Key messages for year-end giving: Balancing optimism with reality
On December 1, Embolden clients received their regular monthly installment of cut-and-paste newsletter content. Like clockwork, ready-to-go content arrives in subscribing clients’ inboxes on the first day of every month—weekend, holiday, rain or shine.
More than 150 community foundations have subscribed to Embolden content. Many community foundations subscribe to two or even three Embolden newsletter packages, which are designed to engage professional advisors, donors, and nonprofits. Our goal is to make it easy and cost-effective for community foundation professionals to produce material for newsletters, blogs, social media posts, and other communications that are critical keep a community foundation’s messages and brand top of mind with key audiences.
This month, year-end giving is of course the predominant theme. Many clients have commented that it is challenging to navigate the delicate balance of a challenging economy on one hand, with the increasing need for philanthropy to support rising community needs on the other hand.
Here are a few tips to help community foundations capture both messages in a respectful way:
Acknowledge that times are tough for many. Not only are nonprofits and the people they serve affected by inflation and a wild stock market, but donors are also affected. There’s no sense hiding that; putting it right out there in your messages is validating and compassionate.
Continue to mention tax-savvy giving techniques such as gifts of appreciated stock and Qualified Charitable Distributions. It may seem repetitive to those of us who work in philanthropy every day, but to most donors and advisors, and even many professionals at nonprofits, charitable tax planning is just one of many, many activities on their plates. Remember that it frequently takes seven or more mentions before a message really sinks in. So, keep repeating!
Offer well-founded hope that there are bright spots in the world because of philanthropy. Amazing work goes on every single day by nonprofit organizations, by the donors who support them, and by the advisors who put together the legal and financial structures that make charitable gifts happen. Philanthropy, by definition, is the love of humanity, and that is always a positive message.
Wishing everyone all the best for the holidays!