You know how critical major donors are to your organization.
This fact is magnified during the month of December. The amount of money you raise this month largely rests on the shoulders of a few key donors. And it is your job to maximize your efforts this fundraising.
But if you are like everyone else in nonprofit work, you probably have very little time to add another thing to your to-do list. You are running out of time!
The good news is that this fundraising season you have one more week than usual between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
This means you have a BONUS week to raise more money from your major donors. Another side of the same coin: you have a bonus week to give your major donors the opportunity to experience the joy of giving. Because never forget; they LOVE to give!
With this in mind, I’ve come up with 3 easy things for you to do to maximize the fundraising season and to make the most of this bonus week.
1. Don’t spend time writing Christmas cards; spend your time writing Christmas appeals.
Since your time is limited, you should focus most of your energy on what will produce revenue. Christmas cards are nice, but they won’t generate revenue. The first thing you should work on and deliver is a Christmas appeal. Ask your donors to make a generous year-end gift and then once you receive that gift you can send them a thank you note and wish them a happy holiday.
2. Call your top 10 major donors who haven’t given a gift this year right now and set a time to meet with them to ask them for a year-end gift.
Be very clear that the purpose of the meeting is to ask them for a gift. Taking the time to meet in person sends a strong message that you value them and their giving to your cause.
3. Say, “YES!” to any and every invitation you receive to attend a holiday party, open house, public event, etc.
This is a great time of year to deepen relationships with current major donors and to meet their friends. I know you are tired and feel maxed out, but the number of opportunities to meet with current and future donors in-person won’t come this way until December of 2018.
Major donors are incredibly generous people who give a significant percentage of the total donations for your organization. So it’s essential that you maximize the fundraising season and take advantage of this bonus week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now is the time to lead your donors to give a big year-end gift, and when possible cultivate new relationships that will fuel your major gift fundraising throughout 2018.
If this blog post sparked your thinking, then I know you’d benefit from a webinar I hosted a few weeks back. Click here to get our Major Donor Year-End Fundraising Webinar and learn an easy-to-follow system that will help you get (bigger!) gifts from your most valuable donors before the year ends. You’ll feel confident with a step-by-step plan for what to do this year, and you’ll love knowing that you’re stewarding your most important donor relationships!
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