Thursday October 16- Giving Tuesday

Hi !

Dancing Queen: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

• Sadly, it’s all about the money

• A different kind of Tuesday

• Learn from the good: The calls are free

• Great post: Build a robust mid-level donor program

• How to get along with a teenager in your house

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from last week: Toys from the late 70s and early 80s. Those were good times!

Today I’m going to share with you thoughts about a topic I’m very vocal about but am in the minority with my opinion.

But I’m not here to just highlight a problem. I’m here to offer a potential swticharoo which clients of mine have tried and been successful with.

So let’s jump into it: Giving Tuesday, a day that I dislike. And how to turn it into a day which improves your year-end campaign.

Money money money: ⬅️ 

As nonproifiteers, we know there are MANY ways people can do good. Volunteer. Help out with an event. Drive food to someone’s house. Download an ebook and implement its lessons. Stuff envelopes. Go thru donated clothes. And yes, donate.

Unfortunately, if you’ve been paying attention, Giving Tuesday (GT) has become about only one thing: Money. The only way people can do good? Donate.

That’s it.

Don’t believe me? Read the GT emails that come thru your inbox. It’s a cash grab.

(Since I subscribe to hundreds of organization enewsletters, I do an annual wrap up of the hundreds of GT emails I receive. And every year the vast majority of emails mention only one way to give: 💰️ .

If you wanna learn fundraising and marketing lessons from all those emails, here’s my 2024 GT review. And here’s the 2023 GT review. And the one from 2022. Read them all and you’ll get expert tips, best practices and learn email do’s and dont’s. And you’ll also see a pattern: It’s all about the money. Sadly.)

The cash grab bothers me most (I have other reasons why I dislike GT). In the U.S., overall household giving is down, retention is down.

Well geez, I wonder why! If we’re treating people as cash cows…

Of course, about $3 billion is raised collectively on GT. What Board and organization wouldn’t wanna get in on that action?!

And so I get hundreds of emails asking for money. This is the new GT calendar:

• An email 4 weeks in advance telling people GT is coming

• An email a week in advance announcing a pre-GT campaign (sometimes different than the actual GT campaign)

• An email on the Sunday and Monday before GT telling people to get ahead of the rush and give early

• Emails on GT

• Emails on the four days following GT with “extended campaigns” and “we didn’t hit our GT goal so we’re letting you give after GT”

A giving day has become a giving week and will soon become a giving month.

Again, if nonprofits were true to the spirit of the day, the emails would offer multiple ways for people to get involved. But the overwhelming majority of organizations only want one thing:

Besides the fact that it’s become a cash grab, it also comes at a bad time for many organizations: During the year-end campaign. This year GT is December 2. By that time I assume all of you have already mailed your year-end campaign direct mail piece and they should’ve arrived at their destinations.

So people are opening those letters and considering a gift and then they get hit with 10 emails asking them to give on Giving Tuesday. And then the day after GT they get more emails for the year-end campaign.

Now, does it matter which campaign they give to? You’ll respond: As long as they give who cares!

Sounds nice but what if it’s confusing to donors to be getting two different campaign asks at the same time? Could that affect giving?

OK Ephraim, you say, we get it. You hate GT. But everyone is taking part and we want to as well.

And I say, try something else. Something different that will help retention and fundraising.

It’s called Gratitude Tuesday.

The winner takes it all: Always lead with gratitude

Adam Clevenger is a fundraising expert. He’s also very involved with charities.

One of them is Second Helpings in Indianapolis. They rescue food in Central Indiana, prepare it and deliver it to local nonprofits for free. They deliver more than a million meals every year- many of them to kids and seniors.

Adam is their Board Chair. Every year Second Helpings does Gratitude Tuesday on GT and Adam is there to participate and capture what goes on.

What is Gratitude Tuesday? Board members, staff and volunteers spend GT calling as many donors as possible and thanking them for their support and share the impact of their gift. No ask!

Here’s a picture of Adam from the room where people are busy making calls:

Each year Adam keeps data about Gratitude Tuesday. In 2024, Second Helpings spoke with 2,133 donors!!!!!

That’s how you lead with gratitude! They call to say thanks which is memorable, warm and heartfelt. Donors hear a thank you plus info about the impact of their gift.

Know what that does for the organization’s year-end campaign? Helps them SURPASS their goals.

Perfect.

I have worked with numerous nonprofits interested in doing Gratitude Tuesday. The feedback I get back is usually the same: People felt so good that we called to thank them! And yes, it helped boost our year-end campaign.

If you’d like to lead with gratitude and participate in Gratitude Tuesday, here’s what you’ll need to prepare in advance:

1️⃣ Get everyone on board and participating. Board members, staff, volunteers. All hands on deck to maximize the number of calls.

2️⃣ Give each caller a list of names and phone numbers. Give them a pen so they can check off who they spoke to.

3️⃣ Provide a script for callers to use. Here’s a sample script:

You can use the above to also provide a script for callers in case no one answers the phone and they want to leave a message.

4️⃣ Some callers may be chatty or the caller feels they can continue the conversation. This is a great time for some origin stories!

Say to the donor “do you have a minute to answer a question or two?” If they say yes, callers can decide which question/s below to ask:

1. How did you first find out about <name of organization>?

2. What inspires you to be a donor to <name of organization>?

3. Which of our programs/services interest you the most?

4. Through your support, what impact are you looking to have?

The answers to the above questions are GOLD for your fundraising and marketing! They will be very helpful for segmentation, personalization and quotes you can use in various publications.

Make sure callers have a pad of paper where they can jot down the answers. Make sure those answers are entered into your donor database.

2025 has been a tough year for many nonprofits. I fully understand why you’d wanna participate in Giving Tuesday and raise money.

But leading with gratitude means higher donor retention and higher donation amounts. Consider Gratitude Tuesday as a lead in to your year-end campaign. It’s a great way to help you grow and thrive.

Mamma mia: Love this idea!

In this section I will share with you something good being done out there by a nonprofit that you can learn from or from a regular person doing great things.

I grew up without cellphones. If I needed to call home while out, I took a dime, went to a pay phone and called.

Remember pay phones? Every now and then when I visit the U.S. I see one and get a little nostalgic.

But what if you could use old pay phones and put them to good use? An engineer in Vermont figured out how to do just that and help out his entire community.

And best of all: It’s a pay phone but the phone calls are free!

Waterloo: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. Show, don’t tell. MUST READ!!! (MarketSmart)

2. 5 fundraising red flags you need to fix (Achieve)

3. How people actually read your direct mail pieces (Moceanic)

4. How to build a robust mid-level donor program (Nonprofit Pro)

5. How to build an employer-employee matching gift strategy (Double the Donation)

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!: How to live with a teenager

This enews is here to help and educate.

My youngest is turning 21 in a few days and that means all my kids are adults.

But for those of you who have teens at home, I’d like to share this helpful video about how to get along with your teens and not trigger them.

For those of you with teens at home, I’ll assume you’ll be nodding and laughing along.

I’ll be back in your inbox next Thursday. Have a great weekend!