“What makes work worth doing is getting to do it with people that you love.”
—Leslie Knope, Parks & Rec
The countdown is on to the most generous day of the year, and now is the time to get your team excited about participating. Even if you’re a team of one, there are multiple ways to spread your work around so you don’t feel overwhelmed. GivingTuesday campaigns should be fun, not burdensome!
If you’re not sure where to start, revisit the goals you set for your campaign and use them to guide how you delegate and gather your tools. Running a great GivingTuesday campaign takes both people and resources: start by building your team to share responsibilities, and then stock your toolkit with the platforms and materials that will help you reach your goals more efficiently. Whether your goal is to raise more money, boost awareness, or rally volunteers—here are a few essential steps to consider:
- Define your “essential” roles: Running a campaign does not need to fall one person. By establishing a team, you can assign responsibilities and delegate effectively. Inspired by Bonterra, we recommend establishing the following leads on your GivingTuesday team: overall team lead, marketing lead, volunteer coordinator, and fundraising lead. These duties, while broad, can help you share the workload.
- Build your toolbox: With your goals in mind, it’s time to set up your toolbox. This might mean ensuring you and your team leads have access to design tools like Canva, the Adobe Creative Suite, Mailchimp, or paid accounts on other key platforms. Consider signing up for your local news outlets’ daily emails or alerts to keep up on what’s happening in your community as you approach the giving season.
- Ask for help (if you need it): Community is a critical aspect of any successful GivingTuesday campaign. Don’t be afraid to reach out, whether by posting on social media or making direct asks, for support when you need it. That might mean last-minute volunteers, extra hands for data entry work, or help with another important task you just don’t have time to do alone.
What to Do if You’re Working with Lower Capacity
Small teams are no strangers to GivingTuesday. Over the years, through conversations and case studies, we’ve learned how organizations can successfully balance running a campaign alongside their day-to-day responsibilities.
Here’s what we recommend when planning your GivingTuesday efforts:
- Recruit volunteers early: Start as soon as possible by outlining every task you need help with that you can delegate to volunteers. This might include content creation (like capturing photos and b-roll from events) or data entry from tabling at a community gathering.
- Activate your board members: Your board can be among your strongest advocates. They already help shape key decisions regarding your organization and should feel invested in your GivingTuesday campaign. Share your plans with them as soon as possible, get them excited to participate by capitalizing on the skills they bring to the table, and assign roles that leverage their unique expertise.
- Collaborations with peers: Some of the best GivingTuesday campaigns emerge from brainstorming sessions and community partnerships. These collaborations address real needs and highlight the stories of those directly impacted. Ahead of December 2, schedule time with partner organizations to identify opportunities to work together, whether that’s creating joint content for social media or hosting in-person events.
- Prioritize your tasks: Focus on the activities that will have the biggest impact for GivingTuesday, whether that’s fundraising, outreach, or volunteer engagement, and save smaller tasks for later.
- Leverage ready-made resources: Use templates, toolkits, and existing content from GivingTuesday and other partners to save time and reduce workload. Find what you’re looking for at givingtuesday.org/participate.
GivingTuesday is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen your community and, of course, support the causes you care about. Now, gather your team, and get to work.
P.S. We’re excited to see how you make the most of GivingTuesday on December 2 and how this work continues throughout the year. If you aren’t already, start following us across social media and get our newsletter so you can keep up with our all-new 12-week content series!
