End-of-year fundraising tips and ideas - Ep26

Guests: Humane Network CEO Diane Blankenburg and Humane Network president and Shelter Success Simplified podcast co-host Bonney Brown

Main questions: Why is fundraising so important in the final six weeks of the year, and what can people do to be more effective in their year-end fundraising?

Takeaways:

Fundraising is like retail sales – most donations come in at the end of the year.

Dec. 1 is biggest online fundraising day of the year, and the last week of the year, especially Dec. 31, are also extremely big for donations.

Make sure it’s easy to donate to your organization. You can test this by trying it out yourself with a small donation.

Matching programs greatly boost donations. This is different than company-match programs. Instead, this is where a donor – likely someone who was planning to give a large donation anyway – agrees to match donations. This inspires the top donor as well as the smaller donors because they know their money will go even further.

One fun easy idea is to highlight your favorite 12 saves or rescues of the year over 12 days in December.

And be sure to focus on individual animals in the stories you tell. These are more meaningful to donors than stories about your overall efforts or the overall need in your community.

Links:

Video of end-of-year fundraising webinar

PDF of end-of-year fundraising presentation

Leadership recommendation - "Strategic Planning: Five Steps to a More Secure Future”

Recorded November 18, 2020