Giving Tuesday is a can’t-miss opportunity to raise money and awareness about your non-profit and mission. If you already participate in the annual online fundraiser, you know how important it is and maybe you have even begun planning for December 2, 2025!

However, if you haven’t yet started planning or joined the thousands of charities and millions of supporters from all over the world that come together on Giving Tuesday, you should highly consider participating this year. This is the perfect time as the date is approaching fast. Don’t worry though; there’s still plenty of time to mobilize your resources and publicize your participation in Giving Tuesday.

History Of Growth

Giving Tuesday was founded in 2012 to encourage charitable supporters to donate during the holiday season, similar to how they participate in commercial shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Like Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday wouldn’t be possible without technology. Participants use websites and social media platforms to expand awareness about issues and explain how their non-profits are responding to them. Raising money online is the event’s central goal, but Giving Tuesday is also intended to educate potential supporters and encourage them to volunteer in their communities.

Since its establishment, Giving Tuesday has grown into an immensely successful event. In 2024, it had 36.1 million individual, charitable, for-profit business, and government participants in the United States alone and raised $3.6 billion. These stats represent a 16% growth in donations and 7% increase in participants compared to 2023. And the Giving Tuesday non-profit now works all year to inspire generosity, facilitate donations, and research philanthropic trends.

How To Get Involved

If you’d like to get involved, visit GivingTuesday.org. The organization previously limited participation to those with a 501(c)(3) tax status. Now, all fundraising entities are welcome, including individuals and families promoting a charitable cause and for-profit businesses that pledge to donate a percentage of sales to charity. There’s no fee to participate in Giving Tuesday.

Donors can’t directly give money to your charity through the Giving Tuesday website or its social media accounts. However, the website offers a plethora of information, marketing tools, and advice on leveraging your online presence and support base for maximum success on December 2.

The extent to which your non-profit participates is up to you, considering factors such as your staffing resources. If 2025 will be your first year participating, you might want to try a simple, focused objective. For example, use the day to remind supporters who’ll itemize 2025 tax deductions to make their gifts by December 31. Or publicize the list of supplies your facility needs on an ongoing basis. Regular participants, however, may want to set an ambitious fundraising goal that exceeds last year’s total.

Tips For Success

If you want to participate in Giving Tuesday on December 2, start preparing now. The blog on the organization’s website provides weekly tips for non-profits — or you can sign up to receive updates by email. For other ideas about encouraging donations at year end, contact us.