November 15, 2021
As you're likely aware, 31% of all charitable giving happens in the month of December.
Here at GivingFuel, we want to empower you with as many resources as possible to be successful in your fundraising efforts.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our video: How To Launch A World Class Year End Campaign.
Your donors will respond best to a tangible ask about a specific initiative, opportunity, or segment of your mission. Avoiding making your general mission or activity as your year-end campaign. Get specific with something unique and tangible and watch donors jump at the chance to be involved!
Along with being specific and tangible, ensure your year-end appeal is clear. Many organizations make the mistake of educating too much with insider language and ideas the general public may not fully understand. Break down your appeal in the simplest of terms and put yourself in the minds of your donors. Ask yourself, “If I were in their shoes, would I understand this?”
Give your campaign a simple and clear name about what it is your donors are supporting. Avoid longer nuanced statements or just the generic “Year-End Campaign 2020.” One third of donors do little to no research before making a year-end gift. So help them understand it right away with an easy to understand campaign name.
Set a realistic but ambitious goal for your campaign. Don’t be afraid to tell your board, staff, volunteers, and donors the goal amount. Don’t hide from it, embrace it! Update your donors and followers throughout the campaign so they can stay up to date and celebrate with you whether you hit the goal or not.
Giving Tuesday (November 30th) is a great day for giving. But it’s only one day. Don’t make the mistake of only running your campaign for one day, when the entire month of December is far more valuable. Don’t forget, the biggest giving days of the year are December 29th, 30th, and 31st. Ensure your marketing, communications, and donor engagement lasts the entire month of December.
Don’t use your general giving page as your year-end campaign fundraising page, when it’s so easy to create a new one in GivingFuel. A new campaign page with it’s own unique URL enables you to add updated photos, branding, and copy specific to this year’s campaign. Login to your account and start building!
Utilize cloud based tools like Google Docs, Google Sheets, Trello, Slack, etc to create online places for your team to collaborate. This enables you to put all campaign language, donor engagement strategies, and donor contact information in one place for easy access.
Whether you reach out to donors via email, phone, text message, or social media, consider basic scripts about the campaign and the ways to give. The same script can be used organization wide for all forms of communication to keep a clear and consistent message. Don’t forget a simple voicemail script as well!
It is important to keep your donors & followers aware of your campaign without overwhelming them. Consider “Launch” communication when the campaign starts and then semi-frequent updates throughout the length of the campaign. This could mean weekly emails throughout the month and more frequent emails the last week of December. Consider 2-3 social media posts per week about the campaign or related information.
While mass emails and social media posts are nice “passive touches” for your campaign, they aren’t direct asks. So don’t be surprised if only a few people give from your social media posts or marketing emails. To truly fundraise for your campaign, you have to truly ask your donors. Whether this is at an event, in person, or via phone, personal email, or text, the real fundraising happens when you step up and make the ask. Here’s the good news...they want you to ask them!
Need a little help? Check out our video on “Making The Ask”
We are here to help with anything you need for your year-end fundraising. Don’t hesitate to reach out!
