Giving Tuesday: How Nonprofits are Leveraging Social Media to Reach Donors

By: Christian Williams, Social Enterprise and Visibility Specialist

Did you catch a #GivingTuesday tweet on your timeline during the week after Thanksgiving?

In the aftermath of the shopping ‘holidays’ of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday was a refreshing breakaway from the madness of people clamoring for hot deals from retailers across the United States. The social media movement encouraged consumers to make a difference this holiday season by donating to their favorite charities.

And guess what? It worked.

According to this infographic by MDG Advertising, nonprofits with a presence on social media networks saw a great outcome during the Tuesday campaign: a 53% increase in the amount donated on the same day in 2011. The average donation was $101, an almost-$40 increase from the average daily donation.

A visit to the movement’s website, GivingTuesday.org, provided a showcase of nonprofit partners big and small; both smaller regional organizations and huge international charities got involved in the project and ended up making a big return on their investment.

Today (on the once-in-a-lifetime calendar date of 12/12/12) in The ThinkTank’s hometown of Miami, the social giving continued locally with #GiveMiamiDay, a 24-hour giving project organized by The Miami Foundation and designed to provide funding for deserving nonprofits in the city. As of 3pm today, over $630,000 had been raised among more than 100 charities.

So why do these campaigns make such a big impact? It’s simple to explain: if you want a consumer to donate, you have to go to where they are. They are all on social media! Social platform ShareThis was mentioned in a Mashable article stating that socially shared content accounted for approximately 10% of all web content.

The ThinkTank loves nonprofits, and we’re definitely looking forward to watching the concept of social giving become bigger and better, and to see more organizations - large, tiny, local and international - hop on board. Any nonprofit that doesn’t do so risks losing out on a major opportunity not only to raise funds, but also to help others learn about their mission.