GivingTuesday Emails: 4 Types to Send

When planning your GivingTuesday emails, there are so many questions to consider. How far in advance should you communicate with your donors? What kind of emails should you send on the big day? What are the best ways to reach out to supporters after GivingTuesday? How can you craft attention-grabbing emails that inspire people to give? 

It can be overwhelming—especially when you have many other GivingTuesday activities to plan! In this article, we’ll answer these questions and take you through four of the most important GivingTuesday emails to send.

First Things First: What Is GivingTuesday?

GivingTuesday is an international day of giving meant to inspire people to support their favorite causes during the holiday season.

It always falls on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and it’s the philanthropic equivalent of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. In 2024, GivingTuesday will fall on December 3.

Generally, the big takeaway is that it’s an essential day for fundraisers—and having a great email strategy is a big part of a successful GivingTuesday campaign.

Best Practices for GivingTuesday Emails

GivingTuesday email best practices are very similar to standard nonprofit email best practices. As long as your existing strategy covers all the basics (i.e., an engaging subject line, readable design, and informative copy), your emails should help you raise awareness and excitement about your fundraiser.

Looking for resources on how to get your message in front of your supporters? Check out this helpful article on writing subject lines for your nonprofit’s emails. The first step to ensure your email’s message gets to your supporters is writing a compelling subject line that inspires them to open it!

While planning which GivingTuesday emails you’ll send, consider how you’ll customize those messages to reflect your campaign. Small touches—like incorporating GivingTuesday’s logos, including images related to your campaign, and helping readers understand the significance of donating to your cause on this particular day—will help make your campaigns more compelling to your donors.  

Let’s take a look at the four types of GivingTuesday emails you’ll want to send.

4 Types Of GivingTuesday Emails to Send Your Supporters

1. Before GivingTuesday: Announcement Emails

Imagine planning a birthday party and waiting until the day of to invite your friends. How many people would attend? Probably not many.

Similarly, you don’t want to plan a GivingTuesday campaign and wait too long to invite people to participate. Plan to send a few emails announcing your campaign ahead of time. This is an excellent opportunity to share details about what your donors’ gifts will achieve for your community and get them excited about how they can help. 

Sending a few “save the date” emails instead of just one will help ensure you reach as many of your supporters as possible. In our research report, The Nonprofit Email Report: Data-Backed Insights for Better Engagement, we found that the average nonprofit has a 29.58% email open rate. That means over 70% of your contacts may not receive your message if you only send a single announcement. 

Your initial outreach emails should:

• Inform donors about your fundraiser. Let donors know GivingTuesday is coming up and briefly explain what it is. Remind them that GivingTuesday isn’t exclusively monetary donations—they can give time, skills, and other resources, too! In 2022, 36% of GivingTuesday participants in the U.S. gave money, 20% donated goods, and 18% volunteered.
• Include details about what their donations will support. Share your campaign goals with your audience. How can they get involved? What will their donations help achieve? Remind them that, by donating, they’ll be participating in a worldwide event and helping their community simultaneously. Providing that context can be what incentivizes your contacts to give.
• Share practical details, too. If you have a matching gift opportunity, share that information now! Knowing that their gift will count for double can be exceptionally motivating to your donors. If that match has any caveats—like needing to hit a specific goal, hitting a milestone in a particular time period, etc.—be sure to include those details, too. This is also a great opportunity to share other resources, like links to volunteer opportunities, event details, and other ways they can support your campaign.
• Thank donors for their past and future support. Let your audience know that they’ve been integral to pursuing your organization’s mission and that you appreciate their dedication to the cause. Then, include a note asking them to consider supporting you this GivingTuesday. Gratitude is critical at all points of the appeal process.

Initial GivingTuesday Email Subject Line Ideas

• Are You Ready for GivingTuesday?
• What Are You Doing Next Week? Join Us on December 3!
• Save the Date: GivingTuesday 2024 is Tuesday, December 3!
• Tomorrow Is a Big Day for Generosity! Will You Join Us?

When it comes to subject lines, use the phrase “GivingTuesday” sparingly. One surprising find from the GivingTuesday and Year-End addendum to the Nonprofit Email Report was that emails that included the word “Tuesday” in their subject lines (on GivingTuesday, specifically—not during other times of the year) had lower open rates, click-through rates, and total dollars raised than those that didn’t.

Fundraising tip: Only 3% of nonprofits using Neon CRM’s email systems sent subject lines with emojis. However, emoji use in subject lines has been linked to higher open rates! GivingTuesday is a great opportunity to experiment with using an emoji in your subject lines to catch readers’ attention! Try to choose one related to your mission, and don’t go overboard. Stick to using one—maybe two—and avoid anything that could make your message look spammy.

2. On GivingTuesday: Fundraising Emails

The GivingTuesday emails you send on the day of the event should be focused on building excitement and encouraging donations. Timely communications can make supporters feel like they’re right there with you, but there’s no need to send a bunch—our research found that the most successful campaigns included no more than two fundraising emails.

Your day-of-event emails should:

• Get potential donors excited about supporting your cause. Start with a kick-off announcement that restates your fundraising goal and shares information about what their generosity will achieve. Use energetic words and phrases to generate enthusiasm, such as, “Today’s the day!” or “The biggest giving day of the year is here!”
• Share great stories that inspire your supporters. Stories can connect your donors emotionally to those who will benefit from your GivingTuesday campaign. Include a brief excerpt from one of your success stories to motivate your audience and add some transparency to your campaign.
• Include a call to action. Once you’ve shared a success story, ask people to make similar success stories possible for your other clients. Be explicit: Ask people to donate! Make sure it’s easy to act, too. Include multiple links to your GivingTuesday donation form so it’s easy for donors to give once they’ve read your message. Before the big day, make a test donation on that form to double-check that it works properly, isn’t confusing, and can be completed quickly.
• Encourage sharing. Ask your donors to promote your fundraiser by forwarding the email to their friends and family or posting about their support on their social media accounts. Small nudges like this can do wonders to boost reach.

Day-of GivingTuesday Email Subject Line Ideas

• Today’s the Day! Are You In? 
• Celebrate GivingTuesday With Us!
• It’s a Special Day. Join the Movement!

Fundraising tip: It may seem obvious, but don’t forget to include a link to your GivingTuesday donation form in your email. In fact, include several! If you want more clicks to your donation form, add the link to your email more than once.

3. On GivingTuesday: Post-Donation Receipt

Your online fundraising platform should include the option to send an automated email donation receipt to anyone who makes a gift. Make the most of that receipt by adding some elements to delight your supporters!

In your receipt, be sure to include:

• Celebratory language that makes donors feel good. Donors feel good when they give. Keep the good feelings going by including some celebratory language (and a great thank-you message) in your receipt. Thank donors for their generosity, celebrate their kindness, and tell them how much their support means to you and the people you serve.
• Some campaign-specific imagery and language. You’ve inspired your donors to give by sharing a great story and a compelling appeal. Include callbacks to the campaign that inspired your donor to give—it will create a great sense of continuity for your supporters. Include a photo of one of your clients, reference their impact, and tie it all back to the appeal that prompted the gift in the first place.
• Your donor’s transaction details. While including celebratory language and impact statements in your receipt is important, remember it’s still a receipt. Be sure to include your supporter’s donation details so they can keep track of their gift.
• A next step. The minutes and hours after someone donates is the best time to ask them to do you a favor. This is because of a neat psychological phenomenon called The Benjamin Franklin effect. When you do a favor for someone, you will find yourself liking that person more—after all, would you do a favor for someone you didn’t like? Use that to your advantage! Ask them to complete a quick donor survey, watch a video, follow you on Facebook, or do something else quick and easy. Just don’t ask them for another gift!

GivingTuesday Receipt Email Subject Line Ideas

• Thank You for Your Generosity!
• Woohoo! Thank You for Your Support!
• We’re Celebrating You Today!

Fundraising tip: If you’re looking for more pointers on how to write a great receipt, you’ll like this article: The Dos and Don’ts of Donation Receipts.

4. After GivingTuesday: Thank-You Email

Send your GivingTuesday donors a prompt and sincere thank-you email to show how much you appreciate them and value their support. When done correctly, this can be a cornerstone of donor retention.

Send this email soon after GivingTuesday, and focus on celebrating your community’s generosity, communicating donors’ impact, and inviting them to stay involved with your organization.

Your thank-you email should:

• Be sent promptly. The best time to send this email is no more than one or two days after GivingTuesday. Your campaign will be at the forefront of your donors’ minds, improving the likelihood that they will open and engage with your message.
• Be as personal as possible. Include their first name (not “Dear Valued Donor”) and work their donation amount into your copy. Make your email so personal that it feels like it wasn’t automated and came from a real person who works at your organization. Sign off on your thank you email as one of your team members rather than on behalf of your organization.
• Include impact updates and next steps. During your campaign, you asked donors to support your cause and shared insight into the difference they’ll make when giving. In this email, update them about how much they helped raise and what that money will achieve. For example, if your appeal was for gifts of $50 that will feed a family for a week, share how many families your community helped feed. This will send a few necessary signals: It shows that you’ll use their gift wisely (which builds trust) and makes them feel like they’re part of a group of people working together toward a common goal.
• Invite donors to engage with your nonprofit. Invite participants to follow your organization on social media to stay updated on your campaign’s progress and successes. Try asking your participants to share a story about how or why they give back to their community. Alternatively, you can invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, visit your facility, or share your mission with their friends and family.

Post-GivingTuesday Email Subject Line Ideas

• Look What You Made Possible! 
• Your Generosity Did This, [Donor Name]
• You Made This Possible
• GivingTuesday [Year] Was a Success!

As you write this email, remember your goal: You want to update your donors, get them excited about the work they made possible, and encourage continued engagement.

After you update them, provide an opportunity to continue interacting with you. Keeping them engaged in the days after your campaign is much easier than trying to connect with them weeks or months later.

Fundraising tip: 84% of people who were aware of GivingTuesday reported that the movement inspired them to give more. This is amazing news! The GivingTuesday emails you send leading up to the day can increase awareness and inspire more people to participate.

Looking for GivingTuesday Email Examples?

Communicating with your supporters before, during, and after GivingTuesday will be an essential part of your campaign’s success.

If you’re looking for a little extra help, we’ve got you covered. Our GivingTuesday Toolkit includes email templates and examples, social media post ideas, campaign planning worksheets, and fundraising tips you can use during your campaign. Get your copy of the GivingTuesday Toolkit today!