What Are Donors Craving with Classy's Elizabeth Ruikka

When you see this level of response firsthand , it's hard to fall into the broader narrative that giving is declining , even though the data is telling us that . So we really believe that our platforms can help reverse this trend and we can help people find the connection they crave to the causes that deeply touch them .

Let's transform your mission into a movement . Hello , we are back with another wonderful episode . It is Wednesday , or maybe you're not listening to this on the day that it comes out , and maybe it's another day of the week , but if you're here and listening live when this comes out , it is go time . It is November . Things are moving so fast .

I cannot believe that the end of the year is almost here . Deep breaths , I hope . If you're running while you're listening to this , you're washing the dishes or you're doing laundry , or maybe you're at work , take a deep breath . It's all going to be good .

I am so excited today this guest is going to bring so much light and energy and just nuggets of wisdom . Elizabeth Reica is the Senior Director of Growth Marketing at Classy Elizabeth . I'm so excited to chat with you .

But I'll start by first talking about our platform and Classy , how we've evolved , and then I'll share a little bit more about my personal story at Classy and how my role is grown . But when I first started at Classy , we were just still starting out . I was the 25th employee and I was the first full-time marketing hacker . Yeah , so it was small but mighty .

As many of you know , classy started when our founder Scott Chisholm .

He started raising money for cancer research because his mom was a two-time breast cancer survivor At the time when he was raising money , there was no easy way for him to really engage with his peers , who are millennials in their 20s , to raise funds in a way that was easier than just aggregating a bunch of checks .

So he set out to create the platform to really allow nonprofits to intuitively raise funds online At the time , you know , engage younger generations of donors . And so when I started and this is , you know , a lot of the focus in the early days at Classy a lot of it was around peer-to-peer fundraising .

It still is very much a huge component of how we empower nonprofits With our platform and technology . Today we were a leader in peer-to-peer . We still are . We're actually predicting very much a resurgence in peer-to-peer , just given the appetite .

So we see younger generations participating in this way much more in the future and we're excited to continue innovating on the product side of things , just knowing that there is , you know , this resurgence that we're predicting , if you will .

But going back to kind of like our products and where we're at today , you know being online is just not for young people anymore . Like I talked to a lot of organizations at Class C and nearly every donor is comfortable giving online .

A lot of nonprofits , their primary donor demographic , is boomers and so online giving is essential and everyone is participating in it .

So for us , as a product today , knowing that we're really focused on looking for every opportunity to connect non-profits with supporters online , beyond just that first donation capture , we want to help nonprofits really build authentic connections with those who are eager and willing to support their cause and we want to give them the tools to really capture that lifetime

donor interest , because it is foolish to think that if someone contributes and gives a one time gift to your year end campaign , for example , every single year . Are they actually going to continue coming back or is it now the right time to invite them to become a recurring donor ?

Maybe they would be interested in participating in a local event , and so , for us , we're really focused on providing nonprofits the tools and resources again to really maximize that lifetime donor value . So Nonprofits can use our technology for a range of different giving experiences . If you're not familiar with classy , so it could be for direct giving .

That might be a straight donation form or an embedded donation form on your site Events , which includes our kind of hybrid events platform . Classy live , peer to peer , obviously , and recurring giving . So Full sweet yeah , full sweet matured and evolved , but it's been a great evolution and it's just been really rewarding .

You know personally , way back in the day we would sit in a room and talk about how Are ? You know , one of our big audacious goals was to work with , you know , the leukemia lymphoma society and their customer of ours now .

So , being at classy for ten years , over that period of time , it's really rewarding to see things that , like we once thought were not possible , become our true reality . And then now , yeah , from there . So it's been a fantastic kind of evolution on the product side of things .

Because I think there's so many lessons from the business space and you are in like working for the nonprofit sector that organizations on the other side could learn from . What do you think really worked well ?

a lot of conversations internally about how we can better help you know , nonprofit solve that challenge , whether that's through providing them with more resources , connecting them with a partner or innovating on the product side of things . I think that we've always Taken that approach .

We've always really listen to the market and our customers and taken that very seriously , and I think that what I think is helped us scale I mean , we've been through growing pains .

That is no doubt right every company does right , and I think wearing multiple hats and doing a lot of things was challenging at a personal level , but it's also a phenomenal learning experience which is really exciting .

But you know , I think , when working with our customers and in the space , just carving out time to really listen to them and talk with them and make sure that , like , we have a strong understanding Of the space , and then you couple that with the fact that and this is a testament to our recruiting team and everyone that goes into hiring new individuals we've

always had A team that genuinely cares about the space , and that was true 10 years ago and true today , which I think is incredibly important , and so when a customer brings a challenge to us , we take it very seriously and we genuinely care about their success , and I think that that's one of the things that makes this unique , and I think that that's why some

of our customers I've been fortunate to work with a few More hands on is their executive sponsor , and I think that that's why they say classy provides them a phenomenal partnership . We're not a technology vendor

, we are a partner . We just had a On site business review with the team at feed my starving children and that was kind of the feedback that kept on bubbling up and bubbling up again is that this is in a transactional relationship where they're paying us for technology .

We are partners and invested in success , and that's one of the reasons why they continue to increase , you know , the number of campaigns that they're hosting with us and kind of trust us with more of their giving .

You guys are on the pulse with so many different partners . Talk a little bit about what challenges have you seen ? And then , where really do the opportunities lie ?

So what we're really combating is disengagement and getting people to participate and give back for that very first time , and so I think that that presents an opportunity . Within that , there's also challenges that make it difficult to get people to participate for the first time .

I think one of the biggest challenges that we're faced with right now is that we live in a completely oversaturated digital world .

You've got digital marketing experts estimating that most Americans interact with at least 100 ads per day , and then you couple this with the fact that most of your digital experience that happens like happens within apps versus these direct web experiences .

So there's then this added layer , intermediary , and the example that I love to share , which I think really underscores this , is that 40% of Gen Z uses TikTok over Google search , and so you're already starting to see a lot of this like discovery and kind of information gasses happening beyond what were more traditional , just direct web experiences .

So for nonprofits , it's something that we have to be really mindful of . You know your website . It's still your most trafficked and important digital asset .

I'm not trying to underscore that in any sensor form , but people are driven to your website through a number of different channels with different context , with different information , and so , as fundraisers and marketers , it's really important to understand how people are learning about your organization and then connecting with your cause so you can find those different

areas and opportunities to really amplify what's working or maybe even identify opportunities to then engage with different demographics of donors that you know have shown a little bit of interest , but they're not , you know , in the channels that you've historically been participating in . So I think that's one challenge , and then I'll continue on my soapbox .

I think that the other really big challenges is that nonprofits are still really learning how to connect with younger donors . I talked about how you know , boomers are , more often than not , the largest donor demographic that nonprofits are turning to to support and fund their work , but Gen Z is now .

They're the largest living population in the US and nonprofits can't ignore them as potential donors or ride them off because they just don't think that they have the same giving power as boomers and the difference there with Gen Z is that they're not and even millennials right , I think this is true of all generations , but it's skewed more towards younger donor

demographics is that people are seeking relationships . They don't necessarily care about just a transaction and they also want to participate in conversation and feel like they are engaged and , you know , have the opportunity to talk with someone on your team or learn about .

You know what a day in the life of your staff looks like , instead of just hearing directly from your CEO . You know speaking about your impact . So all of that goes into how we need to show up . I think that we are no longer in the world in which you can rely on a perfectly curated Instagram feed .

You know , I learned from thought leaders and experts that are either experts in their field or representing you know a company and then you've got Gen Z that searches on TikTok to find a new restaurant , and so I think it's just it's really indicating this shift , and I think that nonprofits need to really kind of lean into engaging with these younger donor

demographics and thinking about how they're participating in conversations online , versus just kind of posting an appeal yes for people , yeah , to show up and donate .

I'm a millennial and I literally was just telling friends that I'm using Instagram and TikTok researching how to teach my daughter how to crawl , and I'm looking for advice from fellow mom from the internet with positions I haven't gone to .

Yes , there's blog posts and of course I could talk about this with the pediatrician , but the first instinct I had was hashtag six month crawling on TikTok or Instagram , which is so true , and then that's how I would find a trusted quote , unquote organization and or person to then research and find more details . Hope you're enjoying this episode .

Wanted to let you know that applications are now open for my monthly giving mastermind program , starting in January , ready to build a dedicated community of recurring donors to generate consistent revenue . By March you'll have a program ready to go live . Let's make it happen together .

Head on over to positive equation dot com backflash mastermind to learn more and apply . So one question around Gen Z that I think is fascinating , that you also mentioned was they are donors , they want a relationship with the organization and I'm sure they'll do more than just giving a financial means .

But has there been anything at class that you've seen as far as trends in how the younger generation , gen Z , is giving ?

Yeah , in comparison to other generations , obviously they're not giving at the same level Right , it's more smaller gift sizes but once they're in they're in , which I do think presents opportunity . I like to kind of equate this to my mom .

If you went and tried to convince her to give to a new organization , it's a harder sell , like she has her list of non-profits that she's supported for a year . Someone new gets on her radar , like knowing that I work in the space , she'll message me and ask me questions and stuff .

But it's harder to get her to donate for that first time because she already has several orgs that she gives to . So I do think that there's opportunity to capture their engagement right now and to get them actively involved . That might not even be donating right , it could just be following you on social and learning more about your organization .

So then when they are compelled to give , they know who they want to give to you and it's an easy decision .

I think other things that we see which is why I was talking a little bit about peer-to-peer earlier is that I think the data point is that they're close to , or over three times as likely to advocate on behalf of an organization in comparison to other donor demographics , and so , while they might not have the same giving power as boomers do or other generations ,

they do have really deep networks and they are willing to tap into those networks and advocate on your behalf , fundraise on your behalf , if you are doing a good job of engaging them , leading up to that and getting them feeling like they want to support your work , like they understand your impact and your mission .

So I think that peer-to-peer is a great way and opportunity to engage them and I think it also then helps some of the challenges that nonprofits have been faced with on the donor acquisition front . It's a great avenue to acquire new donors .

There is challenges on the retention side of things like stewardship is a really big component , but I think that there's a lot of opportunity in peer-to-peer as well .

However , if I feel inspired or emotionally compelled to give to an organization , I'm going to give , whether it's $5 , $25 , $50 , as a one-time gift , and so often , to your point , beyond the donation receipt that I receive , I don't receive any other communication . Oftentimes , and what would you say is really important ?

I mean , especially as we are entering and giving season , there's about to be a lot of compelling asks that go out . What do you see from the organizations that you've worked with , of any size , when it comes to online fundraising around the lead-up to end of year giving Tuesday , even going into the new year ?

What is working well with that nurturing and that acquisition side ?

So , whether that's using direct mail , social paid amplification efforts , a strong email drip series and nurture program and one of the clients that we often reference as it relates to Giving Tuesday as parent project muscular dystrophy , they had a phenomenal campaign last year on Giving Tuesday that actually increased their year-over-year efforts by 45% .

And so what they did yeah , it was great , and I think what they did that worked really well is and we see this oftentimes right is that organizations will use Giving Tuesday as a kickoff to year-end .

So their Giving Tuesday campaign is not just always specific to Giving Tuesday , it is more of a year-end campaign that kicks off at Giving Tuesday and then is amplified throughout the year . I mean they did everything on the marketing side of things . So they tested out a series

of roughly eight emails to just give people a sense it's not just one send . They had eight emails leading up to Giving Tuesday . They also had a direct mailer . They did social media posts , multiple social media posts .

So there was kind of a lot of hype leading up to Giving Tuesday and then also on the day of reinforcing that ask and ensuring that their supporters followed through and across all those kind of different marketing tactics . Like going back to what I was speaking to earlier is they did lean into kind of more of that authentic , human-focused content .

So they had videos that they featured , they hosted webinars , they had a fireside chat with their president and CEO . All of that was centered around creating more of a connection to their cause and then leading up to Giving Tuesday . So then when they made the ask you don't have to think about it that much Like you feel a connection it wasn't out of nowhere .

It wasn't out of nowhere either , and so they did a phenomenal job . They also weaved in personalization , which is a really big thing , and so their campaign . It raised almost nine hundred thousand dollars , which is phenomenal . So I just think that it is possible to have a ton of success on Giving Tuesday .

But you can't be shy about asking and that's still something you know . When I hear talk to folks , it's like , oh , I just feel like I'm Overasking , I'm over sending emails . It's like no one wants to read this , and I mean I think of my personal email inbox Not my work , but my personal and it's a mess , right .

So you have to ask more than one time to ensure that we're getting that message and , you know , giving them the opportunity to engage before making a direct appeal and the multi-channel is so important .

stands . And I'm going to , instead of just doing a push of here's the link to the campaign , like would you give ? I ask them a question , like can I send you ? Like this is where we're at , can I share with you the link to ? And this is .

We had like a play on a baby registry for women in need and Kenya and Togo , and everyone was like because they had already Commented on the posts around the campaign , so they knew what I was talking about and they're like yes , yes , yes . And then donations were coming in from that personalized touch .

And it's these things where you have to think a little bit outside the box instead of just Pushing content . Where is the engagement of the one-to-one , which is on social , what these channels were built for anyways ? So I love what you're talking about . I was like this , fully faceted , here's a full lead-up .

We're not just on the day , attributing to the quote-unquote like noise of giving Tuesday , which is beautiful because it's all surrounding giving and what everybody is doing but how can you make sure that people know that you're gonna have a presence and a need and ask on that day ? So , yeah , I love that .

I wanted to ask you , before we jump , something that's really exciting and I've been wanting to talk to you guys about , which I know is announced two years ago .

You're really talking about the integration with go fund me and there's some pilot programs going on and I would love if you could just discuss a little bit about the partnership and what are the unique pilot programs that you're working on .

So that can feel like doom and gloom , but we as a company , we don't believe that as a society , we are less charitable . We see incredible response on our platforms every day . A recent example is that over 70 million poured in to help people affected by the Maui wildfires .

Across both of our platforms , over 340,000 individuals have given directly , either to individuals that lost their homes and businesses , as well as to nonprofits mobilizing on the ground . So when you see this level of response firsthand , it's hard to kind of fall into the broader narrative that giving is declining , even though the data is telling us that .

So we really believe that our platforms can help reverse this trend and we can help people find the connection they crave to the causes that deeply touch them . So on the experimentation front , right now we're doing a lot with the GoFundMe team .

We are learning very intentionally , but we know , like going into all of these different tests and the experimentation , we know that giving on GoFundMe and giving to a nonprofit is very different .

When you're donating to a GoFundMe campaign , you're responding to a friend in need , to a family member in need , you're trying to give help to someone and you're like you're supporting someone in your community that is seeking help , and that's very different from a nonprofit .

And nonprofits are not only seeking a donation , they're seeking to form lasting relationships with supporters who ultimately then fund their work .

And so we wanna try to figure out how we can create on-ramps to giving , if you will , or on-ramps to do it ship , and we're trying to find ways to connect people to the causes that they care about and build really kind of a bridge between more of these informal and formal giving channels which , historically , people have said these compete with one another , and

so across our two platforms we have a community of over 150 million , to just represent the scale .

A donation is made every second on the GoFundMe platform and that's great for experimentation as we're trying to figure this out and so some of the things that we've discovered and I'll go into the specific tests we've seen through research that if someone has donated to multiple GoFundMe campaigns almost said giving Tuesday , we're talking about your end .

But if you've given to multiple GoFundMe campaigns , you are more likely to donate to a nonprofit at a higher rate . So we're testing things out like introducing relevant nonprofit campaigns to donate to after someone contributes to an individual's GoFundMe campaign , and we're testing things like the frequency of when the ask should be made .

How does that play into the conversion and giving level ? So that's one thing that we're testing , and then the other thing that I think is really exciting is kind of more on the mission delivery side of things .

So when we first announced that we were kind of joining forces with GoFundMe one of our current customers , the Lupini Alamphoma Society they reached out to our team and they wanted to partner with us to really learn , because while they fundraise on Classy , there are a lot of people that leverage GoFundMe to raise funds for themselves and to support their medical

bills , and so while a diagnosis like Lupini Alamphoma is a financial stressor , there's a lot else that goes into navigating that , and so the Lupini Alamphoma Society wanted to connect with these individuals and have their team of experts share with them education resources and really just provide them support as they're navigating the situation .

And so we found through that great success is that we can deliver more help and GoFundMe campaign organizers are interested in receiving resources from nonprofits .

So we're still experimenting , we're still learning , but there's a lot of really great work that's happening behind the scenes , kind of all centered around how we can really provide more on-ramps to giving for nonprofits and kind of build a bridge again , right , Because there is something in that connection that can help everyone .

And so we're excited and committed to learning more and as we learn more , we plan to share it with everyone .

But it's so exciting to see all the work that's coming to fruition together as you work on all these pilots and tests . Just a couple of questions to wrap us up . I wanted to ask I love this kind of like on-ramp that you keep saying of like inviting people into their missions . What's one like piece of advice that you have for organizations ?

What's one like going towards the end of this year within their on-ramp Like , what would you recommend ? That is really an important and crucial piece to have .

There are resources that nonprofits can leverage to do this , though independently , and I think it's just something to take into consideration heading into year-end .

There's a tool called Spark Toro , and within that tool , you can input different information about your donors maybe what websites they visit or who they follow on social media , and it can give you some insights around what hashtags they might be using , what other websites are they visiting online , who might be popular .

There's some data that you can get from that free tool that I think you can use as somewhat of a foundation heading into new year , because I think that that's the hard part is there are a million channels out there and that can be really overwhelming . Where do you start ?

It's always super well done and really fun and innovative with the event design that you put together . So thank you so much for being here and I hope you have a great giving season with the team . Thanks , can you tell I love talking all things digital To make this show better . I'd be so grateful for your feedback .

Leave a review , take a screenshot of this episode , share it on Instagram stories and tag positive equation with 1e so I can reshare and connect with you .