Giving Tuesday has become a critical day for nonprofits to join a conversation, engage current and potential audiences and celebrate generosity during the holiday season. This socially driven day on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday encourages people to support and champion causes they believe in by giving back. Once you commit to participating, it’s important to strategically approach this day rather than push out a few social media post.
See also: 5 Reasons Why Christian Nonprofits Need To Leverage Giving Tuesday
To see true success before Giving Tuesday fades into the rest of the year, it’s essential to start early. Here’s how you can lay the groundwork for a successful campaign by determining a measurable goal, defining strategic audiences and channels, and crafting a clear message.
1. Set Measurable Goals
It’s important to set a realistic and measurable goal. Clearly communicating what your organization aims to accomplish on Giving Tuesday rallies supporters and gives a sense of urgency to requests. It’s also a precursor to communal celebration once achieved.
Public-facing goals, such as a matching initiative motivates giving in a short time period like Giving Tuesday. It builds momentum and creates a feeling of being a part of something truly bigger than oneself. If you are able to secure a matching donor, use direct language throughout the day.
This is especially effective for NPOs that are not meeting an urgent need in a moment of crisis, as it creates urgency and motivation to donate today.
2. Define strategic audiences and channels
According to the 2017 Global Trends in Giving report, 61 percent of people prefer to give online. People want to give online, and people are giving online. Meet them there, but be strategic. If your audience isn’t on Twitter, don’t focus efforts there. Have success with email? Stick to it.
Two to three weeks before Giving Tuesday, troubleshoot your organization's online giving platform and website, ensuring it can handle a high volume of activity. Then, begin crafting content that can be posted or sent on Giving Tuesday itself—email newsletter copy, Instagram graphics, Facebook posts, etc. Determine the channels where most of your donors are present and set posting frequency in order to draft ample content. An increased cadence around a specific campaign—especially when it is short—is often needed.
3. Develop a clear message
When your message is primarily focused on social media, it is imperative to relate your mission and ask to potential donors in a compelling and clear way.
An effective Giving Tuesday message is one that informs, inspires, shows impact and asks for an investment, while also reflecting your organization’s vision and mission. Overall, specificity and clarity win the day. Keeping in mind the amount of NPO-oriented content your audience is consuming, aim for presenting information that is compelling but succinct.
A successful call to action is the crux of your entire campaign. It is memorable, simple and easy to execute. This is not the time to ask potential donors to download a form or host an event in their community. You wouldn’t ask someone unfamiliar with your organization to be involved on the same level of a multi-year supporter. A call to action on Giving Tuesday must engage a wide audience, and focus on using clarity to connect others to what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
No matter how well you execute your strategic and creative plan, following up with this new engaged audience to develop sustained giving is essential.
At Generis, our heart is to help you cultivate a generous donor base who connect