Highlighting Stock Gifting with Your Newsletter: 5 Tips

This article was contributed by Javan Van Gronigen, Founder and Creative Director at Fifty & Fifty.

Imagine your nonprofit offering a unique donation method that enables donors to give more and save on taxes. You can turn these benefits into a reality by embracing stock gifting!

With the right software, this giving method is low-risk and highly enticing, allowing donors to contribute more on average and take advantage of greater tax breaks. Plus, over 60% of American adults own stock, meaning there are probably quite a few donors in your network who would be interested in this way of giving.

In this guide, we’ll explore how you can promote stock gifting in your newsletter. As we review these tactics, consider the unique strengths and weaknesses in your nonprofit’s marketing strategy and how they might shape your newsletter approach. Let’s dive in!

1. Use Your Nonprofit’s Branding

To help your supporters explore new ways of giving, you first have to build their trust. When you’re creating your promotional materials for stock gifting, ensure that your resources are branded to your nonprofit above all else. Donors, especially loyal ones, are more likely to be receptive to stock gifting if it’s clearly endorsed by an organization they trust (your nonprofit).

Fifty & Fifty suggests incorporating the following components of your nonprofit’s branding into your newsletter:

• Logo;
• Brand colors;
• Slogan or other key messaging;
• Brand imagery;
• Typography.

Also, don’t forget to include your contact information in your newsletter either at the top or bottom corner. This way, donors can reach out if they want to learn more about stock gifting opportunities, making the idea more approachable as a whole.

2. Simplify the Concept of Stock Gifting

On its face, stock gifting can seem complicated and daunting to donors. However, your nonprofit can use your newsletter to share resources that simplify stock gifting, encouraging your supporters to learn more and eventually donate. You can simplify the concept of stock gifting by:

• Creating interactive infographics. Illustrating exactly how stock gifting works can make the process less conceptual and easier to understand. Create a step-by-step graphic that helps your donors grasp exactly what to expect at each phase. Include phases in the process such as:
  • Contact your broker;
  • Donate the stock via the nonprofit’s donation page;
  • Receive confirmation and a receipt for tax purposes.
• Embedding educational resources. Since newsletters have limited space, you likely won’t be able to provide in-depth explanations about stock gifting for your supporters. Instead, link to or embed external educational materials that your donors can access straight from your newsletter. Just ensure you check the materials for quality and accuracy first.
• Using straightforward language. Ultimately, your stock gifting communication should be accessible. Tailor your content to your target audience’s knowledge and avoid jargon to increase the chances that your newsletter recipients will read it.
• Answer frequently asked questions. Efficiently answer your donors’ questions by including an FAQ section in your newsletter. Make it even more helpful by linking out to educational resources based on the answers so they can learn more.

You may also ask donors if there are any giving methods they’d like to use that you don’t currently offer. To better meet donor needs, offer stock gifting and contributions via a donor-advised fund (DAF).

3. Highlight Key Benefits

Like any other pitch, highlight the benefits of stock gifting in your newsletter. Try mentioning:

• Tax savings. Stock donors can avoid paying capital gains tax on the increase in value of the donated stock, meaning they could save a significant amount of money.
• Convenience. By using a user-friendly donation page with a stock gifting integration, donors can contribute with only a few clicks on their phone or laptop.
• Match eligibility. Some businesses have made gifts of stock match-eligible, meaning donors can multiply their impact effortlessly.

We’ll review how you can highlight advantages specific to your mission in the following section!

4. Share Success Stories

Reinforcing your donors’ trust in your nonprofit is one thing, but getting them to buy into stock gifting is another, especially when some donors cultivate their stock assets over long periods of time. Including success stories and testimonials can convince donors that donating stock is safe and mutually beneficial for them and your organization.

Try the following tactics to highlight the impact of stock gifting:

• Discuss stock gifting metrics. If your nonprofit has been offering stock gifting for some time already, emphasize the total amount collected and what you’ve been able to accomplish with stock donations.
• Feature donor testimonials. Social proof is the idea that people will be more likely to take an action if people they trust have taken it too. Showcase quotes from well-respected donors in your community about their personal experience with stock gifting (with their permission).

Since these stories will be in a digital format, be sure to include a call to action button linking out to case study briefs or other helpful resources so they can learn more.

5. Create Stock Gifting-Centered Content

Getting your donors interested in stock gifting is only the first step! You also need to keep them engaged as the stock gifting landscape changes. That’s why you should create regular stock gifting content, whether it’s a separate newsletter or a blog post campaign. Consider discussing the following aspects in your stock gifting content:

• Updates about the stock market, like current trends or predictions;
• Progress on your stock gifting initiatives, such as program updates;
• Educational content about stock gifting, such as rehashed blog posts or webinars.

If your nonprofit has a full content calendar or marketing plan, it might be better to set aside sections of existing newsletters aside for stock gifting content. For instance, you might spotlight it in one newsletter a month to keep the content fresh, but not overwhelming.

While it can seem complex at the outset, stock gifting provides a variety of advantages for your nonprofit and donors. All your organization has to do is package it appealingly and use your newsletter wisely, and your donors will soon come to leverage and appreciate stock gifting.