Hopefully, you hopped on the Love Bus back in October and began making “thank you” calls to your donors telling them how important they are to the success of your mission. This should be part of your stewardship plan with staff, board members and other key stakeholders. Hopefully, you are stewarding your donors year ‘round with thank you calls, gratitude notes and in other ways.
Your intentional stewardship in October allows your donors to feel the love before you get into your end of year campaign.
Hard to believe we are back there already – nonprofits hurriedly finishing end-of-year campaign preparations (hopefully you’re done!). If you haven’t started, it’s not too late. If you weren’t thinking of doing anything then look at the numbers below and get busy planning something.
50% of nonprofits receive a majority of their donations in the final 3 months of the year.
31% of total annual giving happens in December.
12% of all nonprofit giving occurs during the final 3 days in December.
This tells me that December is a very important month (not because it’s my birthday month!). It’s the season of giving and people are feeling generous and want to make a difference.
I get it. Small and medium nonprofits struggle finding the time and resources to plan and execute end-of-year campaigns. However, these last few months and days are such an important time for fundraising. You can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity to share all the good work your organization has done and invite others to continue supporting your mission and engage new donors.
Take a couple of hours and lock yourself away. Draft an email for your board members to help raise money for your organization. They can send it to their networks. Include a link to your donation page somewhere in the email. Make it easy for people to give. You can download a simple email for your board by going to my resources page. Next, plan a simple social media strategy for the month of December. Ideally, post something twice weekly.
87% of online traffic is expected to be 100% video! So, grab your iPhone. Video doesn’t have to perfectly polished to get the viewer’s attention but make sure the message is meaningful.
Once January rolls around, you better be jumping on the Love Bus again and repeating the shower of gratitude to all those donors who supported your organization through the end of the year. Remember get your staff, board members and key stakeholders on the Love Bus too!
Let’s talk if I can be of service.
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