Business

Daily Buzz: Ready for #GivingTuesday?

The annual charitable holiday is ramping up this week. Read on for some thoughtful last-minute considerations for the big day. Also: how to put on an effective silent auction.

#GivingTuesday is all about harnessing viral energy to build up an organization’s end-of-the-year donations, while introducing lots of new people to your group too.

Perhaps you’ve been planning for the big day for months; maybe you’re playing it a bit more by ear.

Whatever the case, because it’s right around the corner, lots of people have thoughts about the phenomenon. While you may not be able to leverage all of these insights so close to the event, here are a few that could prove useful in a last-minute pinch. Among them:

Giving is getting easier. MarketWatch reports that since the first #GivingTuesday, technologies that help ease the process of donations, particularly using mobile apps and digital platforms, have gained major uptake. The publication notes that companies such as Facebook and PayPal have made major strides in assisting with these donations. This has led to something of a cultural shift in how we discuss donations, notes Jessica Schneider of the 92nd Street Y’s Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact, which helped launch Giving Tuesday. “People used to be very private about their giving, but there’s been a cultural shift (with oversharing in general) where people are a lot more comfortable talking about their giving,” she told the outlet. “And the most effective way to get someone to give is to have the ask come from a friend.”

Small donations can have a big impact. The event may have a reputation for favoring large nonprofits, but if you run a small nonprofit, #GivingTuesday can still be a big opportunity, if played right. Over at Forbes, Shannon Farley, the cofounder of the tech nonprofit accelerator Fast Forward, makes the case that small donations at nonprofits where such a donation feels bigger can have a major impact. Speaking from her own experience of receiving small-dollar gifts at the nonprofit she was running amid the 2008 financial crisis, she said, “Those gifts were a lifeline for my organization and our work amidst turbulent times. The checks were small, but they had a huge impact on me, our organization, and the women we served.” Consider it a momentum boost.

Get clever about your messaging after the fact. A successful #GivingTuesday, if messaged the right way, can pay dividends all the way through the end of the year. At the Classy blog, Ellie Burke explains how showing off your results during your year-end campaign could offer a win on top of a win.

The Silent Treatment

Speaking of fundraising, silent auctions can be a great way to raise some money. But managing these events can be challenging—what makes the most sense?

The Wild Apricot blog says execution is everything, and the items are a big part of that execution.

“Yes, it is all about the auction items. But it’s also about how they make your guests feel,” the blog states. “Your silent auction will be a success if the items you’ve laid out for auction are valuable to your attendees or offer up a unique experience.”

Other Links of Note

Sorting it out. At CMSWire, AIIM Chief Evangelist John Mancini ponders a well-known myth in the world of content management—that 80 percent of information an organization produces is unstructured.

Bad news for LinkedIn. The social network reportedly violated data-protection rules involving millions of email addresses that weren’t actually signed up for the service, TechCrunch reports.

Is the future of office meetings holographic? Who knows, but there’s a startup that is using augmented reality to put on events. Inc. has the details.

(MicroStockHub/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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