End of year giving?

Hi Andy, great question! Here are a few thoughts:



1. I recommend “Storytelling and the Art of Email Writing” by Colin Holtz and Steve Daigneault, to provide ideas on how to better wordsmith your year-end appeal. Very interesting stuff!



2. Consider Thanksgiving as part of your year-end appeal. Many organizations that I have worked with only sent one or two emails in Dec for their end-of-year campaign. I recommend sending appeals in Dec, but consider sending email appeals earlier as well, prior to the Dec rush. Thanksgiving tends to be (somewhat) less hectic and it is the holiday for being thankful and sharing, which is a theme that can work well with an appeal. Here’s an interesting piece on creating an year-end campaign with an early start.



These next two are not year-end specific, but are critically important for any online appeal and should to be considered.



3. Never lose focus on the donor’s perceived value of their donation. I believe this is the single greatest consideration for a successful appeal. The appeal and resulting experience should focus on the donor and fulfill the “what’s in it for me?” question. It could be gaining pride from being a supporter (or even sharing the fact they gave, i.e. e-cards, car stickers, etc etc), or simply thorough their association with your organization. “Making a difference,” being a part of larger purpose, and the “feel good” aspects (including being appreciated) are definitely included. The approach for maximizing donor’s perceived value varies with each nonprofit, their position within the space, their relationship with their donors, and the collateral they have. Seems kind of nebulous at first, but once you apply this approach to your organization and appeal, ideas start flowing...



4. Improve the online experience. Compare each step of the online donation experience to the comparable step in a face to face interaction with someone who is making a donation—you might be surprised how it stacks up. I lead this type of exercise often with organizations I work with. We find that vast improvements can be made to enrich the donation experience and convey value at every touch-point. The donor’s online experience and messaging will either underscore perceived value (see #3) or erode it. Considering so few organizations focus on this, I consider it a competitive advantage.



Cheers!