By: Keisha Hartman

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Are you feeling the blitz of year-end?

End-of-year (EOY) fundraising has proven that people give MORE in December. It is an extremely profitable time for your non-profit, and a critical opportunity to maximize your fundraising efforts.

We know how time consuming it is to put together a solid strategy for your EOY fundraising plan so we put together a list of five things you can do now:

CREATE A GAME PLAN

Review lasts year’s results and look at more than just the dollar amount. Analyze timing, which emails performed better than others, and where your donors came from. Don’t be afraid to get those creative juices flowing and start with big ideas – you can always cut down later, but keep in mind your capacity to deliver quality over quantity.

Decide which mediums to include, how many, and the frequency. Here are a few examples:

• E-mails
• Thank you letters
• Website elements (sliders, donation headers, light boxes, donor wall)
• Social media assets (profile and cover photos, hashtags, advertisements)
• Crowdfunding or peer-to-peer microsite
• Facebook fundraising

GATHER YOUR ASSETS

Once you have a plan, determine which assets and resources you’ll need to make your EOY campaign successful.

Do you need compelling stories?

Reach out to volunteers, patients/clients, and others impacted by your cause through surveys, phone calls, or emails to gather stories, photos, and videos to share.

Are there any elements that will be used on all emails – signature, footer, logos etc.?

Determine these elements now so you can easily add them to the designs down the road. Anything you can gather now will help in crafting your message later.

SECURE A MATCHING DONOR

Matching challenges (when a donor agrees to match other incoming gifts dollar-for-dollar) are one of the secret weapons for time-based fundraising campaigns because they motivate fundraisers and donors to act fast to double their impact. They work best when there is a dollar amount goal or limited time period to create a sense of urgency – which is critical to a matching challenge.

Reach out to your major gift officer to find a matching donor. It’s important to let your potential large-gift donor know how the money will be used – to encourage additional donations for the cause. It is typical to offer benefits to the donor like logo placement and company recognition but remaining anonymous is also acceptable.

OPTIMIZE YOUR DONATION FORMS

Customize your donation forms for EOY fundraising and design them for donor engagement

Create a unique online giving form that corresponds with your year-end campaign. Use distinctive branding such as colors, fonts, and images. Your year-end fundraising campaign should have a cohesive story among all platforms, and it’s important that you visually convey that message at every point, including your donation form.

More than half of all donors that engage in online giving do so via mobile. This means that any online site must be smartphone optimized. Explore donation giving levels that match with your campaign goals and be sure to include a monthly giving option.

ORGANIZE YOUR DONOR LISTS

A well-organized CRM can help create the most effective segments for your campaign. Determine the following:

• Who are your active donors?
• Who normally gives at this time of year?
• Who could you ask to give a little more?
• Who has established a pattern of giving a few times during the end of the year, and who saves it for the last day?

Use this information to group your donors and tailor your messaging to create personal emails and to increase the chance of a donation.

Start using these tips now to get your organization on the right track to engage, convert, and retain donors during the most important fundraising season of the year. Have questions on your EOY fundraising strategy? Request a complimentary consult with one of our senior strategists and let us review your plan.