What’s the Deal with Giving Tuesday and Local Giving Days?

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To help kickstart year-end giving, many communities host Local Giving Days, also known as Days of Giving. For example, upcoming giving days include Colorado Gives Day in Colorado, GAgives Day in Georgia, and Give to the Max Day in Minnesota. Even if you don’t have a local giving day coming up in your community, Giving Tuesday is coming up on December 1 as the International Day of Giving, celebrated all over the world to support nonprofits. This week on the Nonprofit Jenni Show, we share an example of a local giving day fundraising campaign, and talk about four reasons nonprofit leaders shy away from Giving Tuesday.

Why Some Nonprofit Leaders Hate Giving Tuesday

When I host workshops or seminars for nonprofit leaders about Giving Tuesday, I often see a lot of eye-rolls in the crowd. Many Executive Directors, board members, and even Development Directors feel burnt out on Giving Tuesday because their campaigns from prior years didn’t meet fundraising expectations.

Last year, I decided to make a podcast episode all about the top 4 reasons that nonprofit leaders hate Giving Tuesday. I found that behind each reason, there was some sort of misconception about how Giving Tuesday works (or should work!) and I wanted to challenge these negative perceptions.

You can read my blog article about why I believe nonprofit leaders should give Giving Tuesday another chance!

You can also listen to my reasons on this week’s podcast episode called “What’s the Deal with Giving Tuesday and Local Giving Days?”

Example of Local Giving Day: Colorado Gives Day

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Some communities host local giving days (sometimes called days of giving) around the end of the year, and you may choose to host a fundraiser for your local giving day instead of, or in addition to, hosting a fundraiser for Giving Tuesday. I love local giving days because they’re usually hosted by a local community foundation or a local nonprofit resource center, and the hosting organization usually offers extra incentives to help motivate your team and supporters to reach your year-end fundraising goals. The hosting organization also usually offers lots of free resources to help you plan your fundraiser.

For example, Colorado Gives Day falls on December 8 this year -- one week after Giving Tuesday. On Colorado Gives Day, nonprofits have the opportunity to earn extra revenue from the Incentive Fund. The more money they raise on December 8, the more revenue they can potentially earn from the Incentive Fund. Also, ColoradoGives.org provides lots of free training and planning resources for nonprofit leaders to help them prepare for the big day.

In this week’s podcast episode, I interview Lindsay Phelan from the Ray of Hope Cancer Foundation to ask her for some insight about how she planned her Colorado Gives Day campaign last year. Here were some of her big takeaways from 2019:

Use targeted social media posts.

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Lindsay says one of her organization’s most successful marketing tactics for Colorado Gives Day was advertising on Facebook. She believes some nonprofit leaders are intimidated by Facebook ads because they think the ads will be very expensive. However, Facebook only has a minimum requirement of $5 per ad, and small dollar amounts can go a long way!

One of the benefits of advertising on Facebook is you can target very specific, niche audiences with your posts. For example, Lindsay shared a story about a cancer patient in Colorado Springs who had received support from Ray of Hope Cancer Foundation, and targeted the ad so it would only show up for people living in Colorado Springs.

If you’ve never “boosted” a Facebook post before with an ad budget, or if you’ve tried before without much success, try using Nonprofit Jenni’s short guide: How to Boost a Facebook Post. This guide uses screenshots to walk you through every step of boosting your Facebook post, including how to target the right audience for your story.

Make it easy for your key supporters (including businesses!) to spread the word.

Ray of Hope Cancer Foundation already had some strong relationships with local businesses prior to Colorado Gives Day last year, and Lindsay asked the business owners and managers to help promote their giving campaign. She also asked her board members and other key supporters to spread the word with their personal networks.

Lindsay equipped Ray of Hope’s business partners, board, and other ambassadors to promote Colorado Gives Day by sending them resources ahead of time. For example, she sent them sample messages they could tweak, copy, and paste to their social media accounts and in emails to friends. She also sent them images and infographics to post.

Don’t forget to thank people!

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At Ray of Hope Cancer Foundation, the Executive Director set aside time to personally call and thank every donor who gave a gift on Giving Tuesday. Lindsay mentioned that if your ED or CEO doesn’t have time to do this, you can have your board, volunteers, and other staff members make personal thank you calls. Lindsay also mailed donors a thank you card with a little insert that encouraged donors to follow Ray of Hope on social media.

It is super important to make donors feel special after Giving Tuesday! Giving Tuesday attracts lots of first-time donors who only give small donations, but these first-time gifts do not reflect the donors’ capacity to support your organization in the long-term. Make sure they feel appreciated now so you can continue to engage them in the future!

Take advantage of resources that are already available.

One of the benefits of getting involved with Giving Tuesday and local giving days is they offer so many resources to help you build your campaign. If you don’t feel like you have time to create a campaign from scratch, leverage the resources that are already available at GivingTuesday.org, your local giving day’s website, and even with the resources I offer!

I put together a step-by-step planning toolkit for your Giving Tuesday campaign -- and it can be easily modified to fit a local giving day, if you choose to go that direction instead! The toolkit includes:

  • Suggested timeline to help you create and promote your Giving Tuesday fundraiser

  • Examples of successful past Giving Tuesday campaigns

  • List of free resources and templates you can modify to fit your campaign theme

Schedule a Free Call with Jenni to Talk Through Your Marketing Challenges

I would love to take a look at your social media profiles, website, and other marketing materials to help you find new ways to improve your storytelling and calls-to-action! I offer a free half-hour call to all social sector organizations so we can identify some realistic goals and action steps for your marketing, management, and development plans.

If you need more strategic, ongoing support, I would love to chat with you through biweekly coaching calls! I also offer several free and affordable DIY resources to help you walk step-by-step through the planning process for your marketing and fundraising strategies.