L&S Day of the Badger

This document provides information on the Day of the Badger annual day of giving including campaign dates and calendar, deadlines, and best practices.

Day of the Badger

March 28-29, 2023

Dayofthebadger.org

 

Day of the Badger is a day for all alumni, students, and friends throughout Badger nation to give to their passion, show their pride, and stay connected to the university. Everyone who loves UW–Madison is welcome and encouraged to participate. The goal is to unite Badgers in an effort to advance the mission of the university by bringing awareness to its achievements and raising critical funds to help the UW remain a world-class educational institution. 

The Letters & Science Office of Strategic Communications & Advancement (SCA) serves as your Day of the Badger liaison with the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association (WFAA).

Campaign goals

  • Celebrate campus achievements and impact

  • Acquire new donors

  • Retain previous donors

 

Critical deadlines

  • January 25, 2023: platform content, fund number and ambassador list due

  • March 3, 2023: challenge and matching gift deadline

  • March 22, 2023: customized ThankView messages due


Platform content: due January 25, 2023

Each unit needs to confirm the fund it would like to target for the Day of the Badger 2023 campaign and to provide the L&S Office of Strategic Communications & Advancement (SCA) with the following materials for the Day of the Badger platform. SCA highly recommends that units target their annual fund for this campaign.

Platform content for Day of the Badger 2023

Item

Description

Banner image

1440 x 425px

Carousel images

680 x 400px (max. 3)

Copy: Why we need your support

250 words or less

Video (optional)

Share a Vimeo or YouTube public link


Please review your unit's Day of the Badger 2022 content by visiting the 
Day of the Badger L&S landing page. You are free to reuse last year's content if your priorities have not changed. All updated copy and images should be sent to L&S Advancement Manager Scott Carter (scott.carter@wisc.edu).

 

Matching and Challenge Gifts: due March 3, 2023 

Matching and challenge gifts are a great way to build excitement and urgency around a day of giving campaign. Matching gifts allow donors to double their impact and provide an excellent way to build relationships with leadership ($1,000 - $24,999) or major ($25,000+) donors. Challenge gifts may be structured in a variety of ways, depending on your unit’s campaign goals. One common example is a leadership- or major-level gift that unlocks once a unit has reached a pre-determined number of gifts. Please consult with Scott Carter (scott.carter@wisc.edu) to determine how to structure and right-size your matching or challenge gift opportunity. 

You must submit a gift commitment form for all matching gifts. 

Matching gift donors will receive Day of the Badger swag prior to the launch of this year's campaign. This is a great opportunity for your matching or challenge gift donors to show off their Badger pride by sharing photos of their Day of the Badger gear on social media. 

 

Day of the Badger Ambassadors: due January 25, 2023 

Leverage the influence of your most passionate and well-connected alumni and friends to drive gifts during Day of the Badger! The first 100 ambassadors will receive a pride pack featuring a long-sleeved hoodie, UW-branded thundersticks, a bandana and a confetti popper plus training from WFAA to help them be successful throughout the campaign. If you would like to participate in this opportunity, please send the names and email addresses for 1-2 nominees to Scott Carter (scott.carter@wisc.edu). 

Who should be an ambassadors? Someone who is

  • Active on social media,
  • Passionate about giving back to UW, and
  • Willing to make multiple posts leading up to and during the campaign.

Please provide the ambassador's name, email address, and ABE ID when submitting. 

WFAA will send a general recruitment email on February 2.

 

ThankView stewardship message *new this year*: due March 22, 2023 -- overview and talking points available here!

L&S units have the option to record a brief (30- to 45-second) video message thanking donors for their support during Day of the Badger. This message will serve as the introduction to a WFAA-produced video and sent via their video stewardship platform ThankView soon after the campaign ends. WFAA has provided a sample ThankView message with guidance on best practices. Please refer to the overview and talking points document when planning your video.

SCA highly recommends that units take advantage of this opportunity. Videos can be as simple as a message from the chair, director or student and should focus on how donor gifts will impact your unit. If your unit does not provide WFAA with a customized video message, donors will receive a generic message from L&S Dean Eric Wilcots. 

Please upload videos to https://uwsupport.thankview.com/video/request/63c9797e7b558

 

Unit-based solicitations *new this year*

All participating units will have the opportunity to send out emails on March 28 & 29 during the suggested windows below. WFAA will not be able to create a new query for lists, but you should ask them to refresh a previous list request so that you have the most up-to-date information for your community. Please share that list with Scott Carter (scott.carter@wisc.edu) so that your constituents can be tagged in the ABE database as having received a DOTB communication.

Each unit that sends a solicitation during the campaign needs to provide SCA with their list. Please upload that list here by March 3.

Templates and guidance on best practices are included below.

Suggested times for unit emails

Day

Window

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

11:00am - 1:00pm

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

5:00pm - 7:00pm

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

7:30am - 9:30am

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

10:30am - 12:30pm

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

1:30pm - 3:00pm

 

How to give *new this year*

In addition to gifts made through the Day of the Badger platform, donors can now make gifts via digital wallets including PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay and Apple Pay.

 

Toolkit

Communication calendars, social media icons and other resources can be downloaded here. You can also find the recording of the February 2 DOTB workshop and PowerPoint slides in the toolkit.

Reports 

Day of the Badger reports this year will only include the social media handles for donors who provided them when making their gift on the platform. In other words, reports will not include donors' contact information or gift size. That information will be available in the Donor Acknowledgement Report following the close of the campaign. 
If you would like to receive reports, please let Scott Carter know by March 3.

Chargeback

A 15% chargeback will be assessed on all Day of the Badger gifts except those made through a development officer’s efforts. For matching/challenge gifts: the chargeback fee is not applied to the gift that created the match/challenge opportunity but is applied to individual donor gifts that help the unit achieve its match.

Dates and deadlines for Day of the Badger communications
*Deadlines in bold below

Date

Communications and deadlines

January 25, 2023

Page content and ambassador list due

February 6, 2023 (week of)

Giving pages available for proofing

February 8, 2023

Save the Date info live on dayofthebadger.org

February 21, 2023

Giving pages are live and ready to be promoted

March 3, 2023

Challenge and matching gift deadline

March 8, 2023

Save the Date mailer in homes (audience: past day of giving donors, faculty/staff, lapsed donors)

March 15, 2023

Save the Date email sent

March 24, 2023

VIP early access opens (audience: past day of giving donors, Bascom Hill Society members)

March 24-27, 2023

Restricted period – no solicitations sent from campus partners

March 28-29, 2023

Platform is live for all donors. 8 emails and SMS to specific audiences from WFAA PLUS multiple opportunities to email your audience directly

April 4, 2023

Post-event email

 

 

Expectations for managing the 2023 Day of the Badger campaign

Department/Unit

L&S Office of Strategic Communications & Advancement

WFAA

  • Develop “Why we need your support” message for your giving page
  • Provide copy, images and video for the giving platforms by Jan. 25, 2023
  • Develop and send email solicitations during campaign
  • Record video for ThankView stewardship and send to SCA by March 13, 2023
  • Secure matching or challenge gift opportunities
  • Select and manage alumni, student, faculty, or staff ambassadors to promote campaign
  • Steward donors during and after the campaigns
  • Promote campaign via social media, newsletters and other channels before and during the campaign
  • Share impact stories throughout and following campaign
  • Generate enthusiasm amongst faculty, staff, current students, and alumni
  • Provide workshops and 1:1 consultations to develop solicitation and promotion strategies
  • Manages giving platform content development and deployment for L&S departments
  • Provide template and guidance for unit-produced solicitations
  • Provide guidance on right-sizing matching or challenge opportunities
  • Develop and share social media graphics including stewardship messages for Twitter, matching gift logos, platform logos
  • Amplify departmental social media promotion
  • Centralized outreach, promotion and solicitation to alumni and friends
  • Manage solicitation channels, including email and Badger Call
  • Manage giving platform
  • Guidance on right-sizing matching or challenge opportunities
  • Talking points for promotional efforts
  • Sample social media posts
  • Social media graphics

 

 

Best Practices

  • Begin including Save the Date information in your (e)newsletters now.

  • Identify key faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends to help promote Day of the Badger – ambassadors can play a critical role here!

  • Tell your audience how Day of the Badger gifts will impact your students, faculty and department – be specific!

  • Share impact stories about how previous Day of the Badger gifts made a difference for your unit.

Communication plans

Pre-DOTB communication plan

Date

Action

February 8, 2023

Save the Date info live on dayofthebadger.org

March 8, 2023

Save the Date mailer in homes (audience: past day of giving donors, faculty/staff, lapsed donors)

March 15, 2023

Save the Date email 

March 24, 2023

VIP early access opens (audience: past day of giving donors, Bascom Hill Society members)

March 24, 2023

Early giving SMS to day of giving donors

March 24-27, 2023

Restricted period – no solicitations sent from campus partners

March 28-29, 2023

Platform is live for all donors. 8 emails and SMS to specific audiences from WFAA PLUS multiple opportunities to email your audience directly



Day-of communication plan: email

Date

Action

Tuesday, March 28 @ 8:00am

Email to students re: campus celebration

Tuesday, March 28 @ 10:30am

Email 1

Tuesday, March 28 @ 1:30pm

Email 2

Tuesday, March 28 @ 4:30pm

Email 3

Tuesday, March 28 @ 7:30pm

Email 4

Wednesday, March 29 @ 7:00am

Email 5

Wednesday, March 29 @ 10:00am

Email 6

Wednesday, March 29 @ 1:00pm

Email 7

Wednesday, March 29 @ 3:30pm

Email 8

Monday, April 3 @ 7:00am

Post event stewardship



Day-of communications plan: SMS

Date

Audience

Monday, March 27 @ 7:00pm

Students

Tuesday, March 28 @ 10:12am

Acquisition '22 - '28, day of giving donors, lapsed day of giving donors

Tuesday, March 28 @ 7:00pm

Acquisition '22 - '28

Wednesday, March 29 @ 9:00am

Day of giving donors

Wednesday, March 29 @ 2:00pm

Acquisition '22 - '28

Monday, April 3 @ 9:00am

DOTB 2023 donors

Unit-based solicitations: email templates

Best practices

  • Include a clear call to action: provide a direct link to your unit's giving page on the Day of the Badger platform.
  • Share how gifts impact your unit.
  • Promote matching and challenge gift opportunities.
  • Ask your audience to spread the word: include #dayofthebadger in all communications. 

Opening email

SU: Day of the Badger is here! Support <<department name>> at dayofthebadger.org

Good morning, <<department name>> alumni and friends,

Day of the Badger is here! Join us at <<giving page link>> and help us celebrate the incredible work that our students, faculty and staff do here each and every day. Your support this year will allow us to <<send students to conference, provide students with fellowship support, etc.>>, giving them the Wisconsin Experience they deserve.

Visit <<giving page link>> today, and help us push our mission forward!

/s

P.S. We want to hear from you! Tag us at <<social media handle>>, and share your <<department name>> story using #dayofthebadger. 

Follow-up email

SU: Day of the Badger update from <<department name>>

Good morning/afternoon/evening.

Thank you for an incredible first day of Day of the Badger! So far, we've raised $X, all of which goes directly to supporting our incredible students. 

If you have not given yet, please consider a gift to <<department name>> today. Your gift makes an immediate impact on our ability to offer <<student scholarships, internships, etc.>>. 

Visit <<giving page link>>, and help us finish strong!

/s

P.S. Be sure to follow the campaign at #dayofthebadger for all of the latest updates. 



Keywordsadvancement, annual giving, communications, development, day of the badger, fundraising, day of giving   Doc ID123287
OwnerScott C.GroupL&S KB
Created2023-01-05 10:47 CSTUpdated2023-02-16 09:08 CST
SitesL&S KB
CleanURLhttps://kb.wisc.edu/day-of-the-badger
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