Situation

Generosity is important every day but keenly felt and appreciated during the holidays. The Catholic Community Foundation of the Archdioceses of New Orleans hosts the annual #iGive Catholic campaign on #GivingTesday. This annual 24-hour online giving event provides parishes, schools, ministries and nonprofits affiliated with partner archdioceses and dioceses the opportunity to connect with their current donors and establish new relationships. Individuals can scroll through a local and national database of participating organizations, click on their favorite church, school or local ministry and make a monetary gift on this global day of philanthropy.

What began as a local 24-hour online giving day to bring Catholic communities and donors together on a worldwide day of giving has grown to yield national results. Launched in 2015 by the Catholic Community Foundation, the inaugural #iGiveCatholic Giving Day raised $1.36 million in just 24 hours, transforming Catholic giving online.

In 2021, $16.5 million was collected from more than 44,000 donors from all 50 states and 16 countries. Donors contributed an average of 29 gifts per minute to benefit 1,620 Catholic parishes, schools, and nonprofit ministries. Locally, #iGiveCatholic raised $2.3 million from 5,400 donors in support of 169 organizations. #iGiveCatholic is now considered the most successful Catholic crowdfunding event to date.

Over the years, Gambel Communications has partnered with the Catholic Community Foundation to amplify the local reach of the #IGiveCatholic. In 2022, the CCF once again turned to Gambel Communications to generate increased awareness for its 8th Annual Campaign. Among our goals were a refresh of local social media efforts and to evaluate the effectiveness of additional targeted digital media efforts to spread the word that generosity is alive and well in the New Orleans metro area.

Strategy

Gambel Communications coordinated strategic planning, content creation, scheduling, paid advertising and tracking to deliver results for the #iGiveCatholic campaign. Gambel Communications developed a strategic social media campaign that leveraged testimonials by local Catholic influencers, sharing why they give Catholic for organic paid social media posts focusing on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Additionally, one lucky participating organization won the right to participate in a targeted geofenced advertising campaign sponsored by the Catholic Community Foundation.

Because #iGiveCatholic is a digital giving event, social media is a critical element of success. The ease of donating can be as sampling as clicking a link that directs a donor to a website or landing page. Social media is as much leveraged to create the desire to give as well as easily facilitate how giving is done.

Underpinning the campaigns success was reminding Catholics and the general public why generosity is important in daily lives and during the holidays through a ‘Why I Give’ testimonial campaign that leveraged local Catholic Influencers, including New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond, Catholic Community Foundation CEO Cory Howat and students of local Catholic schools.

Additionally, Gambel Communications created a geofencing campaign that targeted visitors to select Catholic schools, surrounding churches and other points of interest for two weeks leading up to #iGiveCatholic.

Results

As a direct result of Gambel Communications community and social media relations efforts as well as social media strategy, the Catholic Community Foundation’s #iGiveCatholic produced the following measured results:

• 160% increase in social media engagement compared to the previous year

• 42,212 geofence ads served with a click-through-rate of 22%, compared to an industry average of 10%

• $2,089,200 raised in 24-hours by 4,975 donors for 167 different ministries