October 25, 2021 |

Your Complete Giving Tuesday Campaign Guide

Your Complete Giving Tuesday Campaign Guide

Giving Tuesday is the biggest giving day of the year. Falling just after Cyber Monday on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, it lands right before fundraisers’ already-abundant year-end initiatives as dedicated donors look to support charities during the holidays and make tax-deductible donations. That’s why 75 countries around the world participate in Giving Tuesday to attract new donors, raise more money, and work to give everyone a seat at the table.

SKIP TO THE SUPPORT YOU NEED:

  1. GIVING TUESDAY TIPS | Giving Tuesday tips from expert DonorPerfect users
  2. CAMPAIGN STRATEGY | How to create your Giving Tuesday campaign strategy
  3. DONOR RETENTION | Start retaining Giving Tuesday donors right away
  4. ONLINE FORMS | Dedicated Giving Tuesday forms that enter data for you
  5. EMAIL MARKETING | Email tips & templates for every Giving Tuesday touchpoint

QUICK LINKS:

WHY GIVING TUESDAY?

Why Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is right on the heels of major retail holidays like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Simply put, it’s the perfect time for your supporters to take a break from the hustle of holiday shopping and embrace the spirit of giving. Not to mention, these gifts are given in addition to the traditional year-end gifts that your organization receives.

Digging deeper (2020-2021)

Amid the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the fundraising world saw new donors and small, repeat donations dominate giving. For these new donors, the last two years have been all about spreading the wealth they have, and budgeting out their contributions over time to ensure consistency and impact in their communities.

This gives nonprofits an exciting chance to build a monthly giving program that meets their donors’ evolving needs – and naturally raises donor retention. As for retained donors who dropped off in 2020 and 2021, Giving Tuesday is a lucrative opportunity for your organization to engage lapsed donors in new ways.

GIVING TUESDAY TIPS

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

In just 24 hours on Giving Tuesday, Claire, her staff, and their supporters managed to triple their $10,000 goal.

We asked Claire to share her crowdfunding campaign know-how:

  1. Build your crowdfunding campaign around donor engagement.
  2. Choose a solution that leads to donor relationships, not just one-off gifts.
  3. Use a giving thermometer to display your campaign’s progress.
  4. Encourage donors to create their own crowdfunding campaigns.

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Encourage participation for effortless fundraising

DonorPerfect Crowdfunding

Give donors the ability to create and share donation pages to fundraise for you. A simple form set-up for you and your supporters allows you to create shareable campaigns in a snap. Easily track individual and overall progress and save time on data entry with seamless DonorPerfect integration.

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The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

In the years since its inception, Melissa and her team have achieved enormous Giving Tuesday fundraising success.

Here are her top tips to help you get more gifts on the nonprofit community’s biggest day of the year:

  1. Create original content that compels people to give.
  2. Make your ask goal-oriented.
  3. Offer an added benefit to participating.
  4. Set yourself apart – customize Giving Tuesday to your mission.
  5. Learn from your Giving Tuesday experience.

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Measure your success, this year and next

DonorPerfect Reporting

Melissa pulls custom reports in DonorPerfect to set a benchmark for the next year. She also analyzes their Giving Tuesday campaigns in Constant Contact and on social media to understand what people respond to and apply those learnings in the future.

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CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

The key to turning a first-time donor into a long-time supporter is to craft a donor engagement strategy that compels someone to donate and wows well beyond the buzz of Giving Tuesday.

Why donors will connect with your campaign:

  • Stories
  • Impact
  • Community
  • Creativity

Your Giving Tuesday Donor Engagement Journey

How to get creative this Giving Tuesday:

Website builder

Connect with donors online on Giving Tuesday and throughout the year with a stunning website from GiveCloud. Specifically designed with ease of use in mind, GiveCloud equips nonprofit professionals with drag-and-drop website templates that enable you to add and edit content without design or coding experience.

Text-to-give

Empower donors to give in a flash on Giving Tuesday with DP Text, an integrated text-messaging tool that’s designed to effortlessly engage donors throughout the day. DP Text is accompanied by a live goal meter with a management panel that lets you add checks and cash donations to your pledge meter with ease.

How to Use Text-to-Give Before, On, & Beyond Giving Tuesday

3 ways to promote monthly giving on Giving Tuesday:

  1. Define monthly gift amounts in terms people can relate to.
  2. Set a goal of monthly donors on Giving Tuesday.
  3. Lead with the impact of a monthly gift.

Spotlight Your Monthly Giving Program on Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday Donor Retention

DONOR RETENTION

Before you create your Giving Tuesday campaign, think about the people in and beyond your network who are most likely to celebrate this global day of giving.

The next day – which we’ve dubbed Welcome Wednesday – is the perfect time to usher in the new donors who gave to your organization on Giving Tuesday, and keep them close.

Your key groups for Giving Tuesday:

  • Hyper-connected Millennials
  • Social-savvy new donors
  • Plugged-in multichannel donors

7 Ways to Attract & Retain Donors on Giving Tuesday

Retain donors beyond Giving Tuesday

Your New Donor Welcome Series

The key to ensuring that the first gift is just one of many is to communicate to your donors just how wonderful they are, along with how much their gift will impact your mission. Not just once, but multiple times after they give for the first time. This series of touchpoints will serve as your organization’s New Donor Welcome Series.

Get your email template kit

ONLINE FORMS

Because Giving Tuesday mostly takes place on social media, the ability to accept donations online is a must. For the best fundraising results, your website, along with your emails and social posts should all point to your online donation form.

Learn how to customize an integrated online form that looks great, eliminates double data entry, lessens your processing fees, and gets you more gifts!

Create your Giving Tuesday form in 3 simple steps:

  1. Take 5 minutes to sign up for integrated payment services.
  2. Style your Giving Tuesday donation form.
  3. Test the form with your staff.

Giving Tuesday Forms That Help Your Nonprofit Raise More Online

Skip data entry with seamless gift processing

DonorPerfect integrated donation forms

DonorPerfect Online Forms can be used for online donations, monthly gifts, mobile gifts, events, and volunteers. Best of all, there’s no data entry on your part – gift and donor information processed through DonorPerfect Payment Services is instantly reflected in your DonorPerfect database.

Online Forms Success Hub

EMAIL MARKETING

Emails are often the best way to reach the folks who have giving capacity at the end of the year, as they won’t have to go looking for giving opportunities themselves. They can simply open their mailbox – even while spending time with family.

How to create an effective Giving Tuesday email:

  1. Start with an eye-catching subject line and headline.
  2. Tell a powerful story.
  3. Make giving as easy as possible.

How to Craft Your Giving Tuesday Email Strategy >>

Save time and get inspired with email templates:

Giving Tuesday Email Marketing

Get your free Giving Tuesday email templates

Meet the nonprofit industry’s most iconic duo

DonorPerfect x Constant Contact

  • Engage your supporters and track your communications’ success.
  • Create styled and text emails using over 400 design templates – no need to be or hire an expert!
  • Receive instant reporting on opens, bounce-backs, and other critical measures and collect email addresses from website visitors.

Learn more

It’s never too late to get in on #GivingTuesday

Let DonorPerfect lead the way

From seamless online giving and crowdfunding to email marketing tools and custom reporting, DonorPerfect gives you all the tools you need to rally your current donor base on Giving Tuesday and turn new donors into lifelong supporters.

Written by Sam Goldenberg