Online giving and GivingTuesday : What do the numbers say?
This #GivingTuesday seems to have broken all past nonprofit fundraising records and put up its highest online donation figures in its six year history. It is estimated that as much as $274 million were raised online this #GivingTuesday which far exceeds last year’s tally of $177 million. With more than 50 per cent increase in total donations over last year’s event, the year-end fundraising has got off to a great start, this charity season.
This year was marked by a lot of natural disasters and terrorism events, for which a lot of donations and support was requested. Despite that, 2017 comes across as nothing less than a boom year in giving. The record breaking #GivingTuesday numbers could only go on to re-emphasise this fact.
Reasons for the success
There are many factors which have come together for this year’s #GivingTuesday success story. The greater use of social media to market the cause and link with people, making it easier for donors by allowing them to use their smartphones and tablets to give and the use campaigns that match gifts are some of the key attributes which have given a boost to the fundraising campaign.
Mobile Giving
With smartphones becoming the center of people’s lives these days, increasing number of activities are being done with the help of apps. Allowing people to give on the go, whenever and however they prefer it, has played a big role in ramping up donations. This year the percentage of donations through the smartphone has gone up by several percentage points. This trend has kept up with expectations of all the online fundraising experts.
Related: Mobile Giving – the easiest way to introduce digital giving.
Matching Gifts
Many nonprofit organizations have made use of the idea of matching gifts from big foundations or corporations to encourage small donors. This Tuesday morning itself, Bill and Melinda Foundation gave away $2 million in donations as matching gifts for donations made on Facebook to various nonprofit organizations.
Social Media
This #GivingTuesday has seen an increased usage of social media by nonprofit organizations to market their cause and connect with potential donors. Different kinds of social media channels with diverse audience demographic distribution were used to increase visibility and connect to as many people as one could.
Creative fundraising ideas were used this #GivingTuesday to garner support. From involving all your supporters and volunteers to getting some celebrity support, charities didn’t leave any stone upturned. And all this hard work seems to be showing results in the form of massive donations which have already been received and have shattered all past records.
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