• by Ray Schultz , November 17, 2021

Email is by far the most popular fundraising channel as charities approach Giving Tuesday, the day set aside for generosity following the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping explosions.

But social is nipping at its heels, according to Fundraising Best Practices for Giving Tuesday, according to a study by RallyUp. 

The groups surveyed utilize these channels: 

• Email—76.43%
• Organic social media—66.67%
• Digital advertising—31.43%
• Paid social media—29.05%
• Text (SMS)—27.14%
• Press and other media placements—25.71%
• Traditional advertising (print, billboards, etc.)—24.52%

The study encourages the few charities that do not have an email list to start one for future fundraising.  

This is timely advice, given that 59% of nonprofits say Giving Tuesday is now a significant part of their annual fundraising efforts.  

However, 45% will be fundraising on Giving Tuesday for the first time this year. Included are 76% of individuals and small groups and 60% of corporate CSRs. 

But they face several challenges, the top one being technology, which is cited by 67%. The reasons: lack of technical skills (46%) and the time it takes to comparison shop each tool (26%). 

In addition, 25% complain about the poor donor experience when a different URL is used for each activity. And 23% are daunted by having too many programs to learn.

The respondents also say they need better marketing (56%), more staff (54%) and seed money to launch fundraising activities (43%). 

Facebook leads as the most effective social-media channel for fundraisers::

• Facebook—87.38%
• Instagram—48.57% 
• Twitter—18.81%
• LinkedIn—12.86%
• Other—6.90%
• None, we don’t use social media—5.24%
• Tik Tok—5%
• Snapchat—3.81%

Media aside, nonprofit groups are using these techniques to raise funds: 

• In-person events—60.95% 
• Raffles—54.05%
• Auctions—32.62%
• Crowdfunding—20.48%
• Virtual events (livestream)—20%
• A-thons—11.43%
• Store/sales—10.24% 
• Sweepstakes—6.19%

To gauge their success, groups use these metrics:

• Amount of funds raised—81.90% 
• Number of new donors—45.71%
• Number of donations—36.43%
• Other—7,86%

RallyUp surveyed 463 fundraisers, 59.61% representing small nonprofits.