From the Nominator

For Giving Tuesday 2025, McGill’s Annual Giving team launched a digital campaign to increase donor participation and revenue, while educating a broad audience about philanthropy. The campaign targeted alumni, parents, friends, faculty, and staff, and the audience was further segmented by into categories such as donors, nondonors, leadership, and more. Goals were to grow donors and dollars, acquire first‑time donors, educate constituents about how philanthropy supports students, and deliver high returns using minimal budget and time. To meet these goals, the team created a McGill-themed trivia quiz that doubled as an educational tool. Each question invited a guess and then revealed the correct answer and a fact showing how donor generosity fuels scholarships, emergency aid, research, learning, and student services. This format provided a fun, low-barrier entry point that made student impact clear and Giving Tuesday outreach more fun. To keep production efficient, the team reused an existing quiz template and focused efforts on high-quality content, segmentation, and personalization. A targeted matching gift offered only to non-donors boosted first gifts. The results were significant: The campaign reached 182,601 constituents and raised $181,433, with increases in donors (+9.5%) and dollars (+17%) and a major rise in new donors (+280%). Quiz engagement also improved significantly over 2024. The initiative succeeded in delivering a cost-effective Giving Tuesday with strong fundraising results for McGill.

From the Judges

This highly effective Giving Tuesday initiative used a creative trivia quiz as a warm-up to prime audiences, achieving surprising success across multiple metrics. The campaign stood out for its simplicity and inclusivity; it featured a bilingual image-based format that resonated deeply with the donors. While the concept is easily replicable, its innovation lies in using a fun, low-barrier engagement tool to drive significant emotional connection before a major appeal. Ultimately, the results underscore how a smart, well-timed teaser can outperform traditional impact-focused messaging.