2023 will be better, right? Lessons from Giving Tuesday
File under: A close colleague asked: "Can you share with me the subject lines of the Giving Tuesday appeals you received?"
Ummmmmm, my dear precious friend in philanthropy...
Do you mean
… those hundreds of urgent subject lines jamming my in-box
... the ones I ploddingly deleted morning after morning during the carnival that was Giving Tuesday “donors gone wild” 2022?
... with maybe special flurries of impatience for Giving Tuesday appeals emitted by the many charities we already support monthly
... You want those subject lines, colleague o' mine?
Sorry. All gone. Highly deletable comms fodder. No regrets, either. (Meany!)
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Now to you, my ever-questing e-news reader...
Of course, I pay attention to Giving Tuesday
(as any self-respecting, wanna-be pro should, yeah? + let's be frank: How could a fundraiser IGNORE an event this GLOBALLY noisy?)
BUT I felt years ago that Giving Tuesday wasn't teaching me much about donor communications.
The asks were predictable ... repetitive ... easy to dismiss.
... EXCEPT for one notable exception, year after year ...
... from Health Care for the Homeless (Baltimore and Maryland); a campaign brain-borne by the senior director of advancement; the major gifts team; and "our awesome communications team" (to quote a boss there).
Hallelujah. Innovation!
Their brilliant idea? To rename the event Giving Toothday, which gave it specificity that stood out from the mob.
They really work it ... for months. This year they conjured up two corporate matches. They also report back the next day (Wednesday) on how much was raised (over $60,000 for dental care to that point, "enough to fully cover hundreds of dental appointments"), thus closing the donor feedback loop: How much impact did my decision to give help make possible?
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Also: there was a sharp Agitator post recently re: Giving Tuesday. It summarized the trends ... seems like matching gifts are the fave offer.
And then there's this:
We have a separate EXTRA, branded giving day here in Rhode Island [Small State, Big History; a great blog for buffs, residents, visitors] ... it happens in the spring, named for 401, our area code.
I know a lot more about the results of that mirror effort. Here's what I think I learned from last year: a handful of RI charities who work it do very well. I think the leader was a superb foster-care charity that attracted $150K in one day. BUT the average is disappointing: something like $5K-7K for most and almost nothing for quite a few. Like all fundraising, those who put in the work and find an angle, win the prize.
I Googled "Average donation Giving Tuesday" and this interesting article came up, from Neon One.
Here's another (goes back to 2018 and earlier) that at least included the AVERAGE haul (in 2013), which was $3,857.
My questions re: Giving Tuesday are these >>> (1) Was it worth the anguish/disruption? i.e., what's the average haul; (2) Does it attract higher than average once-a-year gifts? With an average gift that hovers between $100 and $135, I suspect it DOES bring in more, given that Blackbaud says the US average annual gift in 2021 (under $1,000) was $20. (3) Is it cannibalizing year-end giving? In other words: are charities netting MORE with Giving Tuesday ... or are they just hauling in the same TOTAL gifts (though maybe at a higher average gift size)? (4) Is Giving Tuesday a surprisingly effective donor-acquisition tool?
When I look at...
what Health Care for the Homeless brings in for a special need (teeth; using Giving Tuesday as a launch pad), I think, yeah!!!!
the average gift size on Giving Tuesday ($107 on Giving Tuesday 2020 vs. $20 in the US same year) I see a financial advantage, even if Giving Tuesday simply replaces year-end giving for some donors
its potential to attract first-time donors (and I have no data on that potential, just a hunch), I think: "Every little bit helps in the acquisition department."
One of the best ah-ha's I ever banged into was this: donors (NON-monthly) to National Public Radio gave on average 1.3 times a year.
In other words, ALL donors gave once (that's why they were classed as donors) ... and then a THIRD gave to some OTHER appeal ... but (important to note) NOT to the SAME other appeal. Some ALSO gave to the spring appeal, some to the summer appeal, some to the appeal that promised to bring back disco.
I have no conclusions. I hear hints and wisps. Giving Tuesday is telling us something. As a "philanthropy awareness" kick in the pants, it's not bad.
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