4 ways to build community for GivingTuesday success

GivingTuesday is the biggest fundraising day in the world, and it’s a prime opportunity to kick off your year-end fundraising push with a 24-hour Giving Day event. With thousands of other organizations running GivingTuesday campaigns as well, it’s important that yours stands out.  To attract and keep the attention of your community and succeed with your campaign, your organization needs effective marketing materials, engaging campaign activities, and the right tools to run a limited-time event. 

Here are the four most important strategies and technology tips you can use for a successful GivingTuesday this year. 

1. Align your GivingTuesday event with a region or network. 

For GivingTuesday, your organization can choose to run an individual Giving Day event or participate in a collaborative one. No matter which one you choose, you can connect with supporters by running a statewide or region-based giving day, like #GiveBigPittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA or NEPA Gives in northeast Pennsylvania.  

By keeping your Giving Day focused within a specific region, you can appeal to a group of supporters with personal ties and connections to the participating nonprofits. This means your base will be more likely to become involved and invested in the success of your day.  

Pro tip: Using Bonterra’s Fundraising and Engagement solutions, you can create a branded website that will be recognizable to donors and nonprofits and represents your local community. You can also make that website mobile-friendly so you can reach as many donors as possible, whether they prefer to use a computer or their smartphone to keep in touch or make a gift.  

“We were impressed with Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement’s mobile responsiveness and the ease of the donor experience when making a donation.”
—Christine Herlin, manager of nonprofit and customer relations, I Live Here I Give Here 

For national organizations with affiliates or chapters in different states, like Clubhouse Giving Day and Horizons Giving Day, coordinating your efforts for a nonprofit network Giving Day can be just as powerful. This type of Giving Day was designed to support organizations that operate on a national scale with affiliates or chapters providing services in local communities. Typically, these affiliate organizations are widely spread and vary in needs, size, and capacity, but still work toward a common goal or mission.

2. Recruit peer-to-peer fundraiser participants to spread your GivingTuesday campaign. 

Peer-to-peer fundraising is an effective way to raise awareness for your organization and grow your community. In this fundraiser format, supporters can sign up to fundraise on behalf of an organization by creating a mini campaign that goes toward your fundraising goal. This format helps you access your supporters’ networks of family and friends, which is helpful because if a new supporter sees their friend or family member is involved, they’ll be more likely to give. 

Pro tip: You can simplify your peer-to-peer fundraising for both staff and participants with Bonterra. In our peer-to-peer functionality, which comes standard in all Fundraising and Engagement packages, each fundraiser receives their own toolkit and profile, and their mini campaign donations will come straight to your organization. This centralizes your donor data and makes it easy to trust and understand.  

“Utilizing Peer-to-Peer Fundraising for our Giving Day not only allowed us to engage key stakeholders such as our board of directors, physicians, and hospital staff, it allowed us to greatly expand the reach of our cause far beyond expectations.”  
—Tiffany Bloss, Schuyler Health Foundation, Cayuga Health 

By empowering your volunteer fundraisers with the tools to set their own goals, tell their own stories, and get their networks involved, you’ll be giving them a fun and easy way to support your organization and broaden your reach. 

3. Promote friendly competition. 

Playing a game is a great way to make GivingTuesday fundraising enjoyable and form a community. For organizations using Bonterra, their peer-to-peer fundraisers can form teams. These teams then compete to raise the most money for the campaign. This is an effective — and fun — way to motivate people to collect donations and spread the word about the campaign. 

Consider trying the “challenge” format for your competition. This is when a sponsor offers a gift that can be unlocked by meeting a fundraising goal. Once it has been set, funds will be released to your overall total once your goal has been met. This creates a sense of teamwork among donors to “unlock” those extra funds for your organization. 

Pro tip: Bonterra helps staff keep the energy and enthusiasm up with branded visual tools like leaderboards, campaign tiles, and heat maps that show funds raised and let donors compete to help you reach fundraising milestones. Dashboards that update in real time help staff track your progress toward your Giving Day goals. 

“With Bonterra, we no longer have to run a report to see the progress of our Giving Day. The numbers are updated in real time and quick analysis makes a huge difference!”  
—Danielle Mason, Saint Mary’s College

4. Try a matching challenge.

According to Double the Donation, 84% of people say they’re more likely to donate if their gift will be matched. Consider partnering with businesses, board members, or major donors to launch a matching challenge. These benefactors can pledge to match donations up to a specified amount based on donations received during your campaign. This encourages donors to give more because they’re able to see that their gift can make an even larger impact.  

Pro tip: Fundraising and Engagement packages include our workplace matching gift functionality unique to the Bonterra ecosystem. This lets donors find matches for their gift and make a bigger impact in just a few clicks.  

The impact of Giving Days 

Organizations of all types and sizes can tap into the urgency and community spirit of Giving Days to build their supporter lists, convert that support into donations, and ultimately raise more for their missions on GivingTuesday and beyond. Talk to us to learn more about how Bonterra can help you power your Giving Day.