#GivingTuesday is coming very soon. We reached out to our Give users to see what they’ve created.
#GivingTuesday is one of the biggest donation campaign opportunities of the year. If you haven’t heard, #GivingTuesday started by the 92nd Street Y in 2012 as a response to the hyper-consumerism of the post-Thanksgiving season. Why should giant stores and online corporations get all the end of year giving fun? No! #GivingTuesday reminds people that the holidays are a time for generosity. As you know, here at GiveWP, we’re all about “Democratizing Generosity”.
Below are some of our awesome Give users who prepared in advance for #GivingTuesday. We’ve written several times on what makes for a great #GivingTuesday campaign, so the Causes below all do several things really well that we find to be crucial to your online donations success. Those things are:
- Loading your whole site over HTTPS (with an active SSL certificate)
- Having a numerical goal for the #GivingTuesday campaign
- Having a clear reason to give to your campaign for #GivingTuesday (i.e. not just the General Fund)
- Having a dedicated #GivingTuesday landing page
Those items help to ensure a successful campaign. Naturally, there are other factors that make your #GivingTuesday page successful; like how well you do social media, how receptive your online audience is, the average income of your donor base, the stability of your hosting solution, etc.
The examples below nail each of the items above and add their own unique flair as well. They also happen to be excellent Causes that you might want to consider throwing $25 to for your personal holiday giving this year. Without further adieu:
Libero Magazine
Their #GivingTuesday page:
https://liberomagazine.com/givingtuesday/
Libero Magazine is a nonprofit online magazine that focuses on mental health issues. They state their mission as:
“Our mission is to advocate mental health and foster a community of support based on sharing stories and celebrating freedom. Our vision is for a world free from stigma, where no one feels alone.”
They have a really well designed website. Their #GivingTuesday campaign page is equally eye-catching. They lead with a powerful featured image; they introduce the concept of #GivingTuesday, and they set a clear goal.
One of my favorite features they added to their page is custom #GivingTuesday social media images. They allow their users to share those images to promote #GivingTuesday. It’s a smart idea and well executed.
There are two small items that need improvement:
- Just like the New Harmony Project, Libero Magazine also has a popup on their #GivingTuesday page. Similarly they have A LOT of content in their sidebar. All of these things can be very distracting from the goal of donating. Remove the distractions.
- They added some nice “click to tweet” buttons at the bottom of the page to further promote their campaign. I don’t think they are effective way down below the form. Instead, move them to the Donation Confirmation page so that donors can tweet right after they donated — it’s a nice feel-good activity after they just donated.
This is a great campaign. If you are passionate about mental health issues and removing the stigma around mental health, consider supporting Libero Magazine this year.
SD Refugee Tutoring
Their #GivingTuesday page:
https://sdrefugeetutoring.com/givingtuesday-2017/
SD Refugee Tutoring (SDRT) provides free after school tutoring to the refugee students in a low-income neighborhood of San Diego called City Heights. SDRT’s mission is:
“The mission of San Diego Refugee Tutoring is to achieve social justice through educational access. The goal of San Diego Refugee Tutoring is to provide one-on-one tutoring and holistic academic support to refugees at Ibarra Elementary School in eastern City Heights.”
SDRT does a really good job of providing context to the need they are seeking to fill with their GivingTuesday funds. They have set reasonable multi-level button amounts to indicate that both small and larger gifts are welcome. They have a useful usage of their sidebar, it enhances the message and provides information without distracting from going down the page too far.
Overall, I don’t have any complaints about this page — but, full disclosure: that’s because this is a cause that I volunteer for. I built this page!
If you appreciate our refugee communities and want to support teachers and volunteers who do hard work in inner-city areas like City Heights, San Diego, consider donating to SD Refugee Tutoring for your #GivingTuesday this year.
Uniting Distant Stars
Their #GivingTuesday page:
https://www.unitingdistantstars.com/donations/become-a-classroom-hero/
Uniting Distant Stars (UDS) is an advocacy organization for Liberian youth. Their mission is to:
“Link future leaders and global innovators to educational resources and vocational training to influence positive changes in the world.”
UDS does a really great job of making their goal very clear. They state clearly that they need to raise $7,200 “to purchase the required practical materials for our courses in Catering, Cosmetology, Electricity, Plumbing and Tailoring.” They then itemize the costs and materials needed. This kind of detail really helps make it clear to donors what will be lost if the funds aren’t raised. It’s clear and compelling. As donors see their progress bar get more and more green they realize that they are part of a solution that is culminating and happening.
There’s several things we’d suggest for UDS for next year:
- Use the sidebar space on the left to list those items. That makes the vertical height of the page shorter, and uses that whitespace better.
- Make all the text and the form align-left. It’s much easier to read when everything is align-left.
If you are passionate about helping underserved youth, consider supporting Uniting Distant Stars for #GivingTuesday this year.
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