Did you know that many organizations, maybe just like yours, raise a staggering 25% of their annual budget in the month of December alone?

That’s not a typo. Whether they’re motivated by the holidays, a tax deduction, a budget shortfall, a financial match, or just feel generous, donors give at the end of the year. Generally speaking, you’ll get the most from your direct response efforts, if done correctly, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, but the real magic happens in the last three days of the year.

That said, there a few rules and considerations that you should be mindful of, if you want to see more than just fireworks come the new year. Here are three simple rules that you can follow to get the most from your year-end fundraising:

Focus on Your Offer

Basic fundraising principles still apply at year-end. You must present a problem or an opportunity that only the donor can solve. They need to feel like the hero at year-end more than ever, and know that their gift is going to do something spectacular.

So, be sure to use donor focused language in your communications. Year-end is not the time to be sharing your statistics or how good your programs are. It’s all about the donor solving a problem and feeling amazing about it.

If you need help crafting a killer year-end offer, just let us know. We’d be happy to help you out.

Multi-Channel Magic

The net effect of a sound multi-channel strategy at year-end is more powerful than you think.

In all our testing, we’ve found that there can be as much as a 58% increase in direct response giving if you message across all of your channels. Integrated fundraising works, so make sure to utilize direct mail, email, social media, paid and unpaid media exposure, public relations, events and any other channel you have available to you.

Remember that all channels need to feel like they are part of the same campaign, so keep your multi-channel messages consistent, too!

Match Their Gift

If you can find a matching gift to offer your donors, then do it. Whether it’s a true matching gift—dollar for dollar—or a challenge gift from a generous major donor, this is a remarkably effective strategy at year-end.

The basic fundraising principles still apply, but donors love to see their gift doing more, helping more people, and making an even bigger difference in the world.

Year-end is busy for fundraisers, but if done correctly and if you’re supported by a team that knows what they’re doing, it can be incredibly rewarding for both you, your organization, and those you serve.

Drop us a line if you need a helping hand.