The next 7+ weeks may make up 30 to 40% of your annual revenue. Here are ideas to help this fundraising crunch time!
#GivingTuesday There are many ways to encourage giving on this day – it is the unofficial start of the giving season so don’t let it pass you by.
- Use social media to create a campaign
- Create a match to encourage giving
- Use it to thank donors who have already given this year
- Highlight impact
- Find more ideas by clicking here or Googling #GivingTuesday ideas 2021
Make calls (From you, your board, or your development committee)
- Call LYBUNTS who gave last year above a certain level
- Make thank you calls. It’s never too early to start stewardship for next year
Send emails (From you, your Executive Director, CEO or board chair)
- Solicitations
- We are all busy during fundraising crunch time but removing donors each time is best practice. If you can’t be consistent about updates (most CRMs will help), acknowledge that if they have already given, it might not have been recorded in the system yet.
- Updates on the organization
- Send these to everyone – especially those who gave earlier in the year. This will help with stewardship and offer another way to donate this year (always include a way to give in any email to your list).
- Updates on giving this year
- List your fundraising goal.
- List the number of days until you reach the end of your match.
- List their previous gifts and what you hope they will give this year.
- List anything such as what a gift of various amounts will mean or anything you think will encourage someone to hit that donate button.
- Send reminders
- Many people wait until the last minute to give. Don’t hold it against them – make it easy for them
- Send Thank you videos. What you do now will impact how your donors will feel in December.
Send letters
- You can still squeeze in 2 letters by the end of year. But start planning today.
- Tip: Use all the ones you are receiving as a template for what you like, what you don’t like, and what yours should look like.
Fundraising crunch time will be busy, but done correctly, it can boost your results significantly.