The most popular time of the year for charitable giving is around the corner and now is the best time to gear up for your nonprofit’s year end fundraising. A lot of times, many nonprofit professionals like to take an extended summer vacation and we don’t blame them at all. Once that vacation is over, it is time to get back to planning and achieving great year end goals. Here are ways in which you can supercharge your year end giving and round it up with satisfactory results.
Start where you don’t want to
All nonprofit professionals have a few tasks that they keep putting off to the maximum possible level. An ideal way to kickstart your year end campaign is to do the things that you know need to be done but you’ve been postponing. Consider the following.
- Call the donor you don’t want to talk to. Regardless of your opinion of the person, he/she is still a donor and the sooner you have a conversation, the sooner you’ll be at peace. This way, you can calmly move on to planning the bigger stuff.
- Clean and sort your database. This also seems like a task but when you have your database in place, your planning and execution becomes more efficient.
- Schedule your board meetings. Meetings can sometimes get long and tiring but speaking to your board will help you navigate your way better.
Proclaim urgency
It is a mere human tendency to say “I’ll do it later” or “I’ll donate later”. Even when it comes to charitable giving, the case remains the same. Taking this into consideration, use a strong language in your end of year appeal. For example, using words and phrases like “hurry”, “deadline” and “do not miss out” will create that sense of urgency. Do not forget to state the reason why your donors need to donate now. In order to do this, you will have to understand what each donor’s interest is. You can then send out personalized messages or emails that your donors can best connect to.
Optimization
It continues to be about the experience you give your donors. Therefore, see to it that all your platforms are optimized to best reflect your year-end fundraising campaign.
- Make sure that the homepage of your website is completely upgraded with the messaging of year end fundraising. You can also have an entire holiday theme on your home page.
- Be it your homepage or your landing pages for donations, mobile optimization is a must. An excellent user experience will keep your donors coming back, time and again.
- Optimize on social media to get your message across. Use visuals in the form of images and videos.
Engage your donors
It is advisable to not wait till the last week of December to start communicating with your donors. Doing this will make it very obvious that you only wish to make your year end appeal.
- Now is a great time to start sending emails to your donors thanking them and asking them about their well being. Build that bond.
- Organize virtual meetings if not a personal one. Treat it as an informal get together between you and your supporters.
Plan a break
In all that you do, you need to have something to look forward to, apart from your work and fundraising results. This is truly the fun part. Once you get done with year end fundraising, you will have that time off in January. Plan a holiday for a day or two in advance, a break that you can treat as your reward. Make this plan only about you for you will totally need and deserve it.
Conclusion
Charitable giving including year end campaigns take a lot of effort. But what matters most is that you get started, wherever you are. Make the most of this year end by connecting better with your donors and show that you care about them beyond their donations. All the best from GiveCentral!
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