Holidays come and go. We take days off, we celebrate with friends and family and, hopefully you express appreciation to your community through personalized donor stewardship. At least, I hope that is what you are doing.
Any holiday can be used as a good excuse to call, send a handwritten note, send an email, highlight a beneficiary, or send a token gift.
But think of the holidays and how they align with your nonprofit.
New Year’s Day? Talk about your hopes, dreams and resolutions for your nonprofit that you can achieve thanks to their gifts.
Groundhog’s Day? Consider a cute gif thanking your donors that loops and references the holiday.
Valentine’s Day? Try a short IPhone video with a beneficiary talking about how much they love the opportunity they were given thanks the donors support. Of course, handwritten valentines from children or chocolates are always nice too.
St. Patrick’s Day? Send someone a link to a unique piece of Irish music.
Purim? Arrange for mishloach manot – traditional food and sweets sent to friends and family
April Fool’s Day? Send a few jokes to make people laugh.
Mother’s Day? Why not ask a donor to make a donation, to a different organization that helps mothers, in honor of your nonprofit’s donors. Nonprofits acknowledging that the world needs help and we can help in small ways shows you know you are not the only organization in need of support.
My birthday? It should be a national holiday, shouldn’t it? Throw a huge party on May 29th. Or, you could send a birthday card to your donors in honor of their birthdays. Whatever seems more appropriate.
Father’s Day? There are more and more organizations that focus on the positive role of fathers. Consider sending a list of organizations that you think do wonderful work and need more awareness.
Juneteenth? You may have noticed this holiday auto populate your calendars along with some others you can Google like Holi, Eid al-Adha and Diwali. You are not the only one who has to Google them. Consider giving a little information along with a way in which it connects with your organization. It could be as simple as sending an email that shows your nonprofit prides itself on helping others learn about the world or support people of all faiths.
Halloween? Send images of the things that scare your organization or just send a note thanking them for making every day less scary in your world.
Thanksgiving? Thank your donors. Or offer them ways to be thankful.
#GivingTuesday? This nonprofit celebration can be very useful if you know how to celebrate. Sending emails asking can help. But thanking donors for their giving can go a long way too.
Chanukah/Christmas/Kwanzaa? Each holiday has special traditions that talk about giving, miracles, and supporting each other. Think about how you can do more ask at this time of year. But, make sure you are also asking.
Determine what is right for your organization. If you would like to talk about ways Mersky, Jaffe & Associates can help your nonprofit, email me today.