Giving Tuesday: 10 Awesome Best Practices for Your Cause

GivingTuesday has spurred donors worldwide to contribute millions of dollars towards their favorite charities. What started as a simple hashtag for the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has turned into a global tradition.

There is no doubt that GivingTuesday has become the world’s largest giving day! There’s excitement from both donors and fundraisers leading up to this day. You want to maximize your impact within these 24 hours of giving. That’s why we have curated 10 best practices to make your GivingTuesday campaign a smashing success!

To get the most out of GivingTuesday planning, and keep it easy, here are 10 awesome best practices to implement this fall:

  1. Start Planning Your Giving Tuesday Campaign Early
  2. Choose the Right Giving Tuesday Software
  3. Recruit Fundraising Ambassadors to Lead the Charge
  4. Take a Multi-Channel Approach to Giving Tuesday Promotion
  5. Tell Powerful Stories About Your Mission
  6. Tap Into Revenue-Boosting Engagement Strategies
  7. Make Day-Of Donations as Smooth as Possible
  8. Build Strong Relationships with Giving Tuesday Donors
  9. Keep the Momentum Going Through the End of the Year
  10. Place Your Giving Tuesday Strategy Top-of-Mind Year-Round
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Start Planning Your Giving Tuesday Campaign Early

The key to maximizing your success on GivingTuesday is mapping out your goals, plans, communications, etc. months in advance. With a long-term strategy, your team can reap the benefits of GivingTuesday all year long, instead of just one single day.

Internally, your team of employees and volunteers must have a set of clear goals you intend to reach. Make sure that they are realistic enough that your team can achieve them, but ambitious enough that your nonprofit can reach new heights.

In addition to establishing a clear revenue goal, your nonprofit should set awareness and engagement objectives, including:

  • Acquiring new donors
  • Promoting your cause or gaining publicity
  • Stewarding existing donors
  • Engaging prospective major donors
  • Reconnecting with lapsed supporters
  • Recognizing volunteers or recurring donors
  • Earning a certain number of impressions or likes on your social media content

In all this planning, be sure to send out notice to your donors well in advance so that they have time to consider how they will engage with your nonprofit.

After these goals are set, it is time to act!

Choose the Right Giving Tuesday Software

The digital world is the primary reason that GivingTuesday has become so popular. Since the world is becoming more and more digitalized, donors have become accustomed to quick, easy giving.

To fully capitalize on GivingTuesday, nonprofits need a branded, easy-to-use (and easy-to-create) online presence.

Investing time in an online giving or Text-2-Give microsite is the number one way to reach GivingTuesday donors and stand out. These microsites allow donors to show their support anytime, from anywhere, making giving easier than ever!

Nonprofit fundraising software is your most powerful ally. It elevates the donor experience in a new and innovative way.

As you research GivingTuesday software solutions, look for a platform that includes:

  • Customizable online giving forms that allow donors to pick and choose donation amounts, leave messages, and share with their networks.
  • Branded giving sites that showcase your mission and impact while expanding your reach through social proof and built-in social engagement tools.
  • Peer-to-peer fundraising technology that gets more people engaged before, during, and after GivingTuesday through social media, Ambassador Fundraising, and more.
  • Text-to-donate functionality that makes it easy for people to quickly donate to your cause anytime, anywhere.
  • AI features that save you time and create a better giving experience for your donors.
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Recruit Fundraising Ambassadors to Lead the Charge

GivingTuesday is a modern trend, so fresh strategies will get your campaign running. One of the hottest fundraising strategies this fall is to recruit Ambassadors.

Ambassador Fundraising allows nonprofits to bring their most involved and passionate supporters into a new, upgraded role. Instead of just being a dedicated donor, they can play a critical role in the success of your nonprofit.

What’s in it for the Ambassadors?

  • Grow a cause they are passionate about
  • Earn fundraising credit
  • Build new connections

The key to success is selecting the right Ambassadors. Start by looking at board members, volunteers, staff, committee members, or past donors.

After selecting your Ambassadors, it is time to rev up their engines with tools that will fuel them to success. The goal is to turn your Ambassadors from everyday donors to exuberant evangelists. You can do this by:

  • Arming them with a robust Ambassador toolkit that includes social graphics, sample captions, and fundraising tips.
  • Organizing casual meet-ups with Ambassadors to give them time to share ideas and deepen their connection to your cause.
  • Creating various competitions among Ambassadors to keep them motivated and engaged.

Nonprofits should be ready to provide Ambassadors with:

  • Goals and mission of the GivingTuesday campaign and what Ambassadors will be responsible for.
  • Guidelines and rules for any competitive element of the campaign.
  • Links to all social media accounts and sample posts to share with followers.

Pro tip: Introducing fun, competitive, and socially based peer-to-peer elements into your GivingTuesday can supercharge any campaign.

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Take a Multi-Channel Approach to GivingTuesday Promotion

The digital revolution has changed the fundraising game. Now, there are a multitude of platforms and ways to spread the word about your cause like never before.

Creating a robust multi-channel campaign is a key step to success. Here’s the core channels to utilize when planning your next GivingTuesday campaign:

  • Social Media:  GivingTuesday started on social media, so it’s arguably one of the most important elements of your marketing efforts. Create unique and incentivizing posts that target your donors, board, and community to get the most likes, shares, and comments.
  • Email:  A classic and easy way to spread the word is planning an email calendar that increases in cadence the closer you get to the big day (i.e., goes from monthly, to weekly, to daily communications).
  • Hashtags: Certainly include #GivingTuesday but consider creating a hashtag specific to your nonprofit and your campaign. Hashtags create a central place so as donors see your hashtag, they will continue to be led back to your cause.
  • Website: Emphasize the importance of your campaign and your goals by creating a page on your website that spotlights your GivingTuesday campaign. Be sure to include an embedded form or a link to your giving site.
  • Traditional Marketing: Though it is important to capitalize on the digital trends in the fundraising world, don’t diminish the effectiveness of posters and direct mail. Hang posters at locations that have heavy traffic or mail campaign packets to donors to reach the audience outside of the digital world
  • Text Messaging:  Donors love when they can donate as fast and easy as possible. Use fundraising software, such as Text2Give® to send out a text message to supporters. By including a shortened link in the text, people can click and donate right from their phones to your donation page.

Tell Powerful Stories About Your Mission

How many times can you recall sitting around a campfire telling stories? Maybe it wasn’t a campfire, maybe it was a dinner table or in a car. Wherever it was, were there any stories that stuck with you?

Powerful stories can stick with us for the rest of our lives. They could have stuck with us because we personally related to the story, or maybe the person who told it had a special knack for storytelling.

Many nonprofits tend to lean into displaying data of all the donations they have collected in past GivingTuesdays and its impact. While this is important to show how positive change is being made it can be easy to put storytelling on the backburner.

When nonprofits take a step back to share authentic, compelling stories about those whose lives have been changed by their GivingTuesday campaigns, it helps engage and convert more donors.

Each potential donor will react differently to a story you tell. Some may be inspired to give because they see a part of themselves reflected in your story. Others may not be able to personally relate, but they have empathy towards your cause which leads them to give to your cause.

How do I write a story people will love? The fact that you are writing a story to begin with is already a huge step!

  • Spend time thinking about stories from your own life that you have heard and what made them stand out.
  • Consult volunteers, staff, board members, and even donors about what stories about your mission to tell or if they have anything to offer.
  • Use a classic story arc: setting, conflict, resolution.

As you are writing your mission’s story be sure to read it aloud to check for readability. This will ensure that your story is well-prepped to be told in person or shared online.

Tap Into Revenue-Boosting Engagement Strategies

Possibly the most crucial step to expanding your donor base for GivingTuesday is to use specific strategies catered to the needs of your current and potential donor base.

Taking the time to understand who your donors are and why they give will take your nonprofit to the next level. As seen in the Giving Experience Study, today’s donors desire to support nonprofits that make giving easy, demonstrate their impact, help them feel connected to the mission, and build trust.

After understanding what makes your donors tick, here are some possible strategies to boost GivingTuesday income.

  • Inquire about what your donors’ preferred method of communication is and respect it.
  • Offer a “volunteer and get in free pass” to be more inclusive.
  • Evaluate how dedicated your individual supporters are in order to facilitate new roles for the (ex: if you have a donor that has a large influence, ask them to be an ambassador).
  • Leverage social media to give shot outs to show how donor’s support is helping further your cause.
  • Amplify donor impact by promoting matching gift opportunities from their employers.

As you take the time to individualize your donors experience and create strategies from it, know that this will expand your reach tremendously and make GivingTuesday a hit!

Make Day-Of Donations as Smooth as Possible

Seventy percent of first-time donors are likely to give online if they have a good experience. That is why it is so imperative to have an easy-to-use platform to collect donations. Nothing turns donors off faster than a long, confusing giving process.

Just as you should leverage different promotional channels, your team should also try to provide different ways for supporters to donate this GivingTuesday.

Effective fundraising tools include:

  • Online fundraising: This is probably going to be your most lively channel, so look for a fundraising platform that can handle a high volume of donations at the same time.
  • Peer-to-Peer fundraising: By giving your most loyal, fervent supporters the ability to create their own fundraising pages, you open up a new world of potential donors to your cause.
  • Text donations: This channel is great for spur-of-the-moment donors or people who stumbled upon your message as they looked for ways to get involved on GivingTuesday. They can give so efficiently and from anywhere in the world, all they need is a phone.
  • In-person events: Whether you want to host a large-scale gala or just set up a few tables at a charity fair, it’s a good idea to have at least one way people can make donations in person on GivingTuesday. Some donors prefer in-person donations so they can see who exactly is getting their funds.

Once your donors have had a smooth giving process this GivingTuesday, they are bound to come back to your events throughout the rest of the year.

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Build Strong Relationships with GivingTuesday Donors

GivingTuesday is not just a day of generous giving, but a day of exploring and learning about different nonprofits.

Nonprofits must focus on a long-term picture that extends past the 24 hours of GivingTuesday. After the day of donation has gone well and the goals have been met, it is important to not let these new donors go.

How can you retain relationships with new and old GivingTuesday Donors? Here are the top donor conversion ideas:

  • Regularly share impact
  • Ensure giving experience is easy
  • Leverage ambassadors to grow giving and trust
  • Foster inclusion and spread inspiration
  • Write personalized thank you letters
  • Don’t forget the fun!

Keep the Momentum Going Throughout Year-End Giving

Over 17% of all giving happens in the last month of the year, making this prime time for nonprofit strategy and engagement. A big reason for this is most likely that GivingTuesday falls at the end of the year. However, while it is important to end the year with a bang, to keep your nonprofit growing, you must keep the ball rolling throughout the year.

Keep these year-end giving best practices in mind when planning your GivingTuesday campaign.

  • End-of-year giving is the perfect time to go all-out with new campaign ideas. This is your opportunity to try something new, freshen things up!
  • Create a theme and combine your GivingTuesday and year-end campaigns. GivingTuesday is its own entity, but be sure to announce to donors what other fundraisers you will be doing throughout the year.
  • Host your end-of-year black-tie gala and auction for top donors and supporters. This is a great opportunity to have one last fundraiser while also providing a special “thank you” to devoted donors. 
  • Look outside the box and try a new channel, like text-to-donate, to drive last-minute donations. Text-to-donate options are great for those people who may not be on social media and want a quick, easy way to give before the year is up.

Use year-end momentum to provide new donors with challenges and new surprises to keep them engaged. No matter what you decide, this is the time to get creative and strive for the highest engagement levels possible.

Place your Giving Tuesday Strategy Top-of-Mind Year-Round

Just because GivingTuesday is a single day on the calendar doesn’t mean nonprofits can ignore it until the fall rolls around. The best way to have a successful GivingTuesday is to plan well in advance, starting even after the previous GivingTuesday ends.

Typically, nonprofit teams will have clear ideas in mind of new things they want to try moving forward. Plus, since the team just finished one GivingTuesday, it is good to get ideas of what to do differently next year on paper so that those ideas are not forgotten.

This is also a great time to do research and look to thought leaders for guides, checklists, and best practices.

It’s never too early to start planning for GivingTuesday. As you wrap up this year’s campaign, sit down as a team and share lessons learned and key wins.

Make sure next year’s campaign plans include:

  • Scope out potential Ambassadors.
  • Evaluate the success of your fundraising platform.
  • Map out continued engagement and year-round campaigns to engage new donors.
  • Brainstorm potential campaign themes for next year.
  • Continue to post GivingTuesday content to engage and educate supporters the whole year.

No matter where you fall on the spectrum of enthusiasm towards the biggest giving day of the year, one thing is for sure: GivingTuesday can no longer be ignored.

Check out our GivingTuesday and Year-End Fundraising Resources.

Whether you’re a GivingTuesday pro or you’re doing your first campaign, here are a few additional resources to get you on your way to having an amazing giving day (and month):

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