Please, please can you give us a gift before the end of the year...
As the end of 2007 approached, the number of email requests flooded all of our inboxes. Most had a very similar strategy - encourage recipients to give an additional gift before the end of the year.
They all accomplished the task of getting an ask into the inbox of their email supporters. But for the most part, they did not contain compelling reasons to give to their solicitation over all of the others. With so many competing asks being received, an opportunity to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack was missed by most of these groups.
I am happy to say that in my inbox, a few did stand out. One example was an erequest I received from Save The Children USA.
Their esolicitation included an interesting matching gift opportunity.
....Special opportunity to have your donation DOUBLED by Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons ends tonight at midnight!Between now and midnight (EST) tonight, December 31, Sam will match every donation that supports our mission made through our website, up to a total match of $1,000,000....
Using a well known personality helped to add confidence and excitement to the ask. In addition, offering a compelling matching gift opportunity with a timeline to match the end of year deadline gave potential donors a compelling reason to choose this ask over a multitude of esolicitations sent at the same time.
The twist on the 'end of the year' theme provided a winning combination for a very worthy cause.
