How The Greater Boston Food Bank increased Giving Tuesday revenue by 28% year-over-year
Mission
To ensure all residents of eastern Massachusetts have consistent access to nutritious food
Challenge
Differentiate its Giving Tuesday appeal to engage donors during the biggest philanthropic period of the year
Solution
Adopt a data-driven campaign strategy based on proven best practices to successfully raise more on Giving Tuesday
“I love using source codes because I can see very quickly which emails are driving the most traffic, which elements in the email people were most engaging with, etc. It brings a good amount of insights from activity on the platform and helps inform our decisions and strategy.”
– Mekea Harvey, Director of Marketing
Giving Tuesday results*:
28% increase
in day-of revenue year-over-year
11% increase
in the average gift size year-over-year
15% increase
in gifts year-over-year
80%+ of individuals
who entered the checkout flow completed the transaction
*Based on 2024-2025 GoFundMe Pro data and GBFB-provided data
Differentiating a Giving Tuesday appeal
For The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), Giving Tuesday was an opportunity to stand out during the busiest philanthropic period of the year. Recognizing that a basic “donate today” message and gift match were no longer enough to stand out, the team centered their campaign on a new program offering medically tailored food to clients, providing a concrete reason for donors to give.
Flexible testing leads to improved donor experience
As part of its giving season strategy, GBFB tested how Campaign Studio allowed for richer storytelling through personalized content sections and impact tiles. The team followed GoFundMe Pro’s best practices, such as keeping the donation form and call-to-action above the fold, to deliver an optimized donation experience.
Studio’s ability to work as a donation page and a versatile campaign landing page is incredibly valuable. That means we can spend more time focusing on the donor experience and give them an experience they are expecting.
The GBFB team closely monitored donor behavior on Giving Tuesday, allowing for swift, data-driven pivots to maximize final-day revenue. This resulted in a 28% increase in day-of revenue, an 11% increase in the average gift size year-over-year, and a 15% increase in gifts. For this campaign, over 80% of individuals who entered the checkout flow completed their transaction, indicating strong performance.
Optimizing for impact to support hunger relief
GBFB’s future plans are centered on continued experimentation and leveraging GoFundMe Pro’s tools to optimize the donor experience. Key initiatives include additional testing with Campaign Studio and exploring tools such as heat mapping to better understand how donors engage with richer storytelling.
Additionally, GBFB plans to further integrate GoFundMe Pro’s Giving Cart, which enables donors to select multiple items to support in a single checkout, essentially creating a philanthropic “shopping cart” experience. Given the increased public focus on hunger relief and federal nutrition programs like SNAP, GBFB is heads-down focused on bringing nutritious food to as many people as possible*.
*Results reflect The Greater Boston Food Bank’s campaign strategy and may vary for other organizations.
Mekea’s GoFundMe Pro tips:
- Save time by using campaign templates and implementing GoFundMe Pro’s source codes from the start to get granular insights into which channels are driving the most traffic.
- Look into the entire transactional experience from a donor’s perspective before launching a new campaign.
