Last-Minute Tips for End-of-Year Fundraising

You've got 10 days to raise a ton of money for your nonprofit organization. Don't panic.

You don't have time to build a holiday store, multivariate test your website, or launch a Google AdWords account... but you can still run a great program.

Here's our 10 last-minute tips for year-end fundraising:

1. Focus on email.

Twitter and Facebook are great for many things - but raising large amounts of money is typically not one of them. If you only have time to focus on one or two tactics for raising money in the next 10 days, make email your top priority.

2. Don't reinvent the wheel.

What were your most successful and least successful end of year emails in 2009? Which had the highest open rate, click-through rate, and donation rates? When were they sent? Who was the sender? What were the subject lines? What was the creative? What segments were they sent to? What did the donation pages look like?

Look at your past fundraising results - both last year's end-of-year campaign, and your fundraising over the past 11 months. Use what worked, and trash what didn't.

3. Yes, you need to work next week.

The week between Christmas and New Years is the biggest online fundraising week of the year for most nonprofit organizations. In fact, New Years Eve is the biggest fundraising day of the year, thanks to all the procrastinators out there who wait till the very last minute to make tax-deductible donations to charities. Plan at least one (if not two or three) deadline, goal-oriented, and tax-deduction focused emails to go out that week - including New Years Eve. This last email or two doesn't have to be warm and fuzzy - ask for money. Now.

4. Segment what you can.

There's a lot going on next week, so don't kill yourself trying to segment emails. Find a few key segments you can focus on for more personalized messages than your generic fundraising plan.

Those segments may include:

• Interest/how they joined the list: Did you pick up a whole bunch of names from the health care fight? The oil spill? Prop 8? The 2010 election? Give them more of what riled them up. Report back on what you accomplished on that issue.
• Geography: The closer to home you can make your email program, the more likely supporters will be to donate. Talk about the work you're doing on a state or regional basis, if you have the ability. Use senders or stories from people near them (shoot for regions, like the Northeast or Southwest). The more you can make people feel like their friends and neighbors are participating in the cause, the more likely people will take action themselves.
• Donors vs. Non-Donors: Yes, you should ask your donors to give more money - don't exclude them. Past donors are going to be exponentially more likely to give. Just remember: donors want to be acknowledged for making contributions in the past. Thank people for their previous support, and make the case why another donation is so important.
• Based on highest previous contribution: People who have donated $10 in the past don't want to be asked for $1000, and people who have donated $1000 in the past shouldn't be asked for $10. If you're going to ask for a specific amount of money in your email, break it out into donation levels to personalize the ask. (Please note: email is not direct mail. A donation string - "donate $10, $25, $50 or more" - in email it screams "I don't know anything about you.")

5. Follow up with the deadbeats.

Send follow-up reminder donation messages within 24-48 hours to people who clicked on your donation email but didn't donate (also known as abandoned shopping carts in the corporate world).

These people may have simple gotten distracted and didn't get a chance to complete their transaction; they also may have been on the verge of donating but just need one extra nudge. Send them another short reminder to make a donation -- these people will be exponentially more likely to donate.

6. Tell your story.

Remember, nearly every nonprofit in the country is going to be sending emails next week. You need to make your case for why you need the money more than any other nonprofit that also is sending them emails.

This isn't a time for a sob story about how you're going to shut down if you don't get their donation (unless that's really true). It's a time to prove what you've done, and how their tax-deductible donation will make your program even better.

7. Set a goal.

Everyone wants to feel like their $20 donation will make a difference - that it's a part of something bigger than himself or herself.

Scared of setting a goal that you can't reach? First, choose a goal that's best for you.

That goal can be:

• A monetary goal for the end of the month/quarter/year ("help us raise $50,000 by December 31st")
• A monetary goal for the whole year ("we've raised $180,000 online this year. Help us reach $250,000")
• A participation goal for the end of the month/quarter/year ("help us get 100 donations by the end of the year")
• A participation goal for the whole year ("4000 people have given online this year. Help us reach 5000")
• A participation goal for new donors ("help us find 100 new donors by December 31st")
• A participation goal for recurring donors ("help us find 100 new monthly donors to take ownership of our program")
• A programmatic goal with the money you'll be raising ("help us feed 1000 hungry children by December 31st")

Second, you don't have to launch your campaign with the fundraising goal. Set your goal based on a statistic that will make sense with what you've already raised. By doing so, you'll be able to tell your list that you're already most of the way to the goal you've set.

8. Daisy-chain your actions.

Have you convinced someone to make a donation for your organization? Great - but your work isn't done. You don't have to just send them to a generic "thank you" page once their transaction is completed.

"Daisy chain" your donation page to other actions they can take. Some options include:

• A recurring donation page ("Thanks for your donation! Will you help support our efforts all year long with a recurring donation?")
• A gift/"in honor of" donation page ("Thanks for your donation! Will you give the gift of helping those in need this holiday season by making another donation on behalf of someone special in your life?")
• A share page ("Thanks for your donation! Will you tell your friends about your donation via email/facebook/twitter?")
• An online store (if applicable)
• A "why did you donate?" signup form (this can be great content for follow-up donation emails you send later in the campaign)

9. Clean up your website.

Less is more right now. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to donate on your website right now, and get rid of the other distractions.

• If you have the technical ability, put up a donation splash page or light box - an interstitial page or box that people land on before your home page - to ask for money. It works.
• Make sure the donate button is as prominent as possible. If you have a rotating image on your home page, make sure a donation ask is prominently displayed.
• Simplify your donation form so that it has as few links to other actions as possible, as few choices as possible that people need to make, and as few clicks as possible to complete the contribution. This includes sidebars and navigation bars.

10. Follow up with your direct mail and phone solicitations.

If you're not raising a lot of money online, chances are you're raising a lot of money instead through direct mail or phone solicitations. Use that to your advantage - your goal is to raise as much money as possible, regardless of the channel.

If you've already dropped mail this month, follow up with an email with a source-coded link for people to donate online if they don't want to battle the holiday lines at the post office.

If you're making calls, send a follow up email after you've spoken to them or left a message, thanking them for talking and, if they didn't donate, reminding them that they can do so online.

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