Q: If I have a donor who will give me $100k now and another 100k when I raise the same, what is the best approach to running a challenge? Best time of year and how long should the challenge remain open? Thanks for the advice!
Interesting question. Below is what I’d set up along with the biases that affect behaviour (in brackets):
- Challenge people to raise $200k to unlock another $100k (gaming, goal motivation, perceived impact)
- Explain what you will do with the whole $300k – a specific project would be ideal (tangible benefit, perceived impact)
- Announce right from the start that you already received a lead donation of 100k (social proof)
- Visualise how you’re already half of the way there (progress towards goal)
- (if online) show recent donations as they come in to trigger similar behavior (social proof, anchoring)
- Update the visual of the goal & money raised (goal proximity)
I don’t have a specific view around time of year. People are more generous towards the end of the year but that in itself might be an argument to try this at a different time. Maybe this way you could increase giving at otherwise slow periods.
The length of the challenge will depend on whether the donor has set any time limits. For example, did they say you need to raise the extra 100k within a set time? If not, I’d leave the challenge open. Typically, deadlines tend to cut off the tail end of donations because no one gives once the deadline has passed. If you do need to set a time frame though, go for a week’s deadline – its immediacy tackles procrastination more effectively than say, a month’s deadline.
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