Go on. Tell me I’m crazy.
Tell me that Giving Tuesday is the most magical wonderful thing that ever happened to your nonprofit.
If it IS NOT, there might be a few reasons why.
Here’s why I’m not doing giving Tuesday this year.
1. Why do this all on one day? Is your message just going to be lost in the white noise of Giving Tuesday?
Hey. I get it. You have a lot of other things going on. That big year end event. Those grant reports that are due. And Giving Tuesday can often just be an afterthought tagged onto the start of the year end appeal cycle of emails and letters and phonecalls. So. if you’re not doing the work to make your message stand out- you’re just going to be one in a SEA of asks to your donors. Why should they give to you NOW? It doesn’t make sense to ask at the same time as everyone else. You’re just more noise.
Why do what everyone else is doing, at the exact same time? Is the message that you’re sending, “We all need money at once” really going to resonate with your donors? Or are you going to just be another one of the throng?
Are you really gonna go jump into Giving Tuesday because “everyone is doing it”?
2. Is this really the moment? Are you gonna get new donors from this?
Well, unless you have a community foundation helping drive people to your giving page- or a major news outlet, or another big push with earned media, you’re not going to get a significant number of new donors. Some community foundations offer support to their grantees to do this right. They help people send out emails to their list, and help them keep people engaged all year round.
3. Once you get Giving Tuesday, do you have a plan in place to keep them?
No? Then why bother? How do you keep people engaged after the event is over? Do you have a story you’re telling? Are your emails going to give donors a sense that the story is progressing with their help? No? Then what the heck!
4. Giving Tuesday fundraising isn’t just about the money, and if you think of it that way, you’re sunk.
But we got $5K from it last year! You say. To which I say… how many of those donors gave again the next year? The point of giving Tuesday is not money. Money comes and goes. It’s about starting and building relationships.
OK you say, Mazarine, what am I gonna do instead? Give me an alternative to Giving Tuesday.
Gladly.
Hey. Even if you’re the most organized nonprofit in the world, why not ask when no one else is asking? Look at these numbers, below.
According to Blackbaud, we’re sending more emails than ever before. We’re getting decreased open rates and click through rates.
So clearly, sending more emails about Giving Tuesday isn’t the answer. What is?
Try this instead.
Making everyone in your organization a fundraiser.
What if you took 2 weeks per every 6 months, spent the first week teaching everyone how to make a major gift ask, and the second week going out and doing it?
That’s right, I’m talking program staff. I’m talking about getting the receptionist to make the ask. Not just the board. Not just the fundraising staff. When you teach everyone, you help everyone own their responsibility to fundraise. And you show them it’s not this big scary thing. It’s a skill. It’s something that can be learned. And once they see, twice a year, how to do it, you’ll be teaching them not just how to ask, but how to tell the story of the organization, maybe even tell THEIR story with the organization, and be year-round ambassadors for the cause.
And all of those major gift asks can make EXPONENTIALLY more for your organization, PLUS train your staff to build relationships, PLUS be more personal and face to face with YOUR community. It’s the opposite of the faceless giving Tuesday email. It’s extreme personalization.
Do you want help to make everyone in your organization a fundraiser? GIVE ME A CALL. 503-673-3863. Let’s get started!