The ultimate Giving Tuesday social media toolkit (free template!)

Social media is one of the most powerful tools to reach your fundraising goals this Giving Tuesday. We'll show you how to share your Giving Tuesday campaign online to expand your reach and engage donors.

11 tips for planning Giving Tuesday social media posts

According to Nonprofits Source, more than half of people who engage with nonprofits on social media end up taking action—donating money, volunteering, attending an event, and so on. Let that knowledge inspire you to elevate your social media posts this Giving Tuesday. 

Keep reading for top tips, best practices, and a free calendar template to help you start planning your social media posts today.

1. Know the Giving Tuesday hashtags 🔖

The #GivingTuesday hashtag gets billions of impressions every year on social media. This day, more than any other, allows you to reach tons of new supporters. Here are some hashtags that can give your posts a special boost: 

• #GivingTuesday: Keep it simple with the official hashtag. Don't hit publish without it. 
• #MyGivingStory: Ask your supporters to share videos or written posts about why they support your organization. The prompt can be as simple as "I give because…." Make sure they tag your organization and include a link to your campaign. 
• #UNselfie: Supporters (and social media algorithms!) respond well to human faces. The #unselfie encourages people to share their smiling faces and information about your campaign. Share a simple printable template to make it easy for folks to join in on this engagement booster.

You don't need to go overboard with hashtags. If your organization or campaign has a thematic hashtag (like #Make20Matter or #38for38), add it to your posts along with a couple of hashtags specific to Giving Tuesday. The compelling story you tell with graphics and captions will do the rest.  

2. Create a content calendar 🗓

Map out all the Giving Tuesday posts you want to create ahead of time. This free social media calendar template can help you hit important campaign messages across various platforms. Whatever your campaign timeline looks like, make sure to include the following as you plan:

• The date and time of each post
• The purpose of each post (teaser, announcement, countdown, invitation, update, last-chance reminder, post-campaign report, or thank you)
• Captions that align with your Giving Tuesday goals
• Any accompanying images, videos, GIFs, or links
• Any accounts you need to tag (e.g., sponsors)
• Hashtags like #GivingTuesday
• The staff or volunteer responsible for each

Freebie alert!

Download your free Giving Tuesday social media calendar template ->

3. Embrace templates 🌈 

You don't need to hire a graphic designer to make your posts stand out. Design templates can save you time and align the look and feel of your posts with the greater Giving Tuesday movement.

Canva is easy to use and has thousands of free social media templates you can customize by adding logos, photos, text, and brand colors. Your Giving Tuesday posts can use the same imagery across social media channels, but make sure you use the best size for each platform. The best part? Nonprofits can access Canva Pro for free!

The official GivingTuesday organization provides several Canva social media templates sized for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. They've also made their logos and sharable graphics (and some delightful GIFs) available for download. They even have a library of free stock photos if you'd like to give your posts a more professional look. 

4. Pick your platforms 🌎

Make your sharing strategy multichannel—which involves sharing your campaign on several social media platforms. That doesn’t mean you have to be on all of the available platforms. Instead, think about what platforms your target audience uses and consider focusing on only two or three to start. 

• Which ones do you like using best? 
• Where do you see the most engagement already? 
• What platforms do your supporters use most? 

Expand to other platforms as you’re able, but we don’t recommend spending hours on a brand new TikTok account the week before Giving Tuesday. Keep reading for a quick overview of the three most popular Giving Tuesday social media platforms and how you can make the most of their differences.

👥 Facebook: Fundraisers on Facebook have become one of the highest drivers of Giving Tuesday donations. Get more eyes on your Giving Tuesday posts by boosting popular posts, tagging partners and participating individuals, using hashtags, and sharing about your campaign in Facebook groups. Try not to post more than 1-2 times a day, or you will likely see a drop in engagement. 

Facebook Live is one of the best tools to engage your audience during Giving Tuesday. Facebook alerts all of your followers when you go live and invites viewers to interact directly with your video through live response emojis and comments. Supporters can also share your live feed on their pages. 

With Givebutter, you can display your Facebook Livestream directly on your campaign page above the goal bar for even greater engagement. 

📸 Instagram: Instagram Stories are a fantastic way to engage more people than traditional in-feed posts. With Stories, you can add clickable URLs and repost content from other pages (This is a great way to share #unselfie photos from your supporters!). 

With Instagram Live, you can invite a partner organization or individual to join you for real-time engagement with followers. Like Facebook Live, Instagram notifies all your followers when you start streaming.

Don't forget to add hashtags to the posts you add to the actual Instagram feed! Put the link to your Giving Tuesday donation page as your allotted "link in bio," so it's just one click to donate. Or, use a service like linktr.ee, so your followers can choose from multiple links. Maybe you include a link to your Giving Tuesday campaign, website, latest blog post, and volunteer sign-up form.

🐦 Twitter: You’re limited to 280 characters at a time on Twitter, so if you’re tweeting this Giving Tuesday, learn how to say more with less. Shorten any links you include with Bit.ly or TinyURL, and don’t be afraid to use abbreviations—informal is OK on Twitter. A character counter can help you plan out your posts ahead of time. 

You can also use Twitter threads to share your entire Giving Tuesday narrative. Make your posts more dynamic by tagging partners and including links, graphics, hashtags, and photos.

5. Coordinate your content calendar with Giving Tuesday partners 🕑 

Great job if you're collaborating with a partner organization, corporate sponsor, or social media influencer this Giving Tuesday! This joint effort is a great way to get more eyes on your campaign. Share your content calendar with your partner's team so they know when you plan to post and can utilize your assets and messaging.

6. Schedule posts using social media planning tools 📲 

The fact of the matter is, you can only do so much. When Giving Tuesday finally comes around, it's unrealistic to think you can be in charge of editing and posting content on top of everything else that will be going on. 

Plan ahead by using scheduling tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Later. Scheduling all of your posts ahead of time means there’s one less thing to manage on such an exciting day.

7. Update your website and social media profiles ✨ 

There will be an influx of people checking out your website and social media pages. You might as well use your Giving Tuesday campaign as an opportunity to elevate your online presence! 

Check that your website and social media channels are up-to-date and have the correct contact info before the big day. Add your Giving Tuesday campaign link to all of your social media channels' bio or "About Me" section and embed a can't-miss donate button on your organization's website, so it's easy for your followers to support your cause.

8. Empower your community to elevate your campaign 📣 

Consider creating a fundraising toolkit for your most engaged volunteers with all the social media images, captions, videos, and hashtags they can use to make it easy for them to spread the word.

Supporters can help drive more social media engagement by utilizing Givebutter's built-in and fully-optimized one-click social sharing feature. Plus, Givebutter empowers your peer-to-peer fundraisers to text their networks and ask them to support and share their campaigns. 

9. Interact with the content you're tagged in 💛 

People will be excited to join your movement during such a special celebration of global generosity. You'll see supporters engage your organization across channels and share your campaign on their accounts. Designate someone on your team to comment, like, share, and respond to tags and direct messages throughout the day.

Giving Tuesday is also a great opportunity to get new content for your website and future external communications. Whenever someone tags your organization in a great photo, ask for their permission to use it. Compile images and other content throughout the day to repurpose later on.

10. Share updates and go LIVE 🎬 

Supporters want to hear from you before, during, and after Giving Tuesday. It's okay to increase the amount of social media posts you typically make during your campaign. Here are some post ideas you can add to your usual content calendar: 

• Share about your cause and the positive change your supporters are helping make happen. 
• Let supporters know how close you are to reaching your goal and that you need their help to hit your goal by sharing it with their friends and family. 
• Engage with supporters by sharing live videos throughout the day.

Share campaign updates in the supporter feed of your Givebutter campaign to keep the momentum going throughout the day. You can even pin your latest campaign updates to the top of your supporter feed and have the update emailed to your supporters.

11. Say thank you the next day 🙏 

You'll be gaining a lot of momentum leading up to and during Giving Tuesday. Finish strong by sharing a big ol' thank-you post. Report the outcome of your campaign, and thank everyone who made it possible. 

You can send more personal thank you notes later, but don't miss this opportunity to publicly recognize supporters’ efforts and share your gratitude! 

Dive deeper

Explore the Giving Tuesday guide for nonprofits: What it is and how to participate →

Make this your most social Giving Tuesday yet with Givebutter

Givebutter is proud to provide changemakers with all the tools and resources they need to raise more, give better, and unleash generosity this Giving Tuesday—verified nonprofits could even receive a donation up to $5K right from Givebutter!

Ready to make your Giving Tuesday campaign butter than ever this year? Check out our full Giving Tuesday hub for more resources, and sign up for your free Givebutter account today.