Doorbuster deals, nonprofit edition

It’s Black Friday, and supporters’ inboxes are packed with doorbuster deals and pre-Giving Tuesday fundraising asks.

Refuge, a domestic violence nonprofit in the United Kingdom, faced the same stiff competition as every other nonprofit during its 2025 Christmas campaign.

To stand out, they borrowed retail language and kept their asks concrete from the first email to the donation page. 

The breakthrough
Refuge built their campaign around one idea: giving a child and their mom their first Christmas of freedom.

Its asks turned that idea into something a donor could picture buying, like a care package or a Christmas dinner for a mom who had just arrived at a shelter.

In the inbox, Refuge built emails around Black Friday and Giving Tuesday. 

The Black Friday emails borrowed e-commerce tactics, pitching a Christmas dinner package for a family starting over as the day’s deal.

The donation page kept the shopping logic, listing items like teddy bears and coloring books with illustrative costs. 

Before donors finished, a pop-up suggested adding one more item, the way online checkouts do.

The results
Refuge raised £530,000 across all its channels. 

Even more impressive: About half of that money came from first-time donors.

In the inbox, Refuge re-sent its best-performing campaign email shortly after, with a note at the top of the original. That second send raised 253% more than the first.

The shopping-style framing on the donation page made a huge difference beyond the holidays. 

Refuge consistently sees 50% to 60% of donors add an extra item when the donation prompt is framed like an online store.

How to apply these learnings to your year-end campaign
Keep the ask concrete from the inbox to checkout. Start with a single idea and turn it into specific items or outcomes a donor can picture.

For work that doesn’t come in a box, consider showing what a specific amount does for one person. Refuge used a £5 gift to help a family settle in.

Borrow retail language where it fits. Donors already know Black Friday deals and checkout add-ons from shopping online. 

Test your checkout pop-up’s wording separately from your email copy, because what gets someone to click isn’t always what gets them to add one more gift.

Some giving platforms offer cart-style forms that make this easier to build. Engaging Networks, which Refuge uses, has a symbolic giving module with a shopping cart.

Fundraise Up’s Gift Cart and GoFundMe Pro’s Giving Cart also let donors add several gifts and check out once.

Resend the ask that really lands. During a year-end campaign, adding another email might feel like too much.

Refuge’s results make a strong case for saving room for one anyway, because repetition gives your strongest ask a second chance with people who missed it the first time.

The bottom line
Borrowing retail language won’t rescue a weak case for giving. 

But if your story is strong, making the gift easy to picture from the first email to checkout is one of the simpler year-end upgrades you can make.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara