Year-End Playbook: Preparing for the Super Bowl of Fundraising

Blog written by SVP of Fundraising Strategies, Tiffany Quast

Don’t panic about year-end fundraising! Prepare for it!

If you are reading this blog, it means you are likely a fundraising aficionado and know that November and December are the SUPER BOWL of all fundraising months. As you may know, football teams don’t just show up to the first game of the season hoping for the best as they aim to play in and win the Super Bowl. Not even close, planning is nonstop!

As a football coach’s wife, I know the EPIC planning that goes into the season long before the first snap of the ball. You need to determine what offense and defense plays you can run with the team. Playbooks and route concepts are drafted and practiced to perfection.

So, what does this have to do with our fundraising Super Bowl? Both require focus, planning, research and practice.

This blog serves as your Playbook to help you plan a SUCCESSFUL fundraising super bowl season. Now, let’s get started!

Start with a plan – create your playbook!

Laying out all channels by the day and week from November 1st through January 1st allows you to see where the channels and messaging need to align.

What days will you be active with Giving Tuesday messaging vs. evergreen ads? What days do you estimate your direct mail campaigns to arrive in-home? Do you have purposeful ride along emails or individual unrelated sends? How many email touches are your donors receiving during this time frame – and which audiences need to be included? How will you treat Sustainers, Midlevel donors, DAFS, etc.?

So many questions, right? But if you wait until the first snap of the post season to start coordinating your offense, you will definitely miss your opportunity to maximize year-end giving.

Consider a theme for your “Giving Season”

There are several major holidays and events to consider and include across these two months: Giving Tuesday, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Year-End.

Some organizations have opted to utilize each event as a unique fundraising opportunity, which can work well. But there has been a growing trend to create an overarching “Season of Giving” across this time frame. Giving Tuesday and Year-End as an example would still have their individual messaging and CTAs, but if there is an overarching theme, landing pages and social ads could be tweaked instead of reinvented for each experience, ultimately saving your team a great deal of time (side note: If you go this route, be sure to use UTM codes so you can track the campaigns).

Work smarter, not harder!

For Giving Tuesday, consider utilizing free design resources available such as Canva, and don’t forget to visit Givingtuesday.com for additional logos, GIFs, and resources.

Make sure your website is ready for “the big game” – if possible, complete an SEO assessment in late summer or early fall to make sure your website is optimized and that your Google ranking and scores are at acceptable rates. You work hard to get donors and prospects to your site. Make sure your field is lined and ready when they get there!

Optimize your donor experience by ensuring your website mirrors what you have running in the marketplace. Again, this is much easier to execute with a consistent theme across the season.

Is your “WAYS TO GIVE” button easy to find and do you have your monthly giving and DAF options available? You may even consider having your donation page default to monthly giving during this time frame.

Study your scouting reports – aka, do some research!

A recent study completed by Data Axle prompted many fundraisers to try a few new things for Giving Tuesday. Their study found that 46% of donors who have given in the last five years were not aware of Giving Tuesday. Seems impossible to us, but we eat, breathe and live fundraising. Consider using some real estate during Giving Tuesday to explain what it is and why it is important to your organization.

Another stat noted that 32% of donors determine the organization they’ll be giving to more than a month prior to Giving Tuesday. Publish “Save the Date” messaging across your appeals starting in early November. In fact, sending your donors a “Save the Date and Welcome to the Season of Giving” by November 1st is a great way to socialize the giving opportunities to make sure your organization is top of mind (pro tip: Canva also has “Save the Date” templates)! Your social platform is another great opportunity to leverage “Save the Date” ads that launch no later than November 1st.

Don’t forget to be THANKFUL!

Thank your donors for their gifts. Utilizing the last email in the series the day after Giving Tuesday or January 1st as “Thank You” with a soft ask is a great way to generate additional gifts! The same can apply to social ads and posts.

Finally, MATCH IT UP!

If matches are available during this timeframe, use them to generate even greater interest and revenue during this fundraising Super Bowl Season!

Ready? Set? HUT! HUT! Now follow us out onto that field

and start planning fundraising SUPER BOWL 2023!

Cover Image Source: www.freepik.com/free-vector/ colleagues-preparing-corporate-party-time-management