Get ready for GivingTuesday
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday have all become big days that signal the beginning of the holiday season. Nine years ago, another day joined that pantheon: In 2012, the 92nd Street Y in New York City created GivingTuesday as a day that encourages people to do good. Coming up on Nov. 30 this year, it has become a major fundraising day for nonprofits across the globe. Church Mutual works with hundreds of nonprofits and has compiled this list of tips for how you can make the most of this day.
- Develop your strategy. It can be as simple as a single email or as complicated as an entire campaign, but your leadership team should agree on what you hope to gain from GivingTuesday. If it will be kicking off your end-of-year fundraising campaign, you may want to put some extra effort into targeted marketing.
- Find an angle. One creative animal rescue organization promised donors it would reward them with a badly drawn portrait of their pet if they gave a certain amount of money on GivingTuesday. Yes, that’s right—a badly drawn portrait created by one of their amateur volunteer artists based on a picture the donor sent them. The gimmick was so crazy that it went viral, and the organization raised a record amount of money that year.
- Carefully craft your email. Remember that your recipients will be receiving many, many GivingTuesday requests in their inboxes. How can you stand out? What kind of subject line can you write that will catch their eye and make them want to read more? Once you’ve hooked them, you need to make sure the body of your email is just as alluring as the subject line.
- Leverage social media. If there were ever a time to focus on your social media outreach, November is the month. #GivingTuesday, of course, is the traditional hashtag of the day, but you can also create custom hashtags that emphasize your specific cause or effort. The point is to get people talking about your organization. The more they see the name of your nonprofit, the more likely they are to include you in their charitable giving plans. Engage the people who are already strong supporters and encourage them to share your posts.
With just a little extra effort, you can turn GivingTuesday into a wonderful opportunity for your organization. For more tips for nonprofits, visit churchmutual.com.
