Year-end fundraising is a critical time for nonprofits. It is when many donors make their largest gifts of the year, which can help fund essential programs and initiatives. According to Giving USA’s 2023 report, a record $499.33 billion was donated to charities in the United States last year. Of that total, a quarter was donated around the end of the year, traditionally the most significant fundraising period.
As a project of Moore Philanthropy, you are uniquely positioned to raise funds during this time as well. By partnering with us, your organizations can accept tax-deductible donations and grants. With year-end fundraising quickly approaching, it is important that you take advantage of this opportunity.
Here are 5 ways to you can prepare your projects for year-end fundraising:
Set clear goals
What do you hope to achieve with your year-end fundraising campaign? Goals can include targeted dollar amounts, increasing the number of recurring donors, upgrading gifts from renewing donors, or re-engaging lapsed donors. Once you know your goals, you can develop a plan to achieve them.
Segment your donors
Not all donors are created equal. Some are more likely to give at year-end than others. By segmenting your donors, you can tailor your fundraising appeals to their interests and motivations. The segments you choose to use will depend on you and the constituencies you are contacting.
Some organizations decide to segment their donors based on how much they have given in the past, how often they have given, and how recently they have donated. Others focus on whether or not a prospective donor has volunteered their time to the organization and, if so, what type of volunteer work they do. You can parse your donors in many ways, such as their interests, the programs they support, the issues they care about, or the demographics they identify with. These are only a few examples; you should utilize segments that work best for you and your goals.
Personalize your communications
People are more likely to give to organizations they feel connected with. Engage donors with stories about how their gifts have made an impact, and let them know how their support will help you achieve your project’s goals.
- Use donor names in the greetings or subject line to personalize the solicitation. This will also help with open rates and email deliverability.
- Look at past giving history and highlight how continuing to support the fund will make an impact.
- Use testimonials from people who benefited from a donor’s generosity to highlight how their support makes a difference.
- Create a fundraising calendar and plan to help you stay on track.
Use multiple channels
Don’t rely on just one channel to contact your donors. Use a variety of channels, such as email, direct mail, social media, and phone calls, to reach as many people as possible. In today’s competitive philanthropic environment, donors are solicited by multiple organizations, and you need to break through the noise to be heard. Using various channels increases the odds of your message being seen and converting solicitations into donations.
Track your results
It’s essential to track your results to see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you improve your year-end fundraising campaign for next year. Common ways to measure your success include the total amount you’ve raised, the number of constituents who have donated to your campaign, and the average amount each donor has given.
Now that you’re prepared, what are the main ways fundraising is done for year-end?
- Email is a cost-effective way to reach many donors. It can be used to send out appeals, updates, and thank-you notes. Develop a robust email marketing campaign.
- Social media is a great way to connect with donors and spread the word about your year-end campaign. You can use social media to share stories, photos, and videos about your work.
- Direct mail is a more traditional way of fundraising, but it can still be effective. Direct mail appeals should be personalized and targeted to a specific audience.
- Partner with other organizations to reach a wider audience. Cohosting events and engaging other community groups can bring in a new donor base that may not have been familiar with your work.
- Direct asks are when you contact donors by phone or in-person to ask for a gift. You can also host special events to raise money.
- Phone-athons are when you call many donors to ask for a gift. It can be very effective with the right messengers, like volunteers connected to the donors or board members to major donors.
What does Moore Philanthropy offer to help you meet your year-end fundraising goals and needs?
We leverage digital fundraising tools and donor management systems to help fiscally sponsored projects meet their fundraising goals. Using Bloomerang, we make it easy for fiscal sponsors to create digital fundraising campaigns, track their relationships, accept online donations, automate tasks, and benchmark results.
Here are some of the tools we can deploy to help you exceed your fundraising goals:
- Launch donation pages to streamline your online fundraising capacity, create registration forms to optimize your event coordination, and manage subscriptions to your email database and constituent forms.
- Automate tasks such as sending out donation requests, tracking donations, and managing donor relationships.
- Use detailed reports on your fundraising activities to track your results and see what’s working and what’s not.
- You can create and manage email lists, track donor interactions, and send targeted messages to specific groups of donors to grow your donor base.
- Use tools to track donor records, manage gift acknowledgments, and generate reports to stay compliant.
By following these tips, nonprofits can increase their chances of success during year-end fundraising. Reach out to us to learn more about how our financial tools can help you increase the impact of your projects, and how our digital tools can support you in meeting your fundraising goals.