Should Your Nonprofit Still Do Giving Tuesday During Covid?
7 Giving Tuesday Campaign Ideas You Can Use Now
If you have come here looking for an answer to that question – should nonprofits still do Giving Tuesday during Covid – you probably already know the answer deep down. Let’s answer with a question:
Do the people or the cause you are raising money for still need help?
They do. And yes, you should.
We’re in the business of fundraising for a better world. That’s why you signed up for this. Well, the world still needs help, and just because a little pandemic tried its best to ruin life for everyone doesn’t mean we throw in the towel on one of the biggest fundraising days of the year.
What’s really behind this question is uncertainty. Should you do something different this year? Are you worried about asking people for money during a pandemic? Does it seem tone deaf?
My goal today is to help you move past any uncertainty you may be feeling about Giving Tuesday in 2020 because of the uniquely terrible year this has been for just about everyone.
Giving Tuesday Data Update – Still Bucking the Trend
Many people have mistakenly (so far) predicted Giving Tuesday would be a fad that would come and go. So far, the data has proved them wrong year after year, with increasing levels of ‘wrongness.’
Every year so far has broken the previous year’s giving totals. 2019 was no exception, raising $511 million in online donations, well beyond the $400 million in 2018. Though it’s harder to calculate, estimates that include offline giving state that Giving Tuesday donations actually came close to $2 billion in 2019.
What’s notable about this, according to recent Giving Tuesday data, is that overall giving has trended downward the last two years. Fewer Americans have donated, and the total amount donated has decreased a bit. Whatever may be causing that, the point is that Giving Tuesday donations are trending in the opposite direction.
Image by David Zydd from Pixabay
Fewer donations happening overall, but more and larger donations on Giving Tuesday.
And previous studies reported on this blog have found that nonprofits acquire more new donors on Giving Tuesday than regular days – including the end of the year – and that many of these new donors convert to monthly giving.
Plus, if other nonprofits are pulling back on Giving Tuesday this year, all the more reason you should be leaping forward. Be out there where others fear to tread, and you will reap the rewards and further advance your mission.
What Should We Do Different for Giving Tuesday 2020?
Many nonprofits initially retreated from fundraising when Covid arrived back in March and governments started shutting everything down. Those organizations that did not give in to this fear did very well, including ones that ProActive Content works with. One small organization that had never done a June fundraiser did one this year and raised over $25,000 in two weeks, mostly with email and social media, but also with some print and digital ads.
The point is, it was a mistake to pull back on fundraising in the spring, and it would be a mistake to pull back on Giving Tuesday.
But, you should not fundraise as if the world is the same as it always was.
Be clear on how Covid has disrupted your ability to advance your mission and help the people you have committed to help. Because Covid has disrupted everything, you don’t need to hide that. Use it as a reason to donate.
The need is probably greater this year than ever before. Don’t focus on the fact that unemployment is around 10%. Remember that this means about 90% of people who want to be employed, are. Many of those people do have money and want to give. The people who care about your mission will want to continue supporting it.
Don’t take that chance from them on Giving Tuesday!
For your Giving Tuesday campaign, you might choose not to focus on Covid, and that’s okay. You just need to acknowledge its presence, and how it has changed everything. Be part of the conversation people are having in their own lives.
How Do We Get Through This?
It’s a stressful, chaotic, overwhelming time. As the founder of ProActive Content, this has honestly been the worst year of my life. And not just because of the reaction to Covid.
It’s hard to focus on work. Hard to meet deadlines. Hard to stay motivated.
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
What can you do as an organization?
Two things:
- -Care for your staff
- -Keep donors focused on the difference they can make
Let’s look at both in brief.
Governments will continue to let us down. That’s not a political statement. It’s a universal observation of what’s happening around the world. No amount of planning or preparation could have stopped this. It’s affecting every country in the world. And I’m withholding my personal views on the matter because this isn’t the place for that.
But your staff needs support – more than ever. Before Covid even hit, a recent report found that 51% of fundraisers plan to leave their jobs within two years. That’s a terrible indictment of an industry that isn’t caring for its own as well as it should be.
I believe nonprofits should go so far as to reduce their ‘program’ budgets for this year and increase compensation and attention for their employees. Keep your people healthy and appreciated. Go through this with them. Strengthen your community during this time. Will that affect your Charity Navigator rating? So be it – few of your donors use those types of services anyway.
And for donors, redouble your efforts to focus them on the impact they will have when they give on Giving Tuesday.
The needs haven’t stopped, and the difference they will make by giving will be even greater than normal, for many organizations.
Tell them this. Show them this.
Share current stories, new stories that incorporate the present conditions in the world. Give donors new reasons to give.
When You Ask for Donations – Be Specific
The worst call to action is to ask donors to ‘keep funding our cause,’ or ‘keep supporting us through these difficult times.’ Bleah.
Don’t do that.
Get specific. What needs are going unmet unless more people give? Who is suffering right now that the donor can help? How will their donation help them?
The key to successful Giving Tuesday campaigns that ProActive Content has run has always been immediacy. The more immediate and specific the needs, the more people respond.
7 Giving Tuesday 2020 Campaign Ideas
As a fundraiser, your job is to find a way to communicate those needs. Here are a few key elements to include in your Giving Tuesday 2020 campaign.
- Present-day story (or stories) of people in need
- Clear statements about how giving will help solve that need
- Set a goal for a specific dollar amount
- Repetition – don’t just ask once. Send multiple emails. Post frequently on social.
- Start sooner than last year. Don’t wait until the day before, or even the week before. Get people excited about Giving Tuesday
- If you can get a matching grant, use it
- Make the call to action specific. “Donate” isn’t good enough. Tie it to the need being met
Get a 4-step fast action Giving Tuesday planning guide – the one we use with nonprofit clients.
Not Pleased with Previous Giving Tuesday Results?
You’ll find nonprofits on both sides of this. Some swear by Giving Tuesday’s greatness; others say it’s not worth the effort.
I submit to you that if you have felt it’s not worth the effort, ask yourself what other organizations might be doing that you aren’t doing. If you don’t like the results you’ve gotten in the past, do something different this year.
If you waited until the Sunday before to send your first email, start sooner. If your emails were really short, make them longer this year. If they were all long, try making some shorter. If you had no photos or graphics, use some this year.
Whatever you did before, do something different this year. But don’t give up!
ProActive Content Giving Tuesday Experience
For the nonprofits ProActive Content works with, we have never heard a complaint about it being too much work. Perhaps you are focusing your energy on the wrong things.
Planning a series of emails and social posts isn’t actually that much work, in our experience.
Especially if you work with us – then we’re doing the work, not you! In fact, we are so confident in our approach that we offer a Giving Tuesday Guarantee to all nonprofits that work with us.
If you don’t raise more money than it costs you to create the campaign, we will refund you the difference.
You are guaranteed, at worst, to break even. In all our Giving Tuesday campaigns, we’ve so far only had to honor that guarantee just one time.
Want experienced fundraising and copywriting help for your 2020 Giving Tuesday campaign?
We have room for only four more campaigns this year. Reach out now and inquire about working with ProActive Content. We WILL make your Giving Tuesday a great experience!
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