Are you ready for #GivingTuesday?

As we barrel towards #GivingTuesday (Nov 28, 2017), I want to share some thoughts from the former Director of GoodWorld's Social Giving School, Emily Thoet, to help you prep for the big day and a strong close to your year end giving.

Why You Should Start Your Fundraising Strategy for #GivingTuesday Now

#GivingTuesday  is an annual international day of giving that can serve as the big kickoff to your year-end fundraising push. So make sure you're planning now to make it as successful as possible!

There are many things you can do to start preparing for #GivingTuesday now and if you haven't gotten started yet, I recommend you do as soon as possible to put you in position to meet all your fundraising goals.

Here a few reasons why you should begin strategizing now.

You need a strategy that will help you break through the clutter.

Giving Tuesday (a.k.a. "Super Tuesday") is an international day of giving that the majority of nonprofits are taking part in. This means that donors are being pounded with information and fundraising pleas from hundreds of nonprofits. Standing out from the clutter on social media is going to be difficult.

In order to help your nonprofit gain visibility and peak the interest of people on social media that day you need to start developing your story for Giving Tuesday and figure out your plan of action for building your reach through a multi-channel strategy now.

Check out our webinars and toolkits to help you start building this strategy. 

You need to start spreading awareness now.

Start educating your Facebook fans about your cause and about your participation in Giving Tuesday. It takes at least seven touches in marketing to get people to remember something your cause is doing, so keep that in mind when developing a promotional strategy for the event.

As you move into November you should be encouraging people to participate in your #GivingTuesday push by either signing up with GoodWorld in advance to pledge to #donate that day, contribute user generated content for your campaign or even simply get them to spread the word amongst their friends in advance of December 1st.

Tapping into matches and big donors takes time.

Now is the time to see who you have in your arsenal that would be willing to put up a match or a giveaway item on Giving Tuesday to draw buzz and excitement around your campaign. Talk with your team and figure out which board members, business partners or big donors you have that would be willing to be your champion on December 1st.

Having a prize giveaway or a match is an added value proposition to donors because they feel they are either getting something in return for their generosity or doubling the impact of your donation.

You need to set up your fundraisers.

Do you have any supporters or donors who would be considered influencers? Start contacting them now to get them ready for your "Super Tuesday" campaign. Any of those major influencers can send out fundraising tweets with calls to action for their network to #donate at your Twitter handle, and if any of those influencers have a Facebook page they can download GoodWorld's fundraiser technology to fundraise on behalf of your cause directly on their Facebook page.

Usually it takes a little time to plan and coordinate with your fundraisers, so start the process now!

You should develop your goals now.

Leading into Giving Tuesday and end of year, you should already be taking a look at what you want to achieve in your fundraising efforts by January 1st. The most generous time of the year is in December, especially the last 6 days of the year. Make sure you're setting a goal so that you can share that with your supporters to get them excited and #donate-ing. A numeric goal also serves as a great internal motivator amongst your team. This is the time to push hard so you don't leave any money on the table! 

So, go get started! Don't forget, the GoodWorld team is here to help. 

Emily Thoet (@emtho1)

Director of the Social Giving School