Giving Tuesday & The Generosity Season

The concept was simple: establish a counterbalance to the consumerism that follows Thanksgiving weekend. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday dominating the attention of consumers and their wallets, the idea of giving to a cause instead of giving to a person eventually became a global movement.

This article will look at the growth and importance of Giving Tuesday, and the variety of ways that charities can capitalize on that day.

Giving Tuesday

In 2012, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving was first promoted as “Giving Tuesday” by the 92^nd Street Y, which is a cultural and community center in New York City. The intent was to capture the energy of the holiday season but be able to direct it toward the betterment of a shared community. The effort included not only monetary gifts, but the encouragement of generosity in other forms such as volunteering, the giving of goods, and personal advocacy.

The first Giving Tuesday raised nearly $10 million for the Y and eventually became a global grassroots movement that spawned the Giving Tuesday organization. The organization operates year-round as an independent nonprofit, serving as the nucleus for a global generosity movement rather than focusing on fundraising for specific charities. They concentrate on building the infrastructure and culture of giving by supporting a network of leaders in over 100 countries to mobilize localized giving movements.

In 2025, Giving Tuesday generated nearly $4 billion in the US from over 19 million donors. An additional 11 million volunteered on that day, and another 13 million gave physical goods to causes.

Charity Playbook

Some of the most successful strategies that nonprofits use to capitalize on that date include:

• Matching Gifts and Tentpole Donors: Many charities have found success in procuring corporate donors, private foundations or donor advised funds as an entity that is able to match donations from individual donors’ dollar-for-dollar. The corporate/foundation donor is the “tentpole” that is able to lift the entire matching campaign. Promoting this matching opportunity on Giving Tuesday builds a sense of urgency and entices donors to give knowing their gifts will essentially be doubled.

It is estimated that an additional $2 to $3 billion in charitable donations occur each year due to matching gifts. Additional studies have determined that 84% of donors are more likely to give if their dollars are matched, and a 1/3^rd of donors are likely to make a larger donation due to the matching.

• Peer-to-Peer: In this scenario, current donors or “fans” of a cause create their own fundraising web pages, tying into their broader personal network across social media and other means. This channel is able to popularize a charity to a new audience who may  be new to the cause but willing to make a charitable gift because of the appeal made by a friend or acquaintance.

• Digital/Social Media Reach: Coordinating email appeals, text-to-donate efforts and heavy social media presence on Giving Tuesday have proven to be powerful channels for many nonprofits. Since these are digital efforts, mobile-optimized donation pages and real-time goal trackers play a role not only in the ease of giving but in the real-time excitement of making a financial impact.

• Year-End Appeal: For many causes, Giving Tuesday is the launch of year-end fundraising. On average, most charities get over 30% of their gifts in the month of December. Some studies estimate that nearly 10% of all donations occur Dec.29-31.

Donor Advised Funds

A donor advised fund(DAF)is an investment account that exists exclusively for charitable giving. Assets contributed into the fund can never be used again except for charitable giving. Recent estimates indicate that over 3 million people in the US use a DAF for their charitable giving.

A DAF donor is someone who has put thought into how they want to give as evidenced by the fact that: 1.) they chose to create a donor advised fund 2.) they have a level of charitable wealth large enough to make opening a DAF a practical financial choice.

For a  person with a DAF, the question is not about if they want to give, but do they want to give to your nonprofit specifically?

For nonprofits, isolating those current donors who use DAFs is a key consideration in better donor targeting for Giving Tuesday. This article has practical guidance on how to better prospect your current donors to determine if they have a DAF.

Conclusion

At Generosity Nexus, helping nonprofits better determine the Giving Tuesday strategies that can serve them best is one of the many tools that we have in helping you achieve fundraising success. Don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment to learn more about how we can help you.