The festive season is here, and everybody is psyched to have merry times with their loved ones. The last few months of the year instill confidence in each of us. Festive gatherings and time with relatives and friends help us realign with what matters most and plan for the new year ahead.
This is why numerous such individuals like donating to their preferred charities over the holiday season. Generosity is at an all-time high, and individuals are searching for ways to help their neighborhoods.
Therefore, the end-of-year fundraising campaigns for your non-profits are one of the most anticipated activities of the year.
Since December accounts for 30% of all yearly charitable gifts, the end-of-year fundraising push is a critical opportunity to interact with supporters and collect vital fundraising funds for your non-profit. And one of the effective ways is using direct Mail that we will mention several times to implement it.
Thankfully, we can help you with direct mail campaigns at Giving Mail. Our staff at GivingMail has over 70 years of fundraising expertise, having worked with dozens of the world’s most well-known organizations to raise millions of dollars. That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide to help you generate greater outcomes and build stronger relationships with your end-of-the-year fundraisers.
On the other hand, end-of-year donations might catch non-profits off guard if you don’t plan. This is why, to run an effective campaign, you must begin planning early.
Many options will appeal to you if you want to raise donations, engage new contributors, or generate excitement around your group with a campaign that lasts until the end of the year.
Without further ado, let’s look at some of the most effective year-end fundraising ideas to help you generate more funds and build deeper relationships. But before we get into that, here are some of the things you need to cover before setting up the year-end fundraising ideas to be highlighted later on:
- Plan Your Campaign Ahead of Time
Timely preparation will help your staff minimize anxiety and hurrying during the busy end-of-year period, mainly if your campaign includes organizing an event.
You’ll be capable of preparing your crucial campaign materials, including:
- Your donation form
- Social media calendars
- Email series
- Direct mail themes
Summertime is an excellent time to begin preparing. This will give you more than enough time to gather your bearings before the December fundraising frenzy.
Begin thinking about your end-of-year donating drive as soon as possible. In addition, consider how you’ll convey the campaign’s intensity to your target group.
Begin publicizing your campaign in the fall season so that once your supporters and donors have the finances to donate at the end of the year, they will recall and do just that.
2. Examine Previous Fundraising Efforts
The success of past campaigns can determine your nonprofit’s readiness for a future fundraising campaign. Analyzing donation information and statistics from previous campaigns and identifying KPIs to assist your charity staff remains on course as you prepare for your upcoming campaign.
Evaluate the following while analyzing previous campaigns:
- What was successful and what was unsuccessful?
- What are the strategies that worked for you?
- Did you use direct mailing as a strategy?
- What was the total amount of money you were able to raise? Was it better than or worse than expected, and why?
- How did your marketing platforms perform in terms of conversions? Examine your website’s social networking pages, email campaigns, and contribution pages.
- What was the theme of your previous year’s campaign? How did it go over with the public?
- Which portions of your donor base contributed the most?
- How did you keep in touch with donors and thank them for their assistance?
- How much did the typical donation cost?
- Which of your fundraising emails and social media posts proved to be the most effective?
3. Organize Your Donors Into Groups
Since your supporters have varying earnings, motivations for donating, hobbies, and desired involvement levels, it isn’t always wise to take a “one-size-fits-all” strategy to fundraise.
Divide your contributors as you organize your year-end fundraisers, giving particular consideration to lapsed and new donors. They require special attention to re-engage!
Send an end-of-year fundraising letter, encourage their support. Using the same direct mailing pieces shows them what their past support has funded and what needs still exist.
Recognizing which donors need more of your time, efforts, and money can allow you to allocate your time, resources, and cash more effectively.
To reclaim lapsed donors, make a direct phone call. Organize a holiday dinner where you may introduce first-time contributors to lifetime donors.
4. Involve Your Supporters in Your Work by Offering Outreach Programs
Volunteers for a cause contribute nearly twice as much as other donations per the National and Community Service Corporation. One argument is that volunteering allows your supporters to get a behind-the-scenes peek at the work your non-profit conducts, and so it gives life to the stories you share. And most importantly, they become part of the following story you are to tell.
Arrange a campaign for the end of the year that will encourage supporters to help you with your future community-based fundraising initiatives.
It might be peer-to-peer fundraising, in which supporters are encouraged to become individual fundraisers, or just requesting supporters to promote your cause with a small circle of colleagues and relatives.
5. Make a SMART Campaign Objective
One of the most important guiding principles you can incorporate into your preparation is establishing an objective expressly for your year-end campaign. A campaign aim is similar to a ship’s rudder in that it provides direction.
And the most effective objectives aren’t randomly chosen. To increase your chances of achieving your goals, create a SMART plan. The acronym SMART stands for:
Specific: Ensure your objective is something you can achieve and that you won’t be handling too many tasks in one go.
Measurable: Pick measurements that will assist you in determining whether or not you’ve achieved your aim. Keep an eye on them!
Attainable: Don’t put yourself in jeopardy by attempting the unattainable. So that you can achieve your campaign’s aim, be practical about it.
Relevant: Keep your purpose forefront while creating objectives. Select an aim that aligns with your purpose.
Time-based: Set a firm deadline for your non-profit to reach its end-of-year donation goal.
Remember that whichever SMART objective your group chooses, it isn’t only for your group to implement. You can also discuss your SMART goals with your supporters to inform them about your year-end activities. In addition, using Direct Mail, social media, or a live stream on your webpage may help you provide frequent networking feeds.
6. Integrate Text Donations into Your Strategy
Text fundraising is effective at any time of year, but it’s highly effective in November and December for securing last-minute contributions.
Why? A contributor can easily partake in text fundraising. That implies they won’t need to spend time away from their festivities or family gatherings to donate to your charity, increasing the likelihood that they’ll carry through with their pledges.
Below are some pointers to ensure a successful end-of-year text fundraising campaign:
- Allow donors to choose whether or not to participate. Nobody likes to get messages they didn’t sign up for. Allowing your donors to opt-in to receive fundraising messages from your group will enable them to select whether or not they would like to take part in your effort. This also shows contributors that you care about what they want and require from your company, which helps you gain their trust.
- Select a simple keyword. Contributors must text a keyword to your firm’s phone number to join your campaign. You can then email them an url to your contribution form to submit their contribution. As a result, the term you choose will be crucial to your campaign’s performance. Maintain brevity and rememberability.
- Make a communications strategy for each segment. Messaging for your SMS campaign should be tailored to each donor. New donors, for instance, will most likely need to have more information about your issue and campaign before deciding to donate. Contributors who give every month, on the other hand, will probably prefer a more basic set of communications thanks to their existing contributions, as they’ve already committed to your cause!
Use social media to spread the news about your SMS fundraising effort. Share an infographic with directions on how to opt-in and pin it to the peak of your social media account until your end-of-year campaign concludes.
7. Leave The Heavy Lifting to Technology
Fortunately, there are provisions to alleviate some of the stress. For example, nonprofit-specific fundraising systems assist groups in communicating more effectively and efficiently on the rear end, allowing more contributions to be generated for charity on the front end.
Non-profit fundraising automated tools can assist organizations by:
- Keep track of your continuing standards and aspirations. With all-important marketing data in one place and an updated direct mail list, non-profit organizations can immediately create an impression wherever required, whether via new mails, mobile bids, events, or virtual giving options.
- Help you automatically update your direct email list. Besides having your updated direct mailing list in one place, you may also use these automated tech tools to add any new donors and supporters that donate to your organization. This way, you can keep a qualitative account of the direct mail statistics.
- Connect with potential contributors. Online fundraising tools assist non-profit organizations in communicating and engaging with current donors and new audiences to develop solid, long-lasting relationships at all phases of a campaign — before, during, and even after it begins.
- Boost your internet fundraising initiatives. Non-profit organizations can grab the end of the year by wave without worrying about contradictory messages thanks to easy microsites, contribution forms, and donation sites designed expressly for specific campaigns. To make contributing online and on the go simple, seek a safe online service platform.
- Social media participation can help you discover new contributors. Nonprofits can use peer-to-peer fundraising technology to establish virtual gamification initiatives, boost personal and social fundraising programs, and expand exposure in emerging markets by using the power of social funding.
- Use mobile donations to your advantage. Current non-profit funding tools, from mobile-optimized giving websites to straightforward text-to-donate options, allow contributors to effortlessly reach and connect with end-of-year giving campaigns no matter wherever they are.
- Real-time monitoring of outcomes and metrics. With marketing notifications, event monitoring, and real-time attendance reports, non-profit leaders may immediately learn about the performance of specific initiatives and share their findings with the entire team.
Don’t let the pressure of end-of-year fundraising drives ruin your year. To enhance contributions, involvement, and peacefulness, Nonprofit-specific fundraising platforms can assist in developing fully formed, effective end-of-year campaigns.
8. Discover How to Craft a Practical End-of-year Appeal
When it comes to end-of-year giving, how you ask for money matters a lot, it’s a good idea to review how to make effective donation appeals. So let’s have a look at how to make a successful petition.
- First and foremost, concentrate on the donor. No matter what size, contributions are frequently a commitment for your donors. They’ve decided to donate money to your group rather than spend it somewhere else. Keep that in mind and prioritize these donors. Acknowledge their selflessness and willingness to go above and beyond.
- Tell a story. Even a short anecdote about how their contributors have impacted your beneficiaries’ lives will enhance your contribution. To emphasize the human aspect of your cause, share the narrative of one or two persons.
- Make use of visuals. Your cause comes to life with photos and movies. Please don’t be hesitant to utilize them to persuade individuals to donate on your contribution website or in a status update. Visuals pique our interest and encourage us to read more on a website or social media post.
- Write a compelling call to action. Simply put, a call to action is a phrase that requests a contributor to perform a particular job. Remember to word carefully; some appeals to action are more effective than others.
- Provide a variety of ways for people to donate or participate. Not each supporter can make a charitable contribution at the end of the year. Offer various opportunities for people to engage with your cause, such as helping at your end-of-year celebration or emailing campaign material to friends.
A non-profit’s year-end drive is one of the crucial projects it will undertake during any given year. It necessitates forethought, hard effort, and dedication.
It also necessitates a compact and flexible work style and rapid learning and responsiveness to supporters and funders. Finally, it leads to imagination, daring, and ingenuity.
Best end-of-year fundraising campaigns also necessitate the collaboration of a charity organization to achieve a unified objective. It relies on openness and communication. It’s one of the greatest, if not the best, ways to fulfill your nonprofit’s economic purposes.
On the other hand, year-end donations should not be depended on primarily to achieve financial objectives. Don’t strive to reach your fundraising goals all at once at the end of the year. Not only is it unreasonable, but it also puts everybody engaged in a tense situation.
Maintain consistent and evenly distributed fundraising drives year-round, and then use the year-end appeal as a boost.
We can assist you with Direct Mail and guide you through using it as a stand-alone strategy for end-of-year fundraising campaigns. You will have the best experts to guide you through the entire process at Giving Mail, so don’t hesitate to contact us.
With our single, simple-to-use direct mail fundraising platform, the staff at GivingMail is ready to assist you with your fundraising endeavors. Our service, which is used by non-profit organizations across the country, will save you money and effort while allowing you to focus more on your organization’s vital mission.
