It’s almost October, and it’s time to begin figuring out your end of year fundraising plan if you haven’t already.
- Prep now for #GivingTuesday! Giving Tuesday launches on December 1, and they’re already prepping with webinars and events to get you prepared to raise the most amount of money. While Black Friday has been dropping in sales year over year, #GivingTuesday has been raising more money each year. This is a great way for your organization to join a movement that shines a light on the importance of charitable giving.
- Make sure your donate button stands out. Make giving on your website easy. Users should not go to your website and spend more than 5 seconds trying to find your donate button. One of the strategies we have been testing and finding success with at our web agency Rad Campaign is having a “quick donate” button at the top of your site on every page. When a user moves their mouse over the donate button it expands with a form field to donate a specific dollar amount. We have seen organizations double their online donations on key pages with this strategy. Test it on your nonprofit site and let us know the results in the comments.
Also make sure you have a thank you email going out after someone donates! It’s important to show your donors some love. This means that you’ll need to give your donation page a test-drive and see if it’s too complicated. If it’s complex or clunky, now is the time to fix it as you are loosing conversions.
- Check in with your donors, your constituents, and your best allies. For starters, check out these 5 ways to retain donors for the long haul. But to really engage your donors, and keep them, you have got to check in with your donors, your constituents, and your allies pretty consistently so that they know that you don’t only reach out when you want them to give you money. No one likes to be treated like an ATM machine. These are the people who are your biggest fans, and they want you to succeed. Why don’t you drop them a line, ask what they want to see from you, and just let them know that you appreciate them. A simple no-strings-attached thank you for being an advocate will be something they’ll remember when you do send them your end of year asks.
- Get your content calendar set up and approved. You’re going to be sending lots of emails, marketing your end of year fundraising campaigns across social media, and publishing blog posts. To keep on top of important dates, get all of your communications ready in advance in a calendar that allows you to easily see what’s going live each week. This will reduce the stress of figuring out what to get up, and will allow you to be proactive vs. reactive. If your nonprofit requires that all messaging gets approved by colleagues, then they’ll have plenty of time to get that approved rather than getting antsy last minute. Here are some tips for rocking your website content.
- Jump on a call with your board members and advisory council. How often do you check in with your board and advisors? Probably not often enough. You’re busy, they’re busy, it doesn’t seem convenient. Maybe not, but you want to make sure that you’re all on the same page, especially when it comes to fundraising. Set up a call with them and discuss how they can be your biggest advocates during year-end fundraising. Will they help you make calls? If they are influencers ro celebrities will they author emails? Will they do matching donations for 1 week? Are they speaking at events and can speak about your organization? After checking in with them, send them an email with blog posts links, social media language they can share, and important dates. They are engaged with your nonprofit because they believe in what you do, and want to help. I work with philanthropists who are on boards and they love to support nonprofits in this way.
On your marks, get set, and you’ll feel so much more confident to GO on all of your year-end fundraising! What have you got a head start on?
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