Year End Giving: The Step-by-Step Guide For Nonprofits

November 1, 2024

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The end of the calendar year is around the corner—the single biggest fundraising opportunity of the year! This guide will show you how to create a year-end fundraising campaign that will effectively reach the hearts and wallets of donors during this spike in end-of-year donations.

Donors get involved with nonprofits over the holidays for four primary reasons:

To be happier by helping others
To feel good about themselves by making a difference
To be connected to something positive
To take advantage of tax deductions

There are three steps to a year-end giving campaign: plan your strategy, implement best practices, and promote and coordinate your year-end appeal across all channels.

Join us for our upcoming webinar, Year-End Best Practices Every Nonprofit Should Know. Our fundraising experts will review best practices that will help your organization increase your fundraising potential this November and December.

During the planning phase, nonprofits should segment their donors based on their communication preferences and how they prefer to give. Once the end-of-year giving campaign goes public, the remaining fundraising goal will be met by following best practices and promoting across all channels.

Step 1: Plan Your Year-End Giving Campaign Strategy

Target Donor Demographics

Segment communications to engage donors and reach new ones

One of the most effective ways to break out of the noise is by creating segmentation in your communications. Different age groups respond to different messaging and on different platforms.

Before moving forward with your end-of-year giving strategies, the critical thing to remember is that not everyone should receive the same message. Your organization should be delivering the appropriate year-end appeal that resonates with the donor on a personal level.

Here is some helpful information on your different donors:

Gen Z: Donors born after 1997 are most likely to donate via mobile, social media, watch short videos, and almost exclusively via mobile. Appeal to these donors by keeping things simple and genuine. These supporters respond to texts and are active daily on social media.
Millennials: Donors born between 1980 and 1996 are most likely to donate via mobile, watch campaign videos, and prefer to give via peer-to-peer fundraising. These supporters respond to texts and are active daily on social media.
Gen X: Donors born between 1965 and 1979 are most likely to fundraise on behalf of your organization, make a pledge, and volunteer. These supporters respond best to e-mails, phone calls, and texts and stay up-to-date on social feeds and trends.
Baby Boomers: Donors born between 1946 and 1964 are most likely to make recurring gifts. These supporters respond to phone calls, check e-mail regularly, and are mainstream text messaging and social media adopters.
Greatest Generation: Those born before 1945 are most likely to respond to direct mail and give by check. Wealthy seniors are more likely to own smartphones and donate by credit card.

Year-End Fundraising Campaign Goal Planning

Set specific goals for year-end fundraising and donor engagement.

Fundraising and donor engagement campaigns with specific goals consistently outperform those that have open-ended objectives. Think about your mission and what you are trying to accomplish at the end of the year within your organization.

A clear-cut focus will make it that much easier for you to succeed.

Primary goals:

Existing donors: Increase year-over-year donation amount by 1%
New donors: Inspire new supporters to receive your newsletter and subscribe to your social
media channels and sign up for your next event

Supplemental goals:

Ambassadors (those who help raise donations for your cause): Inspire ambassadors to contact everyone in their social circle
Volunteers: Increase engagement among volunteers
Social media followers: Mobilize social media followers to increase event participation

Integrated End of the Year Campaign Branding

Every donor touchpoint should have a consistent look and feel.

Branded campaigns raise more donations than non-branded ones, and these donors are more likely to become repeat donors to your nonprofit. Sit down with your team to ensure that every element of your year-end campaign ties together and creates a seamless experience with increased levels of donor engagement along the way!

Also note that most online donors make a gift after watching a video, making it the most effective form of media.

Brand identity elements that are specific to your campaign:

Campaign Name: Get creative so that you stand out
Logo and Colors: Increase awareness with a visual identity
Description: Have a unique and consistent tone
Photos: Capture the essence of your mission
Videos: Show people why your mission matters
Testimonials: Quotes from program recipients

Storytelling to Inspire Year-End Charitable Giving

Share and promote videos, photos, and testimonials without asking for money.

Showcase the impact of your mission to prime donors for future calls to action. Always follow the three-to-one rule, which is to share three pieces of compelling content before asking for a donation.

Smartphones make it easy to create compelling videos and photos that:

Showcase the good you are doing
Share stories of individuals who have been touched by your mission
Highlight the transformative impact of giving
Compel audiences to take action

Remember, in terms of views, likes, shares, and raw footage—or any amateur video that has been captured on a smartphone—consistently outperforms professionally produced videos and photos.

End of Year Thank You to Donors

Thanking donors is arguably the most important part of your campaign.

Spread the spirit of gratitude across your network of supporters by intentionally thanking donors of all ages. There is a direct correlation between thanking donors and receiving future donations.

Six ways to share your gratitude for support:

Embed a video on your donation page confirmation screen
Send an automatic e-mail with a photo and tax receipt
Personally post a thank you and tag donors on your social media wall
Send a personal text message
Call them over the phone or leave a voicemail
Send a handwritten note by mail

The top reason donors don’t give again is that they are unaware of their donation’s impact on your cause. So don’t forget, or you may lose donors for future fundraising campaigns.

Showcase Year-End Fundraising Totals

Encourage your followers, donors, and ambassadors as you make progress towards your goal. Remember that many donors are willing to contribute in the last three days of the year to ensure you can succeed in your mission.

Five ways to showcase fundraising results:

Display a live fundraising thermometer on your website and in your office
Link to your thermometer in campaign communications
Use your social feed and Facebook Live to update supporters in real-time
Pre-plan communications with 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of goal updates
Post videos with mid-campaign updates challenging supporters to do more

Remember: Your fundraising ambassadors are the most important people you need to update and encourage throughout your campaign. Be sure to also plan to promote a matching fund towards the end of your giving campaign to ensure you reach your goal.

Donor Data Analysis Is Key

Make real-time campaign decisions to maximize giving and participation. It is vital to the success of your campaign that you understand who is making donations, when they are made, and where they are coming from.

Use analytics to gain insight into campaign effectiveness and make real-time adjustments to your website, donation page, and messaging.

Some tracking you should make sure you line up:

Google Analytics: Track conversion rates on your website and donation page. This integration is included with every GiveSmart plan

Social media: Track your reach on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more

Shortlinks (like bit.ly): Track the number of people that click your links

Only require fields on your donation page that help you get to know your donors without making it hard to give—the fewer, the better. Donating should be quick and easy!

Step 2: Implement Best Practices

Year-End Giving Campaign Tips and Ideas

The more resources, training, and accountability you provide to your team of ambassadors, the more money you will collect.

If you follow these end-of-year giving best practices, your campaign will succeed. Year-end offers significant opportunities for your organization, so you want to make sure you do not turn away any would-be donors.

One of the most important things you must remember is to make it easy to give to your cause, volunteer, or fundraise on your behalf.

Raise more donations than ever before with these year-end giving ideas:

Make it easy to give from any device at any time
Make it easy to volunteer for your organization
Empower your supporters to collect donations
Leverage corporate partnerships
Kick off your year-end giving on #GivingTuesday
Boost end-of-year giving with a live event
Implement a multi-channel New Year’s Eve solicitation

Convenient Donations at the End of the Year

Give your supporters multiple ways that they can give such as:

Online (from any device)
By check
By cash
Over the phone
By swiper (in person)
By text message with a text-to-give keyword

Keep supporters updated and easily track your goal with a live campaign fundraising thermometer. Strengthen your in-kind donation programs by making it easy to give with a credit/debit card.

Volunteer Empowerment

Volunteers are nearly twice as likely to donate as those that do not volunteer. Make it easy to get involved.

Volunteering is the best way to gain contributions for your cause that don’t involve money. Volunteers are more likely to become lifelong donors to your cause even if their first interaction with your organization wasn’t a donation. Sign up volunteers from wherever they are with mobile and online solutions that make it easy to get involved.

Embed a video on your sign-up form
Gain more volunteers with text message registrations
Keep volunteers connected with text reminders

Peer-to-Peer Ambassadors

Did you know that one-third of all online donations are a result of peer-to-peer fundraising? Empower supporters to raise donations from friends and family.

Peer-to-peer fundraising allows supporters to donate directly to your cause or volunteer to fundraise on behalf of your nonprofit. They can recruit their family, friends, and social networks to do the same, amplifying the effectiveness of your fundraising.

Make it easy with our toolkit and templates, and keep these in mind:

Ambassadors create their pages in seconds
Donations go directly and securely to your cause
Pages are easily shared via social media, e-mail, and text

Corporate Partnerships

Corporate partnerships are an excellent way for nonprofits to raise more donations while allowing a business to do good by fundraising for a cause. Often, companies will advertise your campaign to their customers and employees, resulting in you reaping the rewards of both increased donations and heightened exposure for your organization.

Showcase your partnership with the community
Corporate employees can create their fundraising pages
Sign-up forms can be embedded on corporate websites

#GivingTuesday

Keep Your call-to-action for donations on #GivingTuesday simple! The more you provide your ambassadors with training, content to share, encouragement, and support, the more your #GivingTuesday campaign will be a success!

Here are some quick tips for #GivingTuesday success:

Ambassadors create their pages in seconds
Synchronize all communication channels
Encourage followers to post #unselfies
Use shortlinks and keywords to make giving easy
Empower ambassadors with fundraising pages
Showcase donor names and totals as they roll in

Boost Year-End Giving with a Live Event

Create excitement by showcasing donations and ticket sales in real-time. Donations displayed live on-screen make giving at events fun.

Inspire dinner, luncheon, or virtual event attendees to donate with a unique giving experience they’ll never forget. The fundraising thermometer provides a visual cue to show attendees how to give and how close you are to your goal! Watch as the donations roll in and the thermometer rises while your emcee recognizes donors as their names are displayed on-screen in real-time. Make to capture all donation types including:

Mobile pledges appear live on the screen
Include ticket sale totals
Include out-of-towner gifts
Include online and offline donations (cash and checks)
Include donations collected with a swiper

New Year’s Eve Solicitation

Reach donors and supporters with a final year-end appeal, and send a communication to your supporters on December 31.

Ask your supporters to make a last-minute donation before midnight to help you reach your goal. Be sure to communicate differently with people who have already made a gift.

Record a video with your final appeal and embed it on your donation page
Send a corresponding text message and e-mail with your donation page link

Year-End Giving Campaign Promotion

Impact on your year-end fundraising campaign success is the ability for donors to make quick and easy donations to your cause from anywhere. No matter what device they are on or what channel they heard your year-end donation appeal.

Any unnecessary steps a potential donor must make to support your cause can lower the success of
your campaign. We find that nonprofit organizations that use a multi-channel approach to their
year-end appeal, yield better results. These channels can include:

Online: website, partner sites, media and blogs, video, advertising, SEO
E-mail
Social media
Text messaging
Direct mail
Television and radio promotion
In-person events
Phone

Donations On Your Website

Remove all obstacles to completing a donation on your website. Online giving should be fast, simple, and secure from any device

Your GIVE button should be prominently on your website and Facebook page, and when clicked, should open your secure (https) and mobile-friendly donation page.

The design of your donation page should reinforce the impact of year-end giving with the following:

Online form optimization (desktop, mobile, and tablet devices)
Campaign branding
Videos and photos
Suggested donation amounts
Recurring gift options
In memory/honor of option
Custom data collection fields

Donations from E-mail

Make it easy for supporters to click your DONATE button in e-mails and give in seconds from a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Best practices for e-mail fundraising:

Embed a video on your sign-up form
Track every donation from e-mail traffic
Strengthen e-mail campaigns with text reminders
Link a screenshot of your year-end donation page

Conveniently collect donations from all types of social media posts and pages. Promote your donation page shortlink in posts and text-to-donate keyword in images and videos to make it easy and obvious for your social followers to make donations. With eight in 10 potential donors having at least one social media profile, it is a strategy worth investing in.

Best practices for social media fundraising:

Encourage followers to click shortlinks via Facebook and Twitter posts
Encourage followers to text-to-donate in photos on Instagram
Embed your donation page inside your Facebook page
Encourage followers to text-to-donate on Facebook Live and shout out donors as they appear on your fundraising thermometer
Empower social followers to make micro-donations of $1 or more

Donations from Text Messaging

When it comes to getting in touch, there’s no better way to talk to your supporters than directly on their mobile devices. Even better, the TCPA allows special permissions for nonprofits, meaning you can upload any phone numbers you have on record and contact your donors in a minutes.

Best practices for sending texts to donors:

Send at least three texts with compelling content before asking for a donation
Send links to videos, web pages, social campaigns, and sign-up forms
Integrate text reminders to increase conversions for every channel

Best practices for sending text messages:

Build a list of mobile subscribers with keywords
Build a list of mobile subscribers by collecting mobile numbers on forms
Upload and validate the mobile phone numbers you already have in your database

Donations from Direct Mail

Online donation instructions should be prominently located on the envelope and within your year-end appeal letter. Even better, the post office gives up to a 3% discount on postage if you include a QR code on your envelope.

Best practices to increase response rates from your year-end giving letters:

Track every online donation made in response to an appeal letter
Strengthen donor records by collecting mobile numbers and e-mails
Strengthen giving letter campaigns with text reminders

Did you know? 35% of donors say they prefer to respond to direct mail by giving online.

Donations from Television

Give television viewers everywhere a simple way to donate. Your call-to-action should include a text-to-give keyword and website URL to yield the highest possible donation totals.

Best practices for television fundraising:

Make a clear and concise call-to-action
The donate button on your website should link to the same page as your text-to-give keyword reply message
Shout out donor names as they appear on the fundraising thermometer to inspire more giving

Donations from Radio

Give listeners the power to give from anywhere in seconds. Instruct listeners to use text-to-donate or go to your website to donate any amount.

Best practices for radio fundraising appeals:

Track every donation made in response to appeal letter
Make your call-to-action as simple and easy as possible
Shout out donor names throughout broadcasts to inspire more giving
Promote your campaign until the fundraising goal is reached

From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, American generosity skyrockets. People are more generous with their time and money and make donations, volunteer, and help raise support for the causes they care most about.

Looking to make your year-end fundraising turnkey? Download our expert-written Year-End Fundraising Appeal Templates for FREE and get started on empowering your supporters.

Year End Giving: The Step-by-Step Guide For Nonprofits

Join us for our upcoming webinar, Year-End Best Practices Every Nonprofit Should Know. Our fundraising experts will review best practices that will help your organization increase your fundraising potential this November and December.