Colorado Gives Day & Social Media – Quick Tips for Your Nonprofit

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation

December 10, 2013 marks the fourth annual Colorado Gives Day! As always, our goal is not only to help raise millions of dollars for fabulous Colorado nonprofits, but to help you engage with donors via social media (last year, Facebook was the #1 referring site to ColoradoGives.org).

Here are a few tips to help your social media on Colorado Gives Day be a success:

Begin by liking our ColoradoGives Facebook page and/or following us on Twitter – not only will you be privy to great inside information, but you’ll also be part of a larger conversation involving over 1,400 nonprofits throughout the state and thousands of donors.
Be sure to check out our Social Media Guidelines & Sample Copy for Colorado Gives Day 2013 for tips, tools and suggested copy to use before and on the big day.
Tag ColoradoGives.org on your Facebook and Twitter pages by using the @ symbol in front of the name in your post. By typing @ColoradoGives, a hyperlink to the ColoradoGives.org Facebook page will be created automatically.
Use the hashtag #CoGivesDay on both Twitter and Facebook; this helps consolidate all conversations specifically about the big day.
What should you post about? Share your goals, successes and key messages. And be sure to thank your donors. You can never thank them too much and they love hearing about your success on the big day, such as how much you raised or how many people came to your event. Examples:

“Help us raise $X on #CoGivesDay to build a house for a family in need!”
“100% of your donation comes to us on #CoGivesDay!”
“Thank you to everyone who supported us on #CoGivesDay!
We raised enough to pay for over XXX nutritious meals for XX people @ColoradoGives”)

Encourage donors to post this badge on Facebook!

Finally, post the "I Gave" on Colorado Gives Day graphic to your Facebook page and encourage donors to share it on their own pages.

For additional tips and information, check out the Nonprofit Toolkit or feel free to contact us at 720-898-5900 or email us at cogives@communityfirstfoundation.org.

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