Written By Liz Blaszkiewicz
When I worked as a marketing team of one in a small nonprofit, I often wanted to throw in the towel on Giving Tuesday efforts. My inbox was filled with messages – not just from nonprofit organizations – but from countless companies asking me to participate in their philanthropic efforts.
It felt like maybe Giving Tuesday just wasn’t our day. Maybe you feel that way, too. Trust me… it’s OKAY if Giving Tuesday does not work for your organization. But, that doesn’t mean digital fundraising doesn’t work for you!
Not every organization will raise big bucks in the crowded post-Thanksgiving philanthropic landscape, but every organization can benefit from adding a digital component to their annual fundraising activities. Why? Because digital fundraising has some key advantages:
- Genuine Voices – At their best, digital fundraising efforts give our best advocates a chance to talk about our mission and highlight why they support it to new audiences. These organic testimonials on social media, email, and beyond can inspire action and drive impact.
- Accessibility – It is a best practice to keep our giving levels or suggested tiers low for digital giving efforts. This is because we want to make the decision to give easy! We want everyone, even those with relatively low capacity or experiences with our organization, to feel that they can contribute to our mission. In addition to making giving feel accessible to all, digital offers us a set of tools that can make our content literally accessible at low or no cost. Digital tools offer translation, captioning, screen reading, and other features that can help to share our mission with diverse audiences.
- Tangible Impact – Digital fundraising gives us the chance to show the impact of every dollar raised. Digital giving platforms often provide us with buttons and giving levels that help us to underscore the impact of smaller gifts. In addition, tools like matches and goal thermometers can help our audiences to clearly see their collective impact.
What can you do instead of, or in addition to, a Giving Tuesday campaign?
- Crowdfunding – We often think of crowdfunding as a personal campaign for medical expenses or tragic events. But really, crowdfunding is a tool that can be used to meet any urgent, specific need.
- Peer-to-Peer Challenge – If you have an activated group of alumni, volunteers, or board members, this style of digital fundraising campaign can help you to take advantage of their enthusiasm.
- Virtual Event – Some organizations thrive with event fundraising. However, events can be costly. When we host virtual events, we can leverage the advantages of digital fundraising. Share easy QR codes or direct links to give, share clear impact through rich video content, and give your best advocates the chance to speak on your behalf.
- Online Auction – If your board or volunteers thrive at gathering in-kind donations, this can be a fantastic option for a digital fundraising campaign. Online auctions are often easier to run than event auctions, as they do not require staff to support credit cards or check receipts.
- Giving Day – If Giving Tuesday isn’t the day for your organization, you may just need to pick a different day. Consider what time of year your audience is most engaged. For summer camps, this may be heading into a summer. For higher ed teams, this may be ahead of a homecoming. Giving Days give us the chance to capture our audience’s attention when there is less competition.
Want more thoughts on Giving Tuesday? Check out our free Giving Tuesday resources.
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