Give Thanks by Giving Back Fundraising Campaign
Branding your fundraising can extend beyond a single campaign. The Give Thanks by Giving Back campaign challenges Choate Rosemary Hall young alumni to make a gift within a set time period. This campaign has run the last three fiscal years and follows a similar formula. While the messaging changes slightly from year to year, the Give Thanks by Giving Back (GTBGB) branding carries over from one campaign to the next. This strengthens our donor’s recognition of the Give Thanks by Giving Back brand – when they see this branding, they know it’s time to make their Annual Fund gift.
Year One - Give Thanks by Giving Back 2019 (November 2019)
Give Thanks by Giving Back was conceived in November 2019 as a one-week young alumni giving campaign during which we would challenge 234 Choate Rosemary Hall alumni from the 15 youngest classes to make gifts in honor of the 234 members of the Class of 2020. My colleague Sheldon and I recorded several members of the senior class and created a video as the center-piece of the campaign. I then created the GTBGB branding that would carry throughout.
GTBGB 2019 Video
The 2019 video was a collaboration with me shooting the footage and creating the graphic elements. Christopher and Sheldon Perkins edited the video.
GTBGB 2019 Kick-Off Email
Year Two - Give Thanks by Giving Back 2020 (December 2020)
Year two of this campaign focused on the young alumni voice, asking several of our constituents why they support Choate Rosemary Hall. I worked with Alumni to record their own videos (just before everyone in the world became experts at video production due to the COVID-19 pandemic!) which I edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. I updated the graphic collateral to reflect the new goal of 250 gifts in 250 hours while retaining the GTBGB branding.
GTBGB 2020 Video
In 2020, I took over the video creation process along with the graphic design, email design, and social media.
GTBGB 2019 Kick-Off Email
Year Three - Give Thanks by Giving Back 2021 (November 2021)
In year three of the campaign, we were thrilled to be able to come back onto campus and engage with students to record the 2021 video. After the long COVID-19 shut-down when access to campus was extremely limited, even to non-essential employees, sharing the voices of our students meant a lot to everyone. This campaign lasted seven days with the goal of 240 gifts from young alumni in honor of the 240 members of the Class of 2022.
GTBGB 2021 Video
In 2021 we took a new look at how we interact with students in order to tell the Choate Rosemary Hall story in a more complete way. We asked students several questions ranging from what they love about Choate to where their favorite spot is on campus. I was then able to use the footage not only for this campaign, but an Annual Fund thank you email that we sent several months later.
GTBGB 2021 Kick-Off Email
GTBGB 2021 Email Campaign Examples
Outcomes
The best part of any campaign, by far, is getting to thank the donors and announce that the goal was reached!
A large driver to success in the Give Thanks by Giving Back campaign is always competition between classes so we get to announce not only that we reached our goal but also which class was the winner of the Give Thanks by Giving Back bragging rights for the next year.
Give Thanks by Giving Back Give Campus Pages
You can view the GTBGB campaigns on their GiveCampus pages here: