This year, GivingTuesday takes place on November 29, 2022. After the madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, comes GivingTuesday, a day to focus on supporting non-profit organizations and their missions. While Canadians still see Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and GivingTuesday as predominantly American events, Canadians are increasingly participating with an astonishing $43.6 million donated in a 24-hour period during last year’s GivingTuesday.
Participation in GivingTuesday is shown to help non-profits in their efforts to fundraise and raise awareness for their cause. One statistic showed that charities that participate in GivingTuesday raise 27x more on GivingTuesday than non-participants.
If you are part of an Edmonton non-profit organization and you’d like your non-profit to participate in GivingTuesday, getting started is easier than ever thanks to the wide range of free resources.
Graphics
Canva is a free user-friendly online graphic design program. This year, GivingTuesday Canada has created easy to edit templates for websites, social media posts and printable items. Several of the templates are also multilingual making them accessible to a wider audience.
https://www.canva.com/p/givingtuesday/
Social Media
The hashtag #GivingTuesday yielded 20 billion social media impressions within a 24-hours period last GivingTuesday.
One of the most important things Edmonton non-profits can do to amplify the audience for their social media posts and messages is to use the official hashtags #GivingTuesday and #unselfie, and by using location-specific hashtags like #yeg (Edmonton) #shpk (Sherwood Park) #leduc, and #stalbert.
If you don’t have time to post on social media, using a free platform such as Buffer will allow you to pre-schedule social media posts for up to 3 social media accounts.
More than 30% of Gen Xers donated to a cause because they were prompted by an email from a non-profit organization.
For step-by-step templates and best practices on how to structure a GivingTuesday email, check out: https://www.onecause.com/blog/12-giving-tuesday-templates-email-social-media-and-text/
Digital Knowledge
The holidays are the busiest time of the year for most fundraisers. Prepare for the holiday fundraising with the Getting Ready for the Holiday Season webinar and by paying attention to the “3 Bs.”
Be there early: consumers and donors plan for the holidays
earlier each year. Charities need to plan and activate early.
Be there often: develop a steady drumbeat of content (paid and unpaid) to
remain top of mind.
Be personalized: understanding your best audiences and how to speak to them
differently.
By diving into key tools in the Google suite, non-profits can get ready for the
giving season and make sure they’re driving traffic the right way.
Getting Ready for the Holiday Season can be viewed on demand at:
https://forcharities.canadahelps.org/charity-blog-posts/webinar-getting-ready-for-the-holiday-season
As this is an intermediate level webinar, watching the earlier webinars on Google Analytics and Search are recommended. Both of which can be found here: https://forcharities.canadahelps.org/resources/webinars.
Fundraising
The best way to fundraise on GivingTuesday is through online platforms. Whether through your non-profit’s website portal, Paypal, or Facebook’s fundraising tool, allowing people to donate when they have the impulse to do so, means it’s more likely your Edmonton non-profit is to benefit from GivingTuesday.
For more information on setting up the Facebook fundraising tool visit: https://www.facebook.com/help/1640008462980459
Don’t focus on fundraising alone – Ask for volunteers
GivingTuesday is a great time to let people know your non-profit is recruiting volunteers!
Corporate team volunteering can be excellent for one-off large-scale events (eg. fundraising casinos) that you are trying to staff.
Asking corporate donors for specialized-skill volunteers, such as accountants, lawyers, and communications specialists.
Post your volunteer position(s) on Volunteer Connector (hyperlink https://www.volunteerconnector.org) for free and match with your ideal volunteer.
Tips and useful info
The audience for GivingTuesday is broad, however, donors tend to skew younger.
GivingTuesday can be a great time to launch your holiday fundraising campaign!
Don’t stop at GivingTuesday. Donors who have given to your cause are more likely to give in the future. Reaching out (with proper CASL consent) could be beneficial to your Edmonton non-profit throughout the year.