2025 is soon leaving us, and this year’s Giving Tuesday is approaching fast. Nonprofits, charities, or fundraisers, this is your time to prepare for the campaign now. It’s the day when people spread generosity. Individuals donate from the heart to support those causes that are actually meaningful. But the question is, “Is a simple donation button enough?”. Surely, not.
To have a successful top donation drive, you require the proper tools, messaging, and information to get people to “Donate.” Learn how you can boost your donations before Giving Tuesday 2025. This article is extremely useful, particularly if you are having your fundraising campaign on a CMS like WordPress or WooCommerce.
This Giving Tuesday 2025 Means More Than Ever to Your Organization (Your Next Big Ask is Waiting)
Receiving Giving Tuesday donations is empowerment in itself. In the US alone, 2024’s Giving Tuesday figures are amazing. People donated $3.6 billion. And 36.1 million individuals participated in 2024’s Giving Tuesday to support a good cause. Stats by Giving Tuesday 2024.
That wave is bigger than money; it’s might and shares an objective for social movements and nonprofits, which equals titanic potential if you plan well and target from the heart.
But the situation feels a bit different when we see that the number of small donors is at risk. So, before figuring out how to collect donations for this 2025’s Giving Tuesday, you must have a fine line between:
- Getting new donors in
- Re-engaging long-term donors
- Making each donor feel special
Establish Your Foundation: The First Steps You Need to Take on Thanksgiving Tuesday 2025
Before you launch into email or social share campaigns, set the foundation. Below are some steps to follow:
- Set your ask – What is the ask amount? Why is that amount significant? A good story makes your task personal, not hypothetical.
- Share your story – People wonder why. Donors wonder about: “What difference will my gift make today?”
- Plot your audience – Who already knows you? Who could be inspired by your story but hasn’t yet given? Adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Choose your donation infrastructure – If you’re selling through an online store or web page, you’ll need a straightforward way of accepting donations.
If you don’t attend these, you’ll still deliver on Giving Tuesday, but you’ll leave impact (and trust) on the table.
Your Ultimate 2025 Giving Tuesday Donations Campaign Action Plan
|
Step |
Action |
Purpose |
| Start Early | Announce your campaign 2 weeks before. | Build curiosity and awareness. |
| Set a Goal | Choose how much funding/donations you desire to raise & why. | Showcase your Giving Tuesday donors a clear purpose to donate. |
| Craft Your Story | Share real stories that touch hearts. | Make giving emotional and personal. |
| Simplify Giving | Use easy donation tools or plugins. | Reduce friction and increase conversions. |
| Plan Emails | Send warm-up, Giving Tuesday, and thank-you emails. | Keep donors engaged through the campaign. |
| Go Social | Post donation-raising photos and short videos. | Reach a wide audience and motivate others to share. |
| Use Urgency | Add countdowns or matching gifts. | Motivate quick and bigger donations. |
| Show Progress | Display real-time Giving Tuesday donation results and milestones. | Encourage more giving through momentum. |
| Thank Quickly | Send instant thank-yous and post updates. | Create trust and contributor dedication. |
| Encourage Recurring Fundraisers | Provide a monthly donation giving opportunity. | Secure continuous & reliable donation giving assets. |
| Segment Donors | Create personalized follow-ups for new, repeat, and loyal donors on Giving Tuesday. | Strengthen connections with each segment you have made. |
| Review & Improve | Analyze Giving Tuesday campaign data and feedback. | Learn from past Tuesday campaigns and plan better in advance. |
Best Tips to Enhance Your Giving Tuesday 2025 Donations Campaign
Now that you have a strong structure for this year’s Giving Tuesday donations, it’s time to prepare your vital donors. Here are the five best Giving Tuesday 2025 strategies (not slogans):
- Email sequence – Send a welcome email outlining your cause and the upcoming campaign. Send a second email with a personal narrative. On the day, send the ask with a definable call to action.
- Social planning – Post human-based posts: photos of real people affected, short videos sharing their story, or live Q&A sessions. Get your hashtags engaged and ask followers to share.
- Use matching or a deadline – If you have a matching gift donor you can easily identify or a deadline at midnight, make sure to act on it front-and-center. It increases giving incentives.
- Show progress in real-time – Share Giving Tuesday progress: “We’ve hit 40% of our goal” or “Only X hours until we hit our goal.” Seeing momentum inspires more to give.
- Follow up after asking – When you personally thank a donor, you are establishing trust and laying the foundation for future giving. That’s the key to repeat giving.
These are the successful techniques that great companies employ to maximize Giving Tuesday donations.
Use Donation for WooCommerce to Maximize Donations on Giving Tuesday
Suppose you have a WooCommerce shop (or your business is hosting a WooCommerce-powered site). In that case, the following is how you install the plugin Donation for WooCommerce so that you maximize donations on Giving Tuesday:
- Install the Donation for WooCommerce extension onto your WordPress site (Plugins > Add New > Upload).
- Hover WC Donation from your WP dashboard > Click General Settings, and turn on donation forms on cart or checkout pages.
- Start a campaign (WC Donation > All Campaigns > Add New). Choose a particular goal, fixed or custom sum, and turn on “recurring donation” if you are interested in monthly donations.
- Front-end management: Use widgets or put donation boxes on product, cart, shop, or custom pages. The plugin is able to connect with donation widgets to make causes prominent.
- Auto-thank-you emails and e-card templates via the plugin’s Donation Emails feature. Positive feedback ensures donor satisfaction.
- Use actual campaign data (Dashboard > WC Donation > Dashboard) so donations, goal progress bars, and donors are displayed. Use it on Giving Tuesday to educate followers.
Pro tip: Learn more about the Donation for WooCommerce Dashboard feature and raise your Thanksgiving Tuesday charity collection.
- Optional: Activate Round-Off Donations or Donation on Product options (so e-commerce transactions include a small donation) — smart for e-commerce-enabled campaigns.
- On the big day, make sure your donation campaign shortcode is embedded on your landing page so visitors see the campaign and can act immediately.
- When your donation infrastructure is seamless, your ask becomes frictionless. And when you’re aiming to collect donations on Giving Tuesday, friction kills momentum.
Storytelling & Engagement: This Giving Tuesday, Ask with Your Heart
Giving Tuesday donations must be personal. When a donor gives, they want to feel part of a mission—not mass email. Here’s how to make it intimate:
- Tell a donor’s story or beneficiary’s story (with permission): Hearing “Here’s who your $50 will help” does the trick.
- Use visuals: images, short videos, maybe behind-the-scenes. Those are authentic.
- Update supporters during the campaign: “We’ve received 75 donations so far! Thank you!” Real-time social proof helps.
- Build a moment of thankfulness in the instant a person gives: send a handwritten thank-you, show how their gift fills the progress bar, and invite them to share the cause with a friend. These actions improve retention.
- Welcome not just gifts but sharing: invite donors to share one friend, share on social with your campaign hashtag. The bubble effect matters.
By treating your donors as human beings, you gain the power to raise more—and develop relationships for repeated gifts.
Emphasizing Recurring Giving & Post-Event Engagement
Getting donations on Giving Tuesday is great—but then what happens? The long-term reward is in recurring giving and extended engagement.
Recurring Giving
This time, don’t just collect donations for once. Use this fundraising campaign to enable monthly or recurring donations. Data shows that recurring giving is increasing: 94% of repeat donors prefer monthly giving.
Impact Report
Send a day-after impact report. Demonstrate to them what was achieved due to their donation. This reinforces trust and forces continued giving.
Donor Distribution
Categorize your donors into parts: 1-time donors, repeat donors, and new donors. Tailor the messaging. To one-time givers, invite them to give again or sign up. Welcome new donors with open arms. Ask for feedback: “What inspired you? What would make it even easier next time?” Open communication creates affinity.
Future Planning
Plan for next year. As much as we’re committed to Giving Tuesday 2025, donors are already thinking ahead. Ride this wave now and map a calendar of activation.
Thinking “beyond the day,” your campaign is not just about the money but about building relationships.
Measuring Success & Learning for 2025
As you plan to accept donations on Giving Tuesday, you must watch and learn from some previous essential metrics:
- Total raised (how much you got)
- Donors (how many gave)
- Average gift (dollars given divided by donors)
- Repeat vs new donors (how many are repeat donors)
- Cost to run the campaign vs return (time and money spent vs money raised)
- Key engagement metrics include email open rates, social media sharing ratios, and donation page views on the website
For instance, the average gift size rose significantly on 2024 Giving Tuesday, while small-amount donors declined in your campaign.
Learn from this 2024 Giving Tuesday donation data of yours and plan in advance to deliberately create small and larger giving opportunities. Develop tailored asks for both.
Final Takeaways: Your Giving Tuesday 2025 Game Plan
Giving Tuesday 2025 is your chance to start a movement that invites people to contribute in the most genuine way. With the right tools like Donations for WooCommerce, you can have a giving experience that’s personal, emotional, and frictionless.
Remember — people don’t give because of the technicalities or because your business is famous. They give due to the way your cause makes them feel. So keep it simple this year
- Tell heartwarming stories ❤️.
- Make giving easy.
- Show impact with ease.
Do all that — and make your 2025 Giving Tuesday donations your best yet.
