Any nonprofit, no matter how small, can land donations on GivingTuesday by visualizing the perfect donor and making a powerful, inspiring first impression.
Each year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, nonprofits around the world use the #GivingTuesday hashtag to tell their stories online in the hope of reaching new, passionate donors. Those donors are out there, and they’re waiting to give! Greater Giving’s State of Nonprofit Fundraising publication found an unprecedented number of individual and small donors got involved with nonprofit causes in 2020—just regular people choosing to give back to their communities in need.
So what’s the key to reaching those potential donors, and turning a single #GivingTuesday social post into a gift? You and your fundraising team will need to understand your nonprofit’s one-of-a-kind personality and use your unique strengths to reach donors who believe in your mission as much as you do.
Crafting a #GivingTuesday Social Post that Converts to Donations
Imagine a potential donor scrolling through their Instagram feed and stumbling across your Giving Tuesday call to action. What do they see in your post that resonates enough to inspire them to click the donate button and give? Design the kind of social media post that would speak to you.
Start planning your #GivingTuesday outreach by visualizing this ideal donor. They are someone you know well, someone who sees the power and urgency in your nonprofit’s mission and wants to be a part of it.
1. Choose an image or video that will grab this specific person’s attention. They should be able to see themselves in it, and clearly imagine how their gift will help change the world.
Not sure what photo or video to choose? Consider featuring a beneficiary of one of your programs, or a powerful success story. Show off a program you’ve done in the past so donors can see that your nonprofit accomplishes what it sets out to do… with the right tools and funding, of course.
You know how to get this mission done, so put that expertise on display! Leverage your nonprofit’s accomplishments and speak from your heart about why the work matters.
2. Use brevity in explaining your nonprofit’s mission and purpose. You don’t need to tell the entire story of your cause right at this moment! Just connect the image or video on display with a future you and your donor both want—and spell out how this mission and this gift will get you closer to achieving that future.
Here are some questions to mull over with your nonprofit team:
1. What does your organization do that makes it special?
2. What makes your nonprofit’s work different from others in the cause area?
3. How does your specific mission, approach, or past achievements position your nonprofit perfectly to address this problem or achieve this goal?
Try to pinpoint your nonprofit’s particular je ne sais quois, then funnel that into your #GivingTuesday social post so like-minded donors can recognize the worthiness of your cause right away.
3. Follow up your brief story with an ask for donations that are relatable and personal. Speak to your donor in their own language by making your ask tangible—a physical and specific goal that one contribution can make possible. This lets donors know exactly what they’ll get in return for their gift.
Lean into the emotional appeal while drawing a clear line from your nonprofit’s unique experience to your team’s ability to get the mission done.
Here are some examples to get you thinking: What’s a day in the life of someone coping with the illness your nonprofit researches? How have donations in the past created opportunities for today’s students that will help them succeed? Use clear and urgent language, like in this ask: “$10 right now will feed a shelter pet while they wait to find their forever home.”
4. Close your post with urgency: Why does this matter right here, right now? This is the clincher, the part of the story that finally drives home why this donation will make the difference right now.
This is why it’s so important to have a clearly stated goal: it raises the stakes when you connect this gift and that critical result. “We can’t achieve this without you” goes a long way when your donor really wants to see that mission come true.
5. Finally, point donors to a link where they can donate—or use your unique Greater Giving Text-to-Donate number. Text-to-donate allows someone who might see your post while scrolling to complete their donation later when they have a moment to pull out their credit card.
Accept and Process Those Donations—SECURELY
It sounds easy to make a webpage where donors can contribute for #GivingTuesday—but what platform will you use to host it? If you’re going to handle credit cards, how do you plan to accept those donations securely? (Trust between nonprofits and their donors is absolutely essential, and donors may be reluctant to hand over their credit card information on a webpage that seems less than legitimate.)
So make sure you can process donation payments and collect that all-important donor contact info.
Why contact information? You’ll want to send everyone who gave during your #GivingTuesday campaign a heartfelt thank-you note after the fact to show your appreciation. Later, you can update them on the progress of the mission they helped fund, and show their gift getting to work out in the field. Then, with all that good history between you, perhaps you can ask for another gift when the next opportunity arises.
TIP: Taking donations and processing those payments is the most critical piece of the puzzle.
Show your donors they can trust you with their most sensitive information, and set up a donation page with Greater Giving’s super powerful, PCI-certified Online Payments engine. Now you can accept credit cards in a completely secure environment!
What Should Your #GivingTuesday Donation Page Look Like?
Create a #GivingTuesday donation page that’s simple to navigate and complete. The less time it takes for potential donors to give, the more likely they are to actually finish the donation. That’s the most important part!
– Keep the page text succinct. Explain what you do, why it matters, and how donors’ participation makes the work possible.
– While your donation page is a great chance to showcase your work with additional photos and graphics, the most important thing is to collect the donation.
Rather than building your own page entirely from scratch, with Greater Giving you can simply log into Online Payments and turn on the built-in #GivingTuesday template with one click. It will tell donors everything they need to know about this global day of giving without any additional input from you!
Greater Giving donation pages have everything you need—and nothing you don’t—to give donors the best chance at making a contribution before their attention can wander away.
Then, when you’re done with Tuesday, just flip Online Payments to our built-in Year-End Giving template.
– Be bold in telling the world who you are, and the people who believe in your mission as much as you do will find you.
From everyone at Greater Giving, good luck this #GivingTuesday!
