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Raise More Money This Year-End

by Darrell Law | Oct 24, 2017 | Fundraising

Did you know that nonprofits raise up to 40% of their donations in the last six weeks of the year? How is your organization gearing up to MAXIMIZE its year-end fundraising efforts?

To help you raise more money this year, here are some simple steps to take:

STEP 1: CREATE A FUNDRAISING PLAN

Create a fundraising activity calendar outlining all of the efforts you want to execute as you move forward to December 31. This calendar helps you see the overall picture of how you plan to communicate with your donors. This activity calendar should show:

  • When emails will be sent over the 6 weeks
  • The date to mail the direct mail letters to donors
  • When to launch the social media giving campaign
  • The date to place the year-end giving banners on your website’s homepage
  • When to write your gift acknowledgement letter copy

Be sure to put on your calendar – Giving Tuesday – which is November 28 this year. It’s a global day dedicated to giving back and celebrating generosity.

STEP 2: SHARE A COMPELLING STORY

You need to tell your donors the work you are doing is relevant and important to them and why they should support your efforts. Donors will be asked by other organizations to support their causes the same time you are, so you need to tell a compelling story that will resonate with them. If you can incorporate pictures, even better! It’s true that a picture really is worth a thousand words, because an image is able to paint a picture for the donor to connect with.

Often organizations ask donors to help them finish the year strong or end the year in the black. That’s definitely not going to cut it. You need to share with your donor how their gift will make a difference in the lives of people you serve. One of the strongest motivators to give is sharing a real-life testimony of a changed life as a result of your organization’s work.

STEP 3: ASK, ASK, ASK

Plan to ask multiple times to help cut through the clutter of the holiday activities during this time of the year. You should plan to ask early and to ask often! This should be reflected in your fundraising activity calendar we spoke about in Step 1.

Schedule a series of communications throughout these last several weeks of the year, each communication echoing the one before until the donor responds with a gift. It is important to clearly state what you want your donor to do – TO GIVE! Don’t beat around the bush, be concise, clear and specific with your ask.

STEP 4: USE ALL OF YOUR CHANNELS

Utilize every communication channel you are using to speak with your donors.

Ask on Facebook and Twitter

Ask through the mail and email

Ask through your website

Ask through the phonev

Before you start your fundraising efforts, be sure all of these giving points are working properly and are very easy to use. You want to reduce any “friction points” through the process where a donor could potentially give up because you are requiring too much information to be entered through your website form or too many clicks to give a gift from an email. Test these giving points yourself to ensure they work and are easy!

STEP 5: SAY THANK YOU!

The power of saying “thank you” cannot be overstated. Affirming a donor’s gift will nurture the relationship and position the donor to give again to your organization in the future.

Resolve to say “thank you” multiple times – on the screen immediately after the donor gives online, through an email receipt, and when you send a letter in the mail. The thank you letter should not look like a receipt of a transaction, but a heartfelt expression of gratitude for the donor’s gift and restating how the gift will be used to accomplish the mission of the organization.

Don’t worry, it’s not too late to do something to boost your revenue in the fast-approaching year-end season, but you need to act soon! Take action and use these steps to boost your end of year revenue starting today!

Let us know if Infinity Concepts can help you maximize your fundraising efforts
and help you raise more money. 
Contact us today!

Darrell Law

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