Giving Tuesday is a global movement established in 2012 that champions "radical generosity," focusing on humanity over profits. While the movement culminates in a single day of giving, its impact extends year-round, inspiring individuals to make positive contributions through donations, time, or advocacy.
This year, Giving Tuesday falls on December 3, 2024. It's the perfect time for businesses to step up and support charitable causes during the holiday season. Here are a few ways your business can participate in Giving Tuesday.
[Read More: Should Your Business Donate To Charity? Here's What You Need to Know]
How to choose the right causes for Giving Tuesday
When selecting a charity for your Giving Tuesday campaign, prioritize those that align with your brand's mission and values. A strong alignment ensures the cause resonates with your customers, while a mismatch may leave them confused and less motivated to show support. If you've done a Giving Tuesday campaign in the past, reference your historical data and prior customer feedback to guide your decision-making and identify success strategies and areas for improvement.
Involve your employees in choosing a cause to gain insight into the charities they're passionate about. Supporting employees' preferred charities can boost enthusiasm and encourage them to participate and spread the word actively. Additionally, leverage your employees' skills — such as your marketing team's understanding of your audience — to pick a charity that aligns with your business goals and customers.
Finally, research the charities your competitors support, as they may work with organizations tied to your industry or local community. While you don't have to support identical charities, keeping track of their initiatives can inspire ideas and help you craft a stronger campaign.
Ways to give back
There are countless ways a small business can give back this Giving Tuesday. Consider your staffing needs, available resources, and participation level to determine the right charitable initiative for you.
Support meaningful causes
Start small by exploring opportunities in your area or launching a giving circle with friends, family, or other local businesses to support a cause or charity close to your heart. Another easy way to give back is dedicating a time frame or day to set aside a portion of your sales to a charity of your choosing.
Donating a percentage of your sales to charity can encourage customer participation while also fostering goodwill. Promotion of these charitable sales is crucial and can be done through social media, blog posts, or advertising on your website. Be sure to track donations if you plan on claiming tax deductions.
Volunteering time is a meaningful way for businesses to support charitable causes.
Coordinate a drive
If you and your team have a little more time on your hands, you can gather and donate goods to local charities, including food pantries, thrift stores, women's shelters, or even disadvantaged small businesses. Donated items can range from everyday essentials (e.g., food, clothing, and toiletries) to business-related supplies (e.g., printer paper, ink, used furniture). Think about where you want to source these goods — from your inventory, employees, customers, or suppliers — and then create a designated area for donations, like a drop-off box, to encourage donations.
These donations are also eligible for tax deductions. If you're donating items from your inventory, ensure your inventory count and accounting records reflect these changes.
Additionally, your small business can organize a community-wide collection drive, inviting donations for distribution to various charitable organizations. Consider inviting customer nominations for local organizations in need of your products and offer them at no cost.
[Read more: 7 Steps to Planning a Company-Wide Charity Initiative]
Volunteer as a team
Volunteering time is a meaningful way for businesses to support charitable causes. As a business owner, you can offer the option of taking paid time off to your employees to volunteer at organizations you preapprove. First, collaborate with your chosen charities to establish employee volunteer programs and determine the number of hours employees can volunteer.
If you want to volunteer as a company, make sure you pose the time as a volunteer opportunity rather than a mandatory one to avoid pressure on employees. Consider virtual volunteer options for those who might not be able to make it in person, such as organizing a "volunteer day," where employees can conduct donor outreach, assist with email campaigns, or host virtual workshops.
Offer your skills
As a business, you can offer your services as a donation to other businesses or consumers. For example, an accounting firm may offer limited free year-end tax preparation assistance.
Donating services can be arranged directly through your business or in collaboration with a charitable partner, helping you to connect with those in need. Consider volunteering your skills and expertise as a small business, such as human resources, technology, or marketing, to support your favorite causes.
[Read more: 6 Inexpensive Ways to Thank Your Customers This Holiday Season]
How to promote your Giving Tuesday efforts
Small businesses can strategically promote their charitable efforts across all stages — before, during, and after the event to make the most of Giving Tuesday.
Engage your customers in charitable giving
Before Giving Tuesday, begin engaging your customers to encourage their support of your charitable efforts. Ask for their input — both in-person and online — about the types of events they prefer and their favorite charities or initiatives. Consider working with numerous charities during your event to give your customers different donation choices; doing so can incentivize donors to give to charities they genuinely care about.
You can also incentivize participation by creating a loyalty program where points earned from purchases turn into charitable donations. Alternatively, match donations for a certain amount of time to develop a sense of urgency. This can encourage those who may otherwise be hesitant to donate to act quickly because you’re doubling their impact.
You can strengthen customer relationships by giving customers a voice and enabling them to support charities that align with their values while increasing your charitable success.
Spread the word on social media during the event
Using social media to drive traffic (and donations) to your campaign is a great way to strategize and spread the word. Here are a few tips to make a lasting impact:
- Post a countdown. Create hype around your Giving Tuesday initiative by counting down to your event. This can generate more viewership and ensure your initiative is at the top of your audience's mind.
- Add hashtags. Depending on the social media platform you use, including one to five hashtags can improve the visibility of your campaign (such as #GivingTuesday). Avoid using irrelevant hashtags and hashtags that do not have traction.
- Leverage video content. Video can boost customer engagement and exposure while capturing attention, increasing interaction, appealing to younger donors, and conveying powerful stories.
- Include your campaign link. Ensure your link leads to the appropriate page, whether it's a campaign overview or a direct donation page, to streamline the donation process for supporters.
- Create content ahead of time. Prepare for Giving Tuesday in advance by planning messages and compiling text, images, and graphics in a document.
- Host live events. Host a virtual Q&A with a representative from your preferred charity to answer questions and engage your audience. Alternatively, plan an event dedicated to sharing stories and highlighting the voices of those the charity supports.
- Give real-time updates. Keep your community motivated during your Giving Tuesday campaign by sharing updates on donation milestones, employee involvement, and standout customer contributions.
Highlight your impact
Once you've tallied the results, share your Giving Tuesday impact with your audience on social media and in person, and follow up with contributors to express your gratitude. Use historical data to segment your donor list, identifying first-time and repeat donors. Show returning donors your appreciation with personalized messages and highlight how their ongoing contributions made a meaningful difference.
Broadcasting your campaign's success demonstrates the tangible difference supporters' donations made, helping them feel they contributed toward something impactful. It also leads to greater customer loyalty and positive feelings toward your business. Internally, it helps your team put their accomplishments into perspective, motivating and helping them feel good about their efforts. It can also help drive your mission forward in the coming year by providing insights into the most and least successful elements.
This article was originally written by Lauren Kubiak.
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