Giving Docs and Chive Charities raise over $21 million in under two days
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At its core, Giving Docs is trying to solve problems. A shocking amount of Americans have no will, we want to fix that. Many non-profits have no idea how to run a planned giving campaign, we want to help. There will be $30 trillion passed from the Baby Boomers to younger generations and, as it stands, many charities will miss out on the opportunity to be a part of it. We want to ensure this doesn’t happen.
Our initial planned giving campaign with Chive Charities is a prime example of doing just that. The Chive isn’t exactly the first organization when you think of charitable giving, but they’ve been doing amazing work for years. They’ve found their own unique way of leveraging their robust online community to do good things for people with real needs in the offline world.
But they, like many, had no idea how to run a planned giving campaign, or even that they needed to do so. Then, they had a discussion with us, and…well…all expectations (even our own) were surpassed.
“We hadn’t thought about doing something like this before,” Chive Media Group President John Resig said. “This wasn’t really on our radar until Giving Docs offered to give free wills to the employees at theCHIVE office.
“Nearly all my employees participated. That moment, I knew there was something there. I saw young people are eager to create a will if they’re given easy access to one. When I offered GivingDocs to theCHIVE’s online community, the on-boarding and completion rates were staggering.”
The campaign itself wasn’t complicated or even particularly difficult. There was a post on the TheChive.com in a featured slot “above the fold” at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, September 27 that remained for about 24 hours, discussing the ins and outs of having a will in the site’s unique voice and a link the GivingDocs.com campaign page. There was a social media push through Chive channels to that same post later in the day.
“Chivers” were offered a free will with no obligation and no catch. If they wanted to include Chive Charities, that’s great! If not, that’s OK too.
The end result met our admittedly lofty expectations in about 36 hours and continues to surpass it. Let’s go to the numbers (these are through Monday, October 2):
· 6,508 accounts were activated, meaning they have a free will for life
· 2,557 have completed their will (39 percent), a number which should steadily increase over time
· Of those, 1,078 included Chive Charities their bequest, a conversion rate of 41 percent
· Using general industry standards of the average charitable bequest being about $20,000, that’s $21,560,000 pledged, thus far
We were optimistic about the campaign and were expecting to reach our goal of 1,000 bequests in time, just not this soon. We’ll continue to manage the campaign as more wills are completed and bequests are made.
This new model of massive will-giving opens the door to thousands of college foundations, religious organizations, and active causes. By securing thousands of new donors, predictable long-term support allows organizations to tend to long-term hiring, financing and community programs.
