The Complete Guide to GivingTuesday for Nonprofits, Community Organizations, NGOs, CSOs, and Causes

GivingTuesday is an opportunity for people around the world to use their individual power of generosity to support their communities.

On GivingTuesday – November 28, 2023  – the whole world comes together to give back in many different ways: through acts of kindness, gifts of voice, time, talent, or treasure. Nonprofits can leverage the energy of GivingTuesday to tell their stories, engage lifelong advocates, and build an active community to support their missions.

This guide provides some ideas and basic organizing tactics you can use to rally support for your cause on GivingTuesday. Make sure you’re signed up for our email list to receive new resources, news, and ideas for how to grow generosity.

GivingTuesday is among the few days of the year where people are actively seeking causes to support, rather than the other way around. On November 28, 2023, the entire world will be talking about, thinking about, and discussing ways each of us can contribute to a better society. Nonprofits have an amazing opportunity to be part of that conversation.

How you choose to participate in GivingTuesday is up to you! While many nonprofits fundraise on GivingTuesday, that’s not the only option. The goal is to create an activation that allows people to express generosity in a memorable, impactful way.  Here are a few ideas:

• Host a holiday food drive for your community, fill a gap in services, or solve an immediate need in your community.
• Host a festival so that local residents can learn about the missions of several organizations. Consider leading a GivingTuesday Community movement! 
• Use the day to rally new volunteers.
• Mobilize your community to give their voice to your cause – whether that involves signing a pledge, advocating for policy change, or simply getting the word out about your cause.
• Fundraise for your organization. 
• Fundraise for another organization. Give your megaphone to amplify historically under-funded organizations. 
• Find ways to collaborate with others. Our community is bigger than just one organization and we are not competitors. It will take all of us to work together to build the just + generous world that we seek. 
• Spend GivingTuesday thanking and celebrating your supporters.  
• Find more creative ideas for growing generosity in your community in the Generosity Toolbox!

• GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.
• While GivingTuesday happens every Tuesday, the annual celebration of generosity will happen on November 28, 2023.
• GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past 11 years, this idea has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
• People can show their generosity in a variety of ways during GivingTuesday⁠⁠—whether it’s helping a neighbor, advocating for an issue, sharing a skill, or giving to causes, everyone has something to give, and every act of generosity counts.
• Generosity gives everyone the power to make a positive change in the lives of others and is a fundamental human value anyone can act on.

• Make sure your social pages show your organization in its best light. You’re going to have lots of new people looking at your profile pages. Can they easily discover your impact within the first few seconds of scrolling? Make sure you’re posting often over the next few weeks about your organization and its impact.
  • Pin highlight stories to the top of your Instagram page that explain what you do and how to get involved in your mission
  • Pin your top 3 posts to your feed on Instagram and TikTok that highlight very clearly what it is that you do
  • Pin 1 post to your Twitter and Facebook pages that clearly explains what you do and the kind of help you need to keep doing that work.
• Launch a group or broadcast channel. Now’s a great time to launch a virtual group to build your community – people are craving a sense of togetherness. Consider a WhatsApp group for your top donors, a Facebook group for your p2p fundraisers, or an Instagram close friends list for influencers to repost your content to their own feeds. 
• Start planning for how you’ll show up virtually on Nov 28.  (Find ideas below)

What to Do On Your Organization’s Social Pages

• Spend a lot of time in Stories – most users are hanging out here versus scrolling their feeds. Ideas:
  • Share what a day is like at your organization,
  • Share what a day is like for someone you serve,
  • Share your organization’s progress in fixing the systemic issue that you’re working on tackling.
  • Create an interactive quiz to educate people on your cause area
• Focus on Reels and TikTok: these are the only two social media mechanisms that are designed to help you reach new followers.
  • Here are 13 Reels Ideas for Nonprofits from Community Boost
• Produce a livestream conversation about your mission on Facebook or YouTube.
• Post photos and videos that tell your story – not graphics. Visual content like photos and videos evoke stronger emotions than static graphics. When people see the real impact of your work, they can empathize with the individuals or communities being helped, making them more inclined to contribute.
  • A note on why we’re no longer encouraging graphic flyers: when we all post the same graphics, the algorithms “throttle” that content down. We really need to be creating our own content. The GivingTuesday Canva templates still exist but please understand that nonprofits should be creating their own custom photo/video content to appeal to their supporters.

What to Encourage Others to Do On Their Social Pages

Organic reach is down but you can get around that by asking your community to post on your behalf to their social media channels! GivingTuesday is more about what others are posting about than what you’re doing on your brand pages. Here are some ideas for how to get your community talking about generosity on November 28!

• Encourage your supporters to share why they support your cause
• Organize a challenge (on TikTok or Instagram Reels)! Encourage your partners and friends to spread generosity on social media by getting creative.
• Get a vendor or small business to sponsor a social media contest to benefit your organization.
• Empower your supporters to run a P2P fundraiser on behalf of your organization. Here’s how. 
• Ask if your supporters would consider matching donations made by their friends and family.
• Ask your supporters to share what they’ve been doing to spread generosity in their local communities. Whether or not that has to do with your cause. Let’s overwhelm the world with GOOD.

We’ve ditched the copy-paste social media posts because, let’s face it, algorithms just don’t like them anymore. It’s substantially more effective to create content that speaks directly to your audience. Here are some ideas to help you kickstart your content game:

• Save the Date Post: A post announcing the date of GivingTuesday, inviting followers to mark it on their calendars and stay tuned for upcoming details about how to participate. Use Instagram’s “reminder” feature or link to a calendar invite.
• Impact Showcase: Photos showcasing the real-world impact of your work, sharing success stories, and emphasizing the importance of continued support.
• Why We Need You: Videos explaining the specific challenges your nonprofit is facing and why your community’s support is crucial to overcoming those challenges.
• How Generosity Helps Your Nonprofit Make Change in the World: tell stories about how generosity is critical in helping you achieve your mission.
• GivingTuesday Sneak Peek: Teaser posts offering a glimpse of the exciting initiatives, events, or campaigns the nonprofit has in store for GivingTuesday.
• Community Voices: Posts featuring stories and testimonials from members of the community including the people you serve, sharing why they support the nonprofit’s mission and encouraging others to do the same.
• Call to Action: Posts providing a clear and concise action plan for GivingTuesday, outlining the various ways followers can get involved and make a positive impact on the day.

• Send your supporters a calendar invite. Literally. Attach a calendar invite file to your email  (or use something like Add Event). You should provide exact instructions for what you’d like them to do on GivingTuesday including a link if you want them to donate. 
• Add your GivingTuesday plans to your e-newsletters to build anticipation.
• Over the Thanksgiving holiday make sure your staff’s email auto-responder mentions your upcoming GivingTuesday campaign with instructions for how to participate!
• Did you know that each year, an estimated $4-7 Billion USD in corporate matching gift funds goes unclaimed? Ask your donors if their employers will match their donations to your cause!  

• Don’t center the supporter as the single hero of your story. Make sure the story is always about “we;” what we can accomplish together, as a community.
• Don’t create exclusivity that hinges on haves and have-nots. Everyone has something to contribute. Make space for everyone who wants to get involved in your mission.
• Don’t believe in the fixed pie fallacy. It hurts the sector and also goes against the principles upon which GivingTuesday was founded: there’s enough money for every nonprofit to get the support they need
• Don’t talk about how your organization doesn’t have overhead and that all donations go toward your mission. Read more about why.
• Do shift the tone of your GivingTuesday campaign from obligation to opportunity. Make it joyful. Try new things. Invite new people. Celebrate the change you’re creating in the world. 
• Do make GivingTuesday your own.