5 Tips to Make Your Spring Campaign Blossom

We know how tempting it can be to take a break from fundraising after the hustle and bustle of year-end giving in November and December. However, spring is a popular time to send out fundraising appeals.

Why Launch a Spring Campaign

• Enough time has passed since year-end giving that fundraisers feel comfortable asking for donations.
• Without key dates like #GivingTuesday and New Year’s Day providing natural bookends for a campaign, fundraisers can be more flexible about when to send out appeals and by when to request donations be submitted.
• While a great option, spring campaigns aren’t quite as omnipresent as year-end campaigns, which means less competition for donors’ attention.

Now that you know why a spring campaign is a great idea, it’s time to figure out how to make the most of them.

5 Best Practices for Spring Campaigns

1. Develop a theme. From your messaging to your visuals, working with a cohesive theme is a great way to connect direct mail, email, and social media posts. These communications should look and sound like they’re part of one overarching campaign. Use an integrated marketing approach and send out multiple types of communications to compel your donors to act.
2. Choose a fundraising strategy. Recently, Network for Good hosted a webinar all about spring campaigns, featuring one of our Personal Fundraising Coaches, Andrea Holthouser. During the webinar, Andrea recommends choosing one key strategy to focus on this time of year, such as acquiring new donors or encouraging monthly recurring donations. What strategy will you choose? Listen to the webinar for more spring campaign tips.
3. Create a themed everyday giving page. Once you have developed a cohesive theme to connect your messaging and wording, why not create an online donation page to match? Update the link attached to the donate button on your organization’s homepage during your spring campaign and make sure your email blasts drive traffic to your dedicated page as well.
4. Tell a story. Choose a beneficiary who was helped by your organization in 2018 and ask your donors to help people, animals, or causes like them in 2019. Remind your donors that their gifts make an impact throughout the year and that making more than one gift is a great way to increase their impact for the cause they care about.
5. Don’t forget the flowers! If you’re using your own images or stock images, it’s worth ensuring that any outdoor photos reflect the correct season. If your area is experiencing great weather, it might be worth skipping the snow-covered shots and opting for full trees and landscaping in the background. Even if the temperature isn’t quite spring-like, a little aspiration might just grab the viewer’s attention and prompt a positive response.

A spring campaign is the perfect way to fundraise for a new initiative, raise more for your annual gala, or wrap up your fiscal year. Engage and renew donors, attract prospects, build awareness, and plant the seeds that sustain your organization. Download our 30-Day Spring Fundraising Plan to launch your campaign today!

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