Idaho Gives Business Toolkit
The support of local businesses and the amplification of their support via their employees and their customers is critical to the success of Idaho Gives! Not only does your participation help ensure a successful day of fundraising for our nonprofits, but your dedication to their important work will be recognized throughout your community. For the Idaho Gives, we're offering your business an opportunity to engage your employees and customers to donate to causes they're passionate about, and in turn, bring invaluable visibility to your business.
How to get involved:
Encourage your employees: Share the Idaho Gives site with your employees and encourage them to find a nonprofit or two that speaks to the causes they care about. You can share idahogives.org with customers on your receipt, or hand out info cards with each purchase with your and Idaho Gives information on it (check out some great graphics to use, here). With so many participating nonprofits, there's a nonprofit or cause for everyone.
Offer matching funds: Decide if your business will offer a match to all employees or customers gifts, or to a specific nonprofit. We've found matching gifts can amplify giving by 3 or 4 times!
Spread the word far and wide: Communicate your participation in Idaho Gives through email messages, social media posts, and word of mouth.
Encourage your employees to participate in Idaho Gives by offering these incentives:
Food: Cater a snack break, host a pot luck, or a dessert party to celebrate giving
Attire: Have a casual dress day so employees can dress to represent the nonprofit or cause they care about
Advertise: Pass out “I Gave” stickers to employees who gave to celebrate the causes they care about
Competition: Have a competition between departments to see who can raise the most and offer a prize
Encourage your customers to participate in Idaho Gives by offering these incentives:
Discounts: If you have a storefront, offer a percentage off of an item if they can show they gave (Idaho Gives sends out a receipt to each donor for easy access on their phone!).
Raffle: Offer a raffle, and every time a donor gives it is an entry into the raffle.
Happy Hour: Host a happy hour and invite local nonprofits and your customers to meet and mingle!
Encourage your employees or customers to participate in the many events happening around the community! You can see a full listing of events here. You can also host your own event to encourage participation in Idaho Gives.
Sample Email Copy
Emails
Dear [Recipient],
On April 29 - May 2, businesses and individuals across our community will come together to support our local nonprofits during Idaho Gives. We are so excited to support this exciting giving event to show everyone in the community how philanthropic our employees and customers are.
Haven’t heard about Idaho Gives? It is Idaho’s giving campaign supporting the nonprofit organizations who help make our community such a great place to live! Last year, the state raised 3.86M and this year we hope to hit $4M. You can head to idahogives.org to learn more about this amazing giving event.
We participate in Idaho Gives because [BUSINESS REASON].
[IF OFFERING MATCH]: Your donations to local nonprofits at idahogives.org will be amplified because we are offering bonus dollars as an incentive to give. [Describe program here i.e. dollar for dollar, up to a certain amount, lump sum to reach goal etc.]
There are so many ways to participate - spread the word about this amazing event, become a fundraiser for your favorite nonprofit, donate on April 29 - May 2. Make supporting your favorite cause unique to you!
To make sure your gift is counted, follow these steps:
Find your favorite nonprofit! Visit idahogives.org to search hundreds of participating nonprofits in our community.
Commit to a nonprofit. You can start donating as soon as the site opens on April 29.
Spread the word! Let your network know about Idaho Gives and who you are supporting. Use the hashtag #idahogives to be part of the conversation.
For questions about Idaho Gives and how you can get involved, please visit idahogives.org or contact [Business Name].
Regards,
[Business Contact]
Social Media Copy
Tag Idaho Gives on all platforms: @idahogives
We are excited to announce our participation in @idahogives on April 29 - May 2! We're participating because [BUSINESS REASON]. Mark your calendars for April 29 - May 2 to give to your favorite nonprofit!
Today, our business is focused on improving the community by matching all our employees' gifts made to nonprofits through @idahogives. There are hundreds of nonprofits raising money to improve the lives of our community members. Find your cause and give, April 29 - May 2, at idahogives.org.
[BUSINESS NAME] is supporting @idahogives on April 29 - May 2 and offering a gift basket to any customer that gives today. Stop in after you give through idahogives.org and show us your receipt to be eligible!
Wow. We are in awe of the amazing employees and customers we have. Collectively, we were able to raise $X with X donors for the nonprofits participating in @idahogives. We couldn't do this without all of you, and your amazing support of our community and the nonprofits you all chose to give to on Idaho Gives. Thank you.
Graphics
Here you can view all the Idaho Gives graphics that can be used in emails, social media, etc.