Giving Tuesday is a big deal for nonprofits – in fact, $3.1b was raised in just 24 hours in 2022! And with awareness about the day continuing to grow 2023 is expected to deliver better fundraising news for the nation’s charities and nonprofits. While your nonprofit should always focus on building a robust pool of recurring donors, Giving Tuesday is a great way to boost your fundraising efforts – and perhaps even find new repeat donors! Here’s how to make the most of this powerful day of giving.
How to Launch a Strong Giving Tuesday Campaign
Giving Tuesday is a powerful opportunity for your nonprofit to meet – and beat – its funding goals. To maximize your success on the day, try these steps:
- Start early. Don’t spring a Giving Tuesday campaign on your donors the day of. Start teasing the day ahead of time, together with your fundraising goals, your plans for what you’ll do with donations, and any special gifts, rewards, or acknowledgments you’re going to offer. Get your donors in a giving frame of mind well in advance, and your campaign will reap the rewards.
- Get your assets in order. Create a cohesive campaign that looks and feels on brand. Ensure that your newsletter and social media assets are aligned with any other marketing outreach, such as landing pages or mini websites. Make sure there’s a narrative and flow to your campaign so that donors understand the value of what you do – and the value of their gift. And don’t forget to segment, test, and analyze!
- Offer multiple outreach options. The more ways people can give, the better. Ensure your donors can give by phone, text, chat, web, and more (using payment options other than just a credit card). Every giving option helps break down a barrier and encourages people to take the plunge. Offer subscription giving for those interested in a long-term commitment – and reward them with a loyalty gift or gift-matching option. (Tip: Use ACD’s SimpleDonate platform to level up your campaigns and easily take donations.)
- Be prepared to meet the demand. Giving Tuesday can mean a deluge of incoming calls, texts, and chat requests. Make sure you have enough staff to cater to the demand – and ensure that you can quickly and easily scale up so that you’re not missing out on potential donations. (Tip: ACD’s pool of trained, on-demand customer service reps can help out here!)
- Follow up on leads! Now is the time to reach out to past donors – and to add new donors to a “follow-up” list for coming campaigns. Those who have given previously are more likely to give again, so reach out and make sure that they know their efforts are appreciated. Try to highlight how their generous donations have helped your organization. When people understand the real good that their gift-giving achieves, they’re more likely to give again.
- Showcase your progress! Let your donors see your efforts in real time – and encourage them to chip in again to meet or exceed your goals. Real-time tickers and metrics are a powerful way to showcase the impact of their giving and also create social proof that people want to be a part of.
- Encourage donors to spread the word. Use hashtags or shareable graphics to encourage donors to inform others about your campaign via email or social media. Not only does this approach allow donors to highlight the causes they care about, but it encourages their friends and loved ones to chip in as well.
There are many different ways to succeed on Giving Tuesday. Still, by planning ahead, setting goals, tracking metrics, and gathering donor details for future campaigns, you can make this day one for your organization’s history books. Our biggest tip? Don’t wait – get started now!
Get More from Giving Tuesday with ACD’s Contact Center Platform
At ACD, we’re pros at helping nonprofits connect with new and existing donors. Our all-in-one cloud-based contact center platform makes it easy to deliver a seamless donor experience, and our ever-growing SimpleDonate platform turbocharges the donation process by allowing you to A/B test, monitor your campaign success, gift-match, and even offer giving on behalf of others! Combine those services with our pool of trained customer experience agents, and you’ll enjoy your best Giving Tuesday yet. Don’t let Giving Tuesday sneak up on you – get in touch today!
