Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day (NTXGD) is an online giving event designed to empower consumers to support local causes and their community. NTXGD is the largest community-wide giving event in the nation.
NTXGD is driven by the idea that united community action can bring about meaningful change. Through strategic planning, outreach, and engagement, the event strives to make a significant difference in the lives of individuals and communities alike.
Goals included:
1. Encouraging Community Engagement: By providing a centralized platform for giving, NTXGD encourages community members to actively participate in philanthropy.
2. Extending Nonprofit Impact: The event serves as a catalyst for nonprofits to raise critical funds. It showcases their missions and projects, increasing visibility and support from donors passionate about various causes ranging from education and health to arts and community services.
3. Engaging in a Culture of Giving: Beyond fundraising, NTXGD cultivates a culture of giving and generosity. It inspires individuals to discover and connect with nonprofits that align with their values and interests, fostering long-term relationships and sustained support.
The goals, in addition to increasing donations and donors, were to spread the word of NTXGD throughout the entire DFW community and increase the total donation base from a smaller, wealthier crowd to a broader, more socio-economically diverse crowd.
We were asked to build a base of donors to include and empower all North Texans, to leave no group, minority, majority, or under-served community unasked to participate in a better future for all.
NTXGD was focused on fundraising for local organizations and raising awareness of local issues. Bringing the project to life required communication and collaboration between TBS and the Communities Foundation of Texas to align goals and creative ideas. The plan of action was an extensive approach that included marketing techniques as well as community involvement in the adertising and execution of the event.
TBS utilized all forms of media; digital, traditional, radio, TV, cable, outdoor, print, streaming, display, influencers, and social media, to inform all communities with recognizable and relatable images so everyone could influence change.
Our strategy for marketing included:
1. Messaging and Promotion:
- Clear Messaging: Emphasize the importance and impact of North Texas Giving Day as an 18-hour online giving event.
- Highlight the Impact: Showcase how every donation contributes to local causes across 27 different categories, such as education, veterans' services, health, and more.
- Engaging Content: Use compelling stories, testimonials, and statistics to demonstrate the positive outcomes of previous North Texas Giving Days.
2. Target Audience Engagement:
- Social Media Campaigns: Leverage platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to reach a broad audience.
- Influencer Partnerships: Collaborate with local influencers, community leaders, and celebrities to amplify the message.
- Email Marketing: Utilize segmented email lists to send personalized messages to previous donors, volunteers, and community partners.
3. Community Outreach:
- Local Events: Organize kickoff events to educate the community about the event and its impact.
- Partnerships: Engage in partnerships with local businesses, schools, and community organizations to spread the word.
- Media Coverage: Pitch stories to local newspapers, radio stations, and TV channels to secure coverage about North Texas Giving Day and participating nonprofits.
4. Ease of Giving:
- User-Friendly Platform: Ensure the North Texas Giving Day website is intuitive and mobile-friendly for easy user navigation and donations.
- Advance Scheduling: Encourage donors to schedule their donations ahead of September 21 to maximize impact during the event.
- Corporate Matching: Seek corporate sponsors willing to match donations, thereby doubling the impact of individual contributions.
By implementing these strategies, NTXGD effectively raised awareness, engaged the community, and empowered individuals to give back to their desired causes with purpose and impact on September 21, 2023.
The challenge for 2023, set by Communities Foundation of Texas, was to outperform previous years’ donations, both in overall total dollars and number of individual donations, with both a paid budget and maximizing in-kind donations from media partners and outlets.
This challenge presented a unique opportunity for TBS to exercise modern marketing techniques such as influencer engagement, increased social media presence, and the use of AI software. These new tools have revolutionized marketing and allowed TBS to reach target audiences and meet and exceed this challenge.
For 2023, creative and media efforts were directed not only at the traditional outlets but TBS also targeted under-served minority groups and neighborhoods. With over 3,000 charities on the receiving end of the donations, the message was that there is a charity for everyone, and no donation was too small or too large!
$63.9 million was raised through 97,132 donors benefiting 3,249 local nonprofits in 2023. This brought the fifteen-year total to over $566 million for the North Texas community.
We were able to form strategic partnerships with key media outlets; KXAS-NBC, KLTY-FM, and Dallas Morning News, to maximize community reach and in-kind donations.
In this post-Covid era when charitable giving was at an all-time low, we were able to build on the 2022 metrics:
2022:
$62.6 Million Dollars
3,210 Non-Profits served
94,385 Individual donations
We surpassed our goal of outperforming the 2022 results as follows:
2023:
$63.9 Million Dollars – 2% increase
3,249 Non-Profits served – an additional 39 organizations over 2022
97,000+ Individual donations – 3% increase
In-kind Donations – 91% match of spent budget
While our monetary goals were met, we also succeeded in raising awareness of NTXGD. We saw this through increased engagement in all forms of media and more diversity in donors. Overall, we contributed to our community and shared the experience with North Texas.
