GivingTuesday

Table of Contents

  1. Definition
  2. Why GivingTuesday matters for marketing
  3. How it works
    1. The 2026 giving-season calendar
    2. What the GivingTuesday organization provides
    3. How to calculate GivingTuesday performance
  4. How to utilize GivingTuesday
  5. GivingTuesday compared with related events
  6. Best practices
  7. Future trends
  8. FAQs
  9. Related Terms
  10. Listen: The Agile Brand podcast
  11. Further reading on Agile Brand Guide
  12. Sources

Definition

GivingTuesday is an annual day of charitable giving held on the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving. It encourages people to donate money, goods, or time to nonprofits, and to advocate for causes, immediately after the retail-focused Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. The official name is written as one word, GivingTuesday, and it’s widely promoted with the hashtag #GivingTuesday. “Giving Tuesday” (two words) is a common informal spelling.

In 2026, GivingTuesday falls on Tuesday, December 1.

Henry Timms created GivingTuesday in 2012 at the 92nd Street Y, a cultural and community center in New York City, with the United Nations Foundation as a founding partner. It became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, also called GivingTuesday, in 2019. Asha Curran is its CEO. The organization coordinates the day, runs the GivingTuesday Data Commons research network, and supports national movements in more than 110 countries.

Unlike Black Friday or Cyber Monday, GivingTuesday doesn’t belong to a retailer or trade group, and nobody owns the day commercially. Nonprofits, companies, community groups, and individuals take part on their own terms.

See also: Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) · Cyber Week · Small Business Saturday · Email Marketing

Back to Top

Why GivingTuesday matters for marketing

For nonprofits, GivingTuesday is one of the biggest fundraising days of the year and the unofficial start of year-end giving season. For companies, it’s an annual moment for employee giving, cause partnerships, and corporate social responsibility communications.

The growth has been steep. Americans gave $4.0 billion on GivingTuesday 2025, up 13% from $3.6 billion in 2024, according to estimates from the GivingTuesday Data Commons. In 2013, the second year, the U.S. total was about $28 million. That’s roughly a 140-fold increase in twelve years.

Participation goes beyond money. The 2025 estimates count 38.1 million U.S. participants. Within that group:

  • 19.1 million made financial donations (up 3%)
  • 13.5 million donated goods
  • 11.1 million volunteered (up 20%)
  • 20.9 million spoke out or advocated for causes (up 26%)

These categories overlap, since one person can donate and volunteer, so they don’t add up to the participant total.

The gap between dollar growth (13%) and donor growth (3%) in 2025 is worth noticing. More money is coming from a donor base that’s growing much more slowly, which matches a broader pattern in U.S. philanthropy of fewer donors giving larger amounts.

For perspective, Americans gave about $592.5 billion to charity across all of 2024, according to Giving USA. GivingTuesday’s $3.6 billion that year was well under 1% of the annual total. Its value to nonprofits is less about its share of the year and more about attention: a fixed date, heavy media coverage, and matching-gift campaigns that give donors a reason to act now.

Back to Top

How it works

Back to Top

The 2026 giving-season calendar

Day2026 dateFocus
ThanksgivingThu, Nov 26
Black FridayFri, Nov 27Retail discounts
Small Business SaturdaySat, Nov 28Independent and local businesses
Cyber MondayMon, Nov 30Online retail
GivingTuesdayTue, Dec 1Donations, volunteering, advocacy
Year-end giving deadlineThu, Dec 31Last day for U.S. tax-year charitable deductions
Back to Top

What the GivingTuesday organization provides

  • A shared date and brand. Free logos, messaging guides, and campaign toolkits for any participating organization.
  • Data Commons. Research and estimates built from about 60 partner platforms, including PayPal, Stripe, Blackbaud, GoFundMe, Benevity, and Visa. The annual U.S. totals come from this network.
  • Country and community movements. Local organizers run GivingTuesday campaigns for specific countries, cities, and causes.
Back to Top

How to calculate GivingTuesday performance

Nonprofits typically track these metrics. Brands running employee-giving or cause campaigns use similar ones.

1. Total raised and number of donors

Average gift = Total dollars raised ÷ Number of donors

2. New-donor rate

New-donor rate (%) = First-time donors on GivingTuesday ÷ Total GivingTuesday donors × 100

3. Match leverage

Match leverage = (Donor gifts + Matching funds) ÷ Donor gifts

A $25,000 match fully unlocked by $25,000 in donor gifts produces a leverage of 2.0, meaning every dollar given becomes two.

4. Donor retention

GivingTuesday donor retention (%) = Last year's GivingTuesday donors who gave again within 12 months ÷ Last year's GivingTuesday donors × 100

Retention matters more than any single day’s total. A first-time donor acquired on GivingTuesday is only valuable if they give again.

5. Cost per dollar raised

Cost per dollar raised = Campaign costs (ads, staff time, platform fees) ÷ Total dollars raised

A worked example (illustrative, not benchmark data): an animal shelter raises $48,000 from 400 donors on GivingTuesday, including a $15,000 board match. Its average gift is $120. If 160 of those donors are new, its new-donor rate is 40%. If the campaign cost $3,600 in ads, email platform fees, and staff time, its cost per dollar raised is about 7.5 cents.

Back to Top

How to utilize GivingTuesday

For nonprofits:

  • Matching-gift campaigns. A board member, foundation, or corporate sponsor commits to match donations up to a cap. “Double your impact” messaging is one of the most common GivingTuesday tactics.
  • Multi-channel sequences. Email, SMS, and social posts usually start the week before (“save the date”), peak on the day with several sends, and end with a thank-you and a progress update. See Email Marketing and Short Message Service (SMS).
  • Peer-to-peer fundraising. Supporters create personal fundraising pages and ask their own networks to give.
  • Live progress tracking. A goal thermometer or live counter on the donation page gives donors a reason to come back and share.
  • Non-cash asks. Volunteer sign-ups, petitions, and in-kind drives give people who can’t donate money a way to take part.
  • Monthly-donor conversion. Some nonprofits use the day to ask existing donors to become recurring monthly givers instead of making a one-time gift.

For companies and brands:

  • Employee giving. Companies match employee donations or offer paid volunteer time on GivingTuesday, often through workplace giving platforms.
  • Cause partnerships. A brand donates a portion of sales, or a fixed amount per purchase, to a named nonprofit for the day. Many brands pause or soften promotional email on GivingTuesday and send a cause-focused message instead.
  • Customer-directed giving. Some brands let customers choose which nonprofit receives a donation tied to their purchase.
  • Sponsor matches. Companies fund the matching pool for a nonprofit’s GivingTuesday campaign, in exchange for recognition.
Back to Top
EventTiming (U.S.)Created byPrimary goalWho participates
GivingTuesdayTuesday after Thanksgiving92nd Street Y and UN Foundation, 2012Donations, volunteering, advocacyNonprofits, donors, companies
Black FridayFriday after ThanksgivingRetail usage from 1960s Philadelphia slangRetail salesRetailers and shoppers
Cyber MondayMonday after ThanksgivingNRF / Shop.org, 2005Online retail salesOnline retailers and shoppers
Small Business SaturdaySaturday after ThanksgivingAmerican Express, 2010Spending at small businessesSmall businesses and shoppers
Year-end giving (Dec 31)Last days of DecemberU.S. tax calendarTax-deductible donations before the year closesNonprofits and donors
Community giving daysVaries by regionCommunity foundations and local coalitionsLocal nonprofit fundraisingRegional nonprofits and donors
Back to Top

Best practices

  1. Start before the day. Save-the-date messages a week or two ahead outperform a single same-day ask. Donors receive dozens of GivingTuesday emails on the day itself.
  2. Secure a match early. Confirm matching funds, and their cap, before planning messaging. A match gives a specific reason to give on that day rather than any other.
  3. Make one clear, concrete ask. “$50 feeds a family for a week” is easier to act on than a general appeal for support.
  4. Show progress in real time. Post updates throughout the day and update the goal thermometer often.
  5. Optimize the donation page for mobile. Keep the form short and accept digital wallets.
  6. Thank donors fast, then follow up. Send a thank-you within 24 hours and a progress or impact update within a few weeks. That follow-up is what drives second gifts.
  7. Plan for retention, not just acquisition. Tag GivingTuesday donors so you can track whether they give again, and put them in a dedicated welcome sequence.
  8. For brands: be specific about the donation. State exactly how much goes to which organization (“$5 per order to Feeding America, up to $50,000”). Vague promises like “a portion of proceeds” draw criticism. Several U.S. states also regulate commercial co-venture promotions, where a business advertises that sales benefit a charity, so check registration and disclosure rules before launching.
  9. For brands: don’t mix a sale into the message. A GivingTuesday post that leads with a discount reads as retail marketing borrowing a charity moment.
Back to Top

Fewer donors, bigger gifts. The 2025 numbers showed dollars growing more than four times as fast as donor counts. Expect more nonprofit effort aimed at broadening the donor base, with more small-dollar, monthly, and peer-to-peer campaigns.

Volunteering and advocacy growth. Volunteering on GivingTuesday rose 20% in 2025 and advocacy rose 26%, much faster than financial giving. Nonprofits are increasingly treating the day as an engagement event, not just a fundraising one.

Global expansion. GivingTuesday now has grassroots movements in more than 110 countries, and new national movements launched in 2025 in Guatemala, Gambia, Mozambique, and Qatar.

Payment-platform data. Totals now come from a network of roughly 60 platforms, including payment processors and donor-advised fund providers. Better data is making it easier to compare GivingTuesday performance with the rest of the giving season.

AI-assisted fundraising. Fundraising and CRM platforms are adding AI tools for drafting appeals, segmenting donors, and predicting who’s likely to give. Salesforce, for example, launched Agentforce Nonprofit with AI agents for fundraising staff.

Tax policy effects. Changes to U.S. charitable deduction rules can shift when donors give. Some 2025 analysis linked part of that year’s growth to donors giving before deduction changes took effect, though that explanation hasn’t been tested against data.

Back to Top

FAQs

When is GivingTuesday 2026? Tuesday, December 1, 2026. It’s always the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving.

Who started GivingTuesday? Henry Timms created it in 2012 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, with the United Nations Foundation as a founding partner. It became an independent nonprofit in 2019.

Is it “GivingTuesday” or “Giving Tuesday”? The official name is one word, GivingTuesday. “Giving Tuesday” is a common informal spelling.

How much was donated on GivingTuesday 2025? About $4.0 billion in the U.S., up 13% from 2024, according to GivingTuesday Data Commons estimates.

How many people take part? The 2025 estimate was 38.1 million U.S. participants, including 19.1 million financial donors, 13.5 million who gave goods, and 11.1 million volunteers.

Do donations have to be made to registered charities? GivingTuesday encourages all forms of generosity, including mutual aid and volunteering. But for U.S. donors who want a tax deduction, the gift generally has to go to a qualified tax-exempt organization.

Can businesses participate in GivingTuesday? Yes. Companies commonly run employee matching programs, sponsor nonprofit matches, or donate a set amount per sale. Businesses running sales-linked promotions should check state commercial co-venture rules.

Is GivingTuesday only in the United States? No. It has grassroots movements in more than 110 countries, though the U.S. remains the largest by dollars.

How should a nonprofit measure GivingTuesday success? Beyond total dollars, track number of donors, new-donor rate, cost per dollar raised, and especially how many GivingTuesday donors give again within 12 months.

Does GivingTuesday take donations away from year-end giving? That’s an open question. GivingTuesday totals have grown every year, but nonprofits and researchers still debate how much of that giving is new versus shifted from later in December.

Back to Top
  1. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM)
  2. Cyber Week
  3. Small Business Saturday
  4. Email Marketing
  5. Short Message Service (SMS)
  6. Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOM)
  7. User-Generated Content (UGC)
  8. Influencer Marketing
  9. Retention Rate
  10. Zero-Party Data
Back to Top

Listen: The Agile Brand podcast

Back to Top

Further reading on Agile Brand Guide

Statistics reflect GivingTuesday results through 2025 as published by GivingTuesday as of October 2026. Figures are updated annually after each event.

Back to Top

Sources

Back to Top

Was this helpful?

Previous

Feedback recession

Next

Golden Quarter