Your year-end giving questions, answered

The year-end giving struggle is real. It’s your final push to raise a significant portion of your annual funds… and if your campaign falls flat, you’re in serious trouble. To help, we recently pulled together a roster of fundraising experts to help you get through the last few weeks of the year:

• T. Clay Buck, CFRE,  Founder of Next River Fundraising Strategies  
• Sam Laprade, CFRE, Fundraising Strategist at Gryphon Fundraising
• Cherian Koshy, CFRE, VP of Product Strategy at Kindsight
• Barbara O’Reilly, CFRE, Principal and Founder of Windmill Hill Consulting

These fundraising powerhouses shared their best-kept secrets in a three-part webinar series (here’s the first one on getting more donors – and at 30 minutes each, they’re very bingeable). We had so many fantastic questions during the live sessions, we can’t help but share. Here’s a compilation of the questions that were asked – and the answers our roster of fundraising experts shared!

As a team of one (in the fund development department), what are your recommendations when you have all these layered-in touchpoints? 

T. Clay Buck: Focus on what you can do and do well and do effectively. Don’t try to do it all _ you can’t. You’re amazing, but nobody can do it all! Focus your energies on highest return and identify those donors MOST likely to give and focus the engagement on them. That’s high level, but I’m giving you permission and encouragement to not do All The Things. 

We definitely don’t have time for a lapsed donor mailing. Is email sufficient, and what tips do you have for making an impact with it?

Sam Laprade: I would engage in an email lapsed campaign. As I say at this time of year – throw all the spaghetti at the wall! 

How many years back do you look for reactivating donors? 

T. Clay Buck: A few things: first, make it an email sequence, not just a one-time. So build a series of about 5 emails between now and the end of the year. Each one needs to build on the other and be a strong through-line of conversation. Same concepts though – share impact, share what their generosity can do especially now. Keep it high-level and quick/conversational. Finally, I’d suggest making it conversational; less graphics and branding, and as much like a direct one-on-one conversation as possible. I see lapsed donors as those who are within the last 2-3 years, and anyone prior to that as long lapsed. Messaging is roughly the same but measures the results separately. I’ve seen good success going back 10 years. Yep, 10 years. You’ll pick up SOME. In general, though, you see diminishing returns the further back you go. 

Sam Leprade: Like 4 (or 5 if there are reasons such as COVID for example). One of my clients received $10k from a donor four years ago – in the mail!!

How do you convince the team to send a storytelling letter vs the normal year-end flyer that has worked in the past in their mind? 

Sam Leprade: I have faced this! I would suggest asking for a pilot project. This tends to be more collaborative. 

How do you build a list of people and contact information if you don’t have phone numbers? Our donation system only has them enter their email, as as consultant told us having people register via phone is a barrier to have people donate. 

T. Clay Buck: I’m not going to argue with that advice –  the more information you ask for can cause “friction” but I’ve not seen asking for a phone number limiting response. But do make it optional on your form. You CAN do a phone append where you have a service research and find phone numbers, but do remember that phones are subject to privacy legislation so just because you have a phone number doesn’t mean you can call them. I’ve found donor surveys to gather additional information are a great way to gather information they didn’t provide on the gift form.

I am a new development officer here (started 4 months ago) and have seen some lapsed donors over 2 years old. Are there strategies that you recommend to engage? I don’t have phone numbers for them. 

T. Clay Buck: WONDERFUL!! Send them a letter and an email introducing yourself, telling them that you’re new and grateful for their support and that you’d love to connect with them to learn more about the organization from their perspective. The old adage “Ask for advice, get money twice” really applies here!

Our organization doesn’t have a HNWI (high-net-worth individual) pipeline…how does one go about building one without support from a governing board? 

T. Clay Buck: I would DEFINITELY look at purchasing a prospect list selected by affinity, location, and capacity. 

As part of the direct mail, we were going to slip personalized notes into existing identified donors. Do folks have boilerplate language they would recommend? Realizing we’re all kind of different with our missions and relationships. 

T. Clay Buck: AI tools like Kindsight’s engage, among others – can be REALLY helpful! Jerry Huntsinger is one of the greats of fundraising direct mail. Check out this article on Nonprofit Pro on lift notes.

What is an effective cadence to send out reminders about Giving Tuesday (both before and after)? 

T. Clay Buck: There’s no one “right” answer to that, but definitely create a cadence that begins long before Giving Tuesday and continues afterwards. I’d suggest one to two times per week, mixing information/impact update messaging with direct asks or call-to-action. Definitely don’t make your cadence all-ask-all-the-time. 

With respect to the cadence, in terms of once or twice a week, is that all inclusive, or maybe it’s better to stagger it (email one week, then social media the other)? 

T. Clay Buck: Remember social media is not necessarily targeted. Keeping in mind prioritization and focusing on what you can do and do well, I say do BOTH.

What’s one step you would recommend to an organization that is getting into year-end giving late with little to no established donor base? 

T. Clay Buck: I think the best approach you could take right now is to engage your board and key volunteers in some peer-to-peer campaigns on social media and/or to their networks. You are in both acquisition and fundraising mode so balance the need between year-end goals and long-term engagement. You might also want to consider generating a list of prospective donors. 

If I have under 100 people in my past donor list, how can I make my end-of-year giving messaging more robust? 

T. Clay Buck: Personalize, personalize, personalize. Use donor’s names and remind them of their previous giving and the impact they had with their gift! 

What are your thoughts on best outreach strategies at a time of year when it may be harder to get meetings (even virtual or phone ones)? 

T. Clay Buck: Make your communications as warm and fuzzy as possible. And look at your sequence. If you’re trying to reach someone on the phone, send them an email or letter first to tell them to be on the lookout for the call. When personalizing messages by reminding donors of their past contributions, is it more effective to mention the specific amount they previously gave, but if you can’t do that, simply acknowledging their support might be impactful enough. 

When you bring in the actual amount it can put the donor in a “transactional” mode, but donors often forget what they gave. In the ask of the letter or email I find it useful to add something like “Your last gift of $50 did x, y, z. Could we/they count on you to renew at that amount or with whatever level you’re comfortable?” I’d also encourage personalized ask strings in a direct mail letter and separate URLs for giving pages with different ask strings dependent upon the last gift.

Is it ok to ask for donations throughout the year or should it only be a hard ask once or twice a year? 

T. Clay Buck: You definitely want to have an engaged, ongoing, year-long communications and fundraising plan.It takes some of the stress off of year-end and keeps supporters engaged with your mission all year long. 

If you meet with your high-touch donors fairly regularly, should you exclude them from your end-of-year mailing? Or let them decide by mailing them just to make sure they have a way to return a gift? 

Cherian Koshy: There are two very valid schools of thought on this: 1) Include them to keep them updated and present them with another opportunity to make a gift if they choose, or, 2) Exclude them to avoid any confusion about their current gift and avoid over-asking. Both of these options are valid but I would present a third option: 3) Include them with a lift-note. I would pull your high-touch donors out of your mass mail file and use a Post-It Note or a paperclipped note on top that is personalized to the donor. 

On the note, I’d recommend describing how important it was to keep them up to date on the mailing and the story you’re telling. Let them know how much you appreciate them. If they read the letter and are compelled to make an additional gift, all the better!

I am new to fundraising in my organization yet have been involved in raising funds on smaller, informal platforms for over 20 years. What are some tips on how to get the rest of our small team excited about fundraising? 

Cherian Koshy: A culture of philanthropy is a long-term process. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. Many organizations see fundraising as a ‘nice-to-have’ vs a ‘need-to-have’ and often misunderstand the purposes of fundraising. Without going too in-depth here, my recommendation is that you describe how donors have been engaging with your organization and if possible, in their own words. Reinforcing to the entire team that by creating opportunities to give, your team is enabling the donors to love well, to live out their identities, and to leave a legacy, you’ll be demonstrating that fundraising is more than just transactional, it’s transformative.

What are today’s trends regarding impact updates? 

Cherian Koshy: Our industry doesn’t have very specific metrics on specific strategies for various reasons. Each organization thinks about impact updates (content, channel, etc) differently and can change this as regularly as they want. That being said, there’s general agreement among practitioners and thought leaders that impact reporting is a critical piece of the entire fundraising process and that consistent updates are not only a good thing to do but also drive increased fundraising results. An impact update might be delivered in person, via social media or email, on a website, or through a designed print piece. Some of the most effective organizations are using omnichannel approaches and real-time updates to keep stakeholders in the loop. 

Suggestions on how to convince a board that tech would be helpful in fundraising efforts. Currently managing a Google sheet that is a total mess. 

Cherian Koshy: Some board members feel as though spending the least amount of money is an appropriate way to manage a tight budget. Others are concerned about the technology itself and whether it would be useful or manageable. Still others worry that choosing the wrong technology could create problems for the organization. Regardless of where your board members are in their thinking, it’s essential to understand what their concerns are and address those issues. If cost is not an issue, there’s no point in bringing that up! But, for example, if cost is the issue, consider asking them what the cost of losing track of donor histories might have on donor retention or what might happen if we’re not able to properly report on our previous giving. These generative discussions, framed as loss to the organization’s short and long-term key performance indicators. Often staff will frame technology as a gain to the organization, which is less effective as a strategy.

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Remember: if you’re looking for more expert tips and tactics on surviving year-end, check out our three-part webinar series, which covers getting more donors, targeting on a time crunch, and engaging at scale. Or if you’re more of a words-on-paper kind of learner, our Year-End Giving Survival Guide is ready for downloading! 

Have a great year-end! 

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Paige Magarrey