December 1 is almost here. And many inexperienced fundraisers are getting ready to throw in the towel.
It only seems natural:
- In December their donors’ schedules are full of holiday parties.
- In December, many of their donors will go to additional church services.
- In December, snow can make travel difficult for events or appointments.
- In December, donors will want to spend time with their kids who are on break from school or college.
- In December, donors need to buy a whole lot more gifts than at any other time of the year so their budgets are probably tighter.
And if we’re honest, as fundraisers we’re tired. It’s been a long year. Wouldn’t it be easier to coast through December and get a fresh start in January.
No!
Acknowledge your excuses…and get to work fundraising anyway
If you are going to stop fundraising for a month, choose a month like January or February, don’t stop fundraising in December!
Experienced fundraisers know that December is one of the best times to do fundraising. All the parties and gift giving seem to get people thinking about others and help them become more generous. So use these next five weeks well!
Granted, you would have a more productive December if you’ve already sent a couple fundraising mailings this fall. And if you’d been consistent in soliciting your majore donor prospects. But there is still time.
A fundraising strategy for December
Here are three strategic fundraising activities you can do this month:
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Call previous donors who haven’t given yet
Run a report of your top 20% of donors. Make two lists, both lifetime giving and just last fiscal year. Call all of those people who haven’t yet made a gift this year. (Fiscal year or calendar year doesn’t matter. Donors usually think in terms of calendar year.)
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Throw a party
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Get out one more fundraising letter
Despite the headlines, direct mail isn’t dead. (I heard one direct mail expert say direct mail is still alive because the people who read direct mail are still alive!) Do what it takes to get one more letter out to people. Make sure it follows good fundraising letter tips like those found here on FundraisingCoach.com or over on uber-copywriter Tom Ahern’s blog.
Just get a letter out, and make sure to put a return envelope with it to make it easier for people to mail back their gift. (Studies I’m reading seem to say return envelopes without stamps work just as well as envelopes with stamps or with a BRE indicia. You’ll want to test this for yourself.)
See if you can put together a high quality, low maintenance holiday party. Open houses are perfect for this. Getting donors and prospects onto the site where “the magic happens” helps them remember why they love your organization.
And if you don’t pitch it as a “donor appreciation” event, you can add an ask. It can be as direct as:
“If you haven’t made a gift yet this year, here’s a form to help you do that.”
Or it can be a bit more indirect:
“Thanks to your generous donations, our staff is able to do amazing things here at XYZ nonprofit. Who else should we be talking to?”
Don’t throw in the towel
Whatever you do, don’t throw in the towel. December is one of the best months to fundraise. Don’t waste this opportunity. You’re nonprofit mission is worth the extra effort you take in the next few weeks.
Which is better, an enclosed envelope with donating options, or a separate envelope with a separate card to make out indicating your donation? I like the card because I don’t have to be so careful opening up an envelope and it takes a bit more time. But is one way more effective than the other?
Great question. I haven’t seen studies on either.
I personally prefer the card.
I’ve used both w/annual appeals – don’t have a strong preference.
Last week I received an appeal letter with no card, no envelope and that equals no donation:(
Deb: That’s awful.
As you know, if you’re going to mail someone asking for a gift, you need to make it easy for them to mail a gift back!
“Make it easy for the donor to say yes” That will be on my tombstone! 🙂
Okay on the envelope/card. Maybe we’ll go with the card this time and an envelope. And I’ll do my own study and report back! 🙂
Nice tombstone! 🙂
If you CAN, you can do a split test but using the card with half the mailing and the envelope flap with the other half.
It’s a hassle but it could be well worth the work!
I agree December is one of the best times to call someone on the phone and ask for a special holiday gift. Either follow up on a holiday letter, to those who have not responded, or create a special appeal in the spirit of the holidays. With the season of giving and the end of the tax year close at hand, some calling programs and segments can see almost double their historical response rates when called in December.
So cool to connect Wednesday, Marc.
I’m in favor of separate reply card with return envelope over preprinted wallet envelope because the separate card can (and should) be customized to 1) the donor’s giving level and 2) the mailing theme (as well as coded so you can track and analyze what solicitation your donors are responding to and when). Think about those donors who don’t respond immediately but take the card and envelope and stick them in their bills. When it comes time to write their checks, you want that reply card to be selling, selling, selling to remind them just why they want to send a gift now.I’ve rarely seen envelopes that do a great job of making the case.
P.S. When I was in charge of a lot of direct mail in my younger days, we tested both BREs and custom replies and the difference in response rates was negligible. (this was for acquisition).
But moving to the custom reply had another benefit… it eliminated the expensive white mail that we otherwise received.
Thanks for those great additions, Gayle!
So glad we were able to meet on Wednesday!