How Automation Can Save Your Giving Tuesday Campaign

While every nonprofit organization may feel pressure to reach their fundraising goals, this pressure can be especially high at the end of the year. While more than 30% of charitable giving happens in the month of December, many nonprofits kick off the giving season by mailing year-end appeals before Thanksgiving.

Giving Tuesday is another key opportunity to engage donors during the end-of-year season. Planning ahead is key to not letting this special giving day feel like one more task to check off your list.

As we enter the final quarter of the year, fundraisers may rush to get direct mail appeals to the printer and in mailboxes. Crafting a letter that will stand out to donors among the stack of letters can feel overwhelming.

Amid this work stress, many people are planning for the holidays with their families. Calendars overflow with activities, and people are juggling their busy personal and professional lives.

The end-of-year fundraising strategy demands attention. However, fundraisers know that a Giving Tuesday campaign can improve this fundraising success. This global movement invites people on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving to consider acts of kindness to others.

This might include donations or volunteer time at nonprofit organizations in their community. GivingTuesday also encourages others to share stories of their kindness to inspire others.

It can be hard to convey joyful messages of giving when the team is feeling overwhelmed, short on time, and less than creative. Fundraising automation can support fundraising teams in year-end fundraising efforts.

Fundraising Automation for Nonprofit Fundraising Success

AutomateGenius can help fundraising teams automate personalized emails to prospective donors and loyal constituents. It can also streamline gift processing when gifts arrive.

Plus, it can send time-saving notifications to your team. It can ease the burden of this special giving day and let your fundraising team focus on what matters most.

Fundraising automation can be a cost-effective solution with a great ROI.

What is Giving Tuesday?

According to Newsweek.com, Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a “global generosity movement.” Each year, Giving Tuesday takes place on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.

On this day, participants show their kindness to others through volunteer time and charitable donations. Many Giving Tuesday participants post about their charitable deeds and how they positively impacted others online using the hashtag #givingtuesday.

The posts increase organic reach and spread awareness. Online sources predict that organizations could raise over $3.5 billion on Giving Tuesday in 2024.

The gifts made on this day and the acts of service performed by volunteers positively impact many lives. Nonprofits can participate in Giving Tuesday for little cost, making it a worthwhile endeavor.

This special day of giving uses email and social media. However, staff time is a genuine cost of participation. Though technology cannot replace staff, automated solutions can assist with efforts.

Having a donor database to capture information is a good first step. Consider adding additional tools to assist your team this Giving Tuesday.

How can Giving Tuesday help with Donor Retention?

According to key findings from the Q2 2024 Fundraising Effectiveness Project insights on the Giving Tuesday website, there has been a “Decline in Donor Participation: Donor numbers have dropped by -3.9% year-over-year, with smaller donors ($1-$100) showing the steepest decline (when accounting for late data).” Giving days like Giving Tuesday have the potential to re-engage these donors.

Since many people create organic content on this day, nonprofits can maximize the impact by ensuring they are part of this special giving day. This peer-to-peer element of Giving Tuesday can also aid nonprofits in donor retention, particularly with their donors who routinely make smaller contributions.

Giving Tuesday may be an important part of donor acquisition, reaching donors through social media posts who may not be receiving nonprofits’ direct mail appeals or newsletters. Nonprofit organizations should be sure to capture contact information for new donors.

Once you collect information, AutomateGenius can help you create a welcome series of automated details and ensure that the data in the database remains accurate and updated. It can assist with many steps of data clean-up and donor communication.

Giving Tuesday Campaign Ideas

Like any good fundraising campaign, personalization of donor communication is key. Beyond the salutation, donors want to feel like the hero of the story.

Present donors with a problem they can assist in solving in their community and ensure this thread continues through email and social media posts.

Before you begin your Giving Tuesday campaign ask your team:

What is a problem we have that donors can help solve?
Do we have a solution that can send personalized emails to our entire donor base?
When donations come in can we thank donors quickly and ensure accuracy of gift acknowledgements?
Can we notify the team when gifts arrive, whether we inform gift officers when a donor in their portfolio gives or the nonprofit president when we receive gifts of $500 or more?

While most nonprofit teams can quickly produce a need their nonprofit has, it can be trickier to say yes to the other questions. Fundraising automation can aid in merging data for personalized emails, sending gift acknowledgements, and sending notifications to team members.

Learn more about automation tools in this live demonstration: Fundraising Automations: Work Smarter, Not Harder – Prenger Solutions Group.

Giving Tuesday Email Examples

While direct mail appeals are still king in the world of fundraising, Giving Tuesday is a special giving day where email communication and social media posts work well. Crafting an attention-grabbing subject line might be the key to a successful email strategy.

Nonprofit organizations should adapt subject lines for specific groups of prospective donors. Email messages should stand out among the inboxes full of email marketing about holiday shopping.

Consider segmenting donors into these groups:

Major donors
Board members- consider peer-to-peer fundraising as part of their messaging
LYBUNTS and SYBUNTS
Members of giving societies
First-time donors

Once you have created donor segments consider what messages will resonate with each group. You may also want to look at from whom the messages come. For example, will members of the President’s Circle be more likely to respond if the email message comes right from the president of your organization?

Request board members to share an email message or a special social media post explaining why they choose to be involved with your organization. After all, board members give of their time all year, and this is an incredible contribution that may inspire others.

When crafting an email campaign consider including these emails:

Leading up to Giving Tuesday send a Save the Date email
Giving Tuesday day of event Call to Action email
Email late in the day sharing results and reminding donors there is still time to give
Thank you email and gift acknowledgement

Other special considerations for your Giving Tuesday fundraising campaign

Since these donors traditionally give online, consider sending their gift acknowledgement via email to save on postage. Sending thank you letters and tax receipts by email can save time and postage, especially when you use fundraising automation.

Include social media buttons on all communication so donors can spread the word about their impact on social media and inspire others to give. Online campaigns can be a terrific opportunity to acquire new donors.

Consider how your nonprofit stewards first-time donors. AutomateGenius can assist in setting up a welcome series of emails for first-time donors. A welcome series can help with donor retention, a critical factor in long-term fundraising success.

Great donor communication can help turn first-time donors into recurring donors and help with donor engagement.

Ensure the online donation page includes information about this special giving event and that potential donors can easily complete their donation form. Remember to capture contact information so your nonprofit can stay connected with new donors this holiday season and throughout the year.

Communicate with donors about matching gifts and remind them to check to see if their employer matches contributions. Matching gifts are an excellent way to increase fundraising success.

As a bonus, adding fundraising automation as part of this giving season can kick off innovative ideas to use automation throughout the year. Automation solutions can assist with on-going needs like database clean-up and regular communication to donors.

Technology can also assist with setting customized ask strings for every donor in your direct mail fundraising appeal. AskGenius makes customizing ask strings easy.

This specialized solution uses giving history, wealth research, and behavior science to raise the sights of donors and raise more money for your nonprofit mission. It truly takes the guess work out of how much to ask of each donor.

With fundraising automation in your fundraising toolkit, Giving Tuesday is just the beginning of a successful end-of-year giving campaign. Start planning your Giving Tuesday strategy today.

Keep Going with End-of-Year Giving

Fundraising automation tools can be a fundraiser’s new best friend, assisting with many functions of the development department. Automation does not replace the staff but allows opportunities for your team to spend time on high-value activities like in-person donor visits.

Learn more about successful end-of-year giving with The Fundraiser’s Essential Guide to End-Of-Year Giving – Prenger Solutions Group. Or take the leap with fundraising automation and sign up for a free consultation.