Providing great stewardship and donor relations is the best way to ensure donor retention for future years of giving! We encourage you to think about how you can thank your donors and directly show them the impact of their collective giving in a timely manner!

Centralized Stewardship for Orange & Blue Crowdfunding Week

We will be sending a centralized thank you message to donors of Orange & Blue Week on the following Tuesday or Wednesday. Draft of text for the OVCIA Thank You Email:

Subject: You made Orange and Blue Week a success!
Preview text: We raised an astounding $XXXXXX for XX projects across campus!
Body: Thank you for participating in the first ever Orange & Blue Crowdfunding Week! Through donations and social media posts from Illinois supporters around the globe, we were able to raise an astounding $XXXXXX for XX projects across campus.

Want to keep this momentum rolling? Generate your own giving link and become an advocate for the University of Illinois! And keep an eye out next year to help us make Orange and Blue Week even bigger together!

StratCom will also be posting thank you/impact social media messages for the overall Orange & Blue Week campaign.

Recommended Stewardship for Individual Campaigns

Throughout Orange & Blue Crowdfunding Week

Think about ways to thank your donors right away. The overall sense of urgency and excitement is a key element to successful crowdfunding. We want to make sure we built and maintain momentum to attract more donors to follow along and contribute to your success.
If a donor gave a large gift and/or made a post sharing your campaign, can you make a post that same day thanking them for their support.
Post a video or celebration picture when you hit milestones in your campaign, such as “We’re halfway there! Thanks to XX donors, we are on our way to [impact]!”
Think about sending personal emails, texts, or phone calls for larger gifts that come in right away.

After Orange & Blue Crowdfunding Week

Don’t forget to post about your final results on social media and thank everyone who made a gift.
Your Orange & Blue Week Crowdfunding page will close and stop accepting gifts at midnight on Sunday, March 9, but you can share a link to your regular giving page for any donors who missed out on the fun.

Additional Resource: UIF Engagement Center

The Foundation Engagement Center has generously offered to work with units to send video thank you emails to donors for your Orange & Blue Week projects. Please reach out to Rachel Gudeman by [date] to coordinate details.

Questions?

Reach out to OVCIA’s Associate Director of Strategic Engagement, Rachel Hull, at rhull3@illinois.edu.