Year-end fundraising is an important component to your overall fundraising strategy. Preparing your team and your efforts, before the holiday season starts, is an easy way to organize your efforts and improve fundraising success.
Ways to Prepare for Year-End Fundraising
Here are a few ways your organization can start preparing for year-end fundraising:
Develop a Strategy
To organize your fundraising efforts, and ensure everyone is on the same page, it’s a good idea to develop a strategy to guide you through the year-end hustle and bustle. Create a calendar marked with specific dates like Thanksgiving, Black Friday, #GivingTuesday, Christmas and December 31st – using these days to help you craft specific email and social campaigns.
Bonus: You can also use your strategy to help organize people into different teams – and the calendar dates can serve as soft deadlines to keep you on track.
Email Marketing Campaigns
Earlier this year, we mentioned that email marketing is a MUST for nonprofit organization. Well, that statement couldn’t be more true when it comes to year-end fundraising.
Now is the time to review your newsletter design or template, gather ideas for content, and check the health of your subscriber list. If time allows, you could also outline emails in advance, making it easier (and faster) to put everything together when you’re ready.
And with more people opening their emails on mobile devices, it’s even more important that your online giving system be mobile-friendly and easy to use.
Test Your Online Giving Setup
When was the last time you gave an online donation? If it’s been a while, donate to your own organization to see how easy your online setup is for users.
Online giving should be simple, using as few clicks as possible to keep the user from stopping their donation halfway through the process. Online giving should also be mobile friendly, as we stated earlier that most emails are being read on smartphones and tablets.
The giving process should be positive, with supporters feeling great during and after they’ve donated. Do you send out thank you emails? Handwritten thank you notes? Do you give supporters a chance to subscribe to updates so they can see how their contributions are being used? Or share your social channels so they can follow your mission? All of these things can make the giving process happier and easier, encouraging loyal, long-term support.
Also – your online giving setup should work with your fund accounting software. While you’re testing to see how easy your donation process is, double check your software-website integration.
Gather Shareworthy Images
Supporters want to see how their contributions are helping the overall mission. Start gathering eye-catching, share-worthy images to use in emails, social campaigns, blogs and other digital avenues to help showcase your work this past year. Not only will this help capture previous donors, but when the photos are shared from user to user, it will help garner new support as well.
Photo Tips:
- Use photos that convey emotion
- Use clear, mission-relevant photos
- Use large photos, not thumbnails, so they can be seen
Before year-end fundraising begins, optimize your Raiser’s Edge software to be more efficient and effective. Re-work your dashboards and modules to highlight your progress and keep you on track. Consulting with a Raiser’s Edge training consultant can make sure your solution is setup to maximize functionality.
This can also be a good time to invest in Raiser’s Edge training for your company, ensuring that everyone (no matter the skill level) can navigate your data with ease.
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Your year-end fundraising is important for next year’s success. End the year on a high note by implementing these tips to boost your fundraising and awareness.
Need Raiser’s Edge Training for Your Nonprofit?
Want to make sure your Raiser’s Edge software is tailored to your organization and mission? Learn more about our Raiser’s Edge training and consulting services to see how Raiser’s Edge can make fundraising easier for you and your team. Contact Andy Thorson by calling 919-821-1224 x 26, emailing athorson@capitalbusiness.com, or filling out this form.