How to Maintain Your End-of-Year Giving Momentum Into the New Year

As your year wraps up, we hope you’re finishing the year strong with your year end giving efforts.

‍2022 research shows that almost 30 percent of nonprofits bring in up to half of their annual budgets through end-of-year giving. 

But the giving doesn’t have to stop once January rolls around. We hope you see the fruits of hours and hours of fundraising strategy and execution as December closes.

This article explores how to maintain your end-of-year giving momentum into the new year!

1. Stay consistent

Consistency is the linchpin for effective fundraising all year round.

Make every effort to maintain consistency throughout your nonprofit: leadership, mission, values, and goals - plus too many more components to list.

When you’re consistent throughout the year and through your end-of-year giving campaigns, you cultivate familiarity and trust with your audiences.

Donors want to support a cause with a firm foundation and consistent values and goals. Consistency allows you to extend your end-of-year giving into the new year.

Your nonprofit shouldn’t feel pressured to acquire all gifts and donations before December 31.

By carrying your fundraising momentum through December, January, and beyond, you can maintain strong numbers in historically low-giving periods.

Mastering consistency is key to strong end-of-year giving that carries into the new year.

2. Get specific about what the future holds for your nonprofit

Donors want to know that your nonprofit follows through on promised gift allocation and distribution.

Once they see a track record of you doing what you say you’ll do, they’ll gladly contribute to your mission. 

After the influx of end-of-year gifts, use the new year as a time and space to get specific about what the future holds for your nonprofit. 

• How will gifts received in January and February affect operations in late winter and early spring? 

• Are there specific projects that end-of-year giving and New Year giving will specifically fund?

• What can supporters expect from your nonprofit in the next twelve months? 

This information should be presented in your annual reports or newsletter.

You want to ensure your donor base is always aware of your work and how their giving supports your mission.

As you begin a new calendar year, highlight how continued momentum from end-of-year giving makes your work possible.

3. Evaluate your online presence

Optimizing your online channels is the most effective way to engage with new audiences, update existing donors, and compel onlookers to support your missions.

It’s not enough for your nonprofit organization to have a website. Now is as good a time as any to evaluate your online presence and ensure you’re making the most of your channels.

Ask these questions about your site and socials:

What are traffic trends for your site?

Is your site optimized for organic engagement?

Do you publish content consistently to draw traffic in and engage with and inform your donors?

Is your giving page conversion rate hitting target goals? 

If not, how can you optimize your donation page to increase gifts?

How are you making use of your socials? 

Socials allow you to reach millions of global users in an instant.

Some channels will enable you to connect with your target donors more effectively than others. 

Which of your social channels have the highest engagement rates? Don’t prioritize a TikTok campaign if Instagram is more popular with your target donor demographic.

Have you made clear connections between your online channels? 

As mentioned above, consistency is vital for your organization’s fundraising efforts. This is true of your nonprofit’s branding as well.

Create clear connections between all online channels.

Audiences should know immediately when they’re on your site or socials or receive a newsletter from your organization based on the page’s branding. 

An optimized online presence allows you to better engage with donors during end-of-year giving campaigns - and even after those efforts are complete.

4. Prioritize donor retention

Your end-of-year fundraising campaigns likely brought in significant donations and a host of new donors.

Analyzing data throughout the year and your year-end campaigns provides insight into your donors and their behavior: 

• Who were the major donors? 
• When do they give the most? 
• How often do they give? 
• When did most gifts arrive? 
• Which projects received the most direct donations? 

Donor data allows you to better understand donation patterns, which campaigns and projects excite your donors, and which channels best engage with your support base.

By learning about your donors, you can increase donor retention - and giving. 

What excites your donors? Why do they support your mission? Knowing donor behavior and motivations help you carry your end-of-year momentum forward.

By tailoring your New Year campaigns to your donors, you can engage more effectively and raise more funds for the cause you care most about.

5. Emphasize storytelling

Storytelling is a crucial component of every nonprofit’s marketing and branding strategy.

There’s a time and place for data and analytics. But your storytelling strategy should touch the heart of your donors and support base. 

As December comes to a close and we usher in the new year, emphasize storytelling on all your channels.

The new year is often a time for people to reflect on goals and dreams.

A well-executing storytelling strategy engages passionate individuals at the ideal time: when they’re most primed to commit to new challenges or causes they care about. 

Impactful nonprofit storytelling empowers you to communicate effectively while connecting your donors to the “why” of your cause.

This is especially important after the busyness of the holidays. As everyone resumes regular routines and rhythms, their attentions are pulled in many directions.

Storytelling allows nonprofits to cut through the noise and stand out in a meaningful way. 

Emphasizing your storytelling empowers you to capitalize on the momentum created by end-of-year giving to set a solid foundation beginning on January 1.

6. Create a seamless giving experience

Giving sacrificially to nonprofits like yours is a joy for many donors. People want to provide resources to organizations doing good work locally and abroad.

But if the giving process is cumbersome or complex, donors may give up before entering their payment information. 

Providing donors with a seamless, simple giving experience is essential to maintain end-of-year giving patterns through the new year. 

Partnering with Anedot allows you to provide simple avenues for giving that all donors can understand and use. 

And we make it easy for your team, too. Our beautiful, customizable Action Pages are optimized to increase conversions with recurring giving options, multi-fund selections, and more. 

The ability to give is a gift in itself. Make giving easy with tools designed specifically for organizations like yours.

Partner with Anedot to continue your end-of-year giving momentum

End-of-year giving secures a massive chunk of your budget for the following year.

But there’s no reason to slow down your fundraising efforts once January comes. You’ve built momentum in your donors and support base. Keep it going. 

Anedot has the tools you need to capitalize on this momentum and make every interaction count.