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Why should brands participate in Giving Tuesday?

Hong Lam November 22,2022

There’s a number of reasons to think they might be onto something. First, there’s an increased awareness of the day, partially thanks to #GivingTuesdayNow. A one-off event hosted in in response to the pandemic, it raised $503 million in online donations with social media activity in 145 countries worldwide.

Then, there’s a growing backlash against Black Friday promotions, partially spurred by concerns about climate change. REI closes its store on Black Friday, giving its employees the day off to spend outside, while B-certified footwear company Allbirds plans to raise its prices by $1 this Black Friday. In turn, it will donate $2 for every product sold to Greta Thunberg’s youth-led climate movement Fridays for Future. Shopify Plus merchant A Good Company is also forgoing the sale-instead, it’s hosting “A Green November.” A flat discount of 15% is being offered throughout the month, with one tree planted per every ˆ10 spent.

Most importantly, as points out, the event is an opportunity to build social connectedness and kindness virtually, at a time when safe social distancing remains paramount.

“Giving Tuesday can be a powerful tool that serves marketing objectives,” Trisha Spillane, brand communications director of online retailer (and Giving Tuesday participant) Rue La La told Retail Dive. “[It] elevates the consumer’s perspective of the brand, and gives them a sense of pride when they choose to invest in your product.”

Rather than being designed to drive sales, participating in Giving Tuesday demonstrates to your customers and employees the value systems that drive your business. This, in turn, ericans say they feel it’s more important than ever to buy from companies that reflect their values, while 76% say that supporting companies that are addressing social and environmental issues help them feel like they’re doing their part.

It’s not too late to be considered an early adopter, with your support of Giving Tuesday helping to differentiate your store from its competitors

The timing is also perfect. The event is on its way to becoming a household name; last year, 13% of the American population participated in Giving Tuesday in some way. Yet, when ShoppingGives surveyed 650 B2C brands in 2019 about their plans for the charitable giving season, it found that only 2% featured give-back messaging in their emails, while only 6% has messaging on their homepages related to Giving Tuesday or other initiatives.

Giving Tuesday ideas for ecommerce businesses

1. Choose one of the most popular items in your store and offer to make a percentage of the profits for every item sold go to charity. (This might seem obvious, but whatever charity you choose to give back to, to resonate with your customers it should ideally link to your product of service in some way.)
2. Host a virtual event that builds awareness around a particular cause. For example this Giving Tuesday, Bombas-which has donated $40 million pairs of socks to shelters-is destigmatizing homelessness by hosting a public webinar on the subject.
3. Give customers the option to make a small charitable donation ($1 or $2) at checkout. Match every donation made.
4. Create a social media campaign to promote Giving Tuesday. Every time a user shares a particular image and tags your brand seniorpeoplemeet and the hashtag, donate a set amount to charity. (In 2017, this is how Tinder fundraised over $200,000 for . Whenever a user hashtagged a post with #ImAvailable and tagged Tinder, the dating app donated $10.)
5. Issue a set amount of store credit for every dollar your customers donate to charity. (For example, $1 of store credit for every $5 donated to charity or $10 of store credit for every donation of $100 or more.)