Giving Tuesday – a quick guide for charities

Giving Tuesday

What’s Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday originates from the US, as a counterbalance to the commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday – all happening just after the national Thanksgiving holiday.

It’s a generosity movement that encourages ‘doing good’ and fundraising for charities.

And it’s about volunteering time, giving money, sharing skills, giving goods or buying from charity.

There’s a simple message that people share – that they are #proudtogive and charities can get involved with this global campaign just before the run up to Christmas.

What does it do for charities?

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has this year taken over the UK control of running and supporting the campaign, and recognises it’s value for smaller charities because of it’s large-scale potential to reach supporters drive awareness across the public.

“Last year over £20 million was raised for good causes in the UK on #GivingTuesday.”

– UK Fundraising

As the campaigning is much more established across North America, it’s worth taking a look at some examples that show how it can work on a large scale, with big targets, as well as what it can do, when starting out from zero involvement.

Peer to Peer Fundraising – the Ronald McDonald House in Toronto beat their fundraising goal and raised over $100,000 CAD, by shared heartfelt stories and call donors to action around Giving Tuesday campaign via online fundraising platforms and customisable social media pages. 

Storytelling – the Younique Foundation, an abuse survivors charity has previously presented their fundraising through the lens of storytelling. Showcasing survivor stories, and messages of impact. These, connected to the fundraising goal of helping a set number of survivors is a deeply compelling motivation to give. Plus, this charity secured a matched giving bonus that was pledged by a private donor up to a total of $100,000. Philanthropy in action!

Social Media focus

The Orchard Project

 

The Orchard Project is a wildlife and orchard preservation charity is using Giving Tuesday to focus attention onto their fundraising causes through simple and direct messaging on social media.

Ataxia and Me

 

Ataxia and Me is a healthcare charity ran and founded by patients. They’re promoting Ataxia awareness through Giving Tuesday on social media – to raise knowledge of this rare disease that affects balance speech and coordination, and gather support via donations.

How to get involved?

There are plenty of blog posts and articles already written by fundraisers to get the brain in gear to start planning campaigns:

Managing expectations

Let’s be frank, 2023 is going to be a difficult year for charities.

Read our thoughts on fundraising trends and opportunities in the year ahead – and get prepared for next year’s Giving Tuesday ahead of time.

Book a demo

Ask us for a demo of our Donation Station, or tell us what you want to achieve with your fundraising. 

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Who are GWD?

We help socially-minded organisations transition to digital systems, building stronger relationships through impactful products and services.

Our experience goes back two decades, with a foundation building and providing critical digital services and products for the financial services and retail industries.

With a long-proven ability to handle challenging projects and a team of trusted experts, we work hard to solve problems and deliver change that helps others.

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Donation Station Lite

Discover our latest range of contactless products

The Lite range features two of our most accessible products; the Pocket and the Express.

Built with simplicity in mind, these small-scale, portable devices are ideal for collecting donations on the go. 

Attract Loop

Part of the Donation Station’s key visual design features, the Attract Loop are screensavers purposefully designed to run on a loop. Created by GWD with your input, they use visuals or photography, plus an emotive call to action, to catch the donors interest and lead them towards donation through interactive storytelling.

Customisation

The entire Donation Station is open to branding, from external display to on-screen logos, photography and your brand look and feel.

Our design support service can adapt visuals and graphics to suit your brand.

Wifi or 4G/5G Data SIM

Where you need it, the Donation Station can be supplied with Data or Wifi connectivity.

If using the device in a remote location or at an event, it’s worth considering the signal strength available – GWD can support you to ensure there’s a smooth running operation on the day.

Safe & Secure

All data is transmitted with full encryption, so you can be sure that all individual donor data is safely used, in accordance with GDPR regulations.

Choice of Donations

Giving choice on where the donor wants their money to be spent empowers them further. The Donation Station asks this question and gives charities freedom to present their causes and activities as separate campaigns.

Gift Aid Up Sell

An integrated Gift Aid function on all Donation Stations helps boost fundraising a further 25%. This tax relief can be claimed from HRMC from any donor that supplies their contact details and makes a declaration, as a UK tax payer. The Donation Station is designed to encourage and secure this additional fundraising income easily, through simple reports that can be downloaded and submitted to HMRC as part of a Gift Aid claim.