Breaking Records and Empowering Generosity: GiveCampus Celebrates GivingTuesday 2023

This marked the ninth year GiveCampus was a part of the charitable force that is GivingTuesday. As the echoes of GivingTuesday 2023 continue to reverberate through the philanthropic landscape, let’s review some of the successes achieved and key learnings uncovered during this global day of giving.

Impactful Achievements for Educational Fundraisers

GiveCampus Partners smashed all kinds of records this GivingTuesday, raising $25.1 million collectively—an impressive feat that beats last year’s total dollars raised by almost $7 million. All told, Partner institutions processed more than 83,000 donations from over 78,000 unique donors. That means some 5,000 donors were actually moved to make multiple gifts in a single day. This collective generosity has a far-reaching impact on the initiatives of educational fundraisers.

GiveCampus also noted several instances of exceptional individual support. This year, Villanova University received a gift of $100,000—the largest single donation made on the GiveCampus platform this GivingTuesday. Additionally, Villanova saw an impressive 159 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth in the total dollars raised online during the 24-hour period on November 28.

In fact, many GiveCampus Partners saw noteworthy spikes in YoY growth. The College of the Holy Cross grew their online giving 53 percent while Barnard College recorded a whopping 450 percent YoY growth.

A Deeper Dive into Donor Habits

While the above numbers are impressive, our curiosity extends beyond the magnitude of gifts received and the number of donors who participated. Diving into how donors gave this year helps shed light on evolving trends in philanthropy that can help educational fundraisers craft future campaigns. 

Digital wallets—once a novelty—are now increasingly the preferred payment method among donors. More than 43 percent of gifts made on the GiveCampus platform this GivingTuesday were made via a digital wallet. Their popularity highlights not only donors’ desire for convenience but also their adaptability to this technology.

Recurring donations made a strong showing this year too, with more than six percent of all gifts on the platform being attributed to a recurring donation. Beyond their immediate impact, recurring gifts drive sustainable long-term revenue and encourage donor retention. If you saw recurring donations lapse this GivingTuesday, you still have a few more weeks to engage donors with a renewal appeal before calendar year end. GiveCampus users can leverage automated features like  Smart Appeals to identify lapsed donors and create targeted, timely outreach.

Once again, volunteers were the driving force behind many of the most successful GivingTuesday campaigns on the GiveCampus platform. More than 57,000 emails were sent by volunteers through GC Volunteer Management, 59 percent of which were opened the same day. These outstanding open rates are a testament to the power of peer-to-peer fundraising. In fact, peer asks are 300 times more effective than institutional asks.

Finally, Partners also reframed their appeals this GivingTuesday. On both GC Social Fundraising and GC Giving Forms, we saw more schools solicit gifts to benefit a specific initiative of the donor’s choice, rather than the general fund.

In a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy article, GiveCampus CEO and Co-Founder Kestrel Linder said, “That’s a reflection of schools coming around to the reality that this is what donors want. If [fundraisers] don’t offer those opportunities for more directed or more targeted giving, many donors just aren’t going to give at all.”

Seamless Support from GiveCampus = Uninterrupted Philanthropy

GiveCampus delivers platform excellence when our partners need it most. It was all hands on deck this GivingTuesday to ensure our Partners felt supported during what can be an exciting but stressful day. The GiveCampus platform had 100 percent uptime throughout the duration of GivingTuesday, helping to facilitate a secure, reliable, and frictionless donor experience. Additionally, our stellar support team expertly managed any bumps along the road, clocking an average first-reply time of 4 minutes.

That said, GiveCampus assistance extends far beyond day-of support for our Partners. Our dedicated Partner Success Managers—many of whom are former fundraisers—put in countless hours these last few months helping schools to strategize, develop, and execute impactful GivingTuesday campaigns.

Continuing the Spirit of GivingTuesday

While our GiveCampus Partners achieved mighty things during GivingTuesday, there is still plenty of time left before CYE to leverage the momentum and keep the generosity flowing.

Let’s use this as the impetus to propel upcoming fundraising initiatives forward, close out the year strong, and kick off your 2024 planning with some gusto! If you’re not already a Partner, discover how GiveCampus can help you and your team achieve fundraising success next GivingTuesday and year-round by scheduling a quick intro call with one of our fundraising experts.