I love math.
Giving Tuesday was started in 2012. Since then, it has become a regular fixture of the post-Thanksgiving lexicon: First, there is “Black” Friday, then “Small Business” Saturday, “Cyber” Monday, and then trailing in the rears, “Giving Tuesday.” It kind of bothers me that Giving Tuesday was an afterthought, but better late than never.
There has been a lot of debate about the value of Giving Tuesday. One camp thinks it’s a great way to get new donors. Others think it’s a waste of time because it is too focused on the transaction and not the relationship.
We have been looking at Giving Tuesday trends over the past nine years, and last year Giving Tuesday had its biggest impact. Still, when you look at giving each day in December, Giving Tuesday is surprisingly consistently an “average” day in December.
And really, because of that consistent correlation, you can try something I think is kind of cool.
This year, once your Giving Tuesday receipts are totaled, multiply that figure by 22, and you will get a pretty good forecast of what your December receipts for your mass donor fundraising is going to be. Try it out and report back on how close it actually is.
I love math.