Is it Too Soon to
Think About GivingTuesday?

The short answer is: no.

GivingTuesday was launched in November 2012 after “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” to encourage people to “do good.” That year, an estimated $10 million in gifts were processed on GivingTuesday, according to Blackbaud.

Last year, GivingTuesday surpassed prior records with an estimated 35 million adults participating in the United States, a six percent increase over 2020. Moreover, those donors gave an estimated $2.7 billion, a nine percent increase over 2020.

Clearly this is a good and growing trend for nonprofits. If your nonprofit has been hesitant to launch a GivingTuesday campaign – or if you’ve participated, but without much gusto – now is the time to begin planning for GivingTuesday 2022.

• Start by including Giving Tuesday and all its prep work in your communications calendar for the year.
• Create your own Giving Day in the spring or summer. This could be a good trial run for GivingTuesday. Some nonprofits, including many college alumni groups, select a date that is meaningful to their organizations’ work or history. As with GivingTuesday, develop a message and a plan to do multi-channel promotions.
• Engage your entire staff and board. Inform the team about your Giving Day or GivingTuesday plans. Everyone can post to their own networks or social media accounts.
• Gather stories throughout the year. Compelling stories are the best ways to illustrate and humanize your work and its impact.
• De-clutter your donation page now. Don’t make users scroll through a lot of text to get to the donation information. Also, optimize giving pages for mobile platforms.
• If you executed a GivingTuesday campaign last year, evaluate your results including the number of new donors you acquired. Consider how you can improve your outcomes this year.

As online giving continues to grow, GivingTuesday should be part of every nonprofit’s fundraising strategy.