#GivingTuesday Fundraising Ideas & Tips for 2025
Kick-Off Year-End Fundraising Campaigns with Giving Tuesday
We Can Help with Free Websites and Giving Tuesday Fundraising Ideas
Giving Tuesday is celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) each year. It is a global generosity movement and fundraising campaign aimed at transforming the holiday season from receiving to giving. The goal of #GivingTuesday is to get people to give some of what they typically spend during the busiest holiday shopping days following Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday to charitable causes. So, when is Giving Tuesday this year?
Giving Tuesday 2025 will take place on December 2nd.
Donors are looking for causes to donate to on Giving Tuesday. The challenge is to stand out from the crowd and inspire donors to give to your cause. #GivingTuesday is an opportunity to share the stories that make your charity’s mission come to life and reap the benefits. Here, we provide Giving Tuesday fundraising ideas and resources to help your nonprofit effectively tap into this day of generosity and kindness.
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15+ Best Giving Tuesday Fundraising Ideas
Turkey Trots
Hosting a walk-a-thon or Fun Run is a fun, healthy fundraising choice. Make it work with our donor-friendly crowdfunding software. Supporters create personal fundraising pages and solicit donations from friends and family. Add a fun theme like a Turkey Trot and see participation soar.
Service Projects
Hosting a serve-a-thon is a peer-to-peer variation where participants give back to the community by selecting a community service project to complete. Donations are made via your peer-to-peer website to support the project and volunteer efforts. Make the service theme relevant to the group or club completing the project.
Polar Plunges
Polar Plunges are popular winter events where fundraisers jump into a freezing river, lake, or ocean to raise money for charity. Have supporters find teammates and wear costumes to add to the fun. Ask fundraisers to personalize their fundraising page to ensure fundraising success.
Farm to Table Dinners
Farm to Table dinners highlight sustainable environmental practices while raising money for your organization. These are best hosted at a local farm or ranch – taking your diners to the source and building community relationships.
Sales Contests
Create a sales contest where supporters sell products online, and your group can track sales on personal fundraising pages. Have supporters sell chocolate bars or other products and provide incentives for top sellers. Holiday sales can be lucrative, as everyone feels the holiday spirit.
Golf Tournaments
Fundraising golf tournaments can be successful any time of year if your organization is in a warmer climate. Alternatively, consider a TopGolf or miniature golf tournament where families can participate in a climate-controlled area.
Online Auctions
Online holiday auctions are easy to organize. All you need are some great auction items that will bring in the bids. Add these to your auction website and let the competition begin.
Car Washes
Car washes and high school students go hand in hand. Why not sell sandwiches, snacks, and drinks to boost revenues? Ask a local business to let your group use their parking lot and hose, get signs, and reel in the passing cars.
Fundraising Raffles
Encourage local artists or galleries to showcase their work through a fundraising raffle. You’ll likely want to include at least one big-ticket item alongside smaller craft pieces for a nice combination of offerings.
Community Yard Sales
Gather up all of your unwanted goods and have a community-wide yard sale. Utilize the school parking lot or the gymnasium to turn someone’s unwanted goods into treasure for someone else. Sell hot chocolate and snacks to raise more money and keep people lingering around.
Carnivals
Whether indoors or outdoors, a carnival is always a fun fundraising opportunity. Make it as simple or elaborate as you want, but have fun! Be sure to include food trucks and games for all ages so that kids can join the fun.
Pancake Breakfasts
Get cooking to raise money with a gourmet pancake breakfast fundraiser. Put volunteers to work in the kitchen and serve the community a pancake breakfast. Include a pancake bar with berries, fruit, chocolate chips, granola, nuts, whipped cream, maple syrup, and other toppings.
Dine Out Nights
Many restaurants will partner with a charity and donate a percentage from an evening of sales, especially if you agree on a special menu and advertise the restaurant on your website. Gather your friends and family and head to dinner for a good cause.
Custom Merchandise Sales
Design cool gear to resonate with your supporters and spread the word about your mission. Then, set up a free eCommerce store to sell the gear online. T-shirts, coffee mugs, and hoodies are always in fundraising style.
Host a Virtual Food Drive
Digital food drives support food banks and families facing food insecurity. Money is raised online and used to purchase food for needy individuals. This is a great option if you don’t want to manage the logistics of collecting donations in person and want to extend your outreach.
Engage Supporters with These Giving Tuesday Fundraising Ideas
GivingTuesday is a day of global giving and coming together to create a better world. Giving and generosity are supported and encouraged on this special day. So, instead of asking your supporters to donate to your cause (do that, too!), why not engage them to help your organization fundraise and grow? Here are some ideas to raise funds and grow support for your organization on GivingTuesday.
Host a Special Peer to Peer Fundraising Campaign
To inspire your supporters, peer-to-peer campaigns can be tailored to your organization. If you are on a swim team, why not do what you love best and swim to raise money for the team? Baseball and softball teams can host hit-a-thons, and all types of organizations can host Community Serve-a-thons. If you don’t have a custom peer-to-peer campaign in mind, walkathons are an all-around hit. Most everyone can participate, and what a great way to get out of the house and exercise after all that Thanksgiving eating!
P2P crowdfunding software is a must for successful peer-to-peer campaigns. Our peer-to-peer software allows administrators to easily set up an event with personal fundraising pages, leaderboards, fundraising thermometers, prizes for top fundraisers, and more. Engage your supporters with a peer-to-peer event this year.
Find a Matching Gifts Donor
There is another way to raise more money from donors without asking them to give more money. We’re talking about matching gifts for nonprofits, a type of corporate giving program that can be one of many strategies for boosting fundraising campaigns.
Companies large and small offer matching gift programs. General Electric started the first matching gift program in 1954, Microsoft has the biggest corporate giving program, and Soros Fund Management offers one of the most generous matching gift programs. Nonprofit crowdfunding might be the new kid on the block in fundraising, but matching gifts can still be an effective way to raise more money, even from those who donate to your crowdfunding campaigns.
Create a Board of Directors Challenge
Fundraising is part of your Board of Directors’ job description. So why not get them engaged on the biggest fundraising day of the year? Giving Tuesday fundraising campaigns are a great opportunity for your Board to fundraise.
Your nonprofit board members are some of the best ambassadors for your organization. They are excited about your cause and typically have business and corporate contacts. Many businesses are looking for ways to get involved in the community on this special day – so it’s a natural fit. What better way to engage the Board in Giving Tuesday fundraising than a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign? Make it a contest for your Board to see who can raise the most via their connections and personal fundraising pages, and your organization will be the winner.
Virtual Fundraising Ideas for #GivingTuesday
Many organizations were financially hit hard by canceled fundraising events during COVID-19. However, organizations found they could continue fundraising and engaging supporters virtually by reworking fundraising strategies. This only works if you can engage your constituents and donors with effective virtual fundraising ideas.
We’ve compiled this list of the ten best virtual fundraising ideas for nonprofits and schools. So get creative and find one that works for your organization.
- Virtual Walkathons and Fun Runs – Walkathons make great, healthy fundraisers that almost anyone can participate in and enjoy. Add a walkathon theme to make it more fun. Virtual walkathons are great fundraisers for schools that can raise a lot of money with few upfront costs.
- Virtual Happy Hours and Performances – Get your Livestream ready! Virtual performances work great for bands and choir fundraisers. Participants pay to attend and are asked for additional donations throughout the event.
- Online Product Sales with P2P Pages – Virtual merchandise sales are a no-brainer for no/low contact fundraising. Our simple stores make it so easy you can get set up and selling in no time. This is another great group or team fundraiser.
- Fundraising Raffles – Online raffles are the perfect way to raise money for many groups. We offer the ability to incorporate peer-to-peer fundraising in raffles, where fundraisers sell raffle tickets via a personal fundraising page. Our raffle software can even randomly select and notify winners. Just find a prize and go!
- Charity Auctions – All you need are great auction items and our software. Simply create your fundraising auction website and add unlimited auction categories and items. Set the time for online bidding to start and advertise your auction via online and social media channels. Bids are made online and via text to bid. Auction winners are automatically charged, and winning bid notices can even be automated.
- Livestreamed Talks or Conferences – If you can find an expert or experts in your field, hosting a paid online conference or talk is a great way to raise money and position your organization as a thought leader.
- Virtual or UnGalas – Some organizations turn to virtual galas when large-scale galas aren’t possible. Pour a glass of wine, and don’t worry about finding a designated driver.
- Bikeathons – Much like virtual walkathons, bikeathon fundraisers can be run virtually with just a few tweaks. Bikers create a personal fundraising page and commit to biking for your cause.
- Grocery or Food Delivery Campaigns – Since many people stay in to promote social distancing, why not sell groceries or other items online and deliver them right to your donors? Create and sell online food packages with a theme – for example, Italian Night or Mexican Night. Get supporters to volunteer and deliver the packages.
- Custom Crowdfunding Campaigns – Mission-driven crowdfunding campaigns are almost always successful. These can be Bird Walks for conservation groups, hit-a-thons for baseball teams, or swimathons for swim teams. Just do what your organization and supporters do best in a virtual format.
Who Runs #GivingTuesday Fundraising Campaigns?
Organizations of all shapes and sizes participate in #GivingTuesday to kick off year-end giving each year. Some groups that participate include:
- Local nonprofit fundraising campaigns of all kinds
- National-level nonprofit chapters
- Private & public schools
- Colleges & universities
- Foundations
- Corporations and businesses that raise funds for their beneficiaries
- PTA and PTO groups
- Neighborhood, community, or homeowners associations
How to Start an Official #GivingTuesday Campaign
Join the #GivingTuesday Movement
Once you’ve settled on a Giving Tuesday fundraising campaign, it’s time to get registered. List your organization with GivingTuesday to get started. You must be a 501(c)3 nonprofit or a community group committed to benefiting a 501(c)3 to join the movement.
Jump Start Giving Tuesday Now
What we suggest is getting an early start. Start your campaign at least two months in advance. Set up a donation website where donors can easily go online and make their donations. During the busy holiday season, some donors will appreciate being able to make their #GivingTuesday contribution early.
Find Your Inspiration
Sometimes, the best way to gather inspiration is to see how others have successfully gone before you. To gather GivingTuesday inspiration, head to the Case Studies section of the #Giving Tuesday blog. Here, you will find nonprofit, charity, corporate, and more #GivingTuesday success stories. You may see someone who inspires your next great action to success.
Ask Board Members to Lead
The members of your Board of Directors are an amazing group of leaders. They could team up and enlist their business and employees to create a matching gift fund for monies raised on #GivingTuesday. By announcing that your Board is matching gifts on that day, you could increase the amount raised, spread the word faster and create incredible momentum leading up to #GivingTuesday.
Corporate Friends Count
#GivingTuesday is a great opportunity to deepen a collaborative partnership with your corporate supporters. Reach out to companies that love your work and suggest a donation for dress down day, a volunteering day of action where their team members can be put to work in the community or ask their marketing team to share the social media love. By helping your nonprofit to spread the word about #GivingTuesday, they are showing the compassionate side of their business.
Use Social Media
By using the #GivingTuesday hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or anywhere you have a presence on social media, you are bringing awareness to your mission. Your constituents should know that you are part of the movement. And with the global presence of #GivingTuesday, your social media efforts may garner the attention of new followers. Measure and track your social media impressions, clicks, shares, donations, and comments. Knowing how you performed this year will make improving your performance for next year easy.
Stories Are Key
Sharing the stories of how your nonprofit has touched the lives of others is a key way to create support. By gathering as many stories from clients, families, grant partners, or anyone your work has touched, you can use them to highlight your work. Let their words speak for your organization. Create pull-out quotes to share on social media that link to your donation website. People give to people, and by highlighting real-life stories, people are more apt to support it.
Thank Yous and Tracking
The best way to improve for next year is to measure your success and impact. Start with your financial goals and keep records of your campaign and how much was raised. Always be sure to thank donors and let them know about your successes. Discover ways to improve next year. Start planning early to make the greatest impact.
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