Gift Dedication -- What, When, Why, How

What is Gift Dedication?

Gift Dedication (or tribute giving) is a way for donors to recognize, honor, and celebrate people and events by giving back to others. This can be done by giving a gift "In Honor" of someone to celebrate a special event such as birthday, anniversary, or special accomplishment. Or a donation "In Memory" of a loved one to acknowledge the impact that person had on the lives of friends and family, or to demonstrate sympathy and support to the loved one's family.

What's the difference between "In Honor Of" and "In Memory Of"?

Typically when a gift is made "In Honor Of", the honoree is still living. An "In Honor Of" donation might be to commemorate or celebrate a special event such as Christmas, birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc. While an "In Memory Of" gift is reserved for someone who is deceased.

Why do I need to offer a Gift Dedication option?

From the nonprofit's perspective, it's important to offer many ways for supporters to contribute to your cause. Offering a gift dedication option increases donor engagement which in turn increases donor retention!

From the donor's perspective, donors want to do good. Doing good and getting to honor the life or accomplishments of someone special at the same time just makes giving that much sweeter.

Establishing protocol

It is important to establish an internal protocol for acknowledging dedication gifts. You might use the same criteria as for regular donations, but many feel a dedication gift has special importance and requires unique handling. Here are some protocol steps to consider:

• Determine what type of acknowledgement will be sent to the honoree: card, email, paper letter.
• Establish a timeline for sending acknowledgements (the sooner the better).
• If you are providing something in exchange for a dedication gift (such as a brick or plaque) make sure your staff knows who's responsible for orchestrating and coordinating the details.

Gift Dedication option versus a Dedication Campaign

GiveDirect offers two ways to make Gift Dedication a part of your fundraising toolkit.

You can add a Gift Dedication option to any donation, event, or membership form. By default, the Gift Dedication option is enabled on all new donation forms. It is not enabled by default on event and membership forms, but can be added.

To add or remove the Gift Dedication option from your fundraising form, go to the Custom Options section of the Form Builder and use the toggle switch for Gift Dedication.

The second way to utilize Gift Dedication is with a Dedication Campaign. GiveDirect offers a Gift Dedication form template that places the dedication fields at the top of the page.

There are several instances when a Dedication Campaign form is the best choice for your fundraising form.

• If you have a Ways To Give page on your web site, you can include Gift Dedication as one of the ways to give. Some donors might opt for this choice over your general donation form.

  

• Some nonprofits receive dedication gifts routinely or as the majority of their giving. Hospices and some veterans groups are examples. In these cases, it might make sense to use a Dedication Campaign form as the primary donation form.

• Running a fundraising appeal as a Dedication Campaign is a great way to diversify the kinds of appeals you run during the year. A memorial Dedication Campaign is common, but we have put together lots of other ideas below.

Dedication Campaign ideas

• If a VIP in your organization or a long-time supporter passes away, the family may wish to run a Memorial Campaign.

• Use calendar "days" that align with your nonprofit's mission to launch a dedication campaign. A nonprofit serving veterans might use Veteran's Day. A nonprofit serving women might use Mother's Day or International Women's Day. An animal charity could use International Veterinarian's Day to run an appeal called "I Love My Vet".

• For faith-based nonprofits, Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, Ramadan, and Diwali are ideal choices for a dedication campaign.

• You can create a peer-to-peer donation page as a dedication campaign if a supporter wants to fundraise for your nonprofit to celebrate a wedding, birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, or anniversary.

As you plan out your dedication campaign, consider sending a special card to the honoree.

• Make sure to advertise the card you plan to send so the person making the donation will know what to expect. This should be included on your web site, but it could also be included in the donation form's thank you page and in the email receipt the donor receives.

• Make sure to indicate the timeline for the card to be sent, such as "allow up to (two weeks) for the honoree to receive acknowledgement of your donation".

• Make sure your donor knows that you (the charity) will be sending the card. You might also want to provide a contact name in the event the card is not received or your donor has questions.

We understand cards might be expensive. If you are unsure of how many donations to expect, design your card and make arrangements with a printer but don't have a large quantity of cards printed before gauging the response to your campaign. Once you have launched the campaign, then proceed to print a number suitable to the response.

How to set up your Gift Dedication campaign form

We've made it simple to create a Dedication form.

In the GiveDirect control panel, go to Campaign Forms, click on "Add a New Campaign," and select "Gift Dedication."