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#GivingTuesday, The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

Last updated:  November 3, 2021

iWave Blog   

It’s that time of year again, #GivingTuesday will be here before we know it. We’re sure you all have your calendars marked and are starting to think about how to make the most of this important day!

By now you know the premise of the day, to encourage people to do good and counter the mass spending and shopping that comes from Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday was born at the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in New York City in 2012. It is now an independent nonprofit and global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give!  

Last year in the United States, $2.47 billion was donated to US nonprofits by a reported 34.8 million people. That is a whopping 29% increase compared to 2019. And this wasn’t unique. Every year there is an increase in donations directly related to Giving Tuesday, and we want to ensure that you don’t miss your opportunity to  maximize your efforts and create an impact for your organization! 

Related: Complimentary trial of iWave and screen 200 names for free!

Join The Conversation & Share Your Why

Giving Tuesday gets billions of impressions each year on every social media platform. Social media will be bustling on November 30th! Millions of individuals and institutions will be sharing posts about #GivingTuesday. This will lead to a massive influx of traffic to nonprofit web and social pages. To be prepared for this influx, ensure your social media is up to date on things like:

• Where and how to give – ensure your donate now button on your site is visible! 
• About us and Mission statement – make sure readers know your story and how they can help make an impact! 
• Contact us
• Website details

We all know that social media is widely used, and this is a great time to make sure you’re using social media strategically. What do your recent posts look like? What do you want to promote? How can you pull in potential donors through social media? This is your opportunity to bulk up your presence before Giving Tuesday so your potential donors will get a sense of who you are, why they would want to give to your cause, and how they can help you make a difference. Provide an emotional appeal and reasoning as to why your organization does what they do. Show your passion for your cause and how they can get involved!

People know Giving Tuesday is coming, but ultimately they want to know what you’re all about. Be sure to join the conversation! Provide potential donors with reasons why they should give to your cause, and the impact donations make towards your organization and its efforts. It’s also important to make it as easy as possible for donors to give!  

Not just giving on Tuesday

52% of people participating in GivingTuesday say that they’re doing it because they want to be a part of something bigger. Donor retention rates hover around 40-45% across the nonprofit sector. Giving Tuesday is an amazing opportunity to gain long-term donors. Turn those one-time donors into lifetime donors! Now is the time to nurture those new relationships you’ve gained through the power of your mission and GivingTuesday. This takes some tact as you know, but can make a huge difference in recurring donations.

Here are a few ways to nurture your Giving Tuesday donors:

Thank your new or recurring donors!  

Get to know your donors and reach out and let them know that their donation has made a difference. Get creative! Create a video message from your team, send personalized thank you cards, give them a shout-out.

Keep them in the loop

Have their contact information? Put them on your mailing list! This is an easy way for your new donors to keep up to date with you and will only help increase their already existing affinity to your cause!

Follow up in a few months thank them again

Thank them again! Let them know specifically how their donation made a positive impact. Your donors have an affinity towards your cause and will be happy to hear that they were able to make a difference.  

Once you’ve nurtured your donor, go in for additional asks.  

Now that you’ve given thanks and nurtured the relationship, ask again for their help. You’ve put the time in and allowed for a “cooling” period. 37% of GivingTuesday participants give time, goods, etc. 28% of participants give money, and 35% give both! Ask for what you think they’ll be willing to give, whether it be their time as a volunteer, resources/goods, or money! The important thing is to do your research so you get to know them, their interests and passions and capacity to give

Screen and Segment Your Donors

After Giving Tuesday, you’ll naturally want to know more about your new donors, you’ll also want to segment those donors. Though many of your Giving Tuesday donors may not be in the same league as your major gift donors, this is still a great opportunity to look at demographics, connection to your cause, and potential for a bigger gift Look into things like:

• Donors age
• Donation history to your organization
• Donation history to similar organizations to yours
• Overall donation history
• Connection / Affinity to your cause
• Family Connections to your cause

A great way to segment your new donors is to screen them! Screening allows your development team to segment hundreds or thousands of individuals you don’t know much about into a prioritized list of prospects. After screening, you can see if any of your Giving Tuesday donors have a high capacity and inclination to donate additional gifts to your organization!

With iWave, you’re able to customize your experience based on your unique donors, missions, and goals.  Our first of its kind Muti-Lens Modeling feature enables you to see wealth screening results and donor profiles from multiple viewpoints depending on your fundraising goals. With iWave’s Multi-Lens Modeling you can:

• Identify top prospects who have an affinity to your mission and campaigns
• Sort, Segment, and cultivate donors with tailored, targeted messaging
• Save time on prospect research by viewing a prospect from multiple angles
  
• Understand philanthropic interests of your entire database, including smaller donors you may not have had time to fully research
• Quickly adapt when organizational priorities or campaign criteria change

At iWave, we make the segmenting and screening portion easy! Our transparent and customizable results will allow you to plan for your 2022 fundraising goals!  

No matter how you decide to participate in #GivingTuesday, remember that the whole purpose of the movement is building a society with kindness and generosity at the core.