FreeWill Newsletter

Interested in how spring cleaning and tax season campaigns performed for FreeWill partners? Read below for our top learnings and statistics, as well as other resources for your organization!

Spring campaign data round-up

Top learnings from your Spring Cleaning bequest campaigns:

Outreach (still) works! Through 182 pieces of outreach, partners raised an amazing total of $11.9M dollars for charitable causes.
Email still stands as the #1 bequest generator. Of all the bequests that resulted from spring cleaning outreach, 98% were from email campaigns.
When sent, follow-up emails are effective! If you can confirm space on your comms calendar, we recommend two-part sends. About half the total bequest dollars raised through emails were from follow-up sends.

Top learnings from your Tax season stock and QCD campaigns:

Donors are interested! The “tip for tax season” subject line was a hit. Mentioning tax savings resulted in an average 25% open rate (higher than the nonprofit industry standard, which is about 20%).
Education and repetition is crucial. People need to see a message at least seven times for it to sink in. To reach your end-of-year goal, make sure to plan outreach early, add a link to the tool on your website and use one-on-one conversations to follow up with donors. Ask your Strategists for resources to help!
Key tip for the summer: follow up! We saw more requests to “learn more” about stock giving than intent to make a gift, which means your supporters are eager to meet with you. Use the summer months to schedule 1-1 conversations with those who clicked on your tax season outreach, but didn’t give. Don't forget to mention tax savings and ask your Strategists for talking points.

FreeWill events

Upcoming partner training

In 2021, learning how to effectively communicate and steward donors is imperative to capture the attention of previous donors, especially those who gave in 2020. We invite you and everyone at your organization who communicates with donors to join us for a training that will focus on using your FreeWill campaigns to update your fundraising and stewardship strategy.

5 strategies to enhance your donor communication and stewardship

Monday, June 21st, 1 - 1:45 PM EST

Reserve your seat

New stock giving "Learn More" page

Stock giving is an incredibly impactful way for people to give, and yet many donors don’t know that it’s an option, or understand the tax benefits of these gifts. This new page addresses the donor who doesn’t realize they should make a stock gift — and explains why it may be the best option for them! It includes a calculator that estimates capital gains tax savings, a table that breaks down the benefits of stock giving, and more important information!

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Take me to the page

In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing goals for our messaging and outreach strategies during a flagship FreeWill campaign: National Make-a-Will Month!

Partner Newsletter | June 9, 2021