Be ready to make the most of the GivingTuesday phenomenon this year! This ‘give instead of get’ holiday season tweeting day has been showing impressive growth results and continues to grow since the inauguration year. (View the latest reports here.)
So what do you need to do to get involved in this social media extravaganza?
GivingTuesday Checklist:
1. Mark your calendar:
GivingTuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. You want to get all your registrations sorted out and
start your advertising and campaign at least a week in advance, before friends are all distracted with the Thanksgiving holiday.
2. Join the official cause:
Go to givingtuesday.org/join/ to register your organization officially with the cause. It will make you part of a global movement and give you access to tools and resources, including a goals worksheet.
3. Get your Twitter account ready:
While you don’t need to be involved with Twitter to participate in GivingTuesday, it is the heart of the program and can help you get a younger audience involved in giving, volunteering, or just learning about your cause. If you don’t have an organizational account yet, now is the perfect time to set it up.
- Designate a staff person who likes social media posting (if she likes doing it, she will post more often and already have a network started) to start an account and start tweeting.
- Start with a simple tweet, like a photo of your work in action – a child reading a book in your library if you are a school, for example – with your hashtag and also the #GivingTuesday hashtag.
4. Connect everyone involved on social media:
- Make sure all your staff, board, and volunteers are invited to follow your account and your campaign.
- Send your campaign to all of your partner organizations.
- Post your site and your GivingTuesday campaign on all of your networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your Webpage, and your WordPress or blog.
Also read: What You Need to Know About Giving Tuesday
5. Send out a press release:
Write a press release to be sent to online news sources and whatever press resources you have. Your press connections want to tell stories on this day about nonprofits in the area taking advantage of the phenomenon – give them a great, heartfelt case story about your work!
6. Get a celebrity:
Celebrities make Twitter what it is. Shakira’s and Bill Gates’ were the two most popular tweets for #GivingTuesday last year. See if you can get a celebrity to tweet your cause.
You may not get Shakira or Bill Gates, but choose someone who has a large following. Perhaps someone in your state or local? Try tweeting them yourself, with an engaging photo of your work. Their press person usually handles their social media and might pick up on your program as a good social cause with which to be associated.
7. Get a company involved:
Lots of companies match employee gifts. Research which ones do so in your area, and see if you can get them to send out a corporate email for your cause! You can also hunt down an employee you know that works there and get him to infiltrate the system himself, by sending an internal email or tweet and/or using his personal social network to link in with colleagues.
Also read: Sample Fundraising Letter for Your Giving Tuesday Appeal
8. Kick off a matching grant:
Ask a board member to offer a matching grant to increase end of year giving, and ask her to tweet it on GivingTuesday as a kick off to the campaign.
9. Set up a crowdfunding page:
Take advantage of crowdfunding and spread the details through social media. Your crowdfunding goal should be attainable and measurable. If you need help picking a crowdfunding service, read 15 Most Popular Online Giving Services.
Whether you need more volunteers, are looking to fund a specific project, or want to increase your small gifts from online giving this end of year, be one of the thousands of charities taking advantage of GivingTuesday!