Four Ways to Make This #GivingTuesday Your Best Yet: Lessons From Nasdaq

#GivingTuesday, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is globally known as the biggest day for giving. It is a day nonprofits and others begin preparing for months in advance, and for good reason. In 2017, over $300 million dollars was raised on #GivingTuesday, from 150 countries, with a mean gift size of around $120 (GivingTuesday.org). This annual day for giving can also be impactful for companies and their giving programs. Why? With so much attention to giving on this day, it is a fantastic opportunity to engage employees that may not ordinarily take part in your programs. Companies can raise awareness internally of their employee giving and volunteering opportunities while they have an engaged audience, and they can also share with their community the great organizations they’re working with. Last year, #GivingTuesday saw 21.7 billion social media impressions (GivingTuesday.org). That’s a big stage.

We know the potential impact #GivingTuesday can have for an organization’s CSR program, yet also acknowledge the difficulty of strategizing the best way to fit into this chaotic day of giving. We went to Tanya Smigocki at Nasdaq to understand how they ran such a successful campaign in 2017, and want to share those tips with you as you prepare for this November!

Most important is establishing a clear framework for the program, so there’s no confusion amongst employees. This includes sharing steps on how to take advantage of the program, the length of the matching promotion, and what organizations are eligible to receive the matched donation. Providing these instructions in the weeks before November 28th will allows employees and contractors plenty of time to search for qualified organizations, and familiarize themselves with the technology you’re using to track matching requests, so there’s little confusion in the quick 24 hours of giving.

Read the rest of Tanya’s tips, including how you can recruit help from the rest of your organization, identify partner organizations to spotlight, and utilize social media to boost engagement.  

See all of Blackbaud’s #GivingTuesday resources on our Resource Hub for Corporations!