Latest / The Nonprofit Podcast / Ep 172| The 4 Month Roadmap to Year-End Fundraising

Transcript

Ep 172| The 4 Month Roadmap to Year-End Fundraising · The Nonprofit Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is for anyone who's starting to feel that familiar mix of pressure and possibility as giving season approaches.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: A simple plan to help you focus on the right things at the right time.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: Four months, four strategies, and one solid plan.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: The Nonprofit Podcast, powered by DonorBucks.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm Jenna Lynch, Education and Community Engagement Manager here at DonorBox.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: Each week we share practical information, clear insights, and inspiration to help you raise more, reach further, and drive real results to take your nonprofit to the next level.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the truth, y'all.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: If you wait until November to plan your year-end campaign, you are already behind.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: But if you start now, even just by outlining a few smart moves, you are giving yourself space to actually lead the charge and not scramble at the last minute.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: That's what this episode is all about.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to walk you through a clear month-by-month roadmap for year-end giving starting with September and moving all the way through to December.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: So think of this as your high-level overview.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: It's just a simple plan to help you focus on the right things at the right time.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: And then in the months ahead, we'll go deeper with focused episodes that drill down to exactly what to do on each month and how.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: But for today, uh, this is your framework.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: It's just four months, four strategies, and one solid plan.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: Now, before we really dive into this, I want to take a moment to look back to summer.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: If you've been following along this summer, hopefully you've spent June, July, and now we're in August laying out a strong foundation for what's ahead.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: In June, we talked about segmenting your donors and auditing your acknowledgments.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: The goal was to get clarity on who's been giving, who's been quiet, and how you're showing gratitude.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: And then in July, we focused on reconnection.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: We call it the gratitude blitz, some like campaign prep and making sure that your supporters felt seen and appreciated.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: And now here in August, you've ideally been closing the loop, sending out maybe a mini impact report, inviting your summer donors into monthly giving, and building a rhythm of simple, consistent donor touch points.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: And if you didn't get to all that, don't stress.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: But if you did, you've got momentum, really good momentum.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk about what to do next.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: September is your spring board.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Donors are coming back from summer break.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: They're checking emails and replying to them again.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: Their routines are starting to settle.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: And this makes it a perfect time to reconnect.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: You might send a warm update that shares one thing their gift made possible this summer.
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SPEAKER_01: Let them know what's coming up this fall as well.
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SPEAKER_01: And just invite them to be a part of what's next.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: This is also a great time to get organized.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: You want to set clear goals for your year-end campaign.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: You should review what worked last year.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at that campaign.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: What worked?
3:14
SPEAKER_01: Did you meet your goals?
3:15
SPEAKER_01: You should also assemble your team, even if it's just you and a trusted volunteer, whoever that is, right?
3:22
SPEAKER_01: List out those folks that are going to be involved in your year-end fundraising campaigns.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: And definitely clean up your donor segments if you didn't get to it already, or you know, update them since all the summertime giving, and then outline your content calendar or your creative brief.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: What are you going to need when?
3:41
SPEAKER_01: In what months, what weeks, right?
3:44
SPEAKER_01: And if you're using DonorBox, this is a great time to add our recurring upsell feature to your donation form or even try out our crowdfunding pages to really help boost donor engagement.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: Those are amazing for time-bound campaigns with a set goal.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: So start to check out these tools, not saying you have to roll it out now, but again, September is all about getting organized.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: October is your full throttle planning and prep month.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: We are committing in October.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: But it's also when you start building a little urgency.
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SPEAKER_01: You're going to write your appeal copy in October.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: You're going to finalize your social media plan.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: You're going to update your giving tools.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Since you tested some of those out in September to figure out what you like, you're going to actually update them now.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: You're going to check your donation form for typos, glitches, outdated dated images, update your CTA, right?
4:41
SPEAKER_01: And just make sure that your messaging is clear across every single one of your channels and touch points.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: And this is also when you want to start teasing your year-end campaign.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: So send yourself a preview email and then send out a little hinty email to your supporters as well.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Drop hints on your social media too, right?
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Start planting the seeds for this campaign.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: And this just gets your donors thinking about year end now.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: And this just helps you ease into the season with confidence and not suddenly bombard your donors when your campaign is ready to launch.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: They should be primed and prepped by this point.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: All right, now you've made it to November and you are really in it.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: November is when your campaign should go live.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: And this actually also includes Giving Tuesday, which isn't until December 2nd this year, but your messaging for that should start well before then.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: So November is when you're going to announce your campaign, send your first email and first mailer if you're doing print.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: You're going to kick off your social posts, and you're going to choose one strong story that drives it home and anchors your campaign messaging again across all of your channels.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: One of my biggest tips for your campaign is to keep the giving option simple.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: You want to make it so easy for supporters to donate or to attend an event or create their own peer-to-peer page for your organization.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: Align your website, your emails, and your social posts to maintain a consistent message and call to action here.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: And you're going to use the weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday to build a buzz and carry that momentum into December.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: December is showtime.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: It's also your moment for follow through.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: So you're going to send those second and third email waves in December.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: You're going to continue to share weekly updates on social media and in your newsletters.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: You'll send your final appeals the last week of the year in December.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: But don't stop there.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: This is a great time to steward your supporters too.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Not just ask, ask, ask, and share, share, share.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: You want to thank them.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Share impact updates, how they've made that impact.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: Give them shout-outs.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: And this is also your moment to start planting seeds for next year.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: Invite your newer returning donors to join your newsletter.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Ask them to consider giving monthly as a way to kick off the new year with impact.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: And when gifts come in, again, say thank you quickly and personally, as fast and as personally as you can.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: So that was just a high-level overview.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Here is your one action step to do right now.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Open up your calendar and block off two planning sessions each month between now and December.
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SPEAKER_01: Just a few hours you'll reserve for strategy, prep, and execution.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: And that way, when our next deep dive episode drops, you are not scrambling, you are ready to take action and move things forward.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: So again, keep an eye out for these monthly episodes as we dive deeper into each month.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, we've also put together a giving season roadmap blog article to help you plan, prep, and launch with confidence.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: And you will find that link in the show notes.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Go grab it.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being a part of the nonprofit podcast community.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Your work matters, and we are honored to support it.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, share it, leave a review, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Until next time, take that first step and stay inspired.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: That warm feeling when you help someone, it's not just happiness, it's fulfillment.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: And we believe it should be available to everyone, from frontline heroes to first time fundraisers.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Our tools empower you to help others.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: This is our mission.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: This is DonorBox, helping you help others.