As Giving Tuesday continues to grow in popularity, more and more churches are getting involved. This global day of giving is a great opportunity for churches to raise funds for a specific cause or initiative. If you aren’t sure how to create and launch the perfect Giving Tuesday campaign for your church, don’t worry – we have you covered with the key steps and tips to make the most of it.
Founded in 2012, Giving Tuesday is a global movement created to encourage generosity and charity. It takes place the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. each year, which falls on November 28 in 2023. While it’s typically focused on nonprofits, churches have found unique and exciting ways to get involved.
If you want to make the most out of Giving Tuesday for your church, we have some ideas and tips to help!
Just like any other fundraising initiative for your church, there are several recommended steps to follow to create the best Giving Tuesday campaign possible.
Understanding why you’re fundraising will help you plan the rest of your campaign, so make sure to determine this before doing anything else!
Many churches use Giving Tuesday to raise funds for a specific initiative, like a new Sunday School or outreach program. Giving Tuesday is also a great time to raise funds for your community ahead of the holiday season. For example, you can raise funds to purchase Christmas gifts for families in need. Or, you can use it as a kick-off to a larger year-end campaign!
Check out how this church used Donorbox Crowdfunding to raise more for their preschool program. We love how they use a compelling video to tell a story about why they’re fundraising.
Running a Giving Tuesday campaign can be a lot of work. Many churches don’t have a dedicated fundraiser on staff to make an excellent campaign.
That’s why securing buy-in from your church leaders and volunteers will be the key to success. Get them together to describe why you want to fundraise, how you plan to do it, and what support you’ll need to make it happen.
For example, you may have a volunteer interested in building your campaign landing page and another who can draft the copy for your communications. Breaking the work up will keep it from getting too overwhelming for one person.
Once you have your fundraising purpose and team in place, you’ll need to decide on a goal to work toward. This will guide your outreach and help you scale your campaign.
The perfect fundraising goal is both ambitious and achievable. To arrive at a number that makes sense, consider pulling past fundraising data to determine what’s possible for your church.
Whether you ran a Giving Tuesday campaign last year or not, you likely have some fundraising data to help you determine this goal. Look at any major campaigns you’ve run or your end-of-year giving numbers from last year. Consider what’s reasonable to expect from your donors for this one day of giving – and then add 5% or 10%.
For more tips, read this blog on how to set fundraising goals.
Next, it’s time to build your campaign’s landing page – the page your donors will “land” on when it’s time to donate.
A great Giving Tuesday landing page isn’t hard to build when you use the right tools. Donorbox Crowdfunding pages make for the best Giving Tuesday landing pages because you can include any and all necessary information about your campaigns, including engaging videos and images. Then your donors can give without navigating to another screen!
You can also boost social proof by adding a donor wall that doubles as a way to immediately acknowledge your donors. Plus, a goal meter builds campaign momentum as donors can see how close you are to your goal – and how their gift can make a difference.
Check out how this church highlighted their donors on their donor wall –
To learn more about crafting the perfect Giving Tuesday crowdfunding page using Donorbox, check out these resources to help you build an optimized page to get more donations.
Building out your communications ahead of time will allow you to –
Giving Tuesday really thrives online, but especially on social media. Plan to build a few email appeals and a handful of social media posts throughout the day. Download this free resource to learn some research-backed tips and methods to write the perfect Giving Tuesday appeals for these platforms.
Remember that a church Giving Tuesday campaign will look a little different than other nonprofits’ campaigns. You might mention scripture or talk a little more about the upcoming holiday season and what it means to your church, for example.
Pro tip: Remember to leave room for spontaneity! You’ll want to update your audience on your goal progress during the day. If something exciting happens, like you receive a large corporate donation, be sure to highlight this news in a post as well!
What is #iGiveCatholic on Giving Tuesday?
#iGiveCatholic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that created a national giving day for Catholic ministries, schools, and nonprofits in partnership with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In 2022, #iGiveCatholic raised $18.5 million for over 1,500 churches, schools, and nonprofit ministries. If you’d like to participate, reach out to your local diocesan contact or learn more about their national ministries or Catholic education initiatives.
As mentioned above, your primary outreach will be email and social media. However, churches have a great opportunity to generate interest in person, too. Plan on mentioning your Giving Tuesday campaigns in your welcome speeches during the weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday. You should also announce your campaign in your newsletter.
Typically, you’ll want to send an email on the day before announcing your campaign, and then at least one email on Giving Tuesday itself to remind your supporters to give. Social media posts should be made throughout the day.
Pro tip: If you don’t have a large social media presence, ask your supporters to share your campaign with their networks. You can make this easy for your supporters by including social sharing buttons on your crowdfunding page, the way this church did –
Your campaign isn’t over once Giving Tuesday ends! Showing gratitude for your donors is a key part of any successful campaign.
If you’re using Donorbox, every donor will receive an automated tax-compliant receipt with a thank-you message you can customize, so you don’t have to worry about gifts going unacknowledged. However, you should plan on sending a thank-you email to your supporters the following day where you can express gratitude and announce how much you raised.
Use this as an opportunity to build momentum for your year-end campaign, too!
Looking to boost your Giving Tuesday fundraising efforts even further? Check out these quick tips that will take your campaign to the next level.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a great way for your church to raise more on Giving Tuesday. This type of fundraising involves your top supporters asking their network for donations to your campaign.
With Donorbox Peer-to-Peer, it’s easy to turn your crowdfunding campaign into a peer-to-peer initiative. Simply turn peer-to-peer fundraising on for your campaign with a quick toggle. Then, choose whether you want to invite your fundraisers by email or if you’d like to let anyone fundraise on your behalf. Learn more about how churches use peer-to-peer fundraising in this ultimate guide.
Consider inviting your church community to a special event to generate even more excitement around Giving Tuesday. This can be as simple as getting everyone together for dinner. You can sell tickets to your event or collect additional donations in person.
For example, check out how this church partnered with a local restaurant to sell meals and raise funds for their cause. They used Donorbox Events to sell their meal boxes – and ended up selling out!
Churches have a unique opportunity to collect more in-person donations during weekly services and meetings, but many congregants don’t bring cash or checkbooks with them. A great way to boost those gifts is with a donation kiosk.
The Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app lets you turn a tablet and card reader into a powerful donation collector. Donors can give with their cards, smartphones, or smartwatches. This will be especially helpful if you plan to host an in-person Giving Tuesday event or service!
Giving Tuesday isn’t just for charities anymore! Churches can use this day of giving to raise more funds for a new initiative or outreach project. #iGiveCatholic is a movement specifically for Catholic churches and nonprofits, but all denominations can find fundraising success on Giving Tuesday.
Setting your campaign up for success means planning ahead, getting everyone on board, and crafting compelling appeals for both social media and email.
Thousands of churches use Donorbox to boost their fundraising year-round. Our dedicated pillar for church fundraising, Donorbox MinistryMatters, offers tools and resources to help churches raise more and do more good. Sign up today and launch your first campaign in under fifteen minutes.
For more church fundraising tips, check out our Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our newsletter for a curated list of blogs delivered to your inbox every month.
Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower