If you’re reading this on Giving Tuesday, you are probably in the middle of it.

Your match is live, your appeals are dropping, and your dashboard is getting more attention than your lunch. 

It is very easy to focus on the total you will report tonight (or tomorrow, if you’re extending a match offer) and forget that the more important story starts tomorrow.

The newest GivingTuesday and Blackbaud report is a good reminder of that. It found that 65% of Giving Tuesday donors give again, compared to 52% of all donors.

In other words, the people who donate today are more likely to come back than the rest of your file. The question is whether your follow-up over the next few weeks gives them a reason to.

1. Make the thank-you the main event
Recent donor-retention benchmarks tell a simple story: repeat donors stick around at more than three times the rate of new donors, and recurring donors do even better. 

A big part of that gap is what happens right after the first gift. Here’s a basic but sneakily powerful pattern:

  • Within 24 hours: Send a thank-you email that leads with impact, not totals. Include one real detail, like a program statistic or a quote.

  • Within a week: Share one short story, photo, or staff quote in a follow-up email that shows the work in motion, and give people a sense of what comes next.

If you add another ask in these early messages, keep it small and connected to the story. 

The goal is for donors to feel proud of what they already did — not pressured to fix your organization’s year-end budget in one week.

2. Give Giving Tuesday donors a next step that is not just “give again”
Once someone gives on Giving Tuesday, your instinct might be to line up the next appeal immediately — especially given this type of donor's propensity to give again.

Instead, think about the next relationship step you want them to take. That can still lead to more revenue, but you get there by deepening the connection first.

Different donors will be ready for different kinds of next steps:

  • First-time donors: Invite them to learn more. A short email series that starts with your Giving Tuesday recap and then offers timely information about your work, helping them feel in the loop rather than overwhelmed.

  • Reactivated donors: Catch them up. A “here is what has changed” message, paired with a focused story, can make that renewed gift feel like a fresh start, not a one-off.

  • Engaged non-donors who clicked on Giving Tuesday but didn’t give: Lower the stakes. Ask them to sign a petition, share a story, or answer one simple survey question about what they care most about. 

You can still include donation links in these messages, but the primary call to action is to maintain the relationship: read, respond, show up in some small way.

That kind of engagement makes future fundraising asks feel like a continuation of a conversation rather than a constant reset.

3. Let Giving Tuesday shape the rest of year-end
The Blackbaud and GivingTuesday report keeps finding the same thing: Giving Tuesday donors are more loyal than the average donor and keep showing up across the calendar year. 

That makes the day an ideal testing ground for the final rush of December.

Once the dust settles, look at three simple questions:

  • Which offer worked best for small-dollar donors?

  • Which story brought lapsed donors back?

  • Which subject line actually broke through?

Take the winners, tighten them up, and reuse them in at least one message to similar segments between December 29 and 31. 

You are not running back Giving Tuesday. You are giving your best work a second life on the highest-revenue days of the year.

The bottom line
Giving Tuesday is not just a big number to drop in a board report. It is a stress test for how well your program welcomes, thanks, and keeps the people who show up.

Treat today as your opening night of a long-term relationship with your new or recently reactivated donors … not the finale.

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'Til next time!
Sara

P.S. Looking to add donors to your email list before year-end comes knocking? See how Civic Shout can help.

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