We hope that you’ve started your planning. As we know, the biggest philanthropic day of giving’s just around the corner. Even if you started your planning, we’ve got important Giving Tuesday 2021 ideas. Moreover, what you’ll learn will ensure that you have everything in place for fundraising success. So, if you want to watch the free webinar, check it out here.

2020 Statistics for Giving Tuesday

First, let’s start with some of the stats from last year’s Giving Tuesday.

• In 2020, Giving Tuesday raised a record $2.47 billion in the U.S. alone! And that’s an increase of 25% year-over-year.
• The average gift was $147. And that’s more than many smaller nonprofits raise in their fundraisers.
• On Facebook, $135 million got contributed.
• Moreover, 82% of people who participated were Millennials and Generation Z. Remember, Giving Tuesday got conceived as a day for online giving. (Check out this free nonprofit social media marketing resource to amplify your brand).
• In addition, 7.1 million people volunteered their time, and 9.8 million made in-kind donations.

The Biggest Lesson from Donors

Now that we know how influential this global day of giving is, we need to start our Giving Tuesday 2021 ideas with what prompts people to donate. In short, understanding their motivations is essential for your planning. So, the most critical reason that influenced giving by Donors last year was their experience with the organization. Again, giving is first emotional, and then donors rationalize their giving. So, if they have a good experience with a nonprofit, they want to support it.

Moreover, when donors get personally involved at a nonprofit, they learn the importance of unrestricted funds. As we know, the nonprofit starvation cycle exists in the sector. Through the years, it caused donors to want to restrict their giving to direct program support. However, nonprofits are businesses. As a result, they need to have general operating expenses for the stuff that keeps the lights going. Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to remind people of the need for unrestricted giving.

Further, for donors to Giving Tuesday, two prerequisites exist for giving:

1. Trust in an organization.
2. Support of its leadership.

In short, when these two elements get satisfactorily met for donors, they don’t feel the need to restrict their support to direct programmatic support. Of course, this makes sense. When there’s trust in the organization and leadership is thought of highly, donors know their contributions will make a difference.

3 Realities to Consider for Giving Tuesday

As you’ll hear in the free webinar for Giving Tuesday 2021 ideas, it’s essential to consider 3 realities. When you do this well, you help to ensure your success.

• Contextualizing Giving Tuesday Strategies: In short, every segment of your database responds differently. For instance, older people may care more about one thing than the concerns of younger people. Alternately, major donors may find one program of particular interest as opposed to general gift supporters. Therefore, it’s essential to make sure you have that contextual information for each of your segments. In short, it helps drive your fundraising strategy and results.
• Giving Tuesday Strategies for Your Organization: The reality is that every nonprofit, school, group, or organization is different from others in the community. As a result, what could work for you, might not for others. For example, perhaps your donors prefer to use Facebook over Snapchat or TikTok. That matters. So, make it a point to benchmark yourself internally first over what other organizations in town do.
• Remember That Giving Tuesday is No Longer New: Finally, donors realize that the global day of giving’s no longer new. It’s been happening since 2012, and so they know to expect it. However, this is an opportunity to ensure that Giving Tuesday’s integrated into your overall fundraising strategy. In other words, don’t treat it any longer as a one-off event. Use it as a marker for database valuation and in your portfolio management strategies.

Giving Tuesday 2021 Ideas & Tips

Now let’s explore a few of the best recommendations from the webinar.

1. Ask Yourself the Right Questions for Giving Tuesday

Before you start your fundraising, you have to ask yourself some essential questions and come up with answers:

• Will Giving Tuesday be part of your year-end strategy or separate altogether? Our tip is that you see the day as part of your year-end strategy. Therefore, you want to integrate it through a coordinated marketing effort across all your marketing channels (e.g., direct response, social, etc.).
• Will you promote restricted or unrestricted giving options? Remember, you want to balance the two opportunities for giving. The typical rule of thumb is you don’t want to create operational dependencies with restricted giving dollars. But there may be a different way to think about it—especially as donors shift from organization-centric philanthropy to impact-based philanthropy.
• Will you focus on membership or single gifts? With uncertainty in 2021, it may be better to balance top-line revenue with an increase in recurring membership-based giving.
• What role will digital acquisition play in your Giving Tuesday strategy? Acquisition should always be part of your donor development strategy. But, Giving Tuesday is a mature movement at this point. It may be more vital to use it as a catalytic experience to boost retention and upgrade efforts. That is the most transparent path to increased revenue.
• How will you measure the Giving Tuesday period? Few organizations only count the 24 hours as part of their results. Much like retailers shifted “Black Friday” dates, many nonprofits expanded the reach to 7-10 days or more, with Giving Tuesday falling somewhere in-between. In short, it’s helpful when utilizing challenge gifts to drive donor giving.

2. Cultivate Your Mid-Level Donors

Often, the donors in the middle get missed. Well, Giving Tuesday and the holiday season’s a great time to reach out to your mid-sized donors. When you segment and treat them in unique ways, you increase their support to your organization.

3. Engage Your Donors

As we know, many nonprofits experienced a drop in giving during the last two years. A lot of uncertainty can do that. However, this is the time when you double-down and engage with donors. Moreover, you want to diversify your database.

4. Offer Other Fundraising and Giving Opportunities

Again, donors aren’t all the same. And that means that what motivates one to give may not be the same for someone else. So, the best thing you could do is create innovative fundraising events, programs, and giving opportunities.

5. Content Questions You Need to Ask

As you prepare for your marketing and fundraising, you need to ask vital content questions. So, sit with your volunteers, board, and champions to get the best ideas and understanding possible.

• What do we want to say to our target audience?
• Recently, what was a significant transformation or impact we made?
• Why is what we say essential?
• What separates our nonprofit or group from others?
• What lessons have we learned since inception?
• Finally, what do our content and communications bring to the broader nonprofit industry?

Tips to Ensure Successful Social Media Content

Next, we want to share some tips to make your marketing stand out, especially on social media. Remember, the best way to engage people is to have fun and be authentic. Your supporters want to see you (and your brand) in a genuine way. So, don’t try to be anything you’re not. And, even if you deal with serious issues, use humor and inspiration. It’ll only help you gain more traction and supporters!

1. Build a community that you can convert.
2. Educate first, sell second.
3. Credibility is critical (share annual impact reports).
4. Create and perfect selfie videos.
5. Make your own social media challenges.
6. Use bloopers—it shows personality.
7. Get volunteers involved (e.g., take fun photos and run contests).
8. Share data in new ways (e.g., infographics)
9. Use national holidays, such as #EarthDay, when you do a shoe drive fundraiser.
10. Adapt trends to your cause.

Final Thoughts About Videos

As you know, it’s essential to create video content—especially for social media. So, get used to creating short 30-second to 90-second videos and once in a while do longer videos for deeper dives into your work. However, as you do the videos, keep the following things in mind. All of these tips will help you attract new supporters to your cause.

• Explain how the funds will get used.
• Utilize both branded and trending #’s (3-5).
• Use transcripts or close captions.
• Add trending audio and relevant sounds.
• Ensure you have strong calls-to-action.
• Use donation stickers when necessary.

Want to learn so much more about marketing and fundraising? Well, you’re in luck. We have a repository of lots of fantastic content. Start with our blog, check out our webinars, and take a look at our resource library! Also, don’t forget to follow us on our YouTube channel or Facebook. And always, stay tuned for more ideas for your cause.

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