Giving Tuesday: Why It’s Only Mediumly Important

This post was originally published on Third Sector Today, which has since merged with TopNonprofits.

Controversial, I know.

Let’s start with the basics: #GivingTuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  It is a great way to include nonprofit giving in the post Thanksgiving consumerist rush. This year, it falls on November 29, 2016.

#GivingTuesday is an important part of any nonprofit’s end of year fundraising strategy…  but it is not the centerpiece for one main reason: everyone else is doing it, too.

Nonprofit organizations are competing for inbox and newsfeed space with the majority of all other nonprofit organizations on #GivingTuesday. (Case in point: I just did a search for fundraising emails from 2014 about #GivingTuesday and I came up with 81.  That’s right — 81 different fundraising asks about #GivingTuesday. Whoa.)

Listen to this month’s episode of the Third Sector Today podcast, below, and find out:

1) How to incorporate #givingtuesday into your overall online fundraising calendar which includes a comprehensive end of year strategy with compelling fundraising asks over several months.

2) Ways to differentiate your #givingtuesday ask so it is more successful by offering a donation match. My clients have seen great success rolling out a one to one match campaign around Giving Tuesday so donations have some extra umph (and hopefully emails will stand out against other organizations without a match offer).

3) Strategies that effectively use offline channels and social media for a more lucrative #givingtuesday. What about including an offline strategy, like phone banking, in your Giving Tuesday plans?  That will surely allow your fundraising ask to stand out while leveraging the power of the special day.  Ever boosted a Facebook donation ask?  Giving Tuesday is the time since your post on December 1 will likely get swallowed up into a sea of other asks without a boost.

4) Why sustaining or monthly donors can be your Giving Tuesday superstars and help your organization not only meet end of year fundraising goals but build a strong pipeline of donors for 2016.

See, I’m not anti #givingtuesday.  But I just want to make sure nonprofits don’t put all their fundraising eggs in the Giving Tuesday basket.

If you have questions or feedback about my controversial approach to Giving Tuesday, let us know in the comments section below or on Twitter at @EmilyGoodstein.

Happy fundraising!

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