Year-End Fundraising + Deadline Language Nerdery

A couple of my colleagues and I here at Better Fundraising have been discussing the use of “by” and “before” when talking about a deadline in a piece of fundraising.

I’m talking about sentences like, “Please send in your gift before midnight, December 31^st” and “Send in your gift by Thanksgiving.” 

The conversation made me realize I had a couple of internal “rules” I was operating by, and I’m writing them down here in case they help you…

There are three different types of deadlines, and knowing which type you’re working with is the key to knowing whether to use “by” or “before” (and to avoiding friendly disagreements with your co-workers 🙂

Here are the three types of deadlines…

The Day

Example deadline: “December 31^st.”

In this case, use the word “by” – “Please send your special year-end gift by December 31^st.”  You do not want to use the word “before” in this case because “before December 31^st” means that the gift needs to come in on the 30^th – which is not accurate.

The Moment

Example deadline: “Midnight, December 31^st.”

In this case, you can use the word “by” or “before.”  Both work: “Please send your special year-end gift by midnight, December 31^st” works, as does, “Please send your special year-end gift before midnight, December 31^st.” 

The Event

Example deadline: “Thanksgiving.”

Use the word “before.”  We recommend using “before” because it makes the most sense to the donor that the gift needs to be made the day before the activity takes place.  For example, I can’t send a gift at noon on Thanksgiving day and reasonably expect that I’ll help provide a Thanksgiving meal for a person.

If There’s Confusion…

If there’s confusion or conflict around whether to use “by” or “before” it almost always stems from people having different understandings of when the deadline actually is. 

For instance, say your organization has a campaign going and the deadline for your campaign is Thanksgiving.  Some people on your team will interpret “Thanksgiving” to mean that the deadline is the day before Thanksgiving.  And some people will interpret “Thanksgiving” to mean that the deadline is mid-afternoon on Thanksgiving Day – in other words, before the meal starts. 

So if you have conflict or confusion around a deadline, it’s likely the deadline needs to be more tightly defined.  Decide whether the deadline is a Day or a Moment, and then you’ll know the right word to use.

Presumably, you’ll be talking about the year-end deadline a lot in November and December.  I hope this helps settle any arguments around the office.  And if it does the opposite and starts arguments around the office, post your argument in the comments and I’ll respond!