Have you heard of Giving Tuesday? Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks for the blessings in our lives. Black Friday and Cyber Monday kick off the holiday shopping season. Then there’s Giving Tuesday which, as you may guess, is all about giving – this time to nonprofits. Founded in 2012, Giving Tuesday will be celebrated this year on December 1st. What began as a partnership between New York City’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation has grown into a day of giving that engages over 30,000 organizations worldwide. It’s a big deal.
If you visit GivingTuesday.org you will find toolkits, case studies, and ideas. The website has suggestions for donors as well as nonprofits. The section on “ideas” is rich in suggestions for how families, businesses and schools can get involved. There are even ideas for city-wide engagement.
Tips for nonprofits. Learn everything you need to know to launch a Giving Tuesday campaign. There’s a link to the Knight Foundation’s Giving Day Playbook which includes so many tools helping ensure a successful Giving Tuesday campaign. The playbook includes sections on planning, outreach, day-of logistics, follow-up and assessment, and resources. This playbook is an excellent tool. It covers just about everything: processing payments, sample tweets, crisis management… GivingTuesday.org has suggestions to increase year-end giving, and links to download logos and graphics that you can modify to integrate your logo or use as is.
If you haven’t yet started, it’s not too late.
Tips for donors. Giving Tuesday has a Great Giving Toolkit that includes topics such as “How much can I afford to give?” and “How will my donation be used?” and “Does my company offer a matching gift program?”
The toolkit is about more than Giving Tuesday – it can help you throughout the year. As a donor, you will get inspired by so many emotional appeals that grab your heart. As you review these, consider how each nonprofit fits into your plan for giving. What?!?! A plan for giving? Yes, we recommend thinking through your philanthropy. Set aside money to give based on emotion, whim, or because a friend asks. But be sure to set your priorities. Most of us have experienced a “shopping hangover” in January as we open our credit card and bank statements. You can also having a “giving hangover” when you realize exactly how much you gave in “small gifts” and the extent to which you forgot to focus on nonprofits that are important to you and your family.
Check out www.GivingTuesday.org for more information.
Don’t forget to include #GivingTuesday as part of your social media!
Copyright 2015– Mel and Pearl Shaw
Mel and Pearl Shaw are the owners of Saad&Shaw. They serve the nation’s nonprofits. For help with your fundraising visit www.saadandshaw.com or call (901) 522-8727.
