How we’re staying focused and in the race after Giving Tuesday
When did the “race” to year-end (YE) fundraising begin? I don’t know exactly, but I think the “training” and hardcore “hill repeats” started months ago when we began mapping out what Giving Tuesday and YE online fundraising would look like.
Those initial weeks of planning were the “easy” days, but we all knew the hard work was coming soon. And when the hard work did arrive, it was made more difficult by the challenges we’ve all faced this fall: trying to stay focused given the dire news of COVID-19 infecting record numbers of people, cancelling Thanksgiving with everyone except our pets and our housebound mates, and digesting the “election fraud” voices screaming at all of us.
All of this reminded me of racers training with the U.S National Cycling Team prepping for the 1964 Olympic Games while being housed in a Soviet Olympic Training Center. Needless to say, it was not the best environment for staying focused.
But, despite the unfortunate distractions, we felt fully prepped the final stage race of the year. We’ll call this 3-stage race the Fundraiser’s Trifecta: Giving Tuesday, YE direct mail, and YE online fundraising.
Stage 1 (Giving Tuesday) felt like a ridiculous interval session — 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off for an unlimited number of sets — that lasted until midnight on December 1st. But we all know the Giving Tuesday numbers keep rolling in for a few days after, so Stage 1 is only now complete.
Today is two full days after Stage 1, and we’ve had our protein shakes to recover. Remember that you only have a 15-minute window to drink that shake and maximize recovery. Of course, chocolate and left-over turkey are solid protein-packed recovery options, no matter when they’re eaten.
(Pro tip: we could always tell who will get dropped in the next stage of a bike race based on who was not eating the night before. Keep eating!)
But only recovering with good food will leave you without your competitive edge. To win at Stage 2 (YE direct mail) and Stage 3 (YE online fundraising), you need sleep, some exercise, and mental quiet time. These things are as essential to your fundraising success as great copy, awesome creative, and strong social media ad management.
Stage 2 — the final pieces of direct mail for year-end — often feels easy. Only a few things are left to manage here, so we can almost coast in this stage and save the sprint for set-up approvals and sending off postage money.
Stage 3 is a tough one. It’s always most difficult to focus when you’re tired from racing and (hopefully!) celebrating successes from the past two stages. But you have to stay in the race, watch your teammates wheels in front and beside you, feel the wind, and be ready to change gears in order to cross the line on December 31 and earn the top podium spot.
There may not be actual gold medals or trophies won at the end of this 3-stage race, but the people who benefit from the services our clients provide will be silently thankful to their anonymous benefactors.
Tracy Lea, CFRE, is the Vice President of The Harrington Agency and a longtime competitive cyclist.