GivingTuesday: A Successful Kickoff to the Giving Season – and it’s not over yet!

Last year, we saw overwhelming support from Canadians during the first annual GivingTuesday Canada celebration. We knew that this year would be even more impactful with wider reach and participation from non-profits and charities, businesses, individuals and media.

According to new data from CanadaHelps, the second annual GivingTuesday increased charitable donations in Canada by 75% on top of last GivingTuesday’s lift of 169%. See below for more highlights from this year’s GivingTuesday.

GivingTuesday may be over but there’s still work to be done!

Charities that actively promoted GivingTuesday saw the greatest lift in donations, with an average overall increase of 93% in number of donations received through CanadaHelps.

If you’re one of the countless organizations that participated this year, make it a priority to continue to cultivate relationships with those who supported you.  If you haven’t yet seen the webinar Turn Your GivingTuesday Donors into Loyal Followers, you can watch it on-demand here.

Wrap up the year by optimizing for the holiday.

GivingTuesday helped to kick-off the giving season but absolutely keep in mind that the giving season doesn’t stop on December 25th! In fact, it’s between December 27th and 31st that we receive the largest number of donations through CanadaHelps. December 31st alone accounts for over 5% of annual donations made using CanadaHelps.

It’s not too late to take advantage of some of the free promotional tools and opportunities that will help you attract new donors this holiday season. Take a moment to read 5 Ways to Optimize for the Holidays. 

So, just how impactful was GivingTuesday 2014 anyway?

Here are just some of exciting highlights from this year’s GivingTuesday, which took place on December 2nd, following Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

• The second annual GivingTuesday increased charitable donations in Canada by 75% on top of last GivingTuesday’s lift of 169%.

• Like last year, charities that actively promoted GivingTuesday saw the greatest lift in donations, with an average overall increase of 93% in number of donations received through CanadaHelps.

• Many Canadians committed to the ongoing work of a charity, with the number of new monthly donations set-up using CanadaHelps increasing by 84%.

• Social media was brimming with GivingTuesday stories, with #GivingTuesday trending almost all day GivingTuesdayCa was tweeted 34,000 times and generated 47 Million impressions on Dec 2^nd alone.

• Endorsements from President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General David Johnston, celebrity Twitter posts and millions of individual social-media exchanges helped power the GivingTuesday momentum in Canada.

• This year saw participation from large corporations like Interac, PayPal, CIBC, Deloitte, Tim Hortons, Morneau Shepell, McDonalds and Sobeys, as well as small businesses like South Street Burger Co., North York Chrysler, Paws For Pictures and more.

• Globally, more than 26,000 charities, businesses and community organizations celebrated GivingTuesday this year, with activities in 68 countries.

CanadaHelps is proud to be a co-founder of this movement in Canada, and of the amazing generosity demonstrated by Canadians.