Giving Tuesday 2024: What PTAs & Schools Need to Know

Summary:

• Giving Tuesday falls on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving each year.
• Start planning your Giving Tuesday campaigns two to three months in advance by sending a message to parents to determine fundraising priorities.
• You can use FutureFund to send messages to parents announcing and promoting your fundraiser—and create online campaigns where donors can directly contribute online.
• Promoting your campaign on social media can also help. Find two free Canva templates for Instagram here that can get you started.

Last year, Giving Tuesday saw over $3.1 billion donated in the United States alone—making it one of the single most important dates for fundraising, and a golden opportunity for school groups to hit important financial milestones.

See also: 20 Giving Tuesday Fundraising Ideas

To make Giving Tuesday 2024 successful for your school group, you’ll need to plan your fundraising campaigns well in advance—and we’re here to show you how. Find everything you need to know about Giving Tuesday in 2024 below, including key dates and step-by-step instructions for achieving your goals.

When Is Giving Tuesday in 2024 (& Beyond)?

Giving Tuesday is always the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Initially conceived as a way to counterbalance the consumerism commonly associated with Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday puts the spotlight on charity and nonprofit organizations (like schools) that need to raise money to do good in their communities and the world at large.

For the next five years, Giving Tuesday falls on the following dates:

2024: December 3

2025: December 2

2026: December 1

2027: November 30

2028: November 28

Step-by-Step: How to Run a Successful Giving Tuesday Fundraiser

Step 1: Find Out What Your School Needs

The money you raise on Giving Tuesday should go towards a meaningful cause—so the first thing you and your school group should do is make sure you get a sense of what’s important to students and their families. Here’s how:

• Two to three months before Giving Tuesday, send an email to parents asking them to suggest or recommend school projects. FutureFund’s built-in messaging tools make it easy to reach parents by giving you audience filters, message templates, and more.
• Six weeks before Giving Tuesday, create a shortlist of the most popular responses and hold a PTA meeting to determine which projects you’ll raise money for.

Step 2: Create Your Campaign

Once you know what you’re raising money for, you’ll need to figure out how to collect and track it. FutureFund makes this easy by providing ready-to-go fundraising campaigns you can customize and host for free online—allowing donors to contribute 24/7, saving countless hours for volunteers, and automatically tracking transactions for easy reporting.

Most Giving Tuesday campaigns hosted with FutureFund will be donation campaigns. These let you:

• Create a page for your campaign online where donors can send funds
• Suggest donation amounts
• Enable installment payouts
• Allow corporate matching
• Add a donation tracker so people can view your progress

… and more. Learn how to run a donation campaign with FutureFund, then create your campaign and have it ready to launch at least one week before Giving Tuesday.

Step 2.5: Creating a Separate Campaign to Support Your Donation Drive

For good measure, consider running a purchase campaign with FutureFund in the month before giving Tuesday, where you sell special school spirit wear to promote the main fundraiser.

For example, you could create custom t-shirts with messages like “I supported [Your School Name] on Giving Tuesday 2024”, and encourage customers to share social media photos of themselves wearing the shirts on Giving Tuesday along with links to the main donation campaign.

Purchase campaigns let you add items to your online store in FutureFund that visitors can buy, and provide you with easy tools for order fulfillment. Learn about running purchase campaigns in FutureFund here.

Step 3: Announce Your Campaign

Once you’ve created your Giving Tuesday campaign, the next step is to let your school community know and encourage them to donate when the big day rolls around. Here’s how:

• One month before Giving Tuesday, send an announcement (you can use FutureFund’s messaging system for this) and remind your audience that Giving Tuesday is coming up. Be sure to explain what you are raising funds for this year and why it’s important.
• Each week, send a reminder to continue engaging your audience. For best results, make each reminder unique: the first reminder could be an impact statement, the second could feature a student who the proposed project will help and include a quote about why they’re excited, and the third could be a reminder about corporate matching (if you’re using FutureFund to collect matching donations from donors’ employers).
• The night before Giving Tuesday, send a final appeal for donations.
• On Giving Tuesday, send out an email first thing in the morning letting recipients know how excited your school group is to raise money for a good cause and how much you value their support.

Step 3.5: Promote Your Campaign on Social Media

You’ll want to run social media promotions for your Giving Tuesday campaign alongside your email announcements. This gives your campaign extra online visibility and another hub through which you can direct people to your donation page.

• Start posting about the event at least two weeks beforehand.
• Include background information on what Giving Tuesday is, information about the cause your school is supporting, and details about how families can get engaged.
• Your posts don’t need to be quite as detailed as your emails, but can still serve as an excellent reminder.
• Make sure to include the link to your FutureFund campaign if you’re using our platform to collect and track donations.

Note: be aware that if you use Giving Tuesday hashtags, your photos may end up on the official Giving Tuesday social media accounts. You must not post photos of students with those hashtags unless their parents know their child may end up on an international social media account, and are willing to consent.

Canva Templates for Promoting Your Giving Tuesday Fundraiser:

We’ve created some free read-only Canva templates to help you make eye-catching Instagram posts for your Giving Tuesday campaign. Click either template below, then select “File” and “Make a copy” to create your own editable version.

Giving Tuesday Canva Template 1

Giving Tuesday Canva Template 2

Giving Tuesday Fundraiser Ideas for 2024

Running a straightforward donation campaign is just one way to raise money on Giving Tuesday. We’ve put together some suggestions for supplementing your efforts below, but almost any fundraiser can be adapted to support this occasion if you time it correctly.

Explore our Ultimate List of School Fundraisers, then use the tactics below to take your Giving Tuesday campaign even further.

Donation Matching

Ask local businesses to match donations up to a certain amount. This strategy doubles the impact your school can make. Learn more about corporation donation matching with FutureFund.

Fun Donation Incentives

If you have some school staff that are willing to participate, you can add incentives that kids will love to see. For example, maybe at a certain number of donations, the male teachers will perform a silly choreographed dance, or for a certain dollar amount, the principal will dye their hair a crazy color.

Involve Local Celebrities

Whether it’s athletes, comedians, or even social media influencers, you may have some notable people nearby who are willing to help you out. Hosting a comedy night, a Q&A session, or even a meet and greet can raise a good amount of money in ticket sales.

School Garage Sales

Most households have at least one box of stuff they’d like to get rid of. Coordinating school garage sales are a win-win because families can declutter and the school gets to donate the proceeds!

Remember the Message of Giving Tuesday

No matter how your school decides to approach Giving Tuesday, it’s important to recognize the opportunity it presents. Kids are inundated with toy commercials and product placement this time of year, but Giving Tuesday allows adults to demonstrate the value of generosity on a local and international scale.

The more planning you put into your Giving Tuesday efforts, the more successful they’ll be—teaching students important lessons about compassion and kindness. To learn more about how FutureFund’s tools can help, get started with a demo of our platform.

Frequently Asked Questions about Using FutureFund for Giving Tuesday 2024

What other kinds of fundraising campaigns can FutureFund help my school group run?

FutureFund includes the following ready-made campaign types:

• Donation campaigns: Donors contribute funds directly via your FutureFund campaign page.
• Purchase campaigns: People purchase items through your FutureFund online store, such as spirit wear, event tickets, school supplies, or vouchers—the possibilities are practically endless!
• A-Thon Pledge Campaigns: Turn any sport, game, practice, or other activity into a potential fundraiser by having participating students sign up on FutureFund to collect pledges from family and friends. Each participant receives a unique link they can use to collect and track their pledges.
• Membership drives: Sell PTA memberships and grow your school group’s ranks while raising money.

Does FutureFund help me keep track of the money my school group raises?

Yes—FutureFund lets you generate campaign summaries and other reports in just a few clicks. These reports can help your treasurer with budget reconciliation and ensure your PTA or school group remains in compliance with relevant laws and guidelines. Learn more about FutureFund’s reporting tools.

Can FutureFund issue tax receipts to donors for my school group?

Yes—FutureFund allows you to automatically issue tax receipts in any amount to donors who make at least one tax-deductible purchase in the past calendar year. Learn more about issuing tax receipts with FutureFund.