Stepping Up Your Game for #GivingTuesday? Challenge Accepted
The holiday season is just getting started, so why not help your employees make the most of it? Many companies support their workforce through volunteering opportunities, donation matching, and community action, and we want to help you make incredible happen this #GivingTuesday!
As a global movement, #GivingTuesday focuses on encouraging people to give back to the community. New York’s 92nd Street YMCA and the United Nations Foundation kicked off the movement in 2012, and this year it’s happening on December 3rd.
According to NP Source, Americans gave $410 billion to charities in 2017, up 5%. The largest portion of those donations came from individual donors who either contributed personally or through their company’s giving programs.
If your company already participates in the #GivingTuesday campaign, awesome! You’re well on your way to helping charities, your community and building employee engagement. If your company has not participated, we encourage you to bring attention to this special day of giving.
Whether you’ve participated before or not, take a look at our latest insight into making Giving Tuesday a shining success!
See how you can give more this holiday season by downloading our Giving Made Simple guidebook!
Visit the #GivingTuesday official website to keep track of the countdown leading up to the big day and see how you can get involved outside your organization, too!
Use Matching Gifts To Make a Bigger Impact
Matching gift programs are one of the most effective ways to engage employees in corporate giving. According to Double the Donation:
- 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs
- Over 18 million individuals work for companies with matching gift programs
- An estimated $2 – $3 billion is donated through matching gift programs annually.
- Mentioning matching gifts in fundraising appeals results in a 71% increase in the response rate and a 51% increase in the average donation amount (and that’s prior to receiving matching gift funds)
- 84% of survey participants revealed they’re more likely to donate if a match was offered.
- When a match is offered, one in three donors indicates they gave a larger gift because matching was applied to their donation
Companies like State Street Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and more, have done an exceptional job in displaying truly winning gift matching strategies.
Get inspired by their strategies and see if you’re willing to spark one up your own this year!
Get Creative With Giving Campaigns
If you’re looking for another way to boost participation in this year’s Giving Tuesday, try hosting a raffle! Ask local businesses to donate goods and services to your raffle event, then have your employees bid. Donate the money raised from the event on Giving Tuesday to your company’s charities of choice.
Maximize employee giving with these best practices:
Social media and mobile make it easy to reach a wider audience including your employees and their networks.
- Create a company specific hashtag for Giving Tuesday (ex: #GivingTuesdayCG) that employees can use to engage with each other, but don’t forget to use the original #GivingTuesday hashtag too.
- Make it mobile by integrating a fundraising page that’s mobile optimized. Flexible configuration tools and a built-in notification system are must-haves so you can easily share a message from your CEO, alert targeted employees to events or activities, post photos and promote goals and milestones all from your smartphone.
- Brand your donation pages to increase donations. Branded charity pages receive 6 times the donations than generic pages, so it’s safe to say a company-branded donation platform can earn the same response. Include brand logos and colors, company photos and messages from your CEO to make your employees feel like an important part of the entire experience.
Pro Tip: Keep the hype going beyond #GivingTuesday by promoting popular hashtags like #MyGivingStory to encourage others around you to share their personal stories and successes.
Remember The Benefits to Your Brand for Participating in Giving Tuesday!
- 86% of corporations matched employee contributions to charities in 2013 and as a result consumer confidence and CEO expectations continue to improve annually.
- 91% of customers switch to brands that support good causes.
- 79% of employees prefer to work for socially responsible companies and think it’s important companies match their charitable giving.
Invest in the Right Employee Giving Software
The power of technology can either make or break your giving campaign. Gone are the days of posting a flyer on the bulletin board, to get the attention of every employee, you need a cross-channel effort.
Embrace technology to spread the word to your workforce. You’re more likely to catch their eyes with an interactive email, social media campaign or better yet a unified philanthropy platform that gives employees access to over 2.1 million charities. Companies who enabled employees to choose which charities they gave to increased participation rates dramatically.
Different generations will respond to your efforts differently and if your company covers more than one location, there might be geographical considerations to consider as well. Cover all your bases with communications that span from verbal meetings with execs to intranet announcements.
Think Long Term:
It’s easy, and tempting, to say “we’ll just start small with our CSR initiative and see where it goes”, but that itself could make it a self fulfilling prophecy. Instead, design your initiative for the long run and nurture it steadily so it becomes a integral part of your organization’s DNA.
Read More: Five Tips on Setting-Up a Successful Long-Term Giving Program
Have a Great Giving Tuesday!
Elevate employee participation through your Giving Tuesday campaign this year with a highly configurable and intuitive system that manages and promotes all of your employee giving programs to make this year the most impactful employee giving event yet.