GivingTuesday: Unlock Key Fundraising Strategies

What is GivingTuesday?

GivingTuesday, often described as a global day of giving or a global generosity movement, is held each year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. On GivingTuesday 2024, nonprofits in the U.S. alone raised a record-breaking $3.6 billion.

Many consider GivingTuesday the day that kicks off the giving season. It directly follows three major shopping days: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. GivingTuesday draws the focus away from consumerism and instead highlights generosity and the giving spirit.

Because it usually falls in late November or early December, some nonprofits use the day to launch end-of-year giving campaigns. These campaigns maximize donors' final tax-deductible donations for the year, and nonprofits benefit from the generosity of supporters who wish to make a positive impact during the holiday season.

‍

‍

When is GivingTuesday 2026?

GivingTuesday 2026 will be Tuesday, December 1. The date is always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving each year. Because Thanksgiving is the fourth week of November, GivingTuesday either falls on the last Tuesday of November or the first Tuesday of December.

Upcoming Giving Tuesday Dates

Why is GivingTuesday spelled that way?

The giving movement is stylized as GivingTuesday or #GivingTuesday because of its roots as a social-media-based giving movement. Here are the variations you might see:

What is the history of GivingTuesday?

According to GivingTuesday.org, this day of giving was founded in 2012 by New York’s 92nd Street Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation to encourage people to do good. In July 2019, GivingTuesday spun out into its own organization, led by GivingTuesday co-founder Asha Curran as its CEO.

Why do nonprofits participate in this global day of giving?

Outside of awareness days, days that are significant for individual causes or organizations, or national or international crises, there are few opportunities for nonprofits to drive significant attention among a larger audience in just 24 hours.

GivingTuesday presents nonprofits with a day full of opportunities. Because many members of the general public now know what it is and may even set aside money each year to donate on that day, it’s the perfect chance for nonprofits to highlight their missions, solicit donations, and gain new supporters.

Since nonprofits have varying resources, an organization’s involvement may be as simple as sharing a single social media post or sending an email newsletter.

‍

‍

What are the best ways to raise money on GivingTuesday?

When it comes to developing your GivingTuesday campaign, there’s no shortage of ideas. Your campaign should be attention-grabbing and engaging for supporters. A few effective, engaging campaign ideas include:

• A peer-to-peer fundraiser where supporters create personalized donation pages and collect gifts on behalf of your organization
• A text-to-give campaign where your organization sends supporters a link to your online donation page via text message
• A pledge drive where you gather pledges from supporters, who promise to fulfill the donations by the end of the year
• A social media fundraiser where you share links to your donation page on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
• A direct mail campaign where you send letters to supporters with compelling images and fundraising requests

To simplify the giving process, streamline your organization’s online donation page. This page should only ask for necessary information, such as donors’ names, contact information, and payment details, to ensure supporters follow through.

To drive traffic to this page, use a variety of call-to-action (CTA) buttons throughout your website to make your donation page easy to find. For example, on GivingTuesday, you could include a variety of time-based CTAs that update hourly, saying “There are only X number of hours left to help us reach our GivingTuesday goal! Can you chip in $5 right now?”

Tips for running an effective GivingTuesday campaign

No matter which fundraising strategy you use, there are standard best practices you should follow to maximize your GivingTuesday campaign results. Keep these tips in mind when developing your GivingTuesday strategy:

1. Start planning early. The more you spread the word about your GivingTuesday campaign, the more money you’ll be able to raise. Start planning your campaign a few months in advance (we recommend starting in September) to have a clear game plan for developing your fundraising ideas, branding your campaign, and promoting your giving opportunities.
2. Set a goal. Assess your past GivingTuesday performance to set a reasonable but ambitious goal. For example, if you raised $30,000 with last year’s campaign, you might set a goal to raise $40,000 this year.
3. Set a communication schedule. Create a plan for sending an email series to supporters in the weeks before GivingTuesday. Share impact stories with photos and videos of the community members who will benefit from their GivingTuesday donations.
4. Reach out multiple times on GivingTuesday. Generate awareness and enthusiasm on the giving day itself by staying active on social media and sending one or two emails throughout the day. You can also use a tool like a fundraising thermometer on your website to showcase progress toward your goal.
5. Share your appreciation. Ensure donors know how much your organization values and appreciates them by sending out immediate thank-you messages after supporters give. After GivingTuesday concludes, send out another, more detailed thank-you email with information about whether you met your goal and how you’ll use donations going forward.

With these guidelines in mind, you can plan an effective GivingTuesday campaign that sets the groundwork for future donor engagement.

How Bloomerang supports successful GivingTuesday fundraising

Bloomerang is a unified giving solution that offers fundraising, donor management, and volunteer management solutions in one robust platform. On GivingTuesday 2024, nonprofits using Bloomerang raised a record $52 million, a 32% increase from 2023.

How did they do it? They leveraged our purpose-built software platform designed to support every stage of the donor journey and promote retention. Features that helped their causes include:

• Customizable donation forms that lead to a 55% increase in conversions
• Abandoned gift reminders that help turn an additional 5% of form visitors into donors
• Peer-to-peer fundraising tools that make it easy to host virtual or in-person events on GivingTuesday
• Automated donor journey features that enable timely, targeted messaging on GivingTuesday
• Reporting and analytics features to track GivingTuesday success and identify donors who are likely to give major gifts or become recurring supporters

Schedule a Bloomerang demo today to see how our solution can work for your unique GivingTuesday needs.

The bottom line

GivingTuesday is a day that encourages people to give back in whatever ways they can. It presents nonprofit organizations with the chance to raise even more money than they would on an average day, which is why many organizations create special campaigns to participate.

For more GivingTuesday tips, check out our GivingTuesday Resources for Nonprofits.