2023 Giving Tuesday Statistics to Help Inform 2024 Strategies

With Giving Tuesday approaching quickly, understanding key metrics or statistics from last year can help you set a goal for 2024. The day of global giving is December 3, providing an excellent fundraising opportunity for many nonprofit organizations. More than 34 million folks participated in Giving Tuesday last year in the United States, down 10% from 2022, in a fundraising trend that many organizations are seeing across the board.

Regardless, this is a prime opportunity to boost your efforts and lead to year-end giving.

Here, we’ll cover some Giving Tuesday statistics you need to prepare for this major campaign.

Giving Tuesday is a significant day for nonprofits because it is a well-known global “holiday” dedicated to charitable giving. It is on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and kicks off the giving season.

Giving Tuesday is important to nonprofits for various reasons, but the key benefit of participation is the amplified giving that can come with a movement such as this. It’s a concentrated effort that can generate a lot of publicity and create a sense of urgency to donate.

Additionally, Giving Tuesday can:

• Help increase donor engagement
• Create social media visibility through #GivingTuesday
• Help you reach new donors
• Facilitate collaboration and corporate partnerships
• Create a reason for a recurring donation campaign
• Provide an opportunity to support a specific program or cause
• Generate donor information and data

Key Statistics From the 2023 Giving Tuesday Report

Each year, the GivingTuesday releases a report on the impact of giving during the event. Here are a few things that you need to know from the 2023 Giving Tuesday Report:

• Donations were down in 2023, but most people are open to giving and helping others in need.
• The biggest challenge and threat to giving—and part of the reason for the decline—is that the social sector does not invite enough different kinds of people to contribute, making diversity and accessibility key focus areas.
• The only increase in giving came from the new donor segment in 2023.
• #GivingTuesday trends annually on social media.
• More than $1 billion of U.S. Giving Tuesday donations were contributed online.

If your organization is based in the U.S. or receives the majority of donations from donors in the U.S., there is one alarming statistic you need to know: In 2023, both donors (money) and dollars were down. If this trend continues, the best thing your organization can do is diversify your donor base through cross-generational appeal.

Summary of 2023 Giving Tuesday Statistics

What can you expect from a Giving Tuesday campaign? While the results can be different for every nonprofit and every different type of fundraiser, one thing is clear: These campaigns can have a significant impact.

The GivingTuesday Lookback Report notes that $1.5 trillion was donated worldwide in 2023. Add non-monetary gifts such as donations of time, things or supplies, and advocacy, and that number will grow significantly.

Donations are tracked as going to one of three groups: formal charities, informal groups, or individuals.

The report noted a few key things about giving from 2023 Giving Tuesday:

• There was an overall decrease in giving across the board
• There was a 2.3% increase in new donor contributions, while repeat, new retained, and recaptured donor gifts decreased
• Younger generations are donating at a higher pace and in more ways than older generations
• There were fewer large donor contributions
• 40% of Americans who had been solicited in the week before the survey said they responded with generosity
• 41% of recurring givers plan to give more in the coming year
• 84% of people aware of Giving Tuesday were inspired to give more
• 31% of people under 30 and 28% of households early $100,000 or more intend to give more in the next 12 months
• Volunteerism is more popular among Millennials (56%) than Gen-Z (53%)

How Nonprofits Can Leverage 2023 Giving Tuesday Statistics to Optimize Giving Tuesday

Paying attention to Giving Tuesday statistics and trends in fundraising can help you plan better, more effective campaigns. When looking at numbers for Giving Tuesday – whether from your past campaigns or national or global statistics – think about how you can use the information to help optimize campaigns.

This starts with analyzing data from your past campaigns. If you have participated in Giving Tuesday, see what tactics worked best. You can use past donor data to help segment audiences and use messaging to connect with people most likely to participate.

You can further examine what channels or activities resulted in the greatest conversions and how donors contributed—online (desktop versus mobile), by check, which forms converted highest, or through volunteerism.

Compare conversion rates from Giving Tuesday to other campaigns. How do they compare? What’s working best? Make sure to drill down all your organizational key performance indicators at the end of Giving Tuesday to ensure you are hitting targets and meeting goals with this flash campaign.

Using data-driven insights and statistics, you can refine Giving Tuesday strategies, target efforts more effectively, and ultimately generate greater impact and awareness. A proactive and iterative approach rooted in data can help you find success.

2023 Giving Tuesday: How We Gave

You can break down the ways we give even further to better understand recent trends in giving. This information can help you think about how to structure Giving Tuesday campaigns and how to make the right ask to yield results.

Most donors combine money, time, and items, with nearly half giving all three. It’s important to consider the recipients that get these donations. Remember: people give to registered nonprofit organizations, charities, unregistered organizations, or individuals.

In the U.S., there’s a preference for registered organizations, with 68% of gifts reaching these groups and 19% saying they give only to formal organizations. Unregistered and individual contributions lag behind, and some donors give to all three types of recipients.

2023 Giving Tuesday Statistics: U.S. Specific

The ability for someone to donate online is particularly important for donors in the United States, with most Americans preferring to give online.

Other U.S. giving methods include (from most used to least used) giving directly to someone in need, during in-person fundraisers, in a store at checkout, indirectly through an online platform, by phone or text message, through an employer payroll deduction, or in another way.

These donations can also be ranked by generation, with millennials gaining a significant share of overall donations (nearly 50%), right behind baby boomers. Gen-Z is beginning to gain ground in terms of giving.

The top causes that givers contribute to in the U.S. include poverty relief, religious causes, animal welfare, and health services.

The most challenging statistic from the report noted that overall donations in the U.S. in 2023 dropped slightly compared to the previous year. This means planning is key to ensuring that your organization is top of mind when potential donors are thinking about end-of-year contributions.

Giving Tuesday Strategies for 2024

While overall donations may have dipped, Giving Tuesday contributions continue to rise. That presents challenges and opportunities for anyone considering a fundraiser this year but emphasizes creating something that will resonate with potential donors.

Now is the time to begin experimenting with your organization’s engagement tactics to ensure you are set up for success as we come into Giving Tuesday and the end of the year.

While there are multiple ways to strategize for Giving Tuesday in 2024, we urge you to focus on high-impact strategies that will outsize your organization. Some of these strategies include ensuring your website is optimized and user-friendly and working to diversify your donor base.

Website Optimization

Your website matters and is key to the success of every campaign, especially Giving Tuesday. Ensure your site is engaging, updated, and easy to navigate. Additionally, your organization should ensure that your site is optimized for mobile.

Key statistics related to website giving:

• 57% of nonprofit website traffic came from mobile devices – however, 75% of revenue came from desktop devices.
• The number of online donations completed via mobile devices increased by 50% last year.
• The average gift by mobile users is $79. Tablet users give an average of $96, while desktop users give an average of $118.

Your organization needs to meet your donors where they are and how they give. To capture as many donations as possible, your website must provide a great user experience regardless of device.

Mobile Fundraising Strategies

Mobile fundraising encompasses several different tactics. These include mobile optimization for your site (as discussed above), mobile payment options, and email marketing.

First, let’s talk about mobile payment options. Every organization, regardless of type, can benefit from mobile giving. It’s convenient, user-friendly, and safe. Regarding payment options, donors all have their preferences for giving.

More ways to give = more opportunities to receive donations.

Enabling multiple payment gateways, such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and more, allows donors to choose how they want to give. These gateways provide a quick, smooth, and secure donation process and suit many donors.

Next, email marketing. While it’s a bit of a stretch, email marketing can fall under mobile fundraising for one big reason: almost 1.7 billion email users check their emails on their phones. This number is far greater than those who check their emails via desktop, reaching just 0.9 billion.

Additionally, the open rate for nonprofit email exceeds that of for-profit organizations. What does that imply? That, by the nature of your business, your audience is already more engaged and willing to listen.

Your fundraising appeals, impact reports, newsletters, and success stories mean nothing if folks aren’t opening your emails. According to NeonONE, there are several things you can do to create effective emails, including:

1. Including imagery: Choosing good imagery can help readers connect with your organization’s mission.
2. Paying attention to the greeting: Include a personalized greeting using your donor’s name. One NextAfter experiment found that a personalized greeting increased click-through rates by 26%. (By the way, if you haven’t read about the power of a name, you should.)
3. Using the word “you”: Jumping off the “name” tip above, it’s important to remember that overusing someone’s name can create an unnatural feel. Make sure you sprinkle the word “you” throughout the message and other “you” language, such as “your organization.”
4. Ensure readers can scan an email and get the gist of it quickly: Emails should be easy to scan, making it more likely that your message will gain their attention and encourage them to read it.
5. Including great calls to action: Be clear with what you want your supporters to do. Too many calls to action can confuse your readers. Keep it to a minimum—one is best.

Another important thing to consider when using email marketing is your unsubscribe rate. While it’s completely normal for folks to opt out of your emails and other communication, there are some things that you can do to lower your unsubscribe rate. Your organization can reduce the number of emails you send, segment your list, and make your emails more interesting, engaging, and educational.

Donor Diversification

Donor diversification refers to expanding your organization’s reach to demographics outside your core, including targeting different ethnic groups, giving abilities, generations, and more. Diversifying your donor base creates a larger network of supporters and can positively impact your organization’s fundraising, reputation, donor relationships, and communication.

Here are some ways you can help diversify your donor base.

Be Intentional

Be honest about why you’re making these changes and what types of donors you hope to acquire. Diversifying your donor base requires clear targets and tactics.

Research and Understand Different Demographics and Cultures

Knowing who you’re working with is critical before you begin the work necessary to connect with a new kind of donor. Performing research to learn more about cultures, language, passion, and spirituality to help gain an understanding of the groups you are targeting.

Build Solid Relationships

It’s easy for us to get comfortable – reaching out to the same donors year after year. If you’ve built a good relationship with those donors, you probably know their contributions are reliable. However, relying on the same donors year after year allows your fundraising to stagnate instead of grow.

When diversifying your donor base, it’s just as important in the process of new donor acquisition. One way to do that is by keeping internal notes on donors in your CRM. For instance, you can make notes on each donor profile within ActiveCampaign – which does double duty as your email marketing platform and your CRM.

When they reach out, attend events, volunteer, or engage with your organization in a big way, make a note of it. You can use this information in the future to target them with specific information or to personalize messages.

Engage Different Audiences in Different Ways

If you had to guess, what would you think is one of the most cited reasons for donor churn? If you said that the donors think the relationship feels transactional or they don’t feel appreciated, you’re right on the money.

No one wants to feel like an ATM. You can’t expect to build strong relationships with your donors if you only engage with your audience to solicit contributions. Your organization must engage with different folks in different ways – keep them updated on campaigns and events and try to engage them in new ways.

Some things you can do include sending out feedback surveys after events, being active on social media, diversifying the types of events you hold, and thanking donors regardless of their gift amount.

Create a Diverse Staff, Board, and Volunteer Group

This tip is fairly simple—your organization cannot grow a diverse donor base without a group of diverse folks leading the way. Creating a diverse Board of Directors, staff, and volunteer group ensures that your nonprofit employs people who uniquely understand different backgrounds, cultures, languages, and experiences.

Meet Your Donors Where They Are

Attracting new donors requires new strategies. Want younger donors? Get on TikTok and enable Venmo. Older donors? Employ a direct mail strategy. Remember that new donors are the only segment with increased giving in recent years.

There are countless ways that your organization, with a little research, can create touchpoints for the different donors you hope to reach.

Be Flexible

Most importantly, flexibility is key. Not every strategy will pan out as you hoped, not every group will feel connected to your cause, and your donors’ needs will ebb and flow. External factors, like the economy, can also impact how folks give.

Be flexible, and remember – it’s okay to pivot.

Create a Stellar Giving Tuesday Plan

Download the comprehensive GiveWP Giving Tuesday Workbook, which includes everything you need to create a strong campaign. From initial brainstorming to creating your final report, the workbook has tools to plan, create, and execute the best Giving Tuesday fundraiser possible.

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