There's one thing that sometimes goes unattended as nonprofit organizations prepare for a big giving day—the giving experience itself. We think that our normal donation page is fine and that donors will be so hyped to give that they won't mind clicking through a half-dozen pages and jumping through the hoops we set up for security, data collection, and just for funsies.

However, setting up a custom fundraising website for Giving Tuesday could mean the difference between getting halfway to your fundraising goals and doubling your donations.

If you want an amazing fundraising campaign site, just take a look at Funraise's customizable fundraising website templates—we're here to make the process easier not more difficult! But as you enter the holiday season and start building your own Giving Tuesday campaign website (whether you're using Funraise or not), keep these ideas in mind.

Giving Tuesday Campaign Website Best Practices

A great fundraising campaign website informs, delights, and, most of all, converts donors so you can meet your fundraising goal. Here's how to make a Giving Tuesday site that brings in online donations and sparks a generosity movement.

Stay on brand

We can't say it enough. Just because this is a standalone site doesn't mean it won't benefit from your normal branding. Being consistent here will give supporters (and potential supporters) confidence that this is a legitimate campaign.

Make sure it's mobile

50% of your nonprofit's website visitors come from mobile devices. Don't stand in their way with a site that's not optimized for mobile—especially with the year-end giving season fast approaching!

Add a progress bar

Donors want to know that their donations are making a tangible difference, and one of the best ways to visualize fundraising progress is with a fundraising thermometer or progress bar. People give, and that li'l fellow starts filling up. It's the most satisfying way to share fundraising goal updates!

Measure your success

It's a key part of any project, so add it to your to-do list. Track metrics on Google Analytics, your website hosting platform, and any other connected tools, like a marketing platform. While you're at it, track social media analytics, too.

Make your site easily shareable

That means creating a link that's easy to copy, adding sharing buttons on your site, and ensuring that your images and meta descriptions translate easily to popular social media platforms.

Think about the long game

Yes, this is your Giving Tuesday campaign site, but it's not just about this one special day; it's about spreading awareness, cultivating potential supporters (and turning them into monthly donors), and encouraging generosity as you enter the year-end fundraising season. This holiday season, focus on donor retention, not just donor acquisition.

All eyes on the giving experience

If you haven't discovered the amazingness of pop-up donation forms, drop what you're doing and read up now. Another way to ensure a successful campaign? Multi-step forms, which increase conversions and donations, and even bring in higher average donations. TL;DR (hey, some of us have a short attention span!): keep the data collection to a minimum and offer multiple payment options. Finally, don't forget to follow up: we're talking confirmation emails, donation receipts, and regular updates, folks.

Tap into the Giving Tuesday movement

This isn't the Hunger Games; it's the Giving Games, and every single person (well, every single person who's cool) is getting in on it. So, remind all those potential donors that everyone everywhere is getting their charitable donation on today. Not practicing radical generosity on GT? It's a recipe for FOMO, and no one wants that. 

Giving Tuesday Campaign Site Examples

Now you know what a great Giving Tuesday campaign site needs, but you might be wondering what that actually looks like IRL. If you need a little inspiration to jumpstart your planning, check out these Giving Tuesday examples from real Funraise customers. Then, let the online fundraising commence!

Voices4Freedom

Voices4Freedom leveraged high-impact imagery and video to funnel money toward their Schools4Freedom program on Giving Tuesday. They exceeded their fundraising goals (yay!), which is what we’re wishing for all our nonprofit friends this Giving Tuesday.

DigDeep

DigDeep used their Giving Tuesday campaign to raise funds for the Navajo Water Project. Not only did they exceed their fundraising goal, but they got nearly 1000 people to donate. DigDeep utilized Funraise’s customizable campaign site to include multiple tabbed sections to highlight their campaign. They took advantage of the opportunity to expand their campaign site page beyond the typical fundraising thermometer and provide a holistic view of their larger mission.

Glaucoma Research Foundation

Glaucoma Research Foundation featured a $25,000 matching gift front and center to spark giving as well as a bar to highlight their fundraising progress. The result? They surpassed their fundraising goal by nearly $15,000. Additionally, they used their Giving Tuesday campaign site to highlight asset-based giving, building a pipeline of future giving.

Humane Society of Northeast Georgia

The Humane Society of Northeast Georgia created a simple yet impactful Giving Tuesday campaign site and almost doubled their fundraising goal. By featuring Recent Donors and Top Donors, they highlighted individual impact by automatically recognizing each donation. They also switched up their call to action, encouraging people to Give Love instead of Donate Now. This simple idea went a long way toward matching their brand, increasing the personalization of their campaign. Also, dogs!

Rising TIDE

Rising TIDE shows that there’s no goal too small when it comes to participating in Giving Tuesday. With just one impactful image and a Giving Tuesday nonprofit video (created by the Funraise team), this community organization was able to create a campaign site that helped them raise almost $5,000 from their loyal supporters.

Freedom United

Freedom United leveraged the power of matching funds to get their supporters to donate on Giving Tuesday. With one swoop, they differentiated themselves and doubled down on donations by rebranding Giving Tuesday as Giving Twosday. Getting a matching grant not only doubled the amount raised but also got their donor base revved up.

Wags & Walks

Wags & Walks took full advantage of their lovable, not-so-secret weapon when they made their campaign page: Puppies, all up in your face! Their super-adorable puppy header image paired with custom Giving Tuesday graphics led to a successful campaign that spoke directly to their core puppy-lovin’ audience and provided perfectly squishable social media content.

Giving Tuesday Campaign Site Tricks for Maximum Donor Engagement

Giving Tuesday is an annual celebration of generosity, embraced by millions of people (nay, hundreds of millions!) all over the world. To make a campaign site that stands out from the crowd, you'll want to maximize donor engagement—and there's nothing more crucial to your donors' giving experience than letting them feel like they know what's happening.

None of it should feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar, or out of their hands. That goes for everything from where they discover your site to the content you showcase to the donating process itself, all the way through to payment confirmation. Keeping them in the driver's seat will result in returning, recurring, reinvigorated donors.

Add video and images

As much as we love words, our eyes need a break sometimes. Whether you choose to enthrall donors with video or photos, make sure your template has something to refresh the eyes. You can also use some of the images in the toolkit at GivingTuesday.org.

Focus on recurring subscriptions

Rather than soliciting a single gift from first-time donors, use your Giving Tuesday site as an opportunity to turn those fair-weather friends into monthly donors by focusing on monthly gifts. By converting one-time donors into recurring ones, you'll have a guaranteed source of revenue. Plus, they often turn into lifelong loyal supporters—one of your most valuable assets.

Connect your site to social media

Maybe it's the bare basics (just the icons, directing folks to your various social media channels, please and thank you), or maybe you're leaning on social media integrations to embed a running feed of your latest social media posts weeks in advance. Either way, any successful Giving Tuesday campaign is a social media campaign, too. Direct people to your various social media accounts to ensure they stay plugged into the latest and greatest Giving Tuesday news. It will also boost social sharing, which means better word-of-mouth—and more donations.

Lean into storytelling

Use your site (as well as blog posts, emails, and social media accounts) to tell powerful impact stories that tug at the heartstrings and lend a human element to your fundraising strategy. If you share stories that highlight individual impact through key storytelling elements, you'll make a personal connection that also converts.

Host a livestreaming event

On Giving Tuesday itself, embed a livestream during which you share campaign updates, success stories, and charming anecdotes (we're sure you've got dozens of those!). Heck, you can turn most fundraising ideas into a livestream, so don't be afraid to get wild! And if livestreaming videos feels like too much, you could also hop onto one of your social media accounts, streaming live stories on Instagram every hour or posting a new TikTok dance for every $50 raised.

Use AppealAI to craft a P2P appeal

Running a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign that leads up to Giving Tuesday is one way to get lots of eyes on your nonprofit, at a moment when people are motivated by a global generosity movement. With AppealAI, you can help your loyal supporters focus on their peer-to-peer campaign planning rather than on how to ask for support. It makes writing emails and social media content a breeze.

Create exclusive content for subscribers

You're going to get visitors who don't donate, and while that's not ideal for donor acquisition, it's okay. But offering something extra in the form of digital incentives in return for their email address will allow you to add new names to your email list and follow up for potential future donations.

Make a different ask—for something other than money

Giving Tuesday donations are swell, but there are plenty of other ways to get people involved with your organization that don't require a direct donation. Consider recruiting dedicated volunteers, asking your followers to help via social sharing, highlighting your newsletter subscription, requesting signatures for a petition, asking people to follow your social media accounts, or just encouraging general acts of kindness. The sky's the limit, and your marketing plan will thank you!

Power up your conversion rate

To maximize current donor engagement, up your donor retention rate, and convert potential supporters to first-time donors, you need Funraise Power Ups. These small potential improvements to your fundraising make an outsized impact. Power Ups range from smart email strategies to contextual giving experiences, like embedding your online donation form at key touchpoints on your site.

Try gamification—making competition fun

Put the "fun" in fundraising by incorporating gaming elements into your Giving Tuesday campaign. Offer fun incentives for every first-time donor who gives, create badges for social sharing, and share leaderboards on your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign site so everyone can watch their name rise (or fall).

Ways to Maximize Giving Tuesday Donor Engagement That Don't Include Your Campaign Site

Your campaign is a shining star by now, but we all know the Giving Tuesday work doesn't end there. If you want this day of giving to turn into a community-wide generosity movement, you need to foster donor engagement through a killer social and email strategy as well as some truly creative fundraising ideas. Let's get to it!

Try the new generation of communication

Once upon a time, it was direct mail, then voicemails, then emails, then texts. Now, we're back to the days of yesteryear with voice messages, which can add that much-needed human element to your fundraising. Here's the DL: you (or someone from your org) records a short message and sends it, via text or other app, to a supporter. It's personal, it's short, it's different, they can listen on their own time, and it shows that you're up on all the latest trends. Give it a try!

Get it on the calendar

You've already crafted a series of emails to get donors pumped about Giving Tuesday weeks in advance. But somehow, it can still slip through the cracks. This year, up your odds of raising a record-breaking amount by sending supporters a calendar invite for the November 28th. That way, no one will miss the main event.

Send supporters a personal message—after the big day

Rather than sending thank you messages to your whole crew as soon as you hit your goal, take a beat. They're getting sooo many post-GT emails already. Instead, wait at least a week and then send a personalized message to all those first-time donors, connecting with them just as you move into the year-end giving season. Whether it's email, direct mail, or social media posts, that dedicated attention is sure to sweep 'em off their feet and boost future fundraising efforts.

Double the matching

Here's a powerful campaign idea for the year-end giving season: Get a matching gift from a donor who ALSO has company matching ... which is like a double matching gift that can then be doubled. It's technically possible, but is it just a dream? Perhaps, but we're all for dreaming big around here.

Pay for Giving Tuesday ads

If donor acquisition is the name of the game, ads are how you play to win, especially on a day as big as Giving Tuesday. Consider kicking off the year-end giving season with some loud-and-proud ads that trumpet your impact. Think of it this way: If you spend $100 on an ad and get just one $100 from a one-time donor, you've expanded your network and gotten ahead!

Mobilize your volunteers

Now's the time to lean on your amazing dedicated volunteers, who are one of your most valuable assets. If you're too busy, delegate tasks to them. Have them organize creative fundraising events, edit your communications,  post on social, bring you a triple-shot of espresso, or just spread the gospel to their fellow supporters. That's the power of people, so don't go it alone!

Get a celebrity to make a cameo

Here's a stand-out campaign idea for you: get an audience-pleasing celeb to make an appearance and plug your cause! Giving Tuesday is all about unleashing the power of people to make change, so ask an upstanding (and famous) citizen to film a short video, make a social media post, or say hi at a virtual event. If you're a community organization, try a local celebrity; they might even be willing to take over your social media channels for a day.

Can't catch a celebrity or influencer's ear? Try investing in a cameo from Cameo, the celebrity video company. It may prove to be a valuable asset even after the big day. Or it may lead to an unhealthy celebrity video collection—don't ask us how we know.

Try some creative fundraising events

Of course, Giving Tuesday is a great time to rally first-time donors and long-time supporters alike through a fundraising event. Host a fun and meaningful (and tasty!) event or two to bring everyone together, share an impact story or three, and cultivate community. Plus, you put a face to first-time donors, which can be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Giving Tuesday Campaign Pitfalls

Before we send you on your merry way, armed with everything you need for a legendary Giving Tuesday campaign site, here are a few things that can tank your carefully planned (and costly!) donor retention strategies.

Donor fatigue

We all love radical generosity, but as you enter the year-end giving season, be aware that your donors are being asked for a lot of support. So, don't overdo it. If you're sending a series of emails, keep them short and varied (AKA don't just ask for money!). Frequently express your appreciation, and respect when someone needs a break. There's always 2024!

Muddy messaging

If you want to raise a record-breaking amount, your Giving Tuesday messages need to be focused and cut through the many, many other messages out there. Weeks in advance, you should be setting SMART goals and crafting a stand-out content strategy to support them. Your impact story, social posts, and regular update all have a distinct tone, but the messaging should be the same. Months of planning will pay off when your consistently presented, beautifully written content leads to greater donor acquisition and higher donor retention rates.

Poor timing

If you're going all in on text engagement this Giving Tuesday, don't send a text at 6:00 pm, when your tired donors are finally digging into a nice, relaxing meal. Likewise, a Sunday morning email is likely to get lost in the weekend shuffle. Proper timing is an asset for donor communication, so do your research and send your giving day campaign outreach at times that work and convert.

Siloing your campaign

Our GT mantra: It's not just one day. Also, ovaries over brovaries. (Leslie Knope is always relevant!) But seriously, don't tuck your GT campaign away (or any giving day campaign, for that matter), far removed from all your good work. Instead, connect it to your larger mission and share stories that resonate all year round.

Setting unreasonable expectations

Giving Tuesday is kind of a big deal—but it's not the be all and end all. If you don't raise a record-breaking amount, it's okay. If your impact story doesn't move every member of your board to offer a matching gift, there's always tomorrow. And if your Giving Tuesday fundraising gala doesn't sell out, at least there will be more cheese for you. In the weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday, do your best to set SMART goals, with an emphasis on the "A" for achievable. It is one single day, and there will be other days and other campaigns and other opportunities. 

Not taking advantage of automations and time-saving tools

When it comes to any campaign, there are always potential improvements, and one of the big changes you can implement to keep your campaign on track is taking advantage of technology to delegate tasks! By automating your communications and daily to-do list, you can save valuable hours, keep track of incomplete tasks, share regular updates, and craft donation appeals that convert.

Not following up on engagement

If you want to maintain that donor retention rate, you need a follow-up plan, and it starts with following up in the first place. Sure, they'll get an automated donation receipt, but that's not enough. It's up to you to add that human element, personally thanking them for their specific gift so that they want to stick around and, at some point, give again.

And there you have it: a delicious recipe for Giving Tuesday campaign site success. Bon Appetit!

Giving Tuesday Campaign Website FAQs

How do I promote my nonprofit organization on Giving Tuesday?

There are many ways to promote your nonprofit's fundraising campaign on Giving Tuesday, including social media posts, a series of emails, text engagement, targeted ads, or a fundraising event. You can also publish a press release in the local paper for a little old-fashioned PR.

How do I set up a Giving Tuesday campaign site?

All you need is a great nonprofit website builder! Look for a platform that allows you to create campaign sites easily and efficiently, and check for key features like accepting donations, selling tickets, and registering fundraisers. With Funraise, it's a snap!

What are common pitfalls to avoid on Giving Tuesday?

Common pitfalls include donor fatigue, unclear messaging, and poor timing. Additionally, some nonprofit organizations don't connect Giving Tuesday to their larger mission, provide regular updates, or have a follow-up plan.

What are some creative fundraising ideas for Giving Tuesday?

There are all the classics, like a fundraising gala or an informative webinar, or you can think outside the box, hosting a carnival with a dunk tank or a brunch with DIY pancakes. There are also plenty of virtual fundraising ideas; just take your fundraising idea to your favorite livestreaming platform and share stories across the world.