5 Giving Tuesday Email Examples That Convert

In 2023, Giving Tuesday raised $3.1 billion in the United States, which included $49,405,464 for 3,500 nonprofits on Classy from GoFundMe. The global event inspires millions of people to donate to causes they care about, and email marketing is one key strategy that can effectively inspire new and existing audiences to support your nonprofit’s timely goals.

The number of emails supporters receive spikes during the holiday season, especially around Black Friday, the highest email volume day of the year. Despite this influx, Classy’s data shows that donation conversion rates are 2x as high during the year-end season. In fact, Giving Tuesday campaigns see 12x more donor acquisitions. This makes it crucial to design emails with a compelling, clear call to action that can push through the noise and stand out in a crowded inbox.

Below, we highlight five high-converting Giving Tuesday email examples that spark engagement, encourage action, and drive donations. Leverage these strategies to increase open rates across your organization’s year-end messaging and make the most of this global giving event.

1. Engage donors creatively ahead of Giving Tuesday

Your nonprofit’s success on Giving Tuesday hinges on your preparations well before the event. In the weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday, you want to excite donors about the approaching donation opportunity and remind them to save the date. 

Social media

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.

To empower nonprofits this giving season and beyond, 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 and Facebook, designed to not only inspire donors to give back but also empower them to give forward.

Email

Another way to foster early momentum is through a campaign soft launch. This allows you to test your plans in an environment where you can make adjustments while simultaneously collecting online donations from your most loyal inner circle. 

Then, when you officially launch, new visitors will see you’ve already made significant progress toward your goal and, according to the goal proximity effect, could feel more motivated to participate.

Check out this blog for step-by-step guidance on how to execute a successful soft launch.

You can also integrate Giving Tuesday into your existing year-end communications before your official launch. This helps introduce the event to your donors early, inviting them to become familiar with your goals and making them more likely to participate when the giving day arrives. 

The key is to send one email per week dedicated to Giving Tuesday throughout the month leading up to your launch, whether you combine it with preexisting efforts or craft a new message. If you feel crunched for time, don’t be afraid to use tools like ChatGPT to ask for Giving Tuesday email templates that you can quickly customize.

Example: Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children shares its FMSC MarketPlace two weeks before Giving Tuesday. The nonprofit highlights holiday-themed gifts from its shop handmade by program beneficiaries. It also notes how many meals the nonprofit can provide with each purchase.

Sending this email in advance of Giving Tuesday puts a face to FMSC’s work and gives supporters a chance to connect in a meaningful way. The nonprofit notes: “Each purchase supports sustainable employment, strengthens families and communities, and feeds kids”—a reminder to shoppers of the mission when their purchase arrives about two weeks later on Giving Tuesday.

2. Kick-start fundraising with a gift option on Cyber Monday

The holiday season is ripe with consumer-focused days, such as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Amid the shopping hustle, donors may be hungry for a chance to slow down and tap into the spirit of generosity. 

Meet donors where they are and kick off your Giving Tuesday campaign early by using one of these big shopping days to grab their attention. 

Encourage donors to “shop” for someone on their holiday list by making a donation in their honor. This not only allows you to test creative fundraising campaigns but also gets your cause in front of busy supporters early, keeping your nonprofit top of mind for Giving Tuesday and the entire year-end giving season. 

Backing your call to action with such a timely, compelling message can also help accelerate your fundraising platform’s return on investment (ROI). The giving season is an organically high-traffic, high-conversion time for nonprofits, so maximizing the short window is a great strategy for organizations that are new to their platform or still ramping. 

Example: Concern Worldwide US

Concern Worldwide US uses Cyber Monday as inspiration to sell e-cards that support its mission. The nonprofit explains, “In 2022, Americans spent nearly $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday. Imagine the impact that could have for the most vulnerable communities living on the frontlines of the global hunger crisis.”

The email makes gift-giving easy by highlighting how it only takes one click to purchase an e-card for someone special. This approach helps donors get a head start on their holiday shopping while also helping Concern Worldwide US jump-start its Giving Tuesday goals.

3. Foster friendly competition with a matching gift

Research from Double the Donation found that over 84% of survey participants were more likely to donate if there was a matching gift, and 1 in 3 said they’d give a larger initial donation if there was a match. 

On Giving Tuesday, highlighting a donation match can strengthen your call to action. While there are many ways to promote a matching gift, incorporating a competitive element is one creative route you can take. Compare year-over-year matching donation totals to try to raise the bar, offer a prize for the first dozen donors to make a matched gift, or tender fun games to promote meeting your match goal.

Example: Days for Girls

Days for Girls uses an attention-grabbing email subject line in this Giving Tuesday email to introduce supporters to its matching gift challenge: “One Million Dollars?😉” It then informs recipients that the nonprofit is participating in GlobalGiving’s 24-hour Move a Million Campaign for Giving Tuesday, where all donations up to $2,500 are eligible for a portion of the $1 million matching prize.

The nonprofit reminds supporters that their support helped secure a tenth-place finish in last year’s campaign, raising $41,000 with a match of more than $15,000. The call to action is in bold: “Will you help us beat last year’s giving?”

This approach motivates donors to make their impact even better than last year. The nonprofit ends the email with a brief reminder of its mission and a link to where supporters can watch the leaderboard to track the campaign’s progress.

4. Drive urgency with time-limited opportunities

Another powerful way to drive momentum on Giving Tuesday is to put a time restriction on your matching campaign. If you tell supporters a matching gift is only available for a few hours, that creates a sense of urgency. Email recipients get motivated to move from their inbox to your donation site to help meet your fundraising goal right away. 

A time-limited match also offers the opportunity for additional touchpoints through subsequent emails, with Giving Tuesday email subject lines like:

• Match Begins Now! Double Your Impact This Hour
• Match 50% Over—Help Us Raise an Additional $10,000
• Time’s Running Out, Get Your Donation Matched Now!
• Match Is Over, but There’s Still Time to Donate!

Each moment of connection engages donors and helps your nonprofit get to the finish line for your Giving Tuesday campaign.

Example: Atlanta Habitat for Humanity

Atlanta Habitat for Humanity highlights a donation match opportunity that it calls “power hour”. This last-minute announcement doubles all gifts given within the next hour. The email includes customized donation buttons throughout the message to amplify the time-limited opportunity’s impact: “Your $125 Gift Becomes $250.”

With the organization name and Giving Tuesday logo at the top of the email, donors are quickly met with branding they know and trust. They can then move fast to claim the offer and double their gift.

5. Provide an incentive for monthly donors

While Giving Tuesday may only come once a year, there’s no limit to how often donors can give. Classy makes it easy for supporters to opt into monthly giving with flexible donation forms. Empowering donors to select this option is crucial, as we’ve seen that recurring donors on Classy are 9x more valuable to your nonprofit. 

In addition to your overall Giving Tuesday fundraising goal, your nonprofit can set a target for how many new recurring donors you hope to recruit throughout the campaign, and then share progress toward this goal in email updates. Use first-party data, like customer relationship management (CRM) data, to craft email lists of potential donors who would be the most likely to sign up for recurring donations.

You can also fuel donor retention by sending special Giving Tuesday emails or asking existing supporters to increase their monthly gift amount ahead of Giving Tuesday. Encourage participation with branded swag, special recognition, or other fun prizes.

Example: SheJumps

SheJumps draws prospective recurring donors in with an email subject line that offers a gift the audience would likely enjoy: “This is your LAST CHANCE to win a YETI® cooler.”

The nonprofit reminds readers that it has set a goal for Giving Tuesday to recruit 100 new monthly donors. If supporters of the nonprofit want to win a YETI® cooler, this is their last chance to sign up to make a monthly gift. SheJumps keeps the email succinct with a clear call to action while reminding its audience of how much impact monthly gifts make, coupled with a few photos of the nonprofit’s mission in action.

Elevate your Giving Tuesday success with email best practices that convert

If you’re looking for help with your Giving Tuesday email strategy, Classy has you covered with this giving season planner. This resource provides example timelines, sample subject lines to A/B test, and other email marketing tips for Giving Tuesday and year-end campaigns. Dive in today to take your marketing to the next level. 

Copy Editor: Ayanna Julien