The End-of-the-Year Appeal Campaign – 5 Tips to Make it Better

The end-of-the-year appeal is one of the foremost communication opportunities with your donors this year. If you’ve sent an end-of-the-year appeal before, your donors are expecting to hear from you, and many of them are planning to give. So here are some tips for making your annual appeal the most successful yet:

1. Share something wonderful about your organization – an exciting program that will be rolled out in 2014 or a client success story. Make your donors proud of their affiliation with you and compelled to take out their credit cards and make a gift for the coming year.
2. In addition to sending the letter by mail, complement your end-of-the-year appeal with emails and social media. The emails and social media posts will remind your donors about the letter sitting in their foyer and the need for them to give. The online follow-up will also enable them to click to give, making it easier for them to fulfill their annual gift.
3. Make sure your letter, emails, and social media messaging have synergy. The hard copy letters can feel very personal. The emails can have beautiful visuals.  The social media makes the message very accessible. Just make sure the message and ask you are making is consistent.
4. If your donor has given in the past, ask them to match that gift this giving season, or give more.
5. Consider including two options in your end-of-the-year campaign: a monthly giving option and a matching gift option. If you can get your donors to sign on to a monthly giving option, that is more consistent revenue for your organization.  You can explain that to your donors, and let them know how important that is for your mission and programming. Also, many people do not realize their companies have a matching gift program. Point this out to them and ask them to inquire within their Human Resources departments.  By filling out a simple form, they can double their gift!

We hope your end-of-the-year appeal is a big success. So much money is spent during the holiday season on gifts, decorations, and food and drink. We hope people put aside money for the causes they care about.  There is no time like this season to help nonprofits do what they do best – make the world a better place.