L&S Day of the Badger

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.

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.

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 

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.

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

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.