9 Steps to Your Best Giving Tuesday & End of Year Giving Ever
If you run a business and participate in Black Friday sales, it’s likely you’re at least somewhat familiar with Giving Tuesday.
And for good reason. In 2022, Chariytvest saw the most donations on Giving Tuesday it’s ever processed, according to Kiplinger. This, in spite of record inflation. And for many this uptick in giving is the result of the desire to act upon values. Tax breaks don’t hurt, too.
Giving Tuesday is designed to help offset the overconsumption that often occurs during Black Friday and holiday sales and puts the focus on giving back. And whether that’s individuals or businesses, this day of giving is for everybody. But non profits, in particular, can get a huge boost for giving back.
This year, Giving Tuesday is on November 28. And if you really want to plan ahead, it’ll be on December 3 in 2024. And as we’re entering into fall now officially, there’s never been a better time to start planning and figuring out how you’ll be donating.
You’ll also definitely want to officially join the Giving Tuesday movement to get ideas about how you can motivate your immediate community to give back.
But for now, take these tips on how to really make the most out of this year’s most charitable day.
9 Tips to Have the Best Giving Tuesday Yet
We’ve put together some of the best Giving Tuesday tips to help you make the most of this day centered around generosity.
1. Set a Goal for Giving Tuesday
Before you do anything else, it’s a good idea to set some goals for your non-profit centered around Giving Tuesday. But just saying you want to accomplish X isn’t going to cut it.
You need to establish smart goals.
Briefly, smart goals are those that can be defined as:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Therein lies the acronym, and this is also one of the best ways to conceptualize goals that have the best chance of working. If a goal is too broad, it’s hard to keep your eye on it. If it’s not measurable, you can’t perceive your progress, and so on.
2. Test donation form/process
Once you have a clear idea of your goals for this charitable day, you can then set up your donation form and process. You should always place the donation form in a prominent place on our website – above the fold is often a good idea.
Take a look at where the Donate button is place on the Our Community LA (OCLA) website:
It’s at the very top in the main navigation area. There’s no missing it.
Buta well-placed button or form won’t do you any good if you don’t test it properly. So be sure to submit sample responses and donations to make sure all is up and running before launching a donation campaign.
Offering a recurring giving option is a good idea as well. The donation form for The Lamb Center gives people the option to adjust the frequency of their donations from one-time to recurring:
3. Create email campaign ahead of Giving Tuesday
Before Giving Tuesday arrives, you should definitely create an email campaign to help promote your fundraising efforts. This will get the word out early and help people plan ahead as well.
First thing’s first, make signup easy. Culver City Education Foundation does a great job of this:
Here are a few quick tips to make the most of your campaign:
- Personalization: Always use the recipient’s name in your email newsletters and messages. If they’ve donated before, your campaign emails should acknowledge this.
- Storytelling: A good email campaign will take the opportunity to tell a cohesive story about the image of the recipient’s donations – either what an impact they’ve had in the past or what their future donation will bring about.
- Use a Clear CTA: Make your call-to-action impossible to ignore. Use buttons that say “Donate Now” or “Join Us” to compel people to give.
- Urgency: Remind them in your messages that Giving Tuesday is the day to act. A countdown timer can add a sense of urgency as well as periodic reminders.
We also wrote a detailed guide to creating an email newsletter that can help guide you.
4. Leverage text messages for fundraising campaign
When people sign up for your email newsletter, you can give them the chance to opt-in to your text messages as well. Use these texts to remind people about your upcoming Giving Tuesday campaign and make it easy for them to donate straight from the text via a convenient link.
5. Make a peer to peer experience
Adding a social element to your Giving Tuesday plans is always a good idea. One way to implement this is through gamification.
After all, who doesn’t love a good game? To that end, you can turn your Giving Tuesday campaign into a competition. Set up challenges and offer rewards for various levels of donations to encourage a greater level of participation.
You can also make it easy for people to share your fundraising campaign on social media.
Encourage participants to share their donations and milestones on their social media accounts and to share the donation link as well.
You can help facilitate this by creating shareable content like images or pre-written tweets to make it super easy for people to participate and spread the word.
Or, you could consider using a leaderboard tool to track and display top donors or the most active participants. Show this off directly on your website to better highlight the competitive element to your campaign. And it acts as a simple bit of recognition to your most engaged supporters.
It’s a win-win in every direction, really.
6. PR Release
A well-crafted press release can give your Giving Tuesday campaign the media attention it deserves. This is your chance to tell your story on a larger platform and to grab the attention of media outlets. Be certain to include the storytelling elements we mentioned early (as well as the specifics of how to donate) to get the most out of your PR effort.
7. Social media campaign
Social media is an immensely powerful tool for business owners, and it’s equally effective for non-profits. Use your platforms to create custom content that’s designed for engagement and promotes your Giving Tuesday campaign. Be sure to trailer your content to each platform – generalized sharing of the same content across all platforms just won’t cut it.
And whatever you decide to share, be sure to include the #GivingTuesday hashtag to ensure your posts get the most traction possible.
8. Communicate the impact
Storytelling’s importance can’t be overstated. So, letting your donors know the real-world impact of their contributions stands to go a long way toward encouraging further donations.
Take a look at what Army Distaff does on its website:
The non-profit makes it clear, with prominent testimonials, as to the benefits the organization provides the surrounding community. So you can see how your website is pivotal as a means for conveying your mission and story. Think of it as the new front door to your cause.
9. Leverage Google Ad Grant
Lastly, if you’re a church or non-profit, it’s a great idea to take advantage of the Google Ad Grant. This makes it so you can get advertising for your campaign on Google for free. Timing your ad campaign to coincide with Giving Tuesday can give it the boost it needs to succeed.
Ready to smash Giving Tuesday?
If you’re primed and ready to make the most of this upcoming Giving Tuesday, we’ve got you covered. We can build a landing page, redesign your website, or help you with digital marketing and getting the word out. Whatever you need, we can help you make this the most impactful Giving Tuesday yet.
We focus on beautiful web design that delivers results for your organization. Our specialty is creating customized WordPress websites.
About Us
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