Year-end giving amounts to an estimated 40-70 percent of many nonprofits’ annual budgets. The most charitable season of the year is a prime opportunity to secure new supporters and to lift the giving levels of current donors. In this blog series, we will review the steps to devising a strong campaign—including how to use data analytics to target your messaging, the importance of a compelling story, how to distribute your story through multiple channels, and when to follow up with donors.
CREATE CATALYTIC EVENTS
A catalytic event is what is moves donor relationships forward. A catalyst, strictly seeking, is a substance that changes the rate of a chemical reaction and is not consumed in that reaction itself. A catalytic event is one that speeds and deepens your relationship with a donor. In addition, it serves and sustains the long-term nature of the reaction, instead of getting consumed in the process of getting just a one-time gift.
Catalytic events move your donors into deeper commitments and higher levels of giving. How do we drive people in to a deeper level of commitment at year-end? We have to get them to give stretch gifts—donations that go beyond their usual giving.
These targeted engagements are opportunities to move donors into deeper commitments and higher levels of giving.
Action Items:
- Capitalize on a matching challenge so your donors’ gifts go twice as far.
- Start giving clubs that donors can join at various levels.
- Offer opportunities for donors to give to specific programs or projects.
- Ask your volunteer base to make a financial investment.
- Call or visit key mid-level and major donors.
- Host a mid-level or major donor year end fundraising event.