It’s Not Too Late: Step-by-Step Strategies to End Your Year Strong

This is it, folks! For many of you, this is the most significant time of year for donor giving. That’s why it’s so critical to be working in a mindful, planful, and strategic way.

How you show up in relationship with your donors can make a big difference during such an important time. So, let’s take a moment to think through how you can create a year-end plan that will help you end the year strong. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend downloading one of the following resources, which are full of ideas (plus a planning worksheet to support you): Preparing for a High-Impact Fall and Year-End Fundraising Season Podcast and this Year-End Planning Guide. It’s not too late. Let’s get you organized.

Now, let’s talk about some of the key points that you need to have in your plan for ending the year strong. These strategies are ones we’re using every day with our clients, and we know they work!

End of Year Step-by-Step Plan

Create your list to focus on

Identify your top tier donors and LYBUNT report of donors who are behind, lapsed, or maybe have not given at all and sort from largest gift to smallest. Organize and prioritize your list so that you can then add a goal and quick plan per person.

Create a Specific Goal Per Donor

Set a goal for each donor you are asking at year-end. (This may not be every donor on your caseload! That’s okay.) If you have been sharing impact and communicating with your donors, we recommend asking donors for a specific amount or for an increase vs simply asking if they would give again this year. Look at the last four years of their giving and combine that with what you have been learning about them to identify your fourth quarter goal. Unless you know some specific reason to keep the goal the same, or even lower it, the goal should increase, especially as you are able to connect program needs with your donor’s passion and interests.

Create Meaningful Touch Points

You don’t have much time, so create a handful of meaningful ways to report back on the impact of their giving. You could invite donors to an event, host a zoom program update, text them a quick video of a program, send then handwritten Thanksgiving card (hand addressed/real stamp), or email a link to a story on your website. Keep things simple yet meaningful. Check out the Planning Guide for great ideas. Where possible, you will want to share program updates that connect to your donor’s passion and interests. If that is something you don’t know, make that a step in your plan to ask and find out.

Set Up Your Ask

Whether you are following up from a direct mail piece, a proposal, setting up a meeting via phone/zoom/in person, the most important thing to do is to set clear expectations. If someone is lapsed you can say something like, “By this time last year you had so generously given $4,000 would you be open to considering a gift in the next few weeks?” If you are setting up a larger ask, it might sound like this, “Yolanda you have been giving $10,000 generously for the last five years. Would you be open to a conversation about some big bold projects we have and how you might want to be involved?” Let them know you want to talk about a gift and if you are coming with a bigger ask ahead of time.

Qualify Donors As You Go

We recommend a full-time MGO have 150 qualified donors on their caseload, which means the donor has indicated that they want to be in relationship and communication with your organization. This is a great time of year to identify which donors on your caseload are not qualified and how many more qualified donors you need. Donors tend to respond more this time of year so it’s a great time to be paying attention to who you can add to your caseload.

Check Your Assumptions

This is where you take an honest look at how you are getting in the way. Are you fearful that if you ask for more your donors will get upset and go away? Do you feel uncomfortable and know how to have a conversation with a donor about increasing their giving? Or are you simply unsure about the steps you should take? As our Veritus coach Debi Dunham says, “Your donors want to give more than you can ask!”

Check Your Fears

You may feel perfectly comfortable setting up a meeting to ask for a gift with your lower tier donors, but you might be getting in your own way with a little voice in the back of your head saying that your top donors don’t want to meet with you. A successful lawyer might take more time to find an opening on her schedule to set up a meeting than a retired schoolteacher, but that also might not be true. Both of them care about your mission and should be given the same opportunity to meet with you, hear about the work, and be given an opportunity to give and give more. Remember you are not working with a lawyer or a teacher but a human, a person who wants to make a difference in this world.

Work your plan!

To do this, you need to manage your boss, colleagues, and yourself. Let your boss and colleagues know about your plan and how you will be blocking work time on your calendar. Ask them to help you out by checking in on your progress and not asking you to be involved in other activities. Know yourself, and how you may tend to jump into non-plan activities because they are easier or more fun! Set up an accountability buddy you have to run all non-plan activity by for approval.

It’s not too late to implement strategies that will drive your success at year-end! Let go of perfection. Let go of second guessing. Create a plan you can quickly implement and get moving on to reach out in meaningful ways to your donors and set up conversations and asks. Remember, you are not a machine. Be sure to take fun, short breaks. Take care of yourself along the way. Your focus and discipline will pay off in meaningful connections with your donors and an increase in revenue for your mission.

Karen