From GivingTuesday Campaign to Growth Opportunity

Liz Hall
Consultant, Client Services

Has GivingTuesday lost its fundraising power?

With crowded inboxes and year-end campaigns starting earlier every year, it’s easy to see why some nonprofits are asking the question.

But donors are still giving. In fact, Americans donated a record-breaking $4 billion on GivingTuesday in 2025, a 13% increase over the previous year.

The organizations seeing the greatest success on GivingTuesday aren’t necessarily sending more emails or spending more on advertising. They’re creating coordinated campaigns that help supporters understand the impact they can make.

Children’s Cancer Research Fund set out to do exactly that.

A Case Study in the Making

Children’s Cancer Research Fund is a national nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood cancer through innovative research and programs that support children and families throughout treatment and survivorship. While GivingTuesday had previously been part of its year-end fundraising efforts, the team wanted to elevate the day into something more strategic and impactful.

So, in 2025, Children’s Cancer Research Fund partnered with Douglas Shaw & Associates to create the organization’s first dedicated GivingTuesday campaign.

Perhaps most encouraging: The campaign had twice as many donors choose to set up a monthly gift, helping Children’s Cancer Research Fund build a stronger foundation of long-term support beyond GivingTuesday itself.

These results reinforce an important fundraising principle. GivingTuesday success isn’t simply about sending more emails or posting more content on social media. It IS about creating a campaign that gives supporters multiple opportunities to engage with a consistent message and a clear reason to give.

Multiple Touchpoints, One Message

Today’s donors don’t experience campaigns one channel at a time. They may see a social media post in the morning, open an email during lunch, and make a donation after receiving a text message later in the day. When every touchpoint reinforces the same message and opportunity for impact, supporters are more likely to respond.

For Children’s Cancer Research Fund, the campaign’s success also underscored the value of having a strategic partner who can help organizations think beyond individual tactics and build a cohesive fundraising strategy.

Children’s Cancer Research Fund’s experience offers an important reminder for nonprofit leaders: GivingTuesday remains a powerful fundraising opportunity. The organizations seeing the strongest results are the ones that treat it as more than a single-day appeal. When every channel works together to tell a consistent story and connect donors to impact, supporters are eager to respond.

Looking for ways to up your GivingTuesday game this year and improve your fundraising results? Contact Douglas Shaw & Associates today!