GivingTuesday Has Become a Day Charities Can’t Afford to Sit Out Emily Haynes - Philanthropy.com
go to original November 17, 2022

ProTips & Campaign Ideas to Power Up Giving Tuesday Fundraising (Donorbox)

In 2012, social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook were solidifying themselves as messaging clearinghouses. Some 500 million people around the world used Twitter that year, and nearly twice that number used Facebook. Nonprofits were taking note.

In New York City, staff members at the 92nd Street Y hatched a plan to harness social media as a megaphone for nonprofits. Using the hashtag #GivingTuesday, they encouraged donors to contribute to nonprofits during the week after Thanksgiving. Thanks to support from big names like Bill Gates, fundraising technology company Blackbaud, and the consumer discount company Groupon, the effort took off. That first year, donors contributed more than $10 million in online gifts to charities.

Because GivingTuesday began informally, there is no definitive total of the dollars it’s raised for charity since 2012. Estimates from each drive, however, show that the campaign has grown substantially year-over-year for the past decade. In 2019, the campaign topped $1 billion for the first time, according to estimates of online and offline donations released by GivingTuesday, the nonprofit formed that year to administer the giving day.



In May 2020 it organized its first flash fundraising event to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19 and raised roughly $503 million online. Last year’s GivingTuesday was the biggest yet, driving $2.7 billion in online and offline gifts to U.S. nonprofits. Its 2021 strategic plan announced a goal to inspire $10 billion in charitable giving each year.

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Related: Your 2022 Giving Tuesday Toolkit & Planning Guide (Network for Good)

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