Soapbox Engage Blog

Any fundraising professional is familiar with the dramatic scale of #GivingTuesday. $177,000,000 raised online from 1,640,000 individual gifts in 2016 alone. All on one day. 24 mere hours. And that one day, branded just five short years ago, is now the de facto start of the end-of-year giving season.

For all its massive global success, individual success for any one nonprofit is not guaranteed. There is no magic #GivingTuesday donation dispenser with your organization’s name on it. And simply slapping up a donation form on your little corner of the internet isn’t going to make mystical donors emerge from the cornfields, a la Field of Dreams. Just because you publish it, doesn’t mean they’ll come.

You need a plan. And while #GivingTuesday has become the de facto start of the end-of-year giving season, the de facto start of your nonprofit’s #GivingTuesday planning should be now.

As with any good fundraising plan, your #GivingTuesday strategy requires some key elements: goals, a timeline, a kick butt call to action, and the ability to test what you create. As you craft that plan, we humbly offer one big idea: you don’t need to ask alone. For this fundraising day of all days, this decidedly communal and global day, yours needn’t be the only voice advocating for the funding of your nonprofit and its mission. It is, indeed, one of the best times, if not the very best time, to activate your community of supporters to generate new donors, reactivate lapsed donors, and raise awareness for your campaign.

People are 47% more likely to give when they are asked by someone they know. Who are your ambassadors? Who of your closest allies has access to an incredible network? Get them activated to help! But that work takes time and planning. You cannot ask them to do this the day before - or even the week before - because it’s one of the biggest holidays of the year. Build this into your plan.

Recruiting fundraising advocates isn’t as simple as having them share your Facebook posts, although that’s is a fine thing to do. Ryan Scott from Cause Integration notes, “Social media activity does not equate to engagement, so don’t expect a single Facebook post to inspire much generosity.”

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What you really need is for your allies to generate personal asks. This can be as simple as an email, but it needs to be one email per person with a salutation, and include the reason why your cause matters to them and how the gift will be put to work. Even better, an email with a phone call follow up. A thousand times better? An email with a link to their personal fundraising page and a phone call follow up.

If you generate some basic guidelines and messages for your allies to do the work for you, you will see epic results. Think of it this way: you can go to www.givingtuesday.org and get your own #GivingTuesday toolkit. Why not extend the same favor to your allies? Give them everything they need to do incredible work on your behalf.

All of this feel overwhelming? Not ready to think end-of-year at the beginning of July? Don’t fear! We’re here to help. Join us for more on rallying your advocates as well as the down and dirty details of the planning process and a side of Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack tricks. Watch our free webinar, Seize #GivingTuesday Success with Fundraising Wisdom and Salesforce.