What is a Giving Day and How Does it Impact Communities that Take Part?

Giving Days (or Days of Giving) are 24-hour online fundraising challenges that aim to rally groups of people around a particular region, cause, holiday/event, or place of education.

The most well-known Day of Giving to date is GivingTuesday, which is held annually on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.

Increased awareness of your cause and collecting as many donations within a 24-hour period as possible are the primary goals associated with a Day of Giving.

Due to the potential magnitude of these giving events, online fundraising platforms can play a critical role in their overall success.

Such platforms allow nonprofits to track donors and volunteers through a single online donation platform, helping them build their own nonprofit communities while also connecting citizens to local nonprofits.

Days of giving can be location-based, cause-based, holiday/event-based, or even university-based. For location-based giving days, they can be based in a town, county, or they can be state-wide.

A popular state-wide Giving Day takes place in the state of Illinois, with #ILGive 2016 raking in over $10 Million. More popularly known, #GivingTuesday is an event-based Day of Giving that generated over $116 million for nonprofits in 2015.

10 Reasons to Participate in a Giving Day:

Leverage marketing by lead organizations and the Giving Platform
Economies of scale allow indirect benefit from the work of others
Create a sense of urgency to raise more money more quickly
Increase visibility and exposure by connecting with a larger community
Foster camaraderie within a community of fellow nonprofits
Acquire new donors that you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to
Help raise awareness and funds for multiple charities in a single day
Attract new supporters during times of government & corporate cutback
Re-engage past volunteers and donors in a new and exciting way
Improve your nonprofit’s reputation and popularity – and have fun doing it!

Participating in a Giving Day not only benefits the organizations but their supporters and surrounding communities as well. It’s a celebration of giving back to what we care about, and because it’s collaborative, each of us gets to feel as though we made a larger impact!