Yikes! End of Year!
1/3 of Your Revenue
About 1/3 of a nonprofit’s revenue is raised in the last 3 months of the calendar year. And 12% of that is received the last 3 days of December. Giving Tuesday is popular among donors who give at the end of the year and it’s up to us to tap into their generosity. Our clients, patrons, and community depend on us, now more than ever.
No Plan?
If you haven’t started planning your end-of-year appeal, it’s not too late, it’s close, but not totally unrealistic.
Plan
You need a Plan with a goal and timeline.
- Choose a theme for your message that you will use throughout your appeal.
- Segment donors. A lapsed donor and a major donor should not receive the same message. Your basic message, the open and close, will be the same, but the middle should speak to each segment.
- When you are writing your appeal, remember why donors give.
- They want to feel good about helping others.
- They want to connect with something positive.
- They want to take advantage of tax deductions.
- Make it easy for your donors to give online. Make sure the donate button on your website and on your social media donation pages work.
- Now when donors are looking for ways to avoid capital gains taxes by donating stocks. You don’t need a brokerage account. DonateStock helps nonprofits by accepting gifts of stock, selling it and depositing the proceeds in your bank account.
Goal
- Analyze past campaigns to help you establish realistic goals. If you’ve raised 3% more each year for the past 3 years, then most likely you’ll raise 3% again. Set a stretch goal to push pass that plateau.
Timeline
- By November, your messaging should be finalized. Kick off your appeal with a message of gratitude, not an Ask. This could be a simple email, or a video embedded in an email or even a postcard that celebrates the fall season.
- Your first round of solicitations should be sent soon afterwards. The majority will be by email, but you may want to send a real letter by postal mail to select donors.
- December is when you will
- update your donors on the progress of the appeal. Let them know you are grateful for their support.
- Involve board members and others to thank donors.
- send a follow-up appeal, possibly by participating in Giving Tuesday,
- send a third solicitation between Christmas and New Year’s Eve for those late givers.
At DMGroupConsulting, our goal is to help you achieve your goals. Schedule a free 30 minute consultation.
