What challenges and opportunities will social impact leaders face in Giving Season 2024?
INTRODUCTION
This year’s giving season is nearly here, and social impact leaders are facing unique challenges. For example, did you know that GivingTuesday results were flat from 2022 to 2023? While an incredible $3.1 billion was raised in the United States last year, philanthropy researchers are concerned that donor participation was down around 10 percent. In 2024, that could mean that total support for nonprofits could remain flat—or even drop. That means
So what can we do? From GivingTuesday on December 3 through the holidays, this is the most important time of year for nonprofits—and the communities they serve. Companies have a major role to play here, and we can leverage our collective resources by fostering employee engagement in social impact. That includes workplace giving, volunteering, community-building, and more.
Deed is your organization’s all-in-one tool for employee engagement in giving, volunteering, grantmaking. Before giving season starts in earnest, here’s what to do to make sure you’re ready to get the most out of our platform and make as big an impact as possible this year.
FOUR PREDICTIONS FOR GIVING SEASON 2024
1. The majority of your company's total annual giving will be made in Q4 alone
High-volume donation days like GivingTuesday are important. As Jonathan Perri from cryptocurrency leader Ripple says, “GivingTuesday made up about 20 percent of our employee giving and corporate matches in support of over one hundred nonprofits" in recent years.
But that doesn't mean your only focus should be GivingTuesday. For many reasons, including the spirit of generosity that we all feel during the winter holidays and, of course, the tax advantages of donating within the tax year, year-end giving campaigns tend to be the most successful of the year.
Remember to plan for sustained engagement in the entire final quarter of the year—and especially the final 31 days of December—which are critical for hitting your annual social impact goals.
2. Flexible technology that engages employees in social impact can make all the difference
Everybody knows that employee engagement in social impact is important. For years studies have shown that a majority of employees—at least sixty-three percent—want more opportunities for purpose in their day-to-day work, and the only way to meet that need is with inclusive technology and flexible programming. But aside from telling our employees about our workplace giving and volunteering platform, what can we do?
“Some employees prefer giving, others prefer volunteering. Making sure people have options so they can participate however they choose to,” Lindsey Clark Smith of the low-code AI platform Pega said.
In 2024, it's important to give our people a wide variety of options for what countries they can give in/from and what organizations they can support as it is to make sure that they feel encouraged to share their passions in the workplace.
Companies used to treat nonprofits as mere recipients of funds. However, more companies and nonprofits are learning that sustained relationships can help them achieve their collective aims. Now, this doesn't mean that building those relationships won't take work. But new workplace giving platforms are emerging that can automate a lot of the busy work so that companies and nonprofits can work together better.
Consider employee engagement in workplace giving. “Last year we saw really high engagement but lower per-donor dollar amounts than some of the big guys out there,” said Rebecca Cohen, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Brooklyn Book Bodega.
Employee engagement is one of the most important metrics for any company, but we should remember to do all we can to make sure that our level of support is helping our nonprofit partners meet their goals.
“We want to make it easier for folks, so this year we want to do what we did last year but do it better,” with the hope that greater engagement will lead to greater giving, Cohen said.
4. To sustain the momentum—and impact—of Giving Season, you need data
“The need doesn’t stop in December,” Clark from Pega said. “We really try to give our employees opportunities to give back throughout the year…and our donation match program is available year-round.”
One theme reiterated by all the panelists is that the metrics on GivingTuesday’s impact can motivate people to give, volunteer, and share their skills with deserving nonprofits year-round. Without clean, useful data, it can be difficult to share a true and compelling story of your organization’s social and environmental impact, and to ensure your initiatives’ long-term success.
It’s important to “fill the donors in on the impact of those dollars to keep them engaged,” said Brooklyn Book Bodega founder Cohen.
THE MAKING OF A WINNING GIVINGTUESDAY CAMPAIGN
Lindsey Clark Smith also mentioned that Pega is using the phrase “giving forward” rather than “giving back.” That’s because “Giving forward implies you are giving because this is what you want the world to look like,” she said. We think that’s exactly the right mindset, especially this year when the breadth and depth of the need around the world has been made abundantly clear.
Right now, while there’s still time, we would encourage social/environmental impact leads to think about how to plan, track, manage, and measure their campaigns to make sure they’re setting themselves and their partner nonprofits up to succeed in Giving Season and beyond. Remember, successful giving programs aren't just about the dollars raised—they're about creating a culture of generosity and impact. Deed's all-in-one workplace giving platform helps you build this culture, while making it easy for employees to participate in ways that matter to them.
Deed makes it fun and easy for millions of employees to share their time, money, and talent with causes they care about. We started as a viral volunteering app, and today our platform gives the world’s most inspiring brands—from Airbnb to lululemon—one exceptionally-designed home for all of their purpose-driven activities. Corporate grantmaking, employee donations/matching, diversity & inclusion, and employee resource groups (ERGs) are only the beginning.
Over the past three to five years, everyone’s expectations for Fortune 500 corporate social responsibility have radically changed. But with Deed’s trusted integration partners like Workday and PayPal, hand-in-hand customer service, and a collaborative product team, Deed’s platform moves at the speed of work.
Ready to supercharge your year-end giving? Book a demo today to learn how we can help you make the most of these features and run successful Giving Season campaigns year after year.
