A #GivingTuesday Refresher: 2016 Edition of Giving Tuesday E-book

By: Mollye Rhea, President and Founder, For Momentum

Often viewed as the kickoff of the end-of-year giving season, Giving Tuesday is racing toward us. We’re only 81 days away from this global day of giving. Giving Tuesday takes place this year on November 29th, just after Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States. To help you and your company or nonprofit organization make the most of your plans, For Momentum has refreshed its Giving Tuesday e-book. The 2016 edition of Corporate Partners, Activate! is now available as a free download on our website.

This year’s version of the e-book offers updated statistics from 2015’s monumental day of giving. Last year’s Giving Tuesday was the biggest yet, with more nonprofits, more donors and more than double the amount of funds raised in 2014. Our e-book will help your organization capitalize on that momentum by giving both companies and their nonprofit partners ready-to-roll-out activation tips. For example, inside the e-book are links to a two-page planning tool that will help you leverage this global day of giving that’s powered by social media and collaboration.

Corporate Partners, Activate! focuses on the power of cause partnerships and the unique opportunity that giving days offer in working together toward your cause goals and cementing this type of long-term business relationship. But we also want to make you aware of other news and industry trends around this fifth Giving Tuesday. Our goal with the e-book and with this blog post is to give you some shortcuts to the good stuff online!

Giving Tuesday Case Studies

In addition to our e-book, one of the best places to find information on Giving Tuesday is the movement’s new website at www.givingtuesday.org. Probably the best feature on the site are the recent case studies. In the complete toolkit, you’ll find these real-world examples of companies and nonprofit organizations that are making the most of this global movement.

One corporate case study worth sharing here is the Giving Tuesday partnership between JCPenney and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (Disclaimer: BGCA is a For Momentum client). This is a prime example of two longstanding cause partners leveraging the media awareness and excitement around Giving Tuesday 2015. They activated around a special shopping experience where, in select cities, BGCA club members were joined by celebrities like Joe Jonas (pictured right) and NFL players to shop for gifts for their families. JCPenney’s 501(c)(3) charity JCPenneyCares also donated $100,000 to BGCA on Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday Best Practices

Giving Tuesday offers many different ways to give. You and your organization can participate by giving time, pro bono service, donations, products or your voice. One of the best practices for doing this is to get involved in your community’s Giving Tuesday plans. You can search the online directory by city, state and zip code to find organizations, charities and events in your own back yard. If you represent a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, you want to make sure you’re properly registered as a Giving Tuesday participant so you gain the benefit of businesses and individuals locating you in this directory.

In 2015, more than 50 cities and states co-opted Giving Tuesday to benefit local nonprofits. This phenomenon explains why one of the new resources available on the Giving Tuesday website is a Mayoral Proclamation Toolkit. By having local government officials recognize local heroes and causes, your for-profit or nonprofit stands a greater chance of securing attention from local social and traditional media on November 29th.

Speaking of social media: don’t forget to use the #GivingTuesday hashtag. The movement wants you to use their branding and messaging and make it reflect your own Giving Tuesday initiative. That’s why one of the tips in our Corporate Partners, Activate! e-book is to replace your current social media graphics with your specially-created Giving Tuesday images. The Giving Tuesday website also provides a Social Media Toolkit with tips and ideas for social media, including sample messages.

If that’s not enough, the Giving Tuesday site now hosts an interactive Forum. On these community message boards, you can connect with other Giving Tuesday ambassadors and organizations.

Giving Tuesday Information by Organization Type

On the new website, users have the opportunity to download a complete toolkit or discover case studies and campaign ideas tailored to their organization type: nonprofit, company, foundation, school, small business, city or religious organization. Something that caught our attention this year is a section highlighting giving platforms, such as GoodWorld, Indiegogo, CrowdRise and more.

One standout case study from the “Giving Platforms” section is PayPal’s successful attempt to break the Guinness World Records™ title for the most money donated online for charity in a 24-hour time period. The previous record was $19 million raised for Asian tsunami relief efforts in 2004. Between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. last December 1st, PayPal users donated $45.8 million to various causes. In addition to setting the Guinness World Records title on Giving Tuesday, the online payment platform raised a total of $857 million in charitable donations overall during the Christmas period, supporting more than 200,000 different charities.

Clam Lorenz, General Manager of Social Innovation at PayPal, says the company will continue to add an extra one percent to all donations made through its PayPal Giving Fund from Giving Tuesday through the end of the year. They’ve also been working to make it easier for donors to give using the PayPal app, since most PayPal customers use the service on their mobile phones.

Giving Tuesday as a High-Profile Relationship-building Tool

Our latest research shows that it takes a significant investment of time to identify, create and cultivate lasting cause partnerships. However, the research also confirms that it’s easier to renew and build on existing relationships. Why not use this high-profile day of giving as a way to build on one of your existing partnerships? Or start a conversation for your plans for next year?

If you have never participated in Giving Tuesday, don’t worry. According to ImpactLab’s 2015 data, more than half of last year’s partners were new to the movement. We’ve given you some ideas and tools. Now it’s time to jump in and activate.

We hope you’ll find our 2016 edition of the Giving Tuesday e-book helpful. Remember: if you have a Giving Tuesday success story, we want to hear from you so that we can share your best practices with our community. Comment below to share.