GivingTuesday celebrates the generosity of the people who connect with our organisations’ missions. 

Celebrating that connection is a great opportunity for cultural fundraisers to tell a compelling story and thank supporters.

GivingTuesday falls early in the season of holiday campaigns. Whether you’re preparing for the global day of giving, or thinking about another seasonal ask, here are four things to think about to get you prepared.

1. Set goals 

This doesn’t necessarily mean setting a financial goal — although you should always consider how any campaign can help you reach your targets. Think about the reasons you want to join in GivingTuesday this year. Is it to promote donor retention through using the platform to say ‘thank you’? Is it an acquisition opportunity, nudging your audiences and visitors to make that first gift? Is GivingTuesday an opportunity to push a particular project you’re fundraising for?

Whatever your reason, defining it makes it much easier to measure your success and create clear messaging.

Practically, Tessitura can help you set and measure that success. If you’ve been involved in GivingTuesday in previous years, take a look at year-on-year reporting to determine a benchmark. Utilising Tessitura’s robust fundraising structures, you can also easily measure the efficacy of this year. Having a thoughtful Campaign, Fund and Designation structure, as well as an effective Appeal and Source structure, is key. Watch this webinar to review our recommended practices for campaigns, funds, and designations. 

Having an effective structure also feeds into your reporting. Tessitura Analytics can visualise your efforts, and enable you to make data-driven decisions on your next fundraising steps. Check out our Getting Started Guide to learn how.  

2. Identify your segments and channels

GivingTuesday is a great platform to showcase philanthropy to a wider audience and promote giving en masse. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about who you are reaching out to and how. Your long-time donors or regular supporters need to be thanked and communicated to in a different way from how you might target ticket buyers or local communities. Think about how each segment might like to celebrate this day with you – is it always an ask? For inspiration, take a read of my colleague Kate’s great blog post about donor segmentation. 

Ensure you have robust messaging across all of your channels — email, website, social media — and get involved in the hashtags for the day itself. Joining in elevates your message publicly by making you a part of a global voice.

3. Make sure it’s easy to give

It is so important to check your donation flows on your website. Promoting any sort of giving means that making a donation should be as easy as possible. Do you have an obvious donate button from your home page? How easy is it for a customer to make a gift, or add a donation to their transaction?

Consider utilising a quick giving tool to remove any barriers. Our One-Page Giving feature ties seamlessly to your website and to Tessitura, allowing you to make a branded donation ask for your campaign without requiring a patron to log in. With Tessitura Merchant Services, a new solution for integrated payments, the giving experience is frictionless with true one-page checkout and saved credit cards.

Tessitura also integrates with Donate2 to provide the public with the ability to make quick donations.  

4. Say thank you 

Thanking your donors, members, audiences and visitors is vital. Ensuring that the public knows you are grateful tells a positive story about the impact of their support. That, in turn, allows us to elevate the importance of philanthropy, not only in December, but all year round. 

Think about the different ways you can celebrate your donors. This might be a public thanks via social media, and/or you may want to do a mass thank you campaign via email. Alongside this, you should always be thanking your donor personally whenever they make a gift. Take some time to review how Tessitura can support your donor acknowledgements — having a robust, yet personalised process is key to thanking your donors in a timely and effective way.

If your donors can’t join you for in-person stewardship events, you can still provide your donors with virtual thank you experiences. If you’re live streaming any events, think about adding on some donor- or member-only content, or bring your donors together for a private evening of digital content. Read my colleague Paul’s article to learn how Tessitura and TN Express Web can help you deliver a smooth patron experience for virtual stewardship. 

•     •     •

GivingTuesday is also providing some great resources across our regions to ensure you’re ready to take part.

Resources for the UK can be found here:

givingtuesday.org.uk >

Resources for the United States can be found here: 

givingtuesday.org >

Australian organisations should check out their regional page: 

givingtuesday.org.au >

Top photo by Diego PH from Unsplash.