You don't need a marketing department to make ShopGiv work. You need a plan and ninety days. This is that plan.
ShopGiv grows your donations through two motions: supporters download the app, pick your nonprofit, and shop the businesses you've recruited; and businesses join because you bring them customers, then become a donation source on every transaction. More businesses means more places to shop, which means more donations, which makes the next business easier to recruit. The whole point of this plan is to get that flywheel turning — and then keep your hands off it.
The one rule: every link, QR code, flyer, and email you put out should send people to one place — your public page at
shopgiv.com/give/your-nonprofit. That's how every download and dollar gets attributed back to you.
Days 1–30: Set the foundation
The goal this month is simple — get your house in order and recruit your first five businesses. Don't try to go wide yet.
Week 1 — Claim and polish your page
- Finish your public listing: logo, a two-sentence mission, your category, and your donation allocation. A nonprofit with no logo and no description converts almost nobody. Treat this like the front door it is.
- Go live. Until your page is published, none of your QR codes or links will work, so this is gate zero.
- Bookmark your page URL —
shopgiv.com/give/your-nonprofit— and save the QR code from your dashboard. You'll use both constantly.
Week 2 — Recruit your inner circle of supporters
Before you ask a single business, prove the flywheel turns with people who already love you.
- Personally message your board, staff, and ten most loyal supporters. Ask them to download the app and pick your nonprofit. That's it — no money out of their pocket.
- Use the elevator pitch so everyone describes ShopGiv the same way.
- Goal: 25 supporters by end of week. This is your seed crowd, and it makes the business conversation real ("we already have supporters ready to shop with you").
Weeks 3–4 — Land your first five businesses
Now recruit businesses you already have a relationship with — current sponsors, vendors, the coffee shop that donates to your gala every year.
- Work the vendor-recruitment playbook. Lead with customers, not charity: "I'm not here for a donation. I'm bringing you a platform of customers, and it only costs a small donation per transaction."
- Build a target list of 15 businesses; you only need 5 to say yes this month.
- Each new business expands where your supporters can shop — log every win.
End of Day 30 checkpoint: page live, 25+ supporters, 5 businesses recruited. The flywheel exists.
Days 31–60: Activate and recruit at scale
This month you create momentum in public and double your business count.
Weeks 5–6 — Run your first activation event
Pick any gathering you already have on the calendar — a board meeting, a volunteer night, a donor breakfast — and turn it into an activation.
- Run the event-activation playbook. Put a QR code on every table. Have whoever's speaking open by asking the room to scan, download, pick your nonprofit, and shop the sponsors in the room.
- One twenty-minute moment at one event can out-recruit a month of one-off asks.
Weeks 7–8 — Recruit ambassadors and widen the business net
- Stand up your board and ambassador program. Give each board member and a few super-volunteers their own share link and a small, visible goal.
- Push your business count from 5 to 12+. Now you can show prospects a real roster and real supporter numbers.
- Start a light content rhythm using the social-post calendar — one post a week is plenty.
End of Day 60 checkpoint: first event run, ambassadors active, 12+ businesses, weekly social presence.
Days 61–90: Systematize and close the loop
The final month is about making this run without you — and using results to recruit the next wave.
Weeks 9–10 — Show businesses their numbers
This is the renewal magic that traditional sponsorship never delivers.
- Pull the attribution view in your dashboard: for each business, how many supporters and how much spending your community drove to them.
- Take those numbers back to each business. "Here's what our community sent your way." This single conversation is what turns a one-time sponsor into a recurring one — and recruits their neighbors.
Weeks 11–12 — Make it a habit, not a campaign
- Bake the ask into things you already do: add your QR to email signatures, your newsletter, event invites, and your "thank you" follow-ups.
- Hand ongoing recruitment to your ambassadors and board so it isn't all on you.
- Schedule a recurring monthly 30-minute review: check supporter growth, business count, and dollars driven; pick the next 5 business targets.
End of Day 90 checkpoint: businesses seeing their ROI, the ask is embedded in your normal operations, ambassadors carrying recruitment, and a monthly rhythm in place. The flywheel turns on its own.
Your 90-day scorecard
| Metric | Day 30 | Day 60 | Day 90 | |---|---|---|---| | Supporters who picked you | 25+ | 75+ | 150+ | | Businesses recruited | 5 | 12+ | 20+ | | Activation events run | 0 | 1 | 2+ | | Active ambassadors | 0 | 3+ | 5+ |
Numbers are targets, not limits. A single great event or one well-connected board member can blow past them.
Keep going
- New to the pitch? Start with the elevator pitch and the supporter FAQ.
- Ready to recruit businesses? The vendor-recruitment playbook has the script and the worksheet.
- Grab ready-to-use copy and templates in the Nonprofit Toolkit, and list your nonprofit if you haven't yet.