5 Ways to End Your Fundraising Year With a Bang

Approximately one-third of all donations are made during the last two months of the year. People tend to be in a giving mood during the holidays and are taking stock of their contributions before the year-end.

Since the final months of the year can make or break a nonprofit’s budget, marketing messages to raise important funds kick into full swing beginning as early as Labor Day. While competition for these dollars is fierce, there are a few steps you can take to ensure your nonprofit garners its share of goodwill.

1. Renew social media effort Social channels are an excellent way to stay in touch with donors and remind them of the good your organization is doing. Try humanizing the staff, board members, volunteers and recipients of your cause by featuring them in vignettes that will be shared by their friends and families. Tell their personal story about how your organization has impacted their lives, weaving in important messages about your organization’s accomplishments. Highlight your content on all social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, using hashtags and keywords to draw in others interested in your cause.
2. Update supporters about the progress of your mission. Surprisingly, donors often know very little about an organization before becoming a donor. In fact, about two-thirds of donors do not research an organization before giving to it. What this tells us is that donors are passionate about causes. Tap into this passion by updating donors about the good your organization has done to date. Use statistics, pictures and videos to tell your success stories and to outline your plans for the future.
3. Make giving easy with mobile donations. Like all of us, donors are busy at the end of the year and can be distracted with holiday preparations and year-end planning. Make giving easy for donors who prefer giving using their mobile phone with a mobile donation campaign using Text2Give. Suggest a few different giving levels and allow donors to give with the touch of a button. Don’t forget to communicate the need and what you plan to do with the final donations this year.
4. Combine year-end campaigns with #GivingTuesday. #GivingTuesday is held every year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so it is the perfect opportunity to remind donors to give to their cause. Most nonprofits that incorporate #GivingTuesday into their year-end fundraising efforts report an increase in donations. More information about how to leverage #GivingTuesday can be found in this handy guide.
5. Leverage the value of peer pressure. Create a campaign that enables donors to challenge their friends to sponsor or participate. Peer-to-peer fundraising can be done through an event, such as a Turkey Trot, or simply a time-sensitive challenge to raise a certain dollar amount.

The new year is just a few short months away. With a little planning, nonprofits can position themselves to benefit from the generous mood of donors during the holiday season.