Fundraising Winners: Christmas in July
Yesterday I noted the frightening lack of concern in our trade over the importance of paying attention to messaging.
I then went on to promise some mid-year recommendations that, if acted upon now, should help your bottom line six months down the line.
Recommendation #2- Use the Summer to Get Your Online House in Order So You’re Ready to Cash in on Year-End Giving.
Last week Tom focused on Blackbaud’s recent Online Giving Report that reflects $425 million in online giving to 1,792 organizations.
In addition to the trends Tom reported, there’s a key reality you need to be aware of: regardless of which sector your organization falls into, by far the greatest proportion of annual online giving occurs in the month of December.
The difference in lift is substantial. Arts and culture organizations raise 20.6% of their annual online income in December compared to the next highest month (March) at 10.3%. The Societal Benefits/Advocacy sectors raises 21.1% in December compared to the next highest month (September) at 11%. And on and on across the sectors. Download Blackbaud’s full report for 2011 for a month by month, sector by sector view of the importance of timing.
What better time than the summer doldrums to get started planning for online year-end, tuning up your donation pages and learning more about best practices so you’re ready to act when December rolls around.
So I called Steve MacLaughlin, the always helpful Director of Internet Solutions at Blackbaud, and asked him what in the planning and tune-up department he’d recommend. Without a moment’s hesitation he responded, “Even if an organization doesn’t have money or time for a lot of testing, at the very least they should do a tune-up of their donation forms.”
He then sent along one of his blog posts titled 5 Donation Form Bad Practices chock full of good and practical advice.
Frankly I was delighted with Steve’s focus on the donation page because, ever since we received Sue Woodward’s Donation Page Challenge last month, it’s been clear from the response that at least the Agitator’s prescient readers understand the importance of getting their donation page act together.
Only 167 shopping days until Christmas.
Roger
P.S. If you want to take advantage of the year-end online boomlet take time to read Steve’s post and also the wealth of great examples, experiences and suggestions that Agitator readers contributed in response to Sue’s Donation Page Challenge.
PLUS … if your copywriters and online folks are looking for something to do, have them read Steve’s other post 80 E-mail Copy Lines from Year-end Emails. It will both shock and inform you.
P.P.S. Steve, The Agitator is no Scrooge. We’ll make sure there’s something under your tree – a Christmas Agitator Raise.
2 responses to “Fundraising Winners: Christmas in July”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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I’d also take a look at the quality of the thank-you communications (email receipts, e-mails, postal mail etc). When I was client-side, I spent more time fighting with the operations people who want streamlined, generic copy for the acknowledgments, because it was easy to churn out and slightly cheaper.
I know that the quality of the thank-you may not be quantifiable, but when we were forced to send these vanilla thank-you’s, people called to say they missed the letters and asked after me. That should tell you about the relationships that donors really have with their organizations. If we are serious about retention, we should be serious about the quality and sincerity of the thank-you. .
Clearly great minds think alike. Here’s a post on the same topic from colleague Jennifer Atkins: http://www.connectioncafe.com/posts/2012/07-july/end-of-year-fundraisingin.html
PS I know Steve will love his Christmas raise 🙂