The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2022
Mailchimp's Give Where You Live routes Giving Tuesday money to small local nonprofits
An animated anthem film, a recommendation-engine website and NFL players in six markets turned holiday generosity toward small local nonprofits.
Mailchimp
What it had to solve
Give Where You Live is an initiative Mailchimp designed to drum up interest, visibility and donations for small, local non-profits, the organisations that know their communities best. It launched around Giving Tuesday, when most donors give to large national causes.
How it works
On the biggest giving day of the year, most attention goes to large national causes while the small nonprofits that know their communities best are easily overlooked. Mailchimp built Give Where You Live to drum up interest, visibility and donations for exactly those organisations.
The integrated campaign paired an animated anthem film with a website that doubled as a recommendation engine, helping donors find vetted small nonprofits, plus a partnership with NFL players in six US markets: Atlanta, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Mailchimp backed the message internally with a two-for-one match on employee donations and $10 for every full-time employee to give locally.
Launched for Giving Tuesday 2022, the movement pointed holiday generosity at neighbourhood organisations, and Mailchimp later reported that participating nonprofits saw a 28% rise in revenue in the first year. The work was recognised in the D&AD awards archive, and Give Where You Live has since become a recurring programme.
Why it lands
- Small local nonprofits miss the big giving moments because donors do not know they exist; the recommendation engine solves that discovery problem.
- NFL players in each market gave local causes a trusted, visible face instead of a distant national celebrity.
- The company put its own money behind the message, matching donations two-for-one and funding every employee's $10 gift.
- It used Mailchimp's own competence, helping customers find audiences, to help donors find nonprofits.
What it did
A corporate platform became a local-giving movement: donations and attention flowed to small nonprofits in six cities, and Mailchimp later reported that participating nonprofits saw a 28% rise in revenue in the first year. The work was recognised at the D&AD Awards.
What you can take
A company with a national audience can make generosity local: hand the platform to the organisations closest to the donor and give them visibility, not just money.
Since then
The Giving Tuesday 2022 launch became an ongoing programme rather than a one-off campaign. Mailchimp reported that first-year participating nonprofits saw a 28% rise in revenue, and in February 2024 it held the inaugural Give Where You Live Day in Atlanta with the Atlanta Hawks, gifting $10,000 each to three local nonprofits after a day of staff volunteering. The initiative sits in the D&AD awards archive as an example of a marketing platform turning its reach toward local generosity.
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