This December 2 is the second annual Giving Tuesday in Canada. What is #GivingTuesdayCa? Inherited from the US where it began as an initiative to follow American Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s the kick-off to the holiday giving season. Giving Tuesday is a “Canadian movement for giving and volunteering.”

There were many doubts in 2013. Would the US-born Giving Tuesday phenomenon carry its success across the border? Would Canadians respond despite its novelty? And would charities see the benefit of integrating this initiative into their holiday fundraising?

Was Giving Tuesday Year 1 successful?

• 1,300 charities, foundations and organizations across Canada took part.
• Blackbaud reported an increase of 134 per cent in the number of donations processed on Tuesday, December 3, 2013 (compared to 2012).
• Blackbaud also saw an increase of 421 per cent in total donation revenue.
• CanadaHelps similarly saw a jump in donations to the tune of 169 per cent on the big day.
• There were more than 12,000 shares of #GivingTuesdayCa on December 3.
• And in the month of December, Mobile Giving Foundation Canada reported a 93 per cent increase year-over-year!

The US numbers are even more compelling – they saw surprising success in both year 1 and 2 (read more about the success of Giving Tuesday in the US).

Should you be paying attention in Year 2?

That would be a big honking YES! I like Giving Tuesday because it is virtually a free, media-driven, rallying cry to support causes that mean something to us at a time of year when many are also consumed by holiday spending.

The 2014 Blackbaud Charitable Giving Report states:

• More than a third of the year’s overall giving happens between October and December.
• 18 per cent of all online gifts come in during December (in comparison, January only accounts for 4.8 per cent!)

End of year is a critical time for online fundraising – we know this. The bright light Giving Tuesday has shone on charitable action during the holidays has afforded us an opportunity to make this time of year even more successful. 

Have you started planning for Giving Tuesday 2014?
Think about integration first and foremost. What do you already have planned to hit the market this fall and winter? Direct mail? An awareness campaign? Email appeals? Be sure to ask yourself if there’s an opportunity to integrate a Giving Tuesday ask and leverage these existing assets and money spent.

And then put all this aside and brainstorm building an entire campaign around Giving Tuesday. Get all your ideas out there and see what fits, what your objectives are, what you can spend. For more on building a campaign for Giving Tuesday, check out my CanadaHelps webinar.

For questions, please reach out to me at simrend@stephenthomas.ca or follow me on Twitter @SimrenDeogun for lots more digital stuff!