Your 3-Month Giving Tuesday Checklist: Plan to Make the Most of the Day

Giving Tuesday is a launchpad for your year-end fundraising efforts. Get it right, and you’ll set your nonprofit up for success in reaching its goals and advancing toward your mission. 

But with the end-of-year hustle, it’s easy to lose track of all the little details. That’s why we’ve created a step-by-step checklist to help you stay focused. Use this Giving Tuesday guide to make the most of the big day.

Why your nonprofit needs a Giving Tuesday checklist

Classy platform data reveals that nonprofits acquire 12x more donors on Giving Tuesday compared to an average day of the year. Without a plan, you risk missing out on the growth potential associated with this monumental day.

Here’s how our Giving Tuesday checklist can be a game changer for your organization:

• Ensure organization and preparedness: Avoid overlooking any critical steps to reduce the likelihood of mistakes or missed opportunities.
• Maximize fundraising potential: Take advantage of this day to its fullest potential by implementing well-thought-out strategies.
• Facilitate collaboration and communication: Ensure everyone knows their responsibilities and deadlines.
• Mitigate risk: Take the time to create contingency plans and backup strategies to address any unforeseen issues.
• Provide consistency and replicability: Create a reliable framework you can adapt and fine-tune annually.

Your Giving Tuesday checklist: 3-month plan

While Giving Tuesday isn’t until December 3, you must start planning well in advance. We recommend starting your preparations in September to make the most of the giving season, so that’s where our checklist begins.

September: Plan your impact

With three months left, it’s time to craft a compelling story, create campaign materials, and identify the unique impact you want to make this Giving Tuesday.

Define your campaign narrative

• Identify the emotional connection you want to establish with your supporters.
• Communicate how each donation will make a real and measurable difference in the lives of your beneficiaries.
• Use SMART fundraising goals to ensure your campaign aligns with your organization’s mission.

Next, consider how you’ll combine everything into a cohesive brand vision. Consider campaign elements—like colors, visuals, names, and a unique logo—to help your Giving Tuesday campaign stand apart from others you’re actively running or have hosted in the past. You’ll also want to incorporate GivingTuesday’s brand into your campaign—find its approved logos, GIFs, photos, and stickers here.

Build your fundraising foundation

First, selecting a fundraising platform that suits your nonprofit’s unique needs is critical. When evaluating software, here are a few things to consider: 

• Which payment types does it offer?
• Does everything operate seamlessly on a mobile device?
• Does it leverage machine learning (ML) to support fundraising efforts?
• Does it integrate with other solutions your organization uses?

For more guidance on a thorough software evaluation plan, explore our guide. 

Once you’ve completed that step, you can start building your donation page. An effective donation page must consider three key elements, all of which impact a supporter’s likelihood to contribute to your organization:

• User experience and integrations
• Donation experience 
• Value proposition and content 

Our donation page checklist dives into these key areas and others to provide best practices based on data from thousands of nonprofit websites and A/B testing. To see what your Giving Tuesday campaign could look like on Classy, explore our on-demand Classy Studio demo experience.

Next, it’s time to start working on the written content. This includes your campaign description, calls to action (CTAs), and donate button text. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you write:

• Craft an attention-grabbing headline using actionable, value-driven words.
• Tell your story with descriptive language that captivates your audience.
• Keep your copy short, simple, and to the point.
• Illustrate how each gift will create a difference.
• Use respectful, inclusive, and sensitive language.

Consider these tips for your donation form

Once a visitor clicks through to your donation form, the checkout process should be seamless to avoid abandoned carts. Here are a few tips to optimize your page and increase conversions:

• Personalize ask amounts: Remember that donors aren’t one size fits all. Use past giving data—like your organization’s average online gift size—to decide which ask amounts are right for your donor segments. You may also consider using an ML tool like Intelligent Ask Amounts to serve up the ideal ask amount for every donation form visitor. 
• Demonstrate social proof: Show supporters how your community gets involved by including elements like a live activity feed or progress bar on your donation page. These real-time demonstrations of participation can help build trust and credibility while simultaneously motivating supporters to help you reach your goal.
• Inspire recurring giving: Invite donors to choose a recurring giving frequency they prefer—whether daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or yearly. They can either check out with only their recurring gift or bundle a recurring gift and one-time donation into the same transaction using Classy’s Giving Cart functionality.
• Offer sponsor matching: Inspire donors to give more and give now with limited time windows to amplify the impact of each dollar. You can further boost donation amounts with match minimums and multipliers up to 4x on Classy.
• Provide flexible payment options: Offer multiple payment options—such as credit cards, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, and PayPal—to appeal to wider audiences. 
• Collect and analyze all necessary insights: Set up the reporting you need to monitor your campaign performance and share it with your team so you know what works and what doesn’t. 

Plan your social media strategy

Building a well-thought-out social media plan is essential for maximizing the impact of your Giving Tuesday campaign. Here are steps that nonprofits can take to create an effective social media strategy:

• Set clear objectives: Determine what you want to achieve through social media, such as increasing brand awareness or driving website traffic.
• Choose your platforms: Identify which platforms your supporters use the most and tailor your content accordingly. Each platform has strengths, so focus on those that align best with your Giving Tuesday campaign goals. Meta platforms—including Instagram and Facebook—are great channels to consider, as their fundraising tools have raised over $8 billion for nonprofits and personal causes, driven by the generosity of more than 85 million organizers and donors.
• Refine your strategy: Decide how often you’ll post on each platform, keeping bandwidth and budgetary constraints in mind.
• Build a content calendar: Outline your Giving Tuesday social media strategy to define the types of posts you want to share, the posting frequency, and the daily specific messaging leading up to and on Giving Tuesday.
• Draft the content: Create compelling and shareable content that tells a powerful story about your nonprofit’s mission and the impact of donations. Use a mix of visuals, videos, and captivating captions to pique your audience’s attention.

Launch your campaign

While it might seem early to launch your campaign, it’s best to get a head start to establish momentum.

• Make your campaign visible on your nonprofit website with a targeted CTA and link at the top of your homepage.
• Encourage donors to save the date and mark their calendars—segment your email list based on giving data and personalize your message to each audience.
• Begin gradually posting on social media, increasing the frequency and urgency as Giving Tuesday approaches.

October: Build interest

With Giving Tuesday on the horizon, it’s time to start generating a buzz around your campaign. Refresh your social media channels, ramp up your email cadence, and align expectations with your partners to ensure a valuable relationship.

Lean into social media

• Update all your social media channels to reflect the upcoming event.
• Swap profile and header images for branded Giving Tuesday graphics, creating a cohesive visual identity across platforms.
• Include a direct link to your campaign on all profiles, making it easy for supporters to access and contribute. 
• Designate at least one day each week to post Giving Tuesday-related content, sharing impactful beneficiary stories, compelling reasons to give, and enticing incentives.
• Use your campaign’s hashtag—and the #GivingTuesday hashtag—to build visibility and participation. Encourage supporters to share your posts, create user-generated content, and engage with potential donors. 
• Consider providing sample language on your donation thank-you page that supporters can leverage and customize for their accounts to make sharing even easier. 

Secure your matching gift

Explore various donation-matching partner types to find lucrative opportunities for your campaign.

Consider the following:

• Corporate partnerships
• Small local businesses
• Influencers
• Major donors
• Multiple individual gifts

Send a series of impact emails

Launch your email campaign and remind donors of the “why” behind your efforts. Encourage them to begin advocating on your behalf and engage with your brand on social media:

• Feature individual stories from your programs.
• Give detailed examples of how each gift can make an impact.
• Encourage donors to give early and spread the word to their inner circles.

For essential strategies and techniques to help your nonprofit’s Giving Tuesday messaging stand out, explore our blog, How to Craft Compelling Messaging for Your Giving Tuesday Campaign.

November: The final countdown

Lock down your launch plan, prepare for day-of outreach, and get ready to transition to year-end fundraising.

Prepare to flip your campaign to year-end fundraising (3–4 weeks out)

Brainstorm simple ways to unite your Giving Tuesday and year-end campaigns. Here’s where you get to decide on changes to your donation page—like a relevant hero image, refreshed messaging, updated donation form, and specific details—that reflect your larger year-end goals and timely messaging.

Unveil a matching gift (2–3 weeks out)

Announce your Giving Tuesday donation matching opportunity through an urgent email and social media post. But don’t stop there. Encourage donors to seize this opportunity to double their impact. You’ll also want to consider leveraging your existing donor base for matching funds and remind donors about employer-match opportunities on the donation form (if applicable).

Get ready for your soft launch (2 weeks out)

Hone in on your target audience:

• Previous Giving Tuesday donors
• Recurring donors
• New donors
• Fundraisers
• Board members
• Staff
• Event attendees

Then, craft compelling email appeals with personalized Giving Tuesday email subject lines, emphasizing their past impact. Use this opportunity to invite them to your campaign’s soft launch and make any last-minute changes to your campaign page based on donor feedback. During the soft launch, display campaign activity with progress metrics to build social proof as donations come in.

Prepare for your hard launch (1 week out)

Drive traffic to your campaign page by rallying supporters through emails, social media, and direct phone calls.

To motivate donors, you should mention fundraising goals, impact, matching gifts, incentives, and campaign sponsors.

Giving Tuesday: Take it across the finish line

Don’t slow down yet. You’re almost across the finish line. Remain in lockstep with your team as you optimize the brief window to attract as many gifts as possible. Remember, this is one of the biggest giving days of the year.

Focus on outreach

• Get active on social media with frequent posts every 1 to 2 hours, sharing progress updates, matching gift opportunities, and emphasizing the impact of donations.
• Use our Giving Tuesday social media templates for inspiration.
• Engage supporters through compelling email storytelling, highlighting notable donors, sharing a letter from your founder or influential team member, and offering a letter from a beneficiary explaining the impact of each donation.
• Leverage our Giving Tuesday email templates to shape your messaging.

Flip your campaign to commence year-end fundraising

After Giving Tuesday, update your campaign page and donation form by changing the main hero image, rewriting Giving Tuesday-related text, adapting it for a year-end appeal, and adding extra campaign details to the About section.

Reflect, revise, and rebuild

Schedule a campaign retrospective while it’s fresh in your mind, and invite everyone involved this year to debrief and gain valuable insights. You can also analyze your campaign metrics using Classy’s filtered transaction report to identify opportunities for the next Giving Tuesday.

Next year, you’ll be happy you took the time.

Let Classy power your Giving Tuesday fundraising

Whether planning your Giving Tuesday campaign or preparing for events around the year, Classy is the comprehensive fundraising tool you can trust to take your nonprofit’s donations to new levels.

Drive higher conversions, retention, and engagement with our powerful, flexible, and scalable product suite. We’ll supercharge your fundraising campaigns with everything from donation websites powered by Classy Studio to virtual, in-person, and hybrid events made possible through Classy Live.

Schedule a demo now to learn how Classy’s intelligent fundraising platform can help your nonprofit achieve its giving goals.

Copy Editor: Ayanna Julien