Expert Takeaways from Giving Tuesday 2021

What you need to know for next year

Sabrina Walker Hernandez, CFRE, Founder of Supporting World Hope, sat down with DonorPerfect to share her Giving Tuesday advice. With more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and fundraising, she is an expert in building donor relationships.

5 expert suggestions for Giving Tuesday 2022:

1. Start early. Sabrina starts working on her Giving Tuesday (GT) and end-of-year (EOY) initiatives in August, giving her seven weeks to nail down a strategic plan, with scheduled outreach and social media blasts. For further insight into this process, check out her coaching opportunities.
2. Approach GT and EOY in tandem. “I approach them in partnership. For me, Giving Tuesday is the kick-off to my EOY campaign. I think it’s important to take advantage of all the national marketing that’s going on around Giving Tuesday and piggyback on that. Everybody’s in the mood to give,” Sabrina says. She adds that spending time personally thanking your donors during the month of November gets them more in the mood to give come Giving Tuesday.
3. Reach out to people who have supported you, “maybe send them a card, or do a phone call, or send a video saying thank you. That doesn’t cost you anything and it’s not expected. People are focusing on giving, giving, giving, but do a little campaign of thanking before Giving Tuesday, and they’ll be ready for you.”
4. Take a multichannel approach and then keep the momentum going. “You’ve got do emails, you’ve got to do texting, you’ve got to do a direct mail, you’ve got to do all of those pieces. Kick it off with Giving Tuesday and then spread it through December. That’s my philosophy,” Sabrina says. With most of all annual giving happening in December, this is certainly a smart move.
5. Use education as a tool. Soak up as much information as you can from webinars, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, Sabrina recommends. Education inspires action, and networking fuels creativity.

A DonorPerfect success story

Eric Gardner, Director of Philanthropy at Loaves and Fishes Community Services, shared his organization’s 2021 Giving Tuesday experience with DonorPerfect. (You may recognize Loaves and Fishes from our panel discussion back in October.)

By noon on Giving Tuesday, Loaves and Fishes were about halfway to their goal (as shown in their goal meter below). By 5:30 pm, they had hit 80%. In the end, they were able to raise $400k on Giving Tuesday – an $80k increase over last year!