Giving Tuesday is 12 days away. Are you ready?
Whether you’re almost done with prep or seriously behind the eight ball, here are some flourishes and finishing touches you still have time to implement.
1. Open Your Donation Form As Soon as Possible
If people want to give early, let them. Several nonprofits are inviting their donors to make their Giving Tuesday gift now – there’s no time to waste in making the world a better place!
2. If You Have a Match, See If You Can Name the Donor
In a DonorsChoose.org experiment last December, when the org tested sending an email promoting the Gates Foundation as the match donor, the emails that mentioned the Gates Foundation converted 43 percent better than the control. Read more about it in the Giving Tuesday Lab‘s What Motivates People to Respond to a Match Offer?
Naming the donor publicly isn’t a deal breaker. An anonymous match is still better than no match. And a $2-for-$1 or triple match has worked very well for many nonprofits on Giving Tuesday.
3. Get Your Graphics Ready
Have at least 1 general Giving Tuesday graphic ready to go, sized correctly for each of your social networks. If you’re graphically challenged like me, try Canva. Social media image templates are part of the service!
Beyond the basic GT graphic, here are a few types you can prepare in advance:
- Progress (50%, 75%, 100% and CRUSHED IT – New Goal!)
- Time (12 hours left, 6 hours left, 3 hours left!)
- Thank you (gratitude is always a good sentiment to share on social)
- Impact graphics ($5 = 1 tree; $50 will vaccinate 10 children)
Wow! Halfway to our goal of 15 scholarships! Only a few hours left for #GivingTuesday! https://t.co/Q5XLGekGdY pic.twitter.com/qAPWVBjZg4
— GirlsOnTheRun STL (@gotrstl) December 1, 2015
Don’t forget the Giving Tuesday logos and the Unselfie Toolkit.
4. Get Lots of Social Posts Ready and Schedule Them
Write and schedule multiple social posts to help you build and sustain momentum throughout the day. Use some of those graphics you just created! You’ll be grateful for a little auto-pilot help on this day, but definitely leave room for spontaneous updates, reactions, and demonstrations of appreciation.
5. Give (and Enable) Gratitude on Social All Day Long
Photo Credit: https://flic.kr/p/BvWMG
Monitor your social channels for mentions, shares, and comments. Like the *&^$%C out of supporter posts, retweet/reshare/regram, and leave a comment showing your gratitude for their support. Follow up your thank you with a “what was your main reason for giving today”?
AND, make sure that you write social share language for your DONORS to share after they give online. Many online donation systems include a social share option that you can customize on the donation confirmation page, and you can customize the text in the donation confirmation email to include social share language.
6. Make It Easy for Your Board and Staff to Promote Your Campaign
Write an e-appeal and social posts (you’re already doing the work for your own social channels) for your board and staff to share. Email it to them, or better, ALSO put the info up a web page so you can direct anyone to it – volunteers and advocates and family members! – to use it as a resource.
7. Send An AM and a PM Email
Sending one email in the morning isn’t going to cut it. It’s a start – resend your morning email with a lift note that conveys urgency and updates supporters how the campaign is doing. You often get a whole different set of people opening email in the morning vs. the evening.
For more advice on resends, see my post Should You Resend an Email to Non-Openers?
What are your last-minute tips for Giving Tuesday success? Leave us a comment to inspire your fellow nonprofiteers!
