Q4 seasonal playbook
Giving Tuesday marketing
Five plays on one page, in order. Give publicly only if you can name the recipient, the mechanism, and the date you will report it. Giving Tuesday is Tuesday 1 December 2026, the day after Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. Travel Tuesday lands the same day: pick one public moment, not both in one email.
One page to print or save as PDF. Fields for every play on this hub.
Pick your industry
Key for
Name the recipient, mechanism, and report date
If you cannot write all three in plain language, skip publicly and give quietly.
Giving Tuesday is Tuesday 1 December 2026, the day after Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. Public giving is marketing. If you cannot name who receives funds, how money moves, and when you will report the total, give quietly or wait.
The play
- Write the recipient as the legal or programme name your finance team recognizes, not a vague cause.
- Write the mechanism: fixed per order, flat transfer, opt-in at checkout, or pay-it-forward SKU.
- Write the report date when you will publish the total and confirmation from the recipient.
- If any line is blank, do not run a public Giving Tuesday campaign. Quiet giving still counts.
Example
A vegan bakery names a local mutual-aid meal fund as recipient, donates a fixed amount per gift box sold through 1 December, and commits to a 15 December blog post with the transfer confirmation. A travel brand skips public giving and makes one private transfer because the mechanism is not ready for customer copy.
What good looks like
- Three lines fit in an email footer without jargon.
- Finance signed off recipient and mechanism before the send.
- Report date is on the calendar, not "soon."
Recipient, mechanism, and report date written or the public ask is off. Put donation terms in one line next.
Write recipient, mechanism, and report date in three short lines before creative starts.
One page to print or save as PDF. Fields for every play on this hub.
Key for
Donation terms in one line
Fixed amount per order or a flat gift, cap, recipient, dates. No vague percent of profits.
Vague donation language breaks trust faster than a quiet give. Terms belong in one sentence customers and journalists can repeat.
The play
- Pick the shape: fixed amount per order, flat gift, or opt-in contribution with a stated cap.
- Include recipient, start and end dates, eligible products or channels, and what happens when the cap is hit.
- Delete percent-of-profits lines unless finance defines which profits and the substantiation folder holds the calculation.
- Publish terms on crawlable HTML, linked from the 1 December send.
Example
A vegan skincare brand states: "We donate a fixed amount per order on our site from 28 November through 1 December, capped at a stated maximum, to the named partner fund in Play 1." A hotel donates one room night per direct booking on 1 December, capped at ten nights, with blackout dates listed on the offer page.
What good looks like
- One line matches email, site banner, and support macros.
- Cap behavior is defined when the limit is reached.
- No undefined "portion of proceeds" on the hero.
Terms in one line and on HTML. Separate donation language from environmental claims next.
Draft the one-line donation terms and read them aloud to support.
Key for
Contribution, not claim
A donation or opt-in contribution is not climate positive or offset copy. Say what the money does.
From 27 September 2026, EU rules on green claims (the EmpCo directive) ban generic environmental claims you cannot prove. A give-back campaign is not permission to call the brand climate positive. Say what the money does, not what it offsets.
The play
- Review email, site, and checkout copy for offset, climate positive, carbon neutral, and planet healing lines tied to the donation.
- Rename opt-in toggles as contributions with a plain description of the recipient.
- Use the contribution at checkout pattern instead of offset language.
- File proof in the substantiation folder for any numeric line you keep.
Example
A vegan bakery replaces "carbon neutral Giving Tuesday" with "optional contribution at checkout to the named meal fund." A fashion brand removes "kept garments out of landfill" from a take-back drive unless the substantiation folder holds the methodology.
What good looks like
- Donation copy describes money movement, not environmental outcomes you cannot prove.
- Checkout contribution is voluntary and labeled as such.
- Banned filler claims removed from subject lines.
Contribution language only. Plan one ask on one channel for 1 December.
Search creative for offset and climate positive and replace with contribution language.
Key for
One ask, one channel
One send on Giving Tuesday, not stacked onto the Cyber Monday reminder.
Cyber Monday is Monday 30 November 2026. Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing should close with a thank-you, not a second discount layered with a donation ask on Tuesday. Travel Tuesday shares 1 December with Giving Tuesday: pick one public moment.
The play
- Suppress Cyber Monday urgency from the 1 December send unless posture requires a final inventory note, and even then split donation to its own email.
- Choose Giving Tuesday or Travel Tuesday for the public Tuesday send, not both in one message.
- One primary channel for the ask: house email, site banner, or owned social post, not all three with different terms.
- Support macros ready with the same one-line terms from Play 2.
Example
A product brand sends Cyber Monday close on Monday with a thank-you page only. On Tuesday they send one Giving Tuesday email with the fixed per-order terms. A tour operator skips Giving Tuesday public copy and posts one Travel Tuesday recap with January dates, no donation paragraph in the same message.
What good looks like
- Tuesday inbox shows one subject line for the give or travel moment.
- No percent-off code in the donation email.
- Segments that bought on Cyber Monday are suppressed or get a different template.
One ask, one channel, Tuesday separated from Cyber Monday. Publish the receipt after funds move.
Confirm the Cyber Monday segment will not get a second donation ask on Tuesday morning.
One page to print or save as PDF. Fields for every play on this hub.
Key for
Publish the receipt
Date the follow-up post with the total and the recipient confirmation.
Public giving without a receipt teaches customers that marketing outruns finance. Publish the total, the date funds moved, and confirmation from the recipient you named in Play 1.
The play
- On the report date, post a short update with total amount, currency, recipient, and date of transfer or delivery.
- Attach or link redacted confirmation from finance or the recipient where appropriate.
- Startups: include the same lines in the year-end founder update.
- Dining pay-it-forward: publish the meal count and partner acknowledgment, not a vague thank you.
Example
A vegan bakery posts on 15 December: total contributed, named meal fund, and confirmation that the transfer cleared. A DTC brand adds the receipt URL to the footer of the next house email. A wellness studio lists community class proceeds and the named recipient organisation in one HTML update.
What good looks like
- Report post date matches Play 1 promise.
- Total matches finance records.
- Public give closes before Christmas peak creative needs attention.
Receipt published, loop closed. Open Christmas marketing for the December calendar, gift product at full price, and second-order plan.
Block calendar time for the report post before 1 December sends go out.
Your niche
One or two angles per vertical. Each line names the play it changes.
Dining
Travel
Hospitality
Product and DTC
Fashion
Startups
Wellness
Public give announced without a report plan?
We help you name recipient, mechanism, and report date, or decide to give quietly instead of marketing it.
Want Giving Tuesday scoped to your niche?
Book a call with fisagency to pick one public give with recipient, mechanism, and report date you can defend under EmpCo.