The Tuesday following Thanksgiving this year, Nov. 28, will be celebrated as #GivingTuesday to kick off the charitable season. This global day of giving follows the shopping events of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, widely recognized for the billions of dollars spent on those days each year.
#GivingTuesday was created in 2012 by the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact at the 92nd Street Y, a cultural center in New York City focused on bringing people together around the values of giving back. Now a global movement to connect individuals, communities, and organizations around the world to celebrate and encourage giving, #GivingTuesday offers a plethora of ways for people to get involved in their communities.
Now in its sixth year of existence, #GivingTuesday has become an important opportunity for nonprofits to communicate their mission and garner supporters and donations. AlumniFinder has developed a #GivingTuesday toolkit to assist you in meeting your goals. The toolkit includes images, tips, and strategies to make nonprofits successful on this important day.
#GivingTuesday harnesses the power of social media and the generosity of people to bring real change in their communities. Remember to share early and often providing ways for your supporters to give and get involved in your charity’s mission on #GivingTuesday and beyond.
Besides posting to your organization’s social media pages, you might want to consider targeted Facebook and Instagram advertising to generate traffic to your donation landing page and raise awareness of your goals. Your ad can be shown to a highly engaged customized audience where they are spending an average of 40 minutes per day!
Email fundraising is highly effective for #GivingTuesday as well. Inspire people to take action now by adding urgency to your organization’s message. Use powerful images that show emotion and illustrate how your organization will use their donations. Set up a unique landing page for #GivingTuesday that gives options to get involved, donate or support your organization in its efforts.
Show people how close you are to meeting your goals by providing a visual graphic or chart. And don’t forget to ask for matching gifts from individual’s companies. Give supporters an easy way to set up recurring donations.
Make sure your messaging is targeted at the right segment of your donor audience. Millennials typically prefer to volunteer rather than make monetary donations, for example. Remember to target a specific Call to Action based on your donor profile.
Make sure you follow up with all your new supporters so that they are not one-time donors. Consider sending them a series of welcome email messages with additional information about your organization and suggestions on additional ways to become involved.
Need more help? Contact the experts at AlumniFinder to make sure your donor contact information is updated before #GivingTuesday.
