In November The Agitator reported on a creative alternative to #GivingTuesday called #ThanksGivingTuesday.

Organized by Heather McGinness, VP of Advancement at Concordia College-New York, this all-stakeholder event is testament to the power of genuine gratitude, skillful communication, and a mighty respect for donors.

I checked back with Heather last week to find out how the bottom line turned out.

 #ThanksgivingTuesday more than doubled 2016 year-end revenue compared to 2015 where the College employed a regular #GivingTuesday campaign.

Here are some insights and highlights Heather shared with The Agitator:

• “Initially I had internal pushback from my team — the idea of not asking and, in their minds, ‘losing’ the day’s revenue was very contrarian. It was interesting to observe the change that occurred as we went through the planning process and people started to understand the shift in tone and relationship that comes through reaching out from a place of gratitude.

• “Three members of our Board of Regents made additional gifts. One of them actually made two gifts — one when he received word we were doing it and one on the actual day.

• “Great student turnout for the midnight breakfast. At this point in the semester, meal plan dollar balances are dwindling, so a free meal served to them as a thank-you was especially meaningful.

• “The Thank You Rally had to have its timeframe extended because the community was having so much fun. It brought everyone together in ways we hadn’t anticipated!

• “We actually ran out of Thank You grams due to the enthusiastic participation.

• “People did give…there was philanthropic activity online even though we didn’t ask.”

You’ll recall that the school prepared a special video message for the event.

Here’s a sampling of the response from the video:

• “Thank you so much for the wonderful message sent by the students of Concordia on this day of giving thanks. Being an alum myself and having my older son graduate from Concordia and having my youngest son graduate this year, I am very happy and pleased to know that they have received an excellent education and have been taught how to make this world a better place. So, I must say to you, Thank you for all you have done.”

• “Great idea…loved the video and the sentiment. Keep up the good work everyone!”

• “I think it may be time to renew my Friends of Concordia membership. I definitely want to keep it going. Concordia is a treasure in our community.”

Heather wrapped up her report: “Best of all?  Everyone is already asking when we can start planning for next year.”

Any readers out there planning to try a #ThanksgivingTuesday?

Roger

P.S.  Those who missed the original post can find it here along with the detailed plans and checklists that Heather provided.