GivingTuesday 2025 is coming fast — and for Catholic schools and parishes, this global day of generosity is an incredible opportunity to grow your donor base, raise critical funds, and celebrate your mission. This year, the worldwide day of giving falls on December 2, 2025, with advanced giving starting on November 17. Here’s how to make your iGiveCatholic campaign your most successful yet.
Why participate? Catholic schools and parishes nationwide have raised millions through GivingTuesday campaigns, and iGiveCatholic has stimulated over $91 million across the country. It’s not just about the dollars raised—it’s about expanding your donor base and building momentum for year-round giving.
What is iGiveCatholic and Why it Matters
Time-sensitive: If you’re planning to participate, you need to register by November 1.
Additionally, check if your community has a local giving day that might offer bonus prizes or matching opportunities.
New this year: iGiveCatholic has migrated to the Mightycause platform—a user-friendly system that requires no coding experience. If you participated in previous years, your historical donor information should have migrated, but check with your local diocese for specifics.
Eight Proven Strategies for Catholic GivingTuesday Success
1. Develop Your Case for Support
ISPD recommends that your giving day be part of your overall Annual Fund effort. Get crystal clear on your message. How will donations be used? Choose one compelling focus:
- Covering critical operational costs to keep tuition affordable
- Completing a specific capital project
- Launching a new educational initiative or program
- Building your financial aid fund
Develop a clear, specific narrative. Instead of “supporting our students,” try “Your $100 gift provides one month of reading intervention materials for a struggling second grader.”
2. Create a High-Impact Video
This is worth the investment. A professionally produced video may cost $2,000-$3,000, but it will pay for itself—and you can repurpose footage for enrollment marketing throughout the year.
Your video should:
- Open with your mission in action (students learning, serving, growing)
- Feature authentic student and parent testimonials
- Clearly explain your case for support
- End with a specific call to action
- Run 90-120 seconds maximum
See it in action: In 2022, St. Peter’s School created an impact video for RichlandGives, a GivingTuesday program driven by a local community foundation. YouTube has dozens of Catholic School impact videos that can provide inspiration. Most of these are targeted to Catholic Schools Week, but with the proper pre-planning, you can create a donor-focused version.
#iGiveCatholic videographer Roman Vaulin offers an amazing tutorial on creating your own 60-90 second impact video using a smartphone and Canva Pro.
3. Secure Matching Gifts
Reach out to your current financial leaders and invite them to provide a matching gift that will inspire new donors and create urgency.
How it works: A donor commits to match up to $2,500 in new gifts. You promote this match throughout the day to motivate giving. In almost every case, the matching donor will fund their entire commitment even if the match isn’t fully met—they’re investing in your success.
Consider staggering multiple matches throughout the day to maintain momentum during slow periods.
4. Maximize Digital Channels
St. John Paul II Catholic Schools in Fargo, North Dakota, turned their GivingTuesday into a month-long campaign for their teachers.
GivingTuesday is the ultimate digital fundraising opportunity. Put all your communication tools to work:
- Email lists – Schedule 4-6 messages throughout the day
- Text messaging – Send 2-3 targeted texts at key moments
- Social media – Post updates every 1-2 hours with progress reports
Pro tip: In your pre-event communications (starting about a week before), acknowledge that subscribers will see frequent messages on December 2. A little humor goes a long way: “Fair warning: we’re going to be in your inbox a lot on GivingTuesday—but it’s for a great cause!”
5. Make It an All-Day Event
Create an hour-by-hour calendar with specific “moments” that keep energy high:
- 7:00 AM – Launch announcement with video
- 9:00 AM – Announce first matching gift challenge
- 12:00 PM – Mid-day progress report and student thank-you video
- 3:00 PM – Announce second matching gift or bonus prize push
- 6:00 PM – Final hour countdown begins
- 9:00 PM – Last-chance social media blitz
Schedule smart: Pre-schedule emails to send 5 minutes before the top of each hour. Post social media updates on the half-hour. Send text messages during the final push of each matching period.
If your diocese offers bonus prizes during specific hours, align your matching gifts and communications to compete for those rewards.
6. Engage Students and Create Competition
Mightycause’s social sharing tools make it easy to turn students into fundraising ambassadors.
Create friendly competition by having each classroom create its own fundraising page. The class with the most individual donations wins a pizza party, movie day, or out-of-dress-code day.
Enable peer-to-peer fundraising: Parents, parishioners, and alumni can create personal fundraising pages to share with their networks. A parent sharing their child’s story with 200 Facebook friends can bring in 10-15 new donors you’d never reach otherwise.
7. Don’t Forget Offline Donors
Not everyone is comfortable giving online, especially older generations. Set up a phone bank with trained volunteers who can:
- Accept donations over the phone
- Process credit card payments
- Take pledges and mail commitment cards
Consider hosting a small “telethon” gathering where volunteers can make calls together, creating energy and community around the event. I’d love to see schools showcase their students through musical performances and art projects – there was a reason the telethons were so successful in years past.
8. Thank Donors Immediately and Personally
The 48 hours after GivingTuesday are as important as the day itself.
While the platform will automatically generate receipts, go further:
- Call first-time or $1,000+ donors within two days to thank them personally
- Send handwritten thank-you cards from students
- Email a final report showing the total raised and next steps
Remember: Today’s $25 peer-to-peer donor could become tomorrow’s major gift prospect. Treat every donor like they matter—because they do.
Final Thoughts: Be Flexible and Have Fun
Your team’s energy and enthusiasm will be contagious. Stay flexible on December 2—you might get a surprise call at noon from a donor offering an unexpected matching gift for the afternoon.
Test your campaign page before launch day. Have backup plans for technical glitches. Celebrate small wins throughout the day.
After the event, debrief with your team while everything is fresh. What worked? What would you do differently? Use these insights to make next year even stronger—and to inform your year-round development strategy.
Ready to get started?
- Register at iGiveCatholic.org by November 1
- Visit Mightycause’s YouTube page for training videos.
- #iGiveCatholic offers customizable graphics and resources tailored to your school and parish.
- Watch for updates from your diocese on how to make your day a success in your diocese.
Finally, is your school or parish doing something special for iGiveCatholic? Be sure to let us know; we’re always looking for great ideas that can help create best practices for other schools across the country. At ISPD, we’re always willing to help you strengthen your year-round development plan through our Strategic Plan for Catholic School Advancement.
The clock is ticking. Let’s make December 2 your school’s best fundraising day of the year.
