How to Finish Strong with Year-End Giving

In December alone, 30% of annual giving occurs. This means year-end campaigns are a powerful opportunity for your nonprofit to maximize donor generosity.

OneCause experts, Steve Lausch, Director of Product Marketing, and Joe Duca, VP of Product Strategy, share how your organization can exceed fundraising goals during the last few months of the year. From preparing a strategy to boosting awareness and measuring success, let’s take a closer look to finish the year strong.

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Strategize Before Your Year-End Giving Campaign

Prepare the foundation and set the direction of your campaign to help your organization achieve a strong execution. There are many year-end giving campaign ideas out there, but the more detailed your plan is, the easier it will be to kick-off the giving season.

Follow these tips to help you get started!

Plan early to stand out from other nonprofits

How early should you start thinking about your year-end campaign? The earlier the better! “Begin sowing seeds in September and October for a great November and December,” Steve says.

We recommend following this timeline:

  • Summer and Fall: Plan your campaign and map out timelines.
  • October: Get your year-end campaigns rolling and build excitement with marketing.
  • November: Focus on GivingTuesday, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday fundraising opportunities.
  • December: Use holidays to your advantage by appealing to the altruistic message of the season.
  • Spring: Steward relationships with supporters new and old.

Year-end giving calendar, also detailed in the text below.
You want enough time to strategize creative campaigns, introduce yourself to prospective donors, and align your team to execute a plan.

A year-end giving campaign isn’t just about stewarding and deepening your relationship with donors. “It is a fantastic opportunity to grow your donor base, to communicate your mission and its importance to brand new donors,” Steve explains.

  • Discuss with your team, “How might we…”
  • Meaningfully engage current donors in advance?
  • Capture the attention of new donors sooner?
  • Educate audiences on their impact?
  • Invite individuals and businesses to participate in our mission?

Once you have a purpose for your campaign, the most important step is to identify team goals to ensure a cohesive strategy.

Specify internal goals for your organization

You want to execute a successful campaign, but how will your organization define success? Be clear with your organization about what you’re trying to accomplish.

Joe suggests for your nonprofit to discuss:

  • How will engagement with current donors be measured?
  • How will engagement with new donor segments be measured?
  • Will you measure the percentage of total gifts?
  • Will you use year-over-year comparisons to measure?

Setting measurable goals will make it more attainable for your organization to maximize year-end giving.

Include giving days in your fundraising plan

After specifying what you hope to accomplish with a year-end campaign, your organization should decide which giving days you will capitalize efforts on. Will your organization participate in DAFday? What about Giving Tuesday? Giving days are valuable opportunities to consider when planning your next campaign, don’t overlook them!

Nearly $3.1 billion was donated on Giving Tuesday in 2023, with 34 million donors supporting at least one nonprofit with a gift. It is an impactful opportunity for your nonprofit, among others, to be in the spotlight for a day. “At a minimum, Giving Tuesday is an excellent way to kick off your year-end fundraising efforts,” says Steve, especially if there is a compelling match to really get things started.

If you’re thinking of starting a year-end campaign before November, then consider participating in DAFday. It is a new kind of giving day in October meant to redefine how donor-advised funds are used and who uses them; building more opportunities for nonprofits to boost their donor giving.

Steve says you want to build excitement for supporters. After all, 10% of annual giving occurs on the last 3 days of the year. You want your Giving Tuesday ideas or other giving day plans to build enough momentum to last through the end of the year.

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Connect your goals with modern technology

Take your year-end campaign to the next level with online giving. Organize your goals for giving days and elevate your donor experience with flexible software that showcases your mission, inspires giving, and helps you raise more.

Invest in robust software that offers AI tools, including:

  • Event Readiness: Track your team’s progress when planning an event.
  • Milestones: Celebrate your achievements throughout your event planning.
  • Recommended Lots: Present auction bidders with the most related items in that auction catalog.
  • Description Generators: Save time writing a marketing-worthy description in seconds with the power to edit, rewrite, or delete the copy before publishing.
  • AI Guide: Receive real-time assistance to instantly answer questions any time of the day.

A well-executed online fundraiser is about your donors’ ability to quickly and seamlessly contribute to your mission, Joe says. The easier it is for supporters to donate, the more likely they will do it again.

Powerful software will benefit you and your donor’s giving experience.

Implement technology with multiple fundraising formats

Donor experience is supposed to be meaningful, so your technology should be rich with features that engage your donors. Joe explains how adaptable OneCause Fundraising Solutions are: “They can be embedded in your website as your main donation button, or be a link inside a text message, or a microsite full of images and impact levels. You can even let your donors create personal fundraising pages to raise money for you.”

Let’s walk through the various online fundraising options that the OneCause Fundraising Platform provides:

  • Embedded and mobile donation forms (Text2Give®): Geared toward donors who already know your mission and are looking to give quickly, whether that be through a link on your website or a link sent to them via text.
  • Online giving sites: Allows you to tie an online giving campaign directly to an event, empowering your nonprofit to work toward an event goal months in advance.
  • Personal fundraising pages: Involves loyal supporters to fundraise on your behalf, and this could be tied to your event or campaign.

Online fundraising provides endless opportunities to fuel your nonprofit’s mission. The key to maximizing online giving is software that offers a seamless donation process to amplify your year-end campaign.

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Boost Awareness During Your Year-End Campaign

You’ve been working hard to launch your campaign, now is the time to spread the word about your fundraising. “Your marketing strategy will be driven by your donor demographics and how you decide to meet your audience,” Joe says.

To maximize your success, follow these tips.

Build a multi-channel presence

Increase excitement among existing donors and attract new supporters with fundraising pages. Share your mission through:

  • Website: Write a compelling story about your nonprofit’s work and plan for your donation form to be accessible.
  • Email: Target your audience with eye-catching subject lines and clear calls-to-action (CTA).
  • Direct mail: Send informational postcards or save-the-dates for giving days.
  • Social media and video: Capture your audiences’ attention by hosting contests, going live, and posting engaging videos on your profile.
  • Text marketing: Share updates about your fundraising progress before, during, and after.
  • In-person and ambassadors: Turn loyal supporters into active fundraisers to help with campaign awareness.

Not sure where to start? Explore Giving Tuesday templates to help you get started with email, social media, or text marketing.

Four steps for strong donor communication

To reach your organization’s campaign goals, you need to genuinely engage donors. It’s more than just asking for money; it’s about strengthening connections while creating new ones.

Follow these steps to maximize all forms of communication:

  • Value the relationship: Thank donors for their generosity and acknowledge the impact they’ve made through their gifts.
  • Feature your “why”: Remind donors why they are connected to your mission and why their support matters.
  • Connect with stories: Share how donor support has helped change lives to deepen connections and build trust.
  • Close with a clear call to action: Explain to donors what they should do to help your cause and provide any necessary details.
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Reflect After Your Year-End Giving Campaign

Your end-of-year fundraising couldn’t have been done without generous supporters, so take the time to recognize and thank your donors. This could be writing thank-you letters or calling them directly.

Joe recommends following up with new donors by welcoming them to the family. If donors increased their gift, then focus on how much more impact they will have on your cause. And most importantly, Joe emphasizes, if a supporter became a recurring donor, let them know how significant that is to your mission.

All of your year-end fundraising can drive success for the new year, so you want focus on cultivating donor relationships.

Track success with real-time analytics

Your nonprofit just spent weeks developing and executing a fantastic year-end campaign, but how do you know it’s going well? Implementing reliable software will provide updated reports with data and a logical flow of information for your nonprofit to leverage.

Following your campaign, your organization can utilize real-time data reporting and analytics to measure your goals and revenue all within one software.

Year-End Giving Resources

There are many opportunities for your nonprofit to maximize gifts, but having the right software and resources will make it easier for you to plan a successful and memorable end-of-year campaign.

Explore these OneCause resources to maximize your year-end efforts and inspire greater donor generosity:

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