It’s already December, and the year’s almost over! Giving Tuesday is past, but there’s still time to polish up the year-end fundraising plan for your non-profit.
In general, online fundraising for non-profits revolves around email. You’ll see a flurry of emails from most non-profits during the last few days of 2016, but why not get started now— before the crush?
People will not donate to your non-profit unless you ask. So you’ll need to send out emails to your list asking people to give, and making it as easy as possible to do so. (One click buttons etc. are great).
Use past giving history as a guide to how much to ask for. Don’t forget to thank people for their past contributions to show that you notice and care. Try a low dollar ask for people who have never given before.
Try giveaways such as merchandise for various giving levels. This may be especially effective for generating first-time donors.
Make it clear how the money will be used/which projects etc., setting goal amounts, and using visual aids such as thermometers to show how close you are to achieving the goal.
You’ll also want to mirror your email content on social media, and perhaps even set up a Facebook donate now button (here’s how).
Don’t forget to resend your email to non-openers one last time before December 31.
Here's some more great resources to help you with your end of year fundraising. Fundraising for beginners (how to get started), online fundraising best practices & principles (evergreen concepts), and what really works for year-end fundraising (what we learned).
If you have an eligible c3, it’s a great time to apply for a Google grant. A grant will get you up to $10,000/mo. in free Google search advertising. If that's something you'd like to explore, go here to apply: http://www.google.com/grants/
Wishing you the best of luck for your end-of-year fundraising season!