introduction:
Our Annual Giving service revolves around story-based, deadline-driven campaigns designed to engage supporters year-round. By emphasizing frequency, consistency, and personalization, we develop and execute four annual campaigns, creating tailored creative assets across digital and print media. Our commitment is to activate donor relationships, inspire broad audiences, and provide the strategic support needed to reinforce these relationships through personalized communication.
campaign objective:
The primary objective of Twelve21’s end-of-year campaign was to establish a multi-channel initiative anchored by a dedicated Twelve21 Day on December 21, leveraging storytelling in a brief cultivation phase before sending a concentrated series of solicitations on the day itself. The team focused on creating both digital and print materials to strategically message major donors, mission trip supporters, and the general donor base, ensuring all current, past, and potential supporters received clear opportunities to contribute. After Twelve21 Day concluded, the campaign continued with additional emails designed to capture last-minute contributions before the December 31 tax deadline. By pairing a compelling narrative with well-timed appeals, the campaign aimed to motivate donor engagement, encourage financial support, and deepen overall connection to Twelve21’s mission and future vision.
campaign timeline:
November 18th - December 20th: Cultivation Emails
December 3, December 21st - December 31st: Solicitation Emails
CAMPAIGN STORY:
During the EOY campaign, we highlighted the transformative impact of Twelve21 Global’s Community Transformation Program by focusing on real-life stories like Ruben’s. The campaign illustrated how this three-year program equips parents with practical skills—ranging from financial management to sustainable agriculture—and encourages them to leverage their God-given resources. By showcasing powerful testimonies from directors, headmasters, and participants themselves, the campaign underscored the holistic nature of this effort, emphasizing that donor support plays a vital role in expanding the program to reach over 450 parents the following year.
Cultivation emails/ Social Posts
We used cultivation emails and social posts to tell people about Ruben and his family’s experience to engage your audience, fostering deeper connections and driving support.
solicitation email/Social posts
These emails transitioned from storytelling to direct appeals for donations, including impact messages and examples of how donations ensure the continuation of Twelve21's impact on the community. It also included an individual appeal to donors in video form from Yusuph.
Campaign Results*:
Email Open Rates: The highest open rate was 45.9% for the email sent on 12/23, wishing all Merry Christmas, but the CTR is only 0.44%, indicating that while the subject line may be compelling enough to open, the email content or call-to-action might not be driving as many clicks.
Email Click-Through Rates: The highest click rate was 2.8% for the first cultivation email sent on Giving Tuesday. The majority of clicks were on the video, suggesting that your audience likes hearing from Yusuph directly and should be used selectively for future campaigns.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Since Stephanie is now working more closely with Twelve21 on all social media, let’s coordinate and collaborate on posts, possible videos/reels, etc.
They raised about $40K (ish) on 12/21 Day, which is pretty significant, especially for a Saturday. Depending on timing next year, could run ads specifically for 12/21 Day and/or boost posts that day so their posts are more likely to show up in feeds throughout the day.
Try sending emails from other Twelve21 staff members or well-known volunteers (most are sent from Twelve21 Global and/or Yusuph right now)
Morning emails tended to do better in both open and click rates, it might be worth conducting A/B tests to see if that’s your entire audience or donors, etc.
Your lower-than-average unsubscribe rate compared to last year’s numbers signals that you have a loyal base. To improve overall email metrics, it might be worth trying a few new engagement strategies(more videos, quizzes, gifs).
