🎓How Shiplake College delivered a standout Giving Day

Shiplake Connected, the alumni and community network of Shiplake College, recently ran a high-impact Giving Day campaign, raising over £82,300 from 217 donors - more than double the number of donors they originally aimed for!

Learn how they planned, promoted, and delivered a successful 2-day campaign using their fully integrated digital ToucanTech platform.

1. Page design and dynamic content panels

Shiplake Connected built a vibrant, interactive Giving Day page that made it easy for supporters to donate, stay updated, and feel part of the movement.

🎯 Bold hero panel with Giving Day dates, campaign message & a large donate button

💰 Live total tracking panel: “So far we’ve raised…”, plus bank details for offline giving

🔄 Donation carousel showing the latest gifts, donors and time they came in

🏆 Challenge tracker, updated as milestones were hit

💬 Comments panel displaying donor shout-outs and encouragement for others to join

📸 Embedded Instagram feed to incorporate real-time community buzz

🎥 Video panels featuring heartfelt stories from bursary recipients

📌 Info panel outlining fundraising priorities:

🔹Transformational Bursaries

🔹Sixth Form Centre & Hardship Support

2. Spreading the word

To help supporters spread the word, Shiplake Connected created a toolkit page featuring everything needed to rally friends, family, and alumni.

📲 A dedicated Giving Day Toolkit page, available as a subpage within the main campaign website

🖼️ Downloadable graphics and pre-written social media messages for easy community sharing

✍️ Email and text templates for supporters to share with their networks

3. Targeted, strategic communications

Shiplake Connected used ToucanTech’s email, filter, and consent tools to manage a targeted and compliant communications strategy across the full Giving Day timeline.

🔎 Prepared, saved and rerun filters to identify and update key audience segments for email sends

📨 A campaign which included more than 10 scheduled emails:

🔹Save-the-date (1.5 months ahead)

🔹Storytelling video about a bursary recipient

🔹A “One week to go” reminder email

🔹A “Morning-of” email

🔹Day 1 progress updates (3 emails)

🔹Day 2 progress updates (3 emails)

🔹Final email at the end of day 2

🔹A follow-up email inviting supporters to thank-you drinks

✅ The team also created a separate Giving Day-only consent option to allow people to unsubscribe from campaign emails without affecting their general newsletter subscription

📩 Main email preferences were hidden during the campaign for clarity

📂 Emails were grouped into a specific category for easier reporting and tracking

4. Turning giving into a shared experience

The Giving Day wasn’t just about fundraising – it was also about community and three events helped create shared moments and excitement.

🧠 Giving Day Quiz Night – A fun trivia event held on day 1 helped unite supporters and spark momentum

🏃‍♂️Strive for 65! – A 30-hour challenge celebrating 65 years of sport, engaging the global Shiplake community through in-person events at the College and House challenges, all contributing to the 65,000-minute activity goal to unlock bonus funding

🥂 Giving Day thank you drinks – A month after the campaign, donors and volunteers gathered in person to celebrate their collective achievement

📅 All events easily listed and tracked, with multiple registration options and automated email reminders

📩 All event links included in emails to help drive sign-ups

5. Donation tracking and reporting

A standout benefit of running a Giving Day through ToucanTech is streamlined data management – which saves time and ensures accuracy.

📊 All online donations flowed into a dedicated Giving Day fund 

🔄 No need for external imports or exports – unlike other platforms, ToucanTech handles fundraising, tracking, and donor data in one place
📈 Real-time reporting happens directly in the fundraising module
 

Lessons from a standout Giving Day

Shiplake College’s Giving Day demonstrates how community, storytelling, and the smart use of tech can drive fundraising success. 

With everything centralised – donations, communications, events, and reporting – ToucanTech enabled the Shiplake team to work more efficiently and focus on what matters: inspiring generosity and creating meaningful impact.

Interested in running your own Giving Day? Get in touch – we’d love to show you how it works.