Giving Days are 24-hour (or longer) online fundraising challenges that aim to rally groups of people around a particular region, cause, event, or educational institution.

Over the years, Giving Days have increased in popularity, with hundreds occurring across the United States and several more on a global scale. These days are launched primarily by community foundations, cause-based nonprofits, and places of higher education.

One of the most well-known Giving Day movements is #GivingTuesday, celebrated on the first Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday as a day dedicated to philanthropy through charitable giving.

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

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

Fundraising software built to run Giving Days and events allows organizations to seamlessly organize prizes and challenges, engage peer-to-peer fundraisers, and track donors and volunteers through a single giving platform.

Whether you are a foundation, caused-based nonprofit, or higher education Institution, GiveGab’s Giving Day software enables you to strengthen your community in the short-term by connecting supporters to the causes they care about, and long-term with donor engagement features.

Regional Giving Days through Foundations

Community and civic foundations work to support their member nonprofits and the communities they serve. Giving Days are a popular and effective way for these umbrella organizations to empower member nonprofits and support a foundation’s equity efforts.

Examples of successful Regional Giving Days include Amplify Austin supporting nonprofits throughout Austin, Texas and bringing in over $11 million in 24 hours for their 2019 event and The Big Give supporting nonprofits throughout South Central Texas, and raising over $4.7 million for their 545 participating nonprofits.

Cause-Based Giving Days through Nonprofits

Nonprofits looking to create a giving challenge among their chapters or affiliates can also benefit from hosting Giving Days. Depending on the size of your NPO, you may decide to extend your Giving Day to a week or even a month to give your chapters more time to rally support.

An NPO Giving Day success story can be found through Horizons National, whose day raised over $1.6 million for 41 affiliates during Horizons Giving Day 2019.

Higher Education Giving Days

Colleges and universities often launch Giving Days to ignite increased excitement and a sense of pride among their alumni. By inviting friendly competition between departments with leaderboards, challenges, and prizes, more people are inspired to give in larger quantities.

Of the many successful higher education Giving Days on GiveGab, Cornell, North Carolina State, Purdue, and Notre Dame, together raised over $60 million in the spring of 2019 (view more details in this press release).

Learn more about hosting a Giving Day as a college or university at https://info.givegab.com/giving-days-for-higher-education.

10 Reasons to Launch a Giving Day  

1. Leverage a modern and secure giving experience through a trusted Giving Platform
2. Capitalize on the indirect benefit that economies of scale create from the work of others
3. Create a sense of urgency to raise funds more quickly
4. Increase visibility and exposure by connecting with a larger community
5. Foster camaraderie within a community of fellow nonprofits, chapters, or departments
6. Acquire new supporters that you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to
7. Help raise awareness and funds for multiple initiatives in a single day
8. Attract new supporters during times of government & corporate cutback
9. Re-engage past volunteers and donors in a new and exciting way
10. Improve your organization’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!

Learn More About Giving Days