We’re sure we don’t have to tell you about the importance of your end-of-year fundraising campaign. This blog won’t be the first (or the last) to quote the stat that 30% of all annual giving happens in the month of December alone. But that doesn’t make it any less true!
We also know that creating an effective giving season campaign can feel a little daunting.
Use our quick end-of-year fundraising checklist to guide you through planning and executing your best year-end fundraising campaign yet!
Your End-of-Year Fundraising Campaign Checklist
Feeling stuck? We’ve got you covered! Here are the eight things you should be checking off when planning your next year-end fundraising campaign.
1. Determine Your Campaign Goals
First things first, make sure to set a goal (or several) for your end-of-year fundraising campaign.
We recommend that you always set a total dollars-raised goal, as this will help you determine your budget, target audience, and more. If you’d like, you can break this goal down into additional fundraising goals, like:
- Number of new donors
- Dollars raised from existing and/or major donors
- Dollars raised for specific programs
You can also choose to set goals beyond fundraising, especially if you are aiming to boost awareness. While the focus of these goals might not be about raising donations, they can have a positive impact on future fundraising efforts.
These awareness goals might include:
- Number of clicks on fundraising emails
- Number of new followers on a social media channel
- Number of website visits from an advertisement
2. Set a Budget for Your Giving Season Campaign
Once you have determined your dollars-raised goal, come up with a budget that will help you meet it. This budget doesn’t have to be huge, but you should keep costs in mind such as:
- List acquisition (especially if you are a newer nonprofit or don’t have a large donor base)
- Printing and postage (if you plan to send anything through the mail)
- Online donation form (more on this later)
You can adjust this budget as you work through the other items on this checklist, but it’s good to have a starting point.
3. Assemble a Fundraising Team
Next up, gather a team of people who can help you meet your goals. This project team could be made up of staff members, volunteers, board members, or a combination of all three!
We recommend bringing together people of varied skills and backgrounds who can tackle different items on this checklist. Just be sure to assign specific tasks and set up regular check-ins to keep everyone on track.
Make MVP Advisors part of your team! We offer nonprofit consulting services with a tailored approach to meet your organization’s unique fundraising needs. Let us help you this giving season and beyond – click here to get in touch!
4. Define Your Target Audiences for this Year-End
While you may be tempted to ask anyone and everyone to donate to your organization, it’s best to directly target the people you think would be most likely to give.
To define a target audience, think of your ideal donor. Where do they live? What are their interests? How old are they? What is their marital status? Have they given to your organization before?
You might have more than one target audience for your campaign, and that’s ok! Just make sure your entire team understands these audiences, as they are crucial to the other items on this year-end fundraising checklist.
5. Choose Your Outreach Channels & Tactics
After you narrow down your target audiences, figure out how to reach them. Think about which type of communication your audience may respond best to – is it a mailed appeal letter or a short email? Which social media channel do they use (if any)?
You should also consider your budget. While direct mail can be effective, it’s also more expensive than other channels. And ads can reach a broader audience, but they can be costly.
Whatever tactics you choose, we recommend picking a mix of channels. Multi-channel campaigns have a higher success rate because you are more likely to reach more of your audience and many people need to see a message multiple times before they give.
Looking for year-end fundraising inspiration? Check out the donor stewardship tactics in this blog.
6. Create Your Giving Season Messaging
Along with your outreach tactics, you’ll need to hone in on the messaging for your end-of-year fundraising campaign.
We recommend selecting a theme to center all of your outreach on. This will ensure that each piece of your multi-channel campaign shares a cohesive message. Plus, there’s no need to recreate the wheel for each piece! Simply start with what you consider to be the most important tactic in your campaign (often your mailed appeal letter), then adjust as needed for other channels and audiences.
For optimum results, add a sense of urgency to your messaging (why should your donors give now?). You should also personalize your outreach whenever possible, both by using your donor’s preferred name as well as adjusting the content to fit the intended audience.
7. Make it Easy for Everyone to Give
If you don’t make it easy to donate to your organization, you could be losing out on crucial funds! Be sure to include a direct call to action in all outreach with a request for donations and directions on how to give.
In addition, provide several giving options so that your donors can give using their preferred method, whether that be cash, check, or credit card. A must-have option in today’s digital world is an online donation form, which allows your donors to give via card, smart wallet, and many other methods in just a few clicks.
8. Develop an End-of-Year Fundraising Campaign Timeline
To keep your giving season campaign running smoothly, it’s important to develop a timeline that includes all of the tactics you have decided upon. Set a start and end date, and make sure to space your outreach out so that you are reaching your audience several times throughout the season.
Ready, Set, Go!
That’s it! Complete the tasks on this end-of-year fundraising campaign checklist and you’ll be ready to go come giving season. You’ve got this!
If you feel like you need some extra help, reach out to us here at MVP Advisors. Whether you’re looking for major donor coaching, fundraising appeal crafting, or assistance with an entire campaign, we’re here for you! Check out our services and email us to get started.