Consider sending out solicitations to your past donors and alumni to gain more support for your campaign.
What you can send
- Newsletters
- Include a short feature or sidebar that talks about your campaign and the impact donors may have. Consider informing supporters early with a “save the date” message. Note: if you include a link to your campaign page, this would be considered a soft ask, and you will need to ensure your communication follows guidelines for non-solicitations with an ask. If it does not link to a page where individuals can make a donation, it is not considered a non-solicitation with an ask.
- 1:1 outreach
- Personalized emails to key supporters, volunteers, and faculty/staff champions (these are not mass solicitations).
- Mass solicitations
- Unit-wide or segment-wide solicitation emails need to be approved through the standard OVCIA approval process, with sign-off from the unit CAO and appropriate AVC.
Best practices
- Based on past A/B testing in OVCIA, we have found short and sweet is most effective for mass solicitations. (Try to keep the main body of your emails to 25 words or less.)
- Simplify your call to action—don’t ask folks to do anything other than give now in these emails.
- Use your campaign’s individual crowdfunding check out page as the email’s button destination (not the general Orange & Blue Days homepage).
- Call your email recipients by their names. We recommend using {tedSalutation} in the subject line or preheader for your emails.
Make sure to request any mass communications for Orange & Blue Days from UIF, following the standard policies, by January 24.
Note: OVCIA will be sending mass solicitations for Orange & Blue Days on March 4 and March 6. Normally units are asked to refrain from sending mass solicitations around the same days as OVCIA, but for Orange & Blue Days campaigns, this rule will not be in effect.
Questions?
Reach out to OVCIA’s Associate Director of Strategic Engagement, Rachel Hull, at rhull3@illinois.edu.