What is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday is a globally-recognized giving day that appeals to the generosity of the holidays. Its popularity encourages people to show up for charitable causes they might not normally, or show loyalty to organizations they’re involved in.
The global day has the potential to raise millions, encourage volunteering, and raise awareness for nonprofit organizations around the world on a single day every year.
"I believe in the collective pursuit of a world built on radical generosity." - Asha Curran, CEO of GivingTuesday
Whether its your first year or you're a seasoned pro, below is your complete guide to understanding, mastering your strategy, and crushing Giving Tuesday 2024.
The History of Giving Tuesday
The shared humanity of Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 thanks to a collaboration between the 92nd Street Y in New York City and the United Nations Foundation. With the help of the GivingTuesday organization, the day harnesses the power of social media to kick off the giving season.
Since its start, the giving day movement has grown to include tens of thousands of nonprofits worldwide and millions of dollars raised. Give #givingtuesday a search on TikTok, X, or Instagram if you’re curious.
When is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday always takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Normally, it falls toward the end of November, but in 2024, it will be the first Tuesday of December (December 3 to be exact). The goal was to use the popularity of Black Friday to return the holiday season to one of widespread generosity.
Giving Tuesday has now become a staple to follow Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending habits, with a twist to give back to round out the weekend.
The Importance of Giving Tuesday for Nonprofits
Giving Tuesday matters. The money a nonprofit organization can raise today is only part of the reason they should create a Giving Tuesday campaign.
GivingTuesday Data Commons finds continuous growth from looking at each year’s results, such as:
- In just the first 24 hours of Giving Tuesday in 2022, revenue records were shattered with total donations of $3.1 billion.
- Coming from a previous year marked by record-high inflation rates, total giving remained steady on Giving Tuesday 2023.
Awareness and engagement with Giving Tuesday hashtags
Giving Tuesday hashtags (#givingtuesday) are a great way to attract new audiences online. Social media allows nonprofits to reach a larger audience of donors to participate.
The giving day received coverage from around the world since its start which only increases support, donations, and the spirit of charity.
Huge names such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation even granted the GivingTuesday organization $10 million to expand the movement.
Donor acquisition
The social media aspect of Giving Tuesday makes it more likely to attract donations from younger generations. A study on giving in 7 countries around the world found that young people are far more active givers than their older counterparts.
Getting your campaign on social media in creative ways makes Giving Tuesday fundraising campaigns ideal for receiving coverage and connecting with these supporters and those across generations.
Partnerships and collaborations
Giving Tuesday is an excellent way to partner with local organizations and corporate sponsors. Nonprofits can appeal to small businesses for matching grants that inspire more supporters to donate money.
This is a great time to come together and ask for help to make your campaign stand apart from any others you may host.
The relationships you make will last throughout the year, and can bring you more awareness, funding, and resources.
How to Participate in Giving Tuesday
Community is at the heart of Giving Tuesday. Individuals, nonprofits, companies, and community organizations can participate in their ways.
Nonprofits
A nonprofit or independent organization can benefit from the various marketing tools the Giving Tuesday organization supplies. Their GivingTuesday Toolkit includes key messages and sample press releases, a campaign timeline to follow, logos, images, and social media marketing ideas.
Individuals
Individuals play a role in Giving Tuesday that can’t go unnoticed. After all, the day encourages people to give like never before, resulting in higher giving totals.
Individuals can participate by donating, volunteering, or starting a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for their favorite charity. They can also serve as advocates to bring more friends, co-workers, and family in to give as a community.
Companies
Businesses that want to reach more customers must focus on their corporate social responsibility. There is no better way to share support for local nonprofits and the community during the holidays than participating in Giving Tuesday. Corporations and small businesses can do several things on Giving Tuesday, including:
- Educate employees about your matching gift program and make it easier for them to provide online donations for their favorite charity.
- Run a Giving Tuesday campaign and donate that money to a local organization.
- Donate new or lightly used items to a nonprofit.
- Sponsor a nonprofit or community event during the holiday season.
4 Best Ways to Encourage Charitable Giving During the Holidays
1. Join the global generosity movement
Giving Tuesday is a global movement of individuals, nonprofits, and businesses. Fundraising campaigns during this time of year should promote feelings of community and gifts.
2. Share compelling images and stories
Storytelling remains the best idea to engage donors and promote charitable giving throughout the year, and the holidays is no different. Sharing impactful stories about how your nonprofit organization makes a difference in people's or animals' lives will encourage people to give.
3. Make it easy to donate
Donors have so many choices during this season. If you present a challenging giving process, they will go somewhere else. In fact, 63% of donors would prefer to give online so an online fundraising tool is necessary.
Zeffy is the only 100% free online fundraising platform! So, if money is your concern, you no longer have to worry.
4. Create a sense of urgency
Thanks to tax requirements for donors, year-end campaigns already have an ingrained sense of urgency. Donors who want more tax deductions next year only have a few weeks to make their final contributions.
Your Giving Tuesday and holiday campaign pieces should include critical messages about this fact. Beyond that, sharing why donations matter during the giving season is always a good idea.
You may think about including details for donors on these questions:
- How will Giving Tuesday bring you closer to your annual fundraising goals?
- What can you accomplish if you hit your goals?
- Which communities are impacted by campaign success?
- What makes your goal timely? Why do these donations matter now?
- What is the social impact?
5. Thank your supporters
Giving Tuesday campaigns are the perfect opportunity to thank supporters for their donations and work throughout the year. By starting with thanks, you're reminding donors and volunteers that you are a community with the same passions and goals.
Remember to send donation receipts and personal acknowledgments during your holiday campaign after receiving donations. Zeffy helps you by sending automatic receipts after each online donation.
Tips for Creating a Successful Giving Tuesday Campaign
Giving Tuesday tips expand yearly as charities look for ways to make a global impact. There are many ways to get new and existing donors involved, so let’s explore a few foundational tips below.
1. Set clear goals
Giving Tuesday is typically the start of your campaign, but holiday fundraising campaigns don't finish until the end of the year. Many organizations rely on year-end campaigns to cover their fundraising needs, so financial goals are often more significant than other events and campaigns.
The primary goal of the global day of giving is to raise funds. Year-end campaigns should have additional goals detailing how many new donors they hope to reach and how many returned from last year.
Most nonprofit organizations are surprised to learn the number of donors they lost. A significant part of holiday campaigns must include ways to build relationships with donors year-round.
2. Make a big splash
Give donors a heads-up of at least a month and provide exact details about how they can get involved so they’re ready to go when your campaign launches.
You can even pre-launch your campaign to gather a list of donors, participants, and Giving Tuesday fundraisers you know you can count on. The added excitement doesn’t hurt either!
3. Don't do it alone
Successful fundraising campaigns need more than one person. Nonprofit organizations that form campaign teams, including donors, volunteers, and board members, will have more success.
Think outside the box with Giving Tuesday campaign ideas
When considering a successful year, think outside the box for Giving Tuesday campaign ideas to help you stand out.
A few ideas to start your inspiration:
- Get nonprofit influencers involved to create givingtuesday communities and maximize social media coverage
- Create a challenge for an element of competition and expanded reach
- Use the day to acknowledge volunteer impact and recruit more support
4. Use matching donations and challenges to raise money
Before your Giving Tuesday campaign, it's time to connect with small businesses that may be willing to offer matching grants. Use your team's connections to meet business leaders and contact past in-kind donors and corporate sponsors.
Find an amount high enough to excite your donors, but don't push too far from their original gift without forming a personal connection.
5. Add a peer-to-peer element
One of the best ways charities can use donor relations to raise money is with peer-to-peer campaigns. Nonprofits can solicit donations for general operation funds, but fundraising campaigns for specific programs or projects will have a greater chance of donating money.
Create a peer-to-peer online donation page with program images and details. Use compelling stories about beneficiaries to share your organization's impact.
6. Leverage multi-channel marketing
It's crucial to use as many ways to connect with donors throughout your campaign as possible by tapping into digital marketing strategies. You should post your campaign and request supporters' help fundraising on all social media accounts, then reiterate through email and direct mail.
7. Prepare people to advocate
Before Giving Tuesday, connect with donors and volunteers with a solid online presence and ask them to create their campaign pages. To ensure fundraising volunteers are prepared for upcoming campaigns, provide training and more fundraising tools, such as images, infographics, and program details.
You can also keep people in the loop with:
- Regular updates on significant donations
- Weekly posts to your social media accounts
- Weekly emails with more details on the program or project
- A donation thermometer to your online donation page
8. Continue to reach out and strengthen relationships
Expose gratitude to all participants before, during, and after your campaign. You should also find ways to reach your current donor base to enhance relationships and develop connections with new donors.
Remember, this doesn't have to take up much time, and you can plan to make life easier. Lean on email communications that feel personalized and appreciative to your supporters. Leaning into some Giving Tuesday email templates can help you get ahead of outreach at the best moments to engage donors and keep relationships strong.
Successful Giving Tuesday Campaign Example
100 Humanitarians International raised $46,200 with a strategic, creative, and heart-felt Giving Tuesday campaign. The organization invited donors in with a ton of education about the Be the Hand Up on Giving Tuesday movement they set out to achieve with their fundraising impact.
With Zeffy’s 100% free fundraising software fueling their campaign, 100 Humanitarians International also saved an additional $2,310 in fees.
Takeaways for your campaign:
- Offer a wealth of information about why your campaign exists, your mission and the impact donors can envision when deciding how to take action on a campaign page.
- Create flexibility around different financial situations by offering one-time and monthly donations on your donation form. You can also nudge people to upgrade as this organization does with creative and thoughtful button text.
- Suggest donation amounts that are most likely to significantly impact your organization, sharing details such as “$100 will provide rainwater harvesting tank for clean water” for various options on the page.
- Add compelling images of communities served.
- Offer multiple ways to pay with convenient apps and a mobile-friendly donation form for donors on the go.
- Capture all information to follow up, say thank you, and re-engage supporters with donor management features that link to the campaign.
Giving Tuesday Fundraising Strategy FAQ
