GivingTuesday raised $3.1 billion last week, an increase of 15% from last year’s $2.7 billion.
At Tatango, a text-messaging platform designed for fundraising, we saw an uptick in the number of nonprofits sending GivingTuesday text messages as part of their multi-channel fundraising strategy.
Nonprofits not only increased the number of text messages sent on GivingTuesday – ranging from one to four text messages sent that day – but also their use of multimedia in text messages, such as countdown clocks, video, images and GIFs.
Below are some of our favorite GivingTuesday text messages from Tatango customers – and what we loved about them!
Indian Muslim Relief Charities
Why We Love It: IMRC concisely describes an urgent problem (facing poverty in freezing temperatures across India) and asks its donors to help solve it with a gift ($10 for a blanket or $20 for warm clothes). The image of a woman making eye contact, perhaps with her children, and wrapped in a blanket conveys gratitude and emotion. It’s a simple, but incredibly powerful GivingTuesday text message.
International Medical Corps
Why We Love It: IMC’s pre-Thanskgiving cultivation text message used a GIF to rotate smiling faces next to the words “Thankful for you.” It was a creative way to show donors the faces of different lives that have been impacted because of their support. After thanking donors for being a passionate member of their community and describing the outcome of donor generosity, IMC included a link to add GivingTuesday to a donor’s calendar.
Mountain Education Fund
Why We Love It: Nonprofits have had success using countdown clocks to add urgency to GivingTuesday emails and donation forms in past years. Mountain Education Fund replicated this successful tool in their GivingTuesday final text message using a GIF that counted down the seconds within the text message. They doubled down on that urgency in their subject line and first sentence, and also include a link to donate early in their text message.
March of Dimes
Why We Love It: March of Dimes A/B tested GIFs focusing on their triple match vs. the urgency of a midnight deadline. After opening with a GivingTuesday mention, their text led with the problem to solve before asking donors to give by midnight and have their gift tripled. March of Dimes also bolded the most important parts of their message – the problem and how to solve it – and used a clock emoji to add urgency to their donate call to action.
Navy Seal Foundation
Why We Love It: Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text. The image in this Navy Seal Foundation text message visually communicates that it’s GivingTuesday, how Navy Seals risk their lives and the impact of donations. That’s tough to do in one image. Their message also includes a GivingTuesday goal update, urgency that there’s still time to give and a donor quote on why they gave.
World Hope International
Why We Love It: It’s hard not to smile and feel great after watching World Hope International’s GivingTuesday thank-you video. We’re sure their donors did. The video featured thank you’s from around the world by those who will be helped with GivingTuesday donations. Their text message used “you” or “your” eight times (!) to credit donors for reaching the goal, helping those around the world and coming together as a community. By comparison, “World Hope” was only used once. They also included a donate link in the P.S. for anyone who missed the opportunity to make a Giving Tuesday gift.
