First, Thanksgiving. Then Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Get through all that, and you’ll reach Giving Tuesday on Nov. 27. It’s a day to engage the community and raise funds for campus causes. Here are a few ways to help you reach potential donors and encourage giving.

Identify a cause. The list of things needing funding on community college campuses is long and growing. What is one need or cause everyone can rally behind? Tell donors where their money is going.

Last year, Nevada’s Truckee Meadows Community College raised nearly $2,500 on Giving Tuesday for student scholarships. This year, the college is highlighting its dental program expansion. The college is adding a new Bachelor of Science Dental Hygiene degree in 2019 and has set a goal of raising $5,000 for equipment needs such as powered scalers, polishers and handheld tablets for student and patient education.

Engage current donors to pledge to match donations. Those donating to the College of Southern Maryland Foundation on Giving Tuesday can choose one of the designated matching funds to double their donation. That’s because many generous donors throughout the community have already pledged to match donations that day, dollar for dollar, for specific scholarship funds. Among those donors is CSM Foundation Director Linda Cox, who is offering to match the first $1,000 donated to her family’s memorial scholarship.

“On November 27, I will replenish the endowment in the names of so many who are so dear to me,” Cox said in a release. “Because every little bit helps – for some learners in very big ways, and for some, in small ways – but it all helps.”

Matching funds will be available for several other CSM Foundation scholarships as well, such as the Southern Maryland Women’s League Scholarship, which supports students who are single parents or children of a single-parent household, and the Peter Cangelosi Memorial Scholarship, supporting students majoring in a medical field.

Last year, 370 donors gave $123,124 during Giving Tuesday.

Leverage social media. With a week to go until the big day, GivingTuesday.org suggests focusing your social media efforts on promoting #GivingTuesday.

“Best practices are 1-2 posts on Facebook and Instagram, with 3+ Tweets a day,” the site’s social media toolkit suggests.

On Nov. 27, go big, particularly sharing messages during lunch and after work, which data suggest are peak times for giving.

Learn more at GivingTuesday.org.