How to Amplify Your Giving Tuesday 2025 Results with E‑Commerce Inspired Tactics
- Nonprofit Learning Lab
- Oct 8
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 14
This is a guest blog by Aplos.
Giving Tuesday 2025 is a big chance for nonprofits to raise more money and grow support. In 2024, donors gave over $3.6 billion on Giving Tuesday. That number keeps going up each year. But with more nonprofits asking for support, it’s harder to get noticed.
What if you used the same smart ideas that online stores use on Black Friday? Let’s find out.
Interested in the only Giving Tuesday 2025 fundraising playbook you’ll ever need? Download it for free here.
1. Build Hype Early
What Happens with Online Retail
Stores begin talking about Black Friday weeks ahead. They share special messages and deals early, and this helps shoppers remember what is coming and plan to buy for the big day. Retailers also use countdowns and reminders to create excitement for their future customers.
What Nonprofits Can Do
Start sharing your Giving Tuesday 2025 campaign at the beginning of November. This gives people time to learn about your cause, what their support is going toward, and get ready to give.
Tips you can use right now
Share the main goal of your campaign in emails and on social media
Post reminders with countdowns so people remember the date
Use photos and short stories that show how donations help
Ask your supporters to share your posts with friends and family
Did you know? In 2024, over $3.6 billion was donated on Giving Tuesday—a 15% increase from the previous year. Donors are ready to give, but attention is limited, so building excitement early makes a big impact.
2. Make the Offer Irresistible
What Retailers Do
During Black Friday, stores offer big savings and limited-time deals. These offers make people feel excited to act fast. Shoppers know they are getting something extra.
What Nonprofits Can Do
You can create a similar feeling by giving donors a clear reason to give right now. Matching gifts and easy-to-understand results are helpful tools.
Tips you can use right now
Let people know their gift will be matched, like “Give today and double your impact”
Use a countdown to show when the match ends
Explain how each gift directly helps, like “$25 buys school supplies for one child”
Keep your ask short, friendly, and focused on helping others
Good to know: According to Double the Donation, 84% of donors say they’re more likely to give if a match is offered, and 1 in 3 donors will make a larger gift when a match is applied.
3. Obsess Over the Donation Experience (Playbook Strategy 3)
What Retailers Do
Sometimes shoppers start to buy something but stop before they finish. Retailers study this and try to make checkout simple and quick. That way, more people complete their purchases which is more revenue for their business.
What Nonprofits Can Do
The same thing happens with donation forms. A person might click “donate” but leave before they finish. Making your donation form easy to use helps more people complete their gifts. When you pair this with a mobile optimized website that loads quickly and performs well, your nonprofit fundraising revenue will sky rocket.
Tips you can use right now
Make sure your donation form works well on mobile devices
Keep the form short, and ask only for what you really need to complete the donation and send your follow up
Test your form to see if it loads quickly, and works without errors
Fun fact: In nonprofit fundraising, donation form abandonment can be over 60%. Also, 45% of online donations are made on mobile devices. A mobile-friendly form is a must.
Get the full Giving Tuesday Playbook with strategies for nonprofit fundraisers here.
4. Reward Your VIP Donors
What Retailers Do
Many stores have loyal customers who shop, and shop often. These retail teams send early access deals and thank-you gifts to show appreciation, and this helps customers feel valued while also keeping them coming back to buy.
What Nonprofits Can Do
Donors who have given to your nonprofit before are more likely to give again. Show them that their support matters by thanking them, and inviting them to be part of your campaign early.
Tips you can use right now
Send a special thank-you email before Giving Tuesday 2025 (it’s on December 2nd this year!)
Let past donors know they can give early and how much you appreciate their past support
Share how their past gifts made a difference to your nonprofit's mission
Offer a matching gift opportunity just for them
Stat to remember: Recurring donors give 42% more over the course of a year than one-time donors. Loyal supporters are powerful supporters.
5. Reactivate Donors After Giving Tuesday (Playbook Strategy 5)
What Retailers Do
After Black Friday, stores continue to connect with shoppers by sharing order updates, future deals, and similar products that the customer may have missed on the first buy. This keeps people thinking about the brand and the needs that the retailer fulfills.
What Nonprofits Can Do
After Giving Tuesday, stay in touch with the people who gave or showed interest. This helps build lasting support and turns new donors into ongoing supporters. According to donor psychology, beyond making a gift, donors want to feel part of something bigger. Social identity theory shows that people are more likely to repeat behaviors when they see them as part of who they are. In fundraising, that means treating recurring donors not just as contributors, but as members of a community. Download the full donor psychology guide by Keela, here.
Tips you can use right now
Send a thank-you message within one day of their gift, not just the receipt
Share a photo or update about exactly what their donation helped do
Ask if they would like to give monthly and be part of your community of change-makers
Continue sharing updates and stories on your mission
Key insight: Donors who receive a thank-you within 48 hours are 4x more likely to give again. A quick thank-you can turn a one-time donor into a recurring one.
What Results Can Your Nonprofit Expect This Giving Tuesday?
45% of donations were made on mobile devices in 2024, expect ever more for this year
Providing urgency in your messaging increases donations by 332%, so expect to provide countdowns to your campaign page, or a thermometer that highlights how close your organization is to your fundraising goal
Offering matched gifts can help grow the size of each gift according to ⅔ of donors, so expect to receive larger gift amounts when providing a match option
Saying thank you and sending updates can help more donors stay involved over time, so follow up with impact stories well-after Giving Tuesday
Example: If your nonprofit raised $500,000 last year, these tips might help you raise $100,000 more.
Questions You Might Have
How do I apply all of these Giving Tuesday tips?
By using your fundraising platform and CRM together, you can get a pretty good idea of your donors behaviors, segment accordingly, and deliver the right message at the right time.
What if our nonprofit team is too busy?
Use simple ideas and easy templates to save time. Keela has Giving Tuesday email resources, and they’re free to use.
When is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday falls on December 2 this year – start building your strategy now! Download the Ultimate Giving Tuesday 2025 Playbook to dive deeper into the strategies that work.
Let’s Wrap Up
Giving Tuesday 2025 is a great time to grow your nonprofit’s impact through revenue. These five ideas, inspired by what global retailers do for Black Friday, can help you prepare a strong and successful campaign:
Get people excited to give early
Make giving feel meaningful, and easy
Optimize your donation form
Show love to loyal supporters
Follow up after the day is done with impact stories and an invite to become a recurring supporter
Want to dive deeper into the full guide? Download The Giving Tuesday 2025 Playbook
About the Authors
This article was developed by the teams at Raisely and Keela, who work with thousands of nonprofits worldwide to strengthen fundraising and donor engagement. Together, these platforms help organizations create powerful online campaigns, and manage donor relationships with ease.
Raisely is a flexible and free fundraising platform that empowers nonprofits to design donation pages and peer-to-peer campaigns that convert supporters into long-term advocates.
Keela is a nonprofit CRM built to help teams engage donors more meaningfully through smart segmentation, automation, and data-driven outreach.
While both tools are valuable on their own, nonprofits often see the greatest results when they’re used together. From acquiring new supporters to nurturing donor loyalty, these platforms provide an integrated nonprofit operations system that helps organizations grow with confidence.
