Measuring the donation impact of the biggest global day of giving There’s no question that GivingTuesday has been growing both in Canada and globally. Last year the movement was celebrated in 98 countries worldwide. Here at home, we saw 5,700 partners, thirty Canadian community movements and activities in every region, from coast to coast to coast. Each year we have seen increased donation results on the day itself as well as more participation from Canadians. However, the decentralized nature of GivingTuesday has made it difficult to measure ongoing results. Now new collaborative research and findings have shed a light on the true impact of the largest global day of giving.
The movement has grown every year Since 2013, the first year of GivingTuesday in Canada, CanadaHelps has reported increased donation results each year. The cumulative result is a 353% increase compared to 2012. There have been other significant growth indictors too: Blackbaud reported a 101% increase in GivingTuesday Canada donations in 2016 vs. the year before; CanadaHelps observed double the number of donations via social media; and an estimated two million Canadians volunteered for GivingTuesday last year. These results and others are compelling, but they don’t tell the whole story. Do these campaigns have an overall benefit to the thousands of charities that participate?
GivingTuesday provides a net lift to donations This year, a collaboration of major online donation platforms, payment processors and donor management companies have come together to share data to uncover key insights into GivingTuesday and donor behaviours. The initiative, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation tapped into the skills of more than 100 volunteer data scientists and their report describes their key findings.
Central to this analysis: GivingTuesday results in a net lift to overall giving. Much like during the response to a natural disaster, there is a significant spike in giving on GivingTuesday without a corresponding drop. The impact is an overall increase in donations and those spikes have been growing each year. New results released by fundraising platform, Classy reveal some of the factors contributing to the GivingTuesday effect: GivingTuesday donors are much more likely to give multiple times than at any other time of the year; GivingTuesday brings in more new donors than any other time (including Dec 31 and disaster relief); and those new donors are much more likely to give again than donors acquired at other times of the year.
Organizations that participate do much better in December Comparison of charity results on GivingTuesday reinforce these findings. Organizations that participate in GivingTuesday do better, not just on the day, but through the end of the year. Data from CanadaHelps has consistently shown that active organizations have better December results. “We certainly observe that the best performing fundraisers participate in GivingTuesday,” explains Lys Hugessen, President of GIV3, one of the founders of GivingTuesday. “And most participating organizations have exceeded expectations for GivingTuesday, setting the stage for a stronger year end.”
The difference is not small: a recent analysis by Network for Good found that “Nonprofits who kicked-off year-end fundraising with #GivingTuesday raised, on average, 5x more overall during year-end.” The impact also isn’t driven entirely by the biggest players. In fact, the grassroots nature of GivingTuesday has leveled the playing field. Smaller organizations have the most to gain. In fact, 73% of GivingTuesday Canada partners are small to mid-sized charities.
Unlike other times of the year, we see more people seeking an opportunity to give. As public awareness grows, more and more people want to be part of the movement and there is a growing expectation that organizations and businesses will get involved. It’s not hard for any charity to benefit. The GivingTuesday website is full of resources, tools, guides and ideas for campaigns of every type and size. Getting started is as simple as filling out the partnership form and sending your first tweet.
GivingTuesday is a global movement for giving and volunteering, taking place each year after Cyber Monday. The “Opening day of the giving season,” it is a day where charities, companies and individuals join together to share commitments, rally for favourite causes and think about others.
Sources
#GivingTuesday Insight Report 2017
New Data Reveals Giving Tuesday Is a Goldmine of New Donors
GivingTuesday: What the data say
