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#GivingTuesday On Its Way To Record

Early returns for #GivingTuesday show continued growth for the seventh annual day of giving and that the day already is on its way to another record fundraising total.

Five platforms that processed donations yesterday have reported a combined $336 million raised (last year’s preliminary figures in parentheses):

  • Facebook, $125 million ($45 million);
  • PayPal, $98 million ($64 million);
  • Blackbaud, $62.6 million ($60.9 million);
  • DonorPerfect, $35.2 million ($27.7 million); and,
  • Classy, $15.4 million ($10.3 million).

Last year, 37 platforms reported fundraising statistics to the 92Y Giving Tuesday Data Project, which tabulated $274 million in preliminary estimates the day. The final estimate eclipsed $300 million, which would put this year’s $336 million estimate so far already 12 percent higher.

“Giving Tuesday remains one of the largest online giving days of the year and we saw more growth in 2018,” said Steve MacLaughlin, vice president of data & analytics at Blackbaud, a Charleston, S.C.-based fundraising technology firm. “Growth in average online gift amount was really positive and the highest we have ever seen,” he said.

Online donations via Blackbaud continue to grow each year and average gift sizes and mobile giving also was up year-over-year compared with 2017.

Average gifts were 10 percent higher — $147 versus $134 — and the volume of mobile giving was higher – 29 percent of online donations, up 12 percent from the previous year via Blackbaud.

Giving via DonorPerfect saw an uptick in giving during the evening hours after a slow start, according to Jon Biedermann, vice president at the Horsham, Pa.-based fundraising software company. Almost half of all donations (46 percent) came via a mobile device throughout the entire day, he said.

Nonprofits receiving online donations grew by 16 percent and the data will likely show medium and small organizations benefitting a lot, MacLaughlin said. Since 2012, the giving is shifting away from large nonprofits ($10 million or more) and smaller organizations by nature will have fewer donors but higher giving amounts are “really beneficial to these organizations,” he said.

Social media conversations using #GivingTuesday hashtag this year exceeded 605,000 across Twitter and Instagram.

San Diego, Calif-based fundraising technology provider Classy reported more than double the $6.4 million in 2016 and one-third more than the $10.2 million raised last year on #GivingTuesday. The more than 140,000 donations, which was a 41-percent increase over 2017.

MacLaughlin reminded that #GivingTuesday isn’t just about asking for money: “We would all benefit from moving away from counting the money to measuring the impact of #GivingTuesday.”