Soapbox Engage Blog

Giving Tuesday 2026 is Tuesday, December 1. By now, most nonprofits have the basics in place: a goal, a donation page, and a few emails on the calendar. This post is about what you can add on top. Below are 12 Giving Tuesday ideas, from match challenges and peer-to-peer pages to watch parties, online auctions, and ways for supporters to take part without giving money.

You don't need all twelve. Pick two or three that fit your team and your supporters. Still building the plan itself? Start with our Giving Tuesday 2026 planning guide, which covers the timeline, email templates, and donor follow-up.

More People Spoke Out Than Gave Money

Source: GivingTuesday 2025 results, U.S. participants on GivingTuesday 2025. People can fall into more than one group.

According to GivingTuesday's 2025 results, 19.1 million Americans made financial contributions on Giving Tuesday 2025. Even more, 20.9 million, spoke out about causes, up 26% from the year before. Another 11.1 million volunteered.

For most nonprofits, money is still the main goal, and most of the ideas below raise it directly. But a supporter who can't give $50 on December 1 can still share a fundraising page, bid on an auction item, or send a letter to an elected official. Giving those supporters a way to act keeps them connected to your work until they're ready to give.

Ideas That Make Each Gift Go Further

1Run a match challenge on a live thermometer

A match is a Giving Tuesday favorite for a good reason: donors like knowing their gift counts twice. The challenge works best when people can see it. Name the sponsor and the remaining match at the top of your donation page, and show progress toward the cap as gifts come in.

Live displays, included with Soapbox Engage Donations at no extra cost, put a fundraising thermometer, a scrolling donor feed, and your match sponsor's logo on any screen with a browser. Post a screenshot to social at midday, or keep the display running on a TV in your office all day. How Live Displays Turn Real-Time Fundraising Into Part of the Event shows what that looks like.

The planning guide's email templates are written around a match, so you can adapt them for this idea directly.

2Stack an employer match on top

Many donors work for companies that match employee gifts, and many of those donors don't know it. A matching gift lookup on your donation form lets them check right after they give. On Giving Tuesday, an employer match can stack on top of your challenge match, so a $100 gift can turn into $300 for your work.

Soapbox Engage Donations includes a matching gift flow that detects when donors work at matching-eligible companies and tracks match requests from submission to payment, so your finance team knows what's coming in January.

3Set a goal for new monthly donors

A dollar goal measures one day. A monthly donor goal measures the next year. Instead of (or alongside) "$25,000 by midnight," try "50 new monthly donors by midnight." Your day-one total may be smaller, but the revenue keeps arriving long after December.

• Make the ask specific. Tie a monthly amount to an outcome: "$15 a month keeps one student in tutoring all spring."
• Prompt at the right moment. A recurring upsell invites one-time donors to switch to a monthly gift right on the donation form.
• Report the count. Share the number of new monthly donors in your midday and evening updates, the same way you'd share a dollar total.

Ideas That Reach New Supporters

4Turn supporters into fundraisers for the day

A Giving Tuesday email from your nonprofit reaches your list. A post from a board member reaches theirs. Peer-to-peer fundraising puts your ask in front of friends, coworkers, and family who haven't heard of you yet.

Recruit 10 to 20 board members, volunteers, and longtime donors two weeks ahead. Give each one a personal goal, a short story prompt ("Why I give to [Organization]"), and a sample social post. On the day, send them midday progress so they can post an update to their own networks.

Peer-to-peer fundraising, an add-on to Soapbox Engage Donations, creates a branded page for each fundraiser at sign-up, with a goal, a progress bar, and one-click sharing to Facebook, Twitter, and email. It's built for time-limited giving days, with countdown timers and real-time leaderboards. Gifts sync to Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, and fundraisers get soft credit in Salesforce for the gifts they bring in.

5Let your board and staff compete

Friendly competition gives people one more reason to share. Set up a few teams (board, staff, volunteers, or program alumni) and let them race to the top of the leaderboard. Agree on the stakes up front: the last-place team serves lunch, or the winning team picks the photo for your year-end card.

With peer-to-peer fundraising, each team gets a page with its group total and member pages, and leaderboards rank teams in real time. Live displays can show team standings next to your thermometer, which makes the race easy to follow at an office watch party or on a livestream.

6Invite gifts in honor of someone

Giving Tuesday comes right as holiday shopping starts. Give supporters a meaningful gift option: a donation in honor of a teacher, a parent, a coach, or a friend who already has enough stuff. Each tribute gift tells a new person about your work, since the honoree hears about it too.

Soapbox Engage Donations handles tribute gifts with automatic honoree notifications. Promote the option in one Giving Tuesday email and again in early December, when people are working through gift lists.

Ideas That Bring Supporters Together

7Host a Giving Tuesday open house

Giving Tuesday is mostly an online day, which is why a small in-person gathering stands out. Invite supporters to your office or a program site for an hour at lunch or after work. Put the thermometer on a TV, have a staff member or client share a two-minute story, and give guests an easy way to give in the room.

With the Soapbox Engage Onsite companion app, included with Soapbox Engage Donations, staff and volunteers take gifts from a phone or tablet: by card reader, by a QR code the donor scans on their own phone, or in cash. Cash and check gifts can be entered on your live display, so the thermometer reflects the whole room. For RSVPs and check-in, Soapbox Engage Events handles registration. If you're already planning a holiday event, How to Turn Your Fall Event Into a Year-End Giving Engine covers how to connect it to your year-end campaign.

8Go live online

If your supporters are spread out, bring them together on a 30-minute livestream. Open with a client or program story, have a board member announce the match, and close with the total so far. Schedule it for lunchtime or early evening, when people can watch.

Soapbox Engage Events integrates with Zoom Meetings and Webinars, so registrants get the link automatically after they sign up. During the stream, share your live display through Zoom or your livestream's screen share. Viewers watch gifts arrive in real time, and the on-screen QR code takes them straight to your donation form.

Ideas That Give People More Ways to Take Part

9Close an online auction on Giving Tuesday night

An online auction gives supporters something to come back to all week. Open bidding the Monday before Thanksgiving and close at 9 p.m. on December 1, so the last hours of bidding line up with your final Giving Tuesday push. Experiences make strong items: a private tour, a dinner with your executive director, or a local getaway.

Soapbox Engage Auctions sends outbid alerts by text and email and reminds bidders when items are about to close. Bidders can make a direct donation in the same checkout, and winners can be charged automatically when the auction closes. For item ideas, see the Silent Auction Item Checklist and Securing High-Value In-Kind Donations for Year-End Auctions.

10Drop limited-edition merch or holiday cards

Giving Tuesday falls one day after Cyber Monday, while people are still in a buying mood. A limited run of a shirt, mug, or ornament gives supporters something to buy for themselves or as a gift, and it puts your name in front of the people who receive it. Short on time? Printable holiday cards sold as a digital download take far less setup than physical merch.

Soapbox Engage Shop handles products with sizes and colors, digital downloads, and automated sales tax, and each order syncs to Salesforce. Nonprofit Merchandise Fundraising: 25 Product Ideas That Sell has more product ideas, and How to Set Up an Online Store for Your Nonprofit walks through setup.

11Ask supporters to write to an elected official

If public policy affects your mission, give supporters a "give your voice" option on Giving Tuesday: a short, pre-written letter to an elected official that they can edit and send in a minute. It works well as the main ask for people who have already given this year, and as a second ask for everyone who opens your Giving Tuesday email but doesn't donate.

Soapbox Engage Actions targets supporters by legislative district and gives them templated messages they can personalize. Each action creates or updates a contact record in Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, so you know who acted and can thank them. If you've never run an advocacy campaign, How to Launch a Constituent Action Campaign Without Building an Advocacy Program shows how to start small.

12Launch a petition for supporters who can't give

A petition is the easiest yes you can offer on Giving Tuesday. It takes a supporter 30 seconds, and it adds them to your list so you can follow up in January with an update and a first gift ask. Pick a cause tied to your mission, set a signature goal, and share progress through the day the same way you share your dollar total.

Soapbox Engage Petitions displays real-time progress toward your signature goal, matches signers to existing contacts or creates new ones in your CRM, and links signatures to your Giving Tuesday campaign. There are no per-signature fees. For more on what a petition can do for your list, see What a Nonprofit Petition Can Actually Do For You.

Which Ideas Fit Your Team

Each idea you add means more messages to write and more questions to answer on the day. For a small team, pair one idea that raises money with one that gives non-donors a way to act: a match challenge plus a petition, for example. Larger teams can layer in peer-to-peer pages or an auction.

Idea	A good fit if you have	Setup
1. Match challenge	A board member, donor, or business willing to match	Light
2. Employer match	Donors who work at larger employers	Light
3. Monthly donor goal	A goal of steadier revenue next year	Light
4. Peer-to-peer pages	An engaged board and volunteer base	Medium
5. Team challenge	A board or staff that enjoys competition	Medium
6. Tribute gifts	Donors who shop for holiday gifts	Light
7. Open house	A space to host and a local supporter base	Medium
8. Livestream	Supporters spread across a wide area	Medium
9. Online auction	Donated items or experiences to offer	Heavy
10. Merch or holiday cards	A recognizable logo or design	Medium (digital cards: Light)
11. Letters to officials	A mission tied to public policy	Light to Medium
12. Petition	A clear cause and a goal of list growth	Light

Whichever ideas you choose, give each one its own campaign or source code in your CRM before December 1, so you can see what each idea brought in. The planning guide's tracking checklist walks through the setup.

How Soapbox Engage Helps You Run These Ideas

Running two or three ideas at once usually means juggling separate tools and reconciling the data afterward. Soapbox Engage apps each sync to your CRM in real time, so gifts, bids, orders, and actions land in one place while Giving Tuesday is still happening. Together, the apps:

• Collect one-time gifts, monthly upgrades, tribute gifts, and DAF grants on one Soapbox Engage Donations form, with a matching gift lookup built in.
• Show your thermometer, donor feed, sponsor logos, and team standings on any screen with live displays, included with Soapbox Engage Donations and Soapbox Engage Auctions at no extra cost.
• Give board members and volunteers their own fundraising pages and team leaderboards through peer-to-peer fundraising.
• Take gifts in person by card reader, QR code, or cash, from a phone or tablet.
• Run an online auction with text and email outbid alerts in Soapbox Engage Auctions.
• Sell merch and digital holiday cards through Soapbox Engage Shop.
• Connect supporters with their elected officials through Soapbox Engage Actions, and collect signatures through Soapbox Engage Petitions.
• Sync gifts, bids, orders, actions, and signatures to Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics in real time, so your team can watch results during the day instead of after an export.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Related Reading:

• Giving Tuesday 2026: A Nonprofit Planning Guide With Email Templates
• Year-End Appeal Email Templates for Nonprofits: 9 Copy-Ready Emails
• How Recurring Upsells Help Nonprofits Turn One-Time Gifts Into Monthly Support
• How Live Displays Turn Real-Time Fundraising Into Part of the Event
• How to Re-Engage Lapsed Donors During Fundraising Campaigns