Giving Tuesday Is Coming - Just Another Gimmick?

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I know. The latest data shows that Giving Tuesday is responsible for about .056% of your donations this year. And while that doesn’t sound like much, if it were multiplied by 365, you find that it is 20 times the daily rate necessary to reach your contributed revenue goals.

But let’s take another look at that data.

Your organization already has days where donations are higher and lower. And you’re not open for business 365 days a year, despite the fact that your website begs for donations 365 days a year. So let’s do as most businesses do: split the year into “working days” instead of “days.”

If your company has a 70-hour week (7 days x 10 open-to-the-public hours per day) and you subtract 11 national holidays in the US, you end up with the equivalent of about 147 working days per year. At that rate, Giving Tuesday still promises to gives your organization 8 times the daily rate necessary to reach your goals. In a vacuum, of course.

National data here are irrelevant to you. What is your data telling you? Is Giving Tuesday worth the gimmick? Possibly not.

Hopping on the over-solicitation bandwagon can make your donors sick and tired…of you.

You should wonder about the cost of the Giving Tuesday return—extra time spent, additional asks, and whatever actual costs you incur. And, given its extremely close proximity to any end-of-year campaign, might you raise that amount in December instead of November? Or are your people giving twice in two months? And how many times are they being asked during those months?

What happened to last year’s donors? Are they likely to give this year, just on Giving Tuesday? Might they give more if you spent the time to have a relationship with them that was not transactional? Have you kept them abreast of what happened to their money after they gave it to you?

Do you even know what happened to their money after they gave it to you?

I am biased. You probably need to know that I hate gimmickry in nonprofit fundraising. Arbitrary campaigns make me cringe. And by “arbitrary,” that includes such ingrained campaigns such as “Year-End,” “Fiscal Year-End,” “Giving Tuesday,” and “Give Big” (not to be confused with Giving Tuesday), which is another day of giving in April, at least in my state.

All of these campaigns share the same issue. You ask the donor to give when it’s most convenient for you. At no time is there a personal relationship with the donor in which they are asked to give when it’s most convenient for them.

Dumb.

Do you want Safeway to charge you now, before you’ve even shopped, because they’re having cash flow problems? Or would you be insulted by that and only pay them after you shop?

Which brings us to the ultimate in gimmickry in fundraising, the annual gala, a giant-sized, completely impersonal ask that goes on for months at a time (from committees to procurement to development to invitations to attendance to thank-you notes).

Before you get all upset that I want to cancel your gala, think about these things:

• The number of hours in both staff and volunteer time that it takes to put on a gala, especially one with an auction component and a dinner;
• The amount of money it costs to rent a hall, hire a professional auctioneer/emcee (because there’s too much money riding on it for your board chair to emcee; and besides, did you hear them drone on at the last board meeting about depreciation?
• The number of things out of your control that can and do go wrong; bad weather; a major accident on the highway that leads to your venue; vaccination issues; a rival nonprofit arts organization changes their gala date at the last minute to be the same as yours (or, conversely, you don’t check with other organizations and happen to choose the same Saturday night in June as 3 others); illness—either yours, the auctioneer/emcee, or the talent you have scheduled (and announced) performing at the gala; or
• The supply chain issues that caused your prime rib, alder-planked salmon, or mushroom/saffron risotto into a salmonella-laden pink chicken dinner with canned broccoli; for which you charged your guests $250/plate.

What you have to determine is how much of your gala revenues would not have come in any other way (small gatherings, talks, introductions, relationship-building, etc.).

Now, the big question. If you have the choice of increasing the number of hours spent on relationship-building instead of putting on a big party, why wouldn’t you choose the more fruitful activities in a solid development plan?

I’m not alone in this. Nonprofit executives all over the world are choosing to redirect their focus away from parties and toward one-on-one relationship building, especially now.

Post-Covid, it will be more important for nonprofits to focus on ‘telling the right story’ rather than hosting one-off memorable (but pricey) gala nights. Donor education, as opposed to donor entertainment, will be key to securing ongoing, recurring donations.

—Omar Visram, Founder/CEO, Enkel Backoffice Solutions

Based in Kirkland, Washington, Alan Harrison is a writer and speaker specializing in nonprofit organizations, strategy, and life politics. His columns appear regularly in major publications. Contact him directly at alan@501c3.guru. Alan would be delighted to engage with your board or staff.

Yes, there is a book in the works. More information on that soon. Maybe sooner, with your help?

Alan is always looking for good opportunities to write and consult for nonprofits that need a hand. And, of course, that elusive Perfect Opportunity™.

And hey, if you’re feeling generous, feel free to click on the photo and buy Alan a cup of coffee. Not mandatory at all, but gosh, it’d be nice.