Preparing for Fiscal Year-End 

If your nonprofit is approaching its fiscal year-end, you have a lot on your calendar. You want to meet your budgeting expectations, continue your impact and keep donors engaged in your mission for the following year. It’s essential to make sure you retain hard-earned donors and meet your fundraising goals to finish the fiscal year strong. 

Year-end fundraising can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right planning, you can run a highly successful final campaign of the fiscal year. Check out these strategies for fundraising that can help you increase year-end giving.

Donors Don’t Care About Your Fiscal Year-End 

Before launching a year-end fundraiser, remember not to use a call-to-action focusing on meeting your fundraising goals. Donors aren’t as motivated by your nonprofit’s budget and fundraising expectations as you are. They need a better reason to donate to a year-end fundraiser.

Donors want to see their donations making a difference in the world. When planning a year-end fundraiser, use a sense of urgency about your nonprofit’s mission, not its finances. Connecting with your donors about the cause you both care about is a better strategy for motivating end-of-year donations.

Even though donors may not be as motivated to give because of your nonprofit’s fiscal year-end, it’s still an excellent opportunity to reconnect and remind them of your mission. Check out these year-end fundraising ideas that can help your nonprofit finish its year strong:

Reach Out to Lapsed Donors 

Dollar and donor retention are critical for nonprofit growth. A significant part of your year-end fundraising strategy should be reconnecting with lapsed donors. Reach out to people who gave Last Year But Unfortunately Not This (LYBUNTs), those who gave two to three years ago, and those who made gifts for several consecutive years. Remind these donors that they helped make your work happen so they frequently renew their support. 

Use these strategies to encourage lapsed donors to rejoin your mission:

• Call important lapsed donors: A personal phone call thanking donors for their past support and asking for their continued donations goes a long way in renewing their affiliation with your organization. Make a list of the lapsed donors who have given the largest gifts or are most likely to revive their giving. Call them personally or host a phone-a-thon with volunteer help.
• Send “we miss you” mail: Using language that reminds donors of their past relationship with your nonprofit can subtly encourage them to keep their donations up. After all, people are often more inclined to keep doing what they’ve already done. 
• Use targeted emails: Email donation campaigns are faster than direct mail and can be highly effective. The subject line is all-important for encouraging donors to open the email, so use something personal that doesn’t mention your fiscal year-end. 

Send Reminders to Pledged Donors Who Haven’t Paid 

It’s easy for people to forget things, even things they consider very important. Send periodic reminders to donors who have made pledges to keep your cause at the forefront of their minds. Consider these reminder tactics to boost engagement from pledged donors: 

• Text reminders: When text reminders are sent one, four, and eight days after a pledge, the fulfillment rate jumps to as much as 84%. 
• Postcards: Postcards and other direct mail can convey a much-needed sense of importance and urgency about your donors fulfilling their pledge before your fiscal year-end deadline. 
• Emails: When you need to get personal, sending email reminders can do the trick. Remind donors of their pledges and thank them for partnering with your organization in its work. 

Check-in on major donors 

The donors who give or pledge the largest amounts represent a significant sum you shouldn’t just leave on the table. It can be easy to focus on acquiring new donors, but don’t let the major ones fall through the cracks. 

Confirm with your team whether you’ve already reached out to your major donors. Then review your asks and any notes from those conversations before you follow up. Determine what strategy you need to get them ready to give. Then give them a personal phone call. You might motivate these donors to give their end-of-year donations. 

Send Out Year-End Reports to Donors 

While you shouldn’t use your end-of-year deadline to motivate donors, you can use your year-end report to show them the impact of their support. Year-end reports are an essential part of any strategy for thanking donors. Reports show how much you’ve accomplished with donor help, proving how important their gifts are. 

Here are a few top tips for building authentic relationships with your donors through year-end reports:

• Include a fun treat: Sending small tokens of appreciation to each donor makes your year-end report fun and shows them that you’re grateful for their help. You can include items as small as a stick of gum or a photo of someone your organization helped. These little gifts make reports more fun, and donors might be more willing to donate the next time you solicit.
• Connect their gift to your results: Sharing tangible results can be highly motivating. Directly connect your donor’s gifts to your organization’s impact. This strategy can also motivate donors to increase their gifts in the future. 
• Tell your organization’s story: Stories are powerful motivators. In your year-end report, connect donors with success stories. Knowing that their donation produces happy endings motivates donors to recreate that outcome. 

Run One Last Campaign 

The centerpiece of your year-end fundraising is your last campaign. Running a final campaign before your fiscal year ends gives donors the chance to optimize their impact and be even more involved. Follow these suggestions for a successful year-end campaign:

• Choose a theme: Remember, your fiscal year-end is not as big a motivator for your donors as it is for your team. When you write email subject lines, letters, or other content, choose a theme that connects to your organization’s purpose and inspires donors to give. 
• Make feel-good content: Even though your year-end fundraising has a sense of urgency, fundraising can also be fun. Display your organization’s unique traits, include light-hearted content, and find ways to make emotional connections with donors. 
• Provide opportunities for engagement: Create more chances for donors to engage with each other outside of giving. Include personalized videos in your messaging and encourage donors to share content on social media. You can also provide donors with opportunities for interaction through virtual fundraising, which offers lots of options for fun activities during your online event. 
• Offer varied giving options: Enabling donors to contribute through multiple methods can boost your donor retention rate. When donors can give in the way they wish, they can be more willing to take the opportunity. Fundraising features like mobile bidding and silent auctions increase the variety of donation options. 
• Use a fundraising management platform: One of the most effective ways to engage donors is through donor management software. A donor management platform tracks donor data so you can make informed decisions about your year-end fundraising efforts. Data-driven insights empower your team to improve their strategy and boost donations at your fiscal year-end. 

When your nonprofit approaches fiscal year-end, ensure your fundraising is on schedule with virtual and hybrid fundraising software from GiveSmart. Our intuitive, scalable software connects you with your donors so you can maximize your impact. Create an online fundraising event with silent auctions, text-to-donate and peer-to-peer campaigns to increase engagement and make giving easy. 

Request a demo of GiveSmart today to see how our fundraising software can help your organization achieve more.