6 Tips for Crafting Engaging Giving Tuesday Social Media Posts

At Classy from GoFundMe, we believe community goes beyond a shared interest in your mission—it’s about people coming together, uplifting one another, and sparking collective action through advocacy and support.

Finding local communities has historically required a lot of time and effort, but thanks to digital advancements, it is now easier. These digital spaces—like Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit—allow people to rally around the causes they care about, share resources, and take collective action, especially during moments like Giving Tuesday. 

With the giving season around the corner, Classy is introducing the first nonprofit Meta integration of its kind to take social sharing to a new level. These tools offer a brand-new social sharing experience on Instagram, designed to not only inspire donors to give back but also empower them to give forward. 

Let’s explore how social media can elevate your Giving Tuesday and larger year-end efforts and why our first-to-market Meta integration should play a part.

Amplifying Giving Tuesday generosity through social media

Given that Giving Tuesday originated from a hashtag, it’s no surprise that the generosity movement garners massive attention on social media. In fact, the #GivingTuesday hashtag generates billions of impressions each year.

While that level of awareness is powerful within itself, research shows that donors don’t just observe—they actively share and engage with fundraisers. In fact, social media plays a significant role in spreading generosity.

Research from GoFundMe and Classy’s Social State of Giving report states that 40% of donors share fundraisers on social media, with Facebook being a top platform for donors of all ages to give. And with roughly 2 billion users on Instagram, there’s a tremendous opportunity to expand your reach by harnessing these powerhouse platforms to engage supporters and tap into their networks.

Why Meta platforms can be your engagement powerhouse

With millions of active users, Facebook and Instagram dominate the global social media landscape. Together, their fundraising tools have helped raise over $8 billion for nonprofits and personal causes, fueled by the generosity of more than 85 million organizers and donors.

According to our Social State of Giving report, 46% of Gen Z believe in sharing donations on social media, but they’re not always sure how to do so. And while this age group is the most active in sharing, they’re also the most uncertain: 20% are unsure who to share with, 16% don’t know what to say, and 15% aren’t sure how to share at all.

Classy and GoFundMe aim to bridge this gap with our new social sharing capabilities with Meta, which will help supporters make these decisions more easily and confidently. These enhancements will also allow nonprofits to unlock entirely new communities and drive more impact this giving season. 

6 tips to boost your Giving Tuesday impact on social media

We know how powerful Giving Tuesday can be for setting the tone for your year-end fundraising. But don’t wait until crunch time—the time to engage your supporters and build excitement around your campaign is now. 

1. Encourage supporters to become brand ambassadors

Your supporters are some of your most powerful advocates, and Giving Tuesday is a perfect time to activate them as brand ambassadors. Encourage them to share personal stories and experiences with your mission on social media to amplify your cause. Make it easy for them by offering prewritten captions, images, videos, and hashtags they can post quickly.

With our Meta integration, brand ambassadors can more easily promote your nonprofit’s campaigns and fundraisers on Instagram, leveraging dynamic content that encourages their followers to engage and participate. 

There’s also an opportunity to cultivate impact creators into brand ambassadors. These creators have the power to inspire others, particularly younger donors, to support the causes they champion. 

Our research in the Social State of Giving report shows that most Gen Z and Millennials already follow impact creators, and 1 in 4 Gen Zers have been motivated to donate because of a social media creator. Even more noteworthy, over half of Gen Z would trust impact creators to make donations on their behalf.

2. Give your community a goal to work toward

As a nonprofit, community is one of your greatest assets in fostering a sense of belonging, shared purpose, and collective action toward meaningful change. The bonds between members are what hold a community together, and social platforms are powerful tools to build and nurture those connections online.

Especially on Giving Tuesday, sharing a clear fundraising goal in your social posts is essential for driving community engagement and capitalizing on the global day of giving. Setting goals helps donors feel like active partners in your mission while offering transparency on how their contributions make a difference. 

With the new social sharing features from Meta, Classy, and GoFundMe, nonprofit fundraisers will appear as dynamic posts on Instagram, with progress metrics and clear calls to action that drive donors back to your nonprofit’s Classy donation page. 

We believe that dynamic progress bars can significantly boost a fundraiser’s performance, as they keep donors engaged and excited about your progress. 

3. Keep your goal front and center

Donors lead busy lives and may not always follow your campaign’s progress closely. Keep them engaged by placing your goal front and center throughout your entire Giving Tuesday campaign. 

However, when setting your goal, keep in mind that it should be realistic and achievable. Setting a goal too high can discourage donors, while setting one too low might not fully engage your community. 

Beyond engaging your community, research shows that well-set fundraising goals can also directly increase contributions to your mission. GoFundMe research indicates that when a campaign is at 80% to 90% of its goal, the likelihood of donors contributing rises significantly. However, once a campaign reaches 100%, donations often drop by 30% to 40%, as potential donors may feel their contributions are no longer needed. 

In addition to highlighting your goal through progress bars, you can leverage other dynamic content like videos. 

Video marketing has become an integral part of social media. This type of content has widespread benefits like higher engagement, a longer shelf life, and higher appeal to a younger audience. Industry research tells us that video plays and total watch time soared in 2023 by 15% and 44%, respectively. 

Hope for Haiti recognizes the power of videos to establish a more personal connection with its audience. That’s why, during last year’s year-end campaign, the organization shared a progress update directly from its CEO, using a video to engage supporters on a deeper level:

4. Create quality Giving Tuesday social post content

Creating high-quality content is one of the most important (and often overlooked) elements in a strong Giving Tuesday social media plan.

Content has the power to spark an emotional response and incentivize donors to take action. But how do you know what type of content resonates with your audience? 

To start, the new Classy and Meta features allow you to move beyond static posts. Nonprofits and supporters can now share more dynamic Instagram content that functions as legitimate fundraisers, featuring a dynamic progress bar and a clear call to action to donate. 

This not only allows you to stand out in the feed with a more polished look but also continuously engage donors as they see you inching closer to your goal.

You might also consider sharing an infographic to highlight key proof points that support your call to action or posting a custom graphic with a powerful statistic that emphasizes the urgency of your ask. Quotes and testimonials are other effective tools for establishing an emotional connection with donors.

To ensure your content exceeds donor expectations, be sure to:

• Maintain brand consistency across all your Giving Tuesday social media posts: Develop a visual identity and language that inspires your messaging to resonate with supporters.
• Stretch your content across multiple platforms: Repurpose the assets you created for a webinar, blog post, or paid advertisement to save time and resources while generating more engagement opportunities for your audience.
• Optimize your image and video specs to align with the most up-to-date requirements: Discover what video specs and image specs you need for Giving Tuesday 2024, just like God’s Love We Deliver did below for Instagram. 
• Dive into analytics to inform your strategy: Avoid wasting your resources on content that doesn’t resonate with your audience.

5. Integrate your Giving Tuesday campaign across platforms for amplified visibility and a seamless donor journey

To maximize the effectiveness of your Giving Tuesday campaign, it’s crucial to distill it across all relevant platforms while maintaining cohesive and consistent messaging. 

With that in mind, our Meta integration extends to GoFundMe to provide organizations access to over 150 million supporters. This integration makes it easier for donors to find, share, and support causes through their preferred channels.

First Book demonstrates the value of cross-platform marketing in its partnership with American writer and illustrator Mo Willems. The organization strategically cross-promoted its matching-gift Giving Tuesday campaign across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to maximize visibility and reach its fundraising goal.

The Meta integration allows nonprofits and donors to easily share their Classy campaigns or GoFundMe fundraisers across Instagram. This opens up a new acquisition channel for nonprofits, especially those not yet tapping into the 45 million Gen Z donors active on the platform.

This integration is especially exciting as GoFundMe individual campaigns see about 3x more sharing than traditional nonprofit campaigns. With these new tools, we can now replicate that increased sharing behavior for nonprofit campaigns and fundraisers.

6. Collect donations through a single, versatile payment solution 

Staggering your donation collection across multiple platforms creates unnecessary hurdles for your team and supporters. 

Juggling different systems can make it difficult to track progress and analyze campaign results efficiently. In addition, a disjointed giving experience adds friction that can discourage contributions and diminish your donors’ connection to your mission. 

By consolidating your donation efforts into a single, user-friendly platform, you simplify the process for everyone involved. It ensures each interaction is clear and engaging and encourages meaningful support.

With the launch of our new Classy and Meta integration, supporters can share your campaign to Instagram in one click, where donors will get directed to your nonprofit’s Classy donation page at checkout. That means you get faster access to funds and better insights into your supporters, alleviating your team from an attribution gap.

Your ultimate checklist for planning Giving Tuesday social media posts

We’ve organized all these tips into an easy-to-follow guide to ensure success with your Giving Tuesday social media posts:​

• Create a compelling Giving Tuesday donation page: Leverage Classy Studio to create personalized and cohesive campaign experiences without writing a single line of code.
• Define your audience and target your messaging: Identify who you want to reach and tailor your messaging accordingly. Whether it’s Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, or Boomers, craft your content to speak directly to their interests and motivations.

• Identify the social platforms you’ll use for Giving Tuesday: Determine which social media platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, are most effective for your audience and focus your efforts there. 

• Empower donors to become your brand ambassadors: Mobilize supporters with the dynamic tools offered through our Meta integration to help amplify your voice on social media.   

• Set an accurate fundraising goal to motivate action: Establish a clear, realistic fundraising goal that encourages your supporters to take action. 

• Leverage dynamic content to boost engagement: Include dynamic content, such as videos and dynamic progress updates, to capture attention and keep your audience engaged.

• Encourage your supporters to share to their networks: Empower supporters to spread the word by making it easy for them to share your campaign with their networks. 

• Integrate your campaign across platforms: Ensure your messaging and branding are consistent across all platforms. This unified approach helps create a seamless donor journey and reinforces your campaign’s message.

• Streamline donations with a reliable payment solution: Use a trusted payment solution like Classy Pay to make the donation process smooth and secure. An optimized checkout experience encourages more donors to complete their donations.

• Track results and optimize in real-time: Monitor your campaign’s performance and be ready to make adjustments as needed. 

Ready to learn more about these new social sharing features? Explore the details here.

Copy Editor: Ayanna Julien