Is your nonprofit ready for Giving Tuesday? Take the quiz

Giving Tuesday is one of the most important fundraising opportunities for nonprofits each year.

After people enjoy Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, they’re encouraged to think of others and do good on Giving Tuesday.

Over time, this movement has grown into a major fundraising event that inspires hundreds of millions of participants each year.

Learn more about Sage Intacct Fundraising powered by DonorPerfect

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it is nearly time to roll out your Giving Tuesday fundraising campaigns.

Is your organization ready to reach new donors, maximize revenues, and build stronger donor relationships?

Keep reading for tips and insights to strengthen your organization’s results this Giving Tuesday.

Here’s what we’ll cover

Are you ready for Giving Tuesday?

There is a lot on the line for Giving Tuesday, so it is crucial to have your planning, marketing, workflows, and technology operating effectively before the big day.

Of particular importance, organizations need capable, cloud-based nonprofit accounting software and fundraising software at the ready.

To help you prepare, Sage created a quiz to help you gauge your readiness for Giving Tuesday.

Each question offers insight into a key area of preparation.

Use this six-question quiz to identify any gaps in your strategic plans or operational workflows.

Nonprofit Giving Tuesday readiness quiz

Answer these questions to make sure your nonprofit is ready to make the most of Giving Tuesday fundraising opportunities.

1. Have you set clear fundraising goals? Yes or No

Successful Giving Tuesday campaigns begin with clear, measurable goals.

First, you will want to study the results of your Giving Tuesday campaigns in prior years as well as your donor retention rates.

If you have easy reporting in your nonprofit accounting system, these metrics should be readily attainable and you should be able to drill down into any patterns you spot in the data.

Has your fundraising been growing year-over-year?

Have you been maximizing existing donor outreach and engagement?

Now review your budgeting and planning for the upcoming year. What fundraising goals do need to accomplish in order to support your plans for programs?

With these insights, you can make data-driven decisions about your goals for Giving Tuesday.

Develop specific goals and ensure you are ready to measure success—whether those goals are dollar amounts, numbers of donors, or project-specific.

---

Sage Intacct and Sage Intacct Fundraising help nonprofit leaders become more data-driven with role-based dashboards and reports that can combine fundraising results, financial metrics, and operational outcomes in one place.

---

2. Is your online donation system ready? Yes or No

Before launching your fundraising campaign, make certain you are ready to receive donations.

Today’s donors prefer to give online and expect a seamless, secure, and mobile-friendly payment experience.

If they encounter errors or glitches, they are likely to move on and donate to other organizations instead.

Nonprofits need a flawless system to process incoming donations.

Make sure your system is user-friendly and responsive. You should also test your system again prior to launching your Giving Tuesday campaign.

---

Sage Intacct Fundraising delivers a frictionless donation experience that is also easy on your team.

It includes automation for online donation forms and in-house payment processing, including Android and iOS mobile apps and digital wallet donations. 

---

3. Do you have a marketing plan in place? Yes or No

Your organization will want a well-crafted plan for capitalizing on brand promotion, donor engagement, and fundraising this Giving Tuesday.

Your marketing plan should include promotion across multiple channels, for example, email, social media, and perhaps even direct mail.

You’ll also want your website to reflect your marketing theme for Giving Tuesday and prominently feature how to make an online donation.

When you develop the messaging and components of your marketing campaign, keep these tips in mind:

• Tell a story. People relate to narratives. Share real-life stories about your mission impact—told from the perspective of people you’ve helped or your volunteers.
• Create urgency. Help donors understand how much their donations are needed now by sharing key financial and program outcomes metrics. Create a time-sensitive goal with matching funds.
• Use visuals. Include videos, photographs, and infographics.
• Go social. Employ hashtags, schedule posts, and encourage user-generated content across social platforms including Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.
• Create a real-time element. Let donors and the community become part of the story when you include real-time updates or livestreams in your campaign.

---

By optimizing routine fundraising workflows with Sage Intacct Fundraising, your team will gain extra time to create marketing plans and get creative with outreach.

---

4. Have you engaged with past donors? Yes or No

Existing supporters can be your nonprofit’s most valuable resource if you keep them active and engaged with your mission.

Unfortunately, 70% of donors never give again after their first transaction, according to a 2023 report by Classy from GoFundMe.

Here are some tips for converting existing donors into recurring givers:

• Stay in touch. Set up a regular cadence of communications with existing donors.
• Get donors emotionally involved. Use psychology and storytelling to weave both urgency and engrossing narrative into your communications.
• Help them see the impact. Second, be as transparent about your mission impact and program outcomes as possible. Let donors know exactly what impact an extra $20, $50, or $100 donation could produce.  
• Segment your donor base. As your organization becomes more data-driven, notice the patterns and similarities among different groups of donors. Target fundraising communications based on donor segments.
• Personalize your messages. The most effective communications personalize the message, tailoring it to each donor’s level of involvement or contribution.

Always include existing donors in your organization’s journey.

Keep communicating. Be sincere in your messaging and express genuine appreciation.

Highlight the impact their gifts make in achieving your mission.

---

Cultivate donors and track engagement in Sage Intacct Fundraising.

Segment your list for better-targeted outreach and automate to ensure a regular communication cadence.

---

5. Are you using matching gifts or incentives? Yes or No

Do you have some large donors or business partners who will offer matching funds for your campaign?

Matching gifts significantly increase fundraising results by motivating donors to give more.

According to Double the Donation:

• Two to three billion dollars is donated annually through matching gift programs.
• 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered.
• One in three donors would give a larger amount if matching is applied.

Another way to increase contributions is to remind your existing donors to check with their own employers about possible matching funds they could apply to year-end gifts.

Over 26 million individuals work for companies with matching gift programs, yet four to seven billion dollars of available match goes unclaimed each year, according to Double the Donation.

Nonprofits require solid real-time reporting to make the most of matching gifts.

It’s essential to monitor incoming donations to maximize any remaining available match.

Expand your campaign with additional calls or emails if needed.

---

Sage Intacct financials real-time dashboards and reports can help you keep an eye on the status of donations and matching funds.

---

6. Do you have a post-Giving Tuesday follow-up plan? Yes or No

As donations come in, your organization should take the opportunity to strengthen its relationships with existing donors and welcome new donors into the mission.

A thank you and donation acknowledgement message should be sent as soon as possible.

With automation, most nonprofits now send thank you emails within the first day.

You may want to follow up large donations with a handwritten card or phone call as well.

---

Sage Intacct Fundraising helps nonprofits streamline donor communication by delivering automated thank you emails and other personalized communications.

---

Compute your score

Look back over your answers and give yourself one point for each question you answered “yes” and zero points for each “no” answer.

Here’s how to break down your score:

0–2: Strengthen processes to improve results

It’s never too late to improve your marketing planning, technology, and execution.

Start now to strengthen basic elements like reporting, goal setting, messaging, and payment processing.

3–4: Nearly there…now optimize your strategy for better impact

You’ve got the building blocks in place for success, but you need to fine-tune a bit for best results.

Optimize visuals, stories, and channels for your campaign and revisit the consistency of your communication plans.

5–6: Ready to maximize fundraising on Giving Tuesday!

Congratulations!

Your organization has been thorough in preparing goals, plans, marketing, and follow-up communications.

You have the systems in place to automate donation acceptance and to track and report results against goals.

Final thoughts

Giving Tuesday is fast approaching, but it is not too late to fine-tune your fundraising plans and polish up your marketing campaign.

Having a solid, integrated nonprofit cloud accounting and fundraising system helps provide a smooth and successful Giving Tuesday.

If your organization needs additional automation in this area, we invite you to learn more about Sage Intacct Fundraising powered by DonorPerfect.

The Sage Intacct team wishes your organization tremendous success in its Giving Tuesday campaigns.

Let’s look forward to strong year-end fundraising to drive better-than-ever mission impacts!

About the author

Nancy Master

Nancy Master is a senior nonprofit industry marketing manager at Sage Intacct and is passionate about helping nonprofits achieve mission success.

With more than 15 years of experience in software marketing, Nancy has close to 20 years of experience working with a human services nonprofit organization.