding ripaga molto dopo che un dato progetto si è
chiuso.

## Caso di studio: la University of Essex

La University of Essex conduce il suo programma di crowdfunding, con il marchio «Click» sul motto
«help is only a Click away», dal 2015. È ora un'operazione matura e permanente: più di 320 progetti
supportati, oltre 256.000 £ raccolti e più di 4.590 donatori nel corso della sua vita, oltre a un
Heist Award 2017 per la migliore iniziativa di ex studenti, sviluppo o raccolta fondi lungo il
percorso. Nel solo primo anno il programma ha portato 38 progetti, 48.000 £ e 791 donatori con un
tasso di successo del 97 per cento. Il modello è in autonomia ma strettamente supportato: studenti e
personale presentano una richiesta, un membro dedicato del team la esamina a fronte dei criteri
accademici, e i progetti approvati vanno online con un obiettivo, una contropartita fino a 500 £ e un
follow-up attivo. Su più di 445 progetti il programma ha mantenuto un tasso di successo del 98 per
cento, con il suo unico fallimento dovuto a un titolare che semplicemente non ha fatto il lavoro.

Ciò che Essex sottolinea di più, col senno di poi, non è la meccanica ma l'adeguatezza. Interrogata
sul suo miglior consiglio ai team che stanno valutando il crowdfunding, DeeDee Paul torna sempre allo
stesso punto:

> «Dovete conoscere il vostro pubblico. Il vostro pubblico è ciò che lo renderà di successo. Potreste
> avere la piattaforma più straordinaria, ma se alle persone questo genere di cosa non interessa
> davvero, non funzionerà. Quindi, una volta che conoscete il segmento che state puntando, è facile
> andarci dentro.»
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

Quell'adeguatezza, insieme al supporto dedicato ai titolari dei progetti e all'uso disciplinato dei
dati che il dono genera, è ciò che ha trasformato Click da un'idea nuova in un pilastro di come Essex
raccoglie denaro. Il programma YuStart di York punta nella stessa direzione, contribuendo a
trasformare York, nelle sue stesse parole, in «un'università che fa raccolta fondi, anziché
un'università che raccoglie fondi».

## Domande frequenti

**In che cosa il crowdfunding è diverso da una giornata del dono o da una settimana sfida?** Tutti e
tre sono appelli guidati da progetti o priorità, ma il quadro temporale e la titolarità differiscono.
Una [giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) è una spinta di circa 36 ore,
guidata dal centro, per priorità istituzionali. Una
[settimana sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) è guidata dall'ufficio sviluppo, ma il
denaro va a club e associazioni, condotta lungo circa una settimana. Il crowdfunding è permanente ed è
guidato dagli stessi titolari dei progetti, con il vostro team che fornisce la piattaforma e il
supporto.

**Dovremmo condurre una singola campagna o un programma continuativo?** Funzionano entrambi. Una
singola campagna circoscritta nel tempo concentra l'attenzione ed è un modo a basso rischio per
dimostrare il modello. Un programma continuativo, come quelli che conducono Essex e York, mantiene la
piattaforma aperta tutto l'anno e incontra i titolari quando sono pronti. Molte istituzioni conducono
un programma permanente con occasionali picchi concentrati sovrapposti. Se state iniziando,
cominciate in piccolo e crescete.

**Come evitiamo che i progetti falliscano?** Verificate il titolare, non solo il progetto, e
sostenetelo lungo il percorso. Il maggior predittore di fallimento è un titolare che non farà il
lavoro, quindi fissate le aspettative con chiarezza prima dell'approvazione ed escludete i progetti
che contano sul denaro che arriva da solo. Poi fate follow-up attivo: fatevi vivi presto e aiutate
ogni titolare bloccato a trovare una strada in avanti. Il tasso di successo del 98 per cento di Essex
poggia esattamente su questo tipo di supporto pratico.

**Da dove viene il fondo di contropartita, e quanto dovrebbe essere?** Spesso da fondi centrali già
destinati a sostenere il tipo di progetti che finanziate con il crowdfunding, o da doni di grandi
donatori e aziende sollecitati per creare un fondo sfida. Una contropartita chiara e con tetto
funziona bene: Essex raddoppia ogni progetto fino a 500 £, il che mantiene il fondo equo tra molti
progetti. La contropartita vale la pena di essere prioritaria, perché i progetti con contropartita
possono raccogliere parecchie volte di più rispetto a quelli senza.

**Quanto dovrebbe durare un progetto?** Abbastanza a lungo da costruire slancio ma abbastanza breve
da mantenere l'urgenza: qualche settimana è tipico. Una scadenza troppo lontana invita alla
procrastinazione, mentre una finestra troppo stretta non lascia spazio per recuperare una partenza
lenta. Rendete la scadenza visibile sulla pagina e usatela per guidare la spinta finale.

**I doni di crowdfunding sono fiscalmente vantaggiosi?** Dipende dal paese. Molti paesi europei
offrono una detrazione o una riduzione fiscale sui doni benefici, e i doni transfrontalieri
all'interno dell'Europa possono spesso essere effettuati in modo fiscalmente vantaggioso tramite
Transnational Giving Europe. Verificate le regole dove risiedono i vostri donatori, e assicuratevi
che i titolari possano indirizzare i donatori allo schema pertinente nella loro richiesta.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di piano di progetto di crowdfunding](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Modello di testo per la pagina di crowdfunding](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Modello di piano di comunicazione di crowdfunding](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore della giornata del dono di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina i testi del tuo appello e delle tue e-mail
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [La guida di Hubbub al crowdfunding guidato dalla causa](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Casi di studio: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) e [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Guide correlate: [Come condurre una giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) e [Come condurre una settimana sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory dei link](/europe/it/links/) completa per saperne di più.

- [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (uk/en): A practical guide to running a crowdfunding campaign or programme, where project owners raise funds for their own causes with central support. Covers choosing projects, building pages, targets and rewards, match funding, communications, launch momentum and stewardship.
Crowdfunding raises money by putting the people closest to a cause in charge of raising it. Each
owner runs their own project page, and your central team provides the platform, the guidance and
the support that make them effective. A student society raising for a tour, a research group
funding a piece of equipment, a department backing a hardship fund: each owns its appeal, sets its
target, and goes out to its own network. Your office sets the framework, vets the projects,
supplies the tools and templates, and runs light coordinating communications. The crowd does the
rest.

That ownership is what sets crowdfunding apart from your fixed-moment campaigns. A
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for a
handful of institutional priorities, where your team writes the appeal and owns the ask. A
[Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) sits in between: development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the money goes to clubs and societies who do their own promotion across
about a week. Crowdfunding takes that project-owner model and removes the calendar box around it.
Projects launch when their owners are ready, run for as long as suits the cause, and live alongside
one another all year. Put simply, crowdfunding is year-round, a Giving Day happens in about 36
hours, and a Challenge Week is a week.

This guide draws on best practice developed by Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
build crowdfunding programmes, and on the experience of universities who have run them at scale.
Two feature throughout: the University of Essex, whose long-running "Click" programme supplies most
of the worked examples, and the University of York. It is honest about one thing from the outset.
Crowdfunding is as much about building a culture of giving as it is about the money it raises. Done
well, it brings brand-new supporters into your programme, teaches a generation of project owners
how philanthropy actually works, and gives you a steady stream of fundable, donor-friendly causes.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> [page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) and
> [communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Why run a crowdfunding campaign

The first reason is reach. Project owners go to people you would never find on your alumni file:
course mates, teammates, parents, friends, colleagues and local supporters who give because they
have a personal connection to the person making the ask. A conventional appeal rarely surfaces
these donors, and once they have given they can be stewarded towards your wider programme. York's
crowdfunding has done exactly this, widening its supporter base so that, in the figures it reports,
around 91 per cent of its crowdfunding alumni donors were new to the institution.

The second reason is that crowdfunding builds fundraisers. A student who has to write their own
case for support, map their own audience and chase their own donations learns what fundraising
really involves. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer at the University of Essex, describes the
effect of the Click programme on students:

> "It teaches the students about philanthropy. It teaches staff about philanthropy, because
> oftentimes people think, oh, you just get money just to get money. They don't see the actual
> background work that goes into it. It's a good way for the university to teach people about
> philanthropy as a student, before they become an alumni."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

The third reason is that crowdfunding takes pressure off the rest of your fundraising. Every
department, society and research team that can run a credible self-serve appeal is one fewer ask
landing on your major-gift officers' desks. As DeeDee Paul puts it, when departments use the
platform with their own contacts, "all we do is monitor it and give you your money at the end of
it," which frees the major-gift team "to focus on something else." Income is a genuine benefit, and
at scale a real one: Essex's Click programme has raised more than £256,000 from over 4,590 donors
across 320-plus projects since 2015. But the income tends to follow from the engagement, not the
other way round.

## One campaign or an ongoing programme

There are two ways to run crowdfunding, and it pays to decide early which you are building. A
**single campaign** is a time-boxed push: you recruit a cohort of projects, launch them around a
shared moment, and wrap up. This is the closest crowdfunding gets to a Challenge Week, and a
sensible way to prove the model before committing to more. An **ongoing programme** keeps the
platform open all year, with projects launching and finishing on a rolling basis as owners come
forward. This is how Essex runs Click and how York runs its YuStart programme, both operating
continuously for years rather than in bursts.

The trade-off is momentum versus convenience. A single campaign concentrates attention, which makes
communications easier and competition livelier, but it asks every project to be ready at the same
time. An ongoing programme meets owners when they are ready and spreads your support effort across
the year, but it loses the shared urgency of a deadline, so you have to manufacture momentum project
by project. Many institutions do both: a year-round programme as the backbone, with occasional
concentrated campaigns or a Challenge Week layered on top to create peaks. If you are starting from
nothing, begin with one well-supported campaign or a small cohort, learn from it, and grow.

## Choosing and vetting projects and project owners

The quality of your crowdfunding rests on the quality of the projects you let onto the platform, so
you need clear criteria and someone who applies them. At Essex, prospective owners submit an
inquiry, and a dedicated team member reviews each one against the programme's rules before it goes
live. Two criteria do most of the work. First, the project has to fit your mission: Essex requires
every Click project to be tied to the owner's academic purpose, whether a course-linked trip, a
piece of research or a study-abroad placement. Second, the project has to be worth the effort.
Essex sets a floor of at least £100 to launch, on the simple logic that, as DeeDee Paul puts it, a
tiny target is "a waste of time" for both the owner and the team supporting them: "We want to make
sure that if you're going to invest your time, it's invested well."

Vetting the owner matters as much as vetting the project, because the single biggest predictor of
success is whether the person behind it will do the work. Essex has run more than 445 projects at a
98 per cent success rate, and the team is candid about why their one failure happened:

> "We just had our first failed project. The only reason why it fails is because the person didn't
> even put any effort into trying to fundraise for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

You cannot make someone a fundraiser. What you can do is set expectations clearly at the point of
sign-off and screen out projects where the owner is hoping the money will arrive by itself. A short
conversation before approval, walking the owner through what they are committing to, is worth far
more than a long application form. Our
[crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) gives owners a
structured place to set out their goal, audience and plan, and gives you a clear basis on which to
approve.

## Building a compelling project page and telling the story

A project page has one job: to turn a visitor who cares about the person into a donor who gives to
the cause. The mechanics matter, and a good platform handles them: a clear target and progress bar,
a range of suggested gift amounts rather than a single fixed figure, Gift Aid capture, and a choice
of one-off, card and recurring options so people can give in the way that suits them. Essex
deliberately offered several giving routes and a spread of amounts so as not to deter anyone,
setting suggested levels but always leaving the donor free to give what they can. In DeeDee Paul's
words, "every donation makes a difference."

The harder part is the story, and it is where owners need the most help. The temptation, as DeeDee
Paul warns, is to fall back on the institutional ask: "You don't want to be like, oh, just donate
because of scholarships or because we need money. You want to tell the stories." A strong page opens
with a person and a specific need, shows what the money will buy in concrete terms, and makes the
reader feel that their gift completes something rather than topping up a general fund. Encourage
owners to write as themselves, in their own voice, with their own photographs, and to say plainly
what happens if the target is met.

The donations that result often carry their own stories back to you. Essex's platform lets donors
leave a message with their gift, and those messages have become a fundraising asset in their own
right, used in campaigns and at scholarship receptions. One donor who gave £30,000 in memory of her
late husband, an Essex graduate the office had never previously been in contact with, left a message
explaining that she wanted "to leave a legacy" because the university had made such an impact on his
life. Give owners a head start on their words with our
[page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), and point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to sharpen the result.

## Setting targets and using rewards

A good target is realistic, motivating and anchored in something tangible. Help owners price their
project from the bottom up, around the equipment, the travel or the activity it pays for, rather
than picking a round number and hoping. A target tied to a concrete outcome is far easier to
fundraise against, because every donor can see exactly what their gift completes, and a target the
owner can plausibly hit with their own network is one they will actually pursue.

How the target behaves when it is reached is a design decision in itself. Some programmes run on an
all-or-nothing basis, where the owner keeps the money only if the target is met, which sharpens the
final push but raises the stakes. Others, like Essex, release the funds once the minimum is reached
and let owners keep anything above it: "Once you reach your minimum goal, sometimes people go over
the goal. Either way, you still get the match funding as long as you reach the minimum goal."
Whichever you choose, be explicit about it on every page so donors and owners know the rules.

Rewards are an optional layer that can lift conversion when they fit the cause. In the classic
crowdfunding model, donors at different levels receive a small token of thanks: a mention, an
invitation, a piece of the thing they funded. In a cause-led setting the most powerful "reward" is
often simply impact and acknowledgement, a heartfelt update and a thank-you, rather than merchandise
that eats into the money raised. Keep rewards cheap to fulfil, genuinely tied to the project, and
never let them become the reason people give.

## Match funding to drive urgency

Match funding is the single most effective lever you have, because it changes the maths of the ask
for every donor: give now and your pound counts double. York reports that its matched projects raise
around three times as much as unmatched ones, which is reason enough to build a match pot into your
programme from the start. The match can come from central funds already earmarked to support the
kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major donors and corporate partners solicited
specifically to create a challenge fund.

How you structure the match shapes behaviour. Essex offers a straightforward pledge to match what
each project raises up to £500, which gives owners a clear, motivating headline: hit the minimum and
the institution tops you up. That cap also keeps the pot fair across many projects rather than
letting a single large campaign absorb it. Be aware, though, of the behaviour match can encourage at
the margins. Essex notes that some owners lean on a guaranteed source close to home, knowing that
"if I raise the minimum amount, then I'll get the match funding," whereas the owners who genuinely
work their networks tend to be halfway to target well before the deadline. A match designed to
reward breadth of support, rather than simply reaching a number, keeps the incentive pointing the
right way. Plan the mechanics with our
[communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), which includes a place
to map each match trigger to the message that announces it.

## Communications: owner-led, centrally supported

Crowdfunding communications run on two tracks that have to stay in step. The primary track is the
owner's own outreach to their own people, and it is where most of the money comes from. The
secondary track is your central amplification: institutional social posts, newsletters and emails
that lend credibility, drive traffic to live projects and celebrate milestones. The owners carry the
appeal; you carry the megaphone.

On the owner side, the job is to equip and then to nudge. Most project owners are not fundraisers, so
give them a simple promotion plan to follow: a launch message to their close network, regular
authentic updates through the project, and a final push as the deadline nears. Encourage personal,
specific content, photos, short videos and progress posts, rather than polished marketing. Above
all, build in active follow-up, because the difference between a funded project and a failed one is
often just persistence. Essex does not leave owners to sink or swim. The team checks in roughly a
week after a project goes live to ask, in DeeDee Paul's words, "are you actually actively trying to
get the money in?", and if an owner has stalled, they "sit down with you and figure out an
alternative way." She describes the touch as supportive rather than controlling: "I don't want to
say micromanaging you, but at least keeping you motivated to do your project until the end."

On the central side, the lightest-touch version is awareness and routing: making sure everyone knows
the platform exists and where to find it. Essex publicises Click with banners across campus,
welcome-week stalls and start-of-term sessions for the departments that use it most, but its most
powerful channel is word of mouth, because a programme that has run for years becomes the obvious
first port of call: "If you need money, you can just check out the Click platform." For a
concentrated campaign rather than a rolling programme, lift the central effort to roughly one
coordinated email a day, and write everything before it begins so delivery is calm rather than
frantic. Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) go deeper on email
and social.

## Launch and maintaining momentum

A project's first 48 hours set its trajectory, so coach owners to line up their warmest supporters
to give early. A page that already shows momentum, with several gifts and visible progress,
reassures later donors that the project is real and worth backing, whereas an empty page invites
hesitation. Encourage owners to tell their inner circle the launch date in advance and ask them to
give on day one, so the page opens with movement rather than silence.

Through the middle of a project, momentum is a job, not an accident. Owners should post progress,
thank donors publicly, mark the halfway point, and create fresh reasons to give: a match milestone
unlocked, a deadline approaching, a stretch goal in sight. For a concentrated campaign, keep a
visible leaderboard or progress view and use it to spark friendly competition between projects. For
a rolling programme, your central team's role is to keep momentum alive project by project,
spotlighting live appeals, celebrating successes publicly and prompting owners who go quiet. The
through-line in everything Essex describes is the same: the projects that succeed are the ones whose
owners keep working them, and your support exists to keep that work going.

## Stewardship and converting crowdfunding donors

What happens after a project funds determines whether you have run a transaction or started a
relationship. Both the owner and the central office should thank every donor promptly, and owners
should report back on what the money achieved: the trip taken, the show staged, the equipment
bought. At Essex, the projects with the strongest ongoing relationship, such as the theatre school,
are the ones that close the loop, inviting the team to performances and reporting back on impact.
That habit of feedback is what turns a one-off donor into a familiar supporter.

The bigger prize is conversion. Crowdfunding brings in large numbers of people who are new to you,
and a good platform captures, with consent, who they are and what they cared about, so you can build
on the gift. Essex uses the donation data and the messages donors leave to re-engage supporters it
would otherwise never have known: when a gift arrives from someone outside the regular file, the
team can reach out, thank them and ask what motivated them. Over time, even the project owners
convert. Now that it tracks the data, Essex has found that a share of former Click users have
themselves become alumni donors, names that have quietly kept giving since they graduated. That long
arc, from student fundraiser to lifelong supporter, is the real return on a crowdfunding programme,
and it only materialises if you steward deliberately rather than letting projects end at their
deadline. Be honest about the resource this takes: Essex is frank that without a dedicated
stewardship role, follow-up across every project is hard to sustain, which is an argument for
staffing the programme properly as it grows.

## Measuring success

Set your measures before you launch, and lead with engagement rather than income alone. The most
useful metrics are the number of live projects, the project success rate (the share that hit
target), the number of donors and how many are new to you, the total raised and the average per
project, and, over the longer term, how many crowdfunding donors and owners go on to give again.
Benchmark numbers from established programmes give you something to aim at: Essex reports a 98 per
cent success rate across 445-plus projects, and York a 94 per cent rate across 240-plus projects. A
high success rate is itself a measure of how well you are vetting and supporting, not just of how
easy the targets are. Track new-donor acquisition and downstream conversion as seriously as you
track pounds, because that is where crowdfunding pays off long after a given project closes.

## Case study: the University of Essex

The University of Essex has run its crowdfunding programme, branded "Click" on the strapline "help is
only a Click away," since 2015. It is now a mature, year-round operation: more than 320 projects
supported, over £256,000 raised and more than 4,590 donors over its lifetime, and a 2017 Heist Award
for Best Alumni, Development or Fundraising Initiative along the way. In its first year alone the
programme delivered 38 projects, £48,000 and 791 donors at a 97 per cent success rate. The model is
self-serve but closely supported: students and staff submit an inquiry, a dedicated team member
reviews it against the academic criteria, and approved projects go live with a target, a match of up
to £500 and active follow-up. Across more than 445 projects the programme has held a 98 per cent
success rate, with its single failure down to an owner who simply did not do the work.

What Essex stresses most, with hindsight, is not the mechanics but the fit. Asked for her top advice
to teams thinking about crowdfunding, DeeDee Paul keeps returning to the same point:

> "You have to know your audience. Your audience is what's going to make it successful. You could
> have the amazing platform, but if people don't really care about this kind of thing, it's not
> going to work. So once you know the demographic you're targeting, it's easy to go for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

That fit, plus dedicated support for project owners and disciplined use of the data that giving
generates, is what has turned Click from a new idea into a fixture of how Essex raises money. York's
YuStart programme points the same way, helping turn York, in its own phrase, into "a fundraising
university, rather than a university that fundraises."

## Frequently asked questions

**How is crowdfunding different from a Giving Day or a Challenge Week?** All three are
project-or-priority-led appeals, but the timeframe and ownership differ. A
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for
institutional priorities. A [Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) is
development-office-led but the money goes to clubs and societies, run over about a week. Crowdfunding
is year-round and led by the project owners themselves, with your team providing the platform and
support.

**Should we run a single campaign or an ongoing programme?** Either works. A single, time-boxed
campaign concentrates attention and is a low-risk way to prove the model. An ongoing programme, like
the ones Essex and York run, keeps the platform open all year and meets owners when they are ready.
Many institutions run a year-round programme with occasional concentrated peaks layered on top. If
you are starting out, start small and grow.

**How do we stop projects from failing?** Vet the owner, not just the project, and support them
through it. The biggest predictor of failure is an owner who will not do the work, so set
expectations clearly before approval and screen out projects relying on the money arriving by
itself. Then follow up actively: check in early, and help any owner who has stalled find a way
forward. Essex's 98 per cent success rate rests on exactly this kind of hands-on support.

**Where does the match funding come from, and how much should it be?** Often from central funds
already earmarked to support the kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major-donor and
corporate gifts solicited to create a challenge fund. A clear, capped match works well: Essex matches
each project up to £500, which keeps the pot fair across many projects. Match is worth prioritising,
because matched projects can raise several times more than unmatched ones.

**How long should a project run?** Long enough to build momentum but short enough to keep urgency: a
few weeks is typical. A deadline that is too far off invites procrastination, while too tight a
window leaves no room to recover a slow start. Make the deadline visible on the page and use it to
drive the final push.

**Is Gift Aid available on crowdfunding gifts?** Yes, on eligible donations from UK taxpayers, and a
good platform captures the declaration at the point of giving so you reclaim it automatically. Make
sure owners know Gift Aid adds 25 per cent to qualifying gifts at no cost to the donor, and that they
mention it in their ask.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Crowdfunding page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Crowdfunding communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's guide to cause-led crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Case studies: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) and [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (us/en): A practical guide to running a crowdfunding campaign or program, where project owners raise funds for their own causes with central support. Covers choosing projects, building pages, targets and rewards, match funding, communications, launch momentum and stewardship.
Crowdfunding raises money by putting the people closest to a cause in charge of raising it. Each
owner runs their own project page, and your central team provides the platform, the guidance and
the support that make them effective. A student society raising for a tour, a research group
funding a piece of equipment, a department backing a hardship fund: each owns its appeal, sets its
target, and goes out to its own network. Your office sets the framework, vets the projects,
supplies the tools and templates, and runs light coordinating communications. The crowd does the
rest.

That ownership is what sets crowdfunding apart from your fixed-moment campaigns. A
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for a
handful of institutional priorities, where your team writes the appeal and owns the ask. A
[Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) sits in between: development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the money goes to clubs and societies who do their own promotion across
about a week. Crowdfunding takes that project-owner model and removes the calendar box around it.
Projects launch when their owners are ready, run for as long as suits the cause, and live alongside
one another all year. Put simply, crowdfunding is year-round, a Giving Day happens in about 36
hours, and a Challenge Week is a week.

This guide draws on best practice developed by Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
build crowdfunding programs, and on the experience of universities who have run them at scale.
Two feature throughout: the University of Essex, whose long-running "Click" program supplies most
of the worked examples, and the University of York. It is honest about one thing from the outset.
Crowdfunding is as much about building a culture of giving as it is about the money it raises. Done
well, it brings brand-new supporters into your program, teaches a generation of project owners
how philanthropy actually works, and gives you a steady stream of fundable, donor-friendly causes.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> [page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) and
> [communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Why run a crowdfunding campaign

The first reason is reach. Project owners go to people you would never find on your alumni file:
course mates, teammates, parents, friends, colleagues and local supporters who give because they
have a personal connection to the person making the ask. A conventional appeal rarely surfaces
these donors, and once they have given they can be stewarded towards your wider program. York's
crowdfunding has done exactly this, widening its supporter base so that, in the figures it reports,
around 91 per cent of its crowdfunding alumni donors were new to the institution.

The second reason is that crowdfunding builds fundraisers. A student who has to write their own
case for support, map their own audience and chase their own donations learns what fundraising
really involves. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer at the University of Essex, describes the
effect of the Click program on students:

> "It teaches the students about philanthropy. It teaches staff about philanthropy, because
> oftentimes people think, oh, you just get money just to get money. They don't see the actual
> background work that goes into it. It's a good way for the university to teach people about
> philanthropy as a student, before they become an alumni."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

The third reason is that crowdfunding takes pressure off the rest of your fundraising. Every
department, society and research team that can run a credible self-serve appeal is one fewer ask
landing on your major-gift officers' desks. As DeeDee Paul puts it, when departments use the
platform with their own contacts, "all we do is monitor it and give you your money at the end of
it," which frees the major-gift team "to focus on something else." Income is a genuine benefit, and
at scale a real one: Essex's Click program has raised more than £256,000 from over 4,590 donors
across 320-plus projects since 2015. But the income tends to follow from the engagement, not the
other way round.

## One campaign or an ongoing program

There are two ways to run crowdfunding, and it pays to decide early which you are building. A
**single campaign** is a time-boxed push: you recruit a cohort of projects, launch them around a
shared moment, and wrap up. This is the closest crowdfunding gets to a Challenge Week, and a
sensible way to prove the model before committing to more. An **ongoing program** keeps the
platform open all year, with projects launching and finishing on a rolling basis as owners come
forward. This is how Essex runs Click and how York runs its YuStart program, both operating
continuously for years rather than in bursts.

The trade-off is momentum versus convenience. A single campaign concentrates attention, which makes
communications easier and competition livelier, but it asks every project to be ready at the same
time. An ongoing program meets owners when they are ready and spreads your support effort across
the year, but it loses the shared urgency of a deadline, so you have to manufacture momentum project
by project. Many institutions do both: a year-round program as the backbone, with occasional
concentrated campaigns or a Challenge Week layered on top to create peaks. If you are starting from
nothing, begin with one well-supported campaign or a small cohort, learn from it, and grow.

## Choosing and vetting projects and project owners

The quality of your crowdfunding rests on the quality of the projects you let onto the platform, so
you need clear criteria and someone who applies them. At Essex, prospective owners submit an
inquiry, and a dedicated team member reviews each one against the program's rules before it goes
live. Two criteria do most of the work. First, the project has to fit your mission: Essex requires
every Click project to be tied to the owner's academic purpose, whether a course-linked trip, a
piece of research or a study-abroad placement. Second, the project has to be worth the effort.
Essex sets a floor of at least £100 to launch, on the simple logic that, as DeeDee Paul puts it, a
tiny target is "a waste of time" for both the owner and the team supporting them: "We want to make
sure that if you're going to invest your time, it's invested well."

Vetting the owner matters as much as vetting the project, because the single biggest predictor of
success is whether the person behind it will do the work. Essex has run more than 445 projects at a
98 per cent success rate, and the team is candid about why their one failure happened:

> "We just had our first failed project. The only reason why it fails is because the person didn't
> even put any effort into trying to fundraise for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

You cannot make someone a fundraiser. What you can do is set expectations clearly at the point of
sign-off and screen out projects where the owner is hoping the money will arrive by itself. A short
conversation before approval, walking the owner through what they are committing to, is worth far
more than a long application form. Our
[crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) gives owners a
structured place to set out their goal, audience and plan, and gives you a clear basis on which to
approve.

## Building a compelling project page and telling the story

A project page has one job: to turn a visitor who cares about the person into a donor who gives to
the cause. The mechanics matter, and a good platform handles them: a clear target and progress bar,
a range of suggested gift amounts rather than a single fixed figure, and a choice
of one-off, card and recurring options so people can give in the way that suits them. Essex
deliberately offered several giving routes and a spread of amounts so as not to deter anyone,
setting suggested levels but always leaving the donor free to give what they can. In DeeDee Paul's
words, "every donation makes a difference."

The harder part is the story, and it is where owners need the most help. The temptation, as DeeDee
Paul warns, is to fall back on the institutional ask: "You don't want to be like, oh, just donate
because of scholarships or because we need money. You want to tell the stories." A strong page opens
with a person and a specific need, shows what the money will buy in concrete terms, and makes the
reader feel that their gift completes something rather than topping up a general fund. Encourage
owners to write as themselves, in their own voice, with their own photographs, and to say plainly
what happens if the target is met.

The donations that result often carry their own stories back to you. Essex's platform lets donors
leave a message with their gift, and those messages have become a fundraising asset in their own
right, used in campaigns and at scholarship receptions. One donor who gave £30,000 in memory of her
late husband, an Essex graduate the office had never previously been in contact with, left a message
explaining that she wanted "to leave a legacy" because the university had made such an impact on his
life. Give owners a head start on their words with our
[page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), and point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to sharpen the result.

## Setting targets and using rewards

A good target is realistic, motivating and anchored in something tangible. Help owners price their
project from the bottom up, around the equipment, the travel or the activity it pays for, rather
than picking a round number and hoping. A target tied to a concrete outcome is far easier to
fundraise against, because every donor can see exactly what their gift completes, and a target the
owner can plausibly hit with their own network is one they will actually pursue.

How the target behaves when it is reached is a design decision in itself. Some programs run on an
all-or-nothing basis, where the owner keeps the money only if the target is met, which sharpens the
final push but raises the stakes. Others, like Essex, release the funds once the minimum is reached
and let owners keep anything above it: "Once you reach your minimum goal, sometimes people go over
the goal. Either way, you still get the match funding as long as you reach the minimum goal."
Whichever you choose, be explicit about it on every page so donors and owners know the rules.

Rewards are an optional layer that can lift conversion when they fit the cause. In the classic
crowdfunding model, donors at different levels receive a small token of thanks: a mention, an
invitation, a piece of the thing they funded. In a cause-led setting the most powerful "reward" is
often simply impact and acknowledgement, a heartfelt update and a thank-you, rather than merchandise
that eats into the money raised. Keep rewards cheap to fulfil, genuinely tied to the project, and
never let them become the reason people give.

## Match funding to drive urgency

Match funding is the single most effective lever you have, because it changes the math of the ask
for every donor: give now and your dollar counts double. York reports that its matched projects raise
around three times as much as unmatched ones, which is reason enough to build a match pot into your
program from the start. The match can come from central funds already earmarked to support the
kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major donors and corporate partners solicited
specifically to create a challenge fund.

How you structure the match shapes behavior. Essex offers a straightforward pledge to match what
each project raises up to £500, which gives owners a clear, motivating headline: hit the minimum and
the institution tops you up. That cap also keeps the pot fair across many projects rather than
letting a single large campaign absorb it. Be aware, though, of the behavior match can encourage at
the margins. Essex notes that some owners lean on a guaranteed source close to home, knowing that
"if I raise the minimum amount, then I'll get the match funding," whereas the owners who genuinely
work their networks tend to be halfway to target well before the deadline. A match designed to
reward breadth of support, rather than simply reaching a number, keeps the incentive pointing the
right way. Plan the mechanics with our
[communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), which includes a place
to map each match trigger to the message that announces it.

## Communications: owner-led, centrally supported

Crowdfunding communications run on two tracks that have to stay in step. The primary track is the
owner's own outreach to their own people, and it is where most of the money comes from. The
secondary track is your central amplification: institutional social posts, newsletters and emails
that lend credibility, drive traffic to live projects and celebrate milestones. The owners carry the
appeal; you carry the megaphone.

On the owner side, the job is to equip and then to nudge. Most project owners are not fundraisers, so
give them a simple promotion plan to follow: a launch message to their close network, regular
authentic updates through the project, and a final push as the deadline nears. Encourage personal,
specific content, photos, short videos and progress posts, rather than polished marketing. Above
all, build in active follow-up, because the difference between a funded project and a failed one is
often just persistence. Essex does not leave owners to sink or swim. The team checks in roughly a
week after a project goes live to ask, in DeeDee Paul's words, "are you actually actively trying to
get the money in?", and if an owner has stalled, they "sit down with you and figure out an
alternative way." She describes the touch as supportive rather than controlling: "I don't want to
say micromanaging you, but at least keeping you motivated to do your project until the end."

On the central side, the lightest-touch version is awareness and routing: making sure everyone knows
the platform exists and where to find it. Essex publicises Click with banners across campus,
welcome-week stalls and start-of-term sessions for the departments that use it most, but its most
powerful channel is word of mouth, because a program that has run for years becomes the obvious
first port of call: "If you need money, you can just check out the Click platform." For a
concentrated campaign rather than a rolling program, lift the central effort to roughly one
coordinated email a day, and write everything before it begins so delivery is calm rather than
frantic. Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) go deeper on email
and social.

## Launch and maintaining momentum

A project's first 48 hours set its trajectory, so coach owners to line up their warmest supporters
to give early. A page that already shows momentum, with several gifts and visible progress,
reassures later donors that the project is real and worth backing, whereas an empty page invites
hesitation. Encourage owners to tell their inner circle the launch date in advance and ask them to
give on day one, so the page opens with movement rather than silence.

Through the middle of a project, momentum is a job, not an accident. Owners should post progress,
thank donors publicly, mark the halfway point, and create fresh reasons to give: a match milestone
unlocked, a deadline approaching, a stretch goal in sight. For a concentrated campaign, keep a
visible leaderboard or progress view and use it to spark friendly competition between projects. For
a rolling program, your central team's role is to keep momentum alive project by project,
spotlighting live appeals, celebrating successes publicly and prompting owners who go quiet. The
through-line in everything Essex describes is the same: the projects that succeed are the ones whose
owners keep working them, and your support exists to keep that work going.

## Stewardship and converting crowdfunding donors

What happens after a project funds determines whether you have run a transaction or started a
relationship. Both the owner and the central office should thank every donor promptly, and owners
should report back on what the money achieved: the trip taken, the show staged, the equipment
bought. At Essex, the projects with the strongest ongoing relationship, such as the theatre school,
are the ones that close the loop, inviting the team to performances and reporting back on impact.
That habit of feedback is what turns a one-off donor into a familiar supporter.

The bigger prize is conversion. Crowdfunding brings in large numbers of people who are new to you,
and a good platform captures, with consent, who they are and what they cared about, so you can build
on the gift. Essex uses the donation data and the messages donors leave to re-engage supporters it
would otherwise never have known: when a gift arrives from someone outside the regular file, the
team can reach out, thank them and ask what motivated them. Over time, even the project owners
convert. Now that it tracks the data, Essex has found that a share of former Click users have
themselves become alumni donors, names that have quietly kept giving since they graduated. That long
arc, from student fundraiser to lifelong supporter, is the real return on a crowdfunding program,
and it only materialises if you steward deliberately rather than letting projects end at their
deadline. Be honest about the resource this takes: Essex is frank that without a dedicated
stewardship role, follow-up across every project is hard to sustain, which is an argument for
staffing the program properly as it grows.

## Measuring success

Set your measures before you launch, and lead with engagement rather than income alone. The most
useful metrics are the number of live projects, the project success rate (the share that hit
target), the number of donors and how many are new to you, the total raised and the average per
project, and, over the longer term, how many crowdfunding donors and owners go on to give again.
Benchmark numbers from established programs give you something to aim at: Essex reports a 98 per
cent success rate across 445-plus projects, and York a 94 per cent rate across 240-plus projects. A
high success rate is itself a measure of how well you are vetting and supporting, not just of how
easy the targets are. Track new-donor acquisition and downstream conversion as seriously as you
track dollars, because that is where crowdfunding pays off long after a given project closes.

## Case study: the University of Essex

The University of Essex has run its crowdfunding program, branded "Click" on the strapline "help is
only a Click away," since 2015. It is now a mature, year-round operation: more than 320 projects
supported, over £256,000 raised and more than 4,590 donors over its lifetime, and a 2017 Heist Award
for Best Alumni, Development or Fundraising Initiative along the way. In its first year alone the
program delivered 38 projects, £48,000 and 791 donors at a 97 per cent success rate. The model is
self-serve but closely supported: students and staff submit an inquiry, a dedicated team member
reviews it against the academic criteria, and approved projects go live with a target, a match of up
to £500 and active follow-up. Across more than 445 projects the program has held a 98 per cent
success rate, with its single failure down to an owner who simply did not do the work.

What Essex stresses most, with hindsight, is not the mechanics but the fit. Asked for her top advice
to teams thinking about crowdfunding, DeeDee Paul keeps returning to the same point:

> "You have to know your audience. Your audience is what's going to make it successful. You could
> have the amazing platform, but if people don't really care about this kind of thing, it's not
> going to work. So once you know the demographic you're targeting, it's easy to go for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

That fit, plus dedicated support for project owners and disciplined use of the data that giving
generates, is what has turned Click from a new idea into a fixture of how Essex raises money. York's
YuStart program points the same way, helping turn York, in its own phrase, into "a fundraising
university, rather than a university that fundraises."

## Frequently asked questions

**How is crowdfunding different from a Giving Day or a Challenge Week?** All three are
project-or-priority-led appeals, but the timeframe and ownership differ. A
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for
institutional priorities. A [Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) is
development-office-led but the money goes to clubs and societies, run over about a week. Crowdfunding
is year-round and led by the project owners themselves, with your team providing the platform and
support.

**Should we run a single campaign or an ongoing program?** Either works. A single, time-boxed
campaign concentrates attention and is a low-risk way to prove the model. An ongoing program, like
the ones Essex and York run, keeps the platform open all year and meets owners when they are ready.
Many institutions run a year-round program with occasional concentrated peaks layered on top. If
you are starting out, start small and grow.

**How do we stop projects from failing?** Vet the owner, not just the project, and support them
through it. The biggest predictor of failure is an owner who will not do the work, so set
expectations clearly before approval and screen out projects relying on the money arriving by
itself. Then follow up actively: check in early, and help any owner who has stalled find a way
forward. Essex's 98 per cent success rate rests on exactly this kind of hands-on support.

**Where does the match funding come from, and how much should it be?** Often from central funds
already earmarked to support the kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major-donor and
corporate gifts solicited to create a challenge fund. A clear, capped match works well: Essex matches
each project up to £500, which keeps the pot fair across many projects. Match is worth prioritising,
because matched projects can raise several times more than unmatched ones.

**How long should a project run?** Long enough to build momentum but short enough to keep urgency: a
few weeks is typical. A deadline that is too far off invites procrastination, while too tight a
window leaves no room to recover a slow start. Make the deadline visible on the page and use it to
drive the final push.

**Are crowdfunding gifts tax-deductible?** In the US, gifts to a 501(c)(3) organization are
generally tax-deductible, and a good platform issues the donor a receipt at the point of giving.
Make sure owners know the deductibility of a gift can be a useful prompt, and that they mention it in
their ask where it applies.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Crowdfunding page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Crowdfunding communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's guide to cause-led crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Case studies: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) and [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a crowdfunding campaign](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) (world/en): A practical guide to running a crowdfunding campaign or programme, where project owners raise funds for their own causes with central support. Covers choosing projects, building pages, targets and rewards, match funding, communications, launch momentum and stewardship.
Crowdfunding raises money by putting the people closest to a cause in charge of raising it. Each
owner runs their own project page, and your central team provides the platform, the guidance and
the support that make them effective. A student society raising for a tour, a research group
funding a piece of equipment, a department backing a hardship fund: each owns its appeal, sets its
target, and goes out to its own network. Your office sets the framework, vets the projects,
supplies the tools and templates, and runs light coordinating communications. The crowd does the
rest.

That ownership is what sets crowdfunding apart from your fixed-moment campaigns. A
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for a
handful of institutional priorities, where your team writes the appeal and owns the ask. A
[Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) sits in between: development-office-led
like a Giving Day, but the money goes to clubs and societies who do their own promotion across
about a week. Crowdfunding takes that project-owner model and removes the calendar box around it.
Projects launch when their owners are ready, run for as long as suits the cause, and live alongside
one another all year. Put simply, crowdfunding is year-round, a Giving Day happens in about 36
hours, and a Challenge Week is a week.

This guide draws on best practice developed by Hubbub's consultants, who have helped institutions
build crowdfunding programmes, and on the experience of universities who have run them at scale.
Two feature throughout: the University of Essex, whose long-running "Click" programme supplies most
of the worked examples, and the University of York. It is honest about one thing from the outset.
Crowdfunding is as much about building a culture of giving as it is about the money it raises. Done
well, it brings brand-new supporters into your programme, teaches a generation of project owners
how philanthropy actually works, and gives you a steady stream of fundable, donor-friendly causes.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/),
> [page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/) and
> [communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/).

## Why run a crowdfunding campaign

The first reason is reach. Project owners go to people you would never find on your alumni file:
course mates, teammates, parents, friends, colleagues and local supporters who give because they
have a personal connection to the person making the ask. A conventional appeal rarely surfaces
these donors, and once they have given they can be stewarded towards your wider programme. York's
crowdfunding has done exactly this, widening its supporter base so that, in the figures it reports,
around 91 per cent of its crowdfunding alumni donors were new to the institution.

The second reason is that crowdfunding builds fundraisers. A student who has to write their own
case for support, map their own audience and chase their own donations learns what fundraising
really involves. DeeDee Paul, Senior Philanthropy Officer at the University of Essex, describes the
effect of the Click programme on students:

> "It teaches the students about philanthropy. It teaches staff about philanthropy, because
> oftentimes people think, oh, you just get money just to get money. They don't see the actual
> background work that goes into it. It's a good way for the university to teach people about
> philanthropy as a student, before they become an alumni."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

The third reason is that crowdfunding takes pressure off the rest of your fundraising. Every
department, society and research team that can run a credible self-serve appeal is one fewer ask
landing on your major-gift officers' desks. As DeeDee Paul puts it, when departments use the
platform with their own contacts, "all we do is monitor it and give you your money at the end of
it," which frees the major-gift team "to focus on something else." Income is a genuine benefit, and
at scale a real one: Essex's Click programme has raised more than £256,000 from over 4,590 donors
across 320-plus projects since 2015. But the income tends to follow from the engagement, not the
other way round.

## One campaign or an ongoing programme

There are two ways to run crowdfunding, and it pays to decide early which you are building. A
**single campaign** is a time-boxed push: you recruit a cohort of projects, launch them around a
shared moment, and wrap up. This is the closest crowdfunding gets to a Challenge Week, and a
sensible way to prove the model before committing to more. An **ongoing programme** keeps the
platform open all year, with projects launching and finishing on a rolling basis as owners come
forward. This is how Essex runs Click and how York runs its YuStart programme, both operating
continuously for years rather than in bursts.

The trade-off is momentum versus convenience. A single campaign concentrates attention, which makes
communications easier and competition livelier, but it asks every project to be ready at the same
time. An ongoing programme meets owners when they are ready and spreads your support effort across
the year, but it loses the shared urgency of a deadline, so you have to manufacture momentum project
by project. Many institutions do both: a year-round programme as the backbone, with occasional
concentrated campaigns or a Challenge Week layered on top to create peaks. If you are starting from
nothing, begin with one well-supported campaign or a small cohort, learn from it, and grow.

## Choosing and vetting projects and project owners

The quality of your crowdfunding rests on the quality of the projects you let onto the platform, so
you need clear criteria and someone who applies them. At Essex, prospective owners submit an
inquiry, and a dedicated team member reviews each one against the programme's rules before it goes
live. Two criteria do most of the work. First, the project has to fit your mission: Essex requires
every Click project to be tied to the owner's academic purpose, whether a course-linked trip, a
piece of research or a study-abroad placement. Second, the project has to be worth the effort.
Essex sets a floor of at least £100 to launch, on the simple logic that, as DeeDee Paul puts it, a
tiny target is "a waste of time" for both the owner and the team supporting them: "We want to make
sure that if you're going to invest your time, it's invested well."

Vetting the owner matters as much as vetting the project, because the single biggest predictor of
success is whether the person behind it will do the work. Essex has run more than 445 projects at a
98 per cent success rate, and the team is candid about why their one failure happened:

> "We just had our first failed project. The only reason why it fails is because the person didn't
> even put any effort into trying to fundraise for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

You cannot make someone a fundraiser. What you can do is set expectations clearly at the point of
sign-off and screen out projects where the owner is hoping the money will arrive by itself. A short
conversation before approval, walking the owner through what they are committing to, is worth far
more than a long application form. Our
[crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/) gives owners a
structured place to set out their goal, audience and plan, and gives you a clear basis on which to
approve.

## Building a compelling project page and telling the story

A project page has one job: to turn a visitor who cares about the person into a donor who gives to
the cause. The mechanics matter, and a good platform handles them: a clear target and progress bar,
a range of suggested gift amounts rather than a single fixed figure, and a choice
of one-off, card and recurring options so people can give in the way that suits them. Essex
deliberately offered several giving routes and a spread of amounts so as not to deter anyone,
setting suggested levels but always leaving the donor free to give what they can. In DeeDee Paul's
words, "every donation makes a difference."

The harder part is the story, and it is where owners need the most help. The temptation, as DeeDee
Paul warns, is to fall back on the institutional ask: "You don't want to be like, oh, just donate
because of scholarships or because we need money. You want to tell the stories." A strong page opens
with a person and a specific need, shows what the money will buy in concrete terms, and makes the
reader feel that their gift completes something rather than topping up a general fund. Encourage
owners to write as themselves, in their own voice, with their own photographs, and to say plainly
what happens if the target is met.

The donations that result often carry their own stories back to you. Essex's platform lets donors
leave a message with their gift, and those messages have become a fundraising asset in their own
right, used in campaigns and at scholarship receptions. One donor who gave £30,000 in memory of her
late husband, an Essex graduate the office had never previously been in contact with, left a message
explaining that she wanted "to leave a legacy" because the university had made such an impact on his
life. Give owners a head start on their words with our
[page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/), and point them at the free
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to sharpen the result.

## Setting targets and using rewards

A good target is realistic, motivating and anchored in something tangible. Help owners price their
project from the bottom up, around the equipment, the travel or the activity it pays for, rather
than picking a round number and hoping. A target tied to a concrete outcome is far easier to
fundraise against, because every donor can see exactly what their gift completes, and a target the
owner can plausibly hit with their own network is one they will actually pursue.

How the target behaves when it is reached is a design decision in itself. Some programmes run on an
all-or-nothing basis, where the owner keeps the money only if the target is met, which sharpens the
final push but raises the stakes. Others, like Essex, release the funds once the minimum is reached
and let owners keep anything above it: "Once you reach your minimum goal, sometimes people go over
the goal. Either way, you still get the match funding as long as you reach the minimum goal."
Whichever you choose, be explicit about it on every page so donors and owners know the rules.

Rewards are an optional layer that can lift conversion when they fit the cause. In the classic
crowdfunding model, donors at different levels receive a small token of thanks: a mention, an
invitation, a piece of the thing they funded. In a cause-led setting the most powerful "reward" is
often simply impact and acknowledgement, a heartfelt update and a thank-you, rather than merchandise
that eats into the money raised. Keep rewards cheap to fulfil, genuinely tied to the project, and
never let them become the reason people give.

## Match funding to drive urgency

Match funding is the single most effective lever you have, because it changes the maths of the ask
for every donor: give now and your gift counts double. York reports that its matched projects raise
around three times as much as unmatched ones, which is reason enough to build a match pot into your
programme from the start. The match can come from central funds already earmarked to support the
kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major donors and corporate partners solicited
specifically to create a challenge fund.

How you structure the match shapes behaviour. Essex offers a straightforward pledge to match what
each project raises up to £500, which gives owners a clear, motivating headline: hit the minimum and
the institution tops you up. That cap also keeps the pot fair across many projects rather than
letting a single large campaign absorb it. Be aware, though, of the behaviour match can encourage at
the margins. Essex notes that some owners lean on a guaranteed source close to home, knowing that
"if I raise the minimum amount, then I'll get the match funding," whereas the owners who genuinely
work their networks tend to be halfway to target well before the deadline. A match designed to
reward breadth of support, rather than simply reaching a number, keeps the incentive pointing the
right way. Plan the mechanics with our
[communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/), which includes a place
to map each match trigger to the message that announces it.

## Communications: owner-led, centrally supported

Crowdfunding communications run on two tracks that have to stay in step. The primary track is the
owner's own outreach to their own people, and it is where most of the money comes from. The
secondary track is your central amplification: institutional social posts, newsletters and emails
that lend credibility, drive traffic to live projects and celebrate milestones. The owners carry the
appeal; you carry the megaphone.

On the owner side, the job is to equip and then to nudge. Most project owners are not fundraisers, so
give them a simple promotion plan to follow: a launch message to their close network, regular
authentic updates through the project, and a final push as the deadline nears. Encourage personal,
specific content, photos, short videos and progress posts, rather than polished marketing. Above
all, build in active follow-up, because the difference between a funded project and a failed one is
often just persistence. Essex does not leave owners to sink or swim. The team checks in roughly a
week after a project goes live to ask, in DeeDee Paul's words, "are you actually actively trying to
get the money in?", and if an owner has stalled, they "sit down with you and figure out an
alternative way." She describes the touch as supportive rather than controlling: "I don't want to
say micromanaging you, but at least keeping you motivated to do your project until the end."

On the central side, the lightest-touch version is awareness and routing: making sure everyone knows
the platform exists and where to find it. Essex publicises Click with banners across campus,
welcome-week stalls and start-of-term sessions for the departments that use it most, but its most
powerful channel is word of mouth, because a programme that has run for years becomes the obvious
first port of call: "If you need money, you can just check out the Click platform." For a
concentrated campaign rather than a rolling programme, lift the central effort to roughly one
coordinated email a day, and write everything before it begins so delivery is calm rather than
frantic. Hubbub's [how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) go deeper on email
and social.

## Launch and maintaining momentum

A project's first 48 hours set its trajectory, so coach owners to line up their warmest supporters
to give early. A page that already shows momentum, with several gifts and visible progress,
reassures later donors that the project is real and worth backing, whereas an empty page invites
hesitation. Encourage owners to tell their inner circle the launch date in advance and ask them to
give on day one, so the page opens with movement rather than silence.

Through the middle of a project, momentum is a job, not an accident. Owners should post progress,
thank donors publicly, mark the halfway point, and create fresh reasons to give: a match milestone
unlocked, a deadline approaching, a stretch goal in sight. For a concentrated campaign, keep a
visible leaderboard or progress view and use it to spark friendly competition between projects. For
a rolling programme, your central team's role is to keep momentum alive project by project,
spotlighting live appeals, celebrating successes publicly and prompting owners who go quiet. The
through-line in everything Essex describes is the same: the projects that succeed are the ones whose
owners keep working them, and your support exists to keep that work going.

## Stewardship and converting crowdfunding donors

What happens after a project funds determines whether you have run a transaction or started a
relationship. Both the owner and the central office should thank every donor promptly, and owners
should report back on what the money achieved: the trip taken, the show staged, the equipment
bought. At Essex, the projects with the strongest ongoing relationship, such as the theatre school,
are the ones that close the loop, inviting the team to performances and reporting back on impact.
That habit of feedback is what turns a one-off donor into a familiar supporter.

The bigger prize is conversion. Crowdfunding brings in large numbers of people who are new to you,
and a good platform captures, with consent, who they are and what they cared about, so you can build
on the gift. Essex uses the donation data and the messages donors leave to re-engage supporters it
would otherwise never have known: when a gift arrives from someone outside the regular file, the
team can reach out, thank them and ask what motivated them. Over time, even the project owners
convert. Now that it tracks the data, Essex has found that a share of former Click users have
themselves become alumni donors, names that have quietly kept giving since they graduated. That long
arc, from student fundraiser to lifelong supporter, is the real return on a crowdfunding programme,
and it only materialises if you steward deliberately rather than letting projects end at their
deadline. Be honest about the resource this takes: Essex is frank that without a dedicated
stewardship role, follow-up across every project is hard to sustain, which is an argument for
staffing the programme properly as it grows.

## Measuring success

Set your measures before you launch, and lead with engagement rather than income alone. The most
useful metrics are the number of live projects, the project success rate (the share that hit
target), the number of donors and how many are new to you, the total raised and the average per
project, and, over the longer term, how many crowdfunding donors and owners go on to give again.
Benchmark numbers from established programmes give you something to aim at: Essex reports a 98 per
cent success rate across 445-plus projects, and York a 94 per cent rate across 240-plus projects. A
high success rate is itself a measure of how well you are vetting and supporting, not just of how
easy the targets are. Track new-donor acquisition and downstream conversion as seriously as you
track the total raised, because that is where crowdfunding pays off long after a given project closes.

## Case study: the University of Essex

The University of Essex has run its crowdfunding programme, branded "Click" on the strapline "help is
only a Click away," since 2015. It is now a mature, year-round operation: more than 320 projects
supported, over £256,000 raised and more than 4,590 donors over its lifetime, and a 2017 Heist Award
for Best Alumni, Development or Fundraising Initiative along the way. In its first year alone the
programme delivered 38 projects, £48,000 and 791 donors at a 97 per cent success rate. The model is
self-serve but closely supported: students and staff submit an inquiry, a dedicated team member
reviews it against the academic criteria, and approved projects go live with a target, a match of up
to £500 and active follow-up. Across more than 445 projects the programme has held a 98 per cent
success rate, with its single failure down to an owner who simply did not do the work.

What Essex stresses most, with hindsight, is not the mechanics but the fit. Asked for her top advice
to teams thinking about crowdfunding, DeeDee Paul keeps returning to the same point:

> "You have to know your audience. Your audience is what's going to make it successful. You could
> have the amazing platform, but if people don't really care about this kind of thing, it's not
> going to work. So once you know the demographic you're targeting, it's easy to go for it."
>
> DeeDee Paul, University of Essex

That fit, plus dedicated support for project owners and disciplined use of the data that giving
generates, is what has turned Click from a new idea into a fixture of how Essex raises money. York's
YuStart programme points the same way, helping turn York, in its own phrase, into "a fundraising
university, rather than a university that fundraises."

## Frequently asked questions

**How is crowdfunding different from a Giving Day or a Challenge Week?** All three are
project-or-priority-led appeals, but the timeframe and ownership differ. A
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a roughly 36-hour, centrally led push for
institutional priorities. A [Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) is
development-office-led but the money goes to clubs and societies, run over about a week. Crowdfunding
is year-round and led by the project owners themselves, with your team providing the platform and
support.

**Should we run a single campaign or an ongoing programme?** Either works. A single, time-boxed
campaign concentrates attention and is a low-risk way to prove the model. An ongoing programme, like
the ones Essex and York run, keeps the platform open all year and meets owners when they are ready.
Many institutions run a year-round programme with occasional concentrated peaks layered on top. If
you are starting out, start small and grow.

**How do we stop projects from failing?** Vet the owner, not just the project, and support them
through it. The biggest predictor of failure is an owner who will not do the work, so set
expectations clearly before approval and screen out projects relying on the money arriving by
itself. Then follow up actively: check in early, and help any owner who has stalled find a way
forward. Essex's 98 per cent success rate rests on exactly this kind of hands-on support.

**Where does the match funding come from, and how much should it be?** Often from central funds
already earmarked to support the kinds of projects you are crowdfunding, or from major-donor and
corporate gifts solicited to create a challenge fund. A clear, capped match works well: Essex matches
each project up to £500, which keeps the pot fair across many projects. Match is worth prioritising,
because matched projects can raise several times more than unmatched ones.

**How long should a project run?** Long enough to build momentum but short enough to keep urgency: a
few weeks is typical. A deadline that is too far off invites procrastination, while too tight a
window leaves no room to recover a slow start. Make the deadline visible on the page and use it to
drive the final push.

**Are crowdfunding gifts tax-efficient?** That depends on your country's rules. Many countries offer
some form of tax relief on charitable gifts, but the mechanism and eligibility vary widely. Check what
applies where your donors are based, and make sure owners can point donors to the relevant scheme in
their ask.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Crowdfunding project plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/)
- [Crowdfunding page copy template](/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/)
- [Crowdfunding communications plan template](/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's guide to cause-led crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/guide-to-cause-led-crowdfunding)
- Case studies: [University of Essex](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-essex-crowdfunding-story), [University of York](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-university-of-york-crowdfunding-story) and [Ulster University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/responding-quickly-in-times-of-crisis-an-ulster-university-crowdfunding-story)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (canz/en): An in-depth, practical guide to planning and running a successful Giving Day, covering targets, storytelling, match funding and challenge mechanics, major gifts, the live 36 hours and stewardship, with real results from schools and universities.
A Giving Day is an intensive, time-bound online fundraising campaign, usually run over 24 to 36
hours, that asks your whole community to give within a single shared window. It is designed to
do several jobs at once: bring in new donors, win back lapsed supporters, prompt fresh gifts
from people who already give, and give your leadership and major donors a focal point to rally
behind. Run well, a Giving Day compresses a year's worth of energy and goodwill into a day or
two and leaves you with a larger, warmer donor base than you started with.

This guide reflects how Hubbub's consultants actually plan and run these campaigns. Since 2018
the team has delivered more than 200 Giving Days, drawing on over 25 years of fundraising
experience across the education and charity sectors. The advice below is detailed on purpose,
because the difference between a flat Giving Day and an exceptional one is rarely a single big
idea. It is the accumulation of dozens of small decisions about data, message, timing and
follow-up.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="Highgate School community taking part in their Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Highgate School's Giving Day raised £250,981 from 578 donors, 35% of them giving for the first time.</figcaption>
</figure>

It helps to be honest from the start about the effort involved. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager at Highgate School, whose Giving Day raised
[£250,981 from 578 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
describes it plainly:

> "Giving Days are hard work to plan, and your team will be extremely busy in the build-up and
> during the 36 hours of the day itself, but they are a unique opportunity to get everybody in
> your institution having fun and pulling together to do something good."

It is also a campaign you grow into rather than perfect on the first attempt. London Business
School, who have now raised
[£1.18 million across four Giving Days from 2,445 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
are open about the learning curve. Their first one was, in their words, "a very manual
process," and they "underestimated the planning and workload involved." Their advice is to
"take the leap if it fits into your strategy: you don't need to do everything in the first
year." This guide will help you concentrate on the things that move the needle and leave the
refinements for future rounds.

> **Working templates.** Rather than starting from a blank page, sign in to download our
> [project plan](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) and
> [case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## What a Giving Day is for, and where it fits

Be clear about why you are running one before you do anything else. Most institutions use a
Giving Day as an annual moment to acquire new donors and reactivate lapsed ones, to prompt
fresh gifts from existing supporters, and to put their leadership, major and legacy donors to
work providing the match and challenge funds that motivate everyone else. It grows
participation, the number of people who give, at least as much as it grows the total raised.
Both matter, but a wider donor base is the asset you will steward and re-solicit for years, so
participation is usually the metric to anchor on.

The campaign works best when it sits inside a continuous giving programme rather than standing
alone. The Giving Day is the spark; the acquisition, reactivation and stewardship around it
through the year are what turn that spark into a culture of giving. Treated as an annual fixture
that feeds a regular giving programme, it compounds: each year's new and reactivated donors
become next year's early givers and ambassadors.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Balcarras School Giving Day campaign page showing more than £40,000 raised" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, a state school, raised £40,101 from 219 donors on its first Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

This is achievable for organisations of every size and type, not only large, well-resourced
development offices. When Balcarras, a state school, ran its first Giving Day, it raised
[£40,101 from 219 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
with gifts ranging from £1 to £2,000. Headteacher Dominic Burke is candid about why it now
matters so much:

> "Our recent Giving Day raised over £40,000 to fund a variety of projects in the school. State
> school funding is simply no longer adequate, particularly when it comes to capital projects,
> so fundraising like this is becoming vital to ensuring the long-term success of the school."

## Data and target-setting

Everything starts with your data, and the single most important figure is how many of your
contacts have a usable, deliverable email address. Email drives roughly 90 to 95 per cent of
donations on a Giving Day, so your email-reachable audience is effectively the ceiling on what
is possible. Spend real time here before you set any target: deduplicate your records, verify
email deliverability, suppress hard bounces, and check that consent and contact preferences are
clean, so that you can actually mail the people you are counting on.

Then segment. At a minimum, separate current donors, lapsed donors and non-donors, and within
those distinguish your warmer and colder groups. Knowing the size and warmth of each segment
lets you forecast realistically and tailor your asks, because a recent regular donor and a
never-given alum who graduated twenty years ago need very different messages.

Set the target around participation first. A credible donor goal grows out of the size of your
contactable audience, the number of emails you can responsibly send, your historic response
rates by segment, your donors' giving history, and sensible peer benchmarks. Treat benchmarks
with care: understand how a peer achieved a result, including their audience size and match
funding, before you borrow their number. Income targets are still worth setting as internal
KPIs, but lead with participation. To pressure-test your assumptions, model the likely outcome
with [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
and use external benchmarking such as
[CASE's Voluntary Support of Education](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
to sense-check what good looks like for an organisation like yours.

A useful discipline is to work the target both ways. Build it bottom-up from your segments and
expected response rates to see what the data supports, then sketch it top-down from the income
you would like to raise and the match funding you can secure, and reconcile the two. If the
numbers are far apart, the gap usually lies in either the size of your contactable audience or
the amount of match funding in place, and both are addressable months ahead with list-building
and major-donor conversations.

## Building the team around it

You do not need a large team to run a strong Giving Day. You need the right people focused on
the two things that determine the result: your email communications and your match and challenge
funding. A typical core team has a Director of Development holding strategy and vision, a
Fundraising or Regular Giving Manager running the project day to day, major gift fundraisers
securing the match and challenge funds, and a communications lead writing and scheduling
content. In a small shop, one or two people cover several of these roles, and that is fine
provided the email programme and the match funding both have a clear owner.

The campaigns that outperform are the ones that pull in colleagues beyond the development
office. Alumni relations can recruit ambassadors and help with stewardship; donor relations can
carry the thank-you and impact communications; marketing can promote the day through
institutional channels such as the website, social accounts and newsletters; faculty, staff and
students provide both the buy-in and the on-campus moments that make a digital campaign feel
tangible. Above all, secure genuine senior support early, ideally from the head of the
institution. That is what turns a Giving Day into something the whole organisation rallies
behind rather than a project the development team carries alone.

## The six-month run-up

The best Giving Days are assembled steadily over roughly six months, not improvised in a frantic
final fortnight. Our [project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) sets
this out with tasks, owners and dates, but it helps to understand the arc of the work.

### Six months out: strategy

Six months ahead, the work is strategic. Secure senior buy-in, lock in your dates including the
pre-launch and live windows, and agree your income and donor KPIs. Confirm the theme and the
case for support that everything else will hang from, decide how you will segment your
communications, and choose whether on-campus events will play a part. If you want external
support, this is the point to begin shaping strategy with consultants, while there is still time
to influence the whole campaign rather than patch the end of it.

### Five months out: message and creative

Turn to message and creative. Finalise your campaign messaging and creative direction, draft the
communications plans for email, social and video, and start identifying the donors who might
provide match and challenge funds. If you are running an ambassador programme, recruit your lead
ambassadors now, while you can give them a considered brief rather than a last-minute request.

### Four months out: build and evidence

The build begins in earnest. Platform functionality and donation pages start to take shape, you
begin gathering the testimonials and demonstrations of impact your content will depend on, and
you open real conversations with prospective match and challenge donors. The earlier you secure
match funding, the more confidently you can plan the rest of the campaign around it.

### Three months out: content and warming

Submit your platform requirements, start writing the pre-launch emails and posts, and film your
videos. Begin warming your audience by sharing impact stories through newsletters and social, and
firm up how you will deploy the match funding you have secured so far. Run your draft copy through
the [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to tighten it before it goes near a
send.

### Two and one months out: early giving

Two months ahead, the platform is fully configured and tested, early-launch communications are
finalised, match and challenge gifts are confirmed, and your data selection and email lists are
built. One month ahead, launch early giving, often with an early-giving challenge that rewards
the supporters who act before the day, and start writing your on-the-day content. Early giving
is not a nice-to-have: it builds momentum and gives you a running start.

### The final fortnight and the day

In the last two weeks, finish your live communications and watch early giving closely. A healthy
campaign reaches around 10 per cent of its donor goal before the day even opens. Then comes the
day itself, when the plan simply has to run: emails and posts sent on schedule, events delivered,
questions answered in real time. Afterwards, the focus shifts to logging and thanking every gift,
folding donors into a regular rhythm of impact communications, and starting the next ask, whether
that is a telephone appeal to thank and upgrade donors or next year's Giving Day.

## Telling stories that move people

A Giving Day rises or falls on its storytelling. Whether you focus the campaign on a specific
cause such as bursaries, or on unrestricted giving, you need real, personal stories from
students, alumni, parents and staff that show what gifts make possible. Fundraising without
genuine demonstrations of impact is far harder and tends to underperform, so before you commit to
a theme, confirm that the stories to support it actually exist and that the people in them are
willing to be featured. A strong [case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/) is
what ties those individual stories into one coherent argument for giving now.

The most resonant stories usually come from those whose lives were changed: bursary recipients,
hardship-fund users, and alumni who credit their education for where they are today. The most
effective campaigns use voices that mirror their audiences, and diversify them across era,
geography and house or college, so that as many supporters as possible recognise something of
themselves. Keep the tone warm, sincere and optimistic without tipping into sentimentality, and
always pair the emotion with a concrete outcome so a donor can see exactly what their gift does.

Different formats carry different weight. Emails and web pages can hold longer narratives; social
posts work best as a sharp quote or a 15 to 30 second clip; Instagram Stories suit real-time
updates, polls and thank-yous during the day. Authenticity beats polish, so encourage student and
staff video shot on a phone. Practically, start collecting stories five or six months ahead, work
across departments such as alumni relations, faculty and student services to find your
storytellers, and use short surveys or interviews to gather the raw material.

## Match funding in depth

Match funding is the single biggest lever in a Giving Day. A match takes a leadership or major
gift and holds it back to double the gifts of everyone else during the campaign, giving ordinary
donors a concrete, time-limited reason to act now rather than later. The psychology is
straightforward: people give more, and give earlier, when they can see their money go further and
when the opportunity is visibly running out. As a planning rule of thumb, aim to secure roughly
half of your target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is $100,000, look to line up
around $50,000.

There is more than one way to structure a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve.

A **straight 1:1 match**, dollar for dollar, is the simplest to communicate and the safest default.
A **higher-ratio match** such as 2:1 or 3:1 is more expensive to fund but lands hard when you want
to galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects. A
**capped match**, framed as "the first $50,000 will be doubled," creates urgency that pulls gifts
forward, because donors understand the pot can run out. A **segment-specific match** lets you
target a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni or a parents' match, which both
improves results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell. A **themed match** tied to a
particular project, where every gift to the bursary fund is doubled, sharpens the case for support
and suits donors who care about a specific outcome.

Spell the maths out in the message. Where you have a match in place, make it vivid: a single
decision to give goes twice as far when it is doubled. Putting that in plain numbers, as in the
example below, makes the offer feel as generous as it genuinely is. Tax-efficient giving varies
across the region, so where it applies, mention it: Canada offers charitable tax receipts,
Australia allows deductions for gifts to DGR-endorsed charities, and New Zealand offers donation
tax credits. For many donors that lowers the real cost of giving, which is worth a gentle reminder.

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> $50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A $100 gift becomes $200. Give before the match runs out."

Two operational points matter. First, never announce a match you have not confirmed in writing:
build the campaign on funds that are secured, not hoped for. Second, decide in advance how you
will handle the moment the match is exhausted. Running out of match funding mid-campaign is a good
problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is a fresh challenge, a stretch match
from a donor held in reserve, or a clear message that the matched pot has been claimed thanks to
supporters.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the community
hits a collective target. Challenges gamify the day and are especially good at drawing in
non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation, not just their
dollars, make a visible difference. Most strong Giving Days run several challenges through the day
to keep creating reasons to give.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock $1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours. A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors
releases a further $5,000, gives you a rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell
when you hit it. A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or
trigger a bonus, concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around and is one of
the most reliable ways to spike participation. A **head-to-head or leaderboard challenge** sets
groups against each other, for example houses, year groups, faculties or alumni regions, which
turns supporters into recruiters as they rally their own people up the board. A **participation
challenge** keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised is the best tool for
culture-building and acquisition, because it tells every supporter that their gift counts as much
as anyone's. A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees pledge a sum if a set number of
new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a stake in the outcome. Finally, a
**stretch or bonus challenge** held in reserve lets you release extra funding if the day exceeds
target, which keeps momentum alive right to the final hour.

The practical art is to sequence these so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock
challenge at launch, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a
stretch challenge for the closing push. Your platform's ambassador tools, including leaderboards,
ready-made messages and images, make these mechanics visible and shareable, and a small incentive
for top ambassadors keeps the competition friendly.

## Major gifts: securing and stewarding your match and challenge donors

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors and from trusts and foundations, and how you solicit and
steward those donors deserves as much care as the public campaign.

Start early, ideally four to six months out, by identifying prospects with both the capacity and
the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your best candidates are often existing major
donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have shown they care about the cause. When you
make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large gift: a match
donor is not only giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of others, and that
multiplier is the heart of the proposition. Be specific. Explain that their $25,000, used as a
match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and double the day's total, and offer recognition
that fits their preference, such as naming the challenge after them or their family, or listing
them as a match donor with their permission.

Stewardship runs before, during and after the day. Beforehand, brief your match donors properly,
confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, whether that is
lending their name to a challenge, recording a short video, or acting as a lead ambassador. During
the campaign, show them their match being claimed in real time and thank them promptly, because
seeing their gift at work is the most powerful stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the
specific impact of their match: how many donors it unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the
combined total will fund. That report is the single most important conversation for next year,
because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives again, and frequently gives more.

The pipeline effect is real, and it runs in both directions. Highgate found that the day itself
created future match donors, noting that

> "three individuals who made a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will
> increase their gift to be part of the match pool for our next Giving Day."

New donors acquired through one Giving Day can become the leadership and match donors of the next,
which is another reason to treat acquisition and stewardship as two halves of the same long game.

## Email and social media

If storytelling is the substance of a Giving Day, email is the engine that delivers it. Email
typically drives 90 to 95 per cent of donations, social media accounts for 5 to 10 per cent, and
everything else, including search and direct mail, makes up just 1 to 3 per cent. The size and
quality of your email list, and the messages you send to it, therefore deserve more attention than
any other channel.

The link between sending a message and receiving a gift is unusually direct, which is the best
argument for a disciplined schedule. Highgate measured exactly this and found that

> "349 out of 488 gifts during the day (72% of all gifts) were received within 90 minutes of a
> message being shared via email or social media."

Gifts arrive in waves, and each wave follows a message, so plan your sends accordingly.

In the four weeks before the day, a sequence of save-the-date, "two weeks to go," "one week to go"
and "24 hours to go" emails, mirrored on social, builds anticipation and brings in early gifts.
During a 36-hour Giving Day running from 8am on day one to 8pm on day two, a common rhythm carries
around ten emails. Day one opens with a launch message, then moves through a midday update, a
mid-afternoon momentum push, an early-evening reminder and an end-of-day wrap-up. Day two builds
through a morning reminder, a midday challenge update, an afternoon countdown, a final-hour push
and a closing thank-you. Tie each send to a live reason to give, such as a challenge that has just
opened or a match that is running down, so the message has news to carry rather than just another
reminder. Our [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) and
[email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) give you this full sequence to adapt.

Social media's job is to raise awareness and convert interest into action, which it does when it
runs in step with your email schedule rather than to its own rhythm. Use the channels that suit
your audience, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, lead with impact, and drive
every post back to your donation pages. You do not need paid ads or sophisticated analytics tools:
thoughtful planning, consistent messaging and good visuals are enough.

## Ambassadors

Ambassadors are volunteers who amplify your Giving Day by spreading the word through their own
networks and lending the campaign the social proof that turns awareness into action. They can be a
powerful multiplier, but only run a programme if you have both the staff capacity to support it and
a genuine network of supporters willing to be active on your behalf. Recruit lead ambassadors
early, give them clear assets and messages, and make their contribution visible through a
leaderboard so the most engaged are recognised. London Business School, with alumni around the
world, treat their ambassadors as a way to show how global their community really is. The right
approach for you depends on who your advocates are and where they sit.

## The day itself

By the time the day arrives, the strategy is set and your job is execution. Send your emails and
social posts exactly as planned, watch the social conversation and join it, track your challenge
progress and adjust your messaging as the picture changes, and, if you are running them, let your
on-campus events feed the digital push. Make giving possible at every touchpoint, including a
prominent donate button on every page and, for in-person moments, a QR code that takes people
straight to your donation page. You can create one in seconds with the free
[QR code generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/). Answer questions and unsubscribe requests
promptly, keep an eye on deliverability, and hold your nerve: the campaign you spent six months
planning now runs largely on the rails you built for it.

## Stewardship: the day after and the year after

What you do once the day ends determines whether you have gained a one-off spike or a lasting
relationship. Within a week, send donors a results email with the totals, the success stories and a
clear reminder of the impact they created. Then keep going. Monthly impact updates, ideally
exclusive to donors rather than buried in a general newsletter, use stories and visuals to show
supporters that their gift is still at work. This is also where next year's Giving Day quietly
begins, because the donors you steward well are the ones who give again, and some of them, as
Highgate found, become the match donors who make the next campaign bigger.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="A Giving Day thank-you message celebrating donors" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Prompt, specific thanks is the start of next year's campaign, not the end of this one.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Reviewing and improving

Treat every Giving Day as the foundation for the next. Capture the metrics that matter: donor count
and total income, your average and most common gift, and a breakdown of gifts by channel, segment,
country, age, graduation year and fund, alongside your email open, click-through, unsubscribe and
conversion rates and your social reach and sentiment. Bring the team together afterwards to
celebrate the wins, talk honestly about what was hard, and agree what you will change. Share the
full results internally with leadership and teams, and the top-line story externally with the
donors and supporters who made it happen.

A Giving Day is hard work, but it is some of the most rewarding work a fundraising team can do. As
Balcarras's headteacher says to any state school weighing one up, the advice from those who have
done it tends to be refreshingly simple: "Do it!"

## Frequently asked questions

**How long should a Giving Day last?** Most run for 24 or 36 hours. A 36-hour window from 8am on
day one to 8pm on day two gives you two morning peaks and two evening peaks to work with, which
suits a fuller email schedule. Shorter 24-hour days create more urgency but leave less room for
recovery if a quiet patch hits.

**How far ahead should we start planning?** Around six months for a first Giving Day. Experienced
teams running an annual day can work to a shorter cycle, but the strategic decisions, match-donor
conversations and content gathering all benefit from lead time.

**How much match funding do we need?** As a guide, aim for roughly half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise $100,000, look to secure around $50,000. More match funding,
used through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.

**Do we need a big team?** No. Small teams run successful Giving Days by focusing on the two things
that matter most, email communications and match funding, and by borrowing capacity from alumni
relations, marketing and student services for the rest.

**What matters most on the day?** Sending your planned communications on time. The data is
consistent: the large majority of gifts arrive within about 90 minutes of a message going out, so a
disciplined schedule is the difference between a steady stream of gifts and a quiet day.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Giving Day project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day communications plan template](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model your likely result before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your emails and appeal copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to your donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Giving Day platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Hubbub's how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): email fundraising, match and challenge, ambassadors and social
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Giving Day case studies: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) and [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man einen Giving Day durchführt](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (europe/de): Ein fundierter, praxisnaher Leitfaden zur Planung und Durchführung eines erfolgreichen Giving Days, der Ziele, Storytelling, Matching- und Challenge-Mechaniken, Großspenden, die 36 Stunden im Live-Betrieb und die Spenderbindung behandelt, mit echten Ergebnissen aus Schulen und Hochschulen.
Ein Giving Day ist eine intensive, zeitlich begrenzte Online-Fundraising-Kampagne, die in der
Regel über 24 bis 36 Stunden läuft und Ihre gesamte Gemeinschaft dazu auffordert, innerhalb eines
einzigen gemeinsamen Zeitfensters zu spenden. Er ist darauf ausgelegt, mehrere Aufgaben
gleichzeitig zu erfüllen: neue Spenderinnen und Spender zu gewinnen, inaktive Unterstützer
zurückzuholen, frische Gaben von Menschen anzustoßen, die bereits spenden, und Ihrer Führungsebene
sowie Ihren Großspendern einen Brennpunkt zu geben, um den sie sich scharen können. Gut umgesetzt
verdichtet ein Giving Day die Energie und das Wohlwollen eines ganzen Jahres in ein oder zwei Tage
und hinterlässt Ihnen eine größere, engere Spenderbasis als zuvor.

Dieser Leitfaden spiegelt wider, wie die Beraterinnen und Berater von Hubbub diese Kampagnen
tatsächlich planen und durchführen. Seit 2018 hat das Team mehr als 200 Giving Days umgesetzt und
schöpft dabei aus über 25 Jahren Fundraising-Erfahrung im Bildungs- und Gemeinnützigkeitssektor.
Die Ratschläge unten sind bewusst ausführlich, denn der Unterschied zwischen einem mittelmäßigen
und einem außergewöhnlichen Giving Day liegt selten an einer einzigen großen Idee. Er ist die
Summe Dutzender kleiner Entscheidungen über Daten, Botschaft, Timing und Nachfassen.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="Die Gemeinschaft der Highgate School nimmt an ihrem Giving Day teil" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Der Giving Day der Highgate School brachte 250.981 £ von 578 Spenderinnen und Spendern ein, von denen 35 % zum ersten Mal spendeten.</figcaption>
</figure>

Es hilft, von Anfang an ehrlich über den damit verbundenen Aufwand zu sein. Joe Connor,
Fundraising Relationships Manager an der Highgate School, deren Giving Day
[250.981 £ von 578 Spenderinnen und Spendern](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story)
einbrachte, beschreibt es unverblümt:

> „Giving Days sind in der Planung harte Arbeit, und Ihr Team wird in der Vorbereitung und während
> der 36 Stunden des Tages selbst äußerst beschäftigt sein, aber sie sind eine einzigartige
> Gelegenheit, alle in Ihrer Einrichtung zusammenzubringen, um Spaß zu haben und gemeinsam etwas
> Gutes zu tun.“

Es ist auch eine Kampagne, in die man hineinwächst, statt sie beim ersten Versuch zu perfektionieren.
Die London Business School, die inzwischen
[1,18 Millionen Pfund über vier Giving Days von 2.445 Spenderinnen und Spendern](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
eingenommen hat, spricht offen über die Lernkurve. Ihr erster war, in ihren Worten, „ein sehr
manueller Prozess“, und sie haben „die Planung und den damit verbundenen Arbeitsaufwand
unterschätzt“. Ihr Rat: „Wagen Sie den Sprung, wenn es zu Ihrer Strategie passt: Sie müssen nicht
alles im ersten Jahr machen.“ Dieser Leitfaden hilft Ihnen, sich auf das zu konzentrieren, was den
Unterschied macht, und die Feinheiten künftigen Runden zu überlassen.

> **Vorlagen zum Loslegen.** Statt mit einem leeren Blatt zu beginnen, melden Sie sich an, um
> unseren
> [Projektplan](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [Kommunikationsplan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [E-Mail-Textvorlagen](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) und unsere
> [Vorlage für das Argumentarium](/resources/case-for-support-template/) herunterzuladen.

## Wozu ein Giving Day dient und wo er hineinpasst

Machen Sie sich klar, warum Sie einen durchführen, bevor Sie irgendetwas anderes tun. Die meisten
Einrichtungen nutzen einen Giving Day als jährlichen Moment, um neue Spenderinnen und Spender zu
gewinnen und inaktive zu reaktivieren, frische Gaben bestehender Unterstützer anzustoßen und ihre
Führungsebene, ihre Groß- und Erbschaftsspender einzusetzen, indem diese die Matching- und
Challenge-Mittel bereitstellen, die alle anderen motivieren. Er steigert die Beteiligung, die Zahl
der Menschen, die spenden, mindestens ebenso stark wie die Gesamtsumme. Beides zählt, aber eine
breitere Spenderbasis ist der Vermögenswert, den Sie über Jahre pflegen und erneut ansprechen
werden, daher ist die Beteiligung in der Regel die Kennzahl, an der man sich verankert.

Die Kampagne funktioniert am besten, wenn sie in ein kontinuierliches Spendenprogramm eingebettet
ist, statt allein zu stehen. Der Giving Day ist der Funke; die Gewinnung, Reaktivierung und
Spenderbindung, die ihn das ganze Jahr über umgeben, verwandeln diesen Funken in eine Kultur des
Gebens. Als jährlicher fester Termin behandelt, der ein regelmäßiges Spendenprogramm speist,
verstärkt er sich von selbst: Die neuen und reaktivierten Spender eines Jahres werden zu den frühen
Gebern und Botschaftern des nächsten.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Kampagnenseite des Giving Days der Balcarras School mit über 40.000 £ an Spenden" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, eine staatliche Schule, brachte bei ihrem ersten Giving Day 40.101 £ von 219 Spenderinnen und Spendern ein.</figcaption>
</figure>

Dies ist für Organisationen jeder Größe und Art erreichbar, nicht nur für große, gut ausgestattete
Entwicklungsabteilungen. Als Balcarras, eine staatliche Schule, ihren ersten Giving Day
durchführte, brachte sie
[40.101 £ von 219 Spenderinnen und Spendern](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study)
ein, mit Gaben von 1 £ bis 2.000 £. Schulleiter Dominic Burke ist offen darüber, warum es nun so
sehr darauf ankommt:

> „Unser jüngster Giving Day brachte über 40.000 £ ein, um eine Vielzahl von Projekten an der
> Schule zu finanzieren. Die Finanzierung staatlicher Schulen ist schlicht nicht mehr ausreichend,
> besonders bei Investitionsprojekten, daher wird Fundraising wie dieses entscheidend, um den
> langfristigen Erfolg der Schule zu sichern.“

## Daten und Zielsetzung

Alles beginnt mit Ihren Daten, und die wichtigste einzelne Zahl ist, wie viele Ihrer Kontakte eine
nutzbare, zustellbare E-Mail-Adresse haben. E-Mail treibt rund 90 bis 95 Prozent der Spenden an
einem Giving Day an, daher bildet Ihr per E-Mail erreichbares Publikum faktisch die Obergrenze
dessen, was möglich ist. Verbringen Sie hier echte Zeit, bevor Sie irgendein Ziel festlegen:
Bereinigen Sie Dubletten in Ihren Datensätzen, prüfen Sie die Zustellbarkeit, unterdrücken Sie
Hard Bounces und stellen Sie sicher, dass Einwilligungen und Kontaktpräferenzen sauber sind, damit
Sie die Menschen, auf die Sie zählen, auch tatsächlich anschreiben können.

Dann segmentieren Sie. Trennen Sie mindestens aktuelle Spender, inaktive Spender und
Nicht-Spender, und unterscheiden Sie innerhalb dieser Gruppen Ihre engeren von Ihren ferneren
Kreisen. Die Größe und Nähe jedes Segments zu kennen, erlaubt Ihnen realistische Prognosen und das
Zuschneiden Ihrer Ansprache, denn ein kürzlich gewonnener Dauerspender und eine nie spendende
Ehemalige, die vor zwanzig Jahren ihren Abschluss machte, brauchen sehr unterschiedliche
Botschaften.

Setzen Sie das Ziel zuerst rund um die Beteiligung. Ein glaubwürdiges Spenderziel erwächst aus der
Größe Ihres erreichbaren Publikums, der Zahl der E-Mails, die Sie verantwortungsvoll versenden
können, Ihren historischen Antwortraten nach Segment, der Spendenhistorie Ihrer Spender und
vernünftigen Vergleichswerten aus dem Sektor. Behandeln Sie Vergleichswerte mit Vorsicht: Verstehen
Sie, wie ein Vergleichsfall sein Ergebnis erzielt hat, einschließlich Publikumsgröße und
Matching-Mitteln, bevor Sie dessen Zahl übernehmen. Einnahmeziele sind weiterhin als interne KPIs
sinnvoll, aber führen Sie mit der Beteiligung. Um Ihre Annahmen zu prüfen, modellieren Sie das
wahrscheinliche Ergebnis mit dem
[Giving-Day-Simulator von Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
und nutzen Sie externes Benchmarking wie das
[Voluntary Support of Education von CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings),
um abzuschätzen, wie gut für eine Organisation wie Ihre aussieht.

Eine nützliche Disziplin ist es, das Ziel von beiden Seiten zu durchdenken. Bauen Sie es von unten
nach oben aus Ihren Segmenten und erwarteten Antwortraten auf, um zu sehen, was die Daten hergeben,
skizzieren Sie es dann von oben nach unten aus den Einnahmen, die Sie erzielen möchten, und den
Matching-Mitteln, die Sie sichern können, und gleichen Sie beides ab. Wenn die Zahlen weit
auseinanderliegen, liegt die Lücke meist entweder in der Größe Ihres erreichbaren Publikums oder in
der Höhe der vorhandenen Matching-Mittel, und beides lässt sich Monate im Voraus durch den Aufbau
von Listen und Gespräche mit Großspendern angehen.

## Das Team darum herum aufbauen

Sie brauchen kein großes Team, um einen starken Giving Day durchzuführen. Sie brauchen die
richtigen Leute, die sich auf die beiden Dinge konzentrieren, die das Ergebnis bestimmen: Ihre
E-Mail-Kommunikation und Ihre Matching- und Challenge-Mittel. Ein typisches Kernteam hat einen
Director of Development, der Strategie und Vision hält, eine Fundraising- oder
Dauerspende-Managerin, die das Projekt im Tagesgeschäft führt, Großspenden-Fundraiser, die die
Matching- und Challenge-Mittel sichern, und eine Kommunikationsleitung, die Inhalte schreibt und
plant. In einer kleinen Stelle decken ein oder zwei Personen mehrere dieser Rollen ab, und das ist
in Ordnung, sofern sowohl das E-Mail-Programm als auch die Matching-Mittel je einen klaren
Verantwortlichen haben.

Die Kampagnen, die überdurchschnittlich abschneiden, sind jene, die Kolleginnen und Kollegen über
die Entwicklungsabteilung hinaus einbinden. Die Alumni-Arbeit kann Botschafter rekrutieren und bei
der Spenderbindung helfen; die Donor Relations können die Dank- und Wirkungskommunikation tragen;
das Marketing kann den Tag über institutionelle Kanäle wie die Website, Social-Media-Konten und
Newsletter bewerben; Lehrkräfte, Personal und Studierende liefern sowohl die Akzeptanz als auch die
Momente auf dem Campus, die eine digitale Kampagne greifbar machen. Sichern Sie sich vor allem früh
echte Unterstützung von oben, idealerweise von der Leitung der Einrichtung. Das macht aus einem
Giving Day etwas, hinter dem sich die gesamte Organisation versammelt, statt eines Projekts, das
das Entwicklungsteam allein trägt.

## Der sechsmonatige Vorlauf

Die besten Giving Days werden über rund sechs Monate stetig zusammengesetzt, nicht in einer
hektischen letzten Woche improvisiert. Unsere
[Projektplan-Vorlage](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) legt dies mit Aufgaben,
Verantwortlichen und Terminen dar, aber es hilft, den Bogen der Arbeit zu verstehen.

### Sechs Monate vorher: Strategie

Sechs Monate im Voraus ist die Arbeit strategisch. Sichern Sie sich die Unterstützung von oben,
legen Sie Ihre Termine fest, einschließlich der Vorlauf- und Live-Fenster, und einigen Sie sich auf
Ihre Einnahme- und Spender-KPIs. Bestätigen Sie das Thema und das Argumentarium, an dem alles
andere hängt, entscheiden Sie, wie Sie Ihre Kommunikation segmentieren, und wählen Sie, ob
Veranstaltungen auf dem Campus eine Rolle spielen. Wenn Sie externe Unterstützung wünschen, ist
dies der Zeitpunkt, mit Beratern an der Strategie zu arbeiten, solange noch Zeit ist, die gesamte
Kampagne zu prägen, statt nur deren Ende zu flicken.

### Fünf Monate vorher: Botschaft und Gestaltung

Wenden Sie sich der Botschaft und der Gestaltung zu. Finalisieren Sie Ihre Kampagnenbotschaft und
kreative Ausrichtung, entwerfen Sie die Kommunikationspläne für E-Mail, Social Media und Video, und
beginnen Sie, die Spender zu identifizieren, die Matching- und Challenge-Mittel bereitstellen
könnten. Wenn Sie ein Botschafterprogramm durchführen, rekrutieren Sie jetzt Ihre leitenden
Botschafter, solange Sie ihnen ein durchdachtes Briefing statt einer Last-Minute-Anfrage geben
können.

### Vier Monate vorher: Aufbau und Belege

Der Aufbau beginnt ernsthaft. Plattformfunktionen und Spendenseiten nehmen Gestalt an, Sie beginnen,
die Testimonials und Wirkungsnachweise zu sammeln, auf die Ihre Inhalte angewiesen sind, und Sie
eröffnen echte Gespräche mit potenziellen Matching- und Challenge-Spendern. Je früher Sie
Matching-Mittel sichern, desto zuversichtlicher können Sie den Rest der Kampagne darum herum planen.

### Drei Monate vorher: Inhalte und Aufwärmen

Reichen Sie Ihre Plattformanforderungen ein, beginnen Sie, die Vorlauf-E-Mails und -Beiträge zu
schreiben, und drehen Sie Ihre Videos. Beginnen Sie, Ihr Publikum aufzuwärmen, indem Sie
Wirkungsgeschichten über Newsletter und Social Media teilen, und legen Sie fest, wie Sie die bisher
gesicherten Matching-Mittel einsetzen. Lassen Sie Ihren Textentwurf durch den
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) laufen, um ihn zu schärfen, bevor er in
die Nähe eines Versands kommt.

### Zwei und ein Monat vorher: frühes Spenden

Zwei Monate im Voraus ist die Plattform vollständig konfiguriert und getestet, die
Vorab-Launch-Kommunikation ist finalisiert, Matching- und Challenge-Gaben sind bestätigt, und Ihre
Datenauswahl und E-Mail-Listen sind aufgebaut. Einen Monat vorher starten Sie das frühe Spenden,
oft mit einer Frühspende-Challenge, die diejenigen Unterstützer belohnt, die vor dem Tag handeln,
und beginnen, Ihre Inhalte für den Tag zu schreiben. Frühes Spenden ist kein nettes Extra: Es baut
Schwung auf und gibt Ihnen einen fliegenden Start.

### Die letzten zwei Wochen und der Tag

In den letzten zwei Wochen stellen Sie Ihre Live-Kommunikation fertig und beobachten das frühe
Spenden genau. Eine gesunde Kampagne erreicht rund 10 Prozent ihres Spenderziels, bevor der Tag
überhaupt beginnt. Dann kommt der Tag selbst, an dem der Plan einfach laufen muss: E-Mails und
Beiträge planmäßig versendet, Veranstaltungen durchgeführt, Fragen in Echtzeit beantwortet. Danach
verlagert sich der Fokus darauf, jede Gabe zu erfassen und zu bedanken, Spender in einen
regelmäßigen Rhythmus von Wirkungskommunikation einzubinden und die nächste Ansprache zu starten,
sei es ein Telefonappell, um Spender zu danken und aufzuwerten, oder der Giving Day des nächsten
Jahres.

## Geschichten erzählen, die Menschen bewegen

Ein Giving Day steht und fällt mit seinem Storytelling. Ob Sie die Kampagne auf einen bestimmten
Zweck wie Stipendien oder auf zweckungebundenes Spenden ausrichten, Sie brauchen echte, persönliche
Geschichten von Studierenden, Ehemaligen, Eltern und Personal, die zeigen, was Gaben möglich
machen. Fundraising ohne echte Wirkungsnachweise ist deutlich schwerer und schneidet meist
schlechter ab, prüfen Sie daher, bevor Sie sich auf ein Thema festlegen, dass die unterstützenden
Geschichten tatsächlich existieren und dass die darin vorkommenden Menschen bereit sind, gezeigt zu
werden. Ein starkes [Argumentarium](/resources/case-for-support-template/) bindet diese einzelnen
Geschichten zu einem stimmigen Argument zusammen, jetzt zu spenden.

Die resonanzstärksten Geschichten kommen meist von jenen, deren Leben verändert wurde:
Stipendienempfänger, Nutzer von Härtefonds und Ehemalige, die ihre Bildung dafür verantwortlich
machen, wo sie heute stehen. Die wirksamsten Kampagnen nutzen Stimmen, die ihr Publikum
widerspiegeln, und diversifizieren sie über Epoche, Geografie und Haus oder College hinweg, sodass
sich möglichst viele Unterstützer in etwas wiedererkennen. Halten Sie den Ton warm, aufrichtig und
optimistisch, ohne in Sentimentalität zu kippen, und koppeln Sie die Emotion stets an ein konkretes
Ergebnis, damit ein Spender genau sehen kann, was seine Gabe bewirkt.

Verschiedene Formate haben unterschiedliches Gewicht. E-Mails und Webseiten können längere
Erzählungen tragen; Social-Media-Beiträge wirken am besten als prägnantes Zitat oder als 15- bis
30-sekündiger Clip; Instagram-Stories eignen sich für Echtzeit-Updates, Umfragen und Dankesworte
während des Tages. Authentizität schlägt Hochglanz, ermutigen Sie daher zu mit dem Handy gedrehten
Videos von Studierenden und Personal. Praktisch: Beginnen Sie fünf oder sechs Monate im Voraus,
Geschichten zu sammeln, arbeiten Sie abteilungsübergreifend mit Bereichen wie Alumni-Arbeit,
Lehrkörper und Studierendenservice zusammen, um Ihre Erzähler zu finden, und nutzen Sie kurze
Umfragen oder Interviews, um das Rohmaterial zu gewinnen.

## Matching im Detail

Matching ist der größte einzelne Hebel an einem Giving Day. Ein Match nimmt eine Führungs- oder
Großspende und hält sie zurück, um die Gaben aller anderen während der Kampagne zu verdoppeln, und
gibt gewöhnlichen Spendern einen konkreten, zeitlich begrenzten Grund, jetzt statt später zu
handeln. Die Psychologie ist einfach: Menschen spenden mehr und früher, wenn sie sehen, dass ihr
Geld weiter reicht, und wenn die Gelegenheit sichtbar zur Neige geht. Als Faustregel für die
Planung sollten Sie etwa die Hälfte Ihres Ziels an Matching- und Challenge-Mitteln sichern. Wenn
Ihr Ziel 100.000 € beträgt, versuchen Sie, rund 50.000 € aufzustellen.

Es gibt mehr als eine Möglichkeit, ein Match zu strukturieren, und die richtige Wahl hängt davon
ab, was Sie erreichen wollen.

Ein **direktes 1:1-Match**, Euro für Euro, ist am einfachsten zu kommunizieren und die sicherste
Standardwahl. Ein **Match mit höherem Verhältnis** wie 2:1 oder 3:1 ist teurer zu finanzieren,
schlägt aber hart ein, wenn Sie einen bestimmten Vorstoß befeuern wollen, etwa eine Power Hour oder
eine Aktion, um kalte Interessenten zu gewinnen. Ein **gedeckeltes Match**, formuliert als „die
ersten 50.000 € werden verdoppelt“, erzeugt Dringlichkeit, die Gaben nach vorne zieht, weil Spender
verstehen, dass der Topf zur Neige gehen kann. Ein **segmentspezifisches Match** lässt Sie eine
Gruppe ansprechen, die meist unterdurchschnittlich abschneidet, etwa ein Match für junge Ehemalige
oder für Eltern, was sowohl die Ergebnisse in diesem Segment verbessert als auch eine frische
Geschichte zum Erzählen liefert. Ein **thematisches Match**, das an ein bestimmtes Projekt gebunden
ist, bei dem jede Gabe an den Stipendienfonds verdoppelt wird, schärft das Argumentarium und passt
zu Spendern, denen ein bestimmtes Ergebnis am Herzen liegt.

Rechnen Sie es in der Botschaft vor. Wo ein Match vorhanden ist, machen Sie es anschaulich: Eine
einzige Entscheidung zu spenden reicht doppelt so weit, wenn sie verdoppelt wird. Dies in klaren
Zahlen darzustellen, wie im Beispiel unten, lässt das Angebot so großzügig erscheinen, wie es
wirklich ist. Viele europäische Länder bieten Steuerabzüge oder -ermäßigungen auf gemeinnützige
Gaben, und grenzüberschreitende Gaben innerhalb Europas können über Transnational Giving Europe oft
steuereffizient erfolgen, daher lohnt es sich, wo es zutrifft, sanft daran zu erinnern, dass die
tatsächlichen Kosten des Spendens niedriger sein können.

> „Spenden Sie früh, um sicherzustellen, dass Ihre Gabe verdoppelt wird. Dank unserer
> Match-Spender werden die ersten 50.000 €, die während des Giving Days gesammelt werden,
> verdoppelt: die eine Zeit im Jahr, in der Ihre Gabe doppelt so weit reichen kann. Aus einer Gabe
> von 100 € werden 200 €. Spenden Sie, bevor das Match aufgebraucht ist.“

Zwei operative Punkte sind wichtig. Erstens: Kündigen Sie niemals ein Match an, das Sie nicht
schriftlich bestätigt haben: Bauen Sie die Kampagne auf gesicherte, nicht auf erhoffte Mittel.
Zweitens: Entscheiden Sie im Voraus, wie Sie den Moment handhaben, in dem das Match erschöpft ist.
Mitten in der Kampagne ohne Matching-Mittel dazustehen, ist ein gutes Problem, braucht aber dennoch
eine geplante Reaktion, sei es eine frische Challenge, ein Stretch-Match von einem in Reserve
gehaltenen Spender oder eine klare Botschaft, dass der gematchte Topf dank der Unterstützer
ausgeschöpft wurde.

## Challenge-Typen und wie man sie einsetzt

Wo ein Match eine einzelne Gabe verdoppelt, gibt eine Challenge einen Topf an Mitteln frei, wenn
die Gemeinschaft ein gemeinsames Ziel erreicht. Challenges machen den Tag spielerisch und sind
besonders gut darin, Nicht-Spender und Kleinspender hereinzuholen, weil sie Menschen sehen lassen,
dass ihre Beteiligung, nicht nur ihre Euro, einen sichtbaren Unterschied macht. Die meisten starken
Giving Days führen mehrere Challenges über den Tag durch, um immer neue Gründe zum Spenden zu
schaffen.

Eine **Schwellen- oder Freischalt-Challenge** wie „die ersten 30 Spender schalten 1.000 € frei“
belohnt schnelles Handeln und ist ideal für die Eröffnungsstunden. Eine **Meilenstein-Challenge**,
bei der das Erreichen von 200 Spendern weitere 5.000 € freigibt, gibt Ihnen einen Sammelpunkt, auf
den Sie hinarbeiten, und eine natürliche Geschichte zum Erzählen, wenn Sie ihn erreichen. Eine
**Power Hour oder Golden Hour**, in der Gaben innerhalb einer festgelegten Stunde gematcht werden
oder einen Bonus auslösen, bündelt den Verkehr in einem Fenster, um das Sie Vorfreude aufbauen
können, und ist eine der zuverlässigsten Methoden, die Beteiligung in die Höhe zu treiben. Eine
**Kopf-an-Kopf- oder Bestenlisten-Challenge** stellt Gruppen gegeneinander, etwa Häuser, Jahrgänge,
Fakultäten oder Alumni-Regionen, was Unterstützer zu Rekrutierern macht, wenn sie ihre eigenen
Leute die Liste hinauf mobilisieren. Eine **Beteiligungs-Challenge**, die an die Zahl der Spender
statt an die gesammelte Summe gekoppelt ist, ist das beste Werkzeug für den Kulturaufbau und die
Gewinnung, weil sie jedem Unterstützer sagt, dass seine Gabe genauso zählt wie jede andere. Eine
**Vorstands- oder Leitungs-Challenge**, bei der Kuratoren eine Summe zusagen, wenn eine bestimmte
Zahl neuer Spender gibt, bringt Mittel ein und gibt Ihrer Führung zugleich einen Anteil am Ergebnis.
Schließlich lässt Sie eine in Reserve gehaltene **Stretch- oder Bonus-Challenge** zusätzliche
Mittel freigeben, wenn der Tag das Ziel übertrifft, was den Schwung bis zur letzten Stunde am Leben
hält.

Die praktische Kunst besteht darin, diese so zu staffeln, dass es immer einen lebendigen Grund zum
Spenden gibt: eine Freischalt-Challenge zum Start, Meilensteine über den Tag, eine Power Hour, um
einen ruhigen Nachmittag zu beleben, und eine Stretch-Challenge für den Schlussspurt. Die
Botschafter-Werkzeuge Ihrer Plattform, einschließlich Bestenlisten, fertiger Nachrichten und
Bilder, machen diese Mechaniken sichtbar und teilbar, und ein kleiner Anreiz für Top-Botschafter
hält den Wettbewerb freundschaftlich.

## Großspenden: Ihre Matching- und Challenge-Spender sichern und binden

Matching- und Challenge-Mittel erscheinen nicht von selbst. Sie werden Gabe für Gabe von Ihrer
Führungsebene, Ihren Groß- und Erbschaftsspendern sowie von Stiftungen und Förderfonds eingeworben,
und wie Sie diese Spender ansprechen und binden, verdient ebenso viel Sorgfalt wie die öffentliche
Kampagne.

Beginnen Sie früh, idealerweise vier bis sechs Monate im Voraus, indem Sie Interessenten
identifizieren, die sowohl die Fähigkeit als auch die Neigung haben, ein Match zu finanzieren oder
eine Challenge zu benennen. Ihre besten Kandidaten sind oft bestehende Großspender, Kuratoren und
engagierte Dauerspender, die gezeigt haben, dass ihnen die Sache am Herzen liegt. Wenn Sie die
Anfrage stellen, rahmen Sie das Match als Philanthropie mit hoher Hebelwirkung statt nur als große
Gabe: Ein Match-Spender gibt nicht nur Geld, er entfesselt die Großzügigkeit von Hunderten
anderen, und dieser Multiplikator ist das Herz des Angebots. Seien Sie konkret. Erklären Sie, dass
ihre 25.000 €, als Match eingesetzt, wahrscheinlich mehrere Hundert Gaben anregen und die
Tagessumme verdoppeln, und bieten Sie eine Anerkennung, die zu ihrer Vorliebe passt, etwa die
Challenge nach ihnen oder ihrer Familie zu benennen oder sie mit ihrer Erlaubnis als Match-Spender
aufzuführen.

Spenderbindung läuft vor, während und nach dem Tag. Vorab briefen Sie Ihre Match-Spender
ordentlich, bestätigen die Vereinbarung schriftlich und geben ihnen eine Rolle, in der sie sich
beteiligt fühlen können, sei es, einer Challenge ihren Namen zu leihen, ein kurzes Video
aufzunehmen oder als leitender Botschafter zu wirken. Während der Kampagne zeigen Sie ihnen, wie
ihr Match in Echtzeit eingelöst wird, und danken ihnen umgehend, denn die eigene Gabe bei der Arbeit
zu sehen, ist die wirkungsvollste Spenderbindung überhaupt. Danach berichten Sie über die konkrete
Wirkung ihres Matches: wie viele Spender es freigeschaltet, wie viel es gehebelt hat und was die
kombinierte Summe finanzieren wird. Dieser Bericht ist das wichtigste Gespräch für das nächste
Jahr, denn ein gut gebundener Match-Spender gibt sehr oft erneut und häufig mehr.

Der Pipeline-Effekt ist real und wirkt in beide Richtungen. Highgate stellte fest, dass der Tag
selbst künftige Match-Spender schuf, und merkte an, dass

> „drei Personen, die an unserem Giving Day zum ersten Mal eine Gabe machten, gesagt haben, dass
> sie ihre Gabe erhöhen werden, um beim nächsten Giving Day Teil des Match-Pools zu sein.“

Neue Spender, die über einen Giving Day gewonnen werden, können zur Führungsebene und zu den
Match-Spendern des nächsten werden, was ein weiterer Grund ist, Gewinnung und Spenderbindung als
zwei Hälften desselben langen Spiels zu behandeln.

## E-Mail und Social Media

Wenn Storytelling die Substanz eines Giving Days ist, dann ist E-Mail der Motor, der sie ausliefert.
E-Mail treibt typischerweise 90 bis 95 Prozent der Spenden an, Social Media macht 5 bis 10 Prozent
aus, und alles andere, einschließlich Suche und Postwurfsendungen, macht nur 1 bis 3 Prozent aus.
Die Größe und Qualität Ihrer E-Mail-Liste sowie die Botschaften, die Sie an sie senden, verdienen
daher mehr Aufmerksamkeit als jeder andere Kanal.

Der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Versand einer Botschaft und dem Eingang einer Gabe ist ungewöhnlich
direkt, was das beste Argument für einen disziplinierten Zeitplan ist. Highgate hat genau dies
gemessen und festgestellt, dass

> „349 von 488 Gaben während des Tages (72 % aller Gaben) innerhalb von 90 Minuten nach dem Teilen
> einer Botschaft per E-Mail oder Social Media eingingen.“

Gaben kommen in Wellen, und jede Welle folgt einer Botschaft, planen Sie Ihre Versände also
entsprechend.

In den vier Wochen vor dem Tag baut eine Abfolge von „Termin vormerken“-, „noch zwei Wochen“-,
„noch eine Woche“- und „noch 24 Stunden“-E-Mails, gespiegelt auf Social Media, Vorfreude auf und
bringt frühe Gaben herein. Während eines 36-stündigen Giving Days, der von 8 Uhr am ersten Tag bis
20 Uhr am zweiten Tag läuft, trägt ein üblicher Rhythmus rund zehn E-Mails. Tag eins beginnt mit
einer Launch-Botschaft, geht dann über ein Mittags-Update, einen Schwung-Vorstoß am frühen
Nachmittag, eine Erinnerung am frühen Abend und einen Tagesabschluss. Tag zwei baut sich über eine
Morgenerinnerung, ein Challenge-Update zur Mittagszeit, einen Countdown am Nachmittag, einen
Vorstoß in der letzten Stunde und ein abschließendes Dankeschön auf. Verbinden Sie jeden Versand mit
einem lebendigen Grund zum Spenden, etwa einer Challenge, die gerade eröffnet wurde, oder einem
Match, das zur Neige geht, damit die Botschaft Neuigkeiten zu tragen hat statt nur einer weiteren
Erinnerung. Unser [Kommunikationsplan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) und unsere
[E-Mail-Textvorlagen](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) geben Ihnen diese vollständige Abfolge
zum Anpassen.

Die Aufgabe von Social Media ist es, Aufmerksamkeit zu schaffen und Interesse in Handeln zu
verwandeln, was gelingt, wenn es im Gleichschritt mit Ihrem E-Mail-Zeitplan läuft statt im eigenen
Takt. Nutzen Sie die Kanäle, die zu Ihrem Publikum passen, etwa Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn und
WhatsApp, führen Sie mit Wirkung, und leiten Sie jeden Beitrag zurück auf Ihre Spendenseiten. Sie
brauchen weder bezahlte Anzeigen noch ausgefeilte Analysewerkzeuge: durchdachte Planung,
konsistente Botschaften und gute Bilder genügen.

## Botschafter

Botschafter sind Freiwillige, die Ihren Giving Day verstärken, indem sie über ihre eigenen
Netzwerke die Botschaft verbreiten und der Kampagne den sozialen Beweis verleihen, der
Aufmerksamkeit in Handeln verwandelt. Sie können ein starker Multiplikator sein, aber führen Sie
ein Programm nur durch, wenn Sie sowohl die personelle Kapazität haben, es zu unterstützen, als
auch ein echtes Netzwerk von Unterstützern, die bereit sind, in Ihrem Namen aktiv zu werden.
Rekrutieren Sie leitende Botschafter früh, geben Sie ihnen klare Materialien und Botschaften, und
machen Sie ihren Beitrag über eine Bestenliste sichtbar, damit die Engagiertesten Anerkennung
finden. Die London Business School mit Ehemaligen rund um die Welt behandelt ihre Botschafter als
eine Möglichkeit, zu zeigen, wie global ihre Gemeinschaft wirklich ist. Der richtige Ansatz für Sie
hängt davon ab, wer Ihre Fürsprecher sind und wo sie sitzen.

## Der Tag selbst

Wenn der Tag kommt, steht die Strategie, und Ihre Aufgabe ist die Umsetzung. Versenden Sie Ihre
E-Mails und Social-Media-Beiträge genau wie geplant, beobachten Sie das Gespräch in den sozialen
Medien und beteiligen Sie sich daran, verfolgen Sie Ihren Challenge-Fortschritt und passen Sie Ihre
Botschaft an, während sich das Bild ändert, und lassen Sie, falls Sie welche durchführen, Ihre
Campus-Veranstaltungen den digitalen Vorstoß speisen. Machen Sie das Spenden an jedem
Berührungspunkt möglich, einschließlich eines prominenten Spenden-Buttons auf jeder Seite und, für
Momente vor Ort, eines QR-Codes, der die Menschen direkt zu Ihrer Spendenseite führt. Sie können
einen in Sekunden mit dem kostenlosen
[QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/) erstellen. Beantworten Sie Fragen und
Abmeldewünsche umgehend, behalten Sie die Zustellbarkeit im Auge, und bewahren Sie die Nerven: Die
Kampagne, die Sie sechs Monate lang geplant haben, läuft nun weitgehend auf den Gleisen, die Sie
für sie gebaut haben.

## Spenderbindung: der Tag danach und das Jahr danach

Was Sie tun, sobald der Tag endet, entscheidet, ob Sie einen einmaligen Ausschlag oder eine
dauerhafte Beziehung gewonnen haben. Senden Sie den Spendern innerhalb einer Woche eine
Ergebnis-E-Mail mit den Summen, den Erfolgsgeschichten und einer klaren Erinnerung an die Wirkung,
die sie geschaffen haben. Dann machen Sie weiter. Monatliche Wirkungs-Updates, idealerweise
exklusiv für Spender statt in einem allgemeinen Newsletter vergraben, nutzen Geschichten und Bilder,
um Unterstützern zu zeigen, dass ihre Gabe noch am Werk ist. Hier beginnt auch leise der Giving Day
des nächsten Jahres, denn die Spender, die Sie gut binden, sind jene, die erneut geben, und einige
von ihnen werden, wie Highgate feststellte, zu den Match-Spendern, die die nächste Kampagne größer
machen.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="Eine Dankesbotschaft zum Giving Day, die Spender würdigt" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Ein prompter, konkreter Dank ist der Anfang der Kampagne des nächsten Jahres, nicht das Ende dieser.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Auswerten und verbessern

Behandeln Sie jeden Giving Day als Fundament für den nächsten. Erfassen Sie die Kennzahlen, die
zählen: Spenderzahl und Gesamteinnahmen, Ihre durchschnittliche und häufigste Gabe und eine
Aufschlüsselung der Gaben nach Kanal, Segment, Land, Alter, Abschlussjahr und Fonds, neben Ihren
Öffnungs-, Klick-, Abmelde- und Conversion-Raten bei E-Mails sowie Ihrer Reichweite und Stimmung in
den sozialen Medien. Bringen Sie das Team danach zusammen, um die Erfolge zu feiern, ehrlich über
das zu sprechen, was schwer war, und sich darauf zu einigen, was Sie ändern werden. Teilen Sie die
vollständigen Ergebnisse intern mit Führung und Teams und die Kernbotschaft extern mit den Spendern
und Unterstützern, die sie möglich gemacht haben.

Ein Giving Day ist harte Arbeit, aber er gehört zu den lohnendsten Arbeiten, die ein
Fundraising-Team leisten kann. Wie der Schulleiter von Balcarras jeder staatlichen Schule sagt, die
einen erwägt, ist der Rat derer, die es getan haben, erfrischend einfach: „Tun Sie es!“

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Wie lange sollte ein Giving Day dauern?** Die meisten laufen 24 oder 36 Stunden. Ein
36-Stunden-Fenster von 8 Uhr am ersten Tag bis 20 Uhr am zweiten gibt Ihnen zwei Morgenspitzen und
zwei Abendspitzen, mit denen Sie arbeiten können, was zu einem volleren E-Mail-Zeitplan passt.
Kürzere 24-Stunden-Tage erzeugen mehr Dringlichkeit, lassen aber weniger Spielraum zur Erholung,
wenn eine ruhige Phase einsetzt.

**Wie weit im Voraus sollten wir mit der Planung beginnen?** Etwa sechs Monate für einen ersten
Giving Day. Erfahrene Teams, die einen jährlichen Tag durchführen, können mit einem kürzeren Zyklus
arbeiten, aber die strategischen Entscheidungen, die Gespräche mit Match-Spendern und das Sammeln
von Inhalten profitieren alle von Vorlaufzeit.

**Wie viele Matching-Mittel brauchen wir?** Als Richtwert sollten Sie etwa die Hälfte Ihres Ziels
an Matching- und Challenge-Mitteln anstreben. Wenn Sie 100.000 € sammeln wollen, versuchen Sie,
rund 50.000 € zu sichern. Mehr Matching-Mittel, über gut getaktete Challenges eingesetzt, bedeuten
in der Regel mehr Beteiligung.

**Brauchen wir ein großes Team?** Nein. Kleine Teams führen erfolgreiche Giving Days durch, indem
sie sich auf die beiden wichtigsten Dinge konzentrieren, E-Mail-Kommunikation und Matching-Mittel,
und sich für den Rest Kapazität aus Alumni-Arbeit, Marketing und Studierendenservice leihen.

**Worauf kommt es am Tag am meisten an?** Ihre geplante Kommunikation pünktlich zu versenden. Die
Daten sind eindeutig: Die große Mehrheit der Gaben kommt innerhalb von etwa 90 Minuten nach dem
Versand einer Botschaft an, daher ist ein disziplinierter Zeitplan der Unterschied zwischen einem
stetigen Strom von Gaben und einem ruhigen Tag.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Giving-Day-Projektplan-Vorlage](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Giving-Day-Kommunikationsplan-Vorlage](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Giving-Day-E-Mail-Textvorlagen](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Vorlage für das Argumentarium](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Giving-Day-Simulator von Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie Ihr wahrscheinliches Ergebnis, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre E-Mails und Appelltexte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit Ihrer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- [Die Giving-Day-Plattform und die Expertenunterstützung von Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Die Praxisleitfäden von Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): E-Mail-Fundraising, Matching und Challenge, Botschafter und Social Media
- [Die Webinare zum digitalen Fundraising von Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Giving-Day-Fallstudien: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) und [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Sektorverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to run a Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (europe/en): An in-depth, practical guide to planning and running a successful Giving Day, covering targets, storytelling, match funding and challenge mechanics, major gifts, the live 36 hours and stewardship, with real results from schools and universities.
A Giving Day is an intensive, time-bound online fundraising campaign, usually run over 24 to 36
hours, that asks your whole community to give within a single shared window. It is designed to
do several jobs at once: bring in new donors, win back lapsed supporters, prompt fresh gifts
from people who already give, and give your leadership and major donors a focal point to rally
behind. Run well, a Giving Day compresses a year's worth of energy and goodwill into a day or
two and leaves you with a larger, warmer donor base than you started with.

This guide reflects how Hubbub's consultants actually plan and run these campaigns. Since 2018
the team has delivered more than 200 Giving Days, drawing on over 25 years of fundraising
experience across the education and charity sectors. The advice below is detailed on purpose,
because the difference between a flat Giving Day and an exceptional one is rarely a single big
idea. It is the accumulation of dozens of small decisions about data, message, timing and
follow-up.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="Highgate School community taking part in their Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Highgate School's Giving Day raised £250,981 from 578 donors, 35% of them giving for the first time.</figcaption>
</figure>

It helps to be honest from the start about the effort involved. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager at Highgate School, whose Giving Day raised
[£250,981 from 578 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
describes it plainly:

> "Giving Days are hard work to plan, and your team will be extremely busy in the build-up and
> during the 36 hours of the day itself, but they are a unique opportunity to get everybody in
> your institution having fun and pulling together to do something good."

It is also a campaign you grow into rather than perfect on the first attempt. London Business
School, who have now raised
[£1.18 million across four Giving Days from 2,445 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
are open about the learning curve. Their first one was, in their words, "a very manual
process," and they "underestimated the planning and workload involved." Their advice is to
"take the leap if it fits into your strategy: you don't need to do everything in the first
year." This guide will help you concentrate on the things that move the needle and leave the
refinements for future rounds.

> **Working templates.** Rather than starting from a blank page, sign in to download our
> [project plan](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) and
> [case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## What a Giving Day is for, and where it fits

Be clear about why you are running one before you do anything else. Most institutions use a
Giving Day as an annual moment to acquire new donors and reactivate lapsed ones, to prompt
fresh gifts from existing supporters, and to put their leadership, major and legacy donors to
work providing the match and challenge funds that motivate everyone else. It grows
participation, the number of people who give, at least as much as it grows the total raised.
Both matter, but a wider donor base is the asset you will steward and re-solicit for years, so
participation is usually the metric to anchor on.

The campaign works best when it sits inside a continuous giving programme rather than standing
alone. The Giving Day is the spark; the acquisition, reactivation and stewardship around it
through the year are what turn that spark into a culture of giving. Treated as an annual fixture
that feeds a regular giving programme, it compounds: each year's new and reactivated donors
become next year's early givers and ambassadors.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Balcarras School Giving Day campaign page showing more than £40,000 raised" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, a state school, raised £40,101 from 219 donors on its first Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

This is achievable for organisations of every size and type, not only large, well-resourced
development offices. When Balcarras, a state school, ran its first Giving Day, it raised
[£40,101 from 219 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
with gifts ranging from £1 to £2,000. Headteacher Dominic Burke is candid about why it now
matters so much:

> "Our recent Giving Day raised over £40,000 to fund a variety of projects in the school. State
> school funding is simply no longer adequate, particularly when it comes to capital projects,
> so fundraising like this is becoming vital to ensuring the long-term success of the school."

## Data and target-setting

Everything starts with your data, and the single most important figure is how many of your
contacts have a usable, deliverable email address. Email drives roughly 90 to 95 per cent of
donations on a Giving Day, so your email-reachable audience is effectively the ceiling on what
is possible. Spend real time here before you set any target: deduplicate your records, verify
email deliverability, suppress hard bounces, and check that consent and contact preferences are
clean, so that you can actually mail the people you are counting on.

Then segment. At a minimum, separate current donors, lapsed donors and non-donors, and within
those distinguish your warmer and colder groups. Knowing the size and warmth of each segment
lets you forecast realistically and tailor your asks, because a recent regular donor and a
never-given alum who graduated twenty years ago need very different messages.

Set the target around participation first. A credible donor goal grows out of the size of your
contactable audience, the number of emails you can responsibly send, your historic response
rates by segment, your donors' giving history, and sensible peer benchmarks. Treat benchmarks
with care: understand how a peer achieved a result, including their audience size and match
funding, before you borrow their number. Income targets are still worth setting as internal
KPIs, but lead with participation. To pressure-test your assumptions, model the likely outcome
with [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
and use external benchmarking such as
[CASE's Voluntary Support of Education](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
to sense-check what good looks like for an organisation like yours.

A useful discipline is to work the target both ways. Build it bottom-up from your segments and
expected response rates to see what the data supports, then sketch it top-down from the income
you would like to raise and the match funding you can secure, and reconcile the two. If the
numbers are far apart, the gap usually lies in either the size of your contactable audience or
the amount of match funding in place, and both are addressable months ahead with list-building
and major-donor conversations.

## Building the team around it

You do not need a large team to run a strong Giving Day. You need the right people focused on
the two things that determine the result: your email communications and your match and challenge
funding. A typical core team has a Director of Development holding strategy and vision, a
Fundraising or Regular Giving Manager running the project day to day, major gift fundraisers
securing the match and challenge funds, and a communications lead writing and scheduling
content. In a small shop, one or two people cover several of these roles, and that is fine
provided the email programme and the match funding both have a clear owner.

The campaigns that outperform are the ones that pull in colleagues beyond the development
office. Alumni relations can recruit ambassadors and help with stewardship; donor relations can
carry the thank-you and impact communications; marketing can promote the day through
institutional channels such as the website, social accounts and newsletters; faculty, staff and
students provide both the buy-in and the on-campus moments that make a digital campaign feel
tangible. Above all, secure genuine senior support early, ideally from the head of the
institution. That is what turns a Giving Day into something the whole organisation rallies
behind rather than a project the development team carries alone.

## The six-month run-up

The best Giving Days are assembled steadily over roughly six months, not improvised in a frantic
final fortnight. Our [project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) sets
this out with tasks, owners and dates, but it helps to understand the arc of the work.

### Six months out: strategy

Six months ahead, the work is strategic. Secure senior buy-in, lock in your dates including the
pre-launch and live windows, and agree your income and donor KPIs. Confirm the theme and the
case for support that everything else will hang from, decide how you will segment your
communications, and choose whether on-campus events will play a part. If you want external
support, this is the point to begin shaping strategy with consultants, while there is still time
to influence the whole campaign rather than patch the end of it.

### Five months out: message and creative

Turn to message and creative. Finalise your campaign messaging and creative direction, draft the
communications plans for email, social and video, and start identifying the donors who might
provide match and challenge funds. If you are running an ambassador programme, recruit your lead
ambassadors now, while you can give them a considered brief rather than a last-minute request.

### Four months out: build and evidence

The build begins in earnest. Platform functionality and donation pages start to take shape, you
begin gathering the testimonials and demonstrations of impact your content will depend on, and
you open real conversations with prospective match and challenge donors. The earlier you secure
match funding, the more confidently you can plan the rest of the campaign around it.

### Three months out: content and warming

Submit your platform requirements, start writing the pre-launch emails and posts, and film your
videos. Begin warming your audience by sharing impact stories through newsletters and social, and
firm up how you will deploy the match funding you have secured so far. Run your draft copy through
the [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to tighten it before it goes near a
send.

### Two and one months out: early giving

Two months ahead, the platform is fully configured and tested, early-launch communications are
finalised, match and challenge gifts are confirmed, and your data selection and email lists are
built. One month ahead, launch early giving, often with an early-giving challenge that rewards
the supporters who act before the day, and start writing your on-the-day content. Early giving
is not a nice-to-have: it builds momentum and gives you a running start.

### The final fortnight and the day

In the last two weeks, finish your live communications and watch early giving closely. A healthy
campaign reaches around 10 per cent of its donor goal before the day even opens. Then comes the
day itself, when the plan simply has to run: emails and posts sent on schedule, events delivered,
questions answered in real time. Afterwards, the focus shifts to logging and thanking every gift,
folding donors into a regular rhythm of impact communications, and starting the next ask, whether
that is a telephone appeal to thank and upgrade donors or next year's Giving Day.

## Telling stories that move people

A Giving Day rises or falls on its storytelling. Whether you focus the campaign on a specific
cause such as bursaries, or on unrestricted giving, you need real, personal stories from
students, alumni, parents and staff that show what gifts make possible. Fundraising without
genuine demonstrations of impact is far harder and tends to underperform, so before you commit to
a theme, confirm that the stories to support it actually exist and that the people in them are
willing to be featured. A strong [case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/) is
what ties those individual stories into one coherent argument for giving now.

The most resonant stories usually come from those whose lives were changed: bursary recipients,
hardship-fund users, and alumni who credit their education for where they are today. The most
effective campaigns use voices that mirror their audiences, and diversify them across era,
geography and house or college, so that as many supporters as possible recognise something of
themselves. Keep the tone warm, sincere and optimistic without tipping into sentimentality, and
always pair the emotion with a concrete outcome so a donor can see exactly what their gift does.

Different formats carry different weight. Emails and web pages can hold longer narratives; social
posts work best as a sharp quote or a 15 to 30 second clip; Instagram Stories suit real-time
updates, polls and thank-yous during the day. Authenticity beats polish, so encourage student and
staff video shot on a phone. Practically, start collecting stories five or six months ahead, work
across departments such as alumni relations, faculty and student services to find your
storytellers, and use short surveys or interviews to gather the raw material.

## Match funding in depth

Match funding is the single biggest lever in a Giving Day. A match takes a leadership or major
gift and holds it back to double the gifts of everyone else during the campaign, giving ordinary
donors a concrete, time-limited reason to act now rather than later. The psychology is
straightforward: people give more, and give earlier, when they can see their money go further and
when the opportunity is visibly running out. As a planning rule of thumb, aim to secure roughly
half of your target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is €100,000, look to line up
around €50,000.

There is more than one way to structure a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve.

A **straight 1:1 match**, euro for euro, is the simplest to communicate and the safest default.
A **higher-ratio match** such as 2:1 or 3:1 is more expensive to fund but lands hard when you want
to galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects. A
**capped match**, framed as "the first €50,000 will be doubled," creates urgency that pulls gifts
forward, because donors understand the pot can run out. A **segment-specific match** lets you
target a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni or a parents' match, which both
improves results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell. A **themed match** tied to a
particular project, where every gift to the bursary fund is doubled, sharpens the case for support
and suits donors who care about a specific outcome.

Spell the maths out in the message. Where you have a match in place, make it vivid: a single
decision to give goes twice as far when it is doubled. Putting that in plain numbers, as in the
example below, makes the offer feel as generous as it genuinely is. Many European countries offer
tax deductions or reductions on charitable gifts, and cross-border gifts within Europe can often be
made tax-efficiently through Transnational Giving Europe, so where it applies it is worth a gentle
reminder that the real cost of giving can be lower.

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> €50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A €100 gift becomes €200. Give before the match runs out."

Two operational points matter. First, never announce a match you have not confirmed in writing:
build the campaign on funds that are secured, not hoped for. Second, decide in advance how you
will handle the moment the match is exhausted. Running out of match funding mid-campaign is a good
problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is a fresh challenge, a stretch match
from a donor held in reserve, or a clear message that the matched pot has been claimed thanks to
supporters.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the community
hits a collective target. Challenges gamify the day and are especially good at drawing in
non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation, not just their
euros, make a visible difference. Most strong Giving Days run several challenges through the day
to keep creating reasons to give.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock €1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours. A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors
releases a further €5,000, gives you a rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell
when you hit it. A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or
trigger a bonus, concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around and is one of
the most reliable ways to spike participation. A **head-to-head or leaderboard challenge** sets
groups against each other, for example houses, year groups, faculties or alumni regions, which
turns supporters into recruiters as they rally their own people up the board. A **participation
challenge** keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised is the best tool for
culture-building and acquisition, because it tells every supporter that their gift counts as much
as anyone's. A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees pledge a sum if a set number of
new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a stake in the outcome. Finally, a
**stretch or bonus challenge** held in reserve lets you release extra funding if the day exceeds
target, which keeps momentum alive right to the final hour.

The practical art is to sequence these so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock
challenge at launch, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a
stretch challenge for the closing push. Your platform's ambassador tools, including leaderboards,
ready-made messages and images, make these mechanics visible and shareable, and a small incentive
for top ambassadors keeps the competition friendly.

## Major gifts: securing and stewarding your match and challenge donors

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors and from trusts and foundations, and how you solicit and
steward those donors deserves as much care as the public campaign.

Start early, ideally four to six months out, by identifying prospects with both the capacity and
the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your best candidates are often existing major
donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have shown they care about the cause. When you
make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large gift: a match
donor is not only giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of others, and that
multiplier is the heart of the proposition. Be specific. Explain that their €25,000, used as a
match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and double the day's total, and offer recognition
that fits their preference, such as naming the challenge after them or their family, or listing
them as a match donor with their permission.

Stewardship runs before, during and after the day. Beforehand, brief your match donors properly,
confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, whether that is
lending their name to a challenge, recording a short video, or acting as a lead ambassador. During
the campaign, show them their match being claimed in real time and thank them promptly, because
seeing their gift at work is the most powerful stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the
specific impact of their match: how many donors it unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the
combined total will fund. That report is the single most important conversation for next year,
because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives again, and frequently gives more.

The pipeline effect is real, and it runs in both directions. Highgate found that the day itself
created future match donors, noting that

> "three individuals who made a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will
> increase their gift to be part of the match pool for our next Giving Day."

New donors acquired through one Giving Day can become the leadership and match donors of the next,
which is another reason to treat acquisition and stewardship as two halves of the same long game.

## Email and social media

If storytelling is the substance of a Giving Day, email is the engine that delivers it. Email
typically drives 90 to 95 per cent of donations, social media accounts for 5 to 10 per cent, and
everything else, including search and direct mail, makes up just 1 to 3 per cent. The size and
quality of your email list, and the messages you send to it, therefore deserve more attention than
any other channel.

The link between sending a message and receiving a gift is unusually direct, which is the best
argument for a disciplined schedule. Highgate measured exactly this and found that

> "349 out of 488 gifts during the day (72% of all gifts) were received within 90 minutes of a
> message being shared via email or social media."

Gifts arrive in waves, and each wave follows a message, so plan your sends accordingly.

In the four weeks before the day, a sequence of save-the-date, "two weeks to go," "one week to go"
and "24 hours to go" emails, mirrored on social, builds anticipation and brings in early gifts.
During a 36-hour Giving Day running from 8am on day one to 8pm on day two, a common rhythm carries
around ten emails. Day one opens with a launch message, then moves through a midday update, a
mid-afternoon momentum push, an early-evening reminder and an end-of-day wrap-up. Day two builds
through a morning reminder, a midday challenge update, an afternoon countdown, a final-hour push
and a closing thank-you. Tie each send to a live reason to give, such as a challenge that has just
opened or a match that is running down, so the message has news to carry rather than just another
reminder. Our [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) and
[email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) give you this full sequence to adapt.

Social media's job is to raise awareness and convert interest into action, which it does when it
runs in step with your email schedule rather than to its own rhythm. Use the channels that suit
your audience, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, lead with impact, and drive
every post back to your donation pages. You do not need paid ads or sophisticated analytics tools:
thoughtful planning, consistent messaging and good visuals are enough.

## Ambassadors

Ambassadors are volunteers who amplify your Giving Day by spreading the word through their own
networks and lending the campaign the social proof that turns awareness into action. They can be a
powerful multiplier, but only run a programme if you have both the staff capacity to support it and
a genuine network of supporters willing to be active on your behalf. Recruit lead ambassadors
early, give them clear assets and messages, and make their contribution visible through a
leaderboard so the most engaged are recognised. London Business School, with alumni around the
world, treat their ambassadors as a way to show how global their community really is. The right
approach for you depends on who your advocates are and where they sit.

## The day itself

By the time the day arrives, the strategy is set and your job is execution. Send your emails and
social posts exactly as planned, watch the social conversation and join it, track your challenge
progress and adjust your messaging as the picture changes, and, if you are running them, let your
on-campus events feed the digital push. Make giving possible at every touchpoint, including a
prominent donate button on every page and, for in-person moments, a QR code that takes people
straight to your donation page. You can create one in seconds with the free
[QR code generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/). Answer questions and unsubscribe requests
promptly, keep an eye on deliverability, and hold your nerve: the campaign you spent six months
planning now runs largely on the rails you built for it.

## Stewardship: the day after and the year after

What you do once the day ends determines whether you have gained a one-off spike or a lasting
relationship. Within a week, send donors a results email with the totals, the success stories and a
clear reminder of the impact they created. Then keep going. Monthly impact updates, ideally
exclusive to donors rather than buried in a general newsletter, use stories and visuals to show
supporters that their gift is still at work. This is also where next year's Giving Day quietly
begins, because the donors you steward well are the ones who give again, and some of them, as
Highgate found, become the match donors who make the next campaign bigger.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="A Giving Day thank-you message celebrating donors" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Prompt, specific thanks is the start of next year's campaign, not the end of this one.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Reviewing and improving

Treat every Giving Day as the foundation for the next. Capture the metrics that matter: donor count
and total income, your average and most common gift, and a breakdown of gifts by channel, segment,
country, age, graduation year and fund, alongside your email open, click-through, unsubscribe and
conversion rates and your social reach and sentiment. Bring the team together afterwards to
celebrate the wins, talk honestly about what was hard, and agree what you will change. Share the
full results internally with leadership and teams, and the top-line story externally with the
donors and supporters who made it happen.

A Giving Day is hard work, but it is some of the most rewarding work a fundraising team can do. As
Balcarras's headteacher says to any state school weighing one up, the advice from those who have
done it tends to be refreshingly simple: "Do it!"

## Frequently asked questions

**How long should a Giving Day last?** Most run for 24 or 36 hours. A 36-hour window from 8am on
day one to 8pm on day two gives you two morning peaks and two evening peaks to work with, which
suits a fuller email schedule. Shorter 24-hour days create more urgency but leave less room for
recovery if a quiet patch hits.

**How far ahead should we start planning?** Around six months for a first Giving Day. Experienced
teams running an annual day can work to a shorter cycle, but the strategic decisions, match-donor
conversations and content gathering all benefit from lead time.

**How much match funding do we need?** As a guide, aim for roughly half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise €100,000, look to secure around €50,000. More match funding,
used through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.

**Do we need a big team?** No. Small teams run successful Giving Days by focusing on the two things
that matter most, email communications and match funding, and by borrowing capacity from alumni
relations, marketing and student services for the rest.

**What matters most on the day?** Sending your planned communications on time. The data is
consistent: the large majority of gifts arrive within about 90 minutes of a message going out, so a
disciplined schedule is the difference between a steady stream of gifts and a quiet day.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Giving Day project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day communications plan template](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model your likely result before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your emails and appeal copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to your donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Giving Day platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Hubbub's how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): email fundraising, match and challenge, ambassadors and social
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Giving Day case studies: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) and [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo organizar un Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica y exhaustiva para planificar y organizar un Giving Day exitoso, que abarca objetivos, narrativa, financiación de contrapartida y mecánicas de reto, grandes donaciones, las 36 horas en directo y la fidelización, con resultados reales de colegios y universidades.
Un Giving Day es una campaña de captación de fondos en línea intensiva y acotada en el tiempo, que
suele desarrollarse a lo largo de 24 a 36 horas y que pide a toda tu comunidad que done dentro de
una misma ventana compartida. Está diseñado para cumplir varias funciones a la vez: atraer a nuevos
donantes, recuperar a apoyos inactivos, suscitar nuevas donaciones de quienes ya dan y ofrecer a tu
dirección y a tus grandes donantes un punto de encuentro en torno al cual congregarse. Bien
ejecutado, un Giving Day concentra la energía y la buena voluntad de todo un año en uno o dos días,
y te deja con una base de donantes más amplia y más cercana de la que tenías al empezar.

Esta guía refleja cómo los consultores de Hubbub planifican y ejecutan realmente estas campañas.
Desde 2018, el equipo ha realizado más de 200 Giving Days, apoyándose en más de 25 años de
experiencia en captación de fondos en los sectores educativo y benéfico. Los consejos siguientes
son detallados a propósito, porque la diferencia entre un Giving Day plano y uno excepcional rara
vez está en una única gran idea. Es la acumulación de docenas de pequeñas decisiones sobre datos,
mensaje, tiempos y seguimiento.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="La comunidad del Highgate School participando en su Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>El Giving Day del Highgate School recaudó 250.981 £ de 578 donantes, el 35 % de los cuales donaba por primera vez.</figcaption>
</figure>

Conviene ser honestos desde el principio sobre el esfuerzo que conlleva. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager del Highgate School, cuyo Giving Day recaudó
[250.981 £ de 578 donantes](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
lo describe sin rodeos:

> «Los Giving Days suponen mucho trabajo de planificación, y tu equipo estará extremadamente
> ocupado durante la preparación y durante las 36 horas del día en sí, pero son una oportunidad
> única para reunir a todo el mundo en tu institución a divertirse y a unir fuerzas para hacer algo
> bueno.»

También es una campaña en la que se crece poco a poco, en lugar de perfeccionarla al primer
intento. La London Business School, que ya ha recaudado
[1,18 millones de libras en cuatro Giving Days de 2.445 donantes](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
habla abiertamente de la curva de aprendizaje. El primero fue, en sus palabras, «un proceso muy
manual», y «subestimaron la planificación y la carga de trabajo que implicaba». Su consejo es «dar
el paso si encaja en tu estrategia: no hace falta hacerlo todo el primer año». Esta guía te ayudará
a concentrarte en lo que de verdad marca la diferencia y a dejar los refinamientos para ediciones
futuras.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** En lugar de partir de una página en blanco, inicia sesión para
> descargar nuestro
> [plan de proyecto](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/), nuestro
> [plan de comunicación](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/), las
> [plantillas de texto para correos](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) y la
> [plantilla de argumentario](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## Para qué sirve un Giving Day y dónde encaja

Ten claro por qué organizas uno antes de hacer cualquier otra cosa. La mayoría de las instituciones
utilizan un Giving Day como momento anual para captar nuevos donantes y reactivar a los inactivos,
suscitar nuevas donaciones de los apoyos existentes y poner a trabajar a su dirección, a sus grandes
donantes y a sus donantes testamentarios para que aporten los fondos de contrapartida y de reto que
motivan a todos los demás. Hace crecer la participación, el número de personas que donan, al menos
tanto como hace crecer el total recaudado. Ambas cosas importan, pero una base de donantes más
amplia es el activo que cuidarás y volverás a solicitar durante años, así que la participación suele
ser la métrica en la que anclarse.

La campaña funciona mejor cuando se inserta en un programa de donación continuo en lugar de quedar
aislada. El Giving Day es la chispa; la captación, la reactivación y la fidelización que lo rodean a
lo largo del año son lo que convierte esa chispa en una cultura de la donación. Tratado como una
cita anual que alimenta un programa de donación regular, se acumula: los donantes nuevos y
reactivados de un año se convierten en los donantes tempranos y los embajadores del siguiente.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Página de campaña del Giving Day del Balcarras School mostrando más de 40.000 £ recaudadas" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, un colegio público, recaudó 40.101 £ de 219 donantes en su primer Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

Esto está al alcance de organizaciones de todo tamaño y tipo, no solo de grandes oficinas de
desarrollo bien dotadas de recursos. Cuando Balcarras, un colegio público, realizó su primer Giving
Day, recaudó
[40.101 £ de 219 donantes](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
con donaciones que iban de 1 £ a 2.000 £. El director Dominic Burke es franco sobre por qué ahora
importa tanto:

> «Nuestro reciente Giving Day recaudó más de 40.000 £ para financiar diversos proyectos en el
> colegio. La financiación de los colegios públicos sencillamente ya no es suficiente, sobre todo
> cuando se trata de proyectos de inversión, así que una captación de fondos como esta se está
> volviendo vital para asegurar el éxito a largo plazo del centro.»

## Datos y fijación de objetivos

Todo empieza por tus datos, y la cifra más importante de todas es cuántos de tus contactos tienen
una dirección de correo electrónico utilizable y entregable. El correo electrónico genera en torno
al 90 a 95 por ciento de las donaciones en un Giving Day, así que tu audiencia alcanzable por correo
es, en la práctica, el techo de lo que es posible. Dedica tiempo real a esto antes de fijar
cualquier objetivo: depura duplicados en tus registros, verifica la entregabilidad del correo,
suprime los rebotes definitivos y comprueba que los consentimientos y las preferencias de contacto
estén en orden, para que puedas escribir de verdad a las personas con las que cuentas.

Luego segmenta. Como mínimo, separa a los donantes actuales, a los donantes inactivos y a los no
donantes, y dentro de esos grupos distingue tus segmentos más cercanos de los más fríos. Conocer el
tamaño y la cercanía de cada segmento te permite hacer previsiones realistas y adaptar tus
solicitudes, porque un donante regular reciente y un exalumno que nunca ha donado y se graduó hace
veinte años necesitan mensajes muy distintos.

Fija el objetivo poniendo la participación en primer lugar. Un objetivo creíble de donantes nace del
tamaño de tu audiencia contactable, del número de correos que puedes enviar de forma responsable, de
tus tasas históricas de respuesta por segmento, del historial de donación de tus donantes y de
referencias sensatas del sector. Trata las referencias con cuidado: entiende cómo un par logró un
resultado, incluido el tamaño de su audiencia y su financiación de contrapartida, antes de tomar
prestada su cifra. Los objetivos de ingresos siguen siendo útiles como KPI internos, pero lidera con
la participación. Para poner a prueba tus supuestos, modela el resultado probable con el
[simulador de Giving Day de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator), y
usa referencias externas como el
[Voluntary Support of Education de CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
para calibrar cómo es un buen resultado para una organización como la tuya.

Una disciplina útil es trabajar el objetivo en los dos sentidos. Constrúyelo de abajo arriba a
partir de tus segmentos y tus tasas de respuesta esperadas para ver qué respaldan los datos, luego
esbózalo de arriba abajo a partir de los ingresos que te gustaría recaudar y de la financiación de
contrapartida que puedas asegurar, y concilia ambos. Si las cifras quedan muy alejadas, la brecha
suele estar en el tamaño de tu audiencia contactable o en la cantidad de contrapartida disponible, y
ambas se pueden abordar con meses de antelación construyendo listas y manteniendo conversaciones con
grandes donantes.

## Construir el equipo en torno a él

No necesitas un equipo grande para llevar a cabo un Giving Day sólido. Necesitas a las personas
adecuadas centradas en las dos cosas que determinan el resultado: tus comunicaciones por correo y tu
financiación de contrapartida y de reto. Un equipo central típico tiene un Director of Development
que sostiene la estrategia y la visión, un Fundraising o Regular Giving Manager que dirige el
proyecto día a día, captadores de grandes donaciones que aseguran los fondos de contrapartida y
reto, y un responsable de comunicación que redacta y programa el contenido. En una estructura
pequeña, una o dos personas cubren varios de estos roles, y eso está bien siempre que tanto el
programa de correo como la financiación de contrapartida tengan un responsable claro.

Las campañas que superan las expectativas son las que implican a colegas más allá de la oficina de
desarrollo. Las relaciones con exalumnos pueden reclutar embajadores y ayudar en la fidelización;
las relaciones con donantes pueden encargarse de los agradecimientos y las comunicaciones de
impacto; el marketing puede promover el día a través de los canales institucionales como la web, las
cuentas sociales y los boletines; el profesorado, el personal y el alumnado aportan tanto la
adhesión como los momentos presenciales que hacen tangible una campaña digital. Sobre todo, asegura
pronto un apoyo genuino de la dirección, idealmente del responsable de la institución. Eso es lo que
convierte un Giving Day en algo en torno a lo cual se congrega toda la organización, en lugar de un
proyecto que el equipo de desarrollo carga solo.

## La preparación de seis meses

Los mejores Giving Days se ensamblan de forma constante a lo largo de unos seis meses, no se
improvisan en una frenética última quincena. Nuestra
[plantilla de plan de proyecto](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) lo expone con tareas,
responsables y fechas, pero ayuda comprender el arco del trabajo.

### A seis meses: la estrategia

Seis meses antes, el trabajo es estratégico. Asegura el respaldo de la dirección, fija tus fechas,
incluidas las ventanas de prelanzamiento y de campaña en directo, y acuerda tus KPI de ingresos y de
donantes. Confirma el tema y el argumentario del que colgará todo lo demás, decide cómo segmentarás
tus comunicaciones y elige si los eventos presenciales tendrán un papel. Si quieres apoyo externo,
este es el momento de empezar a perfilar la estrategia con consultores, mientras aún hay tiempo de
influir en toda la campaña en lugar de parchear su final.

### A cinco meses: mensaje y creatividad

Pasa al mensaje y a la creatividad. Finaliza el mensaje de tu campaña y la dirección creativa,
redacta los planes de comunicación para correo, redes y vídeo, y empieza a identificar a los
donantes que podrían aportar fondos de contrapartida y de reto. Si vas a llevar un programa de
embajadores, recluta ahora a tus embajadores principales, mientras puedes darles un briefing
meditado en lugar de una petición de última hora.

### A cuatro meses: construcción y evidencias

La construcción empieza en serio. Las funcionalidades de la plataforma y las páginas de donación
empiezan a tomar forma, comienzas a reunir los testimonios y las demostraciones de impacto de los
que dependerá tu contenido, y abres conversaciones reales con posibles donantes de contrapartida y
reto. Cuanto antes asegures la financiación de contrapartida, con más confianza podrás planificar el
resto de la campaña en torno a ella.

### A tres meses: contenido y calentamiento

Envía tus requisitos de plataforma, empieza a redactar los correos y publicaciones de
prelanzamiento, y graba tus vídeos. Comienza a calentar a tu audiencia compartiendo historias de
impacto a través de boletines y redes, y concreta cómo desplegarás la financiación de contrapartida
asegurada hasta ahora. Pasa tu borrador de texto por el
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) para afinarlo antes de que se acerque a un
envío.

### A dos y un mes: la donación anticipada

Dos meses antes, la plataforma está completamente configurada y probada, las comunicaciones de
lanzamiento anticipado están finalizadas, las donaciones de contrapartida y de reto están
confirmadas y tu selección de datos y tus listas de correo están construidas. Un mes antes, lanza la
donación anticipada, a menudo con un reto de donación anticipada que recompensa a los apoyos que
actúan antes del día, y empieza a redactar tu contenido para la jornada. La donación anticipada no
es un extra prescindible: genera impulso y te da una salida lanzada.

### La última quincena y el día en sí

En las dos últimas semanas, termina tus comunicaciones en directo y vigila de cerca la donación
anticipada. Una campaña sana alcanza alrededor del 10 por ciento de su objetivo de donantes antes de
que el día siquiera abra. Luego llega el día en sí, en el que el plan simplemente tiene que
desarrollarse: correos y publicaciones enviados según el calendario, eventos ejecutados, preguntas
respondidas en tiempo real. Después, el foco se desplaza a registrar y agradecer cada donación, a
incorporar a los donantes a un ritmo regular de comunicaciones de impacto y a iniciar la siguiente
solicitud, ya sea una campaña telefónica para agradecer y elevar a los donantes o el Giving Day del
año que viene.

## Contar historias que conmueven

Un Giving Day se sostiene o se hunde según su narrativa. Tanto si centras la campaña en una causa
específica como las becas, como si la centras en la donación no finalista, necesitas historias
reales y personales de estudiantes, exalumnos, familias y personal que muestren lo que las
donaciones hacen posible. Captar fondos sin demostraciones genuinas de impacto es mucho más difícil
y tiende a rendir por debajo, así que antes de comprometerte con un tema, confirma que las historias
que lo respaldan existen de verdad y que las personas que aparecen en ellas están dispuestas a ser
mostradas. Un argumentario sólido,
[un buen case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/), es lo que liga esas historias
individuales en un único argumento coherente para donar ahora.

Las historias más resonantes suelen venir de aquellos cuya vida cambió: beneficiarios de becas,
usuarios de fondos de emergencia y exalumnos que atribuyen a su educación el punto en el que están
hoy. Las campañas más eficaces usan voces que reflejan a su público y las diversifican por época,
geografía y house o college, de modo que el mayor número posible de apoyos reconozca algo de sí
mismo. Mantén un tono cálido, sincero y optimista sin caer en la sensiblería, y acompaña siempre la
emoción con un resultado concreto para que un donante pueda ver exactamente qué hace su donación.

Distintos formatos tienen distinto peso. Los correos y las páginas web pueden sostener narrativas
más largas; las publicaciones sociales funcionan mejor como una cita contundente o un clip de 15 a
30 segundos; las Historias de Instagram se adaptan a las actualizaciones en tiempo real, las
encuestas y los agradecimientos durante el día. La autenticidad gana al acabado, así que anima a
grabar vídeos de estudiantes y personal con el teléfono. En la práctica, empieza a recopilar
historias cinco o seis meses antes, trabaja de forma transversal con departamentos como relaciones
con exalumnos, profesorado y servicios al estudiante para encontrar a tus narradores, y usa
encuestas breves o entrevistas para reunir la materia prima.

## La contrapartida en profundidad

La financiación de contrapartida es la mayor palanca de un Giving Day. Una contrapartida toma una
donación de un líder o una gran donación y la reserva para duplicar las donaciones de todos los
demás durante la campaña, dando a los donantes corrientes una razón concreta y limitada en el tiempo
para actuar ahora en lugar de más tarde. La psicología es sencilla: la gente da más, y antes, cuando
ve que su dinero llega más lejos y cuando la oportunidad se agota a la vista. Como regla práctica de
planificación, intenta asegurar alrededor de la mitad de tu objetivo en fondos de contrapartida y de
reto. Si tu objetivo es de 100.000 €, procura reunir en torno a 50.000 €.

Hay más de una forma de estructurar una contrapartida, y la elección correcta depende de lo que
estés intentando lograr.

Una **contrapartida directa 1:1**, euro por euro, es la más sencilla de comunicar y la opción por
defecto más segura. Una **contrapartida de ratio más alto**, como 2:1 o 3:1, es más cara de
financiar pero impacta con fuerza cuando quieres galvanizar un empuje concreto, por ejemplo una
power hour o una acción para convertir prospectos fríos. Una **contrapartida con tope**, planteada
como «los primeros 50.000 € se duplicarán», genera una urgencia que adelanta las donaciones, porque
los donantes entienden que el fondo puede agotarse. Una **contrapartida específica de segmento** te
permite dirigirte a un grupo que suele rendir por debajo, como una contrapartida para jóvenes
exalumnos o para familias, lo que mejora los resultados en ese segmento y te da una historia nueva
que contar. Una **contrapartida temática** vinculada a un proyecto concreto, en la que cada donación
al fondo de becas se duplica, afina el argumentario y conviene a los donantes que se preocupan por
un resultado específico.

Explica las cuentas en el mensaje. Donde tengas una contrapartida en marcha, hazla vívida: una sola
decisión de donar llega el doble de lejos cuando se duplica. Ponerlo en cifras claras, como en el
ejemplo de abajo, hace que la oferta parezca tan generosa como realmente es. Muchos países europeos
ofrecen deducciones o reducciones fiscales sobre las donaciones benéficas, y las donaciones
transfronterizas dentro de Europa a menudo pueden hacerse de forma fiscalmente eficiente a través de
Transnational Giving Europe, así que donde aplique vale la pena recordar con delicadeza que el coste
real de donar puede ser menor.

> «Haz tu donación pronto para asegurarte de que se duplique. Gracias a nuestros donantes de
> contrapartida, los primeros 50.000 € recaudados durante el Giving Day se duplicarán: el único
> momento del año en que tu donación puede llegar el doble de lejos. Una donación de 100 € se
> convierte en 200 €. Dona antes de que se agote la contrapartida.»

Importan dos puntos operativos. Primero, no anuncies nunca una contrapartida que no hayas confirmado
por escrito: construye la campaña sobre fondos asegurados, no esperados. Segundo, decide de antemano
cómo gestionarás el momento en que la contrapartida se agote. Quedarte sin fondos de contrapartida a
mitad de campaña es un buen problema, pero aun así necesita una respuesta planificada, ya sea un reto
nuevo, una contrapartida de extensión de un donante guardado en reserva o un mensaje claro de que el
fondo de contrapartida se ha agotado gracias a los apoyos.

## Tipos de reto y cómo usarlos

Donde una contrapartida duplica una donación individual, un reto libera un fondo cuando la comunidad
alcanza un objetivo colectivo. Los retos convierten el día en un juego y son especialmente buenos
para atraer a no donantes y a donantes de menor cuantía, porque permiten a la gente ver que su
participación, no solo sus euros, marca una diferencia visible. La mayoría de los Giving Days sólidos
desarrollan varios retos a lo largo del día para seguir creando razones para donar.

Un **reto de umbral o de desbloqueo**, como «los primeros 30 donantes desbloquean 1.000 €»,
recompensa la acción temprana y es ideal para las horas de apertura. Un **reto de hito**, en el que
alcanzar 200 donantes libera otros 5.000 €, te da un punto de reunión hacia el que empujar y una
historia natural que contar cuando lo alcanzas. Una **power hour u hora dorada**, en la que las
donaciones dentro de una hora establecida se duplican o activan una bonificación, concentra el
tráfico en una ventana en torno a la cual puedes generar expectación y es una de las formas más
fiables de disparar la participación. Un **reto cara a cara o de clasificación** enfrenta a grupos
entre sí, por ejemplo houses, promociones, facultades o regiones de exalumnos, lo que convierte a
los apoyos en reclutadores cuando movilizan a los suyos para subir en la tabla. Un **reto de
participación** ligado al número de donantes en lugar de a la cantidad recaudada es la mejor
herramienta para construir cultura y para la captación, porque dice a cada apoyo que su donación
cuenta tanto como la de cualquiera. Un **reto del consejo o de la dirección**, en el que los
patronos se comprometen a aportar una suma si dona un número determinado de nuevos donantes, recauda
fondos y da a tu dirección una parte en el resultado. Por último, un **reto de extensión o
bonificación** guardado en reserva te permite liberar fondos adicionales si el día supera el
objetivo, lo que mantiene vivo el impulso hasta la última hora.

El arte práctico consiste en secuenciar estos retos de modo que siempre haya una razón viva para
donar: un reto de desbloqueo en el lanzamiento, hitos a lo largo del día, una power hour para
levantar una tarde tranquila y un reto de extensión para el empuje final. Las herramientas para
embajadores de tu plataforma, incluidas las clasificaciones, los mensajes listos para usar y las
imágenes, hacen visibles y compartibles estas mecánicas, y un pequeño incentivo para los mejores
embajadores mantiene la competición amistosa.

## Grandes donaciones: asegurar y cuidar a tus donantes de contrapartida y de reto

La financiación de contrapartida y de reto no aparece sola. Se capta, donación a donación, de tu
dirección, de tus grandes donantes y de tus donantes testamentarios, y de fundaciones y entidades
financiadoras, y la forma en que solicitas y cuidas a esos donantes merece tanto esmero como la
campaña pública.

Empieza pronto, idealmente entre cuatro y seis meses antes, identificando a prospectos que tengan
tanto la capacidad como la inclinación para financiar una contrapartida o dar nombre a un reto. Tus
mejores candidatos suelen ser grandes donantes existentes, patronos y donantes regulares
comprometidos que han demostrado que les importa la causa. Cuando hagas la petición, plantea la
contrapartida como filantropía de alto apalancamiento en lugar de como una simple gran donación: un
donante de contrapartida no solo está dando dinero, está desbloqueando la generosidad de cientos de
personas más, y ese multiplicador es el corazón de la propuesta. Sé concreto. Explica que sus
25.000 €, usados como contrapartida, probablemente inspirarán varios cientos de donaciones y
duplicarán el total del día, y ofrece un reconocimiento que se ajuste a su preferencia, como dar al
reto su nombre o el de su familia, o figurarlos como donantes de contrapartida con su permiso.

La fidelización transcurre antes, durante y después del día. Antes, informa bien a tus donantes de
contrapartida, confirma el acuerdo por escrito y dales un papel del que puedan sentirse parte, ya
sea prestar su nombre a un reto, grabar un vídeo corto o actuar como embajador principal. Durante la
campaña, muéstrales cómo se reclama su contrapartida en tiempo real y agradéceselo con prontitud,
porque ver la propia donación en acción es la fidelización más poderosa que existe. Después, informa
del impacto concreto de su contrapartida: a cuántos donantes desbloqueó, cuánto apalancó y qué
financiará el total combinado. Ese informe es la conversación más importante de cara al año
siguiente, porque un donante de contrapartida bien cuidado muy a menudo vuelve a donar, y con
frecuencia dona más.

El efecto cadena es real, y funciona en ambas direcciones. Highgate descubrió que el día en sí
creaba futuros donantes de contrapartida, señalando que

> «tres personas que hicieron una donación por primera vez en nuestro Giving Day han dicho que
> aumentarán su donación para formar parte del fondo de contrapartida de nuestro próximo Giving
> Day.»

Los nuevos donantes captados a través de un Giving Day pueden convertirse en la dirección y en los
donantes de contrapartida del siguiente, lo que es otra razón para tratar la captación y la
fidelización como dos mitades del mismo juego de largo plazo.

## Correo electrónico y redes sociales

Si la narrativa es la sustancia de un Giving Day, el correo electrónico es el motor que la entrega.
El correo electrónico genera normalmente del 90 al 95 por ciento de las donaciones, las redes
sociales suponen del 5 al 10 por ciento, y todo lo demás, incluidos la búsqueda y el correo postal,
representa apenas del 1 al 3 por ciento. El tamaño y la calidad de tu lista de correo, y los mensajes
que le envías, merecen por tanto más atención que cualquier otro canal.

El vínculo entre enviar un mensaje y recibir una donación es inusualmente directo, lo que es el mejor
argumento a favor de un calendario disciplinado. Highgate midió exactamente esto y descubrió que

> «349 de las 488 donaciones recibidas durante el día (el 72 % de todas las donaciones) llegaron en
> los 90 minutos posteriores a compartir un mensaje por correo electrónico o redes sociales.»

Las donaciones llegan en oleadas, y cada oleada sigue a un mensaje, así que planifica tus envíos en
consecuencia.

En las cuatro semanas previas al día, una secuencia de correos de «reserva la fecha», «quedan dos
semanas», «queda una semana» y «quedan 24 horas», reflejada en las redes, genera expectación y atrae
las primeras donaciones. Durante un Giving Day de 36 horas que va de las 8 de la mañana del primer
día a las 8 de la tarde del segundo, un ritmo habitual lleva alrededor de diez correos. El primer día
abre con un mensaje de lanzamiento, luego pasa por una actualización de mediodía, un empuje de
impulso a media tarde, un recordatorio al caer la tarde y un resumen de cierre de jornada. El segundo
día crece a través de un recordatorio matinal, una actualización de reto a mediodía, una cuenta atrás
por la tarde, un empuje en la última hora y un agradecimiento de cierre. Liga cada envío a una razón
viva para donar, como un reto que acaba de abrirse o una contrapartida que se está agotando, para que
el mensaje tenga una novedad que llevar en lugar de un recordatorio más. Nuestro
[plan de comunicación](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) y nuestras
[plantillas de texto para correos](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) te dan esta secuencia
completa para adaptar.

El cometido de las redes sociales es generar conocimiento y convertir el interés en acción, lo que
hacen cuando avanzan al paso de tu calendario de correos en lugar de a su propio ritmo. Usa los
canales que convienen a tu público, como Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn y WhatsApp, lidera con el
impacto y dirige cada publicación de vuelta a tus páginas de donación. No necesitas anuncios de pago
ni sofisticadas herramientas de analítica: una planificación reflexiva, mensajes coherentes y buenas
imágenes bastan.

## Embajadores

Los embajadores son voluntarios que amplifican tu Giving Day difundiendo el mensaje a través de sus
propias redes y prestando a la campaña la prueba social que convierte el conocimiento en acción.
Pueden ser un poderoso multiplicador, pero solo lleva a cabo un programa si tienes tanto la capacidad
de personal para apoyarlo como una red genuina de apoyos dispuestos a estar activos en tu nombre.
Recluta pronto a los embajadores principales, dales recursos y mensajes claros, y haz visible su
contribución a través de una clasificación para que los más implicados sean reconocidos. La London
Business School, con exalumnos por todo el mundo, considera a sus embajadores una forma de mostrar lo
global que es realmente su comunidad. El enfoque adecuado para ti depende de quiénes son tus
defensores y de dónde se encuentran.

## El día en sí

Cuando llega el día, la estrategia está fijada y tu tarea es la ejecución. Envía tus correos y
publicaciones sociales exactamente como estaba planeado, observa la conversación social y súmate a
ella, sigue el avance de tus retos y ajusta tu mensaje a medida que cambia el panorama, y, si los
organizas, deja que tus eventos presenciales alimenten el empuje digital. Haz posible donar en cada
punto de contacto, incluido un botón de donación destacado en cada página y, para los momentos
presenciales, un código QR que lleve a la gente directamente a tu página de donación. Puedes crear
uno en segundos con el
[generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/) gratuito. Responde con prontitud a las
preguntas y a las solicitudes de baja, vigila la entregabilidad y mantén la calma: la campaña que
pasaste seis meses planificando ahora corre en gran parte sobre los raíles que construiste para ella.

## Fidelización: el día después y el año después

Lo que haces una vez termina el día determina si has ganado un pico puntual o una relación duradera.
En el plazo de una semana, envía a los donantes un correo de resultados con los totales, las
historias de éxito y un recordatorio claro del impacto que crearon. Luego sigue adelante. Las
actualizaciones mensuales de impacto, idealmente exclusivas para donantes en lugar de enterradas en
un boletín general, usan historias e imágenes para mostrar a los apoyos que su donación sigue en
acción. Aquí también empieza calladamente el Giving Day del año que viene, porque los donantes a los
que cuidas bien son los que vuelven a donar, y algunos de ellos, como descubrió Highgate, se
convierten en los donantes de contrapartida que hacen más grande la campaña siguiente.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="Un mensaje de agradecimiento del Giving Day celebrando a los donantes" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Un agradecimiento pronto y concreto es el comienzo de la campaña del año que viene, no el final de esta.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Revisar y mejorar

Trata cada Giving Day como la base del siguiente. Recoge las métricas que importan: número de
donantes e ingresos totales, tu donación media y la más frecuente, y un desglose de las donaciones
por canal, segmento, país, edad, año de graduación y fondo, junto con tus tasas de apertura, clic,
baja y conversión del correo y tu alcance y sentimiento en redes. Reúne al equipo después para
celebrar los aciertos, hablar con honestidad de lo que fue difícil y acordar qué cambiaréis. Comparte
los resultados completos internamente con la dirección y los equipos, y el mensaje principal
externamente con los donantes y apoyos que lo hicieron posible.

Un Giving Day es mucho trabajo, pero es de los trabajos más gratificantes que un equipo de captación
de fondos puede hacer. Como dice el director de Balcarras a cualquier colegio público que se lo esté
planteando, el consejo de quienes lo han hecho tiende a ser refrescantemente sencillo: «¡Hazlo!»

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuánto debería durar un Giving Day?** La mayoría duran 24 o 36 horas. Una ventana de 36 horas de
las 8 de la mañana del primer día a las 8 de la tarde del segundo te da dos picos de mañana y dos de
tarde con los que trabajar, lo que conviene a un calendario de correos más completo. Las jornadas más
cortas de 24 horas crean más urgencia pero dejan menos margen de recuperación si llega un momento
flojo.

**¿Con cuánta antelación deberíamos empezar a planificar?** Unos seis meses para un primer Giving
Day. Los equipos con experiencia que realizan una jornada anual pueden trabajar con un ciclo más
corto, pero las decisiones estratégicas, las conversaciones con donantes de contrapartida y la
recopilación de contenido se benefician todas de tiempo de margen.

**¿Cuánta financiación de contrapartida necesitamos?** A modo de guía, apunta a alrededor de la
mitad de tu objetivo en fondos de contrapartida y de reto. Si quieres recaudar 100.000 €, procura
asegurar en torno a 50.000 €. Más financiación de contrapartida, usada a través de retos bien
temporizados, suele significar más participación.

**¿Necesitamos un equipo grande?** No. Los equipos pequeños llevan a cabo Giving Days exitosos
centrándose en las dos cosas que más importan, las comunicaciones por correo y la financiación de
contrapartida, y tomando prestada capacidad de relaciones con exalumnos, marketing y servicios al
estudiante para el resto.

**¿Qué importa más el día en sí?** Enviar tus comunicaciones planificadas a tiempo. Los datos son
consistentes: la gran mayoría de las donaciones llegan en unos 90 minutos desde que sale un mensaje,
así que un calendario disciplinado es la diferencia entre un flujo constante de donaciones y un día
flojo.

---

### Paquete de recursos para socios

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de plan de proyecto del Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Plantilla de plan de comunicación del Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Plantillas de texto para correos del Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Plantilla de case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de Giving Day de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela tu resultado probable antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina tus correos y textos de apelación
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con tu página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [La plataforma de Giving Day y el apoyo experto de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Las guías prácticas de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): captación por correo, contrapartida y reto, embajadores y redes sociales
- [Los seminarios web de captación digital de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Casos de estudio de Giving Day: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) y [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment organiser un Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique et approfondi pour planifier et organiser un Giving Day réussi, couvrant les objectifs, la narration, le financement par abondement et les mécaniques de défi, les dons majeurs, les 36 heures en direct et la fidélisation, avec des résultats concrets d'écoles et d'universités.
Un Giving Day est une campagne de collecte en ligne intensive et limitée dans le temps,
généralement organisée sur 24 à 36 heures, qui invite l'ensemble de votre communauté à donner
au cours d'une même fenêtre partagée. Il est conçu pour remplir plusieurs missions à la fois :
attirer de nouveaux donateurs, reconquérir des soutiens perdus, susciter de nouveaux dons de la
part de personnes qui donnent déjà, et offrir à vos dirigeants et à vos grands donateurs un point
de ralliement. Bien menée, une journée de don concentre une année entière d'énergie et de
bienveillance en un jour ou deux, et vous laisse avec une base de donateurs plus large et plus
engagée qu'au départ.

Ce guide reflète la manière dont les consultants de Hubbub planifient et mènent réellement ces
campagnes. Depuis 2018, l'équipe a réalisé plus de 200 Giving Days, en s'appuyant sur plus de
25 ans d'expérience en collecte de fonds dans les secteurs de l'éducation et caritatif. Les
conseils ci-dessous sont détaillés à dessein, car la différence entre un Giving Day terne et un
Giving Day exceptionnel ne tient que rarement à une seule grande idée. Elle est l'accumulation de
dizaines de petites décisions concernant les données, le message, le rythme et le suivi.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="La communauté de Highgate School participant à son Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Le Giving Day de Highgate School a permis de récolter 250 981 £ auprès de 578 donateurs, dont 35 % donnaient pour la première fois.</figcaption>
</figure>

Il est utile d'être honnête dès le départ sur l'effort que cela représente. Joe Connor,
Fundraising Relationships Manager à Highgate School, dont le Giving Day a permis de récolter
[250 981 £ auprès de 578 donateurs](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
le décrit sans détour :

> « Les Giving Days demandent un travail de planification considérable, et votre équipe sera
> extrêmement occupée pendant la préparation et durant les 36 heures de la journée elle-même,
> mais ils représentent une occasion unique de réunir tout le monde dans votre institution pour
> s'amuser et œuvrer ensemble à quelque chose de bien. »

C'est aussi une campagne dans laquelle on progresse plutôt qu'on ne la perfectionne du premier
coup. London Business School, qui a désormais récolté
[1,18 million de livres sur quatre Giving Days auprès de 2 445 donateurs](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
parle ouvertement de cette courbe d'apprentissage. Leur premier Giving Day fut, selon leurs
propres mots, « un processus très manuel », et ils ont « sous-estimé la planification et la
charge de travail nécessaires ». Leur conseil : « franchissez le pas si cela s'inscrit dans
votre stratégie : vous n'avez pas besoin de tout faire la première année. » Ce guide vous aidera
à vous concentrer sur ce qui fait vraiment la différence et à laisser les ajustements pour les
éditions suivantes.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Plutôt que de partir d'une page blanche, connectez-vous pour
> télécharger notre
> [plan de projet](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [plan de communication](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [modèles de textes d'e-mails](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) et
> [modèle d'argumentaire de soutien](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## À quoi sert un Giving Day, et où il s'inscrit

Soyez au clair sur la raison pour laquelle vous en organisez un avant toute chose. La plupart des
institutions utilisent un Giving Day comme un rendez-vous annuel pour acquérir de nouveaux
donateurs et réactiver les donateurs perdus, susciter de nouveaux dons de la part des soutiens
existants, et mettre à contribution leurs dirigeants, leurs grands donateurs et leurs donateurs
testamentaires en leur faisant fournir les fonds d'abondement et de défi qui motivent tous les
autres. Il fait croître la participation, le nombre de personnes qui donnent, au moins autant que
le montant total récolté. Les deux comptent, mais une base de donateurs plus large est l'actif
que vous fidéliserez et solliciterez à nouveau pendant des années : la participation est donc
généralement la mesure sur laquelle s'ancrer.

La campagne fonctionne mieux lorsqu'elle s'inscrit dans un programme de don continu plutôt que de
rester isolée. Le Giving Day est l'étincelle ; l'acquisition, la réactivation et la fidélisation
qui l'entourent tout au long de l'année sont ce qui transforme cette étincelle en une culture du
don. Considéré comme un rendez-vous annuel qui alimente un programme de don régulier, il produit
un effet cumulatif : les donateurs nouveaux et réactivés d'une année deviennent les premiers
donateurs et les ambassadeurs de l'année suivante.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Page de campagne du Giving Day de Balcarras School affichant plus de 40 000 £ récoltés" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, une école publique, a récolté 40 101 £ auprès de 219 donateurs lors de son premier Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

C'est réalisable pour des organisations de toute taille et de tout type, et pas seulement pour les
grands services de développement bien dotés. Lorsque Balcarras, une école publique, a organisé
son premier Giving Day, elle a récolté
[40 101 £ auprès de 219 donateurs](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
avec des dons allant de 1 £ à 2 000 £. Le directeur Dominic Burke explique sans détour pourquoi
cela compte désormais autant :

> « Notre récent Giving Day a permis de récolter plus de 40 000 £ pour financer divers projets de
> l'école. Le financement des écoles publiques n'est tout simplement plus suffisant, en
> particulier pour les projets d'investissement, si bien qu'une collecte comme celle-ci devient
> essentielle pour assurer la réussite à long terme de l'établissement. »

## Données et fixation des objectifs

Tout commence par vos données, et le chiffre le plus important est le nombre de vos contacts qui
disposent d'une adresse e-mail utilisable et joignable. L'e-mail génère environ 90 à 95 % des
dons lors d'un Giving Day : votre audience joignable par e-mail constitue donc, dans les faits, le
plafond de ce qui est possible. Consacrez-y du temps avant de fixer le moindre objectif :
dédoublonnez vos enregistrements, vérifiez la délivrabilité des e-mails, supprimez les rebonds
définitifs, et assurez-vous que les consentements et les préférences de contact sont en ordre,
afin de pouvoir réellement écrire aux personnes sur lesquelles vous comptez.

Ensuite, segmentez. Au minimum, séparez les donateurs actuels, les donateurs perdus et les
non-donateurs, et au sein de ces groupes, distinguez les segments les plus engagés des plus
froids. Connaître la taille et le degré d'engagement de chaque segment vous permet de prévoir de
façon réaliste et d'adapter vos sollicitations, car un donateur régulier récent et un ancien élève
n'ayant jamais donné et diplômé il y a vingt ans ont besoin de messages très différents.

Fixez l'objectif en plaçant la participation au premier plan. Un objectif crédible de nombre de
donateurs découle de la taille de votre audience joignable, du nombre d'e-mails que vous pouvez
raisonnablement envoyer, de vos taux de réponse historiques par segment, de l'historique de don de
vos donateurs et de repères comparatifs sensés. Maniez les repères avec prudence : comprenez
comment un pair a obtenu un résultat, y compris la taille de son audience et son financement par
abondement, avant d'emprunter son chiffre. Les objectifs de revenus restent utiles comme
indicateurs internes, mais menez avec la participation. Pour éprouver vos hypothèses, modélisez le
résultat probable avec le
[simulateur de Giving Day de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
et utilisez un référentiel externe tel que le
[Voluntary Support of Education de CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
pour vérifier à quoi ressemble un bon résultat pour une organisation comme la vôtre.

Une discipline utile consiste à travailler l'objectif dans les deux sens. Construisez-le de bas en
haut à partir de vos segments et de vos taux de réponse attendus pour voir ce que les données
soutiennent, puis esquissez-le de haut en bas à partir des revenus que vous aimeriez récolter et du
financement par abondement que vous pouvez sécuriser, et réconciliez les deux. Si les chiffres sont
très éloignés, l'écart tient généralement soit à la taille de votre audience joignable, soit au
montant d'abondement en place, et l'un comme l'autre peuvent se traiter des mois à l'avance par la
constitution de listes et les conversations avec les grands donateurs.

## Constituer l'équipe

Vous n'avez pas besoin d'une grande équipe pour organiser un Giving Day solide. Vous avez besoin
des bonnes personnes concentrées sur les deux éléments qui déterminent le résultat : vos
communications par e-mail et votre financement par abondement et par défi. Une équipe de base
typique comprend un directeur du développement qui porte la stratégie et la vision, un responsable
de la collecte ou du don régulier qui pilote le projet au quotidien, des collecteurs de dons
majeurs qui sécurisent les fonds d'abondement et de défi, et un responsable communication qui rédige
et programme les contenus. Dans une petite structure, une ou deux personnes assument plusieurs de
ces rôles, et c'est très bien à condition que le programme d'e-mailing et le financement par
abondement aient chacun un responsable clairement désigné.

Les campagnes qui surperforment sont celles qui mobilisent des collègues au-delà du service
développement. Les relations avec les anciens élèves peuvent recruter des ambassadeurs et
contribuer à la fidélisation ; les relations donateurs peuvent porter les remerciements et les
communications d'impact ; le marketing peut promouvoir la journée à travers les canaux
institutionnels comme le site web, les comptes sociaux et les newsletters ; les enseignants, le
personnel et les étudiants apportent à la fois l'adhésion et les moments sur le campus qui rendent
une campagne numérique tangible. Surtout, obtenez tôt un véritable soutien de la direction,
idéalement du chef de l'institution. C'est ce qui transforme un Giving Day en un projet derrière
lequel toute l'organisation se rassemble, plutôt qu'en une initiative que l'équipe de
développement porte seule.

## Les six mois de préparation

Les meilleurs Giving Days se construisent posément sur environ six mois, et non en improvisant
durant une dernière quinzaine frénétique. Notre
[modèle de plan de projet](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) le détaille avec les
tâches, les responsables et les échéances, mais il est utile de comprendre la progression du
travail.

### À six mois : la stratégie

Six mois à l'avance, le travail est stratégique. Obtenez l'adhésion de la direction, fixez vos
dates, y compris les fenêtres de pré-lancement et de campagne en direct, et arrêtez vos
indicateurs de revenus et de donateurs. Confirmez le thème et l'argumentaire de soutien auxquels
tout le reste se rattachera, décidez comment vous segmenterez vos communications, et choisissez si
des événements sur le campus joueront un rôle. Si vous souhaitez un accompagnement externe, c'est
le moment de commencer à façonner la stratégie avec des consultants, tant qu'il est encore temps
d'influer sur l'ensemble de la campagne plutôt que d'en rapiécer la fin.

### À cinq mois : le message et la création

Passez au message et à la création. Finalisez votre messaging de campagne et votre direction
créative, ébauchez les plans de communication pour l'e-mail, le social et la vidéo, et commencez à
identifier les donateurs susceptibles de fournir des fonds d'abondement et de défi. Si vous menez
un programme d'ambassadeurs, recrutez maintenant vos ambassadeurs principaux, tant que vous pouvez
leur remettre un brief réfléchi plutôt qu'une demande de dernière minute.

### À quatre mois : la construction et les preuves

La construction commence pour de bon. Les fonctionnalités de la plateforme et les pages de don
prennent forme, vous commencez à rassembler les témoignages et les démonstrations d'impact dont
dépendra votre contenu, et vous ouvrez de vraies conversations avec les donateurs potentiels
d'abondement et de défi. Plus tôt vous sécurisez le financement par abondement, plus vous pourrez
planifier le reste de la campagne autour de lui avec assurance.

### À trois mois : le contenu et la mise en condition

Soumettez vos exigences de plateforme, commencez à rédiger les e-mails et publications de
pré-lancement, et tournez vos vidéos. Commencez à mettre votre audience en condition en partageant
des histoires d'impact via les newsletters et les réseaux sociaux, et précisez la façon dont vous
déploierez le financement par abondement déjà sécurisé. Passez votre texte préliminaire dans le
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) pour le resserrer avant qu'il
n'approche d'un envoi.

### À deux et un mois : le don anticipé

Deux mois à l'avance, la plateforme est entièrement configurée et testée, les communications de
lancement anticipé sont finalisées, les dons d'abondement et de défi sont confirmés, et votre
sélection de données et vos listes d'e-mails sont prêtes. Un mois à l'avance, lancez le don
anticipé, souvent avec un défi de don anticipé qui récompense les soutiens agissant avant la
journée, et commencez à rédiger votre contenu du jour J. Le don anticipé n'est pas un simple bonus :
il crée de l'élan et vous offre un démarrage lancé.

### La dernière quinzaine et le jour J

Au cours des deux dernières semaines, finalisez vos communications en direct et suivez de près le
don anticipé. Une campagne en bonne santé atteint environ 10 % de son objectif de donateurs avant
même l'ouverture de la journée. Vient ensuite le jour lui-même, où le plan doit simplement se
dérouler : e-mails et publications envoyés selon le calendrier, événements assurés, questions
traitées en temps réel. Ensuite, l'attention se déplace vers l'enregistrement et le remerciement
de chaque don, l'intégration des donateurs dans un rythme régulier de communications d'impact, et
le lancement de la sollicitation suivante, qu'il s'agisse d'une campagne d'appels téléphoniques
pour remercier et faire monter en gamme les donateurs ou du Giving Day de l'année prochaine.

## Raconter des histoires qui touchent

Un Giving Day se joue sur sa narration. Que vous concentriez la campagne sur une cause précise
comme les bourses, ou sur le don non affecté, vous avez besoin d'histoires réelles et personnelles
d'étudiants, d'anciens élèves, de parents et de personnels qui montrent ce que les dons rendent
possible. Collecter des fonds sans démonstrations authentiques d'impact est bien plus difficile et
donne généralement de moins bons résultats : avant de vous engager sur un thème, vérifiez donc que
les histoires qui le soutiennent existent réellement et que les personnes concernées acceptent
d'être mises en avant. Un solide [argumentaire de soutien](/resources/case-for-support-template/)
est ce qui relie ces histoires individuelles en un argument cohérent pour donner maintenant.

Les histoires les plus marquantes viennent généralement de ceux dont la vie a été transformée :
bénéficiaires de bourses, utilisateurs de fonds de solidarité, et anciens élèves qui attribuent
leur parcours à leur éducation. Les campagnes les plus efficaces utilisent des voix qui reflètent
leurs publics, et les diversifient selon l'époque, la géographie et la maison ou le collège, afin
que le plus grand nombre possible de soutiens se reconnaissent. Gardez un ton chaleureux, sincère
et optimiste sans verser dans la sentimentalité, et associez toujours l'émotion à un résultat
concret pour qu'un donateur voie exactement ce que produit son don.

Les différents formats ont des poids différents. Les e-mails et les pages web peuvent porter des
récits plus longs ; les publications sociales fonctionnent mieux sous forme d'une citation
percutante ou d'un clip de 15 à 30 secondes ; les Stories Instagram conviennent aux mises à jour en
temps réel, aux sondages et aux remerciements pendant la journée. L'authenticité l'emporte sur le
fini : encouragez donc les vidéos d'étudiants et de personnels tournées au téléphone. Concrètement,
commencez à recueillir des histoires cinq ou six mois à l'avance, travaillez avec les différents
services comme les relations anciens élèves, le corps enseignant et les services aux étudiants pour
trouver vos narrateurs, et utilisez de courts questionnaires ou entretiens pour rassembler la
matière première.

## Le financement par abondement en profondeur

Le financement par abondement est le levier le plus puissant d'un Giving Day. Un abondement prend
un don de dirigeant ou un don majeur et le met en réserve pour doubler les dons de tous les autres
pendant la campagne, donnant aux donateurs ordinaires une raison concrète et limitée dans le temps
d'agir maintenant plutôt que plus tard. La psychologie est simple : les gens donnent davantage, et
plus tôt, lorsqu'ils voient leur argent aller plus loin et que l'occasion se referme visiblement.
Comme règle de planification, visez à sécuriser environ la moitié de votre objectif en fonds
d'abondement et de défi. Si votre objectif est de 100 000 €, cherchez à réunir environ 50 000 €.

Il existe plus d'une façon de structurer un abondement, et le bon choix dépend de ce que vous
cherchez à accomplir.

Un **abondement direct 1:1**, euro pour euro, est le plus simple à communiquer et le choix par
défaut le plus sûr. Un **abondement à ratio plus élevé**, tel que 2:1 ou 3:1, coûte plus cher à
financer mais a un impact fort lorsque vous voulez galvaniser une poussée précise, par exemple une
power hour ou une opération pour convertir des prospects froids. Un **abondement plafonné**,
formulé comme « les premiers 50 000 € seront doublés », crée une urgence qui tire les dons en avant,
car les donateurs comprennent que la cagnotte peut s'épuiser. Un **abondement spécifique à un
segment** vous permet de cibler un groupe habituellement en deçà des attentes, comme un abondement
réservé aux jeunes diplômés ou aux parents, ce qui améliore les résultats dans ce segment tout en
vous offrant une histoire inédite à raconter. Un **abondement thématique** lié à un projet
particulier, où chaque don au fonds de bourses est doublé, affine l'argumentaire de soutien et
convient aux donateurs attachés à un résultat précis.

Détaillez le calcul dans le message. Là où un abondement est en place, rendez-le vivant : une seule
décision de donner va deux fois plus loin lorsqu'elle est doublée. Le mettre en chiffres clairs,
comme dans l'exemple ci-dessous, fait paraître l'offre aussi généreuse qu'elle l'est réellement. De
nombreux pays européens offrent des déductions ou des réductions fiscales sur les dons caritatifs,
et les dons transfrontaliers au sein de l'Europe peuvent souvent être effectués de manière
fiscalement avantageuse via Transnational Giving Europe : lorsque cela s'applique, il vaut donc la
peine de rappeler en douceur que le coût réel du don peut être plus faible.

> « Faites votre don tôt pour vous assurer qu'il soit doublé. Grâce à nos donateurs d'abondement,
> les premiers 50 000 € récoltés pendant le Giving Day seront doublés : le seul moment de l'année
> où votre don peut aller deux fois plus loin. Un don de 100 € en devient 200. Donnez avant que
> l'abondement ne soit épuisé. »

Deux points opérationnels comptent. Premièrement, n'annoncez jamais un abondement que vous n'avez
pas confirmé par écrit : bâtissez la campagne sur des fonds sécurisés, et non espérés. Deuxièmement,
décidez à l'avance comment vous gérerez le moment où l'abondement sera épuisé. Manquer d'abondement
en milieu de campagne est un bon problème, mais il exige tout de même une réponse planifiée, qu'il
s'agisse d'un nouveau défi, d'un abondement complémentaire d'un donateur tenu en réserve, ou d'un
message clair indiquant que la cagnotte abondée a été réclamée grâce aux soutiens.

## Les types de défis et leur utilisation

Là où un abondement double un don individuel, un défi débloque une cagnotte de financement lorsque
la communauté atteint un objectif collectif. Les défis ludifient la journée et sont
particulièrement efficaces pour attirer les non-donateurs et les petits donateurs, car ils
permettent à chacun de voir que sa participation, et pas seulement ses euros, fait une différence
visible. La plupart des Giving Days solides enchaînent plusieurs défis dans la journée pour
continuer à créer des raisons de donner.

Un **défi de seuil ou de déblocage**, comme « les 30 premiers donateurs débloquent 1 000 € »,
récompense l'action rapide et convient idéalement aux premières heures. Un **défi de palier**, où
atteindre 200 donateurs libère 5 000 € supplémentaires, vous donne un point de ralliement vers
lequel pousser et une histoire toute trouvée à raconter une fois atteint. Une **power hour ou heure
en or**, durant laquelle les dons effectués dans un créneau défini sont doublés ou déclenchent un
bonus, concentre le trafic dans une fenêtre autour de laquelle vous pouvez créer de l'attente, et
constitue l'un des moyens les plus fiables de faire bondir la participation. Un **défi en duel ou
de classement** oppose des groupes les uns aux autres, par exemple des maisons, des promotions, des
facultés ou des régions d'anciens élèves, ce qui transforme les soutiens en recruteurs lorsqu'ils
mobilisent leur propre camp pour grimper au classement. Un **défi de participation** indexé sur le
nombre de donateurs plutôt que sur le montant récolté est le meilleur outil pour construire une
culture et acquérir des donateurs, car il signifie à chaque soutien que son don compte autant que
celui de quiconque. Un **défi du conseil ou de la direction**, où les administrateurs s'engagent à
verser une somme si un nombre donné de nouveaux donateurs participe, lève des fonds tout en donnant
à votre direction un intérêt dans le résultat. Enfin, un **défi d'extension ou bonus** tenu en
réserve vous permet de débloquer un financement supplémentaire si la journée dépasse l'objectif, ce
qui maintient l'élan jusqu'à la dernière heure.

L'art pratique consiste à enchaîner ces défis de sorte qu'il y ait toujours une raison vivante de
donner : un défi de déblocage au lancement, des paliers tout au long de la journée, une power hour
pour relancer un après-midi calme, et un défi d'extension pour la poussée finale. Les outils
d'ambassadeurs de votre plateforme, y compris les classements, les messages prêts à l'emploi et les
images, rendent ces mécaniques visibles et partageables, et une petite récompense pour les meilleurs
ambassadeurs maintient une compétition bon enfant.

## Les dons majeurs : sécuriser et fidéliser vos donateurs d'abondement et de défi

Le financement par abondement et par défi n'apparaît pas tout seul. Il se collecte, don après don,
auprès de vos dirigeants, de vos grands donateurs et de vos donateurs testamentaires, ainsi que des
fondations et fonds de dotation, et la manière dont vous sollicitez et fidélisez ces donateurs
mérite autant de soin que la campagne publique.

Commencez tôt, idéalement quatre à six mois à l'avance, en identifiant les prospects qui ont à la
fois la capacité et l'envie de financer un abondement ou de nommer un défi. Vos meilleurs candidats
sont souvent des grands donateurs existants, des administrateurs, et des donateurs réguliers engagés
qui ont montré leur attachement à la cause. Lorsque vous formulez la demande, présentez l'abondement
comme une philanthropie à fort levier plutôt que comme un simple don important : un donateur
d'abondement ne fait pas que donner de l'argent, il débloque la générosité de centaines d'autres, et
ce multiplicateur est le cœur de la proposition. Soyez précis. Expliquez que ses 25 000 €, utilisés
en abondement, inspireront probablement plusieurs centaines de dons et doubleront le total de la
journée, et proposez une reconnaissance adaptée à sa préférence, comme nommer le défi en son honneur
ou en celui de sa famille, ou le mentionner comme donateur d'abondement avec son accord.

La fidélisation se joue avant, pendant et après la journée. En amont, briefez correctement vos
donateurs d'abondement, confirmez l'accord par écrit, et donnez-leur un rôle dans lequel ils peuvent
se sentir impliqués, qu'il s'agisse de prêter leur nom à un défi, d'enregistrer une courte vidéo ou
d'agir comme ambassadeur principal. Pendant la campagne, montrez-leur leur abondement réclamé en
temps réel et remerciez-les promptement, car voir son don à l'œuvre est la fidélisation la plus
puissante qui soit. Ensuite, rendez compte de l'impact précis de leur abondement : combien de
donateurs il a débloqués, quel effet de levier il a produit, et ce que financera le total combiné.
Ce compte rendu est la conversation la plus importante pour l'année suivante, car un donateur
d'abondement bien fidélisé redonne très souvent, et fréquemment davantage.

L'effet pipeline est réel, et il fonctionne dans les deux sens. Highgate a constaté que la journée
elle-même créait de futurs donateurs d'abondement, notant que

> « trois personnes ayant fait un don pour la première fois lors de notre Giving Day ont déclaré
> qu'elles augmenteraient leur don pour faire partie de la cagnotte d'abondement de notre prochain
> Giving Day. »

Les nouveaux donateurs acquis lors d'un Giving Day peuvent devenir les dirigeants et les donateurs
d'abondement du suivant, ce qui est une raison de plus de traiter l'acquisition et la fidélisation
comme les deux moitiés d'un même jeu de longue haleine.

## E-mail et réseaux sociaux

Si la narration est la substance d'un Giving Day, l'e-mail est le moteur qui la délivre. L'e-mail
génère généralement 90 à 95 % des dons, les réseaux sociaux représentent 5 à 10 %, et tout le reste,
y compris la recherche et le courrier postal, ne pèse que 1 à 3 %. La taille et la qualité de votre
liste d'e-mails, ainsi que les messages que vous lui envoyez, méritent donc plus d'attention que
n'importe quel autre canal.

Le lien entre l'envoi d'un message et la réception d'un don est exceptionnellement direct, ce qui
constitue le meilleur argument en faveur d'un calendrier discipliné. Highgate l'a mesuré précisément
et a constaté que

> « 349 des 488 dons reçus pendant la journée (72 % de tous les dons) sont arrivés dans les 90
> minutes suivant le partage d'un message par e-mail ou sur les réseaux sociaux. »

Les dons arrivent par vagues, et chaque vague suit un message : planifiez donc vos envois en
conséquence.

Au cours des quatre semaines précédant la journée, une séquence d'e-mails « réservez la date »,
« dans deux semaines », « dans une semaine » et « dans 24 heures », reprise sur les réseaux sociaux,
crée de l'attente et fait rentrer les premiers dons. Pendant un Giving Day de 36 heures s'étendant
de 8 h le premier jour à 20 h le second, un rythme courant comporte une dizaine d'e-mails. Le
premier jour s'ouvre par un message de lancement, puis passe par une mise à jour de la mi-journée,
une relance d'élan en milieu d'après-midi, un rappel en début de soirée et un bilan de fin de
journée. Le second jour monte en puissance avec un rappel matinal, une mise à jour de défi à la
mi-journée, un compte à rebours l'après-midi, une poussée de la dernière heure et un remerciement de
clôture. Reliez chaque envoi à une raison vivante de donner, comme un défi qui vient de s'ouvrir ou
un abondement qui s'épuise, afin que le message ait une nouvelle à porter plutôt qu'un énième rappel.
Notre [plan de communication](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) et nos
[modèles de textes d'e-mails](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) vous fournissent cette séquence
complète à adapter.

Le rôle des réseaux sociaux est de faire connaître et de convertir l'intérêt en action, ce qu'ils
font lorsqu'ils avancent au pas de votre calendrier d'e-mails plutôt qu'à leur propre rythme.
Utilisez les canaux adaptés à votre public, comme Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn et WhatsApp, menez
avec l'impact, et ramenez chaque publication vers vos pages de don. Vous n'avez pas besoin de
publicités payantes ni d'outils d'analyse sophistiqués : une planification réfléchie, un message
cohérent et de bons visuels suffisent.

## Les ambassadeurs

Les ambassadeurs sont des bénévoles qui amplifient votre Giving Day en faisant passer le message à
travers leurs propres réseaux et en apportant à la campagne la preuve sociale qui transforme la
notoriété en action. Ils peuvent être un puissant multiplicateur, mais ne menez un programme que si
vous disposez à la fois de la capacité en personnel pour le soutenir et d'un véritable réseau de
soutiens prêts à agir en votre nom. Recrutez tôt vos ambassadeurs principaux, donnez-leur des
ressources et des messages clairs, et rendez leur contribution visible via un classement pour que
les plus engagés soient reconnus. London Business School, avec des anciens élèves dans le monde
entier, considère ses ambassadeurs comme un moyen de montrer à quel point sa communauté est
réellement mondiale. La bonne approche pour vous dépend de qui sont vos défenseurs et d'où ils se
trouvent.

## Le jour J

Lorsque le jour arrive, la stratégie est arrêtée et votre travail est l'exécution. Envoyez vos
e-mails et publications exactement comme prévu, suivez la conversation sociale et participez-y,
suivez la progression de vos défis et ajustez votre message à mesure que la situation évolue, et, si
vous en organisez, laissez vos événements sur le campus alimenter la poussée numérique. Rendez le
don possible à chaque point de contact, y compris un bouton de don bien visible sur chaque page et,
pour les moments en présentiel, un QR code qui amène directement à votre page de don. Vous pouvez en
créer un en quelques secondes avec le
[générateur de QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/) gratuit. Répondez promptement aux questions et
aux demandes de désinscription, gardez un œil sur la délivrabilité, et tenez bon : la campagne que
vous avez passé six mois à planifier roule désormais en grande partie sur les rails que vous avez
construits pour elle.

## La fidélisation : le lendemain et l'année qui suit

Ce que vous faites une fois la journée terminée détermine si vous avez gagné un pic ponctuel ou une
relation durable. Dans la semaine, envoyez aux donateurs un e-mail de résultats avec les totaux, les
histoires de réussite et un rappel clair de l'impact qu'ils ont créé. Puis continuez. Des mises à
jour d'impact mensuelles, idéalement réservées aux donateurs plutôt que noyées dans une newsletter
générale, utilisent des histoires et des visuels pour montrer aux soutiens que leur don est toujours
à l'œuvre. C'est aussi là que le Giving Day de l'année prochaine commence discrètement, car les
donateurs que vous fidélisez bien sont ceux qui redonnent, et certains d'entre eux, comme Highgate
l'a constaté, deviennent les donateurs d'abondement qui rendent la campagne suivante plus grande.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="Un message de remerciement de Giving Day célébrant les donateurs" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Un remerciement prompt et précis est le début de la campagne de l'année prochaine, pas la fin de celle-ci.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Bilan et amélioration

Traitez chaque Giving Day comme le socle du suivant. Recueillez les indicateurs qui comptent : le
nombre de donateurs et le revenu total, votre don moyen et votre don le plus fréquent, et une
répartition des dons par canal, segment, pays, âge, année de diplôme et fonds, aux côtés de vos taux
d'ouverture, de clic, de désinscription et de conversion des e-mails ainsi que de votre portée et du
ressenti sur les réseaux sociaux. Réunissez l'équipe ensuite pour célébrer les réussites, parler
honnêtement de ce qui a été difficile, et convenir de ce que vous changerez. Partagez l'ensemble des
résultats en interne avec la direction et les équipes, et le récit principal en externe avec les
donateurs et les soutiens qui les ont rendus possibles.

Un Giving Day demande beaucoup de travail, mais c'est l'un des travaux les plus gratifiants qu'une
équipe de collecte puisse accomplir. Comme le dit le directeur de Balcarras à toute école publique
qui en envisage un, le conseil de ceux qui l'ont fait tend à être d'une simplicité
rafraîchissante : « Faites-le ! »

## Foire aux questions

**Combien de temps doit durer un Giving Day ?** La plupart durent 24 ou 36 heures. Une fenêtre de
36 heures, de 8 h le premier jour à 20 h le second, vous offre deux pics du matin et deux pics du
soir avec lesquels travailler, ce qui convient à un calendrier d'e-mails plus fourni. Les journées
plus courtes de 24 heures créent davantage d'urgence mais laissent moins de marge de récupération en
cas de passage à vide.

**Combien de temps à l'avance devrions-nous commencer à planifier ?** Environ six mois pour un
premier Giving Day. Les équipes expérimentées qui organisent une journée annuelle peuvent travailler
sur un cycle plus court, mais les décisions stratégiques, les conversations avec les donateurs
d'abondement et la collecte de contenu profitent tous d'un délai de préparation.

**De combien de financement par abondement avons-nous besoin ?** À titre indicatif, visez environ la
moitié de votre objectif en fonds d'abondement et de défi. Si vous voulez récolter 100 000 €,
cherchez à sécuriser environ 50 000 €. Davantage d'abondement, utilisé à travers des défis bien
calés, signifie généralement davantage de participation.

**Avons-nous besoin d'une grande équipe ?** Non. De petites équipes mènent des Giving Days réussis
en se concentrant sur les deux choses qui comptent le plus, les communications par e-mail et le
financement par abondement, et en empruntant de la capacité aux relations anciens élèves, au
marketing et aux services aux étudiants pour le reste.

**Qu'est-ce qui compte le plus le jour J ?** Envoyer vos communications planifiées à l'heure. Les
données sont constantes : la grande majorité des dons arrivent dans les 90 minutes environ suivant
l'envoi d'un message, si bien qu'un calendrier discipliné fait la différence entre un flux régulier
de dons et une journée calme.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de plan de projet de Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Modèle de plan de communication de Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Modèles de textes d'e-mails de Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Modèle d'argumentaire de soutien](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de Giving Day de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez votre résultat probable avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos e-mails et vos textes d'appel
- [Générateur de QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez vos moments en présentiel directement à votre page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [La plateforme Giving Day et l'accompagnement expert de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Les guides pratiques de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides) : collecte par e-mail, abondement et défi, ambassadeurs et réseaux sociaux
- [Les webinaires de collecte numérique de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Études de cas de Giving Day : [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) et [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come organizzare un Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica e approfondita per pianificare e organizzare un Giving Day di successo, che copre obiettivi, narrazione, matching e meccaniche di challenge, grandi donazioni, le 36 ore in diretta e la cura dei donatori, con risultati reali da scuole e università.
Un Giving Day è una campagna di raccolta fondi online intensiva e a tempo, di solito condotta
nell'arco di 24-36 ore, che invita l'intera comunità a donare entro un'unica finestra condivisa. È
pensato per svolgere più compiti contemporaneamente: acquisire nuovi donatori, recuperare
sostenitori inattivi, sollecitare nuove donazioni da chi già dona e offrire alla dirigenza e ai
grandi donatori un punto focale attorno al quale stringersi. Condotto bene, un Giving Day
concentra l'energia e la buona volontà di un intero anno in un giorno o due e vi lascia con una
base di donatori più ampia e più affezionata di quella di partenza.

Questa guida riflette il modo in cui i consulenti di Hubbub pianificano e conducono realmente
queste campagne. Dal 2018 il team ha realizzato più di 200 Giving Day, attingendo a oltre 25 anni
di esperienza nel fundraising nei settori dell'istruzione e del non profit. I consigli che seguono
sono dettagliati di proposito, perché la differenza tra un Giving Day piatto e uno eccezionale
raramente sta in una singola grande idea. È l'accumulo di decine di piccole decisioni su dati,
messaggio, tempistiche e follow-up.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="La comunità della Highgate School che partecipa al suo Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Il Giving Day della Highgate School ha raccolto 250.981 £ da 578 donatori, il 35% dei quali donava per la prima volta.</figcaption>
</figure>

È utile essere onesti fin dall'inizio sull'impegno richiesto. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager alla Highgate School, il cui Giving Day ha raccolto
[250.981 £ da 578 donatori](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
lo descrive senza giri di parole:

> «I Giving Day richiedono un duro lavoro di pianificazione, e il vostro team sarà estremamente
> impegnato nella fase di preparazione e durante le 36 ore della giornata stessa, ma sono
> un'occasione unica per riunire tutti nella vostra istituzione a divertirsi e a collaborare per
> fare qualcosa di buono.»

È anche una campagna in cui si cresce gradualmente, anziché perfezionarla al primo tentativo. La
London Business School, che ora ha raccolto
[1,18 milioni di sterline in quattro Giving Day da 2.445 donatori](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
parla apertamente della curva di apprendimento. Il loro primo è stato, parole loro, «un processo
molto manuale», e hanno «sottovalutato la pianificazione e il carico di lavoro richiesto». Il loro
consiglio è di «fare il salto se rientra nella vostra strategia: non occorre fare tutto il primo
anno». Questa guida vi aiuterà a concentrarvi sulle cose che fanno davvero la differenza e a
lasciare le rifiniture alle edizioni future.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Anziché partire da una pagina bianca, accedete per scaricare il
> nostro
> [piano di progetto](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/), il
> [piano di comunicazione](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/), i
> [modelli di testo per le e-mail](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) e il
> [modello di case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## A cosa serve un Giving Day e dove si colloca

Abbiate chiaro perché ne organizzate uno prima di fare qualsiasi altra cosa. La maggior parte delle
istituzioni usa un Giving Day come momento annuale per acquisire nuovi donatori e riattivare quelli
inattivi, sollecitare nuove donazioni dai sostenitori esistenti e mettere all'opera la propria
dirigenza, i grandi donatori e i donatori testamentari affinché forniscano i fondi di matching e di
challenge che motivano tutti gli altri. Fa crescere la partecipazione, il numero di persone che
donano, almeno quanto fa crescere il totale raccolto. Entrambe le cose contano, ma una base di
donatori più ampia è il patrimonio che curerete e risolleciterete per anni, quindi la
partecipazione è di solito la metrica su cui ancorarsi.

La campagna funziona meglio quando si inserisce in un programma di donazione continuativo anziché
restare isolata. Il Giving Day è la scintilla; l'acquisizione, la riattivazione e la cura dei
donatori che lo circondano durante l'anno sono ciò che trasforma quella scintilla in una cultura
del dono. Trattato come un appuntamento annuale che alimenta un programma di donazione regolare, si
cumula: i donatori nuovi e riattivati di un anno diventano i donatori precoci e gli ambasciatori
dell'anno successivo.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Pagina della campagna del Giving Day della Balcarras School con oltre 40.000 £ raccolti" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, una scuola statale, ha raccolto 40.101 £ da 219 donatori al suo primo Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

Questo è alla portata di organizzazioni di ogni dimensione e tipo, non solo di grandi uffici
sviluppo ben dotati di risorse. Quando Balcarras, una scuola statale, ha condotto il suo primo
Giving Day, ha raccolto
[40.101 £ da 219 donatori](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
con donazioni che andavano da 1 £ a 2.000 £. Il preside Dominic Burke è schietto sul perché ora
conti così tanto:

> «Il nostro recente Giving Day ha raccolto oltre 40.000 £ per finanziare una serie di progetti
> nella scuola. I finanziamenti delle scuole statali semplicemente non sono più adeguati, in
> particolare quando si tratta di progetti di investimento, quindi una raccolta fondi come questa
> sta diventando vitale per garantire il successo a lungo termine della scuola.»

## Dati e definizione degli obiettivi

Tutto parte dai vostri dati, e la cifra più importante in assoluto è quanti dei vostri contatti
hanno un indirizzo e-mail utilizzabile e raggiungibile. L'e-mail genera circa il 90-95 per cento
delle donazioni in un Giving Day, quindi il vostro pubblico raggiungibile via e-mail è di fatto il
tetto di ciò che è possibile. Dedicate qui del tempo reale prima di fissare qualsiasi obiettivo:
deduplicate i vostri record, verificate la recapitabilità delle e-mail, sopprimete gli hard bounce
e controllate che i consensi e le preferenze di contatto siano in ordine, così da poter davvero
scrivere alle persone su cui state contando.

Poi segmentate. Come minimo, separate i donatori attuali, i donatori inattivi e i non donatori, e
all'interno di questi distinguete i gruppi più affezionati da quelli più freddi. Conoscere la
dimensione e il grado di affezione di ogni segmento vi permette di prevedere in modo realistico e
di calibrare le richieste, perché un donatore regolare recente e un ex allievo che non ha mai
donato e si è diplomato vent'anni fa hanno bisogno di messaggi molto diversi.

Fissate l'obiettivo mettendo al primo posto la partecipazione. Un obiettivo credibile di donatori
nasce dalla dimensione del vostro pubblico contattabile, dal numero di e-mail che potete inviare in
modo responsabile, dai vostri tassi di risposta storici per segmento, dalla storia di donazione dei
vostri donatori e da benchmark di settore sensati. Trattate i benchmark con cura: capite come un
soggetto simile ha ottenuto un risultato, inclusa la dimensione del suo pubblico e i fondi di
matching, prima di prendere in prestito la sua cifra. Gli obiettivi di entrata restano utili come
KPI interni, ma guidate con la partecipazione. Per mettere alla prova le vostre ipotesi, modellate
il risultato probabile con il
[simulatore di Giving Day di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator), e
usate benchmark esterni come il
[Voluntary Support of Education di CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
per valutare come appare un buon risultato per un'organizzazione come la vostra.

Una disciplina utile è lavorare l'obiettivo nei due sensi. Costruitelo dal basso verso l'alto a
partire dai vostri segmenti e dai tassi di risposta attesi per vedere cosa sostengono i dati, poi
abbozzatelo dall'alto verso il basso a partire dalle entrate che vorreste raccogliere e dai fondi
di matching che potete assicurarvi, e riconciliate i due. Se i numeri sono molto distanti, lo scarto
di solito sta nella dimensione del vostro pubblico contattabile o nell'ammontare di matching
disponibile, e entrambi sono affrontabili con mesi di anticipo costruendo liste e con conversazioni
con i grandi donatori.

## Costruire il team attorno

Non serve un grande team per condurre un Giving Day solido. Servono le persone giuste concentrate
sulle due cose che determinano il risultato: le vostre comunicazioni e-mail e i vostri fondi di
matching e challenge. Un team di base tipico ha un Director of Development che tiene la strategia e
la visione, un Fundraising o Regular Giving Manager che gestisce il progetto giorno per giorno, dei
fundraiser per le grandi donazioni che assicurano i fondi di matching e challenge, e un responsabile
della comunicazione che scrive e pianifica i contenuti. In una struttura piccola, una o due persone
coprono diversi di questi ruoli, e va benissimo a patto che sia il programma e-mail sia i fondi di
matching abbiano un titolare chiaro.

Le campagne che vanno oltre le aspettative sono quelle che coinvolgono colleghi al di là dell'ufficio
sviluppo. Le relazioni con gli ex allievi possono reclutare ambasciatori e aiutare nella cura dei
donatori; le donor relations possono portare avanti i ringraziamenti e le comunicazioni di impatto;
il marketing può promuovere la giornata attraverso i canali istituzionali come il sito web, i
profili social e le newsletter; docenti, personale e studenti forniscono sia l'adesione sia i
momenti in sede che rendono tangibile una campagna digitale. Soprattutto, assicuratevi presto un
sostegno autentico dai vertici, idealmente dal responsabile dell'istituzione. È ciò che trasforma
un Giving Day in qualcosa attorno a cui si stringe l'intera organizzazione, anziché in un progetto
che il team sviluppo porta da solo.

## I sei mesi di preparazione

I migliori Giving Day si assemblano con costanza nell'arco di circa sei mesi, non si improvvisano in
una frenetica quindicina finale. Il nostro
[modello di piano di progetto](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) lo definisce con
attività, responsabili e date, ma è utile comprendere l'arco del lavoro.

### A sei mesi: la strategia

Sei mesi prima, il lavoro è strategico. Assicuratevi l'adesione dei vertici, fissate le date,
incluse le finestre di pre-lancio e di campagna in diretta, e concordate i vostri KPI di entrate e
di donatori. Confermate il tema e il case for support a cui tutto il resto si aggancia, decidete
come segmenterete le vostre comunicazioni e scegliete se gli eventi in sede avranno un ruolo. Se
desiderate un supporto esterno, questo è il momento di iniziare a definire la strategia con i
consulenti, finché c'è ancora tempo per influenzare l'intera campagna anziché rattoppare la sua
parte finale.

### A cinque mesi: messaggio e creatività

Passate al messaggio e alla creatività. Finalizzate il messaggio della campagna e la direzione
creativa, redigete i piani di comunicazione per e-mail, social e video e iniziate a individuare i
donatori che potrebbero fornire fondi di matching e challenge. Se conducete un programma di
ambasciatori, reclutate ora i vostri ambasciatori principali, finché potete dare loro un brief
ponderato anziché una richiesta dell'ultimo minuto.

### A quattro mesi: costruzione e prove

La costruzione comincia sul serio. Le funzionalità della piattaforma e le pagine di donazione
prendono forma, iniziate a raccogliere le testimonianze e le dimostrazioni di impatto da cui
dipenderanno i vostri contenuti e aprite conversazioni concrete con i potenziali donatori di
matching e challenge. Prima assicurate i fondi di matching, con più sicurezza potete pianificare il
resto della campagna attorno a essi.

### A tre mesi: contenuti e riscaldamento

Inviate i vostri requisiti di piattaforma, iniziate a scrivere le e-mail e i post di pre-lancio e
girate i vostri video. Cominciate a riscaldare il vostro pubblico condividendo storie di impatto
tramite newsletter e social, e definite come impiegherete i fondi di matching assicurati finora.
Fate passare la vostra bozza di testo nel
[Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) per affinarla prima che si avvicini a un
invio.

### A due e un mese: la donazione anticipata

Due mesi prima, la piattaforma è completamente configurata e testata, le comunicazioni di lancio
anticipato sono finalizzate, le donazioni di matching e challenge sono confermate e la vostra
selezione dei dati e le liste e-mail sono pronte. Un mese prima, lanciate la donazione anticipata,
spesso con una challenge di donazione anticipata che premia i sostenitori che agiscono prima della
giornata, e iniziate a scrivere i vostri contenuti per il giorno stesso. La donazione anticipata
non è un optional: costruisce slancio e vi dà una partenza lanciata.

### La quindicina finale e il giorno stesso

Nelle ultime due settimane, completate le vostre comunicazioni in diretta e tenete d'occhio da
vicino la donazione anticipata. Una campagna in salute raggiunge circa il 10 per cento del suo
obiettivo di donatori prima ancora che la giornata apra. Poi arriva il giorno stesso, in cui il
piano deve semplicemente procedere: e-mail e post inviati secondo il programma, eventi realizzati,
domande risposte in tempo reale. Dopodiché, il focus si sposta sul registrare e ringraziare ogni
donazione, sull'inserire i donatori in un ritmo regolare di comunicazioni di impatto e sull'avviare
la richiesta successiva, che sia una campagna telefonica per ringraziare e far crescere i donatori o
il Giving Day dell'anno prossimo.

## Raccontare storie che muovono le persone

Un Giving Day si gioca tutto sulla sua narrazione. Che concentriate la campagna su una causa
specifica come le borse di studio, o sul dono libero, vi servono storie reali e personali di
studenti, ex allievi, genitori e personale che mostrino cosa rendono possibile le donazioni.
Raccogliere fondi senza autentiche dimostrazioni di impatto è molto più difficile e tende a rendere
meno, quindi prima di impegnarvi su un tema, verificate che le storie a suo sostegno esistano
davvero e che le persone in esse siano disposte a essere mostrate. Un solido
[case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/) è ciò che lega quelle storie individuali
in un unico argomento coerente per donare adesso.

Le storie più risonanti vengono di solito da coloro la cui vita è stata cambiata: beneficiari di
borse di studio, utenti di fondi di emergenza ed ex allievi che attribuiscono alla loro istruzione
il punto in cui sono oggi. Le campagne più efficaci usano voci che rispecchiano il loro pubblico e
le diversificano per epoca, geografia e house o college, così che il maggior numero possibile di
sostenitori riconosca qualcosa di sé. Mantenete un tono caldo, sincero e ottimista senza scivolare
nella sentimentalità, e abbinate sempre l'emozione a un risultato concreto affinché un donatore
possa vedere esattamente cosa fa la sua donazione.

Formati diversi hanno pesi diversi. Le e-mail e le pagine web possono reggere narrazioni più lunghe;
i post social funzionano meglio come una citazione incisiva o una clip di 15-30 secondi; le Storie
di Instagram si adattano agli aggiornamenti in tempo reale, ai sondaggi e ai ringraziamenti durante
la giornata. L'autenticità batte la patina, quindi incoraggiate video di studenti e personale
girati con il telefono. In pratica, iniziate a raccogliere storie cinque o sei mesi prima, lavorate
in modo trasversale con dipartimenti come relazioni con gli ex allievi, corpo docente e servizi
agli studenti per trovare i vostri narratori, e usate brevi sondaggi o interviste per raccogliere la
materia prima.

## Il matching in profondità

Il matching è la singola leva più potente di un Giving Day. Un match prende una donazione di un
leader o una grande donazione e la trattiene per raddoppiare le donazioni di tutti gli altri durante
la campagna, dando ai donatori comuni un motivo concreto e a tempo per agire adesso anziché dopo. La
psicologia è semplice: le persone donano di più, e prima, quando vedono che il loro denaro va più
lontano e quando l'occasione sta visibilmente per esaurirsi. Come regola pratica di pianificazione,
puntate ad assicurarvi circa metà del vostro obiettivo in fondi di matching e challenge. Se il
vostro obiettivo è 100.000 €, cercate di mettere insieme circa 50.000 €.

C'è più di un modo per strutturare un match, e la scelta giusta dipende da ciò che state cercando di
ottenere.

Un **match diretto 1:1**, euro per euro, è il più semplice da comunicare e l'impostazione
predefinita più sicura. Un **match a rapporto più alto**, come 2:1 o 3:1, è più costoso da
finanziare ma colpisce duro quando volete galvanizzare una spinta specifica, per esempio una power
hour o un'azione per convertire prospect freddi. Un **match con tetto**, formulato come «i primi
50.000 € saranno raddoppiati», crea urgenza che tira avanti le donazioni, perché i donatori capiscono
che il fondo può esaurirsi. Un **match specifico per segmento** vi permette di puntare a un gruppo
che di solito rende poco, come un match per i giovani ex allievi o per i genitori, il che migliora i
risultati in quel segmento e vi dà una storia inedita da raccontare. Un **match tematico** legato a
un progetto particolare, in cui ogni donazione al fondo borse di studio viene raddoppiata, affina il
case for support e si addice ai donatori che hanno a cuore un risultato specifico.

Esplicitate i conti nel messaggio. Dove avete un match in atto, rendetelo vivido: una sola decisione
di donare va due volte più lontano quando viene raddoppiata. Metterlo in numeri chiari, come
nell'esempio sotto, fa apparire l'offerta tanto generosa quanto è davvero. Molti paesi europei
offrono detrazioni o riduzioni fiscali sulle donazioni a enti benefici, e le donazioni
transfrontaliere all'interno dell'Europa possono spesso essere effettuate in modo fiscalmente
efficiente tramite Transnational Giving Europe, quindi dove si applica vale la pena ricordare con
delicatezza che il costo reale del donare può essere più basso.

> «Fai la tua donazione presto per assicurarti che venga raddoppiata. Grazie ai nostri donatori di
> matching, i primi 50.000 € raccolti durante il Giving Day saranno raddoppiati: l'unico momento
> dell'anno in cui la tua donazione può andare due volte più lontano. Una donazione di 100 €
> diventa 200 €. Dona prima che il matching si esaurisca.»

Due punti operativi contano. Primo, non annunciate mai un match che non avete confermato per
iscritto: costruite la campagna su fondi assicurati, non sperati. Secondo, decidete in anticipo come
gestirete il momento in cui il match si esaurisce. Esaurire i fondi di matching a metà campagna è un
bel problema, ma richiede comunque una risposta pianificata, che sia una challenge inedita, uno
stretch match da un donatore tenuto di riserva o un messaggio chiaro che il fondo abbinato è stato
reclamato grazie ai sostenitori.

## Tipi di challenge e come usarle

Dove un match raddoppia una singola donazione, una challenge sblocca un fondo quando la comunità
raggiunge un obiettivo collettivo. Le challenge rendono la giornata un gioco e sono particolarmente
efficaci nell'attirare non donatori e piccoli donatori, perché lasciano vedere alle persone che la
loro partecipazione, non solo i loro euro, fa una differenza visibile. La maggior parte dei Giving
Day solidi conduce più challenge nell'arco della giornata per continuare a creare ragioni per
donare.

Una **challenge a soglia o di sblocco**, come «i primi 30 donatori sbloccano 1.000 €», premia
l'azione tempestiva ed è ideale per le ore di apertura. Una **challenge a traguardo**, in cui
raggiungere 200 donatori libera altri 5.000 €, vi dà un punto di raccolta verso cui spingere e una
storia naturale da raccontare quando lo raggiungete. Una **power hour o golden hour**, in cui le
donazioni entro un'ora stabilita vengono raddoppiate o attivano un bonus, concentra il traffico in
una finestra attorno a cui potete costruire attesa ed è uno dei modi più affidabili per far
impennare la partecipazione. Una **challenge testa a testa o a classifica** mette gruppi l'uno
contro l'altro, per esempio house, anni di corso, facoltà o regioni di ex allievi, il che trasforma
i sostenitori in reclutatori mentre spronano i propri a salire in classifica. Una **challenge di
partecipazione** legata al numero di donatori anziché all'importo raccolto è lo strumento migliore
per costruire cultura e per l'acquisizione, perché dice a ogni sostenitore che la sua donazione
conta quanto quella di chiunque altro. Una **challenge del consiglio o della dirigenza**, in cui i
membri del board si impegnano a versare una somma se un certo numero di nuovi donatori partecipa,
raccoglie fondi e dà alla vostra dirigenza una posta in gioco nel risultato. Infine, una
**challenge di stretch o bonus** tenuta di riserva vi permette di liberare fondi extra se la
giornata supera l'obiettivo, mantenendo vivo lo slancio fino all'ultima ora.

L'arte pratica è sequenziare queste challenge in modo che ci sia sempre un motivo vivo per donare:
una challenge di sblocco al lancio, traguardi durante la giornata, una power hour per risollevare un
pomeriggio fiacco e una challenge di stretch per la spinta finale. Gli strumenti per ambasciatori
della vostra piattaforma, comprese le classifiche, i messaggi pronti e le immagini, rendono queste
meccaniche visibili e condivisibili, e un piccolo incentivo per i migliori ambasciatori mantiene la
competizione amichevole.

## Grandi donazioni: assicurare e curare i vostri donatori di matching e challenge

I fondi di matching e challenge non compaiono da soli. Si raccolgono, donazione dopo donazione,
dalla vostra dirigenza, dai grandi donatori e dai donatori testamentari e da fondazioni ed enti
erogatori, e il modo in cui sollecitate e curate quei donatori merita la stessa cura della campagna
pubblica.

Iniziate presto, idealmente quattro-sei mesi prima, individuando i prospect che hanno sia la
capacità sia la propensione a finanziare un match o a dare il nome a una challenge. I vostri
candidati migliori sono spesso grandi donatori esistenti, membri del board e donatori regolari
impegnati che hanno dimostrato di avere a cuore la causa. Quando fate la richiesta, inquadrate il
match come filantropia ad alta leva anziché come una semplice grande donazione: un donatore di
matching non sta solo dando denaro, sta sbloccando la generosità di centinaia di altri, e quel
moltiplicatore è il cuore della proposta. Siate specifici. Spiegate che i loro 25.000 €, usati come
match, ispireranno probabilmente diverse centinaia di donazioni e raddoppieranno il totale della
giornata, e offrite un riconoscimento che si adatti alla loro preferenza, come intitolare la
challenge a loro o alla loro famiglia, o elencarli come donatori di matching con il loro consenso.

La cura dei donatori si svolge prima, durante e dopo la giornata. Prima, informate bene i vostri
donatori di matching, confermate l'accordo per iscritto e date loro un ruolo in cui possano sentirsi
parte, che sia prestare il proprio nome a una challenge, registrare un breve video o agire come
ambasciatore principale. Durante la campagna, mostrate loro il proprio match reclamato in tempo
reale e ringraziateli prontamente, perché vedere la propria donazione all'opera è la cura più
potente che esista. Dopo, rendicontate l'impatto specifico del loro match: quanti donatori ha
sbloccato, quanto ha fatto da leva e cosa finanzierà il totale combinato. Quel rendiconto è la
conversazione più importante in vista dell'anno successivo, perché un donatore di matching ben curato
molto spesso dona di nuovo, e frequentemente dona di più.

L'effetto pipeline è reale e funziona in entrambe le direzioni. Highgate ha scoperto che la giornata
stessa creava futuri donatori di matching, osservando che

> «tre persone che hanno fatto una donazione per la prima volta nel nostro Giving Day hanno detto
> che aumenteranno la propria donazione per far parte del fondo di matching del nostro prossimo
> Giving Day.»

I nuovi donatori acquisiti tramite un Giving Day possono diventare la dirigenza e i donatori di
matching del successivo, il che è un altro motivo per trattare acquisizione e cura dei donatori come
due metà dello stesso gioco di lungo periodo.

## E-mail e social media

Se la narrazione è la sostanza di un Giving Day, l'e-mail è il motore che la consegna. L'e-mail
genera tipicamente il 90-95 per cento delle donazioni, i social media rappresentano il 5-10 per
cento, e tutto il resto, inclusi la ricerca e la posta cartacea, costituisce appena l'1-3 per cento.
La dimensione e la qualità della vostra lista e-mail, e i messaggi che le inviate, meritano quindi
più attenzione di qualsiasi altro canale.

Il legame tra l'invio di un messaggio e la ricezione di una donazione è insolitamente diretto, ed è
il miglior argomento a favore di un programma disciplinato. Highgate ha misurato esattamente questo
e ha scoperto che

> «349 donazioni su 488 ricevute durante la giornata (il 72% di tutte le donazioni) sono arrivate
> entro 90 minuti dalla condivisione di un messaggio via e-mail o social media.»

Le donazioni arrivano a ondate, e ogni ondata segue un messaggio, quindi pianificate i vostri invii
di conseguenza.

Nelle quattro settimane prima della giornata, una sequenza di e-mail «salva la data», «due
settimane all'evento», «una settimana all'evento» e «24 ore all'evento», rispecchiata sui social,
costruisce attesa e fa entrare le prime donazioni. Durante un Giving Day di 36 ore che va dalle 8
del primo giorno alle 20 del secondo, un ritmo comune porta circa dieci e-mail. Il primo giorno
apre con un messaggio di lancio, poi passa per un aggiornamento di mezzogiorno, una spinta di slancio
a metà pomeriggio, un promemoria di prima serata e un riepilogo di fine giornata. Il secondo giorno
cresce attraverso un promemoria mattutino, un aggiornamento sulle challenge a mezzogiorno, un conto
alla rovescia pomeridiano, una spinta dell'ultima ora e un ringraziamento di chiusura. Legate ogni
invio a un motivo vivo per donare, come una challenge appena aperta o un match in esaurimento, così
che il messaggio abbia una notizia da portare anziché un ennesimo promemoria. Il nostro
[piano di comunicazione](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) e i nostri
[modelli di testo per le e-mail](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) vi danno questa sequenza
completa da adattare.

Il compito dei social media è generare consapevolezza e convertire l'interesse in azione, cosa che
fanno quando procedono al passo con il vostro programma e-mail anziché a un ritmo proprio. Usate i
canali adatti al vostro pubblico, come Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn e WhatsApp, guidate con
l'impatto e riportate ogni post alle vostre pagine di donazione. Non vi servono annunci a pagamento
né sofisticati strumenti di analisi: una pianificazione ponderata, messaggi coerenti e buone
immagini bastano.

## Ambasciatori

Gli ambasciatori sono volontari che amplificano il vostro Giving Day diffondendo la voce attraverso
le proprie reti e dando alla campagna la riprova sociale che trasforma la consapevolezza in azione.
Possono essere un potente moltiplicatore, ma conducete un programma solo se avete sia la capacità di
personale per sostenerlo sia una rete autentica di sostenitori disposti a essere attivi per vostro
conto. Reclutate presto gli ambasciatori principali, dategli materiali e messaggi chiari e rendete
visibile il loro contributo attraverso una classifica, così che i più impegnati siano riconosciuti.
La London Business School, con ex allievi in tutto il mondo, considera i propri ambasciatori un modo
per mostrare quanto sia davvero globale la propria comunità. L'approccio giusto per voi dipende da
chi sono i vostri sostenitori e da dove si trovano.

## Il giorno stesso

Quando arriva il giorno, la strategia è definita e il vostro compito è l'esecuzione. Inviate le
vostre e-mail e i post social esattamente come pianificato, seguite la conversazione sui social e
partecipatevi, tracciate l'avanzamento delle vostre challenge e adattate il messaggio man mano che
il quadro cambia, e, se ne organizzate, lasciate che i vostri eventi in sede alimentino la spinta
digitale. Rendete possibile donare in ogni punto di contatto, incluso un pulsante di donazione ben
visibile su ogni pagina e, per i momenti in presenza, un codice QR che porta le persone direttamente
alla vostra pagina di donazione. Potete crearne uno in pochi secondi con il
[generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/) gratuito. Rispondete prontamente alle domande
e alle richieste di disiscrizione, tenete d'occhio la recapitabilità e mantenete i nervi saldi: la
campagna che avete passato sei mesi a pianificare ora corre in gran parte sui binari che avete
costruito per essa.

## Cura dei donatori: il giorno dopo e l'anno dopo

Ciò che fate una volta finita la giornata determina se avete ottenuto un picco una tantum o una
relazione duratura. Entro una settimana, inviate ai donatori un'e-mail di risultati con i totali, le
storie di successo e un chiaro promemoria dell'impatto che hanno creato. Poi continuate.
Aggiornamenti mensili di impatto, idealmente esclusivi per i donatori anziché sepolti in una
newsletter generica, usano storie e immagini per mostrare ai sostenitori che la loro donazione è
ancora all'opera. È anche qui che il Giving Day dell'anno prossimo comincia silenziosamente, perché
i donatori che curate bene sono quelli che donano di nuovo, e alcuni di loro, come ha scoperto
Highgate, diventano i donatori di matching che rendono più grande la campagna successiva.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="Un messaggio di ringraziamento del Giving Day che celebra i donatori" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Un ringraziamento pronto e specifico è l'inizio della campagna dell'anno prossimo, non la fine di questa.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Analizzare e migliorare

Trattate ogni Giving Day come la base per il successivo. Raccogliete le metriche che contano: numero
di donatori ed entrate totali, la donazione media e quella più frequente, e una ripartizione delle
donazioni per canale, segmento, paese, età, anno di diploma e fondo, accanto ai vostri tassi di
apertura, click, disiscrizione e conversione delle e-mail e alla vostra portata e al sentiment sui
social. Riunite il team dopo per celebrare i successi, parlare onestamente di ciò che è stato
difficile e concordare cosa cambierete. Condividete i risultati completi internamente con la
dirigenza e i team, e la sintesi principale esternamente con i donatori e i sostenitori che li hanno
resi possibili.

Un Giving Day è un duro lavoro, ma è tra i lavori più gratificanti che un team di fundraising possa
fare. Come dice il preside di Balcarras a qualsiasi scuola statale che ne stia valutando uno, il
consiglio di chi l'ha fatto tende a essere di una semplicità rinfrescante: «Fatelo!»

## Domande frequenti

**Quanto dovrebbe durare un Giving Day?** La maggior parte dura 24 o 36 ore. Una finestra di 36 ore
dalle 8 del primo giorno alle 20 del secondo vi dà due picchi mattutini e due picchi serali con cui
lavorare, il che si addice a un programma e-mail più ricco. Le giornate più brevi di 24 ore creano
più urgenza ma lasciano meno margine di recupero se arriva un momento fiacco.

**Con quanto anticipo dovremmo iniziare a pianificare?** Circa sei mesi per un primo Giving Day. I
team esperti che conducono una giornata annuale possono lavorare con un ciclo più breve, ma le
decisioni strategiche, le conversazioni con i donatori di matching e la raccolta dei contenuti
traggono tutti vantaggio da un margine di tempo.

**Di quanti fondi di matching abbiamo bisogno?** Come guida, puntate a circa metà del vostro
obiettivo in fondi di matching e challenge. Se volete raccogliere 100.000 €, cercate di assicurarvi
circa 50.000 €. Più fondi di matching, usati attraverso challenge ben tempistiche, di solito
significano più partecipazione.

**Ci serve un grande team?** No. I piccoli team conducono Giving Day di successo concentrandosi
sulle due cose che contano di più, le comunicazioni e-mail e i fondi di matching, e prendendo in
prestito capacità da relazioni con gli ex allievi, marketing e servizi agli studenti per il resto.

**Cosa conta di più nel giorno stesso?** Inviare le comunicazioni pianificate in orario. I dati
sono coerenti: la grande maggioranza delle donazioni arriva entro circa 90 minuti dall'uscita di un
messaggio, quindi un programma disciplinato è la differenza tra un flusso costante di donazioni e
una giornata fiacca.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedete con la vostra e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di piano di progetto del Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Modello di piano di comunicazione del Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Modelli di testo per le e-mail del Giving Day](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Modello di case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di Giving Day di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellate il vostro risultato probabile prima di impegnarvi su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affinate le vostre e-mail e i testi di appello
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collegate i momenti in presenza direttamente alla vostra pagina di donazione

### Letture di approfondimento

- [La piattaforma Giving Day e il supporto esperto di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Le guide pratiche di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): fundraising via e-mail, matching e challenge, ambasciatori e social
- [I webinar di fundraising digitale di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Casi studio di Giving Day: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) e [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultate la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to run a Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (uk/en): An in-depth, practical guide to planning and running a successful Giving Day, covering targets, storytelling, match funding and challenge mechanics, major gifts, the live 36 hours and stewardship, with real results from schools and universities.
A Giving Day is an intensive, time-bound online fundraising campaign, usually run over 24 to 36
hours, that asks your whole community to give within a single shared window. It is designed to
do several jobs at once: bring in new donors, win back lapsed supporters, prompt fresh gifts
from people who already give, and give your leadership and major donors a focal point to rally
behind. Run well, a Giving Day compresses a year's worth of energy and goodwill into a day or
two and leaves you with a larger, warmer donor base than you started with.

This guide reflects how Hubbub's consultants actually plan and run these campaigns. Since 2018
the team has delivered more than 200 Giving Days, drawing on over 25 years of fundraising
experience across the education and charity sectors. The advice below is detailed on purpose,
because the difference between a flat Giving Day and an exceptional one is rarely a single big
idea. It is the accumulation of dozens of small decisions about data, message, timing and
follow-up.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="Highgate School community taking part in their Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Highgate School's Giving Day raised £250,981 from 578 donors, 35% of them giving for the first time.</figcaption>
</figure>

It helps to be honest from the start about the effort involved. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager at Highgate School, whose Giving Day raised
[£250,981 from 578 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
describes it plainly:

> "Giving Days are hard work to plan, and your team will be extremely busy in the build-up and
> during the 36 hours of the day itself, but they are a unique opportunity to get everybody in
> your institution having fun and pulling together to do something good."

It is also a campaign you grow into rather than perfect on the first attempt. London Business
School, who have now raised
[£1.18 million across four Giving Days from 2,445 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
are open about the learning curve. Their first one was, in their words, "a very manual
process," and they "underestimated the planning and workload involved." Their advice is to
"take the leap if it fits into your strategy: you don't need to do everything in the first
year." This guide will help you concentrate on the things that move the needle and leave the
refinements for future rounds.

> **Working templates.** Rather than starting from a blank page, sign in to download our
> [project plan](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) and
> [case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## What a Giving Day is for, and where it fits

Be clear about why you are running one before you do anything else. Most institutions use a
Giving Day as an annual moment to acquire new donors and reactivate lapsed ones, to prompt
fresh gifts from existing supporters, and to put their leadership, major and legacy donors to
work providing the match and challenge funds that motivate everyone else. It grows
participation, the number of people who give, at least as much as it grows the total raised.
Both matter, but a wider donor base is the asset you will steward and re-solicit for years, so
participation is usually the metric to anchor on.

The campaign works best when it sits inside a continuous giving programme rather than standing
alone. The Giving Day is the spark; the acquisition, reactivation and stewardship around it
through the year are what turn that spark into a culture of giving. Treated as an annual fixture
that feeds a regular giving programme, it compounds: each year's new and reactivated donors
become next year's early givers and ambassadors.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Balcarras School Giving Day campaign page showing more than £40,000 raised" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, a state school, raised £40,101 from 219 donors on its first Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

This is achievable for organisations of every size and type, not only large, well-resourced
development offices. When Balcarras, a state school, ran its first Giving Day, it raised
[£40,101 from 219 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
with gifts ranging from £1 to £2,000. Headteacher Dominic Burke is candid about why it now
matters so much:

> "Our recent Giving Day raised over £40,000 to fund a variety of projects in the school. State
> school funding is simply no longer adequate, particularly when it comes to capital projects,
> so fundraising like this is becoming vital to ensuring the long-term success of the school."

## Data and target-setting

Everything starts with your data, and the single most important figure is how many of your
contacts have a usable, deliverable email address. Email drives roughly 90 to 95 per cent of
donations on a Giving Day, so your email-reachable audience is effectively the ceiling on what
is possible. Spend real time here before you set any target: deduplicate your records, verify
email deliverability, suppress hard bounces, and check that consent and contact preferences are
clean, so that you can actually mail the people you are counting on.

Then segment. At a minimum, separate current donors, lapsed donors and non-donors, and within
those distinguish your warmer and colder groups. Knowing the size and warmth of each segment
lets you forecast realistically and tailor your asks, because a recent regular donor and a
never-given alum who graduated twenty years ago need very different messages.

Set the target around participation first. A credible donor goal grows out of the size of your
contactable audience, the number of emails you can responsibly send, your historic response
rates by segment, your donors' giving history, and sensible peer benchmarks. Treat benchmarks
with care: understand how a peer achieved a result, including their audience size and match
funding, before you borrow their number. Income targets are still worth setting as internal
KPIs, but lead with participation. To pressure-test your assumptions, model the likely outcome
with [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
and use external benchmarking such as
[CASE's Voluntary Support of Education](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
to sense-check what good looks like for an organisation like yours.

A useful discipline is to work the target both ways. Build it bottom-up from your segments and
expected response rates to see what the data supports, then sketch it top-down from the income
you would like to raise and the match funding you can secure, and reconcile the two. If the
numbers are far apart, the gap usually lies in either the size of your contactable audience or
the amount of match funding in place, and both are addressable months ahead with list-building
and major-donor conversations.

## Building the team around it

You do not need a large team to run a strong Giving Day. You need the right people focused on
the two things that determine the result: your email communications and your match and challenge
funding. A typical core team has a Director of Development holding strategy and vision, a
Fundraising or Regular Giving Manager running the project day to day, major gift fundraisers
securing the match and challenge funds, and a communications lead writing and scheduling
content. In a small shop, one or two people cover several of these roles, and that is fine
provided the email programme and the match funding both have a clear owner.

The campaigns that outperform are the ones that pull in colleagues beyond the development
office. Alumni relations can recruit ambassadors and help with stewardship; donor relations can
carry the thank-you and impact communications; marketing can promote the day through
institutional channels such as the website, social accounts and newsletters; faculty, staff and
students provide both the buy-in and the on-campus moments that make a digital campaign feel
tangible. Above all, secure genuine senior support early, ideally from the head of the
institution. That is what turns a Giving Day into something the whole organisation rallies
behind rather than a project the development team carries alone.

## The six-month run-up

The best Giving Days are assembled steadily over roughly six months, not improvised in a frantic
final fortnight. Our [project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) sets
this out with tasks, owners and dates, but it helps to understand the arc of the work.

### Six months out: strategy

Six months ahead, the work is strategic. Secure senior buy-in, lock in your dates including the
pre-launch and live windows, and agree your income and donor KPIs. Confirm the theme and the
case for support that everything else will hang from, decide how you will segment your
communications, and choose whether on-campus events will play a part. If you want external
support, this is the point to begin shaping strategy with consultants, while there is still time
to influence the whole campaign rather than patch the end of it.

### Five months out: message and creative

Turn to message and creative. Finalise your campaign messaging and creative direction, draft the
communications plans for email, social and video, and start identifying the donors who might
provide match and challenge funds. If you are running an ambassador programme, recruit your lead
ambassadors now, while you can give them a considered brief rather than a last-minute request.

### Four months out: build and evidence

The build begins in earnest. Platform functionality and donation pages start to take shape, you
begin gathering the testimonials and demonstrations of impact your content will depend on, and
you open real conversations with prospective match and challenge donors. The earlier you secure
match funding, the more confidently you can plan the rest of the campaign around it.

### Three months out: content and warming

Submit your platform requirements, start writing the pre-launch emails and posts, and film your
videos. Begin warming your audience by sharing impact stories through newsletters and social, and
firm up how you will deploy the match funding you have secured so far. Run your draft copy through
the [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to tighten it before it goes near a
send.

### Two and one months out: early giving

Two months ahead, the platform is fully configured and tested, early-launch communications are
finalised, match and challenge gifts are confirmed, and your data selection and email lists are
built. One month ahead, launch early giving, often with an early-giving challenge that rewards
the supporters who act before the day, and start writing your on-the-day content. Early giving
is not a nice-to-have: it builds momentum and gives you a running start.

### The final fortnight and the day

In the last two weeks, finish your live communications and watch early giving closely. A healthy
campaign reaches around 10 per cent of its donor goal before the day even opens. Then comes the
day itself, when the plan simply has to run: emails and posts sent on schedule, events delivered,
questions answered in real time. Afterwards, the focus shifts to logging and thanking every gift,
folding donors into a regular rhythm of impact communications, and starting the next ask, whether
that is a telephone appeal to thank and upgrade donors or next year's Giving Day.

## Telling stories that move people

A Giving Day rises or falls on its storytelling. Whether you focus the campaign on a specific
cause such as bursaries, or on unrestricted giving, you need real, personal stories from
students, alumni, parents and staff that show what gifts make possible. Fundraising without
genuine demonstrations of impact is far harder and tends to underperform, so before you commit to
a theme, confirm that the stories to support it actually exist and that the people in them are
willing to be featured. A strong [case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/) is
what ties those individual stories into one coherent argument for giving now.

The most resonant stories usually come from those whose lives were changed: bursary recipients,
hardship-fund users, and alumni who credit their education for where they are today. The most
effective campaigns use voices that mirror their audiences, and diversify them across era,
geography and house or college, so that as many supporters as possible recognise something of
themselves. Keep the tone warm, sincere and optimistic without tipping into sentimentality, and
always pair the emotion with a concrete outcome so a donor can see exactly what their gift does.

Different formats carry different weight. Emails and web pages can hold longer narratives; social
posts work best as a sharp quote or a 15 to 30 second clip; Instagram Stories suit real-time
updates, polls and thank-yous during the day. Authenticity beats polish, so encourage student and
staff video shot on a phone. Practically, start collecting stories five or six months ahead, work
across departments such as alumni relations, faculty and student services to find your
storytellers, and use short surveys or interviews to gather the raw material.

## Match funding in depth

Match funding is the single biggest lever in a Giving Day. A match takes a leadership or major
gift and holds it back to double the gifts of everyone else during the campaign, giving ordinary
donors a concrete, time-limited reason to act now rather than later. The psychology is
straightforward: people give more, and give earlier, when they can see their money go further and
when the opportunity is visibly running out. As a planning rule of thumb, aim to secure roughly
half of your target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is £100,000, look to line up
around £50,000.

There is more than one way to structure a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve.

A **straight 1:1 match**, pound for pound, is the simplest to communicate and the safest default.
A **higher-ratio match** such as 2:1 or 3:1 is more expensive to fund but lands hard when you want
to galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects. A
**capped match**, framed as "the first £50,000 will be doubled," creates urgency that pulls gifts
forward, because donors understand the pot can run out. A **segment-specific match** lets you
target a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni or a parents' match, which both
improves results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell. A **themed match** tied to a
particular project, where every gift to the bursary fund is doubled, sharpens the case for support
and suits donors who care about a specific outcome.

In the UK, remember to stack Gift Aid into the maths and the message. A £100 gift from an eligible
UK taxpayer is worth £125 with Gift Aid, and matched 1:1 that becomes £250 of value from a single
£100 decision. Spelling that out, as in the example below, makes the offer feel as generous as it
genuinely is.

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> £50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A £100 gift becomes £200, and with Gift Aid it is worth even more. Give before the
> match runs out."

Two operational points matter. First, never announce a match you have not confirmed in writing:
build the campaign on funds that are secured, not hoped for. Second, decide in advance how you
will handle the moment the match is exhausted. Running out of match funding mid-campaign is a good
problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is a fresh challenge, a stretch match
from a donor held in reserve, or a clear message that the matched pot has been claimed thanks to
supporters.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the community
hits a collective target. Challenges gamify the day and are especially good at drawing in
non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation, not just their
pounds, make a visible difference. Most strong Giving Days run several challenges through the day
to keep creating reasons to give.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock £1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours. A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors
releases a further £5,000, gives you a rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell
when you hit it. A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or
trigger a bonus, concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around and is one of
the most reliable ways to spike participation. A **head-to-head or leaderboard challenge** sets
groups against each other, for example houses, year groups, faculties or alumni regions, which
turns supporters into recruiters as they rally their own people up the board. A **participation
challenge** keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised is the best tool for
culture-building and acquisition, because it tells every supporter that their gift counts as much
as anyone's. A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees pledge a sum if a set number of
new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a stake in the outcome. Finally, a
**stretch or bonus challenge** held in reserve lets you release extra funding if the day exceeds
target, which keeps momentum alive right to the final hour.

The practical art is to sequence these so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock
challenge at launch, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a
stretch challenge for the closing push. Your platform's ambassador tools, including leaderboards,
ready-made messages and images, make these mechanics visible and shareable, and a small incentive
for top ambassadors keeps the competition friendly.

## Major gifts: securing and stewarding your match and challenge donors

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors and from trusts and foundations, and how you solicit and
steward those donors deserves as much care as the public campaign.

Start early, ideally four to six months out, by identifying prospects with both the capacity and
the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your best candidates are often existing major
donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have shown they care about the cause. When you
make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large gift: a match
donor is not only giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of others, and that
multiplier is the heart of the proposition. Be specific. Explain that their £25,000, used as a
match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and double the day's total, and offer recognition
that fits their preference, such as naming the challenge after them or their family, or listing
them as a match donor with their permission.

Stewardship runs before, during and after the day. Beforehand, brief your match donors properly,
confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, whether that is
lending their name to a challenge, recording a short video, or acting as a lead ambassador. During
the campaign, show them their match being claimed in real time and thank them promptly, because
seeing their gift at work is the most powerful stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the
specific impact of their match: how many donors it unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the
combined total will fund. That report is the single most important conversation for next year,
because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives again, and frequently gives more.

The pipeline effect is real, and it runs in both directions. Highgate found that the day itself
created future match donors, noting that

> "three individuals who made a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will
> increase their gift to be part of the match pool for our next Giving Day."

New donors acquired through one Giving Day can become the leadership and match donors of the next,
which is another reason to treat acquisition and stewardship as two halves of the same long game.

## Email and social media

If storytelling is the substance of a Giving Day, email is the engine that delivers it. Email
typically drives 90 to 95 per cent of donations, social media accounts for 5 to 10 per cent, and
everything else, including search and direct mail, makes up just 1 to 3 per cent. The size and
quality of your email list, and the messages you send to it, therefore deserve more attention than
any other channel.

The link between sending a message and receiving a gift is unusually direct, which is the best
argument for a disciplined schedule. Highgate measured exactly this and found that

> "349 out of 488 gifts during the day (72% of all gifts) were received within 90 minutes of a
> message being shared via email or social media."

Gifts arrive in waves, and each wave follows a message, so plan your sends accordingly.

In the four weeks before the day, a sequence of save-the-date, "two weeks to go," "one week to go"
and "24 hours to go" emails, mirrored on social, builds anticipation and brings in early gifts.
During a 36-hour Giving Day running from 8am on day one to 8pm on day two, a common rhythm carries
around ten emails. Day one opens with a launch message, then moves through a midday update, a
mid-afternoon momentum push, an early-evening reminder and an end-of-day wrap-up. Day two builds
through a morning reminder, a midday challenge update, an afternoon countdown, a final-hour push
and a closing thank-you. Tie each send to a live reason to give, such as a challenge that has just
opened or a match that is running down, so the message has news to carry rather than just another
reminder. Our [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) and
[email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) give you this full sequence to adapt.

Social media's job is to raise awareness and convert interest into action, which it does when it
runs in step with your email schedule rather than to its own rhythm. Use the channels that suit
your audience, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, lead with impact, and drive
every post back to your donation pages. You do not need paid ads or sophisticated analytics tools:
thoughtful planning, consistent messaging and good visuals are enough.

## Ambassadors

Ambassadors are volunteers who amplify your Giving Day by spreading the word through their own
networks and lending the campaign the social proof that turns awareness into action. They can be a
powerful multiplier, but only run a programme if you have both the staff capacity to support it and
a genuine network of supporters willing to be active on your behalf. Recruit lead ambassadors
early, give them clear assets and messages, and make their contribution visible through a
leaderboard so the most engaged are recognised. London Business School, with alumni around the
world, treat their ambassadors as a way to show how global their community really is. The right
approach for you depends on who your advocates are and where they sit.

## The day itself

By the time the day arrives, the strategy is set and your job is execution. Send your emails and
social posts exactly as planned, watch the social conversation and join it, track your challenge
progress and adjust your messaging as the picture changes, and, if you are running them, let your
on-campus events feed the digital push. Make giving possible at every touchpoint, including a
prominent donate button on every page and, for in-person moments, a QR code that takes people
straight to your donation page. You can create one in seconds with the free
[QR code generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/). Answer questions and unsubscribe requests
promptly, keep an eye on deliverability, and hold your nerve: the campaign you spent six months
planning now runs largely on the rails you built for it.

## Stewardship: the day after and the year after

What you do once the day ends determines whether you have gained a one-off spike or a lasting
relationship. Within a week, send donors a results email with the totals, the success stories and a
clear reminder of the impact they created. Then keep going. Monthly impact updates, ideally
exclusive to donors rather than buried in a general newsletter, use stories and visuals to show
supporters that their gift is still at work. This is also where next year's Giving Day quietly
begins, because the donors you steward well are the ones who give again, and some of them, as
Highgate found, become the match donors who make the next campaign bigger.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="A Giving Day thank-you message celebrating donors" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Prompt, specific thanks is the start of next year's campaign, not the end of this one.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Reviewing and improving

Treat every Giving Day as the foundation for the next. Capture the metrics that matter: donor count
and total income, your average and most common gift, and a breakdown of gifts by channel, segment,
country, age, graduation year and fund, alongside your email open, click-through, unsubscribe and
conversion rates and your social reach and sentiment. Bring the team together afterwards to
celebrate the wins, talk honestly about what was hard, and agree what you will change. Share the
full results internally with leadership and teams, and the top-line story externally with the
donors and supporters who made it happen.

A Giving Day is hard work, but it is some of the most rewarding work a fundraising team can do. As
Balcarras's headteacher says to any state school weighing one up, the advice from those who have
done it tends to be refreshingly simple: "Do it!"

## Frequently asked questions

**How long should a Giving Day last?** Most run for 24 or 36 hours. A 36-hour window from 8am on
day one to 8pm on day two gives you two morning peaks and two evening peaks to work with, which
suits a fuller email schedule. Shorter 24-hour days create more urgency but leave less room for
recovery if a quiet patch hits.

**How far ahead should we start planning?** Around six months for a first Giving Day. Experienced
teams running an annual day can work to a shorter cycle, but the strategic decisions, match-donor
conversations and content gathering all benefit from lead time.

**How much match funding do we need?** As a guide, aim for roughly half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise £100,000, look to secure around £50,000. More match funding,
used through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.

**Do we need a big team?** No. Small teams run successful Giving Days by focusing on the two things
that matter most, email communications and match funding, and by borrowing capacity from alumni
relations, marketing and student services for the rest.

**What matters most on the day?** Sending your planned communications on time. The data is
consistent: the large majority of gifts arrive within about 90 minutes of a message going out, so a
disciplined schedule is the difference between a steady stream of gifts and a quiet day.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Giving Day project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day communications plan template](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model your likely result before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your emails and appeal copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to your donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Giving Day platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Hubbub's how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): email fundraising, match and challenge, ambassadors and social
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Giving Day case studies: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) and [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (us/en): An in-depth, practical guide to planning and running a successful Giving Day, covering targets, storytelling, match funding and challenge mechanics, major gifts, the live 36 hours and stewardship, with real results from schools and universities.
A Giving Day is an intensive, time-bound online fundraising campaign, usually run over 24 to 36
hours, that asks your whole community to give within a single shared window. It is designed to
do several jobs at once: bring in new donors, win back lapsed supporters, prompt fresh gifts
from people who already give, and give your leadership and major donors a focal point to rally
behind. Run well, a Giving Day compresses a year's worth of energy and goodwill into a day or
two and leaves you with a larger, warmer donor base than you started with.

This guide reflects how Hubbub's consultants actually plan and run these campaigns. Since 2018
the team has delivered more than 200 Giving Days, drawing on over 25 years of fundraising
experience across the education and charity sectors. The advice below is detailed on purpose,
because the difference between a flat Giving Day and an exceptional one is rarely a single big
idea. It is the accumulation of dozens of small decisions about data, message, timing and
follow-up.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="Highgate School community taking part in their Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Highgate School's Giving Day raised £250,981 from 578 donors, 35% of them giving for the first time.</figcaption>
</figure>

It helps to be honest from the start about the effort involved. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager at Highgate School, whose Giving Day raised
[£250,981 from 578 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
describes it plainly:

> "Giving Days are hard work to plan, and your team will be extremely busy in the build-up and
> during the 36 hours of the day itself, but they are a unique opportunity to get everybody in
> your institution having fun and pulling together to do something good."

It is also a campaign you grow into rather than perfect on the first attempt. London Business
School, who have now raised
[£1.18 million across four Giving Days from 2,445 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
are open about the learning curve. Their first one was, in their words, "a very manual
process," and they "underestimated the planning and workload involved." Their advice is to
"take the leap if it fits into your strategy: you don't need to do everything in the first
year." This guide will help you concentrate on the things that move the needle and leave the
refinements for future rounds.

> **Working templates.** Rather than starting from a blank page, sign in to download our
> [project plan](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) and
> [case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## What a Giving Day is for, and where it fits

Be clear about why you are running one before you do anything else. Most institutions use a
Giving Day as an annual moment to acquire new donors and reactivate lapsed ones, to prompt
fresh gifts from existing supporters, and to put their leadership, major and legacy donors to
work providing the match and challenge funds that motivate everyone else. It grows
participation, the number of people who give, at least as much as it grows the total raised.
Both matter, but a wider donor base is the asset you will steward and re-solicit for years, so
participation is usually the metric to anchor on.

The campaign works best when it sits inside a continuous giving program rather than standing
alone. The Giving Day is the spark; the acquisition, reactivation and stewardship around it
through the year are what turn that spark into a culture of giving. Treated as an annual fixture
that feeds a regular giving program, it compounds: each year's new and reactivated donors
become next year's early givers and ambassadors.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Balcarras School Giving Day campaign page showing more than £40,000 raised" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, a state school, raised £40,101 from 219 donors on its first Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

This is achievable for organizations of every size and type, not only large, well-resourced
development offices. When Balcarras, a state school, ran its first Giving Day, it raised
[£40,101 from 219 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
with gifts ranging from £1 to £2,000. Headteacher Dominic Burke is candid about why it now
matters so much:

> "Our recent Giving Day raised over £40,000 to fund a variety of projects in the school. State
> school funding is simply no longer adequate, particularly when it comes to capital projects,
> so fundraising like this is becoming vital to ensuring the long-term success of the school."

## Data and target-setting

Everything starts with your data, and the single most important figure is how many of your
contacts have a usable, deliverable email address. Email drives roughly 90 to 95 per cent of
donations on a Giving Day, so your email-reachable audience is effectively the ceiling on what
is possible. Spend real time here before you set any target: deduplicate your records, verify
email deliverability, suppress hard bounces, and check that consent and contact preferences are
clean, so that you can actually mail the people you are counting on.

Then segment. At a minimum, separate current donors, lapsed donors and non-donors, and within
those distinguish your warmer and colder groups. Knowing the size and warmth of each segment
lets you forecast realistically and tailor your asks, because a recent regular donor and a
never-given alum who graduated twenty years ago need very different messages.

Set the target around participation first. A credible donor goal grows out of the size of your
contactable audience, the number of emails you can responsibly send, your historic response
rates by segment, your donors' giving history, and sensible peer benchmarks. Treat benchmarks
with care: understand how a peer achieved a result, including their audience size and match
funding, before you borrow their number. Income targets are still worth setting as internal
KPIs, but lead with participation. To pressure-test your assumptions, model the likely outcome
with [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
and use external benchmarking such as
[CASE's Voluntary Support of Education](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
to sense-check what good looks like for an organization like yours.

A useful discipline is to work the target both ways. Build it bottom-up from your segments and
expected response rates to see what the data supports, then sketch it top-down from the income
you would like to raise and the match funding you can secure, and reconcile the two. If the
numbers are far apart, the gap usually lies in either the size of your contactable audience or
the amount of match funding in place, and both are addressable months ahead with list-building
and major-donor conversations.

## Building the team around it

You do not need a large team to run a strong Giving Day. You need the right people focused on
the two things that determine the result: your email communications and your match and challenge
funding. A typical core team has a Director of Development holding strategy and vision, a
Fundraising or Regular Giving Manager running the project day to day, major gift fundraisers
securing the match and challenge funds, and a communications lead writing and scheduling
content. In a small shop, one or two people cover several of these roles, and that is fine
provided the email program and the match funding both have a clear owner.

The campaigns that outperform are the ones that pull in colleagues beyond the development
office. Alumni relations can recruit ambassadors and help with stewardship; donor relations can
carry the thank-you and impact communications; marketing can promote the day through
institutional channels such as the website, social accounts and newsletters; faculty, staff and
students provide both the buy-in and the on-campus moments that make a digital campaign feel
tangible. Above all, secure genuine senior support early, ideally from the head of the
institution. That is what turns a Giving Day into something the whole organization rallies
behind rather than a project the development team carries alone.

## The six-month run-up

The best Giving Days are assembled steadily over roughly six months, not improvised in a frantic
final fortnight. Our [project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) sets
this out with tasks, owners and dates, but it helps to understand the arc of the work.

### Six months out: strategy

Six months ahead, the work is strategic. Secure senior buy-in, lock in your dates including the
pre-launch and live windows, and agree your income and donor KPIs. Confirm the theme and the
case for support that everything else will hang from, decide how you will segment your
communications, and choose whether on-campus events will play a part. If you want external
support, this is the point to begin shaping strategy with consultants, while there is still time
to influence the whole campaign rather than patch the end of it.

### Five months out: message and creative

Turn to message and creative. Finalize your campaign messaging and creative direction, draft the
communications plans for email, social and video, and start identifying the donors who might
provide match and challenge funds. If you are running an ambassador program, recruit your lead
ambassadors now, while you can give them a considered brief rather than a last-minute request.

### Four months out: build and evidence

The build begins in earnest. Platform functionality and donation pages start to take shape, you
begin gathering the testimonials and demonstrations of impact your content will depend on, and
you open real conversations with prospective match and challenge donors. The earlier you secure
match funding, the more confidently you can plan the rest of the campaign around it.

### Three months out: content and warming

Submit your platform requirements, start writing the pre-launch emails and posts, and film your
videos. Begin warming your audience by sharing impact stories through newsletters and social, and
firm up how you will deploy the match funding you have secured so far. Run your draft copy through
the [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to tighten it before it goes near a
send.

### Two and one months out: early giving

Two months ahead, the platform is fully configured and tested, early-launch communications are
finalized, match and challenge gifts are confirmed, and your data selection and email lists are
built. One month ahead, launch early giving, often with an early-giving challenge that rewards
the supporters who act before the day, and start writing your on-the-day content. Early giving
is not a nice-to-have: it builds momentum and gives you a running start.

### The final fortnight and the day

In the last two weeks, finish your live communications and watch early giving closely. A healthy
campaign reaches around 10 per cent of its donor goal before the day even opens. Then comes the
day itself, when the plan simply has to run: emails and posts sent on schedule, events delivered,
questions answered in real time. Afterwards, the focus shifts to logging and thanking every gift,
folding donors into a regular rhythm of impact communications, and starting the next ask, whether
that is a telephone appeal to thank and upgrade donors or next year's Giving Day.

## Telling stories that move people

A Giving Day rises or falls on its storytelling. Whether you focus the campaign on a specific
cause such as scholarships, or on unrestricted giving, you need real, personal stories from
students, alumni, parents and staff that show what gifts make possible. Fundraising without
genuine demonstrations of impact is far harder and tends to underperform, so before you commit to
a theme, confirm that the stories to support it actually exist and that the people in them are
willing to be featured. A strong [case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/) is
what ties those individual stories into one coherent argument for giving now.

The most resonant stories usually come from those whose lives were changed: scholarship recipients,
hardship-fund users, and alumni who credit their education for where they are today. The most
effective campaigns use voices that mirror their audiences, and diversify them across era,
geography and house or college, so that as many supporters as possible recognize something of
themselves. Keep the tone warm, sincere and optimistic without tipping into sentimentality, and
always pair the emotion with a concrete outcome so a donor can see exactly what their gift does.

Different formats carry different weight. Emails and web pages can hold longer narratives; social
posts work best as a sharp quote or a 15 to 30 second clip; Instagram Stories suit real-time
updates, polls and thank-yous during the day. Authenticity beats polish, so encourage student and
staff video shot on a phone. Practically, start collecting stories five or six months ahead, work
across departments such as alumni relations, faculty and student services to find your
storytellers, and use short surveys or interviews to gather the raw material.

## Match funding in depth

Match funding is the single biggest lever in a Giving Day. A match takes a leadership or major
gift and holds it back to double the gifts of everyone else during the campaign, giving ordinary
donors a concrete, time-limited reason to act now rather than later. The psychology is
straightforward: people give more, and give earlier, when they can see their money go further and
when the opportunity is visibly running out. As a planning rule of thumb, aim to secure roughly
half of your target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is $100,000, look to line up
around $50,000.

There is more than one way to structure a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve.

A **straight 1:1 match**, dollar for dollar, is the simplest to communicate and the safest default.
A **higher-ratio match** such as 2:1 or 3:1 is more expensive to fund but lands hard when you want
to galvanize a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects. A
**capped match**, framed as "the first $50,000 will be doubled," creates urgency that pulls gifts
forward, because donors understand the pot can run out. A **segment-specific match** lets you
target a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni or a parents' match, which both
improves results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell. A **themed match** tied to a
particular project, where every gift to the scholarship fund is doubled, sharpens the case for support
and suits donors who care about a specific outcome.

Spell the math out in the message. Where you have a match in place, make it vivid: a single
decision to give goes twice as far when it is doubled. Putting that in plain numbers, as in the
example below, makes the offer feel as generous as it genuinely is. Gifts to 501(c)(3)
organizations are tax-deductible, so for many donors the true cost of the gift is lower still,
which is worth a gentle reminder.

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> $50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A $100 gift becomes $200. Give before the match runs out."

Two operational points matter. First, never announce a match you have not confirmed in writing:
build the campaign on funds that are secured, not hoped for. Second, decide in advance how you
will handle the moment the match is exhausted. Running out of match funding mid-campaign is a good
problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is a fresh challenge, a stretch match
from a donor held in reserve, or a clear message that the matched pot has been claimed thanks to
supporters.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the community
hits a collective target. Challenges gamify the day and are especially good at drawing in
non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation, not just their
dollars, make a visible difference. Most strong Giving Days run several challenges through the day
to keep creating reasons to give.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock $1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours. A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors
releases a further $5,000, gives you a rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell
when you hit it. A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or
trigger a bonus, concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around and is one of
the most reliable ways to spike participation. A **head-to-head or leaderboard challenge** sets
groups against each other, for example houses, year groups, faculties or alumni regions, which
turns supporters into recruiters as they rally their own people up the board. A **participation
challenge** keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised is the best tool for
culture-building and acquisition, because it tells every supporter that their gift counts as much
as anyone's. A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees pledge a sum if a set number of
new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a stake in the outcome. Finally, a
**stretch or bonus challenge** held in reserve lets you release extra funding if the day exceeds
target, which keeps momentum alive right to the final hour.

The practical art is to sequence these so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock
challenge at launch, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a
stretch challenge for the closing push. Your platform's ambassador tools, including leaderboards,
ready-made messages and images, make these mechanics visible and shareable, and a small incentive
for top ambassadors keeps the competition friendly.

## Major gifts: securing and stewarding your match and challenge donors

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors and from trusts and foundations, and how you solicit and
steward those donors deserves as much care as the public campaign.

Start early, ideally four to six months out, by identifying prospects with both the capacity and
the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your best candidates are often existing major
donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have shown they care about the cause. When you
make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large gift: a match
donor is not only giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of others, and that
multiplier is the heart of the proposition. Be specific. Explain that their $25,000, used as a
match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and double the day's total, and offer recognition
that fits their preference, such as naming the challenge after them or their family, or listing
them as a match donor with their permission.

Stewardship runs before, during and after the day. Beforehand, brief your match donors properly,
confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, whether that is
lending their name to a challenge, recording a short video, or acting as a lead ambassador. During
the campaign, show them their match being claimed in real time and thank them promptly, because
seeing their gift at work is the most powerful stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the
specific impact of their match: how many donors it unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the
combined total will fund. That report is the single most important conversation for next year,
because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives again, and frequently gives more.

The pipeline effect is real, and it runs in both directions. Highgate found that the day itself
created future match donors, noting that

> "three individuals who made a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will
> increase their gift to be part of the match pool for our next Giving Day."

New donors acquired through one Giving Day can become the leadership and match donors of the next,
which is another reason to treat acquisition and stewardship as two halves of the same long game.

## Email and social media

If storytelling is the substance of a Giving Day, email is the engine that delivers it. Email
typically drives 90 to 95 per cent of donations, social media accounts for 5 to 10 per cent, and
everything else, including search and direct mail, makes up just 1 to 3 per cent. The size and
quality of your email list, and the messages you send to it, therefore deserve more attention than
any other channel.

The link between sending a message and receiving a gift is unusually direct, which is the best
argument for a disciplined schedule. Highgate measured exactly this and found that

> "349 out of 488 gifts during the day (72% of all gifts) were received within 90 minutes of a
> message being shared via email or social media."

Gifts arrive in waves, and each wave follows a message, so plan your sends accordingly.

In the four weeks before the day, a sequence of save-the-date, "two weeks to go," "one week to go"
and "24 hours to go" emails, mirrored on social, builds anticipation and brings in early gifts.
During a 36-hour Giving Day running from 8am on day one to 8pm on day two, a common rhythm carries
around ten emails. Day one opens with a launch message, then moves through a midday update, a
mid-afternoon momentum push, an early-evening reminder and an end-of-day wrap-up. Day two builds
through a morning reminder, a midday challenge update, an afternoon countdown, a final-hour push
and a closing thank-you. Tie each send to a live reason to give, such as a challenge that has just
opened or a match that is running down, so the message has news to carry rather than just another
reminder. Our [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) and
[email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) give you this full sequence to adapt.

Social media's job is to raise awareness and convert interest into action, which it does when it
runs in step with your email schedule rather than to its own rhythm. Use the channels that suit
your audience, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, lead with impact, and drive
every post back to your donation pages. You do not need paid ads or sophisticated analytics tools:
thoughtful planning, consistent messaging and good visuals are enough.

## Ambassadors

Ambassadors are volunteers who amplify your Giving Day by spreading the word through their own
networks and lending the campaign the social proof that turns awareness into action. They can be a
powerful multiplier, but only run a program if you have both the staff capacity to support it and
a genuine network of supporters willing to be active on your behalf. Recruit lead ambassadors
early, give them clear assets and messages, and make their contribution visible through a
leaderboard so the most engaged are recognized. London Business School, with alumni around the
world, treat their ambassadors as a way to show how global their community really is. The right
approach for you depends on who your advocates are and where they sit.

## The day itself

By the time the day arrives, the strategy is set and your job is execution. Send your emails and
social posts exactly as planned, watch the social conversation and join it, track your challenge
progress and adjust your messaging as the picture changes, and, if you are running them, let your
on-campus events feed the digital push. Make giving possible at every touchpoint, including a
prominent donate button on every page and, for in-person moments, a QR code that takes people
straight to your donation page. You can create one in seconds with the free
[QR code generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/). Answer questions and unsubscribe requests
promptly, keep an eye on deliverability, and hold your nerve: the campaign you spent six months
planning now runs largely on the rails you built for it.

## Stewardship: the day after and the year after

What you do once the day ends determines whether you have gained a one-off spike or a lasting
relationship. Within a week, send donors a results email with the totals, the success stories and a
clear reminder of the impact they created. Then keep going. Monthly impact updates, ideally
exclusive to donors rather than buried in a general newsletter, use stories and visuals to show
supporters that their gift is still at work. This is also where next year's Giving Day quietly
begins, because the donors you steward well are the ones who give again, and some of them, as
Highgate found, become the match donors who make the next campaign bigger.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="A Giving Day thank-you message celebrating donors" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Prompt, specific thanks is the start of next year's campaign, not the end of this one.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Reviewing and improving

Treat every Giving Day as the foundation for the next. Capture the metrics that matter: donor count
and total income, your average and most common gift, and a breakdown of gifts by channel, segment,
country, age, graduation year and fund, alongside your email open, click-through, unsubscribe and
conversion rates and your social reach and sentiment. Bring the team together afterwards to
celebrate the wins, talk honestly about what was hard, and agree what you will change. Share the
full results internally with leadership and teams, and the top-line story externally with the
donors and supporters who made it happen.

A Giving Day is hard work, but it is some of the most rewarding work a fundraising team can do. As
Balcarras's headteacher says to any state school weighing one up, the advice from those who have
done it tends to be refreshingly simple: "Do it!"

## Frequently asked questions

**How long should a Giving Day last?** Most run for 24 or 36 hours. A 36-hour window from 8am on
day one to 8pm on day two gives you two morning peaks and two evening peaks to work with, which
suits a fuller email schedule. Shorter 24-hour days create more urgency but leave less room for
recovery if a quiet patch hits.

**How far ahead should we start planning?** Around six months for a first Giving Day. Experienced
teams running an annual day can work to a shorter cycle, but the strategic decisions, match-donor
conversations and content gathering all benefit from lead time.

**How much match funding do we need?** As a guide, aim for roughly half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise $100,000, look to secure around $50,000. More match funding,
used through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.

**Do we need a big team?** No. Small teams run successful Giving Days by focusing on the two things
that matter most, email communications and match funding, and by borrowing capacity from alumni
relations, marketing and student services for the rest.

**What matters most on the day?** Sending your planned communications on time. The data is
consistent: the large majority of gifts arrive within about 90 minutes of a message going out, so a
disciplined schedule is the difference between a steady stream of gifts and a quiet day.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Giving Day project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day communications plan template](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model your likely result before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your emails and appeal copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to your donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Giving Day platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Hubbub's how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): email fundraising, match and challenge, ambassadors and social
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Giving Day case studies: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) and [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a Giving Day](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) (world/en): An in-depth, practical guide to planning and running a successful Giving Day, covering targets, storytelling, match funding and challenge mechanics, major gifts, the live 36 hours and stewardship, with real results from schools and universities.
A Giving Day is an intensive, time-bound online fundraising campaign, usually run over 24 to 36
hours, that asks your whole community to give within a single shared window. It is designed to
do several jobs at once: bring in new donors, win back lapsed supporters, prompt fresh gifts
from people who already give, and give your leadership and major donors a focal point to rally
behind. Run well, a Giving Day compresses a year's worth of energy and goodwill into a day or
two and leaves you with a larger, warmer donor base than you started with.

This guide reflects how Hubbub's consultants actually plan and run these campaigns. Since 2018
the team has delivered more than 200 Giving Days, drawing on over 25 years of fundraising
experience across the education and charity sectors. The advice below is detailed on purpose,
because the difference between a flat Giving Day and an exceptional one is rarely a single big
idea. It is the accumulation of dozens of small decisions about data, message, timing and
follow-up.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/highgate.jpg" alt="Highgate School community taking part in their Giving Day" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Highgate School's Giving Day raised £250,981 from 578 donors, 35% of them giving for the first time.</figcaption>
</figure>

It helps to be honest from the start about the effort involved. Joe Connor, Fundraising
Relationships Manager at Highgate School, whose Giving Day raised
[£250,981 from 578 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story),
describes it plainly:

> "Giving Days are hard work to plan, and your team will be extremely busy in the build-up and
> during the 36 hours of the day itself, but they are a unique opportunity to get everybody in
> your institution having fun and pulling together to do something good."

It is also a campaign you grow into rather than perfect on the first attempt. London Business
School, who have now raised
[£1.18 million across four Giving Days from 2,445 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study),
are open about the learning curve. Their first one was, in their words, "a very manual
process," and they "underestimated the planning and workload involved." Their advice is to
"take the leap if it fits into your strategy: you don't need to do everything in the first
year." This guide will help you concentrate on the things that move the needle and leave the
refinements for future rounds.

> **Working templates.** Rather than starting from a blank page, sign in to download our
> [project plan](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/),
> [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/),
> [email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) and
> [case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/).

## What a Giving Day is for, and where it fits

Be clear about why you are running one before you do anything else. Most institutions use a
Giving Day as an annual moment to acquire new donors and reactivate lapsed ones, to prompt
fresh gifts from existing supporters, and to put their leadership, major and legacy donors to
work providing the match and challenge funds that motivate everyone else. It grows
participation, the number of people who give, at least as much as it grows the total raised.
Both matter, but a wider donor base is the asset you will steward and re-solicit for years, so
participation is usually the metric to anchor on.

The campaign works best when it sits inside a continuous giving programme rather than standing
alone. The Giving Day is the spark; the acquisition, reactivation and stewardship around it
through the year are what turn that spark into a culture of giving. Treated as an annual fixture
that feeds a regular giving programme, it compounds: each year's new and reactivated donors
become next year's early givers and ambassadors.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/balcarras.jpg" alt="Balcarras School Giving Day campaign page showing more than £40,000 raised" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Balcarras, a state school, raised £40,101 from 219 donors on its first Giving Day.</figcaption>
</figure>

This is achievable for organisations of every size and type, not only large, well-resourced
development offices. When Balcarras, a state school, ran its first Giving Day, it raised
[£40,101 from 219 donors](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study),
with gifts ranging from £1 to £2,000. Headteacher Dominic Burke is candid about why it now
matters so much:

> "Our recent Giving Day raised over £40,000 to fund a variety of projects in the school. State
> school funding is simply no longer adequate, particularly when it comes to capital projects,
> so fundraising like this is becoming vital to ensuring the long-term success of the school."

## Data and target-setting

Everything starts with your data, and the single most important figure is how many of your
contacts have a usable, deliverable email address. Email drives roughly 90 to 95 per cent of
donations on a Giving Day, so your email-reachable audience is effectively the ceiling on what
is possible. Spend real time here before you set any target: deduplicate your records, verify
email deliverability, suppress hard bounces, and check that consent and contact preferences are
clean, so that you can actually mail the people you are counting on.

Then segment. At a minimum, separate current donors, lapsed donors and non-donors, and within
those distinguish your warmer and colder groups. Knowing the size and warmth of each segment
lets you forecast realistically and tailor your asks, because a recent regular donor and a
never-given alum who graduated twenty years ago need very different messages.

Set the target around participation first. A credible donor goal grows out of the size of your
contactable audience, the number of emails you can responsibly send, your historic response
rates by segment, your donors' giving history, and sensible peer benchmarks. Treat benchmarks
with care: understand how a peer achieved a result, including their audience size and match
funding, before you borrow their number. Income targets are still worth setting as internal
KPIs, but lead with participation. To pressure-test your assumptions, model the likely outcome
with [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator),
and use external benchmarking such as
[CASE's Voluntary Support of Education](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings)
to sense-check what good looks like for an organisation like yours.

A useful discipline is to work the target both ways. Build it bottom-up from your segments and
expected response rates to see what the data supports, then sketch it top-down from the income
you would like to raise and the match funding you can secure, and reconcile the two. If the
numbers are far apart, the gap usually lies in either the size of your contactable audience or
the amount of match funding in place, and both are addressable months ahead with list-building
and major-donor conversations.

## Building the team around it

You do not need a large team to run a strong Giving Day. You need the right people focused on
the two things that determine the result: your email communications and your match and challenge
funding. A typical core team has a Director of Development holding strategy and vision, a
Fundraising or Regular Giving Manager running the project day to day, major gift fundraisers
securing the match and challenge funds, and a communications lead writing and scheduling
content. In a small shop, one or two people cover several of these roles, and that is fine
provided the email programme and the match funding both have a clear owner.

The campaigns that outperform are the ones that pull in colleagues beyond the development
office. Alumni relations can recruit ambassadors and help with stewardship; donor relations can
carry the thank-you and impact communications; marketing can promote the day through
institutional channels such as the website, social accounts and newsletters; faculty, staff and
students provide both the buy-in and the on-campus moments that make a digital campaign feel
tangible. Above all, secure genuine senior support early, ideally from the head of the
institution. That is what turns a Giving Day into something the whole organisation rallies
behind rather than a project the development team carries alone.

## The six-month run-up

The best Giving Days are assembled steadily over roughly six months, not improvised in a frantic
final fortnight. Our [project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/) sets
this out with tasks, owners and dates, but it helps to understand the arc of the work.

### Six months out: strategy

Six months ahead, the work is strategic. Secure senior buy-in, lock in your dates including the
pre-launch and live windows, and agree your income and donor KPIs. Confirm the theme and the
case for support that everything else will hang from, decide how you will segment your
communications, and choose whether on-campus events will play a part. If you want external
support, this is the point to begin shaping strategy with consultants, while there is still time
to influence the whole campaign rather than patch the end of it.

### Five months out: message and creative

Turn to message and creative. Finalise your campaign messaging and creative direction, draft the
communications plans for email, social and video, and start identifying the donors who might
provide match and challenge funds. If you are running an ambassador programme, recruit your lead
ambassadors now, while you can give them a considered brief rather than a last-minute request.

### Four months out: build and evidence

The build begins in earnest. Platform functionality and donation pages start to take shape, you
begin gathering the testimonials and demonstrations of impact your content will depend on, and
you open real conversations with prospective match and challenge donors. The earlier you secure
match funding, the more confidently you can plan the rest of the campaign around it.

### Three months out: content and warming

Submit your platform requirements, start writing the pre-launch emails and posts, and film your
videos. Begin warming your audience by sharing impact stories through newsletters and social, and
firm up how you will deploy the match funding you have secured so far. Run your draft copy through
the [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) to tighten it before it goes near a
send.

### Two and one months out: early giving

Two months ahead, the platform is fully configured and tested, early-launch communications are
finalised, match and challenge gifts are confirmed, and your data selection and email lists are
built. One month ahead, launch early giving, often with an early-giving challenge that rewards
the supporters who act before the day, and start writing your on-the-day content. Early giving
is not a nice-to-have: it builds momentum and gives you a running start.

### The final fortnight and the day

In the last two weeks, finish your live communications and watch early giving closely. A healthy
campaign reaches around 10 per cent of its donor goal before the day even opens. Then comes the
day itself, when the plan simply has to run: emails and posts sent on schedule, events delivered,
questions answered in real time. Afterwards, the focus shifts to logging and thanking every gift,
folding donors into a regular rhythm of impact communications, and starting the next ask, whether
that is a telephone appeal to thank and upgrade donors or next year's Giving Day.

## Telling stories that move people

A Giving Day rises or falls on its storytelling. Whether you focus the campaign on a specific
cause such as bursaries, or on unrestricted giving, you need real, personal stories from
students, alumni, parents and staff that show what gifts make possible. Fundraising without
genuine demonstrations of impact is far harder and tends to underperform, so before you commit to
a theme, confirm that the stories to support it actually exist and that the people in them are
willing to be featured. A strong [case for support](/resources/case-for-support-template/) is
what ties those individual stories into one coherent argument for giving now.

The most resonant stories usually come from those whose lives were changed: bursary recipients,
hardship-fund users, and alumni who credit their education for where they are today. The most
effective campaigns use voices that mirror their audiences, and diversify them across era,
geography and house or college, so that as many supporters as possible recognise something of
themselves. Keep the tone warm, sincere and optimistic without tipping into sentimentality, and
always pair the emotion with a concrete outcome so a donor can see exactly what their gift does.

Different formats carry different weight. Emails and web pages can hold longer narratives; social
posts work best as a sharp quote or a 15 to 30 second clip; Instagram Stories suit real-time
updates, polls and thank-yous during the day. Authenticity beats polish, so encourage student and
staff video shot on a phone. Practically, start collecting stories five or six months ahead, work
across departments such as alumni relations, faculty and student services to find your
storytellers, and use short surveys or interviews to gather the raw material.

## Match funding in depth

Match funding is the single biggest lever in a Giving Day. A match takes a leadership or major
gift and holds it back to double the gifts of everyone else during the campaign, giving ordinary
donors a concrete, time-limited reason to act now rather than later. The psychology is
straightforward: people give more, and give earlier, when they can see their money go further and
when the opportunity is visibly running out. As a planning rule of thumb, aim to secure roughly
half of your target in match and challenge funds. If your goal is 100,000 in your local currency,
look to line up around 50,000.

There is more than one way to structure a match, and the right choice depends on what you are
trying to achieve.

A **straight 1:1 match**, like for like, is the simplest to communicate and the safest default.
A **higher-ratio match** such as 2:1 or 3:1 is more expensive to fund but lands hard when you want
to galvanise a specific push, for example a power hour or a drive to convert cold prospects. A
**capped match**, framed as "the first 50,000 will be doubled," creates urgency that pulls gifts
forward, because donors understand the pot can run out. A **segment-specific match** lets you
target a group that usually under-performs, such as a young-alumni or a parents' match, which both
improves results in that segment and gives you a fresh story to tell. A **themed match** tied to a
particular project, where every gift to the bursary fund is doubled, sharpens the case for support
and suits donors who care about a specific outcome.

Spell the maths out in the message. Where you have a match in place, make it vivid: a single
decision to give goes twice as far when it is doubled. Putting that in plain numbers, as in the
example below, makes the offer feel as generous as it genuinely is. Whether donors can claim tax
relief on their gift depends on your country's rules, so where it applies it is worth a gentle
reminder that the real cost of giving can be lower.

> "Make your donation early to make sure it is matched. Thanks to our match donors, the first
> 50,000 raised during Giving Day will be doubled, the one time of year your gift can go twice
> as far. A gift of 100 becomes 200. Give before the match runs out."

Two operational points matter. First, never announce a match you have not confirmed in writing:
build the campaign on funds that are secured, not hoped for. Second, decide in advance how you
will handle the moment the match is exhausted. Running out of match funding mid-campaign is a good
problem, but it still needs a planned response, whether that is a fresh challenge, a stretch match
from a donor held in reserve, or a clear message that the matched pot has been claimed thanks to
supporters.

## Challenge types and how to use them

Where a match doubles an individual gift, a challenge releases a pot of funding when the community
hits a collective target. Challenges gamify the day and are especially good at drawing in
non-donors and lower-level givers, because they let people see their participation, not just the
size of their gift, make a visible difference. Most strong Giving Days run several challenges
through the day to keep creating reasons to give.

A **threshold or unlock challenge**, such as "the first 30 donors unlock 1,000," rewards early
action and is ideal for the opening hours. A **milestone challenge**, where reaching 200 donors
releases a further 5,000, gives you a rallying point to push towards and a natural story to tell
when you hit it. A **power hour or golden hour**, in which gifts within a set hour are matched or
trigger a bonus, concentrates traffic into a window you can build anticipation around and is one of
the most reliable ways to spike participation. A **head-to-head or leaderboard challenge** sets
groups against each other, for example houses, year groups, faculties or alumni regions, which
turns supporters into recruiters as they rally their own people up the board. A **participation
challenge** keyed to the number of donors rather than the amount raised is the best tool for
culture-building and acquisition, because it tells every supporter that their gift counts as much
as anyone's. A **board or leadership challenge**, where trustees pledge a sum if a set number of
new donors give, both raises funds and gives your leadership a stake in the outcome. Finally, a
**stretch or bonus challenge** held in reserve lets you release extra funding if the day exceeds
target, which keeps momentum alive right to the final hour.

The practical art is to sequence these so there is always a live reason to give: an unlock
challenge at launch, milestones through the day, a power hour to lift a quiet afternoon, and a
stretch challenge for the closing push. Your platform's ambassador tools, including leaderboards,
ready-made messages and images, make these mechanics visible and shareable, and a small incentive
for top ambassadors keeps the competition friendly.

## Major gifts: securing and stewarding your match and challenge donors

Match and challenge funding does not appear on its own. It is raised, gift by gift, from your
leadership, major and legacy donors and from trusts and foundations, and how you solicit and
steward those donors deserves as much care as the public campaign.

Start early, ideally four to six months out, by identifying prospects with both the capacity and
the inclination to fund a match or name a challenge. Your best candidates are often existing major
donors, trustees, and committed regular donors who have shown they care about the cause. When you
make the ask, frame the match as high-leverage philanthropy rather than just a large gift: a match
donor is not only giving money, they are unlocking the generosity of hundreds of others, and that
multiplier is the heart of the proposition. Be specific. Explain that their large gift, used as a
match, is likely to inspire several hundred gifts and double the day's total, and offer recognition
that fits their preference, such as naming the challenge after them or their family, or listing
them as a match donor with their permission.

Stewardship runs before, during and after the day. Beforehand, brief your match donors properly,
confirm the arrangement in writing, and give them a role they can feel part of, whether that is
lending their name to a challenge, recording a short video, or acting as a lead ambassador. During
the campaign, show them their match being claimed in real time and thank them promptly, because
seeing their gift at work is the most powerful stewardship there is. Afterwards, report the
specific impact of their match: how many donors it unlocked, how much it leveraged, and what the
combined total will fund. That report is the single most important conversation for next year,
because a well-stewarded match donor very often gives again, and frequently gives more.

The pipeline effect is real, and it runs in both directions. Highgate found that the day itself
created future match donors, noting that

> "three individuals who made a gift for the first time on our Giving Day have said they will
> increase their gift to be part of the match pool for our next Giving Day."

New donors acquired through one Giving Day can become the leadership and match donors of the next,
which is another reason to treat acquisition and stewardship as two halves of the same long game.

## Email and social media

If storytelling is the substance of a Giving Day, email is the engine that delivers it. Email
typically drives 90 to 95 per cent of donations, social media accounts for 5 to 10 per cent, and
everything else, including search and direct mail, makes up just 1 to 3 per cent. The size and
quality of your email list, and the messages you send to it, therefore deserve more attention than
any other channel.

The link between sending a message and receiving a gift is unusually direct, which is the best
argument for a disciplined schedule. Highgate measured exactly this and found that

> "349 out of 488 gifts during the day (72% of all gifts) were received within 90 minutes of a
> message being shared via email or social media."

Gifts arrive in waves, and each wave follows a message, so plan your sends accordingly.

In the four weeks before the day, a sequence of save-the-date, "two weeks to go," "one week to go"
and "24 hours to go" emails, mirrored on social, builds anticipation and brings in early gifts.
During a 36-hour Giving Day running from 8am on day one to 8pm on day two, a common rhythm carries
around ten emails. Day one opens with a launch message, then moves through a midday update, a
mid-afternoon momentum push, an early-evening reminder and an end-of-day wrap-up. Day two builds
through a morning reminder, a midday challenge update, an afternoon countdown, a final-hour push
and a closing thank-you. Tie each send to a live reason to give, such as a challenge that has just
opened or a match that is running down, so the message has news to carry rather than just another
reminder. Our [communications plan](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/) and
[email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/) give you this full sequence to adapt.

Social media's job is to raise awareness and convert interest into action, which it does when it
runs in step with your email schedule rather than to its own rhythm. Use the channels that suit
your audience, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, lead with impact, and drive
every post back to your donation pages. You do not need paid ads or sophisticated analytics tools:
thoughtful planning, consistent messaging and good visuals are enough.

## Ambassadors

Ambassadors are volunteers who amplify your Giving Day by spreading the word through their own
networks and lending the campaign the social proof that turns awareness into action. They can be a
powerful multiplier, but only run a programme if you have both the staff capacity to support it and
a genuine network of supporters willing to be active on your behalf. Recruit lead ambassadors
early, give them clear assets and messages, and make their contribution visible through a
leaderboard so the most engaged are recognised. London Business School, with alumni around the
world, treat their ambassadors as a way to show how global their community really is. The right
approach for you depends on who your advocates are and where they sit.

## The day itself

By the time the day arrives, the strategy is set and your job is execution. Send your emails and
social posts exactly as planned, watch the social conversation and join it, track your challenge
progress and adjust your messaging as the picture changes, and, if you are running them, let your
on-campus events feed the digital push. Make giving possible at every touchpoint, including a
prominent donate button on every page and, for in-person moments, a QR code that takes people
straight to your donation page. You can create one in seconds with the free
[QR code generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/). Answer questions and unsubscribe requests
promptly, keep an eye on deliverability, and hold your nerve: the campaign you spent six months
planning now runs largely on the rails you built for it.

## Stewardship: the day after and the year after

What you do once the day ends determines whether you have gained a one-off spike or a lasting
relationship. Within a week, send donors a results email with the totals, the success stories and a
clear reminder of the impact they created. Then keep going. Monthly impact updates, ideally
exclusive to donors rather than buried in a general newsletter, use stories and visuals to show
supporters that their gift is still at work. This is also where next year's Giving Day quietly
begins, because the donors you steward well are the ones who give again, and some of them, as
Highgate found, become the match donors who make the next campaign bigger.

<figure>
  <img src="/static/img/cards/giving-day-thankyou.jpg" alt="A Giving Day thank-you message celebrating donors" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>Prompt, specific thanks is the start of next year's campaign, not the end of this one.</figcaption>
</figure>

## Reviewing and improving

Treat every Giving Day as the foundation for the next. Capture the metrics that matter: donor count
and total income, your average and most common gift, and a breakdown of gifts by channel, segment,
country, age, graduation year and fund, alongside your email open, click-through, unsubscribe and
conversion rates and your social reach and sentiment. Bring the team together afterwards to
celebrate the wins, talk honestly about what was hard, and agree what you will change. Share the
full results internally with leadership and teams, and the top-line story externally with the
donors and supporters who made it happen.

A Giving Day is hard work, but it is some of the most rewarding work a fundraising team can do. As
Balcarras's headteacher says to any state school weighing one up, the advice from those who have
done it tends to be refreshingly simple: "Do it!"

## Frequently asked questions

**How long should a Giving Day last?** Most run for 24 or 36 hours. A 36-hour window from 8am on
day one to 8pm on day two gives you two morning peaks and two evening peaks to work with, which
suits a fuller email schedule. Shorter 24-hour days create more urgency but leave less room for
recovery if a quiet patch hits.

**How far ahead should we start planning?** Around six months for a first Giving Day. Experienced
teams running an annual day can work to a shorter cycle, but the strategic decisions, match-donor
conversations and content gathering all benefit from lead time.

**How much match funding do we need?** As a guide, aim for roughly half of your target in match and
challenge funds. If you want to raise 100,000, look to secure around 50,000. More match funding,
used through well-timed challenges, generally means more participation.

**Do we need a big team?** No. Small teams run successful Giving Days by focusing on the two things
that matter most, email communications and match funding, and by borrowing capacity from alumni
relations, marketing and student services for the rest.

**What matters most on the day?** Sending your planned communications on time. The data is
consistent: the large majority of gifts arrive within about 90 minutes of a message going out, so a
disciplined schedule is the difference between a steady stream of gifts and a quiet day.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Giving Day project plan template](/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day communications plan template](/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/)
- [Giving Day email copy templates](/resources/giving-day-email-templates/)
- [Case for support template](/resources/case-for-support-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model your likely result before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your emails and appeal copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to your donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub's Giving Day platform and expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days)
- [Hubbub's how-to guides](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): email fundraising, match and challenge, ambassadors and social
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Giving Day case studies: [Balcarras School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study), [Highgate School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story), [Royal Hospital School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/transforming-the-lives-of-100-children-a-royal-hospital-school-case-study) and [London Business School](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (canz/en): A practical guide to recruiting, briefing and motivating fundraising ambassadors, the volunteers who amplify your campaigns through their own networks, covering whether it is right for you, the tools, gamification and stewardship.
A fundraising ambassador is a volunteer who lends you their voice and their network. They are
not staff, and they are not professional fundraisers. They are alumni, students, parents,
trustees, colleagues and friends of your cause who are willing to ask the people they know to
give. Hubbub's ambassadors webinar defines the role simply: "I would define an ambassador as a
volunteer that is willing to help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you
have." The work of an ambassador programme is to find those people, make it easy for them to
act, and keep them coming back. This guide explains how to do all three.

## Why ambassadors work

The case for ambassadors rests on a stubborn fact about how people give: most of us do not
respond to an institution asking for money, we respond to a friend. "One out of four people
will give if asked by a friend," Hubbub's team explains. The conversion rate on a cold, branded
solicitation from a development office is, by contrast, around 0.06 per cent. When the ask comes
from someone you know, you are far more likely to open the email, click and give. Ambassadors
are how you put your appeal into the hands of people your supporters actually trust.

The second reason is reach. Social media platforms bury posts from institutional accounts, and
those posts fade fast. "Social media messages usually have only like a minute to five-minute
lifespan," a Hubbub consultant notes, "and if you're having more and more people post on your
behalf, people are going to see it." A single post from your charity reaches a sliver of your
followers. Fifty ambassadors posting in their own voices, to their own networks, on the same
day, stack the odds back in your favour. You buy reach you could never buy with advertising, and
you buy it with authenticity rather than budget.

This guide draws on best practice shared by Hubbub's specialists in their webinar "Creating
engaged ambassador communities", and on the experience of institutions who have built ambassador
programmes around [Giving Days](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and
[Challenge Weeks](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). It covers whether a programme is
right for you, how to recruit and brief ambassadors, the technology that makes them effective,
how to motivate and gamify their participation, how they fit a Giving Day or Challenge Week, and
how to steward them so the programme compounds year on year.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [recruitment email](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) and
> [social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Is an ambassador programme right for you

The most common objection comes from smaller teams, and it is usually wrong. "I'm a small
institution, I don't have the resources to do all this ambassador work, why should I do it?" is a
question Hubbub's team hears all the time. The answer is that you do not have to do everything.
"One size does not have to fit all. There are different types of techniques that you can use,
anything from toolkits to videos to lead volunteers. But the most important thing is you don't
have to do all those. Pick and choose what you're comfortable with, but it is most important that
you actually jump in and just try it, because you'll see a dramatic difference with a Giving Day
or a campaign while using ambassadors than without." The entry bar is low.

What a programme does need is one person who owns it. Recruiting, briefing, building journeys and
keeping ambassadors warm is real work, and it competes for attention with the income targets that
dominate any campaign. As a Hubbub consultant puts it, managing ambassadors "can seem a lot of
work, and to be honest, it is. But if you have a team with alumni relations colleagues or
volunteer colleagues or just a willing volunteer in your office who is happy to look after the
management of those ambassadors, do use those colleagues to help you." If you can name one
person, on staff or volunteer, who will own the ambassador relationship from recruitment through
to the final thank you, you have the foundation for a programme. If you cannot, start smaller:
recruit a handful of lead volunteers, see what they generate, and grow from there.

A programme also suits some communities better than others. Where affinity is strong, the format
works even when the numbers are modest. Oxbridge colleges and schools, a Hubbub consultant notes,
have "a smaller pool to call upon. However, that affinity within these communities is very
strong, which makes them great for running giving days." A tight, passionate community of a few
hundred can produce a more active ambassador corps than a sprawling alumni file with weak
attachment. If your supporters genuinely care, you have ambassadors waiting to be asked.

## Recruiting the right ambassadors

Recruitment runs in two waves, and the order matters. Start not with a mass appeal but with a
small group of lead volunteers. These are, Hubbub's team explains, "people that can be on staff,
passionate alumni, student employees, or enthusiastic friends and family that you think will be
able to help lead the charge. You want these people to be your ones that will probably work a
little bit harder or might have a little bit more time to dedicate than others, because the
long-term goal is that then these people will then go and recruit their friends and family, and
so on and so forth." Lead volunteers are not just your most active ambassadors. They are your
recruitment engine, and their endorsement, sent to their own networks, is worth more than any
email from head office.

Timing the second wave takes nerve, because most people sign up late. For a Giving Day, train and
recruit lead volunteers "about three months before the day. This is probably at most. If you go
any further than that, you might lose some momentum." The wider ambassador pool behaves
differently. "Most ambassadors usually sign up just a few weeks in advance," a Hubbub consultant
observes. "We're a last-minute culture, and usually people do things at the last minute." Do not
panic when the early numbers look thin. The rush comes in the final fortnight, and often in the
final week, so plan your recruitment communications to peak there rather than burning your energy
too early.

Resist the temptation to set a precise ambassador target in your first year, because you have
nothing to base it on. "Setting an ambassador target without running it first is very difficult
to do," Hubbub's ambassadors webinar advises. "I'd recommend starting out with a few lead
volunteers, seeing how many people are receptive to the idea, and then once you have a good idea
of how many people you can have on board, then you might want to set an ambassador number." As a
rough sense of scale, first-year goals have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller
organisations up to 100 to 200 at larger ones, with the right figure depending heavily on
institution size and engagement. The point of year one is simply to do it at all. "The whole
point is that you actually attempted to do ambassadors for your first go around," Hubbub's team
explains, "and then from year one to year two, just as we see a massive increase in Giving Days,
you'll probably see a massive increase from ambassadors."

When you choose where to recruit, go where your audience already is. The right channel is not a
fixed answer but a question about your own community. "It's the channels where your audience
exists," a Hubbub consultant says. "So if you're after a particularly younger audience, I
wouldn't say that Facebook is the place that you want to go recruit them from. If you're looking
to recruit young ambassadors, you're going to be wanting to use channels like Instagram. Go where
your audience is." Recruit on the platforms your supporters actually use, and lean on the channel
where your own engagement is already strongest.

## Briefing and equipping your ambassadors

Here is the mistake almost everyone makes: teams rush to recruit ambassadors before they have
anything to give them to do. "A lot of people do make the mistake of trying to recruit them
before they have any of the training materials done," the webinar warns. "I highly recommend that
you want to begin by creating training materials for ambassadors before you start to recruit
them." Build the kit first, then go looking for the people. An ambassador who signs up full of
enthusiasm and is met with silence is an ambassador you have lost.

Sequence the kit after your branding, too, or you will only have to redo it. "You want to make
sure that you aren't creating these materials before you've branded everything," Hubbub's team
explains, "because once you have your marketing and your branding done, you're going to have to
change it." For a Giving Day, prepare materials roughly four to six months out, once the look and
feel of the day itself is settled, so the ambassador toolkit can simply inherit it.

Three kinds of material do the heavy lifting. **Ambassador videos** are short walkthroughs of the
platform, the steps you want ambassadors to take, and your tips and tricks, including sample posts
and testimonials from people explaining why they signed up. They let you train people who will
never make it to a room. **In-person workshops** cover the same ground with handouts and
face-to-face time, and they are where your lead volunteers come into their own. "If you can do
in-person workshops, you're probably going to get a better return on your investment," a Hubbub
consultant notes, "as these will have much more of an impact and get kind of the people that you
know are going to be able to do the work for you." The centrepiece is the **ambassador toolkit**,
a fully branded pack of ready-to-use posts, emails and images. "These are fully branded training
packets with sample social posts and emails," Hubbub's team explains. "They tell your ambassadors
kind of what exactly you need them to do. They make it easy."

A good toolkit follows a clear structure. The strongest example Hubbub cites is the University of
York's Giving Day pack, and its shape is worth copying. It opens with a simple, branded checklist
that tells ambassadors both what to do and when, broken into prepare-in-advance, get-excited,
during-the-week and on-the-day phases. It tells them to follow the campaign accounts, sign up to
the platform, plan posts ahead of time, and, crucially, to use their own words. "Using your own
words gets the most amount of interaction," the webinar notes, "is when people will make their
content their own." It hands ambassadors the campaign hashtag so posts stack together on a feed.
It supplies images for social posts, profile photos and wallpapers. And it provides drag-and-drop
copy for both social and email, with the dates already written in. The logic is simple: "Everyone
has a busy day, so when you can just provide content that you can just literally drag and drop,
copy and paste, it makes life a lot easier." You do the work so that your ambassadors only have
to do the asking.

## The technology that makes it work

Good ambassador technology removes the two things that stop volunteers in their tracks: not
knowing what to post, and not knowing whether their effort mattered. Three features carry most of
the weight.

The first is **ready-made, shareable content delivered through a portal**. Rather than emailing
ambassadors a document and hoping, a portal pushes them a notification each time there is a new
message to share, with the post written and the image attached. Warm people up to this habit
before the campaign even starts, a Hubbub consultant advises: "Do start sending sharing messages
through your Giving Day ambassador portal so that your ambassadors get used to seeing those
notifications in their inbox, so that they get into the habit of sharing messages before the
Giving Day." By the day itself, sharing is already routine.

The second is **personal tracking links**. On the Hubbub platform, each ambassador who signs up
"will actually get their own unique URL, and it will track the number of clicks you get and the
actual referred amounts that you raise on the Giving Day itself." This single feature changes the
character of a programme. It turns vague goodwill into measurable contribution, lets you thank
people for what they specifically achieved, and gives you the data to prove the programme works.

The third is a **leaderboard with prizes**. The Hubbub tool offers "different rankings, different
prizes available for you to fill in," Hubbub's team explains. "We have a leaderboard, and whoever
finishes within the top three or six will win a prize, and that's usually based upon the number
of clicks that you get." A visible ranking turns individual effort into friendly competition, the
subject of the next section. Underpinning all of this should be your campaign hashtag, so that
ambassador posts aggregate on social feeds and, with enough volume, start to trend in your local
area and reach people well beyond any single ambassador's network.

## Motivating and gamifying participation

The mechanics of motivation are straightforward, and an ambassador who feels seen will act again
and again. Start with incentives. "You want to make sure you're incentivising your ambassadors
with swag," a Hubbub consultant notes, "t-shirts from the university, water bottles, whatever you
want to provide them." Pair the swag with the leaderboard prizes, and you have a structure that
rewards effort without costing much. The webinar's own summary is blunt: "I have found that using
a carrot on the end of a stick is the best way to go. It's a great way to get people involved."

The most powerful motivator, though, is not a prize but attention. During a campaign, alongside
the public updates everyone sees, send individual ambassadors a personal note on their own
progress. A Hubbub consultant is specific: "Consider sending individual emails to your
ambassadors, sharing with them a personal update on their own progress. For example, the number
of likes that they've generated, as well as the gifts they may have generated. This shows them
that someone is paying attention to the impact that they are generating and encouraging them to
keep going. And this is especially important if you have prizes and incentives for them." A
leaderboard tells ambassadors where they stand. A personal email tells them you noticed.

Give people one thing to do at a time. The temptation is to hand ambassadors the full list and
let them choose, but participation rises when each ask is single and clear. Break the journey into
discrete actions: first, share the recruitment message to bring in others; then send an email on a
named day; then share a story tied to a specific cause; and finally make their own gift just
before the campaign opens, "encouraging them to be the first to participate so that they can spend
the rest of their day encouraging participation through sharing." Each step is small enough to
feel achievable, and the sequence builds naturally towards the campaign.

Two pieces of social proof make the whole thing easier. People are far more comfortable joining in
when they can see others already taking part, so share examples from existing ambassadors early.
"If you can create some of these internally with your lead ambassadors, they can help to
demonstrate to others that people are already participating and that they don't necessarily have
to be the first person." And remember that many ambassadors are motivated less by competition than
by belonging. "Sometimes our ambassadors join because they want to feel exclusively a part of the
team behind the Giving Day," a Hubbub consultant notes, "so if we can give them that access, then
why not?" Behind-the-scenes updates and a sense of being on the inside cost you nothing and buy
real loyalty.

## Ambassadors in a Giving Day and a Challenge Week

Ambassadors are not a freestanding activity. They are the amplification layer that makes a
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) reach further than your own channels
ever could. In a Giving Day, the rhythm is intense and compressed, often into 36 hours, and
ambassadors carry the campaign across the gaps your institutional posts cannot reach. The
ambassador journey maps neatly onto the day: a recruitment phase beforehand, with messages going
both to those who have signed up and those who have not; real-time encouragement on the day
itself, mixing calls to action with progress updates; and a wash-up phase afterwards. The cadence
of that mix matters. "Mixing up both of these messages so that you can create an even balance that
rewards your ambassadors as much as it thanks them," a Hubbub consultant says, "will go a long way
towards getting them to take action again and again."

A Challenge Week works slightly differently, because the fundraisers are student clubs and
societies promoting their own pages over roughly a week, but ambassadors are no less central to
it. Here, ambassadors are the wider network each group rallies around its cause, and the numbers
can be substantial: the University of York grew from 140 ambassadors in its first Challenge Week
to more than 500 in subsequent years. In both formats the principle is identical. The institution
sets the structure and supplies the tools, and the ambassadors provide the trusted, personal asks
that convert.

One strategic choice consistently lifts ambassador engagement across both formats: giving people
something specific to fundraise for. The institutions that do this best offer their ambassadors
"lots of projects for the ambassadors to choose from and to get behind, which closely aligned with
their own passions." A decentralised campaign, with a handful of headline funds plus many smaller
projects from across the institution, lets ambassadors champion the cause they personally care
about. "Giving ambassadors choice to be really passionate about what they care about" is, in the
webinar's own words, one of the surest ways to deepen engagement.

## Stewarding and retaining ambassadors year on year

The end of a campaign is not the end of the relationship, and how you handle the days after
determines whether you have to rebuild your ambassador corps from scratch next time. Thank your
ambassadors first, and thank them separately from your donors. "If you have the data available as
to who your ambassadors are, consider sending them a separate or additional email than what you
would send to your donors," a Hubbub consultant advises. "The personalisation of receiving an
email that's really specific to the reference of them being an ambassador could really go a long
way towards creating engagement opportunities from ambassadors for future Giving Days." Ask them,
too, to pass on thanks to the people they brought in. A simple thank you from an ambassador to
their own network is, the webinar notes, what makes those people likely to come back next year.

Then, and this is what separates a programme from an event, keep the relationship alive between
campaigns. The institutions that do this best do not switch their ambassadors off for eleven
months. The strongest examples "use their ambassadors year-round to not only create noise about
Giving Day, but to also create noise around other activities that are happening around the
institution. And these don't necessarily have to revolve around giving, they can be anything that
involves people taking part, taking action, and making noise. This really helps them to keep
ambassadors engaged between Giving Days and also helps them to create more ambassadors once Giving
Day comes back around." An ambassador you have stayed in touch with all year is one who says yes
immediately, and who has spent twelve months quietly recruiting their friends on your behalf.

This is why ambassador programmes compound. The early adopters and lead volunteers join in year
one. In year two, the people who watched them take part want in. "You'll have your early adopters
and those lead volunteers that are really involved in your institution get involved in year one,"
Hubbub's ambassadors webinar explains, "and then for year two, you're really going to see an
increase because you'll have those that did it in year one, and then you'll have people that saw
what happened in year one and really want to get involved." Patience in the first year is rewarded
with momentum you cannot manufacture any other way.

## Measuring their impact

The hardest part of running an ambassador programme is often justifying it internally, and the
answer is to measure properly. Tracking links make this possible: with them, you can attribute
gifts and donors directly to ambassador activity rather than guessing. A Hubbub consultant is
candid that "one of the difficulties that we sometimes have with our ambassador programmes is
justifying the ROI against time and effort spent recruiting, training and encouraging
participation. However, if you can start to look at that data behind your ambassador programme,
you can really quickly show that the time spent on ambassadors is very much worth it."

The numbers, looked at properly, tend to settle the argument. In the institutions Hubbub profiled,
ambassador contributions ranged from a handful of per cent of online gifts to a quarter or more.
In one example from a more mature programme, ambassadors caused 26 per cent of online gifts in a
single Giving Day. At the other end of the scale, an Oxbridge college running its first Giving Day
saw ambassadors cause only 5 per cent of gifts, which sounds modest until you learn that "without
that 5 per cent uplift from ambassadors, the Giving Day would have narrowly missed its target." A
small percentage can be the difference between hitting a target and missing it, which is exactly
the kind of result that earns a programme its place.

Two cautions on measurement. First, in year one, measure participation rather than income. "In
your first Giving Day, you may not see huge increases from ambassadors in particular," a Hubbub
consultant cautions, so the right early metric is how many ambassadors you recruited and how
active they were, not the amount they generated. Second, expect the impact to grow. "This grows
year on year. So while it may be 5 per cent in year one, it may be 10 per cent in year two, 15, it
grows and it compounds. You'll start to see not only the number of donors grow, but the number of
gifts caused by ambassadors grow as you grow and strengthen that ambassador programme." Measure
it, report it, and let the trend line make your case for you.

## Frequently asked questions

**What exactly is a fundraising ambassador?** A volunteer who promotes your campaign to their own
network and asks the people they know to give. In Hubbub's words, "a volunteer that is willing to
help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you have." They can be alumni, students,
staff, parents or any supporter willing to lend their voice.

**Do ambassadors really cause donations, or do they just give themselves?** They generate gifts
from others, which is the whole point. When the webinar was asked whether ambassador figures meant
their own gifts or gifts they generated, the answer was unambiguous: "They actually generated those
gifts themselves, which is exactly what we want them to do." The one-in-four conversion rate on an
ask from a friend is what makes them so effective.

**How many ambassadors should we aim for?** In year one, do not fix a precise target. Start with a
few lead volunteers, see how receptive people are, then set a number. As a guide, first-year goals
have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller institutions to 100 to 200 at larger ones,
depending on size and engagement.

**When should we start recruiting?** Recruit and train your lead volunteers around two to three
months before a Giving Day. Expect the wider pool to sign up late, often in the final fortnight,
because, as Hubbub's team explains, "we're a last-minute culture." Plan your recruitment push to
peak near the campaign rather than too far out.

**Which social media channel works best?** The one your audience already uses. There is no
universal answer: a younger audience leans towards Instagram, an older one towards Facebook.
Recruit where your supporters are, and lean on the channel where your engagement is already
strongest.

**Do small organisations have the resources to run a programme?** Yes, because you do not have to
do everything. Pick the techniques you are comfortable with, toolkits, videos or lead volunteers,
and start. The difference between running a campaign with ambassadors and without is, in Hubbub's
experience, dramatic even at modest scale.

Tax-efficient giving varies across the region, so set ambassador expectations accordingly: Canada
issues charitable tax receipts, Australia channels deductible gifts through DGR-endorsed charities,
and New Zealand offers donation tax credits. Point ambassadors to your own guidance rather than
making promises on their behalf.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Ambassador recruitment email template](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Ambassador briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Ambassador social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaged ambassador communities](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Hubbub blog: increasing donor engagement with Giving Day ambassadors](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man ein Botschafterprogramm für das Fundraising aufbaut](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zur Gewinnung, Einweisung und Motivation von Fundraising-Botschaftern, also jenen Freiwilligen, die Ihre Kampagnen über ihre eigenen Netzwerke verstärken, mit Blick darauf, ob es das Richtige für Sie ist, sowie auf Werkzeuge, Gamification und Beziehungspflege.
Ein Fundraising-Botschafter ist eine freiwillige Person, die Ihnen ihre Stimme und ihr Netzwerk leiht.
Botschafter sind keine Angestellten und keine professionellen Fundraiser. Sie sind Ehemalige,
Studierende, Eltern, Vorstandsmitglieder, Kollegen und Freunde Ihrer Sache, die bereit sind, die
Menschen, die sie kennen, um eine Spende zu bitten. Hubbubs Botschafter-Webinar definiert die Rolle
schlicht: „Ich würde einen Botschafter als eine freiwillige Person definieren, die bereit ist, Ihrer
Organisation zu helfen, die von Ihnen gesetzten Ziele zu erreichen und hoffentlich zu übertreffen.“ Die
Aufgabe eines Botschafterprogramms besteht darin, diese Menschen zu finden, ihnen das Handeln leicht zu
machen und sie immer wieder zurückzuholen. Dieser Leitfaden erklärt, wie Sie alle drei erreichen.

## Warum Botschafter funktionieren

Der Grund für Botschafter beruht auf einer hartnäckigen Wahrheit darüber, wie Menschen spenden: Die
meisten von uns reagieren nicht auf eine Institution, die um Geld bittet, sondern auf einen Freund.
„Einer von vier Menschen spendet, wenn er von einem Freund darum gebeten wird“, erläutert das Team von
Hubbub. Die Konversionsrate einer kalten, institutionell gebrandeten Ansprache aus einer
Fundraising-Abteilung liegt demgegenüber bei etwa 0,06 Prozent. Wenn die Bitte von jemandem kommt, den
Sie kennen, ist es weitaus wahrscheinlicher, dass Sie die E-Mail öffnen, klicken und spenden.
Botschafter sind der Weg, Ihren Spendenaufruf in die Hände von Menschen zu legen, denen Ihre
Unterstützer tatsächlich vertrauen.

Der zweite Grund ist die Reichweite. Soziale Medien begraben Beiträge institutioneller Konten, und
diese Beiträge verblassen schnell. „Botschaften in sozialen Medien haben in der Regel nur eine
Lebensdauer von etwa einer bis fünf Minuten“, merkt ein Berater von Hubbub an, „und wenn immer mehr
Menschen in Ihrem Namen posten, werden die Leute es sehen.“ Ein einzelner Beitrag Ihrer Organisation
erreicht nur einen Bruchteil Ihrer Follower. Fünfzig Botschafter, die am selben Tag mit ihren eigenen
Worten in ihren eigenen Netzwerken posten, drehen die Chancen wieder zu Ihren Gunsten. Sie gewinnen
eine Reichweite, die Sie mit Werbung niemals kaufen könnten, und Sie gewinnen sie durch
Authentizität statt durch Budget.

Dieser Leitfaden stützt sich auf bewährte Praktiken, die Hubbubs Fachleute in ihrem Webinar „Engagierte
Botschaftergemeinschaften aufbauen“ geteilt haben, sowie auf die Erfahrung von Institutionen, die
Botschafterprogramme rund um [Spendentage](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) und
[Challenge-Wochen](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) aufgebaut haben. Er behandelt, ob ein
Programm das Richtige für Sie ist, wie man Botschafter gewinnt und einweist, welche Technik sie wirksam
macht, wie man ihre Teilnahme motiviert und spielerisch gestaltet, wie sie in einen Spendentag oder eine
Challenge-Woche passen und wie man die Beziehung so pflegt, dass das Programm Jahr für Jahr wächst.

> **Fertige Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Anwerbe-E-Mail](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> unser [Briefing-Paket](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) und
> unser [Social-Media-Toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/) herunterzuladen.

## Ist ein Botschafterprogramm das Richtige für Sie

Der häufigste Einwand kommt von kleineren Teams, und er ist meist falsch. „Ich bin eine kleine
Einrichtung, ich habe nicht die Ressourcen, all diese Botschafterarbeit zu leisten, warum sollte ich das
tun?“ ist eine Frage, die das Team von Hubbub ständig hört. Die Antwort lautet: Sie müssen nicht alles
tun. „Eine Größe muss nicht für alle passen. Es gibt verschiedene Techniken, die Sie nutzen können, von
Toolkits über Videos bis hin zu leitenden Freiwilligen. Aber das Wichtigste ist: Sie müssen nicht all
das tun. Wählen Sie aus, womit Sie sich wohlfühlen, aber am wichtigsten ist, dass Sie tatsächlich
loslegen und es einfach ausprobieren, denn Sie werden mit einem Spendentag oder einer Kampagne unter
Einsatz von Botschaftern einen dramatischen Unterschied feststellen als ohne sie.“ Die Einstiegshürde
ist niedrig.

Was ein Programm jedoch braucht, ist eine Person, die dafür verantwortlich ist. Anwerben, einweisen,
Reisen gestalten und Botschafter bei der Stange halten ist echte Arbeit, und sie konkurriert um
Aufmerksamkeit mit den Einnahmezielen, die jede Kampagne dominieren. Wie ein Berater von Hubbub es
ausdrückt, kann die Betreuung von Botschaftern „nach viel Arbeit aussehen, und ehrlich gesagt ist sie
das auch. Aber wenn Sie ein Team mit Kollegen aus dem Alumni-Bereich oder Kollegen aus dem
Freiwilligenbereich haben oder einfach eine bereitwillige freiwillige Person in Ihrem Büro, die sich
gern um die Betreuung dieser Botschafter kümmert, dann setzen Sie diese Kollegen ein, um sich helfen zu
lassen.“ Wenn Sie eine Person benennen können, ob angestellt oder freiwillig, die die
Botschafterbeziehung von der Anwerbung bis zum abschließenden Dank verantwortet, haben Sie das
Fundament für ein Programm. Wenn nicht, fangen Sie kleiner an: Werben Sie eine Handvoll leitender
Freiwilliger an, schauen Sie, was sie hervorbringen, und wachsen Sie von dort aus.

Ein Programm passt auch zu manchen Gemeinschaften besser als zu anderen. Wo die Verbundenheit stark ist,
funktioniert das Format selbst bei bescheidenen Zahlen. Oxbridge-Colleges und -Schulen, merkt ein
Berater von Hubbub an, haben „einen kleineren Pool, auf den sie zurückgreifen können. Allerdings ist die
Verbundenheit innerhalb dieser Gemeinschaften sehr stark, was sie hervorragend für die Durchführung von
Spendentagen macht.“ Eine eng verbundene, leidenschaftliche Gemeinschaft von ein paar hundert Menschen
kann ein aktiveres Botschafterkorps hervorbringen als eine ausufernde Alumni-Datei mit schwacher
Bindung. Wenn Ihren Unterstützern Ihre Sache wirklich am Herzen liegt, warten dort Botschafter darauf,
gefragt zu werden.

## Die richtigen Botschafter gewinnen

Die Anwerbung verläuft in zwei Wellen, und die Reihenfolge ist entscheidend. Beginnen Sie nicht mit
einem Massenaufruf, sondern mit einer kleinen Gruppe leitender Freiwilliger. Das sind, erklärt das Team
von Hubbub, „Menschen, die Angestellte sein können, leidenschaftliche Ehemalige, studentische
Beschäftigte oder begeisterte Freunde und Familienmitglieder, von denen Sie glauben, dass sie die
Führung übernehmen können. Sie wollen, dass diese Menschen diejenigen sind, die wahrscheinlich etwas
härter arbeiten oder etwas mehr Zeit aufbringen können als andere, denn das langfristige Ziel ist, dass
diese Menschen dann ihre Freunde und Familie anwerben und so weiter und so fort.“ Leitende Freiwillige
sind nicht nur Ihre aktivsten Botschafter. Sie sind Ihr Anwerbemotor, und ihre Empfehlung, an ihre
eigenen Netzwerke gesandt, ist mehr wert als jede E-Mail aus der Zentrale.

Den Zeitpunkt der zweiten Welle zu bestimmen erfordert Nervenstärke, denn die meisten Menschen melden
sich spät an. Für einen Spendentag schulen und werben Sie leitende Freiwillige „etwa drei Monate vor dem
Tag an. Das ist wahrscheinlich höchstens. Wenn Sie noch weiter gehen, könnten Sie etwas an Schwung
verlieren.“ Der breitere Botschafterpool verhält sich anders. „Die meisten Botschafter melden sich in
der Regel erst wenige Wochen im Voraus an“, beobachtet ein Berater von Hubbub. „Wir sind eine
Last-Minute-Kultur, und in der Regel erledigen Menschen Dinge in letzter Minute.“ Geraten Sie nicht in
Panik, wenn die frühen Zahlen dünn aussehen. Der Ansturm kommt in den letzten zwei Wochen und oft in der
letzten Woche, planen Sie also Ihre Anwerbekommunikation so, dass sie dort ihren Höhepunkt erreicht,
statt Ihre Energie zu früh zu verbrennen.

Widerstehen Sie der Versuchung, im ersten Jahr ein genaues Botschafterziel festzulegen, denn Sie haben
nichts, worauf Sie es stützen könnten. „Ein Botschafterziel festzulegen, ohne es vorher erprobt zu
haben, ist sehr schwierig“, rät Hubbubs Botschafter-Webinar. „Ich würde empfehlen, mit einigen leitenden
Freiwilligen zu beginnen, zu sehen, wie viele Menschen für die Idee empfänglich sind, und dann, sobald
Sie eine gute Vorstellung davon haben, wie viele Menschen Sie an Bord holen können, möchten Sie
vielleicht eine Botschafterzahl festlegen.“ Als grober Maßstab: Die Ziele im ersten Jahr reichten von 20
bis 30 Botschaftern bei kleineren Organisationen bis zu 100 bis 200 bei größeren, wobei die richtige
Zahl stark von der Größe der Institution und vom Engagement abhängt. Der Sinn des ersten Jahres besteht
schlicht darin, es überhaupt zu tun. „Der ganze Sinn ist, dass Sie es tatsächlich mit Botschaftern beim
ersten Mal versucht haben“, erklärt das Team von Hubbub, „und dann werden Sie von Jahr eins zu Jahr zwei,
genau wie wir einen massiven Anstieg bei Spendentagen sehen, wahrscheinlich einen massiven Anstieg bei
den Botschaftern erleben.“

Wenn Sie wählen, wo Sie anwerben, gehen Sie dorthin, wo Ihr Publikum bereits ist. Der richtige Kanal ist
keine feste Antwort, sondern eine Frage über Ihre eigene Gemeinschaft. „Es sind die Kanäle, auf denen
Ihr Publikum existiert“, sagt ein Berater von Hubbub. „Wenn Sie also ein besonders junges Publikum
anstreben, würde ich nicht sagen, dass Facebook der Ort ist, an dem Sie es anwerben wollen. Wenn Sie
junge Botschafter anwerben möchten, werden Sie Kanäle wie Instagram nutzen wollen. Gehen Sie dorthin, wo
Ihr Publikum ist.“ Werben Sie auf den Plattformen an, die Ihre Unterstützer tatsächlich nutzen, und
setzen Sie auf den Kanal, auf dem Ihr eigenes Engagement bereits am stärksten ist.

## Ihre Botschafter einweisen und ausstatten

Hier ist der Fehler, den fast jeder macht: Teams stürzen sich auf das Anwerben von Botschaftern, bevor
sie ihnen überhaupt etwas zu tun geben können. „Viele Menschen machen den Fehler, sie anwerben zu wollen,
bevor sie irgendeines der Schulungsmaterialien fertig haben“, warnt das Webinar. „Ich empfehle dringend,
zunächst Schulungsmaterialien für Botschafter zu erstellen, bevor Sie mit der Anwerbung beginnen.“ Bauen
Sie das Material zuerst, dann gehen Sie auf die Suche nach den Menschen. Ein Botschafter, der sich voller
Begeisterung anmeldet und auf Stille trifft, ist ein Botschafter, den Sie verloren haben.

Erstellen Sie das Material auch nach Ihrem Branding, sonst müssen Sie es ohnehin neu machen. „Sie wollen
sicherstellen, dass Sie dieses Material nicht erstellen, bevor Sie alles gebrandet haben“, erklärt das
Team von Hubbub, „denn sobald Ihr Marketing und Ihr Branding fertig sind, müssen Sie es ändern.“ Für
einen Spendentag bereiten Sie das Material etwa vier bis sechs Monate im Voraus vor, sobald das
Erscheinungsbild des Tages selbst feststeht, damit das Botschafter-Toolkit es einfach übernehmen kann.

Drei Arten von Material leisten die Hauptarbeit. **Botschaftervideos** sind kurze Durchgänge durch die
Plattform, die Schritte, die die Botschafter unternehmen sollen, sowie Ihre Tipps und Tricks,
einschließlich Beispielbeiträgen und Erfahrungsberichten von Menschen, die erklären, warum sie sich
angemeldet haben. Sie ermöglichen es Ihnen, Menschen zu schulen, die es nie in einen Raum schaffen
werden. **Präsenzworkshops** decken denselben Boden mit Handouts und persönlicher Zeit ab, und hier
zeigen Ihre leitenden Freiwilligen ihr ganzes Können. „Wenn Sie Präsenzworkshops durchführen können,
erzielen Sie wahrscheinlich eine bessere Rendite“, merkt ein Berater von Hubbub an, „denn diese haben
viel mehr Wirkung und gewinnen genau die Menschen, von denen Sie wissen, dass sie die Arbeit für Sie
leisten können.“ Das Herzstück ist das **Botschafter-Toolkit**, ein vollständig gebrandetes Paket aus
gebrauchsfertigen Beiträgen, E-Mails und Bildern. „Das sind vollständig gebrandete Schulungspakete mit
Beispielen für Social-Media-Beiträge und E-Mails“, erklärt das Team von Hubbub. „Sie sagen Ihren
Botschaftern genau, was Sie von ihnen brauchen. Sie machen es ihnen leicht.“

Ein gutes Toolkit folgt einer klaren Struktur. Das stärkste Beispiel, das Hubbub anführt, ist das
Spendentags-Paket der University of York, und seine Form lohnt sich nachzuahmen. Es beginnt mit einer
einfachen, gebrandeten Checkliste, die den Botschaftern sowohl sagt, was zu tun ist, als auch wann,
aufgeteilt in die Phasen vorbereiten, Vorfreude wecken, während der Woche und am Tag selbst. Es sagt
ihnen, sie sollen den Kampagnenkonten folgen, sich auf der Plattform anmelden, Beiträge im Voraus planen
und, entscheidend, ihre eigenen Worte verwenden. „Die eigenen Worte zu verwenden erzeugt die meiste
Interaktion“, merkt das Webinar an, „nämlich dann, wenn Menschen ihre Inhalte zu ihren eigenen machen.“
Es gibt den Botschaftern den Kampagnen-Hashtag an die Hand, damit sich die Beiträge in einem Feed
zusammenfügen. Es liefert Bilder für Social-Media-Beiträge, Profilfotos und Hintergrundbilder. Und es
stellt Drag-and-Drop-Texte für Social Media und E-Mail bereit, mit bereits eingetragenen Daten. Die
Logik ist einfach: „Jeder hat einen vollen Tag, also wenn Sie einfach Inhalte bereitstellen können, die
man buchstäblich nur per Drag-and-Drop, Kopieren und Einfügen übernimmt, macht das das Leben viel
einfacher.“ Sie leisten die Arbeit, damit Ihre Botschafter nur noch fragen müssen.

## Die Technik, die es funktionieren lässt

Gute Botschaftertechnik beseitigt die zwei Dinge, die Freiwillige zum Stocken bringen: nicht zu wissen,
was man posten soll, und nicht zu wissen, ob die Mühe etwas gebracht hat. Drei Funktionen tragen den
Großteil des Gewichts.

Die erste sind **fertige, teilbare Inhalte, die über ein Portal bereitgestellt werden**. Statt
Botschaftern ein Dokument per E-Mail zu schicken und zu hoffen, schickt ein Portal ihnen jedes Mal eine
Benachrichtigung, wenn es eine neue Botschaft zu teilen gibt, mit dem bereits geschriebenen Beitrag und
dem angehängten Bild. Gewöhnen Sie die Menschen an diese Gewohnheit, noch bevor die Kampagne überhaupt
beginnt, rät ein Berater von Hubbub: „Beginnen Sie damit, Teilnachrichten über Ihr
Spendentags-Botschafterportal zu versenden, damit sich Ihre Botschafter daran gewöhnen, diese
Benachrichtigungen in ihrem Posteingang zu sehen, und damit sie sich die Gewohnheit aneignen, Nachrichten
vor dem Spendentag zu teilen.“ Am Tag selbst ist das Teilen bereits Routine.

Die zweite sind **persönliche Tracking-Links**. Auf der Hubbub-Plattform erhält jeder Botschafter, der
sich anmeldet, „tatsächlich seine eigene eindeutige URL, und sie verfolgt die Anzahl der Klicks, die Sie
erhalten, und die tatsächlich vermittelten Beträge, die Sie am Spendentag selbst einnehmen.“ Diese eine
Funktion verändert den Charakter eines Programms. Sie verwandelt vagen guten Willen in messbaren Beitrag,
lässt Sie Menschen für das danken, was sie konkret erreicht haben, und gibt Ihnen die Daten, um zu
beweisen, dass das Programm funktioniert.

Die dritte ist eine **Bestenliste mit Preisen**. Das Hubbub-Tool bietet „verschiedene Ranglisten,
verschiedene Preise, die Sie eintragen können“, erklärt das Team von Hubbub. „Wir haben eine Bestenliste,
und wer unter den Top drei oder sechs abschließt, gewinnt einen Preis, und das basiert in der Regel auf
der Anzahl der Klicks, die Sie erhalten.“ Eine sichtbare Rangliste verwandelt individuelle Anstrengung in
freundlichen Wettbewerb, das Thema des nächsten Abschnitts. All dem sollte Ihr Kampagnen-Hashtag
zugrunde liegen, damit sich Botschafterbeiträge in den Social-Media-Feeds zusammenfügen und, bei
ausreichendem Volumen, in Ihrer lokalen Umgebung zu trenden beginnen und Menschen weit über das Netzwerk
eines einzelnen Botschafters hinaus erreichen.

## Teilnahme motivieren und spielerisch gestalten

Die Mechanik der Motivation ist unkompliziert, und ein Botschafter, der sich gesehen fühlt, wird immer
wieder handeln. Beginnen Sie mit Anreizen. „Sie wollen sicherstellen, dass Sie Ihre Botschafter mit Swag
belohnen“, merkt ein Berater von Hubbub an, „T-Shirts der Universität, Trinkflaschen, was auch immer Sie
ihnen bieten möchten.“ Kombinieren Sie den Swag mit den Preisen der Bestenliste, und Sie haben eine
Struktur, die Anstrengung belohnt, ohne viel zu kosten. Die Zusammenfassung des Webinars selbst ist
unverblümt: „Ich habe festgestellt, dass eine Karotte am Ende eines Stocks der beste Weg ist. Es ist eine
großartige Art, Menschen einzubinden.“

Der stärkste Motivator ist jedoch kein Preis, sondern Aufmerksamkeit. Senden Sie während einer Kampagne,
neben den öffentlichen Updates, die alle sehen, einzelnen Botschaftern eine persönliche Notiz zu ihrem
eigenen Fortschritt. Ein Berater von Hubbub wird konkret: „Erwägen Sie, einzelnen Botschaftern E-Mails zu
senden und mit ihnen ein persönliches Update zu ihrem eigenen Fortschritt zu teilen. Zum Beispiel die
Anzahl der Likes, die sie erzeugt haben, sowie die Spenden, die sie möglicherweise erzeugt haben. Das
zeigt ihnen, dass jemand auf die Wirkung achtet, die sie erzeugen, und ermutigt sie weiterzumachen. Und
das ist besonders wichtig, wenn Sie Preise und Anreize für sie haben.“ Eine Bestenliste sagt den
Botschaftern, wo sie stehen. Eine persönliche E-Mail sagt ihnen, dass Sie es bemerkt haben.

Geben Sie den Menschen jeweils eine Sache zu tun. Die Versuchung ist, den Botschaftern die vollständige
Liste zu geben und sie wählen zu lassen, aber die Teilnahme steigt, wenn jede Bitte einzeln und klar ist.
Zerlegen Sie die Reise in einzelne Handlungen: zuerst die Anwerbebotschaft teilen, um andere
hereinzuholen; dann an einem bestimmten Tag eine E-Mail senden; dann eine Geschichte teilen, die mit
einer konkreten Sache verbunden ist; und schließlich kurz vor dem Start der Kampagne ihre eigene Spende
tätigen, „indem man sie ermutigt, die Ersten zu sein, die teilnehmen, damit sie den Rest ihres Tages
damit verbringen können, durch Teilen die Teilnahme zu fördern.“ Jeder Schritt ist klein genug, um
erreichbar zu wirken, und die Abfolge baut sich auf natürliche Weise auf die Kampagne hin auf.

Zwei Elemente sozialen Beweises machen das Ganze leichter. Menschen fühlen sich weitaus wohler dabei
mitzumachen, wenn sie sehen können, dass andere bereits teilnehmen, teilen Sie also früh Beispiele
vorhandener Botschafter. „Wenn Sie einige davon intern mit Ihren leitenden Botschaftern erstellen können,
können diese helfen, anderen zu zeigen, dass bereits Menschen teilnehmen und dass sie nicht unbedingt die
Ersten sein müssen.“ Und denken Sie daran, dass viele Botschafter weniger durch Wettbewerb als durch
Zugehörigkeit motiviert sind. „Manchmal schließen sich unsere Botschafter an, weil sie sich exklusiv als
Teil des Teams hinter dem Spendentag fühlen wollen“, merkt ein Berater von Hubbub an, „wenn wir ihnen
also diesen Zugang geben können, warum nicht?“ Updates hinter den Kulissen und das Gefühl, dazuzugehören,
kosten Sie nichts und erkaufen echte Loyalität.

## Botschafter an einem Spendentag und in einer Challenge-Woche

Botschafter sind keine eigenständige Aktivität. Sie sind die Verstärkerebene, die einen
[Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) oder eine
[Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) weiter reichen lässt, als Ihre eigenen
Kanäle es jemals könnten. Bei einem Spendentag ist der Rhythmus intensiv und verdichtet, oft auf 36
Stunden, und die Botschafter tragen die Kampagne über die Lücken hinweg, die Ihre institutionellen
Beiträge nicht erreichen können. Die Botschafterreise fügt sich sauber in den Tag ein: eine Anwerbephase
im Vorfeld, mit Botschaften, die sowohl an jene gehen, die sich angemeldet haben, als auch an jene, die
es nicht getan haben; Echtzeit-Ermutigung am Tag selbst, die Handlungsaufrufe mit Fortschrittsupdates
mischt; und eine Nachbereitungsphase danach. Die Taktung dieser Mischung ist wichtig. „Diese beiden Arten
von Botschaften so zu mischen, dass Sie ein ausgewogenes Verhältnis schaffen, das Ihre Botschafter ebenso
belohnt, wie es ihnen dankt“, sagt ein Berater von Hubbub, „wird viel dazu beitragen, dass sie immer
wieder handeln.“

Eine Challenge-Woche funktioniert etwas anders, denn die Fundraiser sind studentische Clubs und
Vereinigungen, die über etwa eine Woche ihre eigenen Seiten bewerben, aber die Botschafter sind nicht
weniger zentral für sie. Hier sind die Botschafter das breitere Netzwerk, das jede Gruppe um ihre Sache
versammelt, und die Zahlen können beträchtlich sein: Die University of York wuchs von 140 Botschaftern in
ihrer ersten Challenge-Woche auf mehr als 500 in den folgenden Jahren. In beiden Formaten ist das Prinzip
identisch. Die Institution setzt die Struktur und liefert die Werkzeuge, und die Botschafter liefern die
vertrauenswürdigen, persönlichen Bitten, die konvertieren.

Eine strategische Entscheidung hebt das Engagement der Botschafter in beiden Formaten durchgängig: den
Menschen etwas Konkretes zu geben, wofür sie Spenden sammeln. Die Institutionen, die dies am besten tun,
bieten ihren Botschaftern „viele Projekte zur Auswahl an, hinter die sie sich stellen können und die eng
mit ihren eigenen Leidenschaften übereinstimmten.“ Eine dezentrale Kampagne mit einer Handvoll
Leuchtturm-Fonds plus vielen kleineren Projekten aus der ganzen Institution ermöglicht es den
Botschaftern, für die Sache einzutreten, die ihnen persönlich am Herzen liegt. „Den Botschaftern die Wahl
zu geben, sich wirklich für das zu begeistern, was ihnen wichtig ist“, ist, in den Worten des Webinars
selbst, einer der sichersten Wege, das Engagement zu vertiefen.

## Botschafter Jahr für Jahr pflegen und halten

Das Ende einer Kampagne ist nicht das Ende der Beziehung, und wie Sie die Tage danach handhaben,
entscheidet darüber, ob Sie Ihr Botschafterkorps beim nächsten Mal von Grund auf neu aufbauen müssen.
Danken Sie Ihren Botschaftern zuerst und danken Sie ihnen getrennt von Ihren Spendern. „Wenn Sie die
Daten darüber verfügbar haben, wer Ihre Botschafter sind, erwägen Sie, ihnen eine gesonderte oder
zusätzliche E-Mail zu senden als die, die Sie an Ihre Spender senden würden“, rät ein Berater von Hubbub.
„Die Personalisierung, eine E-Mail zu erhalten, die wirklich konkret darauf Bezug nimmt, dass sie
Botschafter sind, könnte viel dazu beitragen, Engagement-Möglichkeiten von Botschaftern für künftige
Spendentage zu schaffen.“ Bitten Sie sie auch, den Dank an die Menschen weiterzugeben, die sie
mitgebracht haben. Ein einfaches Dankeschön eines Botschafters an sein eigenes Netzwerk ist, merkt das
Webinar an, das, was diese Menschen wahrscheinlich nächstes Jahr wiederkommen lässt.

Dann, und das ist es, was ein Programm von einer Veranstaltung unterscheidet, halten Sie die Beziehung
zwischen den Kampagnen am Leben. Die Institutionen, die dies am besten tun, schalten ihre Botschafter
nicht elf Monate lang ab. Die stärksten Beispiele „nutzen ihre Botschafter das ganze Jahr über, um nicht
nur Aufsehen um den Spendentag zu erzeugen, sondern auch um andere Aktivitäten, die an der Institution
stattfinden. Und diese müssen sich nicht unbedingt um das Spenden drehen, sie können alles sein, was
beinhaltet, dass Menschen teilnehmen, handeln und Aufsehen erregen. Das hilft ihnen wirklich, die
Botschafter zwischen den Spendentagen engagiert zu halten, und hilft ihnen auch, mehr Botschafter zu
gewinnen, sobald der Spendentag wiederkommt.“ Ein Botschafter, mit dem Sie das ganze Jahr über in Kontakt
geblieben sind, ist einer, der sofort Ja sagt und der zwölf Monate damit verbracht hat, in Ihrem Namen
still seine Freunde anzuwerben.

Deshalb wachsen Botschafterprogramme kumulativ. Die frühen Anwender und leitenden Freiwilligen schließen
sich im ersten Jahr an. Im zweiten Jahr wollen die Menschen dabei sein, die ihnen beim Mitmachen
zugesehen haben. „Sie werden Ihre frühen Anwender und jene leitenden Freiwilligen haben, die wirklich in
Ihrer Institution eingebunden sind und im ersten Jahr mitmachen“, erklärt Hubbubs Botschafter-Webinar,
„und dann werden Sie im zweiten Jahr wirklich einen Anstieg sehen, weil Sie diejenigen haben werden, die
es im ersten Jahr getan haben, und dann werden Sie Menschen haben, die gesehen haben, was im ersten Jahr
geschah, und sich wirklich einbringen wollen.“ Geduld im ersten Jahr wird mit einem Schwung belohnt, den
Sie auf keine andere Weise erzeugen können.

## Ihre Wirkung messen

Der schwierigste Teil beim Betrieb eines Botschafterprogramms ist oft, es intern zu rechtfertigen, und
die Antwort lautet, richtig zu messen. Tracking-Links machen dies möglich: Mit ihnen können Sie Spenden
und Spender direkt der Botschafteraktivität zuordnen, statt zu raten. Ein Berater von Hubbub gibt
freimütig zu, dass „eine der Schwierigkeiten, die wir manchmal mit unseren Botschafterprogrammen haben,
darin besteht, die Rendite gegen die Zeit und Mühe zu rechtfertigen, die für Anwerbung, Schulung und
Förderung der Teilnahme aufgewendet werden. Wenn Sie jedoch beginnen, die Daten hinter Ihrem
Botschafterprogramm zu betrachten, können Sie sehr schnell zeigen, dass die für Botschafter aufgewendete
Zeit sich absolut lohnt.“

Die Zahlen, richtig betrachtet, neigen dazu, die Debatte zu entscheiden. In den von Hubbub porträtierten
Institutionen reichten die Beiträge der Botschafter von einer Handvoll Prozent der Online-Spenden bis zu
einem Viertel oder mehr. In einem Beispiel aus einem reiferen Programm verursachten Botschafter 26
Prozent der Online-Spenden an einem einzigen Spendentag. Am anderen Ende der Skala sah ein
Oxbridge-College, das seinen ersten Spendentag durchführte, dass Botschafter nur 5 Prozent der Spenden
verursachten, was bescheiden klingt, bis man erfährt, dass „ohne diesen Zuwachs von 5 Prozent durch die
Botschafter der Spendentag sein Ziel knapp verfehlt hätte.“ Ein kleiner Prozentsatz kann den Unterschied
zwischen dem Erreichen und dem Verfehlen eines Ziels ausmachen, was genau die Art von Ergebnis ist, die
einem Programm seinen Platz verdient.

Zwei Mahnungen zur Messung. Erstens: Messen Sie im ersten Jahr die Teilnahme statt der Einnahmen. „Bei
Ihrem ersten Spendentag werden Sie möglicherweise keine großen Zuwächse insbesondere durch Botschafter
sehen“, warnt ein Berater von Hubbub, also ist die richtige frühe Kennzahl, wie viele Botschafter Sie
angeworben haben und wie aktiv sie waren, nicht die Euro, die sie erzeugt haben. Zweitens: Erwarten Sie,
dass die Wirkung wächst. „Das wächst Jahr für Jahr. Auch wenn es im ersten Jahr 5 Prozent sind, sind es
im zweiten Jahr vielleicht 10 Prozent, 15, es wächst und es kumuliert sich. Sie werden beginnen, nicht
nur die Zahl der Spender wachsen zu sehen, sondern auch die Zahl der durch Botschafter verursachten
Spenden, während Sie dieses Botschafterprogramm ausbauen und stärken.“ Messen Sie es, berichten Sie es,
und lassen Sie die Trendlinie für Sie argumentieren.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Was genau ist ein Fundraising-Botschafter?** Eine freiwillige Person, die Ihre Kampagne ihrem eigenen
Netzwerk gegenüber bewirbt und die Menschen, die sie kennt, um eine Spende bittet. In Hubbubs Worten:
„eine freiwillige Person, die bereit ist, Ihrer Organisation zu helfen, die von Ihnen gesetzten Ziele zu
erreichen und hoffentlich zu übertreffen.“ Es können Ehemalige, Studierende, Mitarbeitende, Eltern oder
jeder Unterstützer sein, der bereit ist, seine Stimme zu leihen.

**Verursachen Botschafter wirklich Spenden, oder spenden sie nur selbst?** Sie erzeugen Spenden von
anderen, was der ganze Sinn ist. Als das Webinar gefragt wurde, ob die Botschafterzahlen ihre eigenen
Spenden oder von ihnen erzeugte Spenden bedeuteten, war die Antwort eindeutig: „Sie haben diese Spenden
tatsächlich selbst erzeugt, was genau das ist, was wir von ihnen wollen.“ Die Konversionsrate von einem
zu vier bei einer Bitte von einem Freund ist es, was sie so wirksam macht.

**Wie viele Botschafter sollten wir anstreben?** Legen Sie im ersten Jahr kein genaues Ziel fest.
Beginnen Sie mit einigen leitenden Freiwilligen, sehen Sie, wie empfänglich die Menschen sind, und legen
Sie dann eine Zahl fest. Als Richtwert: Die Ziele im ersten Jahr reichten von 20 bis 30 Botschaftern bei
kleineren Institutionen bis zu 100 bis 200 bei größeren, je nach Größe und Engagement.

**Wann sollten wir mit der Anwerbung beginnen?** Werben und schulen Sie Ihre leitenden Freiwilligen etwa
zwei bis drei Monate vor einem Spendentag. Erwarten Sie, dass sich der breitere Pool spät anmeldet, oft
in den letzten zwei Wochen, denn, wie das Team von Hubbub erklärt, „wir sind eine Last-Minute-Kultur.“
Planen Sie Ihren Anwerbeschub so, dass er nahe an der Kampagne seinen Höhepunkt erreicht, statt zu weit
im Voraus.

**Welcher Social-Media-Kanal funktioniert am besten?** Der, den Ihr Publikum bereits nutzt. Es gibt keine
universelle Antwort: Ein jüngeres Publikum tendiert zu Instagram, ein älteres zu Facebook. Werben Sie
dort an, wo Ihre Unterstützer sind, und setzen Sie auf den Kanal, auf dem Ihr Engagement bereits am
stärksten ist.

**Haben kleine Organisationen die Ressourcen, um ein Programm zu betreiben?** Ja, denn Sie müssen nicht
alles tun. Wählen Sie die Techniken, mit denen Sie sich wohlfühlen, Toolkits, Videos oder leitende
Freiwillige, und legen Sie los. Der Unterschied zwischen einer Kampagne mit Botschaftern und ohne ist,
nach Hubbubs Erfahrung, selbst in bescheidenem Maßstab dramatisch.

Die steuerliche Behandlung von Spenden ist von Land zu Land unterschiedlich: Viele europäische Länder
bieten Spendern einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung, und grenzüberschreitende Spenden können
über Transnational Giving Europe fließen. Statten Sie Botschafter so aus, dass sie Unterstützer an die
richtige lokale Beratung verweisen, statt in deren Namen Versprechen zu machen.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Vorlage für Botschafter-Anwerbe-E-Mail](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Botschafter-Briefing-Paket](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Social-Media-Toolkit für Botschafter](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Prüfer](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Aufruf- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- [Webinar: engagierte Botschaftergemeinschaften aufbauen](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Hubbub-Blog: das Spenderengagement mit Spendentags-Botschaftern steigern](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie man einen Spendentag durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) und [Wie man eine Challenge-Woche durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (europe/en): A practical guide to recruiting, briefing and motivating fundraising ambassadors, the volunteers who amplify your campaigns through their own networks, covering whether it is right for you, the tools, gamification and stewardship.
A fundraising ambassador is a volunteer who lends you their voice and their network. They are
not staff, and they are not professional fundraisers. They are alumni, students, parents,
trustees, colleagues and friends of your cause who are willing to ask the people they know to
give. Hubbub's ambassadors webinar defines the role simply: "I would define an ambassador as a
volunteer that is willing to help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you
have." The work of an ambassador programme is to find those people, make it easy for them to
act, and keep them coming back. This guide explains how to do all three.

## Why ambassadors work

The case for ambassadors rests on a stubborn fact about how people give: most of us do not
respond to an institution asking for money, we respond to a friend. "One out of four people
will give if asked by a friend," Hubbub's team explains. The conversion rate on a cold, branded
solicitation from a development office is, by contrast, around 0.06 per cent. When the ask comes
from someone you know, you are far more likely to open the email, click and give. Ambassadors
are how you put your appeal into the hands of people your supporters actually trust.

The second reason is reach. Social media platforms bury posts from institutional accounts, and
those posts fade fast. "Social media messages usually have only like a minute to five-minute
lifespan," a Hubbub consultant notes, "and if you're having more and more people post on your
behalf, people are going to see it." A single post from your charity reaches a sliver of your
followers. Fifty ambassadors posting in their own voices, to their own networks, on the same
day, stack the odds back in your favour. You buy reach you could never buy with advertising, and
you buy it with authenticity rather than budget.

This guide draws on best practice shared by Hubbub's specialists in their webinar "Creating
engaged ambassador communities", and on the experience of institutions who have built ambassador
programmes around [Giving Days](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and
[Challenge Weeks](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). It covers whether a programme is
right for you, how to recruit and brief ambassadors, the technology that makes them effective,
how to motivate and gamify their participation, how they fit a Giving Day or Challenge Week, and
how to steward them so the programme compounds year on year.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [recruitment email](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) and
> [social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Is an ambassador programme right for you

The most common objection comes from smaller teams, and it is usually wrong. "I'm a small
institution, I don't have the resources to do all this ambassador work, why should I do it?" is a
question Hubbub's team hears all the time. The answer is that you do not have to do everything.
"One size does not have to fit all. There are different types of techniques that you can use,
anything from toolkits to videos to lead volunteers. But the most important thing is you don't
have to do all those. Pick and choose what you're comfortable with, but it is most important that
you actually jump in and just try it, because you'll see a dramatic difference with a Giving Day
or a campaign while using ambassadors than without." The entry bar is low.

What a programme does need is one person who owns it. Recruiting, briefing, building journeys and
keeping ambassadors warm is real work, and it competes for attention with the income targets that
dominate any campaign. As a Hubbub consultant puts it, managing ambassadors "can seem a lot of
work, and to be honest, it is. But if you have a team with alumni relations colleagues or
volunteer colleagues or just a willing volunteer in your office who is happy to look after the
management of those ambassadors, do use those colleagues to help you." If you can name one
person, on staff or volunteer, who will own the ambassador relationship from recruitment through
to the final thank you, you have the foundation for a programme. If you cannot, start smaller:
recruit a handful of lead volunteers, see what they generate, and grow from there.

A programme also suits some communities better than others. Where affinity is strong, the format
works even when the numbers are modest. Oxbridge colleges and schools, a Hubbub consultant notes,
have "a smaller pool to call upon. However, that affinity within these communities is very
strong, which makes them great for running giving days." A tight, passionate community of a few
hundred can produce a more active ambassador corps than a sprawling alumni file with weak
attachment. If your supporters genuinely care, you have ambassadors waiting to be asked.

## Recruiting the right ambassadors

Recruitment runs in two waves, and the order matters. Start not with a mass appeal but with a
small group of lead volunteers. These are, Hubbub's team explains, "people that can be on staff,
passionate alumni, student employees, or enthusiastic friends and family that you think will be
able to help lead the charge. You want these people to be your ones that will probably work a
little bit harder or might have a little bit more time to dedicate than others, because the
long-term goal is that then these people will then go and recruit their friends and family, and
so on and so forth." Lead volunteers are not just your most active ambassadors. They are your
recruitment engine, and their endorsement, sent to their own networks, is worth more than any
email from head office.

Timing the second wave takes nerve, because most people sign up late. For a Giving Day, train and
recruit lead volunteers "about three months before the day. This is probably at most. If you go
any further than that, you might lose some momentum." The wider ambassador pool behaves
differently. "Most ambassadors usually sign up just a few weeks in advance," a Hubbub consultant
observes. "We're a last-minute culture, and usually people do things at the last minute." Do not
panic when the early numbers look thin. The rush comes in the final fortnight, and often in the
final week, so plan your recruitment communications to peak there rather than burning your energy
too early.

Resist the temptation to set a precise ambassador target in your first year, because you have
nothing to base it on. "Setting an ambassador target without running it first is very difficult
to do," Hubbub's ambassadors webinar advises. "I'd recommend starting out with a few lead
volunteers, seeing how many people are receptive to the idea, and then once you have a good idea
of how many people you can have on board, then you might want to set an ambassador number." As a
rough sense of scale, first-year goals have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller
organisations up to 100 to 200 at larger ones, with the right figure depending heavily on
institution size and engagement. The point of year one is simply to do it at all. "The whole
point is that you actually attempted to do ambassadors for your first go around," Hubbub's team
explains, "and then from year one to year two, just as we see a massive increase in Giving Days,
you'll probably see a massive increase from ambassadors."

When you choose where to recruit, go where your audience already is. The right channel is not a
fixed answer but a question about your own community. "It's the channels where your audience
exists," a Hubbub consultant says. "So if you're after a particularly younger audience, I
wouldn't say that Facebook is the place that you want to go recruit them from. If you're looking
to recruit young ambassadors, you're going to be wanting to use channels like Instagram. Go where
your audience is." Recruit on the platforms your supporters actually use, and lean on the channel
where your own engagement is already strongest.

## Briefing and equipping your ambassadors

Here is the mistake almost everyone makes: teams rush to recruit ambassadors before they have
anything to give them to do. "A lot of people do make the mistake of trying to recruit them
before they have any of the training materials done," the webinar warns. "I highly recommend that
you want to begin by creating training materials for ambassadors before you start to recruit
them." Build the kit first, then go looking for the people. An ambassador who signs up full of
enthusiasm and is met with silence is an ambassador you have lost.

Sequence the kit after your branding, too, or you will only have to redo it. "You want to make
sure that you aren't creating these materials before you've branded everything," Hubbub's team
explains, "because once you have your marketing and your branding done, you're going to have to
change it." For a Giving Day, prepare materials roughly four to six months out, once the look and
feel of the day itself is settled, so the ambassador toolkit can simply inherit it.

Three kinds of material do the heavy lifting. **Ambassador videos** are short walkthroughs of the
platform, the steps you want ambassadors to take, and your tips and tricks, including sample posts
and testimonials from people explaining why they signed up. They let you train people who will
never make it to a room. **In-person workshops** cover the same ground with handouts and
face-to-face time, and they are where your lead volunteers come into their own. "If you can do
in-person workshops, you're probably going to get a better return on your investment," a Hubbub
consultant notes, "as these will have much more of an impact and get kind of the people that you
know are going to be able to do the work for you." The centrepiece is the **ambassador toolkit**,
a fully branded pack of ready-to-use posts, emails and images. "These are fully branded training
packets with sample social posts and emails," Hubbub's team explains. "They tell your ambassadors
kind of what exactly you need them to do. They make it easy."

A good toolkit follows a clear structure. The strongest example Hubbub cites is the University of
York's Giving Day pack, and its shape is worth copying. It opens with a simple, branded checklist
that tells ambassadors both what to do and when, broken into prepare-in-advance, get-excited,
during-the-week and on-the-day phases. It tells them to follow the campaign accounts, sign up to
the platform, plan posts ahead of time, and, crucially, to use their own words. "Using your own
words gets the most amount of interaction," the webinar notes, "is when people will make their
content their own." It hands ambassadors the campaign hashtag so posts stack together on a feed.
It supplies images for social posts, profile photos and wallpapers. And it provides drag-and-drop
copy for both social and email, with the dates already written in. The logic is simple: "Everyone
has a busy day, so when you can just provide content that you can just literally drag and drop,
copy and paste, it makes life a lot easier." You do the work so that your ambassadors only have
to do the asking.

## The technology that makes it work

Good ambassador technology removes the two things that stop volunteers in their tracks: not
knowing what to post, and not knowing whether their effort mattered. Three features carry most of
the weight.

The first is **ready-made, shareable content delivered through a portal**. Rather than emailing
ambassadors a document and hoping, a portal pushes them a notification each time there is a new
message to share, with the post written and the image attached. Warm people up to this habit
before the campaign even starts, a Hubbub consultant advises: "Do start sending sharing messages
through your Giving Day ambassador portal so that your ambassadors get used to seeing those
notifications in their inbox, so that they get into the habit of sharing messages before the
Giving Day." By the day itself, sharing is already routine.

The second is **personal tracking links**. On the Hubbub platform, each ambassador who signs up
"will actually get their own unique URL, and it will track the number of clicks you get and the
actual referred amounts that you raise on the Giving Day itself." This single feature changes the
character of a programme. It turns vague goodwill into measurable contribution, lets you thank
people for what they specifically achieved, and gives you the data to prove the programme works.

The third is a **leaderboard with prizes**. The Hubbub tool offers "different rankings, different
prizes available for you to fill in," Hubbub's team explains. "We have a leaderboard, and whoever
finishes within the top three or six will win a prize, and that's usually based upon the number
of clicks that you get." A visible ranking turns individual effort into friendly competition, the
subject of the next section. Underpinning all of this should be your campaign hashtag, so that
ambassador posts aggregate on social feeds and, with enough volume, start to trend in your local
area and reach people well beyond any single ambassador's network.

## Motivating and gamifying participation

The mechanics of motivation are straightforward, and an ambassador who feels seen will act again
and again. Start with incentives. "You want to make sure you're incentivising your ambassadors
with swag," a Hubbub consultant notes, "t-shirts from the university, water bottles, whatever you
want to provide them." Pair the swag with the leaderboard prizes, and you have a structure that
rewards effort without costing much. The webinar's own summary is blunt: "I have found that using
a carrot on the end of a stick is the best way to go. It's a great way to get people involved."

The most powerful motivator, though, is not a prize but attention. During a campaign, alongside
the public updates everyone sees, send individual ambassadors a personal note on their own
progress. A Hubbub consultant is specific: "Consider sending individual emails to your
ambassadors, sharing with them a personal update on their own progress. For example, the number
of likes that they've generated, as well as the gifts they may have generated. This shows them
that someone is paying attention to the impact that they are generating and encouraging them to
keep going. And this is especially important if you have prizes and incentives for them." A
leaderboard tells ambassadors where they stand. A personal email tells them you noticed.

Give people one thing to do at a time. The temptation is to hand ambassadors the full list and
let them choose, but participation rises when each ask is single and clear. Break the journey into
discrete actions: first, share the recruitment message to bring in others; then send an email on a
named day; then share a story tied to a specific cause; and finally make their own gift just
before the campaign opens, "encouraging them to be the first to participate so that they can spend
the rest of their day encouraging participation through sharing." Each step is small enough to
feel achievable, and the sequence builds naturally towards the campaign.

Two pieces of social proof make the whole thing easier. People are far more comfortable joining in
when they can see others already taking part, so share examples from existing ambassadors early.
"If you can create some of these internally with your lead ambassadors, they can help to
demonstrate to others that people are already participating and that they don't necessarily have
to be the first person." And remember that many ambassadors are motivated less by competition than
by belonging. "Sometimes our ambassadors join because they want to feel exclusively a part of the
team behind the Giving Day," a Hubbub consultant notes, "so if we can give them that access, then
why not?" Behind-the-scenes updates and a sense of being on the inside cost you nothing and buy
real loyalty.

## Ambassadors in a Giving Day and a Challenge Week

Ambassadors are not a freestanding activity. They are the amplification layer that makes a
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) reach further than your own channels
ever could. In a Giving Day, the rhythm is intense and compressed, often into 36 hours, and
ambassadors carry the campaign across the gaps your institutional posts cannot reach. The
ambassador journey maps neatly onto the day: a recruitment phase beforehand, with messages going
both to those who have signed up and those who have not; real-time encouragement on the day
itself, mixing calls to action with progress updates; and a wash-up phase afterwards. The cadence
of that mix matters. "Mixing up both of these messages so that you can create an even balance that
rewards your ambassadors as much as it thanks them," a Hubbub consultant says, "will go a long way
towards getting them to take action again and again."

A Challenge Week works slightly differently, because the fundraisers are student clubs and
societies promoting their own pages over roughly a week, but ambassadors are no less central to
it. Here, ambassadors are the wider network each group rallies around its cause, and the numbers
can be substantial: the University of York grew from 140 ambassadors in its first Challenge Week
to more than 500 in subsequent years. In both formats the principle is identical. The institution
sets the structure and supplies the tools, and the ambassadors provide the trusted, personal asks
that convert.

One strategic choice consistently lifts ambassador engagement across both formats: giving people
something specific to fundraise for. The institutions that do this best offer their ambassadors
"lots of projects for the ambassadors to choose from and to get behind, which closely aligned with
their own passions." A decentralised campaign, with a handful of headline funds plus many smaller
projects from across the institution, lets ambassadors champion the cause they personally care
about. "Giving ambassadors choice to be really passionate about what they care about" is, in the
webinar's own words, one of the surest ways to deepen engagement.

## Stewarding and retaining ambassadors year on year

The end of a campaign is not the end of the relationship, and how you handle the days after
determines whether you have to rebuild your ambassador corps from scratch next time. Thank your
ambassadors first, and thank them separately from your donors. "If you have the data available as
to who your ambassadors are, consider sending them a separate or additional email than what you
would send to your donors," a Hubbub consultant advises. "The personalisation of receiving an
email that's really specific to the reference of them being an ambassador could really go a long
way towards creating engagement opportunities from ambassadors for future Giving Days." Ask them,
too, to pass on thanks to the people they brought in. A simple thank you from an ambassador to
their own network is, the webinar notes, what makes those people likely to come back next year.

Then, and this is what separates a programme from an event, keep the relationship alive between
campaigns. The institutions that do this best do not switch their ambassadors off for eleven
months. The strongest examples "use their ambassadors year-round to not only create noise about
Giving Day, but to also create noise around other activities that are happening around the
institution. And these don't necessarily have to revolve around giving, they can be anything that
involves people taking part, taking action, and making noise. This really helps them to keep
ambassadors engaged between Giving Days and also helps them to create more ambassadors once Giving
Day comes back around." An ambassador you have stayed in touch with all year is one who says yes
immediately, and who has spent twelve months quietly recruiting their friends on your behalf.

This is why ambassador programmes compound. The early adopters and lead volunteers join in year
one. In year two, the people who watched them take part want in. "You'll have your early adopters
and those lead volunteers that are really involved in your institution get involved in year one,"
Hubbub's ambassadors webinar explains, "and then for year two, you're really going to see an
increase because you'll have those that did it in year one, and then you'll have people that saw
what happened in year one and really want to get involved." Patience in the first year is rewarded
with momentum you cannot manufacture any other way.

## Measuring their impact

The hardest part of running an ambassador programme is often justifying it internally, and the
answer is to measure properly. Tracking links make this possible: with them, you can attribute
gifts and donors directly to ambassador activity rather than guessing. A Hubbub consultant is
candid that "one of the difficulties that we sometimes have with our ambassador programmes is
justifying the ROI against time and effort spent recruiting, training and encouraging
participation. However, if you can start to look at that data behind your ambassador programme,
you can really quickly show that the time spent on ambassadors is very much worth it."

The numbers, looked at properly, tend to settle the argument. In the institutions Hubbub profiled,
ambassador contributions ranged from a handful of per cent of online gifts to a quarter or more.
In one example from a more mature programme, ambassadors caused 26 per cent of online gifts in a
single Giving Day. At the other end of the scale, an Oxbridge college running its first Giving Day
saw ambassadors cause only 5 per cent of gifts, which sounds modest until you learn that "without
that 5 per cent uplift from ambassadors, the Giving Day would have narrowly missed its target." A
small percentage can be the difference between hitting a target and missing it, which is exactly
the kind of result that earns a programme its place.

Two cautions on measurement. First, in year one, measure participation rather than income. "In
your first Giving Day, you may not see huge increases from ambassadors in particular," a Hubbub
consultant cautions, so the right early metric is how many ambassadors you recruited and how
active they were, not the euros they generated. Second, expect the impact to grow. "This grows
year on year. So while it may be 5 per cent in year one, it may be 10 per cent in year two, 15, it
grows and it compounds. You'll start to see not only the number of donors grow, but the number of
gifts caused by ambassadors grow as you grow and strengthen that ambassador programme." Measure
it, report it, and let the trend line make your case for you.

## Frequently asked questions

**What exactly is a fundraising ambassador?** A volunteer who promotes your campaign to their own
network and asks the people they know to give. In Hubbub's words, "a volunteer that is willing to
help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you have." They can be alumni, students,
staff, parents or any supporter willing to lend their voice.

**Do ambassadors really cause donations, or do they just give themselves?** They generate gifts
from others, which is the whole point. When the webinar was asked whether ambassador figures meant
their own gifts or gifts they generated, the answer was unambiguous: "They actually generated those
gifts themselves, which is exactly what we want them to do." The one-in-four conversion rate on an
ask from a friend is what makes them so effective.

**How many ambassadors should we aim for?** In year one, do not fix a precise target. Start with a
few lead volunteers, see how receptive people are, then set a number. As a guide, first-year goals
have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller institutions to 100 to 200 at larger ones,
depending on size and engagement.

**When should we start recruiting?** Recruit and train your lead volunteers around two to three
months before a Giving Day. Expect the wider pool to sign up late, often in the final fortnight,
because, as Hubbub's team explains, "we're a last-minute culture." Plan your recruitment push to
peak near the campaign rather than too far out.

**Which social media channel works best?** The one your audience already uses. There is no
universal answer: a younger audience leans towards Instagram, an older one towards Facebook.
Recruit where your supporters are, and lean on the channel where your engagement is already
strongest.

**Do small organisations have the resources to run a programme?** Yes, because you do not have to
do everything. Pick the techniques you are comfortable with, toolkits, videos or lead volunteers,
and start. The difference between running a campaign with ambassadors and without is, in Hubbub's
experience, dramatic even at modest scale.

Tax treatment of giving differs by country: many European countries offer donors a tax deduction or
reduction, and cross-border gifts can flow through Transnational Giving Europe. Equip ambassadors to
point supporters to the right local guidance rather than making promises on their behalf.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Ambassador recruitment email template](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Ambassador briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Ambassador social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaged ambassador communities](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Hubbub blog: increasing donor engagement with Giving Day ambassadors](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo gestionar un programa de embajadores para la captación de fondos](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para reclutar, formar y motivar a embajadores de captación de fondos, esos voluntarios que amplifican tus campañas a través de sus propias redes, abordando si es adecuado para ti, las herramientas, la gamificación y el cuidado de la relación.
Un embajador de captación de fondos es un voluntario que te presta su voz y su red. No son personal y no
son captadores de fondos profesionales. Son exalumnos, estudiantes, padres y madres, miembros del
patronato, colegas y amigos de tu causa que están dispuestos a pedir a las personas que conocen que
donen. El seminario web de Hubbub sobre embajadores define el papel de forma sencilla: «Yo definiría a
un embajador como un voluntario dispuesto a ayudar a tu organización a alcanzar y, con suerte, superar
los objetivos que te has marcado». La labor de un programa de embajadores consiste en encontrar a esas
personas, ponérselo fácil para que actúen y lograr que vuelvan. Esta guía explica cómo lograr las tres
cosas.

## Por qué funcionan los embajadores

El argumento a favor de los embajadores se apoya en un hecho tozudo sobre cómo dona la gente: la mayoría
de nosotros no respondemos a una institución que pide dinero, respondemos a un amigo. «Una de cada cuatro
personas donará si se lo pide un amigo», explica el equipo de Hubbub. La tasa de conversión de una
solicitud fría e institucional procedente de una oficina de desarrollo ronda, en cambio, el 0,06 por
ciento. Cuando la petición viene de alguien que conoces, es mucho más probable que abras el correo, que
hagas clic y que dones. Los embajadores son la forma de poner tu llamamiento en manos de personas en las
que tus seguidores realmente confían.

La segunda razón es el alcance. Las redes sociales entierran las publicaciones de las cuentas
institucionales, y esas publicaciones se desvanecen rápido. «Los mensajes en redes sociales suelen tener
solo una vida útil de entre uno y cinco minutos», señala un consultor de Hubbub, «y si tienes cada vez
más personas publicando en tu nombre, la gente las va a ver». Una sola publicación de tu asociación
llega a una mínima parte de tus seguidores. Cincuenta embajadores publicando con sus propias palabras, a
sus propias redes, el mismo día, vuelven a poner las probabilidades a tu favor. Compras un alcance que
jamás podrías comprar con publicidad, y lo compras con autenticidad en lugar de con presupuesto.

Esta guía se basa en las buenas prácticas compartidas por los especialistas de Hubbub en su seminario
web «Crear comunidades de embajadores comprometidas» y en la experiencia de instituciones que han
construido programas de embajadores en torno a [jornadas de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
y [semanas reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Aborda si un programa es adecuado para ti,
cómo reclutar y formar a los embajadores, la tecnología que los hace eficaces, cómo motivar y gamificar
su participación, cómo encajan en una jornada de donación o una semana reto, y cómo cuidar la relación
para que el programa se refuerce año tras año.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestro
> [correo de reclutamiento](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [paquete de instrucciones](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) y
> [kit para redes sociales](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## ¿Es adecuado para ti un programa de embajadores?

La objeción más habitual procede de los equipos más pequeños, y suele ser errónea. «Soy una institución
pequeña, no tengo los recursos para hacer todo este trabajo de embajadores, ¿por qué debería hacerlo?»
es una pregunta que el equipo de Hubbub oye continuamente. La respuesta es que no tienes que hacerlo
todo. «Una sola talla no tiene por qué servir para todos. Hay distintos tipos de técnicas que puedes
usar, desde kits de herramientas hasta vídeos o voluntarios de referencia. Pero lo más importante es que
no tienes que hacerlas todas. Elige aquello con lo que te sientas cómodo, pero lo más importante es que
realmente te lances y simplemente lo pruebes, porque verás una diferencia drástica con una jornada de
donación o una campaña empleando embajadores frente a no hacerlo». La barrera de entrada es baja.

Lo que un programa sí necesita es una persona que se responsabilice de él. Reclutar, formar, construir
recorridos y mantener a los embajadores activos es trabajo de verdad, y compite por la atención con los
objetivos de ingresos que dominan cualquier campaña. Como dice un consultor de Hubbub, gestionar
embajadores «puede parecer mucho trabajo, y, sinceramente, lo es. Pero si tienes un equipo con colegas
de relaciones con exalumnos o colegas de voluntariado, o simplemente un voluntario dispuesto en tu
oficina, contento de ocuparse de la gestión de esos embajadores, recurre a esos colegas para que te
ayuden». Si puedes nombrar a una persona, en plantilla o voluntaria, que asuma la relación con los
embajadores desde el reclutamiento hasta el agradecimiento final, tienes los cimientos de un programa.
Si no puedes, empieza más pequeño: recluta a un puñado de voluntarios de referencia, observa lo que
generan y crece a partir de ahí.

Un programa también se adapta mejor a unas comunidades que a otras. Donde la afinidad es fuerte, el
formato funciona incluso cuando las cifras son modestas. Los colegios y escuelas de Oxbridge, señala un
consultor de Hubbub, tienen «un grupo más reducido al que recurrir. Sin embargo, esa afinidad dentro de
estas comunidades es muy fuerte, lo que las hace estupendas para organizar jornadas de donación». Una
comunidad unida y apasionada de unos pocos cientos de personas puede producir un cuerpo de embajadores
más activo que un fichero de exalumnos inabarcable con un vínculo débil. Si a tus seguidores de verdad
les importa, tienes embajadores esperando a que se les pida.

## Reclutar a los embajadores adecuados

El reclutamiento transcurre en dos oleadas, y el orden importa. Empieza no con un llamamiento masivo,
sino con un pequeño grupo de voluntarios de referencia. Son, explica el equipo de Hubbub, «personas que
pueden ser personal, exalumnos apasionados, estudiantes empleados o amigos y familiares entusiastas que
creas que serán capaces de liderar la carga. Quieres que estas personas sean las que probablemente
trabajen un poco más duro o tengan un poco más de tiempo que dedicar que otras, porque el objetivo a
largo plazo es que luego estas personas vayan a reclutar a sus amigos y familiares, y así
sucesivamente». Los voluntarios de referencia no son solo tus embajadores más activos. Son tu motor de
reclutamiento, y su recomendación, enviada a sus propias redes, vale más que cualquier correo de la sede
central.

Acertar con el momento de la segunda oleada exige temple, porque la mayoría de la gente se apunta tarde.
Para una jornada de donación, forma y recluta a los voluntarios de referencia «unos tres meses antes del
día. Esto es probablemente lo máximo. Si te alejas más, podrías perder algo de impulso». El grupo más
amplio de embajadores se comporta de otra manera. «La mayoría de los embajadores suele apuntarse solo
unas pocas semanas antes», observa un consultor de Hubbub. «Somos una cultura de última hora, y por lo
general la gente hace las cosas en el último momento». No entres en pánico cuando las primeras cifras
parezcan escasas. La avalancha llega en las dos últimas semanas, y a menudo en la última semana, así que
planifica tus comunicaciones de reclutamiento para que alcancen su punto máximo entonces en lugar de
quemar tu energía demasiado pronto.

Resiste la tentación de fijar un objetivo preciso de embajadores en tu primer año, porque no tienes nada
en lo que basarte. «Fijar un objetivo de embajadores sin haberlo probado antes es muy difícil de hacer»,
aconseja el seminario web de Hubbub sobre embajadores. «Recomendaría empezar con unos pocos voluntarios
de referencia, ver cuántas personas son receptivas a la idea, y luego, una vez que tengas una buena idea
de a cuántas personas puedes tener a bordo, quizá quieras fijar un número de embajadores». A modo de
orden de magnitud, los objetivos del primer año han ido de 20 a 30 embajadores en las organizaciones más
pequeñas hasta 100 a 200 en las más grandes, dependiendo en gran medida la cifra adecuada del tamaño de
la institución y del compromiso. El sentido del primer año es simplemente hacerlo. «Todo el sentido es
que realmente intentaste lo de los embajadores en tu primera vez», explica el equipo de Hubbub, «y luego,
del primer al segundo año, igual que vemos un aumento enorme en las jornadas de donación, probablemente
verás un aumento enorme por parte de los embajadores».

Cuando elijas dónde reclutar, ve adonde tu público ya está. El canal adecuado no es una respuesta fija,
sino una pregunta sobre tu propia comunidad. «Son los canales donde existe tu público», dice un consultor
de Hubbub. «Así que si buscas un público especialmente joven, no diría que Facebook sea el lugar donde
quieras ir a reclutarlo. Si buscas reclutar embajadores jóvenes, vas a querer usar canales como
Instagram. Ve adonde está tu público». Recluta en las plataformas que tus seguidores usan de verdad, y
apóyate en el canal donde tu propio compromiso ya es más fuerte.

## Formar y equipar a tus embajadores

He aquí el error que casi todo el mundo comete: los equipos se apresuran a reclutar embajadores antes de
tener nada que darles que hacer. «Mucha gente comete el error de intentar reclutarlos antes de tener
ninguno de los materiales de formación listos», advierte el seminario web. «Recomiendo encarecidamente
empezar creando los materiales de formación para los embajadores antes de empezar a reclutarlos».
Construye el kit primero, y luego sal a buscar a las personas. Un embajador que se apunta lleno de
entusiasmo y se encuentra con el silencio es un embajador que has perdido.

Secuencia el kit también después de tu identidad visual, o no harás más que rehacerlo. «Quieres
asegurarte de no crear estos materiales antes de haberlo aplicado todo a tu identidad de marca», explica
el equipo de Hubbub, «porque una vez que tengas tu marketing y tu marca terminados, vas a tener que
cambiarlo». Para una jornada de donación, prepara los materiales con unos cuatro a seis meses de
antelación, una vez fijados el aspecto y el tono del propio día, de modo que el kit de embajadores pueda
simplemente heredarlo.

Tres tipos de material hacen el grueso del trabajo. Los **vídeos para embajadores** son recorridos breves
por la plataforma, por los pasos que quieres que den los embajadores y por tus trucos y consejos, e
incluyen publicaciones de ejemplo y testimonios de personas que explican por qué se apuntaron. Te
permiten formar a personas que nunca llegarán a una sala. Los **talleres presenciales** cubren el mismo
terreno con material impreso y tiempo cara a cara, y es ahí donde tus voluntarios de referencia brillan.
«Si puedes hacer talleres presenciales, probablemente obtengas un mejor retorno de la inversión», señala
un consultor de Hubbub, «ya que estos tendrán mucho más impacto y te conseguirán precisamente a las
personas que sabes que van a poder hacer el trabajo por ti». La pieza central es el **kit de
embajadores**, un paquete con tu identidad de marca completa de publicaciones, correos e imágenes listos
para usar. «Son paquetes de formación con la marca completa, con publicaciones sociales de ejemplo y
correos», explica el equipo de Hubbub. «Les dicen a tus embajadores exactamente qué necesitas que hagan.
Se lo ponen fácil».

Un buen kit sigue una estructura clara. El ejemplo más sólido que cita Hubbub es el paquete de jornada de
donación de la University of York, y su forma merece la pena copiarse. Se abre con una sencilla lista de
verificación con la marca que dice a los embajadores tanto qué hacer como cuándo, dividida en las fases
de preparar con antelación, generar entusiasmo, durante la semana y el propio día. Les dice que sigan las
cuentas de la campaña, se apunten a la plataforma, planifiquen las publicaciones con antelación y, lo más
importante, usen sus propias palabras. «Usar las propias palabras genera la mayor cantidad de
interacción», señala el seminario web, «es cuando la gente hace suyo su contenido». Entrega a los
embajadores el hashtag de la campaña para que las publicaciones se acumulen en un mismo feed. Suministra
imágenes para las publicaciones sociales, fotos de perfil y fondos de pantalla. Y proporciona textos para
arrastrar y soltar tanto para redes como para correo, con las fechas ya escritas. La lógica es sencilla:
«Todo el mundo tiene un día ajetreado, así que cuando puedes simplemente proporcionar contenido que basta
con arrastrar y soltar, copiar y pegar, le haces la vida mucho más fácil». Tú haces el trabajo para que
tus embajadores solo tengan que hacer la petición.

## La tecnología que lo hace funcionar

Una buena tecnología de embajadores elimina las dos cosas que frenan en seco a los voluntarios: no saber
qué publicar y no saber si su esfuerzo ha servido de algo. Tres funciones soportan la mayor parte del
peso.

La primera es un **contenido listo para usar y compartible, entregado a través de un portal**. En lugar
de enviar a los embajadores un documento por correo y esperar lo mejor, un portal les envía una
notificación cada vez que hay un nuevo mensaje que compartir, con la publicación ya redactada y la imagen
adjunta. Acostumbra a la gente a este hábito antes incluso de que empiece la campaña, aconseja un
consultor de Hubbub: «Empieza a enviar mensajes para compartir a través del portal de embajadores de tu
jornada de donación, para que tus embajadores se acostumbren a ver esas notificaciones en su bandeja de
entrada y adquieran el hábito de compartir mensajes antes de la jornada de donación». Para el propio día,
compartir ya es rutina.

La segunda son los **enlaces de seguimiento personales**. En la plataforma de Hubbub, cada embajador que
se apunta «obtendrá en realidad su propia URL única, que registrará el número de clics que consigas y las
cantidades efectivamente referidas que recaudes en la propia jornada de donación». Esta única función
cambia el carácter de un programa. Convierte la buena voluntad difusa en una contribución medible, te
permite agradecer a las personas lo que concretamente lograron y te da los datos para demostrar que el
programa funciona.

La tercera es una **tabla de clasificación con premios**. La herramienta de Hubbub ofrece «distintas
clasificaciones, distintos premios disponibles para que los rellenes», explica el equipo de Hubbub.
«Tenemos una tabla de clasificación, y quien termine entre los tres o seis primeros ganará un premio, y
eso suele basarse en el número de clics que consigues». Una clasificación visible convierte el esfuerzo
individual en una competición amistosa, el tema de la siguiente sección. La base de todo esto debería ser
el hashtag de tu campaña, para que las publicaciones de los embajadores se agreguen en los feeds de las
redes y, con suficiente volumen, empiecen a ser tendencia en tu zona local y lleguen a personas mucho más
allá de la red de un solo embajador.

## Motivar y gamificar la participación

La mecánica de la motivación es sencilla, y un embajador que se siente visto actuará una y otra vez.
Empieza con los incentivos. «Quieres asegurarte de incentivar a tus embajadores con artículos
promocionales», señala un consultor de Hubbub, «camisetas de la universidad, botellas de agua, lo que
quieras ofrecerles». Combina los artículos con los premios de la clasificación y tendrás una estructura
que recompensa el esfuerzo sin costar mucho. El resumen del propio seminario web es contundente: «He
comprobado que usar una zanahoria en la punta de un palo es el mejor camino. Es una manera estupenda de
implicar a la gente».

El motivador más poderoso, sin embargo, no es un premio sino la atención. Durante una campaña, junto a
las actualizaciones públicas que todos ven, envía a cada embajador una nota personal sobre su propio
progreso. Un consultor de Hubbub es concreto: «Plantéate enviar correos individuales a tus embajadores,
compartiendo con ellos una actualización personal sobre su propio progreso. Por ejemplo, el número de
"me gusta" que han generado, así como las donaciones que puedan haber generado. Esto les muestra que
alguien está prestando atención al impacto que están generando y los anima a seguir adelante. Y esto es
especialmente importante si tienes premios e incentivos para ellos». Una clasificación les dice a los
embajadores dónde están. Un correo personal les dice que te has dado cuenta.

Da a la gente una sola cosa que hacer cada vez. La tentación es entregar a los embajadores la lista
completa y dejarles elegir, pero la participación aumenta cuando cada petición es única y clara.
Descompón el recorrido en acciones diferenciadas: primero, compartir el mensaje de reclutamiento para
atraer a otros; luego enviar un correo en un día concreto; luego compartir una historia ligada a una
causa específica; y por último hacer su propia donación justo antes de que abra la campaña,
«animándolos a ser los primeros en participar para que puedan pasar el resto del día animando la
participación mediante la difusión». Cada paso es lo bastante pequeño como para parecer alcanzable, y la
secuencia conduce de forma natural hacia la campaña.

Dos elementos de prueba social facilitan todo el conjunto. La gente se siente mucho más cómoda
participando cuando puede ver a otros ya implicados, así que comparte pronto ejemplos de embajadores
existentes. «Si puedes crear algunos de estos internamente con tus embajadores de referencia, pueden
ayudar a demostrar a los demás que ya hay gente participando y que no tienen por qué ser necesariamente
los primeros». Y recuerda que muchos embajadores se motivan menos por la competición que por la
pertenencia. «A veces nuestros embajadores se unen porque quieren sentirse en exclusiva parte del equipo
que está detrás de la jornada de donación», señala un consultor de Hubbub, «así que, si podemos darles
ese acceso, ¿por qué no?». Las actualizaciones de tras las cámaras y la sensación de estar en el ajo no
te cuestan nada y compran una lealtad real.

## Los embajadores en una jornada de donación y en una semana reto

Los embajadores no son una actividad independiente. Son la capa de amplificación que hace que una
[jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) o una
[semana reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) lleguen más lejos de lo que tus propios canales
podrían lograr jamás. En una jornada de donación el ritmo es intenso y comprimido, a menudo en 36 horas, y
los embajadores llevan la campaña a través de los huecos que tus publicaciones institucionales no pueden
alcanzar. El recorrido del embajador encaja a la perfección en el día: una fase de reclutamiento previa,
con mensajes dirigidos tanto a quienes se han apuntado como a quienes no; ánimo en tiempo real el propio
día, mezclando llamadas a la acción con actualizaciones de progreso; y una fase de balance posterior. La
cadencia de esa mezcla importa. «Mezclar ambos tipos de mensajes para crear un equilibrio igualado que
recompense a tus embajadores tanto como les agradece», dice un consultor de Hubbub, «contribuirá mucho a
lograr que actúen una y otra vez».

Una semana reto funciona de manera ligeramente distinta, porque los captadores son clubes y asociaciones
estudiantiles que promocionan sus propias páginas a lo largo de aproximadamente una semana, pero los
embajadores no son menos centrales en ella. Aquí, los embajadores son la red más amplia que cada grupo
congrega en torno a su causa, y las cifras pueden ser considerables: la University of York creció de 140
embajadores en su primera semana reto a más de 500 en los años posteriores. En ambos formatos el principio
es idéntico. La institución fija la estructura y suministra las herramientas, y los embajadores aportan las
peticiones personales y de confianza que convierten.

Una decisión estratégica eleva sistemáticamente el compromiso de los embajadores en ambos formatos: dar a
la gente algo concreto para lo que recaudar. Las instituciones que mejor lo hacen ofrecen a sus
embajadores «muchos proyectos entre los que elegir y a los que apoyar, estrechamente alineados con sus
propias pasiones». Una campaña descentralizada, con un puñado de fondos destacados más muchos proyectos
más pequeños de toda la institución, permite a los embajadores defender la causa que personalmente les
importa. «Dar a los embajadores la posibilidad de elegir apasionarse de verdad por lo que les importa» es,
en palabras del propio seminario web, una de las formas más seguras de profundizar el compromiso.

## Cuidar y fidelizar a los embajadores año tras año

El final de una campaña no es el final de la relación, y cómo manejes los días posteriores determina si
tendrás que reconstruir tu cuerpo de embajadores desde cero la próxima vez. Agradece primero a tus
embajadores, y agradéceles por separado de tus donantes. «Si tienes disponibles los datos sobre quiénes
son tus embajadores, plantéate enviarles un correo aparte o adicional al que enviarías a tus donantes»,
aconseja un consultor de Hubbub. «La personalización de recibir un correo realmente específico sobre el
hecho de que son embajadores podría contribuir mucho a crear oportunidades de compromiso por parte de los
embajadores para futuras jornadas de donación». Pídeles también que transmitan el agradecimiento a las
personas que trajeron. Un simple gracias de un embajador a su propia red es, señala el seminario web, lo
que hace que esas personas sean propensas a volver al año siguiente.

Luego, y esto es lo que distingue a un programa de un evento, mantén viva la relación entre campañas. Las
instituciones que mejor lo hacen no apagan a sus embajadores durante once meses. Los ejemplos más sólidos
«usan a sus embajadores todo el año no solo para generar ruido en torno a la jornada de donación, sino
también para generar ruido en torno a otras actividades que ocurren en la institución. Y estas no tienen
por qué girar necesariamente en torno a donar, pueden ser cualquier cosa que implique que la gente
participe, actúe y haga ruido. Esto les ayuda de verdad a mantener a los embajadores comprometidos entre
jornadas de donación y también les ayuda a crear más embajadores cuando la jornada de donación vuelve».
Un embajador con quien has mantenido el contacto todo el año es uno que dice que sí de inmediato y que ha
pasado doce meses reclutando discretamente a sus amigos en tu nombre.

Por eso los programas de embajadores se refuerzan acumulativamente. Los primeros en sumarse y los
voluntarios de referencia se unen en el primer año. En el segundo año, las personas que los vieron
participar quieren estar dentro. «Tendrás a tus primeros en sumarse y a esos voluntarios de referencia
realmente implicados en tu institución que participan en el primer año», explica el seminario web de
Hubbub sobre embajadores, «y luego, en el segundo año, vas a ver de verdad un aumento, porque tendrás a
quienes lo hicieron en el primer año, y luego tendrás a gente que vio lo que ocurrió en el primer año y
que quiere implicarse de verdad». La paciencia en el primer año se ve recompensada con un impulso que no
puedes fabricar de ninguna otra manera.

## Medir su impacto

La parte más difícil de gestionar un programa de embajadores suele ser justificarlo internamente, y la
respuesta es medir como es debido. Los enlaces de seguimiento lo hacen posible: con ellos, puedes
atribuir donaciones y donantes directamente a la actividad de los embajadores en lugar de adivinar. Un
consultor de Hubbub reconoce con franqueza que «una de las dificultades que a veces tenemos con nuestros
programas de embajadores es justificar el retorno de la inversión frente al tiempo y el esfuerzo
dedicados a reclutar, formar y fomentar la participación. Sin embargo, si empiezas a fijarte en los datos
que hay detrás de tu programa de embajadores, puedes demostrar muy rápidamente que el tiempo dedicado a
los embajadores merece mucho la pena».

Las cifras, observadas como es debido, tienden a zanjar el debate. En las instituciones que perfiló
Hubbub, las contribuciones de los embajadores iban desde un puñado de puntos porcentuales de las
donaciones en línea hasta una cuarta parte o más. En un ejemplo de un programa más maduro, los
embajadores causaron el 26 por ciento de las donaciones en línea en una sola jornada de donación. En el
otro extremo de la escala, un colegio de Oxbridge que organizaba su primera jornada de donación vio que
los embajadores causaban solo el 5 por ciento de las donaciones, lo que suena modesto hasta que te
enteras de que «sin ese aumento del 5 por ciento de los embajadores, la jornada de donación habría
quedado por poco por debajo de su objetivo». Un pequeño porcentaje puede marcar la diferencia entre
alcanzar un objetivo y no alcanzarlo, que es exactamente el tipo de resultado que le gana a un programa
su lugar.

Dos advertencias sobre la medición. Primero, en el primer año, mide la participación en lugar de los
ingresos. «En tu primera jornada de donación, puede que no veas grandes aumentos por parte de los
embajadores en particular», advierte un consultor de Hubbub, así que la métrica inicial adecuada es a
cuántos embajadores reclutaste y cuán activos fueron, no los euros que generaron. Segundo, espera que el
impacto crezca. «Esto crece año tras año. Así que, aunque sea el 5 por ciento en el primer año, puede ser
el 10 por ciento en el segundo, el 15, crece y se acumula. Empezarás a ver crecer no solo el número de
donantes, sino también el número de donaciones causadas por los embajadores a medida que haces crecer y
fortaleces ese programa de embajadores». Mídelo, infórmalo, y deja que la línea de tendencia argumente
por ti.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Qué es exactamente un embajador de captación de fondos?** Un voluntario que promueve tu campaña ante
su propia red y pide a las personas que conoce que donen. En palabras de Hubbub, «un voluntario dispuesto
a ayudar a tu organización a alcanzar y, con suerte, superar los objetivos que te has marcado». Pueden
ser exalumnos, estudiantes, personal, padres y madres o cualquier seguidor dispuesto a prestar su voz.

**¿De verdad los embajadores causan donaciones, o solo donan ellos mismos?** Generan donaciones de
terceros, que es todo el sentido. Cuando se preguntó en el seminario web si las cifras de los embajadores
se referían a sus propias donaciones o a las que generaron, la respuesta fue inequívoca: «Realmente
generaron esas donaciones ellos mismos, que es exactamente lo que queremos que hagan». La tasa de
conversión de uno de cada cuatro ante una petición de un amigo es lo que los hace tan eficaces.

**¿A cuántos embajadores deberíamos aspirar?** En el primer año, no fijes un objetivo preciso. Empieza con
unos pocos voluntarios de referencia, observa lo receptiva que es la gente, y luego fija un número. A modo
de guía, los objetivos del primer año han ido de 20 a 30 embajadores en las instituciones más pequeñas a
100 a 200 en las más grandes, según el tamaño y el compromiso.

**¿Cuándo deberíamos empezar a reclutar?** Recluta y forma a tus voluntarios de referencia unos dos a tres
meses antes de una jornada de donación. Espera que el grupo más amplio se apunte tarde, a menudo en las
dos últimas semanas, porque, como explica el equipo de Hubbub, «somos una cultura de última hora».
Planifica tu empujón de reclutamiento para que alcance su punto máximo cerca de la campaña en lugar de
demasiado pronto.

**¿Qué canal de redes sociales funciona mejor?** El que tu público ya usa. No hay una respuesta universal:
un público más joven se inclina por Instagram, uno mayor por Facebook. Recluta donde están tus seguidores,
y apóyate en el canal donde tu compromiso ya es más fuerte.

**¿Tienen las organizaciones pequeñas los recursos para gestionar un programa?** Sí, porque no tienes que
hacerlo todo. Elige las técnicas con las que te sientas cómodo, kits de herramientas, vídeos o voluntarios
de referencia, y empieza. La diferencia entre llevar una campaña con embajadores y sin ellos es, según la
experiencia de Hubbub, drástica incluso a escala modesta.

El tratamiento fiscal de las donaciones difiere según el país: muchos países europeos ofrecen a los
donantes una deducción o reducción fiscal, y las donaciones transfronterizas pueden canalizarse a través
de Transnational Giving Europe. Equipa a los embajadores para que orienten a los seguidores hacia la
orientación local adecuada en lugar de hacer promesas en su nombre.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de correo de reclutamiento de embajadores](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Paquete de instrucciones para embajadores](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Kit social para embajadores](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de jornada de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina tus textos de llamamiento y de correo
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Seminario web: crear comunidades de embajadores comprometidas](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Blog de Hubbub: aumentar el compromiso de los donantes con embajadores de jornada de donación](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo organizar una jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) y [Cómo organizar una semana reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) completo para saber más.

- [Comment animer un programme d'ambassadeurs de collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour recruter, briefer et motiver des ambassadeurs de collecte de fonds, ces bénévoles qui amplifient vos campagnes à travers leurs propres réseaux, abordant la pertinence du dispositif, les outils, la ludification et la fidélisation.
Un ambassadeur de collecte de fonds est un bénévole qui vous prête sa voix et son réseau. Ce ne sont
pas des salariés, et ce ne sont pas des collecteurs de fonds professionnels. Ce sont des anciens
élèves, des étudiants, des parents, des administrateurs, des collègues et des amis de votre cause qui
sont prêts à demander à leurs proches de donner. Le webinaire de Hubbub sur les ambassadeurs définit
le rôle simplement : « Je définirais un ambassadeur comme un bénévole prêt à aider votre organisation
à atteindre et, idéalement, à dépasser les objectifs que vous vous êtes fixés. » Le travail d'un
programme d'ambassadeurs consiste à trouver ces personnes, à leur faciliter le passage à l'action et
à les faire revenir. Ce guide explique comment réaliser ces trois objectifs.

## Pourquoi les ambassadeurs fonctionnent

L'intérêt des ambassadeurs repose sur un fait tenace concernant la manière dont les gens donnent : la
plupart d'entre nous ne répondons pas à une institution qui demande de l'argent, nous répondons à un
ami. « Une personne sur quatre donnera si elle en est sollicitée par un ami », explique l'équipe de
Hubbub. Le taux de conversion d'une sollicitation froide et institutionnelle émanant d'un service de
développement avoisine, par contraste, les 0,06 pour cent. Lorsque la demande vient de quelqu'un que
vous connaissez, vous êtes bien plus susceptible d'ouvrir l'e-mail, de cliquer et de donner. Les
ambassadeurs sont le moyen de placer votre appel entre les mains de personnes en qui vos soutiens ont
réellement confiance.

La seconde raison est la portée. Les réseaux sociaux enfouissent les publications des comptes
institutionnels, et ces publications s'estompent vite. « Les messages sur les réseaux sociaux n'ont
généralement qu'une durée de vie d'une à cinq minutes », note un consultant de Hubbub, « et si vous
avez de plus en plus de personnes qui publient en votre nom, les gens vont les voir. » Une seule
publication de votre association touche une infime partie de vos abonnés. Cinquante ambassadeurs
publiant avec leurs propres mots, auprès de leurs propres réseaux, le même jour, remettent les chances
de votre côté. Vous gagnez une portée que vous ne pourriez jamais acheter par la publicité, et vous
l'obtenez grâce à l'authenticité plutôt qu'au budget.

Ce guide s'appuie sur les bonnes pratiques partagées par les spécialistes de Hubbub lors de leur
webinaire « Créer des communautés d'ambassadeurs engagées », et sur l'expérience d'institutions qui
ont bâti des programmes d'ambassadeurs autour de
[journées de don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) et de
[semaines défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Il aborde la pertinence d'un programme
pour vous, la manière de recruter et de briefer les ambassadeurs, la technologie qui les rend
efficaces, comment motiver et ludifier leur participation, comment ils s'intègrent dans une journée de
don ou une semaine défi, et comment les fidéliser pour que le programme se renforce année après année.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [e-mail de recrutement](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [kit de briefing](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) et
> [boîte à outils réseaux sociaux](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Un programme d'ambassadeurs est-il fait pour vous

L'objection la plus courante émane des petites équipes, et elle est généralement infondée. « Je suis
une petite structure, je n'ai pas les ressources pour mener tout ce travail d'ambassadeurs, pourquoi
devrais-je le faire ? » est une question que l'équipe de Hubbub entend en permanence. La réponse est
que vous n'avez pas à tout faire. « Une seule approche ne convient pas à tout le monde. Il existe
différents types de techniques que vous pouvez utiliser, allant des boîtes à outils aux vidéos en
passant par les bénévoles référents. Mais le plus important, c'est que vous n'avez pas à toutes les
employer. Choisissez ce avec quoi vous êtes à l'aise, mais le plus important est de vous lancer et
d'essayer, car vous constaterez une différence spectaculaire avec une journée de don ou une campagne
en recourant aux ambassadeurs plutôt que sans eux. » La barrière à l'entrée est basse.

Ce dont un programme a besoin, en revanche, c'est d'une personne qui en soit responsable. Recruter,
briefer, construire des parcours et garder les ambassadeurs mobilisés représente un vrai travail, qui
entre en concurrence pour l'attention avec les objectifs de revenus qui dominent toute campagne. Comme
le dit un consultant de Hubbub, gérer des ambassadeurs « peut sembler beaucoup de travail, et pour
être honnête, ça l'est. Mais si vous avez une équipe avec des collègues des relations avec les anciens
élèves, des collègues bénévoles ou simplement un bénévole de bonne volonté dans votre bureau, heureux
de s'occuper de la gestion de ces ambassadeurs, faites appel à ces collègues pour vous aider. » Si
vous pouvez nommer une personne, salariée ou bénévole, qui assumera la relation avec les ambassadeurs
du recrutement jusqu'au remerciement final, vous disposez des fondations d'un programme. Si vous ne le
pouvez pas, commencez plus modestement : recrutez une poignée de bénévoles référents, observez ce
qu'ils génèrent, et développez à partir de là.

Un programme convient aussi mieux à certaines communautés qu'à d'autres. Là où l'attachement est fort,
le format fonctionne même lorsque les effectifs sont modestes. Les collèges et écoles d'Oxbridge, note
un consultant de Hubbub, disposent d'« un vivier plus restreint à mobiliser. Cependant, cet attachement
au sein de ces communautés est très fort, ce qui en fait d'excellents terrains pour organiser des
journées de don. » Une communauté soudée et passionnée de quelques centaines de personnes peut produire
un corps d'ambassadeurs plus actif qu'un fichier d'anciens élèves tentaculaire au lien ténu. Si vos
soutiens se sentent réellement concernés, vous avez des ambassadeurs qui n'attendent qu'à être
sollicités.

## Recruter les bons ambassadeurs

Le recrutement se déroule en deux vagues, et l'ordre a son importance. Commencez non pas par un appel
de masse mais par un petit groupe de bénévoles référents. Ce sont, explique l'équipe de Hubbub, « des
personnes qui peuvent être des salariés, des anciens élèves passionnés, des étudiants employés ou des
amis et proches enthousiastes dont vous pensez qu'ils sauront mener la charge. Vous voulez que ces
personnes soient celles qui travailleront probablement un peu plus dur ou qui auront un peu plus de
temps à consacrer que les autres, car l'objectif à long terme est qu'elles aillent ensuite recruter
leurs amis et leur famille, et ainsi de suite. » Les bénévoles référents ne sont pas seulement vos
ambassadeurs les plus actifs. Ils sont votre moteur de recrutement, et leur recommandation, envoyée à
leurs propres réseaux, vaut bien plus que n'importe quel e-mail du siège.

Choisir le moment de la seconde vague demande du sang-froid, car la plupart des gens s'inscrivent tard.
Pour une journée de don, formez et recrutez les bénévoles référents « environ trois mois avant le jour
J. C'est probablement le maximum. Si vous allez au-delà, vous risquez de perdre de l'élan. » Le vivier
plus large d'ambassadeurs se comporte différemment. « La plupart des ambassadeurs s'inscrivent
généralement seulement quelques semaines à l'avance », observe un consultant de Hubbub. « Nous vivons
dans une culture du dernier moment, et les gens font généralement les choses à la dernière minute. »
Ne paniquez pas lorsque les premiers chiffres semblent maigres. L'afflux arrive dans les deux
dernières semaines, et souvent dans la dernière semaine, alors planifiez vos communications de
recrutement pour qu'elles culminent à ce moment plutôt que d'épuiser votre énergie trop tôt.

Résistez à la tentation de fixer un objectif précis d'ambassadeurs lors de votre première année, car
vous n'avez aucune base sur laquelle vous appuyer. « Fixer un objectif d'ambassadeurs sans avoir
d'abord testé le dispositif est très difficile à faire », conseille le webinaire de Hubbub sur les
ambassadeurs. « Je recommanderais de commencer avec quelques bénévoles référents, de voir combien de
personnes sont réceptives à l'idée, puis, une fois que vous avez une bonne idée du nombre de personnes
que vous pouvez mobiliser, vous pourrez alors fixer un nombre d'ambassadeurs. » Pour donner un ordre
de grandeur, les objectifs de première année ont varié de 20 à 30 ambassadeurs dans les plus petites
organisations jusqu'à 100 à 200 dans les plus grandes, le bon chiffre dépendant fortement de la taille
de l'institution et de l'engagement. Le but de la première année est simplement de se lancer. « Tout
l'intérêt est que vous ayez réellement tenté l'aventure des ambassadeurs lors de votre premier essai »,
explique l'équipe de Hubbub, « et ensuite, de la première à la deuxième année, tout comme nous
observons une augmentation massive des journées de don, vous constaterez probablement une augmentation
massive du côté des ambassadeurs. »

Lorsque vous choisissez où recruter, allez là où votre public se trouve déjà. Le bon canal n'est pas
une réponse figée mais une question sur votre propre communauté. « Ce sont les canaux où votre public
existe », dit un consultant de Hubbub. « Donc si vous visez un public particulièrement jeune, je ne
dirais pas que Facebook est l'endroit où vous voulez aller le recruter. Si vous cherchez à recruter de
jeunes ambassadeurs, vous voudrez utiliser des canaux comme Instagram. Allez là où votre public se
trouve. » Recrutez sur les plateformes que vos soutiens utilisent réellement, et appuyez-vous sur le
canal où votre propre engagement est déjà le plus fort.

## Briefer et équiper vos ambassadeurs

Voici l'erreur que presque tout le monde commet : les équipes se précipitent pour recruter des
ambassadeurs avant d'avoir quoi que ce soit à leur donner à faire. « Beaucoup de gens font l'erreur
d'essayer de les recruter avant d'avoir préparé le moindre support de formation », met en garde le
webinaire. « Je recommande vivement de commencer par créer les supports de formation pour les
ambassadeurs avant de commencer à les recruter. » Construisez la trousse d'abord, puis partez à la
recherche des personnes. Un ambassadeur qui s'inscrit plein d'enthousiasme et que l'on accueille par
le silence est un ambassadeur que vous avez perdu.

Élaborez aussi la trousse après votre identité visuelle, sinon vous n'aurez qu'à la refaire. « Vous
voulez vous assurer de ne pas créer ces supports avant d'avoir tout décliné à votre charte
graphique », explique l'équipe de Hubbub, « car une fois votre marketing et votre identité visuelle
finalisés, vous devrez les modifier. » Pour une journée de don, préparez les supports environ quatre
à six mois à l'avance, une fois l'apparence et l'ambiance de la journée elle-même arrêtées, afin que
la boîte à outils des ambassadeurs puisse simplement en hériter.

Trois types de supports font le gros du travail. Les **vidéos pour ambassadeurs** sont de courtes
présentations de la plateforme, des étapes que vous souhaitez voir les ambassadeurs franchir, ainsi
que de vos astuces et conseils, comprenant des exemples de publications et des témoignages de
personnes expliquant pourquoi elles se sont engagées. Elles vous permettent de former des personnes
qui ne se rendront jamais dans une salle. Les **ateliers en présentiel** couvrent le même terrain avec
des documents et un temps en face à face, et c'est là que vos bénévoles référents donnent leur pleine
mesure. « Si vous pouvez organiser des ateliers en présentiel, vous obtiendrez probablement un
meilleur retour sur investissement », note un consultant de Hubbub, « car ils auront beaucoup plus
d'impact et vous permettront de mobiliser les personnes dont vous savez qu'elles seront capables de
faire le travail pour vous. » La pièce maîtresse est la **boîte à outils des ambassadeurs**, un kit
entièrement à votre charte graphique de publications, e-mails et images prêts à l'emploi. « Ce sont
des paquets de formation entièrement à votre charte, avec des exemples de publications sur les réseaux
sociaux et d'e-mails », explique l'équipe de Hubbub. « Ils indiquent à vos ambassadeurs exactement ce
que vous attendez d'eux. Ils leur facilitent la tâche. »

Une bonne boîte à outils suit une structure claire. Le meilleur exemple cité par Hubbub est le kit de
journée de don de la University of York, et sa forme mérite d'être copiée. Il s'ouvre sur une liste de
contrôle simple, à votre charte graphique, qui indique aux ambassadeurs à la fois quoi faire et quand,
répartie en phases : à préparer à l'avance, à anticiper avec enthousiasme, pendant la semaine et le
jour J. Il leur dit de suivre les comptes de la campagne, de s'inscrire sur la plateforme, de planifier
leurs publications à l'avance et, surtout, d'utiliser leurs propres mots. « Utiliser ses propres mots
génère le plus d'interactions », note le webinaire, « c'est quand les gens s'approprient leur
contenu. » Il remet aux ambassadeurs le hashtag de la campagne afin que les publications s'agrègent
dans un même fil. Il fournit des images pour les publications sur les réseaux sociaux, des photos de
profil et des fonds d'écran. Et il propose des textes à glisser-déposer pour les réseaux sociaux comme
pour l'e-mail, avec les dates déjà inscrites. La logique est simple : « Tout le monde a une journée
chargée, alors quand vous pouvez simplement fournir un contenu qu'il suffit de glisser-déposer, de
copier-coller, cela facilite grandement la vie. » Vous faites le travail pour que vos ambassadeurs
n'aient plus qu'à faire la demande.

## La technologie qui rend tout cela possible

Une bonne technologie d'ambassadeurs élimine les deux choses qui arrêtent net les bénévoles : ne pas
savoir quoi publier, et ne pas savoir si leur effort a compté. Trois fonctionnalités portent
l'essentiel du poids.

La première est un **contenu prêt à l'emploi et partageable, diffusé via un portail**. Plutôt que
d'envoyer aux ambassadeurs un document par e-mail en espérant le mieux, un portail leur transmet une
notification chaque fois qu'un nouveau message est à partager, avec la publication déjà rédigée et
l'image jointe. Familiarisez les gens avec cette habitude avant même le début de la campagne, conseille
un consultant de Hubbub : « Commencez à envoyer des messages à partager via votre portail
d'ambassadeurs de la journée de don, afin que vos ambassadeurs s'habituent à voir ces notifications
dans leur boîte de réception, et qu'ils prennent l'habitude de partager des messages avant la journée
de don. » Le jour J, le partage est déjà un automatisme.

La deuxième concerne les **liens de suivi personnels**. Sur la plateforme Hubbub, chaque ambassadeur
qui s'inscrit « obtiendra en réalité sa propre URL unique, qui suivra le nombre de clics que vous
obtenez ainsi que les montants effectivement référés que vous collectez lors de la journée de don
elle-même. » Cette seule fonctionnalité change la nature d'un programme. Elle transforme une bonne
volonté vague en contribution mesurable, vous permet de remercier les gens pour ce qu'ils ont
précisément accompli, et vous donne les données pour prouver que le programme fonctionne.

La troisième est un **classement avec des prix**. L'outil Hubbub propose « différents classements,
différents prix disponibles que vous pouvez renseigner », explique l'équipe de Hubbub. « Nous avons un
classement, et quiconque termine dans les trois ou six premiers gagnera un prix, et cela se base
généralement sur le nombre de clics que vous obtenez. » Un classement visible transforme l'effort
individuel en compétition amicale, sujet de la prochaine section. Tout cela devrait reposer sur le
hashtag de votre campagne, afin que les publications des ambassadeurs s'agrègent sur les fils des
réseaux sociaux et, avec un volume suffisant, commencent à se diffuser largement dans votre zone
locale et à toucher des personnes bien au-delà du réseau d'un seul ambassadeur.

## Motiver et ludifier la participation

Les mécaniques de la motivation sont simples, et un ambassadeur qui se sent reconnu agira encore et
encore. Commencez par les incitations. « Vous voulez vous assurer d'inciter vos ambassadeurs avec des
goodies », note un consultant de Hubbub, « des t-shirts de l'université, des gourdes, tout ce que vous
voulez leur offrir. » Associez les goodies aux prix du classement, et vous obtenez une structure qui
récompense l'effort sans coûter grand-chose. Le résumé du webinaire lui-même est sans détour : « J'ai
constaté qu'utiliser une carotte au bout d'un bâton est la meilleure approche. C'est un excellent moyen
d'impliquer les gens. »

Le motivateur le plus puissant, cependant, n'est pas un prix mais l'attention. Pendant une campagne,
parallèlement aux mises à jour publiques que tout le monde voit, envoyez à chaque ambassadeur une note
personnelle sur sa propre progression. Un consultant de Hubbub est précis : « Envisagez d'envoyer des
e-mails individuels à vos ambassadeurs, en leur partageant un point personnel sur leur propre
progression. Par exemple, le nombre de "j'aime" qu'ils ont générés, ainsi que les dons qu'ils ont pu
générer. Cela leur montre que quelqu'un prête attention à l'impact qu'ils produisent et les encourage à
poursuivre. Et c'est particulièrement important si vous avez des prix et des incitations pour eux. » Un
classement indique aux ambassadeurs où ils se situent. Un e-mail personnel leur dit que vous avez
remarqué.

Donnez aux gens une seule chose à faire à la fois. La tentation est de remettre aux ambassadeurs la
liste complète et de les laisser choisir, mais la participation augmente lorsque chaque demande est
unique et claire. Décomposez le parcours en actions distinctes : d'abord, partager le message de
recrutement pour en faire venir d'autres ; puis envoyer un e-mail un jour précis ; puis partager une
histoire liée à une cause spécifique ; et enfin faire leur propre don juste avant l'ouverture de la
campagne, « en les encourageant à être les premiers à participer afin qu'ils puissent passer le reste
de leur journée à encourager la participation par le partage. » Chaque étape est suffisamment petite
pour sembler réalisable, et la séquence mène naturellement vers la campagne.

Deux éléments de preuve sociale facilitent l'ensemble. Les gens sont bien plus à l'aise pour
participer lorsqu'ils peuvent voir d'autres déjà à l'œuvre, alors partagez tôt des exemples
d'ambassadeurs existants. « Si vous pouvez en créer quelques-uns en interne avec vos ambassadeurs
référents, ils peuvent aider à démontrer aux autres que des gens participent déjà et qu'ils ne sont pas
nécessairement obligés d'être les premiers. » Et n'oubliez pas que de nombreux ambassadeurs sont
motivés moins par la compétition que par l'appartenance. « Parfois, nos ambassadeurs rejoignent le
programme parce qu'ils veulent se sentir exclusivement membres de l'équipe derrière la journée de
don », note un consultant de Hubbub, « alors si nous pouvons leur donner cet accès, pourquoi pas ? »
Des coulisses partagées et le sentiment d'être dans la confidence ne vous coûtent rien et achètent une
fidélité réelle.

## Les ambassadeurs dans une journée de don et une semaine défi

Les ambassadeurs ne sont pas une activité autonome. Ils sont la couche d'amplification qui permet à une
[journée de don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ou à une
[semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) d'aller plus loin que vos propres canaux ne
le pourraient jamais. Dans une journée de don, le rythme est intense et resserré, souvent sur 36
heures, et les ambassadeurs portent la campagne au-delà des trous que vos publications
institutionnelles ne peuvent combler. Le parcours de l'ambassadeur épouse parfaitement la journée : une
phase de recrutement en amont, avec des messages destinés à la fois à ceux qui se sont inscrits et à
ceux qui ne l'ont pas fait ; des encouragements en temps réel le jour J, mêlant appels à l'action et
mises à jour sur la progression ; et une phase de bilan ensuite. La cadence de ce mélange compte.
« Mélanger ces deux types de messages afin de créer un équilibre qui récompense vos ambassadeurs autant
qu'il les remercie », dit un consultant de Hubbub, « contribuera grandement à les amener à agir encore
et encore. »

Une semaine défi fonctionne un peu différemment, car les collecteurs sont des clubs et associations
étudiants qui font la promotion de leurs propres pages sur environ une semaine, mais les ambassadeurs
n'y sont pas moins centraux. Ici, les ambassadeurs sont le réseau plus large que chaque groupe rallie
autour de sa cause, et les chiffres peuvent être substantiels : la University of York est passée de 140
ambassadeurs lors de sa première semaine défi à plus de 500 au cours des années suivantes. Dans les
deux formats, le principe est identique. L'institution fixe la structure et fournit les outils, et les
ambassadeurs apportent les sollicitations de confiance, personnelles, qui convertissent.

Un choix stratégique élève systématiquement l'engagement des ambassadeurs dans les deux formats :
donner aux gens quelque chose de précis pour lequel collecter. Les institutions qui réussissent le
mieux offrent à leurs ambassadeurs « de nombreux projets parmi lesquels choisir et qu'ils peuvent
soutenir, étroitement alignés avec leurs propres passions. » Une campagne décentralisée, avec une
poignée de fonds phares plus de nombreux projets plus petits issus de toute l'institution, permet aux
ambassadeurs de défendre la cause qui leur tient personnellement à cœur. « Donner aux ambassadeurs le
choix de se passionner réellement pour ce qui leur tient à cœur » est, selon les propres termes du
webinaire, l'un des moyens les plus sûrs d'approfondir l'engagement.

## Fidéliser et conserver ses ambassadeurs année après année

La fin d'une campagne n'est pas la fin de la relation, et la manière dont vous gérez les jours suivants
détermine si vous devrez reconstruire votre corps d'ambassadeurs à partir de zéro la prochaine fois.
Remerciez d'abord vos ambassadeurs, et remerciez-les séparément de vos donateurs. « Si vous disposez
des données indiquant qui sont vos ambassadeurs, envisagez de leur envoyer un e-mail distinct ou
complémentaire de celui que vous enverriez à vos donateurs », conseille un consultant de Hubbub. « La
personnalisation d'un e-mail vraiment spécifique au fait qu'ils sont ambassadeurs pourrait vraiment
contribuer à créer des opportunités d'engagement de la part des ambassadeurs pour de futures journées
de don. » Demandez-leur aussi de transmettre les remerciements aux personnes qu'ils ont amenées. Un
simple merci d'un ambassadeur à son propre réseau est, note le webinaire, ce qui rend ces personnes
susceptibles de revenir l'année suivante.

Ensuite, et c'est ce qui distingue un programme d'un événement, maintenez la relation vivante entre les
campagnes. Les institutions qui réussissent le mieux ne mettent pas leurs ambassadeurs en veille
pendant onze mois. Les meilleurs exemples « utilisent leurs ambassadeurs toute l'année non seulement
pour faire du bruit autour de la journée de don, mais aussi pour faire du bruit autour d'autres
activités qui se déroulent dans l'institution. Et celles-ci n'ont pas nécessairement à tourner autour
du don, elles peuvent être tout ce qui implique des gens qui participent, qui passent à l'action et qui
font du bruit. Cela les aide vraiment à garder les ambassadeurs mobilisés entre les journées de don et
les aide aussi à créer davantage d'ambassadeurs lorsque la journée de don revient. » Un ambassadeur
avec qui vous êtes resté en contact toute l'année est un ambassadeur qui dit oui immédiatement, et qui
a passé douze mois à recruter discrètement ses amis en votre nom.

C'est pourquoi les programmes d'ambassadeurs se renforcent par cumul. Les premiers adoptants et les
bénévoles référents rejoignent le programme la première année. La deuxième année, les personnes qui les
ont vus participer veulent en être. « Vous aurez vos premiers adoptants et ces bénévoles référents
vraiment investis dans votre institution qui s'impliquent la première année », explique le webinaire de
Hubbub sur les ambassadeurs, « et puis pour la deuxième année, vous verrez vraiment une augmentation
parce que vous aurez ceux qui l'ont fait la première année, et puis vous aurez des gens qui ont vu ce
qui s'est passé la première année et qui veulent vraiment s'impliquer. » La patience de la première
année est récompensée par un élan que vous ne pouvez fabriquer d'aucune autre manière.

## Mesurer leur impact

La partie la plus difficile de l'animation d'un programme d'ambassadeurs est souvent de le justifier en
interne, et la réponse est de mesurer correctement. Les liens de suivi rendent cela possible : grâce à
eux, vous pouvez attribuer des dons et des donateurs directement à l'activité des ambassadeurs plutôt
que de deviner. Un consultant de Hubbub reconnaît franchement que « l'une des difficultés que nous
rencontrons parfois avec nos programmes d'ambassadeurs est de justifier le retour sur investissement au
regard du temps et de l'effort consacrés au recrutement, à la formation et à l'encouragement de la
participation. Cependant, si vous commencez à examiner les données qui sous-tendent votre programme
d'ambassadeurs, vous pouvez très rapidement démontrer que le temps consacré aux ambassadeurs en vaut
vraiment la peine. »

Les chiffres, examinés correctement, tendent à trancher le débat. Dans les institutions profilées par
Hubbub, les contributions des ambassadeurs allaient de quelques pour cent des dons en ligne à un quart
ou plus. Dans un exemple issu d'un programme plus mature, les ambassadeurs ont été à l'origine de 26
pour cent des dons en ligne lors d'une seule journée de don. À l'autre bout de l'échelle, un collège
d'Oxbridge organisant sa première journée de don a vu les ambassadeurs n'être à l'origine que de 5 pour
cent des dons, ce qui semble modeste jusqu'à ce que l'on apprenne que « sans ce gain de 5 pour cent dû
aux ambassadeurs, la journée de don aurait manqué de peu son objectif. » Un petit pourcentage peut
faire la différence entre atteindre un objectif et le manquer, ce qui est exactement le genre de
résultat qui justifie l'existence d'un programme.

Deux mises en garde sur la mesure. Premièrement, la première année, mesurez la participation plutôt que
les revenus. « Lors de votre première journée de don, vous ne verrez peut-être pas d'augmentations
considérables du côté des ambassadeurs en particulier », prévient un consultant de Hubbub, de sorte que
la bonne métrique initiale est le nombre d'ambassadeurs recrutés et leur niveau d'activité, et non les
euros qu'ils ont générés. Deuxièmement, attendez-vous à ce que l'impact croisse. « Cela augmente année
après année. Donc même si c'est 5 pour cent la première année, ce sera peut-être 10 pour cent la
deuxième année, 15, cela augmente et se cumule. Vous commencerez à voir croître non seulement le nombre
de donateurs, mais aussi le nombre de dons générés par les ambassadeurs à mesure que vous développez et
renforcez ce programme d'ambassadeurs. » Mesurez-le, rapportez-le, et laissez la courbe de tendance
plaider votre cause.

## Foire aux questions

**Qu'est-ce exactement qu'un ambassadeur de collecte de fonds ?** Un bénévole qui promeut votre
campagne auprès de son propre réseau et demande à ses proches de donner. Selon les mots de Hubbub, « un
bénévole prêt à aider votre organisation à atteindre et, idéalement, à dépasser les objectifs que vous
vous êtes fixés. » Ce peuvent être des anciens élèves, des étudiants, des salariés, des parents ou tout
soutien prêt à prêter sa voix.

**Les ambassadeurs génèrent-ils vraiment des dons, ou se contentent-ils de donner eux-mêmes ?** Ils
génèrent des dons de la part d'autrui, ce qui est tout l'intérêt. Lorsqu'on a demandé au webinaire si
les chiffres des ambassadeurs désignaient leurs propres dons ou les dons qu'ils avaient générés, la
réponse a été sans ambiguïté : « Ils ont réellement généré ces dons eux-mêmes, ce qui est exactement ce
que nous voulons qu'ils fassent. » Le taux de conversion d'une personne sur quatre pour une
sollicitation venant d'un ami est ce qui les rend si efficaces.

**Combien d'ambassadeurs devrions-nous viser ?** La première année, ne fixez pas d'objectif précis.
Commencez avec quelques bénévoles référents, voyez à quel point les gens sont réceptifs, puis fixez un
nombre. À titre indicatif, les objectifs de première année ont varié de 20 à 30 ambassadeurs dans les
plus petites institutions à 100 à 200 dans les plus grandes, selon la taille et l'engagement.

**Quand devrions-nous commencer à recruter ?** Recrutez et formez vos bénévoles référents environ deux
à trois mois avant une journée de don. Attendez-vous à ce que le vivier plus large s'inscrive tard,
souvent dans les deux dernières semaines, car, comme l'explique l'équipe de Hubbub, « nous vivons dans
une culture du dernier moment. » Planifiez votre poussée de recrutement pour qu'elle culmine près de la
campagne plutôt que trop en amont.

**Quel canal de réseau social fonctionne le mieux ?** Celui que votre public utilise déjà. Il n'y a pas
de réponse universelle : un public plus jeune penche vers Instagram, un plus âgé vers Facebook.
Recrutez là où vos soutiens se trouvent, et appuyez-vous sur le canal où votre engagement est déjà le
plus fort.

**Les petites organisations ont-elles les ressources pour animer un programme ?** Oui, car vous n'avez
pas à tout faire. Choisissez les techniques avec lesquelles vous êtes à l'aise, boîtes à outils, vidéos
ou bénévoles référents, et lancez-vous. La différence entre mener une campagne avec des ambassadeurs et
sans est, selon l'expérience de Hubbub, spectaculaire même à échelle modeste.

Le traitement fiscal des dons diffère selon les pays : de nombreux pays européens offrent aux donateurs
une déduction ou une réduction d'impôt, et les dons transfrontaliers peuvent transiter par
Transnational Giving Europe. Équipez les ambassadeurs pour orienter les soutiens vers les bonnes
recommandations locales plutôt que de faire des promesses en leur nom.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle d'e-mail de recrutement d'ambassadeurs](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Kit de briefing des ambassadeurs](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Boîte à outils réseaux sociaux des ambassadeurs](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée de don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de textes de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et d'e-mail
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Webinaire : créer des communautés d'ambassadeurs engagées](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Blog Hubbub : accroître l'engagement des donateurs grâce aux ambassadeurs de journée de don](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Guides associés : [Comment organiser une journée de don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) et [Comment organiser une semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire de liens](/europe/fr/links/) complet pour en savoir plus.

- [Come gestire un programma di ambasciatori per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per reclutare, formare e motivare gli ambasciatori della raccolta fondi, ossia quei volontari che amplificano le vostre campagne attraverso le proprie reti, affrontando se sia adatto a voi, gli strumenti, la gamification e la cura della relazione.
Un ambasciatore della raccolta fondi è un volontario che vi presta la propria voce e la propria rete.
Non sono dipendenti e non sono raccoglitori di fondi professionisti. Sono ex studenti, studenti,
genitori, membri del consiglio, colleghi e amici della vostra causa disposti a chiedere alle persone
che conoscono di donare. Il webinar di Hubbub sugli ambasciatori definisce il ruolo in modo semplice:
«Definirei un ambasciatore come un volontario disposto ad aiutare la vostra organizzazione a
raggiungere e, auspicabilmente, a superare gli obiettivi che vi siete posti». Il compito di un
programma di ambasciatori è trovare queste persone, rendere loro facile passare all'azione e farle
tornare. Questa guida spiega come realizzare tutti e tre questi obiettivi.

## Perché gli ambasciatori funzionano

Il valore degli ambasciatori si fonda su un fatto ostinato riguardo al modo in cui le persone donano:
la maggior parte di noi non risponde a un'istituzione che chiede denaro, risponde a un amico. «Una
persona su quattro donerà se richiesta da un amico», spiega il team di Hubbub. Il tasso di conversione
di una sollecitazione fredda e istituzionale da parte di un ufficio sviluppo si aggira invece intorno
allo 0,06 per cento. Quando la richiesta arriva da qualcuno che conoscete, è molto più probabile che
apriate l'e-mail, clicchiate e doniate. Gli ambasciatori sono il modo per mettere il vostro appello
nelle mani di persone di cui i vostri sostenitori si fidano davvero.

La seconda ragione è la portata. I social media seppelliscono i post degli account istituzionali, e
quei post svaniscono in fretta. «I messaggi sui social media di solito hanno una durata di vita di
appena uno-cinque minuti», nota un consulente di Hubbub, «e se avete sempre più persone che pubblicano
per vostro conto, la gente li vedrà». Un singolo post della vostra associazione raggiunge una minima
frazione dei vostri follower. Cinquanta ambasciatori che pubblicano con le proprie parole, alle proprie
reti, nello stesso giorno, ribaltano le probabilità a vostro favore. Acquistate una portata che non
potreste mai comprare con la pubblicità, e la acquistate con l'autenticità anziché con il budget.

Questa guida si basa sulle migliori pratiche condivise dagli specialisti di Hubbub nel loro webinar
«Creare comunità di ambasciatori coinvolte» e sull'esperienza di istituzioni che hanno costruito
programmi di ambasciatori intorno alle [giornate di raccolta](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
e alle [settimane sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Affronta se un programma sia
adatto a voi, come reclutare e formare gli ambasciatori, la tecnologia che li rende efficaci, come
motivare e gamificare la loro partecipazione, come si inseriscono in una giornata di raccolta o in una
settimana sfida, e come curarne la relazione affinché il programma si rafforzi anno dopo anno.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedete per scaricare la nostra
> [e-mail di reclutamento](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> il [pacchetto di briefing](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) e
> il [kit per i social](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Un programma di ambasciatori è adatto a voi

L'obiezione più comune viene dai team più piccoli, ed è di solito sbagliata. «Sono una piccola
istituzione, non ho le risorse per fare tutto questo lavoro sugli ambasciatori, perché dovrei farlo?» è
una domanda che il team di Hubbub sente continuamente. La risposta è che non dovete fare tutto. «Una
sola misura non deve andare bene per tutti. Ci sono diversi tipi di tecniche che potete usare, da kit
di strumenti a video a volontari di riferimento. Ma la cosa più importante è che non dovete farle tutte.
Scegliete ciò con cui vi sentite a vostro agio, ma l'aspetto più importante è che vi lanciate davvero e
proviate, perché noterete una differenza drastica con una giornata di raccolta o una campagna usando gli
ambasciatori rispetto a farne a meno». La barriera d'ingresso è bassa.

Ciò di cui un programma ha bisogno, invece, è una persona che se ne assuma la responsabilità.
Reclutare, formare, costruire percorsi e tenere caldi gli ambasciatori è un vero lavoro, e compete per
l'attenzione con gli obiettivi di entrate che dominano ogni campagna. Come dice un consulente di Hubbub,
gestire gli ambasciatori «può sembrare un gran lavoro, e a dire il vero lo è. Ma se avete un team con
colleghi delle relazioni con gli ex studenti o colleghi del volontariato o semplicemente un volontario
disponibile nel vostro ufficio, contento di occuparsi della gestione di quegli ambasciatori, usate
quei colleghi per farvi aiutare». Se potete nominare una persona, dipendente o volontaria, che si farà
carico della relazione con gli ambasciatori dal reclutamento fino al ringraziamento finale, avete le
fondamenta per un programma. Se non potete, iniziate in piccolo: reclutate una manciata di volontari di
riferimento, osservate ciò che generano e crescete da lì.

Un programma si adatta anche ad alcune comunità meglio che ad altre. Dove il senso di appartenenza è
forte, il formato funziona anche quando i numeri sono modesti. I college e le scuole di Oxbridge, nota
un consulente di Hubbub, hanno «un bacino più ristretto a cui attingere. Tuttavia, quel senso di
appartenenza all'interno di queste comunità è molto forte, il che le rende ottime per organizzare
giornate di raccolta». Una comunità affiatata e appassionata di poche centinaia di persone può produrre
un corpo di ambasciatori più attivo di un elenco di ex studenti sterminato ma con legami deboli. Se ai
vostri sostenitori sta davvero a cuore, avete ambasciatori in attesa di essere interpellati.

## Reclutare gli ambasciatori giusti

Il reclutamento procede in due ondate, e l'ordine conta. Iniziate non con un appello di massa ma con un
piccolo gruppo di volontari di riferimento. Sono, spiega il team di Hubbub, «persone che possono essere
dipendenti, ex studenti appassionati, studenti lavoratori o amici e familiari entusiasti che pensate
saranno in grado di guidare la carica. Volete che queste persone siano quelle che probabilmente
lavoreranno un po' più duramente o che avranno un po' più di tempo da dedicare rispetto ad altri,
perché l'obiettivo a lungo termine è che poi queste persone vadano a reclutare i loro amici e
familiari, e così via». I volontari di riferimento non sono soltanto i vostri ambasciatori più attivi.
Sono il vostro motore di reclutamento, e la loro raccomandazione, inviata alle proprie reti, vale più di
qualsiasi e-mail dalla sede centrale.

Dosare la tempistica della seconda ondata richiede sangue freddo, perché la maggior parte delle persone
si iscrive tardi. Per una giornata di raccolta, formate e reclutate i volontari di riferimento «circa
tre mesi prima del giorno. Questo è probabilmente al massimo. Se andate oltre, rischiate di perdere un
po' di slancio». Il bacino più ampio di ambasciatori si comporta diversamente. «La maggior parte degli
ambasciatori di solito si iscrive solo poche settimane prima», osserva un consulente di Hubbub. «Siamo
una cultura dell'ultimo minuto, e di solito le persone fanno le cose all'ultimo momento». Non fatevi
prendere dal panico quando i primi numeri sembrano scarsi. La corsa arriva nelle ultime due settimane, e
spesso nell'ultima settimana, quindi pianificate le vostre comunicazioni di reclutamento perché
raggiungano il picco in quel momento anziché bruciare le vostre energie troppo presto.

Resistete alla tentazione di fissare un obiettivo preciso di ambasciatori nel vostro primo anno, perché
non avete nulla su cui basarvi. «Fissare un obiettivo di ambasciatori senza averlo prima sperimentato è
molto difficile», avverte il webinar di Hubbub sugli ambasciatori. «Consiglierei di iniziare con
qualche volontario di riferimento, vedere quante persone sono recettive all'idea, e poi, una volta che
avete una buona idea di quante persone potete avere a bordo, allora potreste voler fissare un numero di
ambasciatori». Come ordine di grandezza, gli obiettivi del primo anno sono andati da 20 a 30
ambasciatori nelle organizzazioni più piccole fino a 100-200 in quelle più grandi, con la cifra giusta
fortemente dipendente dalle dimensioni dell'istituzione e dal coinvolgimento. Il senso del primo anno è
semplicemente farlo. «Il punto centrale è che abbiate davvero tentato l'impresa degli ambasciatori al
vostro primo giro», spiega il team di Hubbub, «e poi, dal primo al secondo anno, proprio come vediamo un
aumento enorme nelle giornate di raccolta, vedrete probabilmente un aumento enorme dal lato degli
ambasciatori».

Quando scegliete dove reclutare, andate dove il vostro pubblico è già. Il canale giusto non è una
risposta fissa ma una domanda sulla vostra stessa comunità. «Sono i canali dove esiste il vostro
pubblico», dice un consulente di Hubbub. «Quindi se puntate a un pubblico particolarmente giovane, non
direi che Facebook sia il posto dove volete andare a reclutarlo. Se cercate di reclutare giovani
ambasciatori, vorrete usare canali come Instagram. Andate dove c'è il vostro pubblico». Reclutate sulle
piattaforme che i vostri sostenitori usano davvero, e fate leva sul canale dove il vostro stesso
coinvolgimento è già più forte.

## Formare ed equipaggiare i vostri ambasciatori

Ecco l'errore che quasi tutti commettono: i team si affrettano a reclutare ambasciatori prima di avere
qualcosa da dare loro da fare. «Molte persone commettono l'errore di provare a reclutarli prima di aver
preparato uno solo dei materiali di formazione», avverte il webinar. «Raccomando vivamente di iniziare
creando i materiali di formazione per gli ambasciatori prima di cominciare a reclutarli». Costruite
prima il kit, poi andate a cercare le persone. Un ambasciatore che si iscrive pieno di entusiasmo e
viene accolto dal silenzio è un ambasciatore che avete perso.

Sequenziate il kit anche dopo la vostra identità visiva, altrimenti dovrete solo rifarlo. «Volete
assicurarvi di non creare questi materiali prima di aver applicato il vostro marchio a tutto», spiega il
team di Hubbub, «perché una volta che avete completato il vostro marketing e il vostro marchio, dovrete
cambiarli». Per una giornata di raccolta, preparate i materiali con circa quattro-sei mesi di anticipo,
una volta definito l'aspetto e l'atmosfera della giornata stessa, in modo che il kit per gli
ambasciatori possa semplicemente ereditarlo.

Tre tipi di materiale fanno il grosso del lavoro. I **video per ambasciatori** sono brevi presentazioni
della piattaforma, dei passaggi che volete che gli ambasciatori compiano, e dei vostri trucchi e
consigli, compresi esempi di post e testimonianze di persone che spiegano perché si sono iscritte. Vi
permettono di formare persone che non arriveranno mai in una sala. I **workshop in presenza** coprono lo
stesso terreno con dispense e tempo faccia a faccia, ed è qui che i vostri volontari di riferimento
danno il meglio di sé. «Se potete fare workshop in presenza, otterrete probabilmente un ritorno
sull'investimento migliore», nota un consulente di Hubbub, «poiché questi avranno molto più impatto e vi
faranno ottenere proprio le persone che sapete saranno in grado di fare il lavoro per voi». Il pezzo
forte è il **kit per gli ambasciatori**, un pacchetto interamente brandizzato di post, e-mail e immagini
pronti all'uso. «Sono pacchetti di formazione interamente brandizzati con esempi di post sui social e di
e-mail», spiega il team di Hubbub. «Dicono ai vostri ambasciatori esattamente cosa avete bisogno che
facciano. Rendono tutto facile».

Un buon kit segue una struttura chiara. L'esempio più forte citato da Hubbub è il pacchetto per la
giornata di raccolta della University of York, e la sua forma vale la pena di essere copiata. Si apre
con una semplice lista di controllo brandizzata che dice agli ambasciatori sia cosa fare sia quando,
suddivisa nelle fasi: preparare in anticipo, creare attesa, durante la settimana e nel giorno stesso.
Dice loro di seguire gli account della campagna, iscriversi alla piattaforma, pianificare i post in
anticipo e, soprattutto, usare le proprie parole. «Usare le proprie parole genera la maggior quantità di
interazione», nota il webinar, «è quando le persone rendono propri i loro contenuti». Consegna agli
ambasciatori l'hashtag della campagna affinché i post si accumulino in un unico feed. Fornisce immagini
per i post sui social, foto profilo e sfondi. E mette a disposizione testi da trascinare e rilasciare
sia per i social sia per le e-mail, con le date già scritte. La logica è semplice: «Tutti hanno una
giornata impegnata, quindi quando potete semplicemente fornire contenuti che basta trascinare e
rilasciare, copiare e incollare, rendete la vita molto più facile». Voi fate il lavoro affinché i vostri
ambasciatori debbano soltanto fare la richiesta.

## La tecnologia che lo fa funzionare

Una buona tecnologia per gli ambasciatori elimina le due cose che bloccano i volontari sul nascere: non
sapere cosa pubblicare e non sapere se il loro sforzo abbia avuto importanza. Tre funzionalità sostengono
la maggior parte del peso.

La prima è un **contenuto pronto all'uso e condivisibile, fornito tramite un portale**. Anziché inviare
agli ambasciatori un documento via e-mail sperando per il meglio, un portale invia loro una notifica
ogni volta che c'è un nuovo messaggio da condividere, con il post già scritto e l'immagine allegata.
Abituate le persone a questa pratica prima ancora che la campagna inizi, consiglia un consulente di
Hubbub: «Cominciate a inviare messaggi da condividere attraverso il portale degli ambasciatori della
vostra giornata di raccolta, in modo che i vostri ambasciatori si abituino a vedere quelle notifiche
nella loro casella di posta, e prendano l'abitudine di condividere messaggi prima della giornata di
raccolta». Il giorno stesso, la condivisione è già una routine.

La seconda sono i **link di tracciamento personali**. Sulla piattaforma Hubbub, ogni ambasciatore che si
iscrive «otterrà in realtà il proprio URL univoco, che traccerà il numero di clic che ottenete e gli
importi effettivamente riferiti che raccogliete nella giornata di raccolta stessa». Questa singola
funzionalità cambia il carattere di un programma. Trasforma la vaga buona volontà in contributo
misurabile, vi consente di ringraziare le persone per ciò che hanno specificamente realizzato e vi
fornisce i dati per dimostrare che il programma funziona.

La terza è una **classifica con premi**. Lo strumento Hubbub offre «diverse graduatorie, diversi premi
disponibili da compilare», spiega il team di Hubbub. «Abbiamo una classifica, e chiunque chiuda tra i
primi tre o sei vincerà un premio, e ciò si basa di solito sul numero di clic che ottenete». Una
graduatoria visibile trasforma lo sforzo individuale in una competizione amichevole, il tema della
prossima sezione. Alla base di tutto questo dovrebbe esserci l'hashtag della vostra campagna, affinché i
post degli ambasciatori si aggreghino nei feed dei social e, con un volume sufficiente, comincino a
diventare di tendenza nella vostra zona locale e a raggiungere persone ben oltre la rete di un singolo
ambasciatore.

## Motivare e gamificare la partecipazione

Le meccaniche della motivazione sono semplici, e un ambasciatore che si sente notato agirà ancora e
ancora. Iniziate con gli incentivi. «Volete assicurarvi di incentivare i vostri ambasciatori con
gadget», nota un consulente di Hubbub, «magliette dell'università, borracce, qualunque cosa vogliate
offrire loro». Abbinate i gadget ai premi della classifica e avrete una struttura che premia lo sforzo
senza costare molto. La sintesi del webinar stesso è schietta: «Ho riscontrato che usare una carota in
cima a un bastone è la strada migliore. È un ottimo modo per coinvolgere le persone».

Il motivatore più potente, però, non è un premio ma l'attenzione. Durante una campagna, accanto agli
aggiornamenti pubblici che tutti vedono, inviate ai singoli ambasciatori una nota personale sui loro
stessi progressi. Un consulente di Hubbub è specifico: «Valutate di inviare e-mail individuali ai vostri
ambasciatori, condividendo con loro un aggiornamento personale sui loro stessi progressi. Per esempio, il
numero di "mi piace" che hanno generato, così come le donazioni che possono aver generato. Questo mostra
loro che qualcuno sta prestando attenzione all'impatto che stanno generando e li incoraggia a
continuare. E ciò è particolarmente importante se avete premi e incentivi per loro». Una classifica dice
agli ambasciatori dove si trovano. Un'e-mail personale dice loro che ve ne siete accorti.

Date alle persone una cosa da fare alla volta. La tentazione è consegnare agli ambasciatori l'elenco
completo e lasciarli scegliere, ma la partecipazione aumenta quando ogni richiesta è singola e chiara.
Scomponete il percorso in azioni distinte: prima, condividere il messaggio di reclutamento per portarne
altri; poi inviare un'e-mail in un giorno preciso; poi condividere una storia legata a una causa
specifica; e infine fare la propria donazione poco prima dell'apertura della campagna, «incoraggiandoli a
essere i primi a partecipare in modo da poter trascorrere il resto della giornata a incoraggiare la
partecipazione tramite la condivisione». Ogni passaggio è abbastanza piccolo da sembrare realizzabile, e
la sequenza conduce naturalmente verso la campagna.

Due elementi di prova sociale rendono il tutto più facile. Le persone sono molto più a loro agio nel
partecipare quando possono vedere altri già coinvolti, quindi condividete presto esempi di ambasciatori
esistenti. «Se potete crearne alcuni internamente con i vostri ambasciatori di riferimento, possono
aiutare a dimostrare agli altri che ci sono già persone che partecipano e che non devono
necessariamente essere i primi». E ricordate che molti ambasciatori sono motivati meno dalla
competizione che dal senso di appartenenza. «A volte i nostri ambasciatori si uniscono perché vogliono
sentirsi esclusivamente parte del team dietro la giornata di raccolta», nota un consulente di Hubbub,
«quindi, se possiamo dare loro quell'accesso, perché no?» Gli aggiornamenti dietro le quinte e la
sensazione di essere parte della cerchia ristretta non vi costano nulla e comprano una lealtà reale.

## Gli ambasciatori in una giornata di raccolta e in una settimana sfida

Gli ambasciatori non sono un'attività a sé stante. Sono lo strato di amplificazione che fa sì che una
[giornata di raccolta](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) o una
[settimana sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) arrivino più lontano di quanto i vostri
canali potrebbero mai fare. In una giornata di raccolta il ritmo è intenso e compresso, spesso in 36
ore, e gli ambasciatori portano la campagna attraverso i varchi che i vostri post istituzionali non
possono raggiungere. Il percorso dell'ambasciatore si adatta perfettamente alla giornata: una fase di
reclutamento in anticipo, con messaggi diretti sia a chi si è iscritto sia a chi non lo ha fatto;
incoraggiamento in tempo reale nel giorno stesso, mescolando inviti all'azione e aggiornamenti sui
progressi; e una fase di bilancio successiva. La cadenza di quel mix conta. «Mescolare entrambi questi
tipi di messaggi in modo da creare un equilibrio bilanciato che premi i vostri ambasciatori tanto quanto
li ringrazia», dice un consulente di Hubbub, «contribuirà molto a far sì che agiscano ancora e ancora».

Una settimana sfida funziona in modo leggermente diverso, perché i raccoglitori sono club e associazioni
studentesche che promuovono le proprie pagine nell'arco di circa una settimana, ma gli ambasciatori non
sono meno centrali per essa. Qui, gli ambasciatori sono la rete più ampia che ogni gruppo raduna intorno
alla propria causa, e i numeri possono essere consistenti: la University of York è cresciuta da 140
ambasciatori nella sua prima settimana sfida a più di 500 negli anni successivi. In entrambi i formati il
principio è identico. L'istituzione definisce la struttura e fornisce gli strumenti, e gli ambasciatori
forniscono le richieste personali e affidabili che convertono.

Una scelta strategica eleva costantemente il coinvolgimento degli ambasciatori in entrambi i formati:
dare alle persone qualcosa di specifico per cui raccogliere fondi. Le istituzioni che lo fanno meglio
offrono ai loro ambasciatori «molti progetti tra cui scegliere e da sostenere, strettamente allineati
con le loro stesse passioni». Una campagna decentralizzata, con una manciata di fondi di punta più molti
progetti più piccoli provenienti da tutta l'istituzione, consente agli ambasciatori di farsi paladini
della causa a cui tengono personalmente. «Dare agli ambasciatori la possibilità di scegliere di
appassionarsi davvero a ciò a cui tengono» è, nelle parole stesse del webinar, uno dei modi più sicuri
per approfondire il coinvolgimento.

## Curare e fidelizzare gli ambasciatori anno dopo anno

La fine di una campagna non è la fine della relazione, e il modo in cui gestite i giorni successivi
determina se dovrete ricostruire il vostro corpo di ambasciatori da zero la volta successiva.
Ringraziate prima i vostri ambasciatori, e ringraziateli separatamente dai vostri donatori. «Se avete a
disposizione i dati su chi sono i vostri ambasciatori, valutate di inviare loro un'e-mail separata o
aggiuntiva rispetto a quella che invierete ai vostri donatori», consiglia un consulente di Hubbub. «La
personalizzazione di ricevere un'e-mail davvero specifica sul fatto che sono ambasciatori potrebbe
contribuire molto a creare opportunità di coinvolgimento da parte degli ambasciatori per future giornate
di raccolta». Chiedete loro anche di trasmettere i ringraziamenti alle persone che hanno portato. Un
semplice grazie da un ambasciatore alla propria rete è, nota il webinar, ciò che rende quelle persone
propense a tornare l'anno successivo.

Poi, ed è questo che distingue un programma da un evento, mantenete viva la relazione tra una campagna e
l'altra. Le istituzioni che lo fanno meglio non spengono i loro ambasciatori per undici mesi. Gli esempi
più forti «usano i loro ambasciatori tutto l'anno non solo per creare clamore attorno alla giornata di
raccolta, ma anche per creare clamore attorno ad altre attività che si svolgono nell'istituzione. E
queste non devono necessariamente ruotare intorno alla donazione, possono essere qualsiasi cosa che
coinvolga le persone nel partecipare, nell'agire e nel fare rumore. Questo li aiuta davvero a mantenere
gli ambasciatori coinvolti tra una giornata di raccolta e l'altra e li aiuta anche a creare più
ambasciatori quando la giornata di raccolta torna». Un ambasciatore con cui siete rimasti in contatto
tutto l'anno è uno che dice subito di sì, e che ha trascorso dodici mesi a reclutare in silenzio i propri
amici per vostro conto.

Ecco perché i programmi di ambasciatori si rafforzano cumulativamente. I primi aderenti e i volontari di
riferimento si uniscono nel primo anno. Nel secondo anno, le persone che li hanno visti partecipare
vogliono esserci. «Avrete i vostri primi aderenti e quei volontari di riferimento davvero coinvolti nella
vostra istituzione che si attivano nel primo anno», spiega il webinar di Hubbub sugli ambasciatori, «e
poi nel secondo anno vedrete davvero un aumento, perché avrete quelli che lo hanno fatto nel primo anno,
e poi avrete persone che hanno visto cosa è successo nel primo anno e che vogliono davvero
partecipare». La pazienza nel primo anno è ricompensata con uno slancio che non potete fabbricare in
nessun altro modo.

## Misurarne l'impatto

La parte più difficile della gestione di un programma di ambasciatori è spesso giustificarlo
internamente, e la risposta è misurare in modo corretto. I link di tracciamento lo rendono possibile: con
essi potete attribuire donazioni e donatori direttamente all'attività degli ambasciatori anziché tirare
a indovinare. Un consulente di Hubbub ammette candidamente che «una delle difficoltà che a volte abbiamo
con i nostri programmi di ambasciatori è giustificare il ritorno sull'investimento rispetto al tempo e
allo sforzo spesi per reclutare, formare e incoraggiare la partecipazione. Tuttavia, se cominciate a
guardare i dati dietro il vostro programma di ambasciatori, potete dimostrare molto rapidamente che il
tempo speso per gli ambasciatori ne vale assolutamente la pena».

I numeri, esaminati correttamente, tendono a dirimere la questione. Nelle istituzioni profilate da
Hubbub, i contributi degli ambasciatori andavano da una manciata di punti percentuali delle donazioni
online a un quarto o più. In un esempio tratto da un programma più maturo, gli ambasciatori hanno causato
il 26 per cento delle donazioni online in una sola giornata di raccolta. All'altro estremo della scala,
un college di Oxbridge alla sua prima giornata di raccolta ha visto gli ambasciatori causare solo il 5
per cento delle donazioni, cosa che sembra modesta finché non si apprende che «senza quell'aumento del 5
per cento dagli ambasciatori, la giornata di raccolta avrebbe mancato di poco il suo obiettivo». Una
piccola percentuale può fare la differenza tra raggiungere un obiettivo e mancarlo, che è esattamente il
tipo di risultato che fa guadagnare a un programma il suo posto.

Due avvertenze sulla misurazione. Primo: nel primo anno, misurate la partecipazione anziché le entrate.
«Nella vostra prima giornata di raccolta, potreste non vedere enormi aumenti dagli ambasciatori in
particolare», avverte un consulente di Hubbub, quindi la metrica iniziale giusta è quanti ambasciatori
avete reclutato e quanto sono stati attivi, non gli euro che hanno generato. Secondo: aspettatevi che
l'impatto cresca. «Questo cresce anno dopo anno. Quindi, anche se è il 5 per cento nel primo anno,
potrebbe essere il 10 per cento nel secondo anno, il 15, cresce e si accumula. Comincerete a vedere
crescere non solo il numero di donatori, ma anche il numero di donazioni causate dagli ambasciatori man
mano che fate crescere e rafforzate quel programma di ambasciatori». Misuratelo, rendicontatelo, e
lasciate che la linea di tendenza argomenti al posto vostro.

## Domande frequenti

**Che cos'è esattamente un ambasciatore della raccolta fondi?** Un volontario che promuove la vostra
campagna alla propria rete e chiede alle persone che conosce di donare. Nelle parole di Hubbub, «un
volontario disposto ad aiutare la vostra organizzazione a raggiungere e, auspicabilmente, a superare gli
obiettivi che vi siete posti». Possono essere ex studenti, studenti, personale, genitori o qualsiasi
sostenitore disposto a prestare la propria voce.

**Gli ambasciatori causano davvero donazioni, o si limitano a donare loro stessi?** Generano donazioni da
parte di altri, che è tutto il punto. Quando al webinar è stato chiesto se le cifre degli ambasciatori
indicassero le loro stesse donazioni o quelle che avevano generato, la risposta è stata inequivocabile:
«Hanno effettivamente generato quelle donazioni loro stessi, che è esattamente ciò che vogliamo che
facciano». Il tasso di conversione di uno su quattro su una richiesta da parte di un amico è ciò che li
rende così efficaci.

**A quanti ambasciatori dovremmo puntare?** Nel primo anno, non fissate un obiettivo preciso. Iniziate
con qualche volontario di riferimento, vedete quanto le persone sono recettive, poi fissate un numero.
Come guida, gli obiettivi del primo anno sono andati da 20 a 30 ambasciatori nelle istituzioni più
piccole a 100-200 in quelle più grandi, a seconda delle dimensioni e del coinvolgimento.

**Quando dovremmo iniziare a reclutare?** Reclutate e formate i vostri volontari di riferimento circa
due-tre mesi prima di una giornata di raccolta. Aspettatevi che il bacino più ampio si iscriva tardi,
spesso nelle ultime due settimane, perché, come spiega il team di Hubbub, «siamo una cultura
dell'ultimo minuto». Pianificate la vostra spinta di reclutamento perché raggiunga il picco vicino alla
campagna anziché troppo in anticipo.

**Quale canale social funziona meglio?** Quello che il vostro pubblico usa già. Non c'è una risposta
universale: un pubblico più giovane propende per Instagram, uno più anziano per Facebook. Reclutate dove
sono i vostri sostenitori, e fate leva sul canale dove il vostro coinvolgimento è già più forte.

**Le piccole organizzazioni hanno le risorse per gestire un programma?** Sì, perché non dovete fare
tutto. Scegliete le tecniche con cui vi sentite a vostro agio, kit di strumenti, video o volontari di
riferimento, e iniziate. La differenza tra condurre una campagna con gli ambasciatori e senza è,
nell'esperienza di Hubbub, drastica anche su scala modesta.

Il trattamento fiscale delle donazioni varia da paese a paese: molti paesi europei offrono ai donatori
una detrazione o una riduzione fiscale, e le donazioni transfrontaliere possono passare attraverso
Transnational Giving Europe. Mettete gli ambasciatori in condizione di indirizzare i sostenitori alle
giuste indicazioni locali anziché fare promesse per loro conto.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedete con la vostra e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di e-mail di reclutamento per ambasciatori](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Pacchetto di briefing per ambasciatori](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Kit social per ambasciatori](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di giornata di raccolta di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellate i risultati probabili prima di impegnarvi su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affinate i testi del vostro appello e delle e-mail
- [Generatore di QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collegate i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Webinar: creare comunità di ambasciatori coinvolte](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Blog Hubbub: aumentare il coinvolgimento dei donatori con gli ambasciatori della giornata di raccolta](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Guide correlate: [Come organizzare una giornata di raccolta](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) e [Come organizzare una settimana sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultate la [directory dei link](/europe/it/links/) completa per saperne di più.

- [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (uk/en): A practical guide to recruiting, briefing and motivating fundraising ambassadors, the volunteers who amplify your campaigns through their own networks, covering whether it is right for you, the tools, gamification and stewardship.
A fundraising ambassador is a volunteer who lends you their voice and their network. They are
not staff, and they are not professional fundraisers. They are alumni, students, parents,
trustees, colleagues and friends of your cause who are willing to ask the people they know to
give. Hubbub's ambassadors webinar defines the role simply: "I would define an ambassador as a
volunteer that is willing to help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you
have." The work of an ambassador programme is to find those people, make it easy for them to
act, and keep them coming back. This guide explains how to do all three.

## Why ambassadors work

The case for ambassadors rests on a stubborn fact about how people give: most of us do not
respond to an institution asking for money, we respond to a friend. "One out of four people
will give if asked by a friend," Hubbub's team explains. The conversion rate on a cold, branded
solicitation from a development office is, by contrast, around 0.06 per cent. When the ask comes
from someone you know, you are far more likely to open the email, click and give. Ambassadors
are how you put your appeal into the hands of people your supporters actually trust.

The second reason is reach. Social media platforms bury posts from institutional accounts, and
those posts fade fast. "Social media messages usually have only like a minute to five-minute
lifespan," a Hubbub consultant notes, "and if you're having more and more people post on your
behalf, people are going to see it." A single post from your charity reaches a sliver of your
followers. Fifty ambassadors posting in their own voices, to their own networks, on the same
day, stack the odds back in your favour. You buy reach you could never buy with advertising, and
you buy it with authenticity rather than budget.

This guide draws on best practice shared by Hubbub's specialists in their webinar "Creating
engaged ambassador communities", and on the experience of institutions who have built ambassador
programmes around [Giving Days](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and
[Challenge Weeks](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). It covers whether a programme is
right for you, how to recruit and brief ambassadors, the technology that makes them effective,
how to motivate and gamify their participation, how they fit a Giving Day or Challenge Week, and
how to steward them so the programme compounds year on year.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [recruitment email](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) and
> [social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Is an ambassador programme right for you

The most common objection comes from smaller teams, and it is usually wrong. "I'm a small
institution, I don't have the resources to do all this ambassador work, why should I do it?" is a
question Hubbub's team hears all the time. The answer is that you do not have to do everything.
"One size does not have to fit all. There are different types of techniques that you can use,
anything from toolkits to videos to lead volunteers. But the most important thing is you don't
have to do all those. Pick and choose what you're comfortable with, but it is most important that
you actually jump in and just try it, because you'll see a dramatic difference with a Giving Day
or a campaign while using ambassadors than without." The entry bar is low.

What a programme does need is one person who owns it. Recruiting, briefing, building journeys and
keeping ambassadors warm is real work, and it competes for attention with the income targets that
dominate any campaign. As a Hubbub consultant puts it, managing ambassadors "can seem a lot of
work, and to be honest, it is. But if you have a team with alumni relations colleagues or
volunteer colleagues or just a willing volunteer in your office who is happy to look after the
management of those ambassadors, do use those colleagues to help you." If you can name one
person, on staff or volunteer, who will own the ambassador relationship from recruitment through
to the final thank you, you have the foundation for a programme. If you cannot, start smaller:
recruit a handful of lead volunteers, see what they generate, and grow from there.

A programme also suits some communities better than others. Where affinity is strong, the format
works even when the numbers are modest. Oxbridge colleges and schools, a Hubbub consultant notes,
have "a smaller pool to call upon. However, that affinity within these communities is very
strong, which makes them great for running giving days." A tight, passionate community of a few
hundred can produce a more active ambassador corps than a sprawling alumni file with weak
attachment. If your supporters genuinely care, you have ambassadors waiting to be asked.

## Recruiting the right ambassadors

Recruitment runs in two waves, and the order matters. Start not with a mass appeal but with a
small group of lead volunteers. These are, Hubbub's team explains, "people that can be on staff,
passionate alumni, student employees, or enthusiastic friends and family that you think will be
able to help lead the charge. You want these people to be your ones that will probably work a
little bit harder or might have a little bit more time to dedicate than others, because the
long-term goal is that then these people will then go and recruit their friends and family, and
so on and so forth." Lead volunteers are not just your most active ambassadors. They are your
recruitment engine, and their endorsement, sent to their own networks, is worth more than any
email from head office.

Timing the second wave takes nerve, because most people sign up late. For a Giving Day, train and
recruit lead volunteers "about three months before the day. This is probably at most. If you go
any further than that, you might lose some momentum." The wider ambassador pool behaves
differently. "Most ambassadors usually sign up just a few weeks in advance," a Hubbub consultant
observes. "We're a last-minute culture, and usually people do things at the last minute." Do not
panic when the early numbers look thin. The rush comes in the final fortnight, and often in the
final week, so plan your recruitment communications to peak there rather than burning your energy
too early.

Resist the temptation to set a precise ambassador target in your first year, because you have
nothing to base it on. "Setting an ambassador target without running it first is very difficult
to do," Hubbub's ambassadors webinar advises. "I'd recommend starting out with a few lead
volunteers, seeing how many people are receptive to the idea, and then once you have a good idea
of how many people you can have on board, then you might want to set an ambassador number." As a
rough sense of scale, first-year goals have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller
organisations up to 100 to 200 at larger ones, with the right figure depending heavily on
institution size and engagement. The point of year one is simply to do it at all. "The whole
point is that you actually attempted to do ambassadors for your first go around," Hubbub's team
explains, "and then from year one to year two, just as we see a massive increase in Giving Days,
you'll probably see a massive increase from ambassadors."

When you choose where to recruit, go where your audience already is. The right channel is not a
fixed answer but a question about your own community. "It's the channels where your audience
exists," a Hubbub consultant says. "So if you're after a particularly younger audience, I
wouldn't say that Facebook is the place that you want to go recruit them from. If you're looking
to recruit young ambassadors, you're going to be wanting to use channels like Instagram. Go where
your audience is." Recruit on the platforms your supporters actually use, and lean on the channel
where your own engagement is already strongest.

## Briefing and equipping your ambassadors

Here is the mistake almost everyone makes: teams rush to recruit ambassadors before they have
anything to give them to do. "A lot of people do make the mistake of trying to recruit them
before they have any of the training materials done," the webinar warns. "I highly recommend that
you want to begin by creating training materials for ambassadors before you start to recruit
them." Build the kit first, then go looking for the people. An ambassador who signs up full of
enthusiasm and is met with silence is an ambassador you have lost.

Sequence the kit after your branding, too, or you will only have to redo it. "You want to make
sure that you aren't creating these materials before you've branded everything," Hubbub's team
explains, "because once you have your marketing and your branding done, you're going to have to
change it." For a Giving Day, prepare materials roughly four to six months out, once the look and
feel of the day itself is settled, so the ambassador toolkit can simply inherit it.

Three kinds of material do the heavy lifting. **Ambassador videos** are short walkthroughs of the
platform, the steps you want ambassadors to take, and your tips and tricks, including sample posts
and testimonials from people explaining why they signed up. They let you train people who will
never make it to a room. **In-person workshops** cover the same ground with handouts and
face-to-face time, and they are where your lead volunteers come into their own. "If you can do
in-person workshops, you're probably going to get a better return on your investment," a Hubbub
consultant notes, "as these will have much more of an impact and get kind of the people that you
know are going to be able to do the work for you." The centrepiece is the **ambassador toolkit**,
a fully branded pack of ready-to-use posts, emails and images. "These are fully branded training
packets with sample social posts and emails," Hubbub's team explains. "They tell your ambassadors
kind of what exactly you need them to do. They make it easy."

A good toolkit follows a clear structure. The strongest example Hubbub cites is the University of
York's Giving Day pack, and its shape is worth copying. It opens with a simple, branded checklist
that tells ambassadors both what to do and when, broken into prepare-in-advance, get-excited,
during-the-week and on-the-day phases. It tells them to follow the campaign accounts, sign up to
the platform, plan posts ahead of time, and, crucially, to use their own words. "Using your own
words gets the most amount of interaction," the webinar notes, "is when people will make their
content their own." It hands ambassadors the campaign hashtag so posts stack together on a feed.
It supplies images for social posts, profile photos and wallpapers. And it provides drag-and-drop
copy for both social and email, with the dates already written in. The logic is simple: "Everyone
has a busy day, so when you can just provide content that you can just literally drag and drop,
copy and paste, it makes life a lot easier." You do the work so that your ambassadors only have
to do the asking.

## The technology that makes it work

Good ambassador technology removes the two things that stop volunteers in their tracks: not
knowing what to post, and not knowing whether their effort mattered. Three features carry most of
the weight.

The first is **ready-made, shareable content delivered through a portal**. Rather than emailing
ambassadors a document and hoping, a portal pushes them a notification each time there is a new
message to share, with the post written and the image attached. Warm people up to this habit
before the campaign even starts, a Hubbub consultant advises: "Do start sending sharing messages
through your Giving Day ambassador portal so that your ambassadors get used to seeing those
notifications in their inbox, so that they get into the habit of sharing messages before the
Giving Day." By the day itself, sharing is already routine.

The second is **personal tracking links**. On the Hubbub platform, each ambassador who signs up
"will actually get their own unique URL, and it will track the number of clicks you get and the
actual referred amounts that you raise on the Giving Day itself." This single feature changes the
character of a programme. It turns vague goodwill into measurable contribution, lets you thank
people for what they specifically achieved, and gives you the data to prove the programme works.

The third is a **leaderboard with prizes**. The Hubbub tool offers "different rankings, different
prizes available for you to fill in," Hubbub's team explains. "We have a leaderboard, and whoever
finishes within the top three or six will win a prize, and that's usually based upon the number
of clicks that you get." A visible ranking turns individual effort into friendly competition, the
subject of the next section. Underpinning all of this should be your campaign hashtag, so that
ambassador posts aggregate on social feeds and, with enough volume, start to trend in your local
area and reach people well beyond any single ambassador's network.

## Motivating and gamifying participation

The mechanics of motivation are straightforward, and an ambassador who feels seen will act again
and again. Start with incentives. "You want to make sure you're incentivising your ambassadors
with swag," a Hubbub consultant notes, "t-shirts from the university, water bottles, whatever you
want to provide them." Pair the swag with the leaderboard prizes, and you have a structure that
rewards effort without costing much. The webinar's own summary is blunt: "I have found that using
a carrot on the end of a stick is the best way to go. It's a great way to get people involved."

The most powerful motivator, though, is not a prize but attention. During a campaign, alongside
the public updates everyone sees, send individual ambassadors a personal note on their own
progress. A Hubbub consultant is specific: "Consider sending individual emails to your
ambassadors, sharing with them a personal update on their own progress. For example, the number
of likes that they've generated, as well as the gifts they may have generated. This shows them
that someone is paying attention to the impact that they are generating and encouraging them to
keep going. And this is especially important if you have prizes and incentives for them." A
leaderboard tells ambassadors where they stand. A personal email tells them you noticed.

Give people one thing to do at a time. The temptation is to hand ambassadors the full list and
let them choose, but participation rises when each ask is single and clear. Break the journey into
discrete actions: first, share the recruitment message to bring in others; then send an email on a
named day; then share a story tied to a specific cause; and finally make their own gift just
before the campaign opens, "encouraging them to be the first to participate so that they can spend
the rest of their day encouraging participation through sharing." Each step is small enough to
feel achievable, and the sequence builds naturally towards the campaign.

Two pieces of social proof make the whole thing easier. People are far more comfortable joining in
when they can see others already taking part, so share examples from existing ambassadors early.
"If you can create some of these internally with your lead ambassadors, they can help to
demonstrate to others that people are already participating and that they don't necessarily have
to be the first person." And remember that many ambassadors are motivated less by competition than
by belonging. "Sometimes our ambassadors join because they want to feel exclusively a part of the
team behind the Giving Day," a Hubbub consultant notes, "so if we can give them that access, then
why not?" Behind-the-scenes updates and a sense of being on the inside cost you nothing and buy
real loyalty.

## Ambassadors in a Giving Day and a Challenge Week

Ambassadors are not a freestanding activity. They are the amplification layer that makes a
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) reach further than your own channels
ever could. In a Giving Day, the rhythm is intense and compressed, often into 36 hours, and
ambassadors carry the campaign across the gaps your institutional posts cannot reach. The
ambassador journey maps neatly onto the day: a recruitment phase beforehand, with messages going
both to those who have signed up and those who have not; real-time encouragement on the day
itself, mixing calls to action with progress updates; and a wash-up phase afterwards. The cadence
of that mix matters. "Mixing up both of these messages so that you can create an even balance that
rewards your ambassadors as much as it thanks them," a Hubbub consultant says, "will go a long way
towards getting them to take action again and again."

A Challenge Week works slightly differently, because the fundraisers are student clubs and
societies promoting their own pages over roughly a week, but ambassadors are no less central to
it. Here, ambassadors are the wider network each group rallies around its cause, and the numbers
can be substantial: the University of York grew from 140 ambassadors in its first Challenge Week
to more than 500 in subsequent years. In both formats the principle is identical. The institution
sets the structure and supplies the tools, and the ambassadors provide the trusted, personal asks
that convert.

One strategic choice consistently lifts ambassador engagement across both formats: giving people
something specific to fundraise for. The institutions that do this best offer their ambassadors
"lots of projects for the ambassadors to choose from and to get behind, which closely aligned with
their own passions." A decentralised campaign, with a handful of headline funds plus many smaller
projects from across the institution, lets ambassadors champion the cause they personally care
about. "Giving ambassadors choice to be really passionate about what they care about" is, in the
webinar's own words, one of the surest ways to deepen engagement.

## Stewarding and retaining ambassadors year on year

The end of a campaign is not the end of the relationship, and how you handle the days after
determines whether you have to rebuild your ambassador corps from scratch next time. Thank your
ambassadors first, and thank them separately from your donors. "If you have the data available as
to who your ambassadors are, consider sending them a separate or additional email than what you
would send to your donors," a Hubbub consultant advises. "The personalisation of receiving an
email that's really specific to the reference of them being an ambassador could really go a long
way towards creating engagement opportunities from ambassadors for future Giving Days." Ask them,
too, to pass on thanks to the people they brought in. A simple thank you from an ambassador to
their own network is, the webinar notes, what makes those people likely to come back next year.

Then, and this is what separates a programme from an event, keep the relationship alive between
campaigns. The institutions that do this best do not switch their ambassadors off for eleven
months. The strongest examples "use their ambassadors year-round to not only create noise about
Giving Day, but to also create noise around other activities that are happening around the
institution. And these don't necessarily have to revolve around giving, they can be anything that
involves people taking part, taking action, and making noise. This really helps them to keep
ambassadors engaged between Giving Days and also helps them to create more ambassadors once Giving
Day comes back around." An ambassador you have stayed in touch with all year is one who says yes
immediately, and who has spent twelve months quietly recruiting their friends on your behalf.

This is why ambassador programmes compound. The early adopters and lead volunteers join in year
one. In year two, the people who watched them take part want in. "You'll have your early adopters
and those lead volunteers that are really involved in your institution get involved in year one,"
Hubbub's ambassadors webinar explains, "and then for year two, you're really going to see an
increase because you'll have those that did it in year one, and then you'll have people that saw
what happened in year one and really want to get involved." Patience in the first year is rewarded
with momentum you cannot manufacture any other way.

## Measuring their impact

The hardest part of running an ambassador programme is often justifying it internally, and the
answer is to measure properly. Tracking links make this possible: with them, you can attribute
gifts and donors directly to ambassador activity rather than guessing. A Hubbub consultant is
candid that "one of the difficulties that we sometimes have with our ambassador programmes is
justifying the ROI against time and effort spent recruiting, training and encouraging
participation. However, if you can start to look at that data behind your ambassador programme,
you can really quickly show that the time spent on ambassadors is very much worth it."

The numbers, looked at properly, tend to settle the argument. In the institutions Hubbub profiled,
ambassador contributions ranged from a handful of per cent of online gifts to a quarter or more.
In one example from a more mature programme, ambassadors caused 26 per cent of online gifts in a
single Giving Day. At the other end of the scale, an Oxbridge college running its first Giving Day
saw ambassadors cause only 5 per cent of gifts, which sounds modest until you learn that "without
that 5 per cent uplift from ambassadors, the Giving Day would have narrowly missed its target." A
small percentage can be the difference between hitting a target and missing it, which is exactly
the kind of result that earns a programme its place.

Two cautions on measurement. First, in year one, measure participation rather than income. "In
your first Giving Day, you may not see huge increases from ambassadors in particular," a Hubbub
consultant cautions, so the right early metric is how many ambassadors you recruited and how
active they were, not the pounds they generated. Second, expect the impact to grow. "This grows
year on year. So while it may be 5 per cent in year one, it may be 10 per cent in year two, 15, it
grows and it compounds. You'll start to see not only the number of donors grow, but the number of
gifts caused by ambassadors grow as you grow and strengthen that ambassador programme." Measure
it, report it, and let the trend line make your case for you.

## Frequently asked questions

**What exactly is a fundraising ambassador?** A volunteer who promotes your campaign to their own
network and asks the people they know to give. In Hubbub's words, "a volunteer that is willing to
help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you have." They can be alumni, students,
staff, parents or any supporter willing to lend their voice.

**Do ambassadors really cause donations, or do they just give themselves?** They generate gifts
from others, which is the whole point. When the webinar was asked whether ambassador figures meant
their own gifts or gifts they generated, the answer was unambiguous: "They actually generated those
gifts themselves, which is exactly what we want them to do." The one-in-four conversion rate on an
ask from a friend is what makes them so effective.

**How many ambassadors should we aim for?** In year one, do not fix a precise target. Start with a
few lead volunteers, see how receptive people are, then set a number. As a guide, first-year goals
have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller institutions to 100 to 200 at larger ones,
depending on size and engagement.

**When should we start recruiting?** Recruit and train your lead volunteers around two to three
months before a Giving Day. Expect the wider pool to sign up late, often in the final fortnight,
because, as Hubbub's team explains, "we're a last-minute culture." Plan your recruitment push to
peak near the campaign rather than too far out.

**Which social media channel works best?** The one your audience already uses. There is no
universal answer: a younger audience leans towards Instagram, an older one towards Facebook.
Recruit where your supporters are, and lean on the channel where your engagement is already
strongest.

**Do small organisations have the resources to run a programme?** Yes, because you do not have to
do everything. Pick the techniques you are comfortable with, toolkits, videos or lead volunteers,
and start. The difference between running a campaign with ambassadors and without is, in Hubbub's
experience, dramatic even at modest scale.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Ambassador recruitment email template](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Ambassador briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Ambassador social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaged ambassador communities](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Hubbub blog: increasing donor engagement with Giving Day ambassadors](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a fundraising ambassador program](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (us/en): A practical guide to recruiting, briefing and motivating fundraising ambassadors, the volunteers who amplify your campaigns through their own networks, covering whether it is right for you, the tools, gamification and stewardship.
A fundraising ambassador is a volunteer who lends you their voice and their network. They are
not staff, and they are not professional fundraisers. They are alumni, students, parents,
trustees, colleagues and friends of your cause who are willing to ask the people they know to
give. Hubbub's ambassadors webinar defines the role simply: "I would define an ambassador as a
volunteer that is willing to help your organization meet and hopefully exceed the goals you
have." The work of an ambassador program is to find those people, make it easy for them to
act, and keep them coming back. This guide explains how to do all three.

## Why ambassadors work

The case for ambassadors rests on a stubborn fact about how people give: most of us do not
respond to an institution asking for money, we respond to a friend. "One out of four people
will give if asked by a friend," Hubbub's team explains. The conversion rate on a cold, branded
solicitation from a development office is, by contrast, around 0.06 percent. When the ask comes
from someone you know, you are far more likely to open the email, click and give. Ambassadors
are how you put your appeal into the hands of people your supporters actually trust.

The second reason is reach. Social media platforms bury posts from institutional accounts, and
those posts fade fast. "Social media messages usually have only like a minute to five-minute
lifespan," a Hubbub consultant notes, "and if you're having more and more people post on your
behalf, people are going to see it." A single post from your charity reaches a sliver of your
followers. Fifty ambassadors posting in their own voices, to their own networks, on the same
day, stack the odds back in your favor. You buy reach you could never buy with advertising, and
you buy it with authenticity rather than budget.

This guide draws on best practice shared by Hubbub's specialists in their webinar "Creating
engaged ambassador communities", and on the experience of institutions who have built ambassador
programs around [Giving Days](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and
[Challenge Weeks](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). It covers whether a program is
right for you, how to recruit and brief ambassadors, the technology that makes them effective,
how to motivate and gamify their participation, how they fit a Giving Day or Challenge Week, and
how to steward them so the program compounds year on year.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [recruitment email](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) and
> [social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Is an ambassador program right for you

The most common objection comes from smaller teams, and it is usually wrong. "I'm a small
institution, I don't have the resources to do all this ambassador work, why should I do it?" is a
question Hubbub's team hears all the time. The answer is that you do not have to do everything.
"One size does not have to fit all. There are different types of techniques that you can use,
anything from toolkits to videos to lead volunteers. But the most important thing is you don't
have to do all those. Pick and choose what you're comfortable with, but it is most important that
you actually jump in and just try it, because you'll see a dramatic difference with a Giving Day
or a campaign while using ambassadors than without." The entry bar is low.

What a program does need is one person who owns it. Recruiting, briefing, building journeys and
keeping ambassadors warm is real work, and it competes for attention with the income targets that
dominate any campaign. As a Hubbub consultant puts it, managing ambassadors "can seem a lot of
work, and to be honest, it is. But if you have a team with alumni relations colleagues or
volunteer colleagues or just a willing volunteer in your office who is happy to look after the
management of those ambassadors, do use those colleagues to help you." If you can name one
person, on staff or volunteer, who will own the ambassador relationship from recruitment through
to the final thank you, you have the foundation for a program. If you cannot, start smaller:
recruit a handful of lead volunteers, see what they generate, and grow from there.

A program also suits some communities better than others. Where affinity is strong, the format
works even when the numbers are modest. Oxbridge colleges and schools, a Hubbub consultant notes,
have "a smaller pool to call upon. However, that affinity within these communities is very
strong, which makes them great for running giving days." A tight, passionate community of a few
hundred can produce a more active ambassador corps than a sprawling alumni file with weak
attachment. If your supporters genuinely care, you have ambassadors waiting to be asked.

## Recruiting the right ambassadors

Recruitment runs in two waves, and the order matters. Start not with a mass appeal but with a
small group of lead volunteers. These are, Hubbub's team explains, "people that can be on staff,
passionate alumni, student employees, or enthusiastic friends and family that you think will be
able to help lead the charge. You want these people to be your ones that will probably work a
little bit harder or might have a little bit more time to dedicate than others, because the
long-term goal is that then these people will then go and recruit their friends and family, and
so on and so forth." Lead volunteers are not just your most active ambassadors. They are your
recruitment engine, and their endorsement, sent to their own networks, is worth more than any
email from head office.

Timing the second wave takes nerve, because most people sign up late. For a Giving Day, train and
recruit lead volunteers "about three months before the day. This is probably at most. If you go
any further than that, you might lose some momentum." The wider ambassador pool behaves
differently. "Most ambassadors usually sign up just a few weeks in advance," a Hubbub consultant
observes. "We're a last-minute culture, and usually people do things at the last minute." Do not
panic when the early numbers look thin. The rush comes in the final two weeks, and often in the
final week, so plan your recruitment communications to peak there rather than burning your energy
too early.

Resist the temptation to set a precise ambassador target in your first year, because you have
nothing to base it on. "Setting an ambassador target without running it first is very difficult
to do," Hubbub's ambassadors webinar advises. "I'd recommend starting out with a few lead
volunteers, seeing how many people are receptive to the idea, and then once you have a good idea
of how many people you can have on board, then you might want to set an ambassador number." As a
rough sense of scale, first-year goals have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller
organizations up to 100 to 200 at larger ones, with the right figure depending heavily on
institution size and engagement. The point of year one is simply to do it at all. "The whole
point is that you actually attempted to do ambassadors for your first go around," Hubbub's team
explains, "and then from year one to year two, just as we see a massive increase in Giving Days,
you'll probably see a massive increase from ambassadors."

When you choose where to recruit, go where your audience already is. The right channel is not a
fixed answer but a question about your own community. "It's the channels where your audience
exists," a Hubbub consultant says. "So if you're after a particularly younger audience, I
wouldn't say that Facebook is the place that you want to go recruit them from. If you're looking
to recruit young ambassadors, you're going to be wanting to use channels like Instagram. Go where
your audience is." Recruit on the platforms your supporters actually use, and lean on the channel
where your own engagement is already strongest.

## Briefing and equipping your ambassadors

Here is the mistake almost everyone makes: teams rush to recruit ambassadors before they have
anything to give them to do. "A lot of people do make the mistake of trying to recruit them
before they have any of the training materials done," the webinar warns. "I highly recommend that
you want to begin by creating training materials for ambassadors before you start to recruit
them." Build the kit first, then go looking for the people. An ambassador who signs up full of
enthusiasm and is met with silence is an ambassador you have lost.

Sequence the kit after your branding, too, or you will only have to redo it. "You want to make
sure that you aren't creating these materials before you've branded everything," Hubbub's team
explains, "because once you have your marketing and your branding done, you're going to have to
change it." For a Giving Day, prepare materials roughly four to six months out, once the look and
feel of the day itself is settled, so the ambassador toolkit can simply inherit it.

Three kinds of material do the heavy lifting. **Ambassador videos** are short walkthroughs of the
platform, the steps you want ambassadors to take, and your tips and tricks, including sample posts
and testimonials from people explaining why they signed up. They let you train people who will
never make it to a room. **In-person workshops** cover the same ground with handouts and
face-to-face time, and they are where your lead volunteers come into their own. "If you can do
in-person workshops, you're probably going to get a better return on your investment," a Hubbub
consultant notes, "as these will have much more of an impact and get kind of the people that you
know are going to be able to do the work for you." The centerpiece is the **ambassador toolkit**,
a fully branded pack of ready-to-use posts, emails and images. "These are fully branded training
packets with sample social posts and emails," Hubbub's team explains. "They tell your ambassadors
kind of what exactly you need them to do. They make it easy."

A good toolkit follows a clear structure. The strongest example Hubbub cites is the University of
York's Giving Day pack, and its shape is worth copying. It opens with a simple, branded checklist
that tells ambassadors both what to do and when, broken into prepare-in-advance, get-excited,
during-the-week and on-the-day phases. It tells them to follow the campaign accounts, sign up to
the platform, plan posts ahead of time, and, crucially, to use their own words. "Using your own
words gets the most amount of interaction," the webinar notes, "is when people will make their
content their own." It hands ambassadors the campaign hashtag so posts stack together on a feed.
It supplies images for social posts, profile photos and wallpapers. And it provides drag-and-drop
copy for both social and email, with the dates already written in. The logic is simple: "Everyone
has a busy day, so when you can just provide content that you can just literally drag and drop,
copy and paste, it makes life a lot easier." You do the work so that your ambassadors only have
to do the asking.

## The technology that makes it work

Good ambassador technology removes the two things that stop volunteers in their tracks: not
knowing what to post, and not knowing whether their effort mattered. Three features carry most of
the weight.

The first is **ready-made, shareable content delivered through a portal**. Rather than emailing
ambassadors a document and hoping, a portal pushes them a notification each time there is a new
message to share, with the post written and the image attached. Warm people up to this habit
before the campaign even starts, a Hubbub consultant advises: "Do start sending sharing messages
through your Giving Day ambassador portal so that your ambassadors get used to seeing those
notifications in their inbox, so that they get into the habit of sharing messages before the
Giving Day." By the day itself, sharing is already routine.

The second is **personal tracking links**. On the Hubbub platform, each ambassador who signs up
"will actually get their own unique URL, and it will track the number of clicks you get and the
actual referred amounts that you raise on the Giving Day itself." This single feature changes the
character of a program. It turns vague goodwill into measurable contribution, lets you thank
people for what they specifically achieved, and gives you the data to prove the program works.

The third is a **leaderboard with prizes**. The Hubbub tool offers "different rankings, different
prizes available for you to fill in," Hubbub's team explains. "We have a leaderboard, and whoever
finishes within the top three or six will win a prize, and that's usually based upon the number
of clicks that you get." A visible ranking turns individual effort into friendly competition, the
subject of the next section. Underpinning all of this should be your campaign hashtag, so that
ambassador posts aggregate on social feeds and, with enough volume, start to trend in your local
area and reach people well beyond any single ambassador's network.

## Motivating and gamifying participation

The mechanics of motivation are straightforward, and an ambassador who feels seen will act again
and again. Start with incentives. "You want to make sure you're incentivizing your ambassadors
with swag," a Hubbub consultant notes, "t-shirts from the university, water bottles, whatever you
want to provide them." Pair the swag with the leaderboard prizes, and you have a structure that
rewards effort without costing much. The webinar's own summary is blunt: "I have found that using
a carrot on the end of a stick is the best way to go. It's a great way to get people involved."

The most powerful motivator, though, is not a prize but attention. During a campaign, alongside
the public updates everyone sees, send individual ambassadors a personal note on their own
progress. A Hubbub consultant is specific: "Consider sending individual emails to your
ambassadors, sharing with them a personal update on their own progress. For example, the number
of likes that they've generated, as well as the gifts they may have generated. This shows them
that someone is paying attention to the impact that they are generating and encouraging them to
keep going. And this is especially important if you have prizes and incentives for them." A
leaderboard tells ambassadors where they stand. A personal email tells them you noticed.

Give people one thing to do at a time. The temptation is to hand ambassadors the full list and
let them choose, but participation rises when each ask is single and clear. Break the journey into
discrete actions: first, share the recruitment message to bring in others; then send an email on a
named day; then share a story tied to a specific cause; and finally make their own gift just
before the campaign opens, "encouraging them to be the first to participate so that they can spend
the rest of their day encouraging participation through sharing." Each step is small enough to
feel achievable, and the sequence builds naturally towards the campaign.

Two pieces of social proof make the whole thing easier. People are far more comfortable joining in
when they can see others already taking part, so share examples from existing ambassadors early.
"If you can create some of these internally with your lead ambassadors, they can help to
demonstrate to others that people are already participating and that they don't necessarily have
to be the first person." And remember that many ambassadors are motivated less by competition than
by belonging. "Sometimes our ambassadors join because they want to feel exclusively a part of the
team behind the Giving Day," a Hubbub consultant notes, "so if we can give them that access, then
why not?" Behind-the-scenes updates and a sense of being on the inside cost you nothing and buy
real loyalty.

## Ambassadors in a Giving Day and a Challenge Week

Ambassadors are not a freestanding activity. They are the amplification layer that makes a
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) reach further than your own channels
ever could. In a Giving Day, the rhythm is intense and compressed, often into 36 hours, and
ambassadors carry the campaign across the gaps your institutional posts cannot reach. The
ambassador journey maps neatly onto the day: a recruitment phase beforehand, with messages going
both to those who have signed up and those who have not; real-time encouragement on the day
itself, mixing calls to action with progress updates; and a wash-up phase afterwards. The cadence
of that mix matters. "Mixing up both of these messages so that you can create an even balance that
rewards your ambassadors as much as it thanks them," a Hubbub consultant says, "will go a long way
towards getting them to take action again and again."

A Challenge Week works slightly differently, because the fundraisers are student clubs and
societies promoting their own pages over roughly a week, but ambassadors are no less central to
it. Here, ambassadors are the wider network each group rallies around its cause, and the numbers
can be substantial: the University of York grew from 140 ambassadors in its first Challenge Week
to more than 500 in subsequent years. In both formats the principle is identical. The institution
sets the structure and supplies the tools, and the ambassadors provide the trusted, personal asks
that convert.

One strategic choice consistently lifts ambassador engagement across both formats: giving people
something specific to fundraise for. The institutions that do this best offer their ambassadors
"lots of projects for the ambassadors to choose from and to get behind, which closely aligned with
their own passions." A decentralized campaign, with a handful of headline funds plus many smaller
projects from across the institution, lets ambassadors champion the cause they personally care
about. "Giving ambassadors choice to be really passionate about what they care about" is, in the
webinar's own words, one of the surest ways to deepen engagement.

## Stewarding and retaining ambassadors year on year

The end of a campaign is not the end of the relationship, and how you handle the days after
determines whether you have to rebuild your ambassador corps from scratch next time. Thank your
ambassadors first, and thank them separately from your donors. "If you have the data available as
to who your ambassadors are, consider sending them a separate or additional email than what you
would send to your donors," a Hubbub consultant advises. "The personalization of receiving an
email that's really specific to the reference of them being an ambassador could really go a long
way towards creating engagement opportunities from ambassadors for future Giving Days." Ask them,
too, to pass on thanks to the people they brought in. A simple thank you from an ambassador to
their own network is, the webinar notes, what makes those people likely to come back next year.

Then, and this is what separates a program from an event, keep the relationship alive between
campaigns. The institutions that do this best do not switch their ambassadors off for eleven
months. The strongest examples "use their ambassadors year-round to not only create noise about
Giving Day, but to also create noise around other activities that are happening around the
institution. And these don't necessarily have to revolve around giving, they can be anything that
involves people taking part, taking action, and making noise. This really helps them to keep
ambassadors engaged between Giving Days and also helps them to create more ambassadors once Giving
Day comes back around." An ambassador you have stayed in touch with all year is one who says yes
immediately, and who has spent twelve months quietly recruiting their friends on your behalf.

This is why ambassador programs compound. The early adopters and lead volunteers join in year
one. In year two, the people who watched them take part want in. "You'll have your early adopters
and those lead volunteers that are really involved in your institution get involved in year one,"
Hubbub's ambassadors webinar explains, "and then for year two, you're really going to see an
increase because you'll have those that did it in year one, and then you'll have people that saw
what happened in year one and really want to get involved." Patience in the first year is rewarded
with momentum you cannot manufacture any other way.

## Measuring their impact

The hardest part of running an ambassador program is often justifying it internally, and the
answer is to measure properly. Tracking links make this possible: with them, you can attribute
gifts and donors directly to ambassador activity rather than guessing. A Hubbub consultant is
candid that "one of the difficulties that we sometimes have with our ambassador programs is
justifying the ROI against time and effort spent recruiting, training and encouraging
participation. However, if you can start to look at that data behind your ambassador program,
you can really quickly show that the time spent on ambassadors is very much worth it."

The numbers, looked at properly, tend to settle the argument. In the institutions Hubbub profiled,
ambassador contributions ranged from a handful of percent of online gifts to a quarter or more.
In one example from a more mature program, ambassadors caused 26 percent of online gifts in a
single Giving Day. At the other end of the scale, an Oxbridge college running its first Giving Day
saw ambassadors cause only 5 percent of gifts, which sounds modest until you learn that "without
that 5 percent uplift from ambassadors, the Giving Day would have narrowly missed its target." A
small percentage can be the difference between hitting a target and missing it, which is exactly
the kind of result that earns a program its place.

Two cautions on measurement. First, in year one, measure participation rather than income. "In
your first Giving Day, you may not see huge increases from ambassadors in particular," a Hubbub
consultant cautions, so the right early metric is how many ambassadors you recruited and how
active they were, not the dollars they generated. Second, expect the impact to grow. "This grows
year on year. So while it may be 5 percent in year one, it may be 10 percent in year two, 15, it
grows and it compounds. You'll start to see not only the number of donors grow, but the number of
gifts caused by ambassadors grow as you grow and strengthen that ambassador program." Measure
it, report it, and let the trend line make your case for you.

## Frequently asked questions

**What exactly is a fundraising ambassador?** A volunteer who promotes your campaign to their own
network and asks the people they know to give. In Hubbub's words, "a volunteer that is willing to
help your organization meet and hopefully exceed the goals you have." They can be alumni, students,
staff, parents or any supporter willing to lend their voice.

**Do ambassadors really cause donations, or do they just give themselves?** They generate gifts
from others, which is the whole point. When the webinar was asked whether ambassador figures meant
their own gifts or gifts they generated, the answer was unambiguous: "They actually generated those
gifts themselves, which is exactly what we want them to do." The one-in-four conversion rate on an
ask from a friend is what makes them so effective.

**How many ambassadors should we aim for?** In year one, do not fix a precise target. Start with a
few lead volunteers, see how receptive people are, then set a number. As a guide, first-year goals
have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller institutions to 100 to 200 at larger ones,
depending on size and engagement.

**When should we start recruiting?** Recruit and train your lead volunteers around two to three
months before a Giving Day. Expect the wider pool to sign up late, often in the final two weeks,
because, as Hubbub's team explains, "we're a last-minute culture." Plan your recruitment push to
peak near the campaign rather than too far out.

**Which social media channel works best?** The one your audience already uses. There is no
universal answer: a younger audience leans towards Instagram, an older one towards Facebook.
Recruit where your supporters are, and lean on the channel where your engagement is already
strongest.

**Do small organizations have the resources to run a program?** Yes, because you do not have to
do everything. Pick the techniques you are comfortable with, toolkits, videos or lead volunteers,
and start. The difference between running a campaign with ambassadors and without is, in Hubbub's
experience, dramatic even at modest scale.

If your organization is a 501(c)(3), remember that gifts your ambassadors generate are generally
tax-deductible for the donor, a point worth including in your toolkit copy.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Ambassador recruitment email template](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Ambassador briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Ambassador social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaged ambassador communities](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Hubbub blog: increasing donor engagement with Giving Day ambassadors](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) (world/en): A practical guide to recruiting, briefing and motivating fundraising ambassadors, the volunteers who amplify your campaigns through their own networks, covering whether it is right for you, the tools, gamification and stewardship.
A fundraising ambassador is a volunteer who lends you their voice and their network. They are
not staff, and they are not professional fundraisers. They are alumni, students, parents,
trustees, colleagues and friends of your cause who are willing to ask the people they know to
give. Hubbub's ambassadors webinar defines the role simply: "I would define an ambassador as a
volunteer that is willing to help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you
have." The work of an ambassador programme is to find those people, make it easy for them to
act, and keep them coming back. This guide explains how to do all three.

## Why ambassadors work

The case for ambassadors rests on a stubborn fact about how people give: most of us do not
respond to an institution asking for money, we respond to a friend. "One out of four people
will give if asked by a friend," Hubbub's team explains. The conversion rate on a cold, branded
solicitation from a development office is, by contrast, around 0.06 per cent. When the ask comes
from someone you know, you are far more likely to open the email, click and give. Ambassadors
are how you put your appeal into the hands of people your supporters actually trust.

The second reason is reach. Social media platforms bury posts from institutional accounts, and
those posts fade fast. "Social media messages usually have only like a minute to five-minute
lifespan," a Hubbub consultant notes, "and if you're having more and more people post on your
behalf, people are going to see it." A single post from your charity reaches a sliver of your
followers. Fifty ambassadors posting in their own voices, to their own networks, on the same
day, stack the odds back in your favour. You buy reach you could never buy with advertising, and
you buy it with authenticity rather than budget.

This guide draws on best practice shared by Hubbub's specialists in their webinar "Creating
engaged ambassador communities", and on the experience of institutions who have built ambassador
programmes around [Giving Days](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and
[Challenge Weeks](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). It covers whether a programme is
right for you, how to recruit and brief ambassadors, the technology that makes them effective,
how to motivate and gamify their participation, how they fit a Giving Day or Challenge Week, and
how to steward them so the programme compounds year on year.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [recruitment email](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/),
> [briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/) and
> [social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/).

## Is an ambassador programme right for you

The most common objection comes from smaller teams, and it is usually wrong. "I'm a small
institution, I don't have the resources to do all this ambassador work, why should I do it?" is a
question Hubbub's team hears all the time. The answer is that you do not have to do everything.
"One size does not have to fit all. There are different types of techniques that you can use,
anything from toolkits to videos to lead volunteers. But the most important thing is you don't
have to do all those. Pick and choose what you're comfortable with, but it is most important that
you actually jump in and just try it, because you'll see a dramatic difference with a Giving Day
or a campaign while using ambassadors than without." The entry bar is low.

What a programme does need is one person who owns it. Recruiting, briefing, building journeys and
keeping ambassadors warm is real work, and it competes for attention with the income targets that
dominate any campaign. As a Hubbub consultant puts it, managing ambassadors "can seem a lot of
work, and to be honest, it is. But if you have a team with alumni relations colleagues or
volunteer colleagues or just a willing volunteer in your office who is happy to look after the
management of those ambassadors, do use those colleagues to help you." If you can name one
person, on staff or volunteer, who will own the ambassador relationship from recruitment through
to the final thank you, you have the foundation for a programme. If you cannot, start smaller:
recruit a handful of lead volunteers, see what they generate, and grow from there.

A programme also suits some communities better than others. Where affinity is strong, the format
works even when the numbers are modest. Oxbridge colleges and schools, a Hubbub consultant notes,
have "a smaller pool to call upon. However, that affinity within these communities is very
strong, which makes them great for running giving days." A tight, passionate community of a few
hundred can produce a more active ambassador corps than a sprawling alumni file with weak
attachment. If your supporters genuinely care, you have ambassadors waiting to be asked.

## Recruiting the right ambassadors

Recruitment runs in two waves, and the order matters. Start not with a mass appeal but with a
small group of lead volunteers. These are, Hubbub's team explains, "people that can be on staff,
passionate alumni, student employees, or enthusiastic friends and family that you think will be
able to help lead the charge. You want these people to be your ones that will probably work a
little bit harder or might have a little bit more time to dedicate than others, because the
long-term goal is that then these people will then go and recruit their friends and family, and
so on and so forth." Lead volunteers are not just your most active ambassadors. They are your
recruitment engine, and their endorsement, sent to their own networks, is worth more than any
email from head office.

Timing the second wave takes nerve, because most people sign up late. For a Giving Day, train and
recruit lead volunteers "about three months before the day. This is probably at most. If you go
any further than that, you might lose some momentum." The wider ambassador pool behaves
differently. "Most ambassadors usually sign up just a few weeks in advance," a Hubbub consultant
observes. "We're a last-minute culture, and usually people do things at the last minute." Do not
panic when the early numbers look thin. The rush comes in the final fortnight, and often in the
final week, so plan your recruitment communications to peak there rather than burning your energy
too early.

Resist the temptation to set a precise ambassador target in your first year, because you have
nothing to base it on. "Setting an ambassador target without running it first is very difficult
to do," Hubbub's ambassadors webinar advises. "I'd recommend starting out with a few lead
volunteers, seeing how many people are receptive to the idea, and then once you have a good idea
of how many people you can have on board, then you might want to set an ambassador number." As a
rough sense of scale, first-year goals have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller
organisations up to 100 to 200 at larger ones, with the right figure depending heavily on
institution size and engagement. The point of year one is simply to do it at all. "The whole
point is that you actually attempted to do ambassadors for your first go around," Hubbub's team
explains, "and then from year one to year two, just as we see a massive increase in Giving Days,
you'll probably see a massive increase from ambassadors."

When you choose where to recruit, go where your audience already is. The right channel is not a
fixed answer but a question about your own community. "It's the channels where your audience
exists," a Hubbub consultant says. "So if you're after a particularly younger audience, I
wouldn't say that Facebook is the place that you want to go recruit them from. If you're looking
to recruit young ambassadors, you're going to be wanting to use channels like Instagram. Go where
your audience is." Recruit on the platforms your supporters actually use, and lean on the channel
where your own engagement is already strongest.

## Briefing and equipping your ambassadors

Here is the mistake almost everyone makes: teams rush to recruit ambassadors before they have
anything to give them to do. "A lot of people do make the mistake of trying to recruit them
before they have any of the training materials done," the webinar warns. "I highly recommend that
you want to begin by creating training materials for ambassadors before you start to recruit
them." Build the kit first, then go looking for the people. An ambassador who signs up full of
enthusiasm and is met with silence is an ambassador you have lost.

Sequence the kit after your branding, too, or you will only have to redo it. "You want to make
sure that you aren't creating these materials before you've branded everything," Hubbub's team
explains, "because once you have your marketing and your branding done, you're going to have to
change it." For a Giving Day, prepare materials roughly four to six months out, once the look and
feel of the day itself is settled, so the ambassador toolkit can simply inherit it.

Three kinds of material do the heavy lifting. **Ambassador videos** are short walkthroughs of the
platform, the steps you want ambassadors to take, and your tips and tricks, including sample posts
and testimonials from people explaining why they signed up. They let you train people who will
never make it to a room. **In-person workshops** cover the same ground with handouts and
face-to-face time, and they are where your lead volunteers come into their own. "If you can do
in-person workshops, you're probably going to get a better return on your investment," a Hubbub
consultant notes, "as these will have much more of an impact and get kind of the people that you
know are going to be able to do the work for you." The centrepiece is the **ambassador toolkit**,
a fully branded pack of ready-to-use posts, emails and images. "These are fully branded training
packets with sample social posts and emails," Hubbub's team explains. "They tell your ambassadors
kind of what exactly you need them to do. They make it easy."

A good toolkit follows a clear structure. The strongest example Hubbub cites is the University of
York's Giving Day pack, and its shape is worth copying. It opens with a simple, branded checklist
that tells ambassadors both what to do and when, broken into prepare-in-advance, get-excited,
during-the-week and on-the-day phases. It tells them to follow the campaign accounts, sign up to
the platform, plan posts ahead of time, and, crucially, to use their own words. "Using your own
words gets the most amount of interaction," the webinar notes, "is when people will make their
content their own." It hands ambassadors the campaign hashtag so posts stack together on a feed.
It supplies images for social posts, profile photos and wallpapers. And it provides drag-and-drop
copy for both social and email, with the dates already written in. The logic is simple: "Everyone
has a busy day, so when you can just provide content that you can just literally drag and drop,
copy and paste, it makes life a lot easier." You do the work so that your ambassadors only have
to do the asking.

## The technology that makes it work

Good ambassador technology removes the two things that stop volunteers in their tracks: not
knowing what to post, and not knowing whether their effort mattered. Three features carry most of
the weight.

The first is **ready-made, shareable content delivered through a portal**. Rather than emailing
ambassadors a document and hoping, a portal pushes them a notification each time there is a new
message to share, with the post written and the image attached. Warm people up to this habit
before the campaign even starts, a Hubbub consultant advises: "Do start sending sharing messages
through your Giving Day ambassador portal so that your ambassadors get used to seeing those
notifications in their inbox, so that they get into the habit of sharing messages before the
Giving Day." By the day itself, sharing is already routine.

The second is **personal tracking links**. On the Hubbub platform, each ambassador who signs up
"will actually get their own unique URL, and it will track the number of clicks you get and the
actual referred amounts that you raise on the Giving Day itself." This single feature changes the
character of a programme. It turns vague goodwill into measurable contribution, lets you thank
people for what they specifically achieved, and gives you the data to prove the programme works.

The third is a **leaderboard with prizes**. The Hubbub tool offers "different rankings, different
prizes available for you to fill in," Hubbub's team explains. "We have a leaderboard, and whoever
finishes within the top three or six will win a prize, and that's usually based upon the number
of clicks that you get." A visible ranking turns individual effort into friendly competition, the
subject of the next section. Underpinning all of this should be your campaign hashtag, so that
ambassador posts aggregate on social feeds and, with enough volume, start to trend in your local
area and reach people well beyond any single ambassador's network.

## Motivating and gamifying participation

The mechanics of motivation are straightforward, and an ambassador who feels seen will act again
and again. Start with incentives. "You want to make sure you're incentivising your ambassadors
with swag," a Hubbub consultant notes, "t-shirts from the university, water bottles, whatever you
want to provide them." Pair the swag with the leaderboard prizes, and you have a structure that
rewards effort without costing much. The webinar's own summary is blunt: "I have found that using
a carrot on the end of a stick is the best way to go. It's a great way to get people involved."

The most powerful motivator, though, is not a prize but attention. During a campaign, alongside
the public updates everyone sees, send individual ambassadors a personal note on their own
progress. A Hubbub consultant is specific: "Consider sending individual emails to your
ambassadors, sharing with them a personal update on their own progress. For example, the number
of likes that they've generated, as well as the gifts they may have generated. This shows them
that someone is paying attention to the impact that they are generating and encouraging them to
keep going. And this is especially important if you have prizes and incentives for them." A
leaderboard tells ambassadors where they stand. A personal email tells them you noticed.

Give people one thing to do at a time. The temptation is to hand ambassadors the full list and
let them choose, but participation rises when each ask is single and clear. Break the journey into
discrete actions: first, share the recruitment message to bring in others; then send an email on a
named day; then share a story tied to a specific cause; and finally make their own gift just
before the campaign opens, "encouraging them to be the first to participate so that they can spend
the rest of their day encouraging participation through sharing." Each step is small enough to
feel achievable, and the sequence builds naturally towards the campaign.

Two pieces of social proof make the whole thing easier. People are far more comfortable joining in
when they can see others already taking part, so share examples from existing ambassadors early.
"If you can create some of these internally with your lead ambassadors, they can help to
demonstrate to others that people are already participating and that they don't necessarily have
to be the first person." And remember that many ambassadors are motivated less by competition than
by belonging. "Sometimes our ambassadors join because they want to feel exclusively a part of the
team behind the Giving Day," a Hubbub consultant notes, "so if we can give them that access, then
why not?" Behind-the-scenes updates and a sense of being on the inside cost you nothing and buy
real loyalty.

## Ambassadors in a Giving Day and a Challenge Week

Ambassadors are not a freestanding activity. They are the amplification layer that makes a
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) reach further than your own channels
ever could. In a Giving Day, the rhythm is intense and compressed, often into 36 hours, and
ambassadors carry the campaign across the gaps your institutional posts cannot reach. The
ambassador journey maps neatly onto the day: a recruitment phase beforehand, with messages going
both to those who have signed up and those who have not; real-time encouragement on the day
itself, mixing calls to action with progress updates; and a wash-up phase afterwards. The cadence
of that mix matters. "Mixing up both of these messages so that you can create an even balance that
rewards your ambassadors as much as it thanks them," a Hubbub consultant says, "will go a long way
towards getting them to take action again and again."

A Challenge Week works slightly differently, because the fundraisers are student clubs and
societies promoting their own pages over roughly a week, but ambassadors are no less central to
it. Here, ambassadors are the wider network each group rallies around its cause, and the numbers
can be substantial: the University of York grew from 140 ambassadors in its first Challenge Week
to more than 500 in subsequent years. In both formats the principle is identical. The institution
sets the structure and supplies the tools, and the ambassadors provide the trusted, personal asks
that convert.

One strategic choice consistently lifts ambassador engagement across both formats: giving people
something specific to fundraise for. The institutions that do this best offer their ambassadors
"lots of projects for the ambassadors to choose from and to get behind, which closely aligned with
their own passions." A decentralised campaign, with a handful of headline funds plus many smaller
projects from across the institution, lets ambassadors champion the cause they personally care
about. "Giving ambassadors choice to be really passionate about what they care about" is, in the
webinar's own words, one of the surest ways to deepen engagement.

## Stewarding and retaining ambassadors year on year

The end of a campaign is not the end of the relationship, and how you handle the days after
determines whether you have to rebuild your ambassador corps from scratch next time. Thank your
ambassadors first, and thank them separately from your donors. "If you have the data available as
to who your ambassadors are, consider sending them a separate or additional email than what you
would send to your donors," a Hubbub consultant advises. "The personalisation of receiving an
email that's really specific to the reference of them being an ambassador could really go a long
way towards creating engagement opportunities from ambassadors for future Giving Days." Ask them,
too, to pass on thanks to the people they brought in. A simple thank you from an ambassador to
their own network is, the webinar notes, what makes those people likely to come back next year.

Then, and this is what separates a programme from an event, keep the relationship alive between
campaigns. The institutions that do this best do not switch their ambassadors off for eleven
months. The strongest examples "use their ambassadors year-round to not only create noise about
Giving Day, but to also create noise around other activities that are happening around the
institution. And these don't necessarily have to revolve around giving, they can be anything that
involves people taking part, taking action, and making noise. This really helps them to keep
ambassadors engaged between Giving Days and also helps them to create more ambassadors once Giving
Day comes back around." An ambassador you have stayed in touch with all year is one who says yes
immediately, and who has spent twelve months quietly recruiting their friends on your behalf.

This is why ambassador programmes compound. The early adopters and lead volunteers join in year
one. In year two, the people who watched them take part want in. "You'll have your early adopters
and those lead volunteers that are really involved in your institution get involved in year one,"
Hubbub's ambassadors webinar explains, "and then for year two, you're really going to see an
increase because you'll have those that did it in year one, and then you'll have people that saw
what happened in year one and really want to get involved." Patience in the first year is rewarded
with momentum you cannot manufacture any other way.

## Measuring their impact

The hardest part of running an ambassador programme is often justifying it internally, and the
answer is to measure properly. Tracking links make this possible: with them, you can attribute
gifts and donors directly to ambassador activity rather than guessing. A Hubbub consultant is
candid that "one of the difficulties that we sometimes have with our ambassador programmes is
justifying the ROI against time and effort spent recruiting, training and encouraging
participation. However, if you can start to look at that data behind your ambassador programme,
you can really quickly show that the time spent on ambassadors is very much worth it."

The numbers, looked at properly, tend to settle the argument. In the institutions Hubbub profiled,
ambassador contributions ranged from a handful of per cent of online gifts to a quarter or more.
In one example from a more mature programme, ambassadors caused 26 per cent of online gifts in a
single Giving Day. At the other end of the scale, an Oxbridge college running its first Giving Day
saw ambassadors cause only 5 per cent of gifts, which sounds modest until you learn that "without
that 5 per cent uplift from ambassadors, the Giving Day would have narrowly missed its target." A
small percentage can be the difference between hitting a target and missing it, which is exactly
the kind of result that earns a programme its place.

Two cautions on measurement. First, in year one, measure participation rather than income. "In
your first Giving Day, you may not see huge increases from ambassadors in particular," a Hubbub
consultant cautions, so the right early metric is how many ambassadors you recruited and how
active they were, not the amount they generated. Second, expect the impact to grow. "This grows
year on year. So while it may be 5 per cent in year one, it may be 10 per cent in year two, 15, it
grows and it compounds. You'll start to see not only the number of donors grow, but the number of
gifts caused by ambassadors grow as you grow and strengthen that ambassador programme." Measure
it, report it, and let the trend line make your case for you.

## Frequently asked questions

**What exactly is a fundraising ambassador?** A volunteer who promotes your campaign to their own
network and asks the people they know to give. In Hubbub's words, "a volunteer that is willing to
help your organisation meet and hopefully exceed the goals you have." They can be alumni, students,
staff, parents or any supporter willing to lend their voice.

**Do ambassadors really cause donations, or do they just give themselves?** They generate gifts
from others, which is the whole point. When the webinar was asked whether ambassador figures meant
their own gifts or gifts they generated, the answer was unambiguous: "They actually generated those
gifts themselves, which is exactly what we want them to do." The one-in-four conversion rate on an
ask from a friend is what makes them so effective.

**How many ambassadors should we aim for?** In year one, do not fix a precise target. Start with a
few lead volunteers, see how receptive people are, then set a number. As a guide, first-year goals
have ranged from 20 to 30 ambassadors at smaller institutions to 100 to 200 at larger ones,
depending on size and engagement.

**When should we start recruiting?** Recruit and train your lead volunteers around two to three
months before a Giving Day. Expect the wider pool to sign up late, often in the final fortnight,
because, as Hubbub's team explains, "we're a last-minute culture." Plan your recruitment push to
peak near the campaign rather than too far out.

**Which social media channel works best?** The one your audience already uses. There is no
universal answer: a younger audience leans towards Instagram, an older one towards Facebook.
Recruit where your supporters are, and lean on the channel where your engagement is already
strongest.

**Do small organisations have the resources to run a programme?** Yes, because you do not have to
do everything. Pick the techniques you are comfortable with, toolkits, videos or lead volunteers,
and start. The difference between running a campaign with ambassadors and without is, in Hubbub's
experience, dramatic even at modest scale.

Whether the gifts your ambassadors generate are tax-efficient depends on your country's rules, so
point supporters to local guidance rather than making promises on their behalf.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Ambassador recruitment email template](/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/)
- [Ambassador briefing pack](/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/)
- [Ambassador social toolkit](/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaged ambassador communities](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaged-ambassador-communities)
- [Hubbub blog: increasing donor engagement with Giving Day ambassadors](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/increasing-donor-engagement-with-giving-day-ambassadors)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to build a regular giving programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (canz/en): A practical guide to building a holistic, year-round regular and annual giving programme, covering acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-efficient giving, stewardship and retention, and how campaigns like giving days and telephone appeals feed it.
A regular giving programme, sometimes called an annual giving programme, is the engine room of
sustainable fundraising. It engages and acquires large numbers of individual supporters,
encourages them to give, retains and upgrades them year on year, and builds a pipeline towards
future leadership and major gifts. Where a major-gifts programme depends on a handful of
significant relationships, regular giving is about repeatable donations from large volumes of
people, and the predictable, renewable income that comes with them. Kat Carter, a consultant at
Hubbub, sums up the purpose this way: "Regular giving's purpose is really to engage and acquire
large volumes of individuals to give hopefully regular gifts to your institution, and then to be
able to upgrade and renew those donors on a regular basis, and then to cultivate future
leadership or major donors and to build a pipeline."

That last point, the pipeline, is what makes the programme matter. Regular giving is rarely the
most glamorous line in a fundraising strategy, but it is the one that quietly underwrites
everything else. It produces income you can forecast, it builds the warm, engaged base from which
your future major donors and legators will come, and over time it compounds. A donor acquired this
year, thanked well, upgraded and retained, can be worth many times their first gift across the
years that follow: not a single transaction, but a relationship with a lifetime value.

This guide sets out how to build such a programme from the ground up: why it matters, the
holistic year-round model that holds it together, how individual campaigns feed it, and the core
disciplines of acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-efficient giving, stewardship, data and measurement. It
closes with two university case studies and answers to the questions newcomers ask most often.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> [upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) and
> [donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Why regular giving matters

Three benefits sit at the heart of the case for regular giving, and they reinforce one another.

The first is **predictable income**. Regular gifts, especially those set up by automatic payment or
recurring card donation, give
you a dependable base you can budget against, rather than a series of one-off appeals you have to
win from scratch each year. That predictability is what lets a development office plan, invest and
grow with confidence.

The second is **retention**. It is far cheaper and more productive to keep and develop a donor you
already have than to acquire a new one. A well-run programme treats retention as its central
discipline, not an afterthought, and the difference shows up directly in income.

The third is **lifetime value**. Kat Carter pictures the programme as a funnel: a large group of
non-donors at the top, who you move down into regular giving, then on towards leadership and major
gifts, with stewardship running throughout to keep people engaged. "I like to see that you've got
a large group of non-donors," she says, "and you'll be encouraging them to move down into that
regular giving group, into leadership perhaps regular gifts and then on to major giving." People
move back up the funnel too, lapsing or needing to be re-engaged, "so it then turns into a kind of
cycle of donors." The job of the programme is to move people through that cycle and keep them in
it.

## The holistic, year-round model

One word runs through the whole approach: **holistic**. It is easy to fixate on a single channel,
a giving day, say, or a telephone appeal, and run it well while neglecting the parts of the
programme that feed it and follow it. A holistic programme instead considers all the parts, the
way they interact, and the whole. "It's about considering all parts of the programme," Kat Carter
explains, "the interactions they have with each other as well as the whole, so that you can be
growing your programme in a way that becomes sustainable."

In practice that means three things working together rather than in isolation: your **data**, the
**channels** you can use, and your **resource**. The order matters. Lead with your data, look at
the channels and the opportunities they open, and only then look at resource. As Kat Carter puts
it: "You're leading with your data, you're looking at your channels and the opportunities, and
then you're looking at your resource." Most teams instinctively start with resource, because it is
the constraint they feel most keenly: a sole fundraiser, a small team, a limited budget. But
starting there means missing opportunities. Starting with the data means you act on what your
supporters actually make possible.

The year-round part is just as important. A regular giving programme is not a campaign; it is a
cycle of activities run, evaluated and repeated. "Really, this is what regular giving is," Kat
Carter says. "It's these cycles of activities, running them, evaluating them again and again,
looking at changes, looking at similarities, looking for opportunities where you might be able to
find more donors." A typical year might run an email-led ask in the autumn, stewardship through
the year to keep donors warm and informed, a warm, targeted telephone appeal in the spring focused
on retention and upgrade, and direct mail layered in where the data supports it, then begin again.
The temptation is to judge a new activity after one year. Resist it. "You really need to repeat an
activity, I would say three times in order to understand the impact that it has," Kat Carter
advises: the first year gives you results, the second a comparison, and only the third lets you
see real trends. Build the case, and the budget, for a consistent three-year run rather than a
single year on its own.

## How campaigns feed the programme

This is where the wider fundraising calendar earns its place. A
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[telephone appeal](/canz/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) and crowdfunding are not rivals to
your regular giving programme; they are the channels that feed it. Each one acquires, engages or
upgrades donors who then belong inside the year-round cycle.

A **Giving Day** is one of the most efficient acquisition events you can run. It brings a surge of
new donors in over a short, energetic window, and it does something quieter that is just as
valuable: it captures data you can use later. In Hubbub's campaigns, "at least 70 per cent of
[giving day donors] leave a phone number that we can then use in a follow-up campaign." That is the
link between a giving day and the rest of the programme: you acquire the donor and their contact
details on the day, then steward and upgrade them through the year.

A **telephone appeal** plays a different but complementary role. Telephone acquisition of cold,
non-donors has become expensive, and the economics are unforgiving: email can return in the region
of fifteen dollars for every dollar spent, whereas acquiring a non-donor by phone might return six
dollars, or three, or as little as one. The smarter use of the phone now is warm and targeted. Take
the donors you acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail, put the ones whose number you
hold into a focused telephone appeal, and use the call to thank them, retain them, ask single-gift
donors to set up a regular gift, ask existing regular donors to upgrade, and perhaps open a legacy
conversation. "Maybe doing some legacy calls in there would be a better use of the telephone
campaign," Kat Carter notes. The phone is no longer the volume acquisition tool it once was; it is
a precision instrument for retention and upgrade.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is led by the groups and individuals raising for their own
projects. It widens the top of the funnel, bringing in donors who arrive through a cause they care
about and who can be stewarded towards your wider programme over time. The principle is the same in
every case: every campaign is an entry point, and the programme turns a one-off gift into a
relationship.

## Acquiring regular donors

Acquisition begins with your data, because your data tells you who you can reach and how. The first
move in a brand-new programme should always be to interrogate the data before doing anything else.
Look at the **quantity**: how many alumni, parents, community members or supporters you hold, and
how many you have phone numbers, postal addresses and email addresses for. Look at the **quality**:
are those details still valid? Look at how **complete** and **consistent** the records are, and at
**affinity**, how warm or cold each group feels towards you, which shapes both how likely they are
to give and how you should talk to them.

Much of the early work is unglamorous data cleaning. "You may spend your first part of creating
your regular giving programme in an Excel spreadsheet, in a database, cleaning your data," Kat
Carter says. "For those of us who have been in emerging or established programmes, we have all been
there. I feel like it's a little bit of a rite of passage." It is also genuinely valuable: you
emerge knowing exactly what you hold. Validation tools, such as Experian for addresses and phone
numbers and a service like Debounce for email, let you check what is good without the expense of
mailing or calling people whose details have gone stale. Then gather more: use the good data you
have to ask supporters to update the rest, through email, post, social channels such as LinkedIn
and Facebook, and alumni surveys.

With clean data in hand, you can match audiences to channels by likely return. For first-time
acquisition, email tends to be the strongest opportunity, with the best return on investment and
the advantage that gifts come in as cash at the point of acquisition rather than as a pledge to be
fulfilled over years. "Email is usually gifts made right at the time of acquisition," Kat Carter
explains. It suits segmented asks across multiple audiences and the soliciting of new donors,
especially in a programme's first couple of years. Direct mail, the most expensive channel, still
earns its place for highly segmented, warmer solicitation, particularly of supporters over forty
who feel warm towards you. The discipline is to run campaigns in the channels your data supports,
not where habit or tradition points.

## The ask and the upgrade

Acquisition and upgrade both come down to the strength of the ask, and the ask is more than the
moment of decision. It is the whole journey you take someone on, from interruption to gift. "You're
going to send them something that is going to interrupt them," Kat Carter says of any channel,
phone, post or email. "You want to have something that is going to engage and interrupt their day
in a positive way." From there you move them into the conversation through powerful storytelling
and genuine rapport, then to the decision, often anchored by a specific ask amount or a suggested
level, and then, crucially, you make it easy to give. Keep the reply mechanisms for direct mail
free of friction, and make sure an online giving form does not lose the donor at the last step. A
brilliant story squandered by a clumsy donation form is a gift lost.

The **upgrade** is where a regular giving programme compounds, and it is the natural job of warm
channels. A single-gift donor can be asked to set up a regular gift; an existing regular donor can
be asked to give a little more. This is exactly the work the telephone does well, and it works best
when the thanking and the asking sit close together: thank the donor personally for their last
gift, then make the case for stepping up. Lead each year's plan with email-led acquisition, then
build renewal and upgrade asks on top, and from the second year onwards add reactivation, pulling
lapsed donors back into the cycle. Our
[upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) gives you a warm,
structured ask to adapt.

## Tax-efficient giving

Tax-efficient giving works differently across Canada, Australia and New Zealand, so build the
benefit that applies to your supporters into the programme. In Canada, registered charities can
issue official donation receipts that let donors claim charitable tax credits. In Australia, gifts
to organisations endorsed as deductible gift recipients (DGRs) are generally tax-deductible for the
donor. In New Zealand, donors can claim donation tax credits on eligible gifts to approved donee
organisations. On a regular giving programme, with gifts repeating year after year, communicating
the relevant benefit clearly is worthwhile, and it costs your supporters nothing.

Two habits make the difference. First, make the tax position visible at the point of the ask, on
the donation form, on the phone, in the reply device, so that donors understand it as they give
rather than wondering afterwards. Build it into the donor journey rather than bolting it on. Second,
keep clean, complete records: the donor's name, address and gift details, so that you can issue
accurate receipts and acknowledgements that meet the requirements where you operate. A clear, prompt
receipt reassures donors and reinforces the relationship. Treat the tax benefit as part of the ask
and the thank-you, not a piece of administration, and it quietly supports the value of the whole
programme.

## Stewardship and retention: the core discipline

If there is one place to concentrate effort, it is here. Acquisition gets the attention, but
retention is what makes a programme sustainable, and stewardship is what drives retention. The
sharpest framing comes from regular giving expert Rosa Dale-Moore, whom Kat Carter quotes: "If
you're not going to retain them, don't ask them."

Stewardship is not a single thank-you email after a gift, or a card at Christmas. It is "a
repeatable thanking cadence that your donors receive in order to feel that their gift is valuable,
is worthwhile," so that when you ask again, they are more likely to say yes. The practical challenge
is that good stewardship is hard to deliver at volume, so be realistic and match the channel to the
relationship. If donors give by email, thank them by email; you do not also need to post them
something. If you are already calling donors for a regular or upgraded gift, use the call itself to
thank them personally first. And do not let the gap between the first gift and the first proper
thank-you, or the next ask, stretch too long. Stewardship is not a cost centre that sits outside the
programme; it is the part of the programme that makes every other part work.

## Using data and segmentation

Data work does not stop once a programme is up and running; it becomes a permanent rhythm. Gathering
and cleaning never stop, and analysis is a perennial summer task for regular giving teams, who use
the quiet months to evaluate the year and start the autumn with a refreshed strategy.

Segmentation turns a flat list into a programme. At a basic level that means grouping alumni,
parents and community members, and segmenting further by attributes such as age. More powerfully, it
means understanding your existing donors well enough to find more people who look like them. The
Hubbub model uses **RFM analysis**: recency (how long ago someone gave), frequency (how often) and
monetary value (how much). You profile your current donors on those three dimensions, then look
across your non-donor pools for people who resemble them, so your asks land where they are most
likely to convert. The same data discipline tells you which channels to deploy and on which
audiences: a warm, contactable group over forty with valid postal addresses might be a direct mail
opportunity, while a large, engaged email audience might be the place to run a giving day. The point
is to let evidence, not habit, decide the mix.

## Measuring success

Measure the things that tell you whether the programme is healthy, and measure them over time rather
than in a single year. Useful metrics include **participation** (Kat Carter favours the number of
donors over the participation rate, because in an educational setting people are always graduating
and the rate becomes a moving target you chase), **income raised**, and the flow of donors through
the cycle: how many you **acquire**, how many you **retain**, how many **lapse**, and how many move
up the pipeline to leadership or major gifts. Track the changes in those segments year on year, and
watch your **return on investment** by channel.

Three numbers deserve particular attention, because they capture the health of the whole discipline.
**Retention rate** tells you what proportion of donors give again, and it is the truest test of your
stewardship. **Lifetime value** tells you what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, the
figure that justifies investment in acquisition and care. **Attrition**, the rate at which donors
lapse, is the warning light: rising attrition means the funnel is leaking faster than you are
filling it, and it usually points back to stewardship. Read these together and over time, never one
year in isolation, and they will tell you where the programme is working and where to act.

## Case studies: Northumbria and Leeds

Two university programmes show the holistic model in practice.

**Northumbria University** has used Hubbub's Causes platform since January 2022 to power its
"Higher Education Without Barriers" campaign, which has raised **over £2.3m to support those most in
need across the Northumbria University community**. Rather than a single appeal, the campaign is
built across six distinct fundraising areas, each with its own donation page, and it is fed by
exactly the mix of channels described above: telethon (telephone) campaigns, direct mail and Giving
Tuesday appeals all running through one platform. The university grew its regular donor pool and, at
the end of 2022, ran what it describes as its most successful Giving Tuesday appeal to date. It is a
clear illustration of campaigns feeding a year-round programme rather than standing apart from it.

**The University of Leeds** adopted the Causes platform in 2023 and set a target of **£1m in 2023 to
2024**, which the team exceeded. Their experience underlines two themes from this guide. First, the
channel mix matters: the platform supports automatic payments and regular card donations alongside
integration with telephone campaigns and direct mail, and during their May 2023 appeal over a third
of income and donations came from people giving online. Second, removing friction from the ask pays
off directly: when the team stopped linking supporters to project pages and instead linked them
straight to donation pages, they "suddenly saw a huge increase in people converting to make a gift."
The money supports students and aims, in the team's words, to "level the playing field in terms of
the support they receive."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between regular giving and annual giving?** In practice the terms overlap
and are often used interchangeably. Both describe a programme that engages large numbers of
individual supporters and brings in repeatable gifts year after year. "Regular giving" tends to
emphasise ongoing committed gifts, often by automatic payment, while "annual giving" emphasises the
yearly cycle of appeals. The discipline is the same: acquire, ask, upgrade, steward and retain.

**Where should a brand-new programme start?** With your data. Before looking at channels or
resource, understand the quantity, quality, completeness and affinity of what you hold, clean it,
and gather more. Good data in means good data out, and it lets evidence, rather than guesswork, lead
your decisions.

**Are telephone appeals still worth running?** Yes, but for a different job than before. Cold
acquisition by phone has become expensive, so the strongest use now is warm and targeted: take
donors acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail and call them to thank, retain, upgrade
and, where appropriate, open legacy conversations. Think shorter calling periods and more focused
campaigns.

**How long before I can judge whether something is working?** Plan to repeat any activity around
three times. One year gives you results, two gives you a comparison, and three lets you see real
trends. Build the case for a consistent three-year run rather than judging a new channel after a
single year.

**What is the most important thing to get right?** Stewardship and retention. As the sector maxim
goes, if you are not going to retain donors, do not ask them. A repeatable thanking cadence that
makes donors feel valued is what turns a one-off gift into a lifetime of giving, and it is the
single biggest driver of a sustainable programme.

**How does tax-efficient giving fit in?** It varies across the region: Canada offers charitable tax
receipts, Australia gives deductions for gifts to DGR-endorsed charities, and New Zealand offers
donation tax credits. Make the position that applies to your donors visible at the point of the ask,
keep clean records of name, address and gift details, and issue accurate, prompt receipts.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating a holistic year-round regular giving programme](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Case studies: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) and [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a telephone appeal](/canz/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man ein Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden aufbaut](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zum Aufbau eines ganzheitlichen, ganzjährigen Programms für regelmäßiges und jährliches Spenden, das Akquise, die Bitte und die Erhöhung, steuerbegünstigtes Spenden, Betreuung und Bindung abdeckt sowie die Frage, wie Kampagnen wie Spendentage und Telefonaktionen es speisen.
Ein Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden, manchmal auch als Programm für jährliches Spenden bezeichnet,
ist der Maschinenraum nachhaltiger Fundraising-Arbeit. Es bindet und gewinnt große Zahlen
einzelner Förderer, ermutigt sie zum Spenden, hält sie und erhöht ihre Gaben Jahr für Jahr und baut
eine Pipeline hin zu künftigen Führungs- und Großspenden auf. Wo ein Großspendenprogramm von einer
Handvoll bedeutender Beziehungen abhängt, geht es beim regelmäßigen Spenden um wiederholbare Gaben
großer Mengen von Menschen und um die vorhersehbaren, erneuerbaren Einnahmen, die damit
einhergehen. Kat Carter, Beraterin bei Hubbub, fasst den Zweck so zusammen: "Der Zweck des
regelmäßigen Spendens ist es wirklich, große Mengen von Einzelpersonen zu binden und zu gewinnen,
damit sie Ihrer Institution hoffentlich regelmäßige Gaben zukommen lassen, und dann diese Spender
regelmäßig erhöhen und erneuern zu können, und schließlich künftige Führungs- oder Großspender
heranzubilden und eine Pipeline aufzubauen."

Dieser letzte Punkt, die Pipeline, ist das, was das Programm bedeutsam macht. Regelmäßiges Spenden
ist selten die glanzvollste Zeile einer Fundraising-Strategie, aber es ist diejenige, die im
Stillen alles andere absichert. Es erzeugt Einnahmen, die Sie prognostizieren können, es baut die
warme, engagierte Basis auf, aus der Ihre künftigen Großspender und Erblasser hervorgehen werden,
und mit der Zeit summiert es sich auf. Ein in diesem Jahr gewonnener, gut bedankter, in der Gabe
erhöhter und gebundener Spender kann im Lauf der folgenden Jahre ein Vielfaches seiner ersten Gabe
wert sein: keine einzelne Transaktion, sondern eine Beziehung mit einem Lebenszeitwert.

Dieser Leitfaden legt dar, wie man ein solches Programm von Grund auf aufbaut: warum es wichtig ist,
das ganzheitliche, ganzjährige Modell, das es zusammenhält, wie einzelne Kampagnen es speisen und
die Kerndisziplinen Akquise, die Bitte und die Erhöhung, steuerbegünstigtes Spenden, Betreuung,
Daten und Messung. Er schließt mit zwei universitären Fallstudien und mit Antworten auf die Fragen,
die Neueinsteiger am häufigsten stellen.

> **Einsatzbereite Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Programmplan-Vorlage für regelmäßiges Spenden](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> unsere [Vorlage für die Erhöhungsbitte](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) und unsere
> [Vorlage zur Kartierung der Spenderreise](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)
> herunterzuladen.

## Warum regelmäßiges Spenden wichtig ist

Drei Vorteile bilden den Kern der Argumente für regelmäßiges Spenden, und sie verstärken einander.

Der erste sind **vorhersehbare Einnahmen**. Regelmäßige Gaben, vor allem solche, die per
Lastschrift oder als wiederkehrende Kartenspende eingerichtet werden, geben Ihnen eine verlässliche
Basis, gegen die Sie budgetieren können, statt einer Reihe einmaliger Aufrufe, die Sie jedes Jahr
von Grund auf gewinnen müssen. Diese Vorhersehbarkeit ist es, die es einer Entwicklungsabteilung
erlaubt, zuversichtlich zu planen, zu investieren und zu wachsen.

Der zweite ist die **Bindung**. Es ist weit günstiger und produktiver, einen Spender, den Sie schon
haben, zu halten und weiterzuentwickeln, als einen neuen zu gewinnen. Ein gut geführtes Programm
behandelt die Bindung als seine zentrale Disziplin, nicht als nachträglichen Einfall, und der
Unterschied zeigt sich unmittelbar in den Einnahmen.

Der dritte ist der **Lebenszeitwert**. Kat Carter stellt sich das Programm als Trichter vor: oben
eine große Gruppe von Nicht-Spendern, die Sie nach unten in das regelmäßige Spenden bewegen, dann
weiter hin zu Führungs- und Großspenden, wobei die Betreuung das Ganze durchzieht, um die Menschen
engagiert zu halten. "Ich sehe es gern so, dass Sie eine große Gruppe von Nicht-Spendern haben",
sagt sie, "und Sie werden sie ermutigen, in diese Gruppe des regelmäßigen Spendens
hinabzusteigen, vielleicht ins Führungsspenden, zu regelmäßigen Gaben und dann weiter zum
Großspenden." Menschen steigen auch im Trichter wieder auf, fallen ab oder müssen erneut aktiviert
werden, "und so wird daraus eine Art Spenderkreislauf." Die Aufgabe des Programms ist es, die
Menschen durch diesen Kreislauf zu bewegen und sie darin zu halten.

## Das ganzheitliche, ganzjährige Modell

Ein Wort durchzieht den ganzen Ansatz: **ganzheitlich**. Es ist leicht, sich auf einen einzigen
Kanal zu fixieren, etwa einen Spendentag oder eine Telefonaktion, und ihn gut durchzuführen, während
man die Teile des Programms vernachlässigt, die ihn speisen und ihm folgen. Ein ganzheitliches
Programm betrachtet stattdessen alle Teile, die Art, wie sie zusammenwirken, und das Ganze. "Es geht
darum, alle Teile des Programms zu betrachten", erklärt Kat Carter, "die Wechselwirkungen, die sie
miteinander haben, sowie das Ganze, damit Sie Ihr Programm auf eine Weise wachsen lassen können, die
nachhaltig wird."

In der Praxis bedeutet das, dass drei Dinge zusammenwirken statt isoliert: Ihre **Daten**, die
**Kanäle**, die Sie nutzen können, und Ihre **Ressourcen**. Die Reihenfolge ist wichtig. Gehen Sie
von Ihren Daten aus, betrachten Sie die Kanäle und die Chancen, die sie eröffnen, und sehen Sie erst
dann auf die Ressourcen. Wie Kat Carter es ausdrückt: "Sie gehen von Ihren Daten aus, Sie betrachten
Ihre Kanäle und die Chancen, und dann betrachten Sie Ihre Ressourcen." Die meisten Teams beginnen
instinktiv mit den Ressourcen, weil das die Beschränkung ist, die sie am stärksten spüren: ein
einzelner Fundraiser, ein kleines Team, ein begrenztes Budget. Aber dort zu beginnen bedeutet, Chancen
zu verpassen. Bei den Daten zu beginnen bedeutet, auf das zu reagieren, was Ihre Förderer tatsächlich
möglich machen.

Der ganzjährige Teil ist ebenso wichtig. Ein Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden ist keine Kampagne;
es ist ein Kreislauf von Aktivitäten, die durchgeführt, ausgewertet und wiederholt werden. "Das ist
wirklich, was regelmäßiges Spenden ausmacht", sagt Kat Carter. "Es sind diese Aktivitätskreisläufe,
sie durchzuführen, sie immer wieder auszuwerten, nach Veränderungen zu suchen, nach Ähnlichkeiten zu
suchen, nach Chancen zu suchen, wo Sie vielleicht mehr Spender finden könnten." Ein typisches Jahr
könnte eine per E-Mail geführte Bitte im Herbst umfassen, Betreuung über das ganze Jahr, um die
Spender warm und informiert zu halten, eine warme, gezielte Telefonaktion im Frühjahr mit Fokus auf
Bindung und Erhöhung sowie Direktwerbung dort, wo die Daten es stützen, und dann beginnt es von
vorn. Die Versuchung ist, eine neue Aktivität nach einem Jahr zu beurteilen. Widerstehen Sie ihr.
"Sie müssen eine Aktivität wirklich, würde ich sagen, dreimal wiederholen, um die Wirkung zu
verstehen, die sie hat", rät Kat Carter: Das erste Jahr gibt Ihnen Ergebnisse, das zweite einen
Vergleich, und erst das dritte lässt Sie echte Trends erkennen. Bauen Sie die Argumentation und das
Budget für einen konsistenten Drei-Jahres-Lauf auf, statt für ein einzelnes Jahr für sich.

## Wie Kampagnen das Programm speisen

Hier verdient sich der breitere Fundraising-Kalender seinen Platz. Ein
[Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/), eine
[Telefonaktion](/europe/de/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) und Crowdfunding sind keine Rivalen
Ihres Programms für regelmäßiges Spenden; sie sind die Kanäle, die es speisen. Jeder gewinnt, bindet
oder erhöht Spender, die dann in den ganzjährigen Kreislauf gehören.

Ein **Spendentag** ist eines der effizientesten Akquise-Ereignisse, die Sie durchführen können. Er
bringt in einem kurzen, energiegeladenen Zeitfenster einen Schub neuer Spender herein, und er tut
etwas Stilleres, das ebenso wertvoll ist: Er erfasst Daten, die Sie später nutzen können. In Hubbubs
Kampagnen "hinterlassen mindestens 70 Prozent der [Spendentag-Spender] eine Telefonnummer, die wir
dann in einer Folgekampagne verwenden können." Das ist die Verbindung zwischen einem Spendentag und
dem Rest des Programms: Sie gewinnen den Spender und seine Kontaktdaten am Tag selbst und betreuen
ihn dann das Jahr über und erhöhen seine Gabe.

Eine **Telefonaktion** spielt eine andere, aber ergänzende Rolle. Die telefonische Akquise kalter
Nicht-Spender ist teuer geworden, und die Wirtschaftlichkeit ist gnadenlos: E-Mail kann in der
Größenordnung von fünfzehn Euro für jeden ausgegebenen Euro zurückbringen, während die Gewinnung
eines Nicht-Spenders per Telefon vielleicht sechs Euro zurückbringt, oder drei, oder gerade einmal
einen. Die klügere Nutzung des Telefons ist heute warm und gezielt. Nehmen Sie die Spender, die Sie
per E-Mail, einen Spendentag oder Direktwerbung gewonnen haben, bringen Sie diejenigen, deren Nummer
Sie haben, in eine fokussierte Telefonaktion und nutzen Sie das Gespräch, um ihnen zu danken, sie zu
binden, Einmalspender zu bitten, eine regelmäßige Gabe einzurichten, bestehende regelmäßige Spender
um eine Erhöhung zu bitten und vielleicht ein Vermächtnisgespräch zu eröffnen. "Vielleicht wären
einige Vermächtnisanrufe darin eine bessere Nutzung der Telefonkampagne", merkt Kat Carter an. Das
Telefon ist nicht mehr das Massenakquise-Werkzeug, das es einst war; es ist ein Präzisionsinstrument
für Bindung und Erhöhung.

**Crowdfunding** läuft ganzjährig und wird von den Gruppen und Einzelpersonen getragen, die für ihre
eigenen Projekte sammeln. Es verbreitert die Spitze des Trichters, indem es Spender hereinbringt, die
über eine ihnen am Herzen liegende Sache kommen und die mit der Zeit hin zu Ihrem breiteren Programm
betreut werden können. Das Prinzip ist in jedem Fall dasselbe: Jede Kampagne ist ein Einstiegspunkt,
und das Programm verwandelt eine einmalige Gabe in eine Beziehung.

## Regelmäßige Spender gewinnen

Akquise beginnt mit Ihren Daten, denn Ihre Daten sagen Ihnen, wen Sie erreichen können und wie. Der
erste Schritt in einem brandneuen Programm sollte immer sein, die Daten zu hinterfragen, bevor man
irgendetwas anderes tut. Betrachten Sie die **Quantität**: wie viele Alumni, Eltern,
Gemeindemitglieder oder Förderer Sie haben und für wie viele von ihnen Sie Telefonnummern,
Postanschriften und E-Mail-Adressen besitzen. Betrachten Sie die **Qualität**: Sind diese Angaben
noch gültig? Sehen Sie, wie **vollständig** und **konsistent** die Datensätze sind, und auf die
**Affinität**, also wie warm oder kalt sich jede Gruppe Ihnen gegenüber fühlt, was sowohl ihre
Spendenwahrscheinlichkeit prägt als auch die Art, wie Sie mit ihr sprechen sollten.

Ein Großteil der frühen Arbeit ist unglamouröse Datenbereinigung. "Sie verbringen den ersten Teil
der Erstellung Ihres Programms für regelmäßiges Spenden vielleicht in einer Excel-Tabelle, in einer
Datenbank, mit dem Bereinigen Ihrer Daten", sagt Kat Carter. "Für diejenigen von uns, die in
entstehenden oder etablierten Programmen waren, wir alle waren dort. Ich habe das Gefühl, es ist ein
bisschen wie ein Initiationsritus." Es ist auch wirklich wertvoll: Sie gehen daraus hervor und
wissen genau, was Sie haben. Validierungswerkzeuge wie Experian für Adressen und Telefonnummern und
ein Dienst wie Debounce für E-Mail erlauben Ihnen zu prüfen, was gut ist, ohne die Kosten, Menschen
anzuschreiben oder anzurufen, deren Angaben veraltet sind. Sammeln Sie dann mehr: Nutzen Sie die
guten Daten, die Sie haben, um Förderer zu bitten, den Rest zu aktualisieren, per E-Mail, per Post,
über soziale Kanäle wie LinkedIn und Facebook und über Alumni-Umfragen.

Mit sauberen Daten in der Hand können Sie Zielgruppen nach dem wahrscheinlichen Ertrag an Kanäle
anpassen. Für die Erstakquise ist E-Mail tendenziell die stärkste Chance, mit dem besten Return on
Investment und dem Vorteil, dass die Gaben als Barmittel zum Zeitpunkt der Akquise hereinkommen statt
als ein über Jahre zu erfüllendes Versprechen. "E-Mail bedeutet meist Gaben, die genau zum Zeitpunkt
der Akquise gemacht werden", erklärt Kat Carter. Sie eignet sich für segmentierte Bitten über mehrere
Zielgruppen und für das Werben neuer Spender, besonders in den ersten beiden Jahren eines Programms.
Direktwerbung, der teuerste Kanal, verdient sich ihren Platz immer noch für hochsegmentierte, wärmere
Ansprachen, insbesondere von Förderern über vierzig, die sich Ihnen warm gegenüber fühlen. Die
Disziplin besteht darin, Kampagnen in den Kanälen durchzuführen, die Ihre Daten stützen, und nicht
dort, wohin Gewohnheit oder Tradition zeigen.

## Die Bitte und die Erhöhung

Akquise und Erhöhung laufen beide auf die Stärke der Bitte hinaus, und die Bitte ist mehr als der
Moment der Entscheidung. Sie ist die ganze Reise, auf die Sie jemanden mitnehmen, von der
Unterbrechung bis zur Gabe. "Sie werden ihnen etwas schicken, das sie unterbrechen wird", sagt Kat
Carter über jeden Kanal, Telefon, Post oder E-Mail. "Sie wollen etwas haben, das ihren Tag auf
positive Weise binden und unterbrechen wird." Von dort führen Sie sie durch kraftvolles Erzählen und
echtes Vertrauen in das Gespräch, dann zur Entscheidung, oft verankert durch einen konkreten
Bittbetrag oder eine vorgeschlagene Stufe, und dann, ganz entscheidend, machen Sie das Spenden
einfach. Halten Sie die Antwortmechanismen für Direktwerbung frei von Reibung und stellen Sie
sicher, dass ein Online-Spendenformular den Spender nicht im letzten Schritt verliert. Eine
brillante Geschichte, die durch ein ungeschicktes Spendenformular verschleudert wird, ist eine
verlorene Gabe.

Die **Erhöhung** ist der Punkt, an dem sich ein Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden aufsummiert, und
sie ist die natürliche Aufgabe warmer Kanäle. Ein Einmalspender kann gebeten werden, eine
regelmäßige Gabe einzurichten; ein bestehender regelmäßiger Spender kann gebeten werden, ein wenig
mehr zu geben. Das ist genau die Arbeit, die das Telefon gut leistet, und sie funktioniert am besten,
wenn der Dank und die Bitte nah beieinander liegen: Danken Sie dem Spender persönlich für seine
letzte Gabe und begründen Sie dann, warum er einen Schritt nach oben gehen sollte. Beginnen Sie den
Plan jedes Jahres mit per E-Mail geführter Akquise, bauen Sie darauf Erneuerungs- und
Erhöhungsbitten auf und fügen Sie ab dem zweiten Jahr die Reaktivierung hinzu, indem Sie abgefallene
Spender zurück in den Kreislauf holen. Unsere
[Vorlage für die Erhöhungsbitte](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) gibt Ihnen eine
warme, strukturierte Bitte zum Anpassen.

## Steuerbegünstigtes Spenden

Steuerbegünstigtes Spenden ist in ganz Europa unterschiedlich, bauen Sie also den Vorteil, der für
Ihre Förderer gilt, in das Programm ein. Viele europäische Länder bieten ihren Einwohnern einen
Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung auf Gaben an gemeinnützige Organisationen, was das Spenden
weiter reichen lassen kann, ohne zusätzliche Kosten für den Spender. Für Spender, die grenzübergreifend
innerhalb Europas geben, ist Transnational Giving Europe ein Netzwerk, das es ermöglichen kann, dass
eine Gabe an eine gemeinnützige Organisation in einem anderen Mitgliedsland für eine Steuererleichterung
im eigenen Land des Spenders qualifiziert. In einem Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden, mit Gaben, die
sich Jahr für Jahr wiederholen, lohnt es sich, den jeweils relevanten Vorteil klar zu kommunizieren, und
es kostet Ihre Förderer nichts.

Zwei Gewohnheiten machen den Unterschied. Erstens: Machen Sie die steuerliche Lage am Punkt der Bitte
sichtbar, auf dem Spendenformular, am Telefon, auf dem Antwortmittel, sodass Spender sie verstehen,
während sie geben, statt sich danach zu fragen. Bauen Sie sie in die Spenderreise ein, statt sie
anzuhängen. Zweitens: Führen Sie saubere, vollständige Aufzeichnungen: Name, Adresse und
Gabendetails des Spenders, damit Sie genaue Quittungen und Bestätigungen ausstellen können, die den
Anforderungen im jeweiligen Land entsprechen. Eine klare, prompte Quittung beruhigt Spender und
stärkt die Beziehung. Behandeln Sie den Steuervorteil als Teil der Bitte und des Dankes, nicht als
ein Stück Verwaltung, und er stützt im Stillen den Wert des ganzen Programms.

## Betreuung und Bindung: die Kerndisziplin

Wenn es einen Ort gibt, an dem man die Anstrengung bündeln sollte, dann hier. Akquise bekommt die
Aufmerksamkeit, aber Bindung ist das, was ein Programm nachhaltig macht, und Betreuung ist das, was
die Bindung antreibt. Die schärfste Formulierung stammt von der Expertin für regelmäßiges Spenden
Rosa Dale-Moore, die Kat Carter zitiert: "Wenn Sie sie nicht binden wollen, bitten Sie sie nicht."

Betreuung ist keine einzelne Dank-E-Mail nach einer Gabe oder eine Karte zu Weihnachten. Sie ist
"eine wiederholbare Dankeskadenz, die Ihre Spender erhalten, damit sie das Gefühl haben, dass ihre
Gabe wertvoll ist, sich lohnt", sodass sie, wenn Sie erneut bitten, eher Ja sagen. Die praktische
Herausforderung ist, dass gute Betreuung schwer in großem Umfang zu leisten ist, also seien Sie
realistisch und passen Sie den Kanal an die Beziehung an. Wenn Spender per E-Mail geben, danken Sie
ihnen per E-Mail; Sie müssen ihnen nicht zusätzlich etwas per Post schicken. Wenn Sie Spender
ohnehin für eine regelmäßige oder erhöhte Gabe anrufen, nutzen Sie das Gespräch selbst, um ihnen
zuerst persönlich zu danken. Und lassen Sie die Lücke zwischen der ersten Gabe und dem ersten
richtigen Dank oder der nächsten Bitte nicht zu lang werden. Betreuung ist keine Kostenstelle, die
außerhalb des Programms sitzt; sie ist der Teil des Programms, der jeden anderen Teil zum Laufen
bringt.

## Daten und Segmentierung nutzen

Die Datenarbeit hört nicht auf, sobald ein Programm läuft; sie wird zu einem dauerhaften Rhythmus.
Sammeln und Bereinigen hören nie auf, und die Analyse ist eine immer wiederkehrende Sommeraufgabe für
Teams des regelmäßigen Spendens, die die ruhigen Monate nutzen, um das Jahr auszuwerten und den
Herbst mit einer erneuerten Strategie zu beginnen.

Segmentierung macht aus einer flachen Liste ein Programm. Auf einer Grundebene heißt das, Alumni,
Eltern und Gemeindemitglieder zu gruppieren und weiter nach Merkmalen wie dem Alter zu segmentieren.
Wirkungsvoller heißt es, Ihre bestehenden Spender gut genug zu verstehen, um mehr Menschen zu finden,
die ihnen ähneln. Das Hubbub-Modell nutzt die **RFM-Analyse**: Recency (wie lange jemandes Gabe her
ist), Frequency (wie oft) und monetärer Wert (wie viel). Sie profilieren Ihre aktuellen Spender auf
diesen drei Dimensionen und durchsuchen dann Ihre Nicht-Spender-Pools nach Menschen, die ihnen
ähneln, damit Ihre Bitten dort landen, wo sie am wahrscheinlichsten konvertieren. Dieselbe
Datendisziplin sagt Ihnen, welche Kanäle Sie einsetzen sollten und bei welchen Zielgruppen: eine
warme, erreichbare Gruppe über vierzig mit gültigen Postanschriften könnte eine Chance für
Direktwerbung sein, während eine große, engagierte E-Mail-Zielgruppe der Ort sein könnte, an dem man
einen Spendentag durchführt. Der Punkt ist, die Belege, nicht die Gewohnheit, über die Mischung
entscheiden zu lassen.

## Erfolg messen

Messen Sie die Dinge, die Ihnen sagen, ob das Programm gesund ist, und messen Sie sie über die Zeit
statt in einem einzelnen Jahr. Nützliche Kennzahlen umfassen die **Beteiligung** (Kat Carter
bevorzugt die Zahl der Spender gegenüber der Beteiligungsquote, weil in einem Bildungsumfeld ständig
Menschen ihren Abschluss machen und die Quote zu einem beweglichen Ziel wird, dem man hinterherjagt),
die **erzielten Einnahmen** und den Fluss der Spender durch den Kreislauf: wie viele Sie
**gewinnen**, wie viele Sie **binden**, wie viele **abfallen** und wie viele die Pipeline hinauf zu
Führungs- oder Großspenden aufsteigen. Verfolgen Sie die Veränderungen in diesen Segmenten von Jahr
zu Jahr und beobachten Sie Ihren **Return on Investment** je Kanal.

Drei Zahlen verdienen besondere Aufmerksamkeit, weil sie die Gesundheit der ganzen Disziplin
erfassen. Die **Bindungsquote** sagt Ihnen, welcher Anteil der Spender erneut gibt, und sie ist der
wahrhaftigste Test Ihrer Betreuung. Der **Lebenszeitwert** sagt Ihnen, was ein Spender über die
gesamte Beziehung wert ist, die Zahl, die die Investition in Akquise und Pflege rechtfertigt. Die
**Abwanderung**, die Rate, mit der Spender abfallen, ist die Warnleuchte: steigende Abwanderung
bedeutet, dass der Trichter schneller leckt, als Sie ihn füllen, und sie verweist meist zurück auf
die Betreuung. Lesen Sie diese zusammen und über die Zeit, niemals ein Jahr für sich, und sie werden
Ihnen sagen, wo das Programm funktioniert und wo zu handeln ist.

## Fallstudien: Northumbria und Leeds

Zwei universitäre Programme zeigen das ganzheitliche Modell in der Praxis.

**Die Northumbria University** nutzt seit Januar 2022 Hubbubs Causes-Plattform, um ihre Kampagne
"Higher Education Without Barriers" anzutreiben, die **über 2,3 Millionen Pfund eingebracht hat, um
die Bedürftigsten in der Gemeinschaft der Northumbria University zu unterstützen**. Statt eines
einzelnen Aufrufs ist die Kampagne über sechs eigenständige Fundraising-Bereiche aufgebaut, jeder mit
einer eigenen Spendenseite, und sie wird von genau der oben beschriebenen Kanalmischung gespeist:
Telethon-Kampagnen (Telefon), Direktwerbung und Giving-Tuesday-Aufrufe, die alle über eine einzige
Plattform laufen. Die Universität ließ ihren Pool regelmäßiger Spender wachsen und führte Ende 2022
das durch, was sie als ihren bislang erfolgreichsten Giving-Tuesday-Aufruf beschreibt. Es ist eine
klare Veranschaulichung dafür, wie Kampagnen ein ganzjähriges Programm speisen, statt abseits davon
zu stehen.

**Die University of Leeds** übernahm die Causes-Plattform 2023 und setzte sich ein Ziel von **1
Million Pfund in 2023 bis 2024**, das das Team übertraf. Ihre Erfahrung unterstreicht zwei Themen
dieses Leitfadens. Erstens ist die Kanalmischung wichtig: Die Plattform unterstützt Lastschrift und
regelmäßige Kartenspenden neben der Integration mit Telefonkampagnen und Direktwerbung, und während
ihres Aufrufs im Mai 2023 kam über ein Drittel der Einnahmen und Gaben von Menschen, die online
spendeten. Zweitens zahlt es sich direkt aus, Reibung aus der Bitte zu nehmen: Als das Team aufhörte,
Förderer zu Projektseiten zu verlinken, und sie stattdessen direkt zu Spendenseiten verlinkte, sah es
"plötzlich einen enormen Anstieg an Menschen, die zur Gabe konvertierten." Das Geld unterstützt
Studierende und zielt, in den Worten des Teams, darauf ab, "die Chancengleichheit hinsichtlich der
Unterstützung, die sie erhalten, herzustellen."

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Was ist der Unterschied zwischen regelmäßigem Spenden und jährlichem Spenden?** In der Praxis
überschneiden sich die Begriffe und werden oft austauschbar verwendet. Beide beschreiben ein
Programm, das große Zahlen einzelner Förderer bindet und Jahr für Jahr wiederholbare Gaben
hereinholt. "Regelmäßiges Spenden" betont eher fortlaufende, verbindliche Gaben, oft per Lastschrift,
während "jährliches Spenden" den jährlichen Aufruf-Zyklus betont. Die Disziplin ist dieselbe:
gewinnen, bitten, erhöhen, betreuen und binden.

**Wo sollte ein brandneues Programm beginnen?** Mit Ihren Daten. Bevor Sie Kanäle oder Ressourcen
betrachten, verstehen Sie die Quantität, Qualität, Vollständigkeit und Affinität dessen, was Sie
haben, bereinigen Sie es und sammeln Sie mehr. Gute Daten hinein bedeutet gute Daten heraus, und es
lässt Belege statt Mutmaßungen Ihre Entscheidungen anführen.

**Lohnen sich Telefonaktionen noch?** Ja, aber für eine andere Aufgabe als zuvor. Kalte Akquise per
Telefon ist teuer geworden, also ist die stärkste Nutzung heute warm und gezielt: Nehmen Sie per
E-Mail, einen Spendentag oder Direktwerbung gewonnene Spender und rufen Sie sie an, um zu danken, zu
binden, zu erhöhen und, wo angebracht, Vermächtnisgespräche zu eröffnen. Denken Sie an kürzere
Anrufzeiträume und stärker fokussierte Kampagnen.

**Wie lange dauert es, bis ich beurteilen kann, ob etwas funktioniert?** Planen Sie, jede Aktivität
etwa dreimal zu wiederholen. Ein Jahr gibt Ihnen Ergebnisse, zwei geben einen Vergleich und drei
lassen Sie echte Trends erkennen. Bauen Sie die Argumentation für einen konsistenten
Drei-Jahres-Lauf auf, statt einen neuen Kanal nach einem einzelnen Jahr zu beurteilen.

**Was ist das Wichtigste, das man richtig machen muss?** Betreuung und Bindung. Wie das Branchen-
Sprichwort sagt: Wenn Sie Spender nicht binden wollen, bitten Sie sie nicht. Eine wiederholbare
Dankeskadenz, die Spendern das Gefühl gibt, geschätzt zu werden, ist das, was eine einmalige Gabe in
ein Leben des Spendens verwandelt, und sie ist der größte einzelne Treiber eines nachhaltigen
Programms.

**Wie fügt sich steuerbegünstigtes Spenden ein?** Viele europäische Länder bieten Spendern einen
Steuerabzug oder eine Ermäßigung auf förderfähige Gaben, und grenzübergreifende Gaben innerhalb
Europas können manchmal Transnational Giving Europe nutzen, um sich für eine Erleichterung zu
qualifizieren. Machen Sie die Lage, die für Ihre Spender gilt, am Punkt der Bitte sichtbar, führen
Sie saubere Aufzeichnungen von Name, Adresse und Gabendetails und stellen Sie genaue, prompte
Quittungen aus.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Programmplan-Vorlage für regelmäßiges Spenden](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Vorlage für die Erhöhungsbitte](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Vorlage zur Kartierung der Spenderreise](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Prüfer](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie den Text Ihrer Aufrufe und E-Mails
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- [Webinar: ein ganzheitliches, ganzjähriges Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden schaffen](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Fallstudien: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) und [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie man einen Spendentag durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) und [Wie man eine Telefonaktion durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr.

- [How to build a regular giving programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (europe/en): A practical guide to building a holistic, year-round regular and annual giving programme, covering acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-efficient giving, stewardship and retention, and how campaigns like giving days and telephone appeals feed it.
A regular giving programme, sometimes called an annual giving programme, is the engine room of
sustainable fundraising. It engages and acquires large numbers of individual supporters,
encourages them to give, retains and upgrades them year on year, and builds a pipeline towards
future leadership and major gifts. Where a major-gifts programme depends on a handful of
significant relationships, regular giving is about repeatable donations from large volumes of
people, and the predictable, renewable income that comes with them. Kat Carter, a consultant at
Hubbub, sums up the purpose this way: "Regular giving's purpose is really to engage and acquire
large volumes of individuals to give hopefully regular gifts to your institution, and then to be
able to upgrade and renew those donors on a regular basis, and then to cultivate future
leadership or major donors and to build a pipeline."

That last point, the pipeline, is what makes the programme matter. Regular giving is rarely the
most glamorous line in a fundraising strategy, but it is the one that quietly underwrites
everything else. It produces income you can forecast, it builds the warm, engaged base from which
your future major donors and legators will come, and over time it compounds. A donor acquired this
year, thanked well, upgraded and retained, can be worth many times their first gift across the
years that follow: not a single transaction, but a relationship with a lifetime value.

This guide sets out how to build such a programme from the ground up: why it matters, the
holistic year-round model that holds it together, how individual campaigns feed it, and the core
disciplines of acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-efficient giving, stewardship, data and measurement. It
closes with two university case studies and answers to the questions newcomers ask most often.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> [upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) and
> [donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Why regular giving matters

Three benefits sit at the heart of the case for regular giving, and they reinforce one another.

The first is **predictable income**. Regular gifts, especially those set up by direct debit or
recurring card donation, give
you a dependable base you can budget against, rather than a series of one-off appeals you have to
win from scratch each year. That predictability is what lets a development office plan, invest and
grow with confidence.

The second is **retention**. It is far cheaper and more productive to keep and develop a donor you
already have than to acquire a new one. A well-run programme treats retention as its central
discipline, not an afterthought, and the difference shows up directly in income.

The third is **lifetime value**. Kat Carter pictures the programme as a funnel: a large group of
non-donors at the top, who you move down into regular giving, then on towards leadership and major
gifts, with stewardship running throughout to keep people engaged. "I like to see that you've got
a large group of non-donors," she says, "and you'll be encouraging them to move down into that
regular giving group, into leadership perhaps regular gifts and then on to major giving." People
move back up the funnel too, lapsing or needing to be re-engaged, "so it then turns into a kind of
cycle of donors." The job of the programme is to move people through that cycle and keep them in
it.

## The holistic, year-round model

One word runs through the whole approach: **holistic**. It is easy to fixate on a single channel,
a giving day, say, or a telephone appeal, and run it well while neglecting the parts of the
programme that feed it and follow it. A holistic programme instead considers all the parts, the
way they interact, and the whole. "It's about considering all parts of the programme," Kat Carter
explains, "the interactions they have with each other as well as the whole, so that you can be
growing your programme in a way that becomes sustainable."

In practice that means three things working together rather than in isolation: your **data**, the
**channels** you can use, and your **resource**. The order matters. Lead with your data, look at
the channels and the opportunities they open, and only then look at resource. As Kat Carter puts
it: "You're leading with your data, you're looking at your channels and the opportunities, and
then you're looking at your resource." Most teams instinctively start with resource, because it is
the constraint they feel most keenly: a sole fundraiser, a small team, a limited budget. But
starting there means missing opportunities. Starting with the data means you act on what your
supporters actually make possible.

The year-round part is just as important. A regular giving programme is not a campaign; it is a
cycle of activities run, evaluated and repeated. "Really, this is what regular giving is," Kat
Carter says. "It's these cycles of activities, running them, evaluating them again and again,
looking at changes, looking at similarities, looking for opportunities where you might be able to
find more donors." A typical year might run an email-led ask in the autumn, stewardship through
the year to keep donors warm and informed, a warm, targeted telephone appeal in the spring focused
on retention and upgrade, and direct mail layered in where the data supports it, then begin again.
The temptation is to judge a new activity after one year. Resist it. "You really need to repeat an
activity, I would say three times in order to understand the impact that it has," Kat Carter
advises: the first year gives you results, the second a comparison, and only the third lets you
see real trends. Build the case, and the budget, for a consistent three-year run rather than a
single year on its own.

## How campaigns feed the programme

This is where the wider fundraising calendar earns its place. A
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[telephone appeal](/europe/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) and crowdfunding are not rivals to
your regular giving programme; they are the channels that feed it. Each one acquires, engages or
upgrades donors who then belong inside the year-round cycle.

A **Giving Day** is one of the most efficient acquisition events you can run. It brings a surge of
new donors in over a short, energetic window, and it does something quieter that is just as
valuable: it captures data you can use later. In Hubbub's campaigns, "at least 70 per cent of
[giving day donors] leave a phone number that we can then use in a follow-up campaign." That is the
link between a giving day and the rest of the programme: you acquire the donor and their contact
details on the day, then steward and upgrade them through the year.

A **telephone appeal** plays a different but complementary role. Telephone acquisition of cold,
non-donors has become expensive, and the economics are unforgiving: email can return in the region
of fifteen euros for every euro spent, whereas acquiring a non-donor by phone might return six
euros, or three, or as little as one. The smarter use of the phone now is warm and targeted. Take
the donors you acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail, put the ones whose number you
hold into a focused telephone appeal, and use the call to thank them, retain them, ask single-gift
donors to set up a regular gift, ask existing regular donors to upgrade, and perhaps open a legacy
conversation. "Maybe doing some legacy calls in there would be a better use of the telephone
campaign," Kat Carter notes. The phone is no longer the volume acquisition tool it once was; it is
a precision instrument for retention and upgrade.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is led by the groups and individuals raising for their own
projects. It widens the top of the funnel, bringing in donors who arrive through a cause they care
about and who can be stewarded towards your wider programme over time. The principle is the same in
every case: every campaign is an entry point, and the programme turns a one-off gift into a
relationship.

## Acquiring regular donors

Acquisition begins with your data, because your data tells you who you can reach and how. The first
move in a brand-new programme should always be to interrogate the data before doing anything else.
Look at the **quantity**: how many alumni, parents, community members or supporters you hold, and
how many you have phone numbers, postal addresses and email addresses for. Look at the **quality**:
are those details still valid? Look at how **complete** and **consistent** the records are, and at
**affinity**, how warm or cold each group feels towards you, which shapes both how likely they are
to give and how you should talk to them.

Much of the early work is unglamorous data cleaning. "You may spend your first part of creating
your regular giving programme in an Excel spreadsheet, in a database, cleaning your data," Kat
Carter says. "For those of us who have been in emerging or established programmes, we have all been
there. I feel like it's a little bit of a rite of passage." It is also genuinely valuable: you
emerge knowing exactly what you hold. Validation tools, such as Experian for addresses and phone
numbers and a service like Debounce for email, let you check what is good without the expense of
mailing or calling people whose details have gone stale. Then gather more: use the good data you
have to ask supporters to update the rest, through email, post, social channels such as LinkedIn
and Facebook, and alumni surveys.

With clean data in hand, you can match audiences to channels by likely return. For first-time
acquisition, email tends to be the strongest opportunity, with the best return on investment and
the advantage that gifts come in as cash at the point of acquisition rather than as a pledge to be
fulfilled over years. "Email is usually gifts made right at the time of acquisition," Kat Carter
explains. It suits segmented asks across multiple audiences and the soliciting of new donors,
especially in a programme's first couple of years. Direct mail, the most expensive channel, still
earns its place for highly segmented, warmer solicitation, particularly of supporters over forty
who feel warm towards you. The discipline is to run campaigns in the channels your data supports,
not where habit or tradition points.

## The ask and the upgrade

Acquisition and upgrade both come down to the strength of the ask, and the ask is more than the
moment of decision. It is the whole journey you take someone on, from interruption to gift. "You're
going to send them something that is going to interrupt them," Kat Carter says of any channel,
phone, post or email. "You want to have something that is going to engage and interrupt their day
in a positive way." From there you move them into the conversation through powerful storytelling
and genuine rapport, then to the decision, often anchored by a specific ask amount or a suggested
level, and then, crucially, you make it easy to give. Keep the reply mechanisms for direct mail
free of friction, and make sure an online giving form does not lose the donor at the last step. A
brilliant story squandered by a clumsy donation form is a gift lost.

The **upgrade** is where a regular giving programme compounds, and it is the natural job of warm
channels. A single-gift donor can be asked to set up a regular gift; an existing regular donor can
be asked to give a little more. This is exactly the work the telephone does well, and it works best
when the thanking and the asking sit close together: thank the donor personally for their last
gift, then make the case for stepping up. Lead each year's plan with email-led acquisition, then
build renewal and upgrade asks on top, and from the second year onwards add reactivation, pulling
lapsed donors back into the cycle. Our
[upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) gives you a warm,
structured ask to adapt.

## Tax-efficient giving

Tax-efficient giving varies across Europe, so build the benefit that applies to your supporters into
the programme. Many European countries offer their residents a tax deduction or a tax reduction on
gifts to eligible charities, which can make giving go further at no extra cost to the donor. For
donors giving across borders within Europe, Transnational Giving Europe is a network that can let a
gift to a charity in another member country qualify for tax relief in the donor's own country. On a
regular giving programme, with gifts repeating year after year, communicating the relevant benefit
clearly is worthwhile, and it costs your supporters nothing.

Two habits make the difference. First, make the tax position visible at the point of the ask, on the
donation form, on the phone, in the reply device, so that donors understand it as they give rather
than wondering afterwards. Build it into the donor journey rather than bolting it on. Second, keep
clean, complete records: the donor's name, address and gift details, so that you can issue accurate
receipts and acknowledgements that meet the requirements in the relevant country. A clear, prompt
receipt reassures donors and reinforces the relationship. Treat the tax benefit as part of the ask
and the thank-you, not a piece of administration, and it quietly supports the value of the whole
programme.

## Stewardship and retention: the core discipline

If there is one place to concentrate effort, it is here. Acquisition gets the attention, but
retention is what makes a programme sustainable, and stewardship is what drives retention. The
sharpest framing comes from regular giving expert Rosa Dale-Moore, whom Kat Carter quotes: "If
you're not going to retain them, don't ask them."

Stewardship is not a single thank-you email after a gift, or a card at Christmas. It is "a
repeatable thanking cadence that your donors receive in order to feel that their gift is valuable,
is worthwhile," so that when you ask again, they are more likely to say yes. The practical challenge
is that good stewardship is hard to deliver at volume, so be realistic and match the channel to the
relationship. If donors give by email, thank them by email; you do not also need to post them
something. If you are already calling donors for a regular or upgraded gift, use the call itself to
thank them personally first. And do not let the gap between the first gift and the first proper
thank-you, or the next ask, stretch too long. Stewardship is not a cost centre that sits outside the
programme; it is the part of the programme that makes every other part work.

## Using data and segmentation

Data work does not stop once a programme is up and running; it becomes a permanent rhythm. Gathering
and cleaning never stop, and analysis is a perennial summer task for regular giving teams, who use
the quiet months to evaluate the year and start the autumn with a refreshed strategy.

Segmentation turns a flat list into a programme. At a basic level that means grouping alumni,
parents and community members, and segmenting further by attributes such as age. More powerfully, it
means understanding your existing donors well enough to find more people who look like them. The
Hubbub model uses **RFM analysis**: recency (how long ago someone gave), frequency (how often) and
monetary value (how much). You profile your current donors on those three dimensions, then look
across your non-donor pools for people who resemble them, so your asks land where they are most
likely to convert. The same data discipline tells you which channels to deploy and on which
audiences: a warm, contactable group over forty with valid postal addresses might be a direct mail
opportunity, while a large, engaged email audience might be the place to run a giving day. The point
is to let evidence, not habit, decide the mix.

## Measuring success

Measure the things that tell you whether the programme is healthy, and measure them over time rather
than in a single year. Useful metrics include **participation** (Kat Carter favours the number of
donors over the participation rate, because in an educational setting people are always graduating
and the rate becomes a moving target you chase), **income raised**, and the flow of donors through
the cycle: how many you **acquire**, how many you **retain**, how many **lapse**, and how many move
up the pipeline to leadership or major gifts. Track the changes in those segments year on year, and
watch your **return on investment** by channel.

Three numbers deserve particular attention, because they capture the health of the whole discipline.
**Retention rate** tells you what proportion of donors give again, and it is the truest test of your
stewardship. **Lifetime value** tells you what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, the
figure that justifies investment in acquisition and care. **Attrition**, the rate at which donors
lapse, is the warning light: rising attrition means the funnel is leaking faster than you are
filling it, and it usually points back to stewardship. Read these together and over time, never one
year in isolation, and they will tell you where the programme is working and where to act.

## Case studies: Northumbria and Leeds

Two university programmes show the holistic model in practice.

**Northumbria University** has used Hubbub's Causes platform since January 2022 to power its
"Higher Education Without Barriers" campaign, which has raised **over £2.3m to support those most in
need across the Northumbria University community**. Rather than a single appeal, the campaign is
built across six distinct fundraising areas, each with its own donation page, and it is fed by
exactly the mix of channels described above: telethon (telephone) campaigns, direct mail and Giving
Tuesday appeals all running through one platform. The university grew its regular donor pool and, at
the end of 2022, ran what it describes as its most successful Giving Tuesday appeal to date. It is a
clear illustration of campaigns feeding a year-round programme rather than standing apart from it.

**The University of Leeds** adopted the Causes platform in 2023 and set a target of **£1m in 2023 to
2024**, which the team exceeded. Their experience underlines two themes from this guide. First, the
channel mix matters: the platform supports direct debit and regular card donations alongside
integration with telephone campaigns and direct mail, and during their May 2023 appeal over a third
of income and donations came from people giving online. Second, removing friction from the ask pays
off directly: when the team stopped linking supporters to project pages and instead linked them
straight to donation pages, they "suddenly saw a huge increase in people converting to make a gift."
The money supports students and aims, in the team's words, to "level the playing field in terms of
the support they receive."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between regular giving and annual giving?** In practice the terms overlap
and are often used interchangeably. Both describe a programme that engages large numbers of
individual supporters and brings in repeatable gifts year after year. "Regular giving" tends to
emphasise ongoing committed gifts, often by direct debit, while "annual giving" emphasises the
yearly cycle of appeals. The discipline is the same: acquire, ask, upgrade, steward and retain.

**Where should a brand-new programme start?** With your data. Before looking at channels or
resource, understand the quantity, quality, completeness and affinity of what you hold, clean it,
and gather more. Good data in means good data out, and it lets evidence, rather than guesswork, lead
your decisions.

**Are telephone appeals still worth running?** Yes, but for a different job than before. Cold
acquisition by phone has become expensive, so the strongest use now is warm and targeted: take
donors acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail and call them to thank, retain, upgrade
and, where appropriate, open legacy conversations. Think shorter calling periods and more focused
campaigns.

**How long before I can judge whether something is working?** Plan to repeat any activity around
three times. One year gives you results, two gives you a comparison, and three lets you see real
trends. Build the case for a consistent three-year run rather than judging a new channel after a
single year.

**What is the most important thing to get right?** Stewardship and retention. As the sector maxim
goes, if you are not going to retain donors, do not ask them. A repeatable thanking cadence that
makes donors feel valued is what turns a one-off gift into a lifetime of giving, and it is the
single biggest driver of a sustainable programme.

**How does tax-efficient giving fit in?** Many European countries offer donors a tax deduction or
reduction on eligible gifts, and cross-border gifts within Europe can sometimes use Transnational
Giving Europe to qualify for relief. Make the position that applies to your donors visible at the
point of the ask, keep clean records of name, address and gift details, and issue accurate, prompt
receipts.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating a holistic year-round regular giving programme](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Case studies: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) and [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a telephone appeal](/europe/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo construir un programa de donaciones periódicas](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para construir un programa de donaciones periódicas y anuales holístico y continuo durante todo el año, que abarca la captación, la petición y el incremento de las donaciones, la donación fiscalmente ventajosa, el cuidado y la fidelización de los donantes, y cómo campañas como las jornadas de donación y las llamadas telefónicas lo alimentan.
Un programa de donaciones periódicas, a veces llamado programa de donaciones anuales, es la sala de
máquinas de una captación de fondos sostenible. Capta e involucra a un gran número de simpatizantes
individuales, los anima a donar, los fideliza e incrementa sus donaciones año tras año, y construye
un flujo hacia las futuras donaciones de liderazgo y las grandes donaciones. Donde un programa de
grandes donaciones depende de un puñado de relaciones significativas, la donación periódica trata de
donaciones repetibles procedentes de grandes volúmenes de personas, y de los ingresos previsibles y
renovables que las acompañan. Kat Carter, consultora de Hubbub, resume así su propósito: "El
propósito de la donación periódica es realmente involucrar y captar grandes volúmenes de personas
para que hagan, con suerte, donaciones periódicas a tu institución, y luego poder incrementar y
renovar a esos donantes de forma periódica, y después cultivar a los futuros líderes o grandes
donantes y construir un flujo."

Ese último punto, el flujo, es lo que hace que el programa importe. La donación periódica rara vez es
la línea más vistosa de una estrategia de captación de fondos, pero es la que, en silencio, sostiene
todo lo demás. Produce ingresos que puedes prever, construye la base cálida y comprometida de la que
saldrán tus futuros grandes donantes y legatarios, y con el tiempo se acumula. Un donante captado
este año, bien agradecido, cuya donación se incrementa y al que se fideliza, puede valer muchas veces
su primera donación a lo largo de los años siguientes: no una sola transacción, sino una relación con
un valor a lo largo de la vida.

Esta guía expone cómo construir un programa así desde cero: por qué importa, el modelo holístico y
continuo que lo mantiene unido, cómo lo alimentan las campañas individuales, y las disciplinas
fundamentales de la captación, la petición y el incremento, la donación fiscalmente ventajosa, el
cuidado de los donantes, los datos y la medición. Concluye con dos casos de estudio universitarios y
con respuestas a las preguntas que más a menudo se hacen los recién llegados.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de plan de programa de donaciones periódicas](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> nuestra [plantilla de petición de incremento](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) y
> nuestra [plantilla de mapa del recorrido del donante](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Por qué importa la donación periódica

Tres beneficios están en el corazón de los argumentos a favor de la donación periódica, y se
refuerzan mutuamente.

El primero son los **ingresos previsibles**. Las donaciones periódicas, sobre todo las establecidas
mediante domiciliación bancaria o donación recurrente con tarjeta, te dan una base fiable sobre la
que presupuestar, en lugar de una serie de llamamientos puntuales que tienes que ganar desde cero
cada año. Esa previsibilidad es lo que permite a una oficina de desarrollo planificar, invertir y
crecer con confianza.

El segundo es la **fidelización**. Es mucho más barato y más productivo conservar y desarrollar a un
donante que ya tienes que captar a uno nuevo. Un programa bien gestionado trata la fidelización como
su disciplina central, no como una idea de última hora, y la diferencia se ve directamente en los
ingresos.

El tercero es el **valor a lo largo de la vida**. Kat Carter imagina el programa como un embudo: un
gran grupo de no donantes en la parte de arriba, a los que haces descender hacia la donación
periódica, luego hacia el liderazgo y las grandes donaciones, con el cuidado de los donantes
recorriéndolo todo para mantener a las personas comprometidas. "Me gusta ver que tienes un gran
grupo de no donantes", dice, "y los animarás a descender a ese grupo de donación periódica, quizá al
liderazgo, hacia donaciones periódicas y luego hacia la gran donación." Las personas también suben de
nuevo por el embudo, dándose de baja o necesitando ser reactivadas, "y entonces se convierte en una
especie de ciclo de donantes." La labor del programa es hacer avanzar a las personas por ese ciclo y
mantenerlas en él.

## El modelo holístico y continuo

Una palabra recorre todo el enfoque: **holístico**. Es fácil obsesionarse con un único canal, una
jornada de donación, pongamos, o una llamada telefónica, y ejecutarlo bien mientras se descuidan las
partes del programa que lo alimentan y que lo siguen. Un programa holístico, en cambio, considera
todas las partes, la manera en que interactúan y el conjunto. "Se trata de considerar todas las
partes del programa", explica Kat Carter, "las interacciones que tienen entre sí, así como el
conjunto, para que puedas hacer crecer tu programa de un modo que se vuelva sostenible."

En la práctica eso significa tres cosas que funcionan juntas en lugar de aisladamente: tus **datos**,
los **canales** que puedes usar y tus **recursos**. El orden importa. Parte de tus datos, mira los
canales y las oportunidades que abren, y solo entonces mira los recursos. Como lo expresa Kat Carter:
"Partes de tus datos, miras tus canales y las oportunidades, y luego miras tus recursos." La mayoría
de los equipos empiezan instintivamente por los recursos, porque es la restricción que sienten con
más fuerza: un único captador de fondos, un equipo pequeño, un presupuesto limitado. Pero empezar ahí
significa perder oportunidades. Empezar por los datos significa actuar sobre lo que tus simpatizantes
realmente hacen posible.

La parte continua durante todo el año es igual de importante. Un programa de donaciones periódicas no
es una campaña; es un ciclo de actividades que se ejecutan, se evalúan y se repiten. "Realmente, esto
es lo que es la donación periódica", dice Kat Carter. "Son estos ciclos de actividades, ejecutarlas,
evaluarlas una y otra vez, buscando los cambios, buscando las similitudes, buscando las oportunidades
en las que podrías encontrar más donantes." Un año típico podría incluir una petición guiada por
correo electrónico en otoño, cuidado de los donantes a lo largo del año para mantenerlos cercanos e
informados, una llamada telefónica cálida y dirigida en primavera centrada en la fidelización y el
incremento, y correo directo intercalado donde los datos lo respalden, y luego se empieza de nuevo. La
tentación es juzgar una actividad nueva al cabo de un año. Resístela. "Realmente necesitas repetir una
actividad, yo diría que tres veces, para entender el impacto que tiene", aconseja Kat Carter: el
primer año te da resultados, el segundo una comparación, y solo el tercero te permite ver tendencias
reales. Construye los argumentos, y el presupuesto, para una ejecución coherente de tres años en
lugar de un solo año por sí mismo.

## Cómo las campañas alimentan el programa

Es aquí donde el calendario de captación de fondos más amplio se gana su lugar. Una
[jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/), una
[llamada telefónica](/europe/es/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) y el micromecenazgo no son
rivales de tu programa de donaciones periódicas; son los canales que lo alimentan. Cada uno capta,
involucra o incrementa a donantes que luego pertenecen al ciclo continuo.

Una **jornada de donación** es uno de los eventos de captación más eficientes que puedes ejecutar.
Trae una oleada de nuevos donantes en una ventana corta y enérgica, y hace algo más discreto que es
igual de valioso: captura datos que puedes usar más adelante. En las campañas de Hubbub, "al menos el
70 por ciento de los [donantes de la jornada de donación] dejan un número de teléfono que luego
podemos usar en una campaña de seguimiento." Ese es el vínculo entre una jornada de donación y el
resto del programa: captas al donante y sus datos de contacto en el día, y luego lo cuidas e
incrementas su donación a lo largo del año.

Una **llamada telefónica** desempeña un papel distinto pero complementario. La captación telefónica de
no donantes fríos se ha vuelto cara, y la economía es implacable: el correo electrónico puede
devolver en torno a quince euros por cada euro gastado, mientras que captar a un no donante por
teléfono podría devolver seis euros, o tres, o tan solo uno. El uso más inteligente del teléfono
ahora es cálido y dirigido. Toma a los donantes que captaste por correo electrónico, una jornada de
donación o correo directo, incluye a aquellos cuyo número tienes en una llamada telefónica focalizada,
y usa la llamada para agradecerles, fidelizarlos, pedir a los donantes puntuales que establezcan una
donación periódica, pedir a los donantes periódicos existentes que la incrementen, y quizá abrir una
conversación sobre legados. "Tal vez hacer algunas llamadas de legados ahí sería un mejor uso de la
campaña telefónica", señala Kat Carter. El teléfono ya no es la herramienta de captación masiva que
fue en su día; es un instrumento de precisión para la fidelización y el incremento.

El **micromecenazgo** se desarrolla durante todo el año y lo lideran los grupos e individuos que
recaudan para sus propios proyectos. Ensancha la parte superior del embudo, atrayendo a donantes que
llegan a través de una causa que les importa y que pueden ser cuidados hacia tu programa más amplio
con el tiempo. El principio es el mismo en todos los casos: cada campaña es un punto de entrada, y el
programa convierte una donación puntual en una relación.

## Captar donantes periódicos

La captación empieza con tus datos, porque tus datos te dicen a quién puedes llegar y cómo. El primer
movimiento en un programa completamente nuevo siempre debería ser interrogar los datos antes de hacer
cualquier otra cosa. Mira la **cantidad**: cuántos antiguos alumnos, padres, miembros de la comunidad
o simpatizantes tienes, y para cuántos de ellos dispones de números de teléfono, direcciones postales
y direcciones de correo electrónico. Mira la **calidad**: ¿siguen siendo válidos esos datos? Mira
cuán **completos** y **coherentes** son los registros, y la **afinidad**, es decir, cuán cálido o
frío se siente cada grupo hacia ti, lo que determina tanto su probabilidad de donar como la manera en
que deberías hablarles.

Gran parte del trabajo inicial es una limpieza de datos poco gloriosa. "Puede que pases la primera
parte de la creación de tu programa de donaciones periódicas en una hoja de cálculo de Excel, en una
base de datos, limpiando tus datos", dice Kat Carter. "Para quienes hemos estado en programas
emergentes o consolidados, todos hemos pasado por ahí. Tengo la sensación de que es un poco un rito de
iniciación." También es genuinamente valioso: sales de ello sabiendo exactamente lo que tienes.
Herramientas de validación, como Experian para direcciones y números de teléfono y un servicio como
Debounce para el correo electrónico, te permiten comprobar lo que es bueno sin el gasto de enviar
correo o llamar a personas cuyos datos han quedado obsoletos. Luego reúne más: usa los buenos datos
que tienes para pedir a los simpatizantes que actualicen el resto, por correo electrónico, por correo
postal, por canales sociales como LinkedIn y Facebook, y por encuestas a antiguos alumnos.

Con datos limpios en la mano, puedes emparejar audiencias con canales según el rendimiento probable.
Para una primera captación, el correo electrónico tiende a ser la oportunidad más fuerte, con el mejor
retorno de la inversión y la ventaja de que las donaciones entran como efectivo en el momento de la
captación en lugar de como una promesa que cumplir a lo largo de los años. "El correo electrónico
suele ser donaciones hechas justo en el momento de la captación", explica Kat Carter. Se presta a
peticiones segmentadas en múltiples audiencias y a la solicitud de nuevos donantes, especialmente en
los dos primeros años de un programa. El correo directo, el canal más caro, sigue ganándose su lugar
para solicitudes muy segmentadas y más cálidas, en particular de simpatizantes mayores de cuarenta
que se sienten cálidos hacia ti. La disciplina consiste en ejecutar campañas en los canales que tus
datos respaldan, y no donde apuntan la costumbre o la tradición.

## La petición y el incremento

La captación y el incremento se reducen ambos a la fuerza de la petición, y la petición es más que el
momento de la decisión. Es todo el recorrido por el que llevas a alguien, desde la interrupción hasta
la donación. "Vas a enviarles algo que va a interrumpirlos", dice Kat Carter de cualquier canal,
teléfono, correo postal o correo electrónico. "Quieres tener algo que vaya a involucrar e interrumpir
su día de una manera positiva." A partir de ahí los llevas a la conversación mediante una narración
poderosa y una conexión genuina, luego a la decisión, a menudo anclada por un importe de petición
específico o un nivel sugerido, y luego, de forma crucial, haces que sea fácil donar. Mantén los
mecanismos de respuesta del correo directo libres de fricción, y asegúrate de que un formulario de
donación en línea no pierda al donante en el último paso. Una historia brillante malograda por un
formulario de donación torpe es una donación perdida.

El **incremento** es donde un programa de donaciones periódicas se acumula, y es la labor natural de
los canales cálidos. A un donante puntual se le puede pedir que establezca una donación periódica; a
un donante periódico existente se le puede pedir que dé un poco más. Es exactamente el trabajo que el
teléfono hace bien, y funciona mejor cuando el agradecimiento y la petición van juntos: agradece al
donante personalmente su última donación, y luego argumenta por qué dar un paso adelante. Abre el
plan de cada año con una captación guiada por correo electrónico, luego construye encima las
peticiones de renovación e incremento, y a partir del segundo año añade la reactivación, devolviendo
al ciclo a los donantes inactivos. Nuestra
[plantilla de petición de incremento](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) te da una
petición cálida y estructurada para adaptar.

## La donación fiscalmente ventajosa

La donación fiscalmente ventajosa varía a lo largo de Europa, así que incorpora al programa el
beneficio que se aplique a tus simpatizantes. Muchos países europeos ofrecen a sus residentes una
deducción o una reducción fiscal sobre las donaciones a entidades benéficas elegibles, lo que puede
hacer que la donación llegue más lejos sin coste adicional para el donante. Para los donantes que
donan a través de fronteras dentro de Europa, Transnational Giving Europe es una red que puede
permitir que una donación a una entidad benéfica de otro país miembro se beneficie de una
desgravación fiscal en el propio país del donante. En un programa de donaciones periódicas, con
donaciones que se repiten año tras año, vale la pena comunicar claramente el beneficio pertinente, y
no cuesta nada a tus simpatizantes.

Dos hábitos marcan la diferencia. Primero, haz visible la situación fiscal en el momento de la
petición, en el formulario de donación, por teléfono, en el cupón de respuesta, de modo que los
donantes la entiendan mientras donan en lugar de preguntárselo después. Incorpórala al recorrido del
donante en lugar de añadirla como un añadido. Segundo, lleva registros limpios y completos: el nombre,
la dirección y los detalles de la donación del donante, para poder emitir recibos y acuses de recibo
precisos que cumplan los requisitos del país pertinente. Un recibo claro y rápido tranquiliza a los
donantes y refuerza la relación. Trata el beneficio fiscal como parte de la petición y del
agradecimiento, no como una pieza administrativa, y sostendrá en silencio el valor de todo el
programa.

## Cuidado y fidelización de los donantes: la disciplina fundamental

Si hay un lugar en el que concentrar el esfuerzo, es este. La captación se lleva la atención, pero es
la fidelización lo que hace que un programa sea sostenible, y es el cuidado de los donantes lo que
impulsa la fidelización. La formulación más afilada viene de Rosa Dale-Moore, experta en donación
periódica, a quien Kat Carter cita: "Si no vas a fidelizarlos, no les pidas."

El cuidado de los donantes no es un único correo de agradecimiento tras una donación, ni una tarjeta
en Navidad. Es "una cadencia de agradecimientos repetible que tus donantes reciben para sentir que su
donación es valiosa, que merece la pena", de modo que cuando vuelvas a pedir, sean más propensos a
decir que sí. El reto práctico es que un buen cuidado es difícil de ofrecer a gran escala, así que sé
realista y adapta el canal a la relación. Si los donantes donan por correo electrónico, agradéceles
por correo electrónico; no necesitas además enviarles algo por correo postal. Si ya estás llamando a
los donantes para una donación periódica o incrementada, usa la propia llamada para agradecerles
personalmente primero. Y no dejes que el lapso entre la primera donación y el primer agradecimiento
de verdad, o la siguiente petición, se alargue demasiado. El cuidado de los donantes no es un centro
de coste que esté fuera del programa; es la parte del programa que hace que funcione cada una de las
demás partes.

## Usar los datos y la segmentación

El trabajo con los datos no se detiene una vez que un programa está en marcha; se convierte en un
ritmo permanente. La recopilación y la limpieza nunca se detienen, y el análisis es una tarea estival
perenne para los equipos de donación periódica, que aprovechan los meses tranquilos para evaluar el
año y empezar el otoño con una estrategia renovada.

La segmentación convierte una lista plana en un programa. En un nivel básico eso significa agrupar a
antiguos alumnos, padres y miembros de la comunidad, y segmentar más a fondo por atributos como la
edad. De forma más potente, significa entender a tus donantes existentes lo bastante bien como para
encontrar a más personas que se les parezcan. El modelo de Hubbub usa el **análisis RFM**: recencia
(hace cuánto donó alguien), frecuencia (con qué frecuencia) y valor monetario (cuánto). Perfilas a
tus donantes actuales en esas tres dimensiones, y luego buscas en tus bolsas de no donantes a
personas que se les parezcan, para que tus peticiones aterricen donde tienen más probabilidades de
convertir. La misma disciplina de datos te dice qué canales desplegar y sobre qué audiencias: un
grupo cálido y contactable mayor de cuarenta con direcciones postales válidas podría ser una
oportunidad de correo directo, mientras que una gran audiencia de correo electrónico comprometida
podría ser el lugar para ejecutar una jornada de donación. La cuestión es dejar que sean las
evidencias, no la costumbre, las que decidan la combinación.

## Medir el éxito

Mide las cosas que te dicen si el programa está sano, y mídelas a lo largo del tiempo en lugar de en
un solo año. Entre las métricas útiles están la **participación** (Kat Carter prefiere el número de
donantes a la tasa de participación, porque en un entorno educativo las personas se gradúan
constantemente y la tasa se convierte en un objetivo móvil que persigues), los **ingresos
recaudados**, y el flujo de donantes a través del ciclo: cuántos **captas**, cuántos **fidelizas**,
cuántos **se dan de baja**, y cuántos suben por el flujo hacia el liderazgo o las grandes donaciones.
Sigue los cambios en esos segmentos año tras año, y vigila tu **retorno de la inversión** por canal.

Tres cifras merecen especial atención, porque captan la salud de toda la disciplina. La **tasa de
fidelización** te dice qué proporción de donantes vuelve a donar, y es la prueba más veraz de tu
cuidado de los donantes. El **valor a lo largo de la vida** te dice cuánto vale un donante a lo largo
de toda la relación, la cifra que justifica la inversión en captación y en cuidado. La **deserción**,
la tasa a la que los donantes se dan de baja, es la luz de aviso: una deserción creciente significa
que el embudo se vacía más rápido de lo que lo llenas, y suele remitir de nuevo al cuidado de los
donantes. Lee estas cifras juntas y a lo largo del tiempo, nunca un año de forma aislada, y te dirán
dónde funciona el programa y dónde actuar.

## Casos de estudio: Northumbria y Leeds

Dos programas universitarios muestran el modelo holístico en la práctica.

**La Universidad de Northumbria** usa la plataforma Causes de Hubbub desde enero de 2022 para
impulsar su campaña "Higher Education Without Barriers", que ha recaudado **más de 2,3 millones de
libras para apoyar a los más necesitados dentro de la comunidad de la Universidad de Northumbria**. En
lugar de un único llamamiento, la campaña está construida sobre seis áreas de captación distintas,
cada una con su propia página de donación, y se alimenta exactamente de la combinación de canales
descrita más arriba: campañas de teletón (teléfono), correo directo y llamamientos del Giving Tuesday,
todos funcionando a través de una sola plataforma. La universidad hizo crecer su bolsa de donantes
periódicos y, a finales de 2022, ejecutó lo que describe como su llamamiento del Giving Tuesday de
mayor éxito hasta la fecha. Es una clara ilustración de campañas que alimentan un programa continuo en
lugar de mantenerse al margen de él.

**La Universidad de Leeds** adoptó la plataforma Causes en 2023 y se fijó un objetivo de **1 millón
de libras en 2023 a 2024**, que el equipo superó. Su experiencia subraya dos temas de esta guía.
Primero, la combinación de canales importa: la plataforma admite la domiciliación bancaria y las
donaciones periódicas con tarjeta junto con la integración con campañas telefónicas y correo directo,
y durante su llamamiento de mayo de 2023 más de un tercio de los ingresos y las donaciones provino de
personas que donaban en línea. Segundo, eliminar la fricción de la petición compensa directamente:
cuando el equipo dejó de enlazar a los simpatizantes a las páginas de proyecto y en su lugar los
enlazó directamente a las páginas de donación, "vio de repente un enorme aumento de personas que
convertían para hacer una donación." El dinero apoya a los estudiantes y aspira, en palabras del
equipo, a "nivelar el terreno de juego en cuanto al apoyo que reciben."

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuál es la diferencia entre donación periódica y donación anual?** En la práctica los términos se
solapan y a menudo se usan de manera intercambiable. Ambos describen un programa que involucra a un
gran número de simpatizantes individuales y trae donaciones repetibles año tras año. La "donación
periódica" tiende a enfatizar las donaciones comprometidas y continuas, a menudo por domiciliación
bancaria, mientras que la "donación anual" enfatiza el ciclo anual de llamamientos. La disciplina es
la misma: captar, pedir, incrementar, cuidar y fidelizar.

**¿Por dónde debería empezar un programa completamente nuevo?** Por tus datos. Antes de mirar los
canales o los recursos, entiende la cantidad, la calidad, la integridad y la afinidad de lo que
tienes, límpialo y reúne más. Buenos datos de entrada significan buenos datos de salida, y eso permite
que sean las evidencias, y no las conjeturas, las que guíen tus decisiones.

**¿Siguen mereciendo la pena las llamadas telefónicas?** Sí, pero para una labor distinta que antes.
La captación en frío por teléfono se ha vuelto cara, así que el uso más fuerte ahora es cálido y
dirigido: toma a los donantes captados por correo electrónico, una jornada de donación o correo
directo y llámalos para agradecer, fidelizar, incrementar y, cuando proceda, abrir conversaciones
sobre legados. Piensa en periodos de llamada más cortos y campañas más focalizadas.

**¿Cuánto tiempo antes de poder juzgar si algo funciona?** Planifica repetir cualquier actividad unas
tres veces. Un año te da resultados, dos te dan una comparación, y tres te permiten ver tendencias
reales. Construye los argumentos para una ejecución coherente de tres años en lugar de juzgar un canal
nuevo tras un solo año.

**¿Qué es lo más importante que hay que hacer bien?** El cuidado de los donantes y la fidelización.
Como dice la máxima del sector, si no vas a fidelizar a los donantes, no les pidas. Una cadencia de
agradecimientos repetible que haga que los donantes se sientan valorados es lo que convierte una
donación puntual en toda una vida de generosidad, y es el mayor impulsor individual de un programa
sostenible.

**¿Cómo encaja la donación fiscalmente ventajosa?** Muchos países europeos ofrecen a los donantes una
deducción o reducción sobre las donaciones elegibles, y las donaciones transfronterizas dentro de
Europa pueden a veces usar Transnational Giving Europe para beneficiarse de una desgravación. Haz
visible la situación que se aplica a tus donantes en el momento de la petición, lleva registros
limpios de nombre, dirección y detalles de la donación, y emite recibos precisos y rápidos.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de plan de programa de donaciones periódicas](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Plantilla de petición de incremento](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Plantilla de mapa del recorrido del donante](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de jornada de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tus llamamientos y correos electrónicos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Seminario web: crear un programa de donaciones periódicas holístico y continuo](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Casos de estudio: [Universidad de Northumbria](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) y [Universidad de Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo organizar una jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) y [Cómo realizar una llamada telefónica](/europe/es/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para saber más.

- [Comment construire un programme de dons réguliers](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour construire un programme de dons réguliers et annuels global et continu tout au long de l'année, couvrant l'acquisition, la demande et l'augmentation des dons, le don fiscalement avantageux, la fidélisation et la rétention, et la manière dont des campagnes comme les journées de don et les appels téléphoniques l'alimentent.
Un programme de dons réguliers, parfois appelé programme de dons annuels, est le moteur d'une
collecte de fonds durable. Il engage et acquiert un grand nombre de donateurs individuels, les
encourage à donner, les fidélise et augmente leurs dons d'année en année, et construit un vivier
vers les futurs dons de leadership et les dons majeurs. Là où un programme de dons majeurs repose
sur une poignée de relations significatives, le don régulier porte sur des dons répétables émanant
de larges volumes de personnes, et sur les revenus prévisibles et renouvelables qui les
accompagnent. Kat Carter, consultante chez Hubbub, résume ainsi sa finalité : "L'objectif du don
régulier est vraiment d'engager et d'acquérir de grands volumes d'individus pour qu'ils fassent,
espérons-le, des dons réguliers à votre institution, puis de pouvoir augmenter et renouveler ces
donateurs de manière régulière, et enfin de cultiver les futurs leaders ou donateurs majeurs et de
construire un vivier."

Ce dernier point, le vivier, est ce qui donne tout son sens au programme. Le don régulier est
rarement la ligne la plus prestigieuse d'une stratégie de collecte, mais c'est celle qui, en
silence, finance tout le reste. Il produit des revenus que vous pouvez prévoir, il construit la
base chaleureuse et engagée d'où viendront vos futurs donateurs majeurs et vos légataires, et avec
le temps il se cumule. Un donateur acquis cette année, bien remercié, dont le don est augmenté et
qui est fidélisé, peut valoir bien des fois son premier don au fil des années qui suivent : non pas
une transaction unique, mais une relation dotée d'une valeur à vie.

Ce guide explique comment construire un tel programme de A à Z : pourquoi il compte, le modèle
global et continu qui le maintient ensemble, la manière dont les campagnes individuelles
l'alimentent, et les disciplines fondamentales que sont l'acquisition, la demande et l'augmentation
des dons, le don fiscalement avantageux, la fidélisation, les données et la mesure. Il se conclut
par deux études de cas universitaires et par des réponses aux questions que se posent le plus
souvent les nouveaux venus.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de plan de programme de dons réguliers](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> notre [modèle de demande d'augmentation](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) et notre
> [modèle de cartographie du parcours du donateur](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Pourquoi le don régulier compte

Trois bénéfices sont au cœur des arguments en faveur du don régulier, et ils se renforcent
mutuellement.

Le premier est le **revenu prévisible**. Les dons réguliers, surtout ceux mis en place par
prélèvement automatique ou par don récurrent par carte, vous donnent une base fiable sur laquelle
établir votre budget, plutôt qu'une série d'appels ponctuels que vous devez remporter de zéro chaque
année. C'est cette prévisibilité qui permet à un service de développement de planifier, d'investir
et de croître avec confiance.

Le deuxième est la **rétention**. Il est bien moins coûteux et bien plus productif de conserver et
de développer un donateur que vous avez déjà que d'en acquérir un nouveau. Un programme bien mené
traite la rétention comme sa discipline centrale, et non comme une arrière-pensée, et la différence
se voit directement dans les revenus.

Le troisième est la **valeur à vie**. Kat Carter se représente le programme comme un entonnoir : un
grand groupe de non-donateurs en haut, que vous faites descendre vers le don régulier, puis vers le
leadership et les dons majeurs, avec la fidélisation qui traverse tout pour maintenir les gens
engagés. "J'aime voir que vous avez un grand groupe de non-donateurs", dit-elle, "et vous allez les
encourager à descendre dans ce groupe de don régulier, peut-être dans le leadership, vers les dons
réguliers, puis vers le don majeur." Les gens remontent aussi l'entonnoir, en se désengageant ou en
ayant besoin d'être réengagés, "et cela se transforme alors en une sorte de cycle de donateurs." Le
rôle du programme est de faire avancer les gens dans ce cycle et de les y maintenir.

## Le modèle global et continu

Un mot traverse toute l'approche : **global**. Il est facile de se focaliser sur un seul canal, une
journée de don, disons, ou un appel téléphonique, et de bien le mener tout en négligeant les parties
du programme qui l'alimentent et le prolongent. Un programme global considère au contraire toutes
les parties, la manière dont elles interagissent, et l'ensemble. "Il s'agit de considérer toutes les
parties du programme", explique Kat Carter, "les interactions qu'elles ont entre elles ainsi que
l'ensemble, afin de pouvoir faire croître votre programme d'une manière qui devienne durable."

En pratique, cela signifie trois choses qui fonctionnent ensemble plutôt qu'isolément : vos
**données**, les **canaux** que vous pouvez utiliser, et vos **ressources**. L'ordre importe.
Commencez par vos données, examinez les canaux et les opportunités qu'ils ouvrent, et seulement
ensuite penchez-vous sur les ressources. Comme le dit Kat Carter : "Vous commencez par vos données,
vous examinez vos canaux et les opportunités, puis vous regardez vos ressources." La plupart des
équipes commencent instinctivement par les ressources, car c'est la contrainte qu'elles ressentent
le plus vivement : un collecteur de fonds seul, une petite équipe, un budget limité. Mais partir de
là, c'est passer à côté d'opportunités. Partir des données signifie agir sur ce que vos soutiens
rendent réellement possible.

L'aspect continu tout au long de l'année est tout aussi important. Un programme de dons réguliers
n'est pas une campagne ; c'est un cycle d'activités menées, évaluées et répétées. "C'est vraiment ça
le don régulier", dit Kat Carter. "Ce sont ces cycles d'activités, qu'on mène, qu'on évalue encore
et encore, en cherchant les changements, en cherchant les similitudes, en cherchant les
opportunités où l'on pourrait trouver davantage de donateurs." Une année type pourrait comporter une
demande menée par e-mail à l'automne, de la fidélisation tout au long de l'année pour garder les
donateurs chaleureux et informés, un appel téléphonique chaleureux et ciblé au printemps centré sur
la rétention et l'augmentation des dons, et du publipostage ajouté là où les données le justifient,
puis tout recommence. La tentation est de juger une nouvelle activité après un an. Résistez-y. "Il
faut vraiment répéter une activité, je dirais trois fois, afin de comprendre l'impact qu'elle a",
conseille Kat Carter : la première année vous donne des résultats, la deuxième une comparaison, et
seule la troisième vous permet de voir de véritables tendances. Construisez les arguments, et le
budget, pour un déroulement cohérent sur trois ans plutôt qu'une seule année isolée.

## Comment les campagnes alimentent le programme

C'est ici que le calendrier de collecte plus large justifie sa place. Une
[journée de don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/), un
[appel téléphonique](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) et le financement participatif
ne sont pas des rivaux de votre programme de dons réguliers ; ce sont les canaux qui l'alimentent.
Chacun acquiert, engage ou augmente des donateurs qui appartiennent ensuite au cycle continu.

Une **journée de don** est l'un des événements d'acquisition les plus efficaces que vous puissiez
mener. Elle fait affluer une vague de nouveaux donateurs sur une courte fenêtre énergique, et elle
fait quelque chose de plus discret tout aussi précieux : elle capture des données que vous pourrez
utiliser plus tard. Dans les campagnes de Hubbub, "au moins 70 pour cent des [donateurs de la
journée de don] laissent un numéro de téléphone que nous pouvons ensuite utiliser dans une campagne
de suivi." C'est là le lien entre une journée de don et le reste du programme : vous acquérez le
donateur et ses coordonnées le jour même, puis vous le fidélisez et augmentez son don tout au long
de l'année.

Un **appel téléphonique** joue un rôle différent mais complémentaire. L'acquisition téléphonique de
non-donateurs froids est devenue coûteuse, et l'économie est impitoyable : l'e-mail peut rapporter
de l'ordre de quinze euros pour chaque euro dépensé, tandis qu'acquérir un non-donateur par
téléphone peut rapporter six euros, ou trois, voire un seul. L'usage le plus avisé du téléphone
désormais est chaleureux et ciblé. Prenez les donateurs que vous avez acquis par e-mail, par une
journée de don ou par publipostage, intégrez ceux dont vous détenez le numéro dans un appel
téléphonique ciblé, et utilisez l'appel pour les remercier, les fidéliser, demander aux donateurs
ponctuels de mettre en place un don régulier, demander aux donateurs réguliers existants d'augmenter
leur don, et peut-être ouvrir une conversation sur le legs. "Peut-être qu'inclure quelques appels
sur les legs serait un meilleur usage de la campagne téléphonique", note Kat Carter. Le téléphone
n'est plus l'outil d'acquisition de masse qu'il était autrefois ; c'est un instrument de précision
pour la rétention et l'augmentation des dons.

Le **financement participatif** se déroule tout au long de l'année et est porté par les groupes et
les individus qui collectent pour leurs propres projets. Il élargit le haut de l'entonnoir, en
attirant des donateurs qui arrivent par une cause qui leur tient à cœur et qui peuvent être
fidélisés vers votre programme plus large au fil du temps. Le principe est le même dans tous les
cas : chaque campagne est un point d'entrée, et le programme transforme un don ponctuel en une
relation.

## Acquérir des donateurs réguliers

L'acquisition commence par vos données, car vos données vous disent qui vous pouvez atteindre et
comment. Le premier geste dans un programme tout neuf devrait toujours être d'interroger les données
avant toute chose. Examinez la **quantité** : combien d'anciens élèves, de parents, de membres de la
communauté ou de soutiens vous détenez, et pour combien d'entre eux vous disposez de numéros de
téléphone, d'adresses postales et d'adresses e-mail. Examinez la **qualité** : ces coordonnées
sont-elles toujours valides ? Regardez à quel point les enregistrements sont **complets** et
**cohérents**, et regardez l'**affinité**, à quel point chaque groupe se sent chaleureux ou froid
envers vous, ce qui détermine à la fois sa probabilité de donner et la manière dont vous devriez lui
parler.

Une grande partie du travail initial est un nettoyage de données peu glorieux. "Vous passerez
peut-être la première partie de la création de votre programme de dons réguliers dans un tableur
Excel, dans une base de données, à nettoyer vos données", dit Kat Carter. "Pour ceux d'entre nous
qui sont passés par des programmes émergents ou établis, nous sommes tous passés par là. J'ai
l'impression que c'est un peu un rite de passage." C'est aussi réellement précieux : vous en
ressortez en sachant exactement ce que vous détenez. Des outils de validation, comme Experian pour
les adresses et les numéros de téléphone et un service comme Debounce pour l'e-mail, vous permettent
de vérifier ce qui est bon sans la dépense d'envoyer du courrier ou d'appeler des personnes dont les
coordonnées sont devenues obsolètes. Ensuite, récoltez-en davantage : utilisez les bonnes données
que vous avez pour demander aux soutiens de mettre à jour le reste, par e-mail, par courrier, par
les réseaux sociaux comme LinkedIn et Facebook, et par des enquêtes auprès des anciens élèves.

Avec des données propres en main, vous pouvez associer les audiences aux canaux selon le rendement
probable. Pour une première acquisition, l'e-mail tend à être la meilleure opportunité, avec le
meilleur retour sur investissement et l'avantage que les dons arrivent en liquidités au moment de
l'acquisition plutôt que comme une promesse à honorer sur des années. "L'e-mail, ce sont
généralement des dons faits juste au moment de l'acquisition", explique Kat Carter. Il convient aux
demandes segmentées sur plusieurs audiences et à la sollicitation de nouveaux donateurs, surtout
dans les deux premières années d'un programme. Le publipostage, le canal le plus coûteux, mérite
toujours sa place pour une sollicitation très segmentée et plus chaleureuse, en particulier des
soutiens de plus de quarante ans qui se sentent chaleureux envers vous. La discipline consiste à
mener des campagnes dans les canaux que vos données soutiennent, et non là où pointent l'habitude ou
la tradition.

## La demande et l'augmentation

L'acquisition et l'augmentation se résument toutes deux à la force de la demande, et la demande est
plus que le moment de la décision. C'est tout le parcours sur lequel vous emmenez quelqu'un, de
l'interruption au don. "Vous allez leur envoyer quelque chose qui va les interrompre", dit Kat
Carter à propos de tout canal, téléphone, courrier ou e-mail. "Vous voulez avoir quelque chose qui
va engager et interrompre leur journée de manière positive." De là, vous les amenez dans la
conversation par une narration puissante et un véritable lien, puis vers la décision, souvent ancrée
par un montant de demande spécifique ou un niveau suggéré, et enfin, point crucial, vous rendez le
don facile. Gardez les mécanismes de réponse du publipostage exempts de toute friction, et
assurez-vous qu'un formulaire de don en ligne ne perd pas le donateur à la dernière étape. Une
histoire brillante gâchée par un formulaire de don maladroit, c'est un don perdu.

L'**augmentation** est l'endroit où un programme de dons réguliers se cumule, et c'est le rôle
naturel des canaux chaleureux. On peut demander à un donateur ponctuel de mettre en place un don
régulier ; on peut demander à un donateur régulier existant de donner un peu plus. C'est exactement
le travail que le téléphone fait bien, et il fonctionne le mieux quand le remerciement et la demande
sont rapprochés : remerciez le donateur personnellement pour son dernier don, puis faites valoir
l'intérêt de passer à l'étape supérieure. Commencez le plan de chaque année par une acquisition
menée par e-mail, puis construisez par-dessus les demandes de renouvellement et d'augmentation, et à
partir de la deuxième année ajoutez la réactivation, en ramenant les donateurs inactifs dans le
cycle. Notre [modèle de demande d'augmentation](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
vous fournit une demande chaleureuse et structurée à adapter.

## Le don fiscalement avantageux

Le don fiscalement avantageux varie à travers l'Europe, alors intégrez dans le programme l'avantage
qui s'applique à vos soutiens. De nombreux pays européens offrent à leurs résidents une déduction ou
une réduction d'impôt sur les dons à des organismes caritatifs éligibles, ce qui peut faire aller le
don plus loin sans coût supplémentaire pour le donateur. Pour les donateurs qui donnent au-delà des
frontières au sein de l'Europe, Transnational Giving Europe est un réseau qui peut permettre à un
don à un organisme caritatif d'un autre pays membre de bénéficier d'un allègement fiscal dans le
pays du donateur. Dans un programme de dons réguliers, avec des dons qui se répètent année après
année, il vaut la peine de communiquer clairement l'avantage pertinent, et cela ne coûte rien à vos
soutiens.

Deux habitudes font la différence. Premièrement, rendez la situation fiscale visible au moment de la
demande, sur le formulaire de don, au téléphone, sur le coupon-réponse, afin que les donateurs la
comprennent au moment où ils donnent plutôt que de s'interroger après coup. Intégrez-la dans le
parcours du donateur plutôt que de la rajouter. Deuxièmement, tenez des enregistrements propres et
complets : le nom, l'adresse et les détails du don du donateur, afin de pouvoir émettre des reçus et
des accusés de réception exacts qui répondent aux exigences du pays concerné. Un reçu clair et rapide
rassure les donateurs et renforce la relation. Traitez l'avantage fiscal comme une partie de la
demande et du remerciement, et non comme une formalité administrative, et il soutiendra discrètement
la valeur de tout le programme.

## Fidélisation et rétention : la discipline fondamentale

S'il y a un endroit où concentrer ses efforts, c'est ici. L'acquisition attire l'attention, mais
c'est la rétention qui rend un programme durable, et c'est la fidélisation qui anime la rétention.
La formulation la plus tranchante vient de Rosa Dale-Moore, experte du don régulier, que cite Kat
Carter : "Si vous n'allez pas les fidéliser, ne les sollicitez pas."

La fidélisation n'est pas un unique e-mail de remerciement après un don, ni une carte à Noël. C'est
"une cadence de remerciements répétable que vos donateurs reçoivent afin de sentir que leur don est
précieux, qu'il en vaut la peine", de sorte que lorsque vous redemandez, ils sont plus susceptibles
de dire oui. Le défi pratique est qu'une bonne fidélisation est difficile à délivrer à grande
échelle, alors soyez réaliste et adaptez le canal à la relation. Si les donateurs donnent par
e-mail, remerciez-les par e-mail ; vous n'avez pas besoin en plus de leur envoyer quelque chose par
courrier. Si vous appelez déjà des donateurs pour un don régulier ou augmenté, utilisez l'appel
lui-même pour les remercier personnellement d'abord. Et ne laissez pas l'écart entre le premier don
et le premier vrai remerciement, ou la prochaine demande, s'étirer trop longtemps. La fidélisation
n'est pas un centre de coûts situé en dehors du programme ; c'est la partie du programme qui fait
fonctionner toutes les autres.

## Utiliser les données et la segmentation

Le travail sur les données ne s'arrête pas une fois qu'un programme est lancé ; il devient un rythme
permanent. La collecte et le nettoyage ne s'arrêtent jamais, et l'analyse est une tâche estivale
récurrente pour les équipes de don régulier, qui profitent des mois calmes pour évaluer l'année et
entamer l'automne avec une stratégie renouvelée.

La segmentation transforme une liste plate en un programme. À un niveau de base, cela signifie
regrouper les anciens élèves, les parents et les membres de la communauté, et segmenter davantage
par attributs comme l'âge. Plus puissamment, cela signifie comprendre vos donateurs existants
suffisamment bien pour trouver davantage de personnes qui leur ressemblent. Le modèle de Hubbub
utilise l'**analyse RFM** : récence (depuis combien de temps quelqu'un a donné), fréquence (à quelle
fréquence) et valeur monétaire (combien). Vous profilez vos donateurs actuels sur ces trois
dimensions, puis vous parcourez vos viviers de non-donateurs à la recherche de personnes qui leur
ressemblent, afin que vos demandes tombent là où elles ont le plus de chances de convertir. La même
discipline des données vous dit quels canaux déployer et sur quelles audiences : un groupe
chaleureux et joignable de plus de quarante ans avec des adresses postales valides pourrait être une
opportunité de publipostage, tandis qu'une grande audience e-mail engagée pourrait être l'endroit où
mener une journée de don. L'enjeu est de laisser les preuves, et non l'habitude, décider du dosage.

## Mesurer le succès

Mesurez les éléments qui vous disent si le programme est en bonne santé, et mesurez-les dans le temps
plutôt que sur une seule année. Parmi les indicateurs utiles figurent la **participation** (Kat
Carter privilégie le nombre de donateurs plutôt que le taux de participation, car dans un cadre
éducatif les gens obtiennent sans cesse leur diplôme et le taux devient une cible mouvante que vous
poursuivez), les **revenus collectés**, et le flux de donateurs à travers le cycle : combien vous en
**acquérez**, combien vous en **fidélisez**, combien **se désengagent**, et combien remontent le
vivier vers le leadership ou les dons majeurs. Suivez les changements de ces segments d'année en
année, et surveillez votre **retour sur investissement** par canal.

Trois chiffres méritent une attention particulière, car ils capturent la santé de toute la
discipline. Le **taux de rétention** vous dit quelle proportion de donateurs redonnent, et c'est le
test le plus juste de votre fidélisation. La **valeur à vie** vous dit ce qu'un donateur vaut sur
l'ensemble de la relation, le chiffre qui justifie l'investissement dans l'acquisition et le soin.
L'**attrition**, le taux auquel les donateurs se désengagent, est le voyant d'alerte : une attrition
croissante signifie que l'entonnoir fuit plus vite que vous ne le remplissez, et cela renvoie
généralement à la fidélisation. Lisez ces chiffres ensemble et dans le temps, jamais sur une seule
année isolée, et ils vous diront où le programme fonctionne et où agir.

## Études de cas : Northumbria et Leeds

Deux programmes universitaires montrent le modèle global en pratique.

**L'Université de Northumbria** utilise la plateforme Causes de Hubbub depuis janvier 2022 pour
animer sa campagne "Higher Education Without Barriers", qui a collecté **plus de 2,3 millions de
livres pour soutenir les plus démunis au sein de la communauté de l'Université de Northumbria**.
Plutôt qu'un appel unique, la campagne est construite autour de six domaines de collecte distincts,
chacun avec sa propre page de don, et elle est alimentée par exactement le mélange de canaux décrit
plus haut : des campagnes de téléthon (téléphone), du publipostage et des appels du Giving Tuesday,
tous menés via une seule plateforme. L'université a fait croître son vivier de donateurs réguliers
et, fin 2022, a mené ce qu'elle décrit comme son appel du Giving Tuesday le plus réussi à ce jour.
C'est une illustration claire de campagnes qui alimentent un programme continu plutôt que d'en
rester à l'écart.

**L'Université de Leeds** a adopté la plateforme Causes en 2023 et s'est fixé un objectif de **1
million de livres en 2023-2024**, que l'équipe a dépassé. Leur expérience souligne deux thèmes de ce
guide. Premièrement, le dosage des canaux importe : la plateforme prend en charge le prélèvement
automatique et les dons réguliers par carte, en plus de l'intégration avec les campagnes
téléphoniques et le publipostage, et durant leur appel de mai 2023, plus d'un tiers des revenus et
des dons est venu de personnes donnant en ligne. Deuxièmement, supprimer la friction de la demande
paie directement : lorsque l'équipe a cessé de relier les soutiens aux pages de projet et les a au
contraire reliés directement aux pages de don, elle a "soudain vu une énorme augmentation du nombre
de personnes convertissant pour faire un don." L'argent soutient les étudiants et vise, selon les
mots de l'équipe, à "égaliser les chances en matière de soutien qu'ils reçoivent."

## Foire aux questions

**Quelle est la différence entre don régulier et don annuel ?** En pratique, les termes se
chevauchent et sont souvent utilisés de manière interchangeable. Tous deux décrivent un programme
qui engage un grand nombre de soutiens individuels et fait entrer des dons répétables année après
année. Le "don régulier" tend à mettre l'accent sur les dons engagés et continus, souvent par
prélèvement automatique, tandis que le "don annuel" met l'accent sur le cycle annuel d'appels. La
discipline est la même : acquérir, demander, augmenter, fidéliser et retenir.

**Par où un programme tout neuf devrait-il commencer ?** Par vos données. Avant de regarder les
canaux ou les ressources, comprenez la quantité, la qualité, l'exhaustivité et l'affinité de ce que
vous détenez, nettoyez-les et récoltez-en davantage. De bonnes données en entrée donnent de bonnes
données en sortie, et cela permet aux preuves, plutôt qu'aux suppositions, de guider vos décisions.

**Les appels téléphoniques valent-ils encore la peine ?** Oui, mais pour un rôle différent
qu'auparavant. L'acquisition à froid par téléphone est devenue coûteuse, alors l'usage le plus fort
désormais est chaleureux et ciblé : prenez les donateurs acquis par e-mail, par une journée de don
ou par publipostage et appelez-les pour les remercier, les fidéliser, augmenter leur don et, le cas
échéant, ouvrir des conversations sur le legs. Pensez à des périodes d'appel plus courtes et à des
campagnes plus ciblées.

**Combien de temps avant de pouvoir juger si quelque chose fonctionne ?** Prévoyez de répéter toute
activité environ trois fois. Une année vous donne des résultats, deux vous donnent une comparaison,
et trois vous permettent de voir de véritables tendances. Construisez les arguments pour un
déroulement cohérent sur trois ans plutôt que de juger un nouveau canal après une seule année.

**Quelle est la chose la plus importante à réussir ?** La fidélisation et la rétention. Comme le dit
la maxime du secteur, si vous n'allez pas fidéliser les donateurs, ne les sollicitez pas. Une cadence
de remerciements répétable qui fait que les donateurs se sentent valorisés est ce qui transforme un
don ponctuel en une vie de générosité, et c'est le plus grand moteur d'un programme durable.

**Comment le don fiscalement avantageux s'intègre-t-il ?** De nombreux pays européens offrent aux
donateurs une déduction ou une réduction d'impôt sur les dons éligibles, et les dons
transfrontaliers au sein de l'Europe peuvent parfois passer par Transnational Giving Europe pour
bénéficier d'un allègement. Rendez visible la situation qui s'applique à vos donateurs au moment de
la demande, tenez des enregistrements propres du nom, de l'adresse et des détails du don, et émettez
des reçus exacts et rapides.

---

### Pack de ressources des membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de plan de programme de dons réguliers](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Modèle de demande d'augmentation](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Modèle de cartographie du parcours du donateur](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée de don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de vos appels et de vos e-mails
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Webinaire : créer un programme de dons réguliers global et continu](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Études de cas : [Université de Northumbria](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) et [Université de Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Guides associés : [Comment organiser une journée de don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) et [Comment mener un appel téléphonique](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez l'[annuaire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come costruire un programma di donazioni regolari](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per costruire un programma di donazioni regolari e annuali olistico e continuo durante tutto l'anno, che copre l'acquisizione, la richiesta e l'aumento delle donazioni, la donazione fiscalmente vantaggiosa, la cura e la fidelizzazione dei donatori, e il modo in cui campagne come le giornate di donazione e gli appelli telefonici lo alimentano.
Un programma di donazioni regolari, talvolta chiamato programma di donazioni annuali, è la sala
macchine di una raccolta fondi sostenibile. Coinvolge e acquisisce un gran numero di sostenitori
individuali, li incoraggia a donare, li fidelizza e ne aumenta le donazioni anno dopo anno, e
costruisce un percorso verso le future donazioni di leadership e le grandi donazioni. Là dove un
programma di grandi donazioni dipende da una manciata di relazioni significative, la donazione
regolare riguarda donazioni ripetibili provenienti da grandi volumi di persone, e il reddito
prevedibile e rinnovabile che ne deriva. Kat Carter, consulente di Hubbub, ne riassume così lo
scopo: "Lo scopo della donazione regolare è davvero quello di coinvolgere e acquisire grandi volumi
di individui affinché facciano, si spera, donazioni regolari alla vostra istituzione, e poi di
poter aumentare e rinnovare quei donatori su base regolare, e infine di coltivare i futuri leader o
grandi donatori e costruire un percorso."

Quest'ultimo punto, il percorso, è ciò che rende importante il programma. La donazione regolare
raramente è la voce più prestigiosa di una strategia di raccolta fondi, ma è quella che, in
silenzio, sostiene tutto il resto. Produce un reddito che potete prevedere, costruisce la base
calda e coinvolta da cui verranno i vostri futuri grandi donatori e i vostri lasciti, e con il
tempo si accumula. Un donatore acquisito quest'anno, ringraziato bene, la cui donazione viene
aumentata e che viene fidelizzato, può valere molte volte la sua prima donazione nel corso degli
anni successivi: non una singola transazione, ma una relazione con un valore nel tempo.

Questa guida illustra come costruire un tale programma da zero: perché è importante, il modello
olistico e continuo che lo tiene insieme, il modo in cui le singole campagne lo alimentano, e le
discipline fondamentali dell'acquisizione, della richiesta e dell'aumento, della donazione
fiscalmente vantaggiosa, della cura dei donatori, dei dati e della misurazione. Si conclude con due
casi di studio universitari e con le risposte alle domande che i nuovi arrivati pongono più spesso.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di piano per programma di donazioni regolari](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> il nostro [modello di richiesta di aumento](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) e il
> nostro [modello di mappatura del percorso del donatore](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Perché la donazione regolare è importante

Tre benefici sono al cuore degli argomenti a favore della donazione regolare, e si rafforzano a
vicenda.

Il primo è il **reddito prevedibile**. Le donazioni regolari, soprattutto quelle impostate tramite
addebito diretto o donazione ricorrente con carta, vi danno una base affidabile su cui costruire il
bilancio, anziché una serie di appelli una tantum che dovete conquistare da zero ogni anno. È questa
prevedibilità che permette a un ufficio sviluppo di pianificare, investire e crescere con fiducia.

Il secondo è la **fidelizzazione**. È molto più economico e più produttivo mantenere e sviluppare un
donatore che già avete piuttosto che acquisirne uno nuovo. Un programma ben gestito tratta la
fidelizzazione come la sua disciplina centrale, non come un ripensamento, e la differenza si vede
direttamente nel reddito.

Il terzo è il **valore nel tempo**. Kat Carter immagina il programma come un imbuto: un grande
gruppo di non donatori in cima, che fate scendere nella donazione regolare, poi verso la leadership
e le grandi donazioni, con la cura dei donatori che attraversa tutto per mantenere le persone
coinvolte. "Mi piace vedere che avete un grande gruppo di non donatori", dice, "e li incoraggerete a
scendere in quel gruppo di donazione regolare, magari nella leadership, verso le donazioni regolari
e poi verso la grande donazione." Le persone risalgono anche l'imbuto, abbandonando o avendo bisogno
di essere riattivate, "e così si trasforma in una sorta di ciclo di donatori." Il compito del
programma è far muovere le persone attraverso quel ciclo e mantenerle al suo interno.

## Il modello olistico e continuo

Una parola attraversa l'intero approccio: **olistico**. È facile fissarsi su un singolo canale, una
giornata di donazione, diciamo, o un appello telefonico, e gestirlo bene trascurando le parti del
programma che lo alimentano e lo seguono. Un programma olistico considera invece tutte le parti, il
modo in cui interagiscono, e l'insieme. "Si tratta di considerare tutte le parti del programma",
spiega Kat Carter, "le interazioni che hanno tra loro così come l'insieme, in modo da poter far
crescere il vostro programma in un modo che diventi sostenibile."

In pratica questo significa tre cose che funzionano insieme anziché isolatamente: i vostri **dati**,
i **canali** che potete usare e le vostre **risorse**. L'ordine conta. Partite dai vostri dati,
guardate i canali e le opportunità che aprono, e solo allora guardate le risorse. Come dice Kat
Carter: "Partite dai vostri dati, guardate i vostri canali e le opportunità, e poi guardate le
vostre risorse." La maggior parte dei team comincia istintivamente dalle risorse, perché è il
vincolo che sentono più acutamente: un solo raccoglitore di fondi, una piccola squadra, un budget
limitato. Ma partire da lì significa perdere opportunità. Partire dai dati significa agire su ciò
che i vostri sostenitori rendono davvero possibile.

La parte continua durante tutto l'anno è altrettanto importante. Un programma di donazioni regolari
non è una campagna; è un ciclo di attività svolte, valutate e ripetute. "Davvero, questo è ciò che è
la donazione regolare", dice Kat Carter. "Sono questi cicli di attività, svolgerli, valutarli
ancora e ancora, cercando i cambiamenti, cercando le somiglianze, cercando le opportunità in cui
potreste trovare più donatori." Un anno tipico potrebbe prevedere una richiesta guidata dall'e-mail
in autunno, la cura dei donatori durante tutto l'anno per mantenerli caldi e informati, un appello
telefonico caldo e mirato in primavera incentrato sulla fidelizzazione e sull'aumento, e la posta
diretta inserita dove i dati la sostengono, poi si ricomincia. La tentazione è di giudicare una
nuova attività dopo un anno. Resistete. "Bisogna davvero ripetere un'attività, direi tre volte, per
capire l'impatto che ha", consiglia Kat Carter: il primo anno vi dà risultati, il secondo un
confronto, e solo il terzo vi permette di vedere tendenze reali. Costruite gli argomenti, e il
budget, per uno svolgimento coerente su tre anni anziché per un singolo anno a sé stante.

## Come le campagne alimentano il programma

È qui che il più ampio calendario di raccolta fondi si guadagna il suo posto. Una
[giornata di donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/), un
[appello telefonico](/europe/it/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) e il crowdfunding non sono
rivali del vostro programma di donazioni regolari; sono i canali che lo alimentano. Ciascuno
acquisisce, coinvolge o aumenta donatori che poi appartengono al ciclo continuo.

Una **giornata di donazione** è uno degli eventi di acquisizione più efficienti che possiate
realizzare. Porta un'ondata di nuovi donatori in una finestra breve ed energica, e fa qualcosa di
più discreto altrettanto prezioso: cattura dati che potrete usare in seguito. Nelle campagne di
Hubbub, "almeno il 70 per cento dei [donatori della giornata di donazione] lascia un numero di
telefono che possiamo poi usare in una campagna di follow-up." Questo è il legame tra una giornata
di donazione e il resto del programma: acquisite il donatore e i suoi recapiti nel giorno stesso,
poi lo curate e ne aumentate la donazione nel corso dell'anno.

Un **appello telefonico** gioca un ruolo diverso ma complementare. L'acquisizione telefonica di non
donatori freddi è diventata costosa, e l'economia è spietata: l'e-mail può rendere nell'ordine di
quindici euro per ogni euro speso, mentre acquisire un non donatore per telefono potrebbe rendere
sei euro, o tre, o appena uno. L'uso più accorto del telefono oggi è caldo e mirato. Prendete i
donatori che avete acquisito tramite e-mail, una giornata di donazione o la posta diretta, inserite
quelli di cui possedete il numero in un appello telefonico focalizzato, e usate la chiamata per
ringraziarli, fidelizzarli, chiedere ai donatori una tantum di impostare una donazione regolare,
chiedere ai donatori regolari esistenti di aumentare la donazione, e magari aprire una conversazione
sui lasciti. "Forse fare qualche chiamata sui lasciti sarebbe un uso migliore della campagna
telefonica", osserva Kat Carter. Il telefono non è più lo strumento di acquisizione di massa che era
un tempo; è uno strumento di precisione per la fidelizzazione e l'aumento.

Il **crowdfunding** si svolge tutto l'anno ed è guidato dai gruppi e dagli individui che raccolgono
per i propri progetti. Allarga la parte alta dell'imbuto, portando donatori che arrivano attraverso
una causa che sta loro a cuore e che possono essere curati verso il vostro programma più ampio nel
tempo. Il principio è lo stesso in ogni caso: ogni campagna è un punto di ingresso, e il programma
trasforma una donazione una tantum in una relazione.

## Acquisire donatori regolari

L'acquisizione comincia dai vostri dati, perché i vostri dati vi dicono chi potete raggiungere e
come. La prima mossa in un programma del tutto nuovo dovrebbe sempre essere interrogare i dati prima
di fare qualsiasi altra cosa. Guardate la **quantità**: quanti ex studenti, genitori, membri della
comunità o sostenitori avete, e per quanti di loro disponete di numeri di telefono, indirizzi
postali e indirizzi e-mail. Guardate la **qualità**: questi recapiti sono ancora validi? Guardate
quanto i record sono **completi** e **coerenti**, e l'**affinità**, ossia quanto caldo o freddo si
sente ogni gruppo nei vostri confronti, il che determina sia la loro probabilità di donare sia il
modo in cui dovreste parlare loro.

Gran parte del lavoro iniziale è una poco gloriosa pulizia dei dati. "Potreste passare la prima
parte della creazione del vostro programma di donazioni regolari in un foglio Excel, in un database,
a pulire i vostri dati", dice Kat Carter. "Per quelli di noi che sono stati in programmi emergenti o
consolidati, ci siamo passati tutti. Ho l'impressione che sia un po' un rito di passaggio." È anche
genuinamente prezioso: ne uscite sapendo esattamente ciò che avete. Strumenti di validazione, come
Experian per gli indirizzi e i numeri di telefono e un servizio come Debounce per l'e-mail, vi
permettono di verificare ciò che è buono senza la spesa di spedire o chiamare persone i cui recapiti
sono diventati obsoleti. Poi raccoglietene di più: usate i buoni dati che avete per chiedere ai
sostenitori di aggiornare il resto, tramite e-mail, posta, canali social come LinkedIn e Facebook, e
sondaggi tra gli ex studenti.

Con dati puliti in mano, potete abbinare i pubblici ai canali in base al rendimento probabile. Per
la prima acquisizione, l'e-mail tende a essere l'opportunità più forte, con il miglior ritorno
sull'investimento e il vantaggio che le donazioni arrivano come liquidità al momento
dell'acquisizione anziché come una promessa da onorare nel corso degli anni. "L'e-mail di solito
sono donazioni fatte proprio al momento dell'acquisizione", spiega Kat Carter. Si presta a richieste
segmentate su più pubblici e alla sollecitazione di nuovi donatori, specialmente nei primi due anni
di un programma. La posta diretta, il canale più costoso, si guadagna ancora il suo posto per
sollecitazioni molto segmentate e più calde, in particolare di sostenitori oltre i quaranta che si
sentono caldi nei vostri confronti. La disciplina consiste nel realizzare campagne nei canali che i
vostri dati sostengono, e non là dove indicano l'abitudine o la tradizione.

## La richiesta e l'aumento

L'acquisizione e l'aumento si riducono entrambi alla forza della richiesta, e la richiesta è più del
momento della decisione. È l'intero percorso su cui accompagnate qualcuno, dall'interruzione alla
donazione. "Manderete loro qualcosa che li interromperà", dice Kat Carter di qualsiasi canale,
telefono, posta o e-mail. "Volete avere qualcosa che coinvolga e interrompa la loro giornata in modo
positivo." Da lì li portate nella conversazione attraverso una narrazione potente e un rapporto
genuino, poi alla decisione, spesso ancorata da un importo di richiesta specifico o da un livello
suggerito, e poi, in modo cruciale, rendete facile donare. Mantenete i meccanismi di risposta della
posta diretta privi di attrito, e assicuratevi che un modulo di donazione online non perda il
donatore all'ultimo passaggio. Una storia brillante sprecata da un modulo di donazione goffo è una
donazione persa.

L'**aumento** è il punto in cui un programma di donazioni regolari si accumula, ed è il compito
naturale dei canali caldi. A un donatore una tantum si può chiedere di impostare una donazione
regolare; a un donatore regolare esistente si può chiedere di dare un po' di più. È esattamente il
lavoro che il telefono fa bene, e funziona meglio quando il ringraziamento e la richiesta sono
vicini: ringraziate il donatore personalmente per la sua ultima donazione, poi argomentate perché
fare un passo avanti. Aprite il piano di ogni anno con un'acquisizione guidata dall'e-mail, poi
costruite sopra le richieste di rinnovo e di aumento, e dal secondo anno in poi aggiungete la
riattivazione, riportando nel ciclo i donatori che hanno abbandonato. Il nostro
[modello di richiesta di aumento](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) vi offre una
richiesta calda e strutturata da adattare.

## La donazione fiscalmente vantaggiosa

La donazione fiscalmente vantaggiosa varia in tutta Europa, quindi inserite nel programma il
beneficio che si applica ai vostri sostenitori. Molti paesi europei offrono ai loro residenti una
deduzione o una detrazione fiscale sulle donazioni a enti benefici idonei, il che può far andare più
lontano la donazione senza costi aggiuntivi per il donatore. Per i donatori che donano oltre confine
all'interno dell'Europa, Transnational Giving Europe è una rete che può permettere a una donazione a
un ente benefico di un altro paese membro di beneficiare di un'agevolazione fiscale nel paese del
donatore. In un programma di donazioni regolari, con donazioni che si ripetono anno dopo anno, vale
la pena comunicare chiaramente il beneficio pertinente, e non costa nulla ai vostri sostenitori.

Due abitudini fanno la differenza. Primo, rendete visibile la posizione fiscale nel momento della
richiesta, sul modulo di donazione, al telefono, sul tagliando di risposta, in modo che i donatori
la comprendano mentre donano anziché interrogarsi dopo. Inseritela nel percorso del donatore anziché
aggiungerla a posteriori. Secondo, tenete registri puliti e completi: nome, indirizzo e dettagli
della donazione del donatore, in modo da poter emettere ricevute e riscontri accurati che soddisfino
i requisiti del paese pertinente. Una ricevuta chiara e tempestiva rassicura i donatori e rafforza
la relazione. Trattate il beneficio fiscale come parte della richiesta e del ringraziamento, non
come un pezzo di amministrazione, e sosterrà in silenzio il valore dell'intero programma.

## Cura e fidelizzazione dei donatori: la disciplina fondamentale

Se c'è un posto in cui concentrare gli sforzi, è questo. L'acquisizione attira l'attenzione, ma è la
fidelizzazione a rendere un programma sostenibile, ed è la cura dei donatori a guidare la
fidelizzazione. La formulazione più tagliente viene da Rosa Dale-Moore, esperta di donazione
regolare, che Kat Carter cita: "Se non avete intenzione di fidelizzarli, non chiedete loro."

La cura dei donatori non è una singola e-mail di ringraziamento dopo una donazione, né un biglietto a
Natale. È "una cadenza di ringraziamenti ripetibile che i vostri donatori ricevono per sentire che
la loro donazione è preziosa, che ne vale la pena", così che quando chiedete di nuovo siano più
propensi a dire di sì. La sfida pratica è che una buona cura è difficile da erogare su larga scala,
quindi siate realistici e adattate il canale alla relazione. Se i donatori donano per e-mail,
ringraziateli per e-mail; non avete bisogno anche di spedire loro qualcosa per posta. Se state già
chiamando donatori per una donazione regolare o aumentata, usate la chiamata stessa per ringraziarli
prima personalmente. E non lasciate che il divario tra la prima donazione e il primo vero
ringraziamento, o la richiesta successiva, si allunghi troppo. La cura dei donatori non è un centro
di costo che sta al di fuori del programma; è la parte del programma che fa funzionare ogni altra
parte.

## Usare i dati e la segmentazione

Il lavoro sui dati non si ferma una volta che un programma è avviato; diventa un ritmo permanente.
La raccolta e la pulizia non si fermano mai, e l'analisi è un perenne compito estivo per i team di
donazione regolare, che usano i mesi tranquilli per valutare l'anno e iniziare l'autunno con una
strategia rinnovata.

La segmentazione trasforma un elenco piatto in un programma. A un livello di base significa
raggruppare ex studenti, genitori e membri della comunità, e segmentare ulteriormente per attributi
come l'età. In modo più potente, significa comprendere i vostri donatori esistenti abbastanza bene da
trovare più persone che assomigliano a loro. Il modello di Hubbub usa l'**analisi RFM**: recency (da
quanto tempo qualcuno ha donato), frequency (con quale frequenza) e valore monetario (quanto).
Profilate i vostri donatori attuali su queste tre dimensioni, poi cercate nei vostri bacini di non
donatori persone che assomiglino a loro, così che le vostre richieste atterrino dove hanno più
probabilità di convertire. La stessa disciplina dei dati vi dice quali canali impiegare e su quali
pubblici: un gruppo caldo e contattabile oltre i quaranta con indirizzi postali validi potrebbe
essere un'opportunità per la posta diretta, mentre un grande pubblico e-mail coinvolto potrebbe
essere il luogo in cui realizzare una giornata di donazione. Il punto è lasciare che siano le prove,
non l'abitudine, a decidere il mix.

## Misurare il successo

Misurate le cose che vi dicono se il programma è in salute, e misuratele nel tempo anziché in un
singolo anno. Tra le metriche utili figurano la **partecipazione** (Kat Carter predilige il numero
di donatori rispetto al tasso di partecipazione, perché in un contesto educativo le persone si
laureano di continuo e il tasso diventa un bersaglio mobile che rincorrete), il **reddito raccolto**,
e il flusso dei donatori attraverso il ciclo: quanti ne **acquisite**, quanti ne **fidelizzate**,
quanti **abbandonano**, e quanti risalgono il percorso verso la leadership o le grandi donazioni.
Tracciate i cambiamenti in quei segmenti anno dopo anno, e osservate il vostro **ritorno
sull'investimento** per canale.

Tre numeri meritano un'attenzione particolare, perché catturano la salute dell'intera disciplina. Il
**tasso di fidelizzazione** vi dice quale proporzione di donatori dona di nuovo, ed è il test più
vero della vostra cura. Il **valore nel tempo** vi dice quanto vale un donatore lungo l'intera
relazione, la cifra che giustifica l'investimento nell'acquisizione e nella cura. L'**abbandono**,
il tasso al quale i donatori si dileguano, è la spia d'allarme: un abbandono crescente significa che
l'imbuto perde più velocemente di quanto lo riempiate, e di solito rimanda alla cura dei donatori.
Leggete questi numeri insieme e nel tempo, mai un anno isolatamente, e vi diranno dove il programma
funziona e dove agire.

## Casi di studio: Northumbria e Leeds

Due programmi universitari mostrano il modello olistico nella pratica.

**La Northumbria University** usa la piattaforma Causes di Hubbub da gennaio 2022 per alimentare la
sua campagna "Higher Education Without Barriers", che ha raccolto **oltre 2,3 milioni di sterline per
sostenere i più bisognosi all'interno della comunità della Northumbria University**. Anziché un
singolo appello, la campagna è costruita su sei distinte aree di raccolta fondi, ciascuna con la
propria pagina di donazione, ed è alimentata esattamente dal mix di canali descritto sopra: campagne
telethon (telefono), posta diretta e appelli del Giving Tuesday, tutti gestiti tramite un'unica
piattaforma. L'università ha fatto crescere il suo bacino di donatori regolari e, alla fine del 2022,
ha realizzato quello che descrive come il suo appello del Giving Tuesday di maggior successo fino a
quel momento. È una chiara illustrazione di campagne che alimentano un programma continuo anziché
restarne separate.

**La University of Leeds** ha adottato la piattaforma Causes nel 2023 e si è posta un obiettivo di
**1 milione di sterline nel 2023-2024**, che il team ha superato. La loro esperienza sottolinea due
temi di questa guida. Primo, il mix di canali conta: la piattaforma supporta l'addebito diretto e le
donazioni regolari con carta accanto all'integrazione con le campagne telefoniche e la posta diretta,
e durante il loro appello del maggio 2023 oltre un terzo del reddito e delle donazioni è arrivato da
persone che donavano online. Secondo, rimuovere l'attrito dalla richiesta paga direttamente: quando
il team ha smesso di collegare i sostenitori alle pagine di progetto e li ha invece collegati
direttamente alle pagine di donazione, ha "visto improvvisamente un enorme aumento di persone che
convertivano per fare una donazione." Il denaro sostiene gli studenti e mira, nelle parole del team,
a "livellare il campo di gioco in termini di sostegno che ricevono."

## Domande frequenti

**Qual è la differenza tra donazione regolare e donazione annuale?** In pratica i termini si
sovrappongono e sono spesso usati in modo intercambiabile. Entrambi descrivono un programma che
coinvolge un gran numero di sostenitori individuali e fa entrare donazioni ripetibili anno dopo anno.
La "donazione regolare" tende a enfatizzare le donazioni impegnate e continuative, spesso per addebito
diretto, mentre la "donazione annuale" enfatizza il ciclo annuale di appelli. La disciplina è la
stessa: acquisire, chiedere, aumentare, curare e fidelizzare.

**Da dove dovrebbe partire un programma del tutto nuovo?** Dai vostri dati. Prima di guardare i canali
o le risorse, comprendete la quantità, la qualità, la completezza e l'affinità di ciò che avete,
pulitelo e raccoglietene di più. Buoni dati in entrata significano buoni dati in uscita, e ciò
permette alle prove, anziché alle congetture, di guidare le vostre decisioni.

**Gli appelli telefonici valgono ancora la pena?** Sì, ma per un compito diverso da prima.
L'acquisizione a freddo per telefono è diventata costosa, quindi l'uso più forte oggi è caldo e
mirato: prendete i donatori acquisiti tramite e-mail, una giornata di donazione o la posta diretta e
chiamateli per ringraziare, fidelizzare, aumentare e, dove opportuno, aprire conversazioni sui
lasciti. Pensate a periodi di chiamata più brevi e a campagne più mirate.

**Quanto tempo prima di poter giudicare se qualcosa funziona?** Programmate di ripetere qualsiasi
attività circa tre volte. Un anno vi dà risultati, due vi danno un confronto, e tre vi permettono di
vedere tendenze reali. Costruite gli argomenti per uno svolgimento coerente su tre anni anziché
giudicare un nuovo canale dopo un singolo anno.

**Qual è la cosa più importante da fare bene?** La cura dei donatori e la fidelizzazione. Come recita
la massima del settore, se non avete intenzione di fidelizzare i donatori, non chiedete loro. Una
cadenza di ringraziamenti ripetibile che faccia sentire i donatori apprezzati è ciò che trasforma una
donazione una tantum in una vita di generosità, ed è il più grande singolo motore di un programma
sostenibile.

**Come si inserisce la donazione fiscalmente vantaggiosa?** Molti paesi europei offrono ai donatori
una deduzione o una detrazione sulle donazioni idonee, e le donazioni transfrontaliere all'interno
dell'Europa possono talvolta usare Transnational Giving Europe per beneficiare di un'agevolazione.
Rendete visibile la posizione che si applica ai vostri donatori nel momento della richiesta, tenete
registri puliti di nome, indirizzo e dettagli della donazione, ed emettete ricevute accurate e
tempestive.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di piano per programma di donazioni regolari](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Modello di richiesta di aumento](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Modello di mappatura del percorso del donatore](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di giornata di donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellate i risultati probabili prima di impegnarvi su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi di raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affinate il testo dei vostri appelli e delle vostre e-mail
- [Generatore di QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collegate i momenti di persona direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Webinar: creare un programma di donazioni regolari olistico e continuo](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Casi di studio: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) e [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Guide correlate: [Come organizzare una giornata di donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) e [Come condurre un appello telefonico](/europe/it/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Enti di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to build a regular giving programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (uk/en): A practical guide to building a holistic, year-round regular and annual giving programme, covering acquisition, the ask and upgrade, Gift Aid, stewardship and retention, and how campaigns like giving days and telephone appeals feed it.
A regular giving programme, sometimes called an annual giving programme, is the engine room of
sustainable fundraising. It engages and acquires large numbers of individual supporters,
encourages them to give, retains and upgrades them year on year, and builds a pipeline towards
future leadership and major gifts. Where a major-gifts programme depends on a handful of
significant relationships, regular giving is about repeatable donations from large volumes of
people, and the predictable, renewable income that comes with them. Kat Carter, a consultant at
Hubbub, sums up the purpose this way: "Regular giving's purpose is really to engage and acquire
large volumes of individuals to give hopefully regular gifts to your institution, and then to be
able to upgrade and renew those donors on a regular basis, and then to cultivate future
leadership or major donors and to build a pipeline."

That last point, the pipeline, is what makes the programme matter. Regular giving is rarely the
most glamorous line in a fundraising strategy, but it is the one that quietly underwrites
everything else. It produces income you can forecast, it builds the warm, engaged base from which
your future major donors and legators will come, and over time it compounds. A donor acquired this
year, thanked well, upgraded and retained, can be worth many times their first gift across the
years that follow: not a single transaction, but a relationship with a lifetime value.

This guide sets out how to build such a programme from the ground up: why it matters, the
holistic year-round model that holds it together, how individual campaigns feed it, and the core
disciplines of acquisition, the ask and upgrade, Gift Aid, stewardship, data and measurement. It
closes with two university case studies and answers to the questions newcomers ask most often.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> [upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) and
> [donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Why regular giving matters

Three benefits sit at the heart of the case for regular giving, and they reinforce one another.

The first is **predictable income**. Regular gifts, especially those set up by Direct Debit, give
you a dependable base you can budget against, rather than a series of one-off appeals you have to
win from scratch each year. That predictability is what lets a development office plan, invest and
grow with confidence.

The second is **retention**. It is far cheaper and more productive to keep and develop a donor you
already have than to acquire a new one. A well-run programme treats retention as its central
discipline, not an afterthought, and the difference shows up directly in income.

The third is **lifetime value**. Kat Carter pictures the programme as a funnel: a large group of
non-donors at the top, who you move down into regular giving, then on towards leadership and major
gifts, with stewardship running throughout to keep people engaged. "I like to see that you've got
a large group of non-donors," she says, "and you'll be encouraging them to move down into that
regular giving group, into leadership perhaps regular gifts and then on to major giving." People
move back up the funnel too, lapsing or needing to be re-engaged, "so it then turns into a kind of
cycle of donors." The job of the programme is to move people through that cycle and keep them in
it.

## The holistic, year-round model

One word runs through the whole approach: **holistic**. It is easy to fixate on a single channel,
a giving day, say, or a telephone appeal, and run it well while neglecting the parts of the
programme that feed it and follow it. A holistic programme instead considers all the parts, the
way they interact, and the whole. "It's about considering all parts of the programme," Kat Carter
explains, "the interactions they have with each other as well as the whole, so that you can be
growing your programme in a way that becomes sustainable."

In practice that means three things working together rather than in isolation: your **data**, the
**channels** you can use, and your **resource**. The order matters. Lead with your data, look at
the channels and the opportunities they open, and only then look at resource. As Kat Carter puts
it: "You're leading with your data, you're looking at your channels and the opportunities, and
then you're looking at your resource." Most teams instinctively start with resource, because it is
the constraint they feel most keenly: a sole fundraiser, a small team, a limited budget. But
starting there means missing opportunities. Starting with the data means you act on what your
supporters actually make possible.

The year-round part is just as important. A regular giving programme is not a campaign; it is a
cycle of activities run, evaluated and repeated. "Really, this is what regular giving is," Kat
Carter says. "It's these cycles of activities, running them, evaluating them again and again,
looking at changes, looking at similarities, looking for opportunities where you might be able to
find more donors." A typical year might run an email-led ask in the autumn, stewardship through
the year to keep donors warm and informed, a warm, targeted telephone appeal in the spring focused
on retention and upgrade, and direct mail layered in where the data supports it, then begin again.
The temptation is to judge a new activity after one year. Resist it. "You really need to repeat an
activity, I would say three times in order to understand the impact that it has," Kat Carter
advises: the first year gives you results, the second a comparison, and only the third lets you
see real trends. Build the case, and the budget, for a consistent three-year run rather than a
single year on its own.

## How campaigns feed the programme

This is where the wider fundraising calendar earns its place. A
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[telephone appeal](/uk/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) and crowdfunding are not rivals to
your regular giving programme; they are the channels that feed it. Each one acquires, engages or
upgrades donors who then belong inside the year-round cycle.

A **Giving Day** is one of the most efficient acquisition events you can run. It brings a surge of
new donors in over a short, energetic window, and it does something quieter that is just as
valuable: it captures data you can use later. In Hubbub's campaigns, "at least 70 per cent of
[giving day donors] leave a phone number that we can then use in a follow-up campaign." That is the
link between a giving day and the rest of the programme: you acquire the donor and their contact
details on the day, then steward and upgrade them through the year.

A **telephone appeal** plays a different but complementary role. Telephone acquisition of cold,
non-donors has become expensive, and the economics are unforgiving: email can return in the region
of fifteen pounds for every pound spent, whereas acquiring a non-donor by phone might return six
pounds, or three, or as little as one. The smarter use of the phone now is warm and targeted. Take
the donors you acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail, put the ones whose number you
hold into a focused telephone appeal, and use the call to thank them, retain them, ask single-gift
donors to set up a regular gift, ask existing regular donors to upgrade, and perhaps open a legacy
conversation. "Maybe doing some legacy calls in there would be a better use of the telephone
campaign," Kat Carter notes. The phone is no longer the volume acquisition tool it once was; it is
a precision instrument for retention and upgrade.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is led by the groups and individuals raising for their own
projects. It widens the top of the funnel, bringing in donors who arrive through a cause they care
about and who can be stewarded towards your wider programme over time. The principle is the same in
every case: every campaign is an entry point, and the programme turns a one-off gift into a
relationship.

## Acquiring regular donors

Acquisition begins with your data, because your data tells you who you can reach and how. The first
move in a brand-new programme should always be to interrogate the data before doing anything else.
Look at the **quantity**: how many alumni, parents, community members or supporters you hold, and
how many you have phone numbers, postal addresses and email addresses for. Look at the **quality**:
are those details still valid? Look at how **complete** and **consistent** the records are, and at
**affinity**, how warm or cold each group feels towards you, which shapes both how likely they are
to give and how you should talk to them.

Much of the early work is unglamorous data cleaning. "You may spend your first part of creating
your regular giving programme in an Excel spreadsheet, in a database, cleaning your data," Kat
Carter says. "For those of us who have been in emerging or established programmes, we have all been
there. I feel like it's a little bit of a rite of passage." It is also genuinely valuable: you
emerge knowing exactly what you hold. Validation tools, such as Experian for addresses and phone
numbers and a service like Debounce for email, let you check what is good without the expense of
mailing or calling people whose details have gone stale. Then gather more: use the good data you
have to ask supporters to update the rest, through email, post, social channels such as LinkedIn
and Facebook, and alumni surveys.

With clean data in hand, you can match audiences to channels by likely return. For first-time
acquisition, email tends to be the strongest opportunity, with the best return on investment and
the advantage that gifts come in as cash at the point of acquisition rather than as a pledge to be
fulfilled over years. "Email is usually gifts made right at the time of acquisition," Kat Carter
explains. It suits segmented asks across multiple audiences and the soliciting of new donors,
especially in a programme's first couple of years. Direct mail, the most expensive channel, still
earns its place for highly segmented, warmer solicitation, particularly of supporters over forty
who feel warm towards you. The discipline is to run campaigns in the channels your data supports,
not where habit or tradition points.

## The ask and the upgrade

Acquisition and upgrade both come down to the strength of the ask, and the ask is more than the
moment of decision. It is the whole journey you take someone on, from interruption to gift. "You're
going to send them something that is going to interrupt them," Kat Carter says of any channel,
phone, post or email. "You want to have something that is going to engage and interrupt their day
in a positive way." From there you move them into the conversation through powerful storytelling
and genuine rapport, then to the decision, often anchored by a specific ask amount or a suggested
level, and then, crucially, you make it easy to give. Keep the reply mechanisms for direct mail
free of friction, and make sure an online giving form does not lose the donor at the last step. A
brilliant story squandered by a clumsy donation form is a gift lost.

The **upgrade** is where a regular giving programme compounds, and it is the natural job of warm
channels. A single-gift donor can be asked to set up a regular gift; an existing regular donor can
be asked to give a little more. This is exactly the work the telephone does well, and it works best
when the thanking and the asking sit close together: thank the donor personally for their last
gift, then make the case for stepping up. Lead each year's plan with email-led acquisition, then
build renewal and upgrade asks on top, and from the second year onwards add reactivation, pulling
lapsed donors back into the cycle. Our
[upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) gives you a warm,
structured ask to adapt.

## Gift Aid

For UK charities, Gift Aid is one of the simplest ways to increase the value of regular giving at
no extra cost to the donor. When an eligible donor who is a UK taxpayer makes a Gift Aid
declaration, you can reclaim the basic-rate tax on their gift, which adds 25p to every pound given.
On a regular giving programme, with gifts repeating year after year, that uplift is substantial and
it costs your supporters nothing.

Two habits make the difference. First, capture the Gift Aid declaration at the point of the ask, on
the donation form, on the phone, in the reply device, so that it travels with the gift rather than
being chased afterwards. Build it into the donor journey rather than bolting it on. Second, keep
clean, complete records: the donor's name, home address and a valid declaration, because HMRC
requires them and because good data in means good data out. An enduring declaration covering a
donor's regular gifts lets you reclaim on every future payment without asking again. Treat Gift Aid
as part of the ask, not a piece of administration, and it quietly lifts the value of the whole
programme.

## Stewardship and retention: the core discipline

If there is one place to concentrate effort, it is here. Acquisition gets the attention, but
retention is what makes a programme sustainable, and stewardship is what drives retention. The
sharpest framing comes from regular giving expert Rosa Dale-Moore, whom Kat Carter quotes: "If
you're not going to retain them, don't ask them."

Stewardship is not a single thank-you email after a gift, or a card at Christmas. It is "a
repeatable thanking cadence that your donors receive in order to feel that their gift is valuable,
is worthwhile," so that when you ask again, they are more likely to say yes. The practical challenge
is that good stewardship is hard to deliver at volume, so be realistic and match the channel to the
relationship. If donors give by email, thank them by email; you do not also need to post them
something. If you are already calling donors for a regular or upgraded gift, use the call itself to
thank them personally first. And do not let the gap between the first gift and the first proper
thank-you, or the next ask, stretch too long. Stewardship is not a cost centre that sits outside the
programme; it is the part of the programme that makes every other part work.

## Using data and segmentation

Data work does not stop once a programme is up and running; it becomes a permanent rhythm. Gathering
and cleaning never stop, and analysis is a perennial summer task for regular giving teams, who use
the quiet months to evaluate the year and start the autumn with a refreshed strategy.

Segmentation turns a flat list into a programme. At a basic level that means grouping alumni,
parents and community members, and segmenting further by attributes such as age. More powerfully, it
means understanding your existing donors well enough to find more people who look like them. The
Hubbub model uses **RFM analysis**: recency (how long ago someone gave), frequency (how often) and
monetary value (how much). You profile your current donors on those three dimensions, then look
across your non-donor pools for people who resemble them, so your asks land where they are most
likely to convert. The same data discipline tells you which channels to deploy and on which
audiences: a warm, contactable group over forty with valid postal addresses might be a direct mail
opportunity, while a large, engaged email audience might be the place to run a giving day. The point
is to let evidence, not habit, decide the mix.

## Measuring success

Measure the things that tell you whether the programme is healthy, and measure them over time rather
than in a single year. Useful metrics include **participation** (Kat Carter favours the number of
donors over the participation rate, because in an educational setting people are always graduating
and the rate becomes a moving target you chase), **income raised**, and the flow of donors through
the cycle: how many you **acquire**, how many you **retain**, how many **lapse**, and how many move
up the pipeline to leadership or major gifts. Track the changes in those segments year on year, and
watch your **return on investment** by channel.

Three numbers deserve particular attention, because they capture the health of the whole discipline.
**Retention rate** tells you what proportion of donors give again, and it is the truest test of your
stewardship. **Lifetime value** tells you what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, the
figure that justifies investment in acquisition and care. **Attrition**, the rate at which donors
lapse, is the warning light: rising attrition means the funnel is leaking faster than you are
filling it, and it usually points back to stewardship. Read these together and over time, never one
year in isolation, and they will tell you where the programme is working and where to act.

## Case studies: Northumbria and Leeds

Two university programmes show the holistic model in practice.

**Northumbria University** has used Hubbub's Causes platform since January 2022 to power its
"Higher Education Without Barriers" campaign, which has raised **over £2.3m to support those most in
need across the Northumbria University community**. Rather than a single appeal, the campaign is
built across six distinct fundraising areas, each with its own donation page, and it is fed by
exactly the mix of channels described above: telethon (telephone) campaigns, direct mail and Giving
Tuesday appeals all running through one platform. The university grew its regular donor pool and, at
the end of 2022, ran what it describes as its most successful Giving Tuesday appeal to date. It is a
clear illustration of campaigns feeding a year-round programme rather than standing apart from it.

**The University of Leeds** adopted the Causes platform in 2023 and set a target of **£1m in 2023 to
2024**, which the team exceeded. Their experience underlines two themes from this guide. First, the
channel mix matters: the platform supports Direct Debit and regular card donations alongside
integration with telephone campaigns and direct mail, and during their May 2023 appeal over a third
of income and donations came from people giving online. Second, removing friction from the ask pays
off directly: when the team stopped linking supporters to project pages and instead linked them
straight to donation pages, they "suddenly saw a huge increase in people converting to make a gift."
The money supports students and aims, in the team's words, to "level the playing field in terms of
the support they receive."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between regular giving and annual giving?** In practice the terms overlap
and are often used interchangeably. Both describe a programme that engages large numbers of
individual supporters and brings in repeatable gifts year after year. "Regular giving" tends to
emphasise ongoing committed gifts, often by Direct Debit, while "annual giving" emphasises the
yearly cycle of appeals. The discipline is the same: acquire, ask, upgrade, steward and retain.

**Where should a brand-new programme start?** With your data. Before looking at channels or
resource, understand the quantity, quality, completeness and affinity of what you hold, clean it,
and gather more. Good data in means good data out, and it lets evidence, rather than guesswork, lead
your decisions.

**Are telephone appeals still worth running?** Yes, but for a different job than before. Cold
acquisition by phone has become expensive, so the strongest use now is warm and targeted: take
donors acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail and call them to thank, retain, upgrade
and, where appropriate, open legacy conversations. Think shorter calling periods and more focused
campaigns.

**How long before I can judge whether something is working?** Plan to repeat any activity around
three times. One year gives you results, two gives you a comparison, and three lets you see real
trends. Build the case for a consistent three-year run rather than judging a new channel after a
single year.

**What is the most important thing to get right?** Stewardship and retention. As the sector maxim
goes, if you are not going to retain donors, do not ask them. A repeatable thanking cadence that
makes donors feel valued is what turns a one-off gift into a lifetime of giving, and it is the
single biggest driver of a sustainable programme.

**How does Gift Aid fit in?** For UK charities it adds 25p to every eligible pound at no cost to the
donor. Capture the declaration at the point of the ask, keep clean records of name, address and
declaration, and use an enduring declaration so you can reclaim on every future regular gift without
asking again.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating a holistic year-round regular giving programme](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Case studies: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) and [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a telephone appeal](/uk/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to build a regular giving program](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (us/en): A practical guide to building a holistic, year-round regular and annual giving program, covering acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-deductible giving, stewardship and retention, and how campaigns like giving days and phonathons feed it.
A regular giving program, sometimes called an annual giving program, is the engine room of
sustainable fundraising. It engages and acquires large numbers of individual supporters,
encourages them to give, retains and upgrades them year on year, and builds a pipeline towards
future leadership and major gifts. Where a major-gifts program depends on a handful of
significant relationships, regular giving is about repeatable donations from large volumes of
people, and the predictable, renewable income that comes with them. Kat Carter, a consultant at
Hubbub, sums up the purpose this way: "Regular giving's purpose is really to engage and acquire
large volumes of individuals to give hopefully regular gifts to your institution, and then to be
able to upgrade and renew those donors on a regular basis, and then to cultivate future
leadership or major donors and to build a pipeline."

That last point, the pipeline, is what makes the program matter. Regular giving is rarely the
most glamorous line in a fundraising strategy, but it is the one that quietly underwrites
everything else. It produces income you can forecast, it builds the warm, engaged base from which
your future major donors and legacy donors will come, and over time it compounds. A donor acquired this
year, thanked well, upgraded and retained, can be worth many times their first gift across the
years that follow: not a single transaction, but a relationship with a lifetime value.

This guide sets out how to build such a program from the ground up: why it matters, the
holistic year-round model that holds it together, how individual campaigns feed it, and the core
disciplines of acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-deductible giving, stewardship, data and measurement. It
closes with two university case studies and answers to the questions newcomers ask most often.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [regular giving program plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> [upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) and
> [donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Why regular giving matters

Three benefits sit at the heart of the case for regular giving, and they reinforce one another.

The first is **predictable income**. Regular gifts, especially recurring gifts set up by bank transfer
or card, give
you a dependable base you can budget against, rather than a series of one-off appeals you have to
win from scratch each year. That predictability is what lets a development office plan, invest and
grow with confidence.

The second is **retention**. It is far cheaper and more productive to keep and develop a donor you
already have than to acquire a new one. A well-run program treats retention as its central
discipline, not an afterthought, and the difference shows up directly in income.

The third is **lifetime value**. Kat Carter pictures the program as a funnel: a large group of
non-donors at the top, who you move down into regular giving, then on towards leadership and major
gifts, with stewardship running throughout to keep people engaged. "I like to see that you've got
a large group of non-donors," she says, "and you'll be encouraging them to move down into that
regular giving group, into leadership perhaps regular gifts and then on to major giving." People
move back up the funnel too, lapsing or needing to be re-engaged, "so it then turns into a kind of
cycle of donors." The job of the program is to move people through that cycle and keep them in
it.

## The holistic, year-round model

One word runs through the whole approach: **holistic**. It is easy to fixate on a single channel,
a giving day, say, or a phonathon, and run it well while neglecting the parts of the
program that feed it and follow it. A holistic program instead considers all the parts, the
way they interact, and the whole. "It's about considering all parts of the programme," Kat Carter
explains, "the interactions they have with each other as well as the whole, so that you can be
growing your programme in a way that becomes sustainable."

In practice that means three things working together rather than in isolation: your **data**, the
**channels** you can use, and your **resource**. The order matters. Lead with your data, look at
the channels and the opportunities they open, and only then look at resource. As Kat Carter puts
it: "You're leading with your data, you're looking at your channels and the opportunities, and
then you're looking at your resource." Most teams instinctively start with resource, because it is
the constraint they feel most keenly: a sole fundraiser, a small team, a limited budget. But
starting there means missing opportunities. Starting with the data means you act on what your
supporters actually make possible.

The year-round part is just as important. A regular giving program is not a campaign; it is a
cycle of activities run, evaluated and repeated. "Really, this is what regular giving is," Kat
Carter says. "It's these cycles of activities, running them, evaluating them again and again,
looking at changes, looking at similarities, looking for opportunities where you might be able to
find more donors." A typical year might run an email-led ask in the fall, stewardship through
the year to keep donors warm and informed, a warm, targeted phonathon in the spring focused
on retention and upgrade, and direct mail layered in where the data supports it, then begin again.
The temptation is to judge a new activity after one year. Resist it. "You really need to repeat an
activity, I would say three times in order to understand the impact that it has," Kat Carter
advises: the first year gives you results, the second a comparison, and only the third lets you
see real trends. Build the case, and the budget, for a consistent three-year run rather than a
single year on its own.

## How campaigns feed the program

This is where the wider fundraising calendar earns its place. A
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[phonathon](/us/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) and crowdfunding are not rivals to
your regular giving program; they are the channels that feed it. Each one acquires, engages or
upgrades donors who then belong inside the year-round cycle.

A **Giving Day** is one of the most efficient acquisition events you can run. It brings a surge of
new donors in over a short, energetic window, and it does something quieter that is just as
valuable: it captures data you can use later. In Hubbub's campaigns, "at least 70 per cent of
[giving day donors] leave a phone number that we can then use in a follow-up campaign." That is the
link between a giving day and the rest of the program: you acquire the donor and their contact
details on the day, then steward and upgrade them through the year.

A **phonathon** plays a different but complementary role. Phone acquisition of cold,
non-donors has become expensive, and the economics are unforgiving: email can return in the region
of fifteen dollars for every dollar spent, whereas acquiring a non-donor by phone might return six
dollars, or three, or as little as one. The smarter use of the phone now is warm and targeted. Take
the donors you acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail, put the ones whose number you
hold into a focused phonathon, and use the call to thank them, retain them, ask single-gift
donors to set up a recurring gift, ask existing recurring donors to upgrade, and perhaps open a legacy
conversation. "Maybe doing some legacy calls in there would be a better use of the telephone
campaign," Kat Carter notes. The phone is no longer the volume acquisition tool it once was; it is
a precision instrument for retention and upgrade.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is led by the groups and individuals raising for their own
projects. It widens the top of the funnel, bringing in donors who arrive through a cause they care
about and who can be stewarded towards your wider program over time. The principle is the same in
every case: every campaign is an entry point, and the program turns a one-off gift into a
relationship.

## Acquiring regular donors

Acquisition begins with your data, because your data tells you who you can reach and how. The first
move in a brand-new program should always be to interrogate the data before doing anything else.
Look at the **quantity**: how many alumni, parents, community members or supporters you hold, and
how many you have phone numbers, postal addresses and email addresses for. Look at the **quality**:
are those details still valid? Look at how **complete** and **consistent** the records are, and at
**affinity**, how warm or cold each group feels towards you, which shapes both how likely they are
to give and how you should talk to them.

Much of the early work is unglamorous data cleaning. "You may spend your first part of creating
your regular giving programme in an Excel spreadsheet, in a database, cleaning your data," Kat
Carter says. "For those of us who have been in emerging or established programmes, we have all been
there. I feel like it's a little bit of a rite of passage." It is also genuinely valuable: you
emerge knowing exactly what you hold. Validation tools, such as Experian for addresses and phone
numbers and a service like Debounce for email, let you check what is good without the expense of
mailing or calling people whose details have gone stale. Then gather more: use the good data you
have to ask supporters to update the rest, through email, mail, social channels such as LinkedIn
and Facebook, and alumni surveys.

With clean data in hand, you can match audiences to channels by likely return. For first-time
acquisition, email tends to be the strongest opportunity, with the best return on investment and
the advantage that gifts come in as cash at the point of acquisition rather than as a pledge to be
fulfilled over years. "Email is usually gifts made right at the time of acquisition," Kat Carter
explains. It suits segmented asks across multiple audiences and the soliciting of new donors,
especially in a program's first couple of years. Direct mail, the most expensive channel, still
earns its place for highly segmented, warmer solicitation, particularly of supporters over forty
who feel warm towards you. The discipline is to run campaigns in the channels your data supports,
not where habit or tradition points.

## The ask and the upgrade

Acquisition and upgrade both come down to the strength of the ask, and the ask is more than the
moment of decision. It is the whole journey you take someone on, from interruption to gift. "You're
going to send them something that is going to interrupt them," Kat Carter says of any channel,
phone, mail or email. "You want to have something that is going to engage and interrupt their day
in a positive way." From there you move them into the conversation through powerful storytelling
and genuine rapport, then to the decision, often anchored by a specific ask amount or a suggested
level, and then, crucially, you make it easy to give. Keep the reply mechanisms for direct mail
free of friction, and make sure an online giving form does not lose the donor at the last step. A
brilliant story squandered by a clumsy donation form is a gift lost.

The **upgrade** is where a regular giving program compounds, and it is the natural job of warm
channels. A single-gift donor can be asked to set up a recurring gift; an existing recurring donor can
be asked to give a little more. This is exactly the work the telephone does well, and it works best
when the thanking and the asking sit close together: thank the donor personally for their last
gift, then make the case for stepping up. Lead each year's plan with email-led acquisition, then
build renewal and upgrade asks on top, and from the second year onwards add reactivation, pulling
lapsed donors back into the cycle. Our
[upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) gives you a warm,
structured ask to adapt.

## Tax-deductible giving

In the United States, gifts to organizations recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) are
generally tax-deductible for the donor, which can make giving go further at no extra cost to your
program. On a regular giving program, with gifts repeating year after year, communicating that
benefit clearly is worthwhile, and it costs your supporters nothing.

Two habits make the difference. First, make the tax-deductible status visible at the point of the
ask, on the donation form, on the phone, in the reply device, so that donors understand it as they
give rather than wondering about it afterwards. Build it into the donor journey rather than bolting
it on. Second, keep clean, complete records: the donor's name, mailing address and gift details, so
that you can issue accurate gift acknowledgments and year-end receipts. A clear, prompt
acknowledgment that confirms the gift is tax-deductible reassures donors and reinforces the
relationship. Treat the tax benefit as part of the ask and the thank-you, not a piece of
administration, and it quietly supports the value of the whole program.

## Stewardship and retention: the core discipline

If there is one place to concentrate effort, it is here. Acquisition gets the attention, but
retention is what makes a program sustainable, and stewardship is what drives retention. The
sharpest framing comes from regular giving expert Rosa Dale-Moore, whom Kat Carter quotes: "If
you're not going to retain them, don't ask them."

Stewardship is not a single thank-you email after a gift, or a card at the holidays. It is "a
repeatable thanking cadence that your donors receive in order to feel that their gift is valuable,
is worthwhile," so that when you ask again, they are more likely to say yes. The practical challenge
is that good stewardship is hard to deliver at volume, so be realistic and match the channel to the
relationship. If donors give by email, thank them by email; you do not also need to mail them
something. If you are already calling donors for a recurring or upgraded gift, use the call itself to
thank them personally first. And do not let the gap between the first gift and the first proper
thank-you, or the next ask, stretch too long. Stewardship is not a cost center that sits outside the
program; it is the part of the program that makes every other part work.

## Using data and segmentation

Data work does not stop once a program is up and running; it becomes a permanent rhythm. Gathering
and cleaning never stop, and analysis is a perennial summer task for regular giving teams, who use
the quiet months to evaluate the year and start the fall with a refreshed strategy.

Segmentation turns a flat list into a program. At a basic level that means grouping alumni,
parents and community members, and segmenting further by attributes such as age. More powerfully, it
means understanding your existing donors well enough to find more people who look like them. The
Hubbub model uses **RFM analysis**: recency (how long ago someone gave), frequency (how often) and
monetary value (how much). You profile your current donors on those three dimensions, then look
across your non-donor pools for people who resemble them, so your asks land where they are most
likely to convert. The same data discipline tells you which channels to deploy and on which
audiences: a warm, contactable group over forty with valid mailing addresses might be a direct mail
opportunity, while a large, engaged email audience might be the place to run a giving day. The point
is to let evidence, not habit, decide the mix.

## Measuring success

Measure the things that tell you whether the program is healthy, and measure them over time rather
than in a single year. Useful metrics include **participation** (Kat Carter favors the number of
donors over the participation rate, because in an educational setting people are always graduating
and the rate becomes a moving target you chase), **income raised**, and the flow of donors through
the cycle: how many you **acquire**, how many you **retain**, how many **lapse**, and how many move
up the pipeline to leadership or major gifts. Track the changes in those segments year on year, and
watch your **return on investment** by channel.

Three numbers deserve particular attention, because they capture the health of the whole discipline.
**Retention rate** tells you what proportion of donors give again, and it is the truest test of your
stewardship. **Lifetime value** tells you what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, the
figure that justifies investment in acquisition and care. **Attrition**, the rate at which donors
lapse, is the warning light: rising attrition means the funnel is leaking faster than you are
filling it, and it usually points back to stewardship. Read these together and over time, never one
year in isolation, and they will tell you where the program is working and where to act.

## Case studies: Northumbria and Leeds

Two university programs show the holistic model in practice.

**Northumbria University** has used Hubbub's Causes platform since January 2022 to power its
"Higher Education Without Barriers" campaign, which has raised **over £2.3m to support those most in
need across the Northumbria University community**. Rather than a single appeal, the campaign is
built across six distinct fundraising areas, each with its own donation page, and it is fed by
exactly the mix of channels described above: telethon (telephone) campaigns, direct mail and Giving
Tuesday appeals all running through one platform. The university grew its regular donor pool and, at
the end of 2022, ran what it describes as its most successful Giving Tuesday appeal to date. It is a
clear illustration of campaigns feeding a year-round program rather than standing apart from it.

**The University of Leeds** adopted the Causes platform in 2023 and set a target of **£1m in 2023 to
2024**, which the team exceeded. Their experience underlines two themes from this guide. First, the
channel mix matters: the platform supports recurring bank and card donations alongside
integration with telephone campaigns and direct mail, and during their May 2023 appeal over a third
of income and donations came from people giving online. Second, removing friction from the ask pays
off directly: when the team stopped linking supporters to project pages and instead linked them
straight to donation pages, they "suddenly saw a huge increase in people converting to make a gift."
The money supports students and aims, in the team's words, to "level the playing field in terms of
the support they receive."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between regular giving and annual giving?** In practice the terms overlap
and are often used interchangeably. Both describe a program that engages large numbers of
individual supporters and brings in repeatable gifts year after year. "Regular giving" tends to
emphasize ongoing committed gifts, often recurring, while "annual giving" emphasizes the
yearly cycle of appeals. The discipline is the same: acquire, ask, upgrade, steward and retain.

**Where should a brand-new program start?** With your data. Before looking at channels or
resource, understand the quantity, quality, completeness and affinity of what you hold, clean it,
and gather more. Good data in means good data out, and it lets evidence, rather than guesswork, lead
your decisions.

**Are phonathons still worth running?** Yes, but for a different job than before. Cold
acquisition by phone has become expensive, so the strongest use now is warm and targeted: take
donors acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail and call them to thank, retain, upgrade
and, where appropriate, open legacy conversations. Think shorter calling periods and more focused
campaigns.

**How long before I can judge whether something is working?** Plan to repeat any activity around
three times. One year gives you results, two gives you a comparison, and three lets you see real
trends. Build the case for a consistent three-year run rather than judging a new channel after a
single year.

**What is the most important thing to get right?** Stewardship and retention. As the sector maxim
goes, if you are not going to retain donors, do not ask them. A repeatable thanking cadence that
makes donors feel valued is what turns a one-off gift into a lifetime of giving, and it is the
single biggest driver of a sustainable program.

**How does tax-deductible giving fit in?** In the United States, gifts to 501(c)(3) organizations
are generally tax-deductible for the donor. Make the status visible at the point of the ask, keep
clean records of name, address and gift details, and send a prompt, accurate acknowledgment so
donors can claim the deduction with confidence.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Regular giving program plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating a holistic year-round regular giving programme](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Case studies: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) and [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a phonathon](/us/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to build a regular giving programme](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) (world/en): A practical guide to building a holistic, year-round regular and annual giving programme, covering acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-efficient giving, stewardship and retention, and how campaigns like giving days and telephone appeals feed it.
A regular giving programme, sometimes called an annual giving programme, is the engine room of
sustainable fundraising. It engages and acquires large numbers of individual supporters,
encourages them to give, retains and upgrades them year on year, and builds a pipeline towards
future leadership and major gifts. Where a major-gifts programme depends on a handful of
significant relationships, regular giving is about repeatable donations from large volumes of
people, and the predictable, renewable income that comes with them. Kat Carter, a consultant at
Hubbub, sums up the purpose this way: "Regular giving's purpose is really to engage and acquire
large volumes of individuals to give hopefully regular gifts to your institution, and then to be
able to upgrade and renew those donors on a regular basis, and then to cultivate future
leadership or major donors and to build a pipeline."

That last point, the pipeline, is what makes the programme matter. Regular giving is rarely the
most glamorous line in a fundraising strategy, but it is the one that quietly underwrites
everything else. It produces income you can forecast, it builds the warm, engaged base from which
your future major donors and legators will come, and over time it compounds. A donor acquired this
year, thanked well, upgraded and retained, can be worth many times their first gift across the
years that follow: not a single transaction, but a relationship with a lifetime value.

This guide sets out how to build such a programme from the ground up: why it matters, the
holistic year-round model that holds it together, how individual campaigns feed it, and the core
disciplines of acquisition, the ask and upgrade, tax-efficient giving, stewardship, data and measurement. It
closes with two university case studies and answers to the questions newcomers ask most often.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/),
> [upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) and
> [donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/).

## Why regular giving matters

Three benefits sit at the heart of the case for regular giving, and they reinforce one another.

The first is **predictable income**. Regular gifts, especially those set up as an automated recurring
payment, give
you a dependable base you can budget against, rather than a series of one-off appeals you have to
win from scratch each year. That predictability is what lets a development office plan, invest and
grow with confidence.

The second is **retention**. It is far cheaper and more productive to keep and develop a donor you
already have than to acquire a new one. A well-run programme treats retention as its central
discipline, not an afterthought, and the difference shows up directly in income.

The third is **lifetime value**. Kat Carter pictures the programme as a funnel: a large group of
non-donors at the top, who you move down into regular giving, then on towards leadership and major
gifts, with stewardship running throughout to keep people engaged. "I like to see that you've got
a large group of non-donors," she says, "and you'll be encouraging them to move down into that
regular giving group, into leadership perhaps regular gifts and then on to major giving." People
move back up the funnel too, lapsing or needing to be re-engaged, "so it then turns into a kind of
cycle of donors." The job of the programme is to move people through that cycle and keep them in
it.

## The holistic, year-round model

One word runs through the whole approach: **holistic**. It is easy to fixate on a single channel,
a giving day, say, or a telephone appeal, and run it well while neglecting the parts of the
programme that feed it and follow it. A holistic programme instead considers all the parts, the
way they interact, and the whole. "It's about considering all parts of the programme," Kat Carter
explains, "the interactions they have with each other as well as the whole, so that you can be
growing your programme in a way that becomes sustainable."

In practice that means three things working together rather than in isolation: your **data**, the
**channels** you can use, and your **resource**. The order matters. Lead with your data, look at
the channels and the opportunities they open, and only then look at resource. As Kat Carter puts
it: "You're leading with your data, you're looking at your channels and the opportunities, and
then you're looking at your resource." Most teams instinctively start with resource, because it is
the constraint they feel most keenly: a sole fundraiser, a small team, a limited budget. But
starting there means missing opportunities. Starting with the data means you act on what your
supporters actually make possible.

The year-round part is just as important. A regular giving programme is not a campaign; it is a
cycle of activities run, evaluated and repeated. "Really, this is what regular giving is," Kat
Carter says. "It's these cycles of activities, running them, evaluating them again and again,
looking at changes, looking at similarities, looking for opportunities where you might be able to
find more donors." A typical year might run an email-led ask in the autumn, stewardship through
the year to keep donors warm and informed, a warm, targeted telephone appeal in the spring focused
on retention and upgrade, and direct mail layered in where the data supports it, then begin again.
The temptation is to judge a new activity after one year. Resist it. "You really need to repeat an
activity, I would say three times in order to understand the impact that it has," Kat Carter
advises: the first year gives you results, the second a comparison, and only the third lets you
see real trends. Build the case, and the budget, for a consistent three-year run rather than a
single year on its own.

## How campaigns feed the programme

This is where the wider fundraising calendar earns its place. A
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/), a
[telephone appeal](/world/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) and crowdfunding are not rivals to
your regular giving programme; they are the channels that feed it. Each one acquires, engages or
upgrades donors who then belong inside the year-round cycle.

A **Giving Day** is one of the most efficient acquisition events you can run. It brings a surge of
new donors in over a short, energetic window, and it does something quieter that is just as
valuable: it captures data you can use later. In Hubbub's campaigns, "at least 70 per cent of
[giving day donors] leave a phone number that we can then use in a follow-up campaign." That is the
link between a giving day and the rest of the programme: you acquire the donor and their contact
details on the day, then steward and upgrade them through the year.

A **telephone appeal** plays a different but complementary role. Telephone acquisition of cold,
non-donors has become expensive, and the economics are unforgiving: email can return in the region
of fifteen units of income for every one spent, whereas acquiring a non-donor by phone might return
six, or three, or as little as one. The smarter use of the phone now is warm and targeted. Take
the donors you acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail, put the ones whose number you
hold into a focused telephone appeal, and use the call to thank them, retain them, ask single-gift
donors to set up a regular gift, ask existing regular donors to upgrade, and perhaps open a legacy
conversation. "Maybe doing some legacy calls in there would be a better use of the telephone
campaign," Kat Carter notes. The phone is no longer the volume acquisition tool it once was; it is
a precision instrument for retention and upgrade.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is led by the groups and individuals raising for their own
projects. It widens the top of the funnel, bringing in donors who arrive through a cause they care
about and who can be stewarded towards your wider programme over time. The principle is the same in
every case: every campaign is an entry point, and the programme turns a one-off gift into a
relationship.

## Acquiring regular donors

Acquisition begins with your data, because your data tells you who you can reach and how. The first
move in a brand-new programme should always be to interrogate the data before doing anything else.
Look at the **quantity**: how many alumni, parents, community members or supporters you hold, and
how many you have phone numbers, postal addresses and email addresses for. Look at the **quality**:
are those details still valid? Look at how **complete** and **consistent** the records are, and at
**affinity**, how warm or cold each group feels towards you, which shapes both how likely they are
to give and how you should talk to them.

Much of the early work is unglamorous data cleaning. "You may spend your first part of creating
your regular giving programme in an Excel spreadsheet, in a database, cleaning your data," Kat
Carter says. "For those of us who have been in emerging or established programmes, we have all been
there. I feel like it's a little bit of a rite of passage." It is also genuinely valuable: you
emerge knowing exactly what you hold. Validation tools, such as Experian for addresses and phone
numbers and a service like Debounce for email, let you check what is good without the expense of
mailing or calling people whose details have gone stale. Then gather more: use the good data you
have to ask supporters to update the rest, through email, post, social channels such as LinkedIn
and Facebook, and alumni surveys.

With clean data in hand, you can match audiences to channels by likely return. For first-time
acquisition, email tends to be the strongest opportunity, with the best return on investment and
the advantage that gifts come in as cash at the point of acquisition rather than as a pledge to be
fulfilled over years. "Email is usually gifts made right at the time of acquisition," Kat Carter
explains. It suits segmented asks across multiple audiences and the soliciting of new donors,
especially in a programme's first couple of years. Direct mail, the most expensive channel, still
earns its place for highly segmented, warmer solicitation, particularly of supporters over forty
who feel warm towards you. The discipline is to run campaigns in the channels your data supports,
not where habit or tradition points.

## The ask and the upgrade

Acquisition and upgrade both come down to the strength of the ask, and the ask is more than the
moment of decision. It is the whole journey you take someone on, from interruption to gift. "You're
going to send them something that is going to interrupt them," Kat Carter says of any channel,
phone, post or email. "You want to have something that is going to engage and interrupt their day
in a positive way." From there you move them into the conversation through powerful storytelling
and genuine rapport, then to the decision, often anchored by a specific ask amount or a suggested
level, and then, crucially, you make it easy to give. Keep the reply mechanisms for direct mail
free of friction, and make sure an online giving form does not lose the donor at the last step. A
brilliant story squandered by a clumsy donation form is a gift lost.

The **upgrade** is where a regular giving programme compounds, and it is the natural job of warm
channels. A single-gift donor can be asked to set up a regular gift; an existing regular donor can
be asked to give a little more. This is exactly the work the telephone does well, and it works best
when the thanking and the asking sit close together: thank the donor personally for their last
gift, then make the case for stepping up. Lead each year's plan with email-led acquisition, then
build renewal and upgrade asks on top, and from the second year onwards add reactivation, pulling
lapsed donors back into the cycle. Our
[upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/) gives you a warm,
structured ask to adapt.

## Tax-efficient giving

Whether and how giving is tax-efficient depends on your country's rules, so build the benefit that
applies to your supporters into the programme. Many countries let donors claim a deduction, credit
or other relief on gifts to eligible charities, and some operate schemes that increase the value of
a gift at no extra cost to the donor. Check what applies where you and your donors are based. On a
regular giving programme, with gifts repeating year after year, communicating the relevant benefit
clearly is worthwhile, and it costs your supporters nothing.

Two habits make the difference. First, make the tax position visible at the point of the ask, on the
donation form, on the phone, in the reply device, so that donors understand it as they give rather
than wondering afterwards. Build it into the donor journey rather than bolting it on. Second, keep
clean, complete records: the donor's name, address and gift details, so that you can issue accurate
receipts and acknowledgements that meet the requirements where you operate. A clear, prompt receipt
reassures donors and reinforces the relationship. Treat the tax benefit as part of the ask and the
thank-you, not a piece of administration, and it quietly supports the value of the whole programme.

## Stewardship and retention: the core discipline

If there is one place to concentrate effort, it is here. Acquisition gets the attention, but
retention is what makes a programme sustainable, and stewardship is what drives retention. The
sharpest framing comes from regular giving expert Rosa Dale-Moore, whom Kat Carter quotes: "If
you're not going to retain them, don't ask them."

Stewardship is not a single thank-you email after a gift, or a card at the year's end. It is "a
repeatable thanking cadence that your donors receive in order to feel that their gift is valuable,
is worthwhile," so that when you ask again, they are more likely to say yes. The practical challenge
is that good stewardship is hard to deliver at volume, so be realistic and match the channel to the
relationship. If donors give by email, thank them by email; you do not also need to post them
something. If you are already calling donors for a regular or upgraded gift, use the call itself to
thank them personally first. And do not let the gap between the first gift and the first proper
thank-you, or the next ask, stretch too long. Stewardship is not a cost centre that sits outside the
programme; it is the part of the programme that makes every other part work.

## Using data and segmentation

Data work does not stop once a programme is up and running; it becomes a permanent rhythm. Gathering
and cleaning never stop, and analysis is a perennial quiet-season task for regular giving teams, who
use the quiet months to evaluate the year and start the next cycle with a refreshed strategy.

Segmentation turns a flat list into a programme. At a basic level that means grouping alumni,
parents and community members, and segmenting further by attributes such as age. More powerfully, it
means understanding your existing donors well enough to find more people who look like them. The
Hubbub model uses **RFM analysis**: recency (how long ago someone gave), frequency (how often) and
monetary value (how much). You profile your current donors on those three dimensions, then look
across your non-donor pools for people who resemble them, so your asks land where they are most
likely to convert. The same data discipline tells you which channels to deploy and on which
audiences: a warm, contactable group over forty with valid postal addresses might be a direct mail
opportunity, while a large, engaged email audience might be the place to run a giving day. The point
is to let evidence, not habit, decide the mix.

## Measuring success

Measure the things that tell you whether the programme is healthy, and measure them over time rather
than in a single year. Useful metrics include **participation** (Kat Carter favours the number of
donors over the participation rate, because in an educational setting people are always graduating
and the rate becomes a moving target you chase), **income raised**, and the flow of donors through
the cycle: how many you **acquire**, how many you **retain**, how many **lapse**, and how many move
up the pipeline to leadership or major gifts. Track the changes in those segments year on year, and
watch your **return on investment** by channel.

Three numbers deserve particular attention, because they capture the health of the whole discipline.
**Retention rate** tells you what proportion of donors give again, and it is the truest test of your
stewardship. **Lifetime value** tells you what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, the
figure that justifies investment in acquisition and care. **Attrition**, the rate at which donors
lapse, is the warning light: rising attrition means the funnel is leaking faster than you are
filling it, and it usually points back to stewardship. Read these together and over time, never one
year in isolation, and they will tell you where the programme is working and where to act.

## Case studies: Northumbria and Leeds

Two university programmes show the holistic model in practice.

**Northumbria University** has used Hubbub's Causes platform since January 2022 to power its
"Higher Education Without Barriers" campaign, which has raised **over £2.3m to support those most in
need across the Northumbria University community**. Rather than a single appeal, the campaign is
built across six distinct fundraising areas, each with its own donation page, and it is fed by
exactly the mix of channels described above: telethon (telephone) campaigns, direct mail and Giving
Tuesday appeals all running through one platform. The university grew its regular donor pool and, at
the end of 2022, ran what it describes as its most successful Giving Tuesday appeal to date. It is a
clear illustration of campaigns feeding a year-round programme rather than standing apart from it.

**The University of Leeds** adopted the Causes platform in 2023 and set a target of **£1m in 2023 to
2024**, which the team exceeded. Their experience underlines two themes from this guide. First, the
channel mix matters: the platform supports recurring bank and card donations alongside
integration with telephone campaigns and direct mail, and during their May 2023 appeal over a third
of income and donations came from people giving online. Second, removing friction from the ask pays
off directly: when the team stopped linking supporters to project pages and instead linked them
straight to donation pages, they "suddenly saw a huge increase in people converting to make a gift."
The money supports students and aims, in the team's words, to "level the playing field in terms of
the support they receive."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between regular giving and annual giving?** In practice the terms overlap
and are often used interchangeably. Both describe a programme that engages large numbers of
individual supporters and brings in repeatable gifts year after year. "Regular giving" tends to
emphasise ongoing committed gifts, often by automated recurring payment, while "annual giving"
emphasises the yearly cycle of appeals. The discipline is the same: acquire, ask, upgrade, steward
and retain.

**Where should a brand-new programme start?** With your data. Before looking at channels or
resource, understand the quantity, quality, completeness and affinity of what you hold, clean it,
and gather more. Good data in means good data out, and it lets evidence, rather than guesswork, lead
your decisions.

**Are telephone appeals still worth running?** Yes, but for a different job than before. Cold
acquisition by phone has become expensive, so the strongest use now is warm and targeted: take
donors acquired through email, a giving day or direct mail and call them to thank, retain, upgrade
and, where appropriate, open legacy conversations. Think shorter calling periods and more focused
campaigns.

**How long before I can judge whether something is working?** Plan to repeat any activity around
three times. One year gives you results, two gives you a comparison, and three lets you see real
trends. Build the case for a consistent three-year run rather than judging a new channel after a
single year.

**What is the most important thing to get right?** Stewardship and retention. As the sector maxim
goes, if you are not going to retain donors, do not ask them. A repeatable thanking cadence that
makes donors feel valued is what turns a one-off gift into a lifetime of giving, and it is the
single biggest driver of a sustainable programme.

**How does tax-efficient giving fit in?** It depends on your country's rules. Many countries let
donors claim a deduction, credit or other relief on eligible gifts. Make the position that applies
to your donors visible at the point of the ask, keep clean records of name, address and gift
details, and issue accurate, prompt receipts.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Regular giving programme plan template](/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/)
- [Upgrade ask template](/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/)
- [Donor journey map template](/resources/donor-journey-map-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating a holistic year-round regular giving programme](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-a-holistic-year-round-regular-giving-programme)
- Case studies: [Northumbria University](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/northumbria-university-case-study) and [University of Leeds](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-a-ps1m-seamless-experience-with-causes-a-university-of-leeds-case-study)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to run a telephone appeal](/world/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a telephone appeal](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (canz/en): A practical guide to planning and running an in-house telephone (telethon) appeal, covering data and segmentation, recruiting and training callers, the conversation and script, tax-efficient giving, integration with digital and regular giving, and stewardship.
A telephone appeal, often still called a telethon, is a structured calling campaign in which a team of trained callers, frequently your own students or younger alumni, phones supporters to reconnect, share news and invite them to give. It is one of the oldest tools in the fundraising handbook, and one a surprising number of organisations have written off too soon. Done badly, it is an intrusive cold call read off a card. Done well, it is the warmest, most human moment in your whole programme: a real conversation, with consent, between someone who cares about your cause and someone who has every reason to.

That distinction matters more than ever. In a world of one-way email and social feeds, a phone call is one of the few channels where the supporter gets to talk back. They can ask about the project, share a memory, tell you what they think, and decide on the spot whether and how much to give. A well-run appeal asks first and listens hard: supporters get the chance to opt out before any call is made, and callers are trained to recognise when not to ask. The result is not a script delivered at someone, but a genuine exchange that strengthens the relationship whether or not a gift follows.

This guide sets out how to plan and run such an appeal, with a particular focus on bringing one in-house. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on a candid account from Katie, philanthropy officer at Benenden School, an independent girls' boarding school in the heart of Kent, who has described moving a long-running calling campaign in-house. Her experience runs through the practical sections below, because the questions she faced, how to find and train callers, what to do about a script, how to take a gift over the phone, are exactly the ones you will face too.

## Why a telephone appeal still works

The case for the telephone is the case for human contact. At its best, an appeal does three things at once that few other channels manage together: it re-engages lapsed and quiet supporters, it acquires new donors, and it gathers intelligence you cannot get any other way. In Benenden's first fundraising year, callers spoke with 462 supporters and secured 108 gifts, a conversion rate of around 23 per cent of those they actually reached, and brought in an immediate pledge total of just over £39,000, rising to around £72,000 across a five-year giving cycle. The single largest gift came from a previous non-donor who pledged over £21,000, exactly the kind of person a mass email would never have surfaced.

The channel also rewards patience. Benenden's very first campaign was not a fundraising exercise at all. It was a round of "affinity calls", reaching out to alumni in the isolation of the pandemic simply to check in, with no ask made. As Katie put it, these "weren't fundraising calls but affinity calls designed to provide an emotional touch point". The goodwill that built, along with the case studies and warm feedback it produced, was what won the internal argument for a fundraising campaign the following year. If your supporters have not heard from you by phone in years, a relationship-first call can be the right way to start.

## Deciding whether to run it in-house

The first strategic question is not how to run an appeal, but how much of it to run yourself. The traditional model is a fully managed campaign in which a consultancy supplies the software, employs and trains the callers, sets the ask amounts and supervises the calls. It works, and for a first campaign it is often the right choice. The trade-off is cost: a managed campaign can consume a large share of the income it raises, especially at the smaller and mid-level gift range where many telephone gifts sit.

Katie's director captured the choice with an analogy worth borrowing. A fully managed campaign, he told her, "has been the kind of chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce experience of telephone campaigns and in reality we really need to be driving a Ford Fiesta ourselves instead." His point was not that managed support is bad. It was that once a team has run a campaign or two and absorbed the know-how, it no longer needs every module. A frank cost-benefit analysis at Benenden found that monthly direct debits were "taking over two years of monthly payments to offset our consultancy costs", which made the fully managed model unsustainable for the income it produced.

The sensible path is rarely all-or-nothing. Most teams move in-house gradually, keeping specialist support for the parts that genuinely need it, such as training, call supervision and ask-setting, and bringing the rest under their own control as their confidence grows. By its fourth year Benenden ran the campaign largely in-house with a core team of one or two people, retaining external support only for caller training, and saved around £12,000 in consultancy costs in a single year. The reassuring message for small teams is that it is doable: "if you are from a small development team, it's doable, we did it, we're proof."

## Planning and timeline

Treat the appeal as a project with a clear runway. Benenden's in-house campaign ran on a three-month timeline, from planning in late May to the final follow-up communications in early August, mapped out as a Gantt chart that listed "every single task from the pre-call to shortlisting applicants for recruitment". Front-loading that planning is what keeps delivery calm: decide your segments, your ask strategy and your caller numbers before recruitment opens, not while it is under way.

Two planning decisions repay early attention. The first is the pre-call mailing. Send a letter or email well in advance, around a month ahead, telling supporters the campaign is coming and, crucially, offering them the chance to opt out. This is both good practice and good fundraising: it removes the unwilling from your calling pool and leaves you with a warmer, more receptive audience. The second is your timetable for calling shifts. Build it around the realities of your callers and your audience, including time zones if your community is national or international. One of the quiet advantages of running in-house is exactly this flexibility: the freedom to let an experienced caller join for one week rather than two, or to schedule overseas calling for the weekend.

## Data selection and segmentation

Your data does more to determine the result than almost anything else, so segment it deliberately. A mature appeal will call several distinct groups, and each needs its own framing: alumni, former parents who have given before, long-standing former staff, and within each of those the split between existing donors and non-donors, and between local and overseas supporters. Benenden built what the team called a "mega spreadsheet" as a low-cost alternative to specialist telethon software, with restricted access so callers could see only the people they were allocated and the relevant details about them.

Set realistic expectations from the data rather than from last year's headline figure. By its fourth year, Benenden's income was around half its early peak, not because the campaign was worse but because many of the people being called had already been phoned in previous years and were a naturally less engaged pool. As Katie noted, you "can't look at our results in comparison to the last two years and see that as we've not done as well, it's our data". Judge the campaign against the segment you are actually working, not against an unrepeatable first run.

Segmentation also opens up the single most valuable call you can make to an existing donor: the uplift ask. Asking current monthly donors to increase their gift "really needed a very detailed amount of tailoring", and Benenden put only its "most experienced and emotionally intelligent callers on that shift", briefing them one-to-one on each donor's history and current gift. The tone has to thank first and never demean the existing gift. Handled with that care, around 60 per cent of those asked to uplift gave more, and the call doubled as stewardship.

## Recruiting and training callers

Your callers are the campaign. For schools and universities the natural pool is current students and recent leavers, and the most reliable way to recruit them is personal, not a mass email. Benenden's team presented in person to senior students, sat former callers on a panel to answer questions, and worked through tutors and boarding-house staff to reach students in the settings where they actually listen. Word of mouth and the chance to work alongside friends over the summer did much of the rest. Incentives help at the margins: voucher rewards, and a refer-a-friend scheme that pays out when a recommended applicant is appointed.

Two recruitment dividends are easy to underrate. The first is caller retention: a returning caller is worth far more than a new one, because in training they "took that kind of leadership role when going into the role plays", reassuring nervous first-timers with real examples. Benenden had five former callers return in its first in-house year. The second is who your callers are. Having scholarship recipients themselves on the phones was, in Katie's words, hugely valuable: "nothing was more valuable than a direct recipient of the award talking to alumni down the phone about how much of an impact" their education had had. If you run in a school, factor in the practicalities early: background and working-with-children checks, contracts and safeguarding briefings for whoever sits on the interview panel and makes the calls, and bring HR in from the start.

Training is the part most worth doing properly, and the part most teams keep external support for even after going in-house. Benenden retained Hubbub's consultancy for an in-depth, two-day training programme covering mock calls, strategies for handling objections, and setting the right tone for asking. The division of labour is a useful template: the institution briefs on its own context, the campaign, the safeguarding and the expectations of callers, while the consultant brings the fundraising craft, "how to make the successful calls" and the structure of a good conversation. Role play with experienced callers, repeated until the conversation feels familiar, is what turns an anxious student into a confident one.

## The conversation and a good script

The most important lesson in this guide runs against instinct. The script is the bread and butter of a traditional telethon, but a word-for-word script is the wrong tool. Benenden's callers had been told, more than once in earlier years, "you're just reading from a script aren't you", which is the sound of a campaign failing in real time. On Hubbub's advice the team rebuilt the script as what the consultant called a "conversation guide and a safety blanket": the same clear stages as before, but guide questions rather than exact wording.

Keep the structure, lose the rigidity. A good call moves through recognisable stages: a warm introduction; a genuine conversation about the supporter's career, their memories and what they care about; news of the project or campaign you are raising for; the ask; and a soft close, whatever the answer. Letting callers find their own words at each stage is what makes the conversation "sound much more authentic" and lets the caller's genuine interest come through. Build the guide so it branches by segment, so the words flexibly fit whether the caller is speaking to an alumna, a former parent or a past donor. You do not need bespoke telethon software to do this: Benenden used Microsoft Forms, with answers merged back into its spreadsheet, and a tool like SurveyMonkey would serve as well.

To supervise the calls you need some form of call-room technology so a manager can listen in, offer real-time feedback and, where the tool allows, "whisper" advice to a caller mid-call without the supporter hearing. Benenden replaced a specialist phone app with Zoom's VoIP service. It was not perfect, carrying a three-month minimum licence for one month's use, but it came in cheaper than the alternative and did the essential jobs of monitoring, feedback and ringing the callers.

## Making the ask and handling objections

The ask is where training earns its keep. The goal is an ask that "felt natural and not pushy". Callers should be taught a small ladder of asks and the fallbacks that follow, including the trade-down: dropping to a lower suggested amount or a different gift type when the first ask does not land. The trade-down works, and Benenden secured gifts through it. But the more important skill is judgement, training callers to recognise "when not to ask" and when not to be pushy. A supporter who has had a warm conversation and politely declined is still a supporter you have strengthened, and pressing them risks the relationship for a gift you were never going to get.

Structure the shifts so that confidence builds before stakes rise. Let callers warm up on more straightforward conversations before they approach higher-capacity prospects, "making sure they really felt comfortable with the ask process" first. And protect morale through the inevitable runs of voicemails and refusals. Benenden ran short pep talks before each shift, brought in guest speakers, including a scholarship recipient and a regular donor, to remind callers why the work matters, and turned the grind into games: bingo and voucher prizes that "turned a negative experience into a positive one" so a caller could win even after twenty voicemails in a row.

## Tax-efficient giving

Tax-efficient giving is one of the simplest ways to add value to a telephone gift, and it belongs in the conversation rather than as an afterthought. The mechanics vary by country, so make sure your callers know the rules where your supporters are. In Canada, registered charities issue official donation receipts that donors use to claim a charitable tax credit. In Australia, gifts to organisations endorsed as deductible gift recipients (DGRs) are tax-deductible. In New Zealand, donations to approved donee organisations qualify for a donation tax credit. A telephone appeal is an ideal moment to capture the details you need for the right receipt or acknowledgment: the caller can give a plain one-line explanation, confirm the donor's contact details, and reassure them that the documentation will follow. On a five-year pledge, getting that right matters, so train your callers to handle it well every time.

## Integrating with digital, regular giving and a Giving Day

A telephone appeal should never sit on its own. Its real power is as the human layer in a wider regular giving programme, and it works best when it feeds and is fed by your other channels. Most telephone gifts are best taken as a regular monthly gift, which is what builds the predictable, multi-year income a programme depends on, and the uplift ask described above only exists because previous phone pledges created donors to go back to.

The phone also pairs naturally with digital. Where a gift cannot be completed on the call, typically a single gift needing sensitive card details, the call becomes the warm introduction and a digital follow-up closes it. Benenden took regular gifts over the phone but, for overseas single gifts it could not process live, followed up through a donor engagement platform: callers recorded a short personal video with a button that took the donor straight to a donation form. Conversion on that route was harder, an honest reminder to make digital fulfilment as frictionless as you can, but the personal video clearly helped those who did complete.

A telephone appeal also sits well alongside a [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/). A Giving Day creates a burst of energy, urgency and match funding around a fixed window; a telephone appeal is the slower, deeper conversation that converts that attention into committed, regular donors and re-engages the supporters a Giving Day's digital push will always miss. Run in sequence, a call can thank and upgrade the donors a Giving Day acquired, while a Giving Day can re-energise the wider file the phones cannot reach in the time available.

## Thanking and stewardship

Stewardship begins on the call and never really ends. The warmth that made the gift possible has to be honoured immediately: a prompt, personal thank-you confirming the pledge, the receipt or acknowledgment and what the gift will do. Remember that the uplift call is itself a stewardship act, thanking the donor and showing the impact of their support before ever raising the question of giving more.

Look after your callers with the same care. They are donors of their time, and their experience shapes both this campaign and the next. Survey them at the end, offer returning roles, and recognise the effort, not just the totals. That retention compounds: returning callers become the people who train and reassure the next intake, and the most experienced can step up into a senior caller role running the games, monitoring calls and taking the admin a one-person team cannot carry alone. A single experienced senior caller, paid a little more per hour, can be the difference between a manageable campaign and an overwhelming one.

## Measuring results

Measure the appeal on more than the headline total. Track the number of supporters spoken with, the conversion rate among those you actually reached, the immediate pledge value and the full multi-year value across the giving cycle, the proportion of new donors acquired, and the uplift take-up rate among existing donors. Set these targets against the specific data you are working, not against an unrepeatable first year, and weigh them against cost: the honest measure of an in-house campaign is return on investment, not gross income. Benenden's fourth-year total of around £41,000 over five years looked smaller than its early peak, but came from a harder, much-called segment, at a fraction of the cost, with the team's own skills permanently upgraded. Capture the qualitative return too: the donor intelligence, the re-engaged supporters, and the development office's raised profile across the community are real results, even though they never show up in the income line.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it worth running a telephone appeal in-house, or should we use a consultancy?** For a first campaign, managed support is often the right call: it supplies the software, callers, training and supervision while you learn. As your team absorbs the know-how, you can move modules in-house to improve return on investment, typically keeping external help for training and supervision longest. Benenden saved around £12,000 in a single year by going largely in-house in its fourth year.

**Should callers use a script?** Keep the structure, not the script. A rigid, word-for-word script makes callers sound like they are reading, and supporters notice. Build a conversation guide instead: the same stages, introduction, conversation, project, ask, close, with guide questions rather than fixed wording, so the call sounds authentic and the caller's genuine interest comes through.

**Who should make the calls?** Current students and recent leavers are an ideal pool for schools and universities. Recruit them personally rather than by mass email, prioritise returning callers who can mentor newcomers, and, where you can, include people with a direct stake in the cause, such as scholarship recipients, whose own stories are powerful on the phone.

**Can we offer tax-efficient giving over the phone?** Yes, though the mechanics vary by country. In Canada, registered charities issue official donation receipts for a charitable tax credit; in Australia, gifts to DGR-endorsed organisations are tax-deductible; in New Zealand, donations to approved donees qualify for a donation tax credit. Capture the donor's details on the call and send the right documentation in your written follow-up, which matters over a multi-year pledge.

**How does a telephone appeal fit with a Giving Day?** They complement each other. A [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) creates urgency, match funding and a burst of digital giving; a telephone appeal converts that attention into committed regular donors and reaches the supporters a digital push misses. Run in sequence, calls can thank and upgrade Giving Day donors, while a Giving Day re-energises the wider file.

**What results should we expect?** It depends entirely on your data and your asks. As a guide, expect a meaningful conversion rate among supporters you actually speak to, around 23 per cent in Benenden's first fundraising year, strong new-donor acquisition, and uplift take-up of roughly 60 per cent when you ask existing donors well. Measure full multi-year pledge value and return on investment, not just the immediate total.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Telephone appeal call script template](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Caller training pack](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Data segmentation template](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) and [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Hubbub blog: why telephone fundraising still works](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man eine Telefonkampagne durchführt](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zur Planung und Durchführung einer hausinternen Telefonkampagne (Telethon), der Daten und Segmentierung, die Rekrutierung und Schulung von Anrufenden, das Gespräch und das Skript, steuerbegünstigtes Spenden, die Einbindung in digitale und regelmäßige Spenden sowie die Spenderbindung behandelt.
Eine Telefonkampagne, oft noch Telethon genannt, ist eine strukturierte Anrufkampagne, bei der ein Team geschulter Anrufender, häufig Ihre eigenen Studierenden oder jüngeren Ehemaligen, Förderer anruft, um den Kontakt wieder aufzunehmen, Neuigkeiten zu teilen und sie zum Spenden einzuladen. Es ist eines der ältesten Werkzeuge im Handbuch der Mittelbeschaffung und eines, das überraschend viele Organisationen zu früh abgeschrieben haben. Schlecht gemacht ist es ein aufdringlicher Kaltakquise-Anruf, abgelesen von einer Karteikarte. Gut gemacht ist es der wärmste, menschlichste Moment in Ihrem gesamten Programm: ein echtes Gespräch, mit Einwilligung, zwischen jemandem, dem Ihre Sache am Herzen liegt, und jemandem, der allen Grund dazu hat.

Diese Unterscheidung zählt mehr denn je. In einer Welt aus einseitigen E-Mails und Social-Media-Feeds ist ein Telefonanruf einer der wenigen Kanäle, bei denen der Förderer zurücksprechen darf. Er kann nach dem Projekt fragen, eine Erinnerung teilen, Ihnen sagen, was er denkt, und auf der Stelle entscheiden, ob und wie viel er spendet. Eine gut geführte Kampagne fragt zuerst und hört genau zu: Förderer erhalten die Möglichkeit, sich vor jedem Anruf abzumelden, und Anrufende sind darin geschult zu erkennen, wann sie nicht fragen sollten. Das Ergebnis ist kein Skript, das jemandem entgegengeschleudert wird, sondern ein echter Austausch, der die Beziehung stärkt, ob eine Spende folgt oder nicht.

Dieser Leitfaden legt dar, wie man eine solche Kampagne plant und durchführt, mit besonderem Augenmerk darauf, sie ins Haus zu holen. Er stützt sich auf bewährte Praktiken der Berater von Hubbub und auf einen offenen Bericht von Katie, Referentin für Philanthropie an der Benenden School, einem unabhängigen Mädcheninternat im Herzen von Kent, die geschildert hat, wie sie eine langjährige Anrufkampagne ins Haus geholt hat. Ihre Erfahrung zieht sich durch die praktischen Abschnitte weiter unten, denn die Fragen, vor denen sie stand, wie man Anrufende findet und schult, was man mit einem Skript macht, wie man eine Spende am Telefon entgegennimmt, sind genau die, vor denen auch Sie stehen werden.

## Warum eine Telefonkampagne immer noch funktioniert

Das Argument für das Telefon ist das Argument für den menschlichen Kontakt. Im besten Fall leistet eine Kampagne dreierlei zugleich, was nur wenige andere Kanäle gemeinsam schaffen: Sie reaktiviert inaktive und stille Förderer, sie gewinnt neue Spender und sie sammelt Erkenntnisse, die Sie auf keinem anderen Weg erhalten. In Benendens erstem Spendenjahr sprachen die Anrufenden mit 462 Förderern und sicherten 108 Spenden, eine Umwandlungsrate von rund 23 Prozent derjenigen, die sie tatsächlich erreichten, und brachten eine sofortige Zusagensumme von etwas über 39.000 £ ein, die über einen fünfjährigen Spendenzyklus auf rund 72.000 £ anstieg. Die einzelne größte Spende kam von einem früheren Nicht-Spender, der über 21.000 £ zusagte, genau die Art von Person, die eine Massen-E-Mail niemals zutage gefördert hätte.

Der Kanal belohnt auch Geduld. Benendens allererste Kampagne war überhaupt keine Spendenaktion. Es war eine Runde von „Affinitätsanrufen", um Ehemalige in der Isolation der Pandemie zu erreichen, einfach um sich zu erkundigen, ohne jede Bitte. Wie Katie es ausdrückte, waren dies „keine Spendenanrufe, sondern Affinitätsanrufe, die einen emotionalen Berührungspunkt bieten sollten". Das dabei aufgebaute Wohlwollen, zusammen mit den Fallstudien und den herzlichen Rückmeldungen, die es hervorbrachte, gewann im Folgejahr die interne Debatte für eine Spendenkampagne. Wenn Ihre Förderer seit Jahren nichts mehr telefonisch von Ihnen gehört haben, kann ein beziehungsorientierter Anruf der richtige Anfang sein.

## Die Entscheidung, sie hausintern durchzuführen

Die erste strategische Frage ist nicht, wie man eine Kampagne durchführt, sondern wie viel davon man selbst übernimmt. Das traditionelle Modell ist eine vollständig betreute Kampagne, bei der eine Beratungsfirma die Software liefert, die Anrufenden anstellt und schult, die Bittbeträge festlegt und die Anrufe beaufsichtigt. Es funktioniert, und für eine erste Kampagne ist es oft die richtige Wahl. Der Haken sind die Kosten: Eine betreute Kampagne kann einen großen Teil der Einnahmen verschlingen, die sie erzielt, besonders im Bereich kleinerer und mittlerer Spenden, in dem viele Telefonspenden liegen.

Katies Direktor brachte die Wahl mit einer Analogie auf den Punkt, die es wert ist, übernommen zu werden. Eine vollständig betreute Kampagne, sagte er ihr, „war die Art von Rolls-Royce-Erlebnis mit Chauffeur unter den Telefonkampagnen, dabei müssen wir in Wirklichkeit eher selbst einen Ford Fiesta fahren". Sein Punkt war nicht, dass betreute Unterstützung schlecht sei. Es war, dass ein Team, sobald es ein, zwei Kampagnen durchgeführt und das Know-how aufgesogen hat, nicht mehr jedes Modul braucht. Eine ehrliche Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse bei Benenden ergab, dass monatliche Lastschriften „über zwei Jahre monatlicher Zahlungen brauchten, um unsere Beratungskosten auszugleichen", was das vollständig betreute Modell für die erzielten Einnahmen untragbar machte.

Der vernünftige Weg ist selten ein Ganz-oder-gar-nicht. Die meisten Teams gehen schrittweise ins Haus über, behalten spezialisierte Unterstützung für die Teile, die sie wirklich brauchen, etwa Schulung, Anrufaufsicht und Festlegung der Bittbeträge, und bringen den Rest unter eigene Kontrolle, während ihr Selbstvertrauen wächst. Bis zu seinem vierten Jahr führte Benenden die Kampagne weitgehend hausintern mit einem Kernteam von ein bis zwei Personen durch, behielt externe Unterstützung nur für die Schulung der Anrufenden und sparte in einem einzigen Jahr rund 12.000 £ an Beratungskosten. Die beruhigende Botschaft für kleine Teams ist, dass es machbar ist: „Wenn Sie aus einem kleinen Entwicklungsteam kommen, ist es machbar, wir haben es geschafft, wir sind der Beweis."

## Planung und Zeitplan

Behandeln Sie die Kampagne als ein Projekt mit klarem Vorlauf. Benendens hausinterne Kampagne lief über einen Zeitplan von drei Monaten, von der Planung Ende Mai bis zu den abschließenden Nachfasskommunikationen Anfang August, abgebildet als Gantt-Diagramm, das „jede einzelne Aufgabe vom Vorab-Anschreiben bis zur Vorauswahl der Bewerber für die Rekrutierung" auflistete. Diese Planung vorzuziehen ist es, was die Durchführung ruhig hält: Entscheiden Sie über Ihre Segmente, Ihre Bittstrategie und Ihre Anruferzahlen vor Beginn der Rekrutierung, nicht während sie läuft.

Zwei Planungsentscheidungen lohnen frühe Aufmerksamkeit. Die erste ist das Vorab-Anschreiben. Senden Sie weit im Voraus, etwa einen Monat vorher, einen Brief oder eine E-Mail, der den Förderern mitteilt, dass die Kampagne kommt, und ihnen vor allem die Möglichkeit zur Abmeldung bietet. Das ist sowohl gute Praxis als auch gute Mittelbeschaffung: Es entfernt die Unwilligen aus Ihrem Anrufpool und lässt Ihnen ein wärmeres, empfänglicheres Publikum. Die zweite ist Ihr Zeitplan für die Anrufschichten. Bauen Sie ihn um die Realitäten Ihrer Anrufenden und Ihres Publikums herum auf, einschließlich Zeitzonen, wenn sich Ihre Gemeinschaft über mehrere Länder erstreckt. Einer der stillen Vorteile der hausinternen Durchführung ist genau diese Flexibilität: die Freiheit, einen erfahrenen Anrufer eine Woche statt zwei mitmachen zu lassen oder grenzüberschreitende Anrufe aufs Wochenende zu legen.

## Datenauswahl und Segmentierung

Ihre Daten bestimmen das Ergebnis mehr als fast alles andere, segmentieren Sie sie also bewusst. Eine ausgereifte Kampagne ruft mehrere unterschiedliche Gruppen an, und jede braucht ihren eigenen Rahmen: Ehemalige, frühere Eltern, die schon gespendet haben, langjährige ehemalige Mitarbeiter und innerhalb jeder dieser Gruppen die Aufteilung zwischen bestehenden Spendern und Nicht-Spendern sowie zwischen lokalen und grenzüberschreitenden Förderern. Benenden baute, was das Team eine „Mega-Tabelle" nannte, als kostengünstige Alternative zu spezialisierter Telethon-Software, mit eingeschränktem Zugriff, sodass die Anrufenden nur die ihnen zugeteilten Personen und die relevanten Details über sie sehen konnten.

Setzen Sie realistische Erwartungen aus den Daten statt aus der Schlagzeilenzahl des Vorjahres. Bis zu seinem vierten Jahr lagen Benendens Einnahmen bei etwa der Hälfte des frühen Höhepunkts, nicht weil die Kampagne schlechter war, sondern weil viele der angerufenen Personen bereits in den Vorjahren angerufen worden waren und einen naturgemäß weniger engagierten Pool bildeten. Wie Katie anmerkte, könne man „unsere Ergebnisse nicht im Vergleich zu den letzten zwei Jahren betrachten und das als schlechtere Leistung sehen, es sind unsere Daten". Bewerten Sie die Kampagne am Segment, das Sie tatsächlich bearbeiten, nicht an einem nicht wiederholbaren ersten Durchlauf.

Die Segmentierung eröffnet auch den wertvollsten Anruf, den Sie an einen bestehenden Spender tätigen können: die Erhöhungsbitte. Aktuelle Monatsspender zu bitten, ihre Spende zu erhöhen, „erforderte wirklich ein sehr detailliertes Maß an Maßschneiderung", und Benenden setzte für diese Schicht nur seine „erfahrensten und emotional intelligentesten Anrufenden" ein und briefte sie einzeln über die Geschichte und die aktuelle Spende jedes Spenders. Der Ton muss zuerst danken und die bestehende Spende niemals herabwürdigen. Mit dieser Sorgfalt gehandhabt, spendeten rund 60 Prozent der um Erhöhung Gebetenen mehr, und der Anruf diente zugleich der Spenderbindung.

## Anrufende rekrutieren und schulen

Ihre Anrufenden sind die Kampagne. Für Schulen und Universitäten ist der natürliche Pool aktuelle Studierende und kürzlich Abgegangene, und der zuverlässigste Weg, sie zu rekrutieren, ist persönlich, keine Massen-E-Mail. Benendens Team stellte sich den älteren Schülerinnen persönlich vor, setzte ehemalige Anrufende in ein Panel, um Fragen zu beantworten, und arbeitete über Tutoren und das Internatspersonal, um die Schülerinnen in den Umgebungen zu erreichen, in denen sie tatsächlich zuhören. Mundpropaganda und die Chance, im Sommer neben Freunden zu arbeiten, erledigten viel vom Rest. Anreize helfen am Rande: Gutscheinbelohnungen und ein Empfehlungsprogramm, das auszahlt, wenn ein empfohlener Bewerber eingestellt wird.

Zwei Dividenden der Rekrutierung werden leicht unterschätzt. Die erste ist die Bindung der Anrufenden: Ein wiederkehrender Anrufer ist weit mehr wert als ein neuer, denn in der Schulung übernahm er „diese Art Führungsrolle bei den Rollenspielen" und beruhigte nervöse Neulinge mit echten Beispielen. Bei Benenden kehrten in seinem ersten hausinternen Jahr fünf ehemalige Anrufende zurück. Die zweite ist, wer Ihre Anrufenden sind. Stipendiaten selbst an den Telefonen zu haben war, in Katies Worten, ungemein wertvoll: „Nichts war wertvoller als ein direkter Empfänger der Förderung, der mit Ehemaligen am Telefon darüber sprach, wie groß die Wirkung" seiner Ausbildung gewesen war. Wenn Sie an einer Schule arbeiten, berücksichtigen Sie die praktischen Aspekte früh: Hintergrund- und Kinderschutzprüfungen, Verträge und Einweisungen für jeden, der im Auswahlpanel sitzt und die Anrufe tätigt, und holen Sie die Personalabteilung von Anfang an mit ins Boot.

Die Schulung ist der Teil, der am ehesten richtig gemacht werden sollte, und der Teil, für den die meisten Teams externe Unterstützung behalten, selbst nachdem sie ins Haus gegangen sind. Benenden behielt die Beratung von Hubbub für ein eingehendes, zweitägiges Schulungsprogramm mit Probeanrufen, Strategien zum Umgang mit Einwänden und dem Finden des richtigen Tons für die Bitte. Die Arbeitsteilung ist eine nützliche Vorlage: Die Institution informiert über ihren eigenen Kontext, die Kampagne, den Kinderschutz und die Erwartungen an die Anrufenden, während der Berater das Handwerk der Mittelbeschaffung einbringt, „wie man die erfolgreichen Anrufe führt" und die Struktur eines guten Gesprächs. Rollenspiele mit erfahrenen Anrufenden, wiederholt, bis sich das Gespräch vertraut anfühlt, sind es, was eine ängstliche Studentin in eine selbstbewusste verwandelt.

## Das Gespräch und ein gutes Skript

Die wichtigste Lektion in diesem Leitfaden läuft dem Instinkt zuwider. Das Skript ist das tägliche Brot eines traditionellen Telethons, aber ein Wort-für-Wort-Skript ist das falsche Werkzeug. Benendens Anrufenden war in früheren Jahren mehr als einmal gesagt worden: „Sie lesen doch nur von einem Skript ab, oder?", was der Klang einer Kampagne ist, die in Echtzeit scheitert. Auf Hubbubs Rat baute das Team das Skript zu dem um, was der Berater einen „Gesprächsleitfaden und ein Sicherheitsnetz" nannte: dieselben klaren Phasen wie zuvor, aber Leitfragen statt exakter Formulierungen.

Behalten Sie die Struktur, lassen Sie die Starrheit los. Ein guter Anruf durchläuft erkennbare Phasen: eine warme Einleitung; ein echtes Gespräch über den Werdegang des Förderers, seine Erinnerungen und das, was ihm wichtig ist; Neuigkeiten über das Projekt oder die Kampagne, für die Sie sammeln; die Bitte; und ein sanfter Abschluss, wie auch immer die Antwort ausfällt. Den Anrufenden zu erlauben, in jeder Phase ihre eigenen Worte zu finden, ist es, was das Gespräch „viel authentischer klingen" lässt und das echte Interesse des Anrufenden durchscheinen lässt. Bauen Sie den Leitfaden so, dass er sich nach Segment verzweigt, damit die Worte flexibel passen, ob der Anrufer mit einer Ehemaligen, einem früheren Elternteil oder einem früheren Spender spricht. Dafür brauchen Sie keine maßgeschneiderte Telethon-Software: Benenden nutzte Microsoft Forms, wobei die Antworten zurück in seine Tabelle eingefügt wurden, und ein Werkzeug wie SurveyMonkey würde ebenso gut dienen.

Um die Anrufe zu beaufsichtigen, brauchen Sie eine Form von Call-Room-Technik, damit ein Leiter mithören, in Echtzeit Rückmeldung geben und, wo das Werkzeug es zulässt, einem Anrufer mitten im Gespräch einen Rat „zuflüstern" kann, ohne dass der Förderer es hört. Benenden ersetzte eine spezialisierte Telefon-App durch den VoIP-Dienst von Zoom. Er war nicht perfekt, mit einer Mindestlizenz von drei Monaten für einen Monat Nutzung, aber er kam günstiger als die Alternative und erfüllte die wesentlichen Aufgaben: Überwachung, Rückmeldung und das Anrufen der Förderer.

## Die Bitte aussprechen und mit Einwänden umgehen

Die Bitte ist der Punkt, an dem sich die Schulung auszahlt. Das Ziel ist eine Bitte, die sich „natürlich und nicht aufdringlich anfühlt". Anrufende sollten eine kleine Leiter von Bitten und die darauf folgenden Rückfalloptionen lernen, einschließlich des Herunterhandelns: das Heruntergehen auf einen niedrigeren vorgeschlagenen Betrag oder eine andere Spendenart, wenn die erste Bitte nicht ankommt. Das Herunterhandeln funktioniert, und Benenden sicherte darüber Spenden. Aber die wichtigere Fähigkeit ist das Urteilsvermögen, Anrufende darin zu schulen zu erkennen, „wann man nicht fragen" und wann man nicht aufdringlich sein sollte. Ein Förderer, der ein warmes Gespräch hatte und höflich abgelehnt hat, ist immer noch ein Förderer, den Sie gestärkt haben, und ihn zu bedrängen riskiert die Beziehung für eine Spende, die Sie ohnehin nie bekommen hätten.

Strukturieren Sie die Schichten so, dass Selbstvertrauen aufgebaut wird, bevor der Einsatz steigt. Lassen Sie die Anrufenden sich an unkomplizierteren Gesprächen aufwärmen, bevor sie sich Interessenten mit höherer Kapazität nähern, und stellen Sie zuerst sicher, „dass sie sich mit dem Bittprozess wirklich wohlfühlten". Und schützen Sie die Moral durch die unvermeidlichen Serien von Mailboxen und Absagen. Benenden hielt vor jeder Schicht kurze Aufmunterungsreden, holte Gastredner herein, darunter einen Stipendiaten und einen regelmäßigen Spender, um die Anrufenden daran zu erinnern, warum die Arbeit zählt, und verwandelte die Mühsal in Spiele: Bingo und Gutscheinpreise, die „eine negative Erfahrung in eine positive verwandelten", sodass ein Anrufer auch nach zwanzig Mailboxen in Folge gewinnen konnte.

## Steuerbegünstigtes Spenden

Steuerbegünstigtes Spenden ist eine der einfachsten Möglichkeiten, einer Telefonspende Wert hinzuzufügen, und es gehört ins Gespräch und nicht als nachträglicher Gedanke. Die Regeln variieren in ganz Europa, stellen Sie also sicher, dass Ihre Anrufenden die Lage dort kennen, wo Ihre Förderer leben. Viele europäische Länder bieten Spendern einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung für gemeinnützige Spenden, und grenzüberschreitende Spenden innerhalb Europas können oft über das Netzwerk Transnational Giving Europe steuerbegünstigt geleistet werden. Eine Telefonkampagne ist ein idealer Moment, um die benötigten Angaben zu erfassen: Der Anrufer kann eine schlichte einzeilige Erklärung geben, die Kontaktdaten des Spenders für die richtige Quittung oder Bescheinigung bestätigen und ihm versichern, dass die Unterlagen folgen werden. Bei einer fünfjährigen Zusage zählt es, das richtig zu machen, schulen Sie Ihre Anrufenden also, es jedes Mal gut zu handhaben.

## Einbindung in Digitales, regelmäßiges Spenden und einen Spendentag

Eine Telefonkampagne sollte niemals für sich allein stehen. Ihre wahre Stärke liegt darin, die menschliche Schicht in einem umfassenderen Programm für regelmäßiges Spenden zu sein, und sie funktioniert am besten, wenn sie Ihre anderen Kanäle speist und von ihnen gespeist wird. Die meisten Telefonspenden nimmt man am besten als regelmäßige Monatsspende entgegen, was die vorhersehbaren, mehrjährigen Einnahmen aufbaut, von denen ein Programm abhängt, und die oben beschriebene Erhöhungsbitte gibt es nur, weil frühere Telefonzusagen Spender geschaffen haben, zu denen man zurückkehren kann.

Das Telefon passt auch natürlich zum Digitalen. Wo eine Spende im Anruf nicht abgeschlossen werden kann, typischerweise eine Einzelspende, die sensible Kartendaten erfordert, wird der Anruf zur warmen Einleitung, und ein digitaler Nachfasskontakt schließt sie ab. Benenden nahm regelmäßige Spenden am Telefon entgegen, aber bei grenzüberschreitenden Einzelspenden, die es nicht live verarbeiten konnte, fasste es über eine Plattform zur Spenderbindung nach: Die Anrufenden nahmen ein kurzes persönliches Video mit einer Schaltfläche auf, die den Spender direkt zu einem Spendenformular führte. Die Umwandlung auf diesem Weg war schwieriger, eine ehrliche Erinnerung daran, die digitale Abwicklung so reibungslos wie möglich zu gestalten, aber das persönliche Video half denjenigen, die abschlossen, deutlich.

Eine Telefonkampagne fügt sich auch gut neben einen [Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ein. Ein Spendentag erzeugt einen Schub an Energie, Dringlichkeit und Verdopplungsförderung um ein festes Zeitfenster; eine Telefonkampagne ist das langsamere, tiefere Gespräch, das diese Aufmerksamkeit in verbindliche, regelmäßige Spender umwandelt und die Förderer reaktiviert, die der digitale Vorstoß eines Spendentags immer verfehlen wird. Nacheinander durchgeführt, kann ein Anruf den bei einem Spendentag gewonnenen Spendern danken und sie hochstufen, während ein Spendentag den breiteren Bestand neu beleben kann, den die Telefone in der verfügbaren Zeit nicht erreichen können.

## Danken und Spenderbindung

Die Spenderbindung beginnt beim Anruf und endet eigentlich nie. Die Wärme, die die Spende möglich gemacht hat, muss sofort gewürdigt werden: ein prompter, persönlicher Dank, der die Zusage bestätigt, die Quittung oder Steuerbescheinigung und das, was die Spende bewirken wird. Denken Sie daran, dass der Erhöhungsanruf selbst ein Akt der Spenderbindung ist, der dem Spender dankt und die Wirkung seiner Unterstützung zeigt, bevor überhaupt die Frage nach mehr Spenden aufgeworfen wird.

Kümmern Sie sich mit derselben Sorgfalt um Ihre Anrufenden. Sie sind Spender ihrer Zeit, und ihre Erfahrung prägt sowohl diese Kampagne als auch die nächste. Befragen Sie sie am Ende, bieten Sie ihnen wiederkehrende Rollen an und würdigen Sie den Einsatz, nicht nur die Summen. Diese Bindung verstärkt sich: Wiederkehrende Anrufende werden zu den Menschen, die den nächsten Jahrgang schulen und beruhigen, und die Erfahrensten können in eine Rolle als leitende Anrufende aufsteigen, die Spiele leiten, Anrufe überwachen und die Verwaltung übernehmen, die ein Ein-Personen-Team nicht allein tragen kann. Ein einziger erfahrener leitender Anrufer, etwas besser pro Stunde bezahlt, kann den Unterschied zwischen einer handhabbaren und einer überwältigenden Kampagne ausmachen.

## Ergebnisse messen

Messen Sie die Kampagne an mehr als der Schlagzeilensumme. Verfolgen Sie die Zahl der gesprochenen Förderer, die Umwandlungsrate unter denen, die Sie tatsächlich erreicht haben, den unmittelbaren Zusagenwert und den vollen mehrjährigen Wert über den gesamten Spendenzyklus, den Anteil der gewonnenen Neuspender und die Annahmequote der Erhöhung unter bestehenden Spendern. Setzen Sie diese Ziele gegen die spezifischen Daten, die Sie bearbeiten, nicht gegen ein nicht wiederholbares erstes Jahr, und wägen Sie sie gegen die Kosten ab: Das ehrliche Maß einer hausinternen Kampagne ist die Kapitalrendite, nicht der Bruttoeinnahmen. Benendens Viertjahressumme von rund 41.000 £ über fünf Jahre wirkte kleiner als der frühe Höhepunkt, kam aber aus einem schwierigeren, viel angerufenen Segment, zu einem Bruchteil der Kosten, mit den dauerhaft aufgewerteten eigenen Fähigkeiten des Teams. Erfassen Sie auch die qualitative Rendite: die Erkenntnisse über Spender, die reaktivierten Förderer und das gestiegene Profil des Entwicklungsbüros in der gesamten Gemeinschaft sind echte Ergebnisse, auch wenn sie nie in der Einnahmenzeile auftauchen.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Lohnt es sich, eine Telefonkampagne hausintern durchzuführen, oder sollten wir eine Beratung nutzen?** Für eine erste Kampagne ist betreute Unterstützung oft die richtige Wahl: Sie liefert Software, Anrufende, Schulung und Aufsicht, während Sie lernen. Wenn Ihr Team das Know-how aufgesogen hat, können Sie Module ins Haus holen, um die Kapitalrendite zu verbessern, wobei Sie externe Hilfe typischerweise für Schulung und Aufsicht am längsten behalten. Benenden sparte in einem einzigen Jahr rund 12.000 £, indem es in seinem vierten Jahr weitgehend ins Haus ging.

**Sollten Anrufende ein Skript verwenden?** Behalten Sie die Struktur, nicht das Skript. Ein starres Wort-für-Wort-Skript lässt Anrufende klingen, als würden sie ablesen, und Förderer bemerken das. Bauen Sie stattdessen einen Gesprächsleitfaden: dieselben Phasen, Einleitung, Gespräch, Projekt, Bitte, Abschluss, mit Leitfragen statt fester Formulierungen, damit der Anruf authentisch klingt und das echte Interesse des Anrufenden durchscheint.

**Wer sollte die Anrufe tätigen?** Aktuelle Studierende und kürzlich Abgegangene sind ein idealer Pool für Schulen und Universitäten. Rekrutieren Sie sie persönlich statt per Massen-E-Mail, geben Sie wiederkehrenden Anrufenden Vorrang, die Neulinge anleiten können, und beziehen Sie, wo möglich, Menschen mit einem direkten Bezug zur Sache ein, etwa Stipendiaten, deren eigene Geschichten am Telefon kraftvoll sind.

**Können wir steuerbegünstigtes Spenden am Telefon anbieten?** Ja, auch wenn die Regeln je nach Land variieren. Viele europäische Länder bieten einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung für gemeinnützige Spenden, und grenzüberschreitende Spenden können oft über Transnational Giving Europe steuerbegünstigt geleistet werden. Erfassen Sie die Daten des Spenders im Anruf und senden Sie die richtige Quittung oder Bescheinigung in Ihrem schriftlichen Nachfasskontakt, was bei einer mehrjährigen Zusage zählt.

**Wie passt eine Telefonkampagne zu einem Spendentag?** Sie ergänzen einander. Ein [Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) erzeugt Dringlichkeit, Verdopplungsförderung und einen Schub digitalen Spendens; eine Telefonkampagne wandelt diese Aufmerksamkeit in verbindliche regelmäßige Spender um und erreicht die Förderer, die ein digitaler Vorstoß verfehlt. Nacheinander durchgeführt, können Anrufe den Spendern eines Spendentags danken und sie hochstufen, während ein Spendentag den breiteren Bestand neu belebt.

**Welche Ergebnisse sollten wir erwarten?** Es hängt ganz von Ihren Daten und Ihren Bitten ab. Als Richtwert erwarten Sie eine bedeutsame Umwandlungsrate unter den Förderern, mit denen Sie tatsächlich sprechen, rund 23 Prozent in Benendens erstem Spendenjahr, eine starke Gewinnung von Neuspendern und eine Erhöhungsannahme von etwa 60 Prozent, wenn Sie bestehende Spender gut bitten. Messen Sie den vollen mehrjährigen Zusagenwert und die Kapitalrendite, nicht nur die unmittelbare Summe.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Vorlage für ein Anrufskript einer Telefonkampagne](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Schulungspaket für Anrufende](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Vorlage zur Datensegmentierung](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie den Text Ihrer Appelle und E-Mails
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- Webinare: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) und [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Hubbub-Blog: warum Telefon-Fundraising immer noch funktioniert](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [Wie man einen Spendentag durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr.

- [How to run a telephone appeal](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (europe/en): A practical guide to planning and running an in-house telephone (telethon) appeal, covering data and segmentation, recruiting and training callers, the conversation and script, tax-efficient giving, integration with digital and regular giving, and stewardship.
A telephone appeal, often still called a telethon, is a structured calling campaign in which a team of trained callers, frequently your own students or younger alumni, phones supporters to reconnect, share news and invite them to give. It is one of the oldest tools in the fundraising handbook, and one a surprising number of organisations have written off too soon. Done badly, it is an intrusive cold call read off a card. Done well, it is the warmest, most human moment in your whole programme: a real conversation, with consent, between someone who cares about your cause and someone who has every reason to.

That distinction matters more than ever. In a world of one-way email and social feeds, a phone call is one of the few channels where the supporter gets to talk back. They can ask about the project, share a memory, tell you what they think, and decide on the spot whether and how much to give. A well-run appeal asks first and listens hard: supporters get the chance to opt out before any call is made, and callers are trained to recognise when not to ask. The result is not a script delivered at someone, but a genuine exchange that strengthens the relationship whether or not a gift follows.

This guide sets out how to plan and run such an appeal, with a particular focus on bringing one in-house. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on a candid account from Katie, philanthropy officer at Benenden School, an independent girls' boarding school in the heart of Kent, who has described moving a long-running calling campaign in-house. Her experience runs through the practical sections below, because the questions she faced, how to find and train callers, what to do about a script, how to take a gift over the phone, are exactly the ones you will face too.

## Why a telephone appeal still works

The case for the telephone is the case for human contact. At its best, an appeal does three things at once that few other channels manage together: it re-engages lapsed and quiet supporters, it acquires new donors, and it gathers intelligence you cannot get any other way. In Benenden's first fundraising year, callers spoke with 462 supporters and secured 108 gifts, a conversion rate of around 23 per cent of those they actually reached, and brought in an immediate pledge total of just over £39,000, rising to around £72,000 across a five-year giving cycle. The single largest gift came from a previous non-donor who pledged over £21,000, exactly the kind of person a mass email would never have surfaced.

The channel also rewards patience. Benenden's very first campaign was not a fundraising exercise at all. It was a round of "affinity calls", reaching out to alumni in the isolation of the pandemic simply to check in, with no ask made. As Katie put it, these "weren't fundraising calls but affinity calls designed to provide an emotional touch point". The goodwill that built, along with the case studies and warm feedback it produced, was what won the internal argument for a fundraising campaign the following year. If your supporters have not heard from you by phone in years, a relationship-first call can be the right way to start.

## Deciding whether to run it in-house

The first strategic question is not how to run an appeal, but how much of it to run yourself. The traditional model is a fully managed campaign in which a consultancy supplies the software, employs and trains the callers, sets the ask amounts and supervises the calls. It works, and for a first campaign it is often the right choice. The trade-off is cost: a managed campaign can consume a large share of the income it raises, especially at the smaller and mid-level gift range where many telephone gifts sit.

Katie's director captured the choice with an analogy worth borrowing. A fully managed campaign, he told her, "has been the kind of chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce experience of telephone campaigns and in reality we really need to be driving a Ford Fiesta ourselves instead." His point was not that managed support is bad. It was that once a team has run a campaign or two and absorbed the know-how, it no longer needs every module. A frank cost-benefit analysis at Benenden found that monthly direct debits were "taking over two years of monthly payments to offset our consultancy costs", which made the fully managed model unsustainable for the income it produced.

The sensible path is rarely all-or-nothing. Most teams move in-house gradually, keeping specialist support for the parts that genuinely need it, such as training, call supervision and ask-setting, and bringing the rest under their own control as their confidence grows. By its fourth year Benenden ran the campaign largely in-house with a core team of one or two people, retaining external support only for caller training, and saved around £12,000 in consultancy costs in a single year. The reassuring message for small teams is that it is doable: "if you are from a small development team, it's doable, we did it, we're proof."

## Planning and timeline

Treat the appeal as a project with a clear runway. Benenden's in-house campaign ran on a three-month timeline, from planning in late May to the final follow-up communications in early August, mapped out as a Gantt chart that listed "every single task from the pre-call to shortlisting applicants for recruitment". Front-loading that planning is what keeps delivery calm: decide your segments, your ask strategy and your caller numbers before recruitment opens, not while it is under way.

Two planning decisions repay early attention. The first is the pre-call mailing. Send a letter or email well in advance, around a month ahead, telling supporters the campaign is coming and, crucially, offering them the chance to opt out. This is both good practice and good fundraising: it removes the unwilling from your calling pool and leaves you with a warmer, more receptive audience. The second is your timetable for calling shifts. Build it around the realities of your callers and your audience, including time zones if your community spans several countries. One of the quiet advantages of running in-house is exactly this flexibility: the freedom to let an experienced caller join for one week rather than two, or to schedule cross-border calling for the weekend.

## Data selection and segmentation

Your data does more to determine the result than almost anything else, so segment it deliberately. A mature appeal will call several distinct groups, and each needs its own framing: alumni, former parents who have given before, long-standing former staff, and within each of those the split between existing donors and non-donors, and between local and cross-border supporters. Benenden built what the team called a "mega spreadsheet" as a low-cost alternative to specialist telethon software, with restricted access so callers could see only the people they were allocated and the relevant details about them.

Set realistic expectations from the data rather than from last year's headline figure. By its fourth year, Benenden's income was around half its early peak, not because the campaign was worse but because many of the people being called had already been phoned in previous years and were a naturally less engaged pool. As Katie noted, you "can't look at our results in comparison to the last two years and see that as we've not done as well, it's our data". Judge the campaign against the segment you are actually working, not against an unrepeatable first run.

Segmentation also opens up the single most valuable call you can make to an existing donor: the uplift ask. Asking current monthly donors to increase their gift "really needed a very detailed amount of tailoring", and Benenden put only its "most experienced and emotionally intelligent callers on that shift", briefing them one-to-one on each donor's history and current gift. The tone has to thank first and never demean the existing gift. Handled with that care, around 60 per cent of those asked to uplift gave more, and the call doubled as stewardship.

## Recruiting and training callers

Your callers are the campaign. For schools and universities the natural pool is current students and recent leavers, and the most reliable way to recruit them is personal, not a mass email. Benenden's team presented in person to senior students, sat former callers on a panel to answer questions, and worked through tutors and boarding-house staff to reach students in the settings where they actually listen. Word of mouth and the chance to work alongside friends over the summer did much of the rest. Incentives help at the margins: voucher rewards, and a refer-a-friend scheme that pays out when a recommended applicant is appointed.

Two recruitment dividends are easy to underrate. The first is caller retention: a returning caller is worth far more than a new one, because in training they "took that kind of leadership role when going into the role plays", reassuring nervous first-timers with real examples. Benenden had five former callers return in its first in-house year. The second is who your callers are. Having scholarship recipients themselves on the phones was, in Katie's words, hugely valuable: "nothing was more valuable than a direct recipient of the award talking to alumni down the phone about how much of an impact" their education had had. If you run in a school, factor in the practicalities early: background and safeguarding checks, contracts and briefings for whoever sits on the interview panel and makes the calls, and bring HR in from the start.

Training is the part most worth doing properly, and the part most teams keep external support for even after going in-house. Benenden retained Hubbub's consultancy for an in-depth, two-day training programme covering mock calls, strategies for handling objections, and setting the right tone for asking. The division of labour is a useful template: the institution briefs on its own context, the campaign, the safeguarding and the expectations of callers, while the consultant brings the fundraising craft, "how to make the successful calls" and the structure of a good conversation. Role play with experienced callers, repeated until the conversation feels familiar, is what turns an anxious student into a confident one.

## The conversation and a good script

The most important lesson in this guide runs against instinct. The script is the bread and butter of a traditional telethon, but a word-for-word script is the wrong tool. Benenden's callers had been told, more than once in earlier years, "you're just reading from a script aren't you", which is the sound of a campaign failing in real time. On Hubbub's advice the team rebuilt the script as what the consultant called a "conversation guide and a safety blanket": the same clear stages as before, but guide questions rather than exact wording.

Keep the structure, lose the rigidity. A good call moves through recognisable stages: a warm introduction; a genuine conversation about the supporter's career, their memories and what they care about; news of the project or campaign you are raising for; the ask; and a soft close, whatever the answer. Letting callers find their own words at each stage is what makes the conversation "sound much more authentic" and lets the caller's genuine interest come through. Build the guide so it branches by segment, so the words flexibly fit whether the caller is speaking to an alumna, a former parent or a past donor. You do not need bespoke telethon software to do this: Benenden used Microsoft Forms, with answers merged back into its spreadsheet, and a tool like SurveyMonkey would serve as well.

To supervise the calls you need some form of call-room technology so a manager can listen in, offer real-time feedback and, where the tool allows, "whisper" advice to a caller mid-call without the supporter hearing. Benenden replaced a specialist phone app with Zoom's VoIP service. It was not perfect, carrying a three-month minimum licence for one month's use, but it came in cheaper than the alternative and did the essential jobs of monitoring, feedback and ringing the callers.

## Making the ask and handling objections

The ask is where training earns its keep. The goal is an ask that "felt natural and not pushy". Callers should be taught a small ladder of asks and the fallbacks that follow, including the trade-down: dropping to a lower suggested amount or a different gift type when the first ask does not land. The trade-down works, and Benenden secured gifts through it. But the more important skill is judgement, training callers to recognise "when not to ask" and when not to be pushy. A supporter who has had a warm conversation and politely declined is still a supporter you have strengthened, and pressing them risks the relationship for a gift you were never going to get.

Structure the shifts so that confidence builds before stakes rise. Let callers warm up on more straightforward conversations before they approach higher-capacity prospects, "making sure they really felt comfortable with the ask process" first. And protect morale through the inevitable runs of voicemails and refusals. Benenden ran short pep talks before each shift, brought in guest speakers, including a scholarship recipient and a regular donor, to remind callers why the work matters, and turned the grind into games: bingo and voucher prizes that "turned a negative experience into a positive one" so a caller could win even after twenty voicemails in a row.

## Tax-efficient giving

Tax-efficient giving is one of the simplest ways to add value to a telephone gift, and it belongs in the conversation rather than as an afterthought. The rules vary across Europe, so make sure your callers know the position where your supporters live. Many European countries offer donors a tax deduction or a tax reduction for charitable gifts, and cross-border gifts within Europe can often be made tax-efficiently through the Transnational Giving Europe network. A telephone appeal is an ideal moment to capture the details you need: the caller can give a plain one-line explanation, confirm the donor's contact details for the right receipt or certificate, and reassure them that the documentation will follow. On a five-year pledge, getting that right matters, so train your callers to handle it well every time.

## Integrating with digital, regular giving and a Giving Day

A telephone appeal should never sit on its own. Its real power is as the human layer in a wider regular giving programme, and it works best when it feeds and is fed by your other channels. Most telephone gifts are best taken as a regular monthly gift, which is what builds the predictable, multi-year income a programme depends on, and the uplift ask described above only exists because previous phone pledges created donors to go back to.

The phone also pairs naturally with digital. Where a gift cannot be completed on the call, typically a single gift needing sensitive card details, the call becomes the warm introduction and a digital follow-up closes it. Benenden took regular gifts over the phone but, for cross-border single gifts it could not process live, followed up through a donor engagement platform: callers recorded a short personal video with a button that took the donor straight to a donation form. Conversion on that route was harder, an honest reminder to make digital fulfilment as frictionless as you can, but the personal video clearly helped those who did complete.

A telephone appeal also sits well alongside a [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/). A Giving Day creates a burst of energy, urgency and match funding around a fixed window; a telephone appeal is the slower, deeper conversation that converts that attention into committed, regular donors and re-engages the supporters a Giving Day's digital push will always miss. Run in sequence, a call can thank and upgrade the donors a Giving Day acquired, while a Giving Day can re-energise the wider file the phones cannot reach in the time available.

## Thanking and stewardship

Stewardship begins on the call and never really ends. The warmth that made the gift possible has to be honoured immediately: a prompt, personal thank-you confirming the pledge, the receipt or tax certificate and what the gift will do. Remember that the uplift call is itself a stewardship act, thanking the donor and showing the impact of their support before ever raising the question of giving more.

Look after your callers with the same care. They are donors of their time, and their experience shapes both this campaign and the next. Survey them at the end, offer returning roles, and recognise the effort, not just the totals. That retention compounds: returning callers become the people who train and reassure the next intake, and the most experienced can step up into a senior caller role running the games, monitoring calls and taking the admin a one-person team cannot carry alone. A single experienced senior caller, paid a little more per hour, can be the difference between a manageable campaign and an overwhelming one.

## Measuring results

Measure the appeal on more than the headline total. Track the number of supporters spoken with, the conversion rate among those you actually reached, the immediate pledge value and the full multi-year value across the giving cycle, the proportion of new donors acquired, and the uplift take-up rate among existing donors. Set these targets against the specific data you are working, not against an unrepeatable first year, and weigh them against cost: the honest measure of an in-house campaign is return on investment, not gross income. Benenden's fourth-year total of around £41,000 over five years looked smaller than its early peak, but came from a harder, much-called segment, at a fraction of the cost, with the team's own skills permanently upgraded. Capture the qualitative return too: the donor intelligence, the re-engaged supporters, and the development office's raised profile across the community are real results, even though they never show up in the income line.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it worth running a telephone appeal in-house, or should we use a consultancy?** For a first campaign, managed support is often the right call: it supplies the software, callers, training and supervision while you learn. As your team absorbs the know-how, you can move modules in-house to improve return on investment, typically keeping external help for training and supervision longest. Benenden saved around £12,000 in a single year by going largely in-house in its fourth year.

**Should callers use a script?** Keep the structure, not the script. A rigid, word-for-word script makes callers sound like they are reading, and supporters notice. Build a conversation guide instead: the same stages, introduction, conversation, project, ask, close, with guide questions rather than fixed wording, so the call sounds authentic and the caller's genuine interest comes through.

**Who should make the calls?** Current students and recent leavers are an ideal pool for schools and universities. Recruit them personally rather than by mass email, prioritise returning callers who can mentor newcomers, and, where you can, include people with a direct stake in the cause, such as scholarship recipients, whose own stories are powerful on the phone.

**Can we offer tax-efficient giving over the phone?** Yes, though the rules vary by country. Many European countries offer a tax deduction or reduction for charitable gifts, and cross-border gifts can often be made tax-efficiently through Transnational Giving Europe. Capture the donor's details on the call and send the right receipt or certificate in your written follow-up, which matters over a multi-year pledge.

**How does a telephone appeal fit with a Giving Day?** They complement each other. A [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) creates urgency, match funding and a burst of digital giving; a telephone appeal converts that attention into committed regular donors and reaches the supporters a digital push misses. Run in sequence, calls can thank and upgrade Giving Day donors, while a Giving Day re-energises the wider file.

**What results should we expect?** It depends entirely on your data and your asks. As a guide, expect a meaningful conversion rate among supporters you actually speak to, around 23 per cent in Benenden's first fundraising year, strong new-donor acquisition, and uplift take-up of roughly 60 per cent when you ask existing donors well. Measure full multi-year pledge value and return on investment, not just the immediate total.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Telephone appeal call script template](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Caller training pack](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Data segmentation template](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) and [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Hubbub blog: why telephone fundraising still works](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo llevar a cabo una campaña de captación telefónica](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para planificar y llevar a cabo internamente una campaña de captación telefónica (teletón), que abarca los datos y la segmentación, el reclutamiento y la formación de las personas que llaman, la conversación y el guion, las donaciones fiscalmente ventajosas, la integración con lo digital y la donación periódica, y la fidelización.
Una campaña de captación telefónica, que a menudo se sigue llamando teletón, es una campaña de llamadas estructurada en la que un equipo de personas formadas para llamar, con frecuencia vuestros propios estudiantes o antiguos alumnos jóvenes, telefonea a los simpatizantes para retomar el contacto, compartir novedades e invitarlos a donar. Es una de las herramientas más antiguas del manual de la captación de fondos, y una que un número sorprendente de organizaciones ha descartado demasiado pronto. Mal hecha, es una llamada en frío intrusiva leída de una ficha. Bien hecha, es el momento más cálido y más humano de todo vuestro programa: una conversación real, con consentimiento, entre alguien a quien le importa vuestra causa y alguien que tiene todas las razones para que también le importe.

Esa distinción importa más que nunca. En un mundo de correos electrónicos unidireccionales y de redes sociales, una llamada telefónica es uno de los pocos canales en los que el simpatizante puede responder. Puede preguntar por el proyecto, compartir un recuerdo, deciros lo que piensa y decidir en el momento si dona y cuánto. Una campaña bien llevada pregunta primero y escucha con atención: los simpatizantes tienen la oportunidad de darse de baja antes de que se realice ninguna llamada, y las personas que llaman están formadas para reconocer cuándo no pedir. El resultado no es un guion soltado a alguien, sino un auténtico intercambio que fortalece la relación, siga o no una donación.

Esta guía expone cómo planificar y llevar a cabo una campaña de este tipo, con especial atención a realizarla internamente. Se basa en las buenas prácticas de los consultores de Hubbub y en un relato franco de Katie, responsable de filantropía en la Benenden School, un internado privado para chicas en el corazón de Kent, que ha descrito el traslado interno de una campaña de llamadas de larga trayectoria. Su experiencia recorre las secciones prácticas que siguen, porque las preguntas que afrontó, cómo encontrar y formar a quienes llaman, qué hacer con un guion, cómo recoger una donación por teléfono, son exactamente las que afrontaréis vosotros también.

## Por qué una campaña de captación telefónica sigue funcionando

El argumento a favor del teléfono es el argumento a favor del contacto humano. En su mejor versión, una campaña hace tres cosas a la vez que pocos otros canales logran reunir: reactiva a los simpatizantes inactivos y silenciosos, capta nuevos donantes y recoge información que no se puede obtener de ningún otro modo. En el primer año de captación de fondos de Benenden, quienes llamaban hablaron con 462 simpatizantes y consiguieron 108 donaciones, una tasa de conversión de alrededor del 23 por ciento de aquellos a los que realmente alcanzaron, y aportaron un total de compromisos inmediatos de algo más de 39.000 £, que ascendió a unos 72.000 £ a lo largo de un ciclo de donación de cinco años. La donación individual más grande provino de un anterior no donante que se comprometió a más de 21.000 £, exactamente el tipo de persona que un correo masivo nunca habría sacado a la luz.

El canal también recompensa la paciencia. La primerísima campaña de Benenden no fue en absoluto un ejercicio de captación de fondos. Fue una ronda de "llamadas de afinidad", para llegar a los antiguos alumnos en el aislamiento de la pandemia simplemente para interesarse por ellos, sin ninguna petición. Como dijo Katie, estas "no eran llamadas de captación de fondos sino llamadas de afinidad pensadas para ofrecer un punto de contacto emocional". La buena voluntad que se construyó así, junto con los casos prácticos y las cálidas respuestas que produjo, fue lo que ganó el debate interno a favor de una campaña de captación de fondos al año siguiente. Si vuestros simpatizantes no han sabido de vosotros por teléfono en años, una llamada que pone la relación por delante puede ser la forma correcta de empezar.

## Decidir si llevarla a cabo internamente

La primera pregunta estratégica no es cómo llevar a cabo una campaña, sino qué parte de ella realizar uno mismo. El modelo tradicional es una campaña totalmente gestionada en la que una consultoría aporta el software, contrata y forma a quienes llaman, fija los importes a pedir y supervisa las llamadas. Funciona, y para una primera campaña suele ser la elección correcta. La contrapartida es el coste: una campaña gestionada puede consumir una gran parte de los ingresos que genera, sobre todo en el tramo de donaciones pequeñas y medianas en el que se sitúan muchas donaciones telefónicas.

El director de Katie captó la elección con una analogía que vale la pena tomar prestada. Una campaña totalmente gestionada, le dijo, "ha sido ese tipo de experiencia Rolls-Royce con chófer de las campañas telefónicas, cuando en realidad lo que de verdad necesitamos es conducir nosotros mismos un Ford Fiesta". Su punto no era que el apoyo gestionado sea malo. Era que, una vez que un equipo ha llevado a cabo una o dos campañas y ha absorbido los conocimientos, ya no necesita cada módulo. Un análisis franco de costes y beneficios en Benenden reveló que las domiciliaciones mensuales "tardaban más de dos años de pagos mensuales en compensar nuestros costes de consultoría", lo que hacía insostenible el modelo totalmente gestionado para los ingresos que producía.

El camino sensato rara vez es de todo o nada. La mayoría de los equipos pasan a lo interno de forma gradual, manteniendo el apoyo especializado para las partes que realmente lo necesitan, como la formación, la supervisión de las llamadas y la fijación de los importes, y asumiendo el resto bajo su propio control a medida que crece su confianza. Para su cuarto año, Benenden llevaba la campaña en gran parte internamente con un núcleo de una o dos personas, conservando el apoyo externo solo para la formación de quienes llamaban, y ahorró unas 12.000 £ en costes de consultoría en un solo año. El mensaje tranquilizador para los equipos pequeños es que es factible: "si formáis parte de un equipo de desarrollo pequeño, es factible, lo hicimos, somos la prueba".

## Planificación y calendario

Tratad la campaña como un proyecto con una hoja de ruta clara. La campaña interna de Benenden se desarrolló en un calendario de tres meses, desde la planificación a finales de mayo hasta las comunicaciones de seguimiento finales a principios de agosto, trazada como un diagrama de Gantt que enumeraba "cada tarea, desde el envío previo hasta la preselección de candidatos para el reclutamiento". Adelantar esa planificación es lo que mantiene serena la ejecución: decidid vuestros segmentos, vuestra estrategia de petición y vuestro número de personas que llaman antes de que se abra el reclutamiento, no mientras está en marcha.

Dos decisiones de planificación compensan una atención temprana. La primera es el envío previo. Enviad una carta o un correo electrónico con bastante antelación, alrededor de un mes antes, que informe a los simpatizantes de que la campaña se acerca y, sobre todo, les ofrezca la oportunidad de darse de baja. Es a la vez una buena práctica y una buena captación de fondos: elimina a los reacios de vuestra lista de llamadas y os deja un público más cálido y más receptivo. La segunda es vuestro calendario de turnos de llamada. Construidlo en torno a las realidades de quienes llaman y de vuestro público, husos horarios incluidos si vuestra comunidad se extiende por varios países. Una de las ventajas discretas de llevar la campaña internamente es precisamente esta flexibilidad: la libertad de dejar que una persona con experiencia participe una semana en lugar de dos, o de programar las llamadas transfronterizas para el fin de semana.

## Selección de datos y segmentación

Vuestros datos determinan el resultado más que casi cualquier otra cosa, así que segmentadlos con intención. Una campaña madura llamará a varios grupos distintos, y cada uno necesita su propio enfoque: antiguos alumnos, antiguos padres que ya han donado, antiguo personal de larga trayectoria, y dentro de cada uno de ellos la distinción entre donantes existentes y no donantes, y entre simpatizantes locales y transfronterizos. Benenden construyó lo que el equipo llamó una "megahoja de cálculo" como alternativa económica al software especializado de teletón, con acceso restringido para que quienes llamaban solo pudieran ver a las personas que tenían asignadas y los detalles pertinentes sobre ellas.

Fijad expectativas realistas a partir de los datos en lugar de a partir de la cifra principal del año pasado. Para su cuarto año, los ingresos de Benenden eran alrededor de la mitad de su pico inicial, no porque la campaña fuera peor sino porque a muchas de las personas a las que se llamaba ya se les había telefoneado en años anteriores y formaban un grupo naturalmente menos comprometido. Como señaló Katie, no se "pueden mirar nuestros resultados en comparación con los dos últimos años y verlo como que no lo hemos hecho tan bien, son nuestros datos". Juzgad la campaña frente al segmento que realmente estáis trabajando, no frente a una primera tanda irrepetible.

La segmentación también abre la llamada más valiosa que podéis hacer a un donante existente: la petición de aumento. Pedir a los donantes mensuales actuales que aumenten su donación "requería de verdad un grado de personalización muy detallado", y Benenden puso en ese turno únicamente a sus "personas que llamaban más experimentadas y emocionalmente inteligentes", informándolas una a una sobre el historial de cada donante y su donación actual. El tono debe agradecer primero y nunca menospreciar la donación existente. Manejado con ese cuidado, alrededor del 60 por ciento de aquellos a quienes se les pidió un aumento dieron más, y la llamada hacía además las veces de fidelización.

## Reclutar y formar a quienes llaman

Quienes llaman son la campaña. Para colegios y universidades, el grupo natural es el de los estudiantes actuales y los egresados recientes, y la forma más fiable de reclutarlos es personal, no un correo masivo. El equipo de Benenden se presentó en persona a las alumnas mayores, sentó a antiguas personas que habían llamado en un panel para responder preguntas, y trabajó a través de los tutores y el personal de los internados para llegar a las alumnas en los entornos en los que realmente escuchan. El boca a boca y la posibilidad de trabajar junto a amigos durante el verano hicieron buena parte del resto. Los incentivos ayudan en los márgenes: recompensas en vales y un programa de recomendación que paga cuando un candidato recomendado es contratado.

Dos dividendos del reclutamiento son fáciles de subestimar. El primero es la fidelización de quienes llaman: una persona que regresa vale mucho más que una nueva, porque en la formación asumía "ese tipo de papel de liderazgo en los juegos de rol", tranquilizando a los novatos nerviosos con ejemplos reales. Benenden tuvo cinco antiguas personas que llamaban de vuelta en su primer año interno. El segundo es quiénes son quienes llaman. Tener al teléfono a becarios ellos mismos fue, en palabras de Katie, enormemente valioso: "nada era más valioso que un beneficiario directo de la beca hablando con los antiguos alumnos por teléfono de lo grande que había sido el impacto" de su educación. Si operáis en un colegio, tened en cuenta los aspectos prácticos con tiempo: verificaciones de antecedentes y de protección de menores, contratos e instrucciones para quienquiera que se siente en el panel de selección y realice las llamadas, e implicad a recursos humanos desde el principio.

La formación es la parte que más vale la pena hacer bien, y la parte para la que la mayoría de los equipos conservan el apoyo externo incluso después de pasar a lo interno. Benenden mantuvo la consultoría de Hubbub para un programa de formación en profundidad de dos días que abarcaba llamadas simuladas, estrategias para manejar las objeciones y el tono adecuado para pedir. El reparto de tareas es una plantilla útil: la institución informa sobre su propio contexto, la campaña, la protección de menores y las expectativas hacia quienes llaman, mientras que el consultor aporta el oficio de la captación de fondos, "cómo hacer las llamadas exitosas" y la estructura de una buena conversación. El juego de rol con personas experimentadas, repetido hasta que la conversación resulta familiar, es lo que convierte a una estudiante angustiada en una segura de sí misma.

## La conversación y un buen guion

La lección más importante de esta guía va en contra del instinto. El guion es el pan de cada día de un teletón tradicional, pero un guion palabra por palabra es la herramienta equivocada. A quienes llamaban en Benenden les habían dicho, más de una vez en años anteriores, "solo estás leyendo de un guion, ¿verdad?", que es el sonido de una campaña fracasando en tiempo real. Por consejo de Hubbub, el equipo reconstruyó el guion en lo que el consultor llamó una "guía de conversación y una manta de seguridad": las mismas etapas claras que antes, pero preguntas guía en lugar de formulaciones exactas.

Conservad la estructura, soltad la rigidez. Una buena llamada atraviesa etapas reconocibles: una introducción cálida; una conversación genuina sobre la trayectoria del simpatizante, sus recuerdos y lo que le importa; las novedades del proyecto o la campaña para la que estáis recaudando; la petición; y un cierre suave, sea cual sea la respuesta. Dejar que quienes llaman encuentren sus propias palabras en cada etapa es lo que hace que la conversación "suene mucho más auténtica" y permite que asome el interés genuino de quien llama. Construid la guía de modo que se ramifique por segmento, para que las palabras se ajusten con flexibilidad tanto si quien llama habla con una antigua alumna, un antiguo padre o un donante pasado. No necesitáis un software de teletón a medida para hacerlo: Benenden usó Microsoft Forms, con las respuestas fusionadas de nuevo en su hoja de cálculo, y una herramienta como SurveyMonkey serviría igual de bien.

Para supervisar las llamadas necesitáis alguna forma de tecnología de sala de llamadas para que un responsable pueda escuchar, ofrecer comentarios en tiempo real y, donde la herramienta lo permita, "susurrar" consejos a quien llama en plena llamada sin que el simpatizante lo oiga. Benenden sustituyó una aplicación telefónica especializada por el servicio VoIP de Zoom. No era perfecto, con una licencia mínima de tres meses para un mes de uso, pero salía más barato que la alternativa y cumplía las tareas esenciales: monitorización, comentarios y llamada a los simpatizantes.

## Hacer la petición y manejar las objeciones

La petición es donde la formación da sus frutos. El objetivo es una petición que "resulte natural y no insistente". A quienes llaman se les debe enseñar una pequeña escala de peticiones y los recursos de reserva que les siguen, incluida la petición a la baja: bajar a un importe sugerido menor o a un tipo de donación diferente cuando la primera petición no cuaja. La petición a la baja funciona, y Benenden consiguió donaciones a través de ella. Pero la habilidad más importante es el criterio, formar a quienes llaman para reconocer "cuándo no pedir" y cuándo no ser insistente. Un simpatizante que ha tenido una conversación cálida y ha rehusado con cortesía sigue siendo un simpatizante al que habéis fortalecido, y presionarlo arriesga la relación por una donación que de todos modos nunca ibais a conseguir.

Estructurad los turnos de modo que la confianza se construya antes de que suban las apuestas. Dejad que quienes llaman se vayan soltando con conversaciones más sencillas antes de abordar a prospectos de mayor capacidad, asegurándoos primero de "que se sintieran realmente cómodos con el proceso de petición". Y proteged la moral a través de las inevitables rachas de buzones de voz y rechazos. Benenden daba breves charlas de ánimo antes de cada turno, traía a ponentes invitados, entre ellos un becario y un donante periódico, para recordar a quienes llamaban por qué importa el trabajo, y convertía la rutina pesada en juegos: bingo y premios en vales que "convertían una experiencia negativa en una positiva", de modo que quien llamaba pudiera ganar incluso después de veinte buzones de voz seguidos.

## Donaciones fiscalmente ventajosas

La donación fiscalmente ventajosa es una de las formas más sencillas de añadir valor a una donación telefónica, y pertenece a la conversación en lugar de ser una idea de última hora. Las normas varían por toda Europa, así que aseguraos de que quienes llaman conocen la situación allí donde viven vuestros simpatizantes. Muchos países europeos ofrecen a los donantes una deducción o una reducción fiscal por las donaciones benéficas, y las donaciones transfronterizas dentro de Europa a menudo pueden hacerse de forma fiscalmente ventajosa a través de la red Transnational Giving Europe. Una campaña de captación telefónica es un momento ideal para recoger los datos que necesitáis: quien llama puede dar una explicación sencilla de una línea, confirmar los datos de contacto del donante para el recibo o el certificado correcto, y tranquilizarlo de que la documentación llegará después. En un compromiso a cinco años, hacerlo bien importa, así que formad a quienes llaman para manejarlo bien cada vez.

## Integración con lo digital, la donación periódica y un día de la donación

Una campaña de captación telefónica nunca debería ir por su cuenta. Su verdadera fuerza es la de ser la capa humana dentro de un programa de donación periódica más amplio, y funciona mejor cuando alimenta a vuestros otros canales y se alimenta de ellos. La mayoría de las donaciones telefónicas se recogen mejor como una donación mensual periódica, que es lo que construye los ingresos previsibles y plurianuales de los que depende un programa, y la petición de aumento descrita arriba solo existe porque compromisos telefónicos anteriores crearon donantes a los que volver.

El teléfono también se combina de forma natural con lo digital. Cuando una donación no puede completarse en la llamada, normalmente una donación única que requiere datos sensibles de la tarjeta, la llamada se convierte en la cálida introducción y un seguimiento digital la cierra. Benenden recogía donaciones periódicas por teléfono pero, para las donaciones únicas transfronterizas que no podía procesar en directo, hacía el seguimiento a través de una plataforma de implicación de donantes: quienes llamaban grababan un breve vídeo personal con un botón que llevaba al donante directamente a un formulario de donación. La conversión por esa vía era más difícil, un recordatorio honesto de hacer la ejecución digital tan fluida como podáis, pero el vídeo personal ayudaba claramente a quienes sí completaban.

Una campaña de captación telefónica también encaja bien junto a un [día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/). Un día de la donación crea un estallido de energía, urgencia y financiación de contrapartida en torno a una ventana fija; una campaña de captación telefónica es la conversación más lenta y más profunda que convierte esa atención en donantes periódicos comprometidos y reactiva a los simpatizantes que el empuje digital de un día de la donación siempre dejará fuera. Llevados en secuencia, una llamada puede agradecer y elevar a los donantes que captó un día de la donación, mientras que un día de la donación puede revitalizar la base más amplia que los teléfonos no pueden alcanzar en el tiempo disponible.

## Agradecer y fidelizar

La fidelización empieza en la llamada y nunca termina del todo. La calidez que hizo posible la donación tiene que honrarse de inmediato: un agradecimiento rápido y personal que confirme el compromiso, el recibo o el certificado fiscal y lo que la donación hará posible. Recordad que la llamada de aumento es en sí misma un acto de fidelización, que agradece al donante y muestra el impacto de su apoyo antes siquiera de plantear la cuestión de donar más.

Cuidad de quienes llaman con el mismo esmero. Son donantes de su tiempo, y su experiencia da forma tanto a esta campaña como a la siguiente. Encuestadlos al final, ofrecedles roles de regreso, y reconoced el esfuerzo, no solo los totales. Esa fidelización se acumula: quienes regresan se convierten en las personas que forman y tranquilizan a la siguiente hornada, y los más experimentados pueden ascender a un papel de persona que llama sénior, que dirige los juegos, supervisa las llamadas y se encarga de la administración que un equipo de una sola persona no puede llevar solo. Una sola persona que llama sénior con experiencia, pagada un poco más por hora, puede ser la diferencia entre una campaña manejable y una abrumadora.

## Medir los resultados

Medid la campaña por algo más que el total principal. Seguid el número de simpatizantes con los que habéis hablado, la tasa de conversión entre aquellos a los que realmente alcanzasteis, el valor inmediato de los compromisos y el valor plurianual completo a lo largo de todo el ciclo de donación, la proporción de nuevos donantes captados, y la tasa de aceptación del aumento entre los donantes existentes. Fijad estos objetivos frente a los datos específicos que estáis trabajando, no frente a un primer año irrepetible, y sopesadlos frente al coste: la medida honesta de una campaña interna es el retorno de la inversión, no los ingresos brutos. El total del cuarto año de Benenden, de unas 41.000 £ a cinco años, parecía menor que su pico inicial, pero provenía de un segmento más difícil y muy llamado, a una fracción del coste, con las propias competencias del equipo mejoradas de forma permanente. Captad también el retorno cualitativo: la información sobre los donantes, los simpatizantes reactivados y el mayor perfil de la oficina de desarrollo en toda la comunidad son resultados reales, aunque nunca aparezcan en la línea de ingresos.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Merece la pena llevar a cabo una campaña de captación telefónica internamente, o deberíamos usar una consultoría?** Para una primera campaña, el apoyo gestionado suele ser la elección correcta: aporta software, personas que llaman, formación y supervisión mientras aprendéis. A medida que vuestro equipo absorbe los conocimientos, podéis asumir módulos internamente para mejorar el retorno de la inversión, conservando normalmente la ayuda externa para la formación y la supervisión durante más tiempo. Benenden ahorró unas 12.000 £ en un solo año al pasar en gran parte a lo interno en su cuarto año.

**¿Deberían usar un guion quienes llaman?** Conservad la estructura, no el guion. Un guion rígido, palabra por palabra, hace que quienes llaman suenen como si estuvieran leyendo, y los simpatizantes lo notan. Construid en su lugar una guía de conversación: las mismas etapas, introducción, conversación, proyecto, petición, cierre, con preguntas guía en lugar de formulaciones fijas, para que la llamada suene auténtica y asome el interés genuino de quien llama.

**¿Quién debería hacer las llamadas?** Los estudiantes actuales y los egresados recientes son un grupo ideal para colegios y universidades. Reclutadlos personalmente en lugar de por correo masivo, dad prioridad a quienes regresan y pueden hacer de mentores de los nuevos, y, donde podáis, incluid a personas con un interés directo en la causa, como los becarios, cuyas propias historias son poderosas por teléfono.

**¿Podemos ofrecer donaciones fiscalmente ventajosas por teléfono?** Sí, aunque las normas varían según el país. Muchos países europeos ofrecen una deducción o una reducción fiscal por las donaciones benéficas, y las donaciones transfronterizas a menudo pueden hacerse de forma fiscalmente ventajosa a través de Transnational Giving Europe. Recoged los datos del donante en la llamada y enviad el recibo o el certificado correcto en vuestro seguimiento escrito, lo que importa en un compromiso plurianual.

**¿Cómo encaja una campaña de captación telefónica con un día de la donación?** Se complementan. Un [día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) crea urgencia, financiación de contrapartida y un estallido de donación digital; una campaña de captación telefónica convierte esa atención en donantes periódicos comprometidos y llega a los simpatizantes que un empuje digital deja fuera. Llevadas en secuencia, las llamadas pueden agradecer y elevar a los donantes de un día de la donación, mientras que un día de la donación revitaliza la base más amplia.

**¿Qué resultados deberíamos esperar?** Depende por completo de vuestros datos y de vuestras peticiones. A modo de orientación, esperad una tasa de conversión significativa entre los simpatizantes con los que realmente habláis, alrededor del 23 por ciento en el primer año de captación de fondos de Benenden, una fuerte captación de nuevos donantes, y una aceptación del aumento de en torno al 60 por ciento cuando pedís bien a los donantes existentes. Medid el valor plurianual completo de los compromisos y el retorno de la inversión, no solo el total inmediato.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Iniciad sesión con vuestro correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de guion de llamada para campaña telefónica](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Paquete de formación para quienes llaman](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Plantilla de segmentación de datos](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de día de la donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modelad los resultados probables antes de comprometeros con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afinad el texto de vuestros llamamientos y correos electrónicos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): enlazad los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- Seminarios web: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) y [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Blog de Hubbub: por qué la captación de fondos por teléfono sigue funcionando](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Guía relacionada: [Cómo organizar un día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultad el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment mener une campagne d'appel téléphonique](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour planifier et mener une campagne d'appel téléphonique (téléthon) en interne, couvrant les données et la segmentation, le recrutement et la formation des appelants, la conversation et le script, les dons fiscalement avantageux, l'intégration avec le numérique et le don régulier, et la fidélisation.
Une campagne d'appel téléphonique, souvent encore appelée téléthon, est une campagne d'appels structurée dans laquelle une équipe d'appelants formés, fréquemment vos propres étudiants ou jeunes anciens élèves, téléphone aux sympathisants pour renouer le contact, partager des nouvelles et les inviter à donner. C'est l'un des outils les plus anciens du manuel de la collecte de fonds, et l'un de ceux qu'un nombre surprenant d'organisations ont abandonnés trop tôt. Mal menée, c'est un appel à froid intrusif lu sur une fiche. Bien menée, c'est le moment le plus chaleureux et le plus humain de tout votre programme : une vraie conversation, avec consentement, entre quelqu'un qui se soucie de votre cause et quelqu'un qui a toutes les raisons de s'en soucier aussi.

Cette distinction compte plus que jamais. Dans un monde d'e-mails à sens unique et de fils d'actualité, un appel téléphonique est l'un des rares canaux où le sympathisant a la parole. Il peut poser des questions sur le projet, partager un souvenir, vous dire ce qu'il pense et décider sur-le-champ s'il veut donner et combien. Une campagne bien menée demande d'abord et écoute attentivement : les sympathisants ont la possibilité de se désinscrire avant tout appel, et les appelants sont formés à reconnaître les moments où il ne faut pas demander. Le résultat n'est pas un script débité à quelqu'un, mais un véritable échange qui renforce la relation, qu'un don suive ou non.

Ce guide explique comment planifier et mener une telle campagne, en mettant particulièrement l'accent sur sa réalisation en interne. Il s'appuie sur les bonnes pratiques des consultants de Hubbub et sur le témoignage franc de Katie, chargée de la philanthropie à la Benenden School, un internat privé pour filles au cœur du Kent, qui a décrit le passage en interne d'une campagne d'appels de longue date. Son expérience traverse les sections pratiques ci-dessous, car les questions qu'elle a affrontées, comment trouver et former des appelants, que faire d'un script, comment recueillir un don au téléphone, sont exactement celles que vous affronterez aussi.

## Pourquoi une campagne d'appel téléphonique fonctionne toujours

L'argument en faveur du téléphone est l'argument en faveur du contact humain. Au mieux, une campagne accomplit trois choses à la fois que peu d'autres canaux parviennent à réunir : elle réengage les sympathisants inactifs et silencieux, elle acquiert de nouveaux donateurs, et elle recueille des renseignements impossibles à obtenir autrement. Lors de la première année de collecte de Benenden, les appelants ont parlé avec 462 sympathisants et obtenu 108 dons, soit un taux de conversion d'environ 23 pour cent de ceux qu'ils ont réellement joints, et ont apporté un total de promesses immédiates d'un peu plus de 39 000 £, atteignant environ 72 000 £ sur un cycle de don de cinq ans. Le plus gros don provenait d'un ancien non-donateur qui a promis plus de 21 000 £, exactement le genre de personne qu'un e-mail de masse n'aurait jamais fait émerger.

Le canal récompense aussi la patience. La toute première campagne de Benenden n'était pas du tout un exercice de collecte de fonds. C'était une série d'« appels d'affinité », pour joindre les anciens élèves dans l'isolement de la pandémie simplement pour prendre de leurs nouvelles, sans aucune demande. Comme l'a dit Katie, ce « n'étaient pas des appels de collecte mais des appels d'affinité conçus pour offrir un point de contact émotionnel ». La bienveillance ainsi établie, ainsi que les études de cas et les retours chaleureux qu'elle a produits, ont permis de remporter le débat interne en faveur d'une campagne de collecte l'année suivante. Si vos sympathisants n'ont pas eu de vos nouvelles par téléphone depuis des années, un appel qui privilégie la relation peut être la bonne façon de commencer.

## Décider de la mener en interne

La première question stratégique n'est pas comment mener une campagne, mais quelle part en assurer soi-même. Le modèle traditionnel est une campagne entièrement gérée dans laquelle un cabinet de conseil fournit le logiciel, emploie et forme les appelants, fixe les montants demandés et supervise les appels. Cela fonctionne, et pour une première campagne c'est souvent le bon choix. Le compromis, c'est le coût : une campagne gérée peut absorber une large part des revenus qu'elle génère, surtout dans la fourchette des dons petits et intermédiaires où se situent de nombreux dons téléphoniques.

Le directeur de Katie a résumé le choix par une analogie qui vaut la peine d'être empruntée. Une campagne entièrement gérée, lui a-t-il dit, « a été le genre d'expérience Rolls-Royce avec chauffeur des campagnes téléphoniques, alors qu'en réalité nous avons surtout besoin de conduire nous-mêmes une Ford Fiesta ». Son propos n'était pas que le soutien géré soit mauvais. C'était qu'une fois qu'une équipe a mené une campagne ou deux et assimilé le savoir-faire, elle n'a plus besoin de chaque module. Une analyse coûts-bénéfices honnête à Benenden a révélé que les prélèvements mensuels « mettaient plus de deux ans de versements mensuels à compenser nos frais de conseil », ce qui rendait le modèle entièrement géré insoutenable au regard des revenus produits.

La voie raisonnable est rarement du tout ou rien. La plupart des équipes passent en interne progressivement, en conservant un soutien spécialisé pour les parties qui en ont réellement besoin, comme la formation, la supervision des appels et la fixation des montants, et en reprenant le reste sous leur propre contrôle à mesure que leur confiance grandit. Dès sa quatrième année, Benenden menait la campagne en grande partie en interne avec une équipe restreinte d'une ou deux personnes, ne conservant un soutien externe que pour la formation des appelants, et a économisé environ 12 000 £ de frais de conseil en une seule année. Le message rassurant pour les petites équipes, c'est que c'est faisable : « si vous faites partie d'une petite équipe de développement, c'est faisable, nous l'avons fait, nous en sommes la preuve. »

## Planification et calendrier

Traitez la campagne comme un projet doté d'une feuille de route claire. La campagne en interne de Benenden s'est déroulée sur un calendrier de trois mois, de la planification fin mai aux communications de suivi finales début août, cartographiée sous forme de diagramme de Gantt qui listait « chaque tâche, de la pré-campagne à la présélection des candidats au recrutement ». Concentrer cette planification en amont est ce qui permet une exécution sereine : décidez de vos segments, de votre stratégie de demande et de votre nombre d'appelants avant l'ouverture du recrutement, et non pendant qu'il est en cours.

Deux décisions de planification méritent une attention précoce. La première est l'envoi préalable. Adressez une lettre ou un e-mail bien à l'avance, environ un mois avant, pour informer les sympathisants que la campagne arrive et, surtout, leur offrir la possibilité de se désinscrire. C'est à la fois une bonne pratique et une bonne collecte : cela retire les personnes réticentes de votre liste d'appels et vous laisse un public plus chaleureux et plus réceptif. La seconde est votre calendrier des plages d'appels. Construisez-le en fonction des réalités de vos appelants et de votre public, fuseaux horaires compris si votre communauté s'étend sur plusieurs pays. L'un des avantages discrets de mener la campagne en interne est précisément cette flexibilité : la liberté de laisser un appelant expérimenté participer une semaine plutôt que deux, ou de programmer les appels transfrontaliers pour le week-end.

## Sélection des données et segmentation

Vos données déterminent le résultat plus que presque tout le reste, alors segmentez-les délibérément. Une campagne aboutie appellera plusieurs groupes distincts, et chacun a besoin de son propre cadrage : anciens élèves, anciens parents ayant déjà donné, anciens membres du personnel de longue date, et au sein de chacun de ces groupes la distinction entre donateurs existants et non-donateurs, et entre sympathisants locaux et transfrontaliers. Benenden a construit ce que l'équipe a appelé un « méga-tableur » comme alternative économique à un logiciel de téléthon spécialisé, avec un accès restreint afin que les appelants ne voient que les personnes qui leur étaient attribuées et les détails pertinents à leur sujet.

Fixez des attentes réalistes à partir des données plutôt qu'à partir du chiffre phare de l'an dernier. Dès sa quatrième année, les revenus de Benenden étaient environ la moitié de son pic initial, non pas parce que la campagne était moins bonne mais parce que beaucoup des personnes appelées l'avaient déjà été les années précédentes et formaient un vivier naturellement moins engagé. Comme l'a noté Katie, on « ne peut pas regarder nos résultats par rapport aux deux dernières années et y voir un moins bon travail, ce sont nos données ». Jugez la campagne au regard du segment que vous travaillez réellement, et non d'un premier essai irreproductible.

La segmentation ouvre aussi l'appel le plus précieux que vous puissiez passer à un donateur existant : la demande de hausse. Demander aux donateurs mensuels actuels d'augmenter leur don « nécessitait vraiment un travail de personnalisation très détaillé », et Benenden a placé sur cette plage uniquement ses « appelants les plus expérimentés et les plus dotés d'intelligence émotionnelle », en les briefant un par un sur l'historique de chaque donateur et son don actuel. Le ton doit d'abord remercier et ne jamais déprécier le don existant. Mené avec ce soin, environ 60 pour cent des personnes sollicitées pour une hausse ont donné davantage, et l'appel faisait aussi office de fidélisation.

## Recruter et former les appelants

Vos appelants sont la campagne. Pour les écoles et les universités, le vivier naturel est constitué des étudiants actuels et des récents diplômés, et la façon la plus fiable de les recruter est personnelle, pas un e-mail de masse. L'équipe de Benenden a fait des présentations en personne aux élèves les plus âgés, a réuni d'anciens appelants en panel pour répondre aux questions, et a travaillé avec les tuteurs et le personnel des internats pour atteindre les élèves dans les cadres où ils écoutent réellement. Le bouche-à-oreille et la possibilité de travailler aux côtés d'amis pendant l'été ont fait le reste. Les incitations aident à la marge : récompenses sous forme de bons d'achat, et un dispositif de parrainage qui verse une prime lorsqu'un candidat recommandé est embauché.

Deux dividendes du recrutement sont faciles à sous-estimer. Le premier est la fidélisation des appelants : un appelant qui revient vaut bien plus qu'un nouveau, car en formation il « prenait ce genre de rôle de leader lors des jeux de rôle », rassurant les débutants nerveux avec des exemples concrets. Benenden a vu revenir cinq anciens appelants lors de sa première année en interne. Le second est l'identité de vos appelants. Avoir au téléphone des boursiers eux-mêmes était, selon les mots de Katie, extrêmement précieux : « rien n'était plus précieux qu'un bénéficiaire direct de la bourse parlant aux anciens élèves au téléphone de l'impact » qu'avait eu son éducation. Si vous opérez dans une école, anticipez tôt les aspects pratiques : vérifications d'antécédents et de protection des mineurs, contrats et briefings pour quiconque siège au panel d'entretien et passe les appels, et impliquez les RH dès le départ.

La formation est la partie qui mérite le plus d'être bien faite, et celle pour laquelle la plupart des équipes conservent un soutien externe même après être passées en interne. Benenden a conservé le cabinet de conseil de Hubbub pour un programme de formation approfondi de deux jours couvrant les appels simulés, les stratégies de gestion des objections et la juste tonalité de la demande. La répartition des rôles est un modèle utile : l'institution explique son propre contexte, la campagne, la protection des mineurs et les attentes envers les appelants, tandis que le consultant apporte le savoir-faire de la collecte, « comment réussir les appels » et la structure d'une bonne conversation. Le jeu de rôle avec des appelants expérimentés, répété jusqu'à ce que la conversation devienne familière, est ce qui transforme un étudiant anxieux en un étudiant confiant.

## La conversation et un bon script

La leçon la plus importante de ce guide va à l'encontre de l'instinct. Le script est le pain quotidien d'un téléthon traditionnel, mais un script mot à mot est le mauvais outil. On avait dit aux appelants de Benenden, plus d'une fois les années précédentes, « vous lisez juste un script, n'est-ce pas », ce qui est le bruit d'une campagne qui échoue en temps réel. Sur les conseils de Hubbub, l'équipe a reconstruit le script en ce que le consultant a appelé un « guide de conversation et un doudou rassurant » : les mêmes étapes claires qu'avant, mais des questions guides plutôt qu'une formulation exacte.

Gardez la structure, abandonnez la rigidité. Un bon appel passe par des étapes reconnaissables : une introduction chaleureuse ; une véritable conversation sur le parcours du sympathisant, ses souvenirs et ce qui lui tient à cœur ; les nouvelles du projet ou de la campagne pour laquelle vous collectez ; la demande ; et une conclusion en douceur, quelle que soit la réponse. Laisser les appelants trouver leurs propres mots à chaque étape est ce qui rend la conversation « bien plus authentique » et laisse transparaître l'intérêt sincère de l'appelant. Construisez le guide de manière à ce qu'il se ramifie par segment, afin que les mots s'adaptent avec souplesse, que l'appelant parle à une ancienne élève, à un ancien parent ou à un donateur passé. Vous n'avez pas besoin d'un logiciel de téléthon sur mesure pour cela : Benenden a utilisé Microsoft Forms, avec des réponses fusionnées dans son tableur, et un outil comme SurveyMonkey ferait tout aussi bien l'affaire.

Pour superviser les appels, il vous faut une forme de technologie de salle d'appels permettant à un responsable d'écouter, d'offrir un retour en temps réel et, lorsque l'outil le permet, de « souffler » des conseils à un appelant en plein appel sans que le sympathisant l'entende. Benenden a remplacé une application téléphonique spécialisée par le service VoIP de Zoom. Ce n'était pas parfait, avec une licence minimale de trois mois pour un mois d'utilisation, mais c'était moins cher que l'alternative et cela assurait les fonctions essentielles : surveillance, retour et appel des sympathisants.

## Formuler la demande et gérer les objections

La demande est le moment où la formation porte ses fruits. L'objectif est une demande qui « semble naturelle et pas insistante ». Les appelants doivent apprendre une petite échelle de demandes et les solutions de repli qui suivent, y compris la demande dégressive : passer à un montant suggéré inférieur ou à un autre type de don lorsque la première demande ne passe pas. La demande dégressive fonctionne, et Benenden a obtenu des dons par ce biais. Mais la compétence la plus importante reste le jugement, former les appelants à reconnaître « quand ne pas demander » et quand ne pas insister. Un sympathisant qui a eu une conversation chaleureuse et a poliment décliné reste un sympathisant que vous avez renforcé, et le presser risque de compromettre la relation pour un don que vous n'alliez de toute façon jamais obtenir.

Structurez les plages de manière à ce que la confiance se construise avant que les enjeux ne montent. Laissez les appelants s'échauffer sur des conversations plus simples avant d'approcher des prospects à plus forte capacité, en « veillant à ce qu'ils se sentent vraiment à l'aise avec le processus de demande » d'abord. Et protégez le moral à travers les inévitables séries de messageries et de refus. Benenden organisait de courts discours d'encouragement avant chaque plage, faisait venir des intervenants invités, dont un boursier et un donateur régulier, pour rappeler aux appelants pourquoi ce travail compte, et transformait la corvée en jeux : bingo et bons d'achat qui « transformaient une expérience négative en une expérience positive », pour qu'un appelant puisse gagner même après vingt messageries d'affilée.

## Les dons fiscalement avantageux

Le don fiscalement avantageux est l'un des moyens les plus simples d'ajouter de la valeur à un don téléphonique, et il a sa place dans la conversation plutôt qu'en arrière-pensée. Les règles varient à travers l'Europe, alors assurez-vous que vos appelants connaissent la situation là où vivent vos sympathisants. De nombreux pays européens offrent aux donateurs une déduction fiscale ou une réduction d'impôt pour les dons caritatifs, et les dons transfrontaliers au sein de l'Europe peuvent souvent être effectués de façon fiscalement avantageuse via le réseau Transnational Giving Europe. Une campagne d'appel téléphonique est un moment idéal pour recueillir les informations nécessaires : l'appelant peut donner une explication simple en une ligne, confirmer les coordonnées du donateur pour le bon reçu ou certificat, et le rassurer sur le fait que la documentation suivra. Sur une promesse de cinq ans, bien faire cela compte, alors formez vos appelants à le gérer correctement à chaque fois.

## Intégrer le numérique, le don régulier et une journée du don

Une campagne d'appel téléphonique ne devrait jamais exister seule. Sa véritable force réside dans son rôle de couche humaine au sein d'un programme de don régulier plus large, et elle fonctionne le mieux lorsqu'elle alimente vos autres canaux et qu'elle en est alimentée. La plupart des dons téléphoniques sont mieux recueillis sous forme de don mensuel régulier, ce qui constitue les revenus prévisibles et pluriannuels dont dépend un programme, et la demande de hausse décrite plus haut n'existe que parce que de précédentes promesses téléphoniques ont créé des donateurs vers qui revenir.

Le téléphone se marie aussi naturellement avec le numérique. Lorsqu'un don ne peut être finalisé pendant l'appel, généralement un don ponctuel nécessitant des coordonnées bancaires sensibles, l'appel devient l'introduction chaleureuse et un suivi numérique le conclut. Benenden recueillait des dons réguliers par téléphone mais, pour les dons ponctuels transfrontaliers qu'il ne pouvait pas traiter en direct, assurait le suivi via une plateforme d'engagement des donateurs : les appelants enregistraient une courte vidéo personnelle assortie d'un bouton qui menait le donateur directement à un formulaire de don. La conversion par cette voie était plus difficile, un rappel honnête de rendre l'exécution numérique aussi fluide que possible, mais la vidéo personnelle aidait clairement ceux qui finalisaient.

Une campagne d'appel téléphonique s'accorde aussi bien avec une [journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/). Une journée du don crée une explosion d'énergie, d'urgence et de financement complémentaire autour d'une fenêtre fixe ; une campagne d'appel téléphonique est la conversation plus lente et plus profonde qui convertit cette attention en donateurs réguliers engagés et réengage les sympathisants que la poussée numérique d'une journée du don manquera toujours. Menés en séquence, un appel peut remercier et faire monter en gamme les donateurs acquis lors d'une journée du don, tandis qu'une journée du don peut redynamiser le fichier plus large que les téléphones ne peuvent atteindre dans le temps imparti.

## Remercier et fidéliser

La fidélisation commence pendant l'appel et ne se termine jamais vraiment. La chaleur qui a rendu le don possible doit être honorée immédiatement : un remerciement rapide et personnel confirmant la promesse, le reçu ou le certificat fiscal et ce que le don permettra de faire. N'oubliez pas que l'appel de hausse est lui-même un acte de fidélisation, qui remercie le donateur et montre l'impact de son soutien avant même de soulever la question d'un don plus important.

Prenez soin de vos appelants avec le même soin. Ce sont des donateurs de leur temps, et leur expérience façonne à la fois cette campagne et la suivante. Sondez-les à la fin, proposez-leur de revenir, et reconnaissez l'effort, pas seulement les totaux. Cette fidélisation produit un effet cumulatif : les appelants qui reviennent deviennent ceux qui forment et rassurent la promotion suivante, et les plus expérimentés peuvent accéder à un rôle d'appelant senior, animant les jeux, surveillant les appels et prenant en charge l'administratif qu'une équipe d'une seule personne ne peut porter seule. Un seul appelant senior expérimenté, payé un peu plus de l'heure, peut faire la différence entre une campagne gérable et une campagne accablante.

## Mesurer les résultats

Mesurez la campagne sur plus que le total phare. Suivez le nombre de sympathisants avec qui vous avez parlé, le taux de conversion parmi ceux que vous avez réellement joints, la valeur immédiate des promesses et la valeur pluriannuelle complète sur l'ensemble du cycle de don, la proportion de nouveaux donateurs acquis, et le taux d'adhésion à la hausse parmi les donateurs existants. Fixez ces objectifs au regard des données spécifiques que vous travaillez, et non d'une première année irreproductible, et pesez-les face au coût : la mesure honnête d'une campagne en interne est le retour sur investissement, pas le revenu brut. Le total de quatrième année de Benenden, d'environ 41 000 £ sur cinq ans, paraissait inférieur à son pic initial, mais provenait d'un segment plus difficile et déjà beaucoup appelé, à une fraction du coût, avec les compétences propres de l'équipe durablement renforcées. Saisissez aussi le retour qualitatif : les renseignements sur les donateurs, les sympathisants réengagés et la visibilité accrue du bureau de développement dans toute la communauté sont de vrais résultats, même s'ils n'apparaissent jamais sur la ligne des revenus.

## Foire aux questions

**Vaut-il la peine de mener une campagne d'appel téléphonique en interne, ou faut-il faire appel à un cabinet de conseil ?** Pour une première campagne, le soutien géré est souvent le bon choix : il fournit le logiciel, les appelants, la formation et la supervision pendant que vous apprenez. À mesure que votre équipe assimile le savoir-faire, vous pouvez ramener des modules en interne pour améliorer le retour sur investissement, en conservant généralement l'aide externe pour la formation et la supervision le plus longtemps. Benenden a économisé environ 12 000 £ en une seule année en passant en grande partie en interne lors de sa quatrième année.

**Les appelants doivent-ils utiliser un script ?** Gardez la structure, pas le script. Un script rigide, mot à mot, donne aux appelants l'air de lire, et les sympathisants le remarquent. Construisez plutôt un guide de conversation : les mêmes étapes, introduction, conversation, projet, demande, conclusion, avec des questions guides plutôt qu'une formulation figée, pour que l'appel sonne authentique et que l'intérêt sincère de l'appelant transparaisse.

**Qui doit passer les appels ?** Les étudiants actuels et les récents diplômés constituent un vivier idéal pour les écoles et les universités. Recrutez-les personnellement plutôt que par e-mail de masse, privilégiez les appelants qui reviennent et peuvent encadrer les nouveaux, et, lorsque c'est possible, incluez des personnes ayant un intérêt direct dans la cause, comme les boursiers, dont les propres histoires sont puissantes au téléphone.

**Pouvons-nous proposer des dons fiscalement avantageux par téléphone ?** Oui, même si les règles varient selon les pays. De nombreux pays européens offrent une déduction ou une réduction fiscale pour les dons caritatifs, et les dons transfrontaliers peuvent souvent être effectués de façon fiscalement avantageuse via Transnational Giving Europe. Recueillez les coordonnées du donateur pendant l'appel et envoyez le bon reçu ou certificat dans votre suivi écrit, ce qui compte sur une promesse pluriannuelle.

**Comment une campagne d'appel téléphonique s'articule-t-elle avec une journée du don ?** Elles se complètent. Une [journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) crée de l'urgence, du financement complémentaire et une explosion de dons numériques ; une campagne d'appel téléphonique convertit cette attention en donateurs réguliers engagés et atteint les sympathisants qu'une poussée numérique manque. Menés en séquence, les appels peuvent remercier et faire monter en gamme les donateurs d'une journée du don, tandis qu'une journée du don redynamise le fichier plus large.

**À quels résultats devons-nous nous attendre ?** Cela dépend entièrement de vos données et de vos demandes. À titre indicatif, attendez-vous à un taux de conversion significatif parmi les sympathisants avec qui vous parlez réellement, environ 23 pour cent lors de la première année de collecte de Benenden, une forte acquisition de nouveaux donateurs, et une adhésion à la hausse d'environ 60 pour cent lorsque vous sollicitez bien les donateurs existants. Mesurez la valeur pluriannuelle complète des promesses et le retour sur investissement, pas seulement le total immédiat.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de script d'appel pour campagne téléphonique](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Pack de formation des appelants](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Modèle de segmentation des données](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée du don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de vos appels et e-mails
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- Webinaires : [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) et [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Blog Hubbub : pourquoi la collecte de fonds par téléphone fonctionne toujours](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Guide associé : [Comment organiser une journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez l'[annuaire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come condurre una campagna di raccolta telefonica](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per pianificare e condurre internamente una campagna di raccolta telefonica (telethon), che copre dati e segmentazione, reclutamento e formazione dei chiamanti, la conversazione e lo script, le donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose, l'integrazione con il digitale e la donazione regolare, e la fidelizzazione.
Una campagna di raccolta telefonica, spesso ancora chiamata telethon, è una campagna di chiamate strutturata in cui una squadra di chiamanti formati, spesso i vostri stessi studenti o giovani ex allievi, telefona ai sostenitori per ristabilire il contatto, condividere notizie e invitarli a donare. È uno degli strumenti più antichi del manuale della raccolta fondi, e uno che un numero sorprendente di organizzazioni ha accantonato troppo presto. Fatta male, è una telefonata a freddo invadente letta da una scheda. Fatta bene, è il momento più caloroso e più umano dell'intero programma: una vera conversazione, con il consenso, tra qualcuno a cui sta a cuore la vostra causa e qualcuno che ha tutte le ragioni perché gli stia a cuore.

Questa distinzione conta più che mai. In un mondo di e-mail a senso unico e feed dei social, una telefonata è uno dei pochi canali in cui il sostenitore può rispondere. Può fare domande sul progetto, condividere un ricordo, dirvi cosa pensa e decidere sul momento se e quanto donare. Una campagna ben condotta chiede prima e ascolta con attenzione: i sostenitori hanno la possibilità di rinunciare prima che venga effettuata qualsiasi chiamata, e i chiamanti sono formati a riconoscere quando non chiedere. Il risultato non è uno script recitato addosso a qualcuno, ma un autentico scambio che rafforza la relazione, che segua o no una donazione.

Questa guida illustra come pianificare e condurre una campagna di questo tipo, con un'attenzione particolare a portarla internamente. Attinge alle migliori pratiche dei consulenti di Hubbub e a un resoconto franco di Katie, responsabile della filantropia alla Benenden School, un collegio femminile privato nel cuore del Kent, che ha descritto lo spostamento internamente di una campagna di chiamate di lunga data. La sua esperienza attraversa le sezioni pratiche qui sotto, perché le domande che ha affrontato, come trovare e formare i chiamanti, cosa fare di uno script, come raccogliere una donazione al telefono, sono esattamente quelle che affronterete anche voi.

## Perché una campagna di raccolta telefonica funziona ancora

L'argomento a favore del telefono è l'argomento a favore del contatto umano. Al suo meglio, una campagna fa tre cose in una volta che pochi altri canali riescono a unire: riattiva i sostenitori inattivi e silenziosi, acquisisce nuovi donatori e raccoglie informazioni che non si possono ottenere in nessun altro modo. Nel primo anno di raccolta fondi di Benenden, i chiamanti hanno parlato con 462 sostenitori e ottenuto 108 donazioni, un tasso di conversione di circa il 23 per cento di coloro che hanno effettivamente raggiunto, e hanno portato un totale di promesse immediate di poco più di 39.000 £, salito a circa 72.000 £ su un ciclo di donazione di cinque anni. La singola donazione più grande è arrivata da un precedente non donatore che ha promesso oltre 21.000 £, esattamente il tipo di persona che un'e-mail di massa non avrebbe mai fatto emergere.

Il canale premia anche la pazienza. La primissima campagna di Benenden non era affatto un esercizio di raccolta fondi. Era un giro di "chiamate di affinità", per raggiungere gli ex allievi nell'isolamento della pandemia semplicemente per sentire come stavano, senza alcuna richiesta. Come ha detto Katie, queste "non erano chiamate di raccolta fondi ma chiamate di affinità pensate per offrire un punto di contatto emotivo". La benevolenza così costruita, insieme ai casi studio e ai riscontri calorosi che ha prodotto, è ciò che ha vinto il dibattito interno per una campagna di raccolta fondi l'anno successivo. Se i vostri sostenitori non vi sentono al telefono da anni, una chiamata che mette la relazione al primo posto può essere il modo giusto di cominciare.

## Decidere se condurla internamente

La prima domanda strategica non è come condurre una campagna, ma quanta parte di essa condurre da soli. Il modello tradizionale è una campagna interamente gestita in cui una società di consulenza fornisce il software, assume e forma i chiamanti, fissa gli importi da chiedere e supervisiona le chiamate. Funziona, e per una prima campagna è spesso la scelta giusta. Il compromesso è il costo: una campagna gestita può consumare una larga parte delle entrate che genera, soprattutto nella fascia delle donazioni piccole e medie in cui si collocano molte donazioni telefoniche.

Il direttore di Katie ha colto la scelta con un'analogia che vale la pena prendere in prestito. Una campagna interamente gestita, le ha detto, "è stata quel tipo di esperienza Rolls-Royce con autista delle campagne telefoniche, mentre in realtà abbiamo bisogno di guidare noi stessi una Ford Fiesta". Il suo punto non era che il supporto gestito sia un male. Era che, una volta che una squadra ha condotto una o due campagne e ha assorbito il know-how, non ha più bisogno di ogni modulo. Un'analisi costi-benefici franca a Benenden ha rilevato che le domiciliazioni mensili "impiegavano oltre due anni di pagamenti mensili per compensare i nostri costi di consulenza", il che rendeva il modello interamente gestito insostenibile per le entrate prodotte.

La via sensata è raramente del tutto o niente. La maggior parte delle squadre passa internamente in modo graduale, mantenendo il supporto specializzato per le parti che ne hanno davvero bisogno, come la formazione, la supervisione delle chiamate e la definizione degli importi da chiedere, e portando il resto sotto il proprio controllo man mano che la fiducia cresce. Entro il quarto anno Benenden conduceva la campagna in gran parte internamente con un nucleo di una o due persone, mantenendo il supporto esterno solo per la formazione dei chiamanti, e ha risparmiato circa 12.000 £ in costi di consulenza in un solo anno. Il messaggio rassicurante per le squadre piccole è che si può fare: "se fate parte di una piccola squadra di sviluppo, si può fare, lo abbiamo fatto, ne siamo la prova".

## Pianificazione e tempistica

Trattate la campagna come un progetto con una tabella di marcia chiara. La campagna interna di Benenden si è svolta su una tempistica di tre mesi, dalla pianificazione di fine maggio alle comunicazioni di follow-up finali di inizio agosto, mappata come un diagramma di Gantt che elencava "ogni singola attività, dalla pre-chiamata alla preselezione dei candidati per il reclutamento". Anticipare quella pianificazione è ciò che mantiene serena l'esecuzione: decidete i vostri segmenti, la vostra strategia di richiesta e il numero di chiamanti prima dell'apertura del reclutamento, non mentre è in corso.

Due decisioni di pianificazione ripagano un'attenzione precoce. La prima è l'invio preliminare. Inviate una lettera o un'e-mail con largo anticipo, circa un mese prima, per informare i sostenitori che la campagna è in arrivo e, cosa cruciale, offrire loro la possibilità di rinunciare. È al tempo stesso buona pratica e buona raccolta fondi: rimuove i riluttanti dal vostro elenco di chiamate e vi lascia un pubblico più caloroso e più ricettivo. La seconda è il vostro calendario dei turni di chiamata. Costruitelo intorno alle realtà dei vostri chiamanti e del vostro pubblico, fusi orari compresi se la vostra comunità si estende su più paesi. Uno dei vantaggi silenziosi del condurre la campagna internamente è proprio questa flessibilità: la libertà di lasciare che un chiamante esperto partecipi una settimana invece di due, o di programmare le chiamate transfrontaliere per il fine settimana.

## Selezione dei dati e segmentazione

I vostri dati determinano il risultato più di quasi ogni altra cosa, quindi segmentateli con intenzione. Una campagna matura chiamerà diversi gruppi distinti, e ognuno ha bisogno della propria impostazione: ex allievi, ex genitori che hanno già donato, ex personale di lunga data, e all'interno di ciascuno di questi la distinzione tra donatori esistenti e non donatori, e tra sostenitori locali e transfrontalieri. Benenden ha costruito quello che la squadra ha chiamato un "mega foglio di calcolo" come alternativa economica al software specializzato per telethon, con accesso limitato in modo che i chiamanti potessero vedere solo le persone loro assegnate e i dettagli rilevanti su di esse.

Stabilite aspettative realistiche a partire dai dati piuttosto che dalla cifra principale dell'anno scorso. Entro il quarto anno, le entrate di Benenden erano circa la metà del picco iniziale, non perché la campagna fosse peggiore ma perché molte delle persone chiamate erano già state contattate negli anni precedenti e costituivano un bacino naturalmente meno coinvolto. Come ha notato Katie, non si "possono guardare i nostri risultati rispetto agli ultimi due anni e vederli come un lavoro fatto peggio, sono i nostri dati". Giudicate la campagna rispetto al segmento che state effettivamente lavorando, non rispetto a un primo giro irripetibile.

La segmentazione apre anche la chiamata più preziosa che possiate fare a un donatore esistente: la richiesta di aumento. Chiedere ai donatori mensili attuali di aumentare la loro donazione "richiedeva davvero un livello di personalizzazione molto dettagliato", e Benenden ha messo su quel turno solo i suoi "chiamanti più esperti ed emotivamente intelligenti", informandoli uno a uno sulla storia di ciascun donatore e sulla sua donazione attuale. Il tono deve prima ringraziare e mai sminuire la donazione esistente. Gestita con questa cura, circa il 60 per cento di coloro a cui è stato chiesto un aumento ha donato di più, e la chiamata fungeva anche da fidelizzazione.

## Reclutare e formare i chiamanti

I vostri chiamanti sono la campagna. Per scuole e università il bacino naturale è quello degli studenti attuali e dei diplomati recenti, e il modo più affidabile per reclutarli è personale, non un'e-mail di massa. La squadra di Benenden si è presentata di persona alle studentesse più grandi, ha fatto sedere ex chiamanti in un panel per rispondere alle domande, e ha lavorato attraverso i tutor e il personale dei convitti per raggiungere le studentesse negli ambienti in cui ascoltano davvero. Il passaparola e la possibilità di lavorare a fianco di amici durante l'estate hanno fatto gran parte del resto. Gli incentivi aiutano ai margini: ricompense in buoni e un programma di segnalazione che paga quando un candidato raccomandato viene assunto.

Due dividendi del reclutamento sono facili da sottovalutare. Il primo è la fidelizzazione dei chiamanti: un chiamante che torna vale molto più di uno nuovo, perché in formazione assumeva "quel tipo di ruolo di guida durante i giochi di ruolo", rassicurando i debuttanti nervosi con esempi concreti. Benenden ha visto tornare cinque ex chiamanti nel suo primo anno interno. Il secondo è chi sono i vostri chiamanti. Avere al telefono dei borsisti stessi è stato, nelle parole di Katie, enormemente prezioso: "niente era più prezioso di un beneficiario diretto della borsa che parlava con gli ex allievi al telefono di quanto grande fosse stato l'impatto" della sua istruzione. Se operate in una scuola, considerate gli aspetti pratici per tempo: verifiche sui precedenti e sulla tutela dei minori, contratti e briefing per chiunque sieda nel panel di selezione e effettui le chiamate, e coinvolgete le risorse umane fin dall'inizio.

La formazione è la parte che più vale la pena fare bene, e la parte per cui la maggior parte delle squadre mantiene il supporto esterno anche dopo essere passata internamente. Benenden ha mantenuto la consulenza di Hubbub per un programma di formazione approfondito di due giorni che copriva chiamate simulate, strategie per gestire le obiezioni e il giusto tono per la richiesta. La divisione del lavoro è un modello utile: l'istituzione informa sul proprio contesto, sulla campagna, sulla tutela dei minori e sulle aspettative verso i chiamanti, mentre il consulente apporta il mestiere della raccolta fondi, "come fare le chiamate di successo" e la struttura di una buona conversazione. Il gioco di ruolo con chiamanti esperti, ripetuto finché la conversazione non diventa familiare, è ciò che trasforma una studentessa ansiosa in una sicura di sé.

## La conversazione e un buon script

La lezione più importante di questa guida va contro l'istinto. Lo script è il pane quotidiano di un telethon tradizionale, ma uno script parola per parola è lo strumento sbagliato. Ai chiamanti di Benenden era stato detto, più di una volta negli anni precedenti, "stai solo leggendo da uno script, vero?", che è il suono di una campagna che fallisce in tempo reale. Su consiglio di Hubbub la squadra ha ricostruito lo script in quello che il consulente ha chiamato una "guida alla conversazione e una coperta di sicurezza": le stesse fasi chiare di prima, ma domande guida invece di formulazioni esatte.

Mantenete la struttura, lasciate la rigidità. Una buona chiamata attraversa fasi riconoscibili: un'introduzione calorosa; una vera conversazione sul percorso del sostenitore, sui suoi ricordi e su ciò che gli sta a cuore; le notizie sul progetto o sulla campagna per cui state raccogliendo; la richiesta; e una chiusura morbida, qualunque sia la risposta. Lasciare che i chiamanti trovino le proprie parole a ogni fase è ciò che fa "suonare la conversazione molto più autentica" e lascia trasparire il genuino interesse del chiamante. Costruite la guida in modo che si ramifichi per segmento, così che le parole si adattino con flessibilità sia che il chiamante parli con un'ex allieva, un ex genitore o un donatore passato. Non serve un software per telethon su misura per farlo: Benenden ha usato Microsoft Forms, con le risposte unite di nuovo nel suo foglio di calcolo, e uno strumento come SurveyMonkey servirebbe altrettanto bene.

Per supervisionare le chiamate serve una qualche forma di tecnologia da sala chiamate affinché un responsabile possa ascoltare, offrire riscontri in tempo reale e, dove lo strumento lo consente, "sussurrare" consigli a un chiamante a metà chiamata senza che il sostenitore lo senta. Benenden ha sostituito un'app telefonica specializzata con il servizio VoIP di Zoom. Non era perfetto, con una licenza minima di tre mesi per un mese di utilizzo, ma costava meno dell'alternativa e svolgeva i compiti essenziali: monitoraggio, riscontro e chiamata dei sostenitori.

## Fare la richiesta e gestire le obiezioni

La richiesta è il punto in cui la formazione ripaga. L'obiettivo è una richiesta che "risulti naturale e non insistente". I chiamanti dovrebbero imparare una piccola scala di richieste e i ripieghi che ne seguono, compresa la richiesta al ribasso: scendere a un importo suggerito inferiore o a un diverso tipo di donazione quando la prima richiesta non va a segno. La richiesta al ribasso funziona, e Benenden ha ottenuto donazioni tramite essa. Ma l'abilità più importante è il giudizio, formare i chiamanti a riconoscere "quando non chiedere" e quando non essere insistenti. Un sostenitore che ha avuto una conversazione calorosa e ha gentilmente rifiutato è comunque un sostenitore che avete rafforzato, e insistere rischia la relazione per una donazione che comunque non avreste mai ottenuto.

Strutturate i turni in modo che la fiducia si costruisca prima che la posta in gioco salga. Lasciate che i chiamanti si scaldino su conversazioni più semplici prima di avvicinare prospetti a maggiore capacità, assicurandovi prima "che si sentissero davvero a proprio agio con il processo di richiesta". E proteggete il morale attraverso le inevitabili serie di segreterie e rifiuti. Benenden teneva brevi discorsi di incoraggiamento prima di ogni turno, portava relatori ospiti, tra cui un borsista e un donatore regolare, per ricordare ai chiamanti perché il lavoro conta, e trasformava la fatica in giochi: tombola e premi in buoni che "trasformavano un'esperienza negativa in una positiva", così che un chiamante potesse vincere anche dopo venti segreterie di fila.

## Donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose

La donazione fiscalmente vantaggiosa è uno dei modi più semplici per aggiungere valore a una donazione telefonica, e appartiene alla conversazione anziché essere un ripensamento. Le regole variano in tutta Europa, quindi assicuratevi che i vostri chiamanti conoscano la situazione dove vivono i vostri sostenitori. Molti paesi europei offrono ai donatori una deduzione o una detrazione fiscale per le donazioni benefiche, e le donazioni transfrontaliere all'interno dell'Europa possono spesso essere effettuate in modo fiscalmente vantaggioso tramite la rete Transnational Giving Europe. Una campagna di raccolta telefonica è un momento ideale per raccogliere i dati necessari: il chiamante può dare una semplice spiegazione di una riga, confermare i recapiti del donatore per la giusta ricevuta o il giusto certificato, e rassicurarlo che la documentazione seguirà. Su una promessa quinquennale, farlo bene conta, quindi formate i vostri chiamanti a gestirlo bene ogni volta.

## Integrazione con il digitale, la donazione regolare e una giornata della donazione

Una campagna di raccolta telefonica non dovrebbe mai stare da sola. La sua vera forza è quella di essere lo strato umano in un più ampio programma di donazione regolare, e funziona meglio quando alimenta ed è alimentata dagli altri vostri canali. La maggior parte delle donazioni telefoniche si raccoglie meglio come donazione mensile regolare, che è ciò che costruisce le entrate prevedibili e pluriennali da cui dipende un programma, e la richiesta di aumento descritta sopra esiste solo perché precedenti promesse telefoniche hanno creato donatori a cui tornare.

Il telefono si abbina anche naturalmente al digitale. Quando una donazione non può essere completata durante la chiamata, tipicamente una donazione singola che richiede dati sensibili della carta, la chiamata diventa la calorosa introduzione e un follow-up digitale la conclude. Benenden raccoglieva donazioni regolari al telefono ma, per le donazioni singole transfrontaliere che non poteva elaborare in diretta, dava seguito tramite una piattaforma di coinvolgimento dei donatori: i chiamanti registravano un breve video personale con un pulsante che portava il donatore direttamente a un modulo di donazione. La conversione su quel percorso era più difficile, un onesto promemoria a rendere l'esecuzione digitale il più fluida possibile, ma il video personale aiutava chiaramente chi completava.

Una campagna di raccolta telefonica si colloca bene anche accanto a una [giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/). Una giornata della donazione crea un'esplosione di energia, urgenza e finanziamento in contropartita attorno a una finestra fissa; una campagna di raccolta telefonica è la conversazione più lenta e più profonda che converte quell'attenzione in donatori regolari impegnati e riattiva i sostenitori che la spinta digitale di una giornata della donazione mancherà sempre. Condotte in sequenza, una chiamata può ringraziare e far salire di livello i donatori acquisiti da una giornata della donazione, mentre una giornata della donazione può rivitalizzare la base più ampia che i telefoni non possono raggiungere nel tempo disponibile.

## Ringraziare e fidelizzare

La fidelizzazione comincia durante la chiamata e non finisce mai davvero. Il calore che ha reso possibile la donazione deve essere onorato subito: un ringraziamento tempestivo e personale che conferma la promessa, la ricevuta o il certificato fiscale e ciò che la donazione realizzerà. Ricordate che la chiamata di aumento è essa stessa un atto di fidelizzazione, che ringrazia il donatore e mostra l'impatto del suo sostegno prima ancora di sollevare la questione di donare di più.

Prendetevi cura dei vostri chiamanti con la stessa cura. Sono donatori del proprio tempo, e la loro esperienza plasma sia questa campagna sia la prossima. Sondateli alla fine, offrite loro ruoli di ritorno, e riconoscete l'impegno, non solo i totali. Questa fidelizzazione si cumula: i chiamanti che tornano diventano le persone che formano e rassicurano la leva successiva, e i più esperti possono salire a un ruolo di chiamante senior che conduce i giochi, monitora le chiamate e si occupa dell'amministrazione che una squadra di una sola persona non può portare da sola. Un singolo chiamante senior esperto, pagato un po' di più all'ora, può fare la differenza tra una campagna gestibile e una opprimente.

## Misurare i risultati

Misurate la campagna su più del totale principale. Tracciate il numero di sostenitori con cui avete parlato, il tasso di conversione tra quelli che avete effettivamente raggiunto, il valore immediato delle promesse e il valore pluriennale completo lungo l'intero ciclo di donazione, la proporzione di nuovi donatori acquisiti, e il tasso di adesione all'aumento tra i donatori esistenti. Fissate questi obiettivi rispetto ai dati specifici che state lavorando, non rispetto a un primo anno irripetibile, e soppesateli rispetto al costo: la misura onesta di una campagna interna è il ritorno sull'investimento, non le entrate lorde. Il totale del quarto anno di Benenden, di circa 41.000 £ su cinque anni, sembrava più piccolo del picco iniziale, ma proveniva da un segmento più difficile e molto contattato, a una frazione del costo, con le competenze proprie della squadra permanentemente potenziate. Cogliete anche il ritorno qualitativo: le informazioni sui donatori, i sostenitori riattivati e il profilo accresciuto dell'ufficio sviluppo in tutta la comunità sono risultati reali, anche se non compaiono mai nella riga delle entrate.

## Domande frequenti

**Vale la pena condurre una campagna di raccolta telefonica internamente, o dovremmo usare una consulenza?** Per una prima campagna, il supporto gestito è spesso la scelta giusta: fornisce software, chiamanti, formazione e supervisione mentre voi imparate. Man mano che la vostra squadra assorbe il know-how, potete portare moduli internamente per migliorare il ritorno sull'investimento, mantenendo tipicamente l'aiuto esterno per formazione e supervisione più a lungo. Benenden ha risparmiato circa 12.000 £ in un solo anno passando in gran parte internamente nel suo quarto anno.

**I chiamanti dovrebbero usare uno script?** Mantenete la struttura, non lo script. Uno script rigido, parola per parola, fa sembrare i chiamanti come se stessero leggendo, e i sostenitori se ne accorgono. Costruite invece una guida alla conversazione: le stesse fasi, introduzione, conversazione, progetto, richiesta, chiusura, con domande guida invece di formulazioni fisse, così che la chiamata suoni autentica e traspaia il genuino interesse del chiamante.

**Chi dovrebbe fare le chiamate?** Gli studenti attuali e i diplomati recenti sono un bacino ideale per scuole e università. Reclutateli personalmente anziché tramite e-mail di massa, date priorità ai chiamanti che tornano e che possono fare da mentori ai nuovi, e, dove potete, includete persone con un interesse diretto nella causa, come i borsisti, le cui storie sono potenti al telefono.

**Possiamo offrire donazioni fiscalmente vantaggiose al telefono?** Sì, anche se le regole variano da paese a paese. Molti paesi europei offrono una deduzione o una detrazione fiscale per le donazioni benefiche, e le donazioni transfrontaliere possono spesso essere effettuate in modo fiscalmente vantaggioso tramite Transnational Giving Europe. Raccogliete i recapiti del donatore durante la chiamata e inviate la giusta ricevuta o il giusto certificato nel vostro follow-up scritto, cosa che conta su una promessa pluriennale.

**Come si integra una campagna di raccolta telefonica con una giornata della donazione?** Si completano a vicenda. Una [giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) crea urgenza, finanziamento in contropartita e un'esplosione di donazioni digitali; una campagna di raccolta telefonica converte quell'attenzione in donatori regolari impegnati e raggiunge i sostenitori che una spinta digitale manca. Condotte in sequenza, le chiamate possono ringraziare e far salire di livello i donatori di una giornata della donazione, mentre una giornata della donazione rivitalizza la base più ampia.

**Quali risultati dovremmo aspettarci?** Dipende interamente dai vostri dati e dalle vostre richieste. A titolo indicativo, aspettatevi un tasso di conversione significativo tra i sostenitori con cui parlate davvero, circa il 23 per cento nel primo anno di raccolta fondi di Benenden, una forte acquisizione di nuovi donatori, e un'adesione all'aumento di circa il 60 per cento quando chiedete bene ai donatori esistenti. Misurate il valore pluriennale completo delle promesse e il ritorno sull'investimento, non solo il totale immediato.

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### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedete con la vostra e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di script per chiamate di campagna telefonica](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Pacchetto di formazione per i chiamanti](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Modello di segmentazione dei dati](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di giornata della donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellate i risultati probabili prima di impegnarvi su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi di raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affinate il testo dei vostri appelli e delle vostre e-mail
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collegate i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Letture di approfondimento

- Webinar: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) e [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Blog Hubbub: perché la raccolta fondi telefonica funziona ancora](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Guida correlata: [Come organizzare una giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultate la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to run a telephone appeal](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (uk/en): A practical guide to planning and running an in-house telephone (telethon) appeal, covering data and segmentation, recruiting and training callers, the conversation and script, Gift Aid, integration with digital and regular giving, and stewardship.
A telephone appeal, often still called a telethon, is a structured calling campaign in which a team of trained callers, frequently your own students or younger alumni, phones supporters to reconnect, share news and invite them to give. It is one of the oldest tools in the fundraising handbook, and one a surprising number of organisations have written off too soon. Done badly, it is an intrusive cold call read off a card. Done well, it is the warmest, most human moment in your whole programme: a real conversation, with consent, between someone who cares about your cause and someone who has every reason to.

That distinction matters more than ever. In a world of one-way email and social feeds, a phone call is one of the few channels where the supporter gets to talk back. They can ask about the project, share a memory, tell you what they think, and decide on the spot whether and how much to give. A well-run appeal asks first and listens hard: supporters get the chance to opt out before any call is made, and callers are trained to recognise when not to ask. The result is not a script delivered at someone, but a genuine exchange that strengthens the relationship whether or not a gift follows.

This guide sets out how to plan and run such an appeal, with a particular focus on bringing one in-house. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on a candid account from Katie, philanthropy officer at Benenden School, an independent girls' boarding school in the heart of Kent, who has described moving a long-running calling campaign in-house. Her experience runs through the practical sections below, because the questions she faced, how to find and train callers, what to do about a script, how to take a gift over the phone, are exactly the ones you will face too.

## Why a telephone appeal still works

The case for the telephone is the case for human contact. At its best, an appeal does three things at once that few other channels manage together: it re-engages lapsed and quiet supporters, it acquires new donors, and it gathers intelligence you cannot get any other way. In Benenden's first fundraising year, callers spoke with 462 supporters and secured 108 gifts, a conversion rate of around 23 per cent of those they actually reached, and brought in an immediate pledge total of just over £39,000, rising to around £72,000 across a five-year giving cycle. The single largest gift came from a previous non-donor who pledged over £21,000, exactly the kind of person a mass email would never have surfaced.

The channel also rewards patience. Benenden's very first campaign was not a fundraising exercise at all. It was a round of "affinity calls", reaching out to alumni in the isolation of the pandemic simply to check in, with no ask made. As Katie put it, these "weren't fundraising calls but affinity calls designed to provide an emotional touch point". The goodwill that built, along with the case studies and warm feedback it produced, was what won the internal argument for a fundraising campaign the following year. If your supporters have not heard from you by phone in years, a relationship-first call can be the right way to start.

## Deciding whether to run it in-house

The first strategic question is not how to run an appeal, but how much of it to run yourself. The traditional model is a fully managed campaign in which a consultancy supplies the software, employs and trains the callers, sets the ask amounts and supervises the calls. It works, and for a first campaign it is often the right choice. The trade-off is cost: a managed campaign can consume a large share of the income it raises, especially at the smaller and mid-level gift range where many telephone gifts sit.

Katie's director captured the choice with an analogy worth borrowing. A fully managed campaign, he told her, "has been the kind of chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce experience of telephone campaigns and in reality we really need to be driving a Ford Fiesta ourselves instead." His point was not that managed support is bad. It was that once a team has run a campaign or two and absorbed the know-how, it no longer needs every module. A frank cost-benefit analysis at Benenden found that monthly direct debits were "taking over two years of monthly payments to offset our consultancy costs", which made the fully managed model unsustainable for the income it produced.

The sensible path is rarely all-or-nothing. Most teams move in-house gradually, keeping specialist support for the parts that genuinely need it, such as training, call supervision and ask-setting, and bringing the rest under their own control as their confidence grows. By its fourth year Benenden ran the campaign largely in-house with a core team of one or two people, retaining external support only for caller training, and saved around £12,000 in consultancy costs in a single year. The reassuring message for small teams is that it is doable: "if you are from a small development team, it's doable, we did it, we're proof."

## Planning and timeline

Treat the appeal as a project with a clear runway. Benenden's in-house campaign ran on a three-month timeline, from planning in late May to the final follow-up communications in early August, mapped out as a Gantt chart that listed "every single task from the pre-call to shortlisting applicants for recruitment". Front-loading that planning is what keeps delivery calm: decide your segments, your ask strategy and your caller numbers before recruitment opens, not while it is under way.

Two planning decisions repay early attention. The first is the pre-call mailing. Send a letter or email well in advance, around a month ahead, telling supporters the campaign is coming and, crucially, offering them the chance to opt out. This is both good practice and good fundraising: it removes the unwilling from your calling pool and leaves you with a warmer, more receptive audience. The second is your timetable for calling shifts. Build it around the realities of your callers and your audience, including time zones if your community is international. One of the quiet advantages of running in-house is exactly this flexibility: the freedom to let an experienced caller join for one week rather than two, or to schedule overseas calling for the weekend.

## Data selection and segmentation

Your data does more to determine the result than almost anything else, so segment it deliberately. A mature appeal will call several distinct groups, and each needs its own framing: alumni, former parents who have given before, long-standing former staff, and within each of those the split between existing donors and non-donors, and between UK-based and overseas supporters. Benenden built what the team called a "mega spreadsheet" as a low-cost alternative to specialist telethon software, with restricted access so callers could see only the people they were allocated and the relevant details about them.

Set realistic expectations from the data rather than from last year's headline figure. By its fourth year, Benenden's income was around half its early peak, not because the campaign was worse but because many of the people being called had already been phoned in previous years and were a naturally less engaged pool. As Katie noted, you "can't look at our results in comparison to the last two years and see that as we've not done as well, it's our data". Judge the campaign against the segment you are actually working, not against an unrepeatable first run.

Segmentation also opens up the single most valuable call you can make to an existing donor: the uplift ask. Asking current monthly donors to increase their gift "really needed a very detailed amount of tailoring", and Benenden put only its "most experienced and emotionally intelligent callers on that shift", briefing them one-to-one on each donor's history and current gift. The tone has to thank first and never demean the existing gift. Handled with that care, around 60 per cent of those asked to uplift gave more, and the call doubled as stewardship.

## Recruiting and training callers

Your callers are the campaign. For schools and universities the natural pool is current students and recent leavers, and the most reliable way to recruit them is personal, not a mass email. Benenden's team presented in person to sixth-formers, sat former callers on a panel to answer questions, and worked through tutors and boarding-house staff to reach students in the settings where they actually listen. Word of mouth and the chance to work alongside friends over the summer did much of the rest. Incentives help at the margins: voucher rewards, and a refer-a-friend scheme that pays out when a recommended applicant is appointed.

Two recruitment dividends are easy to underrate. The first is caller retention: a returning caller is worth far more than a new one, because in training they "took that kind of leadership role when going into the role plays", reassuring nervous first-timers with real examples. Benenden had five former callers return in its first in-house year. The second is who your callers are. Having bursary recipients themselves on the phones was, in Katie's words, hugely valuable: "nothing was more valuable than a direct recipient of the award talking to alumni down the phone about how much of an impact" their education had had. If you run in a school, factor in the practicalities early: safer recruitment training for whoever sits on the interview panel, DBS checks, contracts and safeguarding briefings, and bring HR in from the start.

Training is the part most worth doing properly, and the part most teams keep external support for even after going in-house. Benenden retained Hubbub's consultancy for an in-depth, two-day training programme covering mock calls, strategies for handling objections, and setting the right tone for asking. The division of labour is a useful template: the institution briefs on its own context, the campaign, the safeguarding and the expectations of callers, while the consultant brings the fundraising craft, "how to make the successful calls" and the structure of a good conversation. Role play with experienced callers, repeated until the conversation feels familiar, is what turns an anxious student into a confident one.

## The conversation and a good script

The most important lesson in this guide runs against instinct. The script is the bread and butter of a traditional telethon, but a word-for-word script is the wrong tool. Benenden's callers had been told, more than once in earlier years, "you're just reading from a script aren't you", which is the sound of a campaign failing in real time. On Hubbub's advice the team rebuilt the script as what the consultant called a "conversation guide and a safety blanket": the same clear stages as before, but guide questions rather than exact wording.

Keep the structure, lose the rigidity. A good call moves through recognisable stages: a warm introduction; a genuine conversation about the supporter's career, their memories and what they care about; news of the project or campaign you are raising for; the ask; and a soft close, whatever the answer. Letting callers find their own words at each stage is what makes the conversation "sound much more authentic" and lets the caller's genuine interest come through. Build the guide so it branches by segment, so the words flexibly fit whether the caller is speaking to an alumna, a former parent or a past donor. You do not need bespoke telethon software to do this: Benenden used Microsoft Forms, with answers merged back into its spreadsheet, and a tool like SurveyMonkey would serve as well.

To supervise the calls you need some form of call-room technology so a manager can listen in, offer real-time feedback and, where the tool allows, "whisper" advice to a caller mid-call without the supporter hearing. Benenden replaced a specialist phone app with Zoom's VoIP service. It was not perfect, carrying a three-month minimum licence for one month's use, but it came in cheaper than the alternative and did the essential jobs of monitoring, feedback and ringing the callers.

## Making the ask and handling objections

The ask is where training earns its keep. The goal is an ask that "felt natural and not pushy". Callers should be taught a small ladder of asks and the fallbacks that follow, including the trade-down: dropping to a lower suggested amount or a different gift type when the first ask does not land. The trade-down works, and Benenden secured gifts through it. But the more important skill is judgement, training callers to recognise "when not to ask" and when not to be pushy. A supporter who has had a warm conversation and politely declined is still a supporter you have strengthened, and pressing them risks the relationship for a gift you were never going to get.

Structure the shifts so that confidence builds before stakes rise. Let callers warm up on more straightforward conversations before they approach higher-capacity prospects, "making sure they really felt comfortable with the ask process" first. And protect morale through the inevitable runs of voicemails and refusals. Benenden ran short pep talks before each shift, brought in guest speakers, including a bursary recipient and a regular donor, to remind callers why the work matters, and turned the grind into games: bingo and voucher prizes that "turned a negative experience into a positive one" so a caller could win even after twenty voicemails in a row.

## Gift Aid

Gift Aid is one of the simplest ways to add value to a telephone gift, and it belongs in the conversation rather than as an afterthought. For every £1 a UK taxpayer gives, your organisation can reclaim 25p from HMRC at no cost to the donor, provided the donor has paid enough Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax to cover the claim. A telephone appeal is an ideal moment to capture a Gift Aid declaration: the caller can explain the uplift, confirm verbally that the donor is a UK taxpayer and happy to Gift Aid their gift, and log it on the spot. Make sure callers can give a plain one-line explanation, that you record the declaration in a form HMRC will accept, and that your follow-up confirmation restates it in writing. On a five-year pledge, the Gift Aid alone can add hundreds of pounds at no extra cost to the supporter, so train your callers to ask the question every time.

## Integrating with digital, regular giving and a Giving Day

A telephone appeal should never sit on its own. Its real power is as the human layer in a wider regular giving programme, and it works best when it feeds and is fed by your other channels. Most telephone gifts are best taken as a regular monthly direct debit, which is what builds the predictable, multi-year income a programme depends on, and the uplift ask described above only exists because previous phone pledges created donors to go back to.

The phone also pairs naturally with digital. Where a gift cannot be completed on the call, typically a single gift needing sensitive card details, the call becomes the warm introduction and a digital follow-up closes it. Benenden took direct debits over the phone but, for overseas single gifts it could not process live, followed up through a donor engagement platform: callers recorded a short personal video with a button that took the donor straight to a donation form. Conversion on that route was harder, an honest reminder to make digital fulfilment as frictionless as you can, but the personal video clearly helped those who did complete.

A telephone appeal also sits well alongside a [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/). A Giving Day creates a burst of energy, urgency and match funding around a fixed window; a telephone appeal is the slower, deeper conversation that converts that attention into committed, regular donors and re-engages the supporters a Giving Day's digital push will always miss. Run in sequence, a call can thank and upgrade the donors a Giving Day acquired, while a Giving Day can re-energise the wider file the phones cannot reach in the time available.

## Thanking and stewardship

Stewardship begins on the call and never really ends. The warmth that made the gift possible has to be honoured immediately: a prompt, personal thank-you confirming the pledge, the Gift Aid declaration and what the gift will do. Remember that the uplift call is itself a stewardship act, thanking the donor and showing the impact of their support before ever raising the question of giving more.

Look after your callers with the same care. They are donors of their time, and their experience shapes both this campaign and the next. Survey them at the end, offer returning roles, and recognise the effort, not just the totals. That retention compounds: returning callers become the people who train and reassure the next intake, and the most experienced can step up into a senior caller role running the games, monitoring calls and taking the admin a one-person team cannot carry alone. A single experienced senior caller, paid a little more per hour, can be the difference between a manageable campaign and an overwhelming one.

## Measuring results

Measure the appeal on more than the headline total. Track the number of supporters spoken with, the conversion rate among those you actually reached, the immediate pledge value and the full multi-year value across the giving cycle, the proportion of new donors acquired, the uplift take-up rate among existing donors, and the Gift Aid added. Set these targets against the specific data you are working, not against an unrepeatable first year, and weigh them against cost: the honest measure of an in-house campaign is return on investment, not gross income. Benenden's fourth-year total of around £41,000 over five years looked smaller than its early peak, but came from a harder, much-called segment, at a fraction of the cost, with the team's own skills permanently upgraded. Capture the qualitative return too: the donor intelligence, the re-engaged supporters, and the development office's raised profile across the community are real results, even though they never show up in the income line.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it worth running a telephone appeal in-house, or should we use a consultancy?** For a first campaign, managed support is often the right call: it supplies the software, callers, training and supervision while you learn. As your team absorbs the know-how, you can move modules in-house to improve return on investment, typically keeping external help for training and supervision longest. Benenden saved around £12,000 in a single year by going largely in-house in its fourth year.

**Should callers use a script?** Keep the structure, not the script. A rigid, word-for-word script makes callers sound like they are reading, and supporters notice. Build a conversation guide instead: the same stages, introduction, conversation, project, ask, close, with guide questions rather than fixed wording, so the call sounds authentic and the caller's genuine interest comes through.

**Who should make the calls?** Current students and recent leavers are an ideal pool for schools and universities. Recruit them personally rather than by mass email, prioritise returning callers who can mentor newcomers, and, where you can, include people with a direct stake in the cause, such as bursary recipients, whose own stories are powerful on the phone.

**Can we take Gift Aid over the phone?** Yes. Capture a Gift Aid declaration during the call by confirming the donor is a UK taxpayer happy for you to reclaim Gift Aid, recording it in an HMRC-compliant form, and restating it in your written follow-up. It adds 25p for every £1 at no cost to the donor, which is substantial over a multi-year pledge.

**How does a telephone appeal fit with a Giving Day?** They complement each other. A [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) creates urgency, match funding and a burst of digital giving; a telephone appeal converts that attention into committed regular donors and reaches the supporters a digital push misses. Run in sequence, calls can thank and upgrade Giving Day donors, while a Giving Day re-energises the wider file.

**What results should we expect?** It depends entirely on your data and your asks. As a guide, expect a meaningful conversion rate among supporters you actually speak to, around 23 per cent in Benenden's first fundraising year, strong new-donor acquisition, and uplift take-up of roughly 60 per cent when you ask existing donors well. Measure full multi-year pledge value and return on investment, not just the immediate total.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Telephone appeal call script template](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Caller training pack](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Data segmentation template](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) and [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Hubbub blog: why telephone fundraising still works](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a telephone appeal](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (us/en): A practical guide to planning and running an in-house telephone (phonathon) appeal, covering data and segmentation, recruiting and training callers, the conversation and script, tax-deductible giving, integration with digital and recurring giving, and stewardship.
A telephone appeal, often still called a phonathon, is a structured calling campaign in which a team of trained callers, frequently your own students or younger alumni, phones supporters to reconnect, share news and invite them to give. It is one of the oldest tools in the fundraising handbook, and one a surprising number of organizations have written off too soon. Done badly, it is an intrusive cold call read off a card. Done well, it is the warmest, most human moment in your whole program: a real conversation, with consent, between someone who cares about your cause and someone who has every reason to.

That distinction matters more than ever. In a world of one-way email and social feeds, a phone call is one of the few channels where the supporter gets to talk back. They can ask about the project, share a memory, tell you what they think, and decide on the spot whether and how much to give. A well-run appeal asks first and listens hard: supporters get the chance to opt out before any call is made, and callers are trained to recognize when not to ask. The result is not a script delivered at someone, but a genuine exchange that strengthens the relationship whether or not a gift follows.

This guide sets out how to plan and run such an appeal, with a particular focus on bringing one in-house. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on a candid account from Katie, philanthropy officer at Benenden School, an independent girls' boarding school in the heart of Kent, who has described moving a long-running calling campaign in-house. Her experience runs through the practical sections below, because the questions she faced, how to find and train callers, what to do about a script, how to take a gift over the phone, are exactly the ones you will face too.

## Why a telephone appeal still works

The case for the telephone is the case for human contact. At its best, an appeal does three things at once that few other channels manage together: it re-engages lapsed and quiet supporters, it acquires new donors, and it gathers intelligence you cannot get any other way. In Benenden's first fundraising year, callers spoke with 462 supporters and secured 108 gifts, a conversion rate of around 23 percent of those they actually reached, and brought in an immediate pledge total of just over £39,000, rising to around £72,000 across a five-year giving cycle. The single largest gift came from a previous non-donor who pledged over £21,000, exactly the kind of person a mass email would never have surfaced.

The channel also rewards patience. Benenden's very first campaign was not a fundraising exercise at all. It was a round of "affinity calls", reaching out to alumni in the isolation of the pandemic simply to check in, with no ask made. As Katie put it, these "weren't fundraising calls but affinity calls designed to provide an emotional touch point". The goodwill that built, along with the case studies and warm feedback it produced, was what won the internal argument for a fundraising campaign the following year. If your supporters have not heard from you by phone in years, a relationship-first call can be the right way to start.

## Deciding whether to run it in-house

The first strategic question is not how to run an appeal, but how much of it to run yourself. The traditional model is a fully managed campaign in which a consultancy supplies the software, employs and trains the callers, sets the ask amounts and supervises the calls. It works, and for a first campaign it is often the right choice. The trade-off is cost: a managed campaign can consume a large share of the income it raises, especially at the smaller and mid-level gift range where many telephone gifts sit.

Katie's director captured the choice with an analogy worth borrowing. A fully managed campaign, he told her, "has been the kind of chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce experience of telephone campaigns and in reality we really need to be driving a Ford Fiesta ourselves instead." His point was not that managed support is bad. It was that once a team has run a campaign or two and absorbed the know-how, it no longer needs every module. A frank cost-benefit analysis at Benenden found that monthly recurring gifts were "taking over two years of monthly payments to offset our consultancy costs", which made the fully managed model unsustainable for the income it produced.

The sensible path is rarely all-or-nothing. Most teams move in-house gradually, keeping specialist support for the parts that genuinely need it, such as training, call supervision and ask-setting, and bringing the rest under their own control as their confidence grows. By its fourth year Benenden ran the campaign largely in-house with a core team of one or two people, retaining external support only for caller training, and saved around £12,000 in consultancy costs in a single year. The reassuring message for small teams is that it is doable: "if you are from a small development team, it's doable, we did it, we're proof."

## Planning and timeline

Treat the appeal as a project with a clear runway. Benenden's in-house campaign ran on a three-month timeline, from planning in late May to the final follow-up communications in early August, mapped out as a Gantt chart that listed "every single task from the pre-call to shortlisting applicants for recruitment". Front-loading that planning is what keeps delivery calm: decide your segments, your ask strategy and your caller numbers before recruitment opens, not while it is under way.

Two planning decisions repay early attention. The first is the pre-call mailing. Send a letter or email well in advance, around a month ahead, telling supporters the campaign is coming and, crucially, offering them the chance to opt out. This is both good practice and good fundraising: it removes the unwilling from your calling pool and leaves you with a warmer, more receptive audience. The second is your timetable for calling shifts. Build it around the realities of your callers and your audience, including time zones if your community is national or international. One of the quiet advantages of running in-house is exactly this flexibility: the freedom to let an experienced caller join for one week rather than two, or to schedule distant calling for the weekend.

## Data selection and segmentation

Your data does more to determine the result than almost anything else, so segment it deliberately. A mature appeal will call several distinct groups, and each needs its own framing: alumni, former parents who have given before, long-standing former staff, and within each of those the split between existing donors and non-donors, and between local and distant supporters. Benenden built what the team called a "mega spreadsheet" as a low-cost alternative to specialist phonathon software, with restricted access so callers could see only the people they were allocated and the relevant details about them.

Set realistic expectations from the data rather than from last year's headline figure. By its fourth year, Benenden's income was around half its early peak, not because the campaign was worse but because many of the people being called had already been phoned in previous years and were a naturally less engaged pool. As Katie noted, you "can't look at our results in comparison to the last two years and see that as we've not done as well, it's our data". Judge the campaign against the segment you are actually working, not against an unrepeatable first run.

Segmentation also opens up the single most valuable call you can make to an existing donor: the uplift ask. Asking current monthly donors to increase their gift "really needed a very detailed amount of tailoring", and Benenden put only its "most experienced and emotionally intelligent callers on that shift", briefing them one-to-one on each donor's history and current gift. The tone has to thank first and never demean the existing gift. Handled with that care, around 60 percent of those asked to uplift gave more, and the call doubled as stewardship.

## Recruiting and training callers

Your callers are the campaign. For schools and universities the natural pool is current students and recent graduates, and the most reliable way to recruit them is personal, not a mass email. Benenden's team presented in person to its oldest students, sat former callers on a panel to answer questions, and worked through teachers and boarding-house staff to reach students in the settings where they actually listen. Word of mouth and the chance to work alongside friends over the summer did much of the rest. Incentives help at the margins: gift card rewards, and a refer-a-friend scheme that pays out when a recommended applicant is appointed.

Two recruitment dividends are easy to underrate. The first is caller retention: a returning caller is worth far more than a new one, because in training they "took that kind of leadership role when going into the role plays", reassuring nervous first-timers with real examples. Benenden had five former callers return in its first in-house year. The second is who your callers are. Having scholarship recipients themselves on the phones was, in Katie's words, hugely valuable: "nothing was more valuable than a direct recipient of the award talking to alumni down the phone about how much of an impact" their education had had. If you run in a school, factor in the practicalities early: background checks, contracts and safeguarding briefings for whoever sits on the interview panel and makes the calls, and bring HR in from the start.

Training is the part most worth doing properly, and the part most teams keep external support for even after going in-house. Benenden retained Hubbub's consultancy for an in-depth, two-day training program covering mock calls, strategies for handling objections, and setting the right tone for asking. The division of labor is a useful template: the institution briefs on its own context, the campaign, the safeguarding and the expectations of callers, while the consultant brings the fundraising craft, "how to make the successful calls" and the structure of a good conversation. Role play with experienced callers, repeated until the conversation feels familiar, is what turns an anxious student into a confident one.

## The conversation and a good script

The most important lesson in this guide runs against instinct. The script is the bread and butter of a traditional phonathon, but a word-for-word script is the wrong tool. Benenden's callers had been told, more than once in earlier years, "you're just reading from a script aren't you", which is the sound of a campaign failing in real time. On Hubbub's advice the team rebuilt the script as what the consultant called a "conversation guide and a safety blanket": the same clear stages as before, but guide questions rather than exact wording.

Keep the structure, lose the rigidity. A good call moves through recognizable stages: a warm introduction; a genuine conversation about the supporter's career, their memories and what they care about; news of the project or campaign you are raising for; the ask; and a soft close, whatever the answer. Letting callers find their own words at each stage is what makes the conversation "sound much more authentic" and lets the caller's genuine interest come through. Build the guide so it branches by segment, so the words flexibly fit whether the caller is speaking to an alumna, a former parent or a past donor. You do not need bespoke phonathon software to do this: Benenden used Microsoft Forms, with answers merged back into its spreadsheet, and a tool like SurveyMonkey would serve as well.

To supervise the calls you need some form of call-room technology so a manager can listen in, offer real-time feedback and, where the tool allows, "whisper" advice to a caller mid-call without the supporter hearing. Benenden replaced a specialist phone app with Zoom's VoIP service. It was not perfect, carrying a three-month minimum license for one month's use, but it came in cheaper than the alternative and did the essential jobs of monitoring, feedback and ringing the callers.

## Making the ask and handling objections

The ask is where training earns its keep. The goal is an ask that "felt natural and not pushy". Callers should be taught a small ladder of asks and the fallbacks that follow, including the trade-down: dropping to a lower suggested amount or a different gift type when the first ask does not land. The trade-down works, and Benenden secured gifts through it. But the more important skill is judgment, training callers to recognize "when not to ask" and when not to be pushy. A supporter who has had a warm conversation and politely declined is still a supporter you have strengthened, and pressing them risks the relationship for a gift you were never going to get.

Structure the shifts so that confidence builds before stakes rise. Let callers warm up on more straightforward conversations before they approach higher-capacity prospects, "making sure they really felt comfortable with the ask process" first. And protect morale through the inevitable runs of voicemails and refusals. Benenden ran short pep talks before each shift, brought in guest speakers, including a scholarship recipient and a recurring donor, to remind callers why the work matters, and turned the grind into games: bingo and gift card prizes that "turned a negative experience into a positive one" so a caller could win even after twenty voicemails in a row.

## Tax-deductible giving

Tax-deductible giving is one of the simplest ways to add value to a telephone gift, and it belongs in the conversation rather than as an afterthought. In the United States, gifts to organizations recognized as 501(c)(3) public charities are generally tax-deductible for donors who itemize, so a phonathon is an ideal moment to remind a supporter that their gift may reduce their taxable income. The caller can confirm the organization's tax-exempt status, capture the donor's details for a written acknowledgment, and reassure them that a receipt will follow. Make sure callers can give a plain one-line explanation, that you record the gift accurately, and that your follow-up sends a contemporaneous written acknowledgment the donor can use at tax time. On a five-year pledge, that documentation matters, so train your callers to handle it well every time.

## Integrating with digital, recurring giving and a Giving Day

A telephone appeal should never sit on its own. Its real power is as the human layer in a wider recurring giving program, and it works best when it feeds and is fed by your other channels. Most telephone gifts are best taken as a regular monthly gift, which is what builds the predictable, multi-year income a program depends on, and the uplift ask described above only exists because previous phone pledges created donors to go back to.

The phone also pairs naturally with digital. Where a gift cannot be completed on the call, typically a single gift needing sensitive card details, the call becomes the warm introduction and a digital follow-up closes it. Benenden took recurring gifts over the phone but, for distant single gifts it could not process live, followed up through a donor engagement platform: callers recorded a short personal video with a button that took the donor straight to a donation form. Conversion on that route was harder, an honest reminder to make digital fulfillment as frictionless as you can, but the personal video clearly helped those who did complete.

A telephone appeal also sits well alongside a [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/). A Giving Day creates a burst of energy, urgency and match funding around a fixed window; a telephone appeal is the slower, deeper conversation that converts that attention into committed, recurring donors and re-engages the supporters a Giving Day's digital push will always miss. Run in sequence, a call can thank and upgrade the donors a Giving Day acquired, while a Giving Day can re-energize the wider file the phones cannot reach in the time available.

## Thanking and stewardship

Stewardship begins on the call and never really ends. The warmth that made the gift possible has to be honored immediately: a prompt, personal thank-you confirming the pledge, the written acknowledgment and what the gift will do. Remember that the uplift call is itself a stewardship act, thanking the donor and showing the impact of their support before ever raising the question of giving more.

Look after your callers with the same care. They are donors of their time, and their experience shapes both this campaign and the next. Survey them at the end, offer returning roles, and recognize the effort, not just the totals. That retention compounds: returning callers become the people who train and reassure the next intake, and the most experienced can step up into a senior caller role running the games, monitoring calls and taking the admin a one-person team cannot carry alone. A single experienced senior caller, paid a little more per hour, can be the difference between a manageable campaign and an overwhelming one.

## Measuring results

Measure the appeal on more than the headline total. Track the number of supporters spoken with, the conversion rate among those you actually reached, the immediate pledge value and the full multi-year value across the giving cycle, the proportion of new donors acquired, and the uplift take-up rate among existing donors. Set these targets against the specific data you are working, not against an unrepeatable first year, and weigh them against cost: the honest measure of an in-house campaign is return on investment, not gross income. Benenden's fourth-year total of around £41,000 over five years looked smaller than its early peak, but came from a harder, much-called segment, at a fraction of the cost, with the team's own skills permanently upgraded. Capture the qualitative return too: the donor intelligence, the re-engaged supporters, and the development office's raised profile across the community are real results, even though they never show up in the income line.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it worth running a telephone appeal in-house, or should we use a consultancy?** For a first campaign, managed support is often the right call: it supplies the software, callers, training and supervision while you learn. As your team absorbs the know-how, you can move modules in-house to improve return on investment, typically keeping external help for training and supervision longest. Benenden saved around £12,000 in a single year by going largely in-house in its fourth year.

**Should callers use a script?** Keep the structure, not the script. A rigid, word-for-word script makes callers sound like they are reading, and supporters notice. Build a conversation guide instead: the same stages, introduction, conversation, project, ask, close, with guide questions rather than fixed wording, so the call sounds authentic and the caller's genuine interest comes through.

**Who should make the calls?** Current students and recent graduates are an ideal pool for schools and universities. Recruit them personally rather than by mass email, prioritize returning callers who can mentor newcomers, and, where you can, include people with a direct stake in the cause, such as scholarship recipients, whose own stories are powerful on the phone.

**Are telephone gifts tax-deductible?** In the United States, gifts to organizations recognized as 501(c)(3) public charities are generally tax-deductible for donors who itemize. Capture the donor's details on the call, confirm your tax-exempt status, and send a contemporaneous written acknowledgment they can use at tax time, which matters over a multi-year pledge.

**How does a telephone appeal fit with a Giving Day?** They complement each other. A [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) creates urgency, match funding and a burst of digital giving; a telephone appeal converts that attention into committed recurring donors and reaches the supporters a digital push misses. Run in sequence, calls can thank and upgrade Giving Day donors, while a Giving Day re-energizes the wider file.

**What results should we expect?** It depends entirely on your data and your asks. As a guide, expect a meaningful conversion rate among supporters you actually speak to, around 23 percent in Benenden's first fundraising year, strong new-donor acquisition, and uplift take-up of roughly 60 percent when you ask existing donors well. Measure full multi-year pledge value and return on investment, not just the immediate total.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Telephone appeal call script template](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Caller training pack](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Data segmentation template](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) and [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Hubbub blog: why telephone fundraising still works](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to run a telephone appeal](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) (world/en): A practical guide to planning and running an in-house telephone (telethon) appeal, covering data and segmentation, recruiting and training callers, the conversation and script, tax-efficient giving, integration with digital and regular giving, and stewardship.
A telephone appeal, often still called a telethon, is a structured calling campaign in which a team of trained callers, frequently your own students or younger alumni, phones supporters to reconnect, share news and invite them to give. It is one of the oldest tools in the fundraising handbook, and one a surprising number of organisations have written off too soon. Done badly, it is an intrusive cold call read off a card. Done well, it is the warmest, most human moment in your whole programme: a real conversation, with consent, between someone who cares about your cause and someone who has every reason to.

That distinction matters more than ever. In a world of one-way email and social feeds, a phone call is one of the few channels where the supporter gets to talk back. They can ask about the project, share a memory, tell you what they think, and decide on the spot whether and how much to give. A well-run appeal asks first and listens hard: supporters get the chance to opt out before any call is made, and callers are trained to recognise when not to ask. The result is not a script delivered at someone, but a genuine exchange that strengthens the relationship whether or not a gift follows.

This guide sets out how to plan and run such an appeal, with a particular focus on bringing one in-house. It draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants and on a candid account from Katie, philanthropy officer at Benenden School, an independent girls' boarding school in the heart of Kent, who has described moving a long-running calling campaign in-house. Her experience runs through the practical sections below, because the questions she faced, how to find and train callers, what to do about a script, how to take a gift over the phone, are exactly the ones you will face too.

## Why a telephone appeal still works

The case for the telephone is the case for human contact. At its best, an appeal does three things at once that few other channels manage together: it re-engages lapsed and quiet supporters, it acquires new donors, and it gathers intelligence you cannot get any other way. In Benenden's first fundraising year, callers spoke with 462 supporters and secured 108 gifts, a conversion rate of around 23 per cent of those they actually reached, and brought in an immediate pledge total of just over £39,000, rising to around £72,000 across a five-year giving cycle. The single largest gift came from a previous non-donor who pledged over £21,000, exactly the kind of person a mass email would never have surfaced.

The channel also rewards patience. Benenden's very first campaign was not a fundraising exercise at all. It was a round of "affinity calls", reaching out to alumni in the isolation of the pandemic simply to check in, with no ask made. As Katie put it, these "weren't fundraising calls but affinity calls designed to provide an emotional touch point". The goodwill that built, along with the case studies and warm feedback it produced, was what won the internal argument for a fundraising campaign the following year. If your supporters have not heard from you by phone in years, a relationship-first call can be the right way to start.

## Deciding whether to run it in-house

The first strategic question is not how to run an appeal, but how much of it to run yourself. The traditional model is a fully managed campaign in which a consultancy supplies the software, employs and trains the callers, sets the ask amounts and supervises the calls. It works, and for a first campaign it is often the right choice. The trade-off is cost: a managed campaign can consume a large share of the income it raises, especially at the smaller and mid-level gift range where many telephone gifts sit.

Katie's director captured the choice with an analogy worth borrowing. A fully managed campaign, he told her, "has been the kind of chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce experience of telephone campaigns and in reality we really need to be driving a Ford Fiesta ourselves instead." His point was not that managed support is bad. It was that once a team has run a campaign or two and absorbed the know-how, it no longer needs every module. A frank cost-benefit analysis at Benenden found that monthly direct debits were "taking over two years of monthly payments to offset our consultancy costs", which made the fully managed model unsustainable for the income it produced.

The sensible path is rarely all-or-nothing. Most teams move in-house gradually, keeping specialist support for the parts that genuinely need it, such as training, call supervision and ask-setting, and bringing the rest under their own control as their confidence grows. By its fourth year Benenden ran the campaign largely in-house with a core team of one or two people, retaining external support only for caller training, and saved around £12,000 in consultancy costs in a single year. The reassuring message for small teams is that it is doable: "if you are from a small development team, it's doable, we did it, we're proof."

## Planning and timeline

Treat the appeal as a project with a clear runway. Benenden's in-house campaign ran on a three-month timeline, from planning in late May to the final follow-up communications in early August, mapped out as a Gantt chart that listed "every single task from the pre-call to shortlisting applicants for recruitment". Front-loading that planning is what keeps delivery calm: decide your segments, your ask strategy and your caller numbers before recruitment opens, not while it is under way.

Two planning decisions repay early attention. The first is the pre-call mailing. Send a letter or email well in advance, around a month ahead, telling supporters the campaign is coming and, crucially, offering them the chance to opt out. This is both good practice and good fundraising: it removes the unwilling from your calling pool and leaves you with a warmer, more receptive audience. The second is your timetable for calling shifts. Build it around the realities of your callers and your audience, including time zones if your community is international. One of the quiet advantages of running in-house is exactly this flexibility: the freedom to let an experienced caller join for one week rather than two, or to schedule overseas calling for the weekend.

## Data selection and segmentation

Your data does more to determine the result than almost anything else, so segment it deliberately. A mature appeal will call several distinct groups, and each needs its own framing: alumni, former parents who have given before, long-standing former staff, and within each of those the split between existing donors and non-donors, and between local and overseas supporters. Benenden built what the team called a "mega spreadsheet" as a low-cost alternative to specialist telethon software, with restricted access so callers could see only the people they were allocated and the relevant details about them.

Set realistic expectations from the data rather than from last year's headline figure. By its fourth year, Benenden's income was around half its early peak, not because the campaign was worse but because many of the people being called had already been phoned in previous years and were a naturally less engaged pool. As Katie noted, you "can't look at our results in comparison to the last two years and see that as we've not done as well, it's our data". Judge the campaign against the segment you are actually working, not against an unrepeatable first run.

Segmentation also opens up the single most valuable call you can make to an existing donor: the uplift ask. Asking current monthly donors to increase their gift "really needed a very detailed amount of tailoring", and Benenden put only its "most experienced and emotionally intelligent callers on that shift", briefing them one-to-one on each donor's history and current gift. The tone has to thank first and never demean the existing gift. Handled with that care, around 60 per cent of those asked to uplift gave more, and the call doubled as stewardship.

## Recruiting and training callers

Your callers are the campaign. For schools and universities the natural pool is current students and recent leavers, and the most reliable way to recruit them is personal, not a mass email. Benenden's team presented in person to senior students, sat former callers on a panel to answer questions, and worked through tutors and boarding-house staff to reach students in the settings where they actually listen. Word of mouth and the chance to work alongside friends over the summer did much of the rest. Incentives help at the margins: voucher rewards, and a refer-a-friend scheme that pays out when a recommended applicant is appointed.

Two recruitment dividends are easy to underrate. The first is caller retention: a returning caller is worth far more than a new one, because in training they "took that kind of leadership role when going into the role plays", reassuring nervous first-timers with real examples. Benenden had five former callers return in its first in-house year. The second is who your callers are. Having scholarship recipients themselves on the phones was, in Katie's words, hugely valuable: "nothing was more valuable than a direct recipient of the award talking to alumni down the phone about how much of an impact" their education had had. If you run in a school, factor in the practicalities early: background and safeguarding checks, contracts and briefings for whoever sits on the interview panel and makes the calls, and bring HR in from the start.

Training is the part most worth doing properly, and the part most teams keep external support for even after going in-house. Benenden retained Hubbub's consultancy for an in-depth, two-day training programme covering mock calls, strategies for handling objections, and setting the right tone for asking. The division of labour is a useful template: the institution briefs on its own context, the campaign, the safeguarding and the expectations of callers, while the consultant brings the fundraising craft, "how to make the successful calls" and the structure of a good conversation. Role play with experienced callers, repeated until the conversation feels familiar, is what turns an anxious student into a confident one.

## The conversation and a good script

The most important lesson in this guide runs against instinct. The script is the bread and butter of a traditional telethon, but a word-for-word script is the wrong tool. Benenden's callers had been told, more than once in earlier years, "you're just reading from a script aren't you", which is the sound of a campaign failing in real time. On Hubbub's advice the team rebuilt the script as what the consultant called a "conversation guide and a safety blanket": the same clear stages as before, but guide questions rather than exact wording.

Keep the structure, lose the rigidity. A good call moves through recognisable stages: a warm introduction; a genuine conversation about the supporter's career, their memories and what they care about; news of the project or campaign you are raising for; the ask; and a soft close, whatever the answer. Letting callers find their own words at each stage is what makes the conversation "sound much more authentic" and lets the caller's genuine interest come through. Build the guide so it branches by segment, so the words flexibly fit whether the caller is speaking to an alumna, a former parent or a past donor. You do not need bespoke telethon software to do this: Benenden used Microsoft Forms, with answers merged back into its spreadsheet, and a tool like SurveyMonkey would serve as well.

To supervise the calls you need some form of call-room technology so a manager can listen in, offer real-time feedback and, where the tool allows, "whisper" advice to a caller mid-call without the supporter hearing. Benenden replaced a specialist phone app with Zoom's VoIP service. It was not perfect, carrying a three-month minimum licence for one month's use, but it came in cheaper than the alternative and did the essential jobs of monitoring, feedback and ringing the callers.

## Making the ask and handling objections

The ask is where training earns its keep. The goal is an ask that "felt natural and not pushy". Callers should be taught a small ladder of asks and the fallbacks that follow, including the trade-down: dropping to a lower suggested amount or a different gift type when the first ask does not land. The trade-down works, and Benenden secured gifts through it. But the more important skill is judgement, training callers to recognise "when not to ask" and when not to be pushy. A supporter who has had a warm conversation and politely declined is still a supporter you have strengthened, and pressing them risks the relationship for a gift you were never going to get.

Structure the shifts so that confidence builds before stakes rise. Let callers warm up on more straightforward conversations before they approach higher-capacity prospects, "making sure they really felt comfortable with the ask process" first. And protect morale through the inevitable runs of voicemails and refusals. Benenden ran short pep talks before each shift, brought in guest speakers, including a scholarship recipient and a regular donor, to remind callers why the work matters, and turned the grind into games: bingo and voucher prizes that "turned a negative experience into a positive one" so a caller could win even after twenty voicemails in a row.

## Tax-efficient giving

Tax-efficient giving is one of the simplest ways to add value to a telephone gift, and it belongs in the conversation rather than as an afterthought. Whether and how a gift can be made tax-efficiently depends entirely on your country's rules and on where your supporters live, so make sure your callers know the position that applies. A telephone appeal is an ideal moment to capture the details you need for the right receipt or acknowledgment: the caller can give a plain one-line explanation, confirm the donor's contact details, and reassure them that the documentation will follow. On a five-year pledge, getting that right matters, so train your callers to handle it well every time.

## Integrating with digital, regular giving and a Giving Day

A telephone appeal should never sit on its own. Its real power is as the human layer in a wider regular giving programme, and it works best when it feeds and is fed by your other channels. Most telephone gifts are best taken as a regular monthly gift, which is what builds the predictable, multi-year income a programme depends on, and the uplift ask described above only exists because previous phone pledges created donors to go back to.

The phone also pairs naturally with digital. Where a gift cannot be completed on the call, typically a single gift needing sensitive card details, the call becomes the warm introduction and a digital follow-up closes it. Benenden took regular gifts over the phone but, for overseas single gifts it could not process live, followed up through a donor engagement platform: callers recorded a short personal video with a button that took the donor straight to a donation form. Conversion on that route was harder, an honest reminder to make digital fulfilment as frictionless as you can, but the personal video clearly helped those who did complete.

A telephone appeal also sits well alongside a [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/). A Giving Day creates a burst of energy, urgency and match funding around a fixed window; a telephone appeal is the slower, deeper conversation that converts that attention into committed, regular donors and re-engages the supporters a Giving Day's digital push will always miss. Run in sequence, a call can thank and upgrade the donors a Giving Day acquired, while a Giving Day can re-energise the wider file the phones cannot reach in the time available.

## Thanking and stewardship

Stewardship begins on the call and never really ends. The warmth that made the gift possible has to be honoured immediately: a prompt, personal thank-you confirming the pledge, the receipt or acknowledgment and what the gift will do. Remember that the uplift call is itself a stewardship act, thanking the donor and showing the impact of their support before ever raising the question of giving more.

Look after your callers with the same care. They are donors of their time, and their experience shapes both this campaign and the next. Survey them at the end, offer returning roles, and recognise the effort, not just the totals. That retention compounds: returning callers become the people who train and reassure the next intake, and the most experienced can step up into a senior caller role running the games, monitoring calls and taking the admin a one-person team cannot carry alone. A single experienced senior caller, paid a little more per hour, can be the difference between a manageable campaign and an overwhelming one.

## Measuring results

Measure the appeal on more than the headline total. Track the number of supporters spoken with, the conversion rate among those you actually reached, the immediate pledge value and the full multi-year value across the giving cycle, the proportion of new donors acquired, and the uplift take-up rate among existing donors. Set these targets against the specific data you are working, not against an unrepeatable first year, and weigh them against cost: the honest measure of an in-house campaign is return on investment, not gross income. Benenden's fourth-year total of around £41,000 over five years looked smaller than its early peak, but came from a harder, much-called segment, at a fraction of the cost, with the team's own skills permanently upgraded. Capture the qualitative return too: the donor intelligence, the re-engaged supporters, and the development office's raised profile across the community are real results, even though they never show up in the income line.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is it worth running a telephone appeal in-house, or should we use a consultancy?** For a first campaign, managed support is often the right call: it supplies the software, callers, training and supervision while you learn. As your team absorbs the know-how, you can move modules in-house to improve return on investment, typically keeping external help for training and supervision longest. Benenden saved around £12,000 in a single year by going largely in-house in its fourth year.

**Should callers use a script?** Keep the structure, not the script. A rigid, word-for-word script makes callers sound like they are reading, and supporters notice. Build a conversation guide instead: the same stages, introduction, conversation, project, ask, close, with guide questions rather than fixed wording, so the call sounds authentic and the caller's genuine interest comes through.

**Who should make the calls?** Current students and recent leavers are an ideal pool for schools and universities. Recruit them personally rather than by mass email, prioritise returning callers who can mentor newcomers, and, where you can, include people with a direct stake in the cause, such as scholarship recipients, whose own stories are powerful on the phone.

**Can we offer tax-efficient giving over the phone?** It depends on your country's rules and on where your supporters live. Where tax-efficient giving is available, capture the donor's details on the call and send the right receipt or acknowledgment in your written follow-up, which matters over a multi-year pledge.

**How does a telephone appeal fit with a Giving Day?** They complement each other. A [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) creates urgency, match funding and a burst of digital giving; a telephone appeal converts that attention into committed regular donors and reaches the supporters a digital push misses. Run in sequence, calls can thank and upgrade Giving Day donors, while a Giving Day re-energises the wider file.

**What results should we expect?** It depends entirely on your data and your asks. As a guide, expect a meaningful conversion rate among supporters you actually speak to, around 23 per cent in Benenden's first fundraising year, strong new-donor acquisition, and uplift take-up of roughly 60 per cent when you ask existing donors well. Measure full multi-year pledge value and return on investment, not just the immediate total.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Telephone appeal call script template](/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/)
- [Caller training pack](/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/)
- [Data segmentation template](/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [Dialling it in: in-house telephone appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/dialling-it-in-how-to-call-the-shots-on-your-in-house-telephone-appeal) and [Wadham College telephone appeal](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/wadham-college-telephone-appeal)
- [Hubbub blog: why telephone fundraising still works](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/rebuilding-the-voice-why-telephone-fundraising-still-works---once-were-welcome)
- Related guide: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to secure and steward major gifts](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (canz/en): A practical guide to major gift fundraising, covering identifying and researching prospects, the cultivation cycle, making the ask, the role of major gifts as match funding in digital campaigns, and stewardship.
A major gift is a donation large enough to change what your organisation can do, given by an
individual who has chosen, deliberately and personally, to make that difference. The figure that
counts as major varies enormously: for a small charity it might be $1,000, while a large university
development office might not open a major gift relationship below $25,000 or $50,000. The number
matters far less than the principle behind it. Major gift fundraising is not a transaction you
process but a relationship you build, one prospect at a time, over months and often years. Where
direct mail, digital appeals and regular giving work at scale and treat donors as part of a wider
audience, major gifts work one to one and treat each donor as a person with their own motivations,
history and ambitions.

This guide covers the full arc of that relationship: how to find major donors, how to build the
relationship, how to ask well, how a major gift can power a digital campaign, and how to steward
donors so that a first gift becomes a lasting partnership. It also looks honestly at a question
that matters for smaller teams: whether leaning too hard on one big donor can do more harm than
good.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) and
> [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Where major gifts sit in your programme

It helps to picture your supporters as a pyramid. The base is broad and shallow: many donors giving
modest amounts through appeals, events and regular gifts. As you move up, gifts get larger and
donors get fewer, until you reach the small number of individuals capable of a major gift. The work
at the base is largely about systems, messaging and reach; the work at the top is almost entirely
about relationships. The two are connected. Today's regular donor or event attendee may be
tomorrow's major donor, which is one reason a healthy mass-participation programme is the natural
feeder for a major gift pipeline.

Major gifts are also where the maths changes. A single five or six-figure gift can equal the income
from thousands of smaller donors, which is exactly why the work is worth the patience it demands.
That concentration is also a risk. A major gift programme is at its strongest when it sits alongside
a diverse base rather than replacing it, a point we return to at the end because it is the single
most important caution for a small team.

## Identifying and researching prospects

You cannot ask someone you have not identified, and you should not ask someone you do not
understand. Prospect identification and research is the unglamorous groundwork that makes everything
else possible, and time spent here is rarely wasted.

Start with the people closest to you. Your warmest prospects are almost always already on your file:
long-standing regular donors, people who have given a notably large one-off gift, alumni or
beneficiaries with a strong emotional connection, board members and volunteers, and the personal
networks of all of these. The classic test, used across the sector, combines three things:
**linkage**, **ability** and **interest**. Linkage means a genuine connection to your cause, ideally
a warm route in through someone who already knows them. Ability means the financial capacity to make
a significant gift. Interest means a real affinity with the work you do. A prospect needs all three.
Capacity without affinity rarely converts, and affinity without capacity, however lovely, will not
fund a building.

Research turns a name into a person you can have a meaningful conversation with. Some of it is desk
research: published information about a prospect's career, business interests, other philanthropy,
public roles and the causes they have supported elsewhere. The most useful intelligence, though,
often comes from your own people. A board member who plays golf with a prospect, a colleague who
taught their daughter, an existing donor who sits on the same charity committee: these warm
connections tell you more about motivation than any database. Keep your research proportionate,
ethical and compliant with data protection rules, record it consistently, and use it to do one
thing: understand what this person cares about and why they might want to give to you specifically.
Our [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) gives
you a consistent format for capturing all of this.

## The cultivation cycle

Major gift fundraising follows a cycle that the sector usually describes in five stages:
**identify, qualify, cultivate, ask** and **steward**. Knowing which stage a relationship is in
stops you doing the right thing at the wrong time, and the most common mistake in major gifts is
asking too soon. Each stage is worth walking through.

**Identify** is the prospecting work above: drawing up the list of people with the linkage, ability
and interest to give.

**Qualify** is the reality check. Not every promising name is a genuine prospect. Qualification
confirms, usually through an early conversation or two, that the capacity is real, the interest is
genuine, and there is a plausible route to a gift. Disqualifying a prospect early is not a failure;
it frees your time for the ones who will give.

**Cultivate** is the heart of the work and usually the longest stage. This is where you build a real
relationship: you get to know the donor, deepen their understanding of and connection to your cause,
and learn what would genuinely excite them. Cultivation is not a charm offensive with a cheque at
the end. It is a two-way process of finding the overlap between what the donor cares about and what
your organisation needs.

**Ask** is the moment you invite the gift. By this point a well-cultivated prospect should already
know roughly what is coming, so the ask feels like the natural next step rather than an ambush. A
good ask is specific about both the amount and the purpose.

**Steward** is everything that happens after the gift: thanking, reporting back, and keeping the
donor close. Stewardship is not the end of the cycle but the beginning of the next one, because a
well-stewarded major donor is your single best prospect for the next, often larger, gift.

## Building the relationship

Cultivation rewards patience and genuine interest, and punishes haste. The aim is to move a prospect
from awareness of your cause to a deep personal investment in it, and you do that by giving before
you ask: giving your time, your attention, access to your work and the people behind it, and a real
sense that their involvement matters.

In practice, cultivation looks like inviting a prospect to see your work in person, introducing them
to the beneficiaries or researchers their gift might support, sharing news that connects to their
particular interest, and asking their advice rather than only their money. Many major donors are
successful, busy people who respond well to being treated as partners with expertise to offer, not
just chequebooks to open. Listening matters more than presenting. The best cultivation conversations
are the ones where the donor talks most, because what they tell you about their hopes and values is
exactly what you will build your eventual proposal around.

Throughout, keep careful notes and plan the next step after every contact. A relationship that
drifts loses momentum, and momentum, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.

## Making the ask and writing a proposal

The ask is the part fundraisers most often dread and most often overcomplicate. If the cultivation
has been done well, it is the easy part. By this stage you should know what the donor cares about,
roughly what they are capable of, and how they like to be approached. The ask itself should be
**specific**, **personal** and, wherever possible, made **face to face** by the right person, who is
sometimes the fundraiser and sometimes a chief executive, chair or peer of the donor.

Be specific about the amount. "Would you consider a gift of $50,000 to fund the first three years of
this scholarship?" is a far stronger ask than a vague hope that they might give generously. Naming a
figure shows you have thought about their capacity, respects their intelligence, and gives them a
clear decision to make. Be specific about the purpose too: major donors give to outcomes and to
vision, not to general funds, so tie the gift to something tangible and important.

A written proposal usually accompanies or follows the conversation. It should read as a document
written for one person, not a brochure printed for everyone. A strong major gift proposal sets out
the need or opportunity clearly, explains exactly what the donor's gift would achieve, names the
specific amount and what it funds, and describes how you will report back on the difference it makes.
Keep it tight, lead with impact rather than organisational history, and make the donor the hero of
the story. Where tax incentives apply, it is worth noting them gently: a Canadian charity can issue a
charitable tax receipt, an Australian organisation with deductible gift recipient (DGR) status can
offer a tax deduction, and a New Zealand charity's donors can claim a donation tax credit. For many
donors that can increase the size of a gift. Our
[major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) gives
you a structure to adapt for each donor.

## Major gifts as the match and challenge behind a digital campaign

One of the most powerful and underused roles for a major gift is not as a standalone donation at all,
but as the match or challenge fund that powers a mass-participation campaign such as a
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Instead of a major donor's gift arriving
quietly in the accounts, it becomes the engine of a public campaign, multiplying its own impact by
motivating hundreds or thousands of other people to give.

The evidence for matching is striking. Big Give's research, reported by Hubbub, found that 84 per
cent of respondents believed they would be more likely to give to a charity appeal if they were told
their donation would be matched, and more than 36 per cent said they only gave to a campaign because
it was match funded. In other words, a major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own
money: they are unlocking gifts that would not otherwise have been made. The same effect shows up in
crowdfunding, where projects that receive matched funding are more likely to reach their minimum
target than those that do not.

This framing also gives you a compelling new way to ask, because many major donors are motivated by
leadership and by the desire to inspire others. Hubbub's guidance distinguishes two broad donor
motivations. Some donors are drawn by **leadership and inspiration**: they want their gift to set an
example, to demonstrate confidence in a cause, and to create income potential by encouraging others
to follow. A match gift is tailor made for this donor, because you can show them precisely how their
gift multiplied across a Giving Day. Other donors are more **intrinsic and altruistic**, motivated
by personal connection, by feeling part of a community, and by championing a cause they care about;
for them, funding the match behind a student-led project or a cause close to their heart lets them
belong to something larger than a single transaction. Matching the donor to the motivation is the
whole game, and a challenge fund offers both kinds of donor something a plain ask cannot.

> A major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own money. They are unlocking gifts
> that would not otherwise have been made, and giving themselves the satisfaction of having led the
> way.

In practice, this means weaving your major gift work and your digital campaign planning together
rather than running them in separate silos. When you are cultivating a major prospect in the months
before a Giving Day, a match or challenge gift can be exactly the right ask: it is specific, it is
time-bound, it has visible leverage, and it lets the donor see their impact play out in real time.
Hubbub's [Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) can help
you model how a given match pot is likely to perform, which is useful both for setting your target
and for showing a prospective match funder what their gift could achieve.

## Stewarding and reporting back

The gift is not the finish line. How you treat a donor after they have given determines whether you
have secured a one-off donation or begun a partnership that grows over years, and stewardship is
where many organisations quietly let major relationships go cold.

Thank quickly, thank well, and thank personally. A major gift warrants more than a standard receipt:
a prompt, warm, personal thank-you, ideally from someone senior, and often more than one
acknowledgement from different people. Then deliver on the promise you made in the proposal. Report
back on what the gift achieved, specifically and honestly, with the detail and the human stories that
show the donor the difference they made. If you said their gift would fund three scholarships, tell
them about the three students, with their permission, and what it meant to them.

Good stewardship is also about keeping the donor close between gifts: invitations to see the work,
updates that connect to their particular interest, introductions to the people their gift supports,
and genuine recognition in whatever form suits them. Remember that some major donors value public
acknowledgement and others greatly prefer anonymity, so always ask and never assume. The underlying
principle is simple: treat the donor as a valued partner in the work rather than a source of funds,
and the next gift, when the time is right, becomes a conversation between collaborators rather than a
cold ask. Our [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) helps you map
out the touchpoints for each donor across the year so that nobody falls through the cracks.

## How small teams can do major gifts well

Major gifts are not the preserve of large development offices. A small team, even a team of one, can
run an effective major gift programme, because the work is fundamentally about relationships rather
than resources, and a small organisation often has something a large one cannot replicate: genuine
closeness to its cause and to its supporters. Focus is your friend. Rather than trying to cultivate
dozens of prospects at once, a small team should work a short, carefully qualified list intensively,
and lean on warm connections through trustees and existing supporters to open doors that cold
approaches never would.

There is, however, an important caution that experienced fundraisers raise repeatedly. Securing a
single very large donor early in a small team's life can, paradoxically, stifle growth rather than
fuel it. Writing for Hubbub, Lewis Clayton sets out how this happens. Major prospects take far longer
to close than you expect, and chasing one big relationship can swallow the time you should be spending
building a pipeline; after landing his largest gift, Clayton describes looking at his "unloved and
neglected pipeline" and admitting "I really had let it slip." A single dominant donor can also quietly
reshape your priorities, so that your strategic plan, as he puts it, "has to take a back seat" to what
the donor wants. And dependency creates fragility: when too much of your income rests, in his words,
"on this one deal," every renewal becomes a moment of organisational anxiety rather than routine
stewardship.

The lesson is not to avoid major gifts but to keep them in proportion. Clayton's advice is to aim for
"a healthy spread of small, medium and large size deals" so that growth is sustainable and no single
relationship, however generous, can hold the organisation hostage. For a small team, that means
pursuing major gifts ambitiously while continuing to invest in the broad base of regular and
mid-level donors that gives you resilience. A major gift should be a lever that lifts a healthy
programme, not a crutch that a fragile one leans on. Used that way, with patience, focus and a diverse
base beneath it, major gift fundraising is one of the most rewarding and transformational things a
small team can do.

## Frequently asked questions

**How much is a major gift?** There is no universal figure. It is the level at which a gift is large
enough to be worth a personal, one-to-one relationship rather than mass communication, and it depends
entirely on your organisation. For one charity that might be $1,000; for a large university it might
be $25,000 or more. Set a threshold that reflects your own programme.

**How long does it take to secure a major gift?** Usually longer than you expect. Cultivating a
genuine relationship to the point of a significant ask commonly takes many months and sometimes years.
The patience is the point: rushing the ask is the most common way to lose a gift you might otherwise
have won.

**Who should make the ask?** Whoever has the strongest, most credible relationship with the donor and
the standing to ask for the amount in question. Often that is the fundraiser, but for the largest
gifts it may be the chief executive, the chair, or a peer of the donor who can ask as an equal. Plan
the ask around the relationship, not the job title.

**Should I name a specific amount when I ask?** Yes. A specific, considered figure tied to a specific
purpose is far more effective than a vague appeal to generosity. Naming an amount shows you understand
the donor's capacity and gives them a clear decision to make. The cultivation work is what tells you
which figure is right.

**Can major gifts work as match funding for a Giving Day or Challenge Week?** Very effectively. A
major donor's gift used as a match or challenge fund multiplies its impact by motivating many other
people to give, and research shows matched appeals attract significantly more donors. It also gives
the donor a leadership role and a chance to see their impact in real time, which many major donors
find more compelling than a quiet, standalone gift.

**We are a small team. Should we chase one big donor?** Pursue major gifts, but not at the expense of
everything else. Relying too heavily on one large donor can neglect your wider pipeline, let the donor
reshape your priorities, and leave you dangerously exposed at renewal. Aim for a healthy mix of small,
medium and large gifts so that growth is sustainable and no single relationship can destabilise you.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: motivating major donors to give to digital appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Großspenden gewinnen und langfristig binden](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zur Großspenden-Fundraising, der die Identifizierung und Recherche von Interessenten, den Beziehungszyklus, die Spendenanfrage, die Rolle von Großspenden als Verdopplungsfonds in digitalen Kampagnen und die Spenderbindung behandelt.
Eine Großspende ist eine Zuwendung, die groß genug ist, um zu verändern, was Ihre Organisation leisten kann, gegeben von einer Person, die sich bewusst und persönlich entschieden hat, diesen Unterschied zu machen. Der Betrag, der als groß gilt, schwankt enorm: Für eine kleine gemeinnützige Organisation können es 1.000 € sein, während eine große universitäre Entwicklungsabteilung eine Großspenden-Beziehung vielleicht nicht unterhalb von 25.000 € oder 50.000 € eröffnet. Die Zahl ist weit weniger wichtig als das Prinzip dahinter. Großspenden-Fundraising ist keine Transaktion, die Sie abwickeln, sondern eine Beziehung, die Sie aufbauen, einen Interessenten nach dem anderen, über Monate und oft Jahre. Wo Direktmailing, digitale Appelle und regelmäßiges Geben in großem Maßstab funktionieren und Spender als Teil eines breiteren Publikums behandeln, funktionieren Großspenden eins zu eins und behandeln jeden Spender als Menschen mit eigenen Motiven, eigener Geschichte und eigenen Zielen.

Dieser Leitfaden behandelt den gesamten Bogen dieser Beziehung: wie man Großspender findet, wie man die Beziehung aufbaut, wie man gut um eine Spende bittet, wie eine Großspende eine digitale Kampagne antreiben kann und wie man Spender so betreut, dass aus einer ersten Spende eine dauerhafte Partnerschaft wird. Er betrachtet auch ehrlich eine Frage, die für kleinere Teams wichtig ist: ob es mehr schaden als nutzen kann, sich zu stark auf einen großen Spender zu stützen.

> **Praxisvorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Vorlage zur Interessentenrecherche für Großspenden](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [Vorlage für ein Großspenden-Angebot](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) und
> [Betreuungsplan für Großspender](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) herunterzuladen.

## Wo Großspenden in Ihrem Programm stehen

Es hilft, sich Ihre Unterstützer als Pyramide vorzustellen. Die Basis ist breit und flach: viele Spender, die durch Appelle, Veranstaltungen und regelmäßige Spenden bescheidene Beträge geben. Je weiter man nach oben kommt, desto größer werden die Spenden und desto weniger werden die Spender, bis man bei der kleinen Zahl von Personen ankommt, die zu einer Großspende fähig sind. Die Arbeit an der Basis dreht sich weitgehend um Systeme, Botschaften und Reichweite; die Arbeit an der Spitze dreht sich fast ausschließlich um Beziehungen. Die beiden sind miteinander verbunden. Der heutige regelmäßige Spender oder Veranstaltungsbesucher kann der Großspender von morgen sein, was einer der Gründe ist, warum ein gesundes Programm der Massenbeteiligung der natürliche Zubringer für eine Großspenden-Pipeline ist.

Großspenden sind auch der Bereich, in dem sich die Rechnung ändert. Eine einzige fünf- oder sechsstellige Spende kann den Einnahmen von Tausenden kleinerer Spender entsprechen, was genau der Grund ist, warum die Arbeit die Geduld wert ist, die sie verlangt. Diese Konzentration ist zugleich ein Risiko. Ein Großspenden-Programm ist am stärksten, wenn es neben einer vielfältigen Basis steht, statt sie zu ersetzen, ein Punkt, auf den wir am Ende zurückkommen, weil er die wichtigste Mahnung für ein kleines Team ist.

## Interessenten identifizieren und recherchieren

Sie können niemanden um eine Spende bitten, den Sie nicht identifiziert haben, und Sie sollten niemanden bitten, den Sie nicht verstehen. Die Identifizierung und Recherche von Interessenten ist die unspektakuläre Grundlagenarbeit, die alles andere möglich macht, und die hier investierte Zeit ist selten verschwendet.

Beginnen Sie bei den Menschen, die Ihnen am nächsten stehen. Ihre wärmsten Interessenten stehen fast immer bereits in Ihrer Datei: langjährige regelmäßige Spender, Personen, die eine bemerkenswert große Einmalspende gegeben haben, Ehemalige oder Begünstigte mit einer starken emotionalen Bindung, Vorstandsmitglieder und Freiwillige sowie die persönlichen Netzwerke all dieser Personen. Der klassische Test, der im ganzen Sektor verwendet wird, vereint drei Dinge: **Verbindung**, **Fähigkeit** und **Interesse**. Verbindung bedeutet eine echte Beziehung zu Ihrer Sache, idealerweise ein warmer Zugang über jemanden, der die Person bereits kennt. Fähigkeit bedeutet die finanzielle Kapazität, eine bedeutende Spende zu leisten. Interesse bedeutet eine echte Affinität zu der Arbeit, die Sie leisten. Ein Interessent braucht alle drei. Kapazität ohne Affinität führt selten zum Ziel, und Affinität ohne Kapazität, so erfreulich sie auch sein mag, wird kein Gebäude finanzieren.

Recherche verwandelt einen Namen in eine Person, mit der Sie ein bedeutungsvolles Gespräch führen können. Ein Teil davon ist Schreibtischrecherche: veröffentlichte Informationen über die Laufbahn eines Interessenten, seine geschäftlichen Interessen, andere philanthropische Aktivitäten, öffentliche Ämter und die Anliegen, die er anderswo unterstützt hat. Die nützlichsten Erkenntnisse stammen jedoch oft von Ihren eigenen Leuten. Ein Vorstandsmitglied, das mit einem Interessenten Golf spielt, ein Kollege, der dessen Tochter unterrichtet hat, ein bestehender Spender, der im selben gemeinnützigen Ausschuss sitzt: Diese warmen Verbindungen sagen Ihnen mehr über Motivation als jede Datenbank. Halten Sie Ihre Recherche verhältnismäßig, ethisch und im Einklang mit den Datenschutzvorschriften, dokumentieren Sie sie konsequent und nutzen Sie sie für eine einzige Sache: zu verstehen, was diesem Menschen am Herzen liegt und warum er gerade an Sie spenden möchte. Unsere [Vorlage zur Interessentenrecherche für Großspenden](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) bietet Ihnen ein einheitliches Format, um all dies zu erfassen.

## Der Beziehungszyklus

Großspenden-Fundraising folgt einem Zyklus, den der Sektor üblicherweise in fünf Phasen beschreibt: **identifizieren, qualifizieren, kultivieren, fragen** und **betreuen**. Zu wissen, in welcher Phase sich eine Beziehung befindet, bewahrt Sie davor, das Richtige zur falschen Zeit zu tun, und der häufigste Fehler bei Großspenden ist, zu früh zu fragen. Jede Phase ist es wert, durchgegangen zu werden.

**Identifizieren** ist die oben beschriebene Akquisearbeit: das Erstellen der Liste von Menschen mit der Verbindung, der Fähigkeit und dem Interesse, zu spenden.

**Qualifizieren** ist der Realitätscheck. Nicht jeder vielversprechende Name ist ein echter Interessent. Die Qualifizierung bestätigt, meist durch ein oder zwei frühe Gespräche, dass die Kapazität real ist, das Interesse echt ist und es einen plausiblen Weg zu einer Spende gibt. Einen Interessenten früh auszuschließen ist kein Versagen: Es macht Ihre Zeit frei für jene, die spenden werden.

**Kultivieren** ist das Herzstück der Arbeit und meist die längste Phase. Hier bauen Sie eine echte Beziehung auf: Sie lernen den Spender kennen, vertiefen sein Verständnis für Ihre Sache und seine Verbindung dazu und finden heraus, was ihn wirklich begeistern würde. Kultivierung ist keine Charmeoffensive mit einem Scheck am Ende. Sie ist ein wechselseitiger Prozess, die Überschneidung zwischen dem, was dem Spender am Herzen liegt, und dem, was Ihre Organisation braucht, zu finden.

**Fragen** ist der Moment, in dem Sie um die Spende bitten. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt sollte ein gut kultivierter Interessent bereits ungefähr wissen, was kommt, sodass sich die Anfrage wie der natürliche nächste Schritt anfühlt und nicht wie ein Hinterhalt. Eine gute Anfrage ist sowohl beim Betrag als auch beim Zweck konkret.

**Betreuen** ist alles, was nach der Spende geschieht: danken, Bericht erstatten und den Spender nah halten. Die Betreuung ist nicht das Ende des Zyklus, sondern der Beginn des nächsten, denn ein gut betreuter Großspender ist Ihr bester Interessent für die nächste, oft größere Spende.

## Die Beziehung aufbauen

Kultivierung belohnt Geduld und echtes Interesse und bestraft Hast. Das Ziel ist, einen Interessenten vom Bewusstsein für Ihre Sache zu einem tiefen persönlichen Engagement dafür zu bewegen, und das gelingt Ihnen, indem Sie geben, bevor Sie bitten: indem Sie Ihre Zeit, Ihre Aufmerksamkeit, den Zugang zu Ihrer Arbeit und den Menschen dahinter geben sowie ein echtes Gefühl dafür, dass sein Engagement zählt.

In der Praxis sieht Kultivierung so aus: einen Interessenten einzuladen, Ihre Arbeit persönlich zu sehen, ihn den Begünstigten oder Forschenden vorzustellen, die seine Spende unterstützen könnte, Neuigkeiten zu teilen, die an sein besonderes Interesse anknüpfen, und um seinen Rat zu bitten statt nur um sein Geld. Viele Großspender sind erfolgreiche, vielbeschäftigte Menschen, die gut darauf reagieren, als Partner mit anzubietender Expertise behandelt zu werden und nicht als bloße Scheckhefte, die es zu öffnen gilt. Zuhören zählt mehr als Präsentieren. Die besten Kultivierungsgespräche sind jene, in denen der Spender am meisten spricht, denn was er Ihnen über seine Hoffnungen und Werte erzählt, ist genau das, worum herum Sie Ihr späteres Angebot aufbauen werden.

Machen Sie sich durchgehend sorgfältige Notizen und planen Sie nach jedem Kontakt den nächsten Schritt. Eine Beziehung, die treibt, verliert an Schwung, und Schwung ist, einmal verloren, teuer wiederaufzubauen.

## Die Anfrage stellen und ein Angebot schreiben

Die Anfrage ist der Teil, den Fundraiser am häufigsten fürchten und am häufigsten überkomplizieren. Wenn die Kultivierung gut gemacht wurde, ist sie der leichte Teil. In dieser Phase sollten Sie wissen, was dem Spender am Herzen liegt, ungefähr wozu er fähig ist und wie er angesprochen werden möchte. Die Anfrage selbst sollte **konkret**, **persönlich** und nach Möglichkeit **von Angesicht zu Angesicht** durch die richtige Person erfolgen, die manchmal der Fundraiser ist und manchmal eine Geschäftsführerin, ein Vorstandsvorsitzender oder jemand auf Augenhöhe mit dem Spender.

Seien Sie konkret beim Betrag. „Würden Sie eine Spende von 50.000 € in Betracht ziehen, um die ersten drei Jahre dieses Stipendiums zu finanzieren?" ist eine weit stärkere Anfrage als die vage Hoffnung, dass die Person großzügig geben möge. Eine Zahl zu nennen zeigt, dass Sie über ihre Kapazität nachgedacht haben, respektiert ihre Intelligenz und gibt ihr eine klare Entscheidung zu treffen. Seien Sie auch beim Zweck konkret: Großspender spenden für Ergebnisse und für eine Vision, nicht für allgemeine Mittel, also verbinden Sie die Spende mit etwas Greifbarem und Wichtigem.

Ein schriftliches Angebot begleitet oder folgt meist auf das Gespräch. Es sollte sich wie ein für eine einzelne Person geschriebenes Dokument lesen, nicht wie eine für alle gedruckte Broschüre. Ein starkes Großspenden-Angebot legt den Bedarf oder die Chance klar dar, erläutert genau, was die Spende des Spenders bewirken würde, nennt den konkreten Betrag und was er finanziert und beschreibt, wie Sie über den bewirkten Unterschied Bericht erstatten werden. Halten Sie es knapp, beginnen Sie mit der Wirkung statt mit der Organisationsgeschichte und machen Sie den Spender zum Helden der Geschichte. Wo steuerliche Anreize gelten, lohnt es sich, sie behutsam zu erwähnen, da die meisten europäischen Länder Spendern einen Steuerabzug oder eine Steuerermäßigung auf gemeinnützige Spenden gewähren. Für grenzüberschreitende Spenden innerhalb Europas ermöglicht Transnational Giving Europe einem Spender in einem teilnehmenden Land, steuerwirksam an eine gemeinnützige Organisation in einem anderen Land zu spenden. Für viele Spender kann das die Größe einer Spende erhöhen. Unsere [Vorlage für ein Großspenden-Angebot](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) bietet Ihnen eine Struktur, die Sie für jeden Spender anpassen können.

## Großspenden als Verdopplung und Herausforderung hinter einer digitalen Kampagne

Eine der wirkungsvollsten und am wenigsten genutzten Rollen für eine Großspende ist überhaupt nicht die einer eigenständigen Zuwendung, sondern die des Verdopplungs- oder Herausforderungsfonds, der eine Kampagne der Massenbeteiligung antreibt, etwa einen [Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) oder eine [Challenge-Woche](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Statt still in den Büchern anzukommen, wird die Spende eines Großspenders zum Motor einer öffentlichen Kampagne und vervielfacht ihre eigene Wirkung, indem sie Hunderte oder Tausende anderer Menschen zum Spenden motiviert.

Die Belege für die Verdopplung sind eindrucksvoll. Die von Hubbub berichtete Forschung von Big Give ergab, dass 84 Prozent der Befragten glaubten, sie würden eher an einen gemeinnützigen Appell spenden, wenn man ihnen sagte, ihre Spende werde verdoppelt, und mehr als 36 Prozent gaben an, sie hätten nur deshalb an eine Kampagne gespendet, weil sie mit einem Verdopplungsfonds ausgestattet war. Mit anderen Worten: Ein Großspender, der die Verdopplung finanziert, fügt nicht nur sein eigenes Geld hinzu, sondern setzt Spenden frei, die andernfalls nicht zustande gekommen wären. Derselbe Effekt zeigt sich beim Crowdfunding, wo Projekte, die eine Verdopplung erhalten, ihr Mindestziel eher erreichen als jene ohne.

Dieser Rahmen gibt Ihnen auch eine überzeugende neue Art zu fragen, denn viele Großspender sind durch Führung und durch den Wunsch, andere zu inspirieren, motiviert. Die Hinweise von Hubbub unterscheiden zwei grobe Spendermotivationen. Manche Spender werden von **Führung und Inspiration** angezogen: Sie wollen, dass ihre Spende ein Beispiel setzt, Vertrauen in eine Sache demonstriert und Einnahmepotenzial schafft, indem sie andere zum Mitmachen ermutigt. Eine Verdopplungsspende ist für diesen Spender maßgeschneidert, denn Sie können ihm genau zeigen, wie sich seine Spende über einen Spendentag hinweg vervielfacht hat. Andere Spender sind eher **intrinsisch und altruistisch** motiviert, durch persönliche Verbundenheit, durch das Gefühl, Teil einer Gemeinschaft zu sein, und durch das Eintreten für eine Sache, die ihnen am Herzen liegt; für sie ermöglicht das Finanzieren der Verdopplung hinter einem studentisch geführten Projekt oder einer ihnen nahen Sache, zu etwas Größerem als einer einzelnen Transaktion zu gehören. Den Spender mit der Motivation in Einklang zu bringen, ist der ganze Trick, und ein Herausforderungsfonds bietet beiden Arten von Spendern etwas, das eine schlichte Anfrage nicht bieten kann.

> Ein Großspender, der die Verdopplung finanziert, fügt nicht nur sein eigenes Geld hinzu. Er setzt Spenden frei, die andernfalls nicht zustande gekommen wären, und gibt sich selbst die Genugtuung, vorangegangen zu sein.

In der Praxis bedeutet das, Ihre Großspenden-Arbeit und Ihre digitale Kampagnenplanung miteinander zu verweben, statt sie in getrennten Silos zu betreiben. Wenn Sie in den Monaten vor einem Spendentag einen Großinteressenten kultivieren, kann eine Verdopplungs- oder Herausforderungsspende genau die richtige Anfrage sein: Sie ist konkret, sie ist zeitlich begrenzt, sie hat sichtbare Hebelwirkung, und sie lässt den Spender seine Wirkung in Echtzeit miterleben. Hubbubs [Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) kann Ihnen helfen, zu modellieren, wie ein bestimmter Verdopplungstopf wahrscheinlich abschneiden wird, was sowohl für das Festlegen Ihres Ziels nützlich ist als auch dafür, einem potenziellen Verdopplungsgeber zu zeigen, was seine Spende bewirken könnte.

## Betreuen und Bericht erstatten

Die Spende ist nicht die Ziellinie. Wie Sie einen Spender behandeln, nachdem er gegeben hat, entscheidet darüber, ob Sie eine einmalige Spende gesichert oder eine Partnerschaft begonnen haben, die über Jahre wächst, und die Betreuung ist der Punkt, an dem viele Organisationen wichtige Beziehungen still erkalten lassen.

Danken Sie schnell, danken Sie gut und danken Sie persönlich. Eine Großspende verdient mehr als eine Standardquittung: einen prompten, herzlichen, persönlichen Dank, idealerweise von jemandem in leitender Position, und oft mehr als eine Anerkennung von verschiedenen Personen. Halten Sie dann das Versprechen, das Sie im Angebot gegeben haben. Berichten Sie, was die Spende bewirkt hat, konkret und ehrlich, mit den Details und den menschlichen Geschichten, die dem Spender den Unterschied zeigen, den er gemacht hat. Wenn Sie gesagt haben, seine Spende würde drei Stipendien finanzieren, erzählen Sie ihm mit deren Einverständnis von den drei Studierenden und was es ihnen bedeutet hat.

Gute Betreuung bedeutet auch, den Spender zwischen den Spenden nah zu halten: Einladungen, die Arbeit zu sehen, Aktualisierungen, die an sein besonderes Interesse anknüpfen, Vorstellungen der Menschen, die seine Spende unterstützt, und echte Anerkennung in welcher Form auch immer ihm zusagt. Denken Sie daran, dass manche Großspender öffentliche Anerkennung schätzen und andere Anonymität deutlich vorziehen, also fragen Sie immer und gehen Sie nie von etwas aus. Das zugrunde liegende Prinzip ist einfach: Behandeln Sie den Spender als geschätzten Partner in der Arbeit statt als Geldquelle, und die nächste Spende wird zur gegebenen Zeit zu einem Gespräch zwischen Mitstreitern statt zu einer kalten Anfrage. Unser [Betreuungsplan für Großspender](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) hilft Ihnen, die Berührungspunkte für jeden Spender über das Jahr hinweg zu kartieren, damit niemand durchs Raster fällt.

## Wie kleine Teams Großspenden gut umsetzen

Großspenden sind nicht das Vorrecht großer Entwicklungsabteilungen. Ein kleines Team, selbst ein Team aus einer Person, kann ein wirksames Großspenden-Programm betreiben, denn die Arbeit dreht sich grundlegend um Beziehungen statt um Ressourcen, und eine kleine Organisation hat oft etwas, das eine große nicht nachbilden kann: echte Nähe zu ihrer Sache und zu ihren Unterstützern. Fokus ist Ihr Freund. Statt zu versuchen, Dutzende Interessenten auf einmal zu kultivieren, sollte ein kleines Team eine kurze, sorgfältig qualifizierte Liste intensiv bearbeiten und sich auf warme Verbindungen über Vorstandsmitglieder und bestehende Unterstützer stützen, um Türen zu öffnen, die kalte Ansprachen niemals öffnen würden.

Es gibt jedoch eine wichtige Mahnung, die erfahrene Fundraiser immer wieder erheben. Einen einzigen sehr großen Spender früh im Leben eines kleinen Teams zu sichern, kann paradoxerweise das Wachstum eher ersticken als befeuern. In einem Beitrag für Hubbub legt Lewis Clayton dar, wie das geschieht. Großinteressenten brauchen weit länger zum Abschluss, als Sie erwarten, und das Verfolgen einer einzigen großen Beziehung kann die Zeit verschlingen, die Sie für den Aufbau einer Pipeline aufwenden sollten; nachdem er seine größte Spende eingeworben hatte, beschreibt Clayton, wie er auf seine „ungeliebte und vernachlässigte Pipeline" blickte und einräumte: „Ich hatte sie wirklich schleifen lassen." Ein einzelner dominanter Spender kann auch still Ihre Prioritäten umgestalten, sodass Ihr Strategieplan, wie er es ausdrückt, „in den Hintergrund treten muss" hinter dem, was der Spender will. Und Abhängigkeit schafft Fragilität: Wenn zu viel Ihrer Einnahmen, in seinen Worten, „auf diesem einen Geschäft" ruht, wird jede Erneuerung zu einem Moment organisatorischer Angst statt zu routinemäßiger Betreuung.

Die Lehre ist nicht, Großspenden zu meiden, sondern sie im Verhältnis zu halten. Claytons Rat ist, „eine gesunde Streuung aus kleinen, mittleren und großen Geschäften" anzustreben, damit Wachstum nachhaltig ist und keine Beziehung, so großzügig sie auch sein mag, die Organisation in Geiselhaft nehmen kann. Für ein kleines Team bedeutet das, Großspenden ehrgeizig zu verfolgen und zugleich weiter in die breite Basis aus regelmäßigen und mittelgroßen Spendern zu investieren, die Ihnen Widerstandskraft verleiht. Eine Großspende sollte ein Hebel sein, der ein gesundes Programm anhebt, keine Krücke, auf die sich ein fragiles stützt. So genutzt, mit Geduld, Fokus und einer vielfältigen Basis darunter, ist Großspenden-Fundraising eines der lohnendsten und transformativsten Dinge, die ein kleines Team tun kann.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Wie hoch ist eine Großspende?** Es gibt keine universelle Zahl. Es ist die Höhe, bei der eine Spende groß genug ist, um eine persönliche Eins-zu-eins-Beziehung statt Massenkommunikation wert zu sein, und das hängt vollständig von Ihrer Organisation ab. Für eine gemeinnützige Organisation können das 1.000 € sein; für eine große Universität 25.000 € oder mehr. Setzen Sie eine Schwelle, die Ihr eigenes Programm widerspiegelt.

**Wie lange dauert es, eine Großspende zu sichern?** Meist länger, als Sie erwarten. Eine echte Beziehung bis zum Punkt einer bedeutenden Anfrage zu kultivieren, dauert häufig viele Monate und manchmal Jahre. Die Geduld ist der Kern: Die Anfrage zu überstürzen ist der häufigste Weg, eine Spende zu verlieren, die Sie andernfalls hätten gewinnen können.

**Wer sollte die Anfrage stellen?** Wer auch immer die stärkste, glaubwürdigste Beziehung zum Spender hat und das Ansehen, um den fraglichen Betrag zu bitten. Oft ist das der Fundraiser, aber bei den größten Spenden kann es die Geschäftsführerin, der Vorstandsvorsitzende oder jemand auf Augenhöhe mit dem Spender sein, der als Gleichgestellter fragen kann. Planen Sie die Anfrage um die Beziehung herum, nicht um den Titel.

**Sollte ich bei der Anfrage einen konkreten Betrag nennen?** Ja. Eine konkrete, durchdachte Zahl, die mit einem konkreten Zweck verknüpft ist, ist weit wirksamer als ein vager Appell an die Großzügigkeit. Einen Betrag zu nennen zeigt, dass Sie die Kapazität des Spenders verstehen, und gibt ihm eine klare Entscheidung zu treffen. Die Kultivierungsarbeit ist es, die Ihnen sagt, welche Zahl die richtige ist.

**Können Großspenden als Verdopplungsfonds für einen Spendentag oder eine Challenge-Woche funktionieren?** Sehr wirksam. Die als Verdopplungs- oder Herausforderungsfonds genutzte Spende eines Großspenders vervielfacht ihre Wirkung, indem sie viele andere Menschen zum Spenden motiviert, und die Forschung zeigt, dass verdoppelte Appelle deutlich mehr Spender anziehen. Sie gibt dem Spender außerdem eine Führungsrolle und die Chance, seine Wirkung in Echtzeit zu sehen, was viele Großspender überzeugender finden als eine stille, eigenständige Spende.

**Wir sind ein kleines Team. Sollten wir einen einzigen großen Spender verfolgen?** Verfolgen Sie Großspenden, aber nicht auf Kosten alles anderen. Sich zu stark auf einen großen Spender zu stützen, kann Ihre breitere Pipeline vernachlässigen, dem Spender erlauben, Ihre Prioritäten umzugestalten, und Sie bei der Erneuerung gefährlich ungeschützt lassen. Streben Sie eine gesunde Mischung aus kleinen, mittleren und großen Spenden an, damit Wachstum nachhaltig ist und keine einzelne Beziehung Sie destabilisieren kann.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Vorlage zur Interessentenrecherche für Großspenden](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Vorlage für ein Großspenden-Angebot](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Betreuungsplan für Großspender](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Tools

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Appell- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Präsenzmomente direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- [Hubbub-Blog: Großspender motivieren, an digitale Appelle zu spenden](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie man einen Spendentag durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) und [Wie man ein Programm für regelmäßiges Geben aufbaut](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to secure and steward major gifts](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (europe/en): A practical guide to major gift fundraising, covering identifying and researching prospects, the cultivation cycle, making the ask, the role of major gifts as match funding in digital campaigns, and stewardship.
A major gift is a donation large enough to change what your organisation can do, given by an
individual who has chosen, deliberately and personally, to make that difference. The figure that
counts as major varies enormously: for a small charity it might be €1,000, while a large university
development office might not open a major gift relationship below €25,000 or €50,000. The number
matters far less than the principle behind it. Major gift fundraising is not a transaction you
process but a relationship you build, one prospect at a time, over months and often years. Where
direct mail, digital appeals and regular giving work at scale and treat donors as part of a wider
audience, major gifts work one to one and treat each donor as a person with their own motivations,
history and ambitions.

This guide covers the full arc of that relationship: how to find major donors, how to build the
relationship, how to ask well, how a major gift can power a digital campaign, and how to steward
donors so that a first gift becomes a lasting partnership. It also looks honestly at a question
that matters for smaller teams: whether leaning too hard on one big donor can do more harm than
good.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) and
> [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Where major gifts sit in your programme

It helps to picture your supporters as a pyramid. The base is broad and shallow: many donors giving
modest amounts through appeals, events and regular gifts. As you move up, gifts get larger and
donors get fewer, until you reach the small number of individuals capable of a major gift. The work
at the base is largely about systems, messaging and reach; the work at the top is almost entirely
about relationships. The two are connected. Today's regular donor or event attendee may be
tomorrow's major donor, which is one reason a healthy mass-participation programme is the natural
feeder for a major gift pipeline.

Major gifts are also where the maths changes. A single five or six-figure gift can equal the income
from thousands of smaller donors, which is exactly why the work is worth the patience it demands.
That concentration is also a risk. A major gift programme is at its strongest when it sits alongside
a diverse base rather than replacing it, a point we return to at the end because it is the single
most important caution for a small team.

## Identifying and researching prospects

You cannot ask someone you have not identified, and you should not ask someone you do not
understand. Prospect identification and research is the unglamorous groundwork that makes everything
else possible, and time spent here is rarely wasted.

Start with the people closest to you. Your warmest prospects are almost always already on your file:
long-standing regular donors, people who have given a notably large one-off gift, alumni or
beneficiaries with a strong emotional connection, board members and volunteers, and the personal
networks of all of these. The classic test, used across the sector, combines three things:
**linkage**, **ability** and **interest**. Linkage means a genuine connection to your cause, ideally
a warm route in through someone who already knows them. Ability means the financial capacity to make
a significant gift. Interest means a real affinity with the work you do. A prospect needs all three.
Capacity without affinity rarely converts, and affinity without capacity, however lovely, will not
fund a building.

Research turns a name into a person you can have a meaningful conversation with. Some of it is desk
research: published information about a prospect's career, business interests, other philanthropy,
public roles and the causes they have supported elsewhere. The most useful intelligence, though,
often comes from your own people. A board member who plays golf with a prospect, a colleague who
taught their daughter, an existing donor who sits on the same charity committee: these warm
connections tell you more about motivation than any database. Keep your research proportionate,
ethical and compliant with data protection rules, record it consistently, and use it to do one
thing: understand what this person cares about and why they might want to give to you specifically.
Our [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) gives
you a consistent format for capturing all of this.

## The cultivation cycle

Major gift fundraising follows a cycle that the sector usually describes in five stages:
**identify, qualify, cultivate, ask** and **steward**. Knowing which stage a relationship is in
stops you doing the right thing at the wrong time, and the most common mistake in major gifts is
asking too soon. Each stage is worth walking through.

**Identify** is the prospecting work above: drawing up the list of people with the linkage, ability
and interest to give.

**Qualify** is the reality check. Not every promising name is a genuine prospect. Qualification
confirms, usually through an early conversation or two, that the capacity is real, the interest is
genuine, and there is a plausible route to a gift. Disqualifying a prospect early is not a failure;
it frees your time for the ones who will give.

**Cultivate** is the heart of the work and usually the longest stage. This is where you build a real
relationship: you get to know the donor, deepen their understanding of and connection to your cause,
and learn what would genuinely excite them. Cultivation is not a charm offensive with a cheque at
the end. It is a two-way process of finding the overlap between what the donor cares about and what
your organisation needs.

**Ask** is the moment you invite the gift. By this point a well-cultivated prospect should already
know roughly what is coming, so the ask feels like the natural next step rather than an ambush. A
good ask is specific about both the amount and the purpose.

**Steward** is everything that happens after the gift: thanking, reporting back, and keeping the
donor close. Stewardship is not the end of the cycle but the beginning of the next one, because a
well-stewarded major donor is your single best prospect for the next, often larger, gift.

## Building the relationship

Cultivation rewards patience and genuine interest, and punishes haste. The aim is to move a prospect
from awareness of your cause to a deep personal investment in it, and you do that by giving before
you ask: giving your time, your attention, access to your work and the people behind it, and a real
sense that their involvement matters.

In practice, cultivation looks like inviting a prospect to see your work in person, introducing them
to the beneficiaries or researchers their gift might support, sharing news that connects to their
particular interest, and asking their advice rather than only their money. Many major donors are
successful, busy people who respond well to being treated as partners with expertise to offer, not
just chequebooks to open. Listening matters more than presenting. The best cultivation conversations
are the ones where the donor talks most, because what they tell you about their hopes and values is
exactly what you will build your eventual proposal around.

Throughout, keep careful notes and plan the next step after every contact. A relationship that
drifts loses momentum, and momentum, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.

## Making the ask and writing a proposal

The ask is the part fundraisers most often dread and most often overcomplicate. If the cultivation
has been done well, it is the easy part. By this stage you should know what the donor cares about,
roughly what they are capable of, and how they like to be approached. The ask itself should be
**specific**, **personal** and, wherever possible, made **face to face** by the right person, who is
sometimes the fundraiser and sometimes a chief executive, chair or peer of the donor.

Be specific about the amount. "Would you consider a gift of €50,000 to fund the first three years of
this scholarship?" is a far stronger ask than a vague hope that they might give generously. Naming a
figure shows you have thought about their capacity, respects their intelligence, and gives them a
clear decision to make. Be specific about the purpose too: major donors give to outcomes and to
vision, not to general funds, so tie the gift to something tangible and important.

A written proposal usually accompanies or follows the conversation. It should read as a document
written for one person, not a brochure printed for everyone. A strong major gift proposal sets out
the need or opportunity clearly, explains exactly what the donor's gift would achieve, names the
specific amount and what it funds, and describes how you will report back on the difference it makes.
Keep it tight, lead with impact rather than organisational history, and make the donor the hero of
the story. Where tax incentives apply, it is worth noting them gently, since most European countries
offer donors a tax deduction or reduction on charitable gifts. For cross-border gifts within Europe,
Transnational Giving Europe lets a donor in one participating country give tax-effectively to a
charity in another. For many donors that can increase the size of a gift. Our
[major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) gives
you a structure to adapt for each donor.

## Major gifts as the match and challenge behind a digital campaign

One of the most powerful and underused roles for a major gift is not as a standalone donation at all,
but as the match or challenge fund that powers a mass-participation campaign such as a
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Instead of a major donor's gift arriving
quietly in the accounts, it becomes the engine of a public campaign, multiplying its own impact by
motivating hundreds or thousands of other people to give.

The evidence for matching is striking. Big Give's research, reported by Hubbub, found that 84 per
cent of respondents believed they would be more likely to give to a charity appeal if they were told
their donation would be matched, and more than 36 per cent said they only gave to a campaign because
it was match funded. In other words, a major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own
money: they are unlocking gifts that would not otherwise have been made. The same effect shows up in
crowdfunding, where projects that receive matched funding are more likely to reach their minimum
target than those that do not.

This framing also gives you a compelling new way to ask, because many major donors are motivated by
leadership and by the desire to inspire others. Hubbub's guidance distinguishes two broad donor
motivations. Some donors are drawn by **leadership and inspiration**: they want their gift to set an
example, to demonstrate confidence in a cause, and to create income potential by encouraging others
to follow. A match gift is tailor made for this donor, because you can show them precisely how their
gift multiplied across a Giving Day. Other donors are more **intrinsic and altruistic**, motivated
by personal connection, by feeling part of a community, and by championing a cause they care about;
for them, funding the match behind a student-led project or a cause close to their heart lets them
belong to something larger than a single transaction. Matching the donor to the motivation is the
whole game, and a challenge fund offers both kinds of donor something a plain ask cannot.

> A major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own money. They are unlocking gifts
> that would not otherwise have been made, and giving themselves the satisfaction of having led the
> way.

In practice, this means weaving your major gift work and your digital campaign planning together
rather than running them in separate silos. When you are cultivating a major prospect in the months
before a Giving Day, a match or challenge gift can be exactly the right ask: it is specific, it is
time-bound, it has visible leverage, and it lets the donor see their impact play out in real time.
Hubbub's [Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) can help
you model how a given match pot is likely to perform, which is useful both for setting your target
and for showing a prospective match funder what their gift could achieve.

## Stewarding and reporting back

The gift is not the finish line. How you treat a donor after they have given determines whether you
have secured a one-off donation or begun a partnership that grows over years, and stewardship is
where many organisations quietly let major relationships go cold.

Thank quickly, thank well, and thank personally. A major gift warrants more than a standard receipt:
a prompt, warm, personal thank-you, ideally from someone senior, and often more than one
acknowledgement from different people. Then deliver on the promise you made in the proposal. Report
back on what the gift achieved, specifically and honestly, with the detail and the human stories that
show the donor the difference they made. If you said their gift would fund three scholarships, tell
them about the three students, with their permission, and what it meant to them.

Good stewardship is also about keeping the donor close between gifts: invitations to see the work,
updates that connect to their particular interest, introductions to the people their gift supports,
and genuine recognition in whatever form suits them. Remember that some major donors value public
acknowledgement and others greatly prefer anonymity, so always ask and never assume. The underlying
principle is simple: treat the donor as a valued partner in the work rather than a source of funds,
and the next gift, when the time is right, becomes a conversation between collaborators rather than a
cold ask. Our [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) helps you map
out the touchpoints for each donor across the year so that nobody falls through the cracks.

## How small teams can do major gifts well

Major gifts are not the preserve of large development offices. A small team, even a team of one, can
run an effective major gift programme, because the work is fundamentally about relationships rather
than resources, and a small organisation often has something a large one cannot replicate: genuine
closeness to its cause and to its supporters. Focus is your friend. Rather than trying to cultivate
dozens of prospects at once, a small team should work a short, carefully qualified list intensively,
and lean on warm connections through trustees and existing supporters to open doors that cold
approaches never would.

There is, however, an important caution that experienced fundraisers raise repeatedly. Securing a
single very large donor early in a small team's life can, paradoxically, stifle growth rather than
fuel it. Writing for Hubbub, Lewis Clayton sets out how this happens. Major prospects take far longer
to close than you expect, and chasing one big relationship can swallow the time you should be spending
building a pipeline; after landing his largest gift, Clayton describes looking at his "unloved and
neglected pipeline" and admitting "I really had let it slip." A single dominant donor can also quietly
reshape your priorities, so that your strategic plan, as he puts it, "has to take a back seat" to what
the donor wants. And dependency creates fragility: when too much of your income rests, in his words,
"on this one deal," every renewal becomes a moment of organisational anxiety rather than routine
stewardship.

The lesson is not to avoid major gifts but to keep them in proportion. Clayton's advice is to aim for
"a healthy spread of small, medium and large size deals" so that growth is sustainable and no single
relationship, however generous, can hold the organisation hostage. For a small team, that means
pursuing major gifts ambitiously while continuing to invest in the broad base of regular and
mid-level donors that gives you resilience. A major gift should be a lever that lifts a healthy
programme, not a crutch that a fragile one leans on. Used that way, with patience, focus and a diverse
base beneath it, major gift fundraising is one of the most rewarding and transformational things a
small team can do.

## Frequently asked questions

**How much is a major gift?** There is no universal figure. It is the level at which a gift is large
enough to be worth a personal, one-to-one relationship rather than mass communication, and it depends
entirely on your organisation. For one charity that might be €1,000; for a large university it might
be €25,000 or more. Set a threshold that reflects your own programme.

**How long does it take to secure a major gift?** Usually longer than you expect. Cultivating a
genuine relationship to the point of a significant ask commonly takes many months and sometimes years.
The patience is the point: rushing the ask is the most common way to lose a gift you might otherwise
have won.

**Who should make the ask?** Whoever has the strongest, most credible relationship with the donor and
the standing to ask for the amount in question. Often that is the fundraiser, but for the largest
gifts it may be the chief executive, the chair, or a peer of the donor who can ask as an equal. Plan
the ask around the relationship, not the job title.

**Should I name a specific amount when I ask?** Yes. A specific, considered figure tied to a specific
purpose is far more effective than a vague appeal to generosity. Naming an amount shows you understand
the donor's capacity and gives them a clear decision to make. The cultivation work is what tells you
which figure is right.

**Can major gifts work as match funding for a Giving Day or Challenge Week?** Very effectively. A
major donor's gift used as a match or challenge fund multiplies its impact by motivating many other
people to give, and research shows matched appeals attract significantly more donors. It also gives
the donor a leadership role and a chance to see their impact in real time, which many major donors
find more compelling than a quiet, standalone gift.

**We are a small team. Should we chase one big donor?** Pursue major gifts, but not at the expense of
everything else. Relying too heavily on one large donor can neglect your wider pipeline, let the donor
reshape your priorities, and leave you dangerously exposed at renewal. Aim for a healthy mix of small,
medium and large gifts so that growth is sustainable and no single relationship can destabilise you.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: motivating major donors to give to digital appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo conseguir y fidelizar grandes donaciones](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica de la captación de grandes donaciones, que abarca la identificación e investigación de prospectos, el ciclo de cultivo, la petición, el papel de las grandes donaciones como fondo de igualación en campañas digitales y la fidelización.
Una gran donación es una aportación lo bastante importante como para cambiar lo que vuestra organización es capaz de hacer, entregada por una persona que ha decidido, deliberada y personalmente, marcar esa diferencia. La cifra que se considera grande varía enormemente: para una pequeña entidad pueden ser 1.000 €, mientras que una gran oficina de desarrollo universitario quizá no abra una relación de gran donación por debajo de 25.000 € o 50.000 €. El número importa mucho menos que el principio que lo sustenta. La captación de grandes donaciones no es una transacción que se tramita, sino una relación que se construye, un prospecto cada vez, a lo largo de meses y a menudo años. Allí donde el correo directo, las campañas digitales y la donación periódica funcionan a gran escala y tratan a los donantes como parte de un público más amplio, las grandes donaciones funcionan de uno a uno y tratan a cada donante como una persona con sus propias motivaciones, su historia y sus ambiciones.

Esta guía abarca todo el arco de esa relación: cómo encontrar a los grandes donantes, cómo construir la relación, cómo pedir bien, cómo una gran donación puede impulsar una campaña digital y cómo fidelizar a los donantes para que una primera donación se convierta en una alianza duradera. También aborda con honestidad una cuestión que importa a los equipos más pequeños: si apoyarse demasiado en un solo gran donante puede hacer más mal que bien.

> **Plantillas de trabajo.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de investigación de prospectos para grandes donaciones](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [plantilla de propuesta de gran donación](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) y
> [plan de fidelización de grandes donantes](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Dónde encajan las grandes donaciones en vuestro programa

Ayuda imaginar a vuestros apoyos como una pirámide. La base es ancha y poco profunda: muchos donantes que dan cantidades modestas a través de campañas, eventos y donaciones periódicas. A medida que se asciende, las donaciones se hacen mayores y los donantes más escasos, hasta llegar al reducido número de personas capaces de una gran donación. El trabajo en la base trata sobre todo de sistemas, mensajes y alcance; el trabajo en la cúspide trata casi por completo de relaciones. Ambos están conectados. El donante periódico o asistente a un evento de hoy puede ser el gran donante de mañana, lo cual es una de las razones por las que un programa de participación masiva saludable es el vivero natural de una cartera de grandes donaciones.

Las grandes donaciones son también el terreno donde cambian las cuentas. Una sola donación de cinco o seis cifras puede equivaler a los ingresos de miles de donantes más pequeños, que es exactamente por lo que el trabajo merece la paciencia que exige. Esa concentración es también un riesgo. Un programa de grandes donaciones es más sólido cuando acompaña a una base diversa en lugar de sustituirla, un punto al que volvemos al final porque es la advertencia más importante para un equipo pequeño.

## Identificar e investigar prospectos

No podéis pedir a alguien que no habéis identificado, y no deberíais pedir a alguien que no comprendéis. La identificación e investigación de prospectos es el trabajo de base poco lucido que hace posible todo lo demás, y el tiempo invertido aquí rara vez se desperdicia.

Empezad por las personas más cercanas a vosotros. Vuestros prospectos más cálidos casi siempre ya están en vuestra base: donantes periódicos de largo recorrido, personas que han hecho una donación puntual notablemente grande, antiguos alumnos o beneficiarios con un fuerte vínculo emocional, miembros de la junta y voluntarios, así como las redes personales de todos ellos. La prueba clásica, utilizada en todo el sector, combina tres elementos: **vínculo**, **capacidad** e **interés**. El vínculo significa una conexión auténtica con vuestra causa, idealmente una vía de entrada cálida a través de alguien que ya la conoce. La capacidad significa la posibilidad financiera de hacer una donación significativa. El interés significa una afinidad real con el trabajo que realizáis. Un prospecto necesita los tres. La capacidad sin afinidad rara vez se concreta, y la afinidad sin capacidad, por encantadora que sea, no financiará un edificio.

La investigación convierte un nombre en una persona con la que podéis mantener una conversación con sentido. Una parte es investigación de gabinete: información publicada sobre la trayectoria de un prospecto, sus intereses empresariales, otras actividades filantrópicas, cargos públicos y las causas que ha apoyado en otros lugares. Sin embargo, la información más útil suele proceder de vuestra propia gente. Un miembro de la junta que juega al golf con un prospecto, un colega que dio clase a su hija, un donante existente que forma parte del mismo comité benéfico: estas conexiones cálidas os dicen más sobre la motivación que cualquier base de datos. Mantened vuestra investigación proporcionada, ética y conforme a las normas de protección de datos, registradla de forma coherente y usadla para hacer una sola cosa: comprender qué le importa a esta persona y por qué podría querer donar a vosotros en concreto. Nuestra [plantilla de investigación de prospectos para grandes donaciones](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) os ofrece un formato coherente para recoger todo esto.

## El ciclo de cultivo

La captación de grandes donaciones sigue un ciclo que el sector suele describir en cinco etapas: **identificar, cualificar, cultivar, pedir** y **fidelizar**. Saber en qué etapa se encuentra una relación os evita hacer lo correcto en el momento equivocado, y el error más común en las grandes donaciones es pedir demasiado pronto. Cada etapa merece recorrerse.

**Identificar** es el trabajo de prospección descrito arriba: elaborar la lista de personas con el vínculo, la capacidad y el interés para donar.

**Cualificar** es la prueba de realidad. No todo nombre prometedor es un prospecto genuino. La cualificación confirma, normalmente mediante una o dos conversaciones tempranas, que la capacidad es real, que el interés es genuino y que existe una vía plausible hacia una donación. Descartar pronto a un prospecto no es un fracaso: libera vuestro tiempo para quienes sí donarán.

**Cultivar** es el corazón del trabajo y normalmente la etapa más larga. Aquí es donde construís una relación real: conocéis al donante, profundizáis su comprensión de vuestra causa y su conexión con ella, y descubrís qué le entusiasmaría de verdad. El cultivo no es una ofensiva de seducción con un cheque al final. Es un proceso de doble sentido consistente en encontrar el solapamiento entre lo que le importa al donante y lo que vuestra organización necesita.

**Pedir** es el momento en que invitáis a la donación. A estas alturas, un prospecto bien cultivado ya debería saber más o menos lo que se avecina, de modo que la petición se sienta como el siguiente paso natural y no como una emboscada. Una buena petición es precisa tanto en la cantidad como en el propósito.

**Fidelizar** es todo lo que ocurre después de la donación: agradecer, rendir cuentas y mantener al donante cerca. La fidelización no es el final del ciclo sino el comienzo del siguiente, porque un gran donante bien fidelizado es vuestro mejor prospecto para la próxima donación, a menudo mayor.

## Construir la relación

El cultivo recompensa la paciencia y el interés sincero, y castiga la prisa. El objetivo es llevar a un prospecto desde el conocimiento de vuestra causa hasta una implicación personal profunda en ella, y lo lográis dando antes de pedir: dando vuestro tiempo, vuestra atención, el acceso a vuestro trabajo y a las personas que lo hacen, y una sensación real de que su implicación importa.

En la práctica, el cultivo consiste en invitar a un prospecto a ver vuestro trabajo en persona, presentarlo a los beneficiarios o investigadores que su donación podría apoyar, compartir noticias que conecten con su interés particular y pedir su consejo en lugar de solo su dinero. Muchos grandes donantes son personas exitosas y ocupadas que responden bien cuando se las trata como socios con experiencia que ofrecer, y no como meros talonarios que abrir. Escuchar importa más que presentar. Las mejores conversaciones de cultivo son aquellas en las que el donante habla más, porque lo que os cuenta sobre sus esperanzas y valores es exactamente aquello en torno a lo cual construiréis vuestra futura propuesta.

A lo largo de todo el proceso, tomad notas cuidadosas y planificad el siguiente paso tras cada contacto. Una relación que se deja a la deriva pierde impulso, y el impulso, una vez perdido, es caro de reconstruir.

## Hacer la petición y redactar una propuesta

La petición es la parte que los captadores de fondos más temen y más a menudo complican en exceso. Si el cultivo se ha hecho bien, es la parte fácil. A estas alturas deberíais saber qué le importa al donante, más o menos de qué es capaz y cómo le gusta que se le aborde. La petición en sí debería ser **precisa**, **personal** y, siempre que sea posible, hecha **cara a cara** por la persona adecuada, que a veces es el captador de fondos y a veces un director general, un presidente o un par del donante.

Sed precisos con la cantidad. «¿Consideraría una donación de 50.000 € para financiar los tres primeros años de esta beca?» es una petición mucho más fuerte que la vaga esperanza de que dé con generosidad. Nombrar una cifra muestra que habéis reflexionado sobre su capacidad, respeta su inteligencia y le ofrece una decisión clara que tomar. Sed precisos también con el propósito: los grandes donantes donan a resultados y a una visión, no a fondos generales, así que vinculad la donación a algo tangible e importante.

Una propuesta escrita suele acompañar o seguir a la conversación. Debería leerse como un documento escrito para una sola persona, no como un folleto impreso para todos. Una propuesta sólida de gran donación expone con claridad la necesidad o la oportunidad, explica exactamente qué lograría la donación del donante, nombra la cantidad concreta y lo que financia, y describe cómo rendiréis cuentas de la diferencia que produce. Mantenedla ceñida, abrid con el impacto en lugar de con la historia de la organización y haced del donante el héroe del relato. Donde se apliquen incentivos fiscales, conviene mencionarlos con delicadeza, ya que la mayoría de los países europeos ofrece a los donantes una deducción o reducción fiscal sobre las donaciones benéficas. Para las donaciones transfronterizas dentro de Europa, Transnational Giving Europe permite a un donante de un país participante donar de forma fiscalmente eficiente a una entidad de otro país. Para muchos donantes, eso puede aumentar el tamaño de una donación. Nuestra [plantilla de propuesta de gran donación](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) os ofrece una estructura que adaptar para cada donante.

## Las grandes donaciones como igualación y reto detrás de una campaña digital

Uno de los papeles más potentes e infrautilizados de una gran donación no es en absoluto el de una donación independiente, sino el del fondo de igualación o de reto que impulsa una campaña de participación masiva como un [día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) o una [semana del reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). En lugar de llegar discretamente a las cuentas, la donación de un gran donante se convierte en el motor de una campaña pública, multiplicando su propio impacto al motivar a cientos o miles de personas a donar.

Las pruebas a favor de la igualación son llamativas. La investigación de Big Give, recogida por Hubbub, halló que el 84 por ciento de los encuestados creía que sería más propenso a donar a una campaña benéfica si se le decía que su donación sería igualada, y más del 36 por ciento afirmó haber donado a una campaña solo porque contaba con un fondo de igualación. En otras palabras, un gran donante que financia la igualación no solo añade su propio dinero: desbloquea donaciones que de otro modo no se habrían hecho. El mismo efecto se da en el crowdfunding, donde los proyectos que reciben fondos de igualación tienen más probabilidades de alcanzar su objetivo mínimo que los que no.

Este enfoque os ofrece además una forma nueva y convincente de pedir, porque muchos grandes donantes están motivados por el liderazgo y por el deseo de inspirar a otros. Las orientaciones de Hubbub distinguen dos grandes motivaciones del donante. A algunos donantes les atrae el **liderazgo y la inspiración**: quieren que su donación dé ejemplo, demuestre confianza en una causa y cree potencial de ingresos al animar a otros a seguirla. Una donación de igualación está hecha a medida para este donante, porque podéis mostrarle con precisión cómo se multiplicó su donación a lo largo de un día de la donación. Otros donantes son más **intrínsecos y altruistas**, motivados por el vínculo personal, por sentirse parte de una comunidad y por defender una causa que les importa; para ellos, financiar la igualación detrás de un proyecto liderado por estudiantes o de una causa cercana a su corazón les permite pertenecer a algo más grande que una sola transacción. Hacer coincidir al donante con la motivación es todo el juego, y un fondo de reto ofrece a ambos tipos de donante algo que una simple petición no puede ofrecer.

> Un gran donante que financia la igualación no solo añade su propio dinero. Desbloquea donaciones que de otro modo no se habrían hecho, y se concede a sí mismo la satisfacción de haber marcado el camino.

En la práctica, esto significa entretejer vuestro trabajo de grandes donaciones y la planificación de vuestra campaña digital en lugar de gestionarlos en silos separados. Cuando estáis cultivando a un gran prospecto en los meses previos a un día de la donación, una donación de igualación o de reto puede ser exactamente la petición adecuada: es precisa, está acotada en el tiempo, tiene un apalancamiento visible y permite al donante ver su impacto desplegarse en tiempo real. El [Simulador de día de la donación](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) de Hubbub puede ayudaros a modelar cómo es probable que rinda un bote de igualación determinado, lo cual resulta útil tanto para fijar vuestro objetivo como para mostrar a un posible financiador de la igualación lo que su donación podría lograr.

## Fidelizar y rendir cuentas

La donación no es la línea de meta. Cómo tratéis a un donante después de que haya donado determina si habéis asegurado una donación puntual o iniciado una alianza que crece a lo largo de los años, y la fidelización es el punto donde muchas organizaciones dejan que las grandes relaciones se enfríen en silencio.

Agradeced rápido, agradeced bien y agradeced de forma personal. Una gran donación merece más que un recibo estándar: un agradecimiento pronto, cálido y personal, idealmente de alguien de alto nivel, y a menudo más de un reconocimiento por parte de distintas personas. Después, cumplid la promesa que hicisteis en la propuesta. Rendid cuentas de lo que logró la donación, de forma específica y honesta, con el detalle y las historias humanas que muestren al donante la diferencia que produjo. Si dijisteis que su donación financiaría tres becas, habladle de los tres estudiantes, con su permiso, y de lo que significó para ellos.

Una buena fidelización consiste también en mantener al donante cerca entre donaciones: invitaciones a ver el trabajo, actualizaciones que conecten con su interés particular, presentaciones a las personas a las que apoya su donación y un reconocimiento genuino en la forma que le convenga. Recordad que algunos grandes donantes valoran el reconocimiento público y otros prefieren claramente el anonimato, así que preguntad siempre y no deis nunca nada por supuesto. El principio de fondo es sencillo: tratad al donante como un socio valioso en el trabajo en lugar de como una fuente de fondos, y la próxima donación, en el momento adecuado, se convierte en una conversación entre colaboradores en lugar de una petición en frío. Nuestro [plan de fidelización de grandes donantes](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) os ayuda a trazar los puntos de contacto de cada donante a lo largo del año para que nadie se quede por el camino.

## Cómo los equipos pequeños pueden hacer bien las grandes donaciones

Las grandes donaciones no son patrimonio de las grandes oficinas de desarrollo. Un equipo pequeño, incluso un equipo de una sola persona, puede llevar un programa de grandes donaciones eficaz, porque el trabajo trata fundamentalmente de relaciones más que de recursos, y una organización pequeña a menudo tiene algo que una grande no puede replicar: una cercanía auténtica a su causa y a sus apoyos. El foco es vuestro aliado. En lugar de intentar cultivar a decenas de prospectos a la vez, un equipo pequeño debería trabajar de forma intensiva una lista corta y cuidadosamente cualificada, y apoyarse en las conexiones cálidas a través de patronos y apoyos existentes para abrir puertas que los acercamientos en frío nunca abrirían.

Existe, no obstante, una advertencia importante que los captadores de fondos experimentados plantean una y otra vez. Asegurar a un solo donante muy grande al inicio de la vida de un equipo pequeño puede, paradójicamente, ahogar el crecimiento en lugar de alimentarlo. Escribiendo para Hubbub, Lewis Clayton expone cómo ocurre esto. Los grandes prospectos tardan mucho más en cerrarse de lo que esperáis, y perseguir una sola gran relación puede devorar el tiempo que deberíais dedicar a construir una cartera; tras cerrar su mayor donación, Clayton describe haber mirado su «cartera desatendida y abandonada» y haber admitido: «realmente la había dejado escurrirse». Un único donante dominante también puede remodelar en silencio vuestras prioridades, de modo que vuestro plan estratégico, como él lo expresa, «tiene que pasar a un segundo plano» frente a lo que el donante quiere. Y la dependencia crea fragilidad: cuando una parte demasiado grande de vuestros ingresos descansa, en sus palabras, «sobre este único acuerdo», cada renovación se convierte en un momento de ansiedad organizativa en lugar de una fidelización rutinaria.

La lección no es evitar las grandes donaciones sino mantenerlas en proporción. El consejo de Clayton es aspirar a «un reparto sano de operaciones de tamaño pequeño, mediano y grande» para que el crecimiento sea sostenible y ninguna relación, por generosa que sea, pueda mantener a la organización como rehén. Para un equipo pequeño, eso significa perseguir las grandes donaciones con ambición sin dejar de invertir en la amplia base de donantes periódicos y de nivel intermedio que os da resiliencia. Una gran donación debería ser una palanca que eleva un programa saludable, no una muleta sobre la que se apoya uno frágil. Usada así, con paciencia, foco y una base diversa por debajo, la captación de grandes donaciones es una de las cosas más gratificantes y transformadoras que un equipo pequeño puede hacer.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Cuánto es una gran donación?** No hay una cifra universal. Es el nivel en el que una donación es lo bastante grande como para merecer una relación personal, de uno a uno, en lugar de una comunicación masiva, y depende por completo de vuestra organización. Para una entidad pueden ser 1.000 €; para una gran universidad, 25.000 € o más. Fijad un umbral que refleje vuestro propio programa.

**¿Cuánto tarda en conseguirse una gran donación?** Normalmente más de lo que esperáis. Cultivar una relación auténtica hasta el punto de una petición significativa lleva habitualmente muchos meses y a veces años. La paciencia es la clave: precipitar la petición es la forma más común de perder una donación que de otro modo podríais haber ganado.

**¿Quién debería hacer la petición?** Quien tenga la relación más fuerte y creíble con el donante y la posición para pedir la cantidad en cuestión. A menudo es el captador de fondos, pero para las donaciones más grandes puede ser el director general, el presidente o un par del donante que pueda pedir de igual a igual. Planificad la petición en torno a la relación, no al cargo.

**¿Debería nombrar una cantidad concreta al pedir?** Sí. Una cifra concreta y meditada, vinculada a un propósito concreto, es mucho más eficaz que un vago llamamiento a la generosidad. Nombrar una cantidad muestra que comprendéis la capacidad del donante y le ofrece una decisión clara que tomar. Es el trabajo de cultivo lo que os dice qué cifra es la adecuada.

**¿Pueden las grandes donaciones funcionar como fondo de igualación para un día de la donación o una semana del reto?** Muy eficazmente. La donación de un gran donante usada como fondo de igualación o de reto multiplica su impacto al motivar a muchas otras personas a donar, y la investigación muestra que las campañas igualadas atraen a notablemente más donantes. Además otorga al donante un papel de liderazgo y la oportunidad de ver su impacto en tiempo real, algo que muchos grandes donantes encuentran más convincente que una donación silenciosa e independiente.

**Somos un equipo pequeño. ¿Deberíamos perseguir a un solo gran donante?** Perseguid las grandes donaciones, pero no a costa de todo lo demás. Apoyarse demasiado en un solo gran donante puede llevar a descuidar vuestra cartera más amplia, dejar que el donante remodele vuestras prioridades y exponeros peligrosamente en la renovación. Aspirad a una mezcla sana de donaciones pequeñas, medianas y grandes para que el crecimiento sea sostenible y ninguna relación pueda desestabilizaros.

---

### Pack de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de investigación de prospectos para grandes donaciones](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Plantilla de propuesta de gran donación](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Plan de fidelización de grandes donantes](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de día de la donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tus campañas y correos electrónicos
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Blog de Hubbub: motivar a los grandes donantes a donar en campañas digitales](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo organizar un día de la donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) y [Cómo construir un programa de donación periódica](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para saber más.

- [Comment obtenir et fidéliser les grands dons](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique de la collecte de grands dons, couvrant l'identification et la recherche de prospects, le cycle de cultivation, la demande, le rôle des grands dons comme fonds d'abondement dans les campagnes numériques, et la fidélisation.
Un grand don est un don suffisamment important pour transformer ce que votre organisation est capable de faire, offert par une personne qui a choisi, délibérément et personnellement, de faire cette différence. Le montant qui définit un grand don varie énormément : pour une petite association, il peut s'agir de 1 000 €, tandis qu'un grand service de développement universitaire n'ouvrira peut-être pas de relation de grand don en dessous de 25 000 € ou 50 000 €. Le chiffre importe bien moins que le principe qui le sous-tend. La collecte de grands dons n'est pas une transaction que l'on traite, mais une relation que l'on construit, un prospect à la fois, sur des mois et souvent des années. Là où le publipostage, les appels numériques et les dons réguliers fonctionnent à grande échelle et traitent les donateurs comme une partie d'un public plus large, les grands dons fonctionnent en tête à tête et traitent chaque donateur comme une personne dotée de ses propres motivations, de son histoire et de ses ambitions.

Ce guide couvre l'ensemble de l'arc de cette relation : comment trouver les grands donateurs, comment construire la relation, comment bien demander, comment un grand don peut alimenter une campagne numérique, et comment fidéliser les donateurs pour qu'un premier don devienne un partenariat durable. Il examine aussi honnêtement une question qui compte pour les petites équipes : celle de savoir si s'appuyer trop fortement sur un seul gros donateur peut faire plus de mal que de bien.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de recherche de prospects pour grands dons](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [modèle de proposition de grand don](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) et
> [plan de fidélisation des grands donateurs](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## La place des grands dons dans votre programme

Il est utile de se représenter vos soutiens sous la forme d'une pyramide. La base est large et peu profonde : de nombreux donateurs offrant des montants modestes par le biais d'appels, d'événements et de dons réguliers. À mesure que l'on monte, les dons grandissent et les donateurs se raréfient, jusqu'à atteindre le petit nombre d'individus capables d'un grand don. Le travail à la base relève surtout des systèmes, du message et de la portée ; le travail au sommet relève presque entièrement de la relation. Les deux sont liés. Le donateur régulier ou le participant à un événement d'aujourd'hui peut être le grand donateur de demain, ce qui est l'une des raisons pour lesquelles un programme de participation de masse en bonne santé est le vivier naturel d'un portefeuille de grands dons.

Les grands dons sont aussi le domaine où les calculs changent. Un seul don à cinq ou six chiffres peut égaler les revenus de milliers de petits donateurs, ce qui explique précisément pourquoi ce travail mérite la patience qu'il exige. Cette concentration constitue également un risque. Un programme de grands dons est à son plus solide lorsqu'il s'inscrit aux côtés d'une base diversifiée plutôt que de la remplacer, un point sur lequel nous reviendrons à la fin car c'est la mise en garde la plus importante pour une petite équipe.

## Identifier et rechercher les prospects

Vous ne pouvez pas demander à quelqu'un que vous n'avez pas identifié, et vous ne devriez pas demander à quelqu'un que vous ne comprenez pas. L'identification et la recherche de prospects constituent le travail de fond peu glorieux qui rend tout le reste possible, et le temps qu'on y consacre est rarement perdu.

Commencez par les personnes les plus proches de vous. Vos prospects les plus chauds figurent presque toujours déjà dans votre fichier : donateurs réguliers de longue date, personnes ayant offert un don ponctuel particulièrement important, anciens élèves ou bénéficiaires ayant un lien émotionnel fort, membres du conseil et bénévoles, ainsi que les réseaux personnels de tous ces individus. Le test classique, utilisé dans tout le secteur, combine trois éléments : le **lien**, la **capacité** et l'**intérêt**. Le lien désigne une connexion authentique à votre cause, idéalement une porte d'entrée chaleureuse via quelqu'un qui les connaît déjà. La capacité désigne la possibilité financière de faire un don significatif. L'intérêt désigne une réelle affinité avec le travail que vous menez. Un prospect a besoin des trois. La capacité sans affinité se concrétise rarement, et l'affinité sans capacité, aussi charmante soit-elle, ne financera pas un bâtiment.

La recherche transforme un nom en une personne avec qui vous pouvez avoir une conversation porteuse de sens. Une partie relève de la recherche documentaire : informations publiées sur la carrière d'un prospect, ses intérêts commerciaux, ses autres actions philanthropiques, ses fonctions publiques et les causes qu'il a soutenues ailleurs. Les renseignements les plus utiles proviennent cependant souvent de vos propres équipes. Un membre du conseil qui joue au golf avec un prospect, un collègue qui a enseigné à sa fille, un donateur existant qui siège au même comité caritatif : ces connexions chaleureuses vous en disent plus sur la motivation que n'importe quelle base de données. Maintenez votre recherche proportionnée, éthique et conforme aux règles de protection des données, consignez-la de manière cohérente, et utilisez-la pour faire une seule chose : comprendre ce qui tient à cœur à cette personne et pourquoi elle pourrait vouloir donner à vous en particulier. Notre [modèle de recherche de prospects pour grands dons](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) vous offre un format cohérent pour saisir tout cela.

## Le cycle de cultivation

La collecte de grands dons suit un cycle que le secteur décrit habituellement en cinq étapes : **identifier, qualifier, cultiver, demander** et **fidéliser**. Savoir à quelle étape se situe une relation vous évite de faire la bonne chose au mauvais moment, et l'erreur la plus courante dans les grands dons est de demander trop tôt. Chaque étape mérite d'être parcourue.

**Identifier** correspond au travail de prospection décrit ci-dessus : dresser la liste des personnes ayant le lien, la capacité et l'intérêt nécessaires pour donner.

**Qualifier** est l'épreuve de réalité. Tout nom prometteur n'est pas un véritable prospect. La qualification confirme, généralement à travers une ou deux conversations préliminaires, que la capacité est réelle, que l'intérêt est sincère et qu'il existe une voie plausible vers un don. Disqualifier un prospect tôt n'est pas un échec : cela libère votre temps pour ceux qui donneront.

**Cultiver** est le cœur du travail et généralement l'étape la plus longue. C'est là que vous construisez une véritable relation : vous apprenez à connaître le donateur, vous approfondissez sa compréhension de votre cause et son lien avec elle, et vous découvrez ce qui l'enthousiasmerait véritablement. La cultivation n'est pas une offensive de charme avec un chèque à la clé. C'est un processus à double sens consistant à trouver le recoupement entre ce qui tient à cœur au donateur et ce dont votre organisation a besoin.

**Demander** est le moment où vous invitez le don. À ce stade, un prospect bien cultivé devrait déjà savoir à peu près ce qui s'annonce, si bien que la demande paraît l'étape suivante naturelle plutôt qu'une embuscade. Une bonne demande est précise quant au montant et quant à l'objet.

**Fidéliser** englobe tout ce qui se passe après le don : remercier, rendre compte et garder le donateur proche. La fidélisation n'est pas la fin du cycle mais le début du suivant, car un grand donateur bien fidélisé est votre meilleur prospect pour le prochain don, souvent plus important.

## Construire la relation

La cultivation récompense la patience et l'intérêt sincère, et sanctionne la précipitation. L'objectif est de faire passer un prospect de la simple connaissance de votre cause à un investissement personnel profond, et vous y parvenez en donnant avant de demander : en donnant votre temps, votre attention, l'accès à votre travail et aux personnes qui le portent, et un réel sentiment que son implication compte.

En pratique, la cultivation consiste à inviter un prospect à voir votre travail en personne, à le présenter aux bénéficiaires ou aux chercheurs que son don pourrait soutenir, à partager des nouvelles qui touchent à son intérêt particulier, et à solliciter son avis plutôt que seulement son argent. De nombreux grands donateurs sont des personnes accomplies et occupées qui réagissent bien lorsqu'on les traite comme des partenaires dotés d'une expertise à offrir, et non comme de simples carnets de chèques à ouvrir. Écouter compte plus que présenter. Les meilleures conversations de cultivation sont celles où le donateur parle le plus, car ce qu'il vous confie de ses espoirs et de ses valeurs est exactement ce autour de quoi vous bâtirez votre future proposition.

Tout au long du processus, prenez des notes soigneuses et planifiez l'étape suivante après chaque contact. Une relation qui dérive perd son élan, et l'élan, une fois perdu, coûte cher à reconstruire.

## Faire la demande et rédiger une proposition

La demande est la partie que les collecteurs de fonds redoutent le plus souvent et compliquent le plus souvent à l'excès. Si la cultivation a été bien menée, c'est la partie facile. À ce stade, vous devriez savoir ce qui tient à cœur au donateur, à peu près ce dont il est capable et la façon dont il aime être approché. La demande elle-même doit être **précise**, **personnelle** et, dans la mesure du possible, faite **en face à face** par la bonne personne, qui est parfois le collecteur de fonds et parfois un directeur général, un président ou un pair du donateur.

Soyez précis quant au montant. « Envisageriez-vous un don de 50 000 € pour financer les trois premières années de cette bourse ? » est une demande bien plus forte que le vague espoir qu'il puisse donner généreusement. Nommer un chiffre montre que vous avez réfléchi à sa capacité, respecte son intelligence et lui offre une décision claire à prendre. Soyez précis aussi quant à l'objet : les grands donateurs donnent à des résultats et à une vision, non à des fonds généraux, alors reliez le don à quelque chose de tangible et d'important.

Une proposition écrite accompagne ou suit généralement la conversation. Elle doit se lire comme un document rédigé pour une seule personne, non comme une brochure imprimée pour tout le monde. Une proposition de grand don solide expose clairement le besoin ou l'opportunité, explique exactement ce que le don du donateur permettrait d'accomplir, nomme le montant précis et ce qu'il finance, et décrit comment vous rendrez compte de la différence qu'il produit. Faites-la concise, ouvrez sur l'impact plutôt que sur l'histoire de l'organisation, et faites du donateur le héros de l'histoire. Lorsque des incitations fiscales s'appliquent, il vaut la peine de les mentionner avec délicatesse, car la plupart des pays européens offrent aux donateurs une déduction ou une réduction d'impôt sur les dons caritatifs. Pour les dons transfrontaliers au sein de l'Europe, Transnational Giving Europe permet à un donateur d'un pays participant de donner de manière fiscalement avantageuse à une association d'un autre pays. Pour de nombreux donateurs, cela peut augmenter la taille d'un don. Notre [modèle de proposition de grand don](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) vous offre une structure à adapter pour chaque donateur.

## Les grands dons comme abondement et défi derrière une campagne numérique

L'un des rôles les plus puissants et les plus sous-exploités d'un grand don n'est pas du tout celui d'un don autonome, mais celui du fonds d'abondement ou de défi qui alimente une campagne de participation de masse telle qu'une [journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ou une [semaine du défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Au lieu d'arriver discrètement dans les comptes, le don d'un grand donateur devient le moteur d'une campagne publique, multipliant son propre impact en motivant des centaines ou des milliers d'autres personnes à donner.

Les preuves en faveur de l'abondement sont frappantes. La recherche de Big Give, rapportée par Hubbub, a révélé que 84 pour cent des personnes interrogées estimaient qu'elles seraient plus susceptibles de donner à un appel caritatif si on leur disait que leur don serait abondé, et plus de 36 pour cent ont déclaré n'avoir donné à une campagne que parce qu'elle bénéficiait d'un abondement. Autrement dit, un grand donateur qui finance l'abondement n'ajoute pas seulement son propre argent : il débloque des dons qui n'auraient pas été faits autrement. Le même effet se manifeste dans le financement participatif, où les projets bénéficiant d'un abondement sont plus susceptibles d'atteindre leur objectif minimum que ceux qui n'en bénéficient pas.

Ce cadrage vous offre également une nouvelle façon convaincante de demander, car de nombreux grands donateurs sont motivés par le leadership et par le désir d'inspirer les autres. Les conseils de Hubbub distinguent deux grandes motivations chez les donateurs. Certains donateurs sont attirés par le **leadership et l'inspiration** : ils veulent que leur don donne l'exemple, témoigne de leur confiance en une cause et crée un potentiel de revenus en encourageant d'autres à les suivre. Un don d'abondement est taillé sur mesure pour ce donateur, car vous pouvez lui montrer précisément comment son don s'est multiplié au fil d'une journée du don. D'autres donateurs sont davantage **intrinsèques et altruistes**, motivés par le lien personnel, par le sentiment d'appartenir à une communauté et par la défense d'une cause qui leur tient à cœur ; pour eux, financer l'abondement derrière un projet porté par des étudiants ou une cause chère à leur cœur leur permet d'appartenir à quelque chose de plus grand qu'une simple transaction. Faire correspondre le donateur à la motivation est tout l'enjeu, et un fonds de défi offre aux deux types de donateurs quelque chose qu'une simple demande ne peut offrir.

> Un grand donateur qui finance l'abondement n'ajoute pas seulement son propre argent. Il débloque des dons qui n'auraient pas été faits autrement, et s'offre la satisfaction d'avoir montré la voie.

En pratique, cela signifie tisser ensemble votre travail sur les grands dons et la planification de votre campagne numérique plutôt que de les mener en silos séparés. Lorsque vous cultivez un grand prospect dans les mois précédant une journée du don, un don d'abondement ou de défi peut être exactement la bonne demande : il est précis, il est limité dans le temps, il offre un effet de levier visible, et il permet au donateur de voir son impact se dérouler en temps réel. Le [simulateur de journée du don](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) de Hubbub peut vous aider à modéliser la performance probable d'une cagnotte d'abondement donnée, ce qui est utile à la fois pour fixer votre objectif et pour montrer à un financeur potentiel ce que son don pourrait accomplir.

## Fidéliser et rendre compte

Le don n'est pas la ligne d'arrivée. La façon dont vous traitez un donateur après qu'il a donné détermine si vous avez sécurisé un don ponctuel ou amorcé un partenariat qui croît au fil des années, et la fidélisation est l'endroit où de nombreuses organisations laissent discrètement les grandes relations se refroidir.

Remerciez vite, remerciez bien et remerciez personnellement. Un grand don mérite plus qu'un simple reçu standard : un remerciement rapide, chaleureux et personnel, idéalement de la part d'une personne haut placée, et souvent plusieurs marques de reconnaissance émanant de personnes différentes. Tenez ensuite la promesse que vous avez faite dans la proposition. Rendez compte de ce que le don a accompli, de manière précise et honnête, avec le détail et les histoires humaines qui montrent au donateur la différence qu'il a produite. Si vous aviez dit que son don financerait trois bourses, parlez-lui des trois étudiants, avec leur autorisation, et de ce que cela a signifié pour eux.

Une bonne fidélisation consiste aussi à garder le donateur proche entre deux dons : invitations à voir le travail, mises à jour qui touchent à son intérêt particulier, présentations aux personnes que son don soutient, et une reconnaissance sincère sous la forme qui lui convient. Souvenez-vous que certains grands donateurs apprécient la reconnaissance publique et que d'autres préfèrent grandement l'anonymat, alors demandez toujours et ne présumez jamais. Le principe sous-jacent est simple : traitez le donateur comme un partenaire précieux dans le travail plutôt que comme une source de fonds, et le prochain don, le moment venu, devient une conversation entre collaborateurs plutôt qu'une demande à froid. Notre [plan de fidélisation des grands donateurs](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) vous aide à cartographier les points de contact de chaque donateur tout au long de l'année pour que personne ne passe entre les mailles du filet.

## Comment les petites équipes peuvent réussir les grands dons

Les grands dons ne sont pas l'apanage des grands services de développement. Une petite équipe, même une équipe d'une seule personne, peut mener un programme de grands dons efficace, car ce travail est fondamentalement une affaire de relation plutôt que de ressources, et une petite organisation possède souvent quelque chose qu'une grande ne peut reproduire : une proximité authentique avec sa cause et avec ses soutiens. La concentration est votre alliée. Plutôt que d'essayer de cultiver des dizaines de prospects à la fois, une petite équipe devrait travailler intensivement une liste courte et soigneusement qualifiée, et s'appuyer sur les connexions chaleureuses via les administrateurs et les soutiens existants pour ouvrir des portes que les approches à froid n'ouvriraient jamais.

Il existe cependant une mise en garde importante que les collecteurs de fonds expérimentés soulèvent à plusieurs reprises. Sécuriser un seul très gros donateur au début de la vie d'une petite équipe peut, paradoxalement, étouffer la croissance plutôt que de l'alimenter. Écrivant pour Hubbub, Lewis Clayton explique comment cela se produit. Les grands prospects mettent bien plus de temps à se conclure que vous ne l'imaginez, et courir après une seule grande relation peut engloutir le temps que vous devriez consacrer à construire un portefeuille ; après avoir décroché son plus gros don, Clayton décrit avoir contemplé son « portefeuille mal-aimé et négligé » et avoir admis : « je l'avais vraiment laissé filer ». Un seul donateur dominant peut aussi remodeler discrètement vos priorités, au point que votre plan stratégique, selon ses mots, « doit passer au second plan » derrière ce que veut le donateur. Et la dépendance crée de la fragilité : lorsque une trop grande part de vos revenus repose, pour reprendre ses termes, « sur ce seul accord », chaque renouvellement devient un moment d'anxiété organisationnelle plutôt qu'une fidélisation de routine.

La leçon n'est pas d'éviter les grands dons mais de les garder en proportion. Le conseil de Clayton est de viser « une répartition saine entre petites, moyennes et grandes opérations » afin que la croissance soit durable et qu'aucune relation, aussi généreuse soit-elle, ne puisse prendre l'organisation en otage. Pour une petite équipe, cela signifie poursuivre les grands dons avec ambition tout en continuant d'investir dans la large base de donateurs réguliers et intermédiaires qui vous confère votre résilience. Un grand don devrait être un levier qui soulève un programme en bonne santé, non une béquille sur laquelle s'appuie un programme fragile. Utilisée ainsi, avec patience, concentration et une base diversifiée en dessous, la collecte de grands dons est l'une des choses les plus gratifiantes et les plus transformatrices qu'une petite équipe puisse accomplir.

## Foire aux questions

**Quel montant représente un grand don ?** Il n'existe pas de chiffre universel. C'est le niveau auquel un don est suffisamment important pour justifier une relation personnelle, en tête à tête, plutôt qu'une communication de masse, et cela dépend entièrement de votre organisation. Pour une association, ce peut être 1 000 € ; pour une grande université, ce peut être 25 000 € ou plus. Fixez un seuil qui reflète votre propre programme.

**Combien de temps faut-il pour sécuriser un grand don ?** Généralement plus longtemps que vous ne l'imaginez. Cultiver une relation authentique jusqu'au point d'une demande significative prend couramment de nombreux mois et parfois des années. La patience est tout l'enjeu : précipiter la demande est la manière la plus courante de perdre un don que vous auriez pu remporter.

**Qui devrait faire la demande ?** Celui qui entretient la relation la plus forte et la plus crédible avec le donateur et qui a la stature pour demander le montant en question. Souvent, c'est le collecteur de fonds, mais pour les plus grands dons ce peut être le directeur général, le président ou un pair du donateur capable de demander d'égal à égal. Planifiez la demande autour de la relation, non du titre.

**Devrais-je nommer un montant précis lors de la demande ?** Oui. Un chiffre précis et réfléchi, lié à un objet précis, est bien plus efficace qu'un vague appel à la générosité. Nommer un montant montre que vous comprenez la capacité du donateur et lui offre une décision claire à prendre. C'est le travail de cultivation qui vous indique quel chiffre est le bon.

**Les grands dons peuvent-ils fonctionner comme abondement pour une journée du don ou une semaine du défi ?** Très efficacement. Le don d'un grand donateur utilisé comme fonds d'abondement ou de défi multiplie son impact en motivant de nombreuses autres personnes à donner, et la recherche montre que les appels abondés attirent nettement plus de donateurs. Cela confère aussi au donateur un rôle de leader et la chance de voir son impact en temps réel, ce que de nombreux grands donateurs trouvent plus convaincant qu'un don discret et autonome.

**Nous sommes une petite équipe. Devrions-nous courir après un seul gros donateur ?** Poursuivez les grands dons, mais pas au détriment de tout le reste. Trop s'appuyer sur un seul gros donateur peut conduire à négliger votre portefeuille plus large, laisser le donateur remodeler vos priorités et vous exposer dangereusement au moment du renouvellement. Visez un mélange sain de petits, moyens et grands dons afin que la croissance soit durable et qu'aucune relation ne puisse vous déstabiliser.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de recherche de prospects pour grands dons](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Modèle de proposition de grand don](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Plan de fidélisation des grands donateurs](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de journée du don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de vos appels et de vos e-mails
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Blog Hubbub : motiver les grands donateurs à donner aux appels numériques](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Guides associés : [Comment organiser une journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) et [Comment construire un programme de dons réguliers](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez l'[annuaire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come ottenere e fidelizzare i grandi doni](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica alla raccolta di grandi doni, che copre l'identificazione e la ricerca dei prospect, il ciclo di coltivazione, la richiesta, il ruolo dei grandi doni come fondo di raddoppio nelle campagne digitali e la fidelizzazione.
Un grande dono è una donazione abbastanza importante da cambiare ciò che la vostra organizzazione è in grado di fare, offerta da una persona che ha scelto, deliberatamente e personalmente, di fare quella differenza. La cifra che si considera grande varia enormemente: per una piccola associazione possono essere 1.000 €, mentre un grande ufficio sviluppo universitario potrebbe non aprire una relazione di grande dono al di sotto di 25.000 € o 50.000 €. Il numero conta molto meno del principio che gli sta dietro. La raccolta di grandi doni non è una transazione che si elabora, ma una relazione che si costruisce, un prospect alla volta, nell'arco di mesi e spesso anni. Là dove il direct mail, gli appelli digitali e i doni regolari operano su larga scala e trattano i donatori come parte di un pubblico più ampio, i grandi doni operano uno a uno e trattano ciascun donatore come una persona con le proprie motivazioni, la propria storia e le proprie ambizioni.

Questa guida copre l'intero arco di tale relazione: come trovare i grandi donatori, come costruire la relazione, come chiedere bene, come un grande dono può alimentare una campagna digitale e come fidelizzare i donatori affinché un primo dono diventi una partnership duratura. Affronta anche con onestà una questione che conta per i team più piccoli: se affidarsi troppo a un solo grande donatore possa fare più male che bene.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di ricerca prospect per grandi doni](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [modello di proposta per grandi doni](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) e
> [piano di fidelizzazione dei grandi donatori](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Dove si collocano i grandi doni nel vostro programma

Aiuta immaginare i vostri sostenitori come una piramide. La base è ampia e poco profonda: molti donatori che offrono importi modesti tramite appelli, eventi e doni regolari. Salendo, i doni si fanno più grandi e i donatori meno numerosi, fino a raggiungere il piccolo numero di individui capaci di un grande dono. Il lavoro alla base riguarda in larga misura sistemi, messaggi e portata; il lavoro al vertice riguarda quasi interamente le relazioni. I due sono collegati. Il donatore regolare o il partecipante a un evento di oggi può essere il grande donatore di domani, il che è uno dei motivi per cui un programma di partecipazione di massa in salute è il bacino naturale per una pipeline di grandi doni.

I grandi doni sono anche l'ambito in cui i conti cambiano. Un singolo dono a cinque o sei cifre può equivalere alle entrate di migliaia di donatori più piccoli, ed è esattamente per questo che il lavoro merita la pazienza che richiede. Quella concentrazione è anche un rischio. Un programma di grandi doni è al suo più solido quando affianca una base diversificata anziché sostituirla, un punto su cui torneremo alla fine perché è la cautela più importante per un piccolo team.

## Identificare e ricercare i prospect

Non potete chiedere a qualcuno che non avete identificato, e non dovreste chiedere a qualcuno che non comprendete. L'identificazione e la ricerca dei prospect sono il lavoro di base poco glamour che rende possibile tutto il resto, e il tempo speso qui è raramente sprecato.

Cominciate dalle persone più vicine a voi. I vostri prospect più caldi sono quasi sempre già nel vostro archivio: donatori regolari di lunga data, persone che hanno offerto un dono una tantum particolarmente cospicuo, ex allievi o beneficiari con un forte legame emotivo, membri del consiglio e volontari, oltre alle reti personali di tutti costoro. Il test classico, usato in tutto il settore, combina tre elementi: **legame**, **capacità** e **interesse**. Il legame indica una connessione autentica alla vostra causa, idealmente un accesso caloroso tramite qualcuno che già la conosce. La capacità indica la possibilità finanziaria di fare un dono significativo. L'interesse indica una reale affinità con il lavoro che svolgete. Un prospect ha bisogno di tutti e tre. La capacità senza affinità raramente si concretizza, e l'affinità senza capacità, per quanto deliziosa, non finanzierà un edificio.

La ricerca trasforma un nome in una persona con cui potete avere una conversazione significativa. Una parte è ricerca a tavolino: informazioni pubblicate sulla carriera di un prospect, i suoi interessi imprenditoriali, altre attività filantropiche, ruoli pubblici e le cause che ha sostenuto altrove. Le informazioni più utili, però, provengono spesso dalle vostre stesse persone. Un membro del consiglio che gioca a golf con un prospect, un collega che ha insegnato a sua figlia, un donatore esistente che siede nello stesso comitato benefico: queste connessioni calorose vi dicono di più sulla motivazione di qualsiasi banca dati. Mantenete la ricerca proporzionata, etica e conforme alle norme sulla protezione dei dati, registratela in modo coerente e usatela per fare una cosa sola: capire ciò che sta a cuore a questa persona e perché potrebbe voler donare proprio a voi. Il nostro [modello di ricerca prospect per grandi doni](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) vi offre un formato coerente per registrare tutto questo.

## Il ciclo di coltivazione

La raccolta di grandi doni segue un ciclo che il settore descrive di solito in cinque fasi: **identificare, qualificare, coltivare, chiedere** e **fidelizzare**. Sapere in quale fase si trova una relazione vi impedisce di fare la cosa giusta nel momento sbagliato, e l'errore più comune nei grandi doni è chiedere troppo presto. Ogni fase merita di essere percorsa.

**Identificare** è il lavoro di prospezione descritto sopra: stilare l'elenco delle persone con il legame, la capacità e l'interesse per donare.

**Qualificare** è la prova di realtà. Non ogni nome promettente è un vero prospect. La qualificazione conferma, di solito attraverso una o due conversazioni iniziali, che la capacità è reale, l'interesse è genuino e c'è una via plausibile verso un dono. Squalificare un prospect presto non è un fallimento: libera il vostro tempo per coloro che doneranno.

**Coltivare** è il cuore del lavoro e di solito la fase più lunga. È qui che costruite una relazione autentica: imparate a conoscere il donatore, approfondite la sua comprensione della vostra causa e il suo legame con essa, e scoprite ciò che davvero lo entusiasmerebbe. La coltivazione non è un'offensiva di fascino con un assegno alla fine. È un processo a doppio senso che consiste nel trovare la sovrapposizione tra ciò che sta a cuore al donatore e ciò di cui la vostra organizzazione ha bisogno.

**Chiedere** è il momento in cui invitate al dono. A questo punto un prospect ben coltivato dovrebbe già sapere più o meno cosa sta arrivando, così che la richiesta appaia il passo successivo naturale anziché un'imboscata. Una buona richiesta è precisa sia sull'importo sia sullo scopo.

**Fidelizzare** è tutto ciò che accade dopo il dono: ringraziare, rendicontare e mantenere il donatore vicino. La fidelizzazione non è la fine del ciclo ma l'inizio del successivo, perché un grande donatore ben fidelizzato è il vostro miglior prospect per il prossimo dono, spesso più cospicuo.

## Costruire la relazione

La coltivazione premia la pazienza e l'interesse sincero, e punisce la fretta. L'obiettivo è far passare un prospect dalla semplice consapevolezza della vostra causa a un profondo investimento personale in essa, e ci riuscite dando prima di chiedere: dando il vostro tempo, la vostra attenzione, l'accesso al vostro lavoro e alle persone che lo portano avanti, e un reale senso che il suo coinvolgimento conti.

In pratica, la coltivazione significa invitare un prospect a vedere il vostro lavoro di persona, presentarlo ai beneficiari o ai ricercatori che il suo dono potrebbe sostenere, condividere notizie che si collegano al suo interesse particolare e chiedere il suo consiglio anziché solo il suo denaro. Molti grandi donatori sono persone di successo e impegnate che rispondono bene quando vengono trattate come partner con competenze da offrire, e non come semplici libretti di assegni da aprire. Ascoltare conta più che presentare. Le migliori conversazioni di coltivazione sono quelle in cui il donatore parla di più, perché ciò che vi confida sulle sue speranze e sui suoi valori è esattamente ciò attorno a cui costruirete la vostra futura proposta.

Per tutto il percorso, prendete appunti accurati e pianificate il passo successivo dopo ogni contatto. Una relazione che va alla deriva perde slancio, e lo slancio, una volta perso, è costoso da ricostruire.

## Fare la richiesta e scrivere una proposta

La richiesta è la parte che i raccoglitori di fondi temono più spesso e complicano più spesso. Se la coltivazione è stata fatta bene, è la parte facile. A questo stadio dovreste sapere ciò che sta a cuore al donatore, più o meno di cosa è capace e come preferisce essere avvicinato. La richiesta stessa dovrebbe essere **precisa**, **personale** e, ove possibile, fatta **di persona** dalla persona giusta, che a volte è il raccoglitore di fondi e a volte un direttore generale, un presidente o un pari del donatore.

Siate precisi sull'importo. «Prenderebbe in considerazione un dono di 50.000 € per finanziare i primi tre anni di questa borsa di studio?» è una richiesta molto più forte della vaga speranza che possa donare generosamente. Nominare una cifra mostra che avete riflettuto sulla sua capacità, rispetta la sua intelligenza e gli offre una decisione chiara da prendere. Siate precisi anche sullo scopo: i grandi donatori donano a risultati e a una visione, non a fondi generici, quindi collegate il dono a qualcosa di tangibile e importante.

Una proposta scritta di solito accompagna o segue la conversazione. Dovrebbe leggersi come un documento scritto per una sola persona, non come una brochure stampata per tutti. Una solida proposta di grande dono espone con chiarezza il bisogno o l'opportunità, spiega esattamente cosa otterrebbe il dono del donatore, nomina l'importo specifico e cosa finanzia, e descrive come renderete conto della differenza che produce. Mantenetela essenziale, aprite con l'impatto anziché con la storia dell'organizzazione e fate del donatore l'eroe della storia. Dove si applicano incentivi fiscali, vale la pena menzionarli con delicatezza, poiché la maggior parte dei paesi europei offre ai donatori una detrazione o una riduzione fiscale sui doni benefici. Per i doni transfrontalieri all'interno dell'Europa, Transnational Giving Europe consente a un donatore di un paese partecipante di donare in modo fiscalmente efficiente a un'associazione di un altro paese. Per molti donatori questo può aumentare l'entità di un dono. Il nostro [modello di proposta per grandi doni](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) vi offre una struttura da adattare per ciascun donatore.

## I grandi doni come raddoppio e sfida dietro una campagna digitale

Uno dei ruoli più potenti e meno sfruttati di un grande dono non è affatto quello di una donazione autonoma, ma quello del fondo di raddoppio o di sfida che alimenta una campagna di partecipazione di massa come una [giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) o una [settimana della sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Invece di arrivare silenziosamente nei conti, il dono di un grande donatore diventa il motore di una campagna pubblica, moltiplicando il proprio impatto motivando centinaia o migliaia di altre persone a donare.

Le prove a favore del raddoppio sono sorprendenti. La ricerca di Big Give, riportata da Hubbub, ha rilevato che l'84 per cento degli intervistati riteneva che sarebbe stato più propenso a donare a un appello benefico se gli fosse stato detto che la sua donazione sarebbe stata raddoppiata, e più del 36 per cento ha dichiarato di aver donato a una campagna solo perché beneficiava di un fondo di raddoppio. In altre parole, un grande donatore che finanzia il raddoppio non sta solo aggiungendo il proprio denaro: sta sbloccando doni che altrimenti non sarebbero stati fatti. Lo stesso effetto si manifesta nel crowdfunding, dove i progetti che ricevono fondi di raddoppio hanno più probabilità di raggiungere il loro obiettivo minimo rispetto a quelli che non li ricevono.

Questa impostazione vi offre anche un nuovo modo convincente di chiedere, perché molti grandi donatori sono motivati dalla leadership e dal desiderio di ispirare gli altri. Le indicazioni di Hubbub distinguono due grandi motivazioni dei donatori. Alcuni donatori sono attratti dalla **leadership e dall'ispirazione**: vogliono che il loro dono dia l'esempio, dimostri fiducia in una causa e crei potenziale di entrate incoraggiando altri a seguirli. Un dono di raddoppio è fatto su misura per questo donatore, perché potete mostrargli con precisione come il suo dono si è moltiplicato nel corso di una giornata del dono. Altri donatori sono più **intrinseci e altruisti**, motivati dal legame personale, dal sentirsi parte di una comunità e dal sostenere una causa che hanno a cuore; per loro, finanziare il raddoppio dietro un progetto guidato da studenti o una causa a loro cara permette di appartenere a qualcosa di più grande di una singola transazione. Far corrispondere il donatore alla motivazione è tutta la partita, e un fondo di sfida offre a entrambi i tipi di donatore qualcosa che una semplice richiesta non può offrire.

> Un grande donatore che finanzia il raddoppio non sta solo aggiungendo il proprio denaro. Sta sbloccando doni che altrimenti non sarebbero stati fatti, e si concede la soddisfazione di aver indicato la via.

In pratica, questo significa intrecciare il vostro lavoro sui grandi doni e la pianificazione della vostra campagna digitale anziché gestirli in silos separati. Quando state coltivando un grande prospect nei mesi precedenti una giornata del dono, un dono di raddoppio o di sfida può essere esattamente la richiesta giusta: è preciso, è circoscritto nel tempo, ha una leva visibile e permette al donatore di vedere il proprio impatto svolgersi in tempo reale. Il [Simulatore di giornata del dono](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) di Hubbub può aiutarvi a modellare come è probabile che si comporti un determinato montepremi di raddoppio, il che è utile sia per fissare il vostro obiettivo sia per mostrare a un potenziale finanziatore del raddoppio cosa potrebbe ottenere il suo dono.

## Fidelizzare e rendicontare

Il dono non è il traguardo. Il modo in cui trattate un donatore dopo che ha donato determina se avete assicurato una donazione una tantum o avviato una partnership che cresce negli anni, e la fidelizzazione è il punto in cui molte organizzazioni lasciano silenziosamente raffreddare le grandi relazioni.

Ringraziate in fretta, ringraziate bene e ringraziate personalmente. Un grande dono merita più di una ricevuta standard: un ringraziamento tempestivo, caloroso e personale, idealmente da parte di qualcuno ai vertici, e spesso più di un riconoscimento da persone diverse. Poi mantenete la promessa fatta nella proposta. Rendicontate ciò che il dono ha realizzato, in modo specifico e onesto, con i dettagli e le storie umane che mostrano al donatore la differenza che ha prodotto. Se avete detto che il suo dono avrebbe finanziato tre borse di studio, parlategli dei tre studenti, con il loro consenso, e di cosa ha significato per loro.

Una buona fidelizzazione consiste anche nel mantenere il donatore vicino tra un dono e l'altro: inviti a vedere il lavoro, aggiornamenti che si collegano al suo interesse particolare, presentazioni alle persone che il suo dono sostiene e un riconoscimento autentico nella forma che gli si addice. Ricordate che alcuni grandi donatori apprezzano il riconoscimento pubblico e altri preferiscono nettamente l'anonimato, quindi chiedete sempre e non date mai nulla per scontato. Il principio di fondo è semplice: trattate il donatore come un partner prezioso nel lavoro anziché come una fonte di fondi, e il prossimo dono, al momento giusto, diventa una conversazione tra collaboratori anziché una richiesta a freddo. Il nostro [piano di fidelizzazione dei grandi donatori](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) vi aiuta a mappare i punti di contatto per ciascun donatore lungo tutto l'anno affinché nessuno cada nelle maglie della rete.

## Come i piccoli team possono gestire bene i grandi doni

I grandi doni non sono appannaggio dei grandi uffici sviluppo. Un piccolo team, anche un team di una sola persona, può gestire un efficace programma di grandi doni, perché il lavoro riguarda fondamentalmente le relazioni anziché le risorse, e una piccola organizzazione ha spesso qualcosa che una grande non può replicare: una vicinanza autentica alla propria causa e ai propri sostenitori. La concentrazione è la vostra alleata. Anziché cercare di coltivare decine di prospect alla volta, un piccolo team dovrebbe lavorare in modo intensivo un elenco breve e accuratamente qualificato, e appoggiarsi alle connessioni calorose tramite i membri del consiglio e i sostenitori esistenti per aprire porte che gli approcci a freddo non aprirebbero mai.

C'è tuttavia un'importante cautela che i raccoglitori di fondi esperti sollevano ripetutamente. Assicurarsi un solo donatore molto grande all'inizio della vita di un piccolo team può, paradossalmente, soffocare la crescita anziché alimentarla. Scrivendo per Hubbub, Lewis Clayton illustra come ciò accada. I grandi prospect richiedono molto più tempo per concludersi di quanto vi aspettiate, e inseguire una sola grande relazione può divorare il tempo che dovreste dedicare alla costruzione di una pipeline; dopo aver chiuso il suo dono più cospicuo, Clayton descrive di aver osservato la sua «pipeline trascurata e abbandonata» e di aver ammesso: «l'avevo davvero lasciata scivolare via». Un singolo donatore dominante può anche rimodellare silenziosamente le vostre priorità, al punto che il vostro piano strategico, come dice lui, «deve passare in secondo piano» rispetto a ciò che il donatore vuole. E la dipendenza crea fragilità: quando una parte troppo grande delle vostre entrate poggia, nelle sue parole, «su quest'unico accordo», ogni rinnovo diventa un momento di ansia organizzativa anziché di fidelizzazione di routine.

La lezione non è evitare i grandi doni ma mantenerli in proporzione. Il consiglio di Clayton è puntare a «una sana distribuzione di operazioni piccole, medie e grandi» affinché la crescita sia sostenibile e nessuna relazione, per quanto generosa, possa tenere l'organizzazione in ostaggio. Per un piccolo team, ciò significa perseguire i grandi doni con ambizione continuando a investire nell'ampia base di donatori regolari e di livello intermedio che vi dà resilienza. Un grande dono dovrebbe essere una leva che solleva un programma in salute, non una stampella su cui si appoggia un programma fragile. Usata in questo modo, con pazienza, concentrazione e una base diversificata sotto di essa, la raccolta di grandi doni è una delle cose più gratificanti e trasformative che un piccolo team possa fare.

## Domande frequenti

**Quanto è grande un grande dono?** Non esiste una cifra universale. È il livello a cui un dono è abbastanza grande da meritare una relazione personale, uno a uno, anziché una comunicazione di massa, e dipende interamente dalla vostra organizzazione. Per un'associazione possono essere 1.000 €; per una grande università 25.000 € o più. Fissate una soglia che rifletta il vostro programma.

**Quanto tempo ci vuole per assicurarsi un grande dono?** Di solito più di quanto vi aspettiate. Coltivare una relazione autentica fino al punto di una richiesta significativa richiede comunemente molti mesi e a volte anni. La pazienza è il punto: affrettare la richiesta è il modo più comune di perdere un dono che altrimenti avreste potuto ottenere.

**Chi dovrebbe fare la richiesta?** Chiunque abbia la relazione più forte e credibile con il donatore e l'autorevolezza per chiedere l'importo in questione. Spesso è il raccoglitore di fondi, ma per i doni più grandi può essere il direttore generale, il presidente o un pari del donatore che possa chiedere da pari a pari. Pianificate la richiesta attorno alla relazione, non al titolo.

**Dovrei nominare un importo specifico quando chiedo?** Sì. Una cifra specifica e ponderata, legata a uno scopo specifico, è molto più efficace di un vago appello alla generosità. Nominare un importo mostra che comprendete la capacità del donatore e gli offre una decisione chiara da prendere. È il lavoro di coltivazione a dirvi quale cifra è quella giusta.

**I grandi doni possono funzionare come fondo di raddoppio per una giornata del dono o una settimana della sfida?** Molto efficacemente. Il dono di un grande donatore usato come fondo di raddoppio o di sfida moltiplica il proprio impatto motivando molte altre persone a donare, e la ricerca mostra che gli appelli raddoppiati attraggono un numero significativamente maggiore di donatori. Dà inoltre al donatore un ruolo di leadership e la possibilità di vedere il proprio impatto in tempo reale, cosa che molti grandi donatori trovano più convincente di un dono silenzioso e autonomo.

**Siamo un piccolo team. Dovremmo inseguire un solo grande donatore?** Perseguite i grandi doni, ma non a scapito di tutto il resto. Affidarsi troppo a un solo grande donatore può portare a trascurare la vostra pipeline più ampia, lasciare che il donatore rimodelli le vostre priorità ed esporvi pericolosamente al momento del rinnovo. Puntate a un sano mix di doni piccoli, medi e grandi affinché la crescita sia sostenibile e nessuna singola relazione possa destabilizzarvi.

---

### Kit di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di ricerca prospect per grandi doni](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Modello di proposta per grandi doni](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Piano di fidelizzazione dei grandi donatori](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di giornata del dono di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina il testo dei tuoi appelli e delle tue e-mail
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Blog Hubbub: motivare i grandi donatori a donare agli appelli digitali](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Guide correlate: [Come organizzare una giornata del dono](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) e [Come costruire un programma di doni regolari](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to secure and steward major gifts](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (uk/en): A practical guide to major gift fundraising, covering identifying and researching prospects, the cultivation cycle, making the ask, the role of major gifts as match funding in digital campaigns, and stewardship.
A major gift is a donation large enough to change what your organisation can do, given by an
individual who has chosen, deliberately and personally, to make that difference. The figure that
counts as major varies enormously: for a small charity it might be £1,000, while a large university
development office might not open a major gift relationship below £25,000 or £50,000. The number
matters far less than the principle behind it. Major gift fundraising is not a transaction you
process but a relationship you build, one prospect at a time, over months and often years. Where
direct mail, digital appeals and regular giving work at scale and treat donors as part of a wider
audience, major gifts work one to one and treat each donor as a person with their own motivations,
history and ambitions.

This guide covers the full arc of that relationship: how to find major donors, how to build the
relationship, how to ask well, how a major gift can power a digital campaign, and how to steward
donors so that a first gift becomes a lasting partnership. It also looks honestly at a question
that matters for smaller teams: whether leaning too hard on one big donor can do more harm than
good.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) and
> [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Where major gifts sit in your programme

It helps to picture your supporters as a pyramid. The base is broad and shallow: many donors giving
modest amounts through appeals, events and regular gifts. As you move up, gifts get larger and
donors get fewer, until you reach the small number of individuals capable of a major gift. The work
at the base is largely about systems, messaging and reach; the work at the top is almost entirely
about relationships. The two are connected. Today's regular donor or event attendee may be
tomorrow's major donor, which is one reason a healthy mass-participation programme is the natural
feeder for a major gift pipeline.

Major gifts are also where the maths changes. A single five or six-figure gift can equal the income
from thousands of smaller donors, which is exactly why the work is worth the patience it demands.
That concentration is also a risk. A major gift programme is at its strongest when it sits alongside
a diverse base rather than replacing it, a point we return to at the end because it is the single
most important caution for a small team.

## Identifying and researching prospects

You cannot ask someone you have not identified, and you should not ask someone you do not
understand. Prospect identification and research is the unglamorous groundwork that makes everything
else possible, and time spent here is rarely wasted.

Start with the people closest to you. Your warmest prospects are almost always already on your file:
long-standing regular donors, people who have given a notably large one-off gift, alumni or
beneficiaries with a strong emotional connection, board members and volunteers, and the personal
networks of all of these. The classic test, used across the sector, combines three things:
**linkage**, **ability** and **interest**. Linkage means a genuine connection to your cause, ideally
a warm route in through someone who already knows them. Ability means the financial capacity to make
a significant gift. Interest means a real affinity with the work you do. A prospect needs all three.
Capacity without affinity rarely converts, and affinity without capacity, however lovely, will not
fund a building.

Research turns a name into a person you can have a meaningful conversation with. Some of it is desk
research: published information about a prospect's career, business interests, other philanthropy,
public roles and the causes they have supported elsewhere. The most useful intelligence, though,
often comes from your own people. A board member who plays golf with a prospect, a colleague who
taught their daughter, an existing donor who sits on the same charity committee: these warm
connections tell you more about motivation than any database. Keep your research proportionate,
ethical and compliant with data protection rules, record it consistently, and use it to do one
thing: understand what this person cares about and why they might want to give to you specifically.
Our [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) gives
you a consistent format for capturing all of this.

## The cultivation cycle

Major gift fundraising follows a cycle that the sector usually describes in five stages:
**identify, qualify, cultivate, ask** and **steward**. Knowing which stage a relationship is in
stops you doing the right thing at the wrong time, and the most common mistake in major gifts is
asking too soon. Each stage is worth walking through.

**Identify** is the prospecting work above: drawing up the list of people with the linkage, ability
and interest to give.

**Qualify** is the reality check. Not every promising name is a genuine prospect. Qualification
confirms, usually through an early conversation or two, that the capacity is real, the interest is
genuine, and there is a plausible route to a gift. Disqualifying a prospect early is not a failure;
it frees your time for the ones who will give.

**Cultivate** is the heart of the work and usually the longest stage. This is where you build a real
relationship: you get to know the donor, deepen their understanding of and connection to your cause,
and learn what would genuinely excite them. Cultivation is not a charm offensive with a cheque at
the end. It is a two-way process of finding the overlap between what the donor cares about and what
your organisation needs.

**Ask** is the moment you invite the gift. By this point a well-cultivated prospect should already
know roughly what is coming, so the ask feels like the natural next step rather than an ambush. A
good ask is specific about both the amount and the purpose.

**Steward** is everything that happens after the gift: thanking, reporting back, and keeping the
donor close. Stewardship is not the end of the cycle but the beginning of the next one, because a
well-stewarded major donor is your single best prospect for the next, often larger, gift.

## Building the relationship

Cultivation rewards patience and genuine interest, and punishes haste. The aim is to move a prospect
from awareness of your cause to a deep personal investment in it, and you do that by giving before
you ask: giving your time, your attention, access to your work and the people behind it, and a real
sense that their involvement matters.

In practice, cultivation looks like inviting a prospect to see your work in person, introducing them
to the beneficiaries or researchers their gift might support, sharing news that connects to their
particular interest, and asking their advice rather than only their money. Many major donors are
successful, busy people who respond well to being treated as partners with expertise to offer, not
just chequebooks to open. Listening matters more than presenting. The best cultivation conversations
are the ones where the donor talks most, because what they tell you about their hopes and values is
exactly what you will build your eventual proposal around.

Throughout, keep careful notes and plan the next step after every contact. A relationship that
drifts loses momentum, and momentum, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.

## Making the ask and writing a proposal

The ask is the part fundraisers most often dread and most often overcomplicate. If the cultivation
has been done well, it is the easy part. By this stage you should know what the donor cares about,
roughly what they are capable of, and how they like to be approached. The ask itself should be
**specific**, **personal** and, wherever possible, made **face to face** by the right person, who is
sometimes the fundraiser and sometimes a chief executive, chair or peer of the donor.

Be specific about the amount. "Would you consider a gift of £50,000 to fund the first three years of
this scholarship?" is a far stronger ask than a vague hope that they might give generously. Naming a
figure shows you have thought about their capacity, respects their intelligence, and gives them a
clear decision to make. Be specific about the purpose too: major donors give to outcomes and to
vision, not to general funds, so tie the gift to something tangible and important.

A written proposal usually accompanies or follows the conversation. It should read as a document
written for one person, not a brochure printed for everyone. A strong major gift proposal sets out
the need or opportunity clearly, explains exactly what the donor's gift would achieve, names the
specific amount and what it funds, and describes how you will report back on the difference it makes.
Keep it tight, lead with impact rather than organisational history, and make the donor the hero of
the story. Where Gift Aid applies, note that a gift from a UK taxpayer is worth 25 per cent more to
you at no cost to the donor, and that higher and additional-rate taxpayers can reclaim the difference
between their rate and the basic rate. It is a point worth making gently, because it can increase the
size of a gift. Our [major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) gives
you a structure to adapt for each donor.

## Major gifts as the match and challenge behind a digital campaign

One of the most powerful and underused roles for a major gift is not as a standalone donation at all,
but as the match or challenge fund that powers a mass-participation campaign such as a
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Instead of a major donor's gift arriving
quietly in the accounts, it becomes the engine of a public campaign, multiplying its own impact by
motivating hundreds or thousands of other people to give.

The evidence for matching is striking. Big Give's research, reported by Hubbub, found that 84 per
cent of respondents believed they would be more likely to give to a charity appeal if they were told
their donation would be matched, and more than 36 per cent said they only gave to a campaign because
it was match funded. In other words, a major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own
money: they are unlocking gifts that would not otherwise have been made. The same effect shows up in
crowdfunding, where projects that receive matched funding are more likely to reach their minimum
target than those that do not.

This framing also gives you a compelling new way to ask, because many major donors are motivated by
leadership and by the desire to inspire others. Hubbub's guidance distinguishes two broad donor
motivations. Some donors are drawn by **leadership and inspiration**: they want their gift to set an
example, to demonstrate confidence in a cause, and to create income potential by encouraging others
to follow. A match gift is tailor made for this donor, because you can show them precisely how their
gift multiplied across a Giving Day. Other donors are more **intrinsic and altruistic**, motivated
by personal connection, by feeling part of a community, and by championing a cause they care about;
for them, funding the match behind a student-led project or a cause close to their heart lets them
belong to something larger than a single transaction. Matching the donor to the motivation is the
whole game, and a challenge fund offers both kinds of donor something a plain ask cannot.

> A major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own money. They are unlocking gifts
> that would not otherwise have been made, and giving themselves the satisfaction of having led the
> way.

In practice, this means weaving your major gift work and your digital campaign planning together
rather than running them in separate silos. When you are cultivating a major prospect in the months
before a Giving Day, a match or challenge gift can be exactly the right ask: it is specific, it is
time-bound, it has visible leverage, and it lets the donor see their impact play out in real time.
Hubbub's [Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) can help
you model how a given match pot is likely to perform, which is useful both for setting your target
and for showing a prospective match funder what their gift could achieve.

## Stewarding and reporting back

The gift is not the finish line. How you treat a donor after they have given determines whether you
have secured a one-off donation or begun a partnership that grows over years, and stewardship is
where many organisations quietly let major relationships go cold.

Thank quickly, thank well, and thank personally. A major gift warrants more than a standard receipt:
a prompt, warm, personal thank-you, ideally from someone senior, and often more than one
acknowledgement from different people. Then deliver on the promise you made in the proposal. Report
back on what the gift achieved, specifically and honestly, with the detail and the human stories that
show the donor the difference they made. If you said their gift would fund three scholarships, tell
them about the three students, with their permission, and what it meant to them.

Good stewardship is also about keeping the donor close between gifts: invitations to see the work,
updates that connect to their particular interest, introductions to the people their gift supports,
and genuine recognition in whatever form suits them. Remember that some major donors value public
acknowledgement and others greatly prefer anonymity, so always ask and never assume. The underlying
principle is simple: treat the donor as a valued partner in the work rather than a source of funds,
and the next gift, when the time is right, becomes a conversation between collaborators rather than a
cold ask. Our [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) helps you map
out the touchpoints for each donor across the year so that nobody falls through the cracks.

## How small teams can do major gifts well

Major gifts are not the preserve of large development offices. A small team, even a team of one, can
run an effective major gift programme, because the work is fundamentally about relationships rather
than resources, and a small organisation often has something a large one cannot replicate: genuine
closeness to its cause and to its supporters. Focus is your friend. Rather than trying to cultivate
dozens of prospects at once, a small team should work a short, carefully qualified list intensively,
and lean on warm connections through trustees and existing supporters to open doors that cold
approaches never would.

There is, however, an important caution that experienced fundraisers raise repeatedly. Securing a
single very large donor early in a small team's life can, paradoxically, stifle growth rather than
fuel it. Writing for Hubbub, Lewis Clayton sets out how this happens. Major prospects take far longer
to close than you expect, and chasing one big relationship can swallow the time you should be spending
building a pipeline; after landing his largest gift, Clayton describes looking at his "unloved and
neglected pipeline" and admitting "I really had let it slip." A single dominant donor can also quietly
reshape your priorities, so that your strategic plan, as he puts it, "has to take a back seat" to what
the donor wants. And dependency creates fragility: when too much of your income rests, in his words,
"on this one deal," every renewal becomes a moment of organisational anxiety rather than routine
stewardship.

The lesson is not to avoid major gifts but to keep them in proportion. Clayton's advice is to aim for
"a healthy spread of small, medium and large size deals" so that growth is sustainable and no single
relationship, however generous, can hold the organisation hostage. For a small team, that means
pursuing major gifts ambitiously while continuing to invest in the broad base of regular and
mid-level donors that gives you resilience. A major gift should be a lever that lifts a healthy
programme, not a crutch that a fragile one leans on. Used that way, with patience, focus and a diverse
base beneath it, major gift fundraising is one of the most rewarding and transformational things a
small team can do.

## Frequently asked questions

**How much is a major gift?** There is no universal figure. It is the level at which a gift is large
enough to be worth a personal, one-to-one relationship rather than mass communication, and it depends
entirely on your organisation. For one charity that might be £1,000; for a large university it might
be £25,000 or more. Set a threshold that reflects your own programme.

**How long does it take to secure a major gift?** Usually longer than you expect. Cultivating a
genuine relationship to the point of a significant ask commonly takes many months and sometimes years.
The patience is the point: rushing the ask is the most common way to lose a gift you might otherwise
have won.

**Who should make the ask?** Whoever has the strongest, most credible relationship with the donor and
the standing to ask for the amount in question. Often that is the fundraiser, but for the largest
gifts it may be the chief executive, the chair, or a peer of the donor who can ask as an equal. Plan
the ask around the relationship, not the job title.

**Should I name a specific amount when I ask?** Yes. A specific, considered figure tied to a specific
purpose is far more effective than a vague appeal to generosity. Naming an amount shows you understand
the donor's capacity and gives them a clear decision to make. The cultivation work is what tells you
which figure is right.

**Can major gifts work as match funding for a Giving Day or Challenge Week?** Very effectively. A
major donor's gift used as a match or challenge fund multiplies its impact by motivating many other
people to give, and research shows matched appeals attract significantly more donors. It also gives
the donor a leadership role and a chance to see their impact in real time, which many major donors
find more compelling than a quiet, standalone gift.

**We are a small team. Should we chase one big donor?** Pursue major gifts, but not at the expense of
everything else. Relying too heavily on one large donor can neglect your wider pipeline, let the donor
reshape your priorities, and leave you dangerously exposed at renewal. Aim for a healthy mix of small,
medium and large gifts so that growth is sustainable and no single relationship can destabilise you.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: motivating major donors to give to digital appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to secure and steward major gifts](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (us/en): A practical guide to major gift fundraising, covering identifying and researching prospects, the cultivation cycle, making the ask, the role of major gifts as match funding in digital campaigns, and stewardship.
A major gift is a donation large enough to change what your organization can do, given by an
individual who has chosen, deliberately and personally, to make that difference. The figure that
counts as major varies enormously: for a small nonprofit it might be $1,000, while a large university
development office might not open a major gift relationship below $25,000 or $50,000. The number
matters far less than the principle behind it. Major gift fundraising is not a transaction you
process but a relationship you build, one prospect at a time, over months and often years. Where
direct mail, digital appeals and regular giving work at scale and treat donors as part of a wider
audience, major gifts work one to one and treat each donor as a person with their own motivations,
history and ambitions.

This guide covers the full arc of that relationship: how to find major donors, how to build the
relationship, how to ask well, how a major gift can power a digital campaign, and how to steward
donors so that a first gift becomes a lasting partnership. It also looks honestly at a question
that matters for smaller teams: whether leaning too hard on one big donor can do more harm than
good.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) and
> [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Where major gifts sit in your program

It helps to picture your supporters as a pyramid. The base is broad and shallow: many donors giving
modest amounts through appeals, events and regular gifts. As you move up, gifts get larger and
donors get fewer, until you reach the small number of individuals capable of a major gift. The work
at the base is largely about systems, messaging and reach; the work at the top is almost entirely
about relationships. The two are connected. Today's regular donor or event attendee may be
tomorrow's major donor, which is one reason a healthy mass-participation program is the natural
feeder for a major gift pipeline.

Major gifts are also where the math changes. A single five or six-figure gift can equal the income
from thousands of smaller donors, which is exactly why the work is worth the patience it demands.
That concentration is also a risk. A major gift program is at its strongest when it sits alongside
a diverse base rather than replacing it, a point we return to at the end because it is the single
most important caution for a small team.

## Identifying and researching prospects

You cannot ask someone you have not identified, and you should not ask someone you do not
understand. Prospect identification and research is the unglamorous groundwork that makes everything
else possible, and time spent here is rarely wasted.

Start with the people closest to you. Your warmest prospects are almost always already on your file:
long-standing regular donors, people who have given a notably large one-off gift, alumni or
beneficiaries with a strong emotional connection, board members and volunteers, and the personal
networks of all of these. The classic test, used across the sector, combines three things:
**linkage**, **ability** and **interest**. Linkage means a genuine connection to your cause, ideally
a warm route in through someone who already knows them. Ability means the financial capacity to make
a significant gift. Interest means a real affinity with the work you do. A prospect needs all three.
Capacity without affinity rarely converts, and affinity without capacity, however lovely, will not
fund a building.

Research turns a name into a person you can have a meaningful conversation with. Some of it is desk
research: published information about a prospect's career, business interests, other philanthropy,
public roles and the causes they have supported elsewhere. The most useful intelligence, though,
often comes from your own people. A board member who plays golf with a prospect, a colleague who
taught their daughter, an existing donor who sits on the same charity committee: these warm
connections tell you more about motivation than any database. Keep your research proportionate,
ethical and compliant with data protection rules, record it consistently, and use it to do one
thing: understand what this person cares about and why they might want to give to you specifically.
Our [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) gives
you a consistent format for capturing all of this.

## The cultivation cycle

Major gift fundraising follows a cycle that the sector usually describes in five stages:
**identify, qualify, cultivate, ask** and **steward**. Knowing which stage a relationship is in
stops you doing the right thing at the wrong time, and the most common mistake in major gifts is
asking too soon. Each stage is worth walking through.

**Identify** is the prospecting work above: drawing up the list of people with the linkage, ability
and interest to give.

**Qualify** is the reality check. Not every promising name is a genuine prospect. Qualification
confirms, usually through an early conversation or two, that the capacity is real, the interest is
genuine, and there is a plausible route to a gift. Disqualifying a prospect early is not a failure;
it frees your time for the ones who will give.

**Cultivate** is the heart of the work and usually the longest stage. This is where you build a real
relationship: you get to know the donor, deepen their understanding of and connection to your cause,
and learn what would genuinely excite them. Cultivation is not a charm offensive with a check at
the end. It is a two-way process of finding the overlap between what the donor cares about and what
your organization needs.

**Ask** is the moment you invite the gift. By this point a well-cultivated prospect should already
know roughly what is coming, so the ask feels like the natural next step rather than an ambush. A
good ask is specific about both the amount and the purpose.

**Steward** is everything that happens after the gift: thanking, reporting back, and keeping the
donor close. Stewardship is not the end of the cycle but the beginning of the next one, because a
well-stewarded major donor is your single best prospect for the next, often larger, gift.

## Building the relationship

Cultivation rewards patience and genuine interest, and punishes haste. The aim is to move a prospect
from awareness of your cause to a deep personal investment in it, and you do that by giving before
you ask: giving your time, your attention, access to your work and the people behind it, and a real
sense that their involvement matters.

In practice, cultivation looks like inviting a prospect to see your work in person, introducing them
to the beneficiaries or researchers their gift might support, sharing news that connects to their
particular interest, and asking their advice rather than only their money. Many major donors are
successful, busy people who respond well to being treated as partners with expertise to offer, not
just checkbooks to open. Listening matters more than presenting. The best cultivation conversations
are the ones where the donor talks most, because what they tell you about their hopes and values is
exactly what you will build your eventual proposal around.

Throughout, keep careful notes and plan the next step after every contact. A relationship that
drifts loses momentum, and momentum, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.

## Making the ask and writing a proposal

The ask is the part fundraisers most often dread and most often overcomplicate. If the cultivation
has been done well, it is the easy part. By this stage you should know what the donor cares about,
roughly what they are capable of, and how they like to be approached. The ask itself should be
**specific**, **personal** and, wherever possible, made **face to face** by the right person, who is
sometimes the fundraiser and sometimes a chief executive, chair or peer of the donor.

Be specific about the amount. "Would you consider a gift of $50,000 to fund the first three years of
this scholarship?" is a far stronger ask than a vague hope that they might give generously. Naming a
figure shows you have thought about their capacity, respects their intelligence, and gives them a
clear decision to make. Be specific about the purpose too: major donors give to outcomes and to
vision, not to general funds, so tie the gift to something tangible and important.

A written proposal usually accompanies or follows the conversation. It should read as a document
written for one person, not a brochure printed for everyone. A strong major gift proposal sets out
the need or opportunity clearly, explains exactly what the donor's gift would achieve, names the
specific amount and what it funds, and describes how you will report back on the difference it makes.
Keep it tight, lead with impact rather than organizational history, and make the donor the hero of
the story. Where your organization is a 501(c)(3), it is worth reminding a donor gently that their
gift is tax-deductible, because for many donors that can increase the size of a gift. Our
[major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) gives
you a structure to adapt for each donor.

## Major gifts as the match and challenge behind a digital campaign

One of the most powerful and underused roles for a major gift is not as a standalone donation at all,
but as the match or challenge fund that powers a mass-participation campaign such as a
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Instead of a major donor's gift arriving
quietly in the accounts, it becomes the engine of a public campaign, multiplying its own impact by
motivating hundreds or thousands of other people to give.

The evidence for matching is striking. Big Give's research, reported by Hubbub, found that 84 per
cent of respondents believed they would be more likely to give to a charity appeal if they were told
their donation would be matched, and more than 36 per cent said they only gave to a campaign because
it was match funded. In other words, a major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own
money: they are unlocking gifts that would not otherwise have been made. The same effect shows up in
crowdfunding, where projects that receive matched funding are more likely to reach their minimum
target than those that do not.

This framing also gives you a compelling new way to ask, because many major donors are motivated by
leadership and by the desire to inspire others. Hubbub's guidance distinguishes two broad donor
motivations. Some donors are drawn by **leadership and inspiration**: they want their gift to set an
example, to demonstrate confidence in a cause, and to create income potential by encouraging others
to follow. A match gift is tailor made for this donor, because you can show them precisely how their
gift multiplied across a Giving Day. Other donors are more **intrinsic and altruistic**, motivated
by personal connection, by feeling part of a community, and by championing a cause they care about;
for them, funding the match behind a student-led project or a cause close to their heart lets them
belong to something larger than a single transaction. Matching the donor to the motivation is the
whole game, and a challenge fund offers both kinds of donor something a plain ask cannot.

> A major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own money. They are unlocking gifts
> that would not otherwise have been made, and giving themselves the satisfaction of having led the
> way.

In practice, this means weaving your major gift work and your digital campaign planning together
rather than running them in separate silos. When you are cultivating a major prospect in the months
before a Giving Day, a match or challenge gift can be exactly the right ask: it is specific, it is
time-bound, it has visible leverage, and it lets the donor see their impact play out in real time.
Hubbub's [Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) can help
you model how a given match pot is likely to perform, which is useful both for setting your target
and for showing a prospective match funder what their gift could achieve.

## Stewarding and reporting back

The gift is not the finish line. How you treat a donor after they have given determines whether you
have secured a one-off donation or begun a partnership that grows over years, and stewardship is
where many organizations quietly let major relationships go cold.

Thank quickly, thank well, and thank personally. A major gift warrants more than a standard receipt:
a prompt, warm, personal thank-you, ideally from someone senior, and often more than one
acknowledgement from different people. Then deliver on the promise you made in the proposal. Report
back on what the gift achieved, specifically and honestly, with the detail and the human stories that
show the donor the difference they made. If you said their gift would fund three scholarships, tell
them about the three students, with their permission, and what it meant to them.

Good stewardship is also about keeping the donor close between gifts: invitations to see the work,
updates that connect to their particular interest, introductions to the people their gift supports,
and genuine recognition in whatever form suits them. Remember that some major donors value public
acknowledgement and others greatly prefer anonymity, so always ask and never assume. The underlying
principle is simple: treat the donor as a valued partner in the work rather than a source of funds,
and the next gift, when the time is right, becomes a conversation between collaborators rather than a
cold ask. Our [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) helps you map
out the touchpoints for each donor across the year so that nobody falls through the cracks.

## How small teams can do major gifts well

Major gifts are not the preserve of large development offices. A small team, even a team of one, can
run an effective major gift program, because the work is fundamentally about relationships rather
than resources, and a small organization often has something a large one cannot replicate: genuine
closeness to its cause and to its supporters. Focus is your friend. Rather than trying to cultivate
dozens of prospects at once, a small team should work a short, carefully qualified list intensively,
and lean on warm connections through board members and existing supporters to open doors that cold
approaches never would.

There is, however, an important caution that experienced fundraisers raise repeatedly. Securing a
single very large donor early in a small team's life can, paradoxically, stifle growth rather than
fuel it. Writing for Hubbub, Lewis Clayton sets out how this happens. Major prospects take far longer
to close than you expect, and chasing one big relationship can swallow the time you should be spending
building a pipeline; after landing his largest gift, Clayton describes looking at his "unloved and
neglected pipeline" and admitting "I really had let it slip." A single dominant donor can also quietly
reshape your priorities, so that your strategic plan, as he puts it, "has to take a back seat" to what
the donor wants. And dependency creates fragility: when too much of your income rests, in his words,
"on this one deal," every renewal becomes a moment of organizational anxiety rather than routine
stewardship.

The lesson is not to avoid major gifts but to keep them in proportion. Clayton's advice is to aim for
"a healthy spread of small, medium and large size deals" so that growth is sustainable and no single
relationship, however generous, can hold the organization hostage. For a small team, that means
pursuing major gifts ambitiously while continuing to invest in the broad base of regular and
mid-level donors that gives you resilience. A major gift should be a lever that lifts a healthy
program, not a crutch that a fragile one leans on. Used that way, with patience, focus and a diverse
base beneath it, major gift fundraising is one of the most rewarding and transformational things a
small team can do.

## Frequently asked questions

**How much is a major gift?** There is no universal figure. It is the level at which a gift is large
enough to be worth a personal, one-to-one relationship rather than mass communication, and it depends
entirely on your organization. For one nonprofit that might be $1,000; for a large university it might
be $25,000 or more. Set a threshold that reflects your own program.

**How long does it take to secure a major gift?** Usually longer than you expect. Cultivating a
genuine relationship to the point of a significant ask commonly takes many months and sometimes years.
The patience is the point: rushing the ask is the most common way to lose a gift you might otherwise
have won.

**Who should make the ask?** Whoever has the strongest, most credible relationship with the donor and
the standing to ask for the amount in question. Often that is the fundraiser, but for the largest
gifts it may be the chief executive, the chair, or a peer of the donor who can ask as an equal. Plan
the ask around the relationship, not the job title.

**Should I name a specific amount when I ask?** Yes. A specific, considered figure tied to a specific
purpose is far more effective than a vague appeal to generosity. Naming an amount shows you understand
the donor's capacity and gives them a clear decision to make. The cultivation work is what tells you
which figure is right.

**Can major gifts work as match funding for a Giving Day or Challenge Week?** Very effectively. A
major donor's gift used as a match or challenge fund multiplies its impact by motivating many other
people to give, and research shows matched appeals attract significantly more donors. It also gives
the donor a leadership role and a chance to see their impact in real time, which many major donors
find more compelling than a quiet, standalone gift.

**We are a small team. Should we chase one big donor?** Pursue major gifts, but not at the expense of
everything else. Relying too heavily on one large donor can neglect your wider pipeline, let the donor
reshape your priorities, and leave you dangerously exposed at renewal. Aim for a healthy mix of small,
medium and large gifts so that growth is sustainable and no single relationship can destabilize you.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: motivating major donors to give to digital appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to build a regular giving program](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to secure and steward major gifts](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/securing-major-gifts/) (world/en): A practical guide to major gift fundraising, covering identifying and researching prospects, the cultivation cycle, making the ask, the role of major gifts as match funding in digital campaigns, and stewardship.
A major gift is a donation large enough to change what your organisation can do, given by an
individual who has chosen, deliberately and personally, to make that difference. The figure that
counts as major varies enormously: for a small charity it might be a few thousand, while a large
university development office might not open a major gift relationship below the equivalent of tens
of thousands. The number matters far less than the principle behind it. Major gift fundraising is not
a transaction you process but a relationship you build, one prospect at a time, over months and often
years. Where direct mail, digital appeals and regular giving work at scale and treat donors as part
of a wider audience, major gifts work one to one and treat each donor as a person with their own
motivations, history and ambitions.

This guide covers the full arc of that relationship: how to find major donors, how to build the
relationship, how to ask well, how a major gift can power a digital campaign, and how to steward
donors so that a first gift becomes a lasting partnership. It also looks honestly at a question
that matters for smaller teams: whether leaning too hard on one big donor can do more harm than
good.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/),
> [major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) and
> [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/).

## Where major gifts sit in your programme

It helps to picture your supporters as a pyramid. The base is broad and shallow: many donors giving
modest amounts through appeals, events and regular gifts. As you move up, gifts get larger and
donors get fewer, until you reach the small number of individuals capable of a major gift. The work
at the base is largely about systems, messaging and reach; the work at the top is almost entirely
about relationships. The two are connected. Today's regular donor or event attendee may be
tomorrow's major donor, which is one reason a healthy mass-participation programme is the natural
feeder for a major gift pipeline.

Major gifts are also where the maths changes. A single five or six-figure gift can equal the income
from thousands of smaller donors, which is exactly why the work is worth the patience it demands.
That concentration is also a risk. A major gift programme is at its strongest when it sits alongside
a diverse base rather than replacing it, a point we return to at the end because it is the single
most important caution for a small team.

## Identifying and researching prospects

You cannot ask someone you have not identified, and you should not ask someone you do not
understand. Prospect identification and research is the unglamorous groundwork that makes everything
else possible, and time spent here is rarely wasted.

Start with the people closest to you. Your warmest prospects are almost always already on your file:
long-standing regular donors, people who have given a notably large one-off gift, alumni or
beneficiaries with a strong emotional connection, board members and volunteers, and the personal
networks of all of these. The classic test, used across the sector, combines three things:
**linkage**, **ability** and **interest**. Linkage means a genuine connection to your cause, ideally
a warm route in through someone who already knows them. Ability means the financial capacity to make
a significant gift. Interest means a real affinity with the work you do. A prospect needs all three.
Capacity without affinity rarely converts, and affinity without capacity, however lovely, will not
fund a building.

Research turns a name into a person you can have a meaningful conversation with. Some of it is desk
research: published information about a prospect's career, business interests, other philanthropy,
public roles and the causes they have supported elsewhere. The most useful intelligence, though,
often comes from your own people. A board member who plays golf with a prospect, a colleague who
taught their daughter, an existing donor who sits on the same charity committee: these warm
connections tell you more about motivation than any database. Keep your research proportionate,
ethical and compliant with data protection rules, record it consistently, and use it to do one
thing: understand what this person cares about and why they might want to give to you specifically.
Our [major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/) gives
you a consistent format for capturing all of this.

## The cultivation cycle

Major gift fundraising follows a cycle that the sector usually describes in five stages:
**identify, qualify, cultivate, ask** and **steward**. Knowing which stage a relationship is in
stops you doing the right thing at the wrong time, and the most common mistake in major gifts is
asking too soon. Each stage is worth walking through.

**Identify** is the prospecting work above: drawing up the list of people with the linkage, ability
and interest to give.

**Qualify** is the reality check. Not every promising name is a genuine prospect. Qualification
confirms, usually through an early conversation or two, that the capacity is real, the interest is
genuine, and there is a plausible route to a gift. Disqualifying a prospect early is not a failure;
it frees your time for the ones who will give.

**Cultivate** is the heart of the work and usually the longest stage. This is where you build a real
relationship: you get to know the donor, deepen their understanding of and connection to your cause,
and learn what would genuinely excite them. Cultivation is not a charm offensive with a cheque at
the end. It is a two-way process of finding the overlap between what the donor cares about and what
your organisation needs.

**Ask** is the moment you invite the gift. By this point a well-cultivated prospect should already
know roughly what is coming, so the ask feels like the natural next step rather than an ambush. A
good ask is specific about both the amount and the purpose.

**Steward** is everything that happens after the gift: thanking, reporting back, and keeping the
donor close. Stewardship is not the end of the cycle but the beginning of the next one, because a
well-stewarded major donor is your single best prospect for the next, often larger, gift.

## Building the relationship

Cultivation rewards patience and genuine interest, and punishes haste. The aim is to move a prospect
from awareness of your cause to a deep personal investment in it, and you do that by giving before
you ask: giving your time, your attention, access to your work and the people behind it, and a real
sense that their involvement matters.

In practice, cultivation looks like inviting a prospect to see your work in person, introducing them
to the beneficiaries or researchers their gift might support, sharing news that connects to their
particular interest, and asking their advice rather than only their money. Many major donors are
successful, busy people who respond well to being treated as partners with expertise to offer, not
just chequebooks to open. Listening matters more than presenting. The best cultivation conversations
are the ones where the donor talks most, because what they tell you about their hopes and values is
exactly what you will build your eventual proposal around.

Throughout, keep careful notes and plan the next step after every contact. A relationship that
drifts loses momentum, and momentum, once lost, is expensive to rebuild.

## Making the ask and writing a proposal

The ask is the part fundraisers most often dread and most often overcomplicate. If the cultivation
has been done well, it is the easy part. By this stage you should know what the donor cares about,
roughly what they are capable of, and how they like to be approached. The ask itself should be
**specific**, **personal** and, wherever possible, made **face to face** by the right person, who is
sometimes the fundraiser and sometimes a chief executive, chair or peer of the donor.

Be specific about the amount. A request to "consider a gift large enough to fund the first three
years of this scholarship" is a far stronger ask than a vague hope that they might give generously.
Naming a figure shows you have thought about their capacity, respects their intelligence, and gives
them a clear decision to make. Be specific about the purpose too: major donors give to outcomes and
to vision, not to general funds, so tie the gift to something tangible and important.

A written proposal usually accompanies or follows the conversation. It should read as a document
written for one person, not a brochure printed for everyone. A strong major gift proposal sets out
the need or opportunity clearly, explains exactly what the donor's gift would achieve, names the
specific amount and what it funds, and describes how you will report back on the difference it makes.
Keep it tight, lead with impact rather than organisational history, and make the donor the hero of
the story. Where tax incentives apply, it is worth noting them gently, because the rules depend on
your country and the way they are framed can increase the size of a gift. Our
[major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/) gives
you a structure to adapt for each donor.

## Major gifts as the match and challenge behind a digital campaign

One of the most powerful and underused roles for a major gift is not as a standalone donation at all,
but as the match or challenge fund that powers a mass-participation campaign such as a
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or a
[Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/). Instead of a major donor's gift arriving
quietly in the accounts, it becomes the engine of a public campaign, multiplying its own impact by
motivating hundreds or thousands of other people to give.

The evidence for matching is striking. Big Give's research, reported by Hubbub, found that 84 per
cent of respondents believed they would be more likely to give to a charity appeal if they were told
their donation would be matched, and more than 36 per cent said they only gave to a campaign because
it was match funded. In other words, a major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own
money: they are unlocking gifts that would not otherwise have been made. The same effect shows up in
crowdfunding, where projects that receive matched funding are more likely to reach their minimum
target than those that do not.

This framing also gives you a compelling new way to ask, because many major donors are motivated by
leadership and by the desire to inspire others. Hubbub's guidance distinguishes two broad donor
motivations. Some donors are drawn by **leadership and inspiration**: they want their gift to set an
example, to demonstrate confidence in a cause, and to create income potential by encouraging others
to follow. A match gift is tailor made for this donor, because you can show them precisely how their
gift multiplied across a Giving Day. Other donors are more **intrinsic and altruistic**, motivated
by personal connection, by feeling part of a community, and by championing a cause they care about;
for them, funding the match behind a student-led project or a cause close to their heart lets them
belong to something larger than a single transaction. Matching the donor to the motivation is the
whole game, and a challenge fund offers both kinds of donor something a plain ask cannot.

> A major donor who funds the match is not just adding their own money. They are unlocking gifts
> that would not otherwise have been made, and giving themselves the satisfaction of having led the
> way.

In practice, this means weaving your major gift work and your digital campaign planning together
rather than running them in separate silos. When you are cultivating a major prospect in the months
before a Giving Day, a match or challenge gift can be exactly the right ask: it is specific, it is
time-bound, it has visible leverage, and it lets the donor see their impact play out in real time.
Hubbub's [Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) can help
you model how a given match pot is likely to perform, which is useful both for setting your target
and for showing a prospective match funder what their gift could achieve.

## Stewarding and reporting back

The gift is not the finish line. How you treat a donor after they have given determines whether you
have secured a one-off donation or begun a partnership that grows over years, and stewardship is
where many organisations quietly let major relationships go cold.

Thank quickly, thank well, and thank personally. A major gift warrants more than a standard receipt:
a prompt, warm, personal thank-you, ideally from someone senior, and often more than one
acknowledgement from different people. Then deliver on the promise you made in the proposal. Report
back on what the gift achieved, specifically and honestly, with the detail and the human stories that
show the donor the difference they made. If you said their gift would fund three scholarships, tell
them about the three students, with their permission, and what it meant to them.

Good stewardship is also about keeping the donor close between gifts: invitations to see the work,
updates that connect to their particular interest, introductions to the people their gift supports,
and genuine recognition in whatever form suits them. Remember that some major donors value public
acknowledgement and others greatly prefer anonymity, so always ask and never assume. The underlying
principle is simple: treat the donor as a valued partner in the work rather than a source of funds,
and the next gift, when the time is right, becomes a conversation between collaborators rather than a
cold ask. Our [major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/) helps you map
out the touchpoints for each donor across the year so that nobody falls through the cracks.

## How small teams can do major gifts well

Major gifts are not the preserve of large development offices. A small team, even a team of one, can
run an effective major gift programme, because the work is fundamentally about relationships rather
than resources, and a small organisation often has something a large one cannot replicate: genuine
closeness to its cause and to its supporters. Focus is your friend. Rather than trying to cultivate
dozens of prospects at once, a small team should work a short, carefully qualified list intensively,
and lean on warm connections through trustees and existing supporters to open doors that cold
approaches never would.

There is, however, an important caution that experienced fundraisers raise repeatedly. Securing a
single very large donor early in a small team's life can, paradoxically, stifle growth rather than
fuel it. Writing for Hubbub, Lewis Clayton sets out how this happens. Major prospects take far longer
to close than you expect, and chasing one big relationship can swallow the time you should be spending
building a pipeline; after landing his largest gift, Clayton describes looking at his "unloved and
neglected pipeline" and admitting "I really had let it slip." A single dominant donor can also quietly
reshape your priorities, so that your strategic plan, as he puts it, "has to take a back seat" to what
the donor wants. And dependency creates fragility: when too much of your income rests, in his words,
"on this one deal," every renewal becomes a moment of organisational anxiety rather than routine
stewardship.

The lesson is not to avoid major gifts but to keep them in proportion. Clayton's advice is to aim for
"a healthy spread of small, medium and large size deals" so that growth is sustainable and no single
relationship, however generous, can hold the organisation hostage. For a small team, that means
pursuing major gifts ambitiously while continuing to invest in the broad base of regular and
mid-level donors that gives you resilience. A major gift should be a lever that lifts a healthy
programme, not a crutch that a fragile one leans on. Used that way, with patience, focus and a diverse
base beneath it, major gift fundraising is one of the most rewarding and transformational things a
small team can do.

## Frequently asked questions

**How much is a major gift?** There is no universal figure. It is the level at which a gift is large
enough to be worth a personal, one-to-one relationship rather than mass communication, and it depends
entirely on your organisation. For one charity that might be a few thousand; for a large university it
might be tens of thousands or more. Set a threshold that reflects your own programme.

**How long does it take to secure a major gift?** Usually longer than you expect. Cultivating a
genuine relationship to the point of a significant ask commonly takes many months and sometimes years.
The patience is the point: rushing the ask is the most common way to lose a gift you might otherwise
have won.

**Who should make the ask?** Whoever has the strongest, most credible relationship with the donor and
the standing to ask for the amount in question. Often that is the fundraiser, but for the largest
gifts it may be the chief executive, the chair, or a peer of the donor who can ask as an equal. Plan
the ask around the relationship, not the job title.

**Should I name a specific amount when I ask?** Yes. A specific, considered figure tied to a specific
purpose is far more effective than a vague appeal to generosity. Naming an amount shows you understand
the donor's capacity and gives them a clear decision to make. The cultivation work is what tells you
which figure is right.

**Can major gifts work as match funding for a Giving Day or Challenge Week?** Very effectively. A
major donor's gift used as a match or challenge fund multiplies its impact by motivating many other
people to give, and research shows matched appeals attract significantly more donors. It also gives
the donor a leadership role and a chance to see their impact in real time, which many major donors
find more compelling than a quiet, standalone gift.

**We are a small team. Should we chase one big donor?** Pursue major gifts, but not at the expense of
everything else. Relying too heavily on one large donor can neglect your wider pipeline, let the donor
reshape your priorities, and leave you dangerously exposed at renewal. Aim for a healthy mix of small,
medium and large gifts so that growth is sustainable and no single relationship can destabilise you.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Major gift prospect research template](/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/)
- [Major gift proposal template](/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/)
- [Major donor stewardship plan](/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: motivating major donors to give to digital appeals](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/motivating-major-donors-to-give-to-digital-appeals)
- Related guides: [How to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) and [How to build a regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use social media for fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (canz/en): A practical guide to social media for fundraising, covering strategy, choosing channels, creating engaging content, working with ambassadors, running social during a campaign, and measuring what works.
Social media is where your community already spends its idle moments, which makes it one of the
most tempting channels in fundraising and one of the most misunderstood. Used well, it builds
awareness, gives your cause a personality, and warms people up so that when you ask, they are
ready to say yes. Used badly, it becomes a stream of "come and donate" posts that the algorithm
buries and your followers scroll past. This guide explains the difference between the two, and the
realistic job social media does inside a fundraising campaign.

Start with one honest point: social media rarely drives the donations on its own. On a
[Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or any time-bound appeal, email is still the
engine. As Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Email is the number one component of
getting donors kind of through the door for a giving day." Social media's role is different but
genuine. It raises awareness, it reaches people your email file never will, and it converts
interest into action when you make the ask specific. The two work best in step, not in
competition.

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, and on the experience of the
marketing team at Hever Castle in Kent, whose "Gen Z writes the marketing script" video reached
twelve million views on Instagram. Their organisation is a museum rather than a charity, but the
lessons travel directly to fundraising teams.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> [social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) and
> [social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Why social media matters, and what it actually does

To post well, start with why people are on these platforms at all. The top reason is keeping in
touch with friends and family. The second, as Kat Carter found in the data, is to fill spare time
and be entertained. "This is here to kill people's time, and to be entertaining," she says, "and
take a quick break, or get lost in a doom scroll." People arrive to relax, not to be sold to. A
sizeable share actively dislike accounts that "just keep going on and on about yourself".

That has a direct consequence for fundraisers. If your social media is a noticeboard of appeals,
it works against the grain of the platform and the algorithm both. The accounts that do well lean
into what Kat Carter calls "infotainment": content that entertains while it informs,
"entertainment, but it's also information about the brand that we want to represent". For a
fundraising team that means stories, faces, behind-the-scenes glimpses and a bit of humour, woven
through with the occasional clear ask, not the other way round.

So set your expectations accordingly. Social media's job in a campaign is to build the audience,
keep your cause visible, and convert interest at the decisive moments. It will not replace your
email schedule, and you should not measure it as if it were trying to. The donations that pour in
on the day will mostly arrive through the inbox, and that is fine.

## Setting a simple strategy and clear goals

A social media strategy does not need to be a fifty-page document. It needs to answer a few
questions honestly: who is your audience, what do you want them to feel and do, how often will you
post, and how will you know whether it is working.

Start with the audience, because everything else follows from it. The Hever Castle team built
their picture not from guesswork but from the analytics already sitting inside each platform. "The
best way is just to get in the back end, look on the analytics, and you'll be able to see who is
following you, the locations of them, the age, the gender." Do this for each channel you run,
because the audiences differ. In their case the same organisation drew a younger crowd on TikTok,
an older and UK-heavy following on Facebook, and a roughly even US and UK split on Instagram.

Then decide what you are trying to achieve, and keep the list short. Sensible goals for a
fundraising team are growth in followers, a target level of engagement, reach beyond your existing
followers, and a number of donations or click-throughs you can credibly link to social during a
campaign. Lead with awareness and engagement, and treat direct income as a secondary measure,
because honest attribution is hard.

The other half of strategy is rhythm. The platforms reward accounts that show up. "Social media
algorithms, they favour the accounts that are active and consistent," the Hever Castle team
explain. They keep a posting schedule across the month so they know what is going out and when,
and crucially it "helps us establish a bit of a balance between the sales content and the fun
content". A content calendar is the single most useful planning tool you can build. Our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) gives you a
month-at-a-glance template to balance fun and asks, and our
[social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) give you copy to adapt.

## Choosing the right channels for your audience

You do not have to be everywhere, and you should not try to be. Run the channels where your
audience actually is and where you can post consistently, and be willing to close the ones that
are not earning their keep. The Hever Castle team did exactly that, closing a long-running Twitter
presence "just from a lack of engagement" so they could "focus our efforts elsewhere". Spreading
thin across six platforms you cannot maintain is worse than doing two well.

Each platform also rewards different behaviour. The Hever Castle team's working understanding ran
like this: Facebook engagement "gets boosted by having sort of lengthy comments and discussions on
your posts"; Instagram wants people "to share the posts and save the posts to increase your
visibility"; LinkedIn, like Facebook, rewards "lengthy comments and interactions"; and TikTok
rewards "reposts and how much time people spend watching your videos". None of this is fixed. "It
does change over time," they warn. The lesson is less to memorise the rules than to keep watching
them.

One channel insight matters especially for fundraisers: the platform that wins the most engagement
is not always the one that drives the most action. For Hever Castle, "Facebook's always been the
biggest referral" onto the website, even though the team pour more creative energy into other
platforms. When your goal is to send people to a donation page, track which channel actually
delivers the clicks, not just the likes.

## Creating engaging, authentic content

Content is the heart of it, and the good news is that authenticity beats polish almost every time.
The Hever Castle team are emphatic on this point: "People don't tend to like over polished content.
Our most successful content is just what we filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app." Their kit
is deliberately modest: an iPhone, a tripod, lapel mics and the editing tools built into the apps.
The barrier to good content is not equipment. It is willingness to show personality. A few
principles carry most of the weight.

**Lead with people, not logos.** The turning point in Hever Castle's engagement came when they
started putting staff on camera. "When I started, we didn't really film with any staff. And that's
something that I've worked into our strategy over the last few years. And that has been a real
turning point for our engagement." Over time, individual team members became recognisable
characters with "their own persona", a head gardener for the planting tips, a costumed steward for
the history, each giving the audience a face to follow and return for. For a school, university or
charity, your equivalents are everywhere: an archivist, a beneficiary, a member of staff, a
student. As Kat Carter put it, "Do you have somebody, an archivist who can talk to your audience
about the different things at the college?"

**Tell stories and use short, vertical video.** Attention is brutally short. "You have to grab
people's attention in the first two seconds or less, otherwise they'll just scroll past," the Hever
Castle team explain, which is why they put "text on the screen as like a hook" and keep videos
fast-paced and shot vertically for the phone. Short video is now the dominant format even on once
photo-led platforms: the team saw Instagram shift from "pretty pictures" to wanting "that kind of
reels and video content that you get on TikTok".

**Ride trends, but only the ones that fit.** A trend is borrowed attention, and jumping on the
right one quickly is the single biggest lever for reach. Hever Castle's viral video worked because
it rode the "Gen Z writes the marketing script" trend; on its own, "it doesn't really make any
sense", but riding the trend "is how it gathered so much interest". The discipline is selectivity:
"Not every trend is going to work for your university or school. If it's not going to work with the
castle or the brand, don't do it." And speed matters, because "the best way to kind of get the
engagement with a trending video is just to act as quickly as you can."

**Listen to your audience and repost what works.** The comments are a content brief. When viewers
kept asking "Where's Peter?" after the team's breakout video, they made more of him. Treat your
analytics the same way: "When something does work, then just sort of capitalise on that and then
keep doing that sort of video." And do not assume a good post is spent after one outing. "If you
have evergreen content that you filmed, just repost it. If they've worked well the first time,
there's a very good chance they're going to work well again." Each new wave of followers has not
seen your older posts, so your back catalogue is fresh to most of them.

Above all, give yourself permission to enjoy it. The team's closing advice was simply: "Have fun
with your social media. As long as it reflects your brand, people like to see your personality as a
company. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time." Our
[social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) gives you on-brand templates so the
visuals stay consistent while the content stays human.

## Working with ambassadors to extend your reach

Your own channels can only reach so far. The fastest way to extend that reach is to mobilise other
people to post on your behalf, which is exactly what an
[ambassador programme](/canz/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) is for. Ambassadors are
supporters, students, alumni, staff or volunteers who share your content and make their own
authentic appeals to networks you could never reach directly. In a campaign they are the
difference between talking to your existing audience and reaching a new one.

The same authenticity rule applies. An ambassador's post works precisely because it does not look
like an institutional broadcast: it is a real person telling their own connections why this
matters to them. Kat Carter describes the wider opportunity as finding "user-generated content,
perhaps through ambassadors or influencers connected to our brand". Give ambassadors ready-made
assets so the ask is easy, suggested captions, graphics and a clear link, but encourage them to
put it in their own words. The post that converts is the personal one, not the polished one.

Recruit ambassadors well before a campaign, brief them on what to post and when, and make it as
simple as forwarding a link or sharing a story. Our companion guide on
[running an ambassador programme](/canz/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) covers the
recruitment and stewardship in full.

## Running social through the phases of a campaign

During a campaign, social media should move in lockstep with your email schedule, each post
reinforcing the message the inbox is carrying that day. It helps to think in four phases:
build-up, launch, live and afterwards.

**In the build-up,** the job is awareness and anticipation. Tease what is coming, share the
stories and the people behind the cause, and start warming your ambassadors so they are ready to
post from day one. This is where your infotainment content builds an engaged audience before you
ever ask them for anything.

**At launch,** go loud and go clear. Announce that you are live across every channel, and make
sure your ambassadors post in the same window your launch email lands. Consistency across inbox
and feed on day one is what creates momentum.

**Through the live campaign,** social media earns its place by making the asks specific and urgent,
and this is the single most important technique in the whole guide. A vague post does nothing. Kat
Carter's advice could not be plainer: "If you want your audience to do something, be specific about
what you want them to do." Her worked example, drawn from Giving Day challenges, is worth following
to the letter: "I usually recommend doing a kind of stories, kind of reel where you can say, we are
10 donors away from hitting our 200 donor challenge. If you can make your $10 gift in the next
10 minutes, we will hit our target." That is a specific ask, a specific amount, visible progress
and a deadline, all in one post. By contrast, "if you're just vague about it and say, donate to our
next challenge", you leave people unsure what their role is. Pair every ask with the impact, so
people understand what their gift does.

The challenge mechanics of a Giving Day are tailor-made for this, because each milestone gives you
a fresh, time-bound reason to post: a countdown to the next unlock, a leaderboard update, a
final-hour push. Stories and reels are well suited to these urgent, expiring moments.

**Afterwards,** close the loop. Thank your community publicly, share the result, and tell the story
of what the money will do. The thank-you is also the start of your next campaign's
audience-building, so do not let the energy drain away the moment the total is in.

Plan all of this before the campaign begins. Writing your posts in advance, mapped against your
email schedule, is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic, and our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) lays the phases out day
by day.

## Measuring what works

Measurement on social media is genuinely hard, and it is better to be honest about that than to
invent a precise number. The Hever Castle team are candid: tying social activity to bookings or
income is "very difficult to know which individual part of the marketing plan did the best",
because so many streams run at once. Kat Carter framed the same truth more broadly: "With
marketing, there's not like one silver bullet. It's a collection of everything that you do that's
gonna make people interested. And it might also take time. Marketing is a slow burn."

So measure what you can measure well, and use proxies for the rest. Check your platform analytics
regularly, weekly during normal periods and daily during a campaign, and watch the metrics each
platform actually rewards: comments and shares, saves, watch time, reposts. Watch your follower
growth and, just as importantly, your retention, because a viral spike that does not stick is worth
less than steady growth. After Hever Castle's twelve-million-view video the team gained twenty
thousand followers in a fortnight, but the figure they cared about was whether those people stayed.
A useful headline metric for fundraisers is reach beyond your existing followers: on that breakout
video, 99.4 per cent of the people reached were not yet followers, which is precisely how a single
post opens a cause to a new audience.

For attribution, build in the small mechanisms that let you trace impact: ask new supporters how
they heard about you, use referral data to see which channel sends traffic to your donation page,
and give ambassadors trackable links or codes when you can. None of this gives you a perfect
figure. Judge social media on the awareness it builds, the audience it grows and the moments it
converts, and let email carry the credit for the donations it closes. Done together, both channels
lift the result.

## Frequently asked questions

**Does social media actually raise money, or is it just awareness?** It does both, but mostly the
second. In a time-bound campaign, email drives the great majority of donations, while social media
builds the audience, keeps your cause visible and converts interest at decisive moments. The two
work best together. Judge social on reach, engagement and audience growth, and let email take the
credit for closing gifts.

**How many platforms should we be on?** Only as many as you can run consistently and where your
audience actually is. It is far better to do two channels well than six badly. Be willing to close
a channel that is not earning its keep, as the Hever Castle team did with Twitter, so you can focus
your effort where it works.

**Do we need professional video and expensive kit?** No, and it may even hold you back. The Hever
Castle team's most successful content is filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app, and they found
"over polished, professionally shot videos don't tend to do as well". A phone, a tripod, a clip-on
microphone and a willingness to show real people are enough.

**How do we get more reach without a big budget?** Ride relevant trends quickly, put recognisable
people on camera, lead with short vertical video, listen to what your comments ask for, and repost
your evergreen winners. Mobilising [ambassadors](/canz/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) to
share to their own networks extends your reach far beyond your own followers, all of it organic.

**How do we use social media to actually drive donations during a campaign?** Be specific. Instead
of "donate to our next challenge", post the kind of time-bound ask Kat Carter recommends: how many
donors away you are from a target, the exact gift that helps, a short deadline and the impact of
giving. Specific asks with a number and a clock take the guesswork out and convert far better than
vague ones.

**How do we know if any of it is working?** Imperfectly, and that is normal. Track each platform's
own engagement metrics, follower growth and retention, and reach beyond your existing followers.
For attribution, ask supporters how they found you, watch referral traffic to your donation page,
and use trackable links or codes for ambassadors. Treat the result as a slow burn, not a single
attributable transaction.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging social media content](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Related guides: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/) and [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](/canz/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie Sie soziale Medien für das Fundraising nutzen](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden für soziale Medien im Fundraising, der Strategie, Kanalauswahl, die Erstellung ansprechender Inhalte, die Zusammenarbeit mit Botschaftern, den Einsatz sozialer Medien während einer Kampagne und die Erfolgsmessung behandelt.
Soziale Medien sind der Ort, an dem Ihre Community ohnehin schon ihre Mußestunden verbringt, was sie
zu einem der verlockendsten Kanäle im Fundraising macht und zugleich zu einem der am meisten
missverstandenen. Gut eingesetzt schaffen sie Bekanntheit, verleihen Ihrer Sache eine
Persönlichkeit und stimmen die Menschen so ein, dass sie bereit sind, Ja zu sagen, wenn Sie sie um
eine Spende bitten. Schlecht eingesetzt werden sie zu einem Strom von Beiträgen nach dem Muster
"Kommt und spendet", den der Algorithmus begräbt und an dem Ihre Follower vorbeiscrollen. Dieser
Leitfaden erklärt den Unterschied zwischen beidem und die realistische Aufgabe, die soziale Medien
innerhalb einer Fundraising-Kampagne erfüllen.

Beginnen wir mit einer ehrlichen Feststellung: Soziale Medien generieren die Spenden selten von
allein. An einem [Spendentag](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) oder bei jedem zeitlich
begrenzten Aufruf ist die E-Mail nach wie vor der Motor. Wie Kat Carter, Beraterin bei Hubbub, es
ausdrückt: "Die E-Mail ist die wichtigste Komponente, um Spenderinnen und Spender für einen
Spendentag gewissermaßen durch die Tür zu bringen." Die Rolle der sozialen Medien ist eine andere,
aber eine echte. Sie schaffen Bekanntheit, sie erreichen Menschen, die Ihr E-Mail-Verteiler niemals
erreichen wird, und sie verwandeln Interesse in Handlung, wenn Sie die Bitte konkret formulieren.
Beide funktionieren am besten im Gleichschritt, nicht im Wettbewerb.

Dieser Leitfaden stützt sich auf bewährte Praktiken der Beraterinnen und Berater von Hubbub und auf
die Erfahrung des Marketingteams von Hever Castle in Kent, dessen Video "Gen Z writes the marketing
script" zwölf Millionen Aufrufe auf Instagram erreichte. Ihre Einrichtung ist ein Museum und keine
gemeinnützige Organisation, doch die Lehren lassen sich unmittelbar auf Fundraising-Teams übertragen.

> **Fertige Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unseren
> [Content-Kalender für soziale Medien](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> unsere [Vorlagen für Social-Media-Beiträge](/resources/social-post-templates/) und unser
> [Grafikpaket für soziale Medien](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) herunterzuladen.

## Warum soziale Medien wichtig sind und was sie tatsächlich leisten

Um gut zu posten, sollten Sie zunächst verstehen, warum Menschen überhaupt auf diesen Plattformen
sind. Der häufigste Grund ist, mit Freunden und Familie in Kontakt zu bleiben. Der zweite, wie Kat
Carter in den Daten feststellte, ist, freie Zeit zu füllen und sich unterhalten zu lassen. "Das ist
dazu da, die Zeit der Leute totzuschlagen und sie zu unterhalten," sagt sie, "und eine kurze Pause
zu machen oder sich in endlosem Scrollen zu verlieren." Die Menschen kommen, um sich zu entspannen,
nicht um sich etwas verkaufen zu lassen. Ein beträchtlicher Teil von ihnen lehnt Konten regelrecht
ab, die "einfach nur immer weiter von sich selbst reden".

Das hat eine unmittelbare Folge für Fundraiser. Wenn Ihre sozialen Medien ein Schwarzes Brett für
Spendenaufrufe sind, arbeiten sie gegen den Charakter der Plattform und gegen den Algorithmus. Die
Konten, die gut abschneiden, setzen auf das, was Kat Carter "Infotainment" nennt: Inhalte, die
unterhalten, während sie informieren, "Unterhaltung, aber zugleich Information über die Marke, die
wir repräsentieren wollen". Für ein Fundraising-Team bedeutet das Geschichten, Gesichter, Einblicke
hinter die Kulissen und ein wenig Humor, durchsetzt mit einer gelegentlichen klaren Bitte, und nicht
umgekehrt.

Stellen Sie Ihre Erwartungen also entsprechend ein. Die Aufgabe der sozialen Medien in einer
Kampagne besteht darin, das Publikum aufzubauen, Ihre Sache sichtbar zu halten und das Interesse in
den entscheidenden Momenten in Handlung umzuwandeln. Sie werden Ihren E-Mail-Plan nicht ersetzen,
und Sie sollten sie auch nicht so messen, als versuchten sie es. Die Spenden, die am Tag selbst
hereinströmen, werden größtenteils über den Posteingang eintreffen, und das ist völlig in Ordnung.

## Eine einfache Strategie und klare Ziele festlegen

Eine Social-Media-Strategie muss kein fünfzigseitiges Dokument sein. Sie muss ehrlich einige Fragen
beantworten: Wer ist Ihr Publikum, was sollen die Menschen fühlen und tun, wie oft werden Sie
posten, und woran werden Sie erkennen, ob es funktioniert.

Beginnen Sie mit dem Publikum, denn alles andere folgt daraus. Das Team von Hever Castle baute sein
Bild nicht auf Vermutungen auf, sondern auf den Analysen, die bereits in jeder Plattform stecken.
"Der beste Weg ist, einfach in den Backend-Bereich zu gehen, sich die Analysen anzusehen, und dann
können Sie sehen, wer Ihnen folgt, ihre Standorte, das Alter, das Geschlecht." Tun Sie dies für
jeden Kanal, den Sie betreiben, denn die Zielgruppen unterscheiden sich. In ihrem Fall zog dieselbe
Organisation auf TikTok ein jüngeres Publikum an, auf Facebook eine ältere und überwiegend
britische Anhängerschaft und auf Instagram eine etwa gleichmäßige Aufteilung zwischen den USA und
dem Vereinigten Königreich.

Entscheiden Sie dann, was Sie erreichen wollen, und halten Sie die Liste kurz. Sinnvolle Ziele für
ein Fundraising-Team sind das Wachstum der Followerzahl, ein angestrebtes Maß an Engagement, eine
Reichweite über Ihre bestehenden Follower hinaus und eine Anzahl von Spenden oder Klicks, die Sie
während einer Kampagne glaubhaft den sozialen Medien zuschreiben können. Stellen Sie Bekanntheit und
Engagement in den Vordergrund und behandeln Sie direkte Einnahmen als sekundäre Größe, denn eine
ehrliche Zuordnung ist schwierig.

Die andere Hälfte der Strategie ist der Rhythmus. Die Plattformen belohnen Konten, die präsent sind.
"Die Algorithmen sozialer Medien bevorzugen Konten, die aktiv und beständig sind," erklärt das Team
von Hever Castle. Es führt einen Veröffentlichungsplan über den Monat, sodass es weiß, was wann
erscheint, und entscheidend ist, dass dies "uns hilft, eine gewisse Balance zwischen
Verkaufsinhalten und unterhaltsamen Inhalten herzustellen". Ein Content-Kalender ist das nützlichste
Planungswerkzeug, das Sie aufbauen können. Unser
[Content-Kalender für soziale Medien](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) bietet Ihnen eine
Monatsübersicht als Vorlage, um Unterhaltung und Bitten auszubalancieren, und unsere
[Vorlagen für Social-Media-Beiträge](/resources/social-post-templates/) liefern Ihnen Texte zum
Anpassen.

## Die richtigen Kanäle für Ihr Publikum auswählen

Sie müssen nicht überall sein, und Sie sollten es auch nicht versuchen. Betreiben Sie die Kanäle, auf
denen Ihr Publikum tatsächlich ist und auf denen Sie beständig posten können, und seien Sie bereit,
diejenigen zu schließen, die sich nicht lohnen. Das Team von Hever Castle tat genau das und schloss
eine langjährige Twitter-Präsenz "schlicht aus Mangel an Engagement", um "unsere Anstrengungen
anderswo zu bündeln". Sich auf sechs Plattformen zu verzetteln, die Sie nicht pflegen können, ist
schlimmer, als zwei gut zu betreiben.

Jede Plattform belohnt zudem ein anderes Verhalten. Das praktische Verständnis des Teams von Hever
Castle lautete in etwa so: Das Engagement auf Facebook "wird durch lange Kommentare und Diskussionen
unter Ihren Beiträgen befeuert"; Instagram möchte, dass Menschen "die Beiträge teilen und speichern,
um Ihre Sichtbarkeit zu erhöhen"; LinkedIn belohnt, wie Facebook, "lange Kommentare und
Interaktionen"; und TikTok belohnt "Reposts und die Zeit, die Menschen mit dem Ansehen Ihrer Videos
verbringen". Nichts davon ist in Stein gemeißelt. "Es ändert sich mit der Zeit," warnen sie. Die
Lehre ist weniger, die Regeln auswendig zu lernen, als sie weiter im Auge zu behalten.

Eine Erkenntnis zu den Kanälen ist für Fundraiser besonders wichtig: Die Plattform mit dem meisten
Engagement ist nicht immer diejenige, die am meisten Handlung auslöst. Für Hever Castle war "Facebook
immer die größte Quelle für Weiterleitungen" auf die Website, obwohl das Team mehr kreative Energie
in andere Plattformen steckt. Wenn Ihr Ziel darin besteht, Menschen auf eine Spendenseite zu
schicken, verfolgen Sie, welcher Kanal tatsächlich die Klicks liefert, nicht nur die Likes.

## Ansprechende, authentische Inhalte erstellen

Inhalte sind das Herzstück, und die gute Nachricht ist, dass Authentizität fast immer über Perfektion
siegt. Das Team von Hever Castle ist in diesem Punkt unmissverständlich: "Die Leute mögen tendenziell
keine überpolierten Inhalte. Unsere erfolgreichsten Inhalte sind einfach das, was wir mit einem
iPhone gefilmt und in der App geschnitten haben." Ihre Ausrüstung ist bewusst bescheiden: ein iPhone,
ein Stativ, Ansteckmikrofone und die in den Apps integrierten Schnittwerkzeuge. Das Hindernis für
gute Inhalte ist nicht die Ausrüstung. Es ist die Bereitschaft, Persönlichkeit zu zeigen. Einige
Grundsätze tragen den Großteil des Gewichts.

**Stellen Sie Menschen in den Vordergrund, nicht Logos.** Der Wendepunkt für das Engagement von Hever
Castle kam, als sie begannen, Mitarbeitende vor die Kamera zu stellen. "Als ich anfing, haben wir gar
nicht wirklich mit Mitarbeitenden gefilmt. Und das ist etwas, das ich in den letzten Jahren in unsere
Strategie eingearbeitet habe. Und das war ein echter Wendepunkt für unser Engagement." Mit der Zeit
wurden einzelne Teammitglieder zu wiedererkennbaren Charakteren mit "ihrer eigenen Persona", ein
Chefgärtner für die Pflanztipps, ein kostümierter Mitarbeiter für die Geschichte, jeder gab dem
Publikum ein Gesicht, dem es folgen und für das es wiederkommen konnte. Für eine Schule, Universität
oder gemeinnützige Organisation gibt es Ihre Entsprechungen überall: ein Archivar, ein Begünstigter,
ein Mitarbeiter, ein Studierender. Wie Kat Carter es formulierte: "Haben Sie jemanden, einen Archivar,
der Ihrem Publikum von den verschiedenen Dingen an der Hochschule erzählen kann?"

**Erzählen Sie Geschichten und nutzen Sie kurze, vertikale Videos.** Die Aufmerksamkeit ist brutal
kurz. "Sie müssen die Aufmerksamkeit der Leute in den ersten zwei Sekunden oder weniger fesseln,
sonst scrollen sie einfach weiter," erklärt das Team von Hever Castle, weshalb es "Text auf dem
Bildschirm als eine Art Aufhänger" einsetzt und Videos schnell und vertikal fürs Handy dreht. Kurze
Videos sind inzwischen das dominierende Format, selbst auf einst fotolastigen Plattformen: Das Team
erlebte, wie Instagram sich von "hübschen Bildern" hin zu dem Wunsch nach "dieser Art von Reels und
Videoinhalten, die man auf TikTok bekommt", wandelte.

**Reiten Sie auf Trends, aber nur auf den passenden.** Ein Trend ist geliehene Aufmerksamkeit, und
schnell auf den richtigen aufzuspringen ist der größte Hebel für Reichweite. Das virale Video von
Hever Castle funktionierte, weil es auf dem Trend "Gen Z writes the marketing script" mitritt; für
sich genommen "ergibt es nicht wirklich Sinn", aber das Aufgreifen des Trends "ist der Grund, warum
es so viel Interesse auf sich zog". Die Disziplin liegt in der Auswahl: "Nicht jeder Trend wird für
Ihre Universität oder Schule funktionieren. Wenn er nicht zum Schloss oder zur Marke passt, lassen
Sie es bleiben." Und Schnelligkeit zählt, denn "der beste Weg, mit einem Trendvideo Engagement zu
erzielen, ist einfach, so schnell wie möglich zu handeln".

**Hören Sie auf Ihr Publikum und teilen Sie erneut, was funktioniert.** Die Kommentare sind ein
Content-Briefing. Als die Zuschauer nach dem Durchbruchsvideo des Teams immer wieder fragten "Wo ist
Peter?", machten sie mehr mit ihm. Behandeln Sie Ihre Analysen genauso: "Wenn etwas funktioniert,
dann nutzen Sie das einfach und machen weiter mit dieser Art von Video." Und gehen Sie nicht davon
aus, dass ein guter Beitrag nach einem einzigen Auftritt verbraucht ist. "Wenn Sie zeitlose Inhalte
gefilmt haben, posten Sie sie einfach erneut. Wenn sie beim ersten Mal gut funktioniert haben,
stehen die Chancen sehr gut, dass sie es wieder tun." Jede neue Welle von Followern hat Ihre älteren
Beiträge nicht gesehen, sodass Ihr Bestandsarchiv für die meisten von ihnen neu ist.

Vor allem aber erlauben Sie sich, Freude daran zu haben. Der abschließende Rat des Teams lautete
schlicht: "Haben Sie Spaß mit Ihren sozialen Medien. Solange es Ihre Marke widerspiegelt, sehen die
Leute gern die Persönlichkeit Ihrer Organisation. Es muss nicht immer so ernst sein." Unser
[Grafikpaket für soziale Medien](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) bietet Ihnen markengerechte
Vorlagen, damit die Optik konsistent bleibt, während die Inhalte menschlich bleiben.

## Mit Botschaftern zusammenarbeiten, um Ihre Reichweite zu vergrößern

Ihre eigenen Kanäle reichen nur so weit. Der schnellste Weg, diese Reichweite zu erweitern, besteht
darin, andere Menschen zu mobilisieren, in Ihrem Namen zu posten, und genau dafür ist ein
[Botschafterprogramm](/europe/de/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) da. Botschafter sind
Unterstützer, Studierende, Alumni, Mitarbeitende oder Freiwillige, die Ihre Inhalte teilen und ihre
eigenen authentischen Aufrufe an Netzwerke richten, die Sie direkt niemals erreichen könnten. In
einer Kampagne machen sie den Unterschied aus, ob Sie zu Ihrem bestehenden Publikum sprechen oder ein
neues erreichen.

Es gilt dieselbe Authentizitätsregel. Der Beitrag eines Botschafters funktioniert gerade deshalb,
weil er nicht wie eine institutionelle Verlautbarung aussieht: Es ist eine echte Person, die ihren
eigenen Kontakten erzählt, warum ihr das wichtig ist. Kat Carter beschreibt die größere Chance als
das Finden von "nutzergenerierten Inhalten, vielleicht durch Botschafter oder Influencer, die mit
unserer Marke verbunden sind". Geben Sie Botschaftern fertige Materialien, damit die Bitte leicht
fällt, vorgeschlagene Bildunterschriften, Grafiken und einen klaren Link, aber ermutigen Sie sie,
es in ihren eigenen Worten zu formulieren. Der Beitrag, der konvertiert, ist der persönliche, nicht
der polierte.

Werben Sie Botschafter lange vor einer Kampagne an, briefen Sie sie darüber, was sie wann posten
sollen, und machen Sie es so einfach wie das Weiterleiten eines Links oder das Teilen einer Story.
Unser Begleitleitfaden zur
[Durchführung eines Botschafterprogramms](/europe/de/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) behandelt
Anwerbung und Betreuung in vollem Umfang.

## Soziale Medien durch die Phasen einer Kampagne führen

Während einer Kampagne sollten sich soziale Medien im Gleichschritt mit Ihrem E-Mail-Plan bewegen,
wobei jeder Beitrag die Botschaft verstärkt, die der Posteingang an diesem Tag trägt. Es hilft, in
vier Phasen zu denken: Vorlauf, Start, Live-Phase und Nachbereitung.

**Im Vorlauf** besteht die Aufgabe in Bekanntheit und Vorfreude. Kündigen Sie an, was kommt, teilen
Sie die Geschichten und die Menschen hinter der Sache, und beginnen Sie, Ihre Botschafter
einzustimmen, damit sie ab dem ersten Tag bereit sind zu posten. Hier baut Ihr Infotainment-Inhalt
ein engagiertes Publikum auf, noch bevor Sie es um irgendetwas bitten.

**Beim Start** seien Sie laut und seien Sie klar. Verkünden Sie auf allen Kanälen, dass Sie live
sind, und sorgen Sie dafür, dass Ihre Botschafter in demselben Zeitfenster posten, in dem Ihre
Start-E-Mail eintrifft. Die Konsistenz zwischen Posteingang und Feed am ersten Tag ist es, die
Schwung erzeugt.

**Während der laufenden Kampagne** verdienen sich soziale Medien ihren Platz, indem sie die Bitten
konkret und dringlich machen, und das ist die wichtigste Technik im ganzen Leitfaden. Ein vager
Beitrag bewirkt nichts. Kat Carters Rat könnte nicht deutlicher sein: "Wenn Sie wollen, dass Ihr
Publikum etwas tut, seien Sie konkret in Bezug darauf, was es tun soll." Ihr ausgearbeitetes
Beispiel, aus Spendentag-Challenges abgeleitet, ist es wert, buchstabengetreu befolgt zu werden:
"Ich empfehle meist, eine Art Story oder Reel zu machen, in dem man sagen kann: Uns fehlen noch 10
Spender, um unsere Challenge mit 200 Spendern zu erreichen. Wenn Sie Ihre Spende von 10 € in den
nächsten 10 Minuten leisten können, erreichen wir unser Ziel." Das ist eine konkrete Bitte, ein
konkreter Betrag, sichtbarer Fortschritt und eine Frist, alles in einem Beitrag. Im Gegensatz dazu
lassen Sie, "wenn Sie nur vage bleiben und sagen: Spenden Sie für unsere nächste Challenge", die
Menschen im Unklaren über ihre Rolle. Verbinden Sie jede Bitte mit der Wirkung, damit die Menschen
verstehen, was ihre Spende bewirkt.

Die Challenge-Mechanik eines Spendentags ist dafür wie geschaffen, denn jeder Meilenstein gibt Ihnen
einen frischen, zeitlich begrenzten Anlass zum Posten: ein Countdown bis zur nächsten Freischaltung,
eine Aktualisierung der Rangliste, ein Schub in der letzten Stunde. Stories und Reels eignen sich gut
für diese dringlichen, ablaufenden Momente.

**Danach** schließen Sie den Kreis. Danken Sie Ihrer Community öffentlich, teilen Sie das Ergebnis,
und erzählen Sie die Geschichte davon, was das Geld bewirken wird. Das Dankeschön ist zugleich der
Beginn des Publikumsaufbaus für Ihre nächste Kampagne, lassen Sie also die Energie nicht in dem
Moment versickern, in dem die Endsumme feststeht.

Planen Sie all dies, bevor die Kampagne beginnt. Ihre Beiträge im Voraus zu schreiben, abgestimmt auf
Ihren E-Mail-Plan, ist das, was die Umsetzung ruhig statt hektisch macht, und unser
[Content-Kalender für soziale Medien](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) legt die Phasen Tag
für Tag dar.

## Messen, was funktioniert

Die Messung in den sozialen Medien ist wirklich schwierig, und es ist besser, ehrlich darüber zu
sein, als eine präzise Zahl zu erfinden. Das Team von Hever Castle ist offen: Die soziale Aktivität
mit Buchungen oder Einnahmen zu verknüpfen ist "sehr schwer zu sagen, welcher einzelne Teil des
Marketingplans am besten abgeschnitten hat", weil so viele Stränge gleichzeitig laufen. Kat Carter
fasste dieselbe Wahrheit allgemeiner: "Im Marketing gibt es nicht die eine Wunderwaffe. Es ist die
Gesamtheit all dessen, was Sie tun, die das Interesse der Menschen weckt. Und es kann auch Zeit
brauchen. Marketing ist ein langsames Glimmen."

Messen Sie also, was Sie gut messen können, und nutzen Sie für den Rest Näherungswerte. Prüfen Sie
Ihre Plattform-Analysen regelmäßig, wöchentlich in normalen Zeiten und täglich während einer
Kampagne, und beobachten Sie die Kennzahlen, die jede Plattform tatsächlich belohnt: Kommentare und
Shares, Speicherungen, Wiedergabezeit, Reposts. Beobachten Sie Ihr Follower-Wachstum und, ebenso
wichtig, Ihre Bindungsrate, denn ein viraler Ausschlag, der nicht hält, ist weniger wert als
stetiges Wachstum. Nach dem Zwölf-Millionen-Aufrufe-Video von Hever Castle gewann das Team in zwei
Wochen zwanzigtausend Follower, doch die Zahl, die ihm wichtig war, war, ob diese Menschen blieben.
Eine nützliche Hauptkennzahl für Fundraiser ist die Reichweite über Ihre bestehenden Follower hinaus:
Bei diesem Durchbruchsvideo waren 99,4 Prozent der erreichten Menschen noch keine Follower, was genau
zeigt, wie ein einzelner Beitrag eine Sache für ein neues Publikum öffnet.

Für die Zuordnung bauen Sie die kleinen Mechanismen ein, die es Ihnen ermöglichen, die Wirkung zu
verfolgen: Fragen Sie neue Unterstützer, wie sie von Ihnen erfahren haben, nutzen Sie Referral-Daten,
um zu sehen, welcher Kanal Traffic auf Ihre Spendenseite schickt, und geben Sie Botschaftern
nachverfolgbare Links oder Codes, wann immer Sie können. Nichts davon liefert Ihnen eine perfekte
Zahl. Beurteilen Sie soziale Medien nach der Bekanntheit, die sie schaffen, dem Publikum, das sie
wachsen lassen, und den Momenten, die sie konvertieren, und überlassen Sie der E-Mail das Verdienst
für die Spenden, die sie abschließt. Gemeinsam betrieben heben beide Kanäle das Ergebnis.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Bringen soziale Medien tatsächlich Geld ein, oder sind sie nur Bekanntheit?** Sie tun beides, aber
überwiegend das Zweite. In einer zeitlich begrenzten Kampagne treibt die E-Mail die große Mehrheit
der Spenden an, während soziale Medien das Publikum aufbauen, Ihre Sache sichtbar halten und das
Interesse in entscheidenden Momenten konvertieren. Beide funktionieren am besten zusammen. Beurteilen
Sie soziale Medien nach Reichweite, Engagement und Publikumswachstum, und überlassen Sie der E-Mail
das Verdienst für den Abschluss der Spenden.

**Auf wie vielen Plattformen sollten wir sein?** Nur auf so vielen, wie Sie beständig betreiben
können und wo Ihr Publikum tatsächlich ist. Es ist weitaus besser, zwei Kanäle gut zu betreiben als
sechs schlecht. Seien Sie bereit, einen Kanal zu schließen, der sich nicht lohnt, wie es das Team von
Hever Castle mit Twitter tat, damit Sie Ihre Kraft dort bündeln können, wo sie wirkt.

**Brauchen wir professionelle Videos und teure Ausrüstung?** Nein, und es könnte Sie sogar
zurückhalten. Die erfolgreichsten Inhalte des Teams von Hever Castle werden mit einem iPhone gefilmt
und in der App geschnitten, und es stellte fest, dass "überpolierte, professionell gedrehte Videos
tendenziell nicht so gut abschneiden". Ein Handy, ein Stativ, ein Ansteckmikrofon und die
Bereitschaft, echte Menschen zu zeigen, genügen.

**Wie erreichen wir mehr Reichweite ohne großes Budget?** Greifen Sie relevante Trends schnell auf,
stellen Sie wiedererkennbare Menschen vor die Kamera, setzen Sie auf kurze vertikale Videos, hören
Sie darauf, was Ihre Kommentare verlangen, und teilen Sie Ihre zeitlosen Erfolge erneut. Das
Mobilisieren von [Botschaftern](/europe/de/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/), die an ihre
eigenen Netzwerke teilen, erweitert Ihre Reichweite weit über Ihre eigenen Follower hinaus, und das
alles organisch.

**Wie nutzen wir soziale Medien, um während einer Kampagne tatsächlich Spenden zu generieren?** Seien
Sie konkret. Statt "Spenden Sie für unsere nächste Challenge" posten Sie die Art zeitlich begrenzter
Bitte, die Kat Carter empfiehlt: wie viele Spender Ihnen zu einem Ziel fehlen, die genaue Spende, die
hilft, eine kurze Frist und die Wirkung des Spendens. Konkrete Bitten mit einer Zahl und einer Uhr
nehmen das Rätselraten heraus und konvertieren weitaus besser als vage.

**Woran erkennen wir, ob irgendetwas davon funktioniert?** Unvollkommen, und das ist normal.
Verfolgen Sie die plattformeigenen Engagement-Kennzahlen, das Follower-Wachstum und die Bindung sowie
die Reichweite über Ihre bestehenden Follower hinaus. Fragen Sie für die Zuordnung Unterstützer, wie
sie Sie gefunden haben, beobachten Sie den Referral-Traffic auf Ihre Spendenseite, und nutzen Sie
nachverfolgbare Links oder Codes für Botschafter. Betrachten Sie das Ergebnis als langsames Glimmen,
nicht als eine einzelne zuordenbare Transaktion.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Content-Kalender für soziale Medien](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Vorlagen für Social-Media-Beiträge](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Grafikpaket für soziale Medien](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising-Text-Prüfer](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Aufruf- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- [Webinar: ansprechende Social-Media-Inhalte erstellen](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Verwandte Leitfäden: [Wie Sie Fundraising-E-Mails schreiben, die wirken](/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/) und [Wie Sie ein Fundraising-Botschafterprogramm durchführen](/europe/de/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Sehen Sie sich das vollständige [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) für mehr an.

- [How to use social media for fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (europe/en): A practical guide to social media for fundraising, covering strategy, choosing channels, creating engaging content, working with ambassadors, running social during a campaign, and measuring what works.
Social media is where your community already spends its idle moments, which makes it one of the
most tempting channels in fundraising and one of the most misunderstood. Used well, it builds
awareness, gives your cause a personality, and warms people up so that when you ask, they are
ready to say yes. Used badly, it becomes a stream of "come and donate" posts that the algorithm
buries and your followers scroll past. This guide explains the difference between the two, and the
realistic job social media does inside a fundraising campaign.

Start with one honest point: social media rarely drives the donations on its own. On a
[Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or any time-bound appeal, email is still the
engine. As Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Email is the number one component of
getting donors kind of through the door for a giving day." Social media's role is different but
genuine. It raises awareness, it reaches people your email file never will, and it converts
interest into action when you make the ask specific. The two work best in step, not in
competition.

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, and on the experience of the
marketing team at Hever Castle in Kent, whose "Gen Z writes the marketing script" video reached
twelve million views on Instagram. Their organisation is a museum rather than a charity, but the
lessons travel directly to fundraising teams.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> [social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) and
> [social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Why social media matters, and what it actually does

To post well, start with why people are on these platforms at all. The top reason is keeping in
touch with friends and family. The second, as Kat Carter found in the data, is to fill spare time
and be entertained. "This is here to kill people's time, and to be entertaining," she says, "and
take a quick break, or get lost in a doom scroll." People arrive to relax, not to be sold to. A
sizeable share actively dislike accounts that "just keep going on and on about yourself".

That has a direct consequence for fundraisers. If your social media is a noticeboard of appeals,
it works against the grain of the platform and the algorithm both. The accounts that do well lean
into what Kat Carter calls "infotainment": content that entertains while it informs,
"entertainment, but it's also information about the brand that we want to represent". For a
fundraising team that means stories, faces, behind-the-scenes glimpses and a bit of humour, woven
through with the occasional clear ask, not the other way round.

So set your expectations accordingly. Social media's job in a campaign is to build the audience,
keep your cause visible, and convert interest at the decisive moments. It will not replace your
email schedule, and you should not measure it as if it were trying to. The donations that pour in
on the day will mostly arrive through the inbox, and that is fine.

## Setting a simple strategy and clear goals

A social media strategy does not need to be a fifty-page document. It needs to answer a few
questions honestly: who is your audience, what do you want them to feel and do, how often will you
post, and how will you know whether it is working.

Start with the audience, because everything else follows from it. The Hever Castle team built
their picture not from guesswork but from the analytics already sitting inside each platform. "The
best way is just to get in the back end, look on the analytics, and you'll be able to see who is
following you, the locations of them, the age, the gender." Do this for each channel you run,
because the audiences differ. In their case the same organisation drew a younger crowd on TikTok,
an older and UK-heavy following on Facebook, and a roughly even US and UK split on Instagram.

Then decide what you are trying to achieve, and keep the list short. Sensible goals for a
fundraising team are growth in followers, a target level of engagement, reach beyond your existing
followers, and a number of donations or click-throughs you can credibly link to social during a
campaign. Lead with awareness and engagement, and treat direct income as a secondary measure,
because honest attribution is hard.

The other half of strategy is rhythm. The platforms reward accounts that show up. "Social media
algorithms, they favour the accounts that are active and consistent," the Hever Castle team
explain. They keep a posting schedule across the month so they know what is going out and when,
and crucially it "helps us establish a bit of a balance between the sales content and the fun
content". A content calendar is the single most useful planning tool you can build. Our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) gives you a
month-at-a-glance template to balance fun and asks, and our
[social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) give you copy to adapt.

## Choosing the right channels for your audience

You do not have to be everywhere, and you should not try to be. Run the channels where your
audience actually is and where you can post consistently, and be willing to close the ones that
are not earning their keep. The Hever Castle team did exactly that, closing a long-running Twitter
presence "just from a lack of engagement" so they could "focus our efforts elsewhere". Spreading
thin across six platforms you cannot maintain is worse than doing two well.

Each platform also rewards different behaviour. The Hever Castle team's working understanding ran
like this: Facebook engagement "gets boosted by having sort of lengthy comments and discussions on
your posts"; Instagram wants people "to share the posts and save the posts to increase your
visibility"; LinkedIn, like Facebook, rewards "lengthy comments and interactions"; and TikTok
rewards "reposts and how much time people spend watching your videos". None of this is fixed. "It
does change over time," they warn. The lesson is less to memorise the rules than to keep watching
them.

One channel insight matters especially for fundraisers: the platform that wins the most engagement
is not always the one that drives the most action. For Hever Castle, "Facebook's always been the
biggest referral" onto the website, even though the team pour more creative energy into other
platforms. When your goal is to send people to a donation page, track which channel actually
delivers the clicks, not just the likes.

## Creating engaging, authentic content

Content is the heart of it, and the good news is that authenticity beats polish almost every time.
The Hever Castle team are emphatic on this point: "People don't tend to like over polished content.
Our most successful content is just what we filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app." Their kit
is deliberately modest: an iPhone, a tripod, lapel mics and the editing tools built into the apps.
The barrier to good content is not equipment. It is willingness to show personality. A few
principles carry most of the weight.

**Lead with people, not logos.** The turning point in Hever Castle's engagement came when they
started putting staff on camera. "When I started, we didn't really film with any staff. And that's
something that I've worked into our strategy over the last few years. And that has been a real
turning point for our engagement." Over time, individual team members became recognisable
characters with "their own persona", a head gardener for the planting tips, a costumed steward for
the history, each giving the audience a face to follow and return for. For a school, university or
charity, your equivalents are everywhere: an archivist, a beneficiary, a member of staff, a
student. As Kat Carter put it, "Do you have somebody, an archivist who can talk to your audience
about the different things at the college?"

**Tell stories and use short, vertical video.** Attention is brutally short. "You have to grab
people's attention in the first two seconds or less, otherwise they'll just scroll past," the Hever
Castle team explain, which is why they put "text on the screen as like a hook" and keep videos
fast-paced and shot vertically for the phone. Short video is now the dominant format even on once
photo-led platforms: the team saw Instagram shift from "pretty pictures" to wanting "that kind of
reels and video content that you get on TikTok".

**Ride trends, but only the ones that fit.** A trend is borrowed attention, and jumping on the
right one quickly is the single biggest lever for reach. Hever Castle's viral video worked because
it rode the "Gen Z writes the marketing script" trend; on its own, "it doesn't really make any
sense", but riding the trend "is how it gathered so much interest". The discipline is selectivity:
"Not every trend is going to work for your university or school. If it's not going to work with the
castle or the brand, don't do it." And speed matters, because "the best way to kind of get the
engagement with a trending video is just to act as quickly as you can."

**Listen to your audience and repost what works.** The comments are a content brief. When viewers
kept asking "Where's Peter?" after the team's breakout video, they made more of him. Treat your
analytics the same way: "When something does work, then just sort of capitalise on that and then
keep doing that sort of video." And do not assume a good post is spent after one outing. "If you
have evergreen content that you filmed, just repost it. If they've worked well the first time,
there's a very good chance they're going to work well again." Each new wave of followers has not
seen your older posts, so your back catalogue is fresh to most of them.

Above all, give yourself permission to enjoy it. The team's closing advice was simply: "Have fun
with your social media. As long as it reflects your brand, people like to see your personality as a
company. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time." Our
[social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) gives you on-brand templates so the
visuals stay consistent while the content stays human.

## Working with ambassadors to extend your reach

Your own channels can only reach so far. The fastest way to extend that reach is to mobilise other
people to post on your behalf, which is exactly what an
[ambassador programme](/europe/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) is for. Ambassadors are
supporters, students, alumni, staff or volunteers who share your content and make their own
authentic appeals to networks you could never reach directly. In a campaign they are the
difference between talking to your existing audience and reaching a new one.

The same authenticity rule applies. An ambassador's post works precisely because it does not look
like an institutional broadcast: it is a real person telling their own connections why this
matters to them. Kat Carter describes the wider opportunity as finding "user-generated content,
perhaps through ambassadors or influencers connected to our brand". Give ambassadors ready-made
assets so the ask is easy, suggested captions, graphics and a clear link, but encourage them to
put it in their own words. The post that converts is the personal one, not the polished one.

Recruit ambassadors well before a campaign, brief them on what to post and when, and make it as
simple as forwarding a link or sharing a story. Our companion guide on
[running an ambassador programme](/europe/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) covers the
recruitment and stewardship in full.

## Running social through the phases of a campaign

During a campaign, social media should move in lockstep with your email schedule, each post
reinforcing the message the inbox is carrying that day. It helps to think in four phases:
build-up, launch, live and afterwards.

**In the build-up,** the job is awareness and anticipation. Tease what is coming, share the
stories and the people behind the cause, and start warming your ambassadors so they are ready to
post from day one. This is where your infotainment content builds an engaged audience before you
ever ask them for anything.

**At launch,** go loud and go clear. Announce that you are live across every channel, and make
sure your ambassadors post in the same window your launch email lands. Consistency across inbox
and feed on day one is what creates momentum.

**Through the live campaign,** social media earns its place by making the asks specific and urgent,
and this is the single most important technique in the whole guide. A vague post does nothing. Kat
Carter's advice could not be plainer: "If you want your audience to do something, be specific about
what you want them to do." Her worked example, drawn from Giving Day challenges, is worth following
to the letter: "I usually recommend doing a kind of stories, kind of reel where you can say, we are
10 donors away from hitting our 200 donor challenge. If you can make your €10 gift in the next
10 minutes, we will hit our target." That is a specific ask, a specific amount, visible progress
and a deadline, all in one post. By contrast, "if you're just vague about it and say, donate to our
next challenge", you leave people unsure what their role is. Pair every ask with the impact, so
people understand what their gift does.

The challenge mechanics of a Giving Day are tailor-made for this, because each milestone gives you
a fresh, time-bound reason to post: a countdown to the next unlock, a leaderboard update, a
final-hour push. Stories and reels are well suited to these urgent, expiring moments.

**Afterwards,** close the loop. Thank your community publicly, share the result, and tell the story
of what the money will do. The thank-you is also the start of your next campaign's
audience-building, so do not let the energy drain away the moment the total is in.

Plan all of this before the campaign begins. Writing your posts in advance, mapped against your
email schedule, is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic, and our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) lays the phases out day
by day.

## Measuring what works

Measurement on social media is genuinely hard, and it is better to be honest about that than to
invent a precise number. The Hever Castle team are candid: tying social activity to bookings or
income is "very difficult to know which individual part of the marketing plan did the best",
because so many streams run at once. Kat Carter framed the same truth more broadly: "With
marketing, there's not like one silver bullet. It's a collection of everything that you do that's
gonna make people interested. And it might also take time. Marketing is a slow burn."

So measure what you can measure well, and use proxies for the rest. Check your platform analytics
regularly, weekly during normal periods and daily during a campaign, and watch the metrics each
platform actually rewards: comments and shares, saves, watch time, reposts. Watch your follower
growth and, just as importantly, your retention, because a viral spike that does not stick is worth
less than steady growth. After Hever Castle's twelve-million-view video the team gained twenty
thousand followers in a fortnight, but the figure they cared about was whether those people stayed.
A useful headline metric for fundraisers is reach beyond your existing followers: on that breakout
video, 99.4 per cent of the people reached were not yet followers, which is precisely how a single
post opens a cause to a new audience.

For attribution, build in the small mechanisms that let you trace impact: ask new supporters how
they heard about you, use referral data to see which channel sends traffic to your donation page,
and give ambassadors trackable links or codes when you can. None of this gives you a perfect
figure. Judge social media on the awareness it builds, the audience it grows and the moments it
converts, and let email carry the credit for the donations it closes. Done together, both channels
lift the result.

## Frequently asked questions

**Does social media actually raise money, or is it just awareness?** It does both, but mostly the
second. In a time-bound campaign, email drives the great majority of donations, while social media
builds the audience, keeps your cause visible and converts interest at decisive moments. The two
work best together. Judge social on reach, engagement and audience growth, and let email take the
credit for closing gifts.

**How many platforms should we be on?** Only as many as you can run consistently and where your
audience actually is. It is far better to do two channels well than six badly. Be willing to close
a channel that is not earning its keep, as the Hever Castle team did with Twitter, so you can focus
your effort where it works.

**Do we need professional video and expensive kit?** No, and it may even hold you back. The Hever
Castle team's most successful content is filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app, and they found
"over polished, professionally shot videos don't tend to do as well". A phone, a tripod, a clip-on
microphone and a willingness to show real people are enough.

**How do we get more reach without a big budget?** Ride relevant trends quickly, put recognisable
people on camera, lead with short vertical video, listen to what your comments ask for, and repost
your evergreen winners. Mobilising [ambassadors](/europe/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) to
share to their own networks extends your reach far beyond your own followers, all of it organic.

**How do we use social media to actually drive donations during a campaign?** Be specific. Instead
of "donate to our next challenge", post the kind of time-bound ask Kat Carter recommends: how many
donors away you are from a target, the exact gift that helps, a short deadline and the impact of
giving. Specific asks with a number and a clock take the guesswork out and convert far better than
vague ones.

**How do we know if any of it is working?** Imperfectly, and that is normal. Track each platform's
own engagement metrics, follower growth and retention, and reach beyond your existing followers.
For attribution, ask supporters how they found you, watch referral traffic to your donation page,
and use trackable links or codes for ambassadors. Treat the result as a slow burn, not a single
attributable transaction.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging social media content](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Related guides: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/) and [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](/europe/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo usar las redes sociales para la captación de fondos](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica sobre las redes sociales para la captación de fondos, que abarca la estrategia, la elección de canales, la creación de contenido atractivo, el trabajo con embajadores, la gestión de las redes durante una campaña y la medición de lo que funciona.
Las redes sociales son el lugar donde tu comunidad ya pasa sus momentos de ocio, lo que las convierte
en uno de los canales más tentadores de la captación de fondos y en uno de los peor entendidos. Bien
utilizadas, generan notoriedad, dan personalidad a tu causa y predisponen a las personas, de modo que
cuando les pides una donación están listas para decir que sí. Mal utilizadas, se convierten en un
flujo de publicaciones del tipo "ven y dona" que el algoritmo entierra y que tus seguidores pasan de
largo. Esta guía explica la diferencia entre ambas y la función realista que cumplen las redes
sociales dentro de una campaña de captación de fondos.

Empecemos por un punto honesto: las redes sociales rara vez impulsan las donaciones por sí solas. En
un [Día de la Donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) o en cualquier llamamiento con plazo,
el correo electrónico sigue siendo el motor. Como dice Kat Carter, consultora de Hubbub: "El correo
electrónico es el componente número uno para conseguir que los donantes crucen la puerta en un día de
la donación." El papel de las redes sociales es distinto, pero auténtico. Generan notoriedad, llegan a
personas que tu base de correo nunca alcanzará y convierten el interés en acción cuando haces que la
petición sea específica. Ambos funcionan mejor al unísono, no en competencia.

Esta guía se basa en las mejores prácticas de los consultores de Hubbub y en la experiencia del equipo
de marketing de Hever Castle, en Kent, cuyo vídeo "Gen Z writes the marketing script" alcanzó doce
millones de visualizaciones en Instagram. Su organización es un museo más que una entidad benéfica,
pero las lecciones se trasladan directamente a los equipos de captación de fondos.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestro
> [calendario de contenido para redes sociales](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> nuestras [plantillas de publicaciones](/resources/social-post-templates/) y nuestro
> [pack de gráficos para redes sociales](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Por qué importan las redes sociales y qué hacen realmente

Para publicar bien, empieza por entender por qué la gente está en estas plataformas. La razón
principal es mantenerse en contacto con amigos y familiares. La segunda, como Kat Carter constató en
los datos, es llenar el tiempo libre y entretenerse. "Esto está aquí para matar el tiempo de la gente
y para entretener," dice, "y tomarse un descanso rápido, o perderse en un scroll interminable." La
gente llega para relajarse, no para que le vendan algo. Una parte considerable detesta abiertamente
las cuentas que "no paran de hablar de sí mismas una y otra vez".

Esto tiene una consecuencia directa para quienes captan fondos. Si tus redes sociales son un tablón de
anuncios de llamamientos, van a contracorriente tanto de la plataforma como del algoritmo. Las cuentas
que funcionan bien apuestan por lo que Kat Carter llama "infotainment": contenido que entretiene a la
vez que informa, "entretenimiento, pero que también es información sobre la marca que queremos
representar". Para un equipo de captación eso significa historias, rostros, miradas entre bastidores y
algo de humor, salpicado de una petición clara de vez en cuando, y no al revés.

Así que ajusta tus expectativas en consecuencia. La función de las redes sociales en una campaña es
construir la audiencia, mantener visible tu causa y convertir el interés en los momentos decisivos. No
sustituirán a tu calendario de correos, y no deberías medirlas como si lo intentaran. Las donaciones
que lleguen en cascada el día clave entrarán en su mayoría por la bandeja de entrada, y eso está
perfectamente bien.

## Definir una estrategia sencilla y objetivos claros

Una estrategia de redes sociales no tiene por qué ser un documento de cincuenta páginas. Debe
responder con honestidad a unas pocas preguntas: quién es tu audiencia, qué quieres que sienta y haga,
con qué frecuencia publicarás y cómo sabrás si está funcionando.

Empieza por la audiencia, porque todo lo demás se deriva de ella. El equipo de Hever Castle construyó
su imagen no por conjeturas, sino a partir de las analíticas que ya viven dentro de cada plataforma.
"La mejor manera es simplemente entrar en el back end, mirar las analíticas, y podrás ver quién te
sigue, sus ubicaciones, la edad, el género." Haz esto en cada canal que gestiones, porque las
audiencias difieren. En su caso, la misma organización atraía a un público más joven en TikTok, un
seguimiento mayor y predominantemente británico en Facebook, y un reparto más o menos equilibrado
entre Estados Unidos y Reino Unido en Instagram.

Luego decide qué intentas lograr y mantén la lista corta. Objetivos sensatos para un equipo de
captación son el crecimiento de seguidores, un nivel objetivo de interacción, un alcance más allá de
tus seguidores actuales y un número de donaciones o clics que puedas atribuir de forma creíble a las
redes durante una campaña. Da prioridad a la notoriedad y la interacción, y trata los ingresos
directos como una medida secundaria, porque una atribución honesta es difícil.

La otra mitad de la estrategia es el ritmo. Las plataformas recompensan a las cuentas que aparecen.
"Los algoritmos de las redes sociales favorecen a las cuentas que están activas y son constantes,"
explica el equipo de Hever Castle. Mantiene un calendario de publicación a lo largo del mes para saber
qué sale y cuándo, y, crucialmente, eso "nos ayuda a establecer cierto equilibrio entre el contenido
de venta y el contenido divertido". Un calendario de contenido es la herramienta de planificación más
útil que puedes construir. Nuestro
[calendario de contenido para redes sociales](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) te ofrece una
plantilla con la vista mensual de un vistazo para equilibrar lo divertido y las peticiones, y nuestras
[plantillas de publicaciones](/resources/social-post-templates/) te dan textos para adaptar.

## Elegir los canales adecuados para tu audiencia

No tienes que estar en todas partes, y no deberías intentarlo. Gestiona los canales donde tu audiencia
realmente está y donde puedas publicar de forma constante, y prepárate para cerrar los que no son
rentables. El equipo de Hever Castle hizo exactamente eso, cerrando una presencia en Twitter de larga
data "simplemente por falta de interacción" para poder "concentrar nuestros esfuerzos en otra parte".
Dispersarse en seis plataformas que no puedes mantener es peor que llevar bien dos.

Cada plataforma recompensa además un comportamiento distinto. La comprensión práctica del equipo de
Hever Castle era esta: la interacción en Facebook "se potencia con comentarios y debates largos bajo
tus publicaciones"; Instagram quiere que la gente "comparta las publicaciones y las guarde para
aumentar tu visibilidad"; LinkedIn, como Facebook, recompensa "los comentarios largos y las
interacciones"; y TikTok recompensa "las republicaciones y cuánto tiempo pasa la gente viendo tus
vídeos". Nada de esto es fijo. "Cambia con el tiempo," advierten. La lección es menos memorizar las
reglas que seguir observándolas.

Una idea sobre los canales importa especialmente para quienes captan fondos: la plataforma que gana
más interacción no siempre es la que genera más acción. Para Hever Castle, "Facebook siempre ha sido
la mayor fuente de referencia" hacia el sitio web, aunque el equipo vuelca más energía creativa en
otras plataformas. Cuando tu objetivo es llevar a la gente a una página de donación, mide qué canal
entrega realmente los clics, no solo los "me gusta".

## Crear contenido atractivo y auténtico

El contenido es el corazón de todo, y la buena noticia es que la autenticidad supera a la perfección
casi siempre. El equipo de Hever Castle es tajante en este punto: "A la gente no le suele gustar el
contenido demasiado pulido. Nuestro contenido de mayor éxito es simplemente lo que filmamos con un
iPhone y editamos en la app." Su equipamiento es deliberadamente modesto: un iPhone, un trípode,
micrófonos de solapa y las herramientas de edición integradas en las apps. La barrera para un buen
contenido no es el equipo. Es la disposición a mostrar personalidad. Unos pocos principios sostienen
la mayor parte del peso.

**Pon por delante a las personas, no a los logotipos.** El punto de inflexión en la interacción de
Hever Castle llegó cuando empezaron a poner al personal ante la cámara. "Cuando empecé, no filmábamos
realmente con personal. Y eso es algo que he ido incorporando a nuestra estrategia en los últimos
años. Y eso ha sido un verdadero punto de inflexión para nuestra interacción." Con el tiempo,
miembros concretos del equipo se convirtieron en personajes reconocibles con "su propia persona", un
jardinero jefe para los consejos de plantación, un guía con vestuario de época para la historia, cada
uno dándole a la audiencia un rostro al que seguir y por el que volver. Para un colegio, una
universidad o una entidad benéfica, tus equivalentes están por todas partes: un archivero, una persona
beneficiaria, un miembro del personal, un estudiante. Como dijo Kat Carter: "¿Tienes a alguien, un
archivero, que pueda hablarle a tu audiencia de las distintas cosas de la institución?"

**Cuenta historias y usa vídeo corto y vertical.** La atención es brutalmente breve. "Tienes que
captar la atención de la gente en los dos primeros segundos o menos, de lo contrario simplemente
pasarán de largo," explica el equipo de Hever Castle, por lo que pone "texto en pantalla como una
especie de gancho" y mantiene los vídeos de ritmo rápido y grabados en vertical para el teléfono. El
vídeo corto es ya el formato dominante incluso en plataformas antes centradas en la foto: el equipo
vio cómo Instagram pasaba de las "imágenes bonitas" a querer "ese tipo de reels y contenido de vídeo
que encuentras en TikTok".

**Súbete a las tendencias, pero solo a las que encajen.** Una tendencia es atención prestada, y
subirse rápido a la adecuada es la mayor palanca de alcance. El vídeo viral de Hever Castle funcionó
porque se subió a la tendencia "Gen Z writes the marketing script"; por sí solo "no tiene mucho
sentido", pero subirse a la tendencia "es como reunió tanto interés". La disciplina es la selectividad:
"No toda tendencia va a funcionar para tu universidad o colegio. Si no va a funcionar con el castillo o
con la marca, no lo hagas." Y la velocidad importa, porque "la mejor manera de conseguir interacción
con un vídeo de tendencia es simplemente actuar lo más rápido que puedas".

**Escucha a tu audiencia y vuelve a publicar lo que funciona.** Los comentarios son un brief de
contenido. Cuando los espectadores no dejaban de preguntar "¿Dónde está Peter?" tras el vídeo
revelación del equipo, hicieron más con él. Trata tus analíticas del mismo modo: "Cuando algo
funciona, simplemente capitaliza eso y sigue haciendo ese tipo de vídeo." Y no des por hecho que una
buena publicación se agota tras una sola salida. "Si tienes contenido perenne que filmaste, vuelve a
publicarlo sin más. Si funcionó bien la primera vez, hay muchísimas probabilidades de que vuelva a
funcionar." Cada nueva ola de seguidores no ha visto tus publicaciones más antiguas, así que tu
catálogo es nuevo para la mayoría de ellos.

Por encima de todo, date permiso para disfrutarlo. El consejo final del equipo era sencillamente:
"Diviértete con tus redes sociales. Mientras refleje tu marca, a la gente le gusta ver la personalidad
de tu organización. No tiene por qué ser tan serio todo el tiempo." Nuestro
[pack de gráficos para redes sociales](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) te ofrece plantillas acordes
con tu marca para que los visuales se mantengan coherentes mientras el contenido sigue siendo humano.

## Trabajar con embajadores para ampliar tu alcance

Tus propios canales solo llegan hasta cierto punto. La forma más rápida de ampliar ese alcance es
movilizar a otras personas para que publiquen en tu nombre, que es justamente el propósito de un
[programa de embajadores](/europe/es/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/). Los embajadores son
personas que apoyan tu causa, estudiantes, antiguos alumnos, personal o voluntarios que comparten tu
contenido y lanzan sus propios llamamientos auténticos a redes que tú nunca podrías alcanzar
directamente. En una campaña marcan la diferencia entre hablarle a tu audiencia existente y llegar a
una nueva.

Se aplica la misma regla de autenticidad. La publicación de un embajador funciona precisamente porque
no parece una emisión institucional: es una persona real contándoles a sus propios contactos por qué
esto le importa. Kat Carter describe la oportunidad más amplia como encontrar "contenido generado por
los usuarios, quizá a través de embajadores o influencers vinculados a nuestra marca". Da a los
embajadores materiales listos para usar para que la petición sea fácil, leyendas sugeridas, gráficos y
un enlace claro, pero anímalos a expresarlo con sus propias palabras. La publicación que convierte es
la personal, no la pulida.

Recluta a los embajadores mucho antes de una campaña, explícales qué publicar y cuándo, y haz que sea
tan sencillo como reenviar un enlace o compartir una historia. Nuestra guía complementaria sobre
[cómo gestionar un programa de embajadores](/europe/es/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) cubre
el reclutamiento y el cuidado de la relación en detalle.

## Gestionar las redes a lo largo de las fases de una campaña

Durante una campaña, las redes sociales deben moverse al mismo paso que tu calendario de correos, con
cada publicación reforzando el mensaje que la bandeja de entrada transmite ese día. Ayuda pensar en
cuatro fases: preparación, lanzamiento, fase en directo y después.

**En la preparación,** la tarea es notoriedad y expectación. Anticipa lo que viene, comparte las
historias y las personas detrás de la causa, y empieza a preparar a tus embajadores para que estén
listos para publicar desde el primer día. Aquí es donde tu contenido de infotainment construye una
audiencia comprometida antes siquiera de pedirle nada.

**En el lanzamiento,** ve fuerte y ve claro. Anuncia que estás en directo en todos los canales, y
asegúrate de que tus embajadores publiquen en la misma franja en que llega tu correo de lanzamiento.
La coherencia entre la bandeja de entrada y el feed el primer día es lo que crea impulso.

**Durante la campaña en directo,** las redes sociales se ganan su lugar haciendo que las peticiones
sean específicas y urgentes, y esta es la técnica más importante de toda la guía. Una publicación vaga
no hace nada. El consejo de Kat Carter no podría ser más claro: "Si quieres que tu audiencia haga
algo, sé específico sobre lo que quieres que haga." Su ejemplo desarrollado, extraído de los retos de
los Días de la Donación, merece seguirse al pie de la letra: "Suelo recomendar hacer una especie de
historia o reel donde puedas decir: estamos a 10 donantes de alcanzar nuestro reto de 200 donantes.
Si puedes hacer tu donación de 10 € en los próximos 10 minutos, alcanzaremos nuestro objetivo." Eso es
una petición específica, un importe específico, un progreso visible y un plazo, todo en una sola
publicación. En cambio, "si eres vago y simplemente dices: dona a nuestro próximo reto", dejas a la
gente sin saber cuál es su papel. Acompaña cada petición con el impacto, para que la gente entienda qué
logra su donación.

Las mecánicas de reto de un Día de la Donación están hechas a medida para esto, porque cada hito te da
un motivo nuevo y con plazo para publicar: una cuenta atrás hacia el siguiente desbloqueo, una
actualización de la clasificación, un empujón en la última hora. Las historias y los reels se prestan
bien a estos momentos urgentes y efímeros.

**Después,** cierra el círculo. Da las gracias públicamente a tu comunidad, comparte el resultado y
cuenta la historia de lo que el dinero va a lograr. El agradecimiento es también el inicio de la
construcción de audiencia de tu próxima campaña, así que no dejes que la energía se disipe en el
momento en que se alcanza el total.

Planifica todo esto antes de que empiece la campaña. Escribir tus publicaciones por adelantado,
mapeadas contra tu calendario de correos, es lo que hace que la ejecución sea serena en lugar de
frenética, y nuestro
[calendario de contenido para redes sociales](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) presenta las
fases día a día.

## Medir lo que funciona

La medición en redes sociales es realmente difícil, y es mejor ser honesto al respecto que inventar
una cifra precisa. El equipo de Hever Castle es franco: vincular la actividad social con las reservas
o los ingresos es "muy difícil saber qué parte concreta del plan de marketing funcionó mejor", porque
hay muchísimos flujos en marcha a la vez. Kat Carter formuló la misma verdad de forma más amplia: "En
marketing no hay una sola bala de plata. Es el conjunto de todo lo que haces lo que va a despertar el
interés de la gente. Y también puede llevar tiempo. El marketing es una combustión lenta."

Así que mide lo que puedas medir bien, y usa indicadores aproximados para el resto. Revisa con
regularidad las analíticas de tus plataformas, semanalmente en periodos normales y a diario durante
una campaña, y observa las métricas que cada plataforma realmente recompensa: comentarios y
compartidos, guardados, tiempo de visualización, republicaciones. Vigila el crecimiento de tus
seguidores y, igual de importante, su retención, porque un pico viral que no cuaja vale menos que un
crecimiento sostenido. Tras el vídeo de doce millones de visualizaciones de Hever Castle, el equipo
ganó veinte mil seguidores en quince días, pero la cifra que les importaba era si esas personas se
quedaban. Una métrica clave útil para quienes captan fondos es el alcance más allá de tus seguidores
existentes: en ese vídeo revelación, el 99,4 por ciento de las personas alcanzadas aún no eran
seguidoras, que es precisamente cómo una sola publicación abre una causa a una nueva audiencia.

Para la atribución, incorpora los pequeños mecanismos que te permiten rastrear el impacto: pregunta a
los nuevos colaboradores cómo te conocieron, usa los datos de referencia para ver qué canal envía
tráfico a tu página de donación, y da a los embajadores enlaces o códigos rastreables cuando puedas.
Nada de esto te da una cifra perfecta. Juzga las redes sociales por la notoriedad que construyen, la
audiencia que hacen crecer y los momentos que convierten, y deja que el correo electrónico se lleve el
mérito de las donaciones que cierra. Llevados juntos, ambos canales elevan el resultado.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Las redes sociales recaudan dinero de verdad, o son solo notoriedad?** Hacen ambas cosas, pero
sobre todo lo segundo. En una campaña con plazo, el correo electrónico impulsa la gran mayoría de las
donaciones, mientras que las redes sociales construyen la audiencia, mantienen visible tu causa y
convierten el interés en momentos decisivos. Ambos funcionan mejor juntos. Juzga las redes por el
alcance, la interacción y el crecimiento de audiencia, y deja que el correo se lleve el mérito de
cerrar las donaciones.

**¿En cuántas plataformas deberíamos estar?** Solo en tantas como puedas gestionar de forma constante
y donde tu audiencia realmente esté. Es mucho mejor llevar bien dos canales que seis mal. Prepárate
para cerrar un canal que no sea rentable, como hizo el equipo de Hever Castle con Twitter, para poder
concentrar tu esfuerzo donde funciona.

**¿Necesitamos vídeo profesional y equipo caro?** No, e incluso podría frenarte. El contenido de mayor
éxito del equipo de Hever Castle se filma con un iPhone y se edita en la app, y descubrieron que "los
vídeos demasiado pulidos, grabados de forma profesional, no suelen funcionar tan bien". Un teléfono, un
trípode, un micrófono de pinza y la disposición a mostrar a personas reales bastan.

**¿Cómo conseguimos más alcance sin un gran presupuesto?** Súbete rápido a las tendencias relevantes,
pon a personas reconocibles ante la cámara, apuesta por el vídeo vertical corto, escucha lo que piden
tus comentarios y vuelve a publicar tus éxitos perennes. Movilizar a los
[embajadores](/europe/es/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) para que compartan con sus propias
redes extiende tu alcance mucho más allá de tus seguidores, todo ello de forma orgánica.

**¿Cómo usamos las redes sociales para impulsar donaciones de verdad durante una campaña?** Sé
específico. En lugar de "dona a nuestro próximo reto", publica el tipo de petición con plazo que
recomienda Kat Carter: a cuántos donantes estás de un objetivo, la donación exacta que ayuda, un plazo
corto y el impacto de donar. Las peticiones específicas con un número y un reloj eliminan las dudas y
convierten mucho mejor que las vagas.

**¿Cómo sabemos si algo de esto funciona?** De forma imperfecta, y eso es normal. Sigue las métricas
de interacción propias de cada plataforma, el crecimiento y la retención de seguidores, y el alcance
más allá de tus seguidores existentes. Para la atribución, pregunta a tus colaboradores cómo te
encontraron, vigila el tráfico de referencia hacia tu página de donación, y usa enlaces o códigos
rastreables para los embajadores. Trata el resultado como una combustión lenta, no como una única
transacción atribuible.

---

### Pack de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Calendario de contenido para redes sociales](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Plantillas de publicaciones](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Pack de gráficos para redes sociales](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de Día de la Donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos de captación](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina el texto de tus llamamientos y correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas recomendadas

- [Seminario web: crear contenido atractivo para redes sociales](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Guías relacionadas: [Cómo escribir correos de captación que funcionan](/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/) y [Cómo gestionar un programa de embajadores de captación de fondos](/europe/es/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment utiliser les réseaux sociaux pour la collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique des réseaux sociaux au service de la collecte de fonds, couvrant la stratégie, le choix des canaux, la création de contenus engageants, le travail avec des ambassadeurs, l'animation des réseaux pendant une campagne et la mesure de ce qui fonctionne.
Les réseaux sociaux sont l'endroit où votre communauté passe déjà ses moments d'oisiveté, ce qui
en fait l'un des canaux les plus tentants de la collecte de fonds, et l'un des plus mal compris.
Bien utilisés, ils renforcent la notoriété, donnent une personnalité à votre cause et préparent le
public, de sorte que lorsque vous sollicitez un don, les gens sont prêts à dire oui. Mal utilisés,
ils deviennent un flux de publications du type "venez faire un don" que l'algorithme enterre et que
vos abonnés font défiler sans s'arrêter. Ce guide explique la différence entre les deux, et le rôle
réaliste que jouent les réseaux sociaux au sein d'une campagne de collecte.

Commençons par un point honnête : les réseaux sociaux génèrent rarement les dons à eux seuls. Lors
d'une [Journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ou de tout appel limité dans le
temps, l'e-mail reste le moteur. Comme le dit Kat Carter, consultante chez Hubbub : "L'e-mail est
le tout premier élément qui permet de faire franchir la porte aux donateurs pour une journée du
don." Le rôle des réseaux sociaux est différent, mais bien réel. Ils renforcent la notoriété, ils
touchent des personnes que votre fichier d'e-mails n'atteindra jamais, et ils transforment
l'intérêt en action lorsque vous rendez la demande précise. Les deux fonctionnent mieux de concert,
et non en concurrence.

Ce guide s'appuie sur les bonnes pratiques des consultants de Hubbub, et sur l'expérience de
l'équipe marketing de Hever Castle, dans le Kent, dont la vidéo "Gen Z writes the marketing script"
a atteint douze millions de vues sur Instagram. Leur organisation est un musée plutôt qu'une
association caritative, mais les enseignements se transposent directement aux équipes de collecte.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [calendrier de contenu pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> nos [modèles de publications](/resources/social-post-templates/) et notre
> [kit graphique pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Pourquoi les réseaux sociaux comptent, et ce qu'ils font réellement

Pour bien publier, commencez par comprendre pourquoi les gens sont sur ces plateformes. La première
raison est de garder le contact avec leurs amis et leur famille. La deuxième, comme Kat Carter l'a
constaté dans les données, est de combler le temps libre et de se divertir. "C'est fait pour tuer le
temps des gens et pour les divertir," dit-elle, "et faire une pause rapide, ou se perdre dans un
défilement sans fin." Les gens viennent pour se détendre, pas pour qu'on leur vende quelque chose.
Une part non négligeable d'entre eux n'aime pas du tout les comptes qui "ne font que parler
d'eux-mêmes encore et encore".

Cela a une conséquence directe pour les responsables de collecte. Si vos réseaux sociaux sont un
tableau d'affichage d'appels aux dons, ils vont à contre-courant de la plateforme comme de
l'algorithme. Les comptes qui réussissent misent sur ce que Kat Carter appelle l'"infotainment" :
du contenu qui divertit tout en informant, "du divertissement, mais qui est aussi de l'information
sur la marque que nous voulons représenter". Pour une équipe de collecte, cela signifie des
histoires, des visages, des coulisses et un peu d'humour, le tout entrecoupé d'une demande claire
de temps à autre, et non l'inverse.

Ajustez donc vos attentes en conséquence. Le rôle des réseaux sociaux dans une campagne est de
construire l'audience, de maintenir la visibilité de votre cause et de convertir l'intérêt aux
moments décisifs. Ils ne remplaceront pas votre calendrier d'e-mails, et vous ne devriez pas les
évaluer comme s'ils tentaient de le faire. Les dons qui affluent le jour J arriveront pour
l'essentiel par la boîte de réception, et c'est très bien ainsi.

## Définir une stratégie simple et des objectifs clairs

Une stratégie de réseaux sociaux n'a pas besoin d'être un document de cinquante pages. Elle doit
répondre honnêtement à quelques questions : qui est votre audience, que voulez-vous qu'elle ressente
et fasse, à quelle fréquence allez-vous publier, et comment saurez-vous si cela fonctionne.

Commencez par l'audience, car tout le reste en découle. L'équipe de Hever Castle a bâti sa vision
non par conjecture, mais à partir des analyses déjà présentes au sein de chaque plateforme. "Le
meilleur moyen, c'est simplement d'aller dans les coulisses, de regarder les analyses, et vous
pourrez voir qui vous suit, leur localisation, leur âge, leur genre." Faites cela pour chaque canal
que vous animez, car les audiences diffèrent. Dans leur cas, la même organisation attirait un public
plus jeune sur TikTok, un public plus âgé et majoritairement britannique sur Facebook, et une
répartition à peu près égale entre les États-Unis et le Royaume-Uni sur Instagram.

Décidez ensuite ce que vous cherchez à accomplir, et gardez la liste courte. Des objectifs
raisonnables pour une équipe de collecte sont la croissance du nombre d'abonnés, un niveau cible
d'engagement, une portée au-delà de vos abonnés existants, et un nombre de dons ou de clics que
vous pouvez raisonnablement attribuer aux réseaux sociaux pendant une campagne. Mettez en avant la
notoriété et l'engagement, et traitez les revenus directs comme une mesure secondaire, car une
attribution honnête est difficile.

L'autre moitié de la stratégie, c'est le rythme. Les plateformes récompensent les comptes qui sont
présents. "Les algorithmes des réseaux sociaux favorisent les comptes actifs et réguliers,"
explique l'équipe de Hever Castle. Elle tient un calendrier de publication sur le mois pour savoir
ce qui sort et quand, et surtout cela "nous aide à établir un certain équilibre entre le contenu
commercial et le contenu ludique". Un calendrier de contenu est l'outil de planification le plus
utile que vous puissiez construire. Notre
[calendrier de contenu pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) vous
offre un modèle mensuel d'un coup d'œil pour équilibrer le ludique et les demandes, et nos
[modèles de publications](/resources/social-post-templates/) vous donnent des textes à adapter.

## Choisir les bons canaux pour votre audience

Vous n'avez pas à être partout, et vous ne devriez pas essayer de l'être. Animez les canaux où se
trouve réellement votre audience et où vous pouvez publier de manière régulière, et soyez prêt à
fermer ceux qui ne sont pas rentables. L'équipe de Hever Castle a fait exactement cela, en fermant
une présence Twitter de longue date "simplement par manque d'engagement" afin de pouvoir
"concentrer nos efforts ailleurs". Se disperser sur six plateformes que vous ne pouvez pas
entretenir est pire que d'en réussir deux.

Chaque plateforme récompense aussi un comportement différent. La compréhension pratique de l'équipe
de Hever Castle était la suivante : l'engagement sur Facebook "est dopé par de longs commentaires et
des discussions sous vos publications" ; Instagram veut que les gens "partagent les publications et
les enregistrent pour augmenter votre visibilité" ; LinkedIn, comme Facebook, récompense "les longs
commentaires et les interactions" ; et TikTok récompense "les repartages et le temps que les gens
passent à regarder vos vidéos". Rien de tout cela n'est figé. "Cela change avec le temps,"
préviennent-ils. La leçon est moins d'apprendre les règles par cœur que de continuer à les observer.

Un enseignement sur les canaux compte particulièrement pour les responsables de collecte : la
plateforme qui remporte le plus d'engagement n'est pas toujours celle qui génère le plus d'action.
Pour Hever Castle, "Facebook a toujours été la plus grande source de redirection" vers le site web,
même si l'équipe consacre plus d'énergie créative à d'autres plateformes. Lorsque votre objectif est
d'envoyer les gens vers une page de don, suivez quel canal délivre réellement les clics, et pas
seulement les "j'aime".

## Créer un contenu engageant et authentique

Le contenu est au cœur de tout, et la bonne nouvelle est que l'authenticité l'emporte presque
toujours sur la perfection. L'équipe de Hever Castle est catégorique sur ce point : "Les gens
n'aiment pas vraiment le contenu trop léché. Notre contenu le plus performant, c'est simplement ce
que nous avons filmé sur un iPhone et monté dans l'application." Leur matériel est délibérément
modeste : un iPhone, un trépied, des micros-cravates et les outils de montage intégrés aux
applications. L'obstacle à un bon contenu n'est pas l'équipement. C'est la volonté de montrer de la
personnalité. Quelques principes portent l'essentiel du poids.

**Mettez en avant les personnes, pas les logos.** Le tournant dans l'engagement de Hever Castle est
survenu lorsqu'ils ont commencé à filmer le personnel. "Quand j'ai commencé, on ne filmait pas
vraiment avec du personnel. Et c'est quelque chose que j'ai intégré à notre stratégie ces dernières
années. Et cela a été un véritable tournant pour notre engagement." Au fil du temps, des membres de
l'équipe sont devenus des personnages reconnaissables avec "leur propre persona", un chef jardinier
pour les conseils de plantation, un guide en costume pour l'histoire, chacun offrant à l'audience un
visage à suivre et pour lequel revenir. Pour une école, une université ou une association, vos
équivalents sont partout : un archiviste, un bénéficiaire, un membre du personnel, un étudiant.
Comme l'a dit Kat Carter : "Avez-vous quelqu'un, un archiviste, qui pourrait parler à votre audience
des différents aspects de l'établissement ?"

**Racontez des histoires et utilisez la vidéo verticale et courte.** L'attention est terriblement
brève. "Vous devez capter l'attention des gens dans les deux premières secondes ou moins, sinon ils
font simplement défiler," explique l'équipe de Hever Castle, ce qui explique pourquoi elle place "du
texte à l'écran comme une accroche" et garde des vidéos rythmées et tournées à la verticale pour le
téléphone. La vidéo courte est désormais le format dominant, même sur des plateformes autrefois
axées sur la photo : l'équipe a vu Instagram passer des "belles images" à une envie de "ce type de
reels et de contenu vidéo que l'on trouve sur TikTok".

**Surfez sur les tendances, mais uniquement celles qui conviennent.** Une tendance est de
l'attention empruntée, et sauter rapidement sur la bonne est le plus grand levier de portée. La
vidéo virale de Hever Castle a fonctionné parce qu'elle surfait sur la tendance "Gen Z writes the
marketing script" ; en soi, "elle n'a pas vraiment de sens", mais le fait de suivre la tendance "est
ce qui a suscité autant d'intérêt". La discipline, c'est la sélectivité : "Toutes les tendances ne
vont pas fonctionner pour votre université ou votre école. Si cela ne colle pas avec le château ou
la marque, ne le faites pas." Et la rapidité compte, car "le meilleur moyen d'obtenir de
l'engagement avec une vidéo tendance, c'est simplement d'agir aussi vite que possible".

**Écoutez votre audience et republiez ce qui fonctionne.** Les commentaires constituent un brief de
contenu. Lorsque les spectateurs n'arrêtaient pas de demander "Où est Peter ?" après la vidéo phare
de l'équipe, ils en ont fait davantage avec lui. Traitez vos analyses de la même façon : "Quand
quelque chose fonctionne, capitalisez simplement dessus et continuez à faire ce genre de vidéo." Et
ne présumez pas qu'une bonne publication est épuisée après une seule diffusion. "Si vous avez du
contenu intemporel que vous avez filmé, republiez-le tout simplement. S'il a bien marché la première
fois, il y a de très bonnes chances qu'il marche encore." Chaque nouvelle vague d'abonnés n'a pas vu
vos anciennes publications, donc votre catalogue est neuf pour la plupart d'entre eux.

Par-dessus tout, donnez-vous la permission d'y prendre plaisir. Le conseil final de l'équipe était
simplement : "Amusez-vous avec vos réseaux sociaux. Tant que cela reflète votre marque, les gens
aiment voir la personnalité de votre organisation. Ce n'est pas obligé d'être si sérieux tout le
temps." Notre [kit graphique pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) vous offre
des modèles aux couleurs de votre marque pour que les visuels restent cohérents pendant que le
contenu reste humain.

## Travailler avec des ambassadeurs pour étendre votre portée

Vos propres canaux n'ont qu'une portée limitée. Le moyen le plus rapide d'étendre cette portée est
de mobiliser d'autres personnes pour qu'elles publient en votre nom, ce qui est précisément l'objet
d'un [programme d'ambassadeurs](/europe/fr/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/). Les ambassadeurs
sont des soutiens, des étudiants, des anciens élèves, des membres du personnel ou des bénévoles qui
partagent votre contenu et lancent leurs propres appels authentiques à des réseaux que vous ne
pourriez jamais atteindre directement. Dans une campagne, ils font la différence entre s'adresser à
votre audience existante et en atteindre une nouvelle.

La même règle d'authenticité s'applique. La publication d'un ambassadeur fonctionne précisément
parce qu'elle ne ressemble pas à une diffusion institutionnelle : c'est une vraie personne qui dit à
ses propres relations pourquoi cela compte pour elle. Kat Carter décrit l'opportunité plus large
comme la recherche de "contenu généré par les utilisateurs, peut-être via des ambassadeurs ou des
influenceurs liés à notre marque". Donnez aux ambassadeurs des ressources prêtes à l'emploi pour que
la demande soit facile, des légendes suggérées, des visuels et un lien clair, mais encouragez-les à
le formuler avec leurs propres mots. La publication qui convertit est la personnelle, pas la léchée.

Recrutez les ambassadeurs bien avant une campagne, briefez-les sur ce qu'ils doivent publier et
quand, et rendez la chose aussi simple que de transférer un lien ou de partager une story. Notre
guide complémentaire sur la
[mise en place d'un programme d'ambassadeurs](/europe/fr/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
couvre le recrutement et la fidélisation en détail.

## Animer les réseaux sociaux à travers les phases d'une campagne

Pendant une campagne, les réseaux sociaux doivent avancer au même rythme que votre calendrier
d'e-mails, chaque publication renforçant le message que la boîte de réception porte ce jour-là. Il
est utile de penser en quatre phases : la préparation, le lancement, le direct et l'après.

**Pendant la préparation,** le travail consiste à créer la notoriété et l'anticipation. Annoncez ce
qui arrive, partagez les histoires et les personnes derrière la cause, et commencez à préparer vos
ambassadeurs pour qu'ils soient prêts à publier dès le premier jour. C'est là que votre contenu
d'infotainment construit une audience engagée avant même que vous ne lui demandiez quoi que ce soit.

**Au lancement,** soyez fort et soyez clair. Annoncez que vous êtes en direct sur tous les canaux,
et assurez-vous que vos ambassadeurs publient dans la même fenêtre où arrive votre e-mail de
lancement. La cohérence entre la boîte de réception et le fil le premier jour est ce qui crée
l'élan.

**Tout au long de la campagne en direct,** les réseaux sociaux gagnent leur place en rendant les
demandes précises et urgentes, et c'est la technique la plus importante de tout ce guide. Une
publication vague ne fait rien. Le conseil de Kat Carter ne pourrait être plus clair : "Si vous
voulez que votre audience fasse quelque chose, soyez précis sur ce que vous voulez qu'elle fasse."
Son exemple concret, tiré des défis de Journées du don, mérite d'être suivi à la lettre : "Je
recommande généralement de faire une story, un reel où vous pouvez dire : il nous manque 10 donateurs
pour atteindre notre défi de 200 donateurs. Si vous pouvez faire votre don de 10 € dans les 10
prochaines minutes, nous atteindrons notre objectif." Voilà une demande précise, un montant précis,
une progression visible et une échéance, le tout dans une seule publication. À l'inverse, "si vous
restez vague et dites simplement : faites un don pour notre prochain défi", vous laissez les gens
incertains de leur rôle. Associez chaque demande à son impact, afin que les gens comprennent ce que
leur don accomplit.

Les mécaniques de défi d'une Journée du don sont taillées sur mesure pour cela, car chaque palier
vous donne une raison nouvelle et limitée dans le temps de publier : un compte à rebours jusqu'au
prochain déblocage, une mise à jour du classement, une dernière poussée à la dernière heure. Les
stories et les reels conviennent bien à ces moments urgents et éphémères.

**Après,** bouclez la boucle. Remerciez publiquement votre communauté, partagez le résultat, et
racontez l'histoire de ce que l'argent va accomplir. Le remerciement marque aussi le début de la
construction d'audience de votre prochaine campagne, alors ne laissez pas l'énergie se dissiper dès
que le total est atteint.

Planifiez tout cela avant le début de la campagne. Rédiger vos publications à l'avance, en regard de
votre calendrier d'e-mails, est ce qui rend l'exécution sereine plutôt que frénétique, et notre
[calendrier de contenu pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) présente
les phases jour par jour.

## Mesurer ce qui fonctionne

La mesure sur les réseaux sociaux est véritablement difficile, et il vaut mieux être honnête à ce
sujet que d'inventer un chiffre précis. L'équipe de Hever Castle est franche : relier l'activité
sociale aux réservations ou aux revenus est "très difficile, car on ne sait pas quelle partie
individuelle du plan marketing a le mieux fonctionné", parce que tant de flux tournent en même
temps. Kat Carter a formulé la même vérité de façon plus large : "En marketing, il n'y a pas une
seule solution miracle. C'est l'ensemble de tout ce que vous faites qui va susciter l'intérêt des
gens. Et cela peut aussi prendre du temps. Le marketing est une combustion lente."

Mesurez donc ce que vous pouvez bien mesurer, et utilisez des indicateurs indirects pour le reste.
Consultez régulièrement les analyses de vos plateformes, chaque semaine en période normale et chaque
jour pendant une campagne, et surveillez les indicateurs que chaque plateforme récompense réellement
: commentaires et partages, enregistrements, temps de visionnage, repartages. Surveillez la
croissance de vos abonnés et, tout aussi important, leur fidélisation, car un pic viral qui ne dure
pas vaut moins qu'une croissance régulière. Après la vidéo aux douze millions de vues de Hever
Castle, l'équipe a gagné vingt mille abonnés en quinze jours, mais le chiffre qui les intéressait
était de savoir si ces personnes restaient. Un indicateur clé utile pour les responsables de collecte
est la portée au-delà de vos abonnés existants : sur cette vidéo phare, 99,4 % des personnes
touchées n'étaient pas encore abonnées, ce qui montre précisément comment une seule publication ouvre
une cause à une nouvelle audience.

Pour l'attribution, intégrez les petits mécanismes qui vous permettent de tracer l'impact : demandez
aux nouveaux soutiens comment ils ont entendu parler de vous, utilisez les données de redirection
pour voir quel canal envoie du trafic vers votre page de don, et donnez aux ambassadeurs des liens
ou des codes traçables quand vous le pouvez. Rien de tout cela ne vous donne un chiffre parfait.
Jugez les réseaux sociaux sur la notoriété qu'ils construisent, l'audience qu'ils font croître et
les moments qu'ils convertissent, et laissez l'e-mail s'attribuer le mérite des dons qu'il finalise.
Menés ensemble, les deux canaux améliorent le résultat.

## Foire aux questions

**Les réseaux sociaux rapportent-ils réellement de l'argent, ou ne sont-ils que de la notoriété ?**
Ils font les deux, mais surtout le second. Dans une campagne limitée dans le temps, l'e-mail génère
la grande majorité des dons, tandis que les réseaux sociaux construisent l'audience, maintiennent la
visibilité de votre cause et convertissent l'intérêt aux moments décisifs. Les deux fonctionnent
mieux ensemble. Jugez les réseaux sociaux sur la portée, l'engagement et la croissance de l'audience,
et laissez l'e-mail s'attribuer le mérite de finaliser les dons.

**Sur combien de plateformes devrions-nous être ?** Seulement autant que vous pouvez en animer de
manière régulière et là où se trouve réellement votre audience. Il vaut bien mieux réussir deux
canaux que d'en rater six. Soyez prêt à fermer un canal qui n'est pas rentable, comme l'équipe de
Hever Castle l'a fait avec Twitter, afin de concentrer vos efforts là où cela fonctionne.

**Avons-nous besoin de vidéos professionnelles et de matériel coûteux ?** Non, et cela pourrait même
vous freiner. Le contenu le plus performant de l'équipe de Hever Castle est filmé sur un iPhone et
monté dans l'application, et elle a constaté que "les vidéos trop léchées, tournées de façon
professionnelle, ne marchent pas aussi bien". Un téléphone, un trépied, un micro-cravate et la
volonté de montrer de vraies personnes suffisent.

**Comment obtenir plus de portée sans gros budget ?** Surfez rapidement sur les tendances
pertinentes, mettez des personnes reconnaissables à l'écran, privilégiez la vidéo verticale courte,
écoutez ce que demandent vos commentaires, et republiez vos succès intemporels. Mobiliser des
[ambassadeurs](/europe/fr/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) pour qu'ils partagent à leurs
propres réseaux étend votre portée bien au-delà de vos abonnés, le tout de façon organique.

**Comment utiliser les réseaux sociaux pour réellement générer des dons pendant une campagne ?**
Soyez précis. Au lieu de "faites un don pour notre prochain défi", publiez le type de demande
limitée dans le temps que recommande Kat Carter : combien de donateurs vous séparent d'un objectif,
le don exact qui aide, une courte échéance et l'impact du don. Les demandes précises avec un chiffre
et un compte à rebours suppriment les incertitudes et convertissent bien mieux que les demandes
vagues.

**Comment savoir si tout cela fonctionne ?** Imparfaitement, et c'est normal. Suivez les indicateurs
d'engagement propres à chaque plateforme, la croissance et la fidélisation des abonnés, et la portée
au-delà de vos abonnés existants. Pour l'attribution, demandez aux soutiens comment ils vous ont
trouvé, surveillez le trafic de redirection vers votre page de don, et utilisez des liens ou des
codes traçables pour les ambassadeurs. Considérez le résultat comme une combustion lente, et non
comme une transaction unique attribuable.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Calendrier de contenu pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Modèles de publications](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Kit graphique pour les réseaux sociaux](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de Journée du don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte de collecte](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez le texte de vos appels et de vos e-mails
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez vos moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Webinaire : créer un contenu engageant pour les réseaux sociaux](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Guides associés : [Comment rédiger des e-mails de collecte efficaces](/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/) et [Comment mettre en place un programme d'ambassadeurs de collecte](/europe/fr/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come usare i social media per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica all'uso dei social media nella raccolta fondi, che copre strategia, scelta dei canali, creazione di contenuti coinvolgenti, collaborazione con gli ambasciatori, gestione dei social durante una campagna e misurazione di ciò che funziona.
I social media sono il luogo in cui la tua community trascorre già i suoi momenti di ozio, il che li
rende uno dei canali più allettanti della raccolta fondi e uno dei più fraintesi. Usati bene,
costruiscono notorietà, danno una personalità alla tua causa e preparano le persone, così che quando
chiedi una donazione siano pronte a dire di sì. Usati male, diventano un flusso di post del tipo
"vieni a donare" che l'algoritmo seppellisce e che i tuoi follower scorrono senza fermarsi. Questa
guida spiega la differenza tra i due e il ruolo realistico che i social media svolgono all'interno
di una campagna di raccolta fondi.

Partiamo da un punto onesto: i social media raramente generano le donazioni da soli. In una
[Giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) o in qualsiasi appello a tempo,
l'e-mail resta il motore. Come dice Kat Carter, consulente di Hubbub: "L'e-mail è il primo elemento
in assoluto per far varcare la porta ai donatori durante una giornata della donazione." Il ruolo dei
social media è diverso, ma autentico. Costruiscono notorietà, raggiungono persone che il tuo archivio
di e-mail non raggiungerà mai e trasformano l'interesse in azione quando rendi specifica la richiesta.
I due funzionano al meglio in sincronia, non in competizione.

Questa guida attinge alle migliori pratiche dei consulenti di Hubbub e all'esperienza del team
marketing di Hever Castle, nel Kent, il cui video "Gen Z writes the marketing script" ha raggiunto
dodici milioni di visualizzazioni su Instagram. La loro organizzazione è un museo più che un ente
benefico, ma le lezioni si trasferiscono direttamente ai team di raccolta fondi.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [calendario dei contenuti per i social media](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> i nostri [modelli di post social](/resources/social-post-templates/) e il nostro
> [pacchetto grafico per i social media](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Perché i social media contano e cosa fanno davvero

Per pubblicare bene, parti dal perché le persone stanno su queste piattaforme. Il motivo principale è
restare in contatto con amici e familiari. Il secondo, come Kat Carter ha riscontrato nei dati, è
riempire il tempo libero e divertirsi. "Servono a far passare il tempo alle persone e a
intrattenerle," dice, "a fare una pausa veloce o a perdersi in uno scroll senza fine." Le persone
arrivano per rilassarsi, non per farsi vendere qualcosa. Una quota considerevole detesta apertamente
gli account che "continuano a parlare solo di sé stessi".

Questo ha una conseguenza diretta per chi si occupa di raccolta fondi. Se i tuoi social media sono
una bacheca di appelli, vanno controcorrente sia rispetto alla piattaforma sia rispetto
all'algoritmo. Gli account che vanno bene puntano su ciò che Kat Carter chiama "infotainment":
contenuti che intrattengono mentre informano, "intrattenimento, ma è anche informazione sul brand che
vogliamo rappresentare". Per un team di raccolta fondi ciò significa storie, volti, scorci dietro le
quinte e un po' di umorismo, intervallati da una richiesta chiara di tanto in tanto, e non il
contrario.

Quindi calibra le tue aspettative di conseguenza. Il compito dei social media in una campagna è
costruire il pubblico, mantenere visibile la tua causa e convertire l'interesse nei momenti decisivi.
Non sostituiranno il tuo calendario di e-mail e non dovresti misurarli come se ci provassero. Le
donazioni che affluiscono nel giorno clou arriveranno per lo più dalla casella di posta, e va bene
così.

## Definire una strategia semplice e obiettivi chiari

Una strategia social non deve essere un documento di cinquanta pagine. Deve rispondere onestamente a
poche domande: chi è il tuo pubblico, cosa vuoi che provi e faccia, con quale frequenza pubblicherai e
come capirai se sta funzionando.

Parti dal pubblico, perché tutto il resto ne deriva. Il team di Hever Castle ha costruito il proprio
quadro non per congettura, ma a partire dalle analisi già presenti all'interno di ogni piattaforma.
"Il modo migliore è semplicemente entrare nel back end, guardare le analisi, e potrai vedere chi ti
segue, le loro località, l'età, il genere." Fallo per ogni canale che gestisci, perché i pubblici
differiscono. Nel loro caso la stessa organizzazione attirava un pubblico più giovane su TikTok, un
seguito più anziano e prevalentemente britannico su Facebook e una ripartizione pressoché paritaria
tra Stati Uniti e Regno Unito su Instagram.

Poi decidi cosa stai cercando di ottenere e mantieni breve l'elenco. Obiettivi sensati per un team di
raccolta fondi sono la crescita dei follower, un livello target di coinvolgimento, una portata oltre i
follower esistenti e un numero di donazioni o di clic che puoi credibilmente attribuire ai social
durante una campagna. Metti in primo piano notorietà e coinvolgimento, e tratta le entrate dirette
come una misura secondaria, perché un'attribuzione onesta è difficile.

L'altra metà della strategia è il ritmo. Le piattaforme premiano gli account che si fanno vedere.
"Gli algoritmi dei social media favoriscono gli account attivi e costanti," spiega il team di Hever
Castle. Tiene un calendario di pubblicazione lungo il mese, così sa cosa esce e quando, e soprattutto
questo "ci aiuta a stabilire un certo equilibrio tra i contenuti di vendita e quelli divertenti." Un
calendario dei contenuti è lo strumento di pianificazione più utile che tu possa costruire. Il nostro
[calendario dei contenuti per i social media](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) ti offre un
modello con la panoramica mensile per bilanciare divertimento e richieste, e i nostri
[modelli di post social](/resources/social-post-templates/) ti danno testi da adattare.

## Scegliere i canali giusti per il tuo pubblico

Non devi essere ovunque, e non dovresti provarci. Gestisci i canali dove il tuo pubblico è davvero e
dove puoi pubblicare con costanza, e sii disposto a chiudere quelli che non rendono. Il team di Hever
Castle ha fatto esattamente questo, chiudendo una presenza Twitter di lunga data "semplicemente per
mancanza di coinvolgimento" così da poter "concentrare i nostri sforzi altrove". Disperdersi su sei
piattaforme che non riesci a mantenere è peggio che gestirne bene due.

Ogni piattaforma premia anche un comportamento diverso. La comprensione pratica del team di Hever
Castle era questa: il coinvolgimento su Facebook "viene potenziato da commenti e discussioni lunghi
sotto i tuoi post"; Instagram vuole che le persone "condividano i post e li salvino per aumentare la
tua visibilità"; LinkedIn, come Facebook, premia "commenti lunghi e interazioni"; e TikTok premia "le
condivisioni e quanto tempo le persone passano a guardare i tuoi video". Nulla di tutto questo è
fisso. "Cambia nel tempo," avvertono. La lezione è meno imparare le regole a memoria che continuare a
osservarle.

Un'intuizione sui canali conta in modo particolare per chi raccoglie fondi: la piattaforma che ottiene
il maggior coinvolgimento non è sempre quella che genera la maggior azione. Per Hever Castle, "Facebook
è sempre stato il principale canale di rimando" verso il sito web, anche se il team riversa più
energia creativa su altre piattaforme. Quando il tuo obiettivo è portare le persone a una pagina di
donazione, traccia quale canale fornisce davvero i clic, non solo i mi piace.

## Creare contenuti coinvolgenti e autentici

Il contenuto è il cuore di tutto, e la buona notizia è che l'autenticità batte la perfezione quasi
sempre. Il team di Hever Castle è categorico su questo punto: "Alle persone non piacciono molto i
contenuti troppo curati. I nostri contenuti di maggior successo sono semplicemente quelli che abbiamo
filmato con un iPhone e montato nell'app." La loro attrezzatura è volutamente modesta: un iPhone, un
treppiede, microfoni a clip e gli strumenti di montaggio integrati nelle app. L'ostacolo a buoni
contenuti non è l'attrezzatura. È la disponibilità a mostrare personalità. Pochi principi reggono
gran parte del peso.

**Metti al centro le persone, non i loghi.** Il punto di svolta nel coinvolgimento di Hever Castle è
arrivato quando hanno iniziato a mettere il personale davanti alla telecamera. "Quando ho iniziato,
non filmavamo davvero con il personale. Ed è qualcosa che ho integrato nella nostra strategia negli
ultimi anni. E quello è stato un vero punto di svolta per il nostro coinvolgimento." Col tempo, i
singoli membri del team sono diventati personaggi riconoscibili con "la loro persona", un capo
giardiniere per i consigli di semina, un custode in costume per la storia, ciascuno offrendo al
pubblico un volto da seguire e per cui tornare. Per una scuola, un'università o un ente benefico, i
tuoi equivalenti sono ovunque: un archivista, un beneficiario, un membro del personale, uno studente.
Come ha detto Kat Carter: "Hai qualcuno, un archivista, che possa parlare al tuo pubblico delle varie
cose dell'istituto?"

**Racconta storie e usa video brevi e verticali.** L'attenzione è brutalmente breve. "Devi catturare
l'attenzione delle persone nei primi due secondi o meno, altrimenti si limitano a scorrere oltre,"
spiega il team di Hever Castle, ed è per questo che mette "del testo sullo schermo come una sorta di
gancio" e mantiene i video dal ritmo veloce e girati in verticale per il telefono. Il video breve è
ormai il formato dominante anche su piattaforme un tempo incentrate sulle foto: il team ha visto
Instagram passare dalle "belle immagini" alla voglia di "quel tipo di reel e di contenuti video che si
trovano su TikTok".

**Cavalca i trend, ma solo quelli che si adattano.** Un trend è attenzione presa in prestito, e
saltare rapidamente su quello giusto è la leva più grande per la portata. Il video virale di Hever
Castle ha funzionato perché cavalcava il trend "Gen Z writes the marketing script"; di per sé "non ha
molto senso", ma cavalcare il trend "è il motivo per cui ha suscitato così tanto interesse." La
disciplina è la selettività: "Non ogni trend funzionerà per la tua università o scuola. Se non
funziona con il castello o con il brand, non farlo." E la velocità conta, perché "il modo migliore per
ottenere coinvolgimento con un video di tendenza è semplicemente agire il più rapidamente possibile."

**Ascolta il tuo pubblico e ripubblica ciò che funziona.** I commenti sono un brief di contenuto.
Quando gli spettatori continuavano a chiedere "Dov'è Peter?" dopo il video di successo del team, ne
hanno fatti altri con lui. Tratta le tue analisi allo stesso modo: "Quando qualcosa funziona,
capitalizza semplicemente su quello e continua a fare quel tipo di video." E non dare per scontato che
un buon post sia esaurito dopo una sola uscita. "Se hai contenuti sempreverdi che hai girato,
ripubblicali e basta. Se hanno funzionato bene la prima volta, ci sono ottime probabilità che
funzionino di nuovo." Ogni nuova ondata di follower non ha visto i tuoi post più vecchi, quindi il tuo
archivio è nuovo per la maggior parte di loro.

Soprattutto, concediti il permesso di divertirti. Il consiglio finale del team era semplicemente:
"Divertiti con i tuoi social media. Finché riflette il tuo brand, alle persone piace vedere la
personalità della tua organizzazione. Non deve essere così serio tutto il tempo." Il nostro
[pacchetto grafico per i social media](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) ti offre modelli in linea
con il brand, così la grafica resta coerente mentre i contenuti restano umani.

## Collaborare con gli ambasciatori per ampliare la tua portata

I tuoi canali arrivano solo fino a un certo punto. Il modo più rapido per ampliare quella portata è
mobilitare altre persone affinché pubblichino per tuo conto, ed è esattamente lo scopo di un
[programma di ambasciatori](/europe/it/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/). Gli ambasciatori sono
sostenitori, studenti, ex allievi, membri del personale o volontari che condividono i tuoi contenuti e
lanciano i propri appelli autentici a reti che non potresti mai raggiungere direttamente. In una
campagna fanno la differenza tra parlare al tuo pubblico esistente e raggiungerne uno nuovo.

Vale la stessa regola dell'autenticità. Il post di un ambasciatore funziona proprio perché non sembra
una trasmissione istituzionale: è una persona reale che dice alle proprie conoscenze perché questo le
sta a cuore. Kat Carter descrive l'opportunità più ampia come la ricerca di "contenuti generati dagli
utenti, magari tramite ambasciatori o influencer legati al nostro brand". Dai agli ambasciatori
materiali pronti all'uso così che la richiesta sia facile, didascalie suggerite, grafiche e un link
chiaro, ma incoraggiali a esprimerlo con parole proprie. Il post che converte è quello personale, non
quello curato.

Recluta gli ambasciatori molto prima di una campagna, illustra loro cosa pubblicare e quando, e rendi
il tutto semplice come inoltrare un link o condividere una storia. La nostra guida complementare su
[come gestire un programma di ambasciatori](/europe/it/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) tratta
in dettaglio il reclutamento e la cura della relazione.

## Gestire i social attraverso le fasi di una campagna

Durante una campagna, i social media dovrebbero muoversi in perfetta sincronia con il tuo calendario
di e-mail, con ogni post che rafforza il messaggio che la casella di posta veicola quel giorno. Aiuta
pensare in quattro fasi: preparazione, lancio, fase live e dopo.

**Nella preparazione,** il compito è notorietà e attesa. Anticipa ciò che sta per arrivare, condividi
le storie e le persone dietro la causa, e inizia a preparare i tuoi ambasciatori così che siano pronti
a pubblicare dal primo giorno. È qui che i tuoi contenuti di infotainment costruiscono un pubblico
coinvolto prima ancora di chiedergli qualcosa.

**Al lancio,** vai forte e vai chiaro. Annuncia che sei live su ogni canale, e assicurati che i tuoi
ambasciatori pubblichino nella stessa finestra in cui arriva la tua e-mail di lancio. La coerenza tra
casella di posta e feed nel primo giorno è ciò che crea slancio.

**Durante la campagna live,** i social media si guadagnano il loro posto rendendo le richieste
specifiche e urgenti, ed è la tecnica più importante di tutta la guida. Un post vago non fa nulla. Il
consiglio di Kat Carter non potrebbe essere più chiaro: "Se vuoi che il tuo pubblico faccia qualcosa,
sii specifico su cosa vuoi che faccia." Il suo esempio concreto, tratto dalle sfide delle Giornate
della donazione, merita di essere seguito alla lettera: "Di solito consiglio di fare una sorta di
storia o reel in cui puoi dire: ci mancano 10 donatori per raggiungere la nostra sfida da 200
donatori. Se riesci a fare la tua donazione da 10 € nei prossimi 10 minuti, raggiungeremo il nostro
obiettivo." Questa è una richiesta specifica, un importo specifico, un progresso visibile e una
scadenza, tutto in un unico post. Al contrario, "se sei solo vago e dici: dona alla nostra prossima
sfida", lasci le persone incerte sul proprio ruolo. Abbina ogni richiesta all'impatto, così che le
persone capiscano cosa fa la loro donazione.

Le meccaniche a sfida di una Giornata della donazione sono fatte su misura per questo, perché ogni
traguardo ti dà un motivo nuovo e a tempo per pubblicare: un conto alla rovescia verso il prossimo
sblocco, un aggiornamento della classifica, una spinta nell'ultima ora. Le storie e i reel si
prestano bene a questi momenti urgenti ed effimeri.

**Dopo,** chiudi il cerchio. Ringrazia pubblicamente la tua community, condividi il risultato e
racconta la storia di ciò che il denaro realizzerà. Il ringraziamento è anche l'inizio della
costruzione del pubblico per la tua prossima campagna, quindi non lasciare che l'energia svanisca nel
momento in cui il totale è raggiunto.

Pianifica tutto questo prima che la campagna inizi. Scrivere i tuoi post in anticipo, mappati sul tuo
calendario di e-mail, è ciò che rende l'esecuzione serena anziché frenetica, e il nostro
[calendario dei contenuti per i social media](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) espone le
fasi giorno per giorno.

## Misurare ciò che funziona

La misurazione sui social media è davvero difficile, ed è meglio essere onesti al riguardo piuttosto
che inventare un numero preciso. Il team di Hever Castle è schietto: legare l'attività social alle
prenotazioni o alle entrate è "molto difficile sapere quale singola parte del piano marketing ha reso
di più", perché tanti flussi corrono contemporaneamente. Kat Carter ha formulato la stessa verità in
modo più ampio: "Nel marketing non c'è una sola soluzione miracolosa. È l'insieme di tutto ciò che fai
a rendere le persone interessate. E può anche richiedere tempo. Il marketing è una combustione lenta."

Quindi misura ciò che puoi misurare bene e usa indicatori indiretti per il resto. Controlla
regolarmente le analisi delle tue piattaforme, settimanalmente nei periodi normali e quotidianamente
durante una campagna, e osserva le metriche che ciascuna piattaforma premia davvero: commenti e
condivisioni, salvataggi, tempo di visualizzazione, ricondivisioni. Osserva la crescita dei tuoi
follower e, altrettanto importante, la loro fidelizzazione, perché un picco virale che non si fissa
vale meno di una crescita costante. Dopo il video da dodici milioni di visualizzazioni di Hever
Castle, il team ha guadagnato ventimila follower in quindici giorni, ma il numero che gli stava a
cuore era se quelle persone rimanevano. Una metrica chiave utile per chi raccoglie fondi è la portata
oltre i follower esistenti: in quel video di successo, il 99,4 per cento delle persone raggiunte non
era ancora tra i follower, il che mostra precisamente come un singolo post apra una causa a un nuovo
pubblico.

Per l'attribuzione, integra i piccoli meccanismi che ti permettono di tracciare l'impatto: chiedi ai
nuovi sostenitori come hanno saputo di te, usa i dati di rimando per vedere quale canale invia
traffico alla tua pagina di donazione, e dai agli ambasciatori link o codici tracciabili quando puoi.
Nulla di tutto questo ti dà un numero perfetto. Giudica i social media in base alla notorietà che
costruiscono, al pubblico che fanno crescere e ai momenti che convertono, e lascia che sia l'e-mail a
prendersi il merito delle donazioni che chiude. Condotti insieme, entrambi i canali migliorano il
risultato.

## Domande frequenti

**I social media raccolgono davvero denaro, o sono solo notorietà?** Fanno entrambe le cose, ma
soprattutto la seconda. In una campagna a tempo, l'e-mail genera la grande maggioranza delle
donazioni, mentre i social media costruiscono il pubblico, mantengono visibile la tua causa e
convertono l'interesse nei momenti decisivi. I due funzionano meglio insieme. Giudica i social in base
a portata, coinvolgimento e crescita del pubblico, e lascia che sia l'e-mail a prendersi il merito di
chiudere le donazioni.

**Su quante piattaforme dovremmo essere?** Solo su quante riesci a gestire con costanza e dove il tuo
pubblico è davvero. È di gran lunga meglio gestire bene due canali che sei male. Sii disposto a
chiudere un canale che non rende, come ha fatto il team di Hever Castle con Twitter, così da
concentrare i tuoi sforzi dove funzionano.

**Servono video professionali e attrezzatura costosa?** No, e potrebbe persino frenarti. I contenuti
di maggior successo del team di Hever Castle sono filmati con un iPhone e montati nell'app, e hanno
riscontrato che "i video troppo curati, girati in modo professionale, tendono a non andare altrettanto
bene". Un telefono, un treppiede, un microfono a clip e la disponibilità a mostrare persone reali sono
sufficienti.

**Come otteniamo più portata senza un grande budget?** Cavalca rapidamente i trend rilevanti, metti
davanti alla telecamera persone riconoscibili, punta su video verticali brevi, ascolta ciò che
chiedono i tuoi commenti e ripubblica i tuoi successi sempreverdi. Mobilitare gli
[ambasciatori](/europe/it/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) affinché condividano con le proprie
reti estende la tua portata ben oltre i tuoi follower, il tutto in modo organico.

**Come usiamo i social media per generare davvero donazioni durante una campagna?** Sii specifico.
Invece di "dona alla nostra prossima sfida", pubblica il tipo di richiesta a tempo che consiglia Kat
Carter: quanti donatori ti mancano per un obiettivo, la donazione esatta che aiuta, una breve scadenza
e l'impatto del donare. Le richieste specifiche con un numero e un orologio eliminano i dubbi e
convertono molto meglio di quelle vaghe.

**Come capiamo se qualcosa di tutto questo funziona?** In modo imperfetto, ed è normale. Traccia le
metriche di coinvolgimento proprie di ciascuna piattaforma, la crescita e la fidelizzazione dei
follower, e la portata oltre i follower esistenti. Per l'attribuzione, chiedi ai sostenitori come ti
hanno trovato, osserva il traffico di rimando verso la tua pagina di donazione, e usa link o codici
tracciabili per gli ambasciatori. Considera il risultato come una combustione lenta, non come una
singola transazione attribuibile.

---

### Pacchetto risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua e-mail per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Calendario dei contenuti per i social media](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Modelli di post social](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Pacchetto grafico per i social media](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di Giornata della donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina il testo dei tuoi appelli e delle tue e-mail
- [Generatore di QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Webinar: creare contenuti social coinvolgenti](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Guide correlate: [Come scrivere e-mail di raccolta fondi che funzionano](/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/) e [Come gestire un programma di ambasciatori per la raccolta fondi](/europe/it/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to use social media for fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (uk/en): A practical guide to social media for fundraising, covering strategy, choosing channels, creating engaging content, working with ambassadors, running social during a campaign, and measuring what works.
Social media is where your community already spends its idle moments, which makes it one of the
most tempting channels in fundraising and one of the most misunderstood. Used well, it builds
awareness, gives your cause a personality, and warms people up so that when you ask, they are
ready to say yes. Used badly, it becomes a stream of "come and donate" posts that the algorithm
buries and your followers scroll past. This guide explains the difference between the two, and the
realistic job social media does inside a fundraising campaign.

Start with one honest point: social media rarely drives the donations on its own. On a
[Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or any time-bound appeal, email is still the
engine. As Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Email is the number one component of
getting donors kind of through the door for a giving day." Social media's role is different but
genuine. It raises awareness, it reaches people your email file never will, and it converts
interest into action when you make the ask specific. The two work best in step, not in
competition.

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, and on the experience of the
marketing team at Hever Castle in Kent, whose "Gen Z writes the marketing script" video reached
twelve million views on Instagram. Their organisation is a museum rather than a charity, but the
lessons travel directly to fundraising teams.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> [social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) and
> [social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Why social media matters, and what it actually does

To post well, start with why people are on these platforms at all. The top reason is keeping in
touch with friends and family. The second, as Kat Carter found in the data, is to fill spare time
and be entertained. "This is here to kill people's time, and to be entertaining," she says, "and
take a quick break, or get lost in a doom scroll." People arrive to relax, not to be sold to. A
sizeable share actively dislike accounts that "just keep going on and on about yourself".

That has a direct consequence for fundraisers. If your social media is a noticeboard of appeals,
it works against the grain of the platform and the algorithm both. The accounts that do well lean
into what Kat Carter calls "infotainment": content that entertains while it informs,
"entertainment, but it's also information about the brand that we want to represent". For a
fundraising team that means stories, faces, behind-the-scenes glimpses and a bit of humour, woven
through with the occasional clear ask, not the other way round.

So set your expectations accordingly. Social media's job in a campaign is to build the audience,
keep your cause visible, and convert interest at the decisive moments. It will not replace your
email schedule, and you should not measure it as if it were trying to. The donations that pour in
on the day will mostly arrive through the inbox, and that is fine.

## Setting a simple strategy and clear goals

A social media strategy does not need to be a fifty-page document. It needs to answer a few
questions honestly: who is your audience, what do you want them to feel and do, how often will you
post, and how will you know whether it is working.

Start with the audience, because everything else follows from it. The Hever Castle team built
their picture not from guesswork but from the analytics already sitting inside each platform. "The
best way is just to get in the back end, look on the analytics, and you'll be able to see who is
following you, the locations of them, the age, the gender." Do this for each channel you run,
because the audiences differ. In their case the same organisation drew a younger crowd on TikTok,
an older and UK-heavy following on Facebook, and a roughly even US and UK split on Instagram.

Then decide what you are trying to achieve, and keep the list short. Sensible goals for a
fundraising team are growth in followers, a target level of engagement, reach beyond your existing
followers, and a number of donations or click-throughs you can credibly link to social during a
campaign. Lead with awareness and engagement, and treat direct income as a secondary measure,
because honest attribution is hard.

The other half of strategy is rhythm. The platforms reward accounts that show up. "Social media
algorithms, they favour the accounts that are active and consistent," the Hever Castle team
explain. They keep a posting schedule across the month so they know what is going out and when,
and crucially it "helps us establish a bit of a balance between the sales content and the fun
content". A content calendar is the single most useful planning tool you can build. Our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) gives you a
month-at-a-glance template to balance fun and asks, and our
[social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) give you copy to adapt.

## Choosing the right channels for your audience

You do not have to be everywhere, and you should not try to be. Run the channels where your
audience actually is and where you can post consistently, and be willing to close the ones that
are not earning their keep. The Hever Castle team did exactly that, closing a long-running Twitter
presence "just from a lack of engagement" so they could "focus our efforts elsewhere". Spreading
thin across six platforms you cannot maintain is worse than doing two well.

Each platform also rewards different behaviour. The Hever Castle team's working understanding ran
like this: Facebook engagement "gets boosted by having sort of lengthy comments and discussions on
your posts"; Instagram wants people "to share the posts and save the posts to increase your
visibility"; LinkedIn, like Facebook, rewards "lengthy comments and interactions"; and TikTok
rewards "reposts and how much time people spend watching your videos". None of this is fixed. "It
does change over time," they warn. The lesson is less to memorise the rules than to keep watching
them.

One channel insight matters especially for fundraisers: the platform that wins the most engagement
is not always the one that drives the most action. For Hever Castle, "Facebook's always been the
biggest referral" onto the website, even though the team pour more creative energy into other
platforms. When your goal is to send people to a donation page, track which channel actually
delivers the clicks, not just the likes.

## Creating engaging, authentic content

Content is the heart of it, and the good news is that authenticity beats polish almost every time.
The Hever Castle team are emphatic on this point: "People don't tend to like over polished content.
Our most successful content is just what we filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app." Their kit
is deliberately modest: an iPhone, a tripod, lapel mics and the editing tools built into the apps.
The barrier to good content is not equipment. It is willingness to show personality. A few
principles carry most of the weight.

**Lead with people, not logos.** The turning point in Hever Castle's engagement came when they
started putting staff on camera. "When I started, we didn't really film with any staff. And that's
something that I've worked into our strategy over the last few years. And that has been a real
turning point for our engagement." Over time, individual team members became recognisable
characters with "their own persona", a head gardener for the planting tips, a costumed steward for
the history, each giving the audience a face to follow and return for. For a school, university or
charity, your equivalents are everywhere: an archivist, a beneficiary, a member of staff, a
student. As Kat Carter put it, "Do you have somebody, an archivist who can talk to your audience
about the different things at the college?"

**Tell stories and use short, vertical video.** Attention is brutally short. "You have to grab
people's attention in the first two seconds or less, otherwise they'll just scroll past," the Hever
Castle team explain, which is why they put "text on the screen as like a hook" and keep videos
fast-paced and shot vertically for the phone. Short video is now the dominant format even on once
photo-led platforms: the team saw Instagram shift from "pretty pictures" to wanting "that kind of
reels and video content that you get on TikTok".

**Ride trends, but only the ones that fit.** A trend is borrowed attention, and jumping on the
right one quickly is the single biggest lever for reach. Hever Castle's viral video worked because
it rode the "Gen Z writes the marketing script" trend; on its own, "it doesn't really make any
sense", but riding the trend "is how it gathered so much interest". The discipline is selectivity:
"Not every trend is going to work for your university or school. If it's not going to work with the
castle or the brand, don't do it." And speed matters, because "the best way to kind of get the
engagement with a trending video is just to act as quickly as you can."

**Listen to your audience and repost what works.** The comments are a content brief. When viewers
kept asking "Where's Peter?" after the team's breakout video, they made more of him. Treat your
analytics the same way: "When something does work, then just sort of capitalise on that and then
keep doing that sort of video." And do not assume a good post is spent after one outing. "If you
have evergreen content that you filmed, just repost it. If they've worked well the first time,
there's a very good chance they're going to work well again." Each new wave of followers has not
seen your older posts, so your back catalogue is fresh to most of them.

Above all, give yourself permission to enjoy it. The team's closing advice was simply: "Have fun
with your social media. As long as it reflects your brand, people like to see your personality as a
company. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time." Our
[social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) gives you on-brand templates so the
visuals stay consistent while the content stays human.

## Working with ambassadors to extend your reach

Your own channels can only reach so far. The fastest way to extend that reach is to mobilise other
people to post on your behalf, which is exactly what an
[ambassador programme](/uk/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) is for. Ambassadors are
supporters, students, alumni, staff or volunteers who share your content and make their own
authentic appeals to networks you could never reach directly. In a campaign they are the
difference between talking to your existing audience and reaching a new one.

The same authenticity rule applies. An ambassador's post works precisely because it does not look
like an institutional broadcast: it is a real person telling their own connections why this
matters to them. Kat Carter describes the wider opportunity as finding "user-generated content,
perhaps through ambassadors or influencers connected to our brand". Give ambassadors ready-made
assets so the ask is easy, suggested captions, graphics and a clear link, but encourage them to
put it in their own words. The post that converts is the personal one, not the polished one.

Recruit ambassadors well before a campaign, brief them on what to post and when, and make it as
simple as forwarding a link or sharing a story. Our companion guide on
[running an ambassador programme](/uk/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) covers the
recruitment and stewardship in full.

## Running social through the phases of a campaign

During a campaign, social media should move in lockstep with your email schedule, each post
reinforcing the message the inbox is carrying that day. It helps to think in four phases:
build-up, launch, live and afterwards.

**In the build-up,** the job is awareness and anticipation. Tease what is coming, share the
stories and the people behind the cause, and start warming your ambassadors so they are ready to
post from day one. This is where your infotainment content builds an engaged audience before you
ever ask them for anything.

**At launch,** go loud and go clear. Announce that you are live across every channel, and make
sure your ambassadors post in the same window your launch email lands. Consistency across inbox
and feed on day one is what creates momentum.

**Through the live campaign,** social media earns its place by making the asks specific and urgent,
and this is the single most important technique in the whole guide. A vague post does nothing. Kat
Carter's advice could not be plainer: "If you want your audience to do something, be specific about
what you want them to do." Her worked example, drawn from Giving Day challenges, is worth following
to the letter: "I usually recommend doing a kind of stories, kind of reel where you can say, we are
10 donors away from hitting our 200 donor challenge. If you can make your 10 pound gift in the next
10 minutes, we will hit our target." That is a specific ask, a specific amount, visible progress
and a deadline, all in one post. By contrast, "if you're just vague about it and say, donate to our
next challenge", you leave people unsure what their role is. Pair every ask with the impact, so
people understand what their gift does.

The challenge mechanics of a Giving Day are tailor-made for this, because each milestone gives you
a fresh, time-bound reason to post: a countdown to the next unlock, a leaderboard update, a
final-hour push. Stories and reels are well suited to these urgent, expiring moments.

**Afterwards,** close the loop. Thank your community publicly, share the result, and tell the story
of what the money will do. The thank-you is also the start of your next campaign's
audience-building, so do not let the energy drain away the moment the total is in.

Plan all of this before the campaign begins. Writing your posts in advance, mapped against your
email schedule, is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic, and our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) lays the phases out day
by day.

## Measuring what works

Measurement on social media is genuinely hard, and it is better to be honest about that than to
invent a precise number. The Hever Castle team are candid: tying social activity to bookings or
income is "very difficult to know which individual part of the marketing plan did the best",
because so many streams run at once. Kat Carter framed the same truth more broadly: "With
marketing, there's not like one silver bullet. It's a collection of everything that you do that's
gonna make people interested. And it might also take time. Marketing is a slow burn."

So measure what you can measure well, and use proxies for the rest. Check your platform analytics
regularly, weekly during normal periods and daily during a campaign, and watch the metrics each
platform actually rewards: comments and shares, saves, watch time, reposts. Watch your follower
growth and, just as importantly, your retention, because a viral spike that does not stick is worth
less than steady growth. After Hever Castle's twelve-million-view video the team gained twenty
thousand followers in a fortnight, but the figure they cared about was whether those people stayed.
A useful headline metric for fundraisers is reach beyond your existing followers: on that breakout
video, 99.4 per cent of the people reached were not yet followers, which is precisely how a single
post opens a cause to a new audience.

For attribution, build in the small mechanisms that let you trace impact: ask new supporters how
they heard about you, use referral data to see which channel sends traffic to your donation page,
and give ambassadors trackable links or codes when you can. None of this gives you a perfect
figure. Judge social media on the awareness it builds, the audience it grows and the moments it
converts, and let email carry the credit for the donations it closes. Done together, both channels
lift the result.

## Frequently asked questions

**Does social media actually raise money, or is it just awareness?** It does both, but mostly the
second. In a time-bound campaign, email drives the great majority of donations, while social media
builds the audience, keeps your cause visible and converts interest at decisive moments. The two
work best together. Judge social on reach, engagement and audience growth, and let email take the
credit for closing gifts.

**How many platforms should we be on?** Only as many as you can run consistently and where your
audience actually is. It is far better to do two channels well than six badly. Be willing to close
a channel that is not earning its keep, as the Hever Castle team did with Twitter, so you can focus
your effort where it works.

**Do we need professional video and expensive kit?** No, and it may even hold you back. The Hever
Castle team's most successful content is filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app, and they found
"over polished, professionally shot videos don't tend to do as well". A phone, a tripod, a clip-on
microphone and a willingness to show real people are enough.

**How do we get more reach without a big budget?** Ride relevant trends quickly, put recognisable
people on camera, lead with short vertical video, listen to what your comments ask for, and repost
your evergreen winners. Mobilising [ambassadors](/uk/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) to
share to their own networks extends your reach far beyond your own followers, all of it organic.

**How do we use social media to actually drive donations during a campaign?** Be specific. Instead
of "donate to our next challenge", post the kind of time-bound ask Kat Carter recommends: how many
donors away you are from a target, the exact gift that helps, a short deadline and the impact of
giving. Specific asks with a number and a clock take the guesswork out and convert far better than
vague ones.

**How do we know if any of it is working?** Imperfectly, and that is normal. Track each platform's
own engagement metrics, follower growth and retention, and reach beyond your existing followers.
For attribution, ask supporters how they found you, watch referral traffic to your donation page,
and use trackable links or codes for ambassadors. Treat the result as a slow burn, not a single
attributable transaction.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging social media content](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Related guides: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/) and [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](/uk/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use social media for fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (us/en): A practical guide to social media for fundraising, covering strategy, choosing channels, creating engaging content, working with ambassadors, running social during a campaign, and measuring what works.
Social media is where your community already spends its idle moments, which makes it one of the
most tempting channels in fundraising and one of the most misunderstood. Used well, it builds
awareness, gives your cause a personality, and warms people up so that when you ask, they are
ready to say yes. Used badly, it becomes a stream of "come and donate" posts that the algorithm
buries and your followers scroll past. This guide explains the difference between the two, and the
realistic job social media does inside a fundraising campaign.

Start with one honest point: social media rarely drives the donations on its own. On a
[Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or any time-bound appeal, email is still the
engine. As Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Email is the number one component of
getting donors kind of through the door for a giving day." Social media's role is different but
genuine. It raises awareness, it reaches people your email file never will, and it converts
interest into action when you make the ask specific. The two work best in step, not in
competition.

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, and on the experience of the
marketing team at Hever Castle in Kent, whose "Gen Z writes the marketing script" video reached
twelve million views on Instagram. Their organization is a museum rather than a charity, but the
lessons travel directly to fundraising teams.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> [social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) and
> [social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Why social media matters, and what it actually does

To post well, start with why people are on these platforms at all. The top reason is keeping in
touch with friends and family. The second, as Kat Carter found in the data, is to fill spare time
and be entertained. "This is here to kill people's time, and to be entertaining," she says, "and
take a quick break, or get lost in a doom scroll." People arrive to relax, not to be sold to. A
sizable share actively dislike accounts that "just keep going on and on about yourself".

That has a direct consequence for fundraisers. If your social media is a noticeboard of appeals,
it works against the grain of the platform and the algorithm both. The accounts that do well lean
into what Kat Carter calls "infotainment": content that entertains while it informs,
"entertainment, but it's also information about the brand that we want to represent". For a
fundraising team that means stories, faces, behind-the-scenes glimpses and a bit of humor, woven
through with the occasional clear ask, not the other way round.

So set your expectations accordingly. Social media's job in a campaign is to build the audience,
keep your cause visible, and convert interest at the decisive moments. It will not replace your
email schedule, and you should not measure it as if it were trying to. The donations that pour in
on the day will mostly arrive through the inbox, and that is fine.

## Setting a simple strategy and clear goals

A social media strategy does not need to be a fifty-page document. It needs to answer a few
questions honestly: who is your audience, what do you want them to feel and do, how often will you
post, and how will you know whether it is working.

Start with the audience, because everything else follows from it. The Hever Castle team built
their picture not from guesswork but from the analytics already sitting inside each platform. "The
best way is just to get in the back end, look on the analytics, and you'll be able to see who is
following you, the locations of them, the age, the gender." Do this for each channel you run,
because the audiences differ. In their case the same organization drew a younger crowd on TikTok,
an older and UK-heavy following on Facebook, and a roughly even US and UK split on Instagram.

Then decide what you are trying to achieve, and keep the list short. Sensible goals for a
fundraising team are growth in followers, a target level of engagement, reach beyond your existing
followers, and a number of donations or click-throughs you can credibly link to social during a
campaign. Lead with awareness and engagement, and treat direct income as a secondary measure,
because honest attribution is hard.

The other half of strategy is rhythm. The platforms reward accounts that show up. "Social media
algorithms, they favor the accounts that are active and consistent," the Hever Castle team
explain. They keep a posting schedule across the month so they know what is going out and when,
and crucially it "helps us establish a bit of a balance between the sales content and the fun
content". A content calendar is the single most useful planning tool you can build. Our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) gives you a
month-at-a-glance template to balance fun and asks, and our
[social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) give you copy to adapt.

## Choosing the right channels for your audience

You do not have to be everywhere, and you should not try to be. Run the channels where your
audience actually is and where you can post consistently, and be willing to close the ones that
are not earning their keep. The Hever Castle team did exactly that, closing a long-running Twitter
presence "just from a lack of engagement" so they could "focus our efforts elsewhere". Spreading
thin across six platforms you cannot maintain is worse than doing two well.

Each platform also rewards different behavior. The Hever Castle team's working understanding ran
like this: Facebook engagement "gets boosted by having sort of lengthy comments and discussions on
your posts"; Instagram wants people "to share the posts and save the posts to increase your
visibility"; LinkedIn, like Facebook, rewards "lengthy comments and interactions"; and TikTok
rewards "reposts and how much time people spend watching your videos". None of this is fixed. "It
does change over time," they warn. The lesson is less to memorize the rules than to keep watching
them.

One channel insight matters especially for fundraisers: the platform that wins the most engagement
is not always the one that drives the most action. For Hever Castle, "Facebook's always been the
biggest referral" onto the website, even though the team pour more creative energy into other
platforms. When your goal is to send people to a donation page, track which channel actually
delivers the clicks, not just the likes.

## Creating engaging, authentic content

Content is the heart of it, and the good news is that authenticity beats polish almost every time.
The Hever Castle team are emphatic on this point: "People don't tend to like over polished content.
Our most successful content is just what we filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app." Their kit
is deliberately modest: an iPhone, a tripod, lapel mics and the editing tools built into the apps.
The barrier to good content is not equipment. It is willingness to show personality. A few
principles carry most of the weight.

**Lead with people, not logos.** The turning point in Hever Castle's engagement came when they
started putting staff on camera. "When I started, we didn't really film with any staff. And that's
something that I've worked into our strategy over the last few years. And that has been a real
turning point for our engagement." Over time, individual team members became recognizable
characters with "their own persona", a head gardener for the planting tips, a costumed steward for
the history, each giving the audience a face to follow and return for. For a school, university or
nonprofit, your equivalents are everywhere: an archivist, a beneficiary, a member of staff, a
student. As Kat Carter put it, "Do you have somebody, an archivist who can talk to your audience
about the different things at the college?"

**Tell stories and use short, vertical video.** Attention is brutally short. "You have to grab
people's attention in the first two seconds or less, otherwise they'll just scroll past," the Hever
Castle team explain, which is why they put "text on the screen as like a hook" and keep videos
fast-paced and shot vertically for the phone. Short video is now the dominant format even on once
photo-led platforms: the team saw Instagram shift from "pretty pictures" to wanting "that kind of
reels and video content that you get on TikTok".

**Ride trends, but only the ones that fit.** A trend is borrowed attention, and jumping on the
right one quickly is the single biggest lever for reach. Hever Castle's viral video worked because
it rode the "Gen Z writes the marketing script" trend; on its own, "it doesn't really make any
sense", but riding the trend "is how it gathered so much interest". The discipline is selectivity:
"Not every trend is going to work for your university or school. If it's not going to work with the
castle or the brand, don't do it." And speed matters, because "the best way to kind of get the
engagement with a trending video is just to act as quickly as you can."

**Listen to your audience and repost what works.** The comments are a content brief. When viewers
kept asking "Where's Peter?" after the team's breakout video, they made more of him. Treat your
analytics the same way: "When something does work, then just sort of capitalize on that and then
keep doing that sort of video." And do not assume a good post is spent after one outing. "If you
have evergreen content that you filmed, just repost it. If they've worked well the first time,
there's a very good chance they're going to work well again." Each new wave of followers has not
seen your older posts, so your back catalog is fresh to most of them.

Above all, give yourself permission to enjoy it. The team's closing advice was simply: "Have fun
with your social media. As long as it reflects your brand, people like to see your personality as a
company. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time." Our
[social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) gives you on-brand templates so the
visuals stay consistent while the content stays human.

## Working with ambassadors to extend your reach

Your own channels can only reach so far. The fastest way to extend that reach is to mobilize other
people to post on your behalf, which is exactly what an
[ambassador program](/us/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) is for. Ambassadors are
supporters, students, alumni, staff or volunteers who share your content and make their own
authentic appeals to networks you could never reach directly. In a campaign they are the
difference between talking to your existing audience and reaching a new one.

The same authenticity rule applies. An ambassador's post works precisely because it does not look
like an institutional broadcast: it is a real person telling their own connections why this
matters to them. Kat Carter describes the wider opportunity as finding "user-generated content,
perhaps through ambassadors or influencers connected to our brand". Give ambassadors ready-made
assets so the ask is easy, suggested captions, graphics and a clear link, but encourage them to
put it in their own words. The post that converts is the personal one, not the polished one.

Recruit ambassadors well before a campaign, brief them on what to post and when, and make it as
simple as forwarding a link or sharing a story. Our companion guide on
[running an ambassador program](/us/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) covers the
recruitment and stewardship in full.

## Running social through the phases of a campaign

During a campaign, social media should move in lockstep with your email schedule, each post
reinforcing the message the inbox is carrying that day. It helps to think in four phases:
build-up, launch, live and afterwards.

**In the build-up,** the job is awareness and anticipation. Tease what is coming, share the
stories and the people behind the cause, and start warming your ambassadors so they are ready to
post from day one. This is where your infotainment content builds an engaged audience before you
ever ask them for anything.

**At launch,** go loud and go clear. Announce that you are live across every channel, and make
sure your ambassadors post in the same window your launch email lands. Consistency across inbox
and feed on day one is what creates momentum.

**Through the live campaign,** social media earns its place by making the asks specific and urgent,
and this is the single most important technique in the whole guide. A vague post does nothing. Kat
Carter's advice could not be plainer: "If you want your audience to do something, be specific about
what you want them to do." Her worked example, drawn from Giving Day challenges, is worth following
to the letter: "I usually recommend doing a kind of stories, kind of reel where you can say, we are
10 donors away from hitting our 200 donor challenge. If you can make your $10 gift in the next
10 minutes, we will hit our target." That is a specific ask, a specific amount, visible progress
and a deadline, all in one post. By contrast, "if you're just vague about it and say, donate to our
next challenge", you leave people unsure what their role is. Pair every ask with the impact, so
people understand what their gift does.

The challenge mechanics of a Giving Day are tailor-made for this, because each milestone gives you
a fresh, time-bound reason to post: a countdown to the next unlock, a leaderboard update, a
final-hour push. Stories and reels are well suited to these urgent, expiring moments.

**Afterwards,** close the loop. Thank your community publicly, share the result, and tell the story
of what the money will do. The thank-you is also the start of your next campaign's
audience-building, so do not let the energy drain away the moment the total is in.

Plan all of this before the campaign begins. Writing your posts in advance, mapped against your
email schedule, is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic, and our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) lays the phases out day
by day.

## Measuring what works

Measurement on social media is genuinely hard, and it is better to be honest about that than to
invent a precise number. The Hever Castle team are candid: tying social activity to bookings or
income is "very difficult to know which individual part of the marketing plan did the best",
because so many streams run at once. Kat Carter framed the same truth more broadly: "With
marketing, there's not like one silver bullet. It's a collection of everything that you do that's
gonna make people interested. And it might also take time. Marketing is a slow burn."

So measure what you can measure well, and use proxies for the rest. Check your platform analytics
regularly, weekly during normal periods and daily during a campaign, and watch the metrics each
platform actually rewards: comments and shares, saves, watch time, reposts. Watch your follower
growth and, just as importantly, your retention, because a viral spike that does not stick is worth
less than steady growth. After Hever Castle's twelve-million-view video the team gained twenty
thousand followers in a fortnight, but the figure they cared about was whether those people stayed.
A useful headline metric for fundraisers is reach beyond your existing followers: on that breakout
video, 99.4 per cent of the people reached were not yet followers, which is precisely how a single
post opens a cause to a new audience.

For attribution, build in the small mechanisms that let you trace impact: ask new supporters how
they heard about you, use referral data to see which channel sends traffic to your donation page,
and give ambassadors trackable links or codes when you can. None of this gives you a perfect
figure. Judge social media on the awareness it builds, the audience it grows and the moments it
converts, and let email carry the credit for the donations it closes. Done together, both channels
lift the result.

## Frequently asked questions

**Does social media actually raise money, or is it just awareness?** It does both, but mostly the
second. In a time-bound campaign, email drives the great majority of donations, while social media
builds the audience, keeps your cause visible and converts interest at decisive moments. The two
work best together. Judge social on reach, engagement and audience growth, and let email take the
credit for closing gifts.

**How many platforms should we be on?** Only as many as you can run consistently and where your
audience actually is. It is far better to do two channels well than six badly. Be willing to close
a channel that is not earning its keep, as the Hever Castle team did with Twitter, so you can focus
your effort where it works.

**Do we need professional video and expensive kit?** No, and it may even hold you back. The Hever
Castle team's most successful content is filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app, and they found
"over polished, professionally shot videos don't tend to do as well". A phone, a tripod, a clip-on
microphone and a willingness to show real people are enough.

**How do we get more reach without a big budget?** Ride relevant trends quickly, put recognizable
people on camera, lead with short vertical video, listen to what your comments ask for, and repost
your evergreen winners. Mobilizing [ambassadors](/us/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) to
share to their own networks extends your reach far beyond your own followers, all of it organic.

**How do we use social media to actually drive donations during a campaign?** Be specific. Instead
of "donate to our next challenge", post the kind of time-bound ask Kat Carter recommends: how many
donors away you are from a target, the exact gift that helps, a short deadline and the impact of
giving. Specific asks with a number and a clock take the guesswork out and convert far better than
vague ones.

**How do we know if any of it is working?** Imperfectly, and that is normal. Track each platform's
own engagement metrics, follower growth and retention, and reach beyond your existing followers.
For attribution, ask supporters how they found you, watch referral traffic to your donation page,
and use trackable links or codes for ambassadors. Treat the result as a slow burn, not a single
attributable transaction.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging social media content](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Related guides: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/) and [How to run a fundraising ambassador program](/us/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use social media for fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) (world/en): A practical guide to social media for fundraising, covering strategy, choosing channels, creating engaging content, working with ambassadors, running social during a campaign, and measuring what works.
Social media is where your community already spends its idle moments, which makes it one of the
most tempting channels in fundraising and one of the most misunderstood. Used well, it builds
awareness, gives your cause a personality, and warms people up so that when you ask, they are
ready to say yes. Used badly, it becomes a stream of "come and donate" posts that the algorithm
buries and your followers scroll past. This guide explains the difference between the two, and the
realistic job social media does inside a fundraising campaign.

Start with one honest point: social media rarely drives the donations on its own. On a
[Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) or any time-bound appeal, email is still the
engine. As Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, puts it: "Email is the number one component of
getting donors kind of through the door for a giving day." Social media's role is different but
genuine. It raises awareness, it reaches people your email file never will, and it converts
interest into action when you make the ask specific. The two work best in step, not in
competition.

This guide draws on best practice from Hubbub's consultants, and on the experience of the
marketing team at Hever Castle in Kent, whose "Gen Z writes the marketing script" video reached
twelve million views on Instagram. Their organisation is a museum rather than a charity, but the
lessons travel directly to fundraising teams.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/),
> [social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) and
> [social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/).

## Why social media matters, and what it actually does

To post well, start with why people are on these platforms at all. The top reason is keeping in
touch with friends and family. The second, as Kat Carter found in the data, is to fill spare time
and be entertained. "This is here to kill people's time, and to be entertaining," she says, "and
take a quick break, or get lost in a doom scroll." People arrive to relax, not to be sold to. A
sizeable share actively dislike accounts that "just keep going on and on about yourself".

That has a direct consequence for fundraisers. If your social media is a noticeboard of appeals,
it works against the grain of the platform and the algorithm both. The accounts that do well lean
into what Kat Carter calls "infotainment": content that entertains while it informs,
"entertainment, but it's also information about the brand that we want to represent". For a
fundraising team that means stories, faces, behind-the-scenes glimpses and a bit of humour, woven
through with the occasional clear ask, not the other way round.

So set your expectations accordingly. Social media's job in a campaign is to build the audience,
keep your cause visible, and convert interest at the decisive moments. It will not replace your
email schedule, and you should not measure it as if it were trying to. The donations that pour in
on the day will mostly arrive through the inbox, and that is fine.

## Setting a simple strategy and clear goals

A social media strategy does not need to be a fifty-page document. It needs to answer a few
questions honestly: who is your audience, what do you want them to feel and do, how often will you
post, and how will you know whether it is working.

Start with the audience, because everything else follows from it. The Hever Castle team built
their picture not from guesswork but from the analytics already sitting inside each platform. "The
best way is just to get in the back end, look on the analytics, and you'll be able to see who is
following you, the locations of them, the age, the gender." Do this for each channel you run,
because the audiences differ. In their case the same organisation drew a younger crowd on TikTok,
an older and UK-heavy following on Facebook, and a roughly even US and UK split on Instagram.

Then decide what you are trying to achieve, and keep the list short. Sensible goals for a
fundraising team are growth in followers, a target level of engagement, reach beyond your existing
followers, and a number of donations or click-throughs you can credibly link to social during a
campaign. Lead with awareness and engagement, and treat direct income as a secondary measure,
because honest attribution is hard.

The other half of strategy is rhythm. The platforms reward accounts that show up. "Social media
algorithms, they favour the accounts that are active and consistent," the Hever Castle team
explain. They keep a posting schedule across the month so they know what is going out and when,
and crucially it "helps us establish a bit of a balance between the sales content and the fun
content". A content calendar is the single most useful planning tool you can build. Our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) gives you a
month-at-a-glance template to balance fun and asks, and our
[social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/) give you copy to adapt.

## Choosing the right channels for your audience

You do not have to be everywhere, and you should not try to be. Run the channels where your
audience actually is and where you can post consistently, and be willing to close the ones that
are not earning their keep. The Hever Castle team did exactly that, closing a long-running Twitter
presence "just from a lack of engagement" so they could "focus our efforts elsewhere". Spreading
thin across six platforms you cannot maintain is worse than doing two well.

Each platform also rewards different behaviour. The Hever Castle team's working understanding ran
like this: Facebook engagement "gets boosted by having sort of lengthy comments and discussions on
your posts"; Instagram wants people "to share the posts and save the posts to increase your
visibility"; LinkedIn, like Facebook, rewards "lengthy comments and interactions"; and TikTok
rewards "reposts and how much time people spend watching your videos". None of this is fixed. "It
does change over time," they warn. The lesson is less to memorise the rules than to keep watching
them.

One channel insight matters especially for fundraisers: the platform that wins the most engagement
is not always the one that drives the most action. For Hever Castle, "Facebook's always been the
biggest referral" onto the website, even though the team pour more creative energy into other
platforms. When your goal is to send people to a donation page, track which channel actually
delivers the clicks, not just the likes.

## Creating engaging, authentic content

Content is the heart of it, and the good news is that authenticity beats polish almost every time.
The Hever Castle team are emphatic on this point: "People don't tend to like over polished content.
Our most successful content is just what we filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app." Their kit
is deliberately modest: an iPhone, a tripod, lapel mics and the editing tools built into the apps.
The barrier to good content is not equipment. It is willingness to show personality. A few
principles carry most of the weight.

**Lead with people, not logos.** The turning point in Hever Castle's engagement came when they
started putting staff on camera. "When I started, we didn't really film with any staff. And that's
something that I've worked into our strategy over the last few years. And that has been a real
turning point for our engagement." Over time, individual team members became recognisable
characters with "their own persona", a head gardener for the planting tips, a costumed steward for
the history, each giving the audience a face to follow and return for. For a school, university or
charity, your equivalents are everywhere: an archivist, a beneficiary, a member of staff, a
student. As Kat Carter put it, "Do you have somebody, an archivist who can talk to your audience
about the different things at the college?"

**Tell stories and use short, vertical video.** Attention is brutally short. "You have to grab
people's attention in the first two seconds or less, otherwise they'll just scroll past," the Hever
Castle team explain, which is why they put "text on the screen as like a hook" and keep videos
fast-paced and shot vertically for the phone. Short video is now the dominant format even on once
photo-led platforms: the team saw Instagram shift from "pretty pictures" to wanting "that kind of
reels and video content that you get on TikTok".

**Ride trends, but only the ones that fit.** A trend is borrowed attention, and jumping on the
right one quickly is the single biggest lever for reach. Hever Castle's viral video worked because
it rode the "Gen Z writes the marketing script" trend; on its own, "it doesn't really make any
sense", but riding the trend "is how it gathered so much interest". The discipline is selectivity:
"Not every trend is going to work for your university or school. If it's not going to work with the
castle or the brand, don't do it." And speed matters, because "the best way to kind of get the
engagement with a trending video is just to act as quickly as you can."

**Listen to your audience and repost what works.** The comments are a content brief. When viewers
kept asking "Where's Peter?" after the team's breakout video, they made more of him. Treat your
analytics the same way: "When something does work, then just sort of capitalise on that and then
keep doing that sort of video." And do not assume a good post is spent after one outing. "If you
have evergreen content that you filmed, just repost it. If they've worked well the first time,
there's a very good chance they're going to work well again." Each new wave of followers has not
seen your older posts, so your back catalogue is fresh to most of them.

Above all, give yourself permission to enjoy it. The team's closing advice was simply: "Have fun
with your social media. As long as it reflects your brand, people like to see your personality as a
company. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time." Our
[social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/) gives you on-brand templates so the
visuals stay consistent while the content stays human.

## Working with ambassadors to extend your reach

Your own channels can only reach so far. The fastest way to extend that reach is to mobilise other
people to post on your behalf, which is exactly what an
[ambassador programme](/world/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) is for. Ambassadors are
supporters, students, alumni, staff or volunteers who share your content and make their own
authentic appeals to networks you could never reach directly. In a campaign they are the
difference between talking to your existing audience and reaching a new one.

The same authenticity rule applies. An ambassador's post works precisely because it does not look
like an institutional broadcast: it is a real person telling their own connections why this
matters to them. Kat Carter describes the wider opportunity as finding "user-generated content,
perhaps through ambassadors or influencers connected to our brand". Give ambassadors ready-made
assets so the ask is easy, suggested captions, graphics and a clear link, but encourage them to
put it in their own words. The post that converts is the personal one, not the polished one.

Recruit ambassadors well before a campaign, brief them on what to post and when, and make it as
simple as forwarding a link or sharing a story. Our companion guide on
[running an ambassador programme](/world/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) covers the
recruitment and stewardship in full.

## Running social through the phases of a campaign

During a campaign, social media should move in lockstep with your email schedule, each post
reinforcing the message the inbox is carrying that day. It helps to think in four phases:
build-up, launch, live and afterwards.

**In the build-up,** the job is awareness and anticipation. Tease what is coming, share the
stories and the people behind the cause, and start warming your ambassadors so they are ready to
post from day one. This is where your infotainment content builds an engaged audience before you
ever ask them for anything.

**At launch,** go loud and go clear. Announce that you are live across every channel, and make
sure your ambassadors post in the same window your launch email lands. Consistency across inbox
and feed on day one is what creates momentum.

**Through the live campaign,** social media earns its place by making the asks specific and urgent,
and this is the single most important technique in the whole guide. A vague post does nothing. Kat
Carter's advice could not be plainer: "If you want your audience to do something, be specific about
what you want them to do." Her worked example, drawn from Giving Day challenges, is worth following
to the letter: "I usually recommend doing a kind of stories, kind of reel where you can say, we are
10 donors away from hitting our 200 donor challenge. If you can make your gift of 10 in the next
10 minutes, we will hit our target." That is a specific ask, a specific amount, visible progress
and a deadline, all in one post. By contrast, "if you're just vague about it and say, donate to our
next challenge", you leave people unsure what their role is. Pair every ask with the impact, so
people understand what their gift does.

The challenge mechanics of a Giving Day are tailor-made for this, because each milestone gives you
a fresh, time-bound reason to post: a countdown to the next unlock, a leaderboard update, a
final-hour push. Stories and reels are well suited to these urgent, expiring moments.

**Afterwards,** close the loop. Thank your community publicly, share the result, and tell the story
of what the money will do. The thank-you is also the start of your next campaign's
audience-building, so do not let the energy drain away the moment the total is in.

Plan all of this before the campaign begins. Writing your posts in advance, mapped against your
email schedule, is what makes delivery calm rather than frantic, and our
[social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/) lays the phases out day
by day.

## Measuring what works

Measurement on social media is genuinely hard, and it is better to be honest about that than to
invent a precise number. The Hever Castle team are candid: tying social activity to bookings or
income is "very difficult to know which individual part of the marketing plan did the best",
because so many streams run at once. Kat Carter framed the same truth more broadly: "With
marketing, there's not like one silver bullet. It's a collection of everything that you do that's
gonna make people interested. And it might also take time. Marketing is a slow burn."

So measure what you can measure well, and use proxies for the rest. Check your platform analytics
regularly, weekly during normal periods and daily during a campaign, and watch the metrics each
platform actually rewards: comments and shares, saves, watch time, reposts. Watch your follower
growth and, just as importantly, your retention, because a viral spike that does not stick is worth
less than steady growth. After Hever Castle's twelve-million-view video the team gained twenty
thousand followers in a fortnight, but the figure they cared about was whether those people stayed.
A useful headline metric for fundraisers is reach beyond your existing followers: on that breakout
video, 99.4 per cent of the people reached were not yet followers, which is precisely how a single
post opens a cause to a new audience.

For attribution, build in the small mechanisms that let you trace impact: ask new supporters how
they heard about you, use referral data to see which channel sends traffic to your donation page,
and give ambassadors trackable links or codes when you can. None of this gives you a perfect
figure. Judge social media on the awareness it builds, the audience it grows and the moments it
converts, and let email carry the credit for the donations it closes. Done together, both channels
lift the result.

## Frequently asked questions

**Does social media actually raise money, or is it just awareness?** It does both, but mostly the
second. In a time-bound campaign, email drives the great majority of donations, while social media
builds the audience, keeps your cause visible and converts interest at decisive moments. The two
work best together. Judge social on reach, engagement and audience growth, and let email take the
credit for closing gifts.

**How many platforms should we be on?** Only as many as you can run consistently and where your
audience actually is. It is far better to do two channels well than six badly. Be willing to close
a channel that is not earning its keep, as the Hever Castle team did with Twitter, so you can focus
your effort where it works.

**Do we need professional video and expensive kit?** No, and it may even hold you back. The Hever
Castle team's most successful content is filmed on an iPhone and edited in the app, and they found
"over polished, professionally shot videos don't tend to do as well". A phone, a tripod, a clip-on
microphone and a willingness to show real people are enough.

**How do we get more reach without a big budget?** Ride relevant trends quickly, put recognisable
people on camera, lead with short vertical video, listen to what your comments ask for, and repost
your evergreen winners. Mobilising [ambassadors](/world/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/) to
share to their own networks extends your reach far beyond your own followers, all of it organic.

**How do we use social media to actually drive donations during a campaign?** Be specific. Instead
of "donate to our next challenge", post the kind of time-bound ask Kat Carter recommends: how many
donors away you are from a target, the exact gift that helps, a short deadline and the impact of
giving. Specific asks with a number and a clock take the guesswork out and convert far better than
vague ones.

**How do we know if any of it is working?** Imperfectly, and that is normal. Track each platform's
own engagement metrics, follower growth and retention, and reach beyond your existing followers.
For attribution, ask supporters how they found you, watch referral traffic to your donation page,
and use trackable links or codes for ambassadors. Treat the result as a slow burn, not a single
attributable transaction.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Social media content calendar](/resources/social-media-content-calendar/)
- [Social post templates](/resources/social-post-templates/)
- [Social graphics pack](/resources/social-graphics-pack/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging social media content](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-social-media-content)
- Related guides: [How to write fundraising emails that work](/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/) and [How to run a fundraising ambassador programme](/world/en/guides/running-an-ambassador-programme/)
- Sector body: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use your data and segmentation](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (canz/en): A practical guide to using fundraising data without being daunted by it, covering getting your data in order, segmentation, the metrics that matter, web analytics basics, and turning data into better decisions.
Data is one of those words that makes plenty of fundraisers tense up. You picture spreadsheets,
pivot tables and a dashboard you do not fully understand, and you quietly hope someone else will
deal with it. The good news is that using your data well is far less technical, and far more
useful, than that mental image suggests. It is simply about knowing who your supporters are, what
they care about, and what is actually working, so that you spend your limited time and money in
the right places.

Heather Egleton, a consultant at Hubbub, puts the worry plainly: "Some people, and you may
be one of those if you're on the call today, hear the word data and kind of get a bit panicky. You
think of spreadsheets and pivot tables and all sorts of other things that can blow some of our
minds." Her argument is that you can move past that and start to enjoy it. "There are
sometimes spreadsheets and pivot tables, but that's not all there is. There is the bigger picture
as well."

This guide draws on two Hubbub webinars: "Why you shouldn't be daunted by data" and "A primer to
web analytics using Google". It covers five things in turn: getting your data in order, segmenting
it so your communications land better, the handful of metrics that genuinely matter, the basics of
web analytics on your donation journey, and how to turn all of it into better decisions rather than
prettier dashboards. It pairs naturally with our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/canz/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), because almost
everything here is in service of acquiring, keeping and upgrading donors.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/),
> [data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/) and
> [analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Start simple, and just start

The single most important thing is not to wait until you have a perfect system. Heather's advice is
deliberately small: "If you do one thing after listening to
this today, it is really just to make a start. It's very easy to kind of put data and planning
into your virtual in-tray or your actual in-tray. But pull it out and crack on with it."

That first thing can be modest. "If that one thing is just that you take a step back and review
what you have, how you're recording it, where you're getting it from, what use it could be to you,
and looking at your end goal and can it help you get there, that's brilliant." You do not need a
"fancy pants database", as she called it, to begin. A clean spreadsheet and a clear question are
enough to get going.

There is also a useful reframe for the daunted: most of the work is interpretation, not
arithmetic, and that is the part you are already good at. Being reactive has its place, and
sometimes it is exactly right, as it was for the appeals many teams ran during Covid and around the
war in Ukraine. But for your day-to-day programme, using historical information to make predictions
is what makes you "a lot more cost efficient" and lets you "be really confident in the decisions
you're making and the actions that you're taking".

## Getting your data in order

Before you can segment or analyse anything, the data underneath it has to be trustworthy. The
principle Heather kept returning to is an old one: "Good data in, good data out. Bad data in, bad
data out. That has been said to me a long time ago and I will never forget it." Trustworthy data
comes from three things: consistent entry, clean records, and proper consent.

**Consistent entry.** The biggest cause of useless data is inconsistent recording, especially when
several people touch the database. Agree protocols for how things are entered, because "unless that
information is in there accurately and consistently, it's no use really, because you can't report
and analyse on it: you'll be comparing apples and oranges." Wherever you can, design the inputs to
remove guesswork. Use "a tick box or a drop down choice" and restrict free text, so you avoid the
classic mess where one record says a supporter studied "French and history" and another says
"history and French", or an organisation appears once by its initials and once spelled out in full.
Those small inconsistencies are exactly what break a report later.

**Clean, deliverable records.** Cleansing does not have to mean shipping your file off to a
third party and hoping. The kind Heather recommends is the sort you can do yourself, with your
donors' help. Before a big mailing or an impact report, build in a step to ask supporters to check
and update their own details: "If you have an engagement platform, ask them to double check their
data and update it. And then they're actually then also giving you consent because they're
providing you with the most recent information." That keeps your data deliverable and earns you
fresh permission at the same time. It is also worth periodically streamlining duplicate fields,
because "if you've got the same thing said on this tab and that tab and then in this box, it's a
lot harder to keep that all up to date".

**Consented and proportionate.** You do not need to be a privacy expert, but you do need a simple
test. Heather's version is memorable: "If someone asked to see it, would they be absolutely
horrified about what you're collecting? Don't put anything in there that you wouldn't happily let
someone look over your shoulder and see." Collect what is accurate, factual and necessary, keep it
up to date, honour the communication preferences people give you, follow the privacy rules that
apply to you, such as PIPEDA in Canada, the Privacy Act in Australia or the Privacy Act in New
Zealand, and lean on whoever in your organisation understands them. Our
[data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
turns these into a short, repeatable review.

One habit underpins all three: start from the end. Think first about what you want to know, then
work backwards from the result you want. If your aim is to grow regular giving, ask what data that
needs. If it is to find legacy prospects, ask what signals someone is likely to leave a gift in
their will. You will usually find three or four aims with a lot of overlap, which means you are
streamlining what you collect rather than drowning in surveys and attributes.

## Segmentation, and why it improves results

Once your data is clean, segmentation is how you make it pay. Segmentation means splitting your
supporters into groups so you can talk to each group in a way that fits them, and the reason to
bother is straightforward. As Heather explained, it "really helps us all to create more personalised
communications with our audiences, which will in turn increase the warmth that they have for you
and your mission and their affinity, which then hopefully will in turn increase the support they're
able to provide you."

The blunt instrument segmentation replaces is the scattergun appeal. "Gone are the days, if they
were ever actually there, where you just throw your whole database in a telephone campaign and hope
for the best." Instead, you channel limited resources where they will work hardest, and the savings
are real: print and postage are expensive, so "you really want to make sure you're segmenting and
you're focusing in the right areas with any resources that you have."

You can segment on many dimensions, alone or in combination, depending on your goal:

- **Donation history.** For an upgrade campaign, target those who have given regularly for a while,
  or made several one-off gifts, and steward them towards a higher or regular gift.
- **Relationship.** Not only the relationship with you (alumnus, parent, former staff) but between
  supporters: a graduation year, a subject cohort, people who were there at the same time.
- **Engagement.** Those who always come to events, those who never do, and everyone in between,
  plus the activities and interests they have shown.
- **Communication preferences.** Honour them once collected. Do not phone someone who asked never
  to be called.
- **Location.** Domestic or worldwide, and finer breakdowns within that.

Two practical points make segmentation stick. First, record which segment each donor was placed in,
and keep it in your appeal history, because what works for this summer's campaign may differ next
year as you learn. Second, segmentation is also how you test content. You can "literally just split
your data randomly in half. One half has a video in it, one half has a photograph", or one version
is written from the head and another from a student. It is "not 100 per cent scientific, because
there are lots of other variables", but it surfaces trends you can act on. Our
[segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/) gives you a structure to define and tag
your segments.

A connected technique is profiling: looking at the donors you already have to find more like them.
Pull your recent givers into a spreadsheet, "not hideous ones, I promise", with columns for what
they gave, when they last gave, their relationship and their age bracket, then look for the
commonalities. A light **RFM analysis**, weighting by how recently, how frequently and how much
people give, lets you "weight the ones that are giving the most, the most often, the most recently,
and then start to look at what traits they share". You can then tag the unasked people in your
database who match that profile.

Profiling also punctures lazy assumptions. As Heather warned, "you can't ask somebody
over 70 because they don't know how to use computers, and you can't ask someone under 30 because
these poor people can't afford to pay the rent". Those are assumptions, not data. "Throw all those
assumptions out the window and look at what your data is telling you about who should be included
and how they should be communicated with."

## The metrics that actually matter

It is easy to collect dozens of numbers and report none of them usefully. A small, consistent set
tells you most of what you need: participation, retention, average gift and lifetime value.

**Participation.** How many people gave, and how many were new. New-donor numbers in particular
tell you whether your acquisition is working and where your future regular givers will come from.

**Retention.** Whether donors stay with you, lapse, or come back. Heather frames this as part of
profiling: "Are they staying with you? Are they upgrading?" Tracking lapsed donors, and whether
your activity re-engages them, is how you protect income you already have rather than constantly
buying it back.

**Average gift.** What people give, and how that changes over time, both across the file and within
a segment you are trying to upgrade.

**Lifetime value.** The longer view: what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, not just
this appeal. This is the metric that justifies investing in stewardship and in acquiring new
supporters who can be cultivated for years.

The discipline that makes metrics worth having is consistency. As Kat Carter put it, you want
metrics "that are consistent" and "reliable enough to be collected on a
regular basis to show change over time, whether that's positive or negative, and to see trends that
help you to make informed decisions". A metric you measure once is a curiosity. A metric you
measure the same way every month is a tool.

## The basics of web analytics

Online giving has one big advantage over direct mail: you can see far more of what happens. With a
mailing, Kat noted, "you're kind of only really gaining two data points": who gave and what came
back undelivered. Online, "you can learn a little bit more about at what point did somebody decide
that they want to make a gift, how long did it take them to make that decision, and what were the
things that influenced that that were on the website."

The first step is almost embarrassingly simple, and it is Kat's top takeaway: connect Google
Analytics to your website, especially if that website takes donations. "If
you don't have Google Analytics connected and the Google Analytics code connected to your website,
especially if that website is taking donations, that's the first thing that you should do." Even if
you are not ready to analyse anything, you are at least collecting the data, so that "when you are
ready to analyse it, you have something to get started with". If a website provider runs your site,
they can add the tracking code for you.

Once it is connected, a handful of measures cover the donation journey:

- **Users and sessions.** New and returning visitors, and how often they come back. People often
  need several visits "before they overcome their skepticism and make a gift", so returning users
  are not a failure.
- **Devices.** Make sure the journey works on mobile, tablet and desktop. People browse and often
  give on mobile, so "if you have a website that's great on desktop but it isn't great on mobile
  but you get lots of users on mobile, then you could be missing out on conversions."
- **Channels, sources and mediums.** Where traffic comes from: email, social, organic search,
  referral, direct. This tells you where to focus effort.
- **Average time on a page.** A long time can mean engagement, or a friction point. "If somebody
  is spending too much time there, then maybe there's a friction point on that page."
- **Exit pages and bounce rate.** Where journeys end. The question is whether people leave from the
  thank-you page, having given, "or are they exiting before they even get to the donation page".
  A higher bounce rate on a donation page is normal, because there is only one action to take, but
  you need to know your own benchmark.

To see which messages actually drive gifts, use **UTM links**, the tagged URLs Google provides
free. They let you label a link by campaign, medium and source, so Analytics can tell email apart
from social, and one email apart from another. For a giving day Kat recommends being granular:
tag each email by day and send time, because then "I'm able to see more information about which
emails are driving traffic, but which emails are converting." The pairing is the point: "It doesn't
matter if it gets lots of engagement if it doesn't convert." When you find content that produces
both high traffic and high conversion, "let's do more of that."

When you are ready for more, Google Tag Manager adds event tracking: how far people scroll, which
of several donate buttons gets used, whether a video or a photo converts better. Hubbub tested two
donate buttons on a giving day page and found the main button under the totaliser drew 609 clicks
and 438 conversions, while the button in the navigation bar drew only around 100 uses. The lesson
was not to remove the nav button, but to confirm both have a place: data over opinion. Our
[analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) gives you a simple,
consistent place to record these numbers over time.

## Turning data into better decisions

The aim is decisions, not dashboards. Kat's framing is the one to
keep: "Without data, you're just another person with an opinion. So let's be data-led, not
opinion-led." Without it, "you might end up being totally unaware of what's working, what's not
working, and just making guesses as to how you move forward."

Benchmarks turn raw numbers into judgements. Hubbub uses a few it has built up over time: on a
giving day, around 85 per cent of donations typically come from email in the first year or two, and
their donation forms convert at around 70 per cent. These are not targets to chase blindly. A team
sitting above 85 per cent on email may simply lack channel diversification, while a team below it
has often grown social and ambassador giving, which "is sometimes a good thing". The value is in
the conversation the number starts: if your conversion rate is low, is it the audience, the
messaging, or the user experience? Test each in turn, "do a test of your audience, do some
messaging changes, test your giving on one platform versus another", and you can isolate what
actually moved the needle. If you have no benchmarks of your own yet, Kat pointed to public ones
from researchers like NextAfter and M+R.

Crucially, learning often comes from what did not work. "You almost want to find the things that
aren't working to learn from them, because if you're looking at everything that's working, you're
probably not going to learn too much from that other than it worked, but not maybe as to why."

A note on AI, since it comes up constantly. Both Kat and Heather see it as a helper for the manual
parts, not a replacement for judgement. Where a task is "very manual and can almost be a blocker to
doing the next step, which is the actual analysis", letting AI compile, cleanse or totalise data
frees you for the work that matters. But, as Kat cautioned, "just letting AI do everything isn't
the answer, because it doesn't have the savvy". You remain the professional interpreting what the
data is telling you.

Finally, bring your team with you. People can be wary of data because "they think that they're just
being tracked and watched". Be transparent about why you are doing it and what difference it makes,
and find the person who lights up at this: "there generally is more than likely someone in your
team that would get as excited about this as I do." Hand them the project, and the whole thing
becomes sustainable rather than a one-off. As Heather summed it up, "data can really have an impact
and a great success for you to acquire, retain and upgrade more donors."

## Frequently asked questions

**I find data intimidating. Where do I actually start?** With one small thing. Review what you
already hold, how it is recorded, and whether it helps answer a question you care about. You do not
need an expensive database; a clean spreadsheet and a clear goal are enough to begin.

**How do I keep my data clean without it taking over?** Build consistency in at the point of entry
with drop-downs and tick boxes rather than free text, agree protocols if more than one person
records data, and use natural moments, like an impact report or a mailing, to ask supporters to
update their own details. That keeps records deliverable and refreshes consent at the same time.

**What is segmentation and why does it improve results?** It is splitting your supporters into
groups so you can communicate in a way that fits each one. It increases warmth and affinity, lets
you focus limited budget where it works, and replaces the scattergun appeal where you "throw your
whole database in and hope for the best".

**Which metrics should I track if I only track a few?** Participation and new donors, retention and
lapse, average gift, and lifetime value. Measure them the same way every time, because a metric is
only useful when it shows change consistently over months.

**What is the first thing to do with web analytics?** Connect Google Analytics to your website,
especially if it takes donations. Even before you analyse anything, you will be collecting the data
so it is there when you are ready. Then use UTM links so you can see which emails and channels
actually convert.

**Will AI do my data analysis for me?** It can handle the manual parts, compiling, cleansing and
totalising, which frees you for interpretation and relationships. But it lacks the savvy to make
the call for you, so you stay the one reading what the data means.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [why you shouldn't be daunted by data](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) and [a primer to web analytics using Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Related guide: [How to acquire and retain donors](/canz/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [So nutzen Sie Ihre Daten und die Segmentierung](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden, um Fundraising-Daten zu nutzen, ohne sich davon einschüchtern zu lassen: Daten in Ordnung bringen, segmentieren, die wirklich wichtigen Kennzahlen erkennen, die Grundlagen der Webanalyse meistern und Daten in bessere Entscheidungen verwandeln.
Daten sind eines jener Worte, bei denen sich viele Fundraiserinnen und Fundraiser verkrampfen. Sie
denken an Tabellen, Pivot-Tabellen und ein Dashboard, das Sie nicht ganz durchschauen, und hoffen
insgeheim, dass sich jemand anderes darum kümmert. Die gute Nachricht ist: Ihre Daten gut zu nutzen,
ist weit weniger technisch und weit nützlicher, als dieses Bild im Kopf vermuten lässt. Es geht
schlicht darum zu wissen, wer Ihre Unterstützerinnen und Unterstützer sind, was ihnen am Herzen
liegt und was tatsächlich funktioniert, damit Sie Ihre begrenzte Zeit und Ihr begrenztes Geld an
den richtigen Stellen einsetzen.

Heather Egleton, Beraterin bei Hubbub, bringt die Sorge offen auf den Punkt: „Manche Menschen, und
vielleicht gehören Sie heute dazu, wenn Sie in der Schalte sind, hören das Wort Daten und geraten
ein bisschen in Panik. Sie denken an Tabellen und Pivot-Tabellen und allerlei andere Dinge, die
einigen von uns den Kopf verdrehen können.“ Ihr Argument lautet, dass man das hinter sich lassen und
sogar Freude daran finden kann. „Manchmal gibt es Tabellen und Pivot-Tabellen, aber das ist nicht
alles. Es gibt auch das große Ganze.“

Dieser Leitfaden stützt sich auf zwei Hubbub-Webinare: „Warum Sie sich von Daten nicht
einschüchtern lassen sollten“ und „Eine Einführung in die Webanalyse mit Google“. Er behandelt der
Reihe nach fünf Dinge: Ihre Daten in Ordnung bringen, sie so segmentieren, dass Ihre Kommunikation
besser ankommt, die Handvoll Kennzahlen, die wirklich zählen, die Grundlagen der Webanalyse auf
Ihrer Spendenstrecke und wie Sie all das in bessere Entscheidungen statt hübschere Dashboards
verwandeln. Er passt natürlich zu unserem Leitfaden zur
[Gewinnung und Bindung von Spendern](/europe/de/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), denn fast
alles hier dient dazu, Spenderinnen und Spender zu gewinnen, zu halten und zu höheren Beiträgen zu
führen.

> **Praktische Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Segmentierungsvorlage](/resources/segmentation-template/), unsere
> [Checkliste zur Datengesundheit](/resources/data-health-checklist/) und unsere
> [Vorlage für ein Analyse-Dashboard](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) herunterzuladen.

## Fangen Sie einfach an, und fangen Sie einfach an

Das Allerwichtigste ist, nicht zu warten, bis Sie ein perfektes System haben. Heathers Rat ist
bewusst klein gehalten: „Wenn Sie nach dem heutigen Zuhören eine einzige Sache tun, dann ist es
wirklich nur, anzufangen. Es ist sehr leicht, Daten und Planung in den virtuellen oder echten
Posteingang zu legen. Aber holen Sie sie heraus und packen Sie es an.“

Diese erste Sache darf bescheiden sein. „Wenn diese eine Sache nur darin besteht, dass Sie einen
Schritt zurücktreten und prüfen, was Sie haben, wie Sie es erfassen, woher Sie es bekommen, wozu es
Ihnen nützen könnte, und Ihr Endziel betrachten und sich fragen, ob es Ihnen dabei helfen kann, dann
ist das großartig.“ Sie brauchen keine „schicke Datenbank“, wie sie es nannte, um zu beginnen. Eine
saubere Tabelle und eine klare Frage genügen, um loszulegen.

Es gibt auch eine nützliche Umdeutung für die Eingeschüchterten: Der Großteil der Arbeit ist
Interpretation, nicht Rechnen, und genau das ist der Teil, in dem Sie bereits gut sind. Reaktiv zu
sein hat seinen Platz und ist manchmal genau richtig, wie bei den Appellen, die viele Teams während
Corona und rund um den Krieg in der Ukraine geführt haben. Doch für Ihr Tagesgeschäft macht es Sie
„deutlich kosteneffizienter“, historische Informationen für Prognosen zu nutzen, und lässt Sie „bei
den Entscheidungen, die Sie treffen, und den Maßnahmen, die Sie ergreifen, wirklich zuversichtlich
sein“.

## Ihre Daten in Ordnung bringen

Bevor Sie irgendetwas segmentieren oder analysieren können, müssen die zugrunde liegenden Daten
vertrauenswürdig sein. Das Prinzip, zu dem Heather immer wieder zurückkehrte, ist ein altes: „Gute
Daten rein, gute Daten raus. Schlechte Daten rein, schlechte Daten raus. Das hat man mir vor langer
Zeit gesagt, und ich werde es nie vergessen.“ Vertrauenswürdige Daten beruhen auf drei Dingen: einer
konsistenten Erfassung, sauberen Datensätzen und einer ordnungsgemäßen Einwilligung.

**Konsistente Erfassung.** Die größte Ursache für unbrauchbare Daten ist eine uneinheitliche
Erfassung, besonders wenn mehrere Personen die Datenbank anfassen. Vereinbaren Sie Protokolle dafür,
wie Dinge erfasst werden, denn „solange diese Informationen nicht korrekt und konsistent darin
stehen, nützen sie wirklich nichts, weil Sie weder berichten noch analysieren können: Sie würden
Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen.“ Gestalten Sie die Eingaben überall dort, wo Sie können, so, dass
Rätselraten entfällt. Verwenden Sie „ein Kontrollkästchen oder eine Auswahl aus einem Dropdown“ und
beschränken Sie Freitext, damit Sie das klassische Durcheinander vermeiden, bei dem ein Datensatz
sagt, jemand habe „Französisch und Geschichte“ studiert, und ein anderer „Geschichte und
Französisch“, oder eine Organisation einmal mit ihren Initialen und einmal ausgeschrieben
auftaucht. Genau diese kleinen Unstimmigkeiten lassen später einen Bericht scheitern.

**Saubere, zustellbare Datensätze.** Bereinigen muss nicht heißen, Ihre Datei an einen Dritten zu
schicken und zu hoffen. Die Art, die Heather empfiehlt, ist jene, die Sie selbst erledigen können,
mit der Hilfe Ihrer Spenderinnen und Spender. Bauen Sie vor einem großen Versand oder einem
Wirkungsbericht einen Schritt ein, in dem Sie Ihre Unterstützenden bitten, ihre eigenen Daten zu
prüfen und zu aktualisieren: „Wenn Sie eine Engagement-Plattform haben, bitten Sie sie, ihre Daten
noch einmal zu überprüfen und zu aktualisieren. Und dann geben sie Ihnen tatsächlich auch ihre
Einwilligung, weil sie Ihnen die aktuellsten Informationen liefern.“ Das hält Ihre Daten zustellbar
und verschafft Ihnen zugleich eine frische Erlaubnis. Es lohnt sich außerdem, doppelte Felder
regelmäßig zu verschlanken, denn „wenn dasselbe auf diesem Reiter und jenem Reiter und dann in
diesem Feld steht, ist es viel schwerer, alles aktuell zu halten“.

**Eingewilligt und verhältnismäßig.** Sie müssen kein DSGVO-Experte sein, aber Sie brauchen einen
einfachen Test. Heathers Variante ist einprägsam: „Wenn jemand danach fragte, es zu sehen, wäre er
absolut entsetzt über das, was Sie erheben? Speichern Sie nichts, bei dem es Ihnen unrecht wäre,
wenn jemand Ihnen über die Schulter schaut und es sieht.“ Erheben Sie, was korrekt, sachlich und
notwendig ist, halten Sie es aktuell, achten Sie die Kommunikationspräferenzen, die Menschen Ihnen
mitteilen, erfüllen Sie Ihre DSGVO-Pflichten und stützen Sie sich auf diejenige Person in Ihrer
Organisation, die die Regeln versteht. Unsere
[Checkliste zur Datengesundheit](/resources/data-health-checklist/) verwandelt all dies in eine
kurze, wiederholbare Überprüfung.

Eine Gewohnheit liegt allen drei Punkten zugrunde: Beginnen Sie vom Ende her. Überlegen Sie zuerst,
was Sie wissen wollen, und arbeiten Sie dann vom gewünschten Ergebnis rückwärts. Wenn Ihr Ziel ist,
das regelmäßige Spenden auszubauen, fragen Sie, welche Daten das erfordert. Geht es darum,
Nachlass-Interessenten zu finden, fragen Sie, welche Signale darauf hindeuten, dass jemand
wahrscheinlich eine Gabe in seinem Testament hinterlässt. In der Regel finden Sie drei oder vier
Ziele mit vielen Überschneidungen, was bedeutet, dass Sie das Erhobene verschlanken, statt in
Umfragen und Merkmalen zu ertrinken.

## Segmentierung, und warum sie die Ergebnisse verbessert

Sind Ihre Daten erst einmal sauber, ist die Segmentierung der Weg, mit dem sie sich auszahlen.
Segmentieren bedeutet, Ihre Unterstützenden in Gruppen aufzuteilen, damit Sie jede Gruppe auf eine
zu ihr passende Weise ansprechen können, und der Grund, sich die Mühe zu machen, ist
unkompliziert. Wie Heather erklärte, „hilft es uns allen wirklich, persönlichere Kommunikation mit
unseren Zielgruppen zu schaffen, was wiederum die Wärme erhöht, die sie für Sie und Ihre Mission
empfinden, sowie ihre Verbundenheit, was hoffentlich wiederum die Unterstützung erhöht, die sie
Ihnen geben können.“

Das grobe Werkzeug, das die Segmentierung ersetzt, ist der Appell mit der Schrotflinte. „Vorbei sind
die Zeiten, falls es sie je gab, in denen man einfach seine ganze Datenbank in eine Telefonkampagne
warf und auf das Beste hoffte.“ Stattdessen lenken Sie begrenzte Ressourcen dorthin, wo sie am
stärksten wirken, und die Einsparungen sind real: Druck und Porto sind teuer, daher „wollen Sie
wirklich sicherstellen, dass Sie segmentieren und sich mit den vorhandenen Ressourcen auf die
richtigen Bereiche konzentrieren“.

Sie können nach vielen Dimensionen segmentieren, einzeln oder in Kombination, je nach Ihrem Ziel:

- **Spendenhistorie.** Für eine Aufwertungskampagne sprechen Sie diejenigen an, die schon eine Weile
  regelmäßig gespendet oder mehrere Einmalspenden geleistet haben, und führen sie zu einer höheren
  oder regelmäßigen Spende.
- **Beziehung.** Nicht nur die Beziehung zu Ihnen (Ehemalige, Eltern, frühere Mitarbeitende),
  sondern auch zwischen den Unterstützenden: ein Immatrikulationsjahrgang, eine Fachkohorte,
  Menschen, die zur selben Zeit dabei waren.
- **Engagement.** Diejenigen, die immer zu Veranstaltungen kommen, diejenigen, die das nie tun, und
  alle dazwischen, samt den Aktivitäten und Interessen, die sie gezeigt haben.
- **Kommunikationspräferenzen.** Achten Sie sie, sobald sie erfasst sind. Rufen Sie niemanden an,
  der darum gebeten hat, nie angerufen zu werden.
- **Standort.** Inland oder weltweit, und feinere Unterteilungen darin.

Zwei praktische Punkte sorgen dafür, dass Segmentierung trägt. Erstens: Halten Sie fest, in welches
Segment jede spendende Person eingeordnet wurde, und bewahren Sie es in Ihrer Appellhistorie auf,
denn was für die Kampagne dieses Sommers funktioniert, kann sich im nächsten Jahr ändern, während
Sie dazulernen. Zweitens ist die Segmentierung auch der Weg, Inhalte zu testen. Sie können „Ihre
Daten buchstäblich einfach zufällig in zwei Hälften teilen. Die eine Hälfte enthält ein Video, die
andere ein Foto“, oder eine Version ist aus dem Kopf geschrieben und eine andere von einer
studierenden Person. Es ist „nicht hundertprozentig wissenschaftlich, weil es viele andere Variablen
gibt“, aber es bringt Trends zutage, auf die Sie reagieren können. Unsere
[Segmentierungsvorlage](/resources/segmentation-template/) gibt Ihnen eine Struktur, um Ihre
Segmente zu definieren und zu kennzeichnen.

Eine verwandte Technik ist das Profiling: die Spenderinnen und Spender, die Sie bereits haben,
betrachten, um mehr ihresgleichen zu finden. Ziehen Sie Ihre jüngsten Spendenden in eine Tabelle,
„keine grässliche, versprochen“, mit Spalten dafür, was sie gegeben haben, wann sie zuletzt gegeben
haben, ihre Beziehung und ihre Altersgruppe, und suchen Sie dann nach den Gemeinsamkeiten. Eine
leichte **RFM-Analyse**, die danach gewichtet, wie kürzlich, wie häufig und wie viel Menschen geben,
lässt Sie „diejenigen am stärksten gewichten, die am meisten, am häufigsten und zuletzt gegeben
haben, und dann anfangen zu betrachten, welche Merkmale sie teilen“. Anschließend können Sie die
noch nicht angesprochenen Personen in Ihrer Datenbank kennzeichnen, die zu diesem Profil passen.

Profiling durchsticht auch bequeme Annahmen. Wie Heather warnte: „Man kann jemanden über 70 nicht
auslassen, weil er angeblich nicht mit Computern umgehen kann, und man kann jemanden unter 30 nicht
auslassen, weil diese armen Leute sich angeblich die Miete nicht leisten können.“ Das sind Annahmen,
keine Daten. „Werfen Sie all diese Annahmen aus dem Fenster und schauen Sie, was Ihre Daten Ihnen
darüber sagen, wer einbezogen werden sollte und wie man mit ihm kommunizieren sollte.“

## Die Kennzahlen, die wirklich zählen

Es ist leicht, Dutzende Zahlen zu sammeln und keine davon sinnvoll auszuwerten. Ein kleiner,
konsistenter Satz sagt Ihnen das meiste, was Sie brauchen: Beteiligung, Bindung, durchschnittliche
Spende und Lebenszeitwert.

**Beteiligung.** Wie viele Menschen gespendet haben und wie viele neu waren. Besonders die Zahl der
Neuspender sagt Ihnen, ob Ihre Gewinnung funktioniert und woher Ihre künftigen Dauerspender kommen
werden.

**Bindung.** Ob Spendende bei Ihnen bleiben, abspringen oder zurückkehren. Heather fasst das als
Teil des Profilings: „Bleiben sie bei Ihnen? Werten sie auf?“ Abgesprungene Spendende zu verfolgen,
und ob Ihre Aktivität sie zurückgewinnt, ist der Weg, Einnahmen zu schützen, die Sie bereits haben,
statt sie immer wieder zurückzukaufen.

**Durchschnittliche Spende.** Was Menschen geben und wie sich das im Laufe der Zeit ändert, sowohl
über die gesamte Datei hinweg als auch innerhalb eines Segments, das Sie aufwerten wollen.

**Lebenszeitwert.** Die längere Sicht: was eine spendende Person über die gesamte Beziehung hinweg
wert ist, nicht nur bei diesem Appell. Das ist die Kennzahl, die es rechtfertigt, in Betreuung und
in die Gewinnung neuer Unterstützender zu investieren, die sich über Jahre pflegen lassen.

Die Disziplin, die Kennzahlen wertvoll macht, ist Konsistenz. Wie Kat Carter es ausdrückte, wollen
Sie Kennzahlen, „die konsistent sind“ und „zuverlässig genug, um regelmäßig erhoben zu werden, um
Veränderungen über die Zeit zu zeigen, ob positiv oder negativ, und um Trends zu erkennen, die Ihnen
helfen, fundierte Entscheidungen zu treffen“. Eine Kennzahl, die Sie einmal messen, ist eine
Kuriosität. Eine Kennzahl, die Sie jeden Monat auf dieselbe Weise messen, ist ein Werkzeug.

## Die Grundlagen der Webanalyse

Das Online-Spenden hat einen großen Vorteil gegenüber dem Postversand: Sie sehen weit mehr von dem,
was geschieht. Bei einem Versand, merkte Kat an, „gewinnen Sie eigentlich nur zwei Datenpunkte“:
wer gespendet hat und was als unzustellbar zurückkam. Online „können Sie ein wenig mehr darüber
erfahren, an welchem Punkt jemand sich entschieden hat, eine Gabe zu machen, wie lange er für diese
Entscheidung gebraucht hat und welche Dinge auf der Website das beeinflusst haben“.

Der erste Schritt ist fast schon peinlich einfach, und es ist Kats wichtigste Erkenntnis: Verbinden
Sie Google Analytics mit Ihrer Website, vor allem, wenn diese Website Spenden entgegennimmt. „Wenn
Sie Google Analytics und den Google-Analytics-Code nicht mit Ihrer Website verbunden haben, vor
allem wenn diese Website Spenden entgegennimmt, ist das das Erste, was Sie tun sollten.“ Selbst wenn
Sie noch nicht bereit sind, irgendetwas zu analysieren, sammeln Sie zumindest die Daten, sodass Sie,
„wenn Sie bereit sind, sie zu analysieren, etwas haben, womit Sie beginnen können“. Wenn ein
Website-Anbieter Ihre Seite betreibt, kann er den Tracking-Code für Sie hinzufügen.

Sobald die Verbindung steht, deckt eine Handvoll Messgrößen die Spendenstrecke ab:

- **Nutzer und Sitzungen.** Neue und wiederkehrende Besuchende und wie oft sie zurückkommen.
  Menschen brauchen oft mehrere Besuche, „bevor sie ihre Skepsis überwinden und eine Gabe machen“,
  daher sind wiederkehrende Nutzer kein Misserfolg.
- **Geräte.** Sorgen Sie dafür, dass die Strecke auf Mobilgerät, Tablet und Desktop funktioniert.
  Menschen stöbern und spenden oft auf dem Mobilgerät, also „wenn Sie eine Website haben, die auf
  dem Desktop großartig ist, auf dem Mobilgerät aber nicht, und Sie viele Nutzer auf dem Mobilgerät
  bekommen, dann könnten Ihnen Conversions entgehen“.
- **Kanäle, Quellen und Medien.** Woher der Traffic kommt: E-Mail, Social Media, organische Suche,
  Verweis, direkt. Das sagt Ihnen, wo Sie Ihre Mühe bündeln sollten.
- **Durchschnittliche Verweildauer auf einer Seite.** Eine lange Zeit kann Engagement bedeuten oder
  einen Reibungspunkt. „Wenn jemand dort zu viel Zeit verbringt, gibt es vielleicht einen
  Reibungspunkt auf dieser Seite.“
- **Ausstiegsseiten und Absprungrate.** Wo die Strecken enden. Die Frage ist, ob Menschen von der
  Dankesseite aus gehen, nachdem sie gespendet haben, „oder ob sie aussteigen, bevor sie überhaupt
  zur Spendenseite gelangen“. Eine höhere Absprungrate auf einer Spendenseite ist normal, weil es
  dort nur eine Handlung gibt, aber Sie müssen Ihren eigenen Vergleichswert kennen.

Um zu sehen, welche Botschaften tatsächlich Spenden auslösen, nutzen Sie **UTM-Links**, die
markierten URLs, die Google kostenlos bereitstellt. Sie erlauben Ihnen, einen Link nach Kampagne,
Medium und Quelle zu kennzeichnen, sodass Analytics E-Mail von Social Media unterscheiden kann und
eine E-Mail von einer anderen. Für einen Spendentag empfiehlt Kat, granular vorzugehen:
Kennzeichnen Sie jede E-Mail nach Tag und Versandzeit, denn dann „kann ich mehr darüber sehen,
welche E-Mails Traffic bringen, aber auch welche E-Mails konvertieren“. Die Zusammenschau ist der
Kern: „Es spielt keine Rolle, ob etwas viel Engagement erhält, wenn es nicht konvertiert.“ Wenn Sie
Inhalte finden, die sowohl hohen Traffic als auch hohe Conversion erzeugen, „lassen Sie uns mehr
davon machen“.

Wenn Sie für mehr bereit sind, fügt Google Tag Manager das Ereignis-Tracking hinzu: wie weit
Menschen scrollen, welcher von mehreren Spendenbuttons genutzt wird, ob ein Video oder ein Foto
besser konvertiert. Hubbub testete zwei Spendenbuttons auf einer Spendentagsseite und stellte fest,
dass der Hauptbutton unter dem Spendenzähler 609 Klicks und 438 Conversions erzielte, während der
Button in der Navigationsleiste nur rund 100 Mal genutzt wurde. Die Lehre war nicht, den
Navigationsbutton zu entfernen, sondern zu bestätigen, dass beide ihren Platz haben: Daten statt
Meinung. Unsere
[Vorlage für ein Analyse-Dashboard](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) gibt Ihnen einen
einfachen, konsistenten Ort, um diese Zahlen über die Zeit festzuhalten.

## Daten in bessere Entscheidungen verwandeln

Das Ziel sind Entscheidungen, nicht Dashboards. Kats Formulierung sollten Sie sich merken: „Ohne
Daten sind Sie nur ein weiterer Mensch mit einer Meinung. Lassen wir uns also von Daten leiten,
nicht von Meinungen.“ Ohne sie „könnte es passieren, dass Sie völlig im Unklaren bleiben, was
funktioniert und was nicht, und einfach Vermutungen darüber anstellen, wie es weitergeht“.

Vergleichswerte verwandeln Rohzahlen in Urteile. Hubbub nutzt einige, die es über die Zeit
aufgebaut hat: An einem Spendentag kommen in den ersten ein, zwei Jahren typischerweise rund 85
Prozent der Spenden per E-Mail, und ihre Spendenformulare konvertieren bei etwa 70 Prozent. Das
sind keine Ziele, denen man blind hinterherjagen sollte. Ein Team über 85 Prozent bei der E-Mail
mangelt es vielleicht schlicht an Kanalvielfalt, während ein Team darunter oft das Spenden über
Social Media und Botschafter ausgebaut hat, was „manchmal eine gute Sache ist“. Der Wert liegt in
dem Gespräch, das die Zahl anstößt: Wenn Ihre Conversion-Rate niedrig ist, liegt es an der
Zielgruppe, an der Botschaft oder am Nutzererlebnis? Testen Sie jedes der Reihe nach, „machen Sie
einen Test Ihrer Zielgruppe, nehmen Sie einige Änderungen an der Botschaft vor, testen Sie Ihr
Spenden auf der einen Plattform gegenüber einer anderen“, und Sie können herausarbeiten, was
tatsächlich den Ausschlag gegeben hat. Falls Sie noch keine eigenen Vergleichswerte haben, verwies
Kat auf öffentliche von Forschern wie NextAfter und M+R.

Entscheidend ist: Das Lernen kommt oft von dem, was nicht funktioniert hat. „Sie wollen fast die
Dinge finden, die nicht funktionieren, um daraus zu lernen, denn wenn Sie sich nur alles ansehen,
was funktioniert, lernen Sie wahrscheinlich nicht allzu viel daraus, außer dass es funktioniert
hat, aber vielleicht nicht, warum.“

Ein Wort zur KI, da sie ständig zur Sprache kommt. Sowohl Kat als auch Heather sehen sie als
Helferin für die manuellen Teile, nicht als Ersatz für das Urteilsvermögen. Wo eine Aufgabe „sehr
manuell ist und fast zu einer Bremse für den nächsten Schritt werden kann, nämlich die eigentliche
Analyse“, befreit es Sie für die wichtige Arbeit, wenn Sie die KI Daten zusammenstellen, bereinigen
oder summieren lassen. Aber, so Kats Warnung, „einfach die KI alles machen zu lassen, ist nicht die
Antwort, weil ihr der Scharfsinn fehlt“. Sie bleiben die Fachperson, die interpretiert, was die
Daten Ihnen sagen.

Und schließlich: Nehmen Sie Ihr Team mit. Menschen können Daten gegenüber misstrauisch sein, weil
„sie denken, dass sie einfach nur verfolgt und beobachtet werden“. Seien Sie transparent darüber,
warum Sie es tun und welchen Unterschied es macht, und finden Sie die Person, die dabei aufblüht:
„in der Regel gibt es höchstwahrscheinlich jemanden in Ihrem Team, der sich darüber genauso freut
wie ich“. Übergeben Sie ihr das Projekt, und das Ganze wird tragfähig statt zu einer einmaligen
Sache. Wie Heather es zusammenfasste: „Daten können wirklich Wirkung und großen Erfolg dabei haben,
mehr Spenderinnen und Spender zu gewinnen, zu halten und zu höheren Beiträgen zu führen.“

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Ich finde Daten einschüchternd. Wo fange ich konkret an?** Mit einer kleinen Sache. Prüfen Sie,
was Sie bereits haben, wie es erfasst ist und ob es hilft, eine Frage zu beantworten, die Ihnen
wichtig ist. Sie brauchen keine teure Datenbank; eine saubere Tabelle und ein klares Ziel genügen,
um zu beginnen.

**Wie halte ich meine Daten sauber, ohne dass es überhandnimmt?** Bauen Sie Konsistenz schon bei
der Eingabe ein, mit Dropdowns und Kontrollkästchen statt Freitext, vereinbaren Sie Protokolle, wenn
mehr als eine Person Daten erfasst, und nutzen Sie natürliche Momente, wie einen Wirkungsbericht
oder einen Versand, um Unterstützende zu bitten, ihre eigenen Daten zu aktualisieren. Das hält die
Datensätze zustellbar und frischt zugleich die Einwilligung auf.

**Was ist Segmentierung und warum verbessert sie die Ergebnisse?** Sie ist das Aufteilen Ihrer
Unterstützenden in Gruppen, damit Sie auf eine zu jeder passende Weise kommunizieren können. Sie
steigert Wärme und Verbundenheit, lässt Sie ein begrenztes Budget dort bündeln, wo es wirkt, und
ersetzt den Schrotflinten-Appell, bei dem man „seine ganze Datenbank hineinwirft und auf das Beste
hofft“.

**Welche Kennzahlen sollte ich verfolgen, wenn ich nur wenige verfolge?** Beteiligung und
Neuspender, Bindung und Abwanderung, durchschnittliche Spende und Lebenszeitwert. Messen Sie sie
jedes Mal auf dieselbe Weise, denn eine Kennzahl ist nur dann nützlich, wenn sie Veränderungen über
die Monate hinweg konsistent zeigt.

**Was ist das Erste, was man mit der Webanalyse tun sollte?** Google Analytics mit Ihrer Website
verbinden, vor allem, wenn sie Spenden entgegennimmt. Schon bevor Sie irgendetwas analysieren,
sammeln Sie die Daten, sodass sie da sind, wenn Sie bereit sind. Nutzen Sie dann UTM-Links, damit Sie
sehen können, welche E-Mails und Kanäle tatsächlich konvertieren.

**Wird die KI meine Datenanalyse für mich erledigen?** Sie kann die manuellen Teile übernehmen,
Zusammenstellen, Bereinigen und Summieren, was Sie für Interpretation und Beziehungen freistellt.
Aber ihr fehlt der Scharfsinn, um die Entscheidung für Sie zu treffen, also bleiben Sie diejenige
Person, die liest, was die Daten bedeuten.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Segmentierungsvorlage](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Checkliste zur Datengesundheit](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Vorlage für ein Analyse-Dashboard](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie die wahrscheinlichen Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Appell- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie Momente vor Ort direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- Webinare: [warum Sie sich von Daten nicht einschüchtern lassen sollten](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) und [eine Einführung in die Webanalyse mit Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [So gewinnen und binden Sie Spender](/europe/de/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Im vollständigen [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) finden Sie mehr.

- [How to use your data and segmentation](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (europe/en): A practical guide to using fundraising data without being daunted by it, covering getting your data in order, segmentation, the metrics that matter, web analytics basics, and turning data into better decisions.
Data is one of those words that makes plenty of fundraisers tense up. You picture spreadsheets,
pivot tables and a dashboard you do not fully understand, and you quietly hope someone else will
deal with it. The good news is that using your data well is far less technical, and far more
useful, than that mental image suggests. It is simply about knowing who your supporters are, what
they care about, and what is actually working, so that you spend your limited time and money in
the right places.

Heather Egleton, a consultant at Hubbub, puts the worry plainly: "Some people, and you may
be one of those if you're on the call today, hear the word data and kind of get a bit panicky. You
think of spreadsheets and pivot tables and all sorts of other things that can blow some of our
minds." Her argument is that you can move past that and start to enjoy it. "There are
sometimes spreadsheets and pivot tables, but that's not all there is. There is the bigger picture
as well."

This guide draws on two Hubbub webinars: "Why you shouldn't be daunted by data" and "A primer to
web analytics using Google". It covers five things in turn: getting your data in order, segmenting
it so your communications land better, the handful of metrics that genuinely matter, the basics of
web analytics on your donation journey, and how to turn all of it into better decisions rather than
prettier dashboards. It pairs naturally with our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/europe/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), because almost
everything here is in service of acquiring, keeping and upgrading donors.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/),
> [data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/) and
> [analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Start simple, and just start

The single most important thing is not to wait until you have a perfect system. Heather's advice is
deliberately small: "If you do one thing after listening to
this today, it is really just to make a start. It's very easy to kind of put data and planning
into your virtual in-tray or your actual in-tray. But pull it out and crack on with it."

That first thing can be modest. "If that one thing is just that you take a step back and review
what you have, how you're recording it, where you're getting it from, what use it could be to you,
and looking at your end goal and can it help you get there, that's brilliant." You do not need a
"fancy pants database", as she called it, to begin. A clean spreadsheet and a clear question are
enough to get going.

There is also a useful reframe for the daunted: most of the work is interpretation, not
arithmetic, and that is the part you are already good at. Being reactive has its place, and
sometimes it is exactly right, as it was for the appeals many teams ran during Covid and around the
war in Ukraine. But for your day-to-day programme, using historical information to make predictions
is what makes you "a lot more cost efficient" and lets you "be really confident in the decisions
you're making and the actions that you're taking".

## Getting your data in order

Before you can segment or analyse anything, the data underneath it has to be trustworthy. The
principle Heather kept returning to is an old one: "Good data in, good data out. Bad data in, bad
data out. That has been said to me a long time ago and I will never forget it." Trustworthy data
comes from three things: consistent entry, clean records, and proper consent.

**Consistent entry.** The biggest cause of useless data is inconsistent recording, especially when
several people touch the database. Agree protocols for how things are entered, because "unless that
information is in there accurately and consistently, it's no use really, because you can't report
and analyse on it: you'll be comparing apples and oranges." Wherever you can, design the inputs to
remove guesswork. Use "a tick box or a drop down choice" and restrict free text, so you avoid the
classic mess where one record says a supporter studied "French and history" and another says
"history and French", or an organisation appears once by its initials and once spelled out in full.
Those small inconsistencies are exactly what break a report later.

**Clean, deliverable records.** Cleansing does not have to mean shipping your file off to a
third party and hoping. The kind Heather recommends is the sort you can do yourself, with your
donors' help. Before a big mailing or an impact report, build in a step to ask supporters to check
and update their own details: "If you have an engagement platform, ask them to double check their
data and update it. And then they're actually then also giving you consent because they're
providing you with the most recent information." That keeps your data deliverable and earns you
fresh permission at the same time. It is also worth periodically streamlining duplicate fields,
because "if you've got the same thing said on this tab and that tab and then in this box, it's a
lot harder to keep that all up to date".

**Consented and proportionate.** You do not need to be a GDPR expert, but you do need a simple
test. Heather's version is memorable: "If someone asked to see it, would they be absolutely
horrified about what you're collecting? Don't put anything in there that you wouldn't happily let
someone look over your shoulder and see." Collect what is accurate, factual and necessary, keep it
up to date, honour the communication preferences people give you, meet your GDPR obligations, and
lean on whoever in your organisation understands the rules. Our
[data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
turns these into a short, repeatable review.

One habit underpins all three: start from the end. Think first about what you want to know, then
work backwards from the result you want. If your aim is to grow regular giving, ask what data that
needs. If it is to find legacy prospects, ask what signals someone is likely to leave a gift in
their will. You will usually find three or four aims with a lot of overlap, which means you are
streamlining what you collect rather than drowning in surveys and attributes.

## Segmentation, and why it improves results

Once your data is clean, segmentation is how you make it pay. Segmentation means splitting your
supporters into groups so you can talk to each group in a way that fits them, and the reason to
bother is straightforward. As Heather explained, it "really helps us all to create more personalised
communications with our audiences, which will in turn increase the warmth that they have for you
and your mission and their affinity, which then hopefully will in turn increase the support they're
able to provide you."

The blunt instrument segmentation replaces is the scattergun appeal. "Gone are the days, if they
were ever actually there, where you just throw your whole database in a telephone campaign and hope
for the best." Instead, you channel limited resources where they will work hardest, and the savings
are real: print and postage are expensive, so "you really want to make sure you're segmenting and
you're focusing in the right areas with any resources that you have."

You can segment on many dimensions, alone or in combination, depending on your goal:

- **Donation history.** For an upgrade campaign, target those who have given regularly for a while,
  or made several one-off gifts, and steward them towards a higher or regular gift.
- **Relationship.** Not only the relationship with you (alumnus, parent, former staff) but between
  supporters: a matriculation year, a subject cohort, people who were there at the same time.
- **Engagement.** Those who always come to events, those who never do, and everyone in between,
  plus the activities and interests they have shown.
- **Communication preferences.** Honour them once collected. Do not phone someone who asked never
  to be called.
- **Location.** Domestic or worldwide, and finer breakdowns within that.

Two practical points make segmentation stick. First, record which segment each donor was placed in,
and keep it in your appeal history, because what works for this summer's campaign may differ next
year as you learn. Second, segmentation is also how you test content. You can "literally just split
your data randomly in half. One half has a video in it, one half has a photograph", or one version
is written from the head and another from a student. It is "not 100 per cent scientific, because
there are lots of other variables", but it surfaces trends you can act on. Our
[segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/) gives you a structure to define and tag
your segments.

A connected technique is profiling: looking at the donors you already have to find more like them.
Pull your recent givers into a spreadsheet, "not hideous ones, I promise", with columns for what
they gave, when they last gave, their relationship and their age bracket, then look for the
commonalities. A light **RFM analysis**, weighting by how recently, how frequently and how much
people give, lets you "weight the ones that are giving the most, the most often, the most recently,
and then start to look at what traits they share". You can then tag the unasked people in your
database who match that profile.

Profiling also punctures lazy assumptions. As Heather warned, "you can't ask somebody
over 70 because they don't know how to use computers, and you can't ask someone under 30 because
these poor people can't afford to pay the rent". Those are assumptions, not data. "Throw all those
assumptions out the window and look at what your data is telling you about who should be included
and how they should be communicated with."

## The metrics that actually matter

It is easy to collect dozens of numbers and report none of them usefully. A small, consistent set
tells you most of what you need: participation, retention, average gift and lifetime value.

**Participation.** How many people gave, and how many were new. New-donor numbers in particular
tell you whether your acquisition is working and where your future regular givers will come from.

**Retention.** Whether donors stay with you, lapse, or come back. Heather frames this as part of
profiling: "Are they staying with you? Are they upgrading?" Tracking lapsed donors, and whether
your activity re-engages them, is how you protect income you already have rather than constantly
buying it back.

**Average gift.** What people give, and how that changes over time, both across the file and within
a segment you are trying to upgrade.

**Lifetime value.** The longer view: what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, not just
this appeal. This is the metric that justifies investing in stewardship and in acquiring new
supporters who can be cultivated for years.

The discipline that makes metrics worth having is consistency. As Kat Carter put it, you want
metrics "that are consistent" and "reliable enough to be collected on a
regular basis to show change over time, whether that's positive or negative, and to see trends that
help you to make informed decisions". A metric you measure once is a curiosity. A metric you
measure the same way every month is a tool.

## The basics of web analytics

Online giving has one big advantage over direct mail: you can see far more of what happens. With a
mailing, Kat noted, "you're kind of only really gaining two data points": who gave and what came
back undelivered. Online, "you can learn a little bit more about at what point did somebody decide
that they want to make a gift, how long did it take them to make that decision, and what were the
things that influenced that that were on the website."

The first step is almost embarrassingly simple, and it is Kat's top takeaway: connect Google
Analytics to your website, especially if that website takes donations. "If
you don't have Google Analytics connected and the Google Analytics code connected to your website,
especially if that website is taking donations, that's the first thing that you should do." Even if
you are not ready to analyse anything, you are at least collecting the data, so that "when you are
ready to analyse it, you have something to get started with". If a website provider runs your site,
they can add the tracking code for you.

Once it is connected, a handful of measures cover the donation journey:

- **Users and sessions.** New and returning visitors, and how often they come back. People often
  need several visits "before they overcome their skepticism and make a gift", so returning users
  are not a failure.
- **Devices.** Make sure the journey works on mobile, tablet and desktop. People browse and often
  give on mobile, so "if you have a website that's great on desktop but it isn't great on mobile
  but you get lots of users on mobile, then you could be missing out on conversions."
- **Channels, sources and mediums.** Where traffic comes from: email, social, organic search,
  referral, direct. This tells you where to focus effort.
- **Average time on a page.** A long time can mean engagement, or a friction point. "If somebody
  is spending too much time there, then maybe there's a friction point on that page."
- **Exit pages and bounce rate.** Where journeys end. The question is whether people leave from the
  thank-you page, having given, "or are they exiting before they even get to the donation page".
  A higher bounce rate on a donation page is normal, because there is only one action to take, but
  you need to know your own benchmark.

To see which messages actually drive gifts, use **UTM links**, the tagged URLs Google provides
free. They let you label a link by campaign, medium and source, so Analytics can tell email apart
from social, and one email apart from another. For a giving day Kat recommends being granular:
tag each email by day and send time, because then "I'm able to see more information about which
emails are driving traffic, but which emails are converting." The pairing is the point: "It doesn't
matter if it gets lots of engagement if it doesn't convert." When you find content that produces
both high traffic and high conversion, "let's do more of that."

When you are ready for more, Google Tag Manager adds event tracking: how far people scroll, which
of several donate buttons gets used, whether a video or a photo converts better. Hubbub tested two
donate buttons on a giving day page and found the main button under the totaliser drew 609 clicks
and 438 conversions, while the button in the navigation bar drew only around 100 uses. The lesson
was not to remove the nav button, but to confirm both have a place: data over opinion. Our
[analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) gives you a simple,
consistent place to record these numbers over time.

## Turning data into better decisions

The aim is decisions, not dashboards. Kat's framing is the one to
keep: "Without data, you're just another person with an opinion. So let's be data-led, not
opinion-led." Without it, "you might end up being totally unaware of what's working, what's not
working, and just making guesses as to how you move forward."

Benchmarks turn raw numbers into judgements. Hubbub uses a few it has built up over time: on a
giving day, around 85 per cent of donations typically come from email in the first year or two, and
their donation forms convert at around 70 per cent. These are not targets to chase blindly. A team
sitting above 85 per cent on email may simply lack channel diversification, while a team below it
has often grown social and ambassador giving, which "is sometimes a good thing". The value is in
the conversation the number starts: if your conversion rate is low, is it the audience, the
messaging, or the user experience? Test each in turn, "do a test of your audience, do some
messaging changes, test your giving on one platform versus another", and you can isolate what
actually moved the needle. If you have no benchmarks of your own yet, Kat pointed to public ones
from researchers like NextAfter and M+R.

Crucially, learning often comes from what did not work. "You almost want to find the things that
aren't working to learn from them, because if you're looking at everything that's working, you're
probably not going to learn too much from that other than it worked, but not maybe as to why."

A note on AI, since it comes up constantly. Both Kat and Heather see it as a helper for the manual
parts, not a replacement for judgement. Where a task is "very manual and can almost be a blocker to
doing the next step, which is the actual analysis", letting AI compile, cleanse or totalise data
frees you for the work that matters. But, as Kat cautioned, "just letting AI do everything isn't
the answer, because it doesn't have the savvy". You remain the professional interpreting what the
data is telling you.

Finally, bring your team with you. People can be wary of data because "they think that they're just
being tracked and watched". Be transparent about why you are doing it and what difference it makes,
and find the person who lights up at this: "there generally is more than likely someone in your
team that would get as excited about this as I do." Hand them the project, and the whole thing
becomes sustainable rather than a one-off. As Heather summed it up, "data can really have an impact
and a great success for you to acquire, retain and upgrade more donors."

## Frequently asked questions

**I find data intimidating. Where do I actually start?** With one small thing. Review what you
already hold, how it is recorded, and whether it helps answer a question you care about. You do not
need an expensive database; a clean spreadsheet and a clear goal are enough to begin.

**How do I keep my data clean without it taking over?** Build consistency in at the point of entry
with drop-downs and tick boxes rather than free text, agree protocols if more than one person
records data, and use natural moments, like an impact report or a mailing, to ask supporters to
update their own details. That keeps records deliverable and refreshes consent at the same time.

**What is segmentation and why does it improve results?** It is splitting your supporters into
groups so you can communicate in a way that fits each one. It increases warmth and affinity, lets
you focus limited budget where it works, and replaces the scattergun appeal where you "throw your
whole database in and hope for the best".

**Which metrics should I track if I only track a few?** Participation and new donors, retention and
lapse, average gift, and lifetime value. Measure them the same way every time, because a metric is
only useful when it shows change consistently over months.

**What is the first thing to do with web analytics?** Connect Google Analytics to your website,
especially if it takes donations. Even before you analyse anything, you will be collecting the data
so it is there when you are ready. Then use UTM links so you can see which emails and channels
actually convert.

**Will AI do my data analysis for me?** It can handle the manual parts, compiling, cleansing and
totalising, which frees you for interpretation and relationships. But it lacks the savvy to make
the call for you, so you stay the one reading what the data means.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [why you shouldn't be daunted by data](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) and [a primer to web analytics using Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Related guide: [How to acquire and retain donors](/europe/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo usar tus datos y la segmentación](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica para usar los datos de captación de fondos sin que te abrumen: poner tus datos en orden, segmentar, identificar las métricas que importan, dominar lo básico de la analítica web y convertir los datos en mejores decisiones.
Datos es una de esas palabras que tensa a muchas personas que captan fondos. Te imaginas hojas de
cálculo, tablas dinámicas y un panel que no entiendes del todo, y esperas en silencio que se ocupe
otra persona. La buena noticia es que usar bien tus datos es mucho menos técnico, y mucho más útil,
de lo que sugiere esa imagen mental. Se trata simplemente de saber quiénes son tus apoyos, qué les
importa y qué funciona de verdad, para que dediques tu tiempo y tu dinero limitados a los lugares
correctos.

Heather Egleton, consultora en Hubbub, expresa la preocupación sin rodeos: «Algunas personas, y
quizá tú seas una de ellas si estás hoy en la llamada, oyen la palabra datos y entran un poco en
pánico. Piensas en hojas de cálculo y tablas dinámicas y toda clase de cosas que pueden hacernos
estallar la cabeza a algunos». Su argumento es que se puede superar eso y empezar a disfrutarlo. «A
veces hay hojas de cálculo y tablas dinámicas, pero no es lo único que hay. También está el panorama
general».

Esta guía se nutre de dos seminarios web de Hubbub: «Por qué no deberían abrumarte los datos» y «Una
introducción a la analítica web con Google». Aborda cinco cosas, una tras otra: poner tus datos en
orden, segmentarlos para que tus comunicaciones lleguen mejor, el puñado de métricas que de verdad
importan, lo básico de la analítica web en tu recorrido de donación y cómo convertir todo ello en
mejores decisiones en lugar de paneles más bonitos. Se complementa de forma natural con nuestra guía
sobre
[captación y fidelización de donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), porque
casi todo lo de aquí está al servicio de captar, conservar y hacer crecer a los donantes.

> **Plantillas de trabajo.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de segmentación](/resources/segmentation-template/), nuestra
> [lista de comprobación de salud de los datos](/resources/data-health-checklist/) y nuestra
> [plantilla de panel analítico](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Empieza de forma sencilla, y simplemente empieza

Lo más importante de todo es no esperar a tener un sistema perfecto. El consejo de Heather es
deliberadamente pequeño: «Si haces una sola cosa después de escucharnos hoy, es realmente solo
empezar. Es muy fácil meter los datos y la planificación en tu bandeja de entrada virtual o en la
real. Pero sácalos y ponte manos a la obra».

Esa primera cosa puede ser modesta. «Si esa única cosa es simplemente dar un paso atrás y revisar lo
que tienes, cómo lo registras, de dónde lo obtienes, para qué podría servirte, y mirar tu objetivo
final y ver si puede ayudarte a alcanzarlo, eso es estupendo». No necesitas una «base de datos de
lujo», como ella la llamó, para empezar. Una hoja de cálculo limpia y una pregunta clara bastan para
arrancar.

También hay un replanteamiento útil para quienes se sienten abrumados: la mayor parte del trabajo es
interpretación, no aritmética, y esa es precisamente la parte en la que ya eres bueno. Ser reactivo
tiene su lugar, y a veces es exactamente lo correcto, como ocurrió con las campañas que muchos
equipos lanzaron durante la COVID y en torno a la guerra en Ucrania. Pero para tu programa del día a
día, usar la información histórica para hacer predicciones es lo que te vuelve «mucho más eficiente
en costes» y te permite «tener verdadera confianza en las decisiones que tomas y en las acciones que
emprendes».

## Poner tus datos en orden

Antes de poder segmentar o analizar nada, los datos que hay debajo tienen que ser fiables. El
principio al que Heather volvía una y otra vez es antiguo: «Datos buenos a la entrada, datos buenos a
la salida. Datos malos a la entrada, datos malos a la salida. Me lo dijeron hace mucho tiempo y
nunca lo olvidaré». Los datos fiables nacen de tres cosas: un registro coherente, fichas limpias y un
consentimiento en regla.

**Registro coherente.** La mayor causa de datos inútiles es un registro incoherente, sobre todo
cuando varias personas tocan la base de datos. Acordad protocolos sobre cómo se introducen las
cosas, porque «a menos que esa información esté ahí de forma precisa y coherente, no sirve realmente
de nada, porque no puedes ni informar ni analizar sobre ella: estarías comparando peras con
manzanas». Siempre que puedas, diseña las entradas para eliminar las conjeturas. Usa «una casilla de
verificación o una opción desplegable» y limita el texto libre, para evitar el clásico lío en el que
una ficha dice que un apoyo estudió «francés e historia» y otra «historia y francés», o en el que una
organización aparece una vez con sus iniciales y otra escrita por completo. Son justo esas pequeñas
incoherencias las que estropean un informe más adelante.

**Fichas limpias y entregables.** Depurar no tiene por qué significar enviar tu archivo a un tercero
y cruzar los dedos. El tipo de depuración que recomienda Heather es la que puedes hacer tú mismo, con
la ayuda de tus donantes. Antes de un gran envío o de un informe de impacto, incorpora un paso para
pedir a tus apoyos que comprueben y actualicen sus propios datos: «Si tienes una plataforma de
engagement, pídeles que revisen sus datos y los actualicen. Y entonces, en realidad, también te
están dando su consentimiento, porque te facilitan la información más reciente». Eso mantiene tus
datos entregables y te procura un permiso fresco al mismo tiempo. También merece la pena simplificar
periódicamente los campos duplicados, porque «si lo mismo está dicho en esta pestaña y en aquella
pestaña y luego en esta casilla, es mucho más difícil mantenerlo todo al día».

**Con consentimiento y proporcionados.** No necesitas ser experto en el RGPD, pero sí una prueba
sencilla. La versión de Heather es memorable: «Si alguien pidiera verlo, ¿se quedaría absolutamente
horrorizado por lo que estás recopilando? No metas ahí nada que no dejarías de buen grado que alguien
mirara por encima de tu hombro». Recopila lo que sea exacto, factual y necesario, mantenlo
actualizado, respeta las preferencias de comunicación que la gente te da, cumple tus obligaciones del
RGPD y apóyate en quien, en tu organización, entiende las reglas. Nuestra
[lista de comprobación de salud de los datos](/resources/data-health-checklist/) convierte todo esto
en una revisión breve y repetible.

Un hábito sostiene los tres puntos: parte del final. Piensa primero en lo que quieres saber, y luego
trabaja hacia atrás desde el resultado que deseas. Si tu meta es hacer crecer la donación regular,
pregúntate qué datos exige eso. Si es encontrar posibles legados, pregúntate qué señales indican que
alguien es probable que deje un donativo en su testamento. Por lo general encontrarás tres o cuatro
metas con mucha superposición, lo que significa que estás simplificando lo que recopilas en vez de
ahogarte en encuestas y atributos.

## La segmentación, y por qué mejora los resultados

Una vez que tus datos están limpios, la segmentación es la forma de hacerlos rentables. Segmentar
significa dividir a tus apoyos en grupos para poder hablar a cada grupo de un modo que le encaje, y
la razón para molestarse es sencilla. Como explicó Heather, «de verdad nos ayuda a todos a crear
comunicaciones más personalizadas con nuestros públicos, lo que a su vez aumentará el calor que
sienten por ti y por tu misión y su afinidad, lo cual, con suerte, aumentará a su vez el apoyo que
son capaces de ofrecerte».

El instrumento tosco que la segmentación sustituye es el llamamiento a granel. «Atrás quedaron los
días, si es que alguna vez existieron, en los que volcabas toda tu base de datos en una campaña
telefónica y esperabas lo mejor». En su lugar, encauzas recursos limitados allí donde funcionarán
con más fuerza, y el ahorro es real: la impresión y el franqueo son caros, así que «de verdad quieres
asegurarte de que segmentas y te centras en las áreas correctas con cualquier recurso que tengas».

Puedes segmentar según muchas dimensiones, solas o combinadas, según tu objetivo:

- **Historial de donaciones.** Para una campaña de incremento, apunta a quienes llevan un tiempo
  donando con regularidad, o han hecho varios donativos puntuales, y acompáñalos hacia un donativo
  más alto o regular.
- **Relación.** No solo la relación contigo (antiguo alumno, madre o padre, exempleado), sino
  también entre los apoyos: un año de matriculación, una cohorte de asignatura, personas que
  coincidieron en la misma época.
- **Implicación.** Quienes siempre acuden a los eventos, quienes nunca lo hacen, y todos los que
  están en medio, además de las actividades e intereses que han mostrado.
- **Preferencias de comunicación.** Respétalas una vez recogidas. No llames por teléfono a alguien
  que pidió que no lo llamaran nunca.
- **Ubicación.** Nacional o mundial, y desgloses más finos dentro de eso.

Dos puntos prácticos hacen que la segmentación cuaje. Primero, anota en qué segmento se colocó a cada
donante y consérvalo en tu historial de campañas, porque lo que funciona para la campaña de este
verano puede variar el año que viene a medida que aprendes. Segundo, la segmentación es también la
manera de testar contenidos. Puedes «literalmente dividir tus datos al azar en dos mitades. Una mitad
lleva un vídeo, la otra una fotografía», o una versión está escrita desde la cabeza y otra por un
estudiante. No es «científico al cien por cien, porque hay muchas otras variables», pero saca a la
luz tendencias sobre las que puedes actuar. Nuestra
[plantilla de segmentación](/resources/segmentation-template/) te ofrece una estructura para definir
y etiquetar tus segmentos.

Una técnica relacionada es la elaboración de perfiles: mirar a los donantes que ya tienes para
encontrar más como ellos. Reúne a tus donantes recientes en una hoja de cálculo, «nada horrible, te
lo prometo», con columnas para lo que dieron, cuándo dieron por última vez, su relación y su franja
de edad, y luego busca los rasgos comunes. Un **análisis RFM** ligero, que pondera con qué reciencia,
con qué frecuencia y cuánto dona la gente, te permite «dar más peso a quienes dan más, más a menudo y
más recientemente, y luego empezar a mirar qué rasgos comparten». Después puedes etiquetar en tu base
de datos a las personas nunca solicitadas que encajan con ese perfil.

La elaboración de perfiles también pincha las suposiciones perezosas. Como advirtió Heather, «no
puedes dejar de pedirle a alguien de más de 70 años porque supuestamente no sabe usar ordenadores, ni
a alguien de menos de 30 porque esa pobre gente no puede pagar el alquiler». Son suposiciones, no
datos. «Tira todas esas suposiciones por la ventana y mira lo que tus datos te dicen sobre quién
debería incluirse y cómo habría que comunicarse con esa persona».

## Las métricas que de verdad importan

Es fácil recopilar decenas de cifras y no informar de ninguna de forma útil. Un conjunto pequeño y
coherente te dice casi todo lo que necesitas: participación, fidelización, donativo medio y valor a
lo largo de la vida.

**Participación.** Cuántas personas donaron y cuántas eran nuevas. Las cifras de donantes nuevos en
particular te dicen si tu captación funciona y de dónde saldrán tus futuros donantes regulares.

**Fidelización.** Si los donantes se quedan contigo, se desvinculan o regresan. Heather lo enmarca
como parte de la elaboración de perfiles: «¿Se quedan contigo? ¿Suben de nivel?». Hacer seguimiento
de los donantes desvinculados, y de si tu actividad los reengancha, es la forma de proteger ingresos
que ya tienes en lugar de comprarlos una y otra vez.

**Donativo medio.** Lo que da la gente y cómo cambia eso con el tiempo, tanto en todo el archivo como
dentro de un segmento que intentas hacer crecer.

**Valor a lo largo de la vida.** La mirada de más largo plazo: cuánto vale un donante a lo largo de
toda la relación, no solo en esta campaña. Es la métrica que justifica invertir en el cuidado de la
relación y en captar nuevos apoyos que se puedan cultivar durante años.

La disciplina que hace que las métricas valgan la pena es la coherencia. Como dijo Kat Carter,
quieres métricas «que sean coherentes» y «lo bastante fiables para recopilarse con regularidad y
mostrar el cambio a lo largo del tiempo, sea positivo o negativo, y para ver tendencias que te ayuden
a tomar decisiones informadas». Una métrica que mides una sola vez es una curiosidad. Una métrica que
mides de la misma manera cada mes es una herramienta.

## Lo básico de la analítica web

La donación en línea tiene una gran ventaja sobre el correo postal: ves mucho más de lo que ocurre.
Con un envío, señaló Kat, «en realidad solo obtienes dos datos»: quién donó y qué volvió como no
entregado. En línea, «puedes aprender un poco más sobre en qué punto alguien decidió que quería hacer
un donativo, cuánto tardó en tomar esa decisión y cuáles fueron las cosas del sitio web que
influyeron en ello».

El primer paso es casi vergonzosamente sencillo, y es la principal conclusión de Kat: conecta Google
Analytics a tu sitio web, sobre todo si ese sitio recibe donaciones. «Si no tienes Google Analytics
conectado y el código de Google Analytics conectado a tu sitio web, sobre todo si ese sitio recibe
donaciones, eso es lo primero que deberías hacer». Aunque no estés listo para analizar nada, al menos
estás recopilando los datos, de modo que «cuando estés listo para analizarlos, tengas algo con lo que
empezar». Si un proveedor gestiona tu sitio, puede añadir el código de seguimiento por ti.

Una vez conectado, un puñado de medidas cubren el recorrido de donación:

- **Usuarios y sesiones.** Visitantes nuevos y recurrentes, y con qué frecuencia vuelven. A menudo
  la gente necesita varias visitas «antes de superar su escepticismo y hacer un donativo», así que
  los usuarios recurrentes no son un fracaso.
- **Dispositivos.** Asegúrate de que el recorrido funcione en móvil, tableta y escritorio. La gente
  navega y a menudo dona desde el móvil, así que «si tienes un sitio web estupendo en escritorio pero
  no tan bueno en móvil y recibes muchos usuarios en móvil, podrías estar perdiendo conversiones».
- **Canales, fuentes y medios.** De dónde viene el tráfico: correo electrónico, redes sociales,
  búsqueda orgánica, referencia, directo. Esto te dice dónde centrar el esfuerzo.
- **Tiempo medio en una página.** Un tiempo largo puede significar implicación, o un punto de
  fricción. «Si alguien pasa demasiado tiempo ahí, quizá haya un punto de fricción en esa página».
- **Páginas de salida y tasa de rebote.** Dónde terminan los recorridos. La pregunta es si la gente
  se marcha desde la página de agradecimiento, tras haber donado, «o si salen antes incluso de llegar
  a la página de donación». Una tasa de rebote más alta en una página de donación es normal, porque
  solo hay una acción que realizar, pero necesitas conocer tu propio punto de referencia.

Para ver qué mensajes generan donativos de verdad, usa los **enlaces UTM**, las URL etiquetadas que
Google proporciona gratis. Te permiten etiquetar un enlace por campaña, medio y fuente, de modo que
Analytics distinga el correo electrónico de las redes sociales, y un correo de otro. Para un día de
donación, Kat recomienda ser granular: etiqueta cada correo por día y hora de envío, porque entonces
«puedo ver más información sobre qué correos generan tráfico, pero también sobre qué correos
convierten». El emparejamiento es la clave: «No importa que consiga mucha implicación si no
convierte». Cuando encuentres contenido que produce tanto tráfico alto como conversión alta, «hagamos
más de eso».

Cuando estés listo para más, Google Tag Manager añade el seguimiento de eventos: hasta dónde se
desplaza la gente, cuál de varios botones de donación se usa, si un vídeo o una foto convierte mejor.
Hubbub probó dos botones de donación en una página de día de donación y descubrió que el botón
principal bajo el contador atrajo 609 clics y 438 conversiones, mientras que el botón de la barra de
navegación apenas se usó unas 100 veces. La lección no fue eliminar el botón de navegación, sino
confirmar que ambos tienen su lugar: datos por encima de opiniones. Nuestra
[plantilla de panel analítico](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) te da un lugar sencillo y
coherente para registrar estas cifras a lo largo del tiempo.

## Convertir los datos en mejores decisiones

El objetivo son las decisiones, no los paneles. La fórmula de Kat es la que conviene guardar: «Sin
datos, no eres más que otra persona con una opinión. Así que dejémonos guiar por los datos, no por
las opiniones». Sin ellos, «podrías acabar totalmente ajeno a lo que funciona, lo que no funciona, y
limitarte a hacer conjeturas sobre cómo seguir adelante».

Los puntos de referencia convierten las cifras en bruto en juicios. Hubbub usa unos cuantos que ha
ido construyendo con el tiempo: en un día de donación, en los primeros uno o dos años alrededor del
85 por ciento de las donaciones suele llegar por correo electrónico, y sus formularios de donación
convierten en torno al 70 por ciento. No son objetivos que perseguir a ciegas. A un equipo por encima
del 85 por ciento en correo quizá le falte simplemente diversificación de canales, mientras que a un
equipo por debajo a menudo le ha crecido la donación por redes sociales y por embajadores, lo cual «a
veces es algo bueno». El valor está en la conversación que la cifra abre: si tu tasa de conversión es
baja, ¿es el público, el mensaje o la experiencia de usuario? Testa cada uno por turnos, «haz una
prueba de tu público, haz algunos cambios en el mensaje, prueba tu donación en una plataforma frente
a otra», y podrás aislar qué movió de verdad la aguja. Si aún no tienes puntos de referencia propios,
Kat señaló los públicos de investigadores como NextAfter y M+R.

Lo crucial es que el aprendizaje suele venir de lo que no funcionó. «Casi quieres encontrar las cosas
que no funcionan para aprender de ellas, porque si solo miras todo lo que funciona, probablemente no
aprenderás demasiado de ahí, más allá de que funcionó, pero quizá no por qué».

Una nota sobre la IA, ya que sale constantemente. Tanto Kat como Heather la ven como una ayudante
para las partes manuales, no como un sustituto del criterio. Cuando una tarea es «muy manual y casi
puede ser un freno para el siguiente paso, que es el análisis propiamente dicho», dejar que la IA
recopile, depure o totalice los datos te libera para el trabajo que importa. Pero, advirtió Kat,
«dejar que la IA lo haga todo no es la respuesta, porque no tiene el olfato». Sigues siendo tú el
profesional que interpreta lo que los datos te dicen.

Por último, lleva a tu equipo contigo. La gente puede recelar de los datos porque «piensa que
simplemente la rastrean y la vigilan». Sé transparente sobre por qué lo haces y qué diferencia
supone, y encuentra a la persona que se ilumina con esto: «por lo general, lo más probable es que
haya alguien en tu equipo que se entusiasme con esto tanto como yo». Entrégale el proyecto, y todo el
asunto se vuelve sostenible en lugar de algo aislado. Como lo resumió Heather, «los datos pueden de
verdad tener impacto y un gran éxito para ayudarte a captar, conservar y hacer crecer a más
donantes».

## Preguntas frecuentes

**Los datos me intimidan. ¿Por dónde empiezo realmente?** Por una cosa pequeña. Revisa lo que ya
tienes, cómo está registrado, y si ayuda a responder una pregunta que te importa. No necesitas una
base de datos cara; una hoja de cálculo limpia y una meta clara bastan para empezar.

**¿Cómo mantengo mis datos limpios sin que se me coma el tiempo?** Incorpora la coherencia ya en el
momento del registro con desplegables y casillas de verificación en lugar de texto libre, acordad
protocolos si más de una persona registra datos, y aprovecha los momentos naturales, como un informe
de impacto o un envío, para pedir a los apoyos que actualicen sus propios datos. Eso mantiene las
fichas entregables y refresca el consentimiento al mismo tiempo.

**¿Qué es la segmentación y por qué mejora los resultados?** Es dividir a tus apoyos en grupos para
poder comunicarte de un modo que le encaje a cada uno. Aumenta el calor y la afinidad, te permite
centrar un presupuesto limitado allí donde funciona, y sustituye al llamamiento a granel en el que
«vuelcas toda tu base de datos y esperas lo mejor».

**¿Qué métricas debería seguir si solo sigo unas pocas?** Participación y donantes nuevos,
fidelización y bajas, donativo medio y valor a lo largo de la vida. Mídelas siempre de la misma
manera, porque una métrica solo es útil cuando muestra el cambio de forma coherente a lo largo de los
meses.

**¿Qué es lo primero que hay que hacer con la analítica web?** Conectar Google Analytics a tu sitio
web, sobre todo si recibe donaciones. Incluso antes de analizar nada, estarás recopilando los datos
para que estén ahí cuando estés listo. Luego usa enlaces UTM para ver qué correos y qué canales
convierten de verdad.

**¿Hará la IA mi análisis de datos por mí?** Puede encargarse de las partes manuales: recopilar,
depurar y totalizar, lo que te libera para la interpretación y las relaciones. Pero le falta olfato
para tomar la decisión por ti, así que sigues siendo tú quien lee lo que significan los datos.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de segmentación](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Lista de comprobación de salud de los datos](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Plantilla de panel analítico](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Herramientas

- [El simulador de día de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina los textos de tus llamamientos y correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas complementarias

- Seminarios web: [por qué no deberían abrumarte los datos](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) y [una introducción a la analítica web con Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Guía relacionada: [Cómo captar y fidelizar donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment exploiter vos données et la segmentation](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique pour exploiter les données de collecte de fonds sans en avoir peur : mettre de l'ordre dans vos données, segmenter, identifier les indicateurs qui comptent, maîtriser les bases de l'analyse web et transformer les données en meilleures décisions.
Le mot « données » fait se crisper bien des collecteurs de fonds. Vous imaginez des tableurs, des
tableaux croisés dynamiques et un tableau de bord que vous ne comprenez pas vraiment, et vous
espérez discrètement que quelqu'un d'autre s'en chargera. La bonne nouvelle, c'est que bien
exploiter vos données est bien moins technique, et bien plus utile, que cette image mentale le
laisse penser. Il s'agit simplement de savoir qui sont vos soutiens, ce qui leur tient à cœur et ce
qui fonctionne réellement, afin de consacrer votre temps et votre argent limités aux bons endroits.

Heather Egleton, consultante chez Hubbub, exprime cette inquiétude sans détour : « Certaines
personnes, et vous en faites peut-être partie si vous êtes en ligne aujourd'hui, entendent le mot
données et paniquent un peu. Vous pensez aux tableurs, aux tableaux croisés dynamiques et à toutes
sortes d'autres choses qui peuvent nous donner le vertige. » Selon elle, on peut dépasser cela et
commencer à y prendre plaisir. « Il y a parfois des tableurs et des tableaux croisés dynamiques,
mais ce n'est pas tout. Il y a aussi la vue d'ensemble. »

Ce guide s'appuie sur deux webinaires de Hubbub : « Pourquoi vous ne devriez pas avoir peur des
données » et « Une introduction à l'analyse web avec Google ». Il aborde cinq sujets tour à tour :
mettre de l'ordre dans vos données, les segmenter pour que vos communications fassent mouche, la
poignée d'indicateurs qui comptent réellement, les bases de l'analyse web sur votre parcours de don,
et comment transformer tout cela en meilleures décisions plutôt qu'en tableaux de bord plus jolis.
Il se marie naturellement avec notre guide sur
[l'acquisition et la fidélisation des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/),
car presque tout ici sert à acquérir, conserver et faire évoluer des donateurs.

> **Modèles pratiques.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de segmentation](/resources/segmentation-template/),
> notre [check-list de santé des données](/resources/data-health-checklist/) et notre
> [modèle de tableau de bord analytique](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Commencez simplement, et commencez tout court

La chose la plus importante est de ne pas attendre d'avoir un système parfait. Le conseil de Heather
est volontairement modeste : « Si vous faites une seule chose après nous avoir écoutés aujourd'hui,
c'est vraiment simplement de vous lancer. Il est très facile de glisser les données et la
planification dans sa corbeille d'arrivée virtuelle ou réelle. Mais ressortez-les et attaquez-vous-y. »

Cette première chose peut être modeste. « Si cette unique chose consiste simplement à prendre du
recul et à examiner ce que vous avez, comment vous l'enregistrez, d'où vous le tenez, à quoi cela
pourrait vous servir, et à regarder votre objectif final pour voir si cela peut vous aider à
l'atteindre, c'est formidable. » Vous n'avez pas besoin d'une « base de données dernier cri »,
comme elle l'a dit, pour démarrer. Un tableur propre et une question claire suffisent pour se lancer.

Il existe aussi un recadrage utile pour les inquiets : l'essentiel du travail relève de
l'interprétation, pas du calcul, et c'est précisément la partie où vous excellez déjà. La réactivité
a sa place, et parfois elle est exactement ce qu'il faut, comme pour les appels que de nombreuses
équipes ont lancés pendant la Covid et autour de la guerre en Ukraine. Mais pour votre programme au
quotidien, utiliser les informations historiques pour faire des prévisions est ce qui vous rend
« bien plus efficace en termes de coûts » et vous permet d'« avoir vraiment confiance dans les
décisions que vous prenez et les actions que vous menez ».

## Mettre de l'ordre dans vos données

Avant de pouvoir segmenter ou analyser quoi que ce soit, les données sous-jacentes doivent être
fiables. Le principe auquel Heather revenait sans cesse est ancien : « Bonnes données en entrée,
bonnes données en sortie. Mauvaises données en entrée, mauvaises données en sortie. On me l'a dit
il y a bien longtemps et je ne l'oublierai jamais. » Des données fiables reposent sur trois choses :
une saisie cohérente, des enregistrements propres et un consentement en bonne et due forme.

**Une saisie cohérente.** La principale cause de données inutiles est un enregistrement incohérent,
surtout lorsque plusieurs personnes interviennent dans la base de données. Convenez de protocoles
sur la manière de saisir les informations, car « à moins que ces informations soient saisies de
façon exacte et cohérente, elles ne servent à rien, vraiment, parce que vous ne pouvez ni en rendre
compte ni les analyser : vous compareriez des pommes et des oranges. » Partout où vous le pouvez,
concevez les saisies pour éliminer les approximations. Utilisez « une case à cocher ou un menu
déroulant » et limitez le texte libre, afin d'éviter le grand classique où un enregistrement
indique qu'un soutien a étudié « français et histoire » et un autre « histoire et français », ou
qu'une organisation apparaît une fois sous ses initiales et une autre fois en toutes lettres. Ce
sont précisément ces petites incohérences qui font dérailler un rapport par la suite.

**Des enregistrements propres et exploitables.** Le nettoyage ne signifie pas forcément envoyer
votre fichier à un tiers en croisant les doigts. Le type de nettoyage que recommande Heather est
celui que vous pouvez faire vous-même, avec l'aide de vos donateurs. Avant un grand publipostage ou
un rapport d'impact, prévoyez une étape pour demander à vos soutiens de vérifier et de mettre à jour
leurs propres coordonnées : « Si vous disposez d'une plateforme d'engagement, demandez-leur de
revérifier leurs données et de les actualiser. Et alors, en réalité, ils vous donnent aussi leur
consentement, puisqu'ils vous fournissent les informations les plus récentes. » Cela maintient vos
données exploitables et vous procure une autorisation fraîche en même temps. Il vaut aussi la peine
de rationaliser périodiquement les champs en double, car « si la même chose figure dans cet onglet,
dans cet autre onglet, puis dans cette case, c'est bien plus difficile de tout maintenir à jour. »

**Consenties et proportionnées.** Vous n'avez pas besoin d'être un expert du RGPD, mais il vous
faut un test simple. La version de Heather est mémorable : « Si quelqu'un demandait à les voir,
serait-il absolument horrifié par ce que vous collectez ? N'y mettez rien que vous ne laisseriez pas
volontiers quelqu'un regarder par-dessus votre épaule. » Collectez ce qui est exact, factuel et
nécessaire, tenez-le à jour, respectez les préférences de communication que les gens vous donnent,
remplissez vos obligations au titre du RGPD et appuyez-vous sur la personne de votre organisation
qui comprend les règles. Notre
[check-list de santé des données](/resources/data-health-checklist/) transforme tout cela en une
revue courte et répétable.

Une habitude sous-tend ces trois éléments : partez de la fin. Réfléchissez d'abord à ce que vous
voulez savoir, puis remontez à rebours depuis le résultat souhaité. Si votre objectif est de
développer les dons réguliers, demandez-vous quelles données cela exige. S'il s'agit de trouver des
prospects pour les legs, demandez-vous quels signaux indiquent qu'une personne est susceptible de
laisser un don dans son testament. Vous trouverez généralement trois ou quatre objectifs qui se
recoupent largement, ce qui signifie que vous rationalisez ce que vous collectez au lieu de vous
noyer sous les enquêtes et les attributs.

## La segmentation, et pourquoi elle améliore les résultats

Une fois vos données propres, la segmentation est la façon de les rentabiliser. Segmenter, c'est
répartir vos soutiens en groupes afin de pouvoir parler à chaque groupe d'une manière qui lui
convient, et la raison de s'en donner la peine est simple. Comme l'explique Heather, cela « nous
aide vraiment tous à créer des communications plus personnalisées avec nos publics, ce qui
augmentera à son tour la chaleur qu'ils ressentent pour vous et votre mission ainsi que leur
affinité, ce qui, on l'espère, augmentera à son tour le soutien qu'ils sont en mesure de vous
apporter. »

L'instrument grossier que la segmentation remplace, c'est l'appel tous azimuts. « L'époque est
révolue, si tant est qu'elle ait jamais existé, où l'on balançait toute sa base de données dans une
campagne téléphonique en espérant le meilleur. » Au lieu de cela, vous orientez des ressources
limitées là où elles seront le plus efficaces, et les économies sont réelles : l'impression et
l'affranchissement coûtent cher, donc « vous voulez vraiment vous assurer de bien segmenter et de
concentrer les ressources dont vous disposez sur les bons domaines. »

Vous pouvez segmenter selon de nombreuses dimensions, seules ou combinées, en fonction de votre
objectif :

- **Historique des dons.** Pour une campagne d'évolution, ciblez ceux qui donnent régulièrement
  depuis un certain temps, ou qui ont fait plusieurs dons ponctuels, et accompagnez-les vers un don
  plus élevé ou régulier.
- **Relation.** Pas seulement la relation avec vous (ancien élève, parent, ancien membre du
  personnel), mais aussi entre les soutiens : une promotion, une cohorte de discipline, des
  personnes présentes à la même époque.
- **Engagement.** Ceux qui viennent toujours aux événements, ceux qui n'y viennent jamais, et tous
  ceux entre les deux, ainsi que les activités et centres d'intérêt qu'ils ont manifestés.
- **Préférences de communication.** Respectez-les une fois recueillies. N'appelez pas une personne
  qui a demandé à ne jamais être appelée.
- **Localisation.** National ou international, et des découpages plus fins à l'intérieur.

Deux points pratiques rendent la segmentation durable. Premièrement, notez dans quel segment chaque
donateur a été placé, et conservez-le dans votre historique d'appels, car ce qui fonctionne pour la
campagne de cet été peut différer l'an prochain au fil de vos apprentissages. Deuxièmement, la
segmentation est aussi la façon de tester votre contenu. Vous pouvez « tout simplement diviser vos
données au hasard en deux. Une moitié contient une vidéo, l'autre une photographie », ou une version
est écrite avec la tête et une autre par un étudiant. Ce n'est « pas scientifique à 100 pour cent,
parce qu'il y a plein d'autres variables », mais cela fait remonter des tendances sur lesquelles
vous pouvez agir. Notre [modèle de segmentation](/resources/segmentation-template/) vous offre une
structure pour définir et étiqueter vos segments.

Une technique connexe est le profilage : examiner les donateurs que vous avez déjà pour en trouver
de semblables. Rassemblez vos donateurs récents dans un tableur, « pas un truc affreux, je vous le
promets », avec des colonnes pour ce qu'ils ont donné, leur dernier don, leur relation et leur
tranche d'âge, puis cherchez les points communs. Une **analyse RFM** légère, pondérant selon
l'ancienneté, la fréquence et le montant des dons, vous permet de « pondérer ceux qui donnent le
plus, le plus souvent, le plus récemment, puis de commencer à examiner les traits qu'ils
partagent. » Vous pouvez ensuite étiqueter dans votre base de données les personnes jamais
sollicitées qui correspondent à ce profil.

Le profilage fait aussi voler en éclats les hypothèses paresseuses. Comme l'a prévenu Heather, « on
ne peut pas s'abstenir de solliciter une personne de plus de 70 ans parce qu'elle ne saurait pas se
servir d'un ordinateur, ni quelqu'un de moins de 30 ans parce que ces pauvres gens n'arrivent pas à
payer leur loyer. » Ce sont des hypothèses, pas des données. « Jetez toutes ces hypothèses par la
fenêtre et regardez ce que vos données vous disent sur qui devrait être inclus et comment communiquer
avec ces personnes. »

## Les indicateurs qui comptent vraiment

Il est facile de collecter des dizaines de chiffres et de n'en exploiter aucun utilement. Un
ensemble réduit et cohérent vous dit l'essentiel de ce dont vous avez besoin : la participation, la
fidélisation, le don moyen et la valeur vie.

**Participation.** Combien de personnes ont donné, et combien étaient nouvelles. Les chiffres de
nouveaux donateurs en particulier vous disent si votre acquisition fonctionne et d'où viendront vos
futurs donateurs réguliers.

**Fidélisation.** Vos donateurs restent-ils avec vous, s'éloignent-ils ou reviennent-ils ? Heather
présente cela comme une partie du profilage : « Restent-ils avec vous ? Évoluent-ils ? » Suivre les
donateurs perdus, et voir si votre activité les réengage, est la façon de protéger des revenus que
vous avez déjà plutôt que de constamment les racheter.

**Don moyen.** Ce que les gens donnent, et comment cela évolue dans le temps, à la fois sur
l'ensemble du fichier et au sein d'un segment que vous cherchez à faire évoluer.

**Valeur vie.** La vision à plus long terme : ce que vaut un donateur sur l'ensemble de la relation,
et pas seulement pour cet appel. C'est l'indicateur qui justifie d'investir dans la fidélisation et
dans l'acquisition de nouveaux soutiens que l'on pourra cultiver pendant des années.

La discipline qui rend les indicateurs utiles, c'est la cohérence. Comme l'a dit Kat Carter, vous
voulez des indicateurs « qui sont cohérents » et « suffisamment fiables pour être collectés
régulièrement afin de montrer l'évolution dans le temps, qu'elle soit positive ou négative, et de
repérer les tendances qui vous aident à prendre des décisions éclairées. » Un indicateur que vous
mesurez une seule fois est une curiosité. Un indicateur que vous mesurez de la même façon chaque
mois est un outil.

## Les bases de l'analyse web

Le don en ligne possède un grand avantage sur le publipostage : vous voyez bien davantage de ce qui
se passe. Avec un publipostage, notait Kat, « vous ne récoltez en réalité que deux points de
données » : qui a donné et ce qui est revenu en non-distribué. En ligne, « vous pouvez en apprendre
un peu plus sur le moment où quelqu'un a décidé de faire un don, le temps qu'il lui a fallu pour
prendre cette décision, et les éléments présents sur le site qui ont influencé ce choix. »

La première étape est presque embarrassante de simplicité, et c'est le principal conseil de Kat :
connectez Google Analytics à votre site web, surtout si ce site reçoit des dons. « Si vous n'avez
pas connecté Google Analytics et le code Google Analytics à votre site web, surtout si ce site
reçoit des dons, c'est la première chose à faire. » Même si vous n'êtes pas prêt à analyser quoi que
ce soit, vous collectez au moins les données, de sorte que « lorsque vous serez prêt à les analyser,
vous aurez de quoi démarrer. » Si un prestataire gère votre site, il peut ajouter le code de suivi
pour vous.

Une fois la connexion établie, une poignée de mesures couvrent le parcours de don :

- **Utilisateurs et sessions.** Visiteurs nouveaux et récurrents, et leur fréquence de retour. Les
  gens ont souvent besoin de plusieurs visites « avant de surmonter leur scepticisme et de faire un
  don », donc les utilisateurs récurrents ne sont pas un échec.
- **Appareils.** Assurez-vous que le parcours fonctionne sur mobile, tablette et ordinateur. Les
  gens naviguent et donnent souvent sur mobile, donc « si vous avez un site superbe sur ordinateur
  mais pas terrible sur mobile alors que vous avez beaucoup d'utilisateurs sur mobile, vous pourriez
  passer à côté de conversions. »
- **Canaux, sources et supports.** D'où vient le trafic : e-mail, réseaux sociaux, recherche
  organique, référencement, accès direct. Cela vous indique où concentrer vos efforts.
- **Temps moyen passé sur une page.** Un temps long peut signifier de l'engagement, ou un point de
  friction. « Si quelqu'un y passe trop de temps, il y a peut-être un point de friction sur cette
  page. »
- **Pages de sortie et taux de rebond.** Là où les parcours se terminent. La question est de savoir
  si les gens quittent depuis la page de remerciement, après avoir donné, « ou s'ils sortent avant
  même d'atteindre la page de don. » Un taux de rebond plus élevé sur une page de don est normal,
  car il n'y a qu'une seule action à effectuer, mais vous devez connaître votre propre référence.

Pour voir quels messages génèrent réellement des dons, utilisez les **liens UTM**, ces URL balisées
que Google fournit gratuitement. Ils vous permettent d'étiqueter un lien par campagne, support et
source, de sorte qu'Analytics distingue l'e-mail des réseaux sociaux, et un e-mail d'un autre. Pour
une journée de don, Kat recommande d'être granulaire : étiquetez chaque e-mail par jour et heure
d'envoi, car alors « je peux voir plus d'informations sur les e-mails qui génèrent du trafic, mais
aussi sur ceux qui convertissent. » Le rapprochement est tout l'intérêt : « Peu importe qu'un e-mail
génère beaucoup d'engagement s'il ne convertit pas. » Quand vous trouvez un contenu qui produit à la
fois un trafic élevé et une conversion élevée, « faisons-en davantage. »

Quand vous êtes prêt à aller plus loin, Google Tag Manager ajoute le suivi d'événements : jusqu'où
les gens font défiler la page, lequel de plusieurs boutons de don est utilisé, si une vidéo ou une
photo convertit mieux. Hubbub a testé deux boutons de don sur une page de journée de don et a
constaté que le bouton principal sous le totalisateur avait recueilli 609 clics et 438 conversions,
tandis que le bouton de la barre de navigation n'avait été utilisé qu'une centaine de fois environ.
La leçon n'était pas de supprimer le bouton de navigation, mais de confirmer que les deux ont leur
place : les données plutôt que les opinions. Notre
[modèle de tableau de bord analytique](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) vous offre un
endroit simple et cohérent pour consigner ces chiffres dans le temps.

## Transformer les données en meilleures décisions

Le but, ce sont des décisions, pas des tableaux de bord. La formule de Kat est à retenir : « Sans
données, vous n'êtes qu'une personne de plus avec une opinion. Soyons donc guidés par les données,
pas par les opinions. » Sans elles, « vous pourriez finir par ignorer totalement ce qui fonctionne,
ce qui ne fonctionne pas, et avancer en faisant simplement des suppositions. »

Les références transforment des chiffres bruts en jugements. Hubbub en utilise quelques-unes
accumulées au fil du temps : lors d'une journée de don, environ 85 pour cent des dons proviennent
en général de l'e-mail durant les premières années, et leurs formulaires de don convertissent à
environ 70 pour cent. Ce ne sont pas des objectifs à poursuivre aveuglément. Une équipe au-dessus de
85 pour cent sur l'e-mail manque peut-être simplement de diversification des canaux, tandis qu'une
équipe en dessous a souvent développé les dons via les réseaux sociaux et les ambassadeurs, ce qui
« est parfois une bonne chose. » La valeur réside dans la conversation que le chiffre engage : si
votre taux de conversion est bas, est-ce le public, le message ou l'expérience utilisateur ? Testez
chacun tour à tour, « faites un test de votre public, modifiez un peu votre message, testez vos dons
sur une plateforme plutôt qu'une autre », et vous pourrez isoler ce qui a réellement fait bouger les
choses. Si vous n'avez pas encore vos propres références, Kat renvoie à des références publiques de
chercheurs comme NextAfter et M+R.

Surtout, l'apprentissage vient souvent de ce qui n'a pas fonctionné. « Vous avez presque envie de
trouver les choses qui ne fonctionnent pas pour en tirer des leçons, car si vous ne regardez que ce
qui fonctionne, vous n'apprendrez sans doute pas grand-chose d'autre que le fait que ça a marché,
mais peut-être pas pourquoi. »

Un mot sur l'IA, puisqu'elle revient sans cesse. Kat comme Heather la voient comme une aide pour les
tâches manuelles, pas comme un substitut au jugement. Là où une tâche est « très manuelle et peut
presque bloquer l'étape suivante, qui est l'analyse proprement dite », laisser l'IA compiler,
nettoyer ou totaliser les données vous libère pour le travail qui compte. Mais, comme l'a mis en
garde Kat, « se contenter de tout laisser faire par l'IA n'est pas la solution, car elle n'a pas le
discernement. » Vous restez le professionnel qui interprète ce que les données vous disent.

Enfin, embarquez votre équipe avec vous. Les gens peuvent se méfier des données parce qu'« ils
pensent qu'on les piste et qu'on les surveille, tout simplement. » Soyez transparent sur la raison
pour laquelle vous le faites et sur la différence que cela fait, et trouvez la personne qui
s'illumine devant cela : « il y a généralement, et plus que probablement, quelqu'un dans votre
équipe qui s'enthousiasmerait autant que moi pour cela. » Confiez-lui le projet, et l'ensemble
devient durable plutôt qu'un coup unique. Comme l'a résumé Heather, « les données peuvent vraiment
avoir un impact et un grand succès pour vous aider à acquérir, fidéliser et faire évoluer davantage
de donateurs. »

## Foire aux questions

**Je trouve les données intimidantes. Par où commencer concrètement ?** Par une petite chose.
Examinez ce que vous détenez déjà, comment c'est enregistré, et si cela aide à répondre à une
question qui vous tient à cœur. Vous n'avez pas besoin d'une base de données coûteuse ; un tableur
propre et un objectif clair suffisent pour commencer.

**Comment garder mes données propres sans que cela prenne le dessus ?** Intégrez la cohérence dès la
saisie avec des menus déroulants et des cases à cocher plutôt que du texte libre, convenez de
protocoles si plus d'une personne enregistre des données, et profitez des moments naturels, comme un
rapport d'impact ou un publipostage, pour demander aux soutiens de mettre à jour leurs coordonnées.
Cela maintient les enregistrements exploitables et rafraîchit le consentement en même temps.

**Qu'est-ce que la segmentation et pourquoi améliore-t-elle les résultats ?** C'est répartir vos
soutiens en groupes afin de communiquer d'une manière qui convient à chacun. Cela accroît la chaleur
et l'affinité, vous permet de concentrer un budget limité là où il est efficace, et remplace l'appel
tous azimuts où l'on « balance toute sa base de données en espérant le meilleur. »

**Quels indicateurs suivre si je n'en suis que quelques-uns ?** La participation et les nouveaux
donateurs, la fidélisation et l'attrition, le don moyen et la valeur vie. Mesurez-les toujours de la
même façon, car un indicateur n'est utile que lorsqu'il montre une évolution de manière cohérente au
fil des mois.

**Quelle est la première chose à faire avec l'analyse web ?** Connecter Google Analytics à votre
site web, surtout s'il reçoit des dons. Même avant d'analyser quoi que ce soit, vous collecterez les
données pour qu'elles soient là quand vous serez prêt. Ensuite, utilisez les liens UTM pour voir
quels e-mails et canaux convertissent réellement.

**L'IA fera-t-elle mon analyse de données à ma place ?** Elle peut prendre en charge les parties
manuelles : compiler, nettoyer et totaliser, ce qui vous libère pour l'interprétation et les
relations. Mais elle manque de discernement pour trancher à votre place, alors c'est vous qui restez
celui qui lit ce que les données signifient.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de segmentation](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Check-list de santé des données](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Modèle de tableau de bord analytique](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Outils

- [Le simulateur de journée de don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et d'e-mail
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez vos moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- Webinaires : [pourquoi vous ne devriez pas avoir peur des données](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) et [une introduction à l'analyse web avec Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Guide associé : [Comment acquérir et fidéliser des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come usare i tuoi dati e la segmentazione](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica per usare i dati di raccolta fondi senza esserne intimoriti: mettere in ordine i dati, segmentare, individuare le metriche che contano, padroneggiare le basi della web analytics e trasformare i dati in decisioni migliori.
Dati è una di quelle parole che fa irrigidire parecchi raccoglitori di fondi. Immagini fogli di
calcolo, tabelle pivot e una dashboard che non comprendi del tutto, e speri in silenzio che se ne
occupi qualcun altro. La buona notizia è che usare bene i tuoi dati è molto meno tecnico, e molto
più utile, di quanto quell'immagine mentale lasci credere. Si tratta semplicemente di sapere chi
sono i tuoi sostenitori, che cosa sta loro a cuore e che cosa funziona davvero, così da impiegare il
tuo tempo e il tuo denaro limitati nei posti giusti.

Heather Egleton, consulente di Hubbub, esprime la preoccupazione senza giri di parole: «Alcune
persone, e forse oggi sei tra queste se sei in collegamento, sentono la parola dati e vanno un po'
nel panico. Pensi a fogli di calcolo e tabelle pivot e a ogni sorta di altre cose che possono far
girare la testa ad alcuni di noi». La sua tesi è che si può superare tutto questo e arrivare persino
a divertirsi. «A volte ci sono fogli di calcolo e tabelle pivot, ma non è tutto qui. C'è anche il
quadro d'insieme».

Questa guida attinge a due webinar di Hubbub: «Perché non dovresti farti intimorire dai dati» e
«Un'introduzione alla web analytics con Google». Affronta cinque cose, una dopo l'altra: mettere in
ordine i tuoi dati, segmentarli perché le tue comunicazioni arrivino meglio, la manciata di metriche
che contano davvero, le basi della web analytics sul tuo percorso di donazione e come trasformare il
tutto in decisioni migliori anziché in dashboard più graziose. Si abbina naturalmente alla nostra
guida su
[acquisizione e fidelizzazione dei donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/),
perché qui quasi tutto è al servizio dell'acquisire, trattenere e far crescere i donatori.

> **Modelli pratici.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di segmentazione](/resources/segmentation-template/), la nostra
> [checklist sulla salute dei dati](/resources/data-health-checklist/) e il nostro
> [modello di dashboard analitica](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Comincia in modo semplice, e basta cominciare

La cosa più importante in assoluto è non aspettare di avere un sistema perfetto. Il consiglio di
Heather è volutamente piccolo: «Se fai una sola cosa dopo averci ascoltati oggi, è davvero solo
metterti in moto. È facilissimo infilare i dati e la pianificazione nella tua casella di posta in
arrivo virtuale o reale. Ma tirali fuori e mettiti sotto».

Quella prima cosa può essere modesta. «Se quell'unica cosa è semplicemente fare un passo indietro e
rivedere ciò che hai, come lo registri, da dove lo ricavi, a cosa potrebbe servirti, e guardare il
tuo obiettivo finale per capire se può aiutarti a raggiungerlo, è fantastico». Non ti serve un
«database all'ultima moda», come l'ha definito lei, per iniziare. Un foglio di calcolo pulito e una
domanda chiara bastano per partire.

C'è anche una rilettura utile per chi è intimorito: gran parte del lavoro è interpretazione, non
aritmetica, e proprio in quella parte sei già bravo. Essere reattivi ha il suo posto, e a volte è
esattamente ciò che serve, come per gli appelli che molti team hanno lanciato durante il Covid e
intorno alla guerra in Ucraina. Ma per il tuo programma quotidiano, usare le informazioni storiche
per fare previsioni è ciò che ti rende «molto più efficiente sui costi» e ti permette di «avere
davvero fiducia nelle decisioni che prendi e nelle azioni che intraprendi».

## Mettere in ordine i tuoi dati

Prima di poter segmentare o analizzare qualsiasi cosa, i dati sottostanti devono essere affidabili.
Il principio a cui Heather tornava di continuo è antico: «Dati buoni in entrata, dati buoni in
uscita. Dati cattivi in entrata, dati cattivi in uscita. Me l'hanno detto tanto tempo fa e non lo
dimenticherò mai». I dati affidabili nascono da tre cose: un inserimento coerente, registrazioni
pulite e un consenso a regola d'arte.

**Inserimento coerente.** La principale causa di dati inutili è una registrazione incoerente,
soprattutto quando più persone mettono mano al database. Concordate dei protocolli su come
inserire le cose, perché «se quelle informazioni non sono lì dentro in modo accurato e coerente, non
servono davvero a nulla, perché non puoi né rendicontare né analizzarle: confronteresti mele con
arance». Ovunque puoi, progetta gli input per eliminare le congetture. Usa «una casella di spunta o
una scelta a tendina» e limita il testo libero, così da evitare il classico pasticcio in cui una
registrazione dice che un sostenitore ha studiato «francese e storia» e un'altra «storia e
francese», oppure un'organizzazione compare una volta con le sue iniziali e un'altra per esteso.
Sono proprio queste piccole incoerenze a mandare in tilt un report più avanti.

**Registrazioni pulite e recapitabili.** Pulire non deve per forza significare spedire il tuo
archivio a un terzo e sperare. Il tipo di pulizia che Heather raccomanda è quella che puoi fare da
te, con l'aiuto dei tuoi donatori. Prima di una grande spedizione o di un report d'impatto, inserisci
un passaggio per chiedere ai sostenitori di controllare e aggiornare i propri dati: «Se hai una
piattaforma di engagement, chiedi loro di ricontrollare i dati e aggiornarli. E così, in realtà, ti
stanno anche dando il consenso, perché ti forniscono le informazioni più recenti». Questo mantiene i
tuoi dati recapitabili e ti procura nel contempo un permesso fresco. Vale anche la pena di
snellire periodicamente i campi duplicati, perché «se la stessa cosa è scritta in questa scheda e in
quell'altra scheda e poi in questa casella, è molto più difficile tenere tutto aggiornato».

**Con consenso e proporzionati.** Non devi essere un esperto di GDPR, ma ti serve un test semplice.
La versione di Heather è memorabile: «Se qualcuno chiedesse di vederli, sarebbe assolutamente
inorridito da ciò che stai raccogliendo? Non metterci dentro nulla che non lasceresti volentieri
guardare a qualcuno alle tue spalle». Raccogli ciò che è accurato, fattuale e necessario, tienilo
aggiornato, rispetta le preferenze di comunicazione che le persone ti danno, adempi ai tuoi obblighi
sul GDPR e appoggiati a chi, nella tua organizzazione, conosce le regole. La nostra
[checklist sulla salute dei dati](/resources/data-health-checklist/) trasforma tutto questo in una
revisione breve e ripetibile.

Un'abitudine sorregge tutti e tre i punti: parti dalla fine. Pensa prima a ciò che vuoi sapere, poi
lavora a ritroso dal risultato che desideri. Se il tuo scopo è far crescere le donazioni regolari,
chiediti quali dati servono. Se è trovare potenziali lasciti, chiediti quali segnali indicano che
una persona è probabilmente disposta a lasciare un dono nel testamento. Di solito troverai tre o
quattro scopi con molte sovrapposizioni, il che significa che stai snellendo ciò che raccogli invece
di annegare tra sondaggi e attributi.

## La segmentazione, e perché migliora i risultati

Una volta puliti i tuoi dati, la segmentazione è il modo per farli rendere. Segmentare significa
suddividere i tuoi sostenitori in gruppi così da poter parlare a ciascun gruppo in un modo adatto a
lui, e il motivo per darsi da fare è semplice. Come ha spiegato Heather, «ci aiuta davvero tutti a
creare comunicazioni più personalizzate con i nostri pubblici, il che a sua volta aumenterà il
calore che provano per te e per la tua missione e la loro affinità, cosa che poi, si spera,
aumenterà a sua volta il sostegno che sono in grado di darti».

Lo strumento grossolano che la segmentazione sostituisce è l'appello a tappeto. «Sono finiti i
tempi, ammesso che ci siano mai stati, in cui buttavi tutto il tuo database in una campagna
telefonica e speravi nel meglio». Invece, indirizzi risorse limitate dove avranno il maggior
effetto, e i risparmi sono reali: stampa e affrancatura costano, quindi «vuoi davvero assicurarti di
segmentare e di concentrarti sulle aree giuste con qualsiasi risorsa tu abbia».

Puoi segmentare lungo molte dimensioni, da sole o combinate, a seconda del tuo obiettivo:

- **Storico delle donazioni.** Per una campagna di upgrade, mira a chi dona regolarmente da un po',
  o ha fatto diverse donazioni una tantum, e accompagnalo verso un dono più alto o regolare.
- **Relazione.** Non solo la relazione con te (ex studente, genitore, ex membro del personale), ma
  anche tra i sostenitori: un anno di immatricolazione, una coorte di materia, persone che c'erano
  nello stesso periodo.
- **Coinvolgimento.** Chi viene sempre agli eventi, chi non viene mai, e tutti quelli nel mezzo,
  oltre alle attività e agli interessi che hanno manifestato.
- **Preferenze di comunicazione.** Rispettale una volta raccolte. Non telefonare a chi ha chiesto di
  non essere mai chiamato.
- **Posizione geografica.** Nazionale o mondiale, e suddivisioni più fini al loro interno.

Due punti pratici fanno reggere la segmentazione. Primo, annota in quale segmento è stato collocato
ciascun donatore e conservalo nel tuo storico degli appelli, perché ciò che funziona per la campagna
di quest'estate potrebbe differire l'anno prossimo man mano che impari. Secondo, la segmentazione è
anche il modo di testare i contenuti. Puoi «letteralmente dividere i tuoi dati a caso in due. Una
metà ha un video, l'altra una fotografia», oppure una versione è scritta con la testa e un'altra da
uno studente. Non è «scientifico al 100 per cento, perché ci sono tante altre variabili», ma fa
emergere tendenze su cui puoi agire. Il nostro
[modello di segmentazione](/resources/segmentation-template/) ti offre una struttura per definire ed
etichettare i tuoi segmenti.

Una tecnica collegata è il profiling: guardare i donatori che hai già per trovarne altri simili.
Raccogli i tuoi donatori recenti in un foglio di calcolo, «niente di orribile, promesso», con
colonne per quanto hanno donato, quando hanno donato l'ultima volta, la loro relazione e la loro
fascia d'età, poi cerca i tratti in comune. Una leggera **analisi RFM**, che pesa quanto di recente,
quanto spesso e quanto le persone donano, ti permette di «dare più peso a chi dona di più, più
spesso e più di recente, e poi iniziare a guardare quali tratti condividono». Puoi quindi etichettare
nel tuo database le persone mai sollecitate che corrispondono a quel profilo.

Il profiling fa anche a pezzi le supposizioni pigre. Come ha avvertito Heather, «non puoi evitare di
chiedere a chi ha più di 70 anni perché non saprebbe usare il computer, né a chi ha meno di 30
perché questi poveretti non riescono a pagare l'affitto». Sono supposizioni, non dati. «Butta tutte
quelle supposizioni dalla finestra e guarda cosa ti dicono i tuoi dati su chi andrebbe incluso e su
come comunicare con queste persone».

## Le metriche che contano davvero

È facile raccogliere decine di numeri e non rendicontarne nessuno in modo utile. Un insieme piccolo
e coerente ti dice gran parte di ciò che ti serve: partecipazione, fidelizzazione, donazione media e
valore nel tempo.

**Partecipazione.** Quante persone hanno donato e quante erano nuove. I numeri dei nuovi donatori in
particolare ti dicono se la tua acquisizione funziona e da dove arriveranno i tuoi futuri donatori
regolari.

**Fidelizzazione.** Se i donatori restano con te, si allontanano o tornano. Heather lo inquadra come
parte del profiling: «Restano con te? Crescono?». Tracciare i donatori persi, e capire se la tua
attività li riconquista, è il modo per proteggere entrate che hai già anziché ricomprarle di
continuo.

**Donazione media.** Quanto donano le persone e come questo cambia nel tempo, sia sull'intero
archivio sia all'interno di un segmento che stai cercando di far crescere.

**Valore nel tempo.** La visione di più lungo periodo: quanto vale un donatore lungo l'intera
relazione, non solo per questo appello. È la metrica che giustifica investire nella cura della
relazione e nell'acquisizione di nuovi sostenitori che si potranno coltivare per anni.

La disciplina che rende le metriche utili è la coerenza. Come ha detto Kat Carter, vuoi metriche
«che siano coerenti» e «abbastanza affidabili da essere raccolte con regolarità per mostrare il
cambiamento nel tempo, positivo o negativo, e per cogliere le tendenze che ti aiutano a prendere
decisioni informate». Una metrica che misuri una volta sola è una curiosità. Una metrica che misuri
nello stesso modo ogni mese è uno strumento.

## Le basi della web analytics

La donazione online ha un grande vantaggio sulla posta cartacea: vedi molto di più di ciò che
accade. Con una spedizione, ha osservato Kat, «ottieni in realtà solo due dati»: chi ha donato e
cosa è tornato indietro come non recapitato. Online, «puoi imparare un po' di più su quale momento
qualcuno ha deciso di voler fare un dono, quanto tempo ci ha messo a prendere quella decisione, e
quali erano gli elementi sul sito che hanno influenzato quella scelta».

Il primo passo è quasi imbarazzante per quanto è semplice, ed è la principale lezione di Kat:
collega Google Analytics al tuo sito, soprattutto se quel sito riceve donazioni. «Se non hai
collegato Google Analytics e il codice di Google Analytics al tuo sito, soprattutto se quel sito
riceve donazioni, è la prima cosa che dovresti fare». Anche se non sei pronto ad analizzare niente,
stai almeno raccogliendo i dati, così che «quando sarai pronto ad analizzarli, avrai qualcosa da cui
partire». Se un fornitore gestisce il tuo sito, può aggiungere il codice di tracciamento per te.

Una volta collegato, una manciata di misure copre il percorso di donazione:

- **Utenti e sessioni.** Visitatori nuovi e di ritorno, e con quale frequenza tornano. Spesso le
  persone hanno bisogno di più visite «prima di superare lo scetticismo e fare un dono», quindi gli
  utenti di ritorno non sono un fallimento.
- **Dispositivi.** Assicurati che il percorso funzioni su mobile, tablet e desktop. Le persone
  navigano e spesso donano da mobile, quindi «se hai un sito ottimo su desktop ma non altrettanto su
  mobile e ricevi molti utenti da mobile, potresti perdere conversioni».
- **Canali, sorgenti e mezzi.** Da dove arriva il traffico: email, social, ricerca organica,
  referral, diretto. Questo ti dice dove concentrare gli sforzi.
- **Tempo medio su una pagina.** Un tempo lungo può significare coinvolgimento, oppure un punto di
  attrito. «Se qualcuno ci passa troppo tempo, forse c'è un punto di attrito su quella pagina».
- **Pagine di uscita e frequenza di rimbalzo.** Dove finiscono i percorsi. La domanda è se le
  persone escono dalla pagina di ringraziamento, dopo aver donato, «oppure escono prima ancora di
  arrivare alla pagina di donazione». Una frequenza di rimbalzo più alta su una pagina di donazione
  è normale, perché c'è una sola azione da compiere, ma devi conoscere il tuo benchmark.

Per vedere quali messaggi generano davvero donazioni, usa i **link UTM**, gli URL etichettati che
Google fornisce gratuitamente. Ti permettono di etichettare un link per campagna, mezzo e sorgente,
così che Analytics distingua l'email dai social, e un'email dall'altra. Per una giornata di
donazione Kat consiglia di essere granulare: etichetta ogni email per giorno e orario di invio,
perché allora «riesco a vedere più informazioni su quali email portano traffico, ma anche su quali
email convertono». L'abbinamento è il punto: «Non importa se ottiene tanto coinvolgimento se non
converte». Quando trovi un contenuto che produce sia traffico elevato sia conversione elevata,
«facciamone di più».

Quando sei pronto per qualcosa in più, Google Tag Manager aggiunge il tracciamento degli eventi:
quanto in basso scorrono le persone, quale di più pulsanti di donazione viene usato, se un video o
una foto converte meglio. Hubbub ha testato due pulsanti di donazione su una pagina di giornata di
donazione e ha scoperto che il pulsante principale sotto il contatore ha raccolto 609 clic e 438
conversioni, mentre il pulsante nella barra di navigazione è stato usato solo un centinaio di volte
circa. La lezione non è stata togliere il pulsante di navigazione, ma confermare che entrambi hanno
il loro posto: i dati prima delle opinioni. Il nostro
[modello di dashboard analitica](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) ti dà un posto semplice e
coerente in cui registrare questi numeri nel tempo.

## Trasformare i dati in decisioni migliori

L'obiettivo sono le decisioni, non le dashboard. La formula di Kat è quella da tenere a mente:
«Senza dati, sei solo un'altra persona con un'opinione. Quindi facciamoci guidare dai dati, non
dalle opinioni». Senza di essi, «potresti finire per essere totalmente all'oscuro di cosa funziona,
cosa non funziona, e fare semplicemente ipotesi su come andare avanti».

I benchmark trasformano numeri grezzi in giudizi. Hubbub ne usa alcuni costruiti nel tempo: in una
giornata di donazione, nei primi uno o due anni circa l'85 per cento delle donazioni arriva di
solito dall'email, e i loro moduli di donazione convertono intorno al 70 per cento. Non sono
obiettivi da inseguire alla cieca. Un team sopra l'85 per cento sull'email forse manca semplicemente
di diversificazione dei canali, mentre un team al di sotto ha spesso fatto crescere le donazioni via
social e tramite ambasciatori, cosa che «a volte è un bene». Il valore sta nella conversazione che
il numero avvia: se il tuo tasso di conversione è basso, è il pubblico, il messaggio o l'esperienza
d'uso? Testa ciascuno a turno, «fai un test del tuo pubblico, apporta qualche modifica al messaggio,
testa le tue donazioni su una piattaforma rispetto a un'altra», e potrai isolare ciò che ha
realmente spostato l'ago. Se non hai ancora benchmark tuoi, Kat ha indicato quelli pubblici di
ricercatori come NextAfter e M+R.

Soprattutto, l'apprendimento arriva spesso da ciò che non ha funzionato. «Vuoi quasi trovare le cose
che non funzionano per imparare da esse, perché se guardi solo tutto ciò che funziona, probabilmente
non imparerai granché oltre al fatto che ha funzionato, ma forse non al perché».

Una nota sull'IA, dato che salta fuori di continuo. Sia Kat sia Heather la vedono come un aiuto per
le parti manuali, non come un sostituto del giudizio. Dove un compito è «molto manuale e può quasi
diventare un ostacolo al passo successivo, cioè l'analisi vera e propria», lasciare che l'IA
compili, ripulisca o totalizzi i dati ti libera per il lavoro che conta. Ma, ha avvertito Kat,
«lasciar fare tutto all'IA non è la risposta, perché non ha l'accortezza». Resti tu il
professionista che interpreta ciò che i dati ti dicono.

Infine, porta con te il tuo team. Le persone possono diffidare dei dati perché «pensano di essere
semplicemente tracciate e osservate». Sii trasparente sul perché lo fai e sulla differenza che fa, e
trova la persona che si illumina davanti a tutto questo: «di solito c'è, molto probabilmente,
qualcuno nel tuo team che si entusiasmerebbe per questo quanto me». Affidale il progetto, e l'intera
cosa diventa sostenibile anziché un episodio isolato. Come ha riassunto Heather, «i dati possono
davvero avere un impatto e un grande successo nell'aiutarti ad acquisire, trattenere e far crescere
più donatori».

## Domande frequenti

**Trovo i dati intimidatori. Da dove comincio concretamente?** Da una piccola cosa. Rivedi ciò che
già possiedi, come è registrato e se aiuta a rispondere a una domanda che ti sta a cuore. Non ti
serve un database costoso; un foglio di calcolo pulito e un obiettivo chiaro bastano per iniziare.

**Come mantengo i miei dati puliti senza che mi prendano la mano?** Costruisci la coerenza già al
momento dell'inserimento con menu a tendina e caselle di spunta anziché testo libero, concorda
protocolli se più di una persona registra dati, e sfrutta i momenti naturali, come un report
d'impatto o una spedizione, per chiedere ai sostenitori di aggiornare i propri dati. Questo mantiene
le registrazioni recapitabili e rinfresca al contempo il consenso.

**Cos'è la segmentazione e perché migliora i risultati?** È suddividere i tuoi sostenitori in gruppi
così da poter comunicare in un modo adatto a ciascuno. Aumenta calore e affinità, ti permette di
concentrare un budget limitato dove funziona, e sostituisce l'appello a tappeto in cui «butti dentro
tutto il tuo database e speri nel meglio».

**Quali metriche dovrei seguire se ne seguo solo poche?** Partecipazione e nuovi donatori,
fidelizzazione e abbandono, donazione media e valore nel tempo. Misurale sempre nello stesso modo,
perché una metrica è utile solo quando mostra il cambiamento in modo coerente nei mesi.

**Qual è la prima cosa da fare con la web analytics?** Collegare Google Analytics al tuo sito,
soprattutto se riceve donazioni. Anche prima di analizzare qualcosa, starai raccogliendo i dati così
che siano lì quando sarai pronto. Poi usa i link UTM per vedere quali email e quali canali
convertono davvero.

**L'IA farà l'analisi dei dati al posto mio?** Può occuparsi delle parti manuali: compilare,
ripulire e totalizzare, il che ti libera per l'interpretazione e le relazioni. Ma le manca
l'accortezza per decidere al posto tuo, quindi resti tu chi legge cosa significano i dati.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua email per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di segmentazione](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Checklist sulla salute dei dati](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Modello di dashboard analitica](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Strumenti

- [Il simulatore di giornata di donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina i testi dei tuoi appelli e delle tue email
- [Generatore di QR code](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti di persona direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- Webinar: [perché non dovresti farti intimorire dai dati](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) e [un'introduzione alla web analytics con Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Guida correlata: [Come acquisire e fidelizzare i donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to use your data and segmentation](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (uk/en): A practical guide to using fundraising data without being daunted by it, covering getting your data in order, segmentation, the metrics that matter, web analytics basics, and turning data into better decisions.
Data is one of those words that makes plenty of fundraisers tense up. You picture spreadsheets,
pivot tables and a dashboard you do not fully understand, and you quietly hope someone else will
deal with it. The good news is that using your data well is far less technical, and far more
useful, than that mental image suggests. It is simply about knowing who your supporters are, what
they care about, and what is actually working, so that you spend your limited time and money in
the right places.

Heather Egleton, a consultant at Hubbub, puts the worry plainly: "Some people, and you may
be one of those if you're on the call today, hear the word data and kind of get a bit panicky. You
think of spreadsheets and pivot tables and all sorts of other things that can blow some of our
minds." Her argument is that you can move past that and start to enjoy it. "There are
sometimes spreadsheets and pivot tables, but that's not all there is. There is the bigger picture
as well."

This guide draws on two Hubbub webinars: "Why you shouldn't be daunted by data" and "A primer to
web analytics using Google". It covers five things in turn: getting your data in order, segmenting
it so your communications land better, the handful of metrics that genuinely matter, the basics of
web analytics on your donation journey, and how to turn all of it into better decisions rather than
prettier dashboards. It pairs naturally with our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/uk/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), because almost
everything here is in service of acquiring, keeping and upgrading donors.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/),
> [data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/) and
> [analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Start simple, and just start

The single most important thing is not to wait until you have a perfect system. Heather's advice is
deliberately small: "If you do one thing after listening to
this today, it is really just to make a start. It's very easy to kind of put data and planning
into your virtual in-tray or your actual in-tray. But pull it out and crack on with it."

That first thing can be modest. "If that one thing is just that you take a step back and review
what you have, how you're recording it, where you're getting it from, what use it could be to you,
and looking at your end goal and can it help you get there, that's brilliant." You do not need a
"fancy pants database", as she called it, to begin. A clean spreadsheet and a clear question are
enough to get going.

There is also a useful reframe for the daunted: most of the work is interpretation, not
arithmetic, and that is the part you are already good at. Being reactive has its place, and
sometimes it is exactly right, as it was for the appeals many teams ran during Covid and around the
war in Ukraine. But for your day-to-day programme, using historical information to make predictions
is what makes you "a lot more cost efficient" and lets you "be really confident in the decisions
you're making and the actions that you're taking".

## Getting your data in order

Before you can segment or analyse anything, the data underneath it has to be trustworthy. The
principle Heather kept returning to is an old one: "Good data in, good data out. Bad data in, bad
data out. That has been said to me a long time ago and I will never forget it." Trustworthy data
comes from three things: consistent entry, clean records, and proper consent.

**Consistent entry.** The biggest cause of useless data is inconsistent recording, especially when
several people touch the database. Agree protocols for how things are entered, because "unless that
information is in there accurately and consistently, it's no use really, because you can't report
and analyse on it: you'll be comparing apples and oranges." Wherever you can, design the inputs to
remove guesswork. Use "a tick box or a drop down choice" and restrict free text, so you avoid the
classic mess where one record says a supporter studied "French and history" and another says
"history and French", or an organisation appears once by its initials and once spelled out in full.
Those small inconsistencies are exactly what break a report later.

**Clean, deliverable records.** Cleansing does not have to mean shipping your file off to a
third party and hoping. The kind Heather recommends is the sort you can do yourself, with your
donors' help. Before a big mailing or an impact report, build in a step to ask supporters to check
and update their own details: "If you have an engagement platform, ask them to double check their
data and update it. And then they're actually then also giving you consent because they're
providing you with the most recent information." That keeps your data deliverable and earns you
fresh permission at the same time. It is also worth periodically streamlining duplicate fields,
because "if you've got the same thing said on this tab and that tab and then in this box, it's a
lot harder to keep that all up to date".

**Consented and proportionate.** You do not need to be a GDPR expert, but you do need a simple
test. Heather's version is memorable: "If someone asked to see it, would they be absolutely
horrified about what you're collecting? Don't put anything in there that you wouldn't happily let
someone look over your shoulder and see." Collect what is accurate, factual and necessary, keep it
up to date, honour the communication preferences people give you, and lean on whoever in your
organisation understands the rules. Our [data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
turns these into a short, repeatable review.

One habit underpins all three: start from the end. Think first about what you want to know, then
work backwards from the result you want. If your aim is to grow regular giving, ask what data that
needs. If it is to find legacy prospects, ask what signals someone is likely to leave a gift in
their will. You will usually find three or four aims with a lot of overlap, which means you are
streamlining what you collect rather than drowning in surveys and attributes.

## Segmentation, and why it improves results

Once your data is clean, segmentation is how you make it pay. Segmentation means splitting your
supporters into groups so you can talk to each group in a way that fits them, and the reason to
bother is straightforward. As Heather explained, it "really helps us all to create more personalised
communications with our audiences, which will in turn increase the warmth that they have for you
and your mission and their affinity, which then hopefully will in turn increase the support they're
able to provide you."

The blunt instrument segmentation replaces is the scattergun appeal. "Gone are the days, if they
were ever actually there, where you just throw your whole database in a telephone campaign and hope
for the best." Instead, you channel limited resources where they will work hardest, and the savings
are real: print and postage are expensive, so "you really want to make sure you're segmenting and
you're focusing in the right areas with any resources that you have."

You can segment on many dimensions, alone or in combination, depending on your goal:

- **Donation history.** For an upgrade campaign, target those who have given regularly for a while,
  or made several one-off gifts, and steward them towards a higher or regular gift.
- **Relationship.** Not only the relationship with you (alumnus, parent, former staff) but between
  supporters: a matriculation year, a subject cohort, people who were there at the same time.
- **Engagement.** Those who always come to events, those who never do, and everyone in between,
  plus the activities and interests they have shown.
- **Communication preferences.** Honour them once collected. Do not phone someone who asked never
  to be called.
- **Location.** UK or worldwide, and finer breakdowns within that.

Two practical points make segmentation stick. First, record which segment each donor was placed in,
and keep it in your appeal history, because what works for this summer's campaign may differ next
year as you learn. Second, segmentation is also how you test content. You can "literally just split
your data randomly in half. One half has a video in it, one half has a photograph", or one version
is written from the head and another from a student. It is "not 100 per cent scientific, because
there are lots of other variables", but it surfaces trends you can act on. Our
[segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/) gives you a structure to define and tag
your segments.

A connected technique is profiling: looking at the donors you already have to find more like them.
Pull your recent givers into a spreadsheet, "not hideous ones, I promise", with columns for what
they gave, when they last gave, their relationship and their age bracket, then look for the
commonalities. A light **RFM analysis**, weighting by how recently, how frequently and how much
people give, lets you "weight the ones that are giving the most, the most often, the most recently,
and then start to look at what traits they share". You can then tag the unasked people in your
database who match that profile.

Profiling also punctures lazy assumptions. As Heather warned, "you can't ask somebody
over 70 because they don't know how to use computers, and you can't ask someone under 30 because
these poor people can't afford to pay the rent". Those are assumptions, not data. "Throw all those
assumptions out the window and look at what your data is telling you about who should be included
and how they should be communicated with."

## The metrics that actually matter

It is easy to collect dozens of numbers and report none of them usefully. A small, consistent set
tells you most of what you need: participation, retention, average gift and lifetime value.

**Participation.** How many people gave, and how many were new. New-donor numbers in particular
tell you whether your acquisition is working and where your future regular givers will come from.

**Retention.** Whether donors stay with you, lapse, or come back. Heather frames this as part of
profiling: "Are they staying with you? Are they upgrading?" Tracking lapsed donors, and whether
your activity re-engages them, is how you protect income you already have rather than constantly
buying it back.

**Average gift.** What people give, and how that changes over time, both across the file and within
a segment you are trying to upgrade.

**Lifetime value.** The longer view: what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, not just
this appeal. This is the metric that justifies investing in stewardship and in acquiring new
supporters who can be cultivated for years.

The discipline that makes metrics worth having is consistency. As Kat Carter put it, you want
metrics "that are consistent" and "reliable enough to be collected on a
regular basis to show change over time, whether that's positive or negative, and to see trends that
help you to make informed decisions". A metric you measure once is a curiosity. A metric you
measure the same way every month is a tool.

## The basics of web analytics

Online giving has one big advantage over direct mail: you can see far more of what happens. With a
mailing, Kat noted, "you're kind of only really gaining two data points": who gave and what came
back undelivered. Online, "you can learn a little bit more about at what point did somebody decide
that they want to make a gift, how long did it take them to make that decision, and what were the
things that influenced that that were on the website."

The first step is almost embarrassingly simple, and it is Kat's top takeaway: connect Google
Analytics to your website, especially if that website takes donations. "If
you don't have Google Analytics connected and the Google Analytics code connected to your website,
especially if that website is taking donations, that's the first thing that you should do." Even if
you are not ready to analyse anything, you are at least collecting the data, so that "when you are
ready to analyse it, you have something to get started with". If a website provider runs your site,
they can add the tracking code for you.

Once it is connected, a handful of measures cover the donation journey:

- **Users and sessions.** New and returning visitors, and how often they come back. People often
  need several visits "before they overcome their skepticism and make a gift", so returning users
  are not a failure.
- **Devices.** Make sure the journey works on mobile, tablet and desktop. People browse and often
  give on mobile, so "if you have a website that's great on desktop but it isn't great on mobile
  but you get lots of users on mobile, then you could be missing out on conversions."
- **Channels, sources and mediums.** Where traffic comes from: email, social, organic search,
  referral, direct. This tells you where to focus effort.
- **Average time on a page.** A long time can mean engagement, or a friction point. "If somebody
  is spending too much time there, then maybe there's a friction point on that page."
- **Exit pages and bounce rate.** Where journeys end. The question is whether people leave from the
  thank-you page, having given, "or are they exiting before they even get to the donation page".
  A higher bounce rate on a donation page is normal, because there is only one action to take, but
  you need to know your own benchmark.

To see which messages actually drive gifts, use **UTM links**, the tagged URLs Google provides
free. They let you label a link by campaign, medium and source, so Analytics can tell email apart
from social, and one email apart from another. For a giving day Kat recommends being granular:
tag each email by day and send time, because then "I'm able to see more information about which
emails are driving traffic, but which emails are converting." The pairing is the point: "It doesn't
matter if it gets lots of engagement if it doesn't convert." When you find content that produces
both high traffic and high conversion, "let's do more of that."

When you are ready for more, Google Tag Manager adds event tracking: how far people scroll, which
of several donate buttons gets used, whether a video or a photo converts better. Hubbub tested two
donate buttons on a giving day page and found the main button under the totaliser drew 609 clicks
and 438 conversions, while the button in the navigation bar drew only around 100 uses. The lesson
was not to remove the nav button, but to confirm both have a place: data over opinion. Our
[analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) gives you a simple,
consistent place to record these numbers over time.

## Turning data into better decisions

The aim is decisions, not dashboards. Kat's framing is the one to
keep: "Without data, you're just another person with an opinion. So let's be data-led, not
opinion-led." Without it, "you might end up being totally unaware of what's working, what's not
working, and just making guesses as to how you move forward."

Benchmarks turn raw numbers into judgements. Hubbub uses a few it has built up over time: on a
giving day, around 85 per cent of donations typically come from email in the first year or two, and
their donation forms convert at around 70 per cent. These are not targets to chase blindly. A team
sitting above 85 per cent on email may simply lack channel diversification, while a team below it
has often grown social and ambassador giving, which "is sometimes a good thing". The value is in
the conversation the number starts: if your conversion rate is low, is it the audience, the
messaging, or the user experience? Test each in turn, "do a test of your audience, do some
messaging changes, test your giving on one platform versus another", and you can isolate what
actually moved the needle. If you have no benchmarks of your own yet, Kat pointed to public ones
from researchers like NextAfter and M+R.

Crucially, learning often comes from what did not work. "You almost want to find the things that
aren't working to learn from them, because if you're looking at everything that's working, you're
probably not going to learn too much from that other than it worked, but not maybe as to why."

A note on AI, since it comes up constantly. Both Kat and Heather see it as a helper for the manual
parts, not a replacement for judgement. Where a task is "very manual and can almost be a blocker to
doing the next step, which is the actual analysis", letting AI compile, cleanse or totalise data
frees you for the work that matters. But, as Kat cautioned, "just letting AI do everything isn't
the answer, because it doesn't have the savvy". You remain the professional interpreting what the
data is telling you.

Finally, bring your team with you. People can be wary of data because "they think that they're just
being tracked and watched". Be transparent about why you are doing it and what difference it makes,
and find the person who lights up at this: "there generally is more than likely someone in your
team that would get as excited about this as I do." Hand them the project, and the whole thing
becomes sustainable rather than a one-off. As Heather summed it up, "data can really have an impact
and a great success for you to acquire, retain and upgrade more donors."

## Frequently asked questions

**I find data intimidating. Where do I actually start?** With one small thing. Review what you
already hold, how it is recorded, and whether it helps answer a question you care about. You do not
need an expensive database; a clean spreadsheet and a clear goal are enough to begin.

**How do I keep my data clean without it taking over?** Build consistency in at the point of entry
with drop-downs and tick boxes rather than free text, agree protocols if more than one person
records data, and use natural moments, like an impact report or a mailing, to ask supporters to
update their own details. That keeps records deliverable and refreshes consent at the same time.

**What is segmentation and why does it improve results?** It is splitting your supporters into
groups so you can communicate in a way that fits each one. It increases warmth and affinity, lets
you focus limited budget where it works, and replaces the scattergun appeal where you "throw your
whole database in and hope for the best".

**Which metrics should I track if I only track a few?** Participation and new donors, retention and
lapse, average gift, and lifetime value. Measure them the same way every time, because a metric is
only useful when it shows change consistently over months.

**What is the first thing to do with web analytics?** Connect Google Analytics to your website,
especially if it takes donations. Even before you analyse anything, you will be collecting the data
so it is there when you are ready. Then use UTM links so you can see which emails and channels
actually convert.

**Will AI do my data analysis for me?** It can handle the manual parts, compiling, cleansing and
totalising, which frees you for interpretation and relationships. But it lacks the savvy to make
the call for you, so you stay the one reading what the data means.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [why you shouldn't be daunted by data](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) and [a primer to web analytics using Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Related guide: [How to acquire and retain donors](/uk/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use your data and segmentation](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (us/en): A practical guide to using fundraising data without being daunted by it, covering getting your data in order, segmentation, the metrics that matter, web analytics basics, and turning data into better decisions.
Data is one of those words that makes plenty of fundraisers tense up. You picture spreadsheets,
pivot tables and a dashboard you do not fully understand, and you quietly hope someone else will
deal with it. The good news is that using your data well is far less technical, and far more
useful, than that mental image suggests. It is simply about knowing who your supporters are, what
they care about, and what is actually working, so that you spend your limited time and money in
the right places.

Heather Egleton, a consultant at Hubbub, puts the worry plainly: "Some people, and you may
be one of those if you're on the call today, hear the word data and kind of get a bit panicky. You
think of spreadsheets and pivot tables and all sorts of other things that can blow some of our
minds." Her argument is that you can move past that and start to enjoy it. "There are
sometimes spreadsheets and pivot tables, but that's not all there is. There is the bigger picture
as well."

This guide draws on two Hubbub webinars: "Why you shouldn't be daunted by data" and "A primer to
web analytics using Google". It covers five things in turn: getting your data in order, segmenting
it so your communications land better, the handful of metrics that genuinely matter, the basics of
web analytics on your donation journey, and how to turn all of it into better decisions rather than
prettier dashboards. It pairs naturally with our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/us/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), because almost
everything here is in service of acquiring, keeping and upgrading donors.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/),
> [data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/) and
> [analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Start simple, and just start

The single most important thing is not to wait until you have a perfect system. Heather's advice is
deliberately small: "If you do one thing after listening to
this today, it is really just to make a start. It's very easy to kind of put data and planning
into your virtual in-tray or your actual in-tray. But pull it out and crack on with it."

That first thing can be modest. "If that one thing is just that you take a step back and review
what you have, how you're recording it, where you're getting it from, what use it could be to you,
and looking at your end goal and can it help you get there, that's brilliant." You do not need a
"fancy pants database", as she called it, to begin. A clean spreadsheet and a clear question are
enough to get going.

There is also a useful reframe for the daunted: most of the work is interpretation, not
arithmetic, and that is the part you are already good at. Being reactive has its place, and
sometimes it is exactly right, as it was for the appeals many teams ran during Covid and around the
war in Ukraine. But for your day-to-day program, using historical information to make predictions
is what makes you "a lot more cost efficient" and lets you "be really confident in the decisions
you're making and the actions that you're taking".

## Getting your data in order

Before you can segment or analyze anything, the data underneath it has to be trustworthy. The
principle Heather kept returning to is an old one: "Good data in, good data out. Bad data in, bad
data out. That has been said to me a long time ago and I will never forget it." Trustworthy data
comes from three things: consistent entry, clean records, and proper consent.

**Consistent entry.** The biggest cause of useless data is inconsistent recording, especially when
several people touch the database. Agree protocols for how things are entered, because "unless that
information is in there accurately and consistently, it's no use really, because you can't report
and analyze on it: you'll be comparing apples and oranges." Wherever you can, design the inputs to
remove guesswork. Use "a tick box or a drop down choice" and restrict free text, so you avoid the
classic mess where one record says a supporter studied "French and history" and another says
"history and French", or an organization appears once by its initials and once spelled out in full.
Those small inconsistencies are exactly what break a report later.

**Clean, deliverable records.** Cleansing does not have to mean shipping your file off to a
third party and hoping. The kind Heather recommends is the sort you can do yourself, with your
donors' help. Before a big mailing or an impact report, build in a step to ask supporters to check
and update their own details: "If you have an engagement platform, ask them to double check their
data and update it. And then they're actually then also giving you consent because they're
providing you with the most recent information." That keeps your data deliverable and earns you
fresh permission at the same time. It is also worth periodically streamlining duplicate fields,
because "if you've got the same thing said on this tab and that tab and then in this box, it's a
lot harder to keep that all up to date".

**Consented and proportionate.** You do not need to be a privacy lawyer, but you do need a simple
test. Heather's version is memorable: "If someone asked to see it, would they be absolutely
horrified about what you're collecting? Don't put anything in there that you wouldn't happily let
someone look over your shoulder and see." Collect what is accurate, factual and necessary, keep it
up to date, honor the communication preferences people give you, follow the state privacy laws that
apply to you, and lean on whoever in your organization understands the rules. Our
[data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
turns these into a short, repeatable review.

One habit underpins all three: start from the end. Think first about what you want to know, then
work backwards from the result you want. If your aim is to grow regular giving, ask what data that
needs. If it is to find legacy prospects, ask what signals someone is likely to leave a gift in
their will. You will usually find three or four aims with a lot of overlap, which means you are
streamlining what you collect rather than drowning in surveys and attributes.

## Segmentation, and why it improves results

Once your data is clean, segmentation is how you make it pay. Segmentation means splitting your
supporters into groups so you can talk to each group in a way that fits them, and the reason to
bother is straightforward. As Heather explained, it "really helps us all to create more personalized
communications with our audiences, which will in turn increase the warmth that they have for you
and your mission and their affinity, which then hopefully will in turn increase the support they're
able to provide you."

The blunt instrument segmentation replaces is the scattergun appeal. "Gone are the days, if they
were ever actually there, where you just throw your whole database in a telephone campaign and hope
for the best." Instead, you channel limited resources where they will work hardest, and the savings
are real: print and postage are expensive, so "you really want to make sure you're segmenting and
you're focusing in the right areas with any resources that you have."

You can segment on many dimensions, alone or in combination, depending on your goal:

- **Donation history.** For an upgrade campaign, target those who have given regularly for a while,
  or made several one-off gifts, and steward them towards a higher or regular gift.
- **Relationship.** Not only the relationship with you (alumnus, parent, former staff) but between
  supporters: a graduation year, a major cohort, people who were there at the same time.
- **Engagement.** Those who always come to events, those who never do, and everyone in between,
  plus the activities and interests they have shown.
- **Communication preferences.** Honor them once collected. Do not phone someone who asked never
  to be called.
- **Location.** Domestic or worldwide, and finer breakdowns within that.

Two practical points make segmentation stick. First, record which segment each donor was placed in,
and keep it in your appeal history, because what works for this summer's campaign may differ next
year as you learn. Second, segmentation is also how you test content. You can "literally just split
your data randomly in half. One half has a video in it, one half has a photograph", or one version
is written from the head and another from a student. It is "not 100 per cent scientific, because
there are lots of other variables", but it surfaces trends you can act on. Our
[segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/) gives you a structure to define and tag
your segments.

A connected technique is profiling: looking at the donors you already have to find more like them.
Pull your recent givers into a spreadsheet, "not hideous ones, I promise", with columns for what
they gave, when they last gave, their relationship and their age bracket, then look for the
commonalities. A light **RFM analysis**, weighting by how recently, how frequently and how much
people give, lets you "weight the ones that are giving the most, the most often, the most recently,
and then start to look at what traits they share". You can then tag the unasked people in your
database who match that profile.

Profiling also punctures lazy assumptions. As Heather warned, "you can't ask somebody
over 70 because they don't know how to use computers, and you can't ask someone under 30 because
these poor people can't afford to pay the rent". Those are assumptions, not data. "Throw all those
assumptions out the window and look at what your data is telling you about who should be included
and how they should be communicated with."

## The metrics that actually matter

It is easy to collect dozens of numbers and report none of them usefully. A small, consistent set
tells you most of what you need: participation, retention, average gift and lifetime value.

**Participation.** How many people gave, and how many were new. New-donor numbers in particular
tell you whether your acquisition is working and where your future regular givers will come from.

**Retention.** Whether donors stay with you, lapse, or come back. Heather frames this as part of
profiling: "Are they staying with you? Are they upgrading?" Tracking lapsed donors, and whether
your activity re-engages them, is how you protect income you already have rather than constantly
buying it back.

**Average gift.** What people give, and how that changes over time, both across the file and within
a segment you are trying to upgrade.

**Lifetime value.** The longer view: what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, not just
this appeal. This is the metric that justifies investing in stewardship and in acquiring new
supporters who can be cultivated for years.

The discipline that makes metrics worth having is consistency. As Kat Carter put it, you want
metrics "that are consistent" and "reliable enough to be collected on a
regular basis to show change over time, whether that's positive or negative, and to see trends that
help you to make informed decisions". A metric you measure once is a curiosity. A metric you
measure the same way every month is a tool.

## The basics of web analytics

Online giving has one big advantage over direct mail: you can see far more of what happens. With a
mailing, Kat noted, "you're kind of only really gaining two data points": who gave and what came
back undelivered. Online, "you can learn a little bit more about at what point did somebody decide
that they want to make a gift, how long did it take them to make that decision, and what were the
things that influenced that that were on the website."

The first step is almost embarrassingly simple, and it is Kat's top takeaway: connect Google
Analytics to your website, especially if that website takes donations. "If
you don't have Google Analytics connected and the Google Analytics code connected to your website,
especially if that website is taking donations, that's the first thing that you should do." Even if
you are not ready to analyze anything, you are at least collecting the data, so that "when you are
ready to analyze it, you have something to get started with". If a website provider runs your site,
they can add the tracking code for you.

Once it is connected, a handful of measures cover the donation journey:

- **Users and sessions.** New and returning visitors, and how often they come back. People often
  need several visits "before they overcome their skepticism and make a gift", so returning users
  are not a failure.
- **Devices.** Make sure the journey works on mobile, tablet and desktop. People browse and often
  give on mobile, so "if you have a website that's great on desktop but it isn't great on mobile
  but you get lots of users on mobile, then you could be missing out on conversions."
- **Channels, sources and mediums.** Where traffic comes from: email, social, organic search,
  referral, direct. This tells you where to focus effort.
- **Average time on a page.** A long time can mean engagement, or a friction point. "If somebody
  is spending too much time there, then maybe there's a friction point on that page."
- **Exit pages and bounce rate.** Where journeys end. The question is whether people leave from the
  thank-you page, having given, "or are they exiting before they even get to the donation page".
  A higher bounce rate on a donation page is normal, because there is only one action to take, but
  you need to know your own benchmark.

To see which messages actually drive gifts, use **UTM links**, the tagged URLs Google provides
free. They let you label a link by campaign, medium and source, so Analytics can tell email apart
from social, and one email apart from another. For a giving day Kat recommends being granular:
tag each email by day and send time, because then "I'm able to see more information about which
emails are driving traffic, but which emails are converting." The pairing is the point: "It doesn't
matter if it gets lots of engagement if it doesn't convert." When you find content that produces
both high traffic and high conversion, "let's do more of that."

When you are ready for more, Google Tag Manager adds event tracking: how far people scroll, which
of several donate buttons gets used, whether a video or a photo converts better. Hubbub tested two
donate buttons on a giving day page and found the main button under the totalizer drew 609 clicks
and 438 conversions, while the button in the navigation bar drew only around 100 uses. The lesson
was not to remove the nav button, but to confirm both have a place: data over opinion. Our
[analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) gives you a simple,
consistent place to record these numbers over time.

## Turning data into better decisions

The aim is decisions, not dashboards. Kat's framing is the one to
keep: "Without data, you're just another person with an opinion. So let's be data-led, not
opinion-led." Without it, "you might end up being totally unaware of what's working, what's not
working, and just making guesses as to how you move forward."

Benchmarks turn raw numbers into judgements. Hubbub uses a few it has built up over time: on a
giving day, around 85 per cent of donations typically come from email in the first year or two, and
their donation forms convert at around 70 per cent. These are not targets to chase blindly. A team
sitting above 85 per cent on email may simply lack channel diversification, while a team below it
has often grown social and ambassador giving, which "is sometimes a good thing". The value is in
the conversation the number starts: if your conversion rate is low, is it the audience, the
messaging, or the user experience? Test each in turn, "do a test of your audience, do some
messaging changes, test your giving on one platform versus another", and you can isolate what
actually moved the needle. If you have no benchmarks of your own yet, Kat pointed to public ones
from researchers like NextAfter and M+R.

Crucially, learning often comes from what did not work. "You almost want to find the things that
aren't working to learn from them, because if you're looking at everything that's working, you're
probably not going to learn too much from that other than it worked, but not maybe as to why."

A note on AI, since it comes up constantly. Both Kat and Heather see it as a helper for the manual
parts, not a replacement for judgement. Where a task is "very manual and can almost be a blocker to
doing the next step, which is the actual analysis", letting AI compile, cleanse or totalize data
frees you for the work that matters. But, as Kat cautioned, "just letting AI do everything isn't
the answer, because it doesn't have the savvy". You remain the professional interpreting what the
data is telling you.

Finally, bring your team with you. People can be wary of data because "they think that they're just
being tracked and watched". Be transparent about why you are doing it and what difference it makes,
and find the person who lights up at this: "there generally is more than likely someone in your
team that would get as excited about this as I do." Hand them the project, and the whole thing
becomes sustainable rather than a one-off. As Heather summed it up, "data can really have an impact
and a great success for you to acquire, retain and upgrade more donors."

## Frequently asked questions

**I find data intimidating. Where do I actually start?** With one small thing. Review what you
already hold, how it is recorded, and whether it helps answer a question you care about. You do not
need an expensive database; a clean spreadsheet and a clear goal are enough to begin.

**How do I keep my data clean without it taking over?** Build consistency in at the point of entry
with drop-downs and tick boxes rather than free text, agree protocols if more than one person
records data, and use natural moments, like an impact report or a mailing, to ask supporters to
update their own details. That keeps records deliverable and refreshes consent at the same time.

**What is segmentation and why does it improve results?** It is splitting your supporters into
groups so you can communicate in a way that fits each one. It increases warmth and affinity, lets
you focus limited budget where it works, and replaces the scattergun appeal where you "throw your
whole database in and hope for the best".

**Which metrics should I track if I only track a few?** Participation and new donors, retention and
lapse, average gift, and lifetime value. Measure them the same way every time, because a metric is
only useful when it shows change consistently over months.

**What is the first thing to do with web analytics?** Connect Google Analytics to your website,
especially if it takes donations. Even before you analyze anything, you will be collecting the data
so it is there when you are ready. Then use UTM links so you can see which emails and channels
actually convert.

**Will AI do my data analysis for me?** It can handle the manual parts, compiling, cleansing and
totalizing, which frees you for interpretation and relationships. But it lacks the savvy to make
the call for you, so you stay the one reading what the data means.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [why you shouldn't be daunted by data](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) and [a primer to web analytics using Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Related guide: [How to acquire and retain donors](/us/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use your data and segmentation](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) (world/en): A practical guide to using fundraising data without being daunted by it, covering getting your data in order, segmentation, the metrics that matter, web analytics basics, and turning data into better decisions.
Data is one of those words that makes plenty of fundraisers tense up. You picture spreadsheets,
pivot tables and a dashboard you do not fully understand, and you quietly hope someone else will
deal with it. The good news is that using your data well is far less technical, and far more
useful, than that mental image suggests. It is simply about knowing who your supporters are, what
they care about, and what is actually working, so that you spend your limited time and money in
the right places.

Heather Egleton, a consultant at Hubbub, puts the worry plainly: "Some people, and you may
be one of those if you're on the call today, hear the word data and kind of get a bit panicky. You
think of spreadsheets and pivot tables and all sorts of other things that can blow some of our
minds." Her argument is that you can move past that and start to enjoy it. "There are
sometimes spreadsheets and pivot tables, but that's not all there is. There is the bigger picture
as well."

This guide draws on two Hubbub webinars: "Why you shouldn't be daunted by data" and "A primer to
web analytics using Google". It covers five things in turn: getting your data in order, segmenting
it so your communications land better, the handful of metrics that genuinely matter, the basics of
web analytics on your donation journey, and how to turn all of it into better decisions rather than
prettier dashboards. It pairs naturally with our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/world/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/), because almost
everything here is in service of acquiring, keeping and upgrading donors.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/),
> [data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/) and
> [analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/).

## Start simple, and just start

The single most important thing is not to wait until you have a perfect system. Heather's advice is
deliberately small: "If you do one thing after listening to
this today, it is really just to make a start. It's very easy to kind of put data and planning
into your virtual in-tray or your actual in-tray. But pull it out and crack on with it."

That first thing can be modest. "If that one thing is just that you take a step back and review
what you have, how you're recording it, where you're getting it from, what use it could be to you,
and looking at your end goal and can it help you get there, that's brilliant." You do not need a
"fancy pants database", as she called it, to begin. A clean spreadsheet and a clear question are
enough to get going.

There is also a useful reframe for the daunted: most of the work is interpretation, not
arithmetic, and that is the part you are already good at. Being reactive has its place, and
sometimes it is exactly right, as it was for the appeals many teams ran during Covid and around the
war in Ukraine. But for your day-to-day programme, using historical information to make predictions
is what makes you "a lot more cost efficient" and lets you "be really confident in the decisions
you're making and the actions that you're taking".

## Getting your data in order

Before you can segment or analyse anything, the data underneath it has to be trustworthy. The
principle Heather kept returning to is an old one: "Good data in, good data out. Bad data in, bad
data out. That has been said to me a long time ago and I will never forget it." Trustworthy data
comes from three things: consistent entry, clean records, and proper consent.

**Consistent entry.** The biggest cause of useless data is inconsistent recording, especially when
several people touch the database. Agree protocols for how things are entered, because "unless that
information is in there accurately and consistently, it's no use really, because you can't report
and analyse on it: you'll be comparing apples and oranges." Wherever you can, design the inputs to
remove guesswork. Use "a tick box or a drop down choice" and restrict free text, so you avoid the
classic mess where one record says a supporter studied "French and history" and another says
"history and French", or an organisation appears once by its initials and once spelled out in full.
Those small inconsistencies are exactly what break a report later.

**Clean, deliverable records.** Cleansing does not have to mean shipping your file off to a
third party and hoping. The kind Heather recommends is the sort you can do yourself, with your
donors' help. Before a big mailing or an impact report, build in a step to ask supporters to check
and update their own details: "If you have an engagement platform, ask them to double check their
data and update it. And then they're actually then also giving you consent because they're
providing you with the most recent information." That keeps your data deliverable and earns you
fresh permission at the same time. It is also worth periodically streamlining duplicate fields,
because "if you've got the same thing said on this tab and that tab and then in this box, it's a
lot harder to keep that all up to date".

**Consented and proportionate.** You do not need to be a data protection expert, but you do need a
simple test. Heather's version is memorable: "If someone asked to see it, would they be absolutely
horrified about what you're collecting? Don't put anything in there that you wouldn't happily let
someone look over your shoulder and see." Collect what is accurate, factual and necessary, keep it
up to date, honour the communication preferences people give you, follow your local data protection
rules, and lean on whoever in your organisation understands them. Our
[data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
turns these into a short, repeatable review.

One habit underpins all three: start from the end. Think first about what you want to know, then
work backwards from the result you want. If your aim is to grow regular giving, ask what data that
needs. If it is to find legacy prospects, ask what signals someone is likely to leave a gift in
their will. You will usually find three or four aims with a lot of overlap, which means you are
streamlining what you collect rather than drowning in surveys and attributes.

## Segmentation, and why it improves results

Once your data is clean, segmentation is how you make it pay. Segmentation means splitting your
supporters into groups so you can talk to each group in a way that fits them, and the reason to
bother is straightforward. As Heather explained, it "really helps us all to create more personalised
communications with our audiences, which will in turn increase the warmth that they have for you
and your mission and their affinity, which then hopefully will in turn increase the support they're
able to provide you."

The blunt instrument segmentation replaces is the scattergun appeal. "Gone are the days, if they
were ever actually there, where you just throw your whole database in a telephone campaign and hope
for the best." Instead, you channel limited resources where they will work hardest, and the savings
are real: print and postage are expensive, so "you really want to make sure you're segmenting and
you're focusing in the right areas with any resources that you have."

You can segment on many dimensions, alone or in combination, depending on your goal:

- **Donation history.** For an upgrade campaign, target those who have given regularly for a while,
  or made several one-off gifts, and steward them towards a higher or regular gift.
- **Relationship.** Not only the relationship with you (alumnus, parent, former staff) but between
  supporters: a matriculation year, a subject cohort, people who were there at the same time.
- **Engagement.** Those who always come to events, those who never do, and everyone in between,
  plus the activities and interests they have shown.
- **Communication preferences.** Honour them once collected. Do not phone someone who asked never
  to be called.
- **Location.** Domestic or worldwide, and finer breakdowns within that.

Two practical points make segmentation stick. First, record which segment each donor was placed in,
and keep it in your appeal history, because what works for this summer's campaign may differ next
year as you learn. Second, segmentation is also how you test content. You can "literally just split
your data randomly in half. One half has a video in it, one half has a photograph", or one version
is written from the head and another from a student. It is "not 100 per cent scientific, because
there are lots of other variables", but it surfaces trends you can act on. Our
[segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/) gives you a structure to define and tag
your segments.

A connected technique is profiling: looking at the donors you already have to find more like them.
Pull your recent givers into a spreadsheet, "not hideous ones, I promise", with columns for what
they gave, when they last gave, their relationship and their age bracket, then look for the
commonalities. A light **RFM analysis**, weighting by how recently, how frequently and how much
people give, lets you "weight the ones that are giving the most, the most often, the most recently,
and then start to look at what traits they share". You can then tag the unasked people in your
database who match that profile.

Profiling also punctures lazy assumptions. As Heather warned, "you can't ask somebody
over 70 because they don't know how to use computers, and you can't ask someone under 30 because
these poor people can't afford to pay the rent". Those are assumptions, not data. "Throw all those
assumptions out the window and look at what your data is telling you about who should be included
and how they should be communicated with."

## The metrics that actually matter

It is easy to collect dozens of numbers and report none of them usefully. A small, consistent set
tells you most of what you need: participation, retention, average gift and lifetime value.

**Participation.** How many people gave, and how many were new. New-donor numbers in particular
tell you whether your acquisition is working and where your future regular givers will come from.

**Retention.** Whether donors stay with you, lapse, or come back. Heather frames this as part of
profiling: "Are they staying with you? Are they upgrading?" Tracking lapsed donors, and whether
your activity re-engages them, is how you protect income you already have rather than constantly
buying it back.

**Average gift.** What people give, and how that changes over time, both across the file and within
a segment you are trying to upgrade.

**Lifetime value.** The longer view: what a donor is worth across the whole relationship, not just
this appeal. This is the metric that justifies investing in stewardship and in acquiring new
supporters who can be cultivated for years.

The discipline that makes metrics worth having is consistency. As Kat Carter put it, you want
metrics "that are consistent" and "reliable enough to be collected on a
regular basis to show change over time, whether that's positive or negative, and to see trends that
help you to make informed decisions". A metric you measure once is a curiosity. A metric you
measure the same way every month is a tool.

## The basics of web analytics

Online giving has one big advantage over direct mail: you can see far more of what happens. With a
mailing, Kat noted, "you're kind of only really gaining two data points": who gave and what came
back undelivered. Online, "you can learn a little bit more about at what point did somebody decide
that they want to make a gift, how long did it take them to make that decision, and what were the
things that influenced that that were on the website."

The first step is almost embarrassingly simple, and it is Kat's top takeaway: connect Google
Analytics to your website, especially if that website takes donations. "If
you don't have Google Analytics connected and the Google Analytics code connected to your website,
especially if that website is taking donations, that's the first thing that you should do." Even if
you are not ready to analyse anything, you are at least collecting the data, so that "when you are
ready to analyse it, you have something to get started with". If a website provider runs your site,
they can add the tracking code for you.

Once it is connected, a handful of measures cover the donation journey:

- **Users and sessions.** New and returning visitors, and how often they come back. People often
  need several visits "before they overcome their skepticism and make a gift", so returning users
  are not a failure.
- **Devices.** Make sure the journey works on mobile, tablet and desktop. People browse and often
  give on mobile, so "if you have a website that's great on desktop but it isn't great on mobile
  but you get lots of users on mobile, then you could be missing out on conversions."
- **Channels, sources and mediums.** Where traffic comes from: email, social, organic search,
  referral, direct. This tells you where to focus effort.
- **Average time on a page.** A long time can mean engagement, or a friction point. "If somebody
  is spending too much time there, then maybe there's a friction point on that page."
- **Exit pages and bounce rate.** Where journeys end. The question is whether people leave from the
  thank-you page, having given, "or are they exiting before they even get to the donation page".
  A higher bounce rate on a donation page is normal, because there is only one action to take, but
  you need to know your own benchmark.

To see which messages actually drive gifts, use **UTM links**, the tagged URLs Google provides
free. They let you label a link by campaign, medium and source, so Analytics can tell email apart
from social, and one email apart from another. For a giving day Kat recommends being granular:
tag each email by day and send time, because then "I'm able to see more information about which
emails are driving traffic, but which emails are converting." The pairing is the point: "It doesn't
matter if it gets lots of engagement if it doesn't convert." When you find content that produces
both high traffic and high conversion, "let's do more of that."

When you are ready for more, Google Tag Manager adds event tracking: how far people scroll, which
of several donate buttons gets used, whether a video or a photo converts better. Hubbub tested two
donate buttons on a giving day page and found the main button under the totaliser drew 609 clicks
and 438 conversions, while the button in the navigation bar drew only around 100 uses. The lesson
was not to remove the nav button, but to confirm both have a place: data over opinion. Our
[analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/) gives you a simple,
consistent place to record these numbers over time.

## Turning data into better decisions

The aim is decisions, not dashboards. Kat's framing is the one to
keep: "Without data, you're just another person with an opinion. So let's be data-led, not
opinion-led." Without it, "you might end up being totally unaware of what's working, what's not
working, and just making guesses as to how you move forward."

Benchmarks turn raw numbers into judgements. Hubbub uses a few it has built up over time: on a
giving day, around 85 per cent of donations typically come from email in the first year or two, and
their donation forms convert at around 70 per cent. These are not targets to chase blindly. A team
sitting above 85 per cent on email may simply lack channel diversification, while a team below it
has often grown social and ambassador giving, which "is sometimes a good thing". The value is in
the conversation the number starts: if your conversion rate is low, is it the audience, the
messaging, or the user experience? Test each in turn, "do a test of your audience, do some
messaging changes, test your giving on one platform versus another", and you can isolate what
actually moved the needle. If you have no benchmarks of your own yet, Kat pointed to public ones
from researchers like NextAfter and M+R.

Crucially, learning often comes from what did not work. "You almost want to find the things that
aren't working to learn from them, because if you're looking at everything that's working, you're
probably not going to learn too much from that other than it worked, but not maybe as to why."

A note on AI, since it comes up constantly. Both Kat and Heather see it as a helper for the manual
parts, not a replacement for judgement. Where a task is "very manual and can almost be a blocker to
doing the next step, which is the actual analysis", letting AI compile, cleanse or totalise data
frees you for the work that matters. But, as Kat cautioned, "just letting AI do everything isn't
the answer, because it doesn't have the savvy". You remain the professional interpreting what the
data is telling you.

Finally, bring your team with you. People can be wary of data because "they think that they're just
being tracked and watched". Be transparent about why you are doing it and what difference it makes,
and find the person who lights up at this: "there generally is more than likely someone in your
team that would get as excited about this as I do." Hand them the project, and the whole thing
becomes sustainable rather than a one-off. As Heather summed it up, "data can really have an impact
and a great success for you to acquire, retain and upgrade more donors."

## Frequently asked questions

**I find data intimidating. Where do I actually start?** With one small thing. Review what you
already hold, how it is recorded, and whether it helps answer a question you care about. You do not
need an expensive database; a clean spreadsheet and a clear goal are enough to begin.

**How do I keep my data clean without it taking over?** Build consistency in at the point of entry
with drop-downs and tick boxes rather than free text, agree protocols if more than one person
records data, and use natural moments, like an impact report or a mailing, to ask supporters to
update their own details. That keeps records deliverable and refreshes consent at the same time.

**What is segmentation and why does it improve results?** It is splitting your supporters into
groups so you can communicate in a way that fits each one. It increases warmth and affinity, lets
you focus limited budget where it works, and replaces the scattergun appeal where you "throw your
whole database in and hope for the best".

**Which metrics should I track if I only track a few?** Participation and new donors, retention and
lapse, average gift, and lifetime value. Measure them the same way every time, because a metric is
only useful when it shows change consistently over months.

**What is the first thing to do with web analytics?** Connect Google Analytics to your website,
especially if it takes donations. Even before you analyse anything, you will be collecting the data
so it is there when you are ready. Then use UTM links so you can see which emails and channels
actually convert.

**Will AI do my data analysis for me?** It can handle the manual parts, compiling, cleansing and
totalising, which frees you for interpretation and relationships. But it lacks the savvy to make
the call for you, so you stay the one reading what the data means.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Segmentation template](/resources/segmentation-template/)
- [Data health checklist](/resources/data-health-checklist/)
- [Analytics dashboard template](/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- Webinars: [why you shouldn't be daunted by data](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/why-you-shouldnt-be-daunted-by-data) and [a primer to web analytics using Google](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/a-primer-to-web-analytics-using-google)
- Related guide: [How to acquire and retain donors](/world/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use video and storytelling in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (canz/en): A practical guide to video and storytelling for fundraising, covering why stories work, finding and shaping them, planning and shooting simple authentic video, using video to steward donors, and where video fits in a campaign.
People do not give to budgets, balance sheets or strategic priorities. They give to other people, and they give because a story has made them feel something. A strong fundraising story takes an abstract need and makes it specific, human and urgent: one student, one researcher, one patient, one place, and what changes for them because a supporter chose to act. Video carries that story more directly than any other format, because it lets a donor see a face, hear a voice, and sense that a real person took the time to speak to them.

This guide shows how to find those stories, shape them, and put them on camera without a film crew or a big budget. It draws on the experience of two practitioners. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy at Christ Church, Oxford, used short personal videos to thank donors after his college's Giving Day, and Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, has advised on how the approach works in practice. The lessons that matter most are not about kit or production values. They are about authenticity, brevity, and letting the right person speak in their own voice.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) and
> [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Why stories move donors

A good story does what a statistic cannot: it puts the donor inside the impact of their gift, and it does so through emotion rather than argument. Aaron James explained why his team reached for video in the first place: "We recognised that it's just the very best kind of stewardship. It engages donors on a personal level and really plays on their nostalgia." That word, nostalgia, matters for anyone fundraising from alumni, members or long-standing supporters. People give back to places and causes that shaped them, and a story that reconnects them with that feeling is far more persuasive than one that simply restates a need.

Video also makes impact visible in a way few formats can. "I think that video stewardship demonstrates impact in a way that you can never really get with a letter or an Instagram picture or video," Aaron James said. "It really felt like our students had taken the time out of their day to learn someone's name and send that video onto them." The effort shows, and that visible effort is itself part of the message: it tells the donor they matter enough for a real person to stop and speak to them by name.

Stories also stick. A well-told story is remembered long after the figures are forgotten. Aaron James offered a vivid example: "I was stopped in the streets of Oxford by an old member who is now teaching at a different college saying, oh my gosh, you're the person that recorded my Giving Day thank you video. That clearly shows it's so much more memorable than a standard letter or card." A thank-you letter is rarely mentioned in the street a year later. A short video with someone's name in it can be.

## Finding and shaping your story

The strongest fundraising stories already exist inside your organisation. They live in the people your cause serves and the people who deliver it: a scholarship student, a researcher, a club captain, a volunteer, a member of staff. Your job is to find and shape them, not invent them. Start by asking who is closest to the impact and who can speak about it with genuine feeling. The most moving stories tend to come not from the most senior person available, but from the person whose life the gift actually touches.

A strong fundraising story usually shares a few elements. There is a single human protagonist the donor can care about, rather than a crowd or an institution. There is a clear before and after: a problem, and the change a gift makes to it. There is a specific, concrete detail that anchors the story in something real, such as a place, a moment or an object. And there is an honest emotional core, whether that is relief, pride, gratitude or hope. At Christ Church, the Giving Day stories were anchored in things donors loved and remembered, including Christ Church Meadow, "a 46 acre open space" that was the team's most popular fund. One donor's reply captured why anchoring a story in a shared, specific memory works so well: "Love the Meadow and Christopher Lewis was a wonderful Dean, an irresistible combination."

Shaping the story is mostly about restraint. Decide on the one feeling you want the donor to come away with, and the one action you want them to take, then cut everything that does not serve those two things. A story that tries to say everything says nothing. Choosing a single protagonist and a single message is what turns raw material into something that lands.

## Planning a video: the brief

Before anyone picks up a camera, write a short brief. It need not be long, but it should answer a handful of questions that will save you hours later. What is the single message of this video? Who is it for, and what do you want them to feel and do? Who is the right person to tell it, and in whose voice should it be told? How long should it be, and where will it be shown? Our [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/) sets these out on one page so the whole team is aligned before filming begins.

Whose voice tells the story shapes the result more than any other choice. Aaron James was clear that the power of his videos came from hearing a current student rather than the development office: "It's so nice for all members to have that in the student's voice and not in our own development speak, it strengthens an emotional connection between donors and the current members of the college." When choosing who appears on camera, choose for authenticity and connection to the audience, not for seniority or polish.

Plan for representation, too. Aaron James reflected that next time he would "make sure that the video creators you choose reflect the diversity of your institution." If your storytellers all come from one part of your community, your stories will speak to only part of your audience. A short storyboard helps you see the whole sequence before you shoot it: who appears, what they say, and the order the moments fall in. Our [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) gives you a simple frame for that.

## Keep it short

If the Christ Church experience proves one production rule, it is brevity. The thank-you videos were "about 20 seconds long" and followed a tiny, deliberately simple script: "We wrote a script just saying, thank you ever so much, John, for your gift. We're really very grateful. And that was it." The temptation to do more is real, and Aaron James named it honestly: "It was quite tempting to give students lots and lots of information and to create almost three-minute videos. But I was keen not to do this because it's meant to just be a quick note saying thanks built into someone's day."

Donors agreed. One wrote back: "Thanks for the follow-up video, a nice personal touch and appreciated. Good to do this and to have kept it short and simple." Aaron James's conclusion is worth pinning above your desk if you take on a video project: "Stick to a 20-second video, or a script that produces a 20-second video, because definitely the feedback shows that donors like that." Short videos are also easier to make, easier to approve, and easier for a busy person to actually watch.

## Shooting simple, authentic video

You do not need a studio, a crew or expensive equipment to make video that works. A modern phone shoots more than well enough, and authenticity beats polish almost every time. The Christ Church videos were made by students recording themselves, and the warmth came precisely from the fact that they felt personal and unproduced rather than slick.

A few simple habits make phone video look and sound far better. Shoot in a quiet space, because poor sound puts viewers off faster than imperfect picture. Film by a window or facing soft, natural light, rather than with a bright window behind the speaker. Hold the phone steady or rest it on something, frame the speaker from the chest up with a little space above their head, and shoot horizontally for a website or vertically for social media. Let people speak naturally; a slightly imperfect, genuine take is far more affecting than a stiff, over-rehearsed one. Our [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/) gives you a checklist to run through before and during a shoot.

If you are interviewing someone, do a little preparation and then get out of the way. Send a few questions in advance so the speaker is not caught cold, but ask them to answer in full sentences and to speak as if to one person, not a committee. Open with something easy to settle their nerves, listen rather than rush, and be ready with a gentle follow-up when something honest surfaces. The best lines almost always come after the first, more careful answer.

A few things are worth avoiding. Do not over-script to the point that the speaker sounds robotic; a short prompt beats a paragraph to memorise. Do not let the video sprawl, as length is the enemy of being watched to the end. And do not over-personalise to the point of discomfort. Aaron James made this point memorably: his team resisted loading videos with everything they knew about each donor, because, as he put it, "too much I know what you did and know where you live would probably be a bit creepy." A warm, named, specific thank-you is plenty: "Hello John, thanks for donating to fund Y, your gift was really appreciated." You do not need to recite a donor's life story back to them.

## Using video to thank and steward donors

Video comes into its own as a stewardship tool, the means by which you thank supporters and keep them close. This is where Christ Church saw the clearest return, and it sits naturally inside a wider [donor stewardship](/canz/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) programme. The model was simple: "Any person that made a donation in our Giving Day was sent a link to a video made by a current student in which they would thank the donor for their gift." The videos went out from an official inbox, which, in Aaron James's words, "further created trust in us and in the videos we were sending."

What made the difference was that the videos started conversations rather than closing them. Donors did not just receive a thank-you, they replied to it. Aaron James described threads of "about six bits of conversation that probably wouldn't have happened with just a traditional card or email." The replies were warmer and more considered than a typical acknowledgement, full of "exclamation marks and really very emotive language." One donor wrote: "What a thoughtful gesture, I had expected neither, but I'm much warmed by both." Several of those conversations turned into relationships the development office could continue to build.

A few stewardship lessons carry over directly. Personalisation matters: "Donors like to hear their name said, and you create quite a strong bond even though it's within 20 seconds." Speed matters too. The Christ Church team aimed to send videos "as soon as possible," within about a week of the gift, while gratitude was still fresh. And honesty about measurement matters. Video stewardship is hard to reduce to a dashboard, and Aaron James was candid that its value "is very much qualitative, really building those relationships and creating that nostalgia." Where you can, set up link tracking and feed responses into your CRM from the start, so you can at least see open rates and keep a clean record of who was thanked.

## Where video fits across a campaign

Video rarely works in isolation. As Aaron James put it, stewardship "doesn't operate in a vacuum," and video is most powerful when planned as one beat inside a larger campaign. A [Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a natural home for it. At Christ Church, the videos followed a Giving Day that raised "150,000 pounds-ish in donations and just shy of 400 donors," with a notable share of younger givers: "78 of our donors were aged under 50." The video stewardship turned that single moment of giving into the beginning of a longer relationship.

Think about where video earns its place across the arc of a campaign. A short, story-led film can open an appeal, giving the case for support a human face before you ever make the ask. During a live campaign, quick progress videos and milestone celebrations keep energy high and give you reasons to keep messaging. Afterwards, personal thank-you videos steward the donors you have just acquired and set up the next ask. The same approach extends well beyond Giving Days. Aaron James and his team planned to use video alongside their telethon, sending a short clip to donors a caller had built a rapport with: "Thank you for your gift, I really enjoyed talking about X, Y and Z. Again, really short, but really easy."

A final, practical word on resourcing, because video stewardship at scale is more work than it looks. Christ Church sent over 375 videos with a team of just two people, which Aaron James reflected "was a lot of work for two people to get out in a couple of weeks." His advice was to recruit a larger team, "a team of four or even five," to start early, and to "create a very clear plan with how you want your storytellers to record their videos," with firm deadlines rather than an open-ended ask. Plan the people side as carefully as the creative side, and video will repay the effort many times over.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I need expensive equipment to make fundraising video?** No. A recent smartphone is more than good enough for stewardship and story video. Prioritise good sound and decent light over camera quality, and remember that authenticity matters more than polish. The Christ Church videos that delighted donors were filmed by students on ordinary devices.

**How long should a fundraising video be?** For thank-you and stewardship videos, aim for around 20 seconds. The strong, repeated feedback at Christ Church was that donors prefer short. Story-led films to open an appeal can run a little longer, but even then, shorter is almost always better watched.

**Who should appear on camera?** The person with the most authentic connection to your audience, not necessarily the most senior. A student, a beneficiary or a volunteer speaking in their own voice carries more emotional weight than the development office speaking in "development speak."

**How personal should the video be?** Personal enough to feel genuinely for that donor, named and specific to their gift, but not so personal that it feels intrusive. Use their name and the fund they gave to, and resist the urge to recite everything you know about them.

**How do we measure the impact of video stewardship?** Expect the value to be largely qualitative: warmer replies, longer conversations and stronger relationships. Where you can, add link tracking, monitor open rates and record responses in your CRM from the outset, so the long-term effect on donor retention is easier to see over time.

**Can we use video beyond Giving Days?** Yes. It works across telethons, campaign launches, milestone moments and ongoing stewardship. The Christ Church team planned to extend short personal videos to their telethon and to specific clubs and societies where supporters feel a strong connection.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Related guide: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/canz/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Wie man Video und Storytelling im Fundraising einsetzt](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (europe/de): Ein praktischer Leitfaden zu Video und Storytelling im Fundraising, der erklärt, warum Geschichten wirken, wie man sie findet und formt, wie man ein einfaches, authentisches Video plant und dreht, wie man Video zur Bindung von Spenderinnen und Spendern nutzt und wo Video in einer Kampagne seinen Platz hat.
Menschen spenden nicht für Budgets, Bilanzen oder strategische Prioritäten. Sie spenden für andere Menschen, und sie spenden, weil eine Geschichte sie etwas hat fühlen lassen. Eine starke Fundraising-Geschichte nimmt einen abstrakten Bedarf und macht ihn konkret, menschlich und dringlich: ein Student, ein Forscher, ein Patient, ein Ort, und was sich für sie verändert, weil ein Förderer beschlossen hat zu handeln. Video trägt diese Geschichte unmittelbarer als jedes andere Format, weil es einer Spenderin oder einem Spender erlaubt, ein Gesicht zu sehen, eine Stimme zu hören und zu spüren, dass sich ein echter Mensch die Zeit genommen hat, mit ihnen zu sprechen.

Dieser Leitfaden zeigt, wie man diese Geschichten findet, formt und vor die Kamera bringt, ohne Filmteam und ohne großes Budget. Er stützt sich auf die Erfahrung zweier Praktiker. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy am Christ Church, Oxford, nutzte kurze persönliche Videos, um Spenderinnen und Spendern nach dem Giving Day seines Colleges zu danken, und Kat Carter, Beraterin bei Hubbub, hat dazu beraten, wie der Ansatz in der Praxis funktioniert. Die Lektionen, die am meisten zählen, betreffen nicht Ausrüstung oder Produktionswerte. Es geht um Authentizität, Kürze und darum, die richtige Person mit ihrer eigenen Stimme sprechen zu lassen.

> **Praktische Vorlagen.** Melden Sie sich an, um unsere
> [Video-Briefing-Vorlage](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [Storyboard-Vorlage](/resources/storyboard-template/) und
> [Video-Shotlist](/resources/video-shot-list/) herunterzuladen.

## Warum Geschichten Spenderinnen und Spender bewegen

Eine gute Geschichte leistet, was eine Statistik nicht kann: Sie versetzt die Spenderin oder den Spender mitten in die Wirkung ihrer Gabe, und sie tut dies durch Emotion statt durch Argumentation. Aaron James erklärte, warum sein Team überhaupt zum Video griff: „Wir haben erkannt, dass es einfach die allerbeste Form der Spenderbindung ist. Sie spricht Spenderinnen und Spender auf einer persönlichen Ebene an und spielt wirklich mit ihrer Nostalgie." Dieses Wort, Nostalgie, ist für jeden bedeutsam, der bei Alumni, Mitgliedern oder langjährigen Förderern Mittel einwirbt. Menschen geben an Orte und Anliegen zurück, die sie geprägt haben, und eine Geschichte, die sie wieder mit diesem Gefühl verbindet, ist weit überzeugender als eine, die lediglich einen Bedarf wiederholt.

Video macht Wirkung außerdem auf eine Weise sichtbar, die nur wenige Formate erreichen. „Ich denke, dass Video-Spenderbindung Wirkung auf eine Weise zeigt, die man mit einem Brief oder einem Instagram-Bild oder -Video nie wirklich erreicht", sagte Aaron James. „Es fühlte sich wirklich so an, als hätten unsere Studierenden sich Zeit aus ihrem Tag genommen, um den Namen einer Person zu lernen und ihr dieses Video zu schicken." Der Aufwand ist sichtbar, und dieser sichtbare Aufwand ist selbst Teil der Botschaft: Er sagt der Spenderin oder dem Spender, dass sie wichtig genug sind, damit ein echter Mensch innehält und sie beim Namen anspricht.

Geschichten bleiben auch haften. Eine gut erzählte Geschichte bleibt lange in Erinnerung, nachdem die Zahlen längst vergessen sind. Aaron James lieferte ein anschauliches Beispiel: „Ich wurde in den Straßen von Oxford von einem ehemaligen Mitglied angehalten, das jetzt an einem anderen College unterrichtet, und es sagte: oh mein Gott, Sie sind die Person, die mein Giving-Day-Dankesvideo aufgenommen hat. Das zeigt deutlich, dass es so viel einprägsamer ist als ein Standardbrief oder eine Karte." Ein Dankesbrief wird ein Jahr später selten auf der Straße erwähnt. Ein kurzes Video mit dem Namen einer Person kann es.

## Ihre Geschichte finden und formen

Die stärksten Fundraising-Geschichten existieren bereits in Ihrer Organisation. Sie leben in den Menschen, denen Ihr Anliegen dient, und in denen, die es umsetzen: ein Stipendiat, eine Forscherin, ein Clubkapitän, eine Freiwillige, ein Mitarbeiter. Ihre Aufgabe ist es, sie zu finden und zu formen, nicht sie zu erfinden. Beginnen Sie mit der Frage, wer der Wirkung am nächsten steht und wer mit echtem Gefühl darüber sprechen kann. Die bewegendsten Geschichten kommen meist nicht von der ranghöchsten verfügbaren Person, sondern von derjenigen, deren Leben die Gabe tatsächlich berührt.

Eine starke Fundraising-Geschichte teilt in der Regel einige Elemente. Es gibt eine einzelne menschliche Hauptfigur, der die Spenderin oder der Spender sich annehmen kann, statt einer Menge oder einer Institution. Es gibt ein klares Davor und Danach: ein Problem und die Veränderung, die eine Gabe bewirkt. Es gibt ein bestimmtes, konkretes Detail, das die Geschichte in etwas Realem verankert, etwa einen Ort, einen Moment oder einen Gegenstand. Und es gibt einen ehrlichen emotionalen Kern, sei es Erleichterung, Stolz, Dankbarkeit oder Hoffnung. Am Christ Church waren die Giving-Day-Geschichten in Dingen verankert, die Spenderinnen und Spender liebten und an die sie sich erinnerten, darunter Christ Church Meadow, „eine 46 Acre große Freifläche", die der beliebteste Fonds des Teams war. Die Antwort einer Spenderin fing ein, warum es so gut funktioniert, eine Geschichte in einer geteilten, konkreten Erinnerung zu verankern: „Ich liebe den Meadow, und Christopher Lewis war ein wunderbarer Dean, eine unwiderstehliche Kombination."

Eine Geschichte zu formen ist vor allem eine Frage der Zurückhaltung. Entscheiden Sie sich für das eine Gefühl, mit dem die Spenderin oder der Spender zurückbleiben soll, und für die eine Handlung, die Sie sich wünschen, und streichen Sie dann alles, was diesen beiden Dingen nicht dient. Eine Geschichte, die alles sagen will, sagt nichts. Eine einzige Hauptfigur und eine einzige Botschaft zu wählen, ist das, was Rohmaterial in etwas verwandelt, das ankommt.

## Ein Video planen: das Briefing

Bevor jemand zur Kamera greift, schreiben Sie ein kurzes Briefing. Es muss nicht lang sein, sollte aber eine Handvoll Fragen beantworten, die Ihnen später Stunden ersparen. Was ist die eine Botschaft dieses Videos? Für wen ist es, und was sollen die Zuschauenden fühlen und tun? Wer ist die richtige Person, um es zu erzählen, und in wessen Stimme soll es erzählt werden? Wie lang soll es sein, und wo wird es gezeigt? Unsere [Video-Briefing-Vorlage](/resources/video-brief-template/) hält all das auf einer Seite fest, damit das gesamte Team vor Drehbeginn auf einer Linie ist.

In wessen Stimme die Geschichte erzählt wird, prägt das Ergebnis mehr als jede andere Entscheidung. Aaron James war klar, dass die Kraft seiner Videos daher rührte, eine aktuelle Studentin oder einen aktuellen Studenten zu hören statt das Development-Büro: „Es ist so schön für alle Mitglieder, das in der Stimme der Studierenden zu haben und nicht in unserem eigenen Development-Jargon, es stärkt eine emotionale Verbindung zwischen Spenderinnen und Spendern und den aktuellen Mitgliedern des Colleges." Wenn Sie wählen, wer vor der Kamera erscheint, wählen Sie nach Authentizität und Verbindung zum Publikum, nicht nach Rang oder Politur.

Planen Sie auch für Repräsentation. Aaron James überlegte, dass er das nächste Mal darauf achten würde, „dass die Videogestalter, die Sie auswählen, die Vielfalt Ihrer Institution widerspiegeln". Wenn Ihre Erzählerinnen und Erzähler alle aus nur einem Teil Ihrer Gemeinschaft kommen, werden Ihre Geschichten nur einen Teil Ihres Publikums ansprechen. Ein kurzes Storyboard hilft Ihnen, die gesamte Abfolge vor dem Dreh zu sehen: wer erscheint, was sie sagen und in welcher Reihenfolge die Momente fallen. Unsere [Storyboard-Vorlage](/resources/storyboard-template/) gibt Ihnen dafür einen einfachen Rahmen.

## Halten Sie es kurz

Wenn die Erfahrung am Christ Church eine Produktionsregel beweist, dann die der Kürze. Die Dankesvideos waren „etwa 20 Sekunden lang" und folgten einem winzigen, bewusst einfachen Skript: „Wir schrieben ein Skript, das einfach sagte: vielen herzlichen Dank, John, für Ihre Spende. Wir sind wirklich sehr dankbar. Und das war's." Die Versuchung, mehr zu tun, ist real, und Aaron James benannte sie ehrlich: „Es war recht verlockend, den Studierenden jede Menge Informationen zu geben und fast dreiminütige Videos zu erstellen. Aber mir war wichtig, das nicht zu tun, weil es nur ein kurzer Gruß sein soll, der jemandem in den Tag eingebaut Dank sagt."

Die Spenderinnen und Spender stimmten zu. Eine schrieb zurück: „Danke für das Follow-up-Video, eine schöne persönliche Note und sehr geschätzt. Gut, das zu tun und es kurz und einfach zu halten." Aaron James' Fazit ist es wert, über dem Schreibtisch aufgehängt zu werden, wenn Sie ein Videoprojekt angehen: „Bleiben Sie bei einem 20-Sekunden-Video oder einem Skript, das ein 20-Sekunden-Video ergibt, denn die Rückmeldungen zeigen eindeutig, dass Spenderinnen und Spender das mögen." Kurze Videos sind außerdem leichter zu erstellen, leichter freizugeben und für einen beschäftigten Menschen leichter tatsächlich anzusehen.

## Einfaches, authentisches Video drehen

Sie brauchen kein Studio, kein Team und keine teure Ausrüstung, um ein Video zu machen, das wirkt. Ein modernes Smartphone filmt mehr als gut genug, und Authentizität schlägt Politur fast jedes Mal. Die Christ-Church-Videos wurden von Studierenden gemacht, die sich selbst aufnahmen, und die Wärme rührte gerade daher, dass sie sich persönlich und ungekünstelt statt glatt anfühlten.

Ein paar einfache Gewohnheiten lassen Handyvideos deutlich besser aussehen und klingen. Drehen Sie an einem ruhigen Ort, denn schlechter Ton schreckt Zuschauende schneller ab als ein unvollkommenes Bild. Filmen Sie an einem Fenster oder zu weichem, natürlichem Licht hin, nicht mit einem hellen Fenster im Rücken der sprechenden Person. Halten Sie das Telefon ruhig oder legen Sie es auf etwas ab, rahmen Sie die sprechende Person von der Brust aufwärts mit etwas Platz über dem Kopf und filmen Sie horizontal für eine Website oder vertikal für Social Media. Lassen Sie Menschen natürlich sprechen; eine leicht unvollkommene, aufrichtige Aufnahme berührt weit mehr als eine steife, überprobte. Unsere [Video-Shotlist](/resources/video-shot-list/) gibt Ihnen eine Checkliste, die Sie vor und während eines Drehs durchgehen können.

Wenn Sie jemanden interviewen, bereiten Sie ein wenig vor und treten Sie dann zurück. Schicken Sie ein paar Fragen im Voraus, damit die sprechende Person nicht kalt erwischt wird, aber bitten Sie sie, in ganzen Sätzen zu antworten und so zu sprechen, als richte sie sich an eine einzelne Person, nicht an ein Gremium. Beginnen Sie mit etwas Leichtem, um die Nervosität zu nehmen, hören Sie zu, statt zu drängen, und seien Sie mit einer sanften Nachfrage bereit, wenn etwas Aufrichtiges auftaucht. Die besten Sätze kommen fast immer nach der ersten, vorsichtigeren Antwort.

Ein paar Dinge gilt es zu vermeiden. Über-skripten Sie nicht so weit, dass die sprechende Person roboterhaft klingt; ein kurzer Stichpunkt schlägt einen auswendig zu lernenden Absatz. Lassen Sie das Video nicht ausufern, denn Länge ist der Feind des Bis-zum-Ende-Geschautwerdens. Und personalisieren Sie nicht bis zur Unbehaglichkeit. Aaron James brachte das einprägsam auf den Punkt: Sein Team widerstand der Versuchung, Videos mit allem zu beladen, was es über jede Spenderin und jeden Spender wusste, denn, wie er es ausdrückte, „zu viel ‚ich weiß, was Sie getan haben, und ich weiß, wo Sie wohnen' wäre wahrscheinlich ein bisschen gruselig". Ein warmes, namentliches, konkretes Dankeschön reicht völlig: „Hallo John, danke für Ihre Spende an Fonds Y, Ihre Gabe wurde wirklich geschätzt." Sie müssen einer Spenderin oder einem Spender nicht die ganze Lebensgeschichte zurückerzählen.

## Video nutzen, um zu danken und Spenderinnen und Spender zu binden

Video kommt als Instrument der Spenderbindung erst richtig zur Geltung, als Mittel, mit dem Sie Förderern danken und sie nah halten. Hier sah Christ Church den klarsten Ertrag, und es fügt sich ganz natürlich in ein umfassenderes Programm der [Spenderbindung](/europe/de/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) ein. Das Modell war einfach: „Jede Person, die bei unserem Giving Day gespendet hatte, erhielt einen Link zu einem Video, das ein aktueller Student erstellt hatte und in dem er der Spenderin oder dem Spender für die Gabe dankte." Die Videos gingen aus einem offiziellen Postfach hinaus, was, in Aaron James' Worten, „das Vertrauen in uns und in die Videos, die wir versendeten, weiter stärkte".

Den Unterschied machte, dass die Videos Gespräche eröffneten, statt sie zu beenden. Spenderinnen und Spender erhielten nicht nur ein Dankeschön, sie antworteten darauf. Aaron James beschrieb Gesprächsverläufe von „etwa sechs Austauschen, die mit einer bloßen traditionellen Karte oder E-Mail wahrscheinlich nicht stattgefunden hätten". Die Antworten waren wärmer und durchdachter als eine typische Eingangsbestätigung, voller „Ausrufezeichen und wirklich sehr emotionaler Sprache". Ein Spender schrieb: „Was für eine aufmerksame Geste, ich hatte weder das eine noch das andere erwartet, aber beides erwärmt mich sehr." Mehrere dieser Gespräche wurden zu Beziehungen, die das Development-Büro weiter aufbauen konnte.

Einige Lektionen zur Spenderbindung lassen sich direkt übertragen. Personalisierung zählt: „Spenderinnen und Spender hören gern ihren Namen, und man schafft eine recht starke Bindung, selbst innerhalb von 20 Sekunden." Auch Schnelligkeit zählt. Das Christ-Church-Team wollte die Videos „so bald wie möglich" verschicken, innerhalb von etwa einer Woche nach der Gabe, solange die Dankbarkeit noch frisch war. Und Ehrlichkeit bei der Messung zählt. Video-Spenderbindung lässt sich schwer auf ein Dashboard reduzieren, und Aaron James gab offen zu, dass ihr Wert „sehr stark qualitativ ist, wirklich diese Beziehungen aufzubauen und diese Nostalgie zu erzeugen". Wo Sie können, richten Sie ein Link-Tracking ein und speisen Sie Reaktionen von Anfang an in Ihr CRM ein, damit Sie zumindest Öffnungsraten sehen und eine saubere Übersicht darüber behalten, wem gedankt wurde.

## Wo Video in einer Kampagne seinen Platz hat

Video wirkt selten isoliert. Wie Aaron James es ausdrückte, operiert Spenderbindung „nicht im luftleeren Raum", und Video ist am wirkungsvollsten, wenn es als ein Takt innerhalb einer größeren Kampagne geplant wird. Ein [Giving Day](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ist ein natürliches Zuhause dafür. Am Christ Church folgten die Videos auf einen Giving Day, der „rund 150.000 Pfund an Spenden und knapp 400 Spenderinnen und Spender" einbrachte, mit einem bemerkenswerten Anteil jüngerer Gebender: „78 unserer Spenderinnen und Spender waren unter 50 Jahre alt." Die Video-Spenderbindung verwandelte diesen einzelnen Moment des Gebens in den Beginn einer längeren Beziehung.

Überlegen Sie, wo Video sich über den Bogen einer Kampagne hinweg seinen Platz verdient. Ein kurzer, geschichtengetriebener Film kann einen Appell eröffnen und der Argumentation für Unterstützung ein menschliches Gesicht geben, bevor Sie überhaupt die Bitte aussprechen. Während einer laufenden Kampagne halten kurze Fortschrittsvideos und Meilenstein-Feiern die Energie hoch und geben Ihnen Anlässe, weiter zu kommunizieren. Danach binden persönliche Dankesvideos die Spenderinnen und Spender, die Sie gerade gewonnen haben, und bereiten die nächste Bitte vor. Derselbe Ansatz reicht weit über Giving Days hinaus. Aaron James und sein Team planten, Video parallel zu ihrem Telethon einzusetzen und Spenderinnen und Spendern, zu denen eine anrufende Person einen Draht aufgebaut hatte, einen kurzen Clip zu schicken: „Danke für Ihre Spende, ich habe mich wirklich gefreut, über X, Y und Z zu sprechen. Wieder, sehr kurz, aber sehr einfach."

Ein letztes, praktisches Wort zu den Ressourcen, denn Video-Spenderbindung im großen Maßstab ist mehr Arbeit, als es aussieht. Christ Church verschickte über 375 Videos mit einem Team von nur zwei Personen, was nach Aaron James „eine Menge Arbeit für zwei Personen war, um es in ein paar Wochen herauszubringen". Sein Rat war, ein größeres Team zu rekrutieren, „ein Team von vier oder sogar fünf", früh zu beginnen und „einen sehr klaren Plan zu erstellen, wie Ihre Erzählerinnen und Erzähler ihre Videos aufnehmen sollen", mit festen Fristen statt einer offenen Bitte. Planen Sie die Personalseite so sorgfältig wie die kreative Seite, und Video wird den Aufwand um ein Vielfaches zurückzahlen.

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Brauche ich teure Ausrüstung, um ein Fundraising-Video zu machen?** Nein. Ein aktuelles Smartphone ist mehr als gut genug für Spenderbindungs- und Geschichtenvideos. Priorisieren Sie guten Ton und ordentliches Licht vor der Kameraqualität und denken Sie daran, dass Authentizität mehr zählt als Politur. Die Christ-Church-Videos, die Spenderinnen und Spender begeisterten, wurden von Studierenden mit gewöhnlichen Geräten gefilmt.

**Wie lang sollte ein Fundraising-Video sein?** Für Dankes- und Spenderbindungsvideos streben Sie etwa 20 Sekunden an. Die starke, wiederholte Rückmeldung am Christ Church war, dass Spenderinnen und Spender Kürze bevorzugen. Geschichtengetriebene Filme zur Eröffnung eines Appells dürfen etwas länger laufen, aber auch dann wird Kürzeres fast immer besser angeschaut.

**Wer sollte vor der Kamera erscheinen?** Die Person mit der authentischsten Verbindung zu Ihrem Publikum, nicht unbedingt die ranghöchste. Eine Studentin, eine begünstigte Person oder eine Freiwillige, die mit ihrer eigenen Stimme spricht, trägt mehr emotionales Gewicht als das Development-Büro, das im „Development-Jargon" spricht.

**Wie persönlich sollte das Video sein?** Persönlich genug, um sich wirklich an diese Spenderin oder diesen Spender gerichtet anzufühlen, namentlich und konkret zur Gabe, aber nicht so persönlich, dass es aufdringlich wirkt. Verwenden Sie ihren Namen und den Fonds, an den sie gespendet haben, und widerstehen Sie dem Drang, alles aufzuzählen, was Sie über sie wissen.

**Wie messen wir die Wirkung von Video-Spenderbindung?** Rechnen Sie damit, dass der Wert weitgehend qualitativ ist: wärmere Antworten, längere Gespräche und stärkere Beziehungen. Wo Sie können, ergänzen Sie Link-Tracking, beobachten Sie Öffnungsraten und erfassen Sie Reaktionen von Anfang an in Ihrem CRM, damit der langfristige Effekt auf die Spenderbindung mit der Zeit leichter zu erkennen ist.

**Können wir Video über Giving Days hinaus einsetzen?** Ja. Es funktioniert bei Telethons, Kampagnenstarts, Meilensteinmomenten und laufender Spenderbindung. Das Christ-Church-Team plante, kurze persönliche Videos auf ihren Telethon und auf bestimmte Clubs und Gesellschaften auszuweiten, in denen Förderer eine starke Verbindung empfinden.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail-Adresse an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Video-Briefing-Vorlage](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Storyboard-Vorlage](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Video-Shotlist](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Giving-Day-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie wahrscheinliche Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Appell- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie persönliche Momente direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Literatur

- [Webinar: ansprechende Video-Spenderbindung gestalten](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Verwandter Leitfaden: [Spenderbindung und Spendenreisen](/europe/de/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Im vollständigen [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) finden Sie mehr.

- [How to use video and storytelling in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (europe/en): A practical guide to video and storytelling for fundraising, covering why stories work, finding and shaping them, planning and shooting simple authentic video, using video to steward donors, and where video fits in a campaign.
People do not give to budgets, balance sheets or strategic priorities. They give to other people, and they give because a story has made them feel something. A strong fundraising story takes an abstract need and makes it specific, human and urgent: one student, one researcher, one patient, one place, and what changes for them because a supporter chose to act. Video carries that story more directly than any other format, because it lets a donor see a face, hear a voice, and sense that a real person took the time to speak to them.

This guide shows how to find those stories, shape them, and put them on camera without a film crew or a big budget. It draws on the experience of two practitioners. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy at Christ Church, Oxford, used short personal videos to thank donors after his college's Giving Day, and Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, has advised on how the approach works in practice. The lessons that matter most are not about kit or production values. They are about authenticity, brevity, and letting the right person speak in their own voice.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) and
> [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Why stories move donors

A good story does what a statistic cannot: it puts the donor inside the impact of their gift, and it does so through emotion rather than argument. Aaron James explained why his team reached for video in the first place: "We recognised that it's just the very best kind of stewardship. It engages donors on a personal level and really plays on their nostalgia." That word, nostalgia, matters for anyone fundraising from alumni, members or long-standing supporters. People give back to places and causes that shaped them, and a story that reconnects them with that feeling is far more persuasive than one that simply restates a need.

Video also makes impact visible in a way few formats can. "I think that video stewardship demonstrates impact in a way that you can never really get with a letter or an Instagram picture or video," Aaron James said. "It really felt like our students had taken the time out of their day to learn someone's name and send that video onto them." The effort shows, and that visible effort is itself part of the message: it tells the donor they matter enough for a real person to stop and speak to them by name.

Stories also stick. A well-told story is remembered long after the figures are forgotten. Aaron James offered a vivid example: "I was stopped in the streets of Oxford by an old member who is now teaching at a different college saying, oh my gosh, you're the person that recorded my Giving Day thank you video. That clearly shows it's so much more memorable than a standard letter or card." A thank-you letter is rarely mentioned in the street a year later. A short video with someone's name in it can be.

## Finding and shaping your story

The strongest fundraising stories already exist inside your organisation. They live in the people your cause serves and the people who deliver it: a scholarship student, a researcher, a club captain, a volunteer, a member of staff. Your job is to find and shape them, not invent them. Start by asking who is closest to the impact and who can speak about it with genuine feeling. The most moving stories tend to come not from the most senior person available, but from the person whose life the gift actually touches.

A strong fundraising story usually shares a few elements. There is a single human protagonist the donor can care about, rather than a crowd or an institution. There is a clear before and after: a problem, and the change a gift makes to it. There is a specific, concrete detail that anchors the story in something real, such as a place, a moment or an object. And there is an honest emotional core, whether that is relief, pride, gratitude or hope. At Christ Church, the Giving Day stories were anchored in things donors loved and remembered, including Christ Church Meadow, "a 46 acre open space" that was the team's most popular fund. One donor's reply captured why anchoring a story in a shared, specific memory works so well: "Love the Meadow and Christopher Lewis was a wonderful Dean, an irresistible combination."

Shaping the story is mostly about restraint. Decide on the one feeling you want the donor to come away with, and the one action you want them to take, then cut everything that does not serve those two things. A story that tries to say everything says nothing. Choosing a single protagonist and a single message is what turns raw material into something that lands.

## Planning a video: the brief

Before anyone picks up a camera, write a short brief. It need not be long, but it should answer a handful of questions that will save you hours later. What is the single message of this video? Who is it for, and what do you want them to feel and do? Who is the right person to tell it, and in whose voice should it be told? How long should it be, and where will it be shown? Our [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/) sets these out on one page so the whole team is aligned before filming begins.

Whose voice tells the story shapes the result more than any other choice. Aaron James was clear that the power of his videos came from hearing a current student rather than the development office: "It's so nice for all members to have that in the student's voice and not in our own development speak, it strengthens an emotional connection between donors and the current members of the college." When choosing who appears on camera, choose for authenticity and connection to the audience, not for seniority or polish.

Plan for representation, too. Aaron James reflected that next time he would "make sure that the video creators you choose reflect the diversity of your institution." If your storytellers all come from one part of your community, your stories will speak to only part of your audience. A short storyboard helps you see the whole sequence before you shoot it: who appears, what they say, and the order the moments fall in. Our [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) gives you a simple frame for that.

## Keep it short

If the Christ Church experience proves one production rule, it is brevity. The thank-you videos were "about 20 seconds long" and followed a tiny, deliberately simple script: "We wrote a script just saying, thank you ever so much, John, for your gift. We're really very grateful. And that was it." The temptation to do more is real, and Aaron James named it honestly: "It was quite tempting to give students lots and lots of information and to create almost three-minute videos. But I was keen not to do this because it's meant to just be a quick note saying thanks built into someone's day."

Donors agreed. One wrote back: "Thanks for the follow-up video, a nice personal touch and appreciated. Good to do this and to have kept it short and simple." Aaron James's conclusion is worth pinning above your desk if you take on a video project: "Stick to a 20-second video, or a script that produces a 20-second video, because definitely the feedback shows that donors like that." Short videos are also easier to make, easier to approve, and easier for a busy person to actually watch.

## Shooting simple, authentic video

You do not need a studio, a crew or expensive equipment to make video that works. A modern phone shoots more than well enough, and authenticity beats polish almost every time. The Christ Church videos were made by students recording themselves, and the warmth came precisely from the fact that they felt personal and unproduced rather than slick.

A few simple habits make phone video look and sound far better. Shoot in a quiet space, because poor sound puts viewers off faster than imperfect picture. Film by a window or facing soft, natural light, rather than with a bright window behind the speaker. Hold the phone steady or rest it on something, frame the speaker from the chest up with a little space above their head, and shoot horizontally for a website or vertically for social media. Let people speak naturally; a slightly imperfect, genuine take is far more affecting than a stiff, over-rehearsed one. Our [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/) gives you a checklist to run through before and during a shoot.

If you are interviewing someone, do a little preparation and then get out of the way. Send a few questions in advance so the speaker is not caught cold, but ask them to answer in full sentences and to speak as if to one person, not a committee. Open with something easy to settle their nerves, listen rather than rush, and be ready with a gentle follow-up when something honest surfaces. The best lines almost always come after the first, more careful answer.

A few things are worth avoiding. Do not over-script to the point that the speaker sounds robotic; a short prompt beats a paragraph to memorise. Do not let the video sprawl, as length is the enemy of being watched to the end. And do not over-personalise to the point of discomfort. Aaron James made this point memorably: his team resisted loading videos with everything they knew about each donor, because, as he put it, "too much I know what you did and know where you live would probably be a bit creepy." A warm, named, specific thank-you is plenty: "Hello John, thanks for donating to fund Y, your gift was really appreciated." You do not need to recite a donor's life story back to them.

## Using video to thank and steward donors

Video comes into its own as a stewardship tool, the means by which you thank supporters and keep them close. This is where Christ Church saw the clearest return, and it sits naturally inside a wider [donor stewardship](/europe/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) programme. The model was simple: "Any person that made a donation in our Giving Day was sent a link to a video made by a current student in which they would thank the donor for their gift." The videos went out from an official inbox, which, in Aaron James's words, "further created trust in us and in the videos we were sending."

What made the difference was that the videos started conversations rather than closing them. Donors did not just receive a thank-you, they replied to it. Aaron James described threads of "about six bits of conversation that probably wouldn't have happened with just a traditional card or email." The replies were warmer and more considered than a typical acknowledgement, full of "exclamation marks and really very emotive language." One donor wrote: "What a thoughtful gesture, I had expected neither, but I'm much warmed by both." Several of those conversations turned into relationships the development office could continue to build.

A few stewardship lessons carry over directly. Personalisation matters: "Donors like to hear their name said, and you create quite a strong bond even though it's within 20 seconds." Speed matters too. The Christ Church team aimed to send videos "as soon as possible," within about a week of the gift, while gratitude was still fresh. And honesty about measurement matters. Video stewardship is hard to reduce to a dashboard, and Aaron James was candid that its value "is very much qualitative, really building those relationships and creating that nostalgia." Where you can, set up link tracking and feed responses into your CRM from the start, so you can at least see open rates and keep a clean record of who was thanked.

## Where video fits across a campaign

Video rarely works in isolation. As Aaron James put it, stewardship "doesn't operate in a vacuum," and video is most powerful when planned as one beat inside a larger campaign. A [Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a natural home for it. At Christ Church, the videos followed a Giving Day that raised "150,000 pounds-ish in donations and just shy of 400 donors," with a notable share of younger givers: "78 of our donors were aged under 50." The video stewardship turned that single moment of giving into the beginning of a longer relationship.

Think about where video earns its place across the arc of a campaign. A short, story-led film can open an appeal, giving the case for support a human face before you ever make the ask. During a live campaign, quick progress videos and milestone celebrations keep energy high and give you reasons to keep messaging. Afterwards, personal thank-you videos steward the donors you have just acquired and set up the next ask. The same approach extends well beyond Giving Days. Aaron James and his team planned to use video alongside their telethon, sending a short clip to donors a caller had built a rapport with: "Thank you for your gift, I really enjoyed talking about X, Y and Z. Again, really short, but really easy."

A final, practical word on resourcing, because video stewardship at scale is more work than it looks. Christ Church sent over 375 videos with a team of just two people, which Aaron James reflected "was a lot of work for two people to get out in a couple of weeks." His advice was to recruit a larger team, "a team of four or even five," to start early, and to "create a very clear plan with how you want your storytellers to record their videos," with firm deadlines rather than an open-ended ask. Plan the people side as carefully as the creative side, and video will repay the effort many times over.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I need expensive equipment to make fundraising video?** No. A recent smartphone is more than good enough for stewardship and story video. Prioritise good sound and decent light over camera quality, and remember that authenticity matters more than polish. The Christ Church videos that delighted donors were filmed by students on ordinary devices.

**How long should a fundraising video be?** For thank-you and stewardship videos, aim for around 20 seconds. The strong, repeated feedback at Christ Church was that donors prefer short. Story-led films to open an appeal can run a little longer, but even then, shorter is almost always better watched.

**Who should appear on camera?** The person with the most authentic connection to your audience, not necessarily the most senior. A student, a beneficiary or a volunteer speaking in their own voice carries more emotional weight than the development office speaking in "development speak."

**How personal should the video be?** Personal enough to feel genuinely for that donor, named and specific to their gift, but not so personal that it feels intrusive. Use their name and the fund they gave to, and resist the urge to recite everything you know about them.

**How do we measure the impact of video stewardship?** Expect the value to be largely qualitative: warmer replies, longer conversations and stronger relationships. Where you can, add link tracking, monitor open rates and record responses in your CRM from the outset, so the long-term effect on donor retention is easier to see over time.

**Can we use video beyond Giving Days?** Yes. It works across telethons, campaign launches, milestone moments and ongoing stewardship. The Christ Church team planned to extend short personal videos to their telethon and to specific clubs and societies where supporters feel a strong connection.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Related guide: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/europe/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [Cómo usar el vídeo y el storytelling en la captación de fondos](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (europe/es): Una guía práctica sobre el vídeo y el storytelling para la captación de fondos, que explica por qué funcionan las historias, cómo encontrarlas y darles forma, cómo planificar y grabar un vídeo sencillo y auténtico, cómo usar el vídeo para fidelizar a los donantes y dónde encaja el vídeo en una campaña.
Las personas no donan a presupuestos, balances o prioridades estratégicas. Donan a otras personas, y donan porque una historia les ha hecho sentir algo. Una buena historia de captación de fondos toma una necesidad abstracta y la hace concreta, humana y urgente: un estudiante, un investigador, un paciente, un lugar, y lo que cambia para ellos porque alguien decidió actuar. El vídeo transmite esa historia de forma más directa que cualquier otro formato, porque permite al donante ver un rostro, oír una voz y percibir que una persona real se tomó el tiempo de dirigirse a él.

Esta guía muestra cómo encontrar esas historias, darles forma y ponerlas ante la cámara sin un equipo de rodaje ni un gran presupuesto. Se basa en la experiencia de dos profesionales. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy en Christ Church, Oxford, usó breves vídeos personales para dar las gracias a los donantes tras el Giving Day de su college, y Kat Carter, consultora en Hubbub, ha asesorado sobre cómo funciona este enfoque en la práctica. Las lecciones que más importan no tienen que ver con el equipo ni con los valores de producción. Tienen que ver con la autenticidad, la brevedad y con dejar que la persona adecuada hable con su propia voz.

> **Plantillas listas para usar.** Inicia sesión para descargar nuestra
> [plantilla de brief de vídeo](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [plantilla de storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/) y
> [lista de planos de vídeo](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Por qué las historias conmueven a los donantes

Una buena historia hace lo que una estadística no puede: sitúa al donante dentro del impacto de su donación, y lo hace a través de la emoción más que del argumento. Aaron James explicó por qué su equipo recurrió al vídeo en primer lugar: «Reconocimos que es sencillamente la mejor forma de fidelización. Conecta con los donantes a un nivel personal y juega de verdad con su nostalgia». Esa palabra, nostalgia, importa para cualquiera que capte fondos de antiguos alumnos, socios o partidarios de toda la vida. Las personas devuelven a los lugares y las causas que las formaron, y una historia que las reconecta con ese sentimiento es mucho más persuasiva que una que se limita a repetir una necesidad.

El vídeo también hace visible el impacto de una forma que pocos formatos permiten. «Creo que la fidelización mediante vídeo demuestra el impacto de una manera que nunca conseguirás realmente con una carta o una foto o un vídeo de Instagram», dijo Aaron James. «Daba la sensación de que nuestros estudiantes habían sacado tiempo de su día para aprender el nombre de alguien y enviarle ese vídeo». El esfuerzo se nota, y ese esfuerzo visible es en sí mismo parte del mensaje: le dice al donante que importa lo suficiente como para que una persona real se detenga y se dirija a él por su nombre.

Las historias también perduran. Una historia bien contada se recuerda mucho después de que las cifras se hayan olvidado. Aaron James ofreció un ejemplo vívido: «Me paró en las calles de Oxford un antiguo socio que ahora enseña en otro college y me dijo: madre mía, tú eres la persona que grabó mi vídeo de agradecimiento del Giving Day. Eso demuestra claramente que es mucho más memorable que una carta o una tarjeta estándar». Una carta de agradecimiento rara vez se menciona en la calle un año después. Un breve vídeo con el nombre de alguien dentro sí puede serlo.

## Encontrar y dar forma a tu historia

Las historias de captación de fondos más potentes ya existen dentro de tu organización. Viven en las personas a las que sirve tu causa y en las que la hacen posible: un estudiante becado, una investigadora, un capitán de club, una voluntaria, un miembro del personal. Tu trabajo es encontrarlas y darles forma, no inventarlas. Empieza preguntándote quién está más cerca del impacto y quién puede hablar de ello con un sentimiento genuino. Las historias más conmovedoras suelen venir no de la persona de mayor rango disponible, sino de aquella cuya vida toca realmente la donación.

Una buena historia de captación de fondos suele compartir unos cuantos elementos. Hay un único protagonista humano por el que el donante puede preocuparse, en lugar de una multitud o una institución. Hay un antes y un después claros: un problema, y el cambio que una donación produce en él. Hay un detalle específico y concreto que ancla la historia en algo real, como un lugar, un momento o un objeto. Y hay un núcleo emocional sincero, ya sea alivio, orgullo, gratitud o esperanza. En Christ Church, las historias del Giving Day estaban ancladas en cosas que los donantes amaban y recordaban, entre ellas Christ Church Meadow, «un espacio abierto de 46 acres» que fue el fondo más popular del equipo. La respuesta de un donante captó por qué anclar una historia en un recuerdo compartido y específico funciona tan bien: «Adoro el Meadow y Christopher Lewis era un Dean maravilloso, una combinación irresistible».

Dar forma a la historia es sobre todo una cuestión de contención. Decide la única emoción con la que quieres que el donante se quede, y la única acción que quieres que realice, y luego recorta todo lo que no sirva a esas dos cosas. Una historia que intenta decirlo todo no dice nada. Elegir un solo protagonista y un solo mensaje es lo que convierte la materia prima en algo que cala.

## Planificar un vídeo: el brief

Antes de que nadie coja una cámara, escribe un breve brief. No tiene por qué ser largo, pero debería responder a un puñado de preguntas que te ahorrarán horas más adelante. ¿Cuál es el mensaje único de este vídeo? ¿Para quién es, y qué quieres que sienta y haga? ¿Quién es la persona adecuada para contarlo, y con qué voz debe contarse? ¿Cuánto debe durar, y dónde se mostrará? Nuestra [plantilla de brief de vídeo](/resources/video-brief-template/) recoge todo esto en una sola página para que todo el equipo esté alineado antes de empezar a grabar.

Con qué voz se cuenta la historia moldea el resultado más que cualquier otra decisión. Aaron James tenía claro que la fuerza de sus vídeos venía de oír a un estudiante actual en lugar de a la oficina de desarrollo: «Es muy agradable para todos los socios tenerlo en la voz del estudiante y no en nuestra propia jerga de desarrollo, refuerza un vínculo emocional entre los donantes y los socios actuales del college». Cuando elijas quién aparece ante la cámara, elige por autenticidad y conexión con el público, no por antigüedad ni por pulido.

Planifica también la representatividad. Aaron James reflexionó que la próxima vez se aseguraría de «que los creadores de vídeo que elijas reflejen la diversidad de tu institución». Si tus narradores provienen todos de una sola parte de tu comunidad, tus historias hablarán solo a una parte de tu público. Un breve storyboard te ayuda a ver toda la secuencia antes de grabarla: quién aparece, qué dicen y el orden en que caen los momentos. Nuestra [plantilla de storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/) te da un esquema sencillo para ello.

## Hazlo breve

Si la experiencia de Christ Church demuestra una regla de producción, es la brevedad. Los vídeos de agradecimiento duraban «unos 20 segundos» y seguían un guion diminuto, deliberadamente sencillo: «Escribimos un guion que decía simplemente: muchísimas gracias, John, por tu donación. Estamos muy agradecidos. Y ya está». La tentación de hacer más es real, y Aaron James la nombró con honestidad: «Era bastante tentador dar a los estudiantes muchísima información y crear vídeos de casi tres minutos. Pero yo tenía empeño en no hacerlo, porque se supone que es solo una nota rápida de agradecimiento incorporada al día de alguien».

Los donantes estuvieron de acuerdo. Uno respondió: «Gracias por el vídeo de seguimiento, un bonito toque personal y muy apreciado. Está bien hacer esto y haberlo mantenido corto y sencillo». La conclusión de Aaron James merece colgarse encima del escritorio si te embarcas en un proyecto de vídeo: «Cíñete a un vídeo de 20 segundos, o a un guion que produzca un vídeo de 20 segundos, porque las respuestas muestran claramente que a los donantes les gusta eso». Los vídeos cortos también son más fáciles de hacer, más fáciles de aprobar y más fáciles de ver para una persona ocupada.

## Grabar un vídeo sencillo y auténtico

No necesitas un estudio, un equipo de rodaje ni material caro para hacer un vídeo que funcione. Un teléfono moderno graba más que suficientemente bien, y la autenticidad gana al pulido casi siempre. Los vídeos de Christ Church los hicieron estudiantes grabándose a sí mismos, y la calidez venía precisamente de que resultaban personales y sin producir en lugar de impecables.

Unos cuantos hábitos sencillos hacen que un vídeo de teléfono tenga mucha mejor imagen y sonido. Graba en un lugar tranquilo, porque un mal sonido ahuyenta a los espectadores más deprisa que una imagen imperfecta. Graba junto a una ventana o de cara a una luz natural suave, en lugar de con una ventana luminosa detrás de quien habla. Sujeta el teléfono firme o apóyalo en algo, encuadra a quien habla del pecho hacia arriba con un poco de espacio sobre la cabeza, y graba en horizontal para una web o en vertical para redes sociales. Deja que la gente hable con naturalidad; una toma ligeramente imperfecta pero genuina conmueve mucho más que una rígida y demasiado ensayada. Nuestra [lista de planos de vídeo](/resources/video-shot-list/) te ofrece una lista de comprobación para repasar antes y durante una grabación.

Si vas a entrevistar a alguien, prepara un poco el terreno y luego quítate de en medio. Envía unas preguntas por adelantado para que quien habla no se vea pillado en frío, pero pídele que responda con frases completas y que hable como si se dirigiera a una sola persona, no a un comité. Abre con algo fácil para calmar los nervios, escucha en lugar de meter prisa, y prepárate con una repregunta suave cuando aflore algo sincero. Las mejores frases casi siempre llegan después de la primera respuesta, más cauta.

Hay algunas cosas que conviene evitar. No sobreescribas el guion hasta el punto de que quien habla suene robótico; un breve apunte gana a un párrafo que memorizar. No dejes que el vídeo se alargue, porque la duración es enemiga de que se vea hasta el final. Y no personalices hasta el punto de incomodar. Aaron James lo expresó de forma memorable: su equipo se resistió a cargar los vídeos con todo lo que sabía de cada donante porque, como dijo, «demasiado de "sé lo que hiciste y sé dónde vives" probablemente resultaría un poco inquietante». Un agradecimiento cálido, con nombre y específico es más que suficiente: «Hola John, gracias por donar al fondo Y, tu donación fue muy apreciada». No hace falta recitarle a un donante toda la historia de su vida.

## Usar el vídeo para agradecer y fidelizar a los donantes

El vídeo brilla de verdad como herramienta de fidelización, el medio con el que das las gracias a tus partidarios y los mantienes cerca. Aquí es donde Christ Church vio el retorno más claro, y encaja con naturalidad dentro de un programa más amplio de [fidelización de donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/). El modelo era sencillo: «A cada persona que hizo una donación en nuestro Giving Day se le enviaba un enlace a un vídeo hecho por un estudiante actual en el que daba las gracias al donante por su donación». Los vídeos salían desde un buzón oficial, lo que, en palabras de Aaron James, «reforzaba aún más la confianza en nosotros y en los vídeos que enviábamos».

Lo que marcó la diferencia fue que los vídeos abrían conversaciones en lugar de cerrarlas. Los donantes no solo recibían un agradecimiento, sino que respondían a él. Aaron James describió hilos de «unos seis intercambios de conversación que probablemente no habrían ocurrido con una simple tarjeta o un email tradicional». Las respuestas eran más cálidas y más meditadas que un acuse de recibo habitual, llenas de «signos de exclamación y de un lenguaje muy emotivo». Un donante escribió: «Qué gesto tan considerado, no esperaba ni una cosa ni la otra, pero ambas me conmueven mucho». Varias de esas conversaciones se convirtieron en relaciones que la oficina de desarrollo pudo seguir cultivando.

Algunas lecciones de fidelización se trasladan directamente. La personalización importa: «A los donantes les gusta oír su nombre pronunciado, y creas un vínculo bastante fuerte incluso en 20 segundos». La rapidez también importa. El equipo de Christ Church buscaba enviar los vídeos «lo antes posible», en torno a una semana después de la donación, mientras la gratitud aún estaba fresca. Y la honestidad sobre la medición importa. La fidelización mediante vídeo es difícil de reducir a un cuadro de mando, y Aaron James fue franco al decir que su valor «es en gran medida cualitativo, construir de verdad esas relaciones y crear esa nostalgia». Donde puedas, configura el seguimiento de enlaces y vuelca las respuestas en tu CRM desde el principio, para al menos poder ver las tasas de apertura y mantener un registro limpio de a quién se ha agradecido.

## Dónde encaja el vídeo a lo largo de una campaña

El vídeo rara vez funciona de forma aislada. Como dijo Aaron James, la fidelización «no opera en el vacío», y el vídeo es más poderoso cuando se planifica como un momento dentro de una campaña más amplia. Un [Giving Day](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) es un hogar natural para él. En Christ Church, los vídeos siguieron a un Giving Day que recaudó «unas 150.000 libras en donaciones y algo menos de 400 donantes», con una proporción notable de donantes jóvenes: «78 de nuestros donantes tenían menos de 50 años». La fidelización mediante vídeo convirtió ese único momento de donación en el comienzo de una relación más larga.

Piensa en dónde se gana el vídeo su lugar a lo largo del arco de una campaña. Un breve film centrado en una historia puede abrir una apelación, dando un rostro humano a la causa antes incluso de hacer la petición. Durante una campaña en marcha, vídeos rápidos de avance y celebraciones de hitos mantienen la energía alta y te dan motivos para seguir comunicando. Después, vídeos de agradecimiento personales fidelizan a los donantes que acabas de captar y preparan la siguiente petición. El mismo enfoque se extiende mucho más allá de los Giving Days. Aaron James y su equipo planeaban usar el vídeo junto a su telethon, enviando un breve clip a los donantes con los que un teleoperador había creado complicidad: «Gracias por tu donación, disfruté mucho hablando de X, Y y Z. De nuevo, muy corto, pero muy fácil».

Una última palabra práctica sobre los recursos, porque la fidelización mediante vídeo a gran escala da más trabajo del que parece. Christ Church envió más de 375 vídeos con un equipo de solo dos personas, lo que, según Aaron James, «fue mucho trabajo para dos personas sacarlo adelante en un par de semanas». Su consejo era reclutar un equipo más grande, «un equipo de cuatro o incluso cinco personas», empezar pronto y «crear un plan muy claro sobre cómo quieres que tus narradores graben sus vídeos», con plazos firmes en lugar de una petición abierta. Planifica el lado humano con tanto cuidado como el lado creativo, y el vídeo recompensará el esfuerzo muchas veces.

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Necesito material caro para hacer un vídeo de captación de fondos?** No. Un smartphone reciente es más que suficiente para vídeos de fidelización y de storytelling. Prioriza un buen sonido y una luz decente sobre la calidad de la cámara, y recuerda que la autenticidad importa más que el pulido. Los vídeos de Christ Church que encantaron a los donantes los grabaron estudiantes con dispositivos corrientes.

**¿Cuánto debe durar un vídeo de captación de fondos?** Para los vídeos de agradecimiento y fidelización, apunta a unos 20 segundos. La respuesta clara y repetida en Christ Church fue que los donantes prefieren lo breve. Los films centrados en una historia para abrir una apelación pueden durar un poco más, pero incluso entonces, lo más corto casi siempre se ve mejor.

**¿Quién debe aparecer ante la cámara?** La persona con la conexión más auténtica con tu público, no necesariamente la de mayor rango. Un estudiante, un beneficiario o un voluntario que habla con su propia voz tiene más peso emocional que la oficina de desarrollo hablando en «jerga de desarrollo».

**¿Cómo de personal debe ser el vídeo?** Personal lo suficiente como para sentirse de verdad dirigido a ese donante, con su nombre y específico a su donación, pero no tan personal que resulte invasivo. Usa su nombre y el fondo al que donó, y resiste el impulso de recitar todo lo que sabes de él.

**¿Cómo medimos el impacto de la fidelización mediante vídeo?** Espera que el valor sea en gran medida cualitativo: respuestas más cálidas, conversaciones más largas y relaciones más sólidas. Donde puedas, añade el seguimiento de enlaces, vigila las tasas de apertura y registra las respuestas en tu CRM desde el principio, para que el efecto a largo plazo sobre la fidelización de donantes sea más fácil de observar con el tiempo.

**¿Podemos usar el vídeo más allá de los Giving Days?** Sí. Funciona en telethons, lanzamientos de campaña, momentos de hitos y fidelización continua. El equipo de Christ Church planeaba extender los breves vídeos personales a su telethon y a clubes y asociaciones específicos donde los partidarios sienten un vínculo fuerte.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Plantilla de brief de vídeo](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Plantilla de storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Lista de planos de vídeo](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Herramientas

- [Simulador de Giving Day de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Verificador de textos para captación de fondos](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina los textos de tu apelación y tus correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Seminario web: crear una fidelización en vídeo atractiva](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Guía relacionada: [Fidelización y recorridos de los donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio completo de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) para más información.

- [Comment utiliser la vidéo et le storytelling dans la collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (europe/fr): Un guide pratique de la vidéo et du storytelling pour la collecte de fonds, qui explique pourquoi les histoires fonctionnent, comment les trouver et les façonner, comment planifier et tourner une vidéo simple et authentique, comment utiliser la vidéo pour fidéliser les donateurs, et où la vidéo trouve sa place dans une campagne.
Les gens ne donnent pas à des budgets, des bilans comptables ou des priorités stratégiques. Ils donnent à d'autres personnes, et ils donnent parce qu'une histoire leur a fait ressentir quelque chose. Une bonne histoire de collecte de fonds prend un besoin abstrait et le rend concret, humain et urgent : un étudiant, un chercheur, un patient, un lieu, et ce qui change pour eux parce qu'un soutien a choisi d'agir. La vidéo porte cette histoire plus directement que tout autre format, parce qu'elle permet au donateur de voir un visage, d'entendre une voix et de sentir qu'une vraie personne a pris le temps de s'adresser à lui.

Ce guide montre comment trouver ces histoires, les façonner et les mettre devant la caméra sans équipe de tournage ni gros budget. Il s'appuie sur l'expérience de deux praticiens. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy à Christ Church, Oxford, a utilisé de courtes vidéos personnelles pour remercier les donateurs après le Giving Day de son collège, et Kat Carter, consultante chez Hubbub, a conseillé sur la façon dont cette approche fonctionne en pratique. Les leçons qui comptent le plus ne concernent pas le matériel ni la qualité de production. Elles portent sur l'authenticité, la concision et le fait de laisser la bonne personne s'exprimer de sa propre voix.

> **Modèles prêts à l'emploi.** Connectez-vous pour télécharger notre
> [modèle de brief vidéo](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [modèle de storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/) et
> [liste de plans vidéo](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Pourquoi les histoires touchent les donateurs

Une bonne histoire fait ce qu'une statistique ne peut pas faire : elle place le donateur au cœur de l'impact de son don, et elle le fait par l'émotion plutôt que par l'argumentation. Aaron James a expliqué pourquoi son équipe a d'abord opté pour la vidéo : « Nous avons reconnu que c'est tout simplement la meilleure forme de fidélisation. Elle engage les donateurs sur un plan personnel et joue vraiment sur leur nostalgie. » Ce mot, nostalgie, compte pour quiconque sollicite des anciens élèves, des membres ou des soutiens de longue date. Les gens redonnent aux lieux et aux causes qui les ont façonnés, et une histoire qui les reconnecte à ce sentiment est bien plus convaincante qu'une histoire qui se contente de rappeler un besoin.

La vidéo rend aussi l'impact visible d'une manière que peu de formats permettent. « Je pense que la fidélisation par la vidéo démontre l'impact d'une façon que vous n'obtiendrez jamais vraiment avec une lettre, une photo ou une vidéo Instagram », a déclaré Aaron James. « On avait vraiment le sentiment que nos étudiants avaient pris sur leur journée pour apprendre le nom de quelqu'un et lui envoyer cette vidéo. » L'effort se voit, et cet effort visible fait lui-même partie du message : il dit au donateur qu'il compte assez pour qu'une vraie personne s'arrête et s'adresse à lui par son nom.

Les histoires marquent aussi les esprits. Une histoire bien racontée reste en mémoire longtemps après que les chiffres sont oubliés. Aaron James a donné un exemple frappant : « J'ai été arrêté dans les rues d'Oxford par un ancien membre qui enseigne aujourd'hui dans un autre collège et qui m'a dit : oh mon Dieu, vous êtes la personne qui a enregistré ma vidéo de remerciement pour le Giving Day. Cela montre clairement que c'est tellement plus mémorable qu'une lettre ou une carte standard. » Une lettre de remerciement est rarement évoquée dans la rue un an plus tard. Une courte vidéo portant le nom de quelqu'un, oui.

## Trouver et façonner votre histoire

Les histoires de collecte de fonds les plus fortes existent déjà au sein de votre organisation. Elles vivent dans les personnes que sert votre cause et dans celles qui la portent : un étudiant boursier, un chercheur, un capitaine de club, un bénévole, un membre du personnel. Votre rôle est de les trouver et de les façonner, non de les inventer. Commencez par vous demander qui est le plus proche de l'impact et qui peut en parler avec une émotion sincère. Les histoires les plus touchantes viennent généralement non pas de la personne la plus haut placée disponible, mais de celle dont la vie est réellement transformée par le don.

Une bonne histoire de collecte de fonds partage généralement quelques éléments. Il y a un protagoniste humain unique auquel le donateur peut s'attacher, plutôt qu'une foule ou une institution. Il y a un avant et un après clairs : un problème, et le changement qu'un don y apporte. Il y a un détail spécifique et concret qui ancre l'histoire dans quelque chose de réel, comme un lieu, un instant ou un objet. Et il y a un cœur émotionnel sincère, qu'il s'agisse de soulagement, de fierté, de gratitude ou d'espoir. À Christ Church, les histoires du Giving Day étaient ancrées dans des choses que les donateurs aimaient et dont ils se souvenaient, notamment Christ Church Meadow, « un espace ouvert de 46 acres » qui fut le fonds le plus populaire de l'équipe. La réponse d'un donateur a parfaitement capté pourquoi ancrer une histoire dans un souvenir partagé et précis fonctionne si bien : « J'adore le Meadow et Christopher Lewis était un doyen merveilleux, une combinaison irrésistible. »

Façonner l'histoire est avant tout une affaire de retenue. Choisissez l'unique émotion avec laquelle vous voulez que le donateur reparte, et l'unique action que vous voulez qu'il accomplisse, puis coupez tout ce qui ne sert pas ces deux choses. Une histoire qui essaie de tout dire ne dit rien. Choisir un seul protagoniste et un seul message, c'est ce qui transforme la matière brute en quelque chose qui touche juste.

## Planifier une vidéo : le brief

Avant que quiconque ne prenne une caméra, rédigez un bref brief. Il n'a pas besoin d'être long, mais il doit répondre à une poignée de questions qui vous feront gagner des heures plus tard. Quel est le message unique de cette vidéo ? À qui s'adresse-t-elle, et que voulez-vous que cette personne ressente et fasse ? Qui est la bonne personne pour la raconter, et de quelle voix doit-elle être racontée ? Quelle durée doit-elle avoir, et où sera-t-elle diffusée ? Notre [modèle de brief vidéo](/resources/video-brief-template/) présente tout cela sur une seule page afin que toute l'équipe soit alignée avant le début du tournage.

La voix qui raconte l'histoire façonne le résultat plus que tout autre choix. Aaron James était clair : la force de ses vidéos venait du fait d'entendre un étudiant actuel plutôt que le bureau du développement : « C'est tellement agréable pour tous les membres d'avoir cela dans la voix de l'étudiant et non dans notre propre jargon de développement, cela renforce le lien émotionnel entre les donateurs et les membres actuels du collège. » Quand vous choisissez qui apparaît à l'écran, choisissez pour l'authenticité et le lien avec le public, non pour l'ancienneté ou le vernis.

Pensez aussi à la représentativité. Aaron James a remarqué que la prochaine fois il veillerait à « s'assurer que les créateurs de vidéos que vous choisissez reflètent la diversité de votre institution ». Si vos conteurs viennent tous d'une seule partie de votre communauté, vos histoires ne parleront qu'à une partie de votre public. Un court storyboard vous aide à voir l'ensemble de la séquence avant de tourner : qui apparaît, ce qu'ils disent et l'ordre dans lequel les moments s'enchaînent. Notre [modèle de storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/) vous offre un cadre simple pour cela.

## Faites court

Si l'expérience de Christ Church prouve une règle de production, c'est la concision. Les vidéos de remerciement duraient « environ 20 secondes » et suivaient un scénario minuscule, délibérément simple : « Nous avons écrit un scénario disant simplement : merci infiniment, John, pour votre don. Nous vous en sommes vraiment très reconnaissants. Et c'était tout. » La tentation d'en faire plus est réelle, et Aaron James l'a nommée honnêtement : « C'était assez tentant de donner aux étudiants énormément d'informations et de créer des vidéos de presque trois minutes. Mais je tenais à ne pas le faire parce que c'est censé être juste un petit mot rapide de remerciement intégré à la journée de quelqu'un. »

Les donateurs étaient d'accord. L'un d'eux a répondu : « Merci pour la vidéo de suivi, une jolie touche personnelle et très appréciée. C'est bien de faire cela et de l'avoir gardée courte et simple. » La conclusion d'Aaron James mérite d'être épinglée au-dessus de votre bureau si vous vous lancez dans un projet vidéo : « Tenez-vous-en à une vidéo de 20 secondes, ou à un scénario qui produit une vidéo de 20 secondes, car les retours montrent clairement que les donateurs apprécient cela. » Les vidéos courtes sont aussi plus faciles à réaliser, plus faciles à valider et plus faciles à regarder pour une personne occupée.

## Tourner une vidéo simple et authentique

Vous n'avez besoin ni de studio, ni d'équipe, ni de matériel coûteux pour réaliser une vidéo efficace. Un téléphone moderne filme largement assez bien, et l'authenticité l'emporte presque toujours sur le vernis. Les vidéos de Christ Church ont été réalisées par des étudiants se filmant eux-mêmes, et la chaleur venait précisément du fait qu'elles paraissaient personnelles et non produites plutôt que léchées.

Quelques habitudes simples rendent une vidéo de téléphone bien meilleure à l'image et au son. Filmez dans un endroit calme, car un mauvais son rebute les spectateurs plus vite qu'une image imparfaite. Filmez près d'une fenêtre ou face à une lumière naturelle douce, plutôt qu'avec une fenêtre lumineuse derrière l'intervenant. Tenez le téléphone stable ou posez-le sur quelque chose, cadrez l'intervenant à partir de la poitrine avec un peu d'espace au-dessus de la tête, et filmez à l'horizontale pour un site web ou à la verticale pour les réseaux sociaux. Laissez les gens parler naturellement ; une prise légèrement imparfaite mais sincère est bien plus émouvante qu'une prise rigide et trop répétée. Notre [liste de plans vidéo](/resources/video-shot-list/) vous donne une checklist à parcourir avant et pendant un tournage.

Si vous interviewez quelqu'un, préparez un peu le terrain puis effacez-vous. Envoyez quelques questions à l'avance pour que l'intervenant ne soit pas pris au dépourvu, mais demandez-lui de répondre par des phrases complètes et de parler comme à une seule personne, pas à un comité. Ouvrez par quelque chose de facile pour calmer ses nerfs, écoutez plutôt que de précipiter, et soyez prêt avec une relance douce quand quelque chose de sincère émerge. Les meilleures répliques viennent presque toujours après la première réponse, plus prudente.

Quelques écueils méritent d'être évités. Ne sur-scénarisez pas au point que l'intervenant paraisse robotique ; une courte amorce vaut mieux qu'un paragraphe à mémoriser. Ne laissez pas la vidéo s'étendre, car la longueur est l'ennemie d'un visionnage jusqu'au bout. Et ne personnalisez pas au point de mettre mal à l'aise. Aaron James l'a formulé de façon mémorable : son équipe a résisté à l'envie de charger les vidéos de tout ce qu'elle savait de chaque donateur car, comme il l'a dit, « trop de "je sais ce que vous avez fait et je sais où vous habitez" serait probablement un peu flippant ». Un remerciement chaleureux, nominatif et précis suffit amplement : « Bonjour John, merci d'avoir fait un don pour le fonds Y, votre geste a été vraiment apprécié. » Vous n'avez pas besoin de réciter toute la vie d'un donateur.

## Utiliser la vidéo pour remercier et fidéliser les donateurs

La vidéo prend tout son sens comme outil de fidélisation, le moyen de remercier vos soutiens et de les garder proches. C'est là que Christ Church a vu le retour le plus net, et cela s'inscrit naturellement dans un programme plus large de [fidélisation des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/). Le modèle était simple : « Toute personne ayant fait un don lors de notre Giving Day recevait un lien vers une vidéo réalisée par un étudiant actuel dans laquelle il remerciait le donateur pour son don. » Les vidéos partaient d'une boîte de réception officielle, ce qui, selon les mots d'Aaron James, « renforçait la confiance en nous et dans les vidéos que nous envoyions ».

Ce qui a fait la différence, c'est que les vidéos ouvraient des conversations au lieu de les clore. Les donateurs ne recevaient pas seulement un remerciement, ils y répondaient. Aaron James a décrit des fils de discussion d'« environ six échanges qui n'auraient probablement pas eu lieu avec une simple carte ou un e-mail traditionnel ». Les réponses étaient plus chaleureuses et plus réfléchies qu'un accusé de réception habituel, pleines de « points d'exclamation et d'un langage vraiment très expressif ». Un donateur a écrit : « Quel geste attentionné, je ne m'attendais ni à l'un ni à l'autre, mais les deux me touchent beaucoup. » Plusieurs de ces conversations se sont transformées en relations que le bureau du développement a pu continuer à cultiver.

Quelques leçons de fidélisation se transposent directement. La personnalisation compte : « Les donateurs aiment entendre leur nom prononcé, et vous créez un lien assez fort même en 20 secondes. » La rapidité compte aussi. L'équipe de Christ Church visait à envoyer les vidéos « dès que possible », dans la semaine suivant le don, tant que la gratitude était encore fraîche. Et l'honnêteté sur la mesure compte. La fidélisation par la vidéo est difficile à réduire à un tableau de bord, et Aaron James a reconnu franchement que sa valeur « est très largement qualitative, vraiment construire ces relations et créer cette nostalgie ». Là où vous le pouvez, mettez en place un suivi des liens et alimentez votre CRM avec les réponses dès le départ, afin de voir au moins les taux d'ouverture et de garder une trace propre de qui a été remercié.

## Où la vidéo trouve sa place dans une campagne

La vidéo fonctionne rarement de manière isolée. Comme l'a dit Aaron James, la fidélisation « n'opère pas dans le vide », et la vidéo est la plus puissante lorsqu'elle est planifiée comme un temps fort au sein d'une campagne plus vaste. Un [Giving Day](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) en est un foyer naturel. À Christ Church, les vidéos ont suivi un Giving Day qui a permis de récolter « environ 150 000 livres de dons et un peu moins de 400 donateurs », avec une part notable de donateurs plus jeunes : « 78 de nos donateurs avaient moins de 50 ans. » La fidélisation par la vidéo a transformé ce moment unique de don en début d'une relation plus longue.

Réfléchissez à l'endroit où la vidéo mérite sa place tout au long du parcours d'une campagne. Un court film centré sur une histoire peut ouvrir un appel, donnant un visage humain au dossier de soutien avant même que vous ne fassiez la demande. Pendant une campagne en cours, de rapides vidéos de progression et des célébrations d'étapes maintiennent l'énergie et vous donnent des raisons de continuer à communiquer. Ensuite, des vidéos de remerciement personnelles fidélisent les donateurs que vous venez d'acquérir et préparent la prochaine demande. La même approche s'étend bien au-delà des Giving Days. Aaron James et son équipe prévoyaient d'utiliser la vidéo en parallèle de leur téléthon, en envoyant un court extrait aux donateurs avec lesquels un appelant avait noué un lien : « Merci pour votre don, j'ai vraiment apprécié de parler de X, Y et Z. Encore une fois, très court, mais très facile. »

Un dernier mot pratique sur les ressources, car la fidélisation par la vidéo à grande échelle représente plus de travail qu'il n'y paraît. Christ Church a envoyé plus de 375 vidéos avec une équipe de seulement deux personnes, ce qui, selon Aaron James, « représentait beaucoup de travail pour deux personnes à boucler en quelques semaines ». Son conseil était de recruter une équipe plus grande, « une équipe de quatre ou même cinq personnes », de commencer tôt et de « créer un plan très clair sur la façon dont vous voulez que vos conteurs enregistrent leurs vidéos », avec des échéances fermes plutôt qu'une demande sans limite. Planifiez le volet humain aussi soigneusement que le volet créatif, et la vidéo vous récompensera de vos efforts au centuple.

## Foire aux questions

**Ai-je besoin de matériel coûteux pour réaliser une vidéo de collecte de fonds ?** Non. Un smartphone récent est largement suffisant pour la vidéo de fidélisation et de storytelling. Privilégiez un bon son et une lumière correcte plutôt que la qualité de la caméra, et rappelez-vous que l'authenticité compte plus que le vernis. Les vidéos de Christ Church qui ont ravi les donateurs ont été filmées par des étudiants sur des appareils ordinaires.

**Quelle durée doit avoir une vidéo de collecte de fonds ?** Pour les vidéos de remerciement et de fidélisation, visez environ 20 secondes. Le retour fort et répété à Christ Church était que les donateurs préfèrent le court. Les films narratifs destinés à ouvrir un appel peuvent durer un peu plus longtemps, mais même alors, plus court est presque toujours mieux regardé.

**Qui doit apparaître à l'écran ?** La personne ayant le lien le plus authentique avec votre public, pas nécessairement la plus haut placée. Un étudiant, un bénéficiaire ou un bénévole s'exprimant de sa propre voix porte plus de poids émotionnel que le bureau du développement parlant en « jargon de développement ».

**À quel point la vidéo doit-elle être personnelle ?** Assez personnelle pour sembler véritablement destinée à ce donateur, nominative et propre à son don, mais pas au point de paraître intrusive. Utilisez son nom et le fonds auquel il a donné, et résistez à l'envie de réciter tout ce que vous savez de lui.

**Comment mesurer l'impact de la fidélisation par la vidéo ?** Attendez-vous à une valeur largement qualitative : des réponses plus chaleureuses, des conversations plus longues et des relations plus solides. Là où vous le pouvez, ajoutez un suivi des liens, surveillez les taux d'ouverture et consignez les réponses dans votre CRM dès le départ, afin que l'effet à long terme sur la fidélisation des donateurs soit plus facile à observer dans le temps.

**Pouvons-nous utiliser la vidéo au-delà des Giving Days ?** Oui. Elle fonctionne pour les téléthons, les lancements de campagne, les moments charnières et la fidélisation continue. L'équipe de Christ Church prévoyait d'étendre les courtes vidéos personnelles à son téléthon et à des clubs et associations spécifiques où les soutiens ressentent un lien fort.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre e-mail pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Modèle de brief vidéo](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Modèle de storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Liste de plans vidéo](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Outils

- [Simulateur de Giving Day de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Vérificateur de texte pour la collecte de fonds](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et d'e-mail
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Webinaire : créer une fidélisation vidéo engageante](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Guide associé : [Fidélisation et parcours des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire complet des liens](/europe/fr/links/) pour en savoir plus.

- [Come usare il video e lo storytelling nella raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (europe/it): Una guida pratica al video e allo storytelling per la raccolta fondi, che spiega perché le storie funzionano, come trovarle e darle forma, come pianificare e girare un video semplice e autentico, come usare il video per fidelizzare i donatori e dove il video trova il suo posto in una campagna.
Le persone non donano a budget, bilanci o priorità strategiche. Donano ad altre persone, e donano perché una storia ha fatto loro provare qualcosa. Una buona storia di raccolta fondi prende un bisogno astratto e lo rende concreto, umano e urgente: uno studente, un ricercatore, un paziente, un luogo, e ciò che cambia per loro perché un sostenitore ha scelto di agire. Il video porta quella storia in modo più diretto di qualsiasi altro formato, perché permette a un donatore di vedere un volto, sentire una voce e percepire che una persona reale si è presa il tempo di parlargli.

Questa guida mostra come trovare quelle storie, dare loro forma e metterle davanti alla telecamera senza una troupe né un grande budget. Si basa sull'esperienza di due professionisti. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy al Christ Church, Oxford, ha usato brevi video personali per ringraziare i donatori dopo il Giving Day del suo college, e Kat Carter, consulente presso Hubbub, ha fornito consigli su come l'approccio funziona nella pratica. Le lezioni che contano di più non riguardano l'attrezzatura o i valori di produzione. Riguardano l'autenticità, la brevità e il lasciare che la persona giusta si esprima con la propria voce.

> **Modelli pronti all'uso.** Accedi per scaricare il nostro
> [modello di brief video](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [modello di storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/) e
> [lista delle inquadrature video](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Perché le storie commuovono i donatori

Una buona storia fa ciò che una statistica non può fare: mette il donatore dentro l'impatto del suo dono, e lo fa attraverso l'emozione anziché l'argomentazione. Aaron James ha spiegato perché il suo team si è rivolto al video fin dall'inizio: «Abbiamo riconosciuto che è semplicemente la migliore forma di fidelizzazione. Coinvolge i donatori a livello personale e fa davvero leva sulla loro nostalgia». Quella parola, nostalgia, conta per chiunque raccolga fondi da ex studenti, soci o sostenitori di lunga data. Le persone restituiscono ai luoghi e alle cause che le hanno formate, e una storia che le riconnette a quel sentimento è molto più persuasiva di una che si limita a ribadire un bisogno.

Il video rende inoltre l'impatto visibile in un modo che pochi formati consentono. «Penso che la fidelizzazione tramite video dimostri l'impatto in un modo che non potrai mai davvero ottenere con una lettera o una foto o un video su Instagram», ha detto Aaron James. «Si percepiva davvero che i nostri studenti avevano ritagliato del tempo dalla loro giornata per imparare il nome di qualcuno e inviargli quel video». Lo sforzo si vede, e quello sforzo visibile è esso stesso parte del messaggio: dice al donatore che conta abbastanza perché una persona reale si fermi e gli si rivolga per nome.

Le storie restano anche impresse. Una storia ben raccontata viene ricordata a lungo dopo che le cifre sono state dimenticate. Aaron James ha offerto un esempio vivido: «Sono stato fermato per le strade di Oxford da un ex socio che ora insegna in un altro college, che mi ha detto: oddio, sei tu la persona che ha registrato il mio video di ringraziamento per il Giving Day. Questo dimostra chiaramente che è molto più memorabile di una lettera o di un biglietto standard». Una lettera di ringraziamento viene raramente menzionata per strada un anno dopo. Un breve video con dentro il nome di qualcuno può esserlo.

## Trovare e dare forma alla tua storia

Le storie di raccolta fondi più forti esistono già all'interno della tua organizzazione. Vivono nelle persone che la tua causa serve e in quelle che la realizzano: uno studente borsista, una ricercatrice, un capitano di club, un volontario, un membro dello staff. Il tuo compito è trovarle e dare loro forma, non inventarle. Inizia chiedendoti chi è più vicino all'impatto e chi può parlarne con sentimento genuino. Le storie più toccanti tendono a venire non dalla persona più alta in grado disponibile, ma da quella la cui vita è realmente toccata dal dono.

Una buona storia di raccolta fondi di solito condivide alcuni elementi. C'è un singolo protagonista umano a cui il donatore può tenere, anziché una folla o un'istituzione. C'è un prima e un dopo chiari: un problema, e il cambiamento che un dono vi apporta. C'è un dettaglio specifico e concreto che ancora la storia a qualcosa di reale, come un luogo, un momento o un oggetto. E c'è un nucleo emotivo sincero, che sia sollievo, orgoglio, gratitudine o speranza. Al Christ Church, le storie del Giving Day erano ancorate a cose che i donatori amavano e ricordavano, tra cui Christ Church Meadow, «uno spazio aperto di 46 acri» che è stato il fondo più popolare del team. La risposta di un donatore ha colto perfettamente perché ancorare una storia a un ricordo condiviso e specifico funziona così bene: «Adoro il Meadow e Christopher Lewis era un Dean meraviglioso, una combinazione irresistibile».

Dare forma alla storia è soprattutto una questione di sobrietà. Decidi l'unica emozione con cui vuoi che il donatore se ne vada, e l'unica azione che vuoi che compia, poi taglia tutto ciò che non serve a queste due cose. Una storia che cerca di dire tutto non dice nulla. Scegliere un solo protagonista e un solo messaggio è ciò che trasforma la materia grezza in qualcosa che arriva al cuore.

## Pianificare un video: il brief

Prima che qualcuno prenda in mano una telecamera, scrivi un breve brief. Non deve essere lungo, ma dovrebbe rispondere a una manciata di domande che ti faranno risparmiare ore in seguito. Qual è il messaggio unico di questo video? A chi è rivolto, e cosa vuoi che provi e faccia? Chi è la persona giusta per raccontarlo, e con quale voce dovrebbe essere raccontato? Quanto dovrebbe durare, e dove sarà mostrato? Il nostro [modello di brief video](/resources/video-brief-template/) presenta tutto questo su una sola pagina, così che l'intero team sia allineato prima dell'inizio delle riprese.

La voce con cui si racconta la storia plasma il risultato più di qualsiasi altra scelta. Aaron James era chiaro sul fatto che la forza dei suoi video venisse dal sentire uno studente attuale anziché l'ufficio sviluppo: «È così bello per tutti i soci averlo nella voce dello studente e non nel nostro gergo da ufficio sviluppo, rafforza un legame emotivo tra i donatori e i soci attuali del college». Quando scegli chi appare davanti alla telecamera, scegli per autenticità e connessione con il pubblico, non per anzianità o lustro.

Pianifica anche la rappresentatività. Aaron James ha riflettuto che la volta successiva avrebbe fatto in modo di «assicurarsi che i creatori dei video scelti riflettano la diversità della tua istituzione». Se i tuoi narratori provengono tutti da una sola parte della tua comunità, le tue storie parleranno solo a una parte del tuo pubblico. Un breve storyboard ti aiuta a vedere l'intera sequenza prima di girarla: chi appare, cosa dice e l'ordine in cui cadono i momenti. Il nostro [modello di storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/) ti offre uno schema semplice per questo.

## Tienilo breve

Se l'esperienza del Christ Church dimostra una regola di produzione, è la brevità. I video di ringraziamento erano «lunghi circa 20 secondi» e seguivano un copione minuscolo, deliberatamente semplice: «Abbiamo scritto un copione che diceva semplicemente: grazie infinite, John, per la tua donazione. Ti siamo davvero molto grati. E basta». La tentazione di fare di più è reale, e Aaron James l'ha nominata onestamente: «Era piuttosto allettante dare agli studenti moltissime informazioni e creare video di quasi tre minuti. Ma tenevo a non farlo, perché deve essere solo un breve messaggio di ringraziamento integrato nella giornata di qualcuno».

I donatori erano d'accordo. Uno ha risposto: «Grazie per il video di follow-up, un bel tocco personale e molto apprezzato. È bello farlo e averlo tenuto breve e semplice». La conclusione di Aaron James merita di essere appesa sopra la scrivania se ti dedichi a un progetto video: «Attieniti a un video di 20 secondi, o a un copione che produce un video di 20 secondi, perché i riscontri mostrano chiaramente che ai donatori questo piace». I video brevi sono anche più facili da realizzare, più facili da approvare e più facili da guardare per una persona impegnata.

## Girare un video semplice e autentico

Non hai bisogno di uno studio, di una troupe o di attrezzatura costosa per realizzare un video che funzioni. Uno smartphone moderno riprende più che abbastanza bene, e l'autenticità batte il lustro quasi ogni volta. I video del Christ Church sono stati realizzati da studenti che si riprendevano da soli, e il calore veniva proprio dal fatto che apparivano personali e non prodotti anziché patinati.

Poche semplici abitudini rendono un video da telefono molto migliore all'immagine e al suono. Gira in un luogo silenzioso, perché un audio scadente allontana gli spettatori più velocemente di un'immagine imperfetta. Filma vicino a una finestra o rivolto verso una luce naturale morbida, anziché con una finestra luminosa dietro chi parla. Tieni il telefono fermo o appoggialo su qualcosa, inquadra chi parla dal petto in su con un po' di spazio sopra la testa, e gira in orizzontale per un sito web o in verticale per i social. Lascia che le persone parlino naturalmente; una ripresa leggermente imperfetta ma sincera è molto più toccante di una rigida e troppo provata. La nostra [lista delle inquadrature video](/resources/video-shot-list/) ti offre una checklist da seguire prima e durante una ripresa.

Se stai intervistando qualcuno, prepara un po' il terreno e poi fatti da parte. Invia qualche domanda in anticipo così che chi parla non venga colto alla sprovvista, ma chiedigli di rispondere con frasi complete e di parlare come se si rivolgesse a una sola persona, non a un comitato. Apri con qualcosa di facile per calmare l'agitazione, ascolta anziché incalzare, e tieniti pronto con una domanda di approfondimento gentile quando emerge qualcosa di sincero. Le battute migliori arrivano quasi sempre dopo la prima risposta, più prudente.

Alcune cose è bene evitarle. Non sovra-sceneggiare al punto che chi parla suoni robotico; un breve spunto batte un paragrafo da memorizzare. Non lasciare che il video dilaghi, perché la lunghezza è nemica dell'essere guardato fino alla fine. E non personalizzare al punto da creare disagio. Aaron James l'ha espresso in modo memorabile: il suo team ha resistito alla tentazione di caricare i video con tutto ciò che sapeva su ogni donatore perché, come ha detto lui, «troppo "so cosa hai fatto e so dove abiti" sarebbe probabilmente un po' inquietante». Un ringraziamento caloroso, con il nome e specifico è più che sufficiente: «Ciao John, grazie per aver donato al fondo Y, il tuo dono è stato davvero apprezzato». Non devi recitare a un donatore tutta la storia della sua vita.

## Usare il video per ringraziare e fidelizzare i donatori

Il video dà il meglio di sé come strumento di fidelizzazione, il mezzo con cui ringrazi i sostenitori e li mantieni vicini. È qui che Christ Church ha visto il ritorno più netto, e si inserisce naturalmente in un più ampio programma di [fidelizzazione dei donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/). Il modello era semplice: «A ogni persona che aveva fatto una donazione durante il nostro Giving Day veniva inviato un link a un video realizzato da uno studente attuale in cui ringraziava il donatore per il suo dono». I video partivano da una casella di posta ufficiale, il che, nelle parole di Aaron James, «ha rafforzato ulteriormente la fiducia in noi e nei video che inviavamo».

Ciò che ha fatto la differenza è stato che i video avviavano conversazioni anziché chiuderle. I donatori non si limitavano a ricevere un ringraziamento, vi rispondevano. Aaron James ha descritto scambi di «circa sei battute di conversazione che probabilmente non sarebbero avvenute con un semplice biglietto o un'email tradizionale». Le risposte erano più calorose e più meditate di un consueto riscontro, piene di «punti esclamativi e di un linguaggio davvero molto emotivo». Un donatore ha scritto: «Che gesto premuroso, non mi aspettavo né l'uno né l'altro, ma entrambi mi scaldano molto il cuore». Diverse di quelle conversazioni si sono trasformate in relazioni che l'ufficio sviluppo ha potuto continuare a coltivare.

Alcune lezioni di fidelizzazione si trasferiscono direttamente. La personalizzazione conta: «Ai donatori piace sentire il proprio nome pronunciato, e si crea un legame piuttosto forte anche in 20 secondi». Conta anche la rapidità. Il team del Christ Church puntava a inviare i video «il prima possibile», entro circa una settimana dal dono, mentre la gratitudine era ancora fresca. E conta l'onestà sulla misurazione. La fidelizzazione tramite video è difficile da ridurre a una dashboard, e Aaron James è stato schietto sul fatto che il suo valore «è in larghissima parte qualitativo, costruire davvero quelle relazioni e creare quella nostalgia». Dove puoi, imposta il tracciamento dei link e inserisci le risposte nel tuo CRM fin dall'inizio, così da poter almeno vedere i tassi di apertura e tenere una registrazione pulita di chi è stato ringraziato.

## Dove il video si colloca lungo una campagna

Il video raramente funziona in isolamento. Come ha detto Aaron James, la fidelizzazione «non opera nel vuoto», e il video è più potente quando viene pianificato come un momento all'interno di una campagna più ampia. Un [Giving Day](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/) ne è una sede naturale. Al Christ Church, i video hanno seguito un Giving Day che ha raccolto «circa 150.000 sterline in donazioni e poco meno di 400 donatori», con una quota notevole di donatori più giovani: «78 dei nostri donatori avevano meno di 50 anni». La fidelizzazione tramite video ha trasformato quel singolo momento di dono nell'inizio di una relazione più lunga.

Rifletti su dove il video si guadagna il suo posto lungo l'arco di una campagna. Un breve film incentrato su una storia può aprire un appello, dando un volto umano alla causa prima ancora di formulare la richiesta. Durante una campagna in corso, rapidi video di avanzamento e celebrazioni dei traguardi tengono alta l'energia e ti danno motivi per continuare a comunicare. Successivamente, video di ringraziamento personali fidelizzano i donatori appena acquisiti e preparano la richiesta successiva. Lo stesso approccio si estende ben oltre i Giving Day. Aaron James e il suo team prevedevano di usare il video insieme al loro telethon, inviando un breve clip ai donatori con cui un operatore aveva instaurato un rapporto: «Grazie per la tua donazione, mi ha fatto davvero piacere parlare di X, Y e Z. Di nuovo, molto breve, ma molto facile».

Un'ultima parola pratica sulle risorse, perché la fidelizzazione tramite video su larga scala richiede più lavoro di quanto sembri. Christ Church ha inviato oltre 375 video con un team di sole due persone, il che, secondo Aaron James, «è stato un grande lavoro per due persone da portare a termine in un paio di settimane». Il suo consiglio era di reclutare un team più grande, «un team di quattro o anche cinque persone», di iniziare presto e di «creare un piano molto chiaro su come vuoi che i tuoi narratori registrino i loro video», con scadenze precise anziché una richiesta indefinita. Pianifica il lato umano con la stessa cura del lato creativo, e il video ripagherà lo sforzo molte volte.

## Domande frequenti

**Ho bisogno di attrezzatura costosa per realizzare un video di raccolta fondi?** No. Uno smartphone recente è più che sufficiente per video di fidelizzazione e di storytelling. Dai priorità a un buon audio e a una luce decente rispetto alla qualità della telecamera, e ricorda che l'autenticità conta più del lustro. I video del Christ Church che hanno entusiasmato i donatori sono stati girati da studenti con dispositivi ordinari.

**Quanto dovrebbe durare un video di raccolta fondi?** Per i video di ringraziamento e fidelizzazione, punta a circa 20 secondi. Il riscontro forte e ripetuto al Christ Church era che i donatori preferiscono il breve. I film incentrati su una storia per aprire un appello possono durare un po' di più, ma anche allora, più breve è quasi sempre guardato meglio.

**Chi dovrebbe apparire davanti alla telecamera?** La persona con il legame più autentico con il tuo pubblico, non necessariamente la più alta in grado. Uno studente, un beneficiario o un volontario che parla con la propria voce porta più peso emotivo dell'ufficio sviluppo che parla in «gergo da ufficio sviluppo».

**Quanto personale dovrebbe essere il video?** Personale abbastanza da sembrare davvero rivolto a quel donatore, con il suo nome e specifico al suo dono, ma non così personale da risultare invadente. Usa il suo nome e il fondo a cui ha donato, e resisti alla tentazione di recitare tutto ciò che sai su di lui.

**Come misuriamo l'impatto della fidelizzazione tramite video?** Aspettati che il valore sia in gran parte qualitativo: risposte più calorose, conversazioni più lunghe e relazioni più solide. Dove puoi, aggiungi il tracciamento dei link, monitora i tassi di apertura e registra le risposte nel tuo CRM fin dall'inizio, così che l'effetto a lungo termine sulla fidelizzazione dei donatori sia più facile da osservare nel tempo.

**Possiamo usare il video oltre i Giving Day?** Sì. Funziona per telethon, lanci di campagna, momenti di traguardo e fidelizzazione continua. Il team del Christ Church prevedeva di estendere i brevi video personali al proprio telethon e a club e associazioni specifici in cui i sostenitori provano un legame forte.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua email per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Modello di brief video](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Modello di storyboard](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Lista delle inquadrature video](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Strumenti

- [Simulatore di Giving Day di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Verificatore di testi per la raccolta fondi](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina i testi del tuo appello e delle tue email
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti in presenza direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Webinar: creare una fidelizzazione video coinvolgente](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Guida correlata: [Fidelizzazione e percorsi dei donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Enti del settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory completa dei link](/europe/it/links/) per saperne di più.

- [How to use video and storytelling in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (uk/en): A practical guide to video and storytelling for fundraising, covering why stories work, finding and shaping them, planning and shooting simple authentic video, using video to steward donors, and where video fits in a campaign.
People do not give to budgets, balance sheets or strategic priorities. They give to other people, and they give because a story has made them feel something. A strong fundraising story takes an abstract need and makes it specific, human and urgent: one student, one researcher, one patient, one place, and what changes for them because a supporter chose to act. Video carries that story more directly than any other format, because it lets a donor see a face, hear a voice, and sense that a real person took the time to speak to them.

This guide shows how to find those stories, shape them, and put them on camera without a film crew or a big budget. It draws on the experience of two practitioners. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy at Christ Church, Oxford, used short personal videos to thank donors after his college's Giving Day, and Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, has advised on how the approach works in practice. The lessons that matter most are not about kit or production values. They are about authenticity, brevity, and letting the right person speak in their own voice.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) and
> [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Why stories move donors

A good story does what a statistic cannot: it puts the donor inside the impact of their gift, and it does so through emotion rather than argument. Aaron James explained why his team reached for video in the first place: "We recognised that it's just the very best kind of stewardship. It engages donors on a personal level and really plays on their nostalgia." That word, nostalgia, matters for anyone fundraising from alumni, members or long-standing supporters. People give back to places and causes that shaped them, and a story that reconnects them with that feeling is far more persuasive than one that simply restates a need.

Video also makes impact visible in a way few formats can. "I think that video stewardship demonstrates impact in a way that you can never really get with a letter or an Instagram picture or video," Aaron James said. "It really felt like our students had taken the time out of their day to learn someone's name and send that video onto them." The effort shows, and that visible effort is itself part of the message: it tells the donor they matter enough for a real person to stop and speak to them by name.

Stories also stick. A well-told story is remembered long after the figures are forgotten. Aaron James offered a vivid example: "I was stopped in the streets of Oxford by an old member who is now teaching at a different college saying, oh my gosh, you're the person that recorded my Giving Day thank you video. That clearly shows it's so much more memorable than a standard letter or card." A thank-you letter is rarely mentioned in the street a year later. A short video with someone's name in it can be.

## Finding and shaping your story

The strongest fundraising stories already exist inside your organisation. They live in the people your cause serves and the people who deliver it: a scholarship student, a researcher, a club captain, a volunteer, a member of staff. Your job is to find and shape them, not invent them. Start by asking who is closest to the impact and who can speak about it with genuine feeling. The most moving stories tend to come not from the most senior person available, but from the person whose life the gift actually touches.

A strong fundraising story usually shares a few elements. There is a single human protagonist the donor can care about, rather than a crowd or an institution. There is a clear before and after: a problem, and the change a gift makes to it. There is a specific, concrete detail that anchors the story in something real, such as a place, a moment or an object. And there is an honest emotional core, whether that is relief, pride, gratitude or hope. At Christ Church, the Giving Day stories were anchored in things donors loved and remembered, including Christ Church Meadow, "a 46 acre open space" that was the team's most popular fund. One donor's reply captured why anchoring a story in a shared, specific memory works so well: "Love the Meadow and Christopher Lewis was a wonderful Dean, an irresistible combination."

Shaping the story is mostly about restraint. Decide on the one feeling you want the donor to come away with, and the one action you want them to take, then cut everything that does not serve those two things. A story that tries to say everything says nothing. Choosing a single protagonist and a single message is what turns raw material into something that lands.

## Planning a video: the brief

Before anyone picks up a camera, write a short brief. It need not be long, but it should answer a handful of questions that will save you hours later. What is the single message of this video? Who is it for, and what do you want them to feel and do? Who is the right person to tell it, and in whose voice should it be told? How long should it be, and where will it be shown? Our [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/) sets these out on one page so the whole team is aligned before filming begins.

Whose voice tells the story shapes the result more than any other choice. Aaron James was clear that the power of his videos came from hearing a current student rather than the development office: "It's so nice for all members to have that in the student's voice and not in our own development speak, it strengthens an emotional connection between donors and the current members of the college." When choosing who appears on camera, choose for authenticity and connection to the audience, not for seniority or polish.

Plan for representation, too. Aaron James reflected that next time he would "make sure that the video creators you choose reflect the diversity of your institution." If your storytellers all come from one part of your community, your stories will speak to only part of your audience. A short storyboard helps you see the whole sequence before you shoot it: who appears, what they say, and the order the moments fall in. Our [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) gives you a simple frame for that.

## Keep it short

If the Christ Church experience proves one production rule, it is brevity. The thank-you videos were "about 20 seconds long" and followed a tiny, deliberately simple script: "We wrote a script just saying, thank you ever so much, John, for your gift. We're really very grateful. And that was it." The temptation to do more is real, and Aaron James named it honestly: "It was quite tempting to give students lots and lots of information and to create almost three-minute videos. But I was keen not to do this because it's meant to just be a quick note saying thanks built into someone's day."

Donors agreed. One wrote back: "Thanks for the follow-up video, a nice personal touch and appreciated. Good to do this and to have kept it short and simple." Aaron James's conclusion is worth pinning above your desk if you take on a video project: "Stick to a 20-second video, or a script that produces a 20-second video, because definitely the feedback shows that donors like that." Short videos are also easier to make, easier to approve, and easier for a busy person to actually watch.

## Shooting simple, authentic video

You do not need a studio, a crew or expensive equipment to make video that works. A modern phone shoots more than well enough, and authenticity beats polish almost every time. The Christ Church videos were made by students recording themselves, and the warmth came precisely from the fact that they felt personal and unproduced rather than slick.

A few simple habits make phone video look and sound far better. Shoot in a quiet space, because poor sound puts viewers off faster than imperfect picture. Film by a window or facing soft, natural light, rather than with a bright window behind the speaker. Hold the phone steady or rest it on something, frame the speaker from the chest up with a little space above their head, and shoot horizontally for a website or vertically for social media. Let people speak naturally; a slightly imperfect, genuine take is far more affecting than a stiff, over-rehearsed one. Our [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/) gives you a checklist to run through before and during a shoot.

If you are interviewing someone, do a little preparation and then get out of the way. Send a few questions in advance so the speaker is not caught cold, but ask them to answer in full sentences and to speak as if to one person, not a committee. Open with something easy to settle their nerves, listen rather than rush, and be ready with a gentle follow-up when something honest surfaces. The best lines almost always come after the first, more careful answer.

A few things are worth avoiding. Do not over-script to the point that the speaker sounds robotic; a short prompt beats a paragraph to memorise. Do not let the video sprawl, as length is the enemy of being watched to the end. And do not over-personalise to the point of discomfort. Aaron James made this point memorably: his team resisted loading videos with everything they knew about each donor, because, as he put it, "too much I know what you did and know where you live would probably be a bit creepy." A warm, named, specific thank-you is plenty: "Hello John, thanks for donating to fund Y, your gift was really appreciated." You do not need to recite a donor's life story back to them.

## Using video to thank and steward donors

Video comes into its own as a stewardship tool, the means by which you thank supporters and keep them close. This is where Christ Church saw the clearest return, and it sits naturally inside a wider [donor stewardship](/uk/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) programme. The model was simple: "Any person that made a donation in our Giving Day was sent a link to a video made by a current student in which they would thank the donor for their gift." The videos went out from an official inbox, which, in Aaron James's words, "further created trust in us and in the videos we were sending."

What made the difference was that the videos started conversations rather than closing them. Donors did not just receive a thank-you, they replied to it. Aaron James described threads of "about six bits of conversation that probably wouldn't have happened with just a traditional card or email." The replies were warmer and more considered than a typical acknowledgement, full of "exclamation marks and really very emotive language." One donor wrote: "What a thoughtful gesture, I had expected neither, but I'm much warmed by both." Several of those conversations turned into relationships the development office could continue to build.

A few stewardship lessons carry over directly. Personalisation matters: "Donors like to hear their name said, and you create quite a strong bond even though it's within 20 seconds." Speed matters too. The Christ Church team aimed to send videos "as soon as possible," within about a week of the gift, while gratitude was still fresh. And honesty about measurement matters. Video stewardship is hard to reduce to a dashboard, and Aaron James was candid that its value "is very much qualitative, really building those relationships and creating that nostalgia." Where you can, set up link tracking and feed responses into your CRM from the start, so you can at least see open rates and keep a clean record of who was thanked.

## Where video fits across a campaign

Video rarely works in isolation. As Aaron James put it, stewardship "doesn't operate in a vacuum," and video is most powerful when planned as one beat inside a larger campaign. A [Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a natural home for it. At Christ Church, the videos followed a Giving Day that raised "150,000 pounds-ish in donations and just shy of 400 donors," with a notable share of younger givers: "78 of our donors were aged under 50." The video stewardship turned that single moment of giving into the beginning of a longer relationship.

Think about where video earns its place across the arc of a campaign. A short, story-led film can open an appeal, giving the case for support a human face before you ever make the ask. During a live campaign, quick progress videos and milestone celebrations keep energy high and give you reasons to keep messaging. Afterwards, personal thank-you videos steward the donors you have just acquired and set up the next ask. The same approach extends well beyond Giving Days. Aaron James and his team planned to use video alongside their telethon, sending a short clip to donors a caller had built a rapport with: "Thank you for your gift, I really enjoyed talking about X, Y and Z. Again, really short, but really easy."

A final, practical word on resourcing, because video stewardship at scale is more work than it looks. Christ Church sent over 375 videos with a team of just two people, which Aaron James reflected "was a lot of work for two people to get out in a couple of weeks." His advice was to recruit a larger team, "a team of four or even five," to start early, and to "create a very clear plan with how you want your storytellers to record their videos," with firm deadlines rather than an open-ended ask. Plan the people side as carefully as the creative side, and video will repay the effort many times over.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I need expensive equipment to make fundraising video?** No. A recent smartphone is more than good enough for stewardship and story video. Prioritise good sound and decent light over camera quality, and remember that authenticity matters more than polish. The Christ Church videos that delighted donors were filmed by students on ordinary devices.

**How long should a fundraising video be?** For thank-you and stewardship videos, aim for around 20 seconds. The strong, repeated feedback at Christ Church was that donors prefer short. Story-led films to open an appeal can run a little longer, but even then, shorter is almost always better watched.

**Who should appear on camera?** The person with the most authentic connection to your audience, not necessarily the most senior. A student, a beneficiary or a volunteer speaking in their own voice carries more emotional weight than the development office speaking in "development speak."

**How personal should the video be?** Personal enough to feel genuinely for that donor, named and specific to their gift, but not so personal that it feels intrusive. Use their name and the fund they gave to, and resist the urge to recite everything you know about them.

**How do we measure the impact of video stewardship?** Expect the value to be largely qualitative: warmer replies, longer conversations and stronger relationships. Where you can, add link tracking, monitor open rates and record responses in your CRM from the outset, so the long-term effect on donor retention is easier to see over time.

**Can we use video beyond Giving Days?** Yes. It works across telethons, campaign launches, milestone moments and ongoing stewardship. The Christ Church team planned to extend short personal videos to their telethon and to specific clubs and societies where supporters feel a strong connection.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Related guide: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/uk/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use video and storytelling in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (us/en): A practical guide to video and storytelling for fundraising, covering why stories work, finding and shaping them, planning and shooting simple authentic video, using video to steward donors, and where video fits in a campaign.
People do not give to budgets, balance sheets or strategic priorities. They give to other people, and they give because a story has made them feel something. A strong fundraising story takes an abstract need and makes it specific, human and urgent: one student, one researcher, one patient, one place, and what changes for them because a supporter chose to act. Video carries that story more directly than any other format, because it lets a donor see a face, hear a voice, and sense that a real person took the time to speak to them.

This guide shows how to find those stories, shape them, and put them on camera without a film crew or a big budget. It draws on the experience of two practitioners. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy at Christ Church, Oxford, used short personal videos to thank donors after his college's Giving Day, and Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, has advised on how the approach works in practice. The lessons that matter most are not about kit or production values. They are about authenticity, brevity, and letting the right person speak in their own voice.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) and
> [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Why stories move donors

A good story does what a statistic cannot: it puts the donor inside the impact of their gift, and it does so through emotion rather than argument. Aaron James explained why his team reached for video in the first place: "We recognized that it's just the very best kind of stewardship. It engages donors on a personal level and really plays on their nostalgia." That word, nostalgia, matters for anyone fundraising from alumni, members or long-standing supporters. People give back to places and causes that shaped them, and a story that reconnects them with that feeling is far more persuasive than one that simply restates a need.

Video also makes impact visible in a way few formats can. "I think that video stewardship demonstrates impact in a way that you can never really get with a letter or an Instagram picture or video," Aaron James said. "It really felt like our students had taken the time out of their day to learn someone's name and send that video onto them." The effort shows, and that visible effort is itself part of the message: it tells the donor they matter enough for a real person to stop and speak to them by name.

Stories also stick. A well-told story is remembered long after the figures are forgotten. Aaron James offered a vivid example: "I was stopped in the streets of Oxford by an old member who is now teaching at a different college saying, oh my gosh, you're the person that recorded my Giving Day thank you video. That clearly shows it's so much more memorable than a standard letter or card." A thank-you letter is rarely mentioned in the street a year later. A short video with someone's name in it can be.

## Finding and shaping your story

The strongest fundraising stories already exist inside your organization. They live in the people your cause serves and the people who deliver it: a scholarship student, a researcher, a club captain, a volunteer, a member of staff. Your job is to find and shape them, not invent them. Start by asking who is closest to the impact and who can speak about it with genuine feeling. The most moving stories tend to come not from the most senior person available, but from the person whose life the gift actually touches.

A strong fundraising story usually shares a few elements. There is a single human protagonist the donor can care about, rather than a crowd or an institution. There is a clear before and after: a problem, and the change a gift makes to it. There is a specific, concrete detail that anchors the story in something real, such as a place, a moment or an object. And there is an honest emotional core, whether that is relief, pride, gratitude or hope. At Christ Church, the Giving Day stories were anchored in things donors loved and remembered, including Christ Church Meadow, "a 46 acre open space" that was the team's most popular fund. One donor's reply captured why anchoring a story in a shared, specific memory works so well: "Love the Meadow and Christopher Lewis was a wonderful Dean, an irresistible combination."

Shaping the story is mostly about restraint. Decide on the one feeling you want the donor to come away with, and the one action you want them to take, then cut everything that does not serve those two things. A story that tries to say everything says nothing. Choosing a single protagonist and a single message is what turns raw material into something that lands.

## Planning a video: the brief

Before anyone picks up a camera, write a short brief. It need not be long, but it should answer a handful of questions that will save you hours later. What is the single message of this video? Who is it for, and what do you want them to feel and do? Who is the right person to tell it, and in whose voice should it be told? How long should it be, and where will it be shown? Our [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/) sets these out on one page so the whole team is aligned before filming begins.

Whose voice tells the story shapes the result more than any other choice. Aaron James was clear that the power of his videos came from hearing a current student rather than the development office: "It's so nice for all members to have that in the student's voice and not in our own development speak, it strengthens an emotional connection between donors and the current members of the college." When choosing who appears on camera, choose for authenticity and connection to the audience, not for seniority or polish.

Plan for representation, too. Aaron James reflected that next time he would "make sure that the video creators you choose reflect the diversity of your institution." If your storytellers all come from one part of your community, your stories will speak to only part of your audience. A short storyboard helps you see the whole sequence before you shoot it: who appears, what they say, and the order the moments fall in. Our [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) gives you a simple frame for that.

## Keep it short

If the Christ Church experience proves one production rule, it is brevity. The thank-you videos were "about 20 seconds long" and followed a tiny, deliberately simple script: "We wrote a script just saying, thank you ever so much, John, for your gift. We're really very grateful. And that was it." The temptation to do more is real, and Aaron James named it honestly: "It was quite tempting to give students lots and lots of information and to create almost three-minute videos. But I was keen not to do this because it's meant to just be a quick note saying thanks built into someone's day."

Donors agreed. One wrote back: "Thanks for the follow-up video, a nice personal touch and appreciated. Good to do this and to have kept it short and simple." Aaron James's conclusion is worth pinning above your desk if you take on a video project: "Stick to a 20-second video, or a script that produces a 20-second video, because definitely the feedback shows that donors like that." Short videos are also easier to make, easier to approve, and easier for a busy person to actually watch.

## Shooting simple, authentic video

You do not need a studio, a crew or expensive equipment to make video that works. A modern phone shoots more than well enough, and authenticity beats polish almost every time. The Christ Church videos were made by students recording themselves, and the warmth came precisely from the fact that they felt personal and unproduced rather than slick.

A few simple habits make phone video look and sound far better. Shoot in a quiet space, because poor sound puts viewers off faster than imperfect picture. Film by a window or facing soft, natural light, rather than with a bright window behind the speaker. Hold the phone steady or rest it on something, frame the speaker from the chest up with a little space above their head, and shoot horizontally for a website or vertically for social media. Let people speak naturally; a slightly imperfect, genuine take is far more affecting than a stiff, over-rehearsed one. Our [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/) gives you a checklist to run through before and during a shoot.

If you are interviewing someone, do a little preparation and then get out of the way. Send a few questions in advance so the speaker is not caught cold, but ask them to answer in full sentences and to speak as if to one person, not a committee. Open with something easy to settle their nerves, listen rather than rush, and be ready with a gentle follow-up when something honest surfaces. The best lines almost always come after the first, more careful answer.

A few things are worth avoiding. Do not over-script to the point that the speaker sounds robotic; a short prompt beats a paragraph to memorize. Do not let the video sprawl, as length is the enemy of being watched to the end. And do not over-personalize to the point of discomfort. Aaron James made this point memorably: his team resisted loading videos with everything they knew about each donor, because, as he put it, "too much I know what you did and know where you live would probably be a bit creepy." A warm, named, specific thank-you is plenty: "Hello John, thanks for donating to fund Y, your gift was really appreciated." You do not need to recite a donor's life story back to them.

## Using video to thank and steward donors

Video comes into its own as a stewardship tool, the means by which you thank supporters and keep them close. This is where Christ Church saw the clearest return, and it sits naturally inside a wider [donor stewardship](/us/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) program. The model was simple: "Any person that made a donation in our Giving Day was sent a link to a video made by a current student in which they would thank the donor for their gift." The videos went out from an official inbox, which, in Aaron James's words, "further created trust in us and in the videos we were sending."

What made the difference was that the videos started conversations rather than closing them. Donors did not just receive a thank-you, they replied to it. Aaron James described threads of "about six bits of conversation that probably wouldn't have happened with just a traditional card or email." The replies were warmer and more considered than a typical acknowledgement, full of "exclamation marks and really very emotive language." One donor wrote: "What a thoughtful gesture, I had expected neither, but I'm much warmed by both." Several of those conversations turned into relationships the development office could continue to build.

A few stewardship lessons carry over directly. Personalization matters: "Donors like to hear their name said, and you create quite a strong bond even though it's within 20 seconds." Speed matters too. The Christ Church team aimed to send videos "as soon as possible," within about a week of the gift, while gratitude was still fresh. And honesty about measurement matters. Video stewardship is hard to reduce to a dashboard, and Aaron James was candid that its value "is very much qualitative, really building those relationships and creating that nostalgia." Where you can, set up link tracking and feed responses into your CRM from the start, so you can at least see open rates and keep a clean record of who was thanked.

## Where video fits across a campaign

Video rarely works in isolation. As Aaron James put it, stewardship "doesn't operate in a vacuum," and video is most powerful when planned as one beat inside a larger campaign. A [Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a natural home for it. At Christ Church, the videos followed a Giving Day that raised "150,000 pounds-ish in donations and just shy of 400 donors," with a notable share of younger givers: "78 of our donors were aged under 50." The video stewardship turned that single moment of giving into the beginning of a longer relationship.

Think about where video earns its place across the arc of a campaign. A short, story-led film can open an appeal, giving the case for support a human face before you ever make the ask. During a live campaign, quick progress videos and milestone celebrations keep energy high and give you reasons to keep messaging. Afterwards, personal thank-you videos steward the donors you have just acquired and set up the next ask. The same approach extends well beyond Giving Days. Aaron James and his team planned to use video alongside their phonathon, sending a short clip to donors a caller had built a rapport with: "Thank you for your gift, I really enjoyed talking about X, Y and Z. Again, really short, but really easy."

A final, practical word on resourcing, because video stewardship at scale is more work than it looks. Christ Church sent over 375 videos with a team of just two people, which Aaron James reflected "was a lot of work for two people to get out in a couple of weeks." His advice was to recruit a larger team, "a team of four or even five," to start early, and to "create a very clear plan with how you want your storytellers to record their videos," with firm deadlines rather than an open-ended ask. Plan the people side as carefully as the creative side, and video will repay the effort many times over.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I need expensive equipment to make fundraising video?** No. A recent smartphone is more than good enough for stewardship and story video. Prioritize good sound and decent light over camera quality, and remember that authenticity matters more than polish. The Christ Church videos that delighted donors were filmed by students on ordinary devices.

**How long should a fundraising video be?** For thank-you and stewardship videos, aim for around 20 seconds. The strong, repeated feedback at Christ Church was that donors prefer short. Story-led films to open an appeal can run a little longer, but even then, shorter is almost always better watched.

**Who should appear on camera?** The person with the most authentic connection to your audience, not necessarily the most senior. A student, a beneficiary or a volunteer speaking in their own voice carries more emotional weight than the development office speaking in "development speak."

**How personal should the video be?** Personal enough to feel genuinely for that donor, named and specific to their gift, but not so personal that it feels intrusive. Use their name and the fund they gave to, and resist the urge to recite everything you know about them.

**How do we measure the impact of video stewardship?** Expect the value to be largely qualitative: warmer replies, longer conversations and stronger relationships. Where you can, add link tracking, monitor open rates and record responses in your CRM from the outset, so the long-term effect on donor retention is easier to see over time.

**Can we use video beyond Giving Days?** Yes. It works across phonathons, campaign launches, milestone moments and ongoing stewardship. The Christ Church team planned to extend short personal videos to their phonathon and to specific clubs and societies where supporters feel a strong connection.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Related guide: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/us/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [How to use video and storytelling in fundraising](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) (world/en): A practical guide to video and storytelling for fundraising, covering why stories work, finding and shaping them, planning and shooting simple authentic video, using video to steward donors, and where video fits in a campaign.
People do not give to budgets, balance sheets or strategic priorities. They give to other people, and they give because a story has made them feel something. A strong fundraising story takes an abstract need and makes it specific, human and urgent: one student, one researcher, one patient, one place, and what changes for them because a supporter chose to act. Video carries that story more directly than any other format, because it lets a donor see a face, hear a voice, and sense that a real person took the time to speak to them.

This guide shows how to find those stories, shape them, and put them on camera without a film crew or a big budget. It draws on the experience of two practitioners. Aaron James, Graduate Development Associate in Philanthropy at Christ Church, Oxford, used short personal videos to thank donors after his college's Giving Day, and Kat Carter, a consultant at Hubbub, has advised on how the approach works in practice. The lessons that matter most are not about kit or production values. They are about authenticity, brevity, and letting the right person speak in their own voice.

> **Working templates.** Sign in to download our
> [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/),
> [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) and
> [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/).

## Why stories move donors

A good story does what a statistic cannot: it puts the donor inside the impact of their gift, and it does so through emotion rather than argument. Aaron James explained why his team reached for video in the first place: "We recognised that it's just the very best kind of stewardship. It engages donors on a personal level and really plays on their nostalgia." That word, nostalgia, matters for anyone fundraising from alumni, members or long-standing supporters. People give back to places and causes that shaped them, and a story that reconnects them with that feeling is far more persuasive than one that simply restates a need.

Video also makes impact visible in a way few formats can. "I think that video stewardship demonstrates impact in a way that you can never really get with a letter or an Instagram picture or video," Aaron James said. "It really felt like our students had taken the time out of their day to learn someone's name and send that video onto them." The effort shows, and that visible effort is itself part of the message: it tells the donor they matter enough for a real person to stop and speak to them by name.

Stories also stick. A well-told story is remembered long after the figures are forgotten. Aaron James offered a vivid example: "I was stopped in the streets of Oxford by an old member who is now teaching at a different college saying, oh my gosh, you're the person that recorded my Giving Day thank you video. That clearly shows it's so much more memorable than a standard letter or card." A thank-you letter is rarely mentioned in the street a year later. A short video with someone's name in it can be.

## Finding and shaping your story

The strongest fundraising stories already exist inside your organisation. They live in the people your cause serves and the people who deliver it: a scholarship student, a researcher, a club captain, a volunteer, a member of staff. Your job is to find and shape them, not invent them. Start by asking who is closest to the impact and who can speak about it with genuine feeling. The most moving stories tend to come not from the most senior person available, but from the person whose life the gift actually touches.

A strong fundraising story usually shares a few elements. There is a single human protagonist the donor can care about, rather than a crowd or an institution. There is a clear before and after: a problem, and the change a gift makes to it. There is a specific, concrete detail that anchors the story in something real, such as a place, a moment or an object. And there is an honest emotional core, whether that is relief, pride, gratitude or hope. At Christ Church, the Giving Day stories were anchored in things donors loved and remembered, including Christ Church Meadow, "a 46 acre open space" that was the team's most popular fund. One donor's reply captured why anchoring a story in a shared, specific memory works so well: "Love the Meadow and Christopher Lewis was a wonderful Dean, an irresistible combination."

Shaping the story is mostly about restraint. Decide on the one feeling you want the donor to come away with, and the one action you want them to take, then cut everything that does not serve those two things. A story that tries to say everything says nothing. Choosing a single protagonist and a single message is what turns raw material into something that lands.

## Planning a video: the brief

Before anyone picks up a camera, write a short brief. It need not be long, but it should answer a handful of questions that will save you hours later. What is the single message of this video? Who is it for, and what do you want them to feel and do? Who is the right person to tell it, and in whose voice should it be told? How long should it be, and where will it be shown? Our [video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/) sets these out on one page so the whole team is aligned before filming begins.

Whose voice tells the story shapes the result more than any other choice. Aaron James was clear that the power of his videos came from hearing a current student rather than the development office: "It's so nice for all members to have that in the student's voice and not in our own development speak, it strengthens an emotional connection between donors and the current members of the college." When choosing who appears on camera, choose for authenticity and connection to the audience, not for seniority or polish.

Plan for representation, too. Aaron James reflected that next time he would "make sure that the video creators you choose reflect the diversity of your institution." If your storytellers all come from one part of your community, your stories will speak to only part of your audience. A short storyboard helps you see the whole sequence before you shoot it: who appears, what they say, and the order the moments fall in. Our [storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/) gives you a simple frame for that.

## Keep it short

If the Christ Church experience proves one production rule, it is brevity. The thank-you videos were "about 20 seconds long" and followed a tiny, deliberately simple script: "We wrote a script just saying, thank you ever so much, John, for your gift. We're really very grateful. And that was it." The temptation to do more is real, and Aaron James named it honestly: "It was quite tempting to give students lots and lots of information and to create almost three-minute videos. But I was keen not to do this because it's meant to just be a quick note saying thanks built into someone's day."

Donors agreed. One wrote back: "Thanks for the follow-up video, a nice personal touch and appreciated. Good to do this and to have kept it short and simple." Aaron James's conclusion is worth pinning above your desk if you take on a video project: "Stick to a 20-second video, or a script that produces a 20-second video, because definitely the feedback shows that donors like that." Short videos are also easier to make, easier to approve, and easier for a busy person to actually watch.

## Shooting simple, authentic video

You do not need a studio, a crew or expensive equipment to make video that works. A modern phone shoots more than well enough, and authenticity beats polish almost every time. The Christ Church videos were made by students recording themselves, and the warmth came precisely from the fact that they felt personal and unproduced rather than slick.

A few simple habits make phone video look and sound far better. Shoot in a quiet space, because poor sound puts viewers off faster than imperfect picture. Film by a window or facing soft, natural light, rather than with a bright window behind the speaker. Hold the phone steady or rest it on something, frame the speaker from the chest up with a little space above their head, and shoot horizontally for a website or vertically for social media. Let people speak naturally; a slightly imperfect, genuine take is far more affecting than a stiff, over-rehearsed one. Our [video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/) gives you a checklist to run through before and during a shoot.

If you are interviewing someone, do a little preparation and then get out of the way. Send a few questions in advance so the speaker is not caught cold, but ask them to answer in full sentences and to speak as if to one person, not a committee. Open with something easy to settle their nerves, listen rather than rush, and be ready with a gentle follow-up when something honest surfaces. The best lines almost always come after the first, more careful answer.

A few things are worth avoiding. Do not over-script to the point that the speaker sounds robotic; a short prompt beats a paragraph to memorise. Do not let the video sprawl, as length is the enemy of being watched to the end. And do not over-personalise to the point of discomfort. Aaron James made this point memorably: his team resisted loading videos with everything they knew about each donor, because, as he put it, "too much I know what you did and know where you live would probably be a bit creepy." A warm, named, specific thank-you is plenty: "Hello John, thanks for donating to fund Y, your gift was really appreciated." You do not need to recite a donor's life story back to them.

## Using video to thank and steward donors

Video comes into its own as a stewardship tool, the means by which you thank supporters and keep them close. This is where Christ Church saw the clearest return, and it sits naturally inside a wider [donor stewardship](/world/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) programme. The model was simple: "Any person that made a donation in our Giving Day was sent a link to a video made by a current student in which they would thank the donor for their gift." The videos went out from an official inbox, which, in Aaron James's words, "further created trust in us and in the videos we were sending."

What made the difference was that the videos started conversations rather than closing them. Donors did not just receive a thank-you, they replied to it. Aaron James described threads of "about six bits of conversation that probably wouldn't have happened with just a traditional card or email." The replies were warmer and more considered than a typical acknowledgement, full of "exclamation marks and really very emotive language." One donor wrote: "What a thoughtful gesture, I had expected neither, but I'm much warmed by both." Several of those conversations turned into relationships the development office could continue to build.

A few stewardship lessons carry over directly. Personalisation matters: "Donors like to hear their name said, and you create quite a strong bond even though it's within 20 seconds." Speed matters too. The Christ Church team aimed to send videos "as soon as possible," within about a week of the gift, while gratitude was still fresh. And honesty about measurement matters. Video stewardship is hard to reduce to a dashboard, and Aaron James was candid that its value "is very much qualitative, really building those relationships and creating that nostalgia." Where you can, set up link tracking and feed responses into your CRM from the start, so you can at least see open rates and keep a clean record of who was thanked.

## Where video fits across a campaign

Video rarely works in isolation. As Aaron James put it, stewardship "doesn't operate in a vacuum," and video is most powerful when planned as one beat inside a larger campaign. A [Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) is a natural home for it. At Christ Church, the videos followed a Giving Day that raised "150,000 pounds-ish in donations and just shy of 400 donors," with a notable share of younger givers: "78 of our donors were aged under 50." The video stewardship turned that single moment of giving into the beginning of a longer relationship.

Think about where video earns its place across the arc of a campaign. A short, story-led film can open an appeal, giving the case for support a human face before you ever make the ask. During a live campaign, quick progress videos and milestone celebrations keep energy high and give you reasons to keep messaging. Afterwards, personal thank-you videos steward the donors you have just acquired and set up the next ask. The same approach extends well beyond Giving Days. Aaron James and his team planned to use video alongside their telethon, sending a short clip to donors a caller had built a rapport with: "Thank you for your gift, I really enjoyed talking about X, Y and Z. Again, really short, but really easy."

A final, practical word on resourcing, because video stewardship at scale is more work than it looks. Christ Church sent over 375 videos with a team of just two people, which Aaron James reflected "was a lot of work for two people to get out in a couple of weeks." His advice was to recruit a larger team, "a team of four or even five," to start early, and to "create a very clear plan with how you want your storytellers to record their videos," with firm deadlines rather than an open-ended ask. Plan the people side as carefully as the creative side, and video will repay the effort many times over.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do I need expensive equipment to make fundraising video?** No. A recent smartphone is more than good enough for stewardship and story video. Prioritise good sound and decent light over camera quality, and remember that authenticity matters more than polish. The Christ Church videos that delighted donors were filmed by students on ordinary devices.

**How long should a fundraising video be?** For thank-you and stewardship videos, aim for around 20 seconds. The strong, repeated feedback at Christ Church was that donors prefer short. Story-led films to open an appeal can run a little longer, but even then, shorter is almost always better watched.

**Who should appear on camera?** The person with the most authentic connection to your audience, not necessarily the most senior. A student, a beneficiary or a volunteer speaking in their own voice carries more emotional weight than the development office speaking in "development speak."

**How personal should the video be?** Personal enough to feel genuinely for that donor, named and specific to their gift, but not so personal that it feels intrusive. Use their name and the fund they gave to, and resist the urge to recite everything you know about them.

**How do we measure the impact of video stewardship?** Expect the value to be largely qualitative: warmer replies, longer conversations and stronger relationships. Where you can, add link tracking, monitor open rates and record responses in your CRM from the outset, so the long-term effect on donor retention is easier to see over time.

**Can we use video beyond Giving Days?** Yes. It works across telethons, campaign launches, milestone moments and ongoing stewardship. The Christ Church team planned to extend short personal videos to their telethon and to specific clubs and societies where supporters feel a strong connection.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Video brief template](/resources/video-brief-template/)
- [Storyboard template](/resources/storyboard-template/)
- [Video shot list](/resources/video-shot-list/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Webinar: creating engaging video stewardship](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/creating-engaging-video-stewardship)
- Related guide: [Donor stewardship and journeys](/world/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.

- [What is digital fundraising?](https://fundraisingguides.com/canz/en/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (canz/en): An introduction to digital fundraising for non-profits and institutions, explaining what it is, the main campaigns and channels, how they fit together, and where to start, with links to in-depth guides on each.
Digital fundraising is, at its simplest, raising money through online channels: email, social
media, video, web pages and the giving forms behind them. But that definition is too narrow. The
more useful way to think about it is that digital fundraising decentralises the ask. Instead of
one central office writing to a list, it gives supporters the tools to share your cause and raise
money from their own networks, and it gives your team a way to reach audiences that direct mail
and the telephone never could. It might just as accurately be called social or personal
fundraising, because so much of what makes it work is the warmth of a friend asking a friend.

This guide is the overview. It explains what digital fundraising is, the main campaign types and
the channels that power them, how they add up to a programme rather than a series of one-off
appeals, and where a team should start. Wherever a topic deserves fuller treatment, we link to an
in-depth guide. Think of this page as the map, and the guides it points to as the territory. Many
of the examples here come from fundraisers at UK universities who have made the shift to digital,
including Kat Carter of Hubbub, Tom Piercy at the University of York, and colleagues at Leeds and
Manchester.

## Why digital fundraising matters now

The case for going digital is no longer theoretical; the sector's own data makes it. Kat Carter of
Hubbub sets out the picture: "In the latest Status of UK Fundraising report from Blackbaud, 60% of
nonprofit professionals agreed that digital transformation is crucial to success, that technology
must be used to improve the way organizations operate, and that data must also be used to improve
overall performance. But only 12% of respondents described themselves as digitally mature."

That gap, between the many who know it matters and the few who feel they have mastered it, is
where most teams sit. The encouraging part is what maturity tends to bring. Digitally mature
organisations, Kat Carter notes, "were found to be more likely to gain more supporters than they
were losing, to be optimistic that they would reach new audiences, that they would be more
effective at managing change and being agile." None of that requires a vast budget. It requires
the right skills, the right systems and the leadership to back them.

The institutions that have made this shift describe the same change and the same prize: going
digital let them reach audiences they had previously struggled to touch. At the University of
York, Tom Piercy introduced a giving day and a digital community programme alongside the existing
channels, and the result was striking: "there was a 50%, it was actually a 49.9% increase in
donors numbers" in a single year, with no rise in the operating budget. "This is all just about
redistributing our investment," he explains. Bringing the ask online also made internal audiences
far easier to reach. York's staff giving rate, Tom notes, went "from 9% to 35% since we made that
change." Digital does not replace what already works. It adds a layer that engages different
people and, done well, lets you raise considerably more.

## The main campaign types

Most digital programmes are built from a small set of recognisable campaign formats. Each suits a
different goal, audience and level of resource, and most teams run two or three of them in
rotation through the year.

A **Giving Day** is a short, intense, centrally led push, usually around 36 hours, focused on your
institution's own priorities. It made the biggest difference at York, and became a fixture once it
proved itself. Tom Piercy describes how the appetite changed: "now, I don't even need to tell
people about it in senior positions. They're coming to me asking when the next Giving Day is,
which is so different to where we were a few years ago." Our guide to
[how to run a Giving Day](/canz/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) covers forecasting, match funding
and the run of play.

A **Challenge Week** sits between a Giving Day and crowdfunding. It is led by the development
office, but the fundraising is done by clubs, societies and groups for their own causes, over
roughly a week. It is a forgiving way to trial peer-led fundraising and to bring in large numbers
of brand-new donors, many of them friends and family rather than alumni. Our guide to
[how to run a Challenge Week](/canz/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) walks through recruiting
groups, training them and running the match-funding incentives that drive the competition.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is owned by the people raising the money: students, staff or
community groups create project pages and rally their own networks. Many institutions begin their
digital journey here. York "made the decision to invest in our very own crowdfunding platform" as
far back as 2013-14, and at Leeds and Manchester a crowdfunding platform became the vehicle for
emergency student-support appeals when the pandemic hit. Our guide to
[how to run a crowdfunding campaign](/canz/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) shows how to
set up projects, recruit project owners and keep momentum going across a longer timeframe.

A **telephone appeal** is not digital in the strict sense, but it belongs in the conversation
because it remains the strongest channel for one thing the digital channels still find hard:
converting and retaining regular givers. Tom Piercy is candid about this at York: "telephone still
being the main contributor in terms of new regular donors. That's not really going to change for
us." The lesson is that digital and telephone work best together, with digital acquiring
single-gift donors and the phone converting them to a regular commitment. Our guide to
[how to run a telephone appeal](/canz/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) covers caller training,
segmentation and the conversion ask.

## The channels that power them

Underneath the campaigns sit the channels: the day-to-day means of reaching and converting
supporters. Get these right and every campaign performs better.

**Email** is almost always the right place to begin. It is cheap, measurable and quick to test,
and it is where most teams start. Asked what a small team with little budget should do first, Tom
Piercy does not hesitate: "I think if I was in this position, the first thing I would do is
introduce email appeals, because they're quite easy to manage. You can build in the segmentation,
track all the results, make sure you know how each segment's responding before you then scale that
up into something more substantial like a giving day." Jessica at Leeds adds a note about making
each email earn its place: "how do you make the most out of every email and just be really, really
working them hard," capturing data and driving engagement, not only asking for money. Our guide to
[email fundraising](/canz/en/guides/email-fundraising/) goes into segmentation, copy and the systems
worth using.

**Social media** amplifies everything else and, at its best, hands the ask to your supporters.
This is the heart of the decentralising idea: people simply "find it a lot easier to share and ask
when it's on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram." For many teams it is the least developed channel.
At York, Tom Piercy uses paid social to "accompany anything else that we're doing," running A/B
tests on a few hundred pounds of lifetime budget and switching off the underperforming advert
after a couple of days. His warning is worth heeding: York had "not had the right trackable links
in place" to see how many of those who clicked went on to give. Our guide to
[social media for fundraising](/canz/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) covers organic and
paid approaches, and the tracking that tells you whether they worked.

**Video and storytelling** is what makes a digital ask feel personal at scale. Manchester leaned
on it heavily for stewardship. As Emma at Manchester describes it: "We created loads of video
content so that people felt they were being spoken to in a personal way, direct from beneficiaries
that they'd given to." The same emotive case for support that powers a direct mail pack works
online, and often travels further. Our guide to
[video and storytelling](/canz/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) shows how to build stories that
move people without a film crew.

**Donation pages** are where intention becomes income, and they are the most common point of
failure. Kat Carter puts a sharp number on it: "look at the conversion rate on your online giving
form. If it's anything below 20%, it's probably time to really consider, is that really delivering
what we need?" The word she uses for everything that gets in the donor's way is friction: "You
want the donor to get that email, make that decision to give from the email, and then the donation
platform is just the last place they go to confirm how much they want to give." Leeds saw the
difference a good page makes, with the share of gifts received online rising from 15 per cent in
2018-19 to 31 per cent in 2021. Our guide to
[donation pages and conversion](/canz/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) covers reducing
friction, social proof and the testing that lifts your conversion rate.

## How it adds up to a programme

Individual campaigns and channels are not the goal. The goal is a programme: a joined-up system
that acquires supporters, retains them, and turns single gifts into regular ones. Jessica at Leeds
describes the ambition well. The aim is a communications plan where "our alumni and donors or other
supporters aren't faced with three different asks for three different platforms," but instead
experience "a really joined up communication plan across all platforms," where "all that's
different is how you're engaging with us, not what you're engaging with."

The destination for most programmes is a healthy base of regular givers. Single online gifts are
valuable, but a [regular giving programme](/canz/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) of
committed donors is what gives a fundraising operation its stability. Moving someone from a first
online gift to a standing commitment is mostly a question of timing and channel. York built
dedicated telephone segments around its giving day to "make a regular giving ask instead of a
single ask," and Manchester used conversion mailings and streamlined direct-debit upgrades to do
the same.

Three connected disciplines hold a programme together. **Donor stewardship** is how you keep
supporters feeling valued between asks, and it is also one of the best retention tools you have:
Jessica at Leeds calls stewardship "such a powerful way to be able to retain donors." Our guide to
[donor stewardship and journeys](/canz/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) maps the
communications a supporter receives from their first gift onwards. **Acquisition and retention** is
the balance every team has to strike, and digital changes its shape, opening up audiences, as Tom
Piercy puts it, "that maybe hadn't donated in the past when we were sending them stuff in the post
or trying to call them up over the phone." Our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/canz/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) covers both sides
of the ledger. And a **culture of giving** is what makes all of it sustainable inside your
institution. The transformation at Leeds was as much cultural as technical: fundraising impact
stories moved into general alumni communications, and, as Jessica describes, "more people getting
invested in what we could do" meant "more money, more resource has been put into our digital
platforms." Our guide to [building a culture of giving](/canz/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/)
addresses the internal buy-in without which nothing else lasts.

## The role of data and AI

Digital fundraising generates something the older channels never did: instant, granular feedback
on what works. Emma at Manchester names it as one of the format's real advantages, and also its
recurring challenge: "this is one of the real opportunities of digital, right? We get this instant
data on what works and what doesn't. And I think like most of us, it's just finding the time to
actually look at that."

Using that data well starts with the basics: connect your giving platform to analytics and tag
your links, so you can see which channel produced each gift. Kat Carter's "number one metric" is
conversion, tracked end to end, so you know whether the money you spend turns into donations.
Beyond conversion lies segmentation: understanding which groups respond to which messages, so every
appeal lands better than the last. Our guide to
[using your data and segmentation](/canz/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) covers
analytics, tracking links and the segments worth building.

Sitting on top of good data is the newest layer, [AI in fundraising](/canz/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/),
which is increasingly used to draft and tailor copy, personalise donor journeys, summarise
engagement and surface the prospects most likely to give. AI is most useful when it accelerates
work you already understand, not when it stands in for a strategy you have not yet built. Our guide
sets out where it genuinely helps and where to be cautious.

## Where to start

If you are getting started, the advice from experienced practitioners is consistent and
refreshingly modest. Begin with email, because it is the easiest channel to manage, test and learn
from. Add a small social media budget alongside it if you can, so more than one channel
contributes. And anchor everything to something you are already doing: if you have a print appeal
in the pipeline, run an email and a social push alongside it rather than inventing a campaign from
scratch.

Before reaching for the newest tool, take a step back. Emma at Manchester advises a small,
stretched team to "really take a step back" and "go right back to basics to think about what your
leaders are expecting you to deliver," then "find the products that match what you are being asked
to do." She offers a reminder that lowers the barrier to entry considerably: "loads of this stuff
that we've used over the past couple of years have been free for us to use. We have not had an
increase in budget for any of this work." Much of digital fundraising is about redistributing
effort and reusing what you already have, not spending more.

Two further moves pay off early. First, prove the concept small and then make the case. York's
pattern, as Tom Piercy describes it, was to "do a really good job of it and then don't stop," and
to let senior leaders begin "celebrating our successes as their own." A modest pilot with clear
results is the most persuasive budget request you can make. Second, lean on colleagues outside your
immediate team. Emma is emphatic that Manchester's transformation "would simply not have happened
without our colleagues in our alumni comms team," whose expertise in content, channels and systems
was indispensable.

If you are maturing an existing programme, the priorities shift towards measurement and
integration: connect your platforms to analytics, fix the leaks in your donation pages, build
meaningful engagement KPIs alongside the financial ones, and design the journeys that carry a
first-time online donor towards a regular gift. And throughout, hold on to the lesson every
practitioner returns to. Digital does not retire your other channels. As Emma at Manchester puts
it: "Digital is not getting rid of telephone, it is not getting rid of print. Those things are
still performing really well for us. And it just adds an extra layer to our fundraising offer."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is digital fundraising, in one sentence?** It is raising money through online channels,
email, social media, video, web pages and giving forms, in a way that decentralises the ask and
lets supporters share your cause with their own networks. Some people call it social or personal
fundraising for exactly that reason.

**Does digital fundraising replace direct mail and the telephone?** No. The strongest programmes
treat digital as an additional layer that reaches new audiences and complements existing channels.
The telephone in particular remains the leading channel for acquiring and retaining regular givers,
and print continues to perform well.

**How much budget do I need to start?** Less than you might think. Email is inexpensive, and many
useful tools are free or already available within larger institutions. Several teams have run
significant digital transformations by redistributing existing budget rather than securing new
money.

**Which channel should I begin with?** Email. It is the easiest to set up, test and measure, and
the data you gather from it tells you how each audience responds before you scale up to a larger
campaign such as a Giving Day.

**How do I know if it is working?** Track conversion end to end by connecting your giving platform
to analytics and tagging your links. As a rule of thumb, if your donation form converts below 20
per cent of visitors, it is worth investigating. Look at engagement measures, opens, clicks and
shares, as well as income.

**What is the end goal?** A joined-up programme that acquires supporters, stewards them well, and
converts single gifts into regular ones, so that fundraising rests on a stable base of committed
donors rather than one-off appeals.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Digital fundraising starter kit](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Digital channel planner](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Fundraising tech checklist](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: what is digital fundraising?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [Educate Plus](https://www.educateplus.edu.au/)

See the full [links directory](/canz/en/links/) for more.

- [Was ist digitales Fundraising?](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/de/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (europe/de): Eine Einführung in das digitale Fundraising für gemeinnützige Organisationen und Institutionen, die erklärt, was es ist, welche Kampagnen und Kanäle es gibt, wie sie zusammenwirken und wo man anfangen sollte, mit Verweisen auf vertiefende Leitfäden zu jedem Thema.
Digitales Fundraising bedeutet im einfachsten Sinne, Geld über Online-Kanäle zu sammeln: E-Mail,
soziale Medien, Video, Webseiten und die dahinterstehenden Spendenformulare. Doch diese Definition
greift zu kurz. Hilfreicher ist es, digitales Fundraising so zu verstehen, dass es die Bitte
dezentralisiert. Statt dass ein zentrales Büro an eine Liste schreibt, gibt es den Unterstützenden
die Werkzeuge an die Hand, Ihre Sache zu teilen und in ihren eigenen Netzwerken Geld zu sammeln, und
es verschafft Ihrem Team einen Weg, Zielgruppen zu erreichen, die Direktmailing und Telefon nie
erreichen konnten. Man könnte es ebenso treffend soziales oder persönliches Fundraising nennen, denn
so vieles von dem, was es zum Funktionieren bringt, liegt in der Wärme einer Freundin oder eines
Freundes, der eine Freundin oder einen Freund bittet.

Dieser Leitfaden ist der Überblick. Er erklärt, was digitales Fundraising ist, welche
Kampagnenarten und welche Kanäle es antreiben, wie sie sich zu einem Programm summieren statt zu
einer Reihe einzelner Appelle, und wo ein Team beginnen sollte. Wo immer ein Thema eine
ausführlichere Behandlung verdient, verweisen wir auf einen vertiefenden Leitfaden. Betrachten Sie
diese Seite als die Landkarte und die Leitfäden, auf die sie verweist, als das Gelände. Viele der
Beispiele hier stammen von Fundraiserinnen und Fundraisern britischer Universitäten, die den Wechsel
zum Digitalen vollzogen haben, darunter Kat Carter von Hubbub, Tom Piercy von der University of York
sowie Kolleginnen und Kollegen in Leeds und Manchester.

## Warum digitales Fundraising heute zählt

Die Argumente für den Schritt ins Digitale sind nicht mehr theoretisch; die eigenen Daten der
Branche belegen sie. Kat Carter von Hubbub zeichnet das Bild: „Im jüngsten Status of UK Fundraising
Report von Blackbaud stimmten 60 % der Fachleute aus dem gemeinnützigen Bereich zu, dass die digitale
Transformation entscheidend für den Erfolg ist, dass Technologie eingesetzt werden muss, um die
Arbeitsweise von Organisationen zu verbessern, und dass auch Daten genutzt werden müssen, um die
Gesamtleistung zu steigern. Doch nur 12 % der Befragten bezeichneten sich selbst als digital reif.“

Diese Lücke, zwischen den vielen, die wissen, dass es darauf ankommt, und den wenigen, die das
Gefühl haben, es zu beherrschen, ist der Ort, an dem die meisten Teams stehen. Das Ermutigende ist,
was die Reife in der Regel mit sich bringt. Digital reife Organisationen, merkt Kat Carter an,
„erwiesen sich als wahrscheinlicher, mehr Unterstützende zu gewinnen, als sie verloren, optimistisch
zu sein, dass sie neue Zielgruppen erreichen würden, dass sie wirksamer im Umgang mit Veränderung
und agiler wären“. Nichts davon erfordert ein riesiges Budget. Es erfordert die richtigen
Fähigkeiten, die richtigen Systeme und die Führung, die sie trägt.

Die Institutionen, die diesen Wechsel vollzogen haben, beschreiben dieselbe Veränderung und denselben
Gewinn: Der Schritt ins Digitale ließ sie Zielgruppen erreichen, die sie zuvor nur mühsam ansprechen
konnten. An der University of York führte Tom Piercy einen Spendentag und ein digitales
Community-Programm neben den bestehenden Kanälen ein, und das Ergebnis war beeindruckend: „Es gab
eine Steigerung um 50 %, eigentlich 49,9 %, bei den Spenderzahlen“ in einem einzigen Jahr, ohne
Erhöhung des Betriebsbudgets. „Dabei geht es einfach nur darum, unsere Investitionen
umzuverteilen“, erklärt er. Die Bitte online zu stellen, machte auch interne Zielgruppen weit
leichter erreichbar. Die Spendenquote der Belegschaft von York, merkt Tom an, stieg „von 9 % auf
35 %, seit wir diese Änderung vorgenommen haben“. Das Digitale ersetzt nicht, was bereits
funktioniert. Es fügt eine Ebene hinzu, die andere Menschen anspricht und, gut gemacht, Ihnen
erlaubt, beträchtlich mehr zu sammeln.

## Die wichtigsten Kampagnenarten

Die meisten digitalen Programme bauen auf einer kleinen Reihe wiedererkennbarer Kampagnenformate
auf. Jedes passt zu einem anderen Ziel, einer anderen Zielgruppe und einem anderen
Ressourcenniveau, und die meisten Teams lassen zwei oder drei davon im Lauf des Jahres rotieren.

Ein **Spendentag** ist ein kurzer, intensiver, zentral geführter Vorstoß, meist über etwa
36 Stunden, der sich auf die eigenen Prioritäten Ihrer Institution konzentriert. Er machte in York
den größten Unterschied und wurde zur festen Größe, sobald er sich bewährt hatte. Tom Piercy
beschreibt, wie sich die Bereitschaft änderte: „Jetzt muss ich den Menschen in Führungspositionen
nicht einmal mehr davon erzählen. Sie kommen zu mir und fragen, wann der nächste Spendentag
stattfindet, was so anders ist als noch vor ein paar Jahren.“ Unser Leitfaden zu
[wie man einen Spendentag durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-giving-day/) behandelt Prognosen,
Matching-Finanzierung und den Ablauf.

Eine **Challenge-Woche** liegt zwischen einem Spendentag und Crowdfunding. Sie wird vom
Entwicklungsbüro geführt, doch das Fundraising übernehmen Clubs, Vereine und Gruppen für ihre eigenen
Anliegen, über etwa eine Woche. Sie ist eine nachsichtige Art, von Gleichgesinnten getragenes
Fundraising zu erproben und große Zahlen brandneuer Spenderinnen und Spender zu gewinnen, von denen
viele eher Freunde und Familie als Ehemalige sind. Unser Leitfaden zu
[wie man eine Challenge-Woche durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) führt durch
das Anwerben von Gruppen, ihre Schulung und das Aufsetzen der Matching-Anreize, die den Wettbewerb
antreiben.

**Crowdfunding** läuft das ganze Jahr über und gehört denen, die das Geld sammeln: Studierende,
Mitarbeitende oder Gemeinschaftsgruppen erstellen Projektseiten und mobilisieren ihre eigenen
Netzwerke. Viele Institutionen beginnen ihre digitale Reise hier. York „traf die Entscheidung, in
eine ganz eigene Crowdfunding-Plattform zu investieren“ bereits 2013-14, und in Leeds und Manchester
wurde eine Crowdfunding-Plattform zum Vehikel für Notfallappelle zur Studierendenunterstützung, als
die Pandemie zuschlug. Unser Leitfaden zu
[wie man eine Crowdfunding-Kampagne durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
zeigt, wie man Projekte aufsetzt, Projektverantwortliche gewinnt und den Schwung über einen längeren
Zeitraum hält.

Ein **Telefonappell** ist im strengen Sinne nicht digital, gehört aber ins Gespräch, weil er der
stärkste Kanal für etwas bleibt, das die digitalen Kanäle noch immer schwer finden: regelmäßige
Spenderinnen und Spender zu gewinnen und zu halten. Tom Piercy ist dazu in York offen: „Das Telefon
bleibt der Hauptbeitrag bei den neuen Dauerspenderinnen und -spendern. Das wird sich für uns nicht
wirklich ändern.“ Die Lehre daraus ist, dass Digitales und Telefon am besten zusammenarbeiten, wobei
das Digitale Einzelspendende gewinnt und das Telefon sie zu einer regelmäßigen Verpflichtung führt.
Unser Leitfaden zu
[wie man einen Telefonappell durchführt](/europe/de/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) behandelt
die Schulung der Anrufenden, die Segmentierung und die Bitte um Umwandlung.

## Die Kanäle, die sie antreiben

Unter den Kampagnen liegen die Kanäle: die alltäglichen Mittel, um Unterstützende zu erreichen und
zu gewinnen. Wenn Sie diese richtig nutzen, schneidet jede Kampagne besser ab.

**E-Mail** ist fast immer der richtige Ort zum Beginnen. Sie ist günstig, messbar und schnell zu
testen, und dort starten die meisten Teams. Gefragt, was ein kleines Team mit wenig Budget zuerst tun
sollte, zögert Tom Piercy nicht: „Ich denke, wäre ich in dieser Lage, das Erste, was ich täte, wäre,
E-Mail-Appelle einzuführen, denn sie sind recht leicht zu handhaben. Man kann die Segmentierung
einbauen, alle Ergebnisse verfolgen, sicherstellen, dass man weiß, wie jedes Segment reagiert, bevor
man das dann zu etwas Substanziellerem wie einem Spendentag ausbaut.“ Jessica in Leeds fügt eine
Anmerkung dazu hinzu, jede E-Mail ihren Platz verdienen zu lassen: „wie man das Meiste aus jeder
E-Mail herausholt und sie wirklich, wirklich hart arbeiten lässt“, indem man Daten erfasst und
Engagement fördert, nicht nur um Geld bittet. Unser Leitfaden zu
[E-Mail-Fundraising](/europe/de/guides/email-fundraising/) geht auf Segmentierung, Texte und die
lohnenswerten Systeme ein.

**Soziale Medien** verstärken alles andere und übergeben die Bitte im besten Fall Ihren
Unterstützenden. Das ist der Kern der Idee der Dezentralisierung: Menschen finden es schlicht „viel
leichter zu teilen und zu fragen, wenn es auf Facebook, Twitter oder Instagram ist“. Für viele Teams
ist es der am wenigsten entwickelte Kanal. In York nutzt Tom Piercy bezahlte soziale Medien, um
„alles andere zu begleiten, was wir tun“, führt A/B-Tests mit ein paar Hundert Pfund
Gesamtlaufzeitbudget durch und schaltet die schwächere Anzeige nach ein paar Tagen ab. Seine Warnung
ist beherzigenswert: York „hatte nicht die richtigen nachverfolgbaren Links eingerichtet“, um zu
sehen, wie viele von denen, die klickten, dann auch spendeten. Unser Leitfaden zu
[soziale Medien für das Fundraising](/europe/de/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) behandelt
organische und bezahlte Ansätze und das Tracking, das Ihnen sagt, ob sie funktioniert haben.

**Video und Storytelling** ist das, was eine digitale Bitte im großen Maßstab persönlich wirken
lässt. Manchester stützte sich dabei stark auf die Spenderpflege. So beschreibt es Emma in
Manchester: „Wir haben jede Menge Videoinhalte erstellt, damit die Menschen das Gefühl hatten,
persönlich angesprochen zu werden, direkt von den Begünstigten, denen sie gespendet hatten.“ Dasselbe
emotionale Förderanliegen, das ein Direktmailing-Paket antreibt, funktioniert online und trägt oft
weiter. Unser Leitfaden zu
[Video und Storytelling](/europe/de/guides/video-and-storytelling/) zeigt, wie man Geschichten
aufbaut, die Menschen bewegen, ohne ein Filmteam.

**Spendenseiten** sind der Ort, an dem Absicht zu Einnahmen wird, und sie sind der häufigste
Schwachpunkt. Kat Carter nennt dazu eine scharfe Zahl: „Schauen Sie sich die Conversion-Rate Ihres
Online-Spendenformulars an. Wenn sie unter 20 % liegt, ist es wahrscheinlich an der Zeit, ernsthaft
zu überlegen: Liefert das wirklich, was wir brauchen?“ Das Wort, das sie für alles verwendet, was
sich der spendenden Person in den Weg stellt, ist Reibung: „Sie wollen, dass die spendende Person
diese E-Mail erhält, aus der E-Mail heraus die Entscheidung zu spenden trifft, und die
Spendenplattform ist dann nur der letzte Ort, den sie aufsucht, um zu bestätigen, wie viel sie geben
möchte.“ Leeds sah den Unterschied, den eine gute Seite macht: Der Anteil der online erhaltenen
Spenden stieg von 15 % in 2018-19 auf 31 % in 2021. Unser Leitfaden zu
[Spendenseiten und Conversion](/europe/de/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) behandelt die
Verringerung von Reibung, sozialen Beweis und das Testen, das Ihre Conversion-Rate hebt.

## Wie es sich zu einem Programm fügt

Einzelne Kampagnen und Kanäle sind nicht das Ziel. Das Ziel ist ein Programm: ein verbundenes System,
das Unterstützende gewinnt, sie hält und Einzelspenden in regelmäßige verwandelt. Jessica in Leeds
beschreibt den Anspruch treffend. Das Ziel ist ein Kommunikationsplan, in dem „unsere Ehemaligen und
Spendenden oder andere Unterstützende nicht mit drei verschiedenen Bitten für drei verschiedene
Plattformen konfrontiert werden“, sondern stattdessen „einen wirklich verbundenen
Kommunikationsplan über alle Plattformen hinweg“ erleben, bei dem „das Einzige, was sich
unterscheidet, die Art ist, wie Sie mit uns in Kontakt treten, nicht das, womit Sie in Kontakt
treten“.

Das Ziel der meisten Programme ist eine gesunde Basis regelmäßiger Spenderinnen und Spender. Einzelne
Online-Spenden sind wertvoll, doch ein
[Dauerspendenprogramm](/europe/de/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) engagierter
Spendender ist das, was einer Fundraising-Tätigkeit ihre Stabilität verleiht. Jemanden von einer
ersten Online-Spende zu einer dauerhaften Verpflichtung zu bewegen, ist vor allem eine Frage von
Timing und Kanal. York baute rund um seinen Spendentag eigene Telefonsegmente auf, um „eine Bitte um
regelmäßiges Spenden statt einer Bitte um eine Einzelspende zu stellen“, und Manchester nutzte
Umwandlungsmailings und vereinfachte Lastschrift-Upgrades, um dasselbe zu erreichen.

Drei miteinander verbundene Disziplinen halten ein Programm zusammen. **Spenderpflege** ist die Art,
wie Sie Unterstützende zwischen den Bitten wertgeschätzt fühlen lassen, und sie ist zugleich eines der
besten Bindungsinstrumente, das Sie haben: Jessica in Leeds nennt Spenderpflege „eine so wirkungsvolle
Möglichkeit, Spendende zu halten“. Unser Leitfaden zu
[Spenderpflege und Spenderreisen](/europe/de/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) kartiert die
Kommunikation, die eine unterstützende Person von ihrer ersten Spende an erhält. **Gewinnung und
Bindung** ist das Gleichgewicht, das jedes Team finden muss, und das Digitale verändert seine
Gestalt, indem es Zielgruppen erschließt, wie Tom Piercy es ausdrückt, „die in der Vergangenheit
vielleicht nicht gespendet hatten, als wir ihnen Dinge per Post schickten oder versuchten, sie
telefonisch anzurufen“. Unser Leitfaden zu
[Gewinnung und Bindung von Spendenden](/europe/de/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) behandelt
beide Seiten der Bilanz. Und eine **Kultur des Gebens** ist das, was all dies in Ihrer Institution
nachhaltig macht. Der Wandel in Leeds war ebenso kulturell wie technisch: Geschichten über die
Wirkung des Fundraisings wanderten in die allgemeine Ehemaligenkommunikation, und, wie Jessica
beschreibt, bedeutete „mehr Menschen, die sich dafür einsetzten, was wir tun konnten“, dass „mehr
Geld, mehr Ressourcen in unsere digitalen Plattformen gesteckt wurden“. Unser Leitfaden zu
[eine Kultur des Gebens aufbauen](/europe/de/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) widmet sich der
internen Zustimmung, ohne die nichts anderes Bestand hat.

## Die Rolle von Daten und KI

Digitales Fundraising erzeugt etwas, das die älteren Kanäle nie boten: sofortige, fein aufgelöste
Rückmeldung darüber, was funktioniert. Emma in Manchester nennt es einen der echten Vorteile des
Formats und zugleich seine wiederkehrende Herausforderung: „Das ist eine der echten Chancen des
Digitalen, oder? Wir bekommen diese sofortigen Daten darüber, was funktioniert und was nicht. Und
ich glaube, wie den meisten von uns geht es einfach darum, die Zeit zu finden, sich das wirklich
anzusehen.“

Diese Daten gut zu nutzen, beginnt mit den Grundlagen: Verbinden Sie Ihre Spendenplattform mit
Analytik und markieren Sie Ihre Links, damit Sie sehen, welcher Kanal jede Spende hervorgebracht hat.
Kat Carters „Kennzahl Nummer eins“ ist die Conversion, von Anfang bis Ende verfolgt, damit Sie
wissen, ob das Geld, das Sie ausgeben, sich in Spenden verwandelt. Jenseits der Conversion liegt die
Segmentierung: zu verstehen, welche Gruppen auf welche Botschaften reagieren, damit jeder Appell
besser landet als der letzte. Unser Leitfaden zu
[Ihre Daten und Segmentierung nutzen](/europe/de/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) behandelt
Analytik, Tracking-Links und die Segmente, die sich zu bilden lohnen.

Auf guten Daten aufbauend liegt die neueste Ebene,
[KI im Fundraising](/europe/de/guides/ai-in-fundraising/), die zunehmend genutzt wird, um Texte zu
entwerfen und anzupassen, Spenderreisen zu personalisieren, Engagement zusammenzufassen und die
Interessentinnen und Interessenten hervorzuheben, die am ehesten spenden. KI ist am nützlichsten,
wenn sie Arbeit beschleunigt, die Sie bereits verstehen, nicht wenn sie für eine Strategie einsteht,
die Sie noch nicht aufgebaut haben. Unser Leitfaden legt dar, wo sie wirklich hilft und wo Vorsicht
geboten ist.

## Wo man anfangen sollte

Wenn Sie gerade erst beginnen, ist der Rat erfahrener Praktikerinnen und Praktiker einheitlich und
erfrischend bescheiden. Beginnen Sie mit E-Mail, weil sie der am leichtesten zu handhabende, zu
testende und aus dem zu lernende Kanal ist. Fügen Sie nach Möglichkeit ein kleines Budget für soziale
Medien hinzu, damit mehr als ein Kanal beiträgt. Und verankern Sie alles an etwas, das Sie bereits
tun: Wenn ein gedruckter Appell in Vorbereitung ist, führen Sie eine E-Mail und einen Vorstoß in den
sozialen Medien begleitend dazu durch, statt eine Kampagne von Grund auf zu erfinden.

Bevor Sie zum neuesten Werkzeug greifen, treten Sie einen Schritt zurück. Emma in Manchester rät
einem kleinen, überlasteten Team, „wirklich einen Schritt zurückzutreten“ und „ganz zu den
Grundlagen zurückzukehren, um darüber nachzudenken, was Ihre Führungskräfte von Ihnen erwarten“, und
dann „die Produkte zu finden, die zu dem passen, worum Sie gebeten werden“. Sie liefert eine
Erinnerung, die die Einstiegshürde erheblich senkt: „Vieles von dem, was wir in den letzten paar
Jahren genutzt haben, war für uns kostenlos. Wir hatten für keine dieser Arbeiten eine
Budgeterhöhung.“ Vieles am digitalen Fundraising besteht darin, Aufwand umzuverteilen und das
Vorhandene wiederzuverwenden, nicht darin, mehr auszugeben.

Zwei weitere Schritte zahlen sich früh aus. Erstens: Beweisen Sie das Konzept im Kleinen und machen
Sie dann die Argumente geltend. Yorks Muster, wie Tom Piercy es beschreibt, war, „die Sache wirklich
gut zu machen und dann nicht aufzuhören“ und die Führungskräfte beginnen zu lassen, „unsere Erfolge
als ihre eigenen zu feiern“. Ein bescheidenes Pilotprojekt mit klaren Ergebnissen ist die
überzeugendste Budgetanfrage, die Sie stellen können. Zweitens: Stützen Sie sich auf Kolleginnen und
Kollegen außerhalb Ihres unmittelbaren Teams. Emma ist nachdrücklich, dass der Wandel in Manchester
„schlicht nicht stattgefunden hätte ohne unsere Kolleginnen und Kollegen im Ehemaligen-Kommunikations-
team“, deren Sachverstand in Inhalten, Kanälen und Systemen unverzichtbar war.

Wenn Sie ein bestehendes Programm reifen lassen, verschieben sich die Prioritäten hin zu Messung und
Integration: Verbinden Sie Ihre Plattformen mit Analytik, stopfen Sie die Lecks in Ihren
Spendenseiten, bauen Sie aussagekräftige Engagement-Kennzahlen neben den finanziellen auf und
gestalten Sie die Reisen, die eine erstmals online spendende Person zu einer regelmäßigen Spende
tragen. Und halten Sie durchweg an der Lehre fest, zu der jede Praktikerin und jeder Praktiker
zurückkehrt. Das Digitale verabschiedet Ihre anderen Kanäle nicht in den Ruhestand. Wie Emma in
Manchester es ausdrückt: „Das Digitale schafft das Telefon nicht ab, es schafft den Druck nicht ab.
Diese Dinge laufen für uns immer noch wirklich gut. Es fügt unserem Fundraising-Angebot einfach eine
zusätzliche Ebene hinzu.“

## Häufig gestellte Fragen

**Was ist digitales Fundraising in einem Satz?** Es ist das Sammeln von Geld über Online-Kanäle,
E-Mail, soziale Medien, Video, Webseiten und Spendenformulare, auf eine Weise, die die Bitte
dezentralisiert und es Unterstützenden erlaubt, Ihre Sache mit ihren eigenen Netzwerken zu teilen.
Manche nennen es genau aus diesem Grund soziales oder persönliches Fundraising.

**Ersetzt digitales Fundraising Direktmailing und Telefon?** Nein. Die stärksten Programme behandeln
das Digitale als eine zusätzliche Ebene, die neue Zielgruppen erreicht und bestehende Kanäle
ergänzt. Besonders das Telefon bleibt der führende Kanal, um regelmäßige Spenderinnen und Spender zu
gewinnen und zu halten, und der Druck schneidet weiterhin gut ab.

**Wie viel Budget brauche ich zum Anfangen?** Weniger, als Sie vielleicht denken. E-Mail ist
preiswert, und viele nützliche Werkzeuge sind kostenlos oder in größeren Institutionen bereits
vorhanden. Mehrere Teams haben bedeutende digitale Transformationen durchgeführt, indem sie
bestehendes Budget umverteilten, statt neues Geld zu beschaffen.

**Mit welchem Kanal sollte ich beginnen?** Mit E-Mail. Sie ist am leichtesten einzurichten, zu testen
und zu messen, und die Daten, die Sie daraus gewinnen, sagen Ihnen, wie jede Zielgruppe reagiert,
bevor Sie zu einer größeren Kampagne wie einem Spendentag aufstocken.

**Woran erkenne ich, ob es funktioniert?** Verfolgen Sie die Conversion von Anfang bis Ende, indem
Sie Ihre Spendenplattform mit Analytik verbinden und Ihre Links markieren. Als Faustregel gilt: Wenn
Ihr Spendenformular weniger als 20 % der Besucherinnen und Besucher umwandelt, lohnt sich eine
Untersuchung. Betrachten Sie Engagement-Maße, Öffnungen, Klicks und Shares, ebenso wie Einnahmen.

**Was ist das Endziel?** Ein verbundenes Programm, das Unterstützende gewinnt, sie gut pflegt und
Einzelspenden in regelmäßige verwandelt, sodass das Fundraising auf einer stabilen Basis engagierter
Spendender ruht statt auf einmaligen Appellen.

---

### Ressourcenpaket für Mitglieder

Melden Sie sich mit Ihrer E-Mail an, um diese bearbeitbaren Vorlagen freizuschalten:

- [Starterkit für digitales Fundraising](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Planer für digitale Kanäle](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Checkliste für Fundraising-Technik](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Werkzeuge

- [Hubbubs Spendentag-Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modellieren Sie die wahrscheinlichen Ergebnisse, bevor Sie sich auf ein Ziel festlegen
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): schärfen Sie Ihre Appell- und E-Mail-Texte
- [QR-Code-Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): verbinden Sie persönliche Begegnungen direkt mit einer Spendenseite

### Weiterführende Lektüre

- [Hubbub-Blog: Was ist digitales Fundraising?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Hubbubs Webinare zum digitalen Fundraising](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Branchenverbände: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) und [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Im vollständigen [Linkverzeichnis](/europe/de/links/) finden Sie mehr.

- [What is digital fundraising?](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/en/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (europe/en): An introduction to digital fundraising for non-profits and institutions, explaining what it is, the main campaigns and channels, how they fit together, and where to start, with links to in-depth guides on each.
Digital fundraising is, at its simplest, raising money through online channels: email, social
media, video, web pages and the giving forms behind them. But that definition is too narrow. The
more useful way to think about it is that digital fundraising decentralises the ask. Instead of
one central office writing to a list, it gives supporters the tools to share your cause and raise
money from their own networks, and it gives your team a way to reach audiences that direct mail
and the telephone never could. It might just as accurately be called social or personal
fundraising, because so much of what makes it work is the warmth of a friend asking a friend.

This guide is the overview. It explains what digital fundraising is, the main campaign types and
the channels that power them, how they add up to a programme rather than a series of one-off
appeals, and where a team should start. Wherever a topic deserves fuller treatment, we link to an
in-depth guide. Think of this page as the map, and the guides it points to as the territory. Many
of the examples here come from fundraisers at UK universities who have made the shift to digital,
including Kat Carter of Hubbub, Tom Piercy at the University of York, and colleagues at Leeds and
Manchester.

## Why digital fundraising matters now

The case for going digital is no longer theoretical; the sector's own data makes it. Kat Carter of
Hubbub sets out the picture: "In the latest Status of UK Fundraising report from Blackbaud, 60% of
nonprofit professionals agreed that digital transformation is crucial to success, that technology
must be used to improve the way organizations operate, and that data must also be used to improve
overall performance. But only 12% of respondents described themselves as digitally mature."

That gap, between the many who know it matters and the few who feel they have mastered it, is
where most teams sit. The encouraging part is what maturity tends to bring. Digitally mature
organisations, Kat Carter notes, "were found to be more likely to gain more supporters than they
were losing, to be optimistic that they would reach new audiences, that they would be more
effective at managing change and being agile." None of that requires a vast budget. It requires
the right skills, the right systems and the leadership to back them.

The institutions that have made this shift describe the same change and the same prize: going
digital let them reach audiences they had previously struggled to touch. At the University of
York, Tom Piercy introduced a giving day and a digital community programme alongside the existing
channels, and the result was striking: "there was a 50%, it was actually a 49.9% increase in
donors numbers" in a single year, with no rise in the operating budget. "This is all just about
redistributing our investment," he explains. Bringing the ask online also made internal audiences
far easier to reach. York's staff giving rate, Tom notes, went "from 9% to 35% since we made that
change." Digital does not replace what already works. It adds a layer that engages different
people and, done well, lets you raise considerably more.

## The main campaign types

Most digital programmes are built from a small set of recognisable campaign formats. Each suits a
different goal, audience and level of resource, and most teams run two or three of them in
rotation through the year.

A **Giving Day** is a short, intense, centrally led push, usually around 36 hours, focused on your
institution's own priorities. It made the biggest difference at York, and became a fixture once it
proved itself. Tom Piercy describes how the appetite changed: "now, I don't even need to tell
people about it in senior positions. They're coming to me asking when the next Giving Day is,
which is so different to where we were a few years ago." Our guide to
[how to run a Giving Day](/europe/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) covers forecasting, match funding
and the run of play.

A **Challenge Week** sits between a Giving Day and crowdfunding. It is led by the development
office, but the fundraising is done by clubs, societies and groups for their own causes, over
roughly a week. It is a forgiving way to trial peer-led fundraising and to bring in large numbers
of brand-new donors, many of them friends and family rather than alumni. Our guide to
[how to run a Challenge Week](/europe/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) walks through recruiting
groups, training them and running the match-funding incentives that drive the competition.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is owned by the people raising the money: students, staff or
community groups create project pages and rally their own networks. Many institutions begin their
digital journey here. York "made the decision to invest in our very own crowdfunding platform" as
far back as 2013-14, and at Leeds and Manchester a crowdfunding platform became the vehicle for
emergency student-support appeals when the pandemic hit. Our guide to
[how to run a crowdfunding campaign](/europe/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) shows how to
set up projects, recruit project owners and keep momentum going across a longer timeframe.

A **telephone appeal** is not digital in the strict sense, but it belongs in the conversation
because it remains the strongest channel for one thing the digital channels still find hard:
converting and retaining regular givers. Tom Piercy is candid about this at York: "telephone still
being the main contributor in terms of new regular donors. That's not really going to change for
us." The lesson is that digital and telephone work best together, with digital acquiring
single-gift donors and the phone converting them to a regular commitment. Our guide to
[how to run a telephone appeal](/europe/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) covers caller training,
segmentation and the conversion ask.

## The channels that power them

Underneath the campaigns sit the channels: the day-to-day means of reaching and converting
supporters. Get these right and every campaign performs better.

**Email** is almost always the right place to begin. It is cheap, measurable and quick to test,
and it is where most teams start. Asked what a small team with little budget should do first, Tom
Piercy does not hesitate: "I think if I was in this position, the first thing I would do is
introduce email appeals, because they're quite easy to manage. You can build in the segmentation,
track all the results, make sure you know how each segment's responding before you then scale that
up into something more substantial like a giving day." Jessica at Leeds adds a note about making
each email earn its place: "how do you make the most out of every email and just be really, really
working them hard," capturing data and driving engagement, not only asking for money. Our guide to
[email fundraising](/europe/en/guides/email-fundraising/) goes into segmentation, copy and the systems
worth using.

**Social media** amplifies everything else and, at its best, hands the ask to your supporters.
This is the heart of the decentralising idea: people simply "find it a lot easier to share and ask
when it's on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram." For many teams it is the least developed channel.
At York, Tom Piercy uses paid social to "accompany anything else that we're doing," running A/B
tests on a few hundred pounds of lifetime budget and switching off the underperforming advert
after a couple of days. His warning is worth heeding: York had "not had the right trackable links
in place" to see how many of those who clicked went on to give. Our guide to
[social media for fundraising](/europe/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) covers organic and
paid approaches, and the tracking that tells you whether they worked.

**Video and storytelling** is what makes a digital ask feel personal at scale. Manchester leaned
on it heavily for stewardship. As Emma at Manchester describes it: "We created loads of video
content so that people felt they were being spoken to in a personal way, direct from beneficiaries
that they'd given to." The same emotive case for support that powers a direct mail pack works
online, and often travels further. Our guide to
[video and storytelling](/europe/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) shows how to build stories that
move people without a film crew.

**Donation pages** are where intention becomes income, and they are the most common point of
failure. Kat Carter puts a sharp number on it: "look at the conversion rate on your online giving
form. If it's anything below 20%, it's probably time to really consider, is that really delivering
what we need?" The word she uses for everything that gets in the donor's way is friction: "You
want the donor to get that email, make that decision to give from the email, and then the donation
platform is just the last place they go to confirm how much they want to give." Leeds saw the
difference a good page makes, with the share of gifts received online rising from 15 per cent in
2018-19 to 31 per cent in 2021. Our guide to
[donation pages and conversion](/europe/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) covers reducing
friction, social proof and the testing that lifts your conversion rate.

## How it adds up to a programme

Individual campaigns and channels are not the goal. The goal is a programme: a joined-up system
that acquires supporters, retains them, and turns single gifts into regular ones. Jessica at Leeds
describes the ambition well. The aim is a communications plan where "our alumni and donors or other
supporters aren't faced with three different asks for three different platforms," but instead
experience "a really joined up communication plan across all platforms," where "all that's
different is how you're engaging with us, not what you're engaging with."

The destination for most programmes is a healthy base of regular givers. Single online gifts are
valuable, but a [regular giving programme](/europe/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) of
committed donors is what gives a fundraising operation its stability. Moving someone from a first
online gift to a standing commitment is mostly a question of timing and channel. York built
dedicated telephone segments around its giving day to "make a regular giving ask instead of a
single ask," and Manchester used conversion mailings and streamlined direct-debit upgrades to do
the same.

Three connected disciplines hold a programme together. **Donor stewardship** is how you keep
supporters feeling valued between asks, and it is also one of the best retention tools you have:
Jessica at Leeds calls stewardship "such a powerful way to be able to retain donors." Our guide to
[donor stewardship and journeys](/europe/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) maps the
communications a supporter receives from their first gift onwards. **Acquisition and retention** is
the balance every team has to strike, and digital changes its shape, opening up audiences, as Tom
Piercy puts it, "that maybe hadn't donated in the past when we were sending them stuff in the post
or trying to call them up over the phone." Our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/europe/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) covers both sides
of the ledger. And a **culture of giving** is what makes all of it sustainable inside your
institution. The transformation at Leeds was as much cultural as technical: fundraising impact
stories moved into general alumni communications, and, as Jessica describes, "more people getting
invested in what we could do" meant "more money, more resource has been put into our digital
platforms." Our guide to [building a culture of giving](/europe/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/)
addresses the internal buy-in without which nothing else lasts.

## The role of data and AI

Digital fundraising generates something the older channels never did: instant, granular feedback
on what works. Emma at Manchester names it as one of the format's real advantages, and also its
recurring challenge: "this is one of the real opportunities of digital, right? We get this instant
data on what works and what doesn't. And I think like most of us, it's just finding the time to
actually look at that."

Using that data well starts with the basics: connect your giving platform to analytics and tag
your links, so you can see which channel produced each gift. Kat Carter's "number one metric" is
conversion, tracked end to end, so you know whether the money you spend turns into donations.
Beyond conversion lies segmentation: understanding which groups respond to which messages, so every
appeal lands better than the last. Our guide to
[using your data and segmentation](/europe/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) covers
analytics, tracking links and the segments worth building.

Sitting on top of good data is the newest layer, [AI in fundraising](/europe/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/),
which is increasingly used to draft and tailor copy, personalise donor journeys, summarise
engagement and surface the prospects most likely to give. AI is most useful when it accelerates
work you already understand, not when it stands in for a strategy you have not yet built. Our guide
sets out where it genuinely helps and where to be cautious.

## Where to start

If you are getting started, the advice from experienced practitioners is consistent and
refreshingly modest. Begin with email, because it is the easiest channel to manage, test and learn
from. Add a small social media budget alongside it if you can, so more than one channel
contributes. And anchor everything to something you are already doing: if you have a print appeal
in the pipeline, run an email and a social push alongside it rather than inventing a campaign from
scratch.

Before reaching for the newest tool, take a step back. Emma at Manchester advises a small,
stretched team to "really take a step back" and "go right back to basics to think about what your
leaders are expecting you to deliver," then "find the products that match what you are being asked
to do." She offers a reminder that lowers the barrier to entry considerably: "loads of this stuff
that we've used over the past couple of years have been free for us to use. We have not had an
increase in budget for any of this work." Much of digital fundraising is about redistributing
effort and reusing what you already have, not spending more.

Two further moves pay off early. First, prove the concept small and then make the case. York's
pattern, as Tom Piercy describes it, was to "do a really good job of it and then don't stop," and
to let senior leaders begin "celebrating our successes as their own." A modest pilot with clear
results is the most persuasive budget request you can make. Second, lean on colleagues outside your
immediate team. Emma is emphatic that Manchester's transformation "would simply not have happened
without our colleagues in our alumni comms team," whose expertise in content, channels and systems
was indispensable.

If you are maturing an existing programme, the priorities shift towards measurement and
integration: connect your platforms to analytics, fix the leaks in your donation pages, build
meaningful engagement KPIs alongside the financial ones, and design the journeys that carry a
first-time online donor towards a regular gift. And throughout, hold on to the lesson every
practitioner returns to. Digital does not retire your other channels. As Emma at Manchester puts
it: "Digital is not getting rid of telephone, it is not getting rid of print. Those things are
still performing really well for us. And it just adds an extra layer to our fundraising offer."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is digital fundraising, in one sentence?** It is raising money through online channels,
email, social media, video, web pages and giving forms, in a way that decentralises the ask and
lets supporters share your cause with their own networks. Some people call it social or personal
fundraising for exactly that reason.

**Does digital fundraising replace direct mail and the telephone?** No. The strongest programmes
treat digital as an additional layer that reaches new audiences and complements existing channels.
The telephone in particular remains the leading channel for acquiring and retaining regular givers,
and print continues to perform well.

**How much budget do I need to start?** Less than you might think. Email is inexpensive, and many
useful tools are free or already available within larger institutions. Several teams have run
significant digital transformations by redistributing existing budget rather than securing new
money.

**Which channel should I begin with?** Email. It is the easiest to set up, test and measure, and
the data you gather from it tells you how each audience responds before you scale up to a larger
campaign such as a Giving Day.

**How do I know if it is working?** Track conversion end to end by connecting your giving platform
to analytics and tagging your links. As a rule of thumb, if your donation form converts below 20
per cent of visitors, it is worth investigating. Look at engagement measures, opens, clicks and
shares, as well as income.

**What is the end goal?** A joined-up programme that acquires supporters, stewards them well, and
converts single gifts into regular ones, so that fundraising rests on a stable base of committed
donors rather than one-off appeals.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Digital fundraising starter kit](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Digital channel planner](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Fundraising tech checklist](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: what is digital fundraising?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

See the full [links directory](/europe/en/links/) for more.

- [¿Qué es la captación de fondos digital?](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/es/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (europe/es): Una introducción a la captación de fondos digital para organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro e instituciones, que explica qué es, las principales campañas y canales, cómo encajan entre sí y por dónde empezar, con enlaces a guías detalladas sobre cada tema.
La captación de fondos digital consiste, en su forma más sencilla, en recaudar dinero a través de
canales en línea: correo electrónico, redes sociales, vídeo, páginas web y los formularios de
donación que hay detrás. Pero esa definición es demasiado estrecha. La manera más útil de entenderla
es que la captación de fondos digital descentraliza la petición. En lugar de que una única oficina
central escriba a una lista, pone en manos de los seguidores las herramientas para compartir vuestra
causa y recaudar dinero entre sus propias redes, y ofrece a vuestro equipo una forma de llegar a
públicos que el correo directo y el teléfono nunca pudieron alcanzar. Podría llamarse, con la misma
exactitud, captación social o personal, porque gran parte de lo que la hace funcionar reside en la
calidez de un amigo que pide a un amigo.

Esta guía es la panorámica. Explica qué es la captación de fondos digital, los principales tipos de
campaña y los canales que los impulsan, cómo se suman para formar un programa en lugar de una serie
de llamamientos aislados, y por dónde debería empezar un equipo. Siempre que un tema merece un
tratamiento más completo, remitimos a una guía detallada. Pensad en esta página como el mapa, y en
las guías a las que apunta como el territorio. Muchos de los ejemplos que aquí se recogen proceden de
captadores de fondos de universidades británicas que han dado el salto a lo digital, entre ellos Kat
Carter de Hubbub, Tom Piercy de la Universidad de York, y colegas de Leeds y Manchester.

## Por qué la captación de fondos digital importa ahora

Los argumentos a favor de dar el salto a lo digital ya no son teóricos; lo demuestran los propios
datos del sector. Kat Carter de Hubbub traza el panorama: «En el último informe Status of UK
Fundraising de Blackbaud, el 60 % de los profesionales del sector sin ánimo de lucro coincidía en que
la transformación digital es crucial para el éxito, en que la tecnología debe usarse para mejorar la
forma en que operan las organizaciones, y en que los datos también deben servir para mejorar el
rendimiento general. Pero solo el 12 % de los encuestados se describía a sí mismo como digitalmente
maduro».

Esa brecha, entre los muchos que saben que importa y los pocos que sienten haberlo dominado, es donde
se sitúa la mayoría de los equipos. Lo alentador es lo que la madurez suele traer consigo. Las
organizaciones digitalmente maduras, señala Kat Carter, «resultaron ser más propensas a ganar más
seguidores de los que perdían, a ser optimistas sobre alcanzar nuevos públicos, sobre ser más
eficaces en la gestión del cambio y más ágiles». Nada de eso exige un presupuesto enorme. Exige las
competencias adecuadas, los sistemas adecuados y el liderazgo que los respalde.

Las instituciones que han dado este salto describen el mismo cambio y la misma recompensa: pasar a lo
digital les permitió llegar a públicos a los que antes les costaba acceder. En la Universidad de
York, Tom Piercy introdujo una jornada de donación y un programa de comunidad digital junto a los
canales existentes, y el resultado fue llamativo: «hubo un aumento del 50 %, en realidad del 49,9 %,
en el número de donantes» en un solo año, sin incremento del presupuesto operativo. «Esto consiste
simplemente en redistribuir nuestra inversión», explica. Llevar la petición al ámbito en línea
también hizo que los públicos internos fueran mucho más fáciles de alcanzar. La tasa de donación del
personal de York, observa Tom, pasó «del 9 % al 35 % desde que hicimos ese cambio». Lo digital no
sustituye lo que ya funciona. Añade una capa que implica a personas distintas y, bien hecho, os
permite recaudar considerablemente más.

## Los principales tipos de campaña

La mayoría de los programas digitales se construyen a partir de un pequeño conjunto de formatos de
campaña reconocibles. Cada uno se adecúa a un objetivo, un público y un nivel de recursos distintos,
y la mayoría de los equipos hacen rotar dos o tres de ellos a lo largo del año.

Una **jornada de donación** es un impulso breve, intenso y dirigido de forma central, normalmente de
unas 36 horas, centrado en las prioridades propias de vuestra institución. Fue lo que marcó la mayor
diferencia en York, y se convirtió en una cita fija una vez que demostró su valía. Tom Piercy
describe cómo cambió el interés: «ahora ni siquiera necesito hablarles de ello a las personas en
puestos de alta dirección. Son ellas las que vienen a preguntarme cuándo será la próxima jornada de
donación, lo cual es muy distinto de donde estábamos hace unos años». Nuestra guía sobre
[cómo organizar una jornada de donación](/europe/es/guides/running-a-giving-day/) cubre las
previsiones, la financiación de contrapartida y el desarrollo.

Una **semana del reto** se sitúa entre una jornada de donación y el micromecenazgo. La dirige la
oficina de desarrollo, pero la captación la realizan clubes, asociaciones y grupos para sus propias
causas, a lo largo de aproximadamente una semana. Es una forma indulgente de probar la captación
liderada por iguales y de atraer a grandes cantidades de donantes completamente nuevos, muchos de
ellos amigos y familiares más que antiguos alumnos. Nuestra guía sobre
[cómo organizar una semana del reto](/europe/es/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) repasa el
reclutamiento de grupos, su formación y la gestión de los incentivos de contrapartida que alimentan
la competición.

El **micromecenazgo** se desarrolla durante todo el año y pertenece a quienes recaudan el dinero:
estudiantes, personal o grupos de la comunidad crean páginas de proyecto y movilizan sus propias
redes. Muchas instituciones inician aquí su andadura digital. York «tomó la decisión de invertir en
su propia plataforma de micromecenazgo» ya en 2013-14, y en Leeds y Manchester una plataforma de
micromecenazgo se convirtió en el vehículo para llamamientos de emergencia de apoyo al estudiantado
cuando golpeó la pandemia. Nuestra guía sobre
[cómo llevar a cabo una campaña de micromecenazgo](/europe/es/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
muestra cómo configurar los proyectos, reclutar a los responsables de proyecto y mantener el impulso
a lo largo de un período más extenso.

Un **llamamiento telefónico** no es digital en sentido estricto, pero forma parte de la conversación
porque sigue siendo el canal más potente para algo que a los canales digitales todavía les resulta
difícil: convertir y fidelizar a los donantes regulares. Tom Piercy es franco al respecto en York:
«el teléfono sigue siendo el principal contribuyente en cuanto a nuevos donantes regulares. Eso no va
a cambiar realmente para nosotros». La lección es que lo digital y el teléfono funcionan mejor juntos,
con lo digital captando donantes puntuales y el teléfono convirtiéndolos en un compromiso regular.
Nuestra guía sobre
[cómo llevar a cabo un llamamiento telefónico](/europe/es/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) cubre
la formación de los operadores, la segmentación y la petición de conversión.

## Los canales que los impulsan

Bajo las campañas se encuentran los canales: los medios cotidianos para llegar a los seguidores y
convertirlos. Si los manejáis bien, cada campaña rendirá mejor.

El **correo electrónico** es casi siempre el lugar adecuado por donde empezar. Es barato, medible y
rápido de probar, y es donde arranca la mayoría de los equipos. Preguntado qué debería hacer primero
un equipo pequeño con poco presupuesto, Tom Piercy no duda: «Creo que, si estuviera en esta
situación, lo primero que haría sería introducir llamamientos por correo electrónico, porque son
bastante fáciles de gestionar. Puedes incorporar la segmentación, hacer seguimiento de todos los
resultados, asegurarte de saber cómo responde cada segmento antes de escalar eso hacia algo más
sustancial como una jornada de donación». Jessica, en Leeds, añade una nota sobre hacer que cada
correo se gane su lugar: «cómo sacar el máximo partido de cada correo y hacerlos trabajar de verdad,
de verdad, a fondo», recogiendo datos e impulsando la participación, no solo pidiendo dinero. Nuestra
guía sobre [la captación de fondos por correo electrónico](/europe/es/guides/email-fundraising/)
profundiza en la segmentación, los textos y los sistemas que merece la pena usar.

Las **redes sociales** amplifican todo lo demás y, en el mejor de los casos, ponen la petición en
manos de vuestros seguidores. Es el corazón de la idea de descentralización: a la gente sencillamente
le «resulta mucho más fácil compartir y pedir cuando está en Facebook, Twitter o Instagram». Para
muchos equipos es el canal menos desarrollado. En York, Tom Piercy usa las redes sociales de pago
para «acompañar cualquier otra cosa que estemos haciendo», realizando pruebas A/B con unos pocos
cientos de libras de presupuesto total y desactivando el anuncio de peor rendimiento al cabo de un
par de días. Su advertencia merece atenderse: York «no había puesto en marcha los enlaces rastreables
adecuados» para ver cuántos de quienes hicieron clic acabaron donando. Nuestra guía sobre
[las redes sociales para la captación de fondos](/europe/es/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/)
cubre los enfoques orgánico y de pago, y el seguimiento que os dice si funcionaron.

El **vídeo y la narración** son lo que hace que una petición digital resulte personal a gran escala.
Manchester se apoyó mucho en ello para el cuidado de los donantes. Como lo describe Emma, en
Manchester: «Creamos muchísimo contenido en vídeo para que la gente sintiera que se le hablaba de
forma personal, directamente desde los beneficiarios a los que habían donado». El mismo argumento
emotivo que impulsa un paquete de correo directo funciona en línea, y a menudo llega más lejos.
Nuestra guía sobre [vídeo y narración](/europe/es/guides/video-and-storytelling/) muestra cómo
construir historias que conmuevan a la gente sin un equipo de rodaje.

Las **páginas de donación** son donde la intención se convierte en ingresos, y son el punto de fallo
más común. Kat Carter pone una cifra contundente: «mirad la tasa de conversión de vuestro formulario
de donación en línea. Si está por debajo del 20 %, probablemente sea momento de plantearse en serio:
¿está dando esto realmente lo que necesitamos?». La palabra que emplea para todo lo que se interpone
en el camino del donante es fricción: «Quieres que el donante reciba ese correo, tome la decisión de
donar a partir del correo, y entonces la plataforma de donación es solo el último lugar al que acude
para confirmar cuánto quiere dar». Leeds vio la diferencia que marca una buena página, con la
proporción de donaciones recibidas en línea pasando del 15 % en 2018-19 al 31 % en 2021. Nuestra
guía sobre [las páginas de donación y la conversión](/europe/es/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/)
trata la reducción de la fricción, la prueba social y los tests que elevan vuestra tasa de
conversión.

## Cómo se suma para formar un programa

Las campañas y los canales por separado no son el objetivo. El objetivo es un programa: un sistema
integrado que capta seguidores, los fideliza y convierte las donaciones puntuales en regulares.
Jessica, en Leeds, describe bien la aspiración. La meta es un plan de comunicación en el que «nuestros
antiguos alumnos y donantes u otros seguidores no se encuentren ante tres peticiones distintas para
tres plataformas distintas», sino que vivan en cambio «un plan de comunicación verdaderamente
integrado en todas las plataformas», en el que «lo único que cambia es la forma en que te relacionas
con nosotros, no aquello con lo que te relacionas».

El destino de la mayoría de los programas es una base sólida de donantes regulares. Las donaciones
puntuales en línea son valiosas, pero un
[programa de donación regular](/europe/es/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) de donantes
comprometidos es lo que da estabilidad a una operación de captación. Llevar a alguien de una primera
donación en línea a un compromiso permanente es sobre todo una cuestión de momento y de canal. York
construyó segmentos telefónicos específicos en torno a su jornada de donación para «hacer una
petición de donación regular en lugar de una petición única», y Manchester usó envíos de conversión y
pasos simplificados a la domiciliación bancaria para lograr lo mismo.

Tres disciplinas conectadas mantienen unido un programa. El **cuidado de los donantes** es la manera
en que hacéis que los seguidores se sientan valorados entre una petición y otra, y es además una de
las mejores herramientas de retención que tenéis: Jessica, en Leeds, califica el cuidado de los
donantes como «una forma tan poderosa de poder retener a los donantes». Nuestra guía sobre
[el cuidado de los donantes y los recorridos](/europe/es/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
mapea las comunicaciones que un seguidor recibe desde su primera donación en adelante. La
**captación y retención** es el equilibrio que cada equipo debe lograr, y lo digital modifica su
forma, abriendo públicos, como dice Tom Piercy, «que quizá no habían donado en el pasado, cuando les
enviábamos cosas por correo postal o intentábamos llamarlos por teléfono». Nuestra guía sobre
[la captación y retención de donantes](/europe/es/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) cubre
ambos lados del balance. Y una **cultura de la donación** es lo que hace que todo ello sea sostenible
dentro de vuestra institución. La transformación en Leeds fue tan cultural como técnica: las
historias de impacto de la captación de fondos pasaron a las comunicaciones generales con los
antiguos alumnos, y, como describe Jessica, que «más gente se implicara en lo que podíamos hacer»
significó que «se dedicara más dinero, más recursos a nuestras plataformas digitales». Nuestra guía
sobre [construir una cultura de la donación](/europe/es/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) aborda
la adhesión interna sin la cual nada más perdura.

## El papel de los datos y la IA

La captación de fondos digital genera algo que los canales más antiguos nunca produjeron: una
respuesta instantánea y granular sobre lo que funciona. Emma, en Manchester, lo señala como una de
las verdaderas ventajas del formato, y también como su reto recurrente: «esta es una de las
verdaderas oportunidades de lo digital, ¿verdad? Obtenemos estos datos instantáneos sobre lo que
funciona y lo que no. Y creo que, como a la mayoría de nosotros, lo que cuesta es simplemente
encontrar el tiempo para mirarlos de verdad».

Usar bien esos datos empieza por lo básico: conectad vuestra plataforma de donación a herramientas de
análisis y etiquetad vuestros enlaces, para que podáis ver qué canal produjo cada donación. La
«métrica número uno» de Kat Carter es la conversión, rastreada de principio a fin, para que sepáis si
el dinero que gastáis se convierte en donaciones. Más allá de la conversión está la segmentación:
comprender qué grupos responden a qué mensajes, de modo que cada llamamiento llegue mejor que el
anterior. Nuestra guía sobre
[usar tus datos y la segmentación](/europe/es/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) cubre el
análisis, los enlaces de seguimiento y los segmentos que merece la pena construir.

Sobre unos buenos datos se asienta la capa más reciente,
[la IA en la captación de fondos](/europe/es/guides/ai-in-fundraising/), cada vez más utilizada para
redactar y adaptar textos, personalizar los recorridos de los donantes, resumir la participación y
hacer aflorar a los posibles donantes con más probabilidad de dar. La IA es más útil cuando acelera
un trabajo que ya entendéis, no cuando sustituye a una estrategia que aún no habéis construido.
Nuestra guía expone dónde ayuda de verdad y dónde conviene ser prudente.

## Por dónde empezar

Si estáis empezando, el consejo de los profesionales con experiencia es coherente y de una modestia
refrescante. Empezad por el correo electrónico, porque es el canal más fácil de gestionar, probar y
del que aprender. Añadidle un pequeño presupuesto de redes sociales si podéis, para que contribuya
más de un canal. Y anclad todo a algo que ya estéis haciendo: si tenéis un llamamiento impreso en
preparación, lanzad un correo y un impulso en redes junto a él en lugar de inventaros una campaña
desde cero.

Antes de lanzaros a por la herramienta más nueva, dad un paso atrás. Emma, en Manchester, aconseja a
un equipo pequeño y sobrecargado «dar de verdad un paso atrás» y «volver justo a lo básico para
pensar en lo que vuestros líderes esperan que entreguéis», y luego «encontrar los productos que
encajen con lo que os están pidiendo que hagáis». Ofrece un recordatorio que rebaja considerablemente
la barrera de entrada: «gran parte de lo que hemos usado en los últimos dos años ha sido gratuito
para nosotros. No hemos tenido ningún aumento de presupuesto para nada de este trabajo». Gran parte
de la captación de fondos digital consiste en redistribuir el esfuerzo y reutilizar lo que ya tenéis,
no en gastar más.

Otros dos movimientos dan fruto pronto. Primero, demostrad el concepto a pequeña escala y luego
defended la causa. La pauta de York, como la describe Tom Piercy, era «hacer un trabajo realmente
bueno y luego no parar» y dejar que los altos cargos empezaran a «celebrar nuestros éxitos como
propios». Un piloto modesto con resultados claros es la solicitud de presupuesto más convincente que
podéis presentar. Segundo, apoyaos en colegas ajenos a vuestro equipo inmediato. Emma es tajante al
afirmar que la transformación de Manchester «sencillamente no habría ocurrido sin nuestros colegas
del equipo de comunicación con antiguos alumnos», cuya pericia en contenidos, canales y sistemas fue
indispensable.

Si estáis madurando un programa ya existente, las prioridades se desplazan hacia la medición y la
integración: conectad vuestras plataformas a herramientas de análisis, tapad las fugas de vuestras
páginas de donación, construid KPI de participación significativos junto a los financieros, y diseñad
los recorridos que llevan a un donante primerizo en línea hacia una donación regular. Y en todo
momento, mantened la lección a la que vuelve cada profesional. Lo digital no jubila vuestros demás
canales. Como dice Emma, en Manchester: «Lo digital no está eliminando el teléfono, no está
eliminando el papel impreso. Esas cosas siguen rindiendo muy bien para nosotros. Simplemente añade
una capa extra a nuestra oferta de captación».

## Preguntas frecuentes

**¿Qué es la captación de fondos digital, en una frase?** Es recaudar dinero a través de canales en
línea, correo electrónico, redes sociales, vídeo, páginas web y formularios de donación, de un modo
que descentraliza la petición y permite a los seguidores compartir vuestra causa con sus propias
redes. Algunos la llaman captación social o personal precisamente por esa razón.

**¿La captación de fondos digital sustituye al correo directo y al teléfono?** No. Los programas más
sólidos tratan lo digital como una capa adicional que llega a nuevos públicos y complementa los
canales existentes. El teléfono en particular sigue siendo el canal de referencia para captar y
fidelizar a los donantes regulares, y el papel impreso continúa rindiendo bien.

**¿Cuánto presupuesto necesito para empezar?** Menos de lo que podríais pensar. El correo electrónico
es económico, y muchas herramientas útiles son gratuitas o ya están disponibles dentro de las
instituciones más grandes. Varios equipos han llevado a cabo transformaciones digitales importantes
redistribuyendo el presupuesto existente en lugar de conseguir fondos nuevos.

**¿Con qué canal debería empezar?** Con el correo electrónico. Es el más fácil de configurar, probar
y medir, y los datos que obtenéis de él os dicen cómo responde cada público antes de que escaléis
hacia una campaña mayor, como una jornada de donación.

**¿Cómo sé si está funcionando?** Rastread la conversión de principio a fin conectando vuestra
plataforma de donación a herramientas de análisis y etiquetando vuestros enlaces. Como regla general,
si vuestro formulario de donación convierte menos del 20 % de los visitantes, conviene investigarlo.
Fijaos en las medidas de participación, aperturas, clics y compartidos, además de los ingresos.

**¿Cuál es el objetivo final?** Un programa integrado que capta seguidores, los cuida bien y convierte
las donaciones puntuales en regulares, de modo que la captación de fondos descanse sobre una base
estable de donantes comprometidos en lugar de sobre llamamientos aislados.

---

### Paquete de recursos para miembros

Inicia sesión con tu correo electrónico para desbloquear estas plantillas editables:

- [Kit de inicio para la captación de fondos digital](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Planificador de canales digitales](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Lista de verificación de tecnología para la captación de fondos](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Herramientas

- [El simulador de jornada de donación de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modela los resultados probables antes de comprometerte con un objetivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): afina los textos de tus llamamientos y correos
- [Generador de códigos QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): conecta los momentos presenciales directamente con una página de donación

### Lecturas adicionales

- [Blog de Hubbub: ¿qué es la captación de fondos digital?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Los seminarios web de captación de fondos digital de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Organismos del sector: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) y [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta el [directorio de enlaces](/europe/es/links/) completo para saber más.

- [Qu'est-ce que la collecte de fonds numérique ?](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/fr/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (europe/fr): Une introduction à la collecte de fonds numérique pour les organisations à but non lucratif et les institutions, expliquant ce qu'elle est, les principales campagnes et canaux, comment ils s'articulent et par où commencer, avec des liens vers des guides approfondis sur chacun.
La collecte de fonds numérique consiste, dans sa forme la plus simple, à récolter de l'argent par
des canaux en ligne : courriel, réseaux sociaux, vidéo, pages web et les formulaires de don qui les
accompagnent. Mais cette définition est trop étroite. La manière la plus utile d'y penser est que la
collecte de fonds numérique décentralise la demande. Au lieu qu'un seul bureau central écrive à une
liste, elle donne aux soutiens les outils pour partager votre cause et récolter de l'argent auprès
de leurs propres réseaux, et elle offre à votre équipe un moyen d'atteindre des publics que le
publipostage et le téléphone n'ont jamais pu toucher. On pourrait tout aussi justement l'appeler
collecte sociale ou personnelle, car une grande part de ce qui la fait fonctionner réside dans la
chaleur d'un ami qui sollicite un ami.

Ce guide est la vue d'ensemble. Il explique ce qu'est la collecte de fonds numérique, les
principaux types de campagne et les canaux qui les alimentent, comment ils s'additionnent pour
former un programme plutôt qu'une série d'appels ponctuels, et par où une équipe devrait commencer.
Chaque fois qu'un sujet mérite un traitement plus complet, nous renvoyons à un guide approfondi.
Considérez cette page comme la carte, et les guides qu'elle indique comme le territoire. Beaucoup
des exemples présentés ici proviennent de collecteurs de fonds d'universités britanniques qui ont
opéré le virage vers le numérique, parmi lesquels Kat Carter de Hubbub, Tom Piercy de l'Université
de York, et des collègues de Leeds et de Manchester.

## Pourquoi la collecte de fonds numérique compte aujourd'hui

Les arguments en faveur du passage au numérique ne sont plus théoriques ; les propres données du
secteur le démontrent. Kat Carter de Hubbub dresse le tableau : « Dans le dernier rapport Status of
UK Fundraising de Blackbaud, 60 % des professionnels du secteur non lucratif convenaient que la
transformation numérique est essentielle à la réussite, que la technologie doit être utilisée pour
améliorer le fonctionnement des organisations, et que les données doivent également servir à
améliorer la performance globale. Mais seuls 12 % des répondants se décrivaient comme numériquement
matures. »

Cet écart, entre les nombreux qui savent que cela compte et les rares qui estiment l'avoir maîtrisé,
est l'endroit où se situent la plupart des équipes. Ce qui est encourageant, c'est ce que la
maturité tend à apporter. Les organisations numériquement matures, note Kat Carter, « se sont
révélées plus susceptibles de gagner plus de soutiens qu'elles n'en perdaient, d'être optimistes
quant à leur capacité à atteindre de nouveaux publics, d'être plus efficaces dans la gestion du
changement et de faire preuve d'agilité ». Rien de cela n'exige un budget colossal. Cela exige les
bonnes compétences, les bons systèmes et le leadership pour les soutenir.

Les institutions qui ont opéré ce virage décrivent le même changement et le même gain : passer au
numérique leur a permis d'atteindre des publics qu'elles avaient auparavant du mal à toucher. À
l'Université de York, Tom Piercy a introduit une journée du don et un programme de communauté
numérique aux côtés des canaux existants, et le résultat a été frappant : « il y a eu une
augmentation de 50 %, en fait 49,9 %, du nombre de donateurs » en une seule année, sans hausse du
budget de fonctionnement. « Tout cela consiste simplement à redistribuer notre investissement »,
explique-t-il. Porter la demande en ligne a aussi rendu les publics internes bien plus faciles à
atteindre. Le taux de don du personnel de York, note Tom, est passé « de 9 % à 35 % depuis que nous
avons opéré ce changement ». Le numérique ne remplace pas ce qui fonctionne déjà. Il ajoute une
couche qui mobilise des personnes différentes et, bien mené, vous permet de récolter
considérablement plus.

## Les principaux types de campagne

La plupart des programmes numériques se construisent à partir d'un petit ensemble de formats de
campagne reconnaissables. Chacun convient à un objectif, un public et un niveau de ressources
différents, et la plupart des équipes en font tourner deux ou trois au fil de l'année.

Une **journée du don** est une poussée brève, intense et pilotée de façon centrale, généralement
d'environ 36 heures, axée sur les priorités propres à votre institution. C'est elle qui a fait la
plus grande différence à York, et elle est devenue un rendez-vous une fois qu'elle a fait ses
preuves. Tom Piercy décrit comment l'appétit a changé : « maintenant, je n'ai même plus besoin d'en
parler aux personnes occupant des postes de direction. Ce sont elles qui viennent me demander quand
aura lieu la prochaine journée du don, ce qui est si différent de là où nous en étions il y a
quelques années. » Notre guide sur
[comment organiser une journée du don](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-giving-day/) couvre les
prévisions, le financement de contrepartie et le déroulé.

Une **semaine défi** se situe entre une journée du don et le financement participatif. Elle est
pilotée par le service du développement, mais la collecte est réalisée par des clubs, des
associations et des groupes pour leurs propres causes, sur environ une semaine. C'est une manière
indulgente d'expérimenter la collecte menée par les pairs et d'attirer un grand nombre de donateurs
tout nouveaux, dont beaucoup sont des amis et des proches plutôt que des anciens élèves. Notre guide
sur [comment organiser une semaine défi](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) détaille le
recrutement des groupes, leur formation et la mise en place des incitations de financement de
contrepartie qui alimentent la compétition.

Le **financement participatif** se déroule tout au long de l'année et appartient à ceux qui
récoltent l'argent : étudiants, personnel ou groupes communautaires créent des pages de projet et
mobilisent leurs propres réseaux. De nombreuses institutions entament leur parcours numérique ici.
York « a pris la décision d'investir dans sa propre plateforme de financement participatif » dès
2013-14, et à Leeds comme à Manchester, une plateforme de financement participatif est devenue le
vecteur d'appels d'urgence pour le soutien aux étudiants lorsque la pandémie a frappé. Notre guide
sur [comment mener une campagne de financement participatif](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
montre comment mettre en place des projets, recruter des porteurs de projet et entretenir
l'élan sur une période plus longue.

Un **appel téléphonique** n'est pas numérique au sens strict, mais il a sa place dans la
conversation car il demeure le canal le plus puissant pour une chose que les canaux numériques
peinent encore à faire : convertir et fidéliser les donateurs réguliers. Tom Piercy est franc à ce
sujet à York : « le téléphone reste le principal contributeur en matière de nouveaux donateurs
réguliers. Cela ne va pas vraiment changer pour nous. » La leçon est que le numérique et le
téléphone fonctionnent mieux ensemble, le numérique acquérant des donateurs ponctuels et le
téléphone les convertissant en un engagement régulier. Notre guide sur
[comment mener un appel téléphonique](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) couvre la
formation des appelants, la segmentation et la demande de conversion.

## Les canaux qui les alimentent

Sous les campagnes se trouvent les canaux : les moyens quotidiens d'atteindre et de convertir les
soutiens. Maîtrisez-les bien et chaque campagne s'en trouvera améliorée.

Le **courriel** est presque toujours le bon endroit où commencer. Il est peu coûteux, mesurable et
rapide à tester, et c'est là que la plupart des équipes débutent. Interrogé sur ce qu'une petite
équipe disposant de peu de budget devrait faire en premier, Tom Piercy n'hésite pas : « Je pense
que, si j'étais dans cette situation, la première chose que je ferais serait d'introduire des appels
par courriel, parce qu'ils sont assez faciles à gérer. Vous pouvez intégrer la segmentation, suivre
tous les résultats, vous assurer de savoir comment chaque segment réagit avant de passer ensuite à
quelque chose de plus conséquent comme une journée du don. » Jessica, à Leeds, ajoute une remarque
sur la nécessité que chaque courriel mérite sa place : « comment tirer le meilleur parti de chaque
courriel et vraiment, vraiment les faire travailler dur », en collectant des données et en
stimulant l'engagement, pas seulement en demandant de l'argent. Notre guide sur
[la collecte de fonds par courriel](/europe/fr/guides/email-fundraising/) aborde la segmentation, la
rédaction et les systèmes qui valent la peine d'être utilisés.

Les **réseaux sociaux** amplifient tout le reste et, au mieux, confient la demande à vos soutiens.
C'est le cœur de l'idée de décentralisation : les gens trouvent tout simplement « bien plus facile
de partager et de demander quand c'est sur Facebook, Twitter ou Instagram ». Pour beaucoup
d'équipes, c'est le canal le moins développé. À York, Tom Piercy utilise le social payant pour
« accompagner tout ce que nous faisons par ailleurs », en menant des tests A/B sur quelques
centaines de livres de budget total et en désactivant la publicité la moins performante après
quelques jours. Son avertissement mérite d'être entendu : York « n'avait pas mis en place les bons
liens traçables » pour voir combien de ceux qui avaient cliqué ont ensuite donné. Notre guide sur
[les réseaux sociaux pour la collecte de fonds](/europe/fr/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/)
couvre les approches organiques et payantes, et le suivi qui vous dit si elles ont fonctionné.

La **vidéo et la narration** sont ce qui rend une demande numérique personnelle à grande échelle.
Manchester s'y est fortement appuyé pour la fidélisation. Comme le décrit Emma, à Manchester : « Nous
avons créé énormément de contenu vidéo pour que les gens aient le sentiment qu'on s'adressait à eux
de manière personnelle, directement de la part des bénéficiaires à qui ils avaient donné. » Le même
argumentaire émotionnel qui anime un dossier de publipostage fonctionne en ligne, et porte souvent
plus loin. Notre guide sur
[la vidéo et la narration](/europe/fr/guides/video-and-storytelling/) montre comment construire des
récits qui touchent les gens sans équipe de tournage.

Les **pages de don** sont là où l'intention devient revenu, et elles constituent le point de
défaillance le plus fréquent. Kat Carter avance un chiffre précis : « regardez le taux de conversion
de votre formulaire de don en ligne. S'il est inférieur à 20 %, il est sans doute temps de se
demander sérieusement : est-ce que cela répond vraiment à nos besoins ? » Le mot qu'elle emploie
pour tout ce qui se met en travers du chemin du donateur est friction : « Vous voulez que le
donateur reçoive ce courriel, prenne la décision de donner à partir du courriel, et la plateforme de
don n'est alors que le dernier endroit où il se rend pour confirmer le montant qu'il souhaite
donner. » Leeds a constaté la différence que fait une bonne page, la part des dons reçus en ligne
passant de 15 % en 2018-19 à 31 % en 2021. Notre guide sur
[les pages de don et la conversion](/europe/fr/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) traite de la
réduction de la friction, de la preuve sociale et des tests qui font grimper votre taux de
conversion.

## Comment cela forme un programme

Les campagnes et les canaux pris individuellement ne sont pas l'objectif. L'objectif est un
programme : un système intégré qui acquiert des soutiens, les fidélise et transforme les dons
ponctuels en dons réguliers. Jessica, à Leeds, décrit bien l'ambition. Le but est un plan de
communication où « nos anciens élèves, nos donateurs ou nos autres soutiens ne sont pas confrontés à
trois demandes différentes pour trois plateformes différentes », mais vivent au contraire « un plan
de communication véritablement intégré sur toutes les plateformes », où « la seule chose qui change
est la façon dont vous interagissez avec nous, pas ce avec quoi vous interagissez ».

La destination de la plupart des programmes est une base solide de donateurs réguliers. Les dons
ponctuels en ligne sont précieux, mais un
[programme de don régulier](/europe/fr/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) de donateurs
engagés est ce qui donne à une opération de collecte sa stabilité. Faire passer quelqu'un d'un
premier don en ligne à un engagement permanent est surtout une question de moment et de canal. York
a construit des segments téléphoniques dédiés autour de sa journée du don pour « faire une demande de
don régulier plutôt qu'une demande de don unique », et Manchester a recouru à des publipostages de
conversion et à des passages simplifiés vers le prélèvement automatique pour faire de même.

Trois disciplines liées tiennent un programme ensemble. La **fidélisation des donateurs** est la
manière dont vous faites en sorte que les soutiens se sentent valorisés entre deux demandes, et
c'est aussi l'un des meilleurs outils de rétention dont vous disposez : Jessica, à Leeds, qualifie la
fidélisation de « moyen si puissant de pouvoir retenir les donateurs ». Notre guide sur
[la fidélisation et les parcours des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/)
cartographie les communications qu'un soutien reçoit dès son premier don. L'**acquisition et la
rétention** est l'équilibre que chaque équipe doit trouver, et le numérique en modifie la forme, en
ouvrant des publics, comme le dit Tom Piercy, « qui n'avaient peut-être pas donné par le passé,
quand nous leur envoyions des choses par la poste ou que nous essayions de les appeler au
téléphone ». Notre guide sur
[l'acquisition et la rétention des donateurs](/europe/fr/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
couvre les deux côtés du grand livre. Et une **culture du don** est ce qui rend tout cela durable au
sein de votre institution. La transformation à Leeds a été autant culturelle que technique : les
récits d'impact de la collecte ont intégré les communications générales aux anciens élèves, et,
comme le décrit Jessica, « davantage de gens se sont investis dans ce que nous pouvions faire », ce
qui a signifié « plus d'argent, plus de ressources consacrées à nos plateformes numériques ». Notre
guide sur [bâtir une culture du don](/europe/fr/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) aborde
l'adhésion interne sans laquelle rien d'autre ne tient dans la durée.

## Le rôle des données et de l'IA

La collecte de fonds numérique génère quelque chose que les canaux plus anciens n'ont jamais
produit : un retour instantané et granulaire sur ce qui fonctionne. Emma, à Manchester, le cite
comme l'un des véritables atouts du format, mais aussi comme son défi récurrent : « c'est l'une des
vraies opportunités du numérique, n'est-ce pas ? On obtient ces données instantanées sur ce qui
fonctionne et ce qui ne fonctionne pas. Et je pense que, comme la plupart d'entre nous, le problème
est simplement de trouver le temps de les examiner pour de bon. »

Bien utiliser ces données commence par les bases : connectez votre plateforme de don à des outils
d'analyse et balisez vos liens, afin de voir quel canal a produit chaque don. La « première
métrique » de Kat Carter est la conversion, suivie de bout en bout, pour que vous sachiez si
l'argent que vous dépensez se transforme en dons. Au-delà de la conversion vient la segmentation :
comprendre quels groupes répondent à quels messages, afin que chaque appel touche mieux sa cible que
le précédent. Notre guide sur
[exploiter vos données et la segmentation](/europe/fr/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/)
couvre l'analyse, les liens de suivi et les segments qui valent la peine d'être construits.

Au sommet de bonnes données se trouve la couche la plus récente,
[l'IA dans la collecte de fonds](/europe/fr/guides/ai-in-fundraising/), de plus en plus utilisée pour
rédiger et adapter les textes, personnaliser les parcours des donateurs, synthétiser l'engagement et
faire ressortir les prospects les plus susceptibles de donner. L'IA est la plus utile quand elle
accélère un travail que vous comprenez déjà, pas quand elle se substitue à une stratégie que vous
n'avez pas encore bâtie. Notre guide précise où elle aide véritablement et où il convient d'être
prudent.

## Par où commencer

Si vous débutez, les conseils des praticiens expérimentés sont cohérents et d'une modestie
rafraîchissante. Commencez par le courriel, parce que c'est le canal le plus facile à gérer, à
tester et dont apprendre. Ajoutez-y un petit budget de réseaux sociaux si vous le pouvez, afin que
plus d'un canal contribue. Et ancrez tout à quelque chose que vous faites déjà : si vous avez un
appel imprimé en préparation, menez un courriel et une poussée sociale en parallèle plutôt que
d'inventer une campagne de toutes pièces.

Avant de vous précipiter sur le dernier outil à la mode, prenez du recul. Emma, à Manchester,
conseille à une petite équipe surchargée de « vraiment prendre du recul » et de « revenir aux
fondamentaux pour réfléchir à ce que vos dirigeants attendent de vous », puis de « trouver les
produits qui correspondent à ce qu'on vous demande de faire ». Elle offre un rappel qui abaisse
considérablement la barrière à l'entrée : « une grande partie des outils que nous avons utilisés ces
deux dernières années ont été gratuits pour nous. Nous n'avons eu aucune augmentation de budget pour
ce travail. » L'essentiel de la collecte de fonds numérique consiste à redistribuer les efforts et à
réutiliser ce que vous avez déjà, pas à dépenser davantage.

Deux autres démarches portent leurs fruits tôt. D'abord, faites la preuve du concept à petite
échelle, puis défendez-le. Le schéma de York, tel que le décrit Tom Piercy, consistait à « faire du
très bon travail, puis ne pas s'arrêter » et à laisser les dirigeants commencer à « célébrer nos
succès comme les leurs ». Un pilote modeste aux résultats clairs est la demande de budget la plus
convaincante que vous puissiez formuler. Ensuite, appuyez-vous sur des collègues extérieurs à votre
équipe immédiate. Emma est catégorique : la transformation de Manchester « n'aurait tout simplement
pas eu lieu sans nos collègues de l'équipe de communication des anciens élèves », dont l'expertise en
contenu, canaux et systèmes a été indispensable.

Si vous faites mûrir un programme existant, les priorités se déplacent vers la mesure et
l'intégration : connectez vos plateformes à des outils d'analyse, colmatez les fuites de vos pages de
don, construisez des indicateurs d'engagement pertinents aux côtés des indicateurs financiers, et
concevez les parcours qui mènent un donateur en ligne pour la première fois vers un don régulier. Et
tout du long, retenez la leçon à laquelle revient chaque praticien. Le numérique ne met pas à la
retraite vos autres canaux. Comme le dit Emma, à Manchester : « Le numérique ne supprime pas le
téléphone, il ne supprime pas l'imprimé. Ces choses-là fonctionnent encore très bien pour nous. Il
ajoute simplement une couche supplémentaire à notre offre de collecte. »

## Foire aux questions

**Qu'est-ce que la collecte de fonds numérique, en une phrase ?** C'est récolter de l'argent par des
canaux en ligne, courriel, réseaux sociaux, vidéo, pages web et formulaires de don, d'une manière
qui décentralise la demande et permet aux soutiens de partager votre cause avec leurs propres
réseaux. Certains l'appellent collecte sociale ou personnelle pour exactement cette raison.

**La collecte de fonds numérique remplace-t-elle le publipostage et le téléphone ?** Non. Les
programmes les plus solides traitent le numérique comme une couche supplémentaire qui atteint de
nouveaux publics et complète les canaux existants. Le téléphone en particulier reste le canal de
référence pour acquérir et fidéliser les donateurs réguliers, et l'imprimé continue de bien
performer.

**De quel budget ai-je besoin pour commencer ?** Moins que vous ne le pensez. Le courriel est peu
coûteux, et de nombreux outils utiles sont gratuits ou déjà disponibles au sein des grandes
institutions. Plusieurs équipes ont mené des transformations numériques importantes en
redistribuant un budget existant plutôt qu'en obtenant de nouveaux fonds.

**Par quel canal devrais-je commencer ?** Le courriel. C'est le plus facile à mettre en place, à
tester et à mesurer, et les données que vous en tirez vous indiquent comment chaque public répond
avant que vous ne passiez à une campagne plus vaste comme une journée du don.

**Comment savoir si cela fonctionne ?** Suivez la conversion de bout en bout en connectant votre
plateforme de don à des outils d'analyse et en balisant vos liens. En règle générale, si votre
formulaire de don convertit moins de 20 % des visiteurs, cela mérite d'être examiné. Regardez les
mesures d'engagement, ouvertures, clics et partages, autant que les revenus.

**Quel est l'objectif final ?** Un programme intégré qui acquiert des soutiens, les fidélise bien et
convertit les dons ponctuels en dons réguliers, afin que la collecte repose sur une base stable de
donateurs engagés plutôt que sur des appels ponctuels.

---

### Pack de ressources pour les membres

Connectez-vous avec votre courriel pour débloquer ces modèles modifiables :

- [Kit de démarrage de la collecte de fonds numérique](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Planificateur de canaux numériques](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Liste de vérification des outils de collecte](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Outils

- [Le simulateur de journée du don de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator) : modélisez les résultats probables avant de vous engager sur un objectif
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/) : affinez vos textes d'appel et de courriel
- [Générateur de QR codes](https://fundraising-qr.net/) : reliez les moments en présentiel directement à une page de don

### Pour aller plus loin

- [Blog Hubbub : qu'est-ce que la collecte de fonds numérique ?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Les webinaires de collecte de fonds numérique de Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Organismes du secteur : [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) et [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consultez le [répertoire de liens](/europe/fr/links/) complet pour en savoir plus.

- [Che cos'è la raccolta fondi digitale?](https://fundraisingguides.com/europe/it/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (europe/it): Un'introduzione alla raccolta fondi digitale per le organizzazioni non profit e le istituzioni, che spiega che cos'è, le principali campagne e i canali, come si combinano e da dove cominciare, con collegamenti a guide approfondite su ciascun tema.
La raccolta fondi digitale consiste, nella sua forma più semplice, nel raccogliere denaro attraverso
canali online: email, social media, video, pagine web e i moduli di donazione che vi stanno dietro.
Ma questa definizione è troppo ristretta. Il modo più utile di intenderla è che la raccolta fondi
digitale decentralizza la richiesta. Invece di un unico ufficio centrale che scrive a una lista,
mette nelle mani dei sostenitori gli strumenti per condividere la vostra causa e raccogliere denaro
dalle loro reti, e offre al vostro team un modo per raggiungere pubblici che il direct mail e il
telefono non hanno mai potuto toccare. Si potrebbe altrettanto giustamente chiamarla raccolta fondi
sociale o personale, perché gran parte di ciò che la fa funzionare risiede nel calore di un amico
che chiede a un amico.

Questa guida è la panoramica. Spiega che cos'è la raccolta fondi digitale, i principali tipi di
campagna e i canali che li alimentano, come si sommano in un programma piuttosto che in una serie di
appelli isolati, e da dove un team dovrebbe cominciare. Ovunque un tema meriti una trattazione più
ampia, rimandiamo a una guida approfondita. Considerate questa pagina come la mappa, e le guide a cui
rimanda come il territorio. Molti degli esempi qui riportati provengono da raccoglitori di fondi di
università britanniche che hanno compiuto il passaggio al digitale, tra cui Kat Carter di Hubbub, Tom
Piercy dell'Università di York, e colleghi di Leeds e Manchester.

## Perché la raccolta fondi digitale conta oggi

Gli argomenti a favore del passaggio al digitale non sono più teorici; lo dimostrano i dati stessi
del settore. Kat Carter di Hubbub delinea il quadro: «Nell'ultimo rapporto Status of UK Fundraising
di Blackbaud, il 60% dei professionisti del non profit concordava sul fatto che la trasformazione
digitale è cruciale per il successo, che la tecnologia deve essere usata per migliorare il modo in
cui operano le organizzazioni, e che anche i dati devono servire a migliorare le prestazioni
complessive. Ma solo il 12% degli intervistati si descriveva come digitalmente maturo».

Quel divario, tra i molti che sanno che conta e i pochi che sentono di averlo padroneggiato, è il
punto in cui si trovano la maggior parte dei team. La parte incoraggiante è ciò che la maturità
tende a portare. Le organizzazioni digitalmente mature, osserva Kat Carter, «sono risultate più
propense ad acquisire più sostenitori di quanti ne perdessero, a essere ottimiste sul fatto che
avrebbero raggiunto nuovi pubblici, sul fatto che sarebbero state più efficaci nel gestire il
cambiamento e nell'essere agili». Nulla di tutto ciò richiede un budget enorme. Richiede le giuste
competenze, i giusti sistemi e la leadership per sostenerli.

Le istituzioni che hanno compiuto questo passaggio descrivono lo stesso cambiamento e lo stesso
guadagno: passare al digitale ha permesso loro di raggiungere pubblici che in precedenza facevano
fatica a toccare. All'Università di York, Tom Piercy ha introdotto una giornata della donazione e un
programma di comunità digitale accanto ai canali esistenti, e il risultato è stato sorprendente: «c'è
stato un aumento del 50%, in realtà del 49,9%, del numero di donatori» in un solo anno, senza alcun
incremento del budget operativo. «Si tratta semplicemente di redistribuire il nostro investimento»,
spiega. Portare la richiesta online ha reso anche i pubblici interni molto più facili da raggiungere.
Il tasso di donazione del personale di York, osserva Tom, è passato «dal 9% al 35% da quando abbiamo
fatto quel cambiamento». Il digitale non sostituisce ciò che già funziona. Aggiunge uno strato che
coinvolge persone diverse e, fatto bene, vi consente di raccogliere considerevolmente di più.

## I principali tipi di campagna

La maggior parte dei programmi digitali è costruita a partire da un piccolo insieme di formati di
campagna riconoscibili. Ciascuno si adatta a un obiettivo, a un pubblico e a un livello di risorse
diverso, e la maggior parte dei team ne fa ruotare due o tre nel corso dell'anno.

Una **giornata della donazione** è una spinta breve, intensa e guidata centralmente, di solito
intorno alle 36 ore, focalizzata sulle priorità della vostra istituzione. È stata ciò che ha fatto
la differenza maggiore a York, ed è diventata un appuntamento fisso una volta dimostratasi valida.
Tom Piercy descrive come è cambiato l'interesse: «adesso non ho nemmeno bisogno di parlarne alle
persone che ricoprono posizioni di vertice. Sono loro a venire da me a chiedermi quando sarà la
prossima giornata della donazione, il che è così diverso da dove eravamo qualche anno fa». La nostra
guida su [come organizzare una giornata della donazione](/europe/it/guides/running-a-giving-day/)
copre le previsioni, il finanziamento di contropartita e lo svolgimento.

Una **settimana sfida** si colloca tra una giornata della donazione e il crowdfunding. È guidata
dall'ufficio sviluppo, ma la raccolta è svolta da club, associazioni e gruppi per le loro stesse
cause, nell'arco di circa una settimana. È un modo indulgente per sperimentare la raccolta guidata
dai pari e per attirare un gran numero di donatori del tutto nuovi, molti dei quali amici e familiari
piuttosto che ex studenti. La nostra guida su
[come organizzare una settimana sfida](/europe/it/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) illustra il
reclutamento dei gruppi, la loro formazione e la gestione degli incentivi di contropartita che
alimentano la competizione.

Il **crowdfunding** si svolge tutto l'anno ed è di proprietà di chi raccoglie il denaro: studenti,
personale o gruppi della comunità creano pagine di progetto e mobilitano le proprie reti. Molte
istituzioni iniziano qui il loro percorso digitale. York «prese la decisione di investire in una
propria piattaforma di crowdfunding» già nel 2013-14, e a Leeds e Manchester una piattaforma di
crowdfunding è diventata il veicolo per appelli di emergenza a sostegno degli studenti quando la
pandemia ha colpito. La nostra guida su
[come condurre una campagna di crowdfunding](/europe/it/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/)
mostra come impostare i progetti, reclutare i responsabili di progetto e mantenere lo slancio su un
arco di tempo più lungo.

Un **appello telefonico** non è digitale in senso stretto, ma rientra nel discorso perché rimane il
canale più forte per una cosa che i canali digitali trovano ancora difficile: convertire e
fidelizzare i donatori regolari. Tom Piercy è schietto al riguardo a York: «il telefono resta il
principale contributore in termini di nuovi donatori regolari. Questo non cambierà davvero per noi».
La lezione è che digitale e telefono funzionano meglio insieme, con il digitale che acquisisce
donatori occasionali e il telefono che li converte in un impegno regolare. La nostra guida su
[come condurre un appello telefonico](/europe/it/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) copre la
formazione degli operatori, la segmentazione e la richiesta di conversione.

## I canali che li alimentano

Sotto le campagne ci sono i canali: i mezzi quotidiani per raggiungere e convertire i sostenitori.
Gestiteli bene e ogni campagna renderà di più.

L'**email** è quasi sempre il punto giusto da cui cominciare. È economica, misurabile e rapida da
testare, ed è da lì che la maggior parte dei team parte. Alla domanda su cosa dovrebbe fare per primo
un piccolo team con poco budget, Tom Piercy non esita: «Penso che, se fossi in questa posizione, la
prima cosa che farei sarebbe introdurre gli appelli via email, perché sono piuttosto facili da
gestire. Puoi integrare la segmentazione, tracciare tutti i risultati, assicurarti di sapere come
risponde ciascun segmento prima di scalare poi verso qualcosa di più consistente come una giornata
della donazione». Jessica, a Leeds, aggiunge una nota sul far sì che ogni email si guadagni il suo
posto: «come trarre il massimo da ogni email e farle davvero, davvero lavorare sodo», raccogliendo
dati e stimolando il coinvolgimento, non solo chiedendo denaro. La nostra guida su
[la raccolta fondi via email](/europe/it/guides/email-fundraising/) approfondisce la segmentazione,
i testi e i sistemi che vale la pena usare.

I **social media** amplificano tutto il resto e, nel migliore dei casi, affidano la richiesta ai
vostri sostenitori. È il cuore dell'idea di decentralizzazione: le persone trovano semplicemente
«molto più facile condividere e chiedere quando è su Facebook, Twitter o Instagram». Per molti team è
il canale meno sviluppato. A York, Tom Piercy usa i social a pagamento per «accompagnare qualsiasi
altra cosa stiamo facendo», conducendo test A/B su qualche centinaio di sterline di budget
complessivo e disattivando l'annuncio meno performante dopo un paio di giorni. Il suo avvertimento
merita ascolto: York «non aveva messo in atto i giusti link tracciabili» per vedere quanti di coloro
che avevano cliccato avessero poi donato. La nostra guida su
[i social media per la raccolta fondi](/europe/it/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) copre gli
approcci organici e a pagamento, e il tracciamento che vi dice se hanno funzionato.

Il **video e lo storytelling** sono ciò che rende personale una richiesta digitale su larga scala.
Manchester vi si è appoggiato molto per la cura dei donatori. Come lo descrive Emma, a Manchester:
«Abbiamo creato moltissimi contenuti video affinché le persone sentissero di ricevere un messaggio
personale, direttamente dai beneficiari a cui avevano donato». Lo stesso appello emotivo che alimenta
un pacco di direct mail funziona online, e spesso arriva più lontano. La nostra guida su
[video e storytelling](/europe/it/guides/video-and-storytelling/) mostra come costruire storie che
emozionano le persone senza una troupe.

Le **pagine di donazione** sono dove l'intenzione diventa entrata, e sono il punto di cedimento più
comune. Kat Carter mette un numero netto: «guardate il tasso di conversione del vostro modulo di
donazione online. Se è inferiore al 20%, è probabilmente il momento di chiedersi seriamente: sta
davvero dando ciò che ci serve?». La parola che usa per tutto ciò che si frappone sul cammino del
donatore è attrito: «Volete che il donatore riceva quell'email, prenda la decisione di donare a
partire dall'email, e a quel punto la piattaforma di donazione è solo l'ultimo posto in cui si reca
per confermare quanto vuole dare». Leeds ha visto la differenza che fa una buona pagina, con la quota
di donazioni ricevute online salita dal 15% nel 2018-19 al 31% nel 2021. La nostra guida su
[le pagine di donazione e la conversione](/europe/it/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) tratta
la riduzione dell'attrito, la riprova sociale e i test che alzano il vostro tasso di conversione.

## Come si compone in un programma

Le singole campagne e i singoli canali non sono l'obiettivo. L'obiettivo è un programma: un sistema
integrato che acquisisce sostenitori, li fidelizza e trasforma le donazioni occasionali in donazioni
regolari. Jessica, a Leeds, descrive bene l'ambizione. Il fine è un piano di comunicazione in cui «i
nostri ex studenti e donatori o altri sostenitori non si trovino di fronte a tre richieste diverse
per tre piattaforme diverse», ma vivano invece «un piano di comunicazione davvero integrato su tutte
le piattaforme», in cui «l'unica cosa che cambia è il modo in cui interagite con noi, non ciò con cui
interagite».

La destinazione della maggior parte dei programmi è una solida base di donatori regolari. Le singole
donazioni online sono preziose, ma un
[programma di donazione regolare](/europe/it/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) di donatori
impegnati è ciò che conferisce stabilità a un'operazione di raccolta fondi. Far passare qualcuno da
una prima donazione online a un impegno permanente è soprattutto una questione di tempismo e di
canale. York ha costruito segmenti telefonici dedicati attorno alla sua giornata della donazione per
«fare una richiesta di donazione regolare anziché una richiesta singola», e Manchester ha usato
mailing di conversione e passaggi semplificati all'addebito diretto per ottenere lo stesso risultato.

Tre discipline collegate tengono insieme un programma. La **cura dei donatori** è il modo in cui fate
sentire i sostenitori valorizzati tra una richiesta e l'altra, ed è anche uno dei migliori strumenti
di fidelizzazione che avete: Jessica, a Leeds, definisce la cura dei donatori «un modo così potente
di riuscire a trattenere i donatori». La nostra guida su
[la cura dei donatori e i percorsi](/europe/it/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) mappa le
comunicazioni che un sostenitore riceve a partire dalla sua prima donazione. L'**acquisizione e
fidelizzazione** è l'equilibrio che ogni team deve trovare, e il digitale ne modifica la forma,
aprendo pubblici, come dice Tom Piercy, «che forse non avevano donato in passato, quando inviavamo
loro materiale per posta o cercavamo di chiamarli al telefono». La nostra guida su
[acquisizione e fidelizzazione dei donatori](/europe/it/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/)
copre entrambi i lati del bilancio. E una **cultura del dono** è ciò che rende tutto questo
sostenibile all'interno della vostra istituzione. La trasformazione a Leeds è stata tanto culturale
quanto tecnica: le storie di impatto della raccolta fondi sono entrate nelle comunicazioni generali
agli ex studenti, e, come descrive Jessica, «più persone che si sono appassionate a ciò che potevamo
fare» ha significato «più denaro, più risorse destinate alle nostre piattaforme digitali». La nostra
guida su [costruire una cultura del dono](/europe/it/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/) affronta
l'adesione interna senza la quale nient'altro dura.

## Il ruolo dei dati e dell'IA

La raccolta fondi digitale genera qualcosa che i canali più vecchi non hanno mai prodotto: un
riscontro istantaneo e granulare su ciò che funziona. Emma, a Manchester, lo indica come uno dei veri
vantaggi del formato, e anche come la sua sfida ricorrente: «questa è una delle vere opportunità del
digitale, no? Otteniamo questi dati istantanei su ciò che funziona e ciò che non funziona. E credo
che, come la maggior parte di noi, si tratti semplicemente di trovare il tempo per guardarli
davvero».

Usare bene quei dati comincia dalle basi: collegate la vostra piattaforma di donazione agli strumenti
di analisi e taggate i vostri link, così da vedere quale canale ha prodotto ciascuna donazione. La
«metrica numero uno» di Kat Carter è la conversione, tracciata dall'inizio alla fine, così da sapere
se il denaro che spendete si trasforma in donazioni. Oltre la conversione c'è la segmentazione:
capire quali gruppi rispondono a quali messaggi, così che ogni appello arrivi meglio del precedente.
La nostra guida su
[usare i tuoi dati e la segmentazione](/europe/it/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) copre
l'analisi, i link di tracciamento e i segmenti che vale la pena costruire.

Al di sopra di buoni dati si trova lo strato più recente,
[l'IA nella raccolta fondi](/europe/it/guides/ai-in-fundraising/), sempre più usata per redigere e
adattare i testi, personalizzare i percorsi dei donatori, sintetizzare il coinvolgimento e far
emergere i potenziali donatori più propensi a dare. L'IA è più utile quando accelera un lavoro che
già comprendete, non quando sostituisce una strategia che non avete ancora costruito. La nostra guida
illustra dove aiuta davvero e dove conviene essere prudenti.

## Da dove cominciare

Se state iniziando, i consigli dei professionisti esperti sono coerenti e di una modestia rinfrescante.
Cominciate con l'email, perché è il canale più facile da gestire, testare e da cui imparare.
Affiancatele un piccolo budget per i social media, se potete, così che più di un canale contribuisca.
E ancorate tutto a qualcosa che state già facendo: se avete un appello cartaceo in cantiere,
conducete un'email e una spinta sui social accanto a esso anziché inventare una campagna da zero.

Prima di precipitarvi sullo strumento più recente, fate un passo indietro. Emma, a Manchester,
consiglia a un team piccolo e sotto pressione di «fare davvero un passo indietro» e di «tornare
proprio alle basi per riflettere su ciò che i vostri dirigenti si aspettano da voi», poi di «trovare
i prodotti che corrispondono a ciò che vi viene chiesto di fare». Offre un promemoria che abbassa
notevolmente la barriera d'ingresso: «gran parte degli strumenti che abbiamo usato negli ultimi due
anni sono stati gratuiti per noi. Non abbiamo avuto alcun aumento di budget per nessuno di questi
lavori». Gran parte della raccolta fondi digitale consiste nel redistribuire l'impegno e nel
riutilizzare ciò che già avete, non nello spendere di più.

Altre due mosse danno frutti presto. Primo, dimostrate il concetto in piccolo e poi sostenete la
causa. Lo schema di York, come lo descrive Tom Piercy, era «fare un lavoro davvero ottimo e poi non
fermarsi» e lasciare che i dirigenti iniziassero a «celebrare i nostri successi come i loro». Un
pilota modesto con risultati chiari è la richiesta di budget più convincente che possiate avanzare.
Secondo, appoggiatevi a colleghi esterni al vostro team immediato. Emma è categorica nel dire che la
trasformazione di Manchester «semplicemente non sarebbe avvenuta senza i nostri colleghi del team di
comunicazione con gli ex studenti», la cui competenza in contenuti, canali e sistemi è stata
indispensabile.

Se state facendo maturare un programma esistente, le priorità si spostano verso la misurazione e
l'integrazione: collegate le vostre piattaforme agli strumenti di analisi, tappate le falle nelle
vostre pagine di donazione, costruite KPI di coinvolgimento significativi accanto a quelli
finanziari, e progettate i percorsi che portano un donatore online alla prima esperienza verso una
donazione regolare. E in ogni momento, tenete ferma la lezione a cui ogni professionista ritorna. Il
digitale non manda in pensione gli altri vostri canali. Come dice Emma, a Manchester: «Il digitale
non sta eliminando il telefono, non sta eliminando la carta stampata. Quelle cose stanno ancora
rendendo molto bene per noi. Aggiunge semplicemente uno strato in più alla nostra offerta di raccolta
fondi».

## Domande frequenti

**Che cos'è la raccolta fondi digitale, in una frase?** È raccogliere denaro attraverso canali
online, email, social media, video, pagine web e moduli di donazione, in un modo che decentralizza la
richiesta e consente ai sostenitori di condividere la vostra causa con le proprie reti. Alcuni la
chiamano raccolta fondi sociale o personale proprio per questa ragione.

**La raccolta fondi digitale sostituisce il direct mail e il telefono?** No. I programmi più forti
trattano il digitale come uno strato aggiuntivo che raggiunge nuovi pubblici e completa i canali
esistenti. Il telefono in particolare rimane il canale di riferimento per acquisire e fidelizzare i
donatori regolari, e la carta stampata continua a rendere bene.

**Di quanto budget ho bisogno per iniziare?** Meno di quanto possiate pensare. L'email è poco
costosa, e molti strumenti utili sono gratuiti o già disponibili all'interno delle istituzioni più
grandi. Diversi team hanno realizzato significative trasformazioni digitali redistribuendo il budget
esistente anziché ottenere nuovi fondi.

**Con quale canale dovrei iniziare?** Con l'email. È il più facile da impostare, testare e misurare,
e i dati che ne ricavate vi dicono come risponde ciascun pubblico prima di scalare verso una campagna
più ampia come una giornata della donazione.

**Come faccio a sapere se funziona?** Tracciate la conversione dall'inizio alla fine collegando la
vostra piattaforma di donazione agli strumenti di analisi e taggando i vostri link. Come regola
generale, se il vostro modulo di donazione converte meno del 20% dei visitatori, vale la pena
indagare. Guardate le misure di coinvolgimento, aperture, clic e condivisioni, oltre alle entrate.

**Qual è l'obiettivo finale?** Un programma integrato che acquisisce sostenitori, li cura bene e
converte le donazioni occasionali in donazioni regolari, così che la raccolta fondi poggi su una base
stabile di donatori impegnati anziché su appelli isolati.

---

### Pacchetto di risorse per i membri

Accedi con la tua email per sbloccare questi modelli modificabili:

- [Kit di avvio per la raccolta fondi digitale](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Pianificatore dei canali digitali](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Lista di controllo della tecnologia per la raccolta fondi](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Strumenti

- [Il simulatore della giornata della donazione di Hubbub](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): modella i risultati probabili prima di impegnarti su un obiettivo
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): affina i testi dei tuoi appelli e delle tue email
- [Generatore di codici QR](https://fundraising-qr.net/): collega i momenti di persona direttamente a una pagina di donazione

### Approfondimenti

- [Blog Hubbub: che cos'è la raccolta fondi digitale?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [I webinar di Hubbub sulla raccolta fondi digitale](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Organismi di settore: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) e [CASE Europe](https://www.case.org/)

Consulta la [directory dei link](/europe/it/links/) completa per saperne di più.

- [What is digital fundraising?](https://fundraisingguides.com/uk/en/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (uk/en): An introduction to digital fundraising for non-profits and institutions, explaining what it is, the main campaigns and channels, how they fit together, and where to start, with links to in-depth guides on each.
Digital fundraising is, at its simplest, raising money through online channels: email, social
media, video, web pages and the giving forms behind them. But that definition is too narrow. The
more useful way to think about it is that digital fundraising decentralises the ask. Instead of
one central office writing to a list, it gives supporters the tools to share your cause and raise
money from their own networks, and it gives your team a way to reach audiences that direct mail
and the telephone never could. It might just as accurately be called social or personal
fundraising, because so much of what makes it work is the warmth of a friend asking a friend.

This guide is the overview. It explains what digital fundraising is, the main campaign types and
the channels that power them, how they add up to a programme rather than a series of one-off
appeals, and where a team should start. Wherever a topic deserves fuller treatment, we link to an
in-depth guide. Think of this page as the map, and the guides it points to as the territory. Many
of the examples here come from fundraisers at UK universities who have made the shift to digital,
including Kat Carter of Hubbub, Tom Piercy at the University of York, and colleagues at Leeds and
Manchester.

## Why digital fundraising matters now

The case for going digital is no longer theoretical; the sector's own data makes it. Kat Carter of
Hubbub sets out the picture: "In the latest Status of UK Fundraising report from Blackbaud, 60% of
nonprofit professionals agreed that digital transformation is crucial to success, that technology
must be used to improve the way organizations operate, and that data must also be used to improve
overall performance. But only 12% of respondents described themselves as digitally mature."

That gap, between the many who know it matters and the few who feel they have mastered it, is
where most teams sit. The encouraging part is what maturity tends to bring. Digitally mature
organisations, Kat Carter notes, "were found to be more likely to gain more supporters than they
were losing, to be optimistic that they would reach new audiences, that they would be more
effective at managing change and being agile." None of that requires a vast budget. It requires
the right skills, the right systems and the leadership to back them.

The institutions that have made this shift describe the same change and the same prize: going
digital let them reach audiences they had previously struggled to touch. At the University of
York, Tom Piercy introduced a giving day and a digital community programme alongside the existing
channels, and the result was striking: "there was a 50%, it was actually a 49.9% increase in
donors numbers" in a single year, with no rise in the operating budget. "This is all just about
redistributing our investment," he explains. Bringing the ask online also made internal audiences
far easier to reach. York's staff giving rate, Tom notes, went "from 9% to 35% since we made that
change." Digital does not replace what already works. It adds a layer that engages different
people and, done well, lets you raise considerably more.

## The main campaign types

Most digital programmes are built from a small set of recognisable campaign formats. Each suits a
different goal, audience and level of resource, and most teams run two or three of them in
rotation through the year.

A **Giving Day** is a short, intense, centrally led push, usually around 36 hours, focused on your
institution's own priorities. It made the biggest difference at York, and became a fixture once it
proved itself. Tom Piercy describes how the appetite changed: "now, I don't even need to tell
people about it in senior positions. They're coming to me asking when the next Giving Day is,
which is so different to where we were a few years ago." Our guide to
[how to run a Giving Day](/uk/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) covers forecasting, match funding
and the run of play.

A **Challenge Week** sits between a Giving Day and crowdfunding. It is led by the development
office, but the fundraising is done by clubs, societies and groups for their own causes, over
roughly a week. It is a forgiving way to trial peer-led fundraising and to bring in large numbers
of brand-new donors, many of them friends and family rather than alumni. Our guide to
[how to run a Challenge Week](/uk/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) walks through recruiting
groups, training them and running the match-funding incentives that drive the competition.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is owned by the people raising the money: students, staff or
community groups create project pages and rally their own networks. Many institutions begin their
digital journey here. York "made the decision to invest in our very own crowdfunding platform" as
far back as 2013-14, and at Leeds and Manchester a crowdfunding platform became the vehicle for
emergency student-support appeals when the pandemic hit. Our guide to
[how to run a crowdfunding campaign](/uk/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) shows how to
set up projects, recruit project owners and keep momentum going across a longer timeframe.

A **telephone appeal** is not digital in the strict sense, but it belongs in the conversation
because it remains the strongest channel for one thing the digital channels still find hard:
converting and retaining regular givers. Tom Piercy is candid about this at York: "telephone still
being the main contributor in terms of new regular donors. That's not really going to change for
us." The lesson is that digital and telephone work best together, with digital acquiring
single-gift donors and the phone converting them to a regular commitment. Our guide to
[how to run a telephone appeal](/uk/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) covers caller training,
segmentation and the conversion ask.

## The channels that power them

Underneath the campaigns sit the channels: the day-to-day means of reaching and converting
supporters. Get these right and every campaign performs better.

**Email** is almost always the right place to begin. It is cheap, measurable and quick to test,
and it is where most teams start. Asked what a small team with little budget should do first, Tom
Piercy does not hesitate: "I think if I was in this position, the first thing I would do is
introduce email appeals, because they're quite easy to manage. You can build in the segmentation,
track all the results, make sure you know how each segment's responding before you then scale that
up into something more substantial like a giving day." Jessica at Leeds adds a note about making
each email earn its place: "how do you make the most out of every email and just be really, really
working them hard," capturing data and driving engagement, not only asking for money. Our guide to
[email fundraising](/uk/en/guides/email-fundraising/) goes into segmentation, copy and the systems
worth using.

**Social media** amplifies everything else and, at its best, hands the ask to your supporters.
This is the heart of the decentralising idea: people simply "find it a lot easier to share and ask
when it's on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram." For many teams it is the least developed channel.
At York, Tom Piercy uses paid social to "accompany anything else that we're doing," running A/B
tests on a few hundred pounds of lifetime budget and switching off the underperforming advert
after a couple of days. His warning is worth heeding: York had "not had the right trackable links
in place" to see how many of those who clicked went on to give. Our guide to
[social media for fundraising](/uk/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) covers organic and
paid approaches, and the tracking that tells you whether they worked.

**Video and storytelling** is what makes a digital ask feel personal at scale. Manchester leaned
on it heavily for stewardship. As Emma at Manchester describes it: "We created loads of video
content so that people felt they were being spoken to in a personal way, direct from beneficiaries
that they'd given to." The same emotive case for support that powers a direct mail pack works
online, and often travels further. Our guide to
[video and storytelling](/uk/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) shows how to build stories that
move people without a film crew.

**Donation pages** are where intention becomes income, and they are the most common point of
failure. Kat Carter puts a sharp number on it: "look at the conversion rate on your online giving
form. If it's anything below 20%, it's probably time to really consider, is that really delivering
what we need?" The word she uses for everything that gets in the donor's way is friction: "You
want the donor to get that email, make that decision to give from the email, and then the donation
platform is just the last place they go to confirm how much they want to give." Leeds saw the
difference a good page makes, with the share of gifts received online rising from 15 per cent in
2018-19 to 31 per cent in 2021. Our guide to
[donation pages and conversion](/uk/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) covers reducing
friction, social proof and the testing that lifts your conversion rate.

## How it adds up to a programme

Individual campaigns and channels are not the goal. The goal is a programme: a joined-up system
that acquires supporters, retains them, and turns single gifts into regular ones. Jessica at Leeds
describes the ambition well. The aim is a communications plan where "our alumni and donors or other
supporters aren't faced with three different asks for three different platforms," but instead
experience "a really joined up communication plan across all platforms," where "all that's
different is how you're engaging with us, not what you're engaging with."

The destination for most programmes is a healthy base of regular givers. Single online gifts are
valuable, but a [regular giving programme](/uk/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) of
committed donors is what gives a fundraising operation its stability. Moving someone from a first
online gift to a standing commitment is mostly a question of timing and channel. York built
dedicated telephone segments around its giving day to "make a regular giving ask instead of a
single ask," and Manchester used conversion mailings and streamlined direct-debit upgrades to do
the same.

Three connected disciplines hold a programme together. **Donor stewardship** is how you keep
supporters feeling valued between asks, and it is also one of the best retention tools you have:
Jessica at Leeds calls stewardship "such a powerful way to be able to retain donors." Our guide to
[donor stewardship and journeys](/uk/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) maps the
communications a supporter receives from their first gift onwards. **Acquisition and retention** is
the balance every team has to strike, and digital changes its shape, opening up audiences, as Tom
Piercy puts it, "that maybe hadn't donated in the past when we were sending them stuff in the post
or trying to call them up over the phone." Our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/uk/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) covers both sides
of the ledger. And a **culture of giving** is what makes all of it sustainable inside your
institution. The transformation at Leeds was as much cultural as technical: fundraising impact
stories moved into general alumni communications, and, as Jessica describes, "more people getting
invested in what we could do" meant "more money, more resource has been put into our digital
platforms." Our guide to [building a culture of giving](/uk/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/)
addresses the internal buy-in without which nothing else lasts.

## The role of data and AI

Digital fundraising generates something the older channels never did: instant, granular feedback
on what works. Emma at Manchester names it as one of the format's real advantages, and also its
recurring challenge: "this is one of the real opportunities of digital, right? We get this instant
data on what works and what doesn't. And I think like most of us, it's just finding the time to
actually look at that."

Using that data well starts with the basics: connect your giving platform to analytics and tag
your links, so you can see which channel produced each gift. Kat Carter's "number one metric" is
conversion, tracked end to end, so you know whether the money you spend turns into donations.
Beyond conversion lies segmentation: understanding which groups respond to which messages, so every
appeal lands better than the last. Our guide to
[using your data and segmentation](/uk/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) covers
analytics, tracking links and the segments worth building.

Sitting on top of good data is the newest layer, [AI in fundraising](/uk/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/),
which is increasingly used to draft and tailor copy, personalise donor journeys, summarise
engagement and surface the prospects most likely to give. AI is most useful when it accelerates
work you already understand, not when it stands in for a strategy you have not yet built. Our guide
sets out where it genuinely helps and where to be cautious.

## Where to start

If you are getting started, the advice from experienced practitioners is consistent and
refreshingly modest. Begin with email, because it is the easiest channel to manage, test and learn
from. Add a small social media budget alongside it if you can, so more than one channel
contributes. And anchor everything to something you are already doing: if you have a print appeal
in the pipeline, run an email and a social push alongside it rather than inventing a campaign from
scratch.

Before reaching for the newest tool, take a step back. Emma at Manchester advises a small,
stretched team to "really take a step back" and "go right back to basics to think about what your
leaders are expecting you to deliver," then "find the products that match what you are being asked
to do." She offers a reminder that lowers the barrier to entry considerably: "loads of this stuff
that we've used over the past couple of years have been free for us to use. We have not had an
increase in budget for any of this work." Much of digital fundraising is about redistributing
effort and reusing what you already have, not spending more.

Two further moves pay off early. First, prove the concept small and then make the case. York's
pattern, as Tom Piercy describes it, was to "do a really good job of it and then don't stop," and
to let senior leaders begin "celebrating our successes as their own." A modest pilot with clear
results is the most persuasive budget request you can make. Second, lean on colleagues outside your
immediate team. Emma is emphatic that Manchester's transformation "would simply not have happened
without our colleagues in our alumni comms team," whose expertise in content, channels and systems
was indispensable.

If you are maturing an existing programme, the priorities shift towards measurement and
integration: connect your platforms to analytics, fix the leaks in your donation pages, build
meaningful engagement KPIs alongside the financial ones, and design the journeys that carry a
first-time online donor towards a regular gift. And throughout, hold on to the lesson every
practitioner returns to. Digital does not retire your other channels. As Emma at Manchester puts
it: "Digital is not getting rid of telephone, it is not getting rid of print. Those things are
still performing really well for us. And it just adds an extra layer to our fundraising offer."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is digital fundraising, in one sentence?** It is raising money through online channels,
email, social media, video, web pages and giving forms, in a way that decentralises the ask and
lets supporters share your cause with their own networks. Some people call it social or personal
fundraising for exactly that reason.

**Does digital fundraising replace direct mail and the telephone?** No. The strongest programmes
treat digital as an additional layer that reaches new audiences and complements existing channels.
The telephone in particular remains the leading channel for acquiring and retaining regular givers,
and print continues to perform well.

**How much budget do I need to start?** Less than you might think. Email is inexpensive, and many
useful tools are free or already available within larger institutions. Several teams have run
significant digital transformations by redistributing existing budget rather than securing new
money.

**Which channel should I begin with?** Email. It is the easiest to set up, test and measure, and
the data you gather from it tells you how each audience responds before you scale up to a larger
campaign such as a Giving Day.

**How do I know if it is working?** Track conversion end to end by connecting your giving platform
to analytics and tagging your links. As a rule of thumb, if your donation form converts below 20
per cent of visitors, it is worth investigating. Look at engagement measures, opens, clicks and
shares, as well as income.

**What is the end goal?** A joined-up programme that acquires supporters, stewards them well, and
converts single gifts into regular ones, so that fundraising rests on a stable base of committed
donors rather than one-off appeals.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Digital fundraising starter kit](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Digital channel planner](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Fundraising tech checklist](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: what is digital fundraising?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [IDPE](https://idpe.org.uk/)

See the full [links directory](/uk/en/links/) for more.

- [What is digital fundraising?](https://fundraisingguides.com/us/en/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (us/en): An introduction to digital fundraising for non-profits and institutions, explaining what it is, the main campaigns and channels, how they fit together, and where to start, with links to in-depth guides on each.
Digital fundraising is, at its simplest, raising money through online channels: email, social
media, video, web pages and the giving forms behind them. But that definition is too narrow. The
more useful way to think about it is that digital fundraising decentralizes the ask. Instead of
one central office writing to a list, it gives supporters the tools to share your cause and raise
money from their own networks, and it gives your team a way to reach audiences that direct mail
and the telephone never could. It might just as accurately be called social or personal
fundraising, because so much of what makes it work is the warmth of a friend asking a friend.

This guide is the overview. It explains what digital fundraising is, the main campaign types and
the channels that power them, how they add up to a program rather than a series of one-off
appeals, and where a team should start. Wherever a topic deserves fuller treatment, we link to an
in-depth guide. Think of this page as the map, and the guides it points to as the territory. Many
of the examples here come from fundraisers at UK universities who have made the shift to digital,
including Kat Carter of Hubbub, Tom Piercy at the University of York, and colleagues at Leeds and
Manchester.

## Why digital fundraising matters now

The case for going digital is no longer theoretical; the sector's own data makes it. Kat Carter of
Hubbub sets out the picture: "In the latest Status of UK Fundraising report from Blackbaud, 60% of
nonprofit professionals agreed that digital transformation is crucial to success, that technology
must be used to improve the way organizations operate, and that data must also be used to improve
overall performance. But only 12% of respondents described themselves as digitally mature."

That gap, between the many who know it matters and the few who feel they have mastered it, is
where most teams sit. The encouraging part is what maturity tends to bring. Digitally mature
organizations, Kat Carter notes, "were found to be more likely to gain more supporters than they
were losing, to be optimistic that they would reach new audiences, that they would be more
effective at managing change and being agile." None of that requires a vast budget. It requires
the right skills, the right systems and the leadership to back them.

The institutions that have made this shift describe the same change and the same prize: going
digital let them reach audiences they had previously struggled to touch. At the University of
York, Tom Piercy introduced a giving day and a digital community program alongside the existing
channels, and the result was striking: "there was a 50%, it was actually a 49.9% increase in
donors numbers" in a single year, with no rise in the operating budget. "This is all just about
redistributing our investment," he explains. Bringing the ask online also made internal audiences
far easier to reach. York's staff giving rate, Tom notes, went "from 9% to 35% since we made that
change." Digital does not replace what already works. It adds a layer that engages different
people and, done well, lets you raise considerably more.

## The main campaign types

Most digital programs are built from a small set of recognizable campaign formats. Each suits a
different goal, audience and level of resource, and most teams run two or three of them in
rotation through the year.

A **Giving Day** is a short, intense, centrally led push, usually around 36 hours, focused on your
institution's own priorities. It made the biggest difference at York, and became a fixture once it
proved itself. Tom Piercy describes how the appetite changed: "now, I don't even need to tell
people about it in senior positions. They're coming to me asking when the next Giving Day is,
which is so different to where we were a few years ago." Our guide to
[how to run a Giving Day](/us/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) covers forecasting, match funding
and the run of play.

A **Challenge Week** sits between a Giving Day and crowdfunding. It is led by the development
office, but the fundraising is done by clubs, societies and groups for their own causes, over
roughly a week. It is a forgiving way to trial peer-led fundraising and to bring in large numbers
of brand-new donors, many of them friends and family rather than alumni. Our guide to
[how to run a Challenge Week](/us/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) walks through recruiting
groups, training them and running the match-funding incentives that drive the competition.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is owned by the people raising the money: students, staff or
community groups create project pages and rally their own networks. Many institutions begin their
digital journey here. York "made the decision to invest in our very own crowdfunding platform" as
far back as 2013-14, and at Leeds and Manchester a crowdfunding platform became the vehicle for
emergency student-support appeals when the pandemic hit. Our guide to
[how to run a crowdfunding campaign](/us/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) shows how to
set up projects, recruit project owners and keep momentum going across a longer timeframe.

A **telephone appeal** is not digital in the strict sense, but it belongs in the conversation
because it remains the strongest channel for one thing the digital channels still find hard:
converting and retaining regular givers. Tom Piercy is candid about this at York: "telephone still
being the main contributor in terms of new regular donors. That's not really going to change for
us." The lesson is that digital and telephone work best together, with digital acquiring
single-gift donors and the phone converting them to a regular commitment. Our guide to
[how to run a telephone appeal](/us/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) covers caller training,
segmentation and the conversion ask.

## The channels that power them

Underneath the campaigns sit the channels: the day-to-day means of reaching and converting
supporters. Get these right and every campaign performs better.

**Email** is almost always the right place to begin. It is cheap, measurable and quick to test,
and it is where most teams start. Asked what a small team with little budget should do first, Tom
Piercy does not hesitate: "I think if I was in this position, the first thing I would do is
introduce email appeals, because they're quite easy to manage. You can build in the segmentation,
track all the results, make sure you know how each segment's responding before you then scale that
up into something more substantial like a giving day." Jessica at Leeds adds a note about making
each email earn its place: "how do you make the most out of every email and just be really, really
working them hard," capturing data and driving engagement, not only asking for money. Our guide to
[email fundraising](/us/en/guides/email-fundraising/) goes into segmentation, copy and the systems
worth using.

**Social media** amplifies everything else and, at its best, hands the ask to your supporters.
This is the heart of the decentralizing idea: people simply "find it a lot easier to share and ask
when it's on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram." For many teams it is the least developed channel.
At York, Tom Piercy uses paid social to "accompany anything else that we're doing," running A/B
tests on a few hundred pounds of lifetime budget and switching off the underperforming advert
after a couple of days. His warning is worth heeding: York had "not had the right trackable links
in place" to see how many of those who clicked went on to give. Our guide to
[social media for fundraising](/us/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) covers organic and
paid approaches, and the tracking that tells you whether they worked.

**Video and storytelling** is what makes a digital ask feel personal at scale. Manchester leaned
on it heavily for stewardship. As Emma at Manchester describes it: "We created loads of video
content so that people felt they were being spoken to in a personal way, direct from beneficiaries
that they'd given to." The same emotive case for support that powers a direct mail pack works
online, and often travels further. Our guide to
[video and storytelling](/us/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) shows how to build stories that
move people without a film crew.

**Donation pages** are where intention becomes income, and they are the most common point of
failure. Kat Carter puts a sharp number on it: "look at the conversion rate on your online giving
form. If it's anything below 20%, it's probably time to really consider, is that really delivering
what we need?" The word she uses for everything that gets in the donor's way is friction: "You
want the donor to get that email, make that decision to give from the email, and then the donation
platform is just the last place they go to confirm how much they want to give." Leeds saw the
difference a good page makes, with the share of gifts received online rising from 15 per cent in
2018-19 to 31 per cent in 2021. Our guide to
[donation pages and conversion](/us/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) covers reducing
friction, social proof and the testing that lifts your conversion rate.

## How it adds up to a program

Individual campaigns and channels are not the goal. The goal is a program: a joined-up system
that acquires supporters, retains them, and turns single gifts into regular ones. Jessica at Leeds
describes the ambition well. The aim is a communications plan where "our alumni and donors or other
supporters aren't faced with three different asks for three different platforms," but instead
experience "a really joined up communication plan across all platforms," where "all that's
different is how you're engaging with us, not what you're engaging with."

The destination for most programs is a healthy base of regular givers. Single online gifts are
valuable, but a [regular giving program](/us/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) of
committed donors is what gives a fundraising operation its stability. Moving someone from a first
online gift to a standing commitment is mostly a question of timing and channel. York built
dedicated telephone segments around its giving day to "make a regular giving ask instead of a
single ask," and Manchester used conversion mailings and streamlined direct-debit upgrades to do
the same.

Three connected disciplines hold a program together. **Donor stewardship** is how you keep
supporters feeling valued between asks, and it is also one of the best retention tools you have:
Jessica at Leeds calls stewardship "such a powerful way to be able to retain donors." Our guide to
[donor stewardship and journeys](/us/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) maps the
communications a supporter receives from their first gift onwards. **Acquisition and retention** is
the balance every team has to strike, and digital changes its shape, opening up audiences, as Tom
Piercy puts it, "that maybe hadn't donated in the past when we were sending them stuff in the post
or trying to call them up over the phone." Our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/us/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) covers both sides
of the ledger. And a **culture of giving** is what makes all of it sustainable inside your
institution. The transformation at Leeds was as much cultural as technical: fundraising impact
stories moved into general alumni communications, and, as Jessica describes, "more people getting
invested in what we could do" meant "more money, more resource has been put into our digital
platforms." Our guide to [building a culture of giving](/us/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/)
addresses the internal buy-in without which nothing else lasts.

## The role of data and AI

Digital fundraising generates something the older channels never did: instant, granular feedback
on what works. Emma at Manchester names it as one of the format's real advantages, and also its
recurring challenge: "this is one of the real opportunities of digital, right? We get this instant
data on what works and what doesn't. And I think like most of us, it's just finding the time to
actually look at that."

Using that data well starts with the basics: connect your giving platform to analytics and tag
your links, so you can see which channel produced each gift. Kat Carter's "number one metric" is
conversion, tracked end to end, so you know whether the money you spend turns into donations.
Beyond conversion lies segmentation: understanding which groups respond to which messages, so every
appeal lands better than the last. Our guide to
[using your data and segmentation](/us/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) covers
analytics, tracking links and the segments worth building.

Sitting on top of good data is the newest layer, [AI in fundraising](/us/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/),
which is increasingly used to draft and tailor copy, personalise donor journeys, summarise
engagement and surface the prospects most likely to give. AI is most useful when it accelerates
work you already understand, not when it stands in for a strategy you have not yet built. Our guide
sets out where it genuinely helps and where to be cautious.

## Where to start

If you are getting started, the advice from experienced practitioners is consistent and
refreshingly modest. Begin with email, because it is the easiest channel to manage, test and learn
from. Add a small social media budget alongside it if you can, so more than one channel
contributes. And anchor everything to something you are already doing: if you have a print appeal
in the pipeline, run an email and a social push alongside it rather than inventing a campaign from
scratch.

Before reaching for the newest tool, take a step back. Emma at Manchester advises a small,
stretched team to "really take a step back" and "go right back to basics to think about what your
leaders are expecting you to deliver," then "find the products that match what you are being asked
to do." She offers a reminder that lowers the barrier to entry considerably: "loads of this stuff
that we've used over the past couple of years have been free for us to use. We have not had an
increase in budget for any of this work." Much of digital fundraising is about redistributing
effort and reusing what you already have, not spending more.

Two further moves pay off early. First, prove the concept small and then make the case. York's
pattern, as Tom Piercy describes it, was to "do a really good job of it and then don't stop," and
to let senior leaders begin "celebrating our successes as their own." A modest pilot with clear
results is the most persuasive budget request you can make. Second, lean on colleagues outside your
immediate team. Emma is emphatic that Manchester's transformation "would simply not have happened
without our colleagues in our alumni comms team," whose expertise in content, channels and systems
was indispensable.

If you are maturing an existing program, the priorities shift towards measurement and
integration: connect your platforms to analytics, fix the leaks in your donation pages, build
meaningful engagement KPIs alongside the financial ones, and design the journeys that carry a
first-time online donor towards a regular gift. And throughout, hold on to the lesson every
practitioner returns to. Digital does not retire your other channels. As Emma at Manchester puts
it: "Digital is not getting rid of telephone, it is not getting rid of print. Those things are
still performing really well for us. And it just adds an extra layer to our fundraising offer."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is digital fundraising, in one sentence?** It is raising money through online channels,
email, social media, video, web pages and giving forms, in a way that decentralizes the ask and
lets supporters share your cause with their own networks. Some people call it social or personal
fundraising for exactly that reason.

**Does digital fundraising replace direct mail and the telephone?** No. The strongest programs
treat digital as an additional layer that reaches new audiences and complements existing channels.
The telephone in particular remains the leading channel for acquiring and retaining regular givers,
and print continues to perform well.

**How much budget do I need to start?** Less than you might think. Email is inexpensive, and many
useful tools are free or already available within larger institutions. Several teams have run
significant digital transformations by redistributing existing budget rather than securing new
money.

**Which channel should I begin with?** Email. It is the easiest to set up, test and measure, and
the data you gather from it tells you how each audience responds before you scale up to a larger
campaign such as a Giving Day.

**How do I know if it is working?** Track conversion end to end by connecting your giving platform
to analytics and tagging your links. As a rule of thumb, if your donation form converts below 20
per cent of visitors, it is worth investigating. Look at engagement measures, opens, clicks and
shares, as well as income.

**What is the end goal?** A joined-up program that acquires supporters, stewards them well, and
converts single gifts into regular ones, so that fundraising rests on a stable base of committed
donors rather than one-off appeals.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Digital fundraising starter kit](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Digital channel planner](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Fundraising tech checklist](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: what is digital fundraising?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Sector bodies: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals) and [AFP](https://afpglobal.org/)

See the full [links directory](/us/en/links/) for more.

- [What is digital fundraising?](https://fundraisingguides.com/world/en/guides/what-is-digital-fundraising/) (world/en): An introduction to digital fundraising for non-profits and institutions, explaining what it is, the main campaigns and channels, how they fit together, and where to start, with links to in-depth guides on each.
Digital fundraising is, at its simplest, raising money through online channels: email, social
media, video, web pages and the giving forms behind them. But that definition is too narrow. The
more useful way to think about it is that digital fundraising decentralises the ask. Instead of
one central office writing to a list, it gives supporters the tools to share your cause and raise
money from their own networks, and it gives your team a way to reach audiences that direct mail
and the telephone never could. It might just as accurately be called social or personal
fundraising, because so much of what makes it work is the warmth of a friend asking a friend.

This guide is the overview. It explains what digital fundraising is, the main campaign types and
the channels that power them, how they add up to a programme rather than a series of one-off
appeals, and where a team should start. Wherever a topic deserves fuller treatment, we link to an
in-depth guide. Think of this page as the map, and the guides it points to as the territory. Many
of the examples here come from fundraisers at UK universities who have made the shift to digital,
including Kat Carter of Hubbub, Tom Piercy at the University of York, and colleagues at Leeds and
Manchester.

## Why digital fundraising matters now

The case for going digital is no longer theoretical; the sector's own data makes it. Kat Carter of
Hubbub sets out the picture: "In the latest Status of UK Fundraising report from Blackbaud, 60% of
nonprofit professionals agreed that digital transformation is crucial to success, that technology
must be used to improve the way organizations operate, and that data must also be used to improve
overall performance. But only 12% of respondents described themselves as digitally mature."

That gap, between the many who know it matters and the few who feel they have mastered it, is
where most teams sit. The encouraging part is what maturity tends to bring. Digitally mature
organisations, Kat Carter notes, "were found to be more likely to gain more supporters than they
were losing, to be optimistic that they would reach new audiences, that they would be more
effective at managing change and being agile." None of that requires a vast budget. It requires
the right skills, the right systems and the leadership to back them.

The institutions that have made this shift describe the same change and the same prize: going
digital let them reach audiences they had previously struggled to touch. At the University of
York, Tom Piercy introduced a giving day and a digital community programme alongside the existing
channels, and the result was striking: "there was a 50%, it was actually a 49.9% increase in
donors numbers" in a single year, with no rise in the operating budget. "This is all just about
redistributing our investment," he explains. Bringing the ask online also made internal audiences
far easier to reach. York's staff giving rate, Tom notes, went "from 9% to 35% since we made that
change." Digital does not replace what already works. It adds a layer that engages different
people and, done well, lets you raise considerably more.

## The main campaign types

Most digital programmes are built from a small set of recognisable campaign formats. Each suits a
different goal, audience and level of resource, and most teams run two or three of them in
rotation through the year.

A **Giving Day** is a short, intense, centrally led push, usually around 36 hours, focused on your
institution's own priorities. It made the biggest difference at York, and became a fixture once it
proved itself. Tom Piercy describes how the appetite changed: "now, I don't even need to tell
people about it in senior positions. They're coming to me asking when the next Giving Day is,
which is so different to where we were a few years ago." Our guide to
[how to run a Giving Day](/world/en/guides/running-a-giving-day/) covers forecasting, match funding
and the run of play.

A **Challenge Week** sits between a Giving Day and crowdfunding. It is led by the development
office, but the fundraising is done by clubs, societies and groups for their own causes, over
roughly a week. It is a forgiving way to trial peer-led fundraising and to bring in large numbers
of brand-new donors, many of them friends and family rather than alumni. Our guide to
[how to run a Challenge Week](/world/en/guides/running-a-challenge-week/) walks through recruiting
groups, training them and running the match-funding incentives that drive the competition.

**Crowdfunding** runs year-round and is owned by the people raising the money: students, staff or
community groups create project pages and rally their own networks. Many institutions begin their
digital journey here. York "made the decision to invest in our very own crowdfunding platform" as
far back as 2013-14, and at Leeds and Manchester a crowdfunding platform became the vehicle for
emergency student-support appeals when the pandemic hit. Our guide to
[how to run a crowdfunding campaign](/world/en/guides/running-a-crowdfunding-campaign/) shows how to
set up projects, recruit project owners and keep momentum going across a longer timeframe.

A **telephone appeal** is not digital in the strict sense, but it belongs in the conversation
because it remains the strongest channel for one thing the digital channels still find hard:
converting and retaining regular givers. Tom Piercy is candid about this at York: "telephone still
being the main contributor in terms of new regular donors. That's not really going to change for
us." The lesson is that digital and telephone work best together, with digital acquiring
single-gift donors and the phone converting them to a regular commitment. Our guide to
[how to run a telephone appeal](/world/en/guides/running-a-telephone-appeal/) covers caller training,
segmentation and the conversion ask.

## The channels that power them

Underneath the campaigns sit the channels: the day-to-day means of reaching and converting
supporters. Get these right and every campaign performs better.

**Email** is almost always the right place to begin. It is cheap, measurable and quick to test,
and it is where most teams start. Asked what a small team with little budget should do first, Tom
Piercy does not hesitate: "I think if I was in this position, the first thing I would do is
introduce email appeals, because they're quite easy to manage. You can build in the segmentation,
track all the results, make sure you know how each segment's responding before you then scale that
up into something more substantial like a giving day." Jessica at Leeds adds a note about making
each email earn its place: "how do you make the most out of every email and just be really, really
working them hard," capturing data and driving engagement, not only asking for money. Our guide to
[email fundraising](/world/en/guides/email-fundraising/) goes into segmentation, copy and the systems
worth using.

**Social media** amplifies everything else and, at its best, hands the ask to your supporters.
This is the heart of the decentralising idea: people simply "find it a lot easier to share and ask
when it's on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram." For many teams it is the least developed channel.
At York, Tom Piercy uses paid social to "accompany anything else that we're doing," running A/B
tests on a few hundred pounds of lifetime budget and switching off the underperforming advert
after a couple of days. His warning is worth heeding: York had "not had the right trackable links
in place" to see how many of those who clicked went on to give. Our guide to
[social media for fundraising](/world/en/guides/social-media-for-fundraising/) covers organic and
paid approaches, and the tracking that tells you whether they worked.

**Video and storytelling** is what makes a digital ask feel personal at scale. Manchester leaned
on it heavily for stewardship. As Emma at Manchester describes it: "We created loads of video
content so that people felt they were being spoken to in a personal way, direct from beneficiaries
that they'd given to." The same emotive case for support that powers a direct mail pack works
online, and often travels further. Our guide to
[video and storytelling](/world/en/guides/video-and-storytelling/) shows how to build stories that
move people without a film crew.

**Donation pages** are where intention becomes income, and they are the most common point of
failure. Kat Carter puts a sharp number on it: "look at the conversion rate on your online giving
form. If it's anything below 20%, it's probably time to really consider, is that really delivering
what we need?" The word she uses for everything that gets in the donor's way is friction: "You
want the donor to get that email, make that decision to give from the email, and then the donation
platform is just the last place they go to confirm how much they want to give." Leeds saw the
difference a good page makes, with the share of gifts received online rising from 15 per cent in
2018-19 to 31 per cent in 2021. Our guide to
[donation pages and conversion](/world/en/guides/donation-pages-and-conversion/) covers reducing
friction, social proof and the testing that lifts your conversion rate.

## How it adds up to a programme

Individual campaigns and channels are not the goal. The goal is a programme: a joined-up system
that acquires supporters, retains them, and turns single gifts into regular ones. Jessica at Leeds
describes the ambition well. The aim is a communications plan where "our alumni and donors or other
supporters aren't faced with three different asks for three different platforms," but instead
experience "a really joined up communication plan across all platforms," where "all that's
different is how you're engaging with us, not what you're engaging with."

The destination for most programmes is a healthy base of regular givers. Single online gifts are
valuable, but a [regular giving programme](/world/en/guides/running-a-regular-giving-programme/) of
committed donors is what gives a fundraising operation its stability. Moving someone from a first
online gift to a standing commitment is mostly a question of timing and channel. York built
dedicated telephone segments around its giving day to "make a regular giving ask instead of a
single ask," and Manchester used conversion mailings and streamlined direct-debit upgrades to do
the same.

Three connected disciplines hold a programme together. **Donor stewardship** is how you keep
supporters feeling valued between asks, and it is also one of the best retention tools you have:
Jessica at Leeds calls stewardship "such a powerful way to be able to retain donors." Our guide to
[donor stewardship and journeys](/world/en/guides/donor-stewardship-and-journeys/) maps the
communications a supporter receives from their first gift onwards. **Acquisition and retention** is
the balance every team has to strike, and digital changes its shape, opening up audiences, as Tom
Piercy puts it, "that maybe hadn't donated in the past when we were sending them stuff in the post
or trying to call them up over the phone." Our guide to
[donor acquisition and retention](/world/en/guides/donor-acquisition-and-retention/) covers both sides
of the ledger. And a **culture of giving** is what makes all of it sustainable inside your
institution. The transformation at Leeds was as much cultural as technical: fundraising impact
stories moved into general alumni communications, and, as Jessica describes, "more people getting
invested in what we could do" meant "more money, more resource has been put into our digital
platforms." Our guide to [building a culture of giving](/world/en/guides/building-a-culture-of-giving/)
addresses the internal buy-in without which nothing else lasts.

## The role of data and AI

Digital fundraising generates something the older channels never did: instant, granular feedback
on what works. Emma at Manchester names it as one of the format's real advantages, and also its
recurring challenge: "this is one of the real opportunities of digital, right? We get this instant
data on what works and what doesn't. And I think like most of us, it's just finding the time to
actually look at that."

Using that data well starts with the basics: connect your giving platform to analytics and tag
your links, so you can see which channel produced each gift. Kat Carter's "number one metric" is
conversion, tracked end to end, so you know whether the money you spend turns into donations.
Beyond conversion lies segmentation: understanding which groups respond to which messages, so every
appeal lands better than the last. Our guide to
[using your data and segmentation](/world/en/guides/using-your-data-and-segmentation/) covers
analytics, tracking links and the segments worth building.

Sitting on top of good data is the newest layer, [AI in fundraising](/world/en/guides/ai-in-fundraising/),
which is increasingly used to draft and tailor copy, personalise donor journeys, summarise
engagement and surface the prospects most likely to give. AI is most useful when it accelerates
work you already understand, not when it stands in for a strategy you have not yet built. Our guide
sets out where it genuinely helps and where to be cautious.

## Where to start

If you are getting started, the advice from experienced practitioners is consistent and
refreshingly modest. Begin with email, because it is the easiest channel to manage, test and learn
from. Add a small social media budget alongside it if you can, so more than one channel
contributes. And anchor everything to something you are already doing: if you have a print appeal
in the pipeline, run an email and a social push alongside it rather than inventing a campaign from
scratch.

Before reaching for the newest tool, take a step back. Emma at Manchester advises a small,
stretched team to "really take a step back" and "go right back to basics to think about what your
leaders are expecting you to deliver," then "find the products that match what you are being asked
to do." She offers a reminder that lowers the barrier to entry considerably: "loads of this stuff
that we've used over the past couple of years have been free for us to use. We have not had an
increase in budget for any of this work." Much of digital fundraising is about redistributing
effort and reusing what you already have, not spending more.

Two further moves pay off early. First, prove the concept small and then make the case. York's
pattern, as Tom Piercy describes it, was to "do a really good job of it and then don't stop," and
to let senior leaders begin "celebrating our successes as their own." A modest pilot with clear
results is the most persuasive budget request you can make. Second, lean on colleagues outside your
immediate team. Emma is emphatic that Manchester's transformation "would simply not have happened
without our colleagues in our alumni comms team," whose expertise in content, channels and systems
was indispensable.

If you are maturing an existing programme, the priorities shift towards measurement and
integration: connect your platforms to analytics, fix the leaks in your donation pages, build
meaningful engagement KPIs alongside the financial ones, and design the journeys that carry a
first-time online donor towards a regular gift. And throughout, hold on to the lesson every
practitioner returns to. Digital does not retire your other channels. As Emma at Manchester puts
it: "Digital is not getting rid of telephone, it is not getting rid of print. Those things are
still performing really well for us. And it just adds an extra layer to our fundraising offer."

## Frequently asked questions

**What is digital fundraising, in one sentence?** It is raising money through online channels,
email, social media, video, web pages and giving forms, in a way that decentralises the ask and
lets supporters share your cause with their own networks. Some people call it social or personal
fundraising for exactly that reason.

**Does digital fundraising replace direct mail and the telephone?** No. The strongest programmes
treat digital as an additional layer that reaches new audiences and complements existing channels.
The telephone in particular remains the leading channel for acquiring and retaining regular givers,
and print continues to perform well.

**How much budget do I need to start?** Less than you might think. Email is inexpensive, and many
useful tools are free or already available within larger institutions. Several teams have run
significant digital transformations by redistributing existing budget rather than securing new
money.

**Which channel should I begin with?** Email. It is the easiest to set up, test and measure, and
the data you gather from it tells you how each audience responds before you scale up to a larger
campaign such as a Giving Day.

**How do I know if it is working?** Track conversion end to end by connecting your giving platform
to analytics and tagging your links. As a rule of thumb, if your donation form converts below 20
per cent of visitors, it is worth investigating. Look at engagement measures, opens, clicks and
shares, as well as income.

**What is the end goal?** A joined-up programme that acquires supporters, stewards them well, and
converts single gifts into regular ones, so that fundraising rests on a stable base of committed
donors rather than one-off appeals.

---

### Members' resource pack

Sign in with your email to unlock these editable templates:

- [Digital fundraising starter kit](/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/)
- [Digital channel planner](/resources/digital-channel-planner/)
- [Fundraising tech checklist](/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/)

### Tools

- [Hubbub's Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): model likely results before you commit to a target
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): sharpen your appeal and email copy
- [QR Code Generator](https://fundraising-qr.net/): link in-person moments straight to a donation page

### Further reading

- [Hubbub blog: what is digital fundraising?](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/what-is-digital-fundraising)
- [Hubbub's digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars)
- Sector body: [CASE](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals)

See the full [links directory](/world/en/links/) for more.


## Resources

- [Fundraising tech checklist](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/fundraising-tech-checklist/): A checklist of the technology a digital fundraising programme needs, from donation pages to data.

- [Digital channel planner](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/digital-channel-planner/): A planner for deciding which digital channels to use and how they work together.

- [Digital fundraising starter kit](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/digital-fundraising-starter-kit/): A starter kit for teams beginning or maturing their digital fundraising programme.

- [Analytics dashboard template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/analytics-dashboard-template/): A simple dashboard template for the handful of fundraising metrics that actually matter.

- [Data health checklist](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/data-health-checklist/): A checklist for keeping your fundraising data clean, deliverable and consented.

- [Segmentation template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/segmentation-template/): A template for segmenting your supporters by warmth, history and propensity to give.

- [AI use policy template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/ai-use-policy-template/): A simple policy template for using AI responsibly with donor data and brand voice.

- [AI prompt library](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/ai-prompt-library/): A library of reusable prompts for drafting, editing, research and admin in fundraising.

- [AI fundraising use cases](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/ai-fundraising-use-cases/): A practical list of where AI genuinely helps in fundraising, and where to keep a human in the loop.

- [Conversion optimisation checklist](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/conversion-optimisation-checklist/): A checklist for testing and improving online conversion across your giving journey.

- [Donation form copy template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/donation-form-copy-template/): Copy templates for the headings, prompts and reassurance on your donation form.

- [Donation page checklist](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/donation-page-checklist/): A checklist for a high-converting donation page, covering friction, copy, amounts, Gift Aid and trust.

- [Video shot list](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/video-shot-list/): A shot list template to make filming day efficient, covering interviews, b-roll and key moments.

- [Storyboard template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/storyboard-template/): A simple storyboard template for planning the shots and flow of a short fundraising video.

- [Video brief template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/video-brief-template/): A brief template for planning a fundraising video, its message, audience and who tells the story.

- [Social graphics pack](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/social-graphics-pack/): A starter set of social graphic templates you can brand and adapt for your campaign.

- [Social post templates](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/social-post-templates/): Editable social post templates for awareness, launch, momentum and thank-you moments.

- [Social media content calendar](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/social-media-content-calendar/): A content calendar template for planning fundraising social posts across the phases of a campaign.

- [Giving society framework](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/giving-society-framework/): A framework for designing recognition and giving societies that reward and retain donors.

- [Case for philanthropy template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/case-for-philanthropy-template/): A template for articulating why philanthropy matters to your institution and its community.

- [Culture of giving roadmap](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/culture-of-giving-roadmap/): A roadmap template for building a culture of giving across your institution over time.

- [Challenge design worksheet](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-design-worksheet/): A worksheet for designing a sequence of challenges across a campaign to keep momentum building.

- [Match funding ask template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/match-funding-ask-template/): A template for asking a major donor or corporate partner to provide match or challenge funding.

- [Match and challenge planner](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/match-and-challenge-planner/): A planner for designing your match funding and challenges, with structures, triggers and amounts.

- [Win-back email template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/win-back-email-template/): Editable win-back emails for reactivating lapsed donors and reminding them of their impact.

- [Welcome journey template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/welcome-journey-template/): A welcome and onboarding journey template for turning a first-time donor into a committed supporter.

- [Donor acquisition plan template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/donor-acquisition-plan-template/): A plan template for acquiring new donors across channels, with targets, audiences and tactics.

- [Major donor stewardship plan](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/major-donor-stewardship-plan/): A stewardship plan template for keeping major donors informed, thanked and engaged year-round.

- [Major gift proposal template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/major-gift-proposal-template/): A structured proposal template for presenting a major gift opportunity, the impact and the ask.

- [Major gift prospect research template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/major-gift-prospect-research-template/): A template for researching and qualifying major gift prospects by their capacity, connection and interest.

- [Subject line swipe file](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/email-subject-line-swipe-file/): A swipe file of subject lines and openers to test and adapt for your fundraising emails.

- [Email campaign planner](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/email-campaign-planner/): A planner for mapping an email campaign sequence, audiences, timing and messages.

- [Fundraising email templates](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/fundraising-email-templates/): Editable fundraising email templates for appeals, campaign sequences and thank-yous.

- [Ambassador social toolkit](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/ambassador-social-toolkit/): Social graphics, captions and post templates for ambassadors to share across their own networks.

- [Ambassador briefing pack](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/ambassador-briefing-pack/): A briefing pack that equips ambassadors with the story, the ask, key dates and ready-made messages.

- [Ambassador recruitment email template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/ambassador-recruitment-email-template/): An editable email for recruiting fundraising ambassadors and explaining what the role involves.

- [Donor thank-you message templates](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/donor-thank-you-message-templates/): Warm, ready-to-adapt thank-you messages for email, post and phone, to send promptly after a gift.

- [Impact report email template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/impact-report-email-template/): An editable impact report email that shows donors exactly what their gift made possible.

- [Donor stewardship journey template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/donor-stewardship-journey-template/): A template for designing a segmented stewardship journey that thanks, reports impact and deepens commitment.

- [Donor journey map template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/donor-journey-map-template/): A template for mapping the donor journey from first gift through to a committed, regular supporter.

- [Regular giving upgrade ask template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/regular-giving-upgrade-ask-template/): Copy templates for asking existing donors to start a regular gift or upgrade an existing one.

- [Regular giving programme plan template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/regular-giving-programme-plan-template/): A year-round plan template for a regular and annual giving programme across acquisition, the ask and stewardship.

- [Telephone appeal data segmentation template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/telephone-appeal-segmentation-template/): A template for selecting and segmenting your calling data by warmth, history and propensity.

- [Telephone appeal caller training pack](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/telephone-appeal-caller-training-pack/): A training pack for recruiting and briefing student or volunteer callers, covering the ask, objections and tone.

- [Telephone appeal call script template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/telephone-appeal-call-script-template/): A warm, adaptable call guide for a telephone appeal that prompts a natural conversation rather than a rigid script.

- [Crowdfunding communications plan template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/crowdfunding-comms-plan-template/): An owner-led and central communications plan for the run-up, launch and final push of a crowdfunding campaign.

- [Crowdfunding page copy template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/crowdfunding-page-copy-template/): A structured template for writing a compelling crowdfunding project page, story, ask and rewards.

- [Crowdfunding project plan template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/crowdfunding-project-plan-template/): A project plan for a crowdfunding campaign, with tasks, owners and milestones from set-up to close.

- [Challenge Week donor thank-you email](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-week-thank-you-template/): A warm, ready-to-adapt thank-you email for groups to send their donors after Challenge
Week, reinforcing impact and keeping supporters connected.

- [Challenge Week match funding and incentives planner](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-week-match-funding-planner/): A planner for designing your incentives: milestone unlocks, top-performer rewards,
random donor draws and physical challenges, each mapped to a trigger, an amount and a
promotion plan.

- [Challenge Week content calendar](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-week-content-calendar/): A light-touch content calendar coordinating central-team and group-level messaging
across the two weeks before, during, and after your Challenge Week.

- [Challenge Week participant toolkit](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-week-participant-toolkit/): A toolkit for participating groups: sample appeal copy, social media graphics and
templates, launch, mid-week and thank-you email templates, imagery guidelines, and
creative mini-challenge ideas.

- [Challenge Week group onboarding email](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-week-onboarding-email/): An editable invitation email to recruit clubs and societies into your Challenge Week,
explaining how it works, the support you provide, and the first step to join.

- [Challenge Week goals planner](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/challenge-week-goals-planner/): A one-page planner for setting your Challenge Week targets: number of participating
groups, overall and new-donor goals, income target, and a non-financial success measure.

- [Case for support copy template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/case-for-support-template/): A structured template for writing a compelling case for support, the core argument
that explains why your cause matters, what a gift makes possible, and why now. Works
for a Giving Day theme or a wider campaign.

- [Giving Day email copy templates](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/giving-day-email-templates/): Editable copy templates for every email in a Giving Day sequence, save-the-date,
countdowns, the launch message, midday and momentum pushes, the final-hour appeal and
the thank-you, written to drive participation and ready to adapt to your cause.

- [Giving Day communications plan template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/giving-day-comms-plan-template/): A coordinated email + social media communications plan for the pre-launch, early
giving and on-the-day phases, including the recommended 36-hour, 10-email schedule
aligned to your social posts.

- [Giving Day project plan template](https://fundraisingguides.com/resources/giving-day-project-plan-template/): A ready-to-use project plan covering the full six-month run-up to your Giving Day,
key tasks, owners and due dates across strategy, content, platform build, match
funding and stewardship. Drop in your dates and go.


## Links

- [CASE: Fundraising Fundamentals](https://www.case.org/resources/fundraising-fundamentals): The Council for Advancement and Support of Education's primer on educational fundraising fundamentals.
- [Hubbub: Challenge Week platform & expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/challenge-week): Hubbub's Challenge Week platform with group pages, leaderboards and match funding, plus expert guidance.
- [Hubbub: Digital fundraising webinars](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/digital-fundraising-webinars): On-demand webinars on Giving Days, donor acquisition and digital fundraising from Hubbub's consultants.
- [Hubbub: Giving Day platform & expert support](https://www.hubbub.net/solutions/giving-days): Hubbub's white-label Giving Day platform with built-in ambassador tools and expert campaign guidance.
- [IDPE: Institute of Development Professionals in Education](https://idpe.org.uk/): The UK's membership body for schools' development and fundraising, training, benchmarking and best practice.
- [Case study: Balcarras School raised over £40,000 on its first Giving Day](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/redefining-whats-possible-for-state-school-fundraising-a-balcarras-school-giving-day-case-study): How a state school raised over £40,000 on its first Giving Day.
- [Case study: Highgate School's first Giving Day](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/creating-transformational-impact-a-highgate-school-giving-day-story): Creating transformational impact with a first Giving Day.
- [Case study: London Business School Giving Day](https://www.hubbub.net/case-study/a-lbs-giving-day-case-study): Multiple Giving Days with growing participation and income.
- [CASE: Voluntary Support of Education (benchmarking data)](https://www.case.org/resources/voluntary-support-education-data-research-findings): Benchmarking data and research on philanthropic support for education, useful for target-setting.
- [Fundraising Copy Checker](https://fundraisingcopy.net/): A free tool from Hubbub to check and improve the clarity and impact of your fundraising copy.
- [Hubbub blog: Effective lead generation strategies for charities](https://www.hubbub.net/blog/effective-lead-generation-strategies-for-charities): Practical approaches to growing your contactable, email-reachable audience.
- [Hubbub: Giving Day Simulator](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/regular-giving-simulator): Model the likely results of your Giving Day based on your audience size and response rates.
- [Hubbub: How-to guides (email, match & challenge, ambassadors, social)](https://www.hubbub.net/resources/how-to-guides): Hubbub's practical how-to guides, including the Email Fundraising Guide, Match & Challenges Guide, Ambassador's Guide and Social Media Toolkit.
- [Webinar: Challenge Weeks, not quite Giving Day, not quite crowdfunding](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/challenge-week): Hubbub consultants explain the Challenge Week model and how to run one.
- [Webinar: York Challenge Week](https://www.hubbub.net/on-demand-videos/york-challenge-week): The University of York team on how they built and grew their sport-focused Challenge Week.