Here in Minnesota November 14 is Give to the Max Day!
Every November more than 50,000 philanthropic Minnesotans make financial contributions to their favorite charities in a 24-hour giving marathon. The attention that GiveMN generates in raising awareness for charitable organizations and on philanthropic support is a big boost to building awareness for the amazing work your organization does.
With just one week to go, you still have time to get your stories in order for this fun and frenetic fundraising day that raised more than $16 Million for Minnesota nonprofits in 24 hours last year!
I believe Give to the Max Day is a HUGE opportunity to be especially clear about your impact and the faces of who you serve.
Leading up to the day of fun and frenzied competition for financial prizes means putting the time in ahead of the big day to cause your supporters to want to make a contribution on November 14.
If you haven’t already: check out the Nonprofit Toolkit for more tips and templates to help craft your emails and letters.
While you brainstorm and prepare for the whirlwind of activity, please don’t forget to choose powerful stories about the men, women, and children you serve.
Here are my Seven Rules of Storytelling:
- Stories should be about real people who need something, hopefully something that YOUR organization provides.
- Allow the person in your story to have a real name, age, and to speak for themselves.
- Minds wander, get real quickly. In about 4 – 10 seconds your listeners tune out if you haven’t grabbed them. Don’t tell me you are going to tell me a story about someone, just tell it. Starting with the person’s name, age, and a few descriptive words.
- Keep your story short. 6 words to 2 minutes is the length I recommend.
- Allow your story to cause me to feel something. Anger, sadness, happiness, pride–it doesn’t matter what the emotion is; I just have to feel something.
- Your story should have a moment that paints a picture so I see myself or someone in my life. Could be aging parents, the daughter of the person who made my latte or took my bank deposit today, or even my own child.
- The best stories are told by the person themselves. Clients telling their own stories are the most moving way to share how your organization makes a difference.
I’m a storytelling fanatic so you’ll find lots of other posts about how to tell great stories here on my Withism’s blog, just look under the storytelling category.
Below you’ll find the
“Official” GiveMN Checklist to prepare for Give to the Max Day: How many places on this checklist can you add your powerful client stories?
- Update your GiveMN page with photos, video and suggested donation amounts.
- Find and setup a matching grant on your GiveMN page.
- Remind donors about scheduled giving Nov. 1 through Nov. 13.
- Send out pre-written or template social media posts for your donors, staff, friends, and followers to use on Facebook, Twitter and other networks.
- Encourage your staff and volunteers to reach out to their friends and family.
- Plan and prepare to share photos, videos and stories of your nonprofit’s work and impact via your social networks leading up to and during Give to the Max Day.
- Plan your thank you strategy to include phone calls, video, and emails with timely, creative and relevant donor appreciation messages.
- Include a call to action for donors on their mobile devices such as “donate on your phone” or use a QR code on a poster or other print materials.
- Sign up for an interview spot on the livestream at Mall of America.
