If you follow nonprofits on social media, get their email blasts or surf their websites, you’re starting to see a lot of stuff about #GivingTuesday and GAgives.
It can all be a little confusing.
What’s the difference between GAgives and #GivingTuesday? Where should you go to make a donation? When should you donate? And what’s so special about Tues., Nov. 27?
GAgives is an initiative of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits that has raised more than $21 million since its start in 2012. The idea was to help nonprofits across the state by catalyzing donations during peak giving season.
To participate in the GAgives campaign, nonprofits like Simple Needs GA set up a fundraising profile through GAgives.org. Our donation link is live now.
#GivingTuesday, on the other hand, was started by different organizations and bills itself as “a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration.”
Since #GivingTuesday actually happens during the GAgives annual campaign, the Georgia Center for Nonprofits a couple of years ago rebranded the effort as “GAgives on #GivingTuesday.”
If you use our GAgives link on Nov. 27, you can boost SNGA’s odds of winning prizes that could help us reach even more people in need. Info about the prizes is available here.
Another option—and possibly a better one for our clients—would be to make a donation to SNGA via a Facebook fundraiser on #GivingTuesday. That’s because Facebook is partnering with PayPal to match #GivingTuesday donations made on Facebook to nonprofits, up to a total of $7 million.
To participate, you can start a #GivingTuesday Facebook fundraiser for SNGA or donate to SNGA via our Facebook page on #GivingTuesday.
Facebook/PayPal will start matching donations at 8:00 a.m. on Tues., Nov. 27. The matching offer will expire when $7 million in donations is reached or at 11:59 Pacific time on Nov. 27.
So which approach is better for SNGA’s clients, the GAgives route or Facebook?
Our guess is that our clients will see more benefit through the matching funds provided by Facebook/PayPal.
In theory, if enough people give to Facebook fundraisers right out of the gate on Nov. 27, the $7 million in matching funds could run out early. So you might want to set a reminder on your phone so that you can give at 8 a.m. or soon after.
Of course, using our GAgives link on #GivingTuesday would be perfectly fine for those who would prefer to do that.
A third option might be to make two donations and split the gifts between a Facebook fundraiser and the GAgives.org link.
We hope all of that makes sense! Thanks so much for your support of people in need!
Simple Needs GA 