Speaker 0 00:00:00 In today's episode, we discussed 10 ways. Your church can get the most out of giving Tuesday each year. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is carved out as a day for generosity people worldwide, choose this day to find charities, to support and give their resources to help them accomplish their mission. With the right strategy, your church can leverage the giving Tuesday movement to reach more people and grow.
Speaker 1 00:00:35 You're listening to the read-write podcast. The show dedicated to helping pastors and church leaders reach people the right way, hosted by me, Thomas Costello, and with me as always is my cohost Ian Hyatt. We're here to help you your church. See more visitors and grow.
Speaker 0 00:01:03 Hey guys. Welcome to the retried podcast. Episode number 20. Uh, I am your host Thomas Costello. And with me as always is my cohost Ian Hyatt. Hey guys. Hey, how's it going in? It's going good. It's 90 degrees. Uh, we hit 90. We started at 40 degrees this morning and hit got up to 90 here on November 16th and the Austin Texas area. So there's a Texas in November for you, boy. Oh boy. I can't imagine having lived there. I remember what it was like, but yeah, in Honolulu are our temperature at most varies about 12 degrees from morning tonight. So it's hard, really hard for you. I know you are. I know the whole, all of our listeners I'm sure are just really keep us in your prayers here in Honolulu. So be great. I think we have a good topic today. We're going to be talking about, uh, 10 tips for churches on how to get the most out of giving Tuesday this year, uh, giving Tuesday for those that you don't know, it is the Tuesday that follows Thanksgiving.
Speaker 0 00:02:07 Uh, so the order is usually Thanksgiving and you'll have a, you'll have black Friday, uh, which is that big day and really knows about their small business. Saturday is what a lot of things that's out there. So American express started that one and getting people to support small businesses. And Monday is always been cyber Monday, online deals come in. And then, uh, back in 2013, they started a hashtag giving Tuesday, which was a big, uh, internet based deal, which kind of tried to build generosity and encouraging, uh, uh, charities to put out, uh, things on that Tuesday that people could support and causes they could, uh, line up with. And, um, you'll see it a lot on social media. I'm sure most of our audience has seen a hashtag giving Tuesday type social media posts, but I have a stat I'll share with our audience here too, that in 2013, $28 million changed hands or was given to charity, which is awesome. Uh, 2013, $28 million was given by 2019 last year, there was 1.9, $7 billion given on giving Tuesday towards charity.
Speaker 2 00:03:17 Great. That's encouraging that there's some, there's, there's a lot of generous people out there, right?
Speaker 0 00:03:21 There are. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and from what I read too, it seems like that is now the largest giving to charity day in the entire calendar year. So we used to be December 31st. Uh, that was the biggest day because people are trying to get the tax incentives of giving to the very end of the year. That's still a big day for churches. That's a big time too, but giving Tuesday is a huge opportunity. Uh, and so we have some tips that we wanted to share with churches today, uh, to kind of get the most out of it. I would say that of the churches I talked to, I know you probably talked to some to that probably about 15% of them, or so have, uh, made an attempt or tried to leverage giving Tuesday. So it's not every church that's done it. I think it's a great opportunity.
Speaker 0 00:04:04 Uh, but we have some tips I think, to share with people, to get them going on this here. So I'll kick it off and we can kind of chime in on some. So, uh, the first one is that you need to communicate early, uh, communicating about giving Tuesday early is the key to getting the most out of it. And here we are, uh, this podcast is coming out a week before Thanksgiving. So I don't know if it can still be early for you or not, but it probably isn't too late if you're just hearing this now, but you need to start planning and preparing and communicating about it very early, as early as you possibly can. Uh, so, um, I think, uh, if you're hearing this podcast on Thursday or Friday, uh, how about meeting with your team this week, this weekend, uh, and you want to start getting things out there next week? Probably on Thanksgiving week, people will start preparing their hearts thinking about what they can be doing and how they can be partnering with churches, uh, as with all things, you know, just with, uh, if you're doing a giving campaign or whatever it would be, you want to be talking about it well in advance. Am I right? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:05:04 And I, yeah. And I think especially during a busy time when everyone's so much, you know, focused on Thanksgiving and family plans and then there, of course, uh, really focused on the black Friday deals. And if you're, uh, if you're one of those that's ready to camp out, I'm not a, I don't need to save $20 on a TV or DVD player and risk my life. Uh, but, uh, but, um, but I think, yeah, cause everyone's, they're starting to get their Chris Christmas shopping done and all of that. So I mean, definitely insert ahead of time how they can be generous also. I think that's a, that's a good thing. Um, so
Speaker 0 00:05:39 Yeah, that's good. Why'd you hit number two for us. Number
Speaker 2 00:05:41 Two would be, uh, and to that point, you know, have one clear call to action for this. Again, everyone's focused on all these different things that they're doing and planning for around this holiday season. So you want to make sure that you make the main thing, the main thing when it comes to, uh, someone giving and supporting for giving Tuesday, uh, how are you going to, you know, communicate that clearly online, you know, on your website, everything, make it one clear call to action, as opposed to just all of these different things that they can support or give to
Speaker 0 00:06:15 That's exactly right. So I, uh, it would be a huge mistake and I've seen churches make this to say, Hey, this giving Tuesday, would you choose to give to youth ministry or maybe towards missions or consider giving the kids ministry or helping our food pantry and like giving people 12 options? I think that's a good way to have them follow through and not do any because what it does is it makes an extra point of decision it's not really necessary. Uh, so I think that if you help people connect the dots and think through and decide, this is where I want to actually give ahead of time and you really help them not have to make that extra decision. I think it'll lead to more money given for whatever that costs would wind up being there. So I think having a clear call to action on all of your social media platforms to, um, the most common one is going to be a statement where we talk about like, what you say it's going to be give now. So on your social media ads or on your websites, a button that says give now is going to be that right. Call to action, but having it beefs towards something specific, I think you're right. Is really important on that number. Go ahead. I'm sorry,
Speaker 2 00:07:21 Just making it clear is a big deal, uh, again, especially around this time of year, so that's good.
Speaker 0 00:07:26 Yeah, that's exactly right. So, uh, number three, I think for every church that has a website, which should be every church, uh, you need to build a landing page for it if you're serious about giving Tuesday. So, uh, you need to have a place where people go when they feel compelled to give and not just expect them to put together the dots on their own, on why and the reasons and how they should give. So, and this is something that I think is important for just giving in general on church websites is that you should have a landing page dedicated towards giving. One of the mistakes we see churches make a lot is that their giving page on their website, maybe on the top of their navigation, it'll say, give, and then you'll click there and then it'll go directly to Thai flea or Pushpay, or whoever they're providing is a page, right.
Speaker 0 00:08:16 Just go straight. And it's just, it's just a thing that goes to how much, like it's just where you start typing in your dollars. Right? And I think that misses a huge opportunity, first of all, to teach on giving. I think people need to know why we give and the reasons behind that. And I think it's really important to give people a landing page, but especially on giving Tuesday a chance for you to kind of convince people as to why this project and why people should be giving towards this initiative, uh, really talking about it. What do you think?
Speaker 2 00:08:45 That's it? And like we consult churches all the time with this. We've seen this, like you just said on so many church websites where it's just a basic page. If they do, if it isn't just a link that directly to giving, it's just a page that kind of has a few scripture points. And that's great. It's great to outline what scripture has to say about giving and tithing and all of that, but having some more storytelling, I think is another way to put it, you know, and when I say storytelling, it, there is a story to the, you know, to generosity at, at a specific church and, and for someone to take part in giving to something above the tie there, just in addition to what they're already given to your church, um, you know, they're a part of that, that story, they're the hero of that giving story. They're the, they're the hero that, uh, would for whatever outreach or cause it is or initiative at your church, they get to be part of that here. So I think telling storytelling is good in anything marketing wise and on your website, but especially on these, on these landing pages for forgiving.
Speaker 0 00:09:46 Yeah, that's absolutely right. And I think
Speaker 2 00:09:49 That kind of raises us to, you know, do the next point here, which is raise funds for something specific. And like we said, to have one clear call to action, right? And like you said, instead of like, you know, 20 different things that they have to decide to give through. And again, people are so impatient and busy this time a year, so let's make it something specific. What's important to your church right now, or what's going to be important in 2021. Are there any specific outreaches that you have or things that your church is already known for in the community? And so on. I know a lot of churches, they have that. And I think that, and I think, and you tell me, what do you think? I think that this should be some sort of a cause that is, is probably not your building campaign or something like that. It's something to allow people to, to, to make, make sure they really know that they're making an impact in the community or abroad or wherever it is. What do you think on that?
Speaker 0 00:10:42 Yeah, I think there's a couple of reasons why, so, but I think the, I think you're right. The main point is that we don't want to usually use like our general budget or our building campaign as the main emphasis for giving Tuesday, you have ties and offerings for those things. This is better when it's for one specific cause that your church has already moving towards. And yeah, I think it shouldn't be your general ties and offerings or your building campaign because you want a very broad appeal on this. This is something that you remember that it's a social, like kind of viral thing that happens. And so I can't say that if I got a, from, from your church, for instance, if I saw you shared, you'd be willing to share this, even I would say, but if you shared a post on social media that talked about giving Tuesday and it all went towards paying off your building's mortgage, you know, if that was the thing, I don't know that that's really a compelling thing for me, you know, 4,000 miles away from you.
Speaker 0 00:11:42 I don't know that I, as much as I celebrate in the love your church, I love the work that they're doing. They're paying off their mortgage. It's hard, it's a harder sell. Whereas if you were specific about something and it was a specific ministry, the church, like, so for instance, at, at the church, I pastored, I would say that like our laundry love ministry would be perfect for giving Tuesday. Uh, laundry love is where we would go into a couple of local laundromats and we would take them over and be able to provide free clothes washing for anybody that walked in the doors there. And so, um, you know, that would be something that I think people can get behind and they'd say, you know, that'd be something I'd want to give towards. So being specific and not just putting it into a general church fund, I think that's really important as you kind of work towards being viral with this whole thing here.
Speaker 2 00:12:26 Yeah. And I think one other thing to keep in mind is that, you know, when this is something that people who are not even a part of your church yet see on social media or they see it online somehow, or they hear about it even for word of mouth from your members, you know, when they, and this is someone that maybe is unchurched, think about that, right? Cause we always, we want to reach the unchurched right around this time of year. There's a great opportunity to reach the unchurched. People do think about going to church a little bit more as we know around Christmas time and Easter, but here we are around Christmas time. And I mean, think about how it would be perceived. Like you said, if it's, let's just give money to this church's building well, you know, someone who's not a Christian or, or maybe is de-churched and burnt out Christian or something, and they're not going to church, they're going to, I'm not going to give to that church, just building a bigger building.
Speaker 2 00:13:12 But if they see it something like laundry love or for instance, like I know one of the big outreaches we have at my church is a prison ministry. And what we do is not only do we broadcast our sermons on Sunday into Oh seven or eight different correctional facilities in the state of Texas, but we go into these prisons and we provide not only Bibles, but discipleship materials. We do, we do a service in some of these where we can do an actual service baptisms. And then the cool thing is we even provide membership classes within, uh, these prisons to where people could feel like they're a member, even though they're not on the outside yet or hasn't been released. Yeah. And then when they are released and, and they want to be a part of our church, you know, they can already say they're a member. Uh, you know, and so I think for us, that's a big draw that people who are not even a part of our church, so, you know, it's going to be different for whatever different kinds of churches or whatever church you are pastoring for the pastors listening to this. I'm sure you can think of that kind of initiative. So,
Speaker 0 00:14:18 Yeah. Yeah. But the main point is being clear. Um, and something specific that you're trying to, to be raising funds towards and trying to make that as broad of an appealing item as possible, whatever, you know, saved or unsaved, whoever would hear it. They may want to be joining it in the cause on something like this here that'd be good. So that leads me to number five, uh, that is be clear about your goals. Um, I think churches in general can be better about this, about talking about money openly. Yeah. But there is something to be said for just announcing to people what your, and how much you hope to raise on giving Tuesday kind of just putting something out there, putting out a, maybe it's even a stretch goal that you would put out there. So if you were to say, Hey, we want to raise $10,000 towards providing laundry services through laundry love for our community. I think that gives people a little bit of a, a challenge in a way. And I didn't usually we'll move them to be more willing to, to make a large donation or be able to give larger amounts to something like that. So what do you think,
Speaker 2 00:15:20 Yeah. Clarifying it again, that goes kind of back to storytelling on, on your landing page and all of that. Just be, uh, giving people all the information that they need to know about and, and that when you have a clear goal and you make sure again, when people know what it's going towards, they're going to be more compelled to give it whenever it's a little vague, as we know, uh, you know, we know that people are less likely to give when they go into the pastor's a Christmas present for a jet airplane or something like that, or a, that is his 20, 21 vacation, uh, or something like that. So being very clear about it and, and, um, and that, and this is a good segue to, to the next point, which is let people know what their, what their specific donation accomplishes. So what is it if they give a $20, what is that going to accomplish, uh, you know, for a family like, like, or, or maybe for like the example I gave for, um, an inmate, uh, if you donated $20, that means they get a Bible in this discipleship book or, or, or 20 of them do, uh, if you give this amount.
Speaker 2 00:16:25 Um, and so then people kinda, you know, again, that, that not only makes it clear, but it gives people kind of a goal, you know, and they said, wow, I can impact 10 people or X amount of people. So it's kind of further making it clear, don't you think?
Speaker 0 00:16:38 Yeah, absolutely. I think what they call this as it's called an anchor to giving amount. Uh, so, um, what you would do is if you have, you have certain increments that people can give, and obviously people can enter any amount that they would want to give towards something. But if you have anchored amounts and you say something like, um, the lowest number, maybe it's $25 or something like that, that it would, it would accomplish this, we'd help. Um, we'd help a family for one month to get all of their clothes washed and their bedding for one $25 gift. And people can, can put some actual muscle behind that and think, well, yeah, I can afford $25. And if I didn't have clean clothes and clean bedding for a month, that would be, you know, that that would make a big difference in my life. And so why don't I help one family do something like that I can afford to do it.
Speaker 0 00:17:24 So, and you have an anchored amount, and then you have one that's $50 and you have one that's $500, which is you hosted entire laundry love for a month. You know, something like that. You have different amounts that people can give, but when they're anchored, it's a proven fact that that actually, uh, in charities, people tend to raise more money when they are anchored amounts and not just a, you consider whatever you want to give, but you give people like giving suggestion amounts really helps to raise the average, average gift that's given that way though. So I think that's really important giving people a clear instruction on what their donation accomplishes is going to be good,
Speaker 2 00:18:00 Starting at a thousand dollars and go up from there. If you wanted to make the minimum, we probably wouldn't recommend that if you're a gutsy, depending on where your church is located too, maybe so that's exactly right. So
Speaker 0 00:18:13 Be accessible for anybody cause you want, you don't want it to be something that not everybody can jump in on, but giving people, anchor points I think is really helpful. So number seven is that you should consider asking people to match ahead of time. Uh, another proven fundraising tool and tactic is a matching, uh, type of a system where, uh, you may seek out a local business or some kind of a high profile or someone who's a larger giver at your church and ask them, Hey, if you're planning to give, if you were planning to give on giving Tuesday, let's say you were going to give a thousand dollars. Would you consider, instead of just giving it outright on giving Tuesday, can I announce it maybe even privately without mentioning you, but can I announce it as a matching gift? Because what that does is that incentivizes people that weren't quite sure if they were going to give or not to be able to give, because they know that their gift would actually double, uh, the, the impact if they were to give just a small donation. So seeking out someone to maybe make one large donation that we could describe as a matching gift so that people can start to use that and, and use that to kind of increase, uh, increase giving, uh, organically that way. So,
Speaker 2 00:19:22 Yeah. Yeah, it might take a little bit more work and, you know, that's, that's where you got to dig in and think about those people to, to contact or, or that, like you said, that local business, maybe as a Christian owned local business, maybe not even, it's so funny, you actually reminded me of when my wife was vice president of the PTA, uh, here at, uh, our, our kids' elementary school, they organized a huge community, kind of a carnival at the school. And this was an opportunity for a lot of, uh, businesses, local businesses to get recognized and kinda, you know, there was a donations and an auction and all sorts of distant causes to have there. But I remember she contacted Academy, they're a large sporting goods company and, and mentioned what we were doing and that they had the opportunity to match with these local businesses did.
Speaker 2 00:20:10 And they did. They just already kind of had it in, you know, they, they, they were looking at a lot of these companies are kind of just looking for something to do before the end of the year. And, you know, and no one had maybe even contacted them before. And it's a lo and behold, this large company, that's a, you know, chain, uh, and, uh, at least statewide chain, uh, to my knowledge, you know, they were just ready to, to go. And we, you know, it was a big shocker. We were like, wow, Academy's matching this. So, you know, so it's, it's a little bit of work, but you might be surprised what you come up with there.
Speaker 0 00:20:38 Yep. I think it's worth it for every church doing giving Tuesday to seek that out.
Speaker 2 00:20:42 Yeah. Good leads us to our next one, which is use the hashtag giving Tuesday, uh, so use a hashtag for it. Uh, and so that's gonna make it a lot more visible and known, of course. So you could dig into that a little bit. I know, you know, everyone thinks of Instagram when they think of the hashtag and all of that, so, but, uh, it really will make it, uh, go a little more viral if you will, on social media and plus some.
Speaker 0 00:21:07 Absolutely. Yeah. So, um, hashtags, uh, yeah, certainly on Instagram, huge on Twitter obviously is a big place for hashtags. Also they're applicable on Facebook and really any social channel that you use, but, um, giving Tuesday is going to trend on Tuesday, November 1st. Uh, so people are going, it's going to be on that list of trending things on Instagram, on Twitter. Uh, and people will be looking at those things that are on there and you will gain visibility for whatever your campaign is on giving Tuesday, if you use that hashtag. So don't make the mistake of just writing, giving Tuesday, uh, as you talk about it on every post leading up to it ahead of time, use that, that hashtag giving Tuesday. I think it'll just, uh, expand your visibility greatly. Uh, and you should get in the habit of doing that. So hashtags in general are valuable to churches, but I think this is one of those specific days where it is most valuable because there is a big worldwide momentum towards this. Again, almost $2 billion was given last year. It'll be over 2 billion almost certainly this year. So definitely
Speaker 2 00:22:10 Exactly. So yeah, you want it as visible as possible that one day, right?
Speaker 0 00:22:14 Yep. That's exactly right. So, uh, number nine, uh, is be sure to collect giver's information. Uh, I think that this is, should be quite obvious, but when someone makes a donation, uh, you should make a habit first and foremost of thanking them, uh, really, uh, profile. Uh, there's going to be people that give to giving Tuesday that have never given to your church or anything that your general mission before they're going to be giving for the first time to your ministry. Uh, and so this is a great chance for you to thank them. First of all, uh, I'm not saying just get their information so that you can kind of pull them in, or, you know, obviously we want to reach everybody with the gospel. That's the reason why we do everything that we do, but I think it's important that you thank them first.
Speaker 0 00:22:58 And then you start to maybe build some kind of a sequence around it where you can continue to invite them, not just to continue to give, maybe do that, but I think even more importantly, invite them into the life and the connection and really into the sphere of influence of your church. You know, we talk a lot about how engagement is the new metric. You'll have givers, probably that don't live in your state. They may be living in other countries, even that give towards what you're doing, but if you invite them into engaging with your church, whether it be through the surveys you're doing online or just through social media, I think that's a great way to kind of start that process of discipleship. And I think a byproduct in the future will be perhaps them giving more, but really we all know that's not the reason why we do things that we do within the church. It's not to make ourselves, it's not for our own benefit, that there is some value in collecting people's information and continuing to reach out to them. What do you think?
Speaker 2 00:23:52 Absolutely. And you know, over the years, I've you and I both, we've heard so many awesome stories of, you know, how a church engaged someone online, whether or not it was someone listening or watching it on sermons for weeks or months. And then they finally, they wrote in saying that, you know, I was saved by, by your message. And this hit home with me, or not only that I've heard of stories where, you know, if someone was generous and they were a donor to a church and they continue to follow that church, they may know someone low, even if they're out of state, they may know someone that moves to your city and recommends your church because it's a generous church and it's doing outreach. And, and Hey, by the way, I, I, uh, donated to the cause of, uh, of, you know, this specific outreach needed this particular church.
Speaker 2 00:24:35 You should go check them out. It just ties people in, in ways that you may not even be thinking of. Uh, and, and yeah, like you said, the number one goal shouldn't be to just rope someone in to be a continued donor, but let's face it, but, but let's face it, a lot of donors and people that are giving above their tide and to things like this, they like giving, they like giving and, and they are looking for more opportunities to give ongoing. So why not give them that opportunity to continue to use their, their gift of generosity there?
Speaker 0 00:25:04 Yeah. I think that a lot of churches operate in this fear that as they talk about giving and finances, that it will, our reputation that we may have with churches, as, you know, the only time people ever talk about donations in churches in the media is when a pastor got a new plane or there's been some kind of embezzlement like we were talking about before. And it, you know, that that's, that's just such a small, small fraction of churches. The vast majority of churches are financially, uh, have integrity financially, and they're trying to do things right. And they're trying to put their funds towards good causes. And I think that the, that everybody gets that. And I think like giving is a new way that people kind of take a first step within churches nowadays, totally contrary to maybe what I was taught in Bible college, that we were taught that, you know, you get them, you giving comes after someone is discipled and starts to be, uh, fully engaged and they've been baptized and those kinds of things. But now I think people are much more willing to, to maybe not give ties and offerings giving thousands of dollars a month or anything like that. They're, they may not be consistent givers, but I think when people hear a cause they agree with, they are very likely to give. And that is a great toe in the door toe in the water, I guess, for them to get into your church. So taking full advantage of that and asking them to be able to follow up with them on those kinds of things is really important.
Speaker 2 00:26:26 Yeah. And that's a good segue to our last point here, which is asking for reoccurring gifts. Again, the goal is not to, again, rope someone in to just continually giving to your church or something like that. But, but you know, this is a way, you know, to where, if it's an ongoing or an outreach,
Speaker 0 00:26:44 Like we've talked about like a like laundry love was for your church and like the prison ministry is for mine. You know, he gives someone the opportunity. Again, that's the key word, the opportunity to, you know, do it reoccurring, you know, they may want to say, Hey, you know what? They may hear the impact of this outreach whenever it happens and they may want to give to it again, and why not allow them to, you know, most online giving systems out there allow the donor to just continue a reoccurring gift on a monthly basis or whatever. So, yeah, I think this is a good opportunity to, you know, if it is a key outreach, allowing people to continue to, to, to sow into that recurring revenue is obviously so important to every business. Um, I think it's also important to churches. You know, you count on people that become givers at your church to give not just one time, but giving consistently.
Speaker 0 00:27:36 And that really is the lifeblood of a church. And I think the same thing goes for these kinds of projects, that if you have something specific, whether it be a specific ministry in the community, having people not just give one time, but commit to, to, to help a family, get their clothes washed for an entire year, by giving $20 every single month going forward. I think there's a lot of people that would be willing to do something like that. So encouraging and at least having the option to make a recurring donation towards whatever your, your outreach is. I think that really will go a long way for a lot of churches and, and meeting some of those budgets to do really neat outreach on things. So I said any final tips or anything to add today? No, I don't think so. Partner. I think those were good.
Speaker 0 00:28:19 And hopefully these were some good takeaways and we'll help, uh, pastors out there take full advantage of this special day. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's going to be a great opportunity and, uh, we hope, uh, your family's out there. This is, I'll be our last one before Thanksgiving. So we're thankful for each and every one of you and our audience that listens to this. It's a, we do it, uh, it's a joy to do this each week to helping pastors and church leaders reach more people and reach them the right way. That's what we're all about here. So we're just want to say, we're thankful to you guys for connecting with us and being a part of this podcast and have a great Thanksgiving and we'll catch you next week.
Speaker 1 00:28:57 Thanks for listening to the reach right podcast. We hope this episode will help you reach people the right way, looking for more resources for your church. Check us out
[email protected]. If this episode has been helpful to you, it would mean the world to us. If you would rate, review and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening. And we'll see you next week.
