Get Money For Your Nonprofit

Well, today's topic is, we're still staying in the how to generate revenue for your nonprofit. And today we're gonna talk about generating revenue using a program that's out there, been out there now for years, it's Giving Tuesday. So Giving Tuesday, for those of you who may not be familiar with it, It is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and it's pretty strategic actually, because at the end of the year, lots of organizations are ready to look at their finances and see what they should give in order to stay within whatever tax bracket they're trying to, you know, meet. Or even some organizations actually have foundations where they expect to give a certain amount of money every year, and so they kind of wait to give, to be able to give on this particular day that's been set aside. In my family, we even, like, come together Thanksgiving, and then we kind of talk about what we would like to give come— we talk about what we would like to give come, uh, that particular day.

So yeah, yeah. And it's the day that since people are so aware of Giving Tuesday, like as you mentioned, it's been around for so long, even individuals are like, oh, okay, I'm gonna give, you know, Giving Tuesday, because now we're starting to— they're starting to publicize it. Giving Tuesday is coming, so a lot of people set money aside during this time of the year for that.

Exactly. And what I think is really great is if you go to their website And their website is simply givingtuesday.org. And I think we have a link to their website for you right there, givingtuesday.org. When you go to their website, you will— they give you everything you need for your organization to be able to do this successfully. So there'll be forms there that you can fill in. They'll actually be— what is it— press releases that you can just— press release templates that you can kind of fill in and send out. They even have a registry for organizations that give, um, that are open for receiving monies on Giving Tuesday, and you can sign your organization up for it. A lot of the resources on Giving Tuesday's website are actually free. I don't think there's anything you have to pay for. I don't even— you don't pay to be on their registry either. So, you know, it's definitely worth looking into.

And it is. And, you know, regardless of when you're looking at this video, go to Giving Tuesday because Giving Tuesday, you don't start getting donors and getting people to know, like, and trust you when Giving Tuesday gets here. So you need to be doing this all year long. So if you're if you're looking at this live today, we know we're at the 1st of October, you need to start setting it up, you know, and start saying, okay, now how do I get donors? How do I get people to begin to know me? And so once they get to know you, and then you're gonna start showing them who you are, and they're like, okay, now I can probably trust them. I like them a little bit, right? I like them and then I trust them. So now let me start getting some money. So this is, this is the beginning. So if you haven't been involved in Giving Tuesday, you want to get involved. I have to admit, our organization has never participated in Giving Tuesday. I've all— every year I've always said I'm gonna participate in Giving Tuesday, every year, like I'm gonna participate in Giving Tuesday, but it always came up so fast for me, which we always know, what is it, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, right? So we always know when it's coming, but for me it's always come up too fast. But you have to get ready and you have to get prepared. I'm not one that would seek donors because it's, most of you who know me, I'm a grant writer, so I love to write the grants. I wasn't one to always seek donations, but that's something that we really all need to do.

Yeah. So, go ahead. I'm sorry, didn't mean to overtalk you.

No, no, no, go ahead.

I was gonna say, this is another way to involve the community that you serve, and that is it plain and simple. Also, it's another way to kind of break into communities that you are trying to serve. We know of founders who are in new areas, and they're having a very hard time kind of navigating these new areas. Well, Giving Tuesday is just another way to show the community, hey, I am really trying to build up this nonprofit so that I can serve you.

So, yeah. Yes, yes. And so, and then so you really want to get it because there has to be a way for them to donate to you. So you want to set up whatever that is. Are they going to donate to you on your website? Right.

Are they—

how are they going to donate money to your organization? Are you going to use PayPal? Do you have your Stripe account set up? So those are the things that you really need to start looking at right now, is if someone gives you a donation, if you don't have it set up, to set up now and give them an opportunity to. But there is a lot of resources that's on, um, GivingTues, and some of it can be overwhelming. So don't feel like if this is your first year you have to do everything that they say to do, because it's too much. And that's one of the reasons why I think we never got involved, because it's too much. Because if you're if you're a new founder, you have— you're wearing every hat, right? And so you're like, okay, I got all these hats on. Even as you're building your organization, you still have so much to do because now you're having clients and staff. And, you know, so you have to be able to delegate just a little time to starting to build your donor, donor base.

And I would even recommend if you're, if you're a new founder, you go to Giving Tuesday and you check out their resources. You check out their organization, you, you know, learn a little bit more about it. Um, but you want to keep two things in mind. One, it's there for you. So, you know, that's the whole purpose of Giving Tuesday. It's there for you. And two, I think Vanessa said it, I'm just gonna say it a little differently, and then maybe saying it exactly the same way, but you don't have to do everything. I mean, if you are on social media all you have to say is, you know, this year our organization is participating in Giving Tuesday. And then you just say that, and then you post, like Vanessa said, you post how people can give to your organization now that they know that you're there, or, you know, you're participating in Giving Tuesday. Also, this one last thought I want to leave you with Consider this like, you know, like a thermometer. Have your goal that you're trying to reach. So you start at zero at the bottom, you know, and then your thermometer goes up and says $500. So have this, have some kind of visual that shows people as donations are coming in and what, what I've done or what has happened on the boards that I've sat on during Giving Tuesday, any money that comes in from, you know, whenever you put out that first post on, you know, let's say you put it out on October 14th, you put out that first post and money start coming in. We count that in our Giving Tuesday thermometer and we show people like we started with zero, now we got $5, now we got $15, now we got $100 donation, now we got a $200. And we showed them a visual and people absolutely love that.

So, mm-hmm. Yes, absolutely. And I was just saying, since you made that so simple, you're like, look, you just go on Facebook or wherever you're going, you just post it that we're doing a Giving Tuesday and you give them an opportunity to, to post it. And that, I like that because one of the things we do, and I think that's kept us, because we make things sometimes so complicated, right?. And so you made it so, so simple. And then one last point I would like to leave to add on to what Miss Antoinette said is if you have that thermometer, think of a way of how you're going to acknowledge the people who have given funding to you. Yeah, you may send them a newsletter, you're going to send them a thank you. Even if they gave you a dollar, send them something that says thank you. OK, because we're talking about not just getting them for Giving Tuesday, but these are could be long-term donors for you. So remember, this is a time for them to get like and trust you. They may only give you a dollar. To see if they can trust you with that dollar. If they can trust you with that dollar, they may give you more.

Exactly, yeah, that's perfect.

So let us know how Giving Tuesday is. You know, Antonia, I think maybe we should do— I would love to do this one day, if not next week, the following week— is to actually open up the website of Giving Tuesday and then go through it and see what it's like and be able to walk people through Giving Tuesday and all the wonderful things that they have up there. Okay, so we hope to see you next week, next week or the week after, and we're going to be going going through Giving Tuesday. See you then.