Giving Tuesday: an idea that actually helps nonprofits.
Since its launch in 2012, Giving Tuesday has grown from helping nonprofits raise $10 million in a single day to raising over $2.7 billion in over 80 countries.
But, more importantly, Giving Tuesday gets people talking and thinking about giving back—better known as radically generosity. According to Giving Tuesday, donating money is the most common behaviour but only donating money is the least common behaviour. That means that most people participate in making the world a better place in more than one way.
So, don’t just use GivingTuesday as a way to help your nonprofit meets its fundraising goals, use it to encourage people to give back to their communities and support a cause they care about.
How? Well, we’re glad you asked.
1: #ShareYourStory: There’s more than one popular hashtag your nonprofit can use on #GivingTuesday.
Encouraging people to share their personal stories of how your nonprofit helped them or changed their life can have a big impact.
Inspiring stories are, well, inspiring and can help people understand what it is your nonprofit does and how it actually helps others. These real life examples from people they know might just be the incentive they need to get involved and contribute to a cause they care about.
2: Reach out to influencers who fit with your nonprofit’s mission.
Collaborating with social media influencers who align with your cause can give your nonprofit a nice boost.
Influencers (local or national ones) can help your nonprofit spread its message and provide some good publicity for the influencer.
Popular social media accounts can help spread your message to their followers and generate interest in your GivingTuesday campaign by creating content they know their followers will like, participating in your nonprofits challenges or events, and encourage their followers to donate their time or money.
3: Launch an impactful GivingTuesday fundraising campaign on Zeffy.
Launch a GivingTuesday campaign using Zeffy’s products and services that highlights what your nonprofit will be able to accomplish if it reaches various fundraising goals.
Offer a few donation amounts and attach rewards or perks to donors based on their contributions to incentivize participation.
For help on how to set this up, check out How do I set up a donation campaign in our Help Centre or reach out to our Customer Success team.
4: Get a corporate or local businesses to match donations.
Reaching out to local businesses or larger corporations and asking them if they’d like to sponsor your nonprofit on GivingTuesday (and beyond) can be a great way to stand out and attract new donors. GivingTuesday is the perfect opportunity to get a bit creative and ask the business to provide a matching donation.
Sure, your nonprofit will still have to provide all the usual perks (visibility, etc.) but matching donations can provide a great incentive to encourage more people to donate, knowing that their contribution will be doubled.
5: Giving challenges that encourage donors to encourage other donors!
Giving challenges have become pretty standard during GivingTuesday because they work. How? By encouraging people to challenge their friends and family to match their donations.
For example, you could have a "5 for 5 Challenge," where participants donate $5 and challenge five friends to do the same.
This kind of challenge is a great way to spread the word on and off social media and, as always, seeing someone you know participate is always a good reason to participate yourself.
6: Share what you know on GivingTuesday.
The pandemic may be over, but virtual events are here to stay. Take advantage of our new-found comfort with online learning and organize virtual events like webinars, panel discussions, or live streams that donors can attend.
Invite experts, beneficiaries, and community leaders to share their experiences and insights. Invite volunteers or people that have been impacted by your nonprofit to share stories. Anything that you think might encourage people to give—and not just on GivingTuesday.
Remember to promote these events to attract participants and don’t be shy about asking for donations during your events.
7: Let your volunteers know how important they are to your nonprofit and the cause.
GivingTuesday is all about radical generosity. Sure, as a nonprofit, you’re already considered pretty radically generous, but why not go one step further and use GivingTuesday to let your volunteers know how important they are to your organization.
- Thank them for their valuable contributions with thank-you letters.
- Share volunteer stories.
- Showcase how their efforts have made a difference.
- Throw a volunteer appreciation event.
Don’t underestimate the power of saying thank you. A simple thank you is a relatively low-effort way to have a long term effect.
8: Share your nonprofit’s impact report.
This one is definitely less exciting than the others. But, creating and sharing an impact report can make a huge difference—especially in attracting corporate or local business sponsors.
Create and share impact reports detailing how donations from previous GivingTuesday campaigns were used. Why? Because transparency and accountability build trust and show potential donors the real-world difference their contributions can make.
9: Use your nonprofit’s social media to spread the word.
Create interactive challenges related to your cause, ask people to participate and donate, spread the word about GivingTuesday and your fundraising event. Social media is a powerful tool that can make or break your GivingTuesday campaign.
Yes, you can (and should) use social media to post your nonprofit’s GivingTuesday goals and encourage people to participate, but you can also get a bit more creative.
- Hosts a fitness challenge, art challenge, or cooking challenge where participants share their creations on social media and encourage others to donate to your cause.
- Share volunteer stories and profiles so new donors can get to know your nonprofit a bit better.
- Educate your followers with short videos or images about what your nonprofit does and the importance of being radically generous.
10: One generous act inspires another.
This one isn’t exactly a campaign idea, but it might inspire one! Remember that GivingTuesday was founded on the idea that radical generosity should be a larger part of our everyday lives. Individuals, families, communities, businesses, the more we give, the more we inspire others to give.
Yes, Giving Tuesday breaks fundraising records in terms of dollars raised every year, but it also breaks records in terms of hours spent volunteering, number of participants, and generous acts.
So, although GivingTuesday is focused on a single day every year (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States), try to make sure your campaign will encourage people to be radically generous throughout the year—not just on GivingTuesday. (Maybe campaign for #GivingTuesday to become a local or national holiday.)
