Double the Donation recently published the advice of 30 experts on how to prepare for a successful #GivingTuesday campaign on their blog —and included Third Sector Today’s founder, Amy DeVita among them.
The most common piece of advice was to start planning as soon as possible. Getting a head start on promotions, social media trends, marketing materials, and getting in touch with donors (individuals, foundations, corporations, etc.) is going to be the key to a successful campaign! But there are a variety of other tips, and one contrarian who suggests your time could be better spent on focusing on year-round efforts.

From our corner of the blogoshpere—where we regularly extol the virtue of using a variety of marketing tools and channels- here’s what Amy had to say:

Amy DeVita, Founder of Third Sector Today says: “#GivingTuesday (Dec. 2, 2014) is an ingenious way for any-sized organization to gain greater awareness, by leveraging a national campaign that appeals to the growing number of people who are fundamentally turned off by “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” – basically a counter to consumerism for the sake of consumerism. Prepare and strategize…in advance!

Look at December 2, 2014 as the harvest date and plant seeds and pathways for your donors to connect with you for the months leading up to it. But first have a plan. Will you find a matching donor? Will you solicit time donations in addition to monetary donations? Think about where you want to end up—and make a map that will get you there; don’t just spin around aimlessly.
Start now, maybe with regular posts on Facebook that give a look at the difference your group is making and include the hashtag #GivingTuesday. Use the hashtag in your Tweets—start making your organization discoverable to those searching for #GivingTuesday—now or months from now.”

Check out the other great advice (including one contrarian!) at Double the Donation’s blog.