Soapbox Engage Blog

Jewish Community Centers (JCC) all over the country provide valuable services and resources. Each JCC contributes uniquely Jewish approaches to fighting for justice and making the world a safe, healthy, and enriching place for people of every age and background. Perhaps more than ever before, our neighborhoods need the resilience and tireless pursuit of justice and peace that the Jewish Community Centers offer.

There are many strategies to raising the money required to fund the excellent educational, cultural, health, and social programs for which JCCs are so well known (not to mention the scholarships that ensure everyone in the community has the opportunity to benefit from JCC programs and services).

Many Jewish Community Centers rely on major annual fundraising events, like a community block party or a "Roaring Twenties" themed night of cocktails and dancing for the majority of their donations. Other JCCs host golf tournament fundraisers and charity fun-runs.

Perhaps your community takes a more direct fundraising approach and sends mailings asking for donations. Some JCCs have membership programs and rely on generous monthly donors to finance their programs and services.

No matter what fundraising tactics you choose, there are unique challenges that can make fundraising difficult and may even negatively impact your efforts. Here’s some ideas and apps to address these challenges and make your fundraising strategies more effective.

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Supercharge Jewish Community Center Event Fundraising

Galas, concerts, festivals, and major events are a tried and true means of raising significant money. Many JCCs host wonderful activities that enrich their local communities and bring in much-needed funds.

Apps like the Soapbox Engage Events app streamline the event registration process so your staff can focus on your mission instead of clerical work. The app enables you to sell tickets or take reservations online, while even integrating with Salesforce to keep registration well-organized.

Improve your registration experience

In addition to making the event registration process more efficient for your staff, apps like Soapbox Engage improve your guests’ overall experience, ensuring that your community sees your best face forward. Wow attendees with a beautiful event page that conveys all the essential information and allows them to register online without navigating to another web page to purchase tickets. Simply removing the pain of a multi-page registration process is shown to increase registration completion rates, which means more supporters at your events!

Soapbox Engage also allows you to add your own branding to your event registration process. Visitors are more likely to finish the registration process when the event page design is similar to the design of your website. When registration pages look different, it can cause confusion and a dash of mistrust.

The Events app also enables you to offer group rates, discounts, early-bird specials, and other options that often boost ticket sales. Many organizations also add an opportunity to make an additional donation on their event registration page. These small features add up quickly to improve the quality and impact of your fundraising event, and for your bottom line, mean more opportunities for supporter revenue growth.

With the ability for your registrants to share your event on social media, you can take advantage of social proofing and friend networks that can lead to more ticket sales at a very low (really, free) cost.

Finally, when event day arrives, the free Soapbox Engage Check-in app lets you welcome guests quickly and electronically, without needing to hop in a time machine back to the days of crossing names off a paper list. Imagine being able to have any event volunteer instantly know that the person they’re checking in is a major donor, or a board member, and greeting them quickly and appropriately. That’s just another great way you can build trust with your community of supporters, and increase the likelihood of future contributions!

Gather contact information easily

Many organizations fail to realize that they actually collect two valuable resources at their fundraising events. Of course, the money is essential, but one might argue the contact information of the attendees is the higher value data!

Our Soapbox Engage Events app automatically saves contact information to your registration list directly into services like Salesforce, so you can easily connect with attendees accurately without adding extra administrative work for your staff, like during follow-ups with individuals after each event to thank them for attending. Simply keeping in touch and saying thank-you increases the likelihood that people will continue donating to your organization.

Boost Jewish Community Center Online Fundraising

Jewish Community Centers all over the country rely on online donations for their finances. The JCC in the greater Baltimore area, for example, accepts online donations to help them provide over $575,000 in need-based financial assistance for children and families to participate in JCC programs.

Using the Soapbox Engage Donations app, the JCC of San Fransisco created an elegant donation page that highlights their major initiatives and invites donors to give to the program of their choice or allow the JCC to direct the funds where they are most needed. This ensures you’re able to highlight the work that deserves the funding and makes a connection between donors and outcomes that increases donation conversions.

Since most people prefer to make donations online but are often short on time, many people look for online opportunities to make automated recurring donations on a monthly or quarterly basis. Your Jewish Community Center can seamlessly accept automated recurring online contributions with Soapbox Engage Donations app, a key element for increasing overall giving, without much (or any!) additional overhead.

Our mobile-friendly forms are fully customizable, so you can use your own graphics, colors, fonts, and images to match the rest of your website. Consistent branding is critical when you create online donation pages because it makes your page look professional and shows your donors that they are giving to your organization, not just a random site on the internet. Having your logo visible throughout the donation process builds trust with your supporters and creates a more consistent giving experience.

Do you run multiple fundraising campaigns throughout the year? The Donations app lets you associate each donation with a specific campaign for easy accounting. The program also matches donations with an existing contact on your list or creates a new contact, so your directory stays up to date.

Suggested donation fields and secure donation processing

In addition to adding your own design, the Soapbox Engage Donations App lets you suggest different giving amounts. Providing suggested giving amounts can actually increase the average donation size. Instead of having a blank space where supporters can fill in their donation amount, listing suggested donation amounts often encourages people to increase their donation to the nearest suggested amount.

For example, if a donor navigates to your donation page with the intention of giving $25 to your cause and they see suggested amounts of $30, $50, $100, and "Other," they are likely to choose the $30 and increase their donation by $5 rather than choose "other."

The Soapbox Engage Donations app processes online donations and saves the information to Salesforce, dramatically reducing the amount of time your staff must spend processing donations and handling paperwork.

Adding a secure, fully-customizable donation page to your website ensures your supporters can donate safely, it builds trust, and improves their overall giving experience.

Important features and data

Soapbox Engage’s Donations app lets you gather essential information so you can determine what works and refine your fundraising tactics. Every organization should track the number of new donors they bring in through each fundraising effort.

Organizations should also identify lapsed donors (people who haven’t given in the last 12 months). Finding lapsed donors allows you to reconnect with them, find out why they stopped giving, and invite them to donate again. If you notice a large number of lapsed donors on your list, it’s an opportunity to assess and improve your donor care and retention methods.

You’ll also be able to gather relevant information about the average lifetime value of a donor (the average dollar amount each of your supporters gives your JCC). This is an especially useful statistic if you track the cost of acquiring new donors. For example, if you spend $500 to acquire a new donor through fundraising events, and the average lifetime value of a donor is $1,500, then your efforts are well worth it!

Soapbox Engage’s Donations app will also help you segment donations based on the size of the gift. This statistic enables you to understand the giving capacity of your supporters, which can help you adjust your asks accordingly.

Our donations app makes it easy to gather donor statistics so you can set reasonable goals, adjust your tactics, and improve the effectiveness of your fundraising efforts.

Give donors the opportunity to give tribute or memorial gifts

One feature that stands out with the Soapbox Engage Donations app is the ability to let donors share a dedication with each gift. Your supporters will appreciate being able to honor the memories of loved ones and community leaders in this special way.

Many JCCs offer their supporters the option of giving in honor of someone else. Whether you are raising funds through major gifts, monthly donations, or smaller one-time contributions, this is a meaningful way to help your donors continue the legacy and memory of loved ones. This gesture also creates a more personal connection to your organization.

Annual campaigns and community funds

Every interaction at a JCC leads to life-affirming experiences. Many JCCs mobilize annual giving campaigns to raise millions of dollars to support Jewish life, enrich their local communities, and fight for equity and justice around the world.

The Soapbox Engage Donations app allows you to collect donations online for your annual campaign, community fund, and other fundraising initiatives simultaneously. Our software allows you to maintain separate donation pages for each campaign so your donors don’t become confused about what campaign they are giving to.

Do you have a monthly donor or membership program as part of your annual campaign or community fund? 40% of millennials and 49% of GenX donors enroll in monthly giving programs, proving their popularity and effectiveness. Soapbox Engage Donations app lets your supporters set up automatic drafts for convenient monthly donations.

Offering recurring donations as an option on your donation page encourages continual partnership and reassures your supporters that it will be convenient. They won’t need to log into the donation page every month or remember to send off a check.

Maximize giving with matching gifts, legacy giving, and endowments

Many Jewish Community Centers around the country maintain robust legacy giving and endowments to support their programs. The JCC of San Francisco, for example, has a vibrant "Olive Tree Society" for generous partners who decided to add the JCC to their will, trust, or other types of legacy gifts.

Matching gifts are another valuable fundraising strategy for Jewish Community Centers. Because JCCs are not-for-profit organizations and offer social services to their communities, many companies match their employees’ donations, making their gifts go further and have a greater impact.

Soapbox Engage works with Double The Donation to support matching gift donations and can be used for your own matching gift services. Matching gifts benefit everyone involved, as your JCC receives more funds, the employees make a greater impact with their gift, and the employer enjoys tax benefits.

Recurring donation programs lay a strong financial foundation

Whether you call it the Trustee Circle, Chai Society, or something else, many Jewish Community Centers rely on recurring donations to cover their annual operating costs and ensure financial stability.

Soapbox Engage provides all the necessary functions for you to establish a recurring donation program so your JCC can create a more reliable income stream.

Offering recurring donation programs often increases donor giving because it allows many donors to give more manageable amounts throughout the year. Many people cannot give $5,000 in a single donation, but they can give $500 each month, which is actually a larger total sum ($6,000 total). Offering recurring donation options can increase your bottom line, create a reliable stream of monthly income, and provide opportunities for your donors to be more generous with their giving.