Most fundraising advice we see is a recycled mix of banal tips and things you already know. Today, the team from Ostara is offering you four specific, practical tips for end of year giving from our real-world fundraising experience that will help you strengthen your fundamentals and stand out to your donors this giving season.
If you are launching an annual appeal and/or online campaign, we encourage you to invest a little extra effort in these key strategies:
Focus on empathy and impact – connect with donors’ emotions and desire to make a real difference in the world. Help them personally relate to the people or causes that you serve through stories, testimonials and authentic program descriptions. Make your impact statements come alive with the “so what?” of the accomplishment their gift will support. Build trust and urgency by making the case that giving now is critical, and that you are the ones to invest in for solutions - but don’t project desperation where people are looking for inspiration.
Segment and personalize your asks – go beyond the generic email or letter. Utilize your tools and donor records to build a segmented list and differentiate your approach for each group accordingly.
Major donors, board and past leaders. Make sure your leadership-level folks feel recognized and remembered by giving a personal touch from the Executive Director, a board member, or a program lead. Thank them for the impact they have made, and ask for support in the context of their ongoing relationship with the organization. Consider asking for a multi-year pledge if appropriate. Suppress them from the mass mailing but have a personalized version ready to send if needed, and track your efforts. Tip: block time on people’s calendars to help with the effort!
Loyal and past donors. These folks should be flagged in your system and treated as part of the family, even if it has been a couple years since they gave. Consider adding a target ask amount to the message that seeks an increase to their typical gift. And if sending multiple waves of emails, suppress the donors who have given since the beginning of the appeal. Tip: take time to scrub your data file salutations, duplicates and asks.
Potential donors. Acquisition or conversion of new donors is tough, but if buttressed with a strong digital comms plan (see #3) a direct appeal is just one touch among many. Any gifts are a win, and success is measured more by donors than donations.
Boost digital media presence – develop a “lifecycle communications plan” with social posts and emails around gratitude, impact, need and calls to action. Events like GivingTuesday (12/3), or paid Facebook & free Google Ads can help your message get to new audiences as well. Tip: Make mobile giving easy – test your forms and staff response time to ensure a positive experience for your donors.
Thank and steward – ensure your staff are equipped to acknowledge all gifts within 2 business days, and board & volunteers are organized to personally thank donors throughout the season. It sounds obvious, but when resources are tight this is where some teams get complacent as long as gifts are coming in – nothing will set you up for renewed and increased giving better than building connection through gratitude and engagement going forward.
If you are looking for more specific support of your annual fund work, grant writing, data management, planned giving or campaigns – contact us at the Ostara Group and we will be happy to discuss your needs.