Holiday Season Best Practices For Nonprofits

The holiday season is the most important time of the year for small businesses but did you know it is also a crucial time for nonprofit organizations? According to Nonprofit Tech For Good 31 percent of annual giving occurs in December alone!

The end of the year is the biggest time of the year for nonprofit fundraising efforts. Not only are people in a giving mood because of the holiday season they are also rushing to make any tax-deductible donations before the calendar year ends. 

November and December are huge months for charitable giving with 28 percent of nonprofits raising between 26 and 50 percent of their annual funds just from their year end ask, according to Nonprofit Hub. 

Imagine raising 50 percent of your annual funds in only two months!?

So with this increased interest in charitable giving and tight timeframe how can you make sure your nonprofit ends the year on a high note?

Ask Early

You don’t need to wait until November to start your year end push. Get started early if you can with outreach as early as late September.

According to Statista 43 percent of people have begun their holiday shopping before the end of October. If they are already doing their holiday shopping they are in the holiday mindset! Start sending out emails and mailers before their inboxes become overloaded with ads and sales.

If you start sending out fundraising appeals early make sure they evoke the holiday spirit to get people in the mood to give and remind them that the end of the year is approaching.

Increase Email Sends

Email is a popular and powerful way for nonprofits to communicate with potential donors. Email is also a popular way for stores to make money. For that reason you want to ramp up your email sends during the holiday season so they don’t get lost in a deluge of retail emails.

By the beginning of November you should have ramped up your email marketing efforts so you are sending at least one email every week. Ideally you will send even more! Remember that everyone’s inboxes are jammed full during the holidays and your goal is to make sure your emails get seen. Don’t worry about annoying your subscribers - if they haven’t unsubscribed from a store that sends 5 emails a day you don’t have to worry about them unsubscribing from your list!

Don’t feel pressured to create prolific sends multiple times every week! Utilize your mission and story to send curated emails that will inspire and inform your potential donors. Did you see a news story recently that your supporters would like? Share it in an email! Not everything has to be built from scratch. You can send articles and videos you have found inspiring and reflect your nonprofit’s mission along with your fundraising appeals.

The goal with email sends is to be seen and leave a lingering impression. If you share a video you found inspiring and someone watches it the message will stick with them and they may consider donating right then or the next time one of your emails drops into their inbox.

Use Segmentation

To get the most out of your fundraising efforts you need to tailor your messaging to the recipient. You don’t need to create custom messages to every single contact but it is good practice to segment your email list based on donor personas.

A good example of this segmentation can be people who have donated before, volunteers, people who have never donated and businesses that are looking to make a tax-deductible donation. Each of these segments is best served with messaging that directly appeals to them. You want to make your time in their inbox count!

If you have not segmented your contact list before now is the time to do it. You can start small with only one or two segments and work off of those. Any segmenting is better than nothing so don’t feel pressured to nail down each type of donor in your database.

Final Thoughts

November and December is the most important time of the year for nonprofit organizations all over the world. Your efforts during these two months can determine if your nonprofit makes its fundraising goals for an entire year. 

To set yourself up for success during the holidays make sure you are laser focused on your messaging and how you are appealing to your potential donors. Am I communicating enough? Am I messaging them in a way that will resonate? Am I using the right channels to get the word out? 

Let’s make 2021 a year to remember!