Organizational Design

Our Organizational Design

GivingTuesday operates in a matrixed structure, which aligns with its functional orientation and intensely collaborative and innovative culture. While a linear structure formed around programs serves many organizations well and can foster effective service delivery, in the context of GivingTuesday’s distributed model, cross-functionality has been key to our success. So much of what GivingTuesday has become is the result of organic growth and evolution. As GivingTuesday expands, the fundamental idea organizing our work is that we build together, we grow together, we tackle challenges together, and we seek opportunities together.

Leadership Development

We work with a diverse global network of leaders to scale impact, supporting the development of geography- and affinity-based coalitions and creating ladders of opportunity for new and existing leaders in the movement. The collaboration, innovation and learnings from the movement, coupled with our nucleus organization’s strengths, help build leadership capacity within and beyond the social sector.

Communications and Storytelling

We leverage communications and storytelling to connect with a global audience and instill a sense of belonging in the movement. GivingTuesday’s communications platform uses movement-building principles to highlight the important and inspiring work of leaders, organizers, and individuals who are embracing radical generosity and driving change for their communities, cultures, causes, and coalitions.

The GivingTuesday nucleus, and the work it drives, is organized to reflect an interconnected approach: the core functions intersect to drive our strategies and ultimately unleash generosity. We focus on these functional strengths to fully leverage our strategies and fulfill our shared mission and vision.

Insights and Learning

We build and scale the movement with a data-driven approach that explores giving patterns and behavior, the growth of movements, and the drivers and impacts of generosity. We initiate and analyze research across sectors, identifying and supporting the adoption of best practices and innovative efforts—big and small—that unleash radical generosity.

Operations and People

We amplify our functional strengths and strategies through our operations and people. This begins and culminates in culture: the organization recruits and enlists talented teammates who are experts in their fields. GivingTuesday’s culture—articulated and codified in its values, norms, habits, and beliefs— empowers the organization to deploy its capabilities in its strategies in new and nimble ways.