Fundraising is vital for any nonprofit, regardless of budget or size. This is why an event like Giving Tuesday is so exciting!

This year Giving Tuesday falls on December 3, 2019. It may seem early, but now is the time to start thinking about how your nonprofit will get involved with Giving Tuesday. How you take part in Giving Tuesday will depend on the size of your nonprofit, availability of resources, and your priority for the campaign. Fewer resources don’t equal an unsuccessful campaign. Use the four tips below to help develop a Giving Tuesday campaign that works within your budget and time constraints.

1. Plan Ahead

You shouldn’t wait until the turkey is roasting in your oven to start your Giving Tuesday campaign. It’s never too early to start prepping your social media plans, press releases, and email content. The more you prepare in advance, the smoother Giving Tuesday will seem on December 3. 

As a small nonprofit, it is crucial to know the amount of time and resources that you can give to a campaign. Ask yourself the following questions to guide your Giving Tuesday campaign.

• What is your fundraising goal, and is it realistic? How will you use those funds?
• What resources do you have that you can allocate towards Giving Tuesday?
• Who will be in charge of the campaign and the campaign timeline?

The answers to the questions above will help your team better understand your campaign goals and priorities and guide future actions. 

Participating in Giving Tuesday can seem overwhelming as a small nonprofit. If you haven’t been involved in Giving Tuesday before, don’t worry! The Giving Tuesday organization has a free, no-sweat online toolkit. The toolkit includes samples of press releases, easy to use graphics, and more!

2. Promote

Promotion should begin 2-3 weeks before Giving Tuesday. People won’t know about your campaign unless you tell them. Here are some tips that small nonprofits can use to get the word out. 

Before you do anything, choose a featured message for your Giving Tuesday campaign. Creating a focus will help your potential donors understand your organization’s goals and the potential impact of their donation. Use that message to craft your promotional material. 

Tie in the message to stories from your community and nonprofit. Small nonprofits are heavily involved with their communities. Use that connection to share examples of your nonprofit’s positive impact on community members.

This may seem obvious, but make it easy to donate. Create a fundraising site or donation page that is simple and easy to navigate. Your donation page should include information about your campaign and an explanation of how the money will be used. Your donors want to know who and how they are helping on Giving Tuesday, don’t make them dig for that information. Once you finish your donation page, link it everywhere! On your social media, in your email newsletter, and especially on your website. 

Share your message on social media! We don’t need to tell you that social media is an easy and inexpensive way of reaching your audience. You can increase your visibility by using the #GivingTuesday hashtag on social media. Last year, the hashtag created over 14.2 billion impressions. That’s a lot of potential for reach. 

Share your progress. Throughout the campaign, update your donors and followers on the campaign progress. People are more likely to donate if a nonprofit is close to achieving its fundraising goal. A progress report can be a helpful reminder to your followers who may have forgotten to take the time to donate.

3. Don’t forget to say “thank you”

New donors and repeat donors alike want to be thanked for their donation. Take the time and evaluate how you want to follow up with your donors.

Expressing your gratitude can be as easy as sending out emails or creating a thank you video on social media. Although a high-quality video is great if you have the resources, it is not necessary. Take a video or photo of your team, and post it to social media, thanking your donors for their support. You can even use this as a way to prompt your followers to use #GivingTuesday on their own social media. If they do, remember to reply and share those posts to show your support for their contribution. 

4. Keep the momentum going

The giving doesn’t need to stop when Giving Tuesday ends. Did you know that Giving Tuesday is just one example of a giving day? Giving days are 24-hour fundraising challenges hosted online. The goal of giving days is to bring groups of people together around a specific event or cause. Although #GivingTuesday is the most well-known and global giving day, you can check to see if there are also local giving days coming up near you! As a small nonprofit, local giving days can be a successful way to ease into giving days, while also participating and benefiting your community.

One example of a local giving day is GiveNOLA Day, presented by the Greater New Orleans Foundation. The philanthropic institution was able to raise over $5.9 million, a 10% growth from last year. GiveNOLA day benefited 751 regional nonprofit organizations in the Greater New Orleans area.

Your amazing nonprofit deserves all the press and donations it can get. Use GivingTuesday to your benefit this year with the tips above.