Giving Tuesday has become an unofficial kick-off for end of year giving, making it one of the most important days of the year for nonprofits. Taking place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday is a global movement centered around the power of generosity. Donors are encouraged to give to causes most important to them, and give they do! In fact, in 2020 Giving Tuesday saw a 29% increase in donations, reaching nearly $2.5 billion dollars.¹

Whether you’re just dipping a toe into the Giving Tuesday waters or you’ve been planning for months, we have some tips that are sure to be helpful.

1. Getting started is often the hardest part! If you’re stumped, set up a 30-minute meeting with key staff members to get ideas flowing. And remember, planning doesn’t have to be complex – sometimes simple is better.

You can start mapping out your campaign as early as 6 months in advance, but it’s never too late! Think about what you want your campaign to look like and start pulling together resources. October is a good time of year to get started on the execution stage and to get everything set up for deployment.

2. A multichannel approach is a great strategy since a typical donor needs as many as 3-7 reminders to give.

Use a mix of channels to grab the attention of your prospects – everything from email, website promotions, Facebook fundraisers, Instagram giveaways, Connected TV, Google Display ads, etc, should all be on the menu.

Between the influx of donors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing segment of younger donors, channel preferences are continuing to shift. This highlights the importance of planning effective cross-channel fundraising campaigns. The success of your omnichannel strategy depends on your in-depth knowledge of your donors, their preferences and the data and technology to support them.

3. Add a unique element to your Giving Tuesday campaign to make your efforts stand out from the crowd.

Giving Tuesday is a big day for your organization, but the same holds true for every other nonprofit out there. Consider adding a personalized touch to make sure your campaign stands out from the crowd. For example, personalized landing pages will add a unique touch and help guide the prospective donor through the giving journey. The content should take into account whether a donor is a new or repeat donor. Bonus points if you are able to personalize the content to prompt those who have given before to give more than their past largest gift, and change ask arrays on donation forms based on donor giving levels.

4. Ask for help when you need it.

If your small and mighty team can’t fully take on Giving Tuesday efforts, outsourcing to an agency (like Data Axle!) is a great way to add resources. It’s not as expensive as you might think and is sure to pay off for something like a Giving Tuesday campaign.

5. If you need to, start small and grow upon your efforts each year. The important part is that you do something for Giving Tuesday since it’s too important of a day to miss out on.

While it helps to see what other organizations have done, the most important thing is to reflect on what has worked for your organization in the past. Analyze your past Giving Tuesday campaigns and examine what worked and what didn’t. Then, draft a plan informed by your data.

6. Look beyond Giving Tuesday & end-of-year planning

Analyze what types of campaigns have been successful for you in general. Look at the messaging that has been successful, which channels donors engaged with and responded to, and add a Giving Tuesday twist to it.

7. Make it EASY for donors to give

Minimize the number of clicks needed to donate and ask the bare minimum number of questions during the process. The holidays are a busy time of year for everyone and you don’t want donors to abandon the process.

8. Set yourself up for success by incorporating tracking and reporting into your current campaign

Tracking and reporting consistently gives you clear insight into what has worked and what hasn’t. It’s important to have that set up ahead of time. Reporting really is easier when you’ve thought about it before execution and set up your dashboards and reporting accordingly. While thinking through the reporting aspect of your campaign efforts might seem like extra work, it’s bound to pay off! This doesn’t have to be complex – just identify what information will be most useful and make sure you set things up in a way that you can easily capture that data.

_{¹ https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/giving-tuesday-ideas/}