What happens after #GivingTuesday?

You can breathe now – the third annual #GivingTuesday has come and gone. We were so excited to see how many of our users chose to participate in the annual day of giving back.

Compared to last year, the total raised for #GivingTuesday increased by 15x on CauseVox. We had hundreds of #GivingTuesday campaigns running. Wow. Congratulations to all of our nonprofits, and thank you to everyone who gave yesterday.

The global numbers are still coming in. GivingTuesday.org will be reporting the numbers they receive from various sources in the coming days. As of now, the Case Foundation and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy have pulled together an estimate based on real-time data.

From what they have so far on tracked data, they are able to report that #GivingTuesday raised at least $45.7 million around the world. Comprehensive data will be unveiled in a Giving USA Spotlight Report on December 17.

Numbers aside, the party isn’t quite over. Before moving on to your next project, there are a few things to take care of to close out #GivingTuesday. Here’s our checklist:

Thank your donors: send an email to all online donors, and make personal phone calls or send handwritten notes to major donors. Post a thank you graphic on your website and on social media.

• The GivingTuesday campaign is using this fun little “gratitude gram.”
• Read our blog post on 10 ways to thank donors

Run the data: donors and partners want results faster than ever. Get as many results as you can right away to share with your community.

• Also, run internal reports for your team to analyze for wins and lessons learned.
• Don’t hide the results if you didn’t reach your campaign goal. Donors still have a right to know what happened, no matter what.

Keep the story going: #GivingTuesday may be over but your story isn’t. What’s the next chapter? How will you tell it?

• Use your campaign results to create a story about how the funds will be used in the short-term.
• Interview donors and ask them why they gave. Now you have content for next year!

Read our blog post on 5 ways to wrap up your fundraising campaign for other ideas. And we want to know how #GivingTuesday went for you! Please send us an email support@causevox.com or a tweet @causevox. We are always looking for new case studies for the CauseVox Learning Center.