Not only did #GivingTuesday surpass the 2018 total by more than $100 million, but new statistical models estimate that as much as $2 billion was donated on Dec. 3.
The Giving Tuesday Data Collaborative reported $511 million raised online in the United States, up 28 percent from $400 million the previous year, amid a total $1.97 billion in combined online and offline giving. There were more than 20 billion social media impressions as #GivingTuesday was among the top trending topics on Twitter through most of the day.
The Tuesday after Thanksgiving first was dubbed #GivingTuesday in 2012 and has raised more money each year since, likely surpassing $1.5 billion in online fundraising during the eight years.
“The actual potential impact is bigger than what can be raised on that day. What we learned is, there’s untapped capacity to give,” said Woodrow Rosenbaum, data and insights lead at GivingTuesday, the nonprofit. People want to be more than just a transaction, they want to be involved, and they give and want to give again. “That’s more important for the sector to understand,” he said.
For the first time, GivingTuesday estimated how much money was raised not only online but offline on #GivingTuesday, the nonprofit. “We built a robust statistical model that took the lowest number that model would deliver,” Rosenbaum said, so the $1.97 billion is likely higher. “Our approach is to report the most conservative result that is realistic,” he said. ‘We’re confident there was more money raised on the day than we reported. What we know, what we’re certain of, is it was at least that much,” he said.
In 2019, more than 200 community campaigns were held across the United States and national movements in more than 60 countries. People and organizations participate in every country on the planet, according to GivingTuesday, which spun out of 92Y as its own nonprofit earlier in 2019.
“Our long-term goal is a just and generous world. It’s about more than giving for giving’s sake. Giving is about building a world you want to live in. This year, that message really broke through,” said Jamie McDonald, chief strategy officer at GivingTuesday.
There were new grassroots campaigns, such as #GivingTuesdayKids and #GivingTuesdayMilitary, that had nothing to do with money, according to Mc-Donald. “That is for us, that’s what the movement is really about,” she said. “We fundamentally believe when people experience the power that comes through generous acts, that helps shape the community you live in. It gives people a sense of power to do other good things in their communities.”
“The point to me was to start building the case, more than bringing in the dollars.” – Lisa Lucas
The GivingTuesday Data Collaborative includes more than 60 contributing partners and 40 global data labs. The data collaborative has been working with data scientists to develop a model that looked at online versus offline, across a range of platforms and constituent relationship management (CRM) systems, according to McDonald. “It’s a factor that we developed across online-offline ratios across a range of days and platforms,” she said, adding that it’s not precise because some data is from organizations that have no online giving. It’s been very carefully thought through, she said, and they didn’t want to do it until there was enough of a track record of #GivingTuesday.
The statistical model devised by the collaborative was based on a plethora of data. In addition to asking providers for data on that day, the data team has done other research, including examining 10 years of transaction-level data for every day of the year, plus samples from providers, and publicly available data.
GivingTuesday then devised a ratio of offline giving to online giving, coming up with roughly 23 percent. If the ratio on #GivingTuesday is the same as it is on some of the biggest fundraising platforms — typically considered to be 10 to 12 percent — the $511 million raised online would lead to $5 billion raised in all. “I don’t think it’s the same but we know online is growing faster on GivingTuesday than any other day,” Rosenbaum said.
In the aggregate, #GivingTuesday is probably the biggest day of the year for number of donations, and on many platforms, it is the biggest day. “That in itself, the online proportion, is higher than normal, so I don’t think it’s 11 percent. I’m quite confident it’s less than the 26 percent that our model ends up projecting,” he said.
The ratio is somewhere between typical online giving of 10 percent and GivingTuesday’s estimate of 23 percent. (This differs from the 26 percent because the ratio wasn’t applied to the entire $511 million estimate.) “We’ll get better at measuring that,” Rosenbaum said, but “we’re careful, we don’t want to overestimate,” he emphasized.
“When we look at #GivingTuesday, we’re looking at the shift on the day. We’re not going into it looking at, was this a #GivingTuesday campaign, motivated by #GivingTuesday or not,” Rosenbaum said. “Our approach is to look at, how is the day different,” he said.
“We had to decide what a typical day was, and what a typical day in late November was. A typical day in November 2018 is different from a typical day in November 2012 because #GivingTuesday has stretched the giving season,” Rosenbaum said.
“A day in early December will be one of the biggest days, and taking the absolute minimum projection on the amount of giving, we’re seeing really substantial lifts, at the very most conservative measure,” he said.
#GivingTuesday seems to be evolving beyond a single day of giving, in the same way that the holiday shopping season seems to start earlier in the calendar. Some organizations also have noted overflow donations on Wednesday, which some have dubbed #ThankYou-Wednesday.
Joe Waters, a Massachusetts-based cause marketing consultant who authors the Selfish Giving blog, expects that companies will continue to be more involved each year. “Companies look for audiences to tell them what is good, popular and profitable in the world. And #GivingTuesday is growing to be one heck of an audience,” he said. “The lesson for nonprofits is to build audiences and to go where audiences are…because that’s where you will find the companies,” Waters said.
Facebook reported $125 million raised on the platform that day but also noted $20 million as there was a substantial increase in #GivingTuesday-related fundraisers in the week leading up to the day.
“We stay very focused on the day but hear from many platforms that there’s really a #GivingTuesday halo, both before and after. I don’t know if we’ll ever move to a point that we’ll measure that but we think that’s fantastic that that’s happening,” McDonald said.
EveryAction tracked giving specifically around the week of #GivingTuesday. It reported $12 million raised on its platform from some 130,000 donations, on Giving Tuesday compared with $2.7 million and $2.3 million raised on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
“We’re seeing more and more people and nonprofits starting to fundraise earlier and earlier, sending emails, asking people to make donations, before we get to #GivingTuesday,” said Mike Liddell, general manager of digital at EveryAction. “There’s a huge focus on #GivingTuesday but we also see a long tail. We’re still seeing donations come in” the next day, he said, and emails asking for more donations, extending matching gifts, and other innovative techniques to take it from one day to a larger opportunity.
One of the biggest challenges in the social sector has been the scarcity mentality, of “If you get it, I don’t get it,” according to McDonald. “We’re just seeing all around the country and the world, organizations decided they can all do better together,” she said, citing collaborations among social justice organizations in Cleveland and “Giving Zoo Day” around the country as examples.
“If #GivingTuesday can be a catalyst to help shift the sector to see the value of collaboration and experimentation, think through more of an abundance frame of that kind, I think we’re making a contribution to the progress in the sector, not for our benefit but because of the good work these organizations are doing,” McDonald said.
There is some criticism that #GivingTuesday is just too overwhelming, with email inboxes overflowing with solicitations or other communications from charities.
EveryAction reported some 88 million emails sent on its platform on GivingTuesday, compared with 34 million the day before and fewer than 5 million the day after.
Leaders at every organization have to decide for themselves how they want to participate in #GivingTuesday, McDonald said. “It doesn’t have to be a day of fundraising for your organization. It could be a day of service, a thank-a-thon, or doing something for a partner organization you work with,” she said.
The National Book Foundation (NBF) took a rather contrarian approach and did not send any emails on #GivingTuesday.
“I love the theory of #GivingTuesday,” Executive Director Lisa Lucas said, setting aside a day to think about giving back. But she also finds it overwhelming when it comes to her inbox. “It felt like sending email into the ether, giving someone else just another thing to delete or not have the time to read, it isn’t necessarily going to move them,” Lucas said. “It doesn’t feel as effective,” she said.
Email overload is a frequent complaint heard from some donors during the year-end season, said Farra Trompeter, vice president at Big Duck, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based branding agency. “Generally, the data shows that the more you ask, the more you raise, and with email open rates in general on the decline, most organizations email more than once on key giving dates,” she said.
If a nonprofit sees a much higher unsubscribe rate this year than in previous years, they should consider how to amend its strategy, Trompeter said, while also stressing the importance of looking at other performance indicators. “It’s important not to let one or two vocally frustrated donors direct your strategy,” she said.
“Counting the number of emails you received doesn’t really mean anything. Measuring conversion rate and gifts is all that really matters,” said Steve MacLaughlin, vice president, product management at Charleston, S.C.-based Blackbaud. “If you look at your data, then it can help inform your decision making. How many emails are too many emails? Look at your data. How many social media posts are too many? Look at your data.”
“Focus on the outcome, not the output,” he said.
Instead of #GivingTuesday emails, Lucas put together a Twitter thread making the case for why the New York City-based nonprofit deserves support. “I woke up in the morning, and just wanted to do something more personal,” she said. “The things I tend to do online, from my own account, is education about what we do, encourage people over a long period of time to think about us as a philanthropic initiative,” she said, helping people understand the cost behind things like filming and streaming the annual awards program and hosting a gala. “By threading it, you’re really able to talk to a lot of different folks,” Lucas said.
There were several responses to the Twitter thread, including one that pledged a donation, and NBF also raised about $1,500 via Facebook.
“The point to me was to start building the case, more than bringing in the dollars,” Lucas said. “Our strategic plan is to build the case for why this place needs support. We use #GivingTuesday to keep building the support rather than focusing on the take,” she said. “The hope is that there will be a yield over time, how many people are willing to give $5 or $5,000.”
