Bill Scott “Year-End Fundraising”

Year-End Fundraising

If you are not thinking about your year-end fundraising campaign, you should be.

This is why you should be planning a year-end fundraiser.

*Nearly one-third of annual giving occurs in December.

*12% of giving happens in the last three days of the year.

*November and December are the most popular months for making year-end asks.

*28% of non-profits raise up to 50% of their annual funds in December from their year-end ask.

Over half of of nonprofits begin planning their year-end events in October.  And believe it or not, almost 60% of nonprofits make between 1-3 donor “touches” for their year-end campaign.   Direct mail continues to be the most popular medium for year-end asks, followed by email, org website, and in-person asks

Many of you still haven’t held your fall pledge drives, and here I am talking about your year-end event.  It’s encouraging to see that overall giving grew 4.1% over the past year, the 6th consecutive year of growth.  Online giving grew by 12.1% over the past year.  45% of worldwide donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program.   With that being said, it’s time to start planning to do more fundraising than ever before and optimizing your year-end giving campaign in the next few weeks.

I am going to ask you to do three things.  One, I would encourage all of you to consider Giving Tuesday, November 30th.  If I was planning your event, and with some of you I am, I would have you prepare for Giving Tuesday by having a large match ready to roll on that Tuesday.  Everyone, from TV, radio, social media, print, etc… is pushing Giving Tuesday.  So hop on the bandwagon and have an amazing day of fundraising.  Two, have at least a two-day on-air fundraiser for your year-end event.  Third, have promo’s, and announcers pushing the last week on the air of giving, especially the final two days of the year.  I would include direct mail, email, all of your social media, and your website to support your on-air efforts.

When it comes to your year-end campaign, don’t just hint that you need donations, go after it with a full-court push.  People are giving away free money, why wouldn’t you ask for some of that to come to your ministry?

My encouragement to you is don’t let the best fundraising season of the year pass you and your ministry by.  Start planning now and “Crush it” this fall and year-end.

Bill Scott is Chief Content Officer with Vidare Creative / www.VidareCreative.com. Contact Bill at bill@vidarecreative.com