While the retail industry is focused on preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, professionals involved with nonprofit organizations should be thinking about preparing for the “World’s Biggest Day of Giving” — #GivingTuesday.
Since 2012, #GivingTuesday has called on communities around the world to give back to charitable organizations. In a year with increased cost of living and economic uncertainty, #GivingTuesday has taken on new significance in 2025.
This year, #GivingTuesday falls on Tuesday, December 2 — which means there’s still time for your nonprofit to harness the power of this popular social media trend.
Here are some strategies to get your campaign started:
#1: Show Your Impact
Fundraisers that perform the best are usually grounded in content that donors connect with. Developing content, such as client stories that give a face and voice to what you do, helps your supporters see the important work your nonprofit is doing in a tangible way.
This content should be used to build momentum and develop awareness for your nonprofit leading up to #GivingTuesday. Be sure your messaging is goal-oriented by being specific about what you’re asking a supporter to fund or do and showing them what you’ll be able to accomplish with their support. Talking about Giving Tuesday in advance will also help your organization stand out among all the generic posts from other organizations that day.
#2: Prioritize Partnerships
Finding a way to increase the impact of your donations is also a solid #GivingTuesday strategy. If you have a sponsor or community partner willing to match donations, you can maximize that impact by sharing on social media.
While matching donations can have a big impact, it isn’t a necessity to make a splash. Before the day, reach out to your local community partners and ask them to share your information on their social media pages. In your posts, tag them and thank them for their support.
#3 Amplify Your Posts with New Social Media Tools
When posting on social media, there are two new tools you can use to amplify your reach. Batch mentions are an alert feature on Facebook that allows you to mention multiple people in a post, comment, video, story, or reel.
There are two ways we recommend you use this on social media for Giving Tuesday:
- Tag your followers in a post.
- After you post, go to the comment section and type @followers. This sends your followers a notification of the post
- Encourage your employees to highlight your post.
- After you post, have an employee go to the comment section and type @highlight. This sends a notification to that user’s friends about a post.
Facebook has limits to ensure that users aren’t spammed, so make sure to use this tool sparingly and early in the day. If a user has already received too many batch mentions notifications in one day, they won’t receive any more, and pages are limited on how often they can use this tool — meaning it’s important for you to use this feature wisely.
#4 Create a Video Call to Action
If you haven’t started posting videos to social media, #GivingTuesday could be a great opportunity to try it out. According to Hootsuite, video content represents 60% of time spent on Facebook. If you want to get in front of your existing audience and new audiences, try posting a short Reel on Facebook.
If you don’t know where to start, here are three easy ideas to help you get started:
- A message from your executive director asking for donations and sharing two impacts those donations will make.
- A client sharing how your nonprofit’s services have helped them.
- Behind-the-scenes footage of volunteers working with a voice-over.
You can find Scooter Media’s tips for creating short social media videos here.
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#5 Get in touch with your donors via email
Research has consistently shown that email marketing is still the most effective way to directly reach supporters. Using the content you’ve created, start promoting your #GivingTuesday campaign in advance via email, and send a reminder a week or so before the big day of giving.
In each reminder, provide a link where supporters can donate. You want to make it easy for them to give back! Stress the importance of donations and the impact those donations have on your clients. If you have a sponsor matching donations, be sure that information is included, too.
Take time to set yourself apart from the rest this year, and you’ll reap the rewards. By finding ways to connect to your audience through #GivingTuesday, you can begin to build meaningful relationships with donors to support your mission for the long haul.
A version of this blog was originally published in 2021 and has been refreshed to include relevant data and case studies.
Looking for more tips to elevate your non-profit impact? Check out these other relevant posts on the Scooter Media blog:
