The #GivingTuesday Holiday Wrap-up: Bigger Gifts in 2013?
	Posted by Guest Blogger at Dec 16, 2013 07:00 AM CST

This article was written by guest author Tori Bundy, Senior Account Executive, Digital Media at CDR Fundraising Group.

Since its launch on November 27, 2012, there has been plenty of chatter circulating about Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is the day of philanthropic giving that began last year in response to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail shopping holidays.  So, did the day of giving gain traction in 2013?

In 2012, over 2,500 nonprofits participated directly in the program, while countless others executed their own independent campaigns. Blackbaud reported that over $10.3 million was raised on Giving Tuesday in 2012, a 46 percent increase from the same Tuesday the year before. Twitter users across the world also sent over 50 million tweets promoting Giving Tuesday, resulting in record breaking trending on the platform.  

After these numbers were posted, there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not the trend would carry into 2013. Since this year’s Giving Tuesday, which fell on December 3, nonprofit marketers have been eagerly crunching their numbers to answer that very question.

Here at CDR Fundraising Group, we have finished compiling our numbers and are happy to report that our clients saw great success with their 2013 Giving Tuesday campaigns. This year, our clients generated a total of $233,635 compared to $41,062 in 2012. From emails to promoted posts and tweets to website lightboxes, we tested a number of different outreach methods to try to capitalize on the giving holiday. The best success was seen via Giving Tuesday email campaigns and lightboxes that were launched on clients’ websites. Across all clients, we saw an increase in average gift, overall response rate and total funds generated this year compared to 2012.

Over 10,000 nonprofits participated directly in the Giving Tuesday program this year, and thousands more executed their own campaigns. Blackbaud reported that online giving was up by 90 percent ($19.1 million) compared to 2012. Also, many major corporations highlighted Giving Tuesday and encouraged the public to give. Google hosted an all-day “Hangout-a-thon,” an online telethon encouraging users to donate. They also created a Giving Tuesday Google+ page, which highlighted particular organizations throughout the day.

Here are a few learnings from our experiences this year:

• You don’t have to wait for Giving Tuesday to ask, but keep the focus on the end game. If you are planning to run a lightbox campaign, there’s no need to wait until Giving Tuesday to go live, but keep the donation call to action general. You don’t want to risk losing your potential donor’s attention by asking them to wait a few days to give—strike while the iron is hot! Running the lightbox all weekend will generate buzz and capture donor traffic that might have otherwise been left untapped.
• Get the word out about your campaigns through social media, and ask your donors to share reports of their gifts online. At its heart, Giving Tuesday is a social media-based movement, so make sure you are in the conversation as much as possible. Use the #GivingTuesday hashtag, or even come up with your own hashtag for your specific campaign.
• As always, ensure your messaging about Giving Tuesday is consistent across channels. Use a focused, integrated approach for that day, and tailor the messaging to perform for each channel you plan to market in.
• Once you get the donor to click, make sure it’s as easy as possible for them to make that gift. Keep your donation forms simple and easy to interact with on a desktop, tablet or phone. You hooked the donor, now make sure to get that gift!

Many Giving Tuesday critics have stated that the holiday is simply front-loading gifts that would have come in during the holiday season anyhow, arguing that marketers shouldn’t ask donors to give on a particular day for this reason. In November, Blackbaud reported that through October, online giving was up 4.4 percent compared to 2012. Although the full 2012/2013 comparison report is not in yet, this is a good sign. Retail marketers face the same conundrum in asking shoppers to execute purchases on specific days, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but in most cases their numbers are on the rise year over year as well. We can only hope that Giving Tuesday increases an overall trend and focus toward more widespread charitable giving.

While we don’t expect donors to be lining up outside the doors of nonprofits on the eve of Giving Tuesday next year to ensure they will get their gifts in, 2013 provided proof to the idea that Giving Tuesday is primed to continue breaking records from year to year.