#GivingTuesday 2017 Hailed A Success, With First Appearance in Sweden

Sweden was among 70 nations that took part in #GivingTuesday this year. It was the country’s first year of participation, with the campaign being led by the Swedish Fundraising Council FRII.

#GivingTuesday is a global movement celebrating giving. It launched in 2012 as an antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Taking place once a year on the Tuesday after these shopping events, it encourages people to give instead of buy, by donating money, time, or taking action. It now engages millions of people worldwide, as well as charities and businesses.

This year’s #GivingTuesday took place on 28 November, with a soft launch in Sweden planned just a short period before the date. FRII provided a platform for engagement through a website, givingtuesday.se, as well as through social media channels, and encouraged all participants to use the hashtag #GivingTuesdaySweden. As a result, a stream of initiatives from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were visible on social media and on the website throughout the day with close to 40% of FRII members taking part.

The day saw over 330 tagged posts on social media with hundreds of organisations, individuals and companies also participating. #GivingTuesdaySweden also received media coverage, which included two radio interviews and a TV interview, providing a good starting ground for scaling the campaign up next year.

#GivingTuesday was also hailed a success elsewhere, with millions of pounds donated through the UK campaign alone, which was  mentioned online more than 48,000 times, according to the Charities Aid Foundation. The hashtag dominated social media, trending on twitter all day and involving many celebrities, who used their networks to promote their favourite causes and the initiative more broadly.