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A United Methodist Insight Special
After we fill our bellies on Thanksgiving Thursday, deplete our bank accounts on Black Friday and raise our credit balances on Cyber Monday, it’s time to open our hearts and wallets on GivingTuesday to donate to good causes.
On Tuesday, December 3, many nonprofits—including United Methodist churches, charities and program agencies—hope to receive a flood of single-day donations during the annual season of giving that extends from Thanksgiving through Christmas.
GivingTuesday, or #GivingTuesday in its hashtag iteration, is a widespread, successful movement to encourage shared humanity and generosity through donations to entities and causes that help people in numerable ways worldwide. It began in 2012 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, with foundation support, to emphasize charitable giving as a counterweight to the buy-buy-buy commercialization of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
While some also know it as a National Day of Giving, others promote it as the start of a weeks-long season of giving, ideal for inviting end-of-the-year, tax-deductible charitable donations. But that promotion includes other forms of non-monetary giving also, like volunteering, donating homemade gifts and participating in benevolent activities and events.
In 2019 GivingTuesday became an independent agency that supports the global movement, whose theme is “Let's transform the world through radical generosity” (language which may seem familiar to many United Methodists). But all nonprofits, including churches, can use GivingTuesday’s promotional advice and resources freely to raise donations independently. (See Giving Tuesday for Churches: 7 Effective Ideas to Fund Your Ministry.)
Since it started as an online hashtag in 2012, GivingTuesday has become one of the biggest fundraising days of the year for nonprofits of all sizes, according to a recent Associated Press (AP) article. Much of it is driven by multimedia fundraising appeals. For the best of those appeals, the strategic goal is not only fundraising but also friend-raising to ensure ongoing support from donors.
GivingTuesday has grown far beyond its initial effort, with the 2022 and 2023 totals each reaching $3.1 billion, an increase from $2.7 billion in 2021. “While that’s a lot to raise in a single day, the trend last year was flat, with fewer donors giving,” according to AP, which reported a 10 percent drop-off.
We may see even fewer appeals from fewer nonprofits this year, as the novelty wears off and giving continues to decline in these inflationary times, according to the Chronical of Philanthropy. But the appeals are continuing this week and next because there’s still “gold in them thar’ hills” among many still-generous donors.
UM agencies, churches still appeal for funds
United Methodist program agencies are preparing for lean years with their budgets severely reduced by the 2024 General Conference. Thus, several have sent out their annual Giving Tuesday appeals. Among them, the United Methodist Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), seek donations through The Advance to support “vital ministries around the world, such as relief aid for disaster victims, scholarships for Native American seminarians, scholarships and loans for students attending United Methodist schools, and so much more!”
Bishop Julius C. Trimble, newly elected General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society, writes in his appeal for donations to aid its peace and justice-seeking mission, “As we prepare for 2025 and the many challenges ahead, we have set a goal of raising $25,000 this Giving Tuesday to further our work. These funds will help us expand our reach, deepen our partnerships, and amplify our impact as we advocate alongside those most affected by injustice.”
Setting and promoting fundraising goals is one recommended tactic for GivingTuesday appeals. The General Commission on Religion and Race is seeking at least $7,500 this year to help it offer resources, training and advocacy that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the denomination’s commitment to “reject the sin of racism in every aspect of church life.”
United Methodist Communications, which seeks GivingTuesday donations for its denomination-wide communications efforts, uses another recommended tactic: matched, dollar-for-dollar fundraising to reach its modest $5,000 goal. It also offers Giving Tuesday social media resources and suggested content for fundraising letters and social media posts.
The General Commission on Archives and History launched this week its GivingTuesday initiative, offering designated donation choices to help meet its overall $10,000 matching gifts goal. And the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women has a Giving Tuesday post on its Instagram page.
Among regional agencies, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) in the Southeastern Jurisdiction seeks $10,000 in matching funds to continue its work of training and dispatching volunteers to respond to disasters and other critical needs throughout the region.
Not many 2024 GivingTuesday appeals from annual conferences appeared in a Google search this week; but some conferences are promoting fresh appeals. For example, the East Ohio Conference’s Board of Missions encourages donors to support its more than 30 Advance Special mission partners.
Some local church appeals can also be found. Newark (Delaware) United Methodist Church, which describes itself as “a compassionate congregation, serving others in response to the need we see around us,” is seeking gifts for local, regional and global ministries it supports.
First United Methodist Church in West Lafayette, Indiana, seeks GivingTuesday gifts to bolster its support for partner organizations “working to overcome food insecurity and support local families in their struggles.”
Churches may be ‘missing a great opportunity’
Meanwhile, Jack Brooks, Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic United Methodist Foundation, offers GivingTuesday campaign suggestions to churches and asks in a 2023 letter a question that may still apply today: “What is your plan for “GivingTuesday?”
“While it may be too late to make a major GivingTuesday appeal this year,” he writes, “these methods will help you build a strong culture of generosity in 2024.” Surely the same preparatory wisdom can apply to 2025.
Brooks’ research indicates that relatively few churches participate in GivingTuesday, which he finds interesting because, with a third of all financial giving in America going to religious organizations, “churches are often the envy of the non-profit world.”
He says fundraisers in that world “wish they had 52 (weeks of) contact with supporters, face-to-face, each year. They wish they had the ability to tailor each donor presentation... (by) knowing the donor, the donor’s family, and the donor’s high level of church participation. They would love to present opportunities for annual giving, capital projects, and lasting legacy gifts when the opportunity is present in a natural conversation like after worship or Bible study.”“As Christians we are abundantly generous,” Brooks writes. “Generosity faithfully appears every week our doors are open. Perhaps this is why few churches make any extra effort to participate in GivingTuesday, but perhaps we are missing a great opportunity.”
John W. Coleman serves as Editor-at-Large for United Methodist Insight.