Our research shows that when organizations set a clear goal for GivingTuesday, they are far more likely to succeed. Establishing goals early provides focus for planning activities, ensuring they align with the campaign’s objectives and create a framework for measuring impact.
Organizations often exceed their own expectations when they set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely) that give their team and supporters something meaningful to rally around. This holds true not only for GivingTuesday, but also in your organization’s day-to-day work.
Woodrow Rosenbaum, GivingTuesday’s Chief Data Officer, shares his insights on what makes a strong SMART goal. (Scroll down to watch the video version of this post.)
Your goal(s) should be:
- Specific – Focused on a target objective that supports your overall mission. You can set more than one goal, but if they aren’t specific enough, you won’t have the guidance needed to measure success.
- Measurable – Defined by clear metrics and indicators of success. Your campaign goal must be measurable so you can track impact and progress, for example, new donors acquired, increased volunteer participation, or higher retention rates.
- Attainable – Aspirational yet realistically achievable. Consider what you’re asking of donors, volunteers, and stakeholders in terms of time, participation, and contributions.
- Relevant – Closely connected to your mission. While reach and awareness matter, your goals should tie directly to the change you want to create.
- Timely – Bound by a clear timeline. Define how much time you have to launch your campaign, when it should ramp up, and how you’ll know it’s complete.
For each goal or activity, think about how you’ll measure progress and determine success. Make sure it’s quantifiable. Here are some helpful definitions:
- Indicator: Something you measure to track progress toward your goal
- Metric: Something you measure to determine if the goal was achieved
- Target: The specific number or level of a metric or indicator that should be reached
“That said, it’s a mistake to do things in a way that makes it easier to measure, but would suppress your growth.” says Woodrow. “Don’t change your campaign tactics to make them easy to measure if you’re going to do that in ways that are going to put a lid on what’s possible.”
To support your planning, we created a Goal Setting for GivingTuesday, a tool to help you identify your mission, outline immediate goals, determine how you’ll measure progress and success, plan your strategy and activities, and connect with potential donors and stakeholders. We encourage you to use it while planning your GivingTuesday campaign, though it’s useful well beyond December.
Once you’ve defined your campaign goals, you can begin developing a strategy to bring them to life. Our Step-by-Step Workbook is a detailed guide designed to help you plan activities that move you closer to achieving your campaign goals.
When done well, GivingTuesday doesn’t feel like just another fundraising campaign. We call it GivingTuesday, not Fundraising Tuesday, for a reason. It’s a global day to inspire generosity in all its forms, encouraging people to share whatever they can.
Be sure to explore the resource hub at GivingTuesday.org/participate. New tools are added regularly!
Goals + Measurement for GivingTuesday: Planning for a Successful, Impactful GivingTuesday from GivingTuesday on Vimeo.
