This week’s series aims at tying content from previous Agitator posts and current research into your preparations for the year-end fundraising season.

Our selection is a bit eclectic. At our weekly editorial huddle, we decided to forego the usual year-end checklists available elsewhere.  Rather we decided to cover areas that are too often overlooked.

For many organizations September thru December is the most lucrative, make-or-break quarter of the year. Consequently, we’ve selected topics that savvy fundraisers can explore to bolster year-end results.

And, if youhave already locked up your efforts for the final quarter some of this is great year-round advice and food for thought.

Christmas Cheer or Donor Distress?  If your organization is among the many who send out boxes of holiday cards to motivate year-end giving, you’ll want to pay special attention to Nick’s post on Tuesday.

Titled, Waron Christmas this post exposes the dangers –and rewards—of certain messages on holiday cards.  Here you’ll see how that concept of “donor preference” we harp so much about comes into play and how you can take advantage of it.

“How Much Should We Ask For?”  That’s a near-universal question that most fundraisers really can’t answer with precision.  Yet, when those appeals go out they usually carry asking formulae of one sort or another. (Often copied from the year before or copied by looking at how some other does it.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a piece on Ask Strings and Year-End Upgrading Strategythat should help you boost results while exploring the many options open to you, including how to get the ideal ask string for each individual donor.

Let’s Not Forget the Monthly Donors.  On Thursday I’ll share the results of some stunning new research on “winners” and “losers” when it comes to monthly giving practices.

Fortunately, everyone reading this still has time to make improvements and benefit immensely.

Yes, You Got the Gifts!  That’s great.  It’s a large part of your job.  But it is not the entirety of that job.  The other part is to get the donors to give again and again.

So, what you do in those January doldrums will dictate a large part of the outcome of future giving.  Nick will cover this on Friday in One Year Ends; The Next Begins.

And, if you have other questions/topics around year-end giving that you’d like us to explore please let us know.

Roger

P.S.  Remember: All the best copywriting, design, and strategy means absolutely nothing if your mail isn’t delivered to the donor. So, today would be a good time to take a few minutes have your mailing list addresses checked and updated over at TrueNCOA, as featured in the Agitator Toolbox.,  It takes only minutes and costs only $20 regardless of file size.