Tuesday 28th November is a day worth highlighting in the diary of every Charity. Why you ask? We’ll it’s Giving Tuesday of course! For the uninitiated, Giving Tuesday follows the mad rush of sales over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s a global initiative that encourages people to “do good stuff”, giving to causes and charities they care about. It really took off over here in 2014 and has become one of the most important days in the fundraising calendar. Last year, 1,638 organisations took part and set a world record for the most amount of money raised online in 24 hours.
Here are 4 tips to ensure your charity is making the most of Giving Tuesday.
1. Define your donor propositions
Giving Tuesday presents charities with a fantastic opportunity to acquire new donors, raise money and spread awareness but it’s a crowded space. Define why people should support your charity and tailor your messaging accordingly. Make your offering clear, easy to understand and demonstrate how supporting your charity not only makes a real difference, but is a genuinely rewarding experience. Whether your goals are acquisition or fundraising based, a well defined and clearly presented donor proposition will make you more attractive to potential donors.
2. Prepare and optimise your content
Resist the temptation to simply jump on the bandwagon and throw a few tweets out. Plan and prepare as much of your campaign as you can in advance. Make sure you’re able to utilise your digital presence. Have a bank of social posts and content, tailored to your objectives and ready to share throughout the day. Set up and optimise landing pages with strong calls to action to handle and convert the traffic you’re driving towards your website. Perhaps make some temporary design tweaks to your website and really get into the swing of Giving Tuesday. Warm as many people into your campaign as you can with a preliminary tweet or two before hand and a light, fun email to existing supporters to make them aware of how they can get involved on the day.
3. Drive engagement
The uplift in social traffic and engagement is huge. Last year, #givingtuesday was the UK’s #1 trend on Twitter with 53,808 tweets using the hashtag. These tweets had a combined potential reach of 852,325,739 people. Be proactive and be reactive with your communications. This is a day, more than any other, when people are open to engagement. Utilise and share testimonials to engage new supporters and connect them with your cause. Encourage existing supporters to get involved and to share their own stories around their giving experiences. Make the most of Giving Tuesday and take the opportunity to interact with people, develop relationships and grow your community.
4. Consider your donor journeys
While Giving Tuesday may only last 24 hours, its impact can be felt all year round. How you onboard any new supporters and say thank you sets the tone for the rest of those relationships. Make sure you’ve mapped a welcome journey with emails in place to nurture new supporters. Make them feel part of your charity from the outset and reaffirm that their actions are worthwhile. Anyone that makes a donation, new or otherwise, should receive a thank you email tailored to them and their contribution. Then, once the dust has settled on Giving Tuesday, send these supporters an update email. Let them know what their money is helping to achieve. The more satisfying donor experience you can offer, the more likely you’ll be to retain these donors and their long term support.
Making the most of Giving Tuesday
Get in touch if you’d like our help making the most of Giving Tuesday. While there’s not long to go now, we can help you define donor propositions, audit your website and landing pages, tailor your calls to action and manage your ongoing donor experience.
Alex is a Digital Content Coordinator at Copper
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