Three reasons your charity should get involved in Giving Tuesday

Once again we're leading the UK campaign. Myself and colleagues from our communications and marketing teams were running the event and we got to hear from inspiring speakers including Henry Timms, the man who came up with the idea for Giving Tuesday in the first place.

Listening to the presentations reminded me what an amazing campaign Giving Tuesday is. It offers everyone the opportunity to celebrate selfless giving in its broadest definition. And for charities in particular, it offers so many benefits that I wonder why every charity in the UK doesn’t get involved!

So in an effort to sign more of you up as partners for the campaign, I wanted to share my top three reasons why your charity should take part.

1 Get involved in a global campaign that celebrates and encourages giving

Giving Tuesday takes place in over 70 countries, including the USA, Canada, Russia, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Brazil.

What started as a day in the USA in 2012 has quickly grown into a celebration of generosity and our shared capacity to give. During the event, Henry Timms summed it up perfectly when he described Giving Tuesday as being:

“a moment to recognise, no matter what divides us around the world, that there are some things we all share, and one of things we share is the capacity to care about each other”.

2  Use it to hit your goals

There are loads of ways the campaign can contribute to your wider goals. For instance you can use it to:

• engage supporters and staff
• encourage donations
• promote your cause
• celebrate your impact
• thank your donors

Jon Arnold, the Chief Executive of a small charity called Tiny Tickers came along to the launch. He told us about how they used Giving Tuesday last year as a platform to engage their supporters and reach new audiences.

A month before the day they launched an appeal called ‘Test for Tommy’ to fund a machine that detects heart defects in babies. The head of fundraising at the charity came up with the idea of using Giving Tuesday as the second leg of that appeal and to push it further.

One of the machines costs £750 so their goal on the day was to raise enough money to buy one. With a budget of £0, and using social media alongside their text donation and online donation platform, they smashed their target six-fold.

They raised £4500 in total which enabled them to buy six machines. And because of those six machines every year 9000 new born babies will now have a test that they wouldn’t have had previously.

Jon put their success down to a few key things:

• Linking their appeal to an established campaign
• Having a tangible target on the day
• Giving supporters multiple ways to donate
• Using emotive case studies

But most importantly the success came about because they lived and breathed the day. They didn’t just schedule some posts and sit back to see what happens. They’re a team of six at Tiny Tickers, and all day each of them focused on engaging with supporters via their social media channels.

Tiny Tickers is just one example of the thousands of charities, of all sizes, that have benefited from the campaign. Charities such as Marie Curie, Muslim Youth Helpline, and Carers Link, whose stories you can read on the Giving Tuesday website.

3  You drive the campaign

Giving Tuesday arrived in the UK in 2014. Since then the day has gone on to become one of the UK’s biggest days for charities, raising millions of pounds for good causes. And that’s all down to people like you who get involved.

As Henry Timms said at the event: “Giving Tuesday isn’t about one cause, it’s about all the causes”

So add your cause to the campaign and help us make Giving Tuesday 2019 the biggest ever.