#GivingTuesday is TODAY!

#GivingTuesday is here!

  • Last Thursday was Thanksgiving here in the USA.
  • Last Friday was “Black Friday,” the day retailers hope to sell enough to end the year in the black.
  • Yesterday was #CyberMonday, the online retail version of Black Friday.
  • Today is #GivingTuesday! (Backed by the United Nations Foundation, Giving Tuesday is intended to be a global phenomenon.)

Does #GivingTuesday spur giving?

It sure does! According to the #GivingTuesday site:

In 2012, we had more than 2,500 recognized #GivingTuesday™ partners from all 50 states of the United States. The collective efforts of partners, donors and advocates helped fuel a marked increase in charitable giving on GivingTuesday.

Blackbaud processed over $10 million in online donations on 11/27/12 – a 53% increase when compared to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving the previous year. DonorPerfect recorded a 46% increase in online donations and the average gift increased 25%. More than 50 million people worldwide spread the word about GivingTuesday – resulting in milestone trending on Twitter. Not too shabby, right?

What’s your Giving Tuesday plan?

Do you have a plan for Giving Tuesday? This year there are around 8000 registered partners. But you don’t need to be a partner to ride the wave.

If you don’t have a plan, here are two options for today.

  1. Jump in and ask

    You can use #GivingTuesday as an excuse to ask your supporters to support your cause. This is perfect for your social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, probably even LinkedIn.

  2. Support others to get a feel for next year

    An equally good, and not mutually exclusive, thing to do today is to support other nonprofits. Use your person and organizational accounts to support others in your sector. Social media works really well when you start promoting other people’s posts. And this will give you an inside look at how other nonprofits respond. Take notes on what you like and what you don’t like so you can be prepared 2014! (Hint: next year’s #GivingTuesday will be December 2, 2014

You stand to benefit from #GivingTuesday

More and more media outlets are talking about #GivingTuesday. This is good news for you, even if you’re not doing anything special for it this year. The more your donors hear about #GivingTuesday, the more they’ll be spurred to think about year-end giving.

So when they get your year-end fundraising letter, the chances are good they’ll have already done more thinking. I really think #GivingTuesday is one of those rare things the benefits everyone.

How are you celebrating giving today?

In the comments below, tell us how you’re celebrating Giving Tuesday!

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