3 Lessons from #GivingTuesday

On #GivingTuesday, I received 28 emails from different organizations. That was after a buildup of another 25 or so in the weeks prior. I waited a week to see what would happen next. No emails. With that as the prologue, I have a few thoughts on #GivingTuesday:

1. Most nonprofits did no creative thinking. They simply re-packaged their annual appeal into an email format and sent out their usual request. I wonder whether this strategy (tactic?) generates any new funds or new donors for a nonprofit. Anyone know of actual results from #GivingTuesday that filter out the usual giving?

2. Some nonprofits used the occasion to get a matching gift. I think this is great, but again--was this matching gift simply moved from another time of year to #GivingTuesday?

3. If #GivingTuesday is a great idea, where is the follow-up? All fundraisers know that it often takes repeated connections ("touches") to secure a gift--what about a follow-up email that tells a story of how #GivingTuesday gifts changed a client's life?

I loved the approach that David Nocenti suggested. His nonprofit literally gave away something on #GivingTuesday:

I think nonprofits should be bolder and more creative with #GivingTuesday. After only two years, it really feels like, to borrow Nocenti's term, #BeggingTuesday. To stand out from the crowd, either approach it as an opportunity to give back in the form of a tangible product or share knowledge and expertise. What a great day to launch a new website with lots of great information about your cause. Or a new infographic that people can share that dramatizes your important issue.

If you are simply asking the same people for the same donation that you normally would and it just happens to be on a Tuesday in December, then you are not really doing anything different. And you are diluting your approach and the approach of every other nonprofit doing the same exact thing.

Next December 1st, I hope to be eager to open the 28 (128?) emails that I am sure to receive.