How to Plan a Profitable Giving Tuesday
Giving back is essential. Without people who are moved to help their communities, do good for others, and donate to charities, the world wouldn’t be quite so beautiful.
Crowdfunding for nonprofits makes it simple for people to give back to their community or to causes that are important to them.
Every November, people are encouraged to take part in an event known as Giving Tuesday.
Since 2012, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been devoted to giving back. Instead of focusing on the consumerism of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the official beginning of holiday shopping, Giving Tuesday allows people to focus outside of themselves.
During the hustle and bustle of the holidays, charities are quick to be forgotten. With the push to encourage giving on this day, nonprofits have an opportunity to jump back into focus and gain some year-end donations.
Check Your November & December Calendar for Where Giving Tuesday Falls This Year
Few nonprofits get rich off Giving Tuesday, but it's an excellent way for organizations to remind their donors that they're here, they're relevant, and they should be considered during the end-of-the-year fundraising.
While profitability isn’t the only outcome organizations look for on Giving Tuesday, it does prove to be very beneficial.
With this article, we’ll help you make the most of your Giving Tuesday crowdfunding event in order to earn the most for your nonprofit.
Giving Tuesday Crowdfunding for Nonprofit Tips
Before you know it, Giving Tuesday will be here. If you’re not prepared for this year’s event, it will likely come and go without much fanfare or profit.
Giving Tuesday is an opportunity for you to fundraise for your organization while also showing gratitude to your donors and supporters.
One of the best ways to do so is with a crowdfunding campaign.
Through crowdfunding, you can engage your supporters, connect with them, and encourage them to donate to your charity this Giving Tuesday. Crowdfunding campaigns tend to be pretty successful, with around 50% of email recipients donating.
If you are looking for the best way to reach your community, gain support for your organization, and raise money this Giving Tuesday, an easy crowdfunding campaign is the way to go.
Here are a handful of tips for making Giving Tuesday profitable for your nonprofit.
1. Start Early
You may be looking at the calendar and thinking you have plenty of time to prepare your fundraiser, but if you want to host a successful campaign you’ll need to start working on it as early as possible.
Any successful crowdfunding campaign is going to have a carefully crafted plan with a detailed strategy that considers every component of your campaign.
The first step in starting early is to give yourself enough time to effectively plan and prepare your crowdfunding setup.
As you do so, always keep donor engagement at the forefront of your mind. This is the best way to ensure that your donors are aware of your organization, your event, and giving for now and in the future.
There are a number of things your team will need to do during the planning phase.
These include:
Dividing up the donor list for outreach
Crafting a variety of emails to create awareness of your campaign
Developing relevant social media posts
Preparing your crowdfunding donation page
The more prepared you are as you reach your campaign launch date, the more likely you are to be successful.
Take a closer look at your Giving Tuesday campaign plans and fundraising event websites:
Email Preparation
Your campaign emails are one of the most important elements of your virtual fundraising event.
They give you a way to reach the vast majority of your donors ahead of the launch of the event.
Emails should be sent out early, giving your donors advanced notification of the crowdfunding campaign, while encouraging their support and excitement.
Your Giving Tuesday emails should be sent early and should have a clear purpose.
It should be obvious to recipients that there is an upcoming Giving Tuesday crowdfunding event in support of your organization.
Personalize each email, addressing them specifically to the recipient and asking for a specific amount for an intended purpose.
Create multiple emails for your donors and start sending them out way in advance of Giving Tuesday. This will not only make them aware of the event, but it will also act as a reminder leading up to the launch.
Social Media Posts
Social media has become one of the best ways to connect with people, even for nonprofits.
It gives your organization an opportunity to regularly reach supporters and potential supporters with content relevant to your mission.
Using social media platforms to showcase your nonprofit crowdfunding campaign is essential.
Before Giving Tuesday, use social media to announce your campaign and what it will do for your organization. Create and share content that introduces people to your organization and encourages them to participate in Giving Tuesday on your behalf.
You can also partner with influencers to share your cause and ask for their followers to give to your campaign.
These details should be planned and implemented ahead of the campaign launch to ensure there is adequate awareness and excitement online.
Donation Page Optimization
It’s important to set up and optimize your donation page to ensure any campaign visitors will have a good experience and will easily be able to give.
Optimization includes taking care of seemingly simple, yet incredibly important details such as loading time, design, aesthetics, ease of use, mobile-friendliness, and confirmation emails.
These elements can serve to make or break your campaign. If they are not tended to before Giving Tuesday, there’s a good chance people won’t even have the opportunity to donate.
To ensure a smooth and seamless donation process, optimize your donation page in advance.
2. Combine Giving Tuesday with a Year-End Campaign
Every year, Giving Tuesday coincides almost perfectly with typical end-of-year campaigns where many organizations seek out those people who are looking to make tax-deductible donations before the new year.
There are many people who choose to make donations at the end of the year, either due to the tax benefits or just because they are feeling extra generous in the spirit of the holidays. In fact, for most nonprofit organizations, 30% of donations come in during the month of December.
If you combine your end-of-year push with Giving Tuesday, you can easily increase your donations.
The mistake many make is simply using Giving Tuesday as more of a marketing tactic to kick off their year-end fundraising instead of making it a true part of their year-end fundraising strategy.
While Giving Tuesday is a great way to get your name out there and broaden your reach, it has an opportunity to be so much more than that.
Often no social media campaign is done upfront for Giving Tuesday. Instead, Giving Tuesday kicks off the reminder that the holiday season is the last opportunity to make those tax-deductible donations.
Your campaign shouldn’t just include a nod to end-of-year donations. Your campaign should be marketed as a unique opportunity for people to support their favorite organization in a specific and unique way as the year comes to a close.
Combining these two events into one big end-of-year push will grab the attention of a greater number of people and increase the amount of donations you receive.
Instead of simply focusing on the Giving Tuesday aspect, bring other important details into the event. Your campaign will appeal to more people and your crowdfunding site will make it simple for people to give.
3. Have Clear Communication with Your Supporters
Communication is key when you’re trying to run any sort of successful fundraising campaign.
If your supporters aren’t clear on what is going on, what is expected, and how to participate, you’re not going to gain many donations.
Ensuring abundant, open communication and being available for your donors is essential if you’re going to run a successful campaign.
Use Online and Print Materials to Advertise Your Fundraiser
Effective marketing for a Giving Tuesday crowdfunding event should use a variety of online and print materials. This gives you the best chance at reaching the most people.
Online materials include emails, social media posts, and text messages. They should always be clear and concise, providing information about your cause, the purpose of Giving Tuesday, and how people can make a donation.
Emails should be longer than other types of online communication and can include a compelling story that showcases what you’re doing and how the recipient can help.
You can send multiple emails in the weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday and a final email as a reminder during the campaign.
It’s quite common (and effective) to send multiple emails on the final day of your fundraiser. So don’t shy away from 3+ emails promoting your campaign, while communicating your need and progress on Giving Tuesday.
Social media posts and text messages will be shorter but quite impactful. They will concisely share the purpose behind your campaign and let people know how they can donate. Posting and sending a text message during the campaign itself is a great way to remind your supporters to participate.
Print materials include posters and flyers hung and passed out locally, as well as postcards and letters sent by mail. All print materials should include a QR code that takes donors to your donation page.
Be sure your print materials provide clarity about Giving Tuesday, your mission, your need, and how people can donate.
Personalize Communications
Making sure your materials are personalized is essential.
People are much more likely to donate if they feel like you are speaking to them directly. Emails, text messages, postcards, and letters should include the recipient's name.
It’s also important to send follow-up information that helps the donor feel included in the work your organization is doing. This will increase their support and impact their future donations.
Stay Connected During the Big Day
During Giving Tuesday, it’s important that you are present and engaging with your supporters.
This ensures that they will be connected with your organization and your campaign, making them much more likely to participate.
Be present throughout the day by sending out emails and text messages, posting consistently on social media, posting campaign updates, and even live-streaming portions of your fundraiser.
Don’t let your campaign fall to the wayside in people’s minds.
Make it big. Make it real. Make it happen.
4. Utilize a Helpful Software
Easy-to-Use (and affordable!) fundraising software for nonprofits does exist!
Using great software frees you to focus on the things that demand your attention instead of on the technical details.
With great software, you will be able to reach more people during your campaign than you would have the ability to on your own.
Fundeasy’s Crowdfunding software is simple to use and enables you to streamline the majority of your campaign.
After an easy setup, donations will be monitored and shared with your supporters, showing them how their donations are impacting your goals.
The software makes it easy to share the campaign and for supporters to visit your donation page through links and a QR code. Once a donation has been made, receipts are sent out immediately.
These elements create a seamless campaign, allowing you to focus on connection and communication while the software takes care of the details!
In Conclusion
This Giving Tuesday, don’t let the details hold you back.
You have a great opportunity to gain year-end support and donations with ease, as long as you plan early and use available resources.
There are many reasons why your organization should participate in a crowdfunding campaign on Giving Tuesday.
Not only do crowdfunding fundraisers typically garner a great deal of support for an organization, they are also simple to set up and manage.
With the help of top software, it becomes even easier.
Giving Tuesday is just around the corner, so it’s time to get started crafting your plan.
If you don’t already have crowdfunding software to help you manage your Giving Tuesday campaign, look no further than Fundeasy.
If you'd like to learn more about our Peer-to-Peer, Attendance, or Crowdfunding products, please reach out! We'd love to chat.
Also, if you haven't joined already, we have an exclusive Facebook Group just for our customers! If you are a current FundEasy Customer and would like to join, go here to learn more and request to be added!
Crystal Hoag
This article was inspired by our customers and written to encourage your fundraising efforts. Although we work with nonprofits and events daily, our team members are not Event Consultants. We encourage you to consult with your event consultant, executive team, and/or affiliate organization before making any major changes to your events.
