Plan your end of the year fundraising call

Here we are again, the end of the year stretch! I’m sure you’ve already started thinking about your year-end plan, but have you started implementing it? It is autumn and now is the time to stop thinking and start doing. Here are some well-known, but always helpful tips to help you think about implementing. Your organization needs it and they must always find ways to do it better and smarter. You need to eliminate year-end clutter and that doesn’t happen without a full, individualized, and mapped year-end appeal. Read how, right now!

1. Engage donors with a moving, results-oriented story

Donors will respond better to a story about a person and a specific outcome directly related to their mission than to a conversation about a group of people supported by their mission. Limit your story to, for example, a person with developmental disabilities trained and in paid employment for five years at XYZ Company rather than a group of people in your training / internship program for people with developmental disabilities who now have paid employment.

two. Your end of the year appeal is not for everyone

Tailor your year-end appeal to each specific population in your donor file. It’s extra work, but the work pays off in more and greater gifts. Talk to the person in a language that makes sense to them. I would not send an overdue donor letter thanking you for your donation last year. You let them know that you missed them. Start segmenting your donor groups by amount and date the gift was made. You’ll also want to segment based on the program the gift was delivered to and so on. Start segmenting based on the program the gift was given to and so on. Start segmenting and writing your letters today!

3. The major donors are in a league of their own, as they should be.

These are your partners, your potential collaborators for large or small capital projects. Let them know that you value them this way by focusing your year-end request on a highly individualized plan. You may choose a specific project that you know they have an interest in; But most importantly, you should talk to them and find out how they want to donate at the end of the year. There are no letters or emails unless you are using it to schedule the meeting.

Four. Use a tiered approach and set deadlines for each tier

Start your appeal with a fall newsletter; mail in October and don’t forget your call to action. Then send a personalized letter (for each segment), signed by a powerful player and on your letterhead, sealed envelope, hand-sealed where possible and with a postage-paid envelope attached. If you can follow these key direct mail steps, your return rate will skyrocket! Mail before the first week of November – Stay away from the Thanksgiving Mountain and holiday mail.

If you’re capturing email addresses, what it should be in this decade of rooftop knowledge; Follow up on your letter with an email asking if they received your letter and another call to action. You can send the email 2-4 weeks after the letter is sent. Finally, send a final letter and make a follow-up phone call to Lybunts (donors who gave last year but not this year). These letters and calls must take place in the last two weeks of December or the last week of December and the first week of January. When possible, bring your board of directors and staff for an evening of joy and phone calls. It’s a tough time of year, but the competition is great and you have to be stronger to get through the end-of-the-year mess.

Understand that these tips may not work for all organizations or all donors, but they will work for most. Try not to skip the most difficult steps, they are the ones that make you stand out from the rest. Cheers for turning the corner and getting it going for the final stretch!