How to Cultivate Your Calendar Year-End Donors Before You Ask
Robin Cabral, MA, CFRE, MFIA (USA and Australia)
? Fundraising Consulting ? Fundraising Coach ? Fundraising Career Coaching ? Fundraising Interim Staffing ?Fundraising Training ? Fundraising Audits & Plans ?Grant Writing
The calendar has turned to October, the last and remaining quarter of the year. If we thought we had time to work on a Calendar Year-End appeal, that time is upon us.?
Many groups still send out one direct mail appeal letter sometime in December.?
However, this approach does not maximize the possibility of the Giving Season. Sending one direct mail appeal letter in December is too few and too late. This approach does not allow for adequate mailing time nor for your nonprofit organization to conduct appropriate follow-ups. I always say that the magic is in the "follow-up."
There is also one other area that often gets overlooked, and that is what I call the "Warm-Up."
Just like you can't ask someone to marry you on the first date (or maybe you can!!!!), you cannot go directly from not speaking to someone to asking them to contribute. In individual giving or major gifts, we call this stage cultivation.?
Call it what you may, "Warm Up," cultivation, pre-mailing, etc., you must spend the month of October preparing your donors for the eventual solicitation that will come in early to mid-November.
Here is what I recommend for "Warming Up" your list:
Consider grabbing a copy of my?Ultimate Calendar Year-End Checklist??With our Ultimate Year-End Fundraising Checklist, you’ll be well on your way to a Happy New Year with a boost in your bottom-line worth breaking out the bubbly for.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is simply mailing out a direct mail solicitation without sending out any pre-emails before. We make the same mistake when we don't cultivate an individual donor or a major donor before asking, and we go straight to the solicitation. It rarely turns out as successful as we had hoped. The donor is not ready or committed enough to make a gift.?
We know that the number one reason why donors don't give again is that they do not feel as if their gifts to your organization did not make a difference. So, help them understand their impact and the difference they have made to others BEFORE you send out that direct mail solicitation asks.
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Development Consulting Solutions has a team of experts who can meet your needs by serving as your grant reviewer, grants researcher, proposal template developer, and ongoing grant writer.?
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Get Your Ultimate Calendar Year-End Checklist Needed For Your Next Appeal
Savvy nonprofit professionals know that as the end of the year winds down, donations go up — way up.
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Raising spirits while lowering taxes, year-end giving inspires donors to give to your campaign — more than a quarter of nonprofits raise close to half their annual funds in year-end campaigns, a little over 10 percent of that occurring in just the last three days of the year.
With our Ultimate Year-End Fundraising Checklist, you'll be well on your way to a Happy New Year with a boost in your bottom-line worth breaking out the bubbly for.
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For a free, 30-minute consultation or to learn more about our "Survive and Thrive" professional coaching services, visit us at www.developmentconsultingsolutions.com/coaching or book your fundraising coaching session at?https://calendly.com/developmentconsultingsolutions/30min.
Join my new nonprofit community who are surviving and thriving! Click?HERE?to join my private Facebook group: Nonprofit Survive and Thrive Mastermind and receive support and inspiration to drive your results.
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Photo by?Maddi Bazzocco?on?Unsplash?
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Robin Cabral, a LinkedIn Top Voice in Philanthropy, is a CFRE expert who is providing Strategy and Career Coaching for Emerging and Advancing Fundraisers and Executive Directors
As a “top in the field” Certified Fund-Raising Executive who has been billed as one of Linked In’s top philanthropy voices of the year, I have the skills and experience to focus your efforts, drive your results, and enhance your ability and confidence through easy to understand and informative strategies, tools, and templates.?
I HELP FUNDRAISERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS, AND ORGANIZATIONS TO EXCEL AT AND SUCCEED THROUGH MY UNIQUE PROGRAMS.
I provide fundraising strategies, tactics, and tools including coaching, consulting, training, and content for fundraising success.
Find out more at?www.developmentconsultingsolutions.com.
Follow me on?LinkedIn,?Like me on Facebook,?and on Twitter:?@RobinCabralCFRE
Here to help. Let's brainstorm together and?Let's grow your organization.
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? Fundraising Consulting ? Fundraising Coach ? Fundraising Career Coaching ? Fundraising Interim Staffing ?Fundraising Training ? Fundraising Audits & Plans ?Grant Writing
3 年Thanks for the like Tom Livers