GivingTuesday is a global day of giving celebrated across the world. In 2022 over $3.1 billion dollars were donated to US nonprofits on GivingTuesday. Any nonprofit and member of your community can take part in GivingTuesday. 

In this checklist, we will cover everything you need to do to take part in GivingTuesday in 2023. 

What is GivingTuesday?

GivingTuesday is a day to encourage people to do good. Every nonprofit can take part in GivingTuesday. Nonprofits run social media campaigns and host in-person events on GivingTuesday. Participants will donate to their favorite organization, share social messages, and/or volunteer. There are no limitations to how you or your supporters celebrate GivingTuesday.

When is GivingTuesday 2023?

In 2023 GivingTuesday will take place on Tuesday, November 28, 2023. 

Since its inception in 2012, GivingTuesday has taken place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States.  With Black Friday and Cyber Monday driving high consumer traffic, GivingTuesday aims for people to give back. 

How Should My Nonprofit Prepare for GivingTuesday?

GivingTuesday’s website has a ton of resources to help you get started. But we will break it down for you here as well. GivingTuesday can work in harmony with your annual appeal. So anything you do to get ready for the giving season will help with GivingTuesday.

1. Decide how your nonprofit will participate 

There are many ways a nonprofit can participate in GivingTuesday. The main way would be to run a giving campaign and request donations. However, this is also a great opportunity to engage with your local community. Sometimes local nonprofits will team up with one another and host a community event. Other nonprofits may choose to rally for volunteers. Or use the power of social media to spread awareness about their cause. Some may choose to do a mix of any of the above. 

2. Plan Your Message

Your message for your GivingTuesday campaign should revolve around your goal. For example, if you are trying to reach a certain fundraising goal make that clear in your message. Give-a-thons tend to do well because of the power of urgency and the feeling of rallying together. Early on, your message should make your goal for the day clear and also how it will make a difference. A powerful message will help drive your GivingTuesday Campaign. 

3. Start Crafting & Scheduling Your Communications

GivingTuesday is most active on social media. But multichannel communications will help get your message further. Multichannel means sharing your message across different communication channels. For example, you might use a mix of email, print, social media, and text messaging.

Create all your content ahead of time so it crafts a cohesive message and tells a story. Then map out when your content will go out. Start trickling in messages about GivingTuesday starting now. Then increase the frequency of your communications until the day of.

4. Develop a System to Track GivingTuesday 2023 Donations

After GivingTuesday you will want to share how much you raised. In DonorSnap you can create new appeals or campaigns for your donations. Label your GivingTuesday campaign something like “GivingTuesday 2023”. This way you can track all fundraising on this day over time. 

5. Get Social! 

Social Media drives GivingTuesday. So you should craft social content to go out on this day and the days leading up to it. GivingTuesday’s website has great templates you can use. Brand your social media content with GivingTuesday logos and templates. Templates and logos are available on their website. 

Also, use hashtags, as this is how people will connect with one another and with your cause. Use #GivingTuesday and #GivingTuesday2023 in your communications. Also, come up with a unique hashtag for your organization. If you are rallying with other local nonprofits, discuss sharing a community hashtag. For example, you might use something like #(yourtown)GivingTuesday. Also, see if there are unique GivingTuesday hashtags for your industry. For example, land conservation, or animal welfare. 

Encouraging your supporters to take part via social media is a great way to expand your reach. Early on in your campaign get your staff, board, and volunteers in the know of how to take part. The more they comment on, like, and share your social content the more it will show up in others’ feeds. 

6. Craft a thoughtful follow-up

A successful GivingTuesday campaign will help spread awareness about your cause. If you are lucky, you will draw in some new donors. It is important to nurture new donors so they don’t end up falling off next year.

To engage new donors, set up a welcome series using DonorSnap’s Automated Task Manager. Automation is a great way to share bite-sized pieces of information over a set period of time. This way you stay top of mind to your new supporters, without overloading them with information upfront. 

GivingTuesday 2023 Quick Reference Checklist

Early November 

1. Map out your content schedule.
2. Start creating your social media content. Pro Tip: GivingTuesday has free social media templates on Canva. 
3. If hosting an in-person event, send out invites.
4. Send out a GivingTuesday announcement. Pro Tip: Use the email template in DonorSnap titled Email Template (Before GivingTuesday), and customize it to reflect your fundraising goals. 
5. Secure any matching gift donors (this will help drive donations).
6. Read through GivingTuesday’s website to get inspiration and download templates.
7. Clean up your email list

Thanksgiving Week

1. Schedule more social media content to go out this week. Build the content to support your overall campaign message and goals. Pro Tip: You can use tools like Later to schedule your social media content ahead of time.
2. Increase frequency of emails this week. Send out an email on Black Friday and Cyber Monday with reminders about GivingTuesday.
3. Print out posters and hang them around your community with QR codes linking to your donation page, volunteer sign-up, or whatever your GivingTuesday goal is. 
4. Make sure all day-of GivingTuesday campaign messages are complete and organized. Many nonprofits are active all day on social media on GivingTuesday, so preparing ahead of time will make sure you don’t run out of content. 
5. If you are hosting an in-person or online event, secure all final details, volunteers, and communications around the event.

Day of GivingTuesday

1. Launch/begin your event, if hosting one. Make sure all staff and volunteers are informed with talking points about your cause and your fundraising goals. 
2. Engage with supporters, whether in person or on social media. Remember, this is a day of doing good, and connecting with your community is a wonderful way to do this. 
3. Send out an email to kick off the day. Pro Tip: You can use DonorSnap’s email template titled Email Template (During GivingTuesday) for this. 
4. Monitor all social posts going out, use hashtags, and reply to comments (this will help with engagement).
5. Send a Text Message campaign with a link to your donation page.

After GivingTuesday

1. Run a welcome email series to new donors (Pro Tip: you can use DonorSnap’s Automated Task Manager to set up a special welcome email series for GivingTuesday donors).
2. Send out individualized thank you letters to donors.
3. Put together a thoughtful public thank you to everyone who helped with GivingTuesday. Pro Tip: You can use DonorSnap’s email template titled Email Template (After GivingTuesday) for this. 
4. Share your goal progress and whether you reached it.
5. Read through all of your analytics and reports to measure the success of communications.

GivingTuesday Resources

GivingTuesday Learning Lab Facebook Group – Connect with other nonprofits and share ideas.
GivingTuesday Toolkit for Nonprofits – Includes a downloadable workbook to plan your GivingTuesday campaign.
Join GivingTuesday networks and collations – Use this map to find local GivingTuesday networks you can join.
Canva Templates – Edit these templates to help share your campaign message.
Facebook GivingTuesday Matching gifts – Learn more about Facebook’s matching gifts.

Summary

GivingTuesday is a day of global generosity. Nonprofits and individuals can participate in any way they like. It is important for nonprofits to set a goal, plan ahead, and engage with their community on this day. There are no limitations on how to participate, and your nonprofit can start small and work to larger campaigns over time. The most important aspect of GivingTuesday is to start thoughtful conversations and connect with individuals using the power of social media.