Last year, Giving Tuesday raised almost $3.1 billion, and over $1 billion of those donations came from online.
Here’s what that means: In order to make the most out of Giving Tuesday, nonprofits need to ensure that all of their digital tools, platforms, and strategies are set up for success.
In this blog, we’ll cover several ways any nonprofit can increase donations and mission awareness using creative technological tools, tips, and tricks.
Donation Pages and Forms
Donation forms are essential to gathering contributions on Giving Tuesday. But, in order to maximize donations, it’s not enough to create and publish one and hope for the best. In order to increase contributions, be sure to:
Write an Impact Statement: Giveffect research found that nonprofits who add an “impact statement,” or a description of where the funds will be going to their donation form, have a higher average donation and a 5%+ increase in donors who cover the fees.
Pre-Check the Cover Fees Box: Giveffect research also shows that when the “cover the fees” checkbox is pre-checked, the number of donors who cover them jumps by 15%+.
Make the Checkout Process Easy: An express checkout on a website for a for-profit business can increase mobile sales and donations by up to 55%. For nonprofits, simplifying form fields on your donation page can encourage donors to complete the donation process and not abandon their donations.
Optimize for Mobile: According to research, 25% of donations happen on mobile devices. That’s why when nonprofits incorporate mobile-responsive design into their websites, they can increase their donations by a whopping 126%.
Make the User Experience Clean: Just like in the for-profit world, where excessive clicks lead to cart abandonment, ensuring that your fundraising or donation page is clean and simple is essential.
Accept Multiple Payment Methods: Long gone are the days when you only paid with cash or check. Today, donors want flexibility and control — in fact, statistics show that when it comes to online giving, donors like to give via credit or debit card, PayPal, wire transfer, or even digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Improve Page Load Speed: When a page is slow to load, there’s a potential for lost revenue — and for nonprofits, this is much the same. According to research from Google, visitor bounce increases by 32% when a page takes more than three seconds to load. Before Giving Tuesday, make sure all of your forms and sites are quick to launch.
Make it Shareable: One of the biggest ways that nonprofits bring in revenue on Giving Tuesday is through social media. That’s why it is essential that your fundraising page be easily shared and that supporters be encouraged to spread the word.
Prompt Matching: 78% of match-eligible donors have never been made aware of the matching gift opportunity. This Giving Tuesday, be sure to close the awareness gap by “Including a search field on your donation form as a way to inform your donors about matching gifts, pique their interests, and collect valuable employment information — all while still keeping them engaged during the giving process,” says Double the Donation’s Senior Partnership Specialist, Grace Green.
Offer Tribute Giving: According to research, 46% of nonprofits offer tribute giving, such as memorials and birthdays. Nonprofits who added this ability were pleasantly surprised: 52% of organizations who did so raised more money than they expected.
Switch Up Your Calls to Action: Lots of donors are used to seeing the same calls-to-action your donation forms. This Giving Tuesday, experiment with different copy, and consider using a first-person viewpoint, which research shows improves click rate by 90%.
Offer Flexible Giving Options: Studies show that donors want to be in control of their money. One of the best ways to give them that sense of control is by allowing them to give several different ways, at multiple increments. For example, your online fundraising page should offer pledge installments with flexible plans tailored to each donor’s preferences.
AI
While AI shouldn’t be used for everything, machine learning can be a great way to enhance fundraising efforts. This Giving Tuesday, lean on AI to help you:
Forecast: “With AI you’re not just keeping pace, you’re truly staying ahead. Think of it like having a crystal ball. AI can help you reveal emerging trends and forecasting, which can help your nonprofit stay ahead of the game,” says Carly Evans, Senior Nonprofits Partnership Manager at The Giving Block.
Identify and Segment: Artificial intelligence can be used to automatically identify potential donors based on their giving history, demographic information, and interests. This is essential for organizations that want their Giving Tuesday messaging to be extremely targeted for maximum fundraising potential.
Personalize Engagement: Generative AI tools such as Giveffect’s AI Writer can be used to further enhance personalization, allowing each recipient to receive a customized message based on their contact data. Personalization, of course, can go a long way with convincing donors to give.
Email is one of the most common ways that nonprofits prompt donations on Giving Tuesday which means that organizations are often competing for inbox space and attention. To stand out to supporters, be sure to:
Use Urgency: One of the best ways to increase conversions on your Giving Tuesday email is to add a bit of urgency. Countdown timers, for example, can boost action by 30%.
Make it Personal: Personalization goes a long way. Instead of sending out generic emails that don’t include donor names — in either the subject line or in the greeting — send emails that address supporters individually, which research suggests can double email open rates.
Create Eye-Catching Subject Lines: 33% of users choose to open emails because of catchy subject lines. When crafting your Giving Tuesday appeal, consider writing subject lines that will stand out to readers, don’t sound like spam, and encourage action. You might even add a question in your subject line, a strategy that boosts open rates by 50%, or by including numbers, which boosts open rates by 17%.
Include Visuals: Another essential piece to creating the perfect email fundraising appeal is to pay close attention to the inclusion of non-text media like videos and photos. Emails with graphics have a 1.12% higher click-through rate than emails without any and including videos in emails can boost click-through rates by 65%. For nonprofits, this might look like including photos of beneficiaries, behind-the-scenes videos, and more.
Be Mobile-Friendly: When creating your emails, it’s essential to use software that allows them to be viewed easily on mobile devices, where the majority of donors are most likely reading them. According to research, 46% of email is opened on a mobile device, and if an email is not designed for mobile, it’s likely to be deleted in under three seconds and as many as 15% of users will unsubscribe.
Text to Give
Donors are on their phones — and they want to give on their phones, too. This Giving Tuesday, when setting up your text-to-give campaign, it’s essential to:
Add Incentives: To encourage more donations via text-to-give, offer coupons or extra perks for donors who participate. Plus, make sure the coupon has an expiration time in order to create a bit more urgency.
According to research, 79% of people said that they would increase their usage of mobile payments if discounts or coupons were offered. If possible, partner with mobile payment providers to offer these incentives.
Build Community: Though Giving Tuesday is all about collecting donations, sometimes, attracting new donors for longer-term engagement is more lucrative. When leveraging texting on Giving Tuesday, consider asking people to join a subscriber list instead which would allow you to engage, convert, and cultivate constituents in the future.
Use Texting to Leverage Email: Supporters are inundated with Giving Tuesday emails during the holidays. To make your campaign stand out, add texting to the mix — M+R found that adding text messaging to an existing email fundraising program can increase the amount of revenue raised per person by 30%.
General Tips
Aside from optimizing your email and text-to give campaigns, and your online fundraising pages and forms, there are plenty of tricks nonprofits can use across the board to maximize engagement and donations this Giving Tuesday. When creating your appeals, be sure to:
Consider Copy: A study found that the use of second-person pronouns, such as “you, your, yours” was associated with a 10% increase in engagement. When crafting your appeal, make sure that your copy isn’t focused on your nonprofit but on the donors themselves.
Target Volunteers: Volunteers who spend their time helping your organization’s progress are often forgotten when it comes to Giving Tuesday appeals. However, volunteers are actually some of the most fruitful donors: research shows that 76% of volunteers would also donate to an organization.
Use Ads: The online nonprofit space — including social media and search results — is crowded. Using targeted ads, however, can boost visibility. For nonprofits, the return on ad spend was highest for search ads, at $2.75 for every dollar spent. Return on ad spend for display was $0.33, $0.50 for Meta, and $0.41 for Twitter.
Leverage micro-influencers: For nonprofits with small social media followings, especially those just starting out, one of the best ways to get more visibility and possibly more donations this Giving Tuesday is by teaming up with micro-influencers. In the for-profit world, 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations. This provides nonprofits with some valuable insight: collaborating with an influencer can convince more people to contribute to your cause.
Deploy gamification tools: Another foolproof way of increasing attention to your Giving Tuesday campaign is by introducing a few gamification elements, like countdown thermometers, rewards, and prizes. When these added features are included, engagement can increase by as much as 100-150%.
Facilitate Non-Cash Assets Giving: Giving non-cash assets is a huge emerging trend that nonprofits should take advantage of. But, many nonprofits don’t because of the intricacies of accepting them. To capitalize on this form of giving, partner with a platform that facilitates non-cash donations like DAFs.
Maximize Your Donations this Giving Tuesday with Giveffect
There are lots of ways that nonprofits can bring in more funds this Giving Tuesday than ever before — from optimizing fundraising pages to leveraging a few copy tips and tricks.
With all-in-one software like Giveffect, nonprofits can take advantage of all of these strategies, in one place. From launching a fully optimized peer-to-peer campaign, to giving donors the option to give pledges, DAFs, one-time gifts, or recurring contributions, Giveffect lets nonprofits accomplish everything they need to — all from one platform.