Year End Giving has Already Started
Welcome to June. And now, it’s time to start thinking about next December.
When it comes to fundraising, you can’t wait until November to start thinking about how to approach donors for that larger year-end gift. You have to communicate all year long. Starting now, if you haven’t already.
Since fundraising is about building relationships, every email, the text, call, new web copy, social media post, and campaign you do throughout the year should point toward a year-end culmination of the story you want to tell your donors throughout the year. While you’ll tell stories of the impact you see, your communications also tell the story of your donors’ loyalty that makes that impact happen.
What to Say: Start by choosing a theme that matches your ministry’s work and resonates with your audience. You are that bridge. For example, think about what’s occupying the public headspace right now: a longing for kindness, the desire for intentionality, a focus on action and persistence, seeking peace, seeking adventure! Then, choose an aligned theme that easily conveys your ministry’s mission and work. Your content - story, measures of impact, calls to action - will bridge the two. The story of a person’s life transformed can display the value of persistence and therefore demonstrate real change to your donor who craves that kind of narrative. Continue to subtly drop that theme into your communications. The key is intentionality so that it culminates at year-end with your ask.
The Timing of the Ask: As you’re planning words and content, make a calendar of asks that follows your donor segmentation (LINK). In addition to the idea of asking for larger donations at regular intervals, you’ll also want to chart out year-end gifts in that timeline and then time the other asks accordingly. For example, if you have a segment of donors who are “due” for their annual giving increase ask anywhere from October to December, you may want to bump that earlier or delay it later so that you don’t make two asks at one time. It’s OK to ask more than once a year; the key is coordination and easing your donor through that process in a relationship, not taking advantage of the time of year that people are supposed to open their checkbooks.
If you’re reading this you know you don’t have the time right now to start, make a plan for when you can...soon. The intentional scheduling is the backbone for every relationship with a donor - whether they are smaller donors with whom you only interact on mass email or that large donor with whom you have an organic relationship. Don’t neglect the schedule, and see your relationship and ability to ask grow from there.