Oh, the holidays — my favorite time of the year! A special Thanksgiving Day with friends and family, holiday movie marathons on the Hallmark Channel, shopping for holiday gift treats, then #GivingTuesday, an opportunity to give back to organizations that need the most support.
You may be asking yourself a few questions: What’s Giving Tuesday? Is it valuable to our company’s marketing efforts? Exactly whom are we giving to? After all, no one — even profitable businesses — have become poor by giving.
If you’re a veteran to the world of non-profit marketing, you’ve probably been losing sleep for months by now, planning, setting goals, drinking lots of caffeine, reading about how to capture new donors, stressing the importance of retaining your loyal donor base, and preparing for the day after Cyber Monday deals go quiet, aka #GivingTuesday.
To catch up our for-profit industry friends, #GivingTuesday is the single largest giving holiday each year, so you could say it’s a pretty big deal!
In 2019 alone, an estimated $511 million was raised in online donations and a combined $1.97 billion in online and offline donations was raised worldwide. #MindBlown.
What’s the Hype About?
What was started by partner for-profit organizations (go figure!) in 2012 has grown into social activism, utilizing the popular #GivingTuesday to generate noise for organizations seeking fundraising goals to help support their thriving philanthropic efforts. Millions of people and for-profit corporations have generated more and more interest across the world each year.
There’s a Twist
What we affectionately call “influencers” on social media lead followers into these giving efforts, as well. Older generations sometimes prefer direct mailers (and are transitioning to online donors!), but a large #GivingTuesday audience lives within our online social networks. Younger generations don’t typically bestow the highest charitable gifts, but an easy $10 gift through generated social interest in activist efforts drives millions of dollars in non-profit revenue each year. Nonprofits set out to #breaktheinternet on #GivingTuesday and drive the common good of our world to give back.
Be the Change
By now, you’re probably thinking what steps you need to take to create some noise in the digital space on #GivingTuesday for your brand, whether a non-profit or for-profit organization. This is where I love to see businesses collide. Nonprofits seek partnerships with for-profit industries to create Matching Gift campaigns. These campaigns generate anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars in revenue each #GivingTuesday when a for-profit business provides a larger donation that is matched dollar-for-dollar as donors give in smaller amounts. Urgency is driven through these gifts to meet fundraising goals and invites lower-dollar donors to be a part of the change.
So, if you’re a for-profit business interested in creating brand awareness of and exposure to your charitable connections, this would be a great opportunity to reach out and help! Not only will donors recognize your giving efforts, you’ll create a large impact in your nonprofit’s community and trust of others that may become your own valuable lifetime customers.
Mind the Noise
Email, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram. Whether you’re looking for ways to donate on #GivingTuesday or not, these networks are sure to find ways to create noise in these spaces and get your attention. That’s why it’s so important to create brand partnerships to fuel #GivingTuesday goals. The bigger the network, the more noise you create, and more attention you grab.
One more thing. The noise may be most impactful on #GivingTuesday itself, but don’t start generating the noise on the day of. Take time before to highlight your partnerships and ways you’ll be giving back to set your customers and donor base up for giving on the biggest charitable giving holiday of the year. And after the big day, cultivate your customers and donors to thank them for donating. It takes time to build this awareness with your audience, especially when everyone is competing for the same attention, so, get creative! Think about building brand partnerships and the make some noise on #GivingTuesday.
One Last Thought
In the true spirit of 2020, #GivingTuesday in the time of a pandemic, major cultural shifts, tough financial climate, and following one of the most pressure-filled United States presidential elections we’ve ever seen is going to look very different. Do we truly know what the result will look like? No.
Activism across all non-profit sectors is stronger than ever. From disease research to racial empowerment and climate change to feeding hungry children in financially depressed countries, we’re all thinking the same thing: How do we implement change through our marketing?
We’ve talked a lot about brand partnerships and making noise with your #GivingTuesday marketing efforts. But, this noise needs to feel impactful, and one that will drive change. Simply, it needs to make sense. If it does, your customers and donor bases will also feel the impact. #GivingTuesday isn’t always about the generated monetary value. While it helps drive an organization’s financial goals, a great connection is made when unlikely relationships are formed by the bond to stand behind a cause. We’ve made it this far through 2020, and we should all have a goal to end it with some good in the world. Think about that viral 1971 Coke commercial when a group of ethnically and age-diverse people steps up to together sing “Buy the World a Coke.” Brands bring people together, whether it’s to drink more Coca-Cola or donate to make impactful change in the world.
Our team of iFrog marketing experts are ready to create that impactful change and dig into your non-profit connections to campaign plan for this extra significant day during the season of good cheer. We’ll develop a plan for communication, strategize which channels are best for #GivingTuesday marketing, and go the extra step to ensure those lifetime connections formed are not lost after this day of giving.
This year brought the world to a pause and stirred the social cause kettle. So, when you’re creating noise in the digital space around #GivingTuesday, think about creating a connection with your audience to drive more change as we head into 2021, and how your team at iFrog can help.
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