Perhaps the answer is #ArtsWednesday

In Blackbaud's review of giving in 2017, arts and cultural organizations had a 0.1% decline in giving compared with a 4.1% increase in philanthropic giving across all sectors. What might account for this change? Have donors become more interested in other issues, or are other sectors doing a better job of soliciting donations from the available pool of patrons? While the percentage of online giving to arts and cultural organizations increased by 17.2% from the previous year, we can assume that giving by other means declined, making up the difference.

How can fundraisers retain or boost these other giving avenues? Blackbaud suggests that arts and cultural organizations can do more with GivingTuesday, which is an international giving campaign held each year the day after Cyber Monday. Although GivingTuesday revenue increased by 28% last year, only 2% of total revenue went to arts and cultural organizations, consistent with previous years. I know I, personally, haven't given on GivingTuesday, and I haven't until now given much thought as to why. Perhaps it's the time of year, at the beginning of the holiday season and before the big boost in end-of-year giving. But that doesn't explain why other sectors do better on that day. I know fundraisers in other sectors who view it as a critical event for the year. Perhaps the organizations where I give don't invest much effort in promoting it as a goal.

Maybe there's a mindset that goes along with the idea of GivingTuesday that lends itself more naturally to social causes than the arts. If so, then are fundraisers better off investing more into GivingTuesday to reshape that mindset, or is it a wiser move to create another day focused exclusively on giving to the arts? One organization would need to boldly take the lead, pick a day, get other institutions to buy in, and market it successfully. The critical challenge, of course, is do you go with Wednesday or Thursday??