Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday.
Since 2012, Giving Tuesday has had a featured role in the days after Thanksgiving. Started as a day to encourage doing good and giving back, Giving Tuesday campaigns raised $511 million online for non-profits in the United States.
In fact, online giving increased 28% since 2018. Online campaigns drive Giving Tuesday, with 20 billion social media impressions alone in 2019.
While 2020 has been a hard year, it is important non-profits continue to fundraise. Giving Tuesday is a great way to raise money while spreading the message of your mission.
Having worked with schools and local non-profits on their campaigns, I have experimented with a number of ways to raise money, learned what works and what doesn’t. Every group I have worked with have increased their donation numbers over the previous year. Here are some tips to help your organization have a successful Giving Tuesday:
- Set goals: the best campaigns have a goal, such as a dollar amount, number of donors, a specific project or a challenge. Giving your community something to donate and work towards is a great motivator. Your goal should be unique to your organization. Is there a number special to you, like the amount of tuition for your school? Or the student population size? Can you set up a challenge among alumni to see which graduating class has the most donors?
- Bookend your messaging: Once you have your goal set, tell your community ahead of time. Send an email to your list, make a post on social media and give them a heads up so they keep you in mind. Send a calendar invitation so they put it in their calendar with a notification or set up a Facebook event. In the days following Giving Tuesday, thank your supporters. Let everyone know how you did with your goal. You can never thank a donor enough.
- Test your donation system: I will never forget the first year I ran a Giving Tuesday campaign. I never tested our system, and didn’t know about an enabled security feature that prevented more than 10 donations in an hour. What a disaster, but I managed to get the system fixed. Lesson learned: test your system.
- Prepare your content ahead of time: People respond to branded images. Use Canva (or Photoshop) to create images to encourage donations, photos people can share after they have donated. Let your creativity run wild.
- Focus on small gifts: We love a good, large gift. But that isn’t possible for everyone to give, which is why Giving Tuesday is a great way to encourage small gifts. Every amount is important and makes an impact. Not only are you making philanthropy more accessible, but you are potentially attracting new donors to your community.
- Send your first email at 7am: Start your campaign early. People who read their email first thing will see it, while others shortly after they begin work. I have found most donations come in early in the morning or late at night. Send an update email at noon. Then a final email around 8pm. Do not be afraid to send reminders throughout the day — you’ll never know when you catch someone’s attention.
- Tell your story throughout the day: 75% of donors give based on knowledge of an organization’s impact. Share your story in email and social media. Give updates on progress on social. Show how their gift will make an immediate impact.
- Use Facebook Live to connect with your community: Facebook Live is so underused in the nonprofit world. Many are intimidated by “going live” so plan out what you are going to say, bring on a guest, to make it easier, like a mini-telethon. Share stories, get feedback from donors, thank donors. Build a sense of community online.
- Engage ambassadors to share your campaign: Reach out to your biggest fans and ask for their help in your campaign. Have them share why your organization is important to them and share a link to your donation page. Better yet, encourage them to set up a personal fundraiser through Facebook. A personal touch always goes a long way.
- Encourage matching gifts through employers: Many businesses have a matching corporate gift program. Encourage your donors to see if their employer has one, and to submit their donation to double the impact.
Giving Tuesday is a really fun day with some planning ahead of time and getting your community together.
For me, I have found it to be a reminder of why the organizations I support are important, what they mean to me but also reading other people’s stories of how it change their lives or the impact it made in their community.
In this bleak year of 2020, we need more reminders of the good in our world.
Giving Tuesday gives us all that chance.
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