#GivingTuesdayNow:
What is it and how do you make the most of it?

By Addison Rothrock, Senior Development Consultant at Perry Davis Associates

Even Giving Tuesday has pivoted in response to COVID19 and its impact. While it’s traditionally the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, #GivingTuesdayNow will take place on May 5th.

GivingTuesday encourages people to be inspired by a spirit of generosity – giving their time, skills, and dollars to causes that they are passionate about. How can we harness that wonderful spirit at a time of fear and uncertainty?

Whether you’re focused on COVID19 relief or facing the critical needs of “the day after”, here are two ways you can cut through the noise and leverage this movement for your cause:

Pack a Punch in Your Crisis “Post-Crisis” Narrative

Because the motivation for #GivingTuesdayNow is the international pandemic, you may think that if your organization isn’t directly related to healthcare or explicitly impacted then your voice isn’t welcome.

We don’t necessarily agree. Just as our personal lives have been disrupted by this pandemic, every nonprofit’s activities have been impacted at varying levels of severity.

Craft your #GivingTuesdayNow narrative in such a way that…

1. builds empathy and shared purpose,
2. locates your organization within the crisis,
3. educates your audience on how your activities have been affected,
4. informs your audience on how you have responded or any wins you have achieved during the crisis,
5. connects what your organization has become during this crisis with what your organization will need to be “post-crisis”.

We are all eager to figure out what life will look like “post-crisis”. If your organization is struggling to locate itself within the pandemic narrative, focus on why the world will need you when we are over the hump.

Employ Extraordinary Strategies for Extraordinary Circumstances

Whether this is your first time participating in GivingTuesday or your eighth, here are a few strategies you can employ in the week preceding May 5th:

Prime the pump: Alert your donor base of your plans to participate in #GivingTuesdayNow. Equip them with the tools to participate alongside you. Encourage them to share your social media posts or create their own and tag you. On the technical side, ensure that your donation page and other donation mechanisms are prepared. Determine where you will direct people to donate and remain consistent in this call to action across all communications.

Personalize your voice: Recruit varied stakeholders to feature you on their personal social platforms. When you both identify and diversify who is talking, your request is no longer conveyed dispassionately. Instead, you are involving the prospect in a real community, asking them to rally around your organization. But social media campaigns and mailings pale in comparison to the impact of picking up the phone and calling your major donors. Having a personal conversation on the phone makes a big impression, especially in an already saturated online world. Get your board members to make the call and have an honest dialogue about how you can help each other,

Make the ask specific: Don’t use this global day of giving as a tool to do general fundraising. Help your donors feel like they are making an impact by fundraising for something specific. Hone in on one measurable program that you can easily report on in the coming weeks.

#GivingTuesdayNow is a tool to drive a spike in generosity for your mission. Don’t let it pass and don’t assume you can’t be a part of it. This global day is about all of us uniting together to do some good in this crazy world. Now is the time for giving!

Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. I would love to chat with you and figure out how we can help you achieve your fundraising goals this #GivingTuesdayNow and beyond.