Soapbox Engage Blog

GivingTuesday began in 2012 as a grassroots movement to inspire people to give their time, talents, and finances to support causes and nonprofits they believe in. The movement quickly grew into a global effort, with millions of people around the world participating.

The heart behind GivingTuesday is to unite people around a holiday centered on giving back during the season of consumerism and shopping (Black Friday and Cyber Monday). Since 2012, GivingTuesday efforts raised over $1 billion online in the United States alone! In 2018, nonprofits, schools, and organizations raised over $380 million online. The average gift size was $105.

We’re excited to help you mobilize your volunteers, donors, and fans this GivingTuesday. No matter how big or small, your organization matters. GivingTuesday is an excellent opportunity to rally the troops, raise awareness about your cause, and bring in some year-end donations. Here are some tips for creating a successful GivingTuesday campaign.

Start Early and Write Your Goals

The benefit of GivingTuesday is it always takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, so it’s easy to plan ahead. Get a jump start on preparing your GivingTuesday campaign at least a month in advance.

Download your GivingTuesday Campaign resources

From graphics to planning guides, GivingTuesday offers a wide variety of free resources to help you create your campaigns. Download free logos, social share images, and their complete organization toolkit to jumpstart your preparation. You can also find ideas of what other organizations are doing to celebrate GivingTuesday.

Set SMART goals

What would you like to accomplish this GivingTuesday? Write down one or two SMART goals that are:

• Specific: Exactly how much money would you like to raise? How many people would you like to get signed up for your newsletter?
• Measurable: Make sure your goal has a number attached to it so you can track your
• Achievable: Is your goal attainable? It’s good to have goals that stretch you, but make sure they are reasonable.
• Relevant: What does your organization need? If your goal is to increase the number of monthly donors, then you should write your campaigns to invite people to donate regularly instead of asking for one-time gifts.
• Time-specific: This part is easy!

As you set your goals, don’t focus exclusively on the number of dollars you raise. Think about the number of people you would like to donate to your campaign, or how many supporters you would like to host Peer-to-Peer campaigns on behalf of your organization. You might even set an internal goal of contacting and personally thanking every donor who supported your movement this year. GivingTuesday isn’t just about raising money; it’s a day of generosity and community.

Consider setting three goals this GivingTuesday: a financial goal (how much money you’d like to raise), a people goal (how many or what kind of donors you’d like to reach), and a giving goal (how you would like to give back to your supporters).

Get Your Online Presence Ready

The vast majority of GivingTuesday activity is focused online, through social media, email, peer-to-peer fundraising, and online giving. Are you ready to receive online donations?

Create a campaign donation page

No matter what kind of campaign you decide to run on GivingTuesday, it’s critical to be able to process online gifts. 54% of donors prefer to give online via credit or debit card. Custom-branded donation pages inside a nonprofit website raised six times more money than non-branded donation pages or pages that required donors to navigate away from the website.

Track Your Metrics

It’s essential to be able to track as much data as possible so you can measure the success of your campaign. Do you have Google Analytics set up on your website? Do you have a way to track how many people are running peer-to-peer campaigns? Are you using an email marketing service that tracks open rates, bounces, click-through rates, and other vital information?

Take the time to set up a means to track important metrics before GivingTuesday. This information will help you improve your fundraising campaigns year-round.

Create Your Campaign

GivingTuesday is an opportunity to be creative and think outside the box. Don’t be afraid to experiment with fundraising messages, techniques, and tools. Because there is a lot of national momentum around GivingTuesday and it’s a very short campaign, you can try new things without much risk.

Most of the GivingTuesday donations occur online. Facebook raised more than $125 million in 2018, so consider trying something new with your email or social media. This isn’t the time to launch your new website, but GivingTuesday would be an excellent opportunity to try doing a Facebook Live event or some other creative way to engage your donors.

Tell a good story

Statistics and numbers don’t move potential donors to give. The stories of the people you serve, your selfless volunteers, and how the community is different are what capture the imaginations of your supporters and draw them in.

Your supporters want to know what you do, who is involved, and how you are making an impact. Use GivingTuesday as an opportunity to tell specific stories from the year. Whether you use video, email, social media, or other platforms, think of creative ways to communicate your organization’s impact on a specific person or community.

Here are some ideas to get your creative storytelling juices flowing.

• Record short videos of your volunteers or major donors sharing why they love supporting your organization or their favorite memory volunteering this year.
• Create a short video summary of the work your nonprofit accomplished over the last 12 months
• Use before and after photos of how your organization transformed the community you serve
• Write the story or interview a recipient of your services and share how their life is different because of your donor’s generosity
• Host a Facebook Live “virtual tour” of the community
• Create an infographic that shares fun, encouraging, or funny statistics and updates. How many popsicles did your after-school program use this year? What were the most unusual gifts in kind you requested? This is an opportunity to be creative and fun.

Think beyond financial gifts

Though most of the momentum on GivingTuesday centers on financial contributions, there are plenty of ways to invite people to get involved without giving money. Think of creative ideas for people to give time and energy toward your cause.

When people have an opportunity to give time and energy, they are more likely to stay connected to your organization going forward.

• Host a day of service in your community and challenge your regular supporters and volunteers to bring a new person.
• Ask your supporters around the country to host gatherings in their homes to accomplish a specific task (like writing encouraging notes to children in an after school program, collecting and packing specific items your organization uses throughout the year, or hosting a phone-a-thon to raise money for your organization).
• Invite your supporters to share why they appreciate your organization on their social media pages.
• Ask everyone to give up or do one thing for a day or week, like forego their daily coffee run, buy extra canned goods for the local food pantry, wear the same outfit all week, stop shaving, or skip a meal. The options are endless.

Look for matching grants

One way to create giving momentum this GivingTuesday is to secure a matching grant. Donors are more motivated to give when they know their money will have a more significant impact.

Matching grants are not as hard to find as you might think. Ask your Board of Directors and major donors to either fund the matching grant or help you find a generous donor. Does your organization have a good relationship with a local company? Businesses are often excited to support nonprofits publicly, and you can give back to them by adding their logo to your GivingTuesday campaign.

All your content should be connected to your goals

All your content should include a call to action that is tied to one of your GivingTuesday objectives. As you write emails, record videos, or craft social media posts, ask yourself, “how will this help us accomplish our goal?”

Don’t start ON GivingTuesday

This might sound crazy, but don’t wait until GivingTuesday to start your campaign! Give your current supporters plenty of time to get excited and prepare for your GivingTuesday festivities, especially if you want them to participate in some way.

Send an email to your major supporters at least a month in advance, letting them know about your GivingTuesday campaign, goals, and how you want them to get involved. Begin posting information on your social media pages at least three weeks in advance, and give specific calls to action to help your supporters prepare and get excited.

They need plenty of time to buy the confetti poppers and party hats if you are going to invite your supporters to host giving parties. And, they’ll need enough time to mentally prepare themselves if you plan to ask your followers to give up coffee for a day. You get the idea...they’re all behind you, they just need time to get ready!

Have everything ready before Thanksgiving

Begin writing emails and social media posts in advance so that you can post content throughout the day on GivingTuesday. Record and edit any video content as early as possible. Creating and scheduling everything in advance reduces stress, improves the overall quality of your campaign, and allows you to rest and relax during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Now you’re ready to host a successful GivingTuesday campaign! Here are three more resources to help you have a great GivingTuesday.

• 5 Ways To Boost Your Wording When Asking For Donations: Wording is important when writing your GivingTuesday emails, social media posts, and invitations. How you ask your supporters to give is just as important as who you invite to support your nonprofit. Here are some tips on how to use the right words that will inspire your supporters to donate.
• Level Up with Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software and Unrivaled Salesforce Integration: GivingTuesday is the perfect time to invite your supporters to host peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns! With the right software, these types of campaigns can be easy for you to create and manage and fun for your supporters to join. Learn about Soapbox Engage’s peer-to-peer campaign features.
• 6 Cost-Effective And Creative Donor Thank You Gifts: Remember, GivingTuesday is just as much about thanking your donors as it is about fundraising. Take the opportunity to show gratitude for your significant donors this year with some of these thoughtful, creative ways to say “thank you.”