What if one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year could also become one of your strongest brand-building moments? GivingTuesday gives you a chance to support a cause your customers care about, strengthen trust, and invite shoppers to participate in something bigger than a promotion.
Key Takeaways
- GivingTuesday helps your brand connect charitable action to customer values, making your campaign more memorable than a standard holiday discount.
- Authentic campaigns work best when the cause fits your products, your messaging explains the impact clearly, and participation is simple.
- Ecommerce brands can join through donation matching, checkout giving, social campaigns, product-based donations, or employee volunteer initiatives.
- To build long-term loyalty, treat GivingTuesday as part of an ongoing commitment to community impact rather than a one-day marketing tactic.
Since its launch in , charitable giving event Giving Tuesday has become a staple in the marketing calendar year, with brands from Microsoft, to PayPal, to Bank of America launching campaigns to support it. Even Tinder has gotten in on the action.
GivingTuesday is now a well-established part of the year-end giving season, and for ecommerce merchants it can be a chance to champion causes they believe in and give shoppers another way to support local and global communities.
Here’s why you should get involved in GivingTuesday—and how you can build brand awareness and customer loyalty in the process.
For brands, participating can strengthen customer trust, support a relevant cause, and create a differentiated campaign when it’s paired with authentic action. If your campaign is clearly tied to your values and easy for customers to join, GivingTuesday can become both a community initiative and a smart brand-building moment.
What is Giving Tuesday?
If Black Friday is the official kick-off party for holiday shopping, then think of #GivingTuesday as the ribbon cutting for the charitable giving season. (As one writer put it, it offers the “emotional equivalent of a salve for a holiday-party hangover” for shoppers who have engaged in heavy spending.) It was created by New York’s 92nd Street Y with support from the United Nations Foundation to rectify the disconnect between the holiday season’s two most predominant themes: consumerism and community.
Hosted on the first Tuesday following American Thanksgiving, GivingTuesday in takes place on .
- It follows Black Friday.
- It follows Cyber Monday.
- It focuses on generosity rather than discounts.
On Giving Tuesday, people aren’t just encouraged to donate money—they’re encouraged to give their time, talent, voice, and goods to those in need.
Since its launch, GivingTuesday has fully harnessed the power of social media to bring people, brands, and charities together in altruistic activities and philanthropic giving. In , GivingTuesday generated an estimated $4.0 billion in donations in the U.S., with 38.1 million people participating.
What makes GivingTuesday effective for brands?
It aligns your brand with customer values
GivingTuesday works best when your campaign reflects values your customers can recognize and support. Rather than centering discounts, it gives your business a chance to show what your brand stands for. In the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Brands and Politics, people globally reported that shared values, trust, and societal impact continue to shape how they evaluate brands.
That kind of alignment is often strongest when the cause is built into the business from the start. Love Your Melon, for example, tied its early mission directly to giving beanies to pediatric cancer patients and later scaled that into a long-running impact model that distributed more than 250,000 beanies and contributed nearly $10 million to pediatric cancer research.
It creates visible community impact
For nonprofit partners, the day can drive meaningful support during a critical giving period. GivingTuesday says the movement generated $3.6 billion in the U.S. alone, including $274 million online, $2.4 billion in gifts of time, $1.08 billion in donated goods, and $244 million in acts of kindness. For merchants, that means even a simple campaign can connect your store to a broader moment of community participation.
It benefits from social amplification
GivingTuesday was built for sharing, which makes it especially useful for brands that want customers and employees to help spread the message. The movement’s social nature can increase reach across email, social media, and on-site promotions when the campaign is easy to understand and participate in. For example, REI’s Opt Outside campaign shows how a values-led message can travel widely when it gives people a clear action to rally around.
Some brands have also extended that participation beyond customers. Love Your Melon said it grew its reach with more than 40,000 college ambassadors who personally delivered beanies, showing how a mission-led campaign can gain momentum when supporters have a tangible role in the impact.
It fits a more mature giving landscape
Many consumers and businesses had already been asked to support multiple causes in , which increased the risk of donor fatigue. GivingTuesday now arrives in a more mature giving landscape, where brands and shoppers have more ways to participate across digital and in-person channels.
There are a number of reasons to think the event will remain important. First, there’s increased awareness of the day, partially thanks to #GivingTuesdayNow. In May 2020, the one-off #GivingTuesdayNow event raised $503 million in online donations and saw online activity in more than 145 countries.
It stands out amid Black Friday fatigue
Then, there’s a growing backlash against Black Friday promotions, partially spurred by concerns about climate change. REI closes its store on Black Friday, giving its employees the day off to spend outside, while B-certified footwear company Allbirds plans to raise its prices by $1 this Black Friday. In turn, it will donate $2 for every product sold to Greta Thunberg's youth-led climate movement Fridays for Future. Shopify merchant A Good Company is also forgoing the sale—instead, it’s hosting “A Green November”. A flat discount of 15% is being offered throughout the month, with one tree planted per every €10 spent.
Some merchants also protect brand value by being selective about when they run promotions. Canyon Coffee, for example, said it limits ecommerce promotions to just three per year, which helps make major seasonal moments feel more intentional rather than constant discounting.
Most importantly, as GivingTuesday explains, the event can help people participate in generosity both online and in person.
Why should brands participate in Giving Tuesday?
“Giving Tuesday can be a powerful tool that serves marketing objectives,” Trisha Spillane, brand communications director of online retailer (and Giving Tuesday participant) Rue La La told Retail Dive. “[It] elevates the consumer’s perspective of the brand, and gives them a sense of pride when they choose to invest in your product.”
Rather than being designed to drive sales, participating in Giving Tuesday demonstrates to your customers and employees the value systems that drive your business. This, in turn, may foster loyalty.
The timing is also perfect. The event is on its way to becoming a household name; in , an estimated 38.1 million people participated in GivingTuesday in the U.S. Yet, in a ShoppingGives survey cited by WWD, only 2% of surveyed B2C brands featured give-back messaging in emails, while only 6% had messaging on their homepages related to Giving Tuesday or other initiatives.
There is still room for brands to stand out by participating in GivingTuesday, and a well-executed campaign can still stand out in inboxes and on-site promotions.
If you’re deciding whether to participate, the strongest case is simple: the day gives you a clear reason to show your values in action.
Giving Tuesday ideas for ecommerce businesses
To get started, GivingTuesday offers a current toolkit and resource hub for organizations planning campaigns.
Here are a few examples of ways you can get involved and show your support:
Donate a percentage of sales
- Choose one of the most popular items in your store and offer to make a percentage of the profits for every item sold go to charity. Whatever cause you support, choose one that connects naturally to your products or brand values so the campaign feels relevant to customers.
Host a cause-focused virtual event
- Host a virtual event that builds awareness around a particular cause. For example, Bombas—which says one purchased equals one donated—has donated millions of items through its giving program.
Add donations at checkout
- Give customers the option to make a small charitable donation ($1 or $2) at checkout. Match every donation made. On Shopify, you can implement this with donation apps in the Shopify App Store or with checkout extensibility options for eligible plans.
Launch a shareable social campaign
- Create a social media campaign to promote Giving Tuesday. Every time a user shares a particular image and tags your brand and the hashtag, donate a set amount to charity. In , Tinder used this approach to raise more than $200,000 for DoSomething.org through its #ImAvailable campaign.
Reward donations with store credit
- Issue a set amount of store credit for every dollar your customers donate to charity. (For example, $1 of store credit for every $5 donated to charity or $10 of store credit for every donation of $100 or more.)
Donate products customers actually need
- Choose to donate a matching item for each one purchased. (Just make sure the item isn’t “SWEDOW,” a term nonprofits use for donated items they cannot distribute or store efficiently. That’s non-profit-speak for “stuff we don’t want or need.” This explainer from the Center for International Disaster Information can help.)
Love Your Melon offers a useful example of why product relevance matters here: its giving model centered on donating beanies to pediatric cancer patients, keeping the donated item closely tied to both the brand and the recipient need.
Support employee volunteering and matching
- As part of your benefits package, offer to give your employees a paid day off to volunteer with a charity of their choice. Or, match employee donations made on Giving Tuesday or throughout the year.
Whatever you choose to do, include the #GivingTuesday hashtag in your promotions and make your call to action clear in every communication.
Finally, remember that for your store to resonate with customers and feel authentic rather than performative, philanthropy and giving back to the community shouldn’t be limited to just one day of the year. It should be a long-standing commitment and testament to the values that you hold.
If you decide to participate, choose a cause that fits your brand, explain the impact clearly, and make it easy for customers to take part.
Turn GivingTuesday into a lasting brand advantage
GivingTuesday can help you strengthen customer trust, stand out from discount-heavy holiday messaging, and create visible impact for a cause that fits your brand. Start by choosing one realistic campaign idea, defining exactly how customers can participate, and explaining where the support will go.
Then bring the campaign to life across your storefront, email, and social channels so it feels easy to join and clearly connected to your values. If you’re ready to build a store that can support campaigns like this year-round, explore Shopify and start creating a brand customers want to buy from and believe in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is GivingTuesday for brands?
For brands, GivingTuesday is a chance to support a cause publicly and invite customers to participate through purchases, donations, or awareness campaigns. It works best when the cause aligns with your values and the impact is easy to understand.
How can an ecommerce business participate in GivingTuesday?
You can donate a percentage of sales, add checkout donations, match customer gifts, run a social campaign, or organize employee volunteering. Pick one tactic that fits your store operations and communicate the offer clearly across your site, email, and social channels.
Why does GivingTuesday matter for customer loyalty?
GivingTuesday can strengthen loyalty because it shows customers what your brand stands for beyond promotions. When shoppers see authentic action tied to a relevant cause, they’re more likely to remember your brand and feel good about supporting it.
Does it cost a lot to run a GivingTuesday campaign?
No—your campaign can be as simple as matching small donations, contributing a portion of one product’s sales, or offering volunteer time. Start with a budget you can sustain and focus on making the impact transparent rather than making the campaign large.
What is an alternative to a discount-based holiday promotion?
A give-back campaign is a strong alternative when you want to stand out without relying on deeper discounts. You can pair a cause-driven message with product donations, donation matching, or community participation to create a more values-led holiday campaign.
