Alternative to Giving Tuesday?
File under: Maybe a better date for Giving Tuesday?
401Gives is sorta the same as Giving Tuesday ... but occurs in April, not Nov./Dec.
Welcome to Rhode Island ... where in 2020 the state's United Way launched its annual "day of online giving," anchored on April 1. The hope? To build a stronger "culture of philanthropy" locally ... by making it fun and easy to give ... and maybe even introduce the generous to new charities.
United Way RI calls its statewide philanthropy pep rally 401Gives. Why? Well, it takes place on the 1st day of the 4th month of the year ~ hence 4/01. Plus maybe there's another cool hook? 401 is the area code for Rhode Island phones.
It seems to be doing well.
A snapshot:
In 2023, 401Gives raised almost $3.5 million for 546 local charities. More than 15,000 donors chipped in, the United Way says. This was a bump from the year previous.
The average amount raised per charity was $6,397 ... not a bad day's pay. (Well, OK, to be honest: the event ran for 4 days this year, because April 1 occurred on a Saturday; so United Way promoted a special "weekend edition." Still, most giving occurred on Day One, I've heard.)
The top amount raised during the weekend edition for a single charity was $220,734; 2nd place: $137,496; 3rd place: $100,334. The lowest amount raised by the top 10 charities was $40,805.
The average donation during the 401Gives event was $229. Let's compare that to a national average: according to data-monster Blackbaud, the average gift under $1,000 in the US is now around $20. The 401Gives approach brought in an average gift 10 times that national average. Now, of course, Blackbaud deleted gifts of $1,000 (and above) from its averaging and 401Gives did not ...still, food for thought.
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Our household gave. Here's to what....
In about a half-hour on the first day gifts of $100 each were swiftly made to 4 causes we already knew, admired, had experienced:
One stages stunning experimental theatre (arts lover? my hand is WAY up!)
One offers winning legal defense for Rhode Island's powerless, refused, unjustly evicted (I spoke once to their board and have become a true believer)
One is an Indigenous-led museum. I met its charismatic ED a few years ago when I taught a workshop ... and ended up writing, as a volunteer, their capital campaign's new case for support
One an urban public school program that kicks serious ass getting first-gen (many BIPOC) students into college
I also considered a couple of causes I didn't already know. Their online materials convinced me that they ARE exceptional contributors to the common good in my own backyard.
Still....
In the end, sorry to report, inertia (heavyweight champion of the world) overcame my initial, fragile interest in new-to-me charities.
I bow to Seth Godin's comment (especially applicable in fundraising): our "target audiences are often lazy people in a hurry." He isn't judging. He's observing common behavior.
But are these new-to-me local causes now LOST to me? NO! I willremember some of them next year ... promise! They made an impression. I just didn't act on their behalf ... at that very moment.
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And then what happened: How were the thanks?...
Not bad, Rhode Island charities!
Three of my four 401Gives charities sent me a convincing thank you. One was hand-written in ink; came in the mail. All three thanks were emotional (rather than bland). All three made me feel good: an important goal in donor stewardship.
That other "thank you"? Well ... it was the usual robotic hairball: unmemorable, unemotional ... and yet there's hope! My next year's gift to them will depend on how well this org. is at reporting how much individual gifts like mine mattered to their mission's promised impact.
I know: I'm an unforgiving nasty re: things like thanks. It's my duty: if you don't get thanking right, you're kinda doomed.
As Dr. Jen Shang, the world's top researcher in "philanthropic psychology" insists, your thanks is your most important communication ... as far as your donors are concerned.
As for your reporting to your donors, via newsletters and social posts? That should be just a different way of thanking.
If I were to spray-paint something on a subway wall, it would say: too many charities remain mouse-trapped in entitlement mode ... and maybe aren't yet sure how to speak honestly and emotionally to their current donors and prospects. (Enjoy this cover of Simon and Garfunkel's first hit.)
So nice work, 401Gives. The majority of charities I gave to DID push the thank-you envelope in the right direction. Multiple gold stars to the Center for Justice.
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401Gives Case Notes: Rhode Island Center for Justice....
One of the 401Gives causes I gave to in 2023 was the Center for Justice (Rhode Island).
The Center had mere days to throw together their 401Gives online campaign ... which then performed brilliantly, raising twice what it had the year before. The United Way encouraged videos ... but the Center just didn't have the time, so it stuck with emails to its house list.
I spoke with Ashley Belanger. She wrote the unabashed emails and other comms for the Center's 401Gives campaign. And she was driven personally and urgently: the Center for Justice is managing 5 times the number of cases this year as it did last year. Times are tougher.
The following bullets are from my notes scribbled during a lunch of savory crepes at Café Zoey (we both did "the Lox of Love"):
The Center sent 5 emails soliciting for 401Gives. Not all emails went to everyone, though: once you'd given (and most of that happened on Day One), you were spared further emails ... until the final day, when the Center had a fresh reason for asking: they were trying to close the gap on a matching-gift goal. (Which they did.)
The total raised from donors over this 401Gives weekend in April will account for nearly 50% (nearly HALF!) of the Center's individual giving for the year, I was told. That's NOT the Center's entire budget, of course ... but individual giving IS the future. Right now, the Center gets beaucoup money from grants. But those sources are shifty, as politics and government priorities and foundation moods change.
Of the top 10 charities on the 401Gives leader board, Ashley reported that 6 offered their true believers matching-gift offers. The Center for Justice did, funded by a collective effort of its board of directors. And another by a local law firm so excited by the announcement of the first match that they added another. On top of that, the Rhode Island Foundation — one of America's oldest, largest, activist community foundations — offered an array of other matching incentives for 401Gives such as an "early-bird donor" match.
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