How to Create Actionable Giving Tuesday Communications

4 Role-Based Steps for Giving Tuesday Content

• Choose a title for your Giving Tuesday form that matches your campaign theme.
• Write a one-paragraph description of your campaign and what it will achieve.
• Consider creating giving levels based on donor size and impact. Ex. “Santa’s helper” level: A $20 donation buys a family’s Christmas tree.
• Use amounts that are appropriate for your small, medium, and large donor levels. If you’re not sure, look at historical data to see how much each group typically gives on Giving Tuesday.
• Consider messaging for tribute donations in memory or celebration of a loved one.
• Choose images or graphics that illustrate your theme and message. Ex. A photo of your staff in action, or a beneficiary receiving love and care.

• Assess matching and major gift interest in the campaign. Determine if a major donor would be willing to partner with you to maximize the impact of smaller gifts
• Leverage your network – talk to alumni, board members, partner organizations, local government, industry-specific outlets, and friends.
• Consider a giving contest with a goal meter to display progress on Giving Tuesday.
• Consider appointing social media ambassadors to create their own crowdfunding pages on Giving Tuesday.

• Write or repurpose short descriptions for each giving level – tell them details about their donation amount that will make their heart happy. What will it do?
• Write or repurpose bite-sized impact stories for social media graphics, postcards, and more. Keep it to a few sentences, but include a beginning, middle, and end to bring it full circle. Ex. A beneficiary’s success story.
• If you don’t have impact stories written, recorded, or in memory, try talking to a few constituents and team members, or ask them to record a video.

• Call, text, email, and meet with partners, donors, and community members to explain the urgency, recency, or relevancy of your Giving Tuesday campaign.
• Schedule donor outreach with major players and tag in team members to help.

• Create tailored messaging for each donor segment you are targeting. Ex. Emails to last year’s Giving Tuesday donors will include appreciation for last year’s gift.
• Write or repurpose email content for your campaign reminders.
• Try to use the same template, but change subject lines and small details within the copy, such as “we’re one week away” or “we’re one day away” to keep recipients engaged.

• Share campaign reminders with your network. Let people know they have a very limited amount of time to take action. Highlight ways to get involved.
• Be sure to link to your donation page, share photos, and use the #GivingTuesday hashtag, or one that matches your campaign theme.

• Create goal updates and reminders to use throughout Giving Tuesday.
• It doesn’t hurt to use a template or to brainstorm subject lines in advance. Ex. “We’re $1,000 shy of crushing our Giving Tuesday goal! Can you help?”

• Which donors or donor groups will get handwritten notes or personalized videos? Will you be sending thank-yous en masse, individually, or both?
• Again, it doesn’t hurt to use a thank-you template that you can quickly customize for different situations when Giving Tuesday is over.

If you found this guide helpful, we recommend reading our checklist for the third phase of Giving Tuesday, executing and stewarding, on the DonorPerfect nonprofit technology blog. If you’d like to manage your Giving Tuesday campaign with one master checklist, we invite you to download the Giving Tuesday Cheat Sheet for your organization!