Scoop & Score
How to raise big dollars during a “down” time in fundraising
The election is over, and many in the political sphere are ready for a moment to relax. While the high-paced tempo of the cycle is behind us, it doesn’t mean your digital fundraising program should take a break.
For the last two cycles, we’ve developed a strategy that delivers huge results for our clients that can be summed up in an analogy all football fans will understand: Scoop & Score.
For this strategy to be successful, your digital fundraiser must be hyper-vigilant to the potential opportunities that present themselves in the news cycle, and when those opportunities appear, they must be the fastest movers in the space.
Scoop the opportunity, and take it to the endzone before anyone else.
Recent post-election opportunities we’ve capitalized on are:
- Cabinet appointments
- Splitting donations to uncalled races
- Post-election Polls
At this time in the cycle, competition within the digital fundraising space is at an all-time low. As someone who personally tries to get on every fundraising list, my unread texts have never been lower.
This means donors are less distracted from the noise, and a timely well-written fundraising piece has the potential to raise serious dollars for your client. There is an extra emphasis on timely.
Speed is the name of the game.
In football, a scoop & score is very chaotic and often not pretty, but the results can be incredible. In fundraising, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good, or good be the enemy of okay.
If you’re the first person to fundraise on a breaking news item in this “slow” period, you will own the entire digital fundraising market for days in a row.
In the 2024 cycle, our new clients raised up to 5x more in December through March of the off-year than they did in the final 4 months of the election with their previous vendor.
So far this year, we have clients who started fundraising after the election and have raised over $200k+ after November 5th. Oh, and some of these clients had zero digital fundraising assets to begin with.
If your digital fundraiser is taking time off after the election like your TV buyer or direct mail vendor is, that should serve as a giant red flag. Now is the time they should be working harder than ever.
Right now there are endless opportunities to put the points on the board for your clients, and like in football, a touchdown in the first quarter vs a touchdown in the fourth quarter count all the same when the final whistle is blown.