In 2022, nonprofits raised $3.1 billion on Giving Tuesday. With an average annual growth of 65%, Giving Tuesday donations in 2024 could reach up to $5.1 billion. This article will walk you through everything you need to do before, during, and after Giving Tuesday to ensure you raise as much of that potential funding as possible!
It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year – and for a nonprofit or community organization, this time before Giving Tuesday and the larger giving season can be incredibly hectic. But it doesn’t have to be!
In this article, we’ll outline everything you need to do before, during, and after Giving Tuesday. Plus, we’ll share invaluable resources and tips along the way. Let’s get started!
Every year, nonprofits launch Giving Tuesday campaigns to ask their audiences for support and raise awareness about their cause.
Giving Tuesday or #GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement that encourages charitable giving around the world. This day of giving was founded in 2012 by Henry Timms at the Belfer Center with the help of the United Nations Foundation and BLK SHP (Black Sheep). Since then, it has grown into a global movement that helps thousands of nonprofits keep their important operations going year after year.
Giving Tuesday falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. In 2024, Giving Tuesday falls on December 3. It serves as an important reminder to be charitable amidst shopping-centric holiday season events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
We’ve created a Giving Tuesday Calendar for nonprofit organizations outlining the key steps in your campaign. Download our free Giving Tuesday Calendar to ensure you have everything you need for the big day!
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If this isn’t your first Giving Tuesday campaign, chances are you have some data to review from last year. You’ll want to take a look at overall donations, donations by source, and the total number of donors (and their donations). This information will help you create a Giving Tuesday campaign strategy and goal that is ambitious but still attainable for your organization.
Good news – if you used Donorbox for your campaign last year, we have powerful reporting templates to help you pull all this data into detailed reports. Simply choose from our three templates – donor overview, new donor, and LYBUNT – and set your desired parameters.
Giving Tuesday is all about online donations – especially crowdfunding. You need a fundraising platform that can handle a lot of traffic and provide a seamless giving experience for your Giving Tuesday donors. Plus, choosing one that makes it easy for people to give again and again throughout the day will help boost donations as well.
Donorbox offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to boost your online fundraising.
And more! Having a donation platform that can help you accept as many different kinds of donations as possible on Giving Tuesday will ensure success. Check out how The DRESS Syndrome Foundation Friendship Force International used Donorbox to raise over $20,000 for their Giving Tuesday campaign last year! We love how they used a compelling story to showcase their mission of connecting people worldwide.
There will be a lot of posts and outreach from other nonprofit organizations on Giving Tuesday. One way to stand out from the crowd on this global day of giving is to create eye-catching graphics for social media, email communications, and your website.
Canva is a great, free tool you can use to create beautiful graphics for Giving Tuesday. With pre-built templates and design guides, it’s easy for people at any skill level to create materials that look professional. Check out our guide to using Canva for a more in-depth look at this tool and its nonprofit features.
Pro tip: GivingTuesday provides some free graphics on their website, too! Include these in your materials to boost your visibility.
There are tons of options out there, so it can feel overwhelming to choose the right email marketing platform. Look for email platforms with pricing you can afford, robust tools, and easy-build email interfaces.
Pro tip: You should also look for an email marketing solution that integrates with your donation platform. This streamlines your Giving Tuesday list-building process. Donorbox integrates natively with some excellent email marketing platforms, including Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign. Plus, it integrates with thousands more of your favorite apps using Zapier.
Having an app that can handle scheduling your social media posts in advance will save you time and stress on the day of. Tools like Hootsuite and Later are reasonably priced and allow you to create one post that can be shared across multiple platforms.
You’ll need plenty of compelling images of your mission in action. It’s best to begin searching for these as early as possible so you have plenty of time to secure permissions, edit the photos, and get feedback on which images are most captivating.
A picture is worth a thousand words – and when it comes to Giving Tuesday campaigns, the right picture might be worth a thousand dollars or more for your nonprofit organization!
Stories help us present the impact data of our nonprofit, the things we can’t demonstrate with numbers alone. Plus, they help us connect with our audience’s emotions, which is crucial for getting donations on Giving Tuesday!
Check out our guide to crafting the perfect fundraising story for your campaign. Also, learn more about how telling stories builds donor trust – and how that drives more donations.
Video, especially short-form video, is an increasingly popular way to share information and tell stories. Because most smartphones these days are equipped with powerful cameras, it doesn’t take a professional to put together a captivating video. Your video can be as simple as having your executive director or other leader sit down and explain the value of your mission, or interviewing a beneficiary about the impact your organization has had on their life.
Learn more about how to create engaging fundraising videos and check out some examples here.
We love how Tapestry harnessed the power of a compelling video to surpass their 2022 goal and raise over $14,000!
Your Giving Tuesday landing page is where your campaign will live – and it’s where people will “land” when they’re ready to give. This can be an online donation page with your donation form embedded, or it can be a designated crowdfunding page.
Many organizations use Donorbox Crowdfunding on Giving Tuesday because of the built-in tools designed to generate fundraising momentum, such as:
Check out how Maya’s Hope made their Donorbox Crowdfunding page the perfect central hub for their Giving Tuesday campaign.
Create Your Giving Tuesday Landing Page
Think of your landing page as the one-stop shop for your entire Giving Tuesday campaign. All your messaging should be there, including any fundraising videos you’ve created. It also must include an easy, attractive way for people to give – without navigating to another page.
Learn more about how to design a Giving Tuesday landing page in this blog!
Whether you’re doing a mass email campaign or more personalized outreach on Giving Tuesday, it’s important to have your lists pulled ahead of time.
Be sure to segment your existing donors and supporters so you’re sending the right messaging to the right group. Segmentation can also keep you from overwhelming any one group with too much outreach.
Pro tip: Use your donor management software to identify donors who are likely to give to your organization on Giving Tuesday. Donorbox makes it easy to sort your donor data with a variety of filters, ensuring you get exactly the list you need.
Build your social media posts ahead of time using your post-scheduling app. Trust us – having all these materials ready to go is so crucial for saving you time and stress on Giving Tuesday. Plus, doing so ahead of time allows you to get feedback from your team and create the best posts possible.
However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be spontaneous on the day of! If something exciting happens, like you get a large donation, you should post to share! You should also update your supporters on your goal progress throughout the day to encourage more giving.
Emails should be short and sweet, but having the copy ready to go will save you stress on the day of.
While Giving Tuesday traditionally focuses on social media outreach, email still plays an important role. Send an email the day before Giving Tuesday announcing your campaign. Then, send a follow-up email the next morning to remind them to give. You may also send an email later in the day with any updates on campaign progress. Sending a thank-you email the day after Giving Tuesday is a good practice as well – especially if you’re continuing your campaign throughout the giving season.
Pro tip: Your supporters will be getting a lot of outreach on the day of Giving Tuesday. Sharpen your strategy with segmentation and don’t send long emails with too much information – save that for your landing page!
Your social media strategy for posting should include a mix of pre-built posts that tell a story about your work and off-the-cuff posts updating your audience on the progress of your campaign.
For example, your nonprofit can post a video of your executive director talking about your mission on the morning of Giving Tuesday. Then, later in the day, you receive a donation equal to 50% of your goal – that’s huge news that you must share with your audience! So, instead of another prebuilt post, you can post about this exciting news, recognize the donor (if they’re comfortable with that!), and point out how close you are to your goal now.
No matter which platforms you choose to use for your campaign, your strategy should be to provide thoughtful, engaging content throughout the day – and not just spam your followers with solicitations.
Check out this blog for a more in-depth look at social media fundraising.
Pro tip: Quick videos on your Instagram story or TikTok are a fun, high-energy way to update your supporters on your campaign progress throughout the day. They’re also a great way to connect with young people interested in learning more about your cause.
Your donors get bombarded on Giving Tuesday. Chances are you aren’t the only organization they support – so you won’t be the only one reaching out. That’s why keeping your communications brief is so important. Share about your organization without taking up a lot of their time. (Hint: this is where engaging fundraising videos can help!)
Your Giving Tuesday outreach has two goals: to raise money, obviously, but also to educate more people about your cause. That’s why high-value content that is educational and engaging has a better chance of bringing in more donations to your Giving Tuesday campaign.
Ask your supporters to share your campaign with their friends and families. This will inspire more generosity and introduce more people to your nonprofit!
Pro tip: Enable peer-to-peer fundraising on your Donorbox campaign so your supporters can easily fundraise on your behalf. Learn more here.
#GivingTuesday is a great way to connect with other local nonprofits and organizations hosting campaigns on that day. Plus, some people may use the hashtag to find new organizations to support!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – no one is going to give to your Giving Tuesday 2024 campaign if it’s not easy to give!
Donorbox makes the giving process easy and enjoyable from start to finish. UltraSwift™ Pay allows for a checkout that’s up to four times faster, where donors can use their preferred digital wallet to skip adding their contact and payment details. Plus, donors can select to save their info so they can log in to their donor portal to repeat their donation and give multiple times with just one click. Learn more about Donorbox’s features and how they can make Giving Tuesday 2024 your best one yet!
With Donorbox, all donors receive an automatic donation receipt with a customizable thank-you message so you don’t have to worry about their gift going unnoticed. But it’s especially important to follow up with a heartfelt thank you to reiterate the importance of their support.
Your followers will be curious about how your campaign went! Share your progress and thank them for all their support. Remember, even if someone didn’t donate, they may have shared your posts or told a friend – and every bit of support matters.
Chances are you received gifts from at least a few new donors. This is part of the magic of Giving Tuesday! Now comes the hard part: stewarding these one-time donors into long-term supporters. It takes a strong stewardship and cultivation plan to help these one-time gifters feel like an integral part of your organization!
Donorbox offers tools to make stewardship easy and enjoyable. For example, create detailed profiles for each donor and keep records of your communication so you know exactly how often you’ve reached out.
Learn more about motivating donors to give again (and again..and again!) in this donor stewardship guide.
Once the dust settles, it’s time to analyze the effectiveness of your fundraising strategy and assess your campaign numbers. There are many Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for nonprofits, but here are a few you’ll want to examine for your Giving Tuesday campaign:
You may have some organization-specific KPIs to review, but these will give you a good sense of the overall effectiveness of your campaign.
In addition to reviewing the data, you can perform a SWOT analysis to identify your campaign’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This type of high-level analysis can help you adjust your strategy for next year. We have a handy SWOT analysis template that you can download for free! You might also use our Rose, Bud, and Thorn worksheet to reflect on what worked and what you can improve.
It’s never too early to start planning your Giving Tuesday campaign. Although you’ll want to wait until closer to next year to really dive into creating your campaign, now is the perfect time to rethink your strategy.
While your analysis is fresh in your mind, jot down some notes to yourself for next year. Is there something you’d like the try? Something that didn’t work this year? These insights will be so valuable come next year. This can also help you plan for the rest of the giving season!
With plenty of lead time and the right plan in place, your Giving Tuesday 2024 campaign can run smoothly and bring in more donations for your mission. We’ve outlined the steps you need to take before, during, and after this global day of giving. But the most important step is ensuring your tools are up for the task.
Donorbox helps thousands of organizations boost their fundraising all year long, especially on Giving Tuesday. Learn more about our features and sign up today!
For more fundraising tips, check out the rest of our Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a roundup of our best blogs every month.
All your nonprofit or community organization has to do to participate in Giving Tuesday is simply create a campaign and share it with your supporters. You can use the hashtag #GivingTuesday to make your campaign more visible and connect with other organizations holding Giving Tuesday campaigns.
Crowdfunding is a common Giving Tuesday fundraising tactic because it harnesses the power of the crowd to meet your fundraising goals. It’s also great for social media-based campaigns since it’s easy for your supporters to share your campaign with their friends. Donorbox Crowdfunding is easy to set up, with tons of donation-boosting features.
Creating engaging fundraising videos is another popular Giving Tuesday fundraising idea. For more inspiration, check out these 10 creative Giving Tuesday ideas!
Donorbox is a highly recommended Giving Tuesday donation platform. Thousands of organizations around the world trust Donorbox to help them make the most of their Giving Tuesday campaigns.
Other necessary tools include:
These tools combined will help you run a successful Giving Tuesday campaign.
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