It's the perfect time to introduce, or improve, your symbolic giving campaign for this holiday! This exciting session will explore how organizations of all sizes can take advantage of the growing demand of donors - young and old - to make symbolic gifts. Many people call symbolic giving the 'Oprah-facation' way of giving. This session will feature tons of real examples and results to help you better understand how symbolic giving can work for you - whether you are a large or small organisation.

1. Takeaways to Improve or Kick Start Your Symbolic Giving Program

2. TP2010 Tweeting today? @hjcnewmedia Follow us as... Your presenters... Christine Smith christine.smith@hjcnewmedia.com Fundraising and Innovation Consultant, HJC Dave Lavoie davel@oxfam.ca Core Donor Officer, Oxfam Canada

3. A virtual tour What is symbolic giving – or alternative giving? What are the benefits of symbolic giving? How can I deal with restricted giving constraints? Who are symbolic giving donors? What will be more important for marketing? How can you integrate your marketing efforts? How can personal page fundraising be used for symbolic giving? What are some success stories from organizations big and small? How do you steward and convert symbolic gift donors to sustained monthly donors? How can small and mid-sized organizations afford to introduce symbolic giving this holiday?

4. Alternative Gift Catalogues: Are a way for donors to share their affinity with your cause in a fun and easy way WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE GIVING?

6. THE 3 STEPS TO ALTERNATIVE GIVING Step 1 – Donor selects a gift Step 2 – Donor sends a card to a loved one, friend, colleague, teacher...anyone who they buy gifts for Step 3 – Donor gets a tax receipt for the full amount of their gift

7. PRIMARILY ONLINE

8. BUT ALSO SUPPORTED OFFLINE

10. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? Gift Recipient – Gets a “feel good” feeling because their gift is helping someone and they have received an e-card or print card that explains how

11. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? Organization- You get fundraising dollars, new donors, old donors giving more, brand awareness and media attention

13. RESTRICTED VS. UNRESTRICTED The industry’s best kept secret? Most alternative gift catalogues are UNRESTRICTED GIVING

14. RESTRICTED VS. UNRESTRICTED

15. WHO ARE SYMBOLIC DONORS? Oprahs’s donors!

17. want the feeling of designation on the smallest gifts

19. WHO ARE SYMBOLIC DONORS? Some stats… Age < 25 8.9% 25-34 20.3% 35-44 21.6% 45-54 21.8% 55-64 18.6% 65+ 8.8% Gender Female77.7% Male 22.3% Coincidentally – Oprah’s prime audience too!

20. ARE THESE NEW/EXISTING DONORS? In the case of CHF and Oxfam approximately 85% of the donors are new!

21. How to Market?

22. Celebrity Endorsements Example: Minnie Driver speaking on the Ellen DeGeneres show (about Oxfam US but drove Canadian traffic) HOW TO MARKET?

23. HOW TO MARKET? City wide flyer postings...

24. HOW TO MARKET? Online Media

25. 50% of survey respondents for Oxfam Unwrapped said this article is what drove them to give HOW TO MARKET? Holiday features in Print Media

26. HOW TO MARKET? Radio ads

27. HOW TO MARKET? Video

28. EMAIL APPEALS Holiday Appeal November 28 19 gifts in the first 5 days Use images to convey urgency or convenience of donating online

29. EMAIL APPEALS Reminder #1 December 12 25 gifts in the next 5 days Refer to prior appeals

30. EMAIL APPEALS Reminder #2 December 19 15 gifts within 2 days Emotional Convenience What gift can accomplish

31. EMAIL APPEALS Reminder #3 December 21 32 gifts in the 4 days before Christmas Last Minute Gift-Focus on service to donor – sense of urgency!

32. EMAIL APPEALS Final Reminder First Reminder Second Reminder Initial Appeal

34. Drive traffic with email

35. Hijack your homepage with an ad for your symbolic gift catalogue

37. APPLYING PERSONAL PAGES

38. APPLYING PERSONAL PAGES Don’t BUY me anything this holiday – go to my personal page – and help me reach my goal as a holiday present!!!

40. Three weeks on homepage during Christmas season

41. $120,000 in three weeks

42. People make their own page and proactively going out to friends, family and colleagues and asking for donations

44. 592 total donors

45. Average gift $68.15

47. 652 total donors

48. Average gift $107.68

50. CASE STUDY – Oxfam

51. CASE STUDY – Oxfam

52. CASE STUDY – Oxfam

53. CASE STUDY – Oxfam Environmental Scan: Oxfam had Unwrapped programs in 10 different markets - Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, America, New Zealand, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, France and Quebec. These programs are at different levels of maturity from five to two years. Programs at the five year level are seeing a levelling or reduction in revenues. Due to market competition and in some cases the fun of Unwrapped was replaced with overwhelming mission content.

54. CASE STUDY – Canuck Place

56. 42 total donors

57. Average gift $112.14

58. $4,710 total gifts

59. Further promotion as a year round alternative giving option

60. 154 total donors - 63 in December

61. Average gift $118.96

63. 156 total donors - 69 in December

64. Average gift $113.94

66. CASE STUDY – Canuck Place By creating designated gifts – both small and large – Canuck Place has attracted larger gifts from Foundations and from companies. The ‘commodification’ of what a donor’s dollar can do is getting both larger and smaller gifts

67. STEWARDSHIP & UPGRADING Your symbolic gift donors have a connection to your mission, and can be converted to monthly giving using the right tools and effective stewardship

68. STEWARDSHIP & UPGRADING Ensure that the donation experience is easy, seamless and efficient. Have a dedicated person to respond to all donor requests and problems. Email and thank these donors after the campaign, let then know how important their support is to your organization. Follow-up using real examples on how donor dollars are used.

69. STEWARDSHIP & UPGRADING Using the Phone:CHF did a test and called 5,000 of their DM, telephone and symbolic gift donors to upgrade to monthly. The symbolic gift donors converted at a much higher rate than the other two groups!

70. STEWARDSHIP & UPGRADING What We Learned: Use the phone! Symbolic donors converted by phone have joined Oxfam and CHF’s regular monthly giving programs with an average conversion rate of 3-4% These donors feel a personal connection to your organisation and mission – so the personal touch of a phone call is the best method for conversion to monthly giving!

72. cost-effective donor acquisition tool

73. unrestricted funds

74. increased brand awareness

75. supports existing appeals/campaigns

76. attracts both small and large gifts