09/05/2026
Count Down to 12/1/2026
It’s the first week of September. Do you know what that means? That means there are 3 months until the first week of December and Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday started in 2012 to focus on a way for people and organizations to give back to their communities, either through donations or service, during a time many consider a time for generosity and goodwill.
For nonprofits this is a fantastic opportunity for fundraising and telling their stories. People in general are feeling thankful and helpful, and the chances of receiving donations are higher. You don’t believe the bell ringing Santas are out just hoping to get on a local talent show, do you? It is also closer to the end of the fiscal year for many businesses and if they see a non-profit that aligns with their general principles, between November and mid-December, a last minute, tax deductible, charitable donation may be made.
We recommend starting a Giving Tuesday campaign between the beginning to middle of November, which means right about now, you should be starting your campaign planning if you haven’t already. Of course this can fluctuate depending on your organization.
A good Giving Tuesday campaign will:
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• Highlight the positive outcomes of your organization.
• Help your organization engage more with the community it serves.
• Foster relationships with people and organizations that align with your mission.
• Bring financial support.
Good stuff, right? So, how do we make it happen? Like most fund-raising campaigns, this is going to vary based on your organization’s size, location(s), services provided, general work style, and audience focus.
Here are things we focus on:
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• Defining goal(s) and success – Are you trying just to raise money or do you also want to enhance your contact base and promote your services?
• Defining the target audience – Are you going to focus on donors, constituents, or both?
• Name It – During this time of year people are getting inundated with commercials, sales ads, and are trying to do holiday shopping. You want to stand out, so come up with an impactful name for your campaign and use it on your website, social media channels, and printed materials.
• Partners - Are you going to partner with other organizations? Working with trusted partners can definitely enhance your campaign.
• Planning – Are you going to do just virtual/social media activities? Are you going to host or participate in events?
• Do the Work – Create and schedule your social media posts. Reach out to your potential partners to get them on board. Research and schedule any events you are going to host or participate in. Communicate with previous donors, send invites to the events, get airtime with radio/news stations/podcasts, etc. Arrange volunteers if needed.
• Measure Impact – Did you meet your goals? How many visits to your social media channels and website did you get? How many new inquiries about programs did you receive. How many donations did you receive and for how much?
Example:
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Cookies for Grandparents is planning its Giving Tuesday event. (For those of you who haven’t read our blog before, Cookies for Grandparents is our example company first introduced in our elevator pitch blog post - The Elevator Pitch – Going Up or Going Down? https://nonprofit-evolution.com/home-2/f/the-elevator-pitch-%E2%80%93-going-up-or-going-down?blogcategory=Advice) The marketing team sits down at the white board and starts the show.
Where they are a small non-profit, they decide that their primary goal is going to be building community ties. Their secondary goal is to make contact with one or two new organizations and pitch for donations either monetary or in kind to help with their campaign and events. So, their primary audience is going to be constituents and the community.
It takes them a while to think of a name. They finally decide on, “How Our Cookie Crumbles.” It is simple, shows ownership, and takes advantage of a well-known phrase.
In thinking about their planned events, the CEO reaches out to his childhood friend who runs a dairy company. What goes better with cookies than milk? The Development Director has been working on attracting a new corporate donor that delivers food to people, Direct Food Delivery. They get them to donate money and agree to deliver cookies during their campaign for a reduced charge.
It has been decided that the campaign is going to be multi-faceted with a strong social media campaign, event presence and hosting.
Early on, they reach out to the potential partners to make sure they get them scheduled. The social media manager plans a combination of video posts, including a message from the Executive Director and Chair of the Board, messages from staff and customer testimonies, standard text/picture posts with cookie recipes.
Working with the dairy company, they attend a Christmas tree lighting serving up cookies and hot chocolate. They also host a cookie baking contest, inviting some of their key donors to be judges of the contest. Then on the last day of their campaign, they go Christmas caroling bringing bags of cookies, with the Cookies for Grandparents and Direct Food Delivery’s logo on it, to nursing homes.
At the end of the campaign, they give a big sigh of relief as a lot of work had been done. Looking at the campaign results, they found their website and social media visits went up 25%. They received 15 new inquiries about the organization from potential donors. They also managed to get $10,000 dollars in donations and a news article written about them. Overall, quite successful.
Now, we know this example is somewhat simple as we didn’t compare budget to ROI, time spent, etc., but you get the general idea. As said earlier, each campaign is going to be different, have different goals, and different measures of success.
We hope your Giving Tuesday campaign is an immense success. If you would like assistance in any part of your campaign planning or implementation, please contact us at [email protected].
P.S. Any work done on your Giving Tuesday campaign will get a 20% discount as our gift to your non-profit.
Image credit - Pixabay user: geralt
