BlogFundraising 28 Super Engaging Ideas for Giving Tuesday, from Campaign to Marketing Fundraising 28 Super Engaging Ideas for Giving Tuesday, from Campaign to Marketing Author: Tatiana Morand January 12, 2024 Contents 🕑 17 min read Ah, Giving Tuesday. This international day of giving is a nonprofit’s dream, but there sure is a lot of competition with other organizations! In order to make Giving Tuesday your most profitable day of the year, it’s so important to get creative with your campaign. So…why we’ve collected 28 Giving Tuesday 2024 ideas to help you smash your previous fundraising records!!! What is Giving Tuesday? Giving Tuesday is a global movement dedicated to charitable giving. Established in 2012, it unites charities across the world to raise awareness and funds for crucial programs and services. Now, it happens every year the Tuesday after American Thanksgiving. (Mark your calendars—that’s December 3rd this year!) Every year it has brought in more money—in 2021, donations broke 2.7 billion dollars in the United States alone. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was even a new day established called GivingTuesdayNow, which raised $503 million dollars. Talk about a powerful movement! Many nonprofit organizations build Giving Tuesday campaigns to boost visibility and reach their end-of-year fundraising goals. But a good campaign is about more than just sending out a couple of tweets! Here is a list of ideas and best practices to help you make Giving Tuesday 2024 the best yet. How do I Come up With Giving Tuesday Ideas? Wanna blast through your fundraising goals? You’ll need some seriously creative ideas for Giving Tuesday! Plenty of other nonprofits will be participating in Giving Tuesday, so you want to do your best to stand out. Here are a few tips to get the gears turning: Track What’s Been Successful If this isn’t your first Giving Tuesday, you’ve already got some data to work with. Google Analytics (or whatever else you use!) will definitely be your friend here. Look through last year’s reports to discover: Which channels brought in the most donations How far your social media posts reached How many people clicked into your emails How many one-time donors became recurring donors If you sent out any surveys at the end of Giving Tuesday (highly recommended!), check out what your donors had to say. The answers always lie with them! Brainstorm With a Team No fundraising campaign should ever be organized alone. Collaborate with your team to get as many different perspectives as you can for your Giving Tuesday ideas. If you have them, it’s worth it to chat with your: Superstar Marketers: They’re the experts on reaching a broad audience! (Don’t have one? See if you can seek out some volunteers!) Budget Conscious Folks: Whether it’s a finance team or a volunteer bookkeeper, you need a sense of budget opportunities and limitations. Board of Directors: This is where you’ll find a huge diversity of perspectives, along with big networking opportunities. Volunteers: Never underestimate the power of the people who do the groundwork. Fundraising Consultant: If you can afford one, a fundraising consultant might help you set your campaign apart with industry-wide know-how! Working with a team helps you generate ideas you never could have come up with by yourself! Keep an Eye on Your Competitors Look into organizations with similar missions to your own: what have been their strategies so far? Is there anything they’ve done that looks good (or not so good) to you? This isn’t to say you should swipe anyone’s full campaign! But take the Giving Tuesday ideas that look exciting and applicable, and modify them so they fit your organization’s brand and goals. Survey Your Donors When in doubt, always ask. Email out surveys early in the year to get a clear idea of donor intent. People are always more likely to donate if they feel like they have a say in where their money goes. Surveys can also tell you: What makes supporters donate How much they feel like they can currently give Where they think your organization can improve Where they first learned about you If you’re looking to boost responses to your surveys, set up an email lottery for those who respond! Some cool swag (or a gift card) is sure to motivate people to share their thoughts. What are the stages of planning a campaign? So you’re pumped up for Giving Tuesday—what now? Here are the stages of preparing a smash Giving Tuesday campaign! Go to the Giving Tuesday Site The official GivingTuesday organization doesn’t play any part in collecting donations or promoting your personal campaign. However, it DOES have a whole set of resources to get you started. Download one of their toolkits to make sure your campaign covers the basics! Find Examples of Successful Campaigns Remember what we said about researching similar organizations’ campaigns? Look through their websites to find their success stories. If the amount they managed to fundraise looks similar to your target goal, use those strategies for your Giving Tuesday ideas. Select Your Team Members Decide from the start who owns which parts of your Giving Tuesday campaign. If you spread out the work (and work to everyone’s strengths!) people can really give it their all. If you have some big goals that are beyond your team’s current capacity, look into professional fundraising. This can help your campaign reach new heights! Plan as EARLY as Possible Giving Tuesday is only one day long—if you want to do some powerhouse fundraising in 24 hours, you need to start early! Have your plan set months in advance, and start your marketing early as well. By the time Tuesday comes around, donors should be giving instead of deliberating. Prep All Your Posts, Graphics and Quotes Before your campaign kicks off, be sure to gather all of your virtual materials. Pre-write your posts and load them into a program like Hootsuite. This will let you focus on responding on social media rather than planning what to say! Get your graphics and quotes ready too. Quotes inspire trust, and graphics help you define your branding for your Giving Tuesday campaign. Set Up Your Pages + Software Like with any campaign, Giving Tuesday comes with a lot of moving parts. Setting up your website, donation page and fundraising software will take the administrative stress off as new supporters flood in. After all, you want to really be putting your energy into carrying out the Giving Tuesday ideas themselves! Psst—WildApricot can manage all of these details for you! Whether you need help building your website or simply putting together a donation page, we’ve got your back. Plus, when your campaign is done, we’ve got the software you need to manage your new members. Click here to get started on your 60-day free trial! Let Your Donors Know It’s Coming Your donors have a lot on their minds at the height of the holiday season. Let them know well in advance that Giving Tuesday is coming up! When they see the campaign actually kick off, it’ll ping as a reminder, which is useful for both impulsive and deliberate giving. Plus—your evangelists should be ready and waiting to help share the word! See if you can rally your biggest supporters to be right there with you when you hit the ground running. LAUNCH!!!!! Happy #GivingTuesday2024! Kick the day off with a bang, and stay active and responsive on all of your social channels. Consider doing a soft launch earlier in the month for your board of directors, long-time supporters and dedicated volunteers. This is a great way to get early feedback! Shared Zoom, Anyone? Whether you’re a remote team or simply haven’t returned to the office yet, a Zoom call gives your team a chance to really work together! Set up a Giving Tuesday coworking call where you can cheer each other on and ask any questions live. Even if you’re not in the same office, you can still keep the group energy up! Don’t Forget Donor Stewardship! Your relationships with your donors are what keep your nonprofit afloat. Be sure to foster donor stewardship every step of the way through strong communication. An basic Giving Tuesday email strategy looks like sending: A quick thank you within 24 hours of receiving their donation A detailed thank you email with a tax receipt within 48 hours A full welcome package within the first month of their initial donation It’s essential to show your donors how much you value them even after your Giving Tuesday campaign is over. This is how you keep these new supporters for the long run! Turn One-Time Donors Into Monthly Donors A one-time donation is good, but a recurring one is WAY better. Regular donations make your organization’s revenue more consistent (which helps you budget!) and builds up donor loyalty. Be sure your donation page has the option for monthly donations and information on why they’re so valuable! This will help keep your fundraising consistent throughout the year. Do Better Next Time Once your campaign is wrapped up, dig into what went well! Look into things like: How far your social media campaigns reached How many people opened your emails The average amount that was donated Giving Tuesday comes every year, which means there’s always an opportunity to improve on your Giving Tuesday ideas. With the data you gather from this campaign, you can make next year’s campaign even more successful. 13 Giving Tuesday Campaign Ideas If you’re pacing trying to figure out how to start a fundraiser for Giving Tuesday, have no fear! Here are 13 different Giving Tuesday campaign ideas to get you started: Facebook Fundraiser Once your organization is registered with Facebook, consider asking your existing supporters to create a Facebook fundraiser! If you provide your supporters with a blog post full of Giving Tuesday Facebook post ideas, you can leave the execution to them. It’s personal, it’s real, and it lets people really feel involved. Why Facebook, though? In 2020, $135 Million was raised via Facebook over the two weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday. Facebook fundraisers reach a broad audience, and can bring in a huge influx of donations without too much work on your end. Just note—Facebook gives you donations in a lump sum, so you won’t be able to gather donor information. While it’s a great way to bring in fast money, don’t let it be your only source of fundraising, or you’ll lose out on being able to follow up with new donors! Matching Campaign Since Giving Tuesday is more widely known than any solo campaign you could run, it’s a good opportunity to reach out to local businesses for matching gifts—especially if you start before the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping blitz. Those who regularly donate or decide to make donations on Giving Tuesday are often unsure if their employers participate in matching gift programs. As a result, over 78% of donors make donations annually without taking advantage of corporate matching gift opportunities. Letting them know this is a possibility can double your donations! You can also look into Facebook and Paypal’s matching campaign. In the past, they’ve matched up to $7 million USD of Giving Tuesday donations. Read More: How to Combine Giving Tuesday with a Matching Fund Campaign Games You’d be surprised how many donors are motivated when fundraising is fun! Create a game that potential donors can take part in, like a virtual bingo for the day. You could also send your supporters on a virtual scavenger hunt where they can have fun while raising awareness. Memes can be your friend too—whether it’s a TikTok audio or a meme spreading across Twitter, jump on what’s trending! Crowdfund Crowdfunding is a great way to bring in a large quantity of small to midsize gifts from all over the world. Platforms like Kickstarter, Gofundme, and Indiegogo are easy to share on social media, and widely trusted. This strategy is great if your Giving Tuesday campaign is centered around one highly specific project. Just remember that crowdfunding will bring in a LOT of donors all at once—be sure to follow up with your new supporters after the campaign ends! Tie it to Year-End Giving Don’t think of Giving Tuesday as a one-off event! Incorporating it into a larger campaign can help you make the most of the day while still focusing on your main fundraising priorities. Many organizations actually use Giving Tuesday to launch their end-of-year giving campaign. Remember, this day is super motivated by donor engagement! Requesting that donors ask for donations to their favorite cause as a holiday gift is a simple way to bring in extra support. Read More: The Ultimate Guide to Year-End Giving Set up a Pledge Campaign Where donations bring in money immediately, pledges promise donations in the future. Pledge campaigns are most useful for super urgent issues with tight deadlines (hello Giving Tuesday!). If people can’t give now but want to give later, pledging is a great option. Even if only 80% of your pledges follow through, you still just might raise more in the end than you would with an urgent donation campaign! Create Your Own 24-Hour Blitz! In a slightly different vein, if you feel like the #GivingTuesday market is too saturated, why not establish your own special day? While you won’t have the global boost of visibility, you can still fundraise with urgency. Just remember to promote the day well in advance! Hold your 24 hour blitz on a date that’s meaningful to your organization. This could be your nonprofit’s birthday or a national cause related to your mission, such as breast cancer support day. T-Shirt Fundraisers People love t-shirts enough that we put them into cannons at sports events. A Giving Tuesday t-shirt fundraiser not only turns your supporters into walking billboards—it also gives them something to post on social media! Be sure your t-shirts come in a variety of styles and sizes, have an attractive design and promote your branding. Donation Page Every nonprofit needs a donation page year round, but it’s very valuable to have one specifically made for Giving Tuesday. Brand this page with your specific Giving Tuesday goals, and keep all of your information in one easy-to-read place. The less people have to click, the more likely they are to donate. WildApricot can get your donation pages set up no problem! Sign up for your 60-day free trial today to get ready for Giving Tuesday ASAP. Fundraising Thermometer People of all ages respond positively to visuals—just think about the sticker charts your teachers would use when you were a kid! Set up a donation thermometer (or another creative image) to show how close you are to reaching your goal. Once that’s ready, post regularly so your donors can have the satisfaction of seeing the numbers rise. And hey, why not set one up in the office too? You deserve to celebrate with the team! Peer-to-Peer Campaign Peer-to-peer fundraising is a tool which lets your supporters fundraise through their networks. Fun runs, pub crawls, bowl-a-thons—there’s no limit to your community’s creativity! Your donors are the key to broadening your organization’s reach, so provide them with all the tools they need to succeed. Think marketing materials, a fundraising website and resources with best practices. Give them the basics, and then let them run wild. Text-to-Give The best fundraising campaigns are the ones that make giving easy—and what’s easier than sending a text message? Promote this campaign with an emphasis on how quick it is and you’ll be sure to get a bunch of fast donations. Just make sure your marketing is strong enough that people will be inspired to send that message without investing a bunch of research time first! Run a Fundraising Challenge A fundraising challenge can be just what you need to give your nonprofit an extra boost of publicity. Make sure your challenge is something people are excited to participate in. Some fun challenge ideas include: Sports challenges like cycling, running or sledding Polar plunges—running into a body of water during the cold months! Scavenger hunts Encourage people to film their challenges and say what it is that they’re raising money for. Remember when the ice bucket challenge went viral in 2014? It brought in $100 million dollars in its first 30 days alone. Now THAT’S the power of a great fundraising challenge! 15 Giving Tuesday Marketing Ideas Now that you have your campaigns planned, here are 15 Giving Tuesday marketing ideas that will help you reach your donors: Videos Do you know what kind of content gets the highest engagement? Here’s a hint: you’ve probably seen at least one of them today on your Facebook feed. And the answer is… videos! If you’re looking for immediate engagement, creating videos as part of your Giving Tuesday strategy is a must. 57% of people who watch nonprofit YouTube videos go on to make a donation. Plus, if you’re posting them on Facebook, you can also add a Donate button, making it easy for supporters to help without having to switch screens. Youtube now also features donation cards that you can add to videos. Some Giving Tuesday video ideas to consider include: Featuring real-life stories from people who were positively impacted by previous Giving Tuesday campaigns. Going live for real-time updates on your fundraising goal Sharing donor and volunteer stories Hosting interviews with your staff and board members Remember: impact is everything. Don’t focus on making a film festival-worthy masterpiece—just create something authentic to your cause. Social Media As you can see, Giving Tuesday is aaall about social media! Make sure your Giving Tuesday social media ideas work to the strengths of each platform. Want to encourage personal fundraisers and reach an older generation? Go with Facebook! Want to spotlight your gorgeous images and videos? That’s Instagram and TikTok! Have a marketing assistant who is way too funny? Put them on Twitter yesterday. Graphics People’s eyes will skim over a thank you post, but a big branded graphic will definitely get their attention. Whether you’re giving updates with your fundraising thermometer or simply saying thank you, do it with style. Executing your Giving Tuesday graphic ideas doesn’t have to be super difficult—check out the templates that Canva has to offer! Images If you want to inspire an emotional response (and you do!), images are the way to go. Whether it’s a look at your dedicated team or a picture of the communities your work supports, every image adds a human element. Don’t rely on stock images—the best pictures come with a real story you can link to. Community Lean into your community wherever and whenever you can. The power of word-of-mouth shouldn’t be underestimated! Consider adding a “where did you hear about us?” section on your survey. If someone’s name gets dropped, reach out to them with a personal thank you. Hashtags Giving Tuesday began with a simple hashtag which is still used to this day! Hashtags can be used strategically, so be sure you make the most of them. Some GivingTuesday hashtag ideas include: #GivingTuesday, #GivingTuesday2024 #UNselfie #donate #[your organization’s name], #[your campaign name] Keep your hashtags simple but eye-catching! When appropriate, a good pun can also be a standout. Gifts Send out gifts to those who donate a certain amount and above. This could be access to special conversations with your team, reduced pricing on events or exclusive swag. Be sure these Giving Tuesday gift ideas are within your budget—you don’t want to accidentally lose money on your fundraising campaign. Strong CTAs Urgency urgency urgency! Start your calls to action with a strong campaign verb and include a sense of purpose. “Donate now to save the whales” is a lot stronger than “donation form here.” Be sure to keep your CTA punchy but brief—it should be able to fit on one bright shiny button! Put Impact Front and Center Donating is all about the why. Throughout your campaign, clearly show your donors the impact and importance of their work. Share what each milestone has done, and what the next one has the potential to do. Giving Tuesday is about fostering a spirit of generosity! Your supporters will be grateful to see where their money is going. Turn the Camera Around Each and every one of your supporters has a reason for giving to your organization. Giving Tuesday is the perfect opportunity to ask them to share that reason with the world! Encourage your donors, volunteers, and employees to post about why they choose to support your organization—then spotlight them on social media. Along with building relationships, this can help you land some Giving Tuesday quotes to use in later marketing campaigns. Just be sure they use hashtags like #GivingTuesday to spread the word! Get Ambassadors If they’re passionate about your campaign, trusted donors and volunteers will be happy to be ambassadors for your organization. Make sure to give them the resources they’ll need, such as a prompt or scripted statuses where they can add their personality and flair. Crossroad Child & Family Services has a great example of rallying your supporters to share their stories. A simple prompt such as “I give because…” can set the tone for donors to add a personal touch to your narrative. Always encourage your ambassadors to include a call to action. An easy way to do this is to set a goal for them, or ask them to set their own goal for fundraising. An example of a prompt for your ambassadors could be: “I give to ORGANIZATION because INSERT STORY. Will you help me reach my goal of INSERT AMOUNT? Donate today!” Support Mutual Compassion Yes, Giving Tuesday is saturated with other nonprofits’ fundraising campaigns—but that doesn’t mean you should frame it as a competition. Don’t compete with other peoples’ missions, celebrate them! You want the same thing, after all. Cheer on other organizations when they post about meeting their goals. Better yet, partner early with other organizations with different missions from yours. You can boost each others’ socials throughout Giving Tuesday and potentially reach new donors! Paid Social Campaign Running paid social ads can help ramp up anticipation for the actual day itself, and garner donations beforehand by linking back to your donation page. And it doesn’t have to be expensive—you can start by boosting a post on Instagram for a few dollars, for example, just to see how it performs. Plus, social media advertising has great targeting options to reach people who have already expressed an interest in your cause. It’s the perfect way to identify potential donors who have the same demographics and interests as your current donors, but haven’t yet heard of you. Make Milestones a Big Deal! Each goal you blast through builds momentum for the next. Share those milestones across social media and proudly shout out the next one to keep the donations going! If you’re looking for some giving Tuesday email ideas, prewrite your copy for anticipated milestone and send them out as you succeed. Don’t be afraid to set stretch goals! Just make the impact of those goals clear, and share all that can be done with funds raised beyond your expectations. Did Someone say Livestream? Going live puts a face to your team, and brings out the kind of energy you’d have at an in-person event. Whether you’re on Facebook, Youtube or Instagram, going live can be a way to: Celebrate your progress Introduce your team Host conversations with ambassadors Answer donor questions live Be sure you have a dedicated tech person for your livestream. That’ll help you roll with the punches should anything unexpected happen! Don’t Forget! Donor Stewardship Ideas After Giving Tuesday The end of Giving Tuesday is just the beginning of your relationships with new donors! Fostering donor stewardship is essential to keeping these supporters engaged until the next #GivingTuesday and beyond. Build up that relationship with strategies like: Sending a follow-up email with a welcome package Giving shout-outs on Twitter Sending surveys to honor donor intent This is also a great opportunity to make one-time donors into monthly donors! Promoting a monthly giving program on the tail-end of Giving Tuesday will be hugely beneficial in the long run. Get Ready for the Best Giving Tuesday Yet! So there you have it—all the Giving Tuesday 2024 ideas you can ask for. From campaign planning to marketing, there are plenty of ways to get creative and bring in those donations. Like we said, no Giving Tuesday campaign is complete without a dedicated donation page. Leave that work to us here at WildApricot! We can set up your Giving Tuesday donation page on your WildApricot website OR integrate the form onto a website you already have set up. Sign up for your 60-day free trial to get your donation form ready for Giving Tuesday! Related Fundraising Articles Fundraising 🕑 12 Min Read Effective Nonprofit Fundraising: How to Ask for Donations Like a Pro Fundraising 🕑 8 Min Read Recurring Donations For Your Nonprofit: The Ultimate Guide Fundraising 🕑 8 Min Read Nonprofit Direct Mail Fundraising Tips and Best Practices The Membership Growth Report: Benchmarks & Insights for Growing Revenue and Constituents Get the report now!