Zzzzzzzzzz!
I guess I’m spoiling for a fight on this one! Giving Tuesday … Zzzzzzzz!
Gosh, it never occurred to people to give money or time to save endangered species or the local ballet company, or nourish the needy, or assist victims of abuse or oppression until someone created a ‘giving day’ to inspire them!
“I know I should give … I really want to … I just need the right day.”
Sorry, I just don’t see it (as I ranted last year at this time). I wouldn’t let my staff touch it (if I had a staff).
It’s a distraction worthy of Hallmark Cards (by next year I fully expect a greeting card line for the occasion).
I’m proudly linked arm-in-arm with Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now, who asks: Is Giving Tuesday good for your fundraising?
Says Jeff: “Your goal is to raise funds for your organization. Using your time and resources to support Giving Tuesday is misfeasance…”
“Give to our organization because it’s Giving Tuesday” … now that will yield a donor I’d have high hopes for!
Bah, humbug!
Fundraisers, get back to work.
Tom
P.S. I’m not a total curmudgeon. I might be able to get behind Honor Thy Donor Day.
13 responses to “Zzzzzzzzzz!”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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Curmudgeons Unite!
Amen brother Tom!
Agreed
I agree!
Thanks for your post, Tom! We didn’t participate in Giving Tuesday (feeling the same way you do) but wondered, a bit, if we should have. Thank you for reinforcing our decision!
I get what you’re saying, and don’t disagree. However, Giving Tuesday might serve another purpose. Sadly, not everyone believes giving should be a part of everyday life, either in money or time. At the very least, Giving Tuesday reinforces that, culturally, giving is part of who we are. It’s sort of a marketing campaign for the act of giving.
I would personally love to see the stats on donations that come in that day. Are they new donors? If so, one could look at it as a lead source generator. Are they repeat donors? If so, why that day?
It would be great to back up the sentiment with some data. Like you, Giving Tuesday does not inspire me to give that day anymore than each Sunday inspires me to be a better Christian on just that day.
First, ditto, Tom … with added emphasis.
I was talking with my daughter (an attorney) about this last week. She was wondering if she should make her anticipated year end donations on Giving Tuesday so the beneficiary “would get the extra benefit.”
Which reinforced my already-borderline-hostile opinion of the initiative. It simply muddies the water. I’m all for nurturing a giving mentality, but NOT for creating an artificial one-day-a-year substitute.
I tend to agree. This Giving Tuesday thing is like the greeting card companies dreaming up another occasion for which we should all go out and buy cards. But we also need to remember that there is an entirely new generation of potential donors who aren’t like their parents and grandparents. They give using new channels — and that, my fellow (traditional) fundraisers, is where Giving Tuesday has purpose and meaning.
I think Lester may have hit on something.
While I don’t know the genesis of Giving Tuesday, and others may be able to shed some light on that, it’s clear some philanthropically minded individual thought it would be cool to offset the blatant commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
It’s hard to argue with the heart of this intention.
It’s also hard to ignore the money.
Philanthropy Today just reported that Blackbaud’s raised $20 million in online donations this Giving Tuesday. Network for Good raised $1.8 million.
Good Ventures issued a $5million matching grant on Giving Tuesday and the Case Foundation did the same with a $75K match.
Google had a Hang-out-a-thon that featured Save the Children, Unicef, and the Malala Fund, although the article didn’t mention revenue raised.
The point is, like it or not, Giving Tuesday appears to be here to stay.
That’s why I believe we should consider adding it to our digital fundraising strategies and plans.
P.S. Tom, I believe someone from Care is doing just that… using Giving Tuesday to thank their donors. And I think you’d agree that this aspect of Giving Tuesday has a lot of potential.
Interesting discussion! I agree that fundraisers shouldn’t be investing too much time in Giving Tuesday. However, if you’re already sending out email appeals at the end of the year (which you should be), doesn’t it make sense to schedule one appeal for Giving Tuesday and capitalize on the national marketing effort?
I totally agree with Tom that the argument “give to our organization because it’s Giving Tuesday” is lame. Very lame. People don’t go shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday just because someone named the day. They do it for two reasons:
1) The deals!
On Giving Tuesday, nonprofits can offer the giving equivalent of deals – a match. Black Friday sales appeal to us because we get more of the stuff we were already going to buy for less money. Donation matches appeal to us because we get more of the stuff we already wanted (i.e. the feeling we are making a difference) without spending more money. For the record, I don’t think freebies or premiums do that. They distract from the main motivation for giving.
2) To join with others in kicking off the holiday shopping season
I think Giving Tuesday is similarly intended to kick off the holiday giving season en masse. That doesn’t mean it’s the only day people will give, just like Black Friday isn’t the only day people will make holiday purchases. But it does start people thinking about their holiday giving on a large scale.
I’ll end by saying that I do sympathize with Tom’s curmudgeon attitude because I think fundraising publications overhype Giving Tuesday, just as they overhype anything digital. But that doesn’t mean it’s worthless!
Happy holiday season!
P.S. I too would love to see data that answers the questions posed by Katrina VanHuss.
For years, I agreed with Tom’s perspective. However, after enough donors asked us, “Why aren’t you participating?,” we decided last year to promote it on the day of, only. The result was more than $80,000 in donations! Needless to say, we’re doing it again.
In retrospect, it seems that human beings have a herd mentality. They follow what others are doing. Having a day that heavily promotes giving back to your community, encourages those who don’t think of charitable giving on their own, to do so. Many follow the crowd.
I was surprised and thrilled with the number of new donors. We’ll see in a few weeks what last year’s retention was. But, sending a few emails, posting a link on the home page, some limited promotion and being a part of the community, is not too much to ask to generate some serious new revenue and start a significant number of new relationships.
I think Giving Tuesday/ Colorado Gives Day or other such efforts help make charitable giving into a value that our communities embrace. It raises awareness of all of the good work that non-profits are doing. And, these events encourage giving from folks who may not have been raised to give back to their communities.
Here’s to everyone having a great end of year and a very Happy Holiday Season,
Jim East
Colorado Public Radio
AMEN! (I’m a slightly tardy but particularly enthusiastic curmudgeon)
While I’m all for our sector putting more and better messages out in the mainstream about the value and impact of giving, having a serious fundraiser wasting a millisecond contemplating this bandwagon brimming with pablum is criminal. Perhaps one of the Kardashians can be the parade marshall next year? This will leave those of us that are interested in building meaningful relationships with donors to have another plain old Tuesday connecting people to the causes they are passionate about.