GivingTuesday 2021 and the Question of Momentum

On 30 November 2021, GivingTuesday in the United States generated an estimated US$2.7 billion, with roughly 35 million adults taking part. It was a record. It was also, for the first time in the movement’s history, a year in which growth fell below double digits, rising nine per cent after the extraordinary surge of the first pandemic year.

I find this moment instructive precisely because it was not dramatic. It marked the point at which a remarkable idea became an established one — and established ideas face a different challenge than new ones.

When novelty fades

In their early years, initiatives benefit from novelty. People participate because the idea is fresh and the story is compelling. In time, novelty inevitably fades, and continued growth must come from something deeper: habit, trust and a genuine sense that one’s contribution makes a difference.

This is true of global movements and of small community charities alike. The first fundraising event attracts curiosity; the fifth succeeds only if people have come to believe in the work.

From moments to relationships

The lesson I draw is that a single day of giving is most valuable when organisations treat it as an introduction rather than a transaction. A donor who gives on one Tuesday in December and hears nothing meaningful until the following December has been thanked, perhaps, but not engaged.

• Follow every gift with evidence. Tell donors, specifically and promptly, what their contribution made possible.
• Invite a second step. Volunteering, monthly giving or simply attending a programme deepens commitment.
• Measure retention, not only totals. A campaign that raises less but keeps more donors may be the healthier one.

The quiet virtue of steadiness

A nine per cent increase on a record year is, by most standards, a considerable achievement. Perhaps the more valuable insight is that steadiness is its own form of success. Movements, like organisations, are sustained less by spectacular years than by faithful ones.