5 Tips for a Successful Year-End Campaign
With Labor Day behind us and the unofficial start to Fall here, nonprofit fundraisers know all too well that the end of the year fundraising season will be here before we know it. With that in mind, here are 5 tips to help prepare for, and ensure you meet, your fundraising goals.
Create a Plan – It seems simple enough, but it can’t be over-stated. Donors will be inundated with requests for funding from October to December so it’s important you have a solid plan in place. You’ll want to know now what you are going to communicate, how you are going to communicate, and who you are going to communicate with. It should be a multi-faceted approach that can be seamlessly executed across multiple channels.
Don’t Talk About Your Goals – Donors don’t care that you are trying to raise $50,000. They care about the lives you are going to impact with their contribution. Messaging should focus on impact, not an arbitrary number you’ve assigned to your year-end campaign. As we shared in a recent LinkedIn post, donors don’t give to nonprofits, they give through them in order to create the change they want to see.
Involve the Board and Other Volunteers – They are your biggest advocates. Make sure they know about your year-end campaign and how they can help you spread the message. Whether it’s as easy as resharing your social media posts or providing testimonials about the importance of your work, there is a lot they can do to help. Be sure to tap into this important resource. Fundraising is a team sport!
Find a Matching Donor – There is a subset of donors who are excited about having their gift leveraged to help their favorite nonprofit raise even more money. So, by starting now to identify who these donors are, you will hopefully be able to encourage one of them to give a significant gift that you can use in your messaging as a matching donor. Depending on the size of your organization, $10,000 - $100,000 is ideal and would go a long way in encouraging other donors to give. Because there is also a subset of donors who love nothing more than doubling their impact!
Remember One-Size Does Not Fit All – Donors are as unique as snowflakes. They give for different reasons and in different ways. They expect different levels of interaction and want to be communicated with differently. And, they give a wide range of sizes and types of contributions.
These are all important factors to keep in mind as you plan for your year-end campaign and approach to meeting your goals.
I hope you found these tips helpful and I wish you the best of luck with your year-end efforts!
About Rachel M. Decker
Having spent nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector as an effective and strategic fundraising and foundation executive, Detroit Philanthropy Founder and President, Rachel Decker is passionate about helping others, making meaningful connections, solving problems and, most importantly, creating impact in our community. With the founding of Detroit Philanthropy, she turned that passion into a commitment to champion philanthropy throughout metro Detroit as a philanthropic advisor, fundraising consultant and speaker.