Now in its fifth year, #GivingTuesday is becoming as much of an institution as its surrounding seasonal shopping events – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – intended to kick off the charitable season, recognizing that many brands and consumers alike look to the end of the year for their giving efforts.
Founded by 92nd Street Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, #GivingTuesday rallies, organizes and amplifies the philanthropic efforts of over 30, 000 organizations worldwide. The intent? To encourage and amplify small acts of kindness from giving donations, time or resources by harnessing the power of social media and people’s innate generosity to create real positive change in their communities. From small, local businesses to large multi-nationals such as Google, H&M and The Guardian, companies are developing creative executions and expressions for how their brands get involved and make an impact.
Why are we seeing leading brands participate in this movement? Here are just a few reasons:
Amplify existing efforts and brand values
As companies increasingly seek to shine the spotlight on their social, environmental and philanthropic commitments, selecting cultural tentpole events is an opportunity to align with meaningful, consumer-oriented activities to expand these efforts. Start with your core brand values alongside your core product/service offering to determine how best to bring giving opportunities to life that reinforce the generosity you are already doing. For example, Guardian US participated by donating all advertising on its website to six non-profits focused on relief for those affected by the global refugee crisis.
Engage the humanity of your employees
According to Cone Communications’ 2016 Employee Engagement Study, 78% of employees want to actively participate in helping their company improve its responsible business practices by providing feedback, ideas and potential solutions. So rather than a single department developing your #GivingTuesday campaign in isolation, solicit input or hold ideation luncheons to garner company-wide contribution and meaningful employee engagement opportunities before, during and after the date.
Co-create with customers and consumers
Going beyond sharing your social impact commitments, aspirational brands are continuously creating and offering ways for their stakeholders to participate and co-create solutions or opportunities to give back. To trigger donations, JOHNSON’S brand asked consumers to share baby photos with the hashtag #SoMuchMore through a specific app that connects people to causes they care about. The result? Johnson & Johnson donated $1 to the charity of choice for each customer upload.
With November 29th coming fast, how can your brand get involved? Start with these three steps to jumpstart your #GivingTuesday campaign:
- Download the #GivingTuesday Toolkit: Gain insights, tips and ideas for how to plan and execute a #GivingTuesday initiative specific to your industry and size.
- Host an internal round-table: Tap into the knowledge, insights and compassion of your employees to unlock ideas and creative ways that they can play a role.
- Leverage existing assets, media and partners: Once you’ve mapped out your campaign or activity, determine how you can best integrate existing resources and stakeholders to streamline efforts and expand upon your already purpose-driven behaviors.
As customers and consumers increasingly look for brands – 40% of consumers seek purposeful brands according to a recent study by GlobeScan – #GivingTuesday presents the ideal opportunity to participate in a growing global movement that puts purpose on a pedestal.
Image via Flickr courtesy of user Penn State at https://flic.kr/p/HPkpHW.