As many of you know, Giving Tuesday is one of the most important days of the year when it comes to fundraising. The primary goal is connecting with a diverse group of people for the one common purpose of celebrating and encouraging giving.

So…are you ready for Giving Tuesday?

Do you have a campaign strategy?

Do you have an existing donation platform?

These are just few of the considerations you need to think about now when strategizing for your Giving Tuesday campaign. Read further to learn more about what you should know.

About Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is not just about receiving donations. It’s a way for your charity, institution, organization or association to increase it’s visibility to the public. It’s a day that you can emphasise why and how giving back matters. It’s a day to increase conversations with your potential and current donors.

And it works. Since 2012, donations for #GivingTuesday have increased by over a thousand percent, reaching $168 million last year (Karvetski, 2016). Now Giving Tuesday has expanded to over 98 countries around the world (Karvetski, 2016). According to CanadaHelps, there have been 585% more donations on Giving Tuesday than on an average day in a year(Nyquvest, 2016). In 2016, it was reported that there were 24% more donors, 25% more dollars donated and 58% more monthly donations than in all of 2015 (Nyquvest, 2016).

In 2016, about 4,700 Canadian charities and businesses participated in the global movement (Glogovac, 2016). Donors donated their time, money, food and even blood. There’s really no downside in taking part in the movement (Glogovac, 2016). It’s helping organizations and acts as a reminder for Canadians to give during the holiday season (Glogovac, 2016).

You don’t have to be a large charity to participate, either: four out of every five Canadian charities are small (Glogovac, 2016). It’s the one day of the year where the playing field is level for organizations of all shapes and sizes.

Helpful Tips for Giving Tuesday

Here are just a few things we recommend to develop a successful Giving Tuesday campaign.

Research and review your data: If you participated in Giving Tuesday last year, it would be beneficial to look over your data. It can tell you what worked and what didn’t. If you didn’t participate that’s okay just make sure to do your research on giving trends and behaviors.

Join Giving Tuesday: They can feature your charity/organization on their website, which helps create more visibility. It’s a win-win!

Start early and plan: Prior to rolling out your campaign, it’s best to plan early. Planning ensures less hassle.

• What is the content you are sharing? (i.e videos, blogs, key messages).
• Start early either by sending emails to your current client list and posting on social media.
• When are you rolling out your content?
• Where do you plan to funnel them? Your website, a giving page, donation platform? 
• Who are your social networks? You may have partners, clients and other networks who are happy to help. Make sure to give them the tools they need and tell them when to send it out. 
• Budget is an important factor. Your cost may not be high but you need to factor in what you may need, for example, a designer. 
• Test your links. Make sure that your links work prior to your campaign. Check frequently from now to Giving Tuesday.

Make sure it matches: Campaigns that inline with your overall campaigns and brand are important. Everything should connect to your brand.

Get your content ready: Make sure that a lot of your campaign content is ready such as email content, videos, and pre-scheduled social media posts. However, make sure that not all of your content is pre-built. Interacting in real time is just as important.

Draft some extra help: Giving Tuesday is one of the biggest giving days of the year. Give your fundraising team some extra help. There are many people who are more than happy to volunteer.

It’s not just about social media: Social media is a large part of Giving Tuesday, however, it’s not the only place you should advertise. Your website is another great way to advertise.

Create and use hashtags: When using social media hashtags are pivotal. Create your own to catch potential donors’ attention. Don’t forget to #givingtuesday and/or #givingtuesdayca. This is to ensure your feeds come up when people are looking for where to donate to.

Donor perspective: Look at your campaign from a donor’s perspective. Tell them what the impact of the campaign is, how much you need and why. Try to make it easy to understand.

After Giving Tuesday: After the campaign is over do not forget to thank your donors. It can be with video, social shout out and more–just make sure you give them a special thank you.

Giving Tuesday is a great day for a variety of different companies and organizations to increase donations and awareness. There’s no harm to run one regardless of who you are. Variety of different people run a Giving Tuesday campaign. Why not you?

If you need more help with connecting with your desired audiences, we can help you with that. If you do not have an online donation platform we can help with that too, by creating one completely branded to you. Click here for further information.

Reach out to us to find out more,letsgetstarted@makegivinghappen.com . We like helping passionate people meet their goals, and we can help you reach your fundraising goals.