Edited on Nov. 19, 2021
GivingTuesday is right around the corner! This day provides the nonprofit sector with the opportunity to increase our visibility on social media, remind everyone of the true spirit of Thanksgiving and encourage generosity through end-of-year donations. Considered to be the world’s biggest day of giving, nonprofits across the world will flood everyone’s social feeds with #GivingTuesday posts – and your organization won’t want to miss out!
According to GivingTuesday.org, “GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past seven years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity.”
“The annual GivingTuesday celebration unleashed a massive wave of giving on December 1 with continued record growth on every front: dollars, countries, communities, demographics, social media, and breadth of narrative,” noted the GivingTuesday team in their 2020 Impact Report. Furthermore, the struggles of COVID-19 have increased generosity, as the report noted $2.47 billion in U.S. donations on GivingTuesday 2020. Whether it’s your first time planning a GivingTuesday campaign or you’re looking for new ways to amp up your strategy, the team at Global Impact has rounded up expert articles to help you make the most of every stage of your campaign:
Planning
Unsure of where to start? The articles below can help you take the first step:
- If you’re on the fence about participating in GivingTuesday, check out this article “#GivingTuesday: Have You Decided?”
- Once you’re ready to plan, get some inspiration for 10 ways to kick off GivingTuesday with a bang.
- No matter your organization’s size, Blackbaud provides a GivingTuesday strategy for any company’s bandwith.
- A best practice is using data to guide your campaign plans. In their latest report, the GivingTuesday Data Commons team evaluates last year’s data and makes several recommendations for your 2021 campaign. One important takeaway is:
“Don’t shy away from engaging givers, especially in tough times. We know that, even when fundraising is dramatically down and presents a lower return on investment during hard times, organizations that continue to engage givers regularly and diversify what and how they ask are more likely to reap outsized rewards when economic, health, and social crises subside.” – GivingTuesday Data Commons, “Giving In Unprecendented Times: A Lookback at 2020 U.S. Giving Data and Trends”
- Take your strategy a step further with these segmentation secrets from NonProfit Pro to boost revenue on Giving Tuesday and at year-end.
- TechSoup reveals an interesting statistic on giving habits: “For special event donation days such as Giving Tuesday or December 31, more than 75 percent of those one-time donations are made by first-time donors. Therefore, your website should simply and clearly state who you are and what you do.” Make sure to read all their insights on how to prepare your website for the 2021 giving season.
- You can also expand your pool of potential donors this GivingTuesday by setting your organization up to accept cryptocurrency donations.
Implementation
Speaking of going digital, below are a few ideas to engage your audience on the big day:
- NonProfit Tech For Good provides 6 practical tips for promoting your #GivingTuesday campaign on social media and 8 #GivingTuesday storytelling tips for nonprofits.
- Bloomerang speaks to many different assets of the campaign with 33+ Giving Tuesday ideas: expert tips and campaigns to try.
- Don’t forget about your workplace donors! Boost engagement with this audience using Blackbaud’s 10+ Ideas to encourage employee donations on #GivingTuesday.
- Finally, GivingTuesday provides a comprehensive toolkit for nonprofits that includes information on key messages, digital tactics and more.
Evaluation and Donor Retention
After you cross the campaign finish line, don’t forget these last few steps to officially close out and inspire next year’s plans:
- As Blogarama notes, “You need to be in a mindset of gratitude toward your donors all year long, but this time of year offers some special opportunities.” See their ideas you can use to thank donors during the holidays.
- Here is Classy.org’s guidance on how to properly evaluate your fundraising campaign.
- Keep the spirit of generosity going with Blackbaud’s seven ways to build a culture of philanthropy after GivingTuesday.
- GivingUSA notes 3 ways to design a donation experience that will improve donor retention.
Contact us for more information on how to put together a comprehensive strategy this GivingTuesday. Let Global Impact help you make the most of this important day, so that you can make the most difference.