Starting in 2012, Giving Tuesday is a day of giving back to nonprofits within the community, either monetarily or by taking action in support of the nonprofit’s mission. It’s grown from a simple concept to a global celebratory day of the year, with millions taking part. Giving Tuesday is the perfect time for nonprofits to…
Starting in 2012, Giving Tuesday is a day of giving back to nonprofits within the community, either monetarily or by taking action in support of the nonprofit’s mission. It’s grown from a simple concept to a global celebratory day of the year, with millions taking part. Giving Tuesday is the perfect time for nonprofits to gear up and launch a fundraising campaign that reaches all potential donors.
34.8 million people participated in Giving Tuesday 2020 and the US nonprofits received whopping donations worth $2.47 billion. These stats indicate a record-breaking success for this day of giving last year, which can very well grow further in 2021.
In 2021, Giving Tuesday is set to take place on 30th November.
In 2020, smaller organizations did better and raised more and while donor retention saw a drop in the unpredictable year, donor acquisition increased. As per the Giving Tuesday report, smaller organizations will continue to do better in 2021 as well.
The vast majority of nonprofits rely on donations from the public to continue funding educational, research, advocacy, and support programs to further their missions. They can also use donations of in-kind items that support their work; there are many ways to help out each individual organization.
Because Giving Tuesday has become a worldwide phenomenon, much of the work related to promoting the day and sharing its meaning has already been done. The key for nonprofit organizations is to direct donors to their sites, in the midst of a wide sea of Giving Tuesday solicitations.
At a time when we are all experiencing the pandemic, generosity is what brings people of all races, faiths, and political views together across the globe. Generosity gives everyone the power to make a positive change in the lives of others and is a fundamental value anyone can act on.
Giving Tuesday has a step-by-step Giving Tuesday Workbook for nonprofits that will come in handy during this time. Do remember to give it a thorough read beforehand. If you’re thinking of starting and leading a local Giving Tuesday movement within your community, here’s something to get you started.
As a nonprofit you can maximize your fundraising efforts and Giving Tuesday is the perfect opportunity! Here are ways you must participate:
Giving Tuesday resources are great for your campaign success, but only when you’ve understood the process and made use of some essential pro tips. Check this video will for some hey tips you have to have for Giving Tuesday 2021.
Giving Tuesday is a global day of generosity set to take place on Nov 30, 2021. Get quick access to Giving Tuesday resources on the website.
The key messages are like the standard communication that can be used by all nonprofit organizations – it covers all key communication and messages to be used by all nonprofits. Giving Tuesday has released its key messages such that the whole community can understand its meaning and communicate it effectively.
Refer to all of their key messages and make sure to put across the exact right messages and effectively reach out to your audience.
Your audience and donors will be coming together to your donation page, make sure your online donation page is ready with all necessary features- you must offer the best possible donor experience to your Giving Tuesday donors.
If you are a nonprofit or community organization, learn how you can participate in Giving Tuesday.
Schools and universities can also become a part of this giving celebration – know how!
To help out churches with Giving Tuesday ideas and case studies, they have a dedicated page on their website.
The best part of this website is it also lets you have country-specific resources to make the most of your local Giving Tuesday movement.
If you don’t have a donation form in place, start now! Create a Donorbox campaign. You have options – make it a pop-up, or embed it as a WordPress plugin. You’re able to choose colors to match your site’s branding, and there are other customizable ways to fit the platform onto your website.
Social media is one of your primary playgrounds for Giving Tuesday- it is a cost-effective and high-impact way nonprofits can reach their audience and encourage Giving Tuesday donations.
And, it’s not rocket science – you have to basically rally your supporters online.
Brand your online channels with Giving Tuesday, use your personal accounts as well to brand, and talk about your participation. This will help inform both your nonprofit and your own audience about your nonprofit’s participation in Giving Tuesday.
Remember to not change the name of your nonprofit account anywhere on social media- this can make it hard for your supporters to find your profile.
Next, start creating your content.
There are different strategies for each social medium; for example, Twitter is more conversational than LinkedIn, and Instagram is more reliant on eye-catching graphics than copy-centric Facebook. Develop a sound communication timeline to include all channels in an effective manner.
Create content that talks effectively about your mission, your impact, and the current work and situation of your nonprofit. Your content needs to educate your audience about your cause and work. Further, your content needs to give people a reason to support your cause, create appealing content to build an emotional connection.
Pro tip: You can create graphic designs on platforms such as Canva and Postermywall. Find websites that are offering pre-designed templates for Giving Tuesday.
Here are some great Canva templates recommended by Giving Tuesday, that you should use in 2021.
Remember to use #GivingTuesday to amplify your reach on the day. Giving Tuesday also promotes tagged posts on their channels.
Begin promoting two months before at least once a week. Building anticipation about your participation in Giving Tuesday is important.
When you’re approximately a month away, begin upping your posting. The two weeks before, you should be posting 3 to 4 times per week, and the week before, an almost daily basis is critical.
Having a communications plan will help execute your campaign successfully. Note that after announcing your participation, you have to expand promotions, accelerate communications in November. And, as the countdown begins, start preparing communications for the day of Giving Tuesday.
If used correctly, each source of social media outreach will be equally effective.
Download all sample images and logos here. Create collaborative graphic work, co-branded with Giving Tuesday.
The Giving Tuesday website also recommends Pexels stock images nonprofits can use for their graphics.
Now, let’s dive deeper into how to leverage each platform in the best way possible.
Facebook is one of the most fluid platforms to use for spreading awareness and, in turn, raising funds. Their donation pages are quick to set up and even easier for users to navigate.
The straightforward approach utilizes clear directions, with one-click buttons that enable users to donate easily.
Do’s:
Don’ts:
There’s a dedicated Facebook group for nonprofits run by the Giving Tuesday team to help them clear any doubts, collaborate with, and help each other.
Short and sweet is the name of the game on Twitter. Twitter is also great for linking up with potential donors by engaging in conversation and searching through hashtags. And it’s the most casual platform, with jokes and memes dominating timelines.
Do’s:
Don’ts:
Pro Tip: Organize Twitter chats or AMAs with your nonprofit key members to talk about your cause, work, and impact.
You can download all social media branding images here.
Use eye-catching graphics for Instagram. In this case, a picture does speak one thousand words. For captions, you have two options: short and to the point (think 1-3 sentences), or long and personal. People are less likely to read a long paragraph if they can’t relate to it, so hook them in with a cool graphic and poignant caption to follow.
Do’s:
Don’t:
The most professional of the platforms is LinkedIn, specifically built for networking and finding work opportunities. Your tone of voice should be slightly conversational with full intent. The goal is to showcase what’s special about your nonprofit, and therefore draw in donors. Proper sentence structure? Crucial.
Do’s:
Don’ts:
Email Campaign is your next main playground on Giving Tuesday. While it might seem outdated with social media and smartphones, people still religiously check their emails every morning. Crafting a campaign doesn’t have to be difficult! There are plenty of ways to approach creation.
Send out your first email a month before Giving Tuesday – it’s close enough to be relevant, but far enough away to not seem pushy.
Create a schedule, your email calendar should build the apprehension for Giving Tuesday, and keep the interest alive. A communication timeline is important. Although the radical generosity calendar by Giving Tuesday is a year-long schedule, like they say, it is never too late to start something good – check it here for some great email theme inspiration.
There are many ways to start off an email, and the last thing you want is for someone to delete the email without opening it – or even reading the entire subject.
The best way to start off is with some form of exciting information. Rather than “Donate to Us on Giving Tuesday,” say “Feed a Hungry Child Today.” Make them care!
If you have merchandise, are there any discounts should they want to purchase something on Giving Tuesday? Put that as one of the first keywords in the subject. “Giving Tuesday Is Here” is vague and doesn’t sound as though a deal is being made by supporting them. Try “Giving Tuesday: All Products 25% Off” instead. People will be enticed to open – and read.
Hook the reader immediately. Paint a picture for them – who are they helping by supporting your cause? Why were they having problems before? How are you helping this group now? Personal, touching information is held closer to the heart.
If there is a specific story that you think would tug on the heartstrings, use that to convince the reader to continue on and see how they can help. Putting a face to a group does wonders.
“Allan was sick, but he did not have a child specialist at the hospital. [Insert image.] That’s why we do XYZ.”
No one has enough time in the day to learn an entire story of a nonprofit. So, in 3-5 sentences, explain what you do, why you work toward the cause, how you started doing it, and what you’ve accomplished.
Going back to the one-liners: this is the perfect spot for writing out what you’re hoping to accomplish now.
For example: “Our company was founded in XZY year. Since then, we’ve done XYZ. We’re now looking to accomplish XYZ.”
Now is not the time to be vague. Get straight to the point: what do you need, and why? If you crafted your email with the past three tips, you shouldn’t need anything more than the point.
For example, if you’re a pet rescue, you might say: “We’re looking to raise $50,000 in order to provide chemotherapy to dogs.”
Giving Tuesday has finally arrived! If you emailed them previously, you are now sending a follow-up on the day of. Promote it as much as possible in the subject line. You won’t come off as too pushy – just make sure the rest of your email has a gentler tone.
Donor fatigue can work against all your Giving Tuesday campaign efforts, so you must be careful and sensitive to avoid reaching a point that is counterproductive in driving donations. It is noted that the frequency of your messages and posts is not as likely to cause donor fatigue as the quality of your content can. Make sure your content is fresh, appealing, and not repetitive. Your content should be engaging rather than preachy. Provide substance to your audience, and you will be less likely to cause your audience to unsubscribe from your updates due to fatigue.
Press releases are straightforward and similar to email campaigns: you announce that you’re joining the Giving Tuesday movement, explain who you are and what you do, where you’ll be hosting your fundraiser online, what these donations will go toward, past success, and a summary of the contents.
You can send press releases to local media, potential partners, and other charities you’re hoping to align yourself with.
Dos:
Don’ts:
Explore some alternate creative ideas to rally your supporters towards your nonprofit. For example, send a calendar invite to your supporters and subscribers for the day of Giving Tuesday. They will receive a reminder on the day of giving- one personalized into their personal calendars. Explain the exact steps to them on how to go about donating on Giving Tuesday.
As you execute your campaign, send a series of emails to build anticipation. Share something creative and new in your emails adding increasing value and attention to your cause. Countdown to the day of Giving Tuesday.
It’s the day of Giving Tuesday! Now is the time to go full throttle. Post the morning of on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Send out an email with an urgent subject line at midnight, so night owls will receive it immediately, and early birds will receive it the moment they wake up.
Post multiple times on Twitter – 6,000 tweets per second, remember? You don’t want to get lost in a sea of tweets. Just make sure to edit each post to be different.
Connect your Facebook to your Instagram so, when you post stories, they appear on both platforms. This way, you only have to post once or twice (at most) on the two platforms.
Go live on various social media platforms, discuss your work from the last year, highlight your efforts and impact, bring forth the most interesting topics and questions for an engaging live stream. Talk about how your nonprofit is coping with the effects of Covid-19. Share inspiring ways your team and organization have fought this year to reach your goals.
You did it! You’ve brought in donations, found potential donors, and connected with your base.
Make sure to send out an email at the end of 24 hours. Thank your email list profusely – if you have stats from the day, add those to your email. Should anything notable have happened, you should also include these events. It’s important to share how you will be using these donations to drive impact, share the expected results, your mission, and the impact goal.
On social media, you should also express gratitude. Create a thread on Twitter to give yourself room to write as much as you’d like, create a catchy caption on Instagram with a beautiful graphic, write a longer post for Facebook with accomplishments, and include a link to the finished fundraiser to post to LinkedIn. You want to cover all of your bases.
Giving Tuesday is crucial for nonprofits, so utilize every aspect of each platform possible. You’ll be sure to bring in donations, raise awareness of your organization, and connect with others. There are many ways to engage and grow your following on this day. Make it your most successful holiday yet! Get started at Giving Tuesday’s website.
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Raj
