Tis the season of giving

As the year wraps up, you may be considering a Giving Tuesday or an end of the year push for donations. About 30% of all annual donations are made in the month of December, so why wouldn’t you want to get in on all that giving excitement?  

There are many ways to differentiate your organization and in this time of giving, it is essential as most organizations are trying to do the same. Giving Tuesday is only the beginning of the end of year giving opportunities.  

It’s the fourth quarter, so you and the team need to pull out all the stops. Be creative. Think outside the box. But also, remind yourselves about why you are involved with your organization and what motivates you to fundraise for this cause. This is a great time to revisit this and remind your team to incorporate these messages into their work.   

Four ways to differentiate your end of the year giving: 

1. Segment your messaging by donor demographics.

Donors of different age groups, generations, genders, and economic breakdowns are going to be influenced differently by messaging and expect different things in return for their donation. Utilize our Donor Segmentation Guide. 

Create a message from donors or board members that can relate to your target donors. Syncing the messaging and the delivery will increase the likelihood of a donor giving. You can communicate these messages through a text campaign, social, email, in-person at events, etc.

2. Be specific in your ask and tie the campaign to a specific mission. 

Add some pumpkin spice to your ask, instead of just offering the same coffee flavors as the entire nonprofit world. By giving creative ways to give, you can capitalize on donor intent in several ways while also appealing to a more general span of donors.  

3. Try a layered ask. Each donation can be THIS much more valuable if you give just a bit more. 

When a donor makes his/her/their end of year donation or purchases a ticket for an upcoming event, have a cadence for outreach that will encourage a second or third donation. The positioning should emphasize that their donation will allow ## many homes to be built, or ## many students to go to college. The encouragement to give more is a “soft-ask” attached to a behavior of giving that already exists. 

4. Create a contest or game of chance to entice the younger donors. 

Run a raffle, game of chance, or a fundraising competition (maybe with teams) where everyone donates to participate, and winners can earn a prize. As we all know, a small donation goes a long way by allowing those that have interest but are less able to give to participate. They can be enticed and can enter your stewardship campaigns in a small way.