Soapbox Engage Blog

Is your organization excited for the opportunity of a #GivingTuesdayNow worldwide event on May 5, 2020, to bring in much needed fundraising this year, but also dealing with a sea of change from the coronavirus' impact on our nonprofit community?

Not sure how to make sure you don't miss the boat on this new version of #GivingTuesday while also needing to move fast to prepare for it while tackling too many other things right now?

Giving Tuesday Now (or #GivingTuesdayNow depending on your love of hashtags) is the first day of giving organized by the same people who created #GivingTuesday, with a focus on boosting fundraising and support for the nonprofit community that so often works behind the scenes during crises such as COVID-19.

With more than $2 billion raised by organizations during #GivingTuesday 2019, it's likely that #GivingTuesdayNow will give a much-needed boost to participating nonprofit organizations.

This first attempt at a unique off-cycle #GivingTuesday event will happen on May 5, 2020, and will be a global event with participation from organizations around the globe.

If you're already burning the candle at both ends and need help with lift-off for #GivingTuesdayNow fundraising ideas, you're in the right place.

#GivingTuesdayNow Ideas

Once you decide that devoting time to creating a #GivingTuesdayNow campaign is right for your organization, it's time to get creative. A compressed timeline means that you're going to need to move fast on your #GivingTuesdayNow idea generation, so we're eager to help you with some initial steps to keep you on the straight and narrow path to fundraising success.

Index of #GivingTuesdayNow Ideas

1. Online fundraising
2. Peer-to-peer fundraising
3. Virtual fundraising event
4. Online auction
5. Social media fundraising

Online fundraising

If your nonprofit doesn't have an online donation page, now is the time to get one up and running right away. It's important to have a page that delivers a compelling call-to-action, with a focus on telling a story that can cut through the wide array of messages during #GivingTuesdayNow. Leverage your brand identity, images, and video to let your community speak to your audience directly.

If you currently accept online donations via a PayPal donate button, consider an online fundraising tool that allows you to keep your organization's branding, create pre-defined giving levels, collects donor and support data into a database, and automatically delivers donation receipts and notifications to your new donors.

Peer-to-peer fundraising

Consider going beyond your own internal efforts for online fundraising, and look to your community of supporters to do fundraising for you. With peer-to-peer fundraising, you can supercharge your #GivingTuesdayNow fundraising by empowering your supporters to easily create donation pages on your behalf. These campaigns encourage supporters to speak directly to their friends and family in their own words, which tends to be more effective in identifying and developing new donors from outside your standard network of contributors.

Since there's a compressed timeline for #GivingTuesdayNow, it's critical that any peer-to-peer fundraising campaign is started ASAP, giving your community ample time for awareness, activation, and delivery of your messages. Leveraging peer-to-peer fundraising tools that make it easy to turn on a campaign and execute on messaging around it right away will be critical to your success.

Give your community a theme that aligns with the #GivingTuesdayNow message while also staying on brand with your programmatic efforts. If you had a recent event that needed to be moved or canceled due to the coronavirus, this is a great chance to remind your community of this and give them another chance to contribute financially to your organization.

Virtual fundraising event

We've been hearing from so many organizations that have had their annual in-person events canceled or delayed due to COVID-19, so it might seem a bit counterintuitive to recommend a fundraising event in the middle of a pandemic. That said, it's important to remember that humans are innately social, and yearn for opportunities to connect.

Modern video sharing tools like Zoom, GoToMeeting, Google Hangouts Meet, and more are making it easier than ever for organizations to bring together their communities in a virtual way. Additionally, it's possible for organizations to encourage supporters to host their own virtual fundraising event, like movie watching parties, virtual biking competitions, solo-walking competitions, and more!

Think outside the standard event box, and consider ways in which you can ask your supporters to engage virtually with their friends and family while delivering the message of your organization and fundraising effort.

Online auction

If you have access to sponsors or supporters that can provide in-kind gifts, an online auction could be a great way to engage your community on #GivingTuesdayNow. It might not have the pizazz and fun of an in-person auction, but for supporters looking for a way to contribute to your nonprofit while also enjoying a benefit for doing it, an online auction could be a good fit.

Social media fundraising

If there's one thing a fundraising effort has whose name literally is its own hashtag, social media fundraising is it for #GivingTuesdayNow. Now is the time to ensure that your online fundraising has social media components included within it. For instance, make sure that your online donation pages include easy social media sharing functionality that let's donors spread the word about their donations via a click to Twitter and Facebook.

On your social media channels, begin building a #GivingTuesdayNow count-down right away. Use an omnichannel approach to fundraising to build awareness of your campaign across different platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, your website, and email. For Twitter and Facebook, use the #GivingTuesdayNow hashtag frequently, both to drive broad traffic to your campaign, as well as to constantly remind your supporters of the important fundraising day.

#GivingTuesdayNow Planning

Before you can start implementing your great #GivingTuesdayNow ideas, you're going to need a fundraising plan to get you pointed in the right direction. We recommend the SMART approach for most fundraising idea planning.

• Specific: Get down the details of exactly the amount of money you're looking fo fundraise. Be sure to go beyond fundraising, too, and think about the number of advocates, supporters, and others that you might be able to attract in the #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, especially given people's heightened willingness to give back to the world.
• Measurable: Create a set of goals that has a number attached to it so that tracking your success is easy and objective.
• Achievable: Design a goal that can encourage you to stretch for this unique time, but also one that is within reach.
• Relevant: What specifically does your organization need? Is it just increasing donors, or is it specifically increasing recurring donors because your current fundraising efforts are only around your annual campaign?
• Time-specific: We all know this one, keep it focused around the big day of giving on May 5, 2020.

Since #GivingTuesdayNow was announced on April 2, 2020, there's not much time for most organizations to heavily prepare for the day of giving. Keep it simple, keep it SMART, and plan according to your ability to balance both your day-to-day efforts as well as this unique worldwide focus.

Giving Tuesday Now FAQs

What day is Giving Tuesday Now?

#GivingTuesdayNow will be on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

How does Giving Tuesday Now work?

Any nonprofit organization can take part in this annual day of giving. Simply encourage your community to donate to your organization on May 5, 2020, and spread the word.

Why was Giving Tuesday Now created?

The #GivingTuesday organizers created #GivingTuesdayNow as a way to focus the world's generosity on the often forgotten organizations working behind the scenes to support those fighting the COVID-19 crisis.

How many organizations will participate in Giving Tuesday Now?

It's likely that a large percentage of nonprofit organizations in the US and around the world will prepare #GivingTuesdayNow campaigns to enable donors to easily support their nonprofit community.

How much did Giving Tuesday raise in 2019?

To put in perspective the huge opportunity for #GivingTuesdayNow to support the world, more than $2 billion in the US was contributed to nonprofits for Giving Tuesday 2019.

How do you start a Giving Tuesday Now campaign?

It's easy! Any organization that spreads the word about the movement can easily start a #GivingTuesdayNow campaign simply by creating a plan that delivers a unique call-to-action for your organization, and provides an easy way for your donors to give.

Who started Giving Tuesday Now?

#GivingTuesdayNow Leadership Supporters, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PayPal, United Nations Foundation, the CDC Foundation, Facebook, LinkedIn, Guardian News and Media, the Aga Khan Foundation, United Way Worldwide, Candid, The Communications Network, Global Impact, Philanthropy Together, Teach for All, Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS), and NBC News with MSNBC.

Who can participate in Giving Tuesday Now?

Any nonprofit organization can participate in Giving Tuesday Now.

What do you do on Giving Tuesday Now?

Anyone can help the world make #GivingTuesdayNow a success. Nonprofits can share their story and make it easy for donors to give, supporters can spread the message of this great day of giving by encouraging others to contribute.

Is Giving Tuesday Now global?

Absolutely! Just as the coronavirus has impacted the globe, the entire world can participate in the global success of #GivingTuesdayNow this year.

How do you ask for money on Giving Tuesday Now?

Providing a compelling call-to-action by telling your nonprofit story succinctly and clearly will be critical on #GivingTuesdayNow, especially as so many other organizations will be participating in this one-day event.

What happens on Giving Tuesday Now?

As a global day of giving, #GivingTuesdayNow brings the entire world together to focus energy, time, and importantly donations to contribute to nonprofit organizations supporting those fighting COVID-19 and the coronavirus.