Giving Tuesday can bring a tremendous amount of attention to your apostolate in a very short window.
That’s exciting. More importantly, it is an opportunity to invite more people into the work God has entrusted to you.
But a successful Giving Tuesday takes more than a strong email, a few social posts, and a donation button on your homepage. The experience surrounding the gift matters, too.
Someone who chooses to give has already taken the biggest step: they believe enough in your mission to support it with their own resources. From there, your job is simple in principle: make it easy to give, make it clear what their generosity accomplishes, and make sure they know how grateful you are to have them alongside you.
That takes preparation.
Here are ten things every Catholic apostolate should review before Giving Tuesday arrives.
There is a simple rule that applies especially well to fundraising:
Never make it hard for someone to give you their money.
If a donor has a question but cannot reach anyone, encounters a problem with the donation form, or needs help completing a gift and waits hours for a response, you have put friction in the way of something they already want to do.
Plan your Giving Tuesday staffing around the day you hope to have, not an ordinary Tuesday.
Before the campaign begins, decide:
Make sure everyone working that day knows where to find the answers they need.
Your donors are trying to help you accomplish your mission. Make it wonderfully easy for them to do it.
If you only do one thing this week, decide who owns donor support on Giving Tuesday and make sure someone is available when your donors need them.
Recurring donors can be an incredible gift to an apostolate. A dependable monthly giving base creates stability, makes planning easier, and gives supporters an ongoing way to participate in the mission.
But not everybody wants to give that way.
Some donors want to make one meaningful gift. Others prefer to give a few times throughout the year. Some simply do not want another automatic charge hitting their account each month.
That’s okay.
Let people give in the way that works for them.
Your donation page should make both one-time and monthly giving obvious and easy to select. Do not make someone hunt for the one-time option because you would prefer a recurring gift.
There is plenty of opportunity to show someone why monthly support matters. But first, make it easy for them to say yes.
Once someone becomes a monthly donor, make the relationship easy to maintain.
Can they quickly:
If every small change requires an email, a phone call, and several days of back-and-forth, you are creating extra work for the donor and your team.
Try the process yourself.
Log into your donor portal. Pretend your card expired. Try to update your information. See how many steps it takes.
Good technology should make supporting your mission easier, not become another obstacle standing in the way.
If the process is clunky now, Giving Tuesday is a very good reason to fix it.
Do not wait until Giving Tuesday afternoon to discover that your automated receipt is confusing, missing important information, or coming from an email address nobody recognizes.
Make a test donation before the campaign starts.
Then look at exactly what your donor receives.
Is the receipt easy to read? Is your apostolate clearly identified? Is the gift amount obvious? Does the donor know whom to contact if something is wrong? Does the email sound like it actually came from your organization?
And do not underestimate the tone.
A receipt has a practical job to do, but it is also likely to be the first communication someone receives after deciding to support your mission.
“Transaction successful” gets the job done.
“Thank you for helping make this work possible” does a little more.
Your donors should know what happens after the immediate receipt.
How will they receive the documentation they need for their records?
Will annual giving statements come through email? The mail? A donor portal? When should people expect them?
Figure that out before the rush, make sure your team knows the answer, and communicate it clearly when appropriate.
Then make sure your process on the back end is ready, too.
Giving Tuesday may introduce a lot of new people to your apostolate. That is a wonderful problem to have. It also means more donor records that need to be accurate when year-end giving statements are prepared.
A little work now can save your team a lot of January detective work.
Your donors are not transactions.
They are people who have chosen to participate in your mission.
Make sure your systems help you remember that.
At minimum, your donor records should give your team enough information to understand someone's relationship with the apostolate and communicate with them appropriately.
Is this their first gift? Have they supported you for ten years? Are they a monthly donor? An alumnus? A parent? A parishioner? A customer? A volunteer? Is there a particular part of the mission they care deeply about?
You do not need to turn your donation form into an interrogation to learn these things. In fact, please don't.
Gather what you genuinely need when someone gives, and look for natural opportunities to learn more over time.
Good data should help you know people better, not simply produce better spreadsheets.
The more you know about the people who make your work possible, the more thoughtfully you can serve them.
“Support our mission” is true.
It is also pretty vague.
Your supporters should be able to picture what their generosity helps accomplish.
Introduce them to the students, families, missionaries, seminarians, parishes, projects, programs, or communities their gifts support.
Instead of talking only about the needs of the organization, show people the good work God is doing through it.
Where appropriate, give concrete examples of what different gifts can make possible. Tell the story of the student whose education was made possible by donors. Show the project you are trying to fund. Introduce the people carrying out the work. Explain what you are hoping to accomplish next and why it matters.
And then come back later and tell donors what happened.
If they helped fund the program, build the chapel, distribute the books, educate the students, feed the families, or launch the project, let them celebrate the fruit of that work with you.
Giving becomes much more meaningful when someone can see the mission their generosity helped move forward.
Sometimes a small, thoughtful gift can make Giving Tuesday even more memorable.
Take a look around your shelves.
Do you have books, devotional materials, prayer cards, merchandise, or other inventory that has not been moving? Could some of it become a thank-you gift for your donors?
You do not necessarily need to buy something new.
Something that has been sitting in storage may be far more valuable in the hands of a supporter who will use it, pray with it, read it, or keep it as a reminder of the mission they helped support.
The gift should not overshadow the reason someone is giving. It does not need to be expensive or elaborate.
It simply says: We noticed your generosity, and we're grateful.
The automated receipt should not be the last time a Giving Tuesday donor hears from you.
Thank them.
And whenever possible, make that thank-you personal.
A quick phone call from a real person on your team can have an enormous impact. It tells the donor that their contribution did not simply disappear into a database. Someone noticed. Someone is grateful. Someone on the other end cares that they chose to be part of the mission.
The key is not to overcomplicate it.
A sincere two-minute phone call this week is probably worth more than an elaborate stewardship plan that finally produces a thank-you three months from now.
If you expect a large volume of gifts, divide the calls among your team. Give people a manageable list. Make sure they can see enough donor information to know whether they are calling a first-time giver or someone who has supported you faithfully for years.
You do not need a script that makes everybody sound identical.
You need genuine gratitude, delivered quickly.
Do not let Giving Tuesday be the first and last time you intentionally communicate with a new donor.
Before the campaign launches, decide what happens next.
A first-time donor might receive a personal thank-you now, an update on the project they supported a few weeks later, and another message when there is something tangible to show them.
A longtime supporter deserves something different. If someone has been giving for five years, the message should probably acknowledge that.
Use the information you have.
Address people by name. Make sure your team can see whether someone has supported you before. Thank returning donors for their continued generosity when they call or email. Consider birthday notes, giving-anniversary messages, or other appropriate opportunities to reach out throughout the year.
None of these touches needs to be elaborate.
In fact, a short note that clearly came from a real person can often mean more than another beautifully designed fundraising email.
Giving Tuesday should begin or deepen a relationship, not simply record a transaction.
Before the day arrives, map out the next two or three times a Giving Tuesday donor will hear from you.
And make sure not every one of those messages asks for another gift.
There is one very simple way to find a surprising number of problems with your donor experience:
Make a donation to yourself.
Go to your website as though you had never visited it before.
Find the donation page.
Give $10.
Start with a one-time donation. Then go back and try the monthly option.
Do it on your phone, too.
Pay attention to every step:
Write down everything that makes you stop, think, hunt, or wonder what to do next.
Every bit of friction you find now is one your donors won't have to encounter later.
It is tempting to judge Giving Tuesday by one number:
How much did we raise?
Of course that matters. Those gifts make real work possible.
But there is another question worth asking:
How many people became more deeply connected to our mission?
A first-time Giving Tuesday donor could become a monthly supporter. A monthly supporter may someday become a major donor. A donor may become a volunteer, advocate, customer, parish partner, parent, alumnus, or lifelong friend of your apostolate.
You do not yet know what God may choose to do through the people who encounter your work this Giving Tuesday.
So prepare well.
Make giving easy. Make your systems work. Have real people ready to help. Tell compelling stories about the mission. Thank people quickly. Show them what their generosity accomplished.
Then keep inviting them into the good work God is doing.
Because the goal is not simply to have a successful Giving Tuesday.
It is to give more people the opportunity to become part of your God-given mission.
There are a lot of moving pieces here: marketing, donation technology, data, donor communications, customer service, and the systems connecting all of it. You do not have to become an expert in every one of them.
Start by walking through your Giving Tuesday experience from beginning to end. Find the places where your team is stretched thin, your technology gets in the way, or your donors are being asked to work harder than they should.
That's your giant. Start there.
Our agency, technology team, and customer service team work alongside Catholic organizations to solve exactly these kinds of problems, not so you can spend more time thinking about systems, but so you can spend more time carrying out the mission God gave you.
If something in this checklist made you wince, tell us about it.
Visit weare5stones.com to book a consultation and let us know where you're getting stuck.
God is doing something amazing through the Church. Let's make sure unnecessary friction doesn't get in the way.
