If you found this article by searching for “time-saving fundraising tips” as you’re building your giving season campaign, it’s probably safe to say that you don’t have time to read this intro…
So let’s dive right in!
6 Giving Season Fundraising Tips That’ll Save You Time + Energy
Whether you’re looking at the calendar and realizing Giving Tuesday is quickly getting closer or you’re a team of one who can’t possibly do it all (or, let’s be honest, both), our fundraising advice is this: Don’t try to do it all!
Instead, use these time-saving fundraising tips and focus your energy on your mission.
1. Review What Worked Last Year-End
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel! Take a quick look at recent year-end campaigns. What worked? Was it the channels you chose? The cadence of the outreach? The messaging?
Take what performed well during previous giving seasons and replicate it this year. For example, if the timing of last year’s appeal letter, email appeals, and/or social media posts effectively engaged donors, copy last year’s calendar and update the dates as needed. If specific calls to action or phrases seem to resonate, use them again!
On the flip side, if a certain channel or tactic didn’t seem to increase donations or engagement, don’t spend time on it this year.
While you don’t want to run the exact same campaign – your theme, featured impact stories and data, and goals should be updated – you can certainly reuse bits and pieces. Trust us, your team will likely be the only ones who notice!
2. Use Quick-to-Implement Fundraising Tactics
If you’re really feeling the pressure (even with these time-saving fundraising ideas), consider shifting your strategy to include more fundraising tactics that don’t require a lot of advanced planning.
From postcards to phone calls to social media posts, there are several giving season strategies that can be quickly executed while still making an impact. Read 5 Last-Minute Year-End Fundraising Tactics to Do Right Now to discover more!
3. Syndicate Your Content Across Giving Season Outreach
Again…reinventing the wheel is not the name of the game with these fundraising tips. There’s no need to craft a brand new message for every single piece of content!
Plus, there’s a bonus: Not only will syndicating your content save you time, it will actually reinforce your messaging! Donors typically need between seven and 12 touchpoints before they give, so seeing your message again and again will help them get there.
We recommend starting with perfecting the centerpiece of your campaign. This is often a fundraising appeal letter, but (as mentioned in Tip #2) you can choose to stick to emails if you’re short on budget or time.
Once you have this primary piece of content completed, adapt it for each channel and audience. Split longer stories up across a series of emails and/or social posts. We’ve been known to copy-paste an appeal letter into an email format, then edit from there!
MVP Playbook Resource: Use our free Fundraising Appeal Letter Templates to help you get started on the outreach at the heart of your campaign.
4. Put AI to Work (the Right Way) for End-Of-Year Campaigns
Need help planning out your strategy or getting started on your content? Think about using an AI tool.
AI tools can help provide more fundraising tips as well as ideas for tactics, themes, audience segments, and KPIs you haven’t previously considered. Simply share a little bit about your mission and goals, then ask the tool to generate a campaign that fits your timeline.
As for content, you can also submit a query to an AI tool asking it to generate social media posts, emails, or even fundraising appeal letters.
A few words of caution regarding the use of AI:
- Don’t share proprietary or potentially sensitive or personal information with AI tools. This is especially true with your beneficiaries’ names and stories.
- Do thoroughly edit each and every piece of content generated by AI – while these tools can be helpful, they won’t be able to match your unique voice and tone. Fact and grammar checking is also a must!
- Do adjust any strategies, tactics, or segments to suit your audience. You know your donors best, and building authentic donor relationships should still be your top priority!
In short, while AI can certainly be part of your process, you should never fully rely on it.
5. Get the Most Out of Your Tools
What tools or software are you currently using? Are you using them to their full potential?
Many CRMs and fundraising platforms have several features that can help you save time, money, and energy this giving season.
Check in with your tools – you can even schedule a call with a rep – to see what features you may be missing out on. Many platforms offer things like donation form assistance, list generation, automatic reporting, donation tracking, and even campaign planning or content creation with the help of AI.
Don’t spend time manually doing things that these tools can do for you, especially if you’re already paying for them.
6. Get Help!
One of our top fundraising tips when it comes to expanding your capacity this year-end? Bringing in some help!
Ask your board members to make calls or send a few one-on-one emails to major donors. Check in with your volunteers to see if anyone is willing to draft some social media posts. See if anyone on your team is able to help you source impact data.
Or, consider hiring a nonprofit consultant. Many consultants have giving season packages available to nonprofits that include things like fundraising coaching, campaign strategy, content generation, and more.
MVP Advisors has several giving season consulting packages available. We’re here to help you save time and raise more funds this year-end!
Discover More Fundraising Tips
Are you looking for more fundraising tips tailored for nonprofits? MVP Advisors has got you covered!
Check out our blog for several articles covering a wide range of topics, from giving season fundraising to event planning to nonprofit communications. Take a look at our nonprofit resource library to find free resources that will help you take your fundraising to the next level.
And you can always reach out to us via email or by setting up a phone call. We’re happy to discuss how we can work together to further your mission.