The Results Are In: #GivingTuesday a Huge Mobile Success

Americans have spoken with their wallets and made #GivingTuesday 2016 a huge success for fundraising, generating $168 million in donations. This represents a 44% increase over last year’s total of $116 million.

According to data gathered by 28 platform providers, that $168 million total represents 1.5 million donations, for an average of $107.69 per donation. There were 2,399,092 social engagements with donors and organizations sharing their #GivingTuesday stories online. All this just within its first five years of existence as a movement.

Click to view full infographic via John Haydon

The task of reporting donations and their sources falls largely to the organizations themselves. What is striking about the donation patterns year-over-year is the rise of mobile donations as a percentage of overall and online giving. Every donation platform I could find showed gains in mobile donations including:

• Blackbaud: 22% mobile donations (17% in 2015)
• Classy: 32% mobile donations (23% in 2015)
• Razoo: 33% mobile donations

This clearly shows organizations that put planning and effort into their #GivingTuesday campaigns can reap great rewards from mobile. From websites, email, and social campaigns, reaching donors where they are is critical for success.

What This Means For Your Organization

It’s more than just a feeling: the data shows that you can’t afford to ignore mobile in your #GivingTuesday plan. Whether you have a mobile giving app or not (and you should), mobile is the new normal. Mobile-friendly websites, social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and email campaigns are all largely consumed via mobile devices.

In November 2016, mobile browser activity surpassed desktop for the very first time since the web came into existence, now accounting for 50.62% of all web activity.

Via Digiday

You wouldn’t leave 30% of your donations on the table. Your donors, both existing and potential, are more likely to interact with you via their mobile devices than any other way. You must put a plan in place to capitalize on their ability to receive your message and make an instant donation wherever they are, whenever they are moved.

After #GivingTuesday, Remember #ThankYouWednesday

Your follow-up to #GivingTuesday is just as important as the ramp-up. Be sure to thank you donors via email, on social, write and hand-written note. Whatever it takes, make your donors feel appreciated and that their gift mattered. Share the results of your #GivingTuesday campaign and they’ll see they were part of something special, something bigger than themselves. This will help ensure they keep coming back.