In the USA around 40% of all charitable giving happens in the month of December*. It’s a time when many donors are in a giving mood.

You already know that I’m sure. And you already have an awesome year-end campaign planned.

Want to make your year-end fundraising stronger than ever? Here are three steps that will help you do that…

Focus your limited resources

Fundraising is an investment activity. You always need to spend money to get money. At the end of the calendar year, you have some amazing opportunities to spend more to get more.

The main way to do that is to focus on increasing revenue from the top 20% of your donors.

Spend more money (and time) on these donors. Not because they are “better” people, but because they simply have the capacity to donate more. If doing this is going to break your budget, you can spend LESS on your lower-level donors.

This might be counterintuitive and different from what you’ve done before, but you’ll raise more net income if you mail a great direct mail pack to fewer donors than to send an average pack to many more donors. It’s a trade-off that works in your favour.

You know what a low-cost direct mail piece is typically like: Letter-size envelope, two-page letter, reply device, return envelope. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that. It’s a penny-pinching pack, and it may be appropriate for your lower donors.

But you can raise a lot more with a more elaborate (and costly) pack that looks something like this:

• Express mail envelope
• Folder holding all the inner contents
• 4-page letter
• 2-page lift note
• Full page reply device
• Multi-page project report
• Photo cards showing your work and the need
• Child’s drawing from the field
• Map of where the project is
• Medical illustration diagram
• Return envelope

If your eyes are goggling at the potential cost, you are correct. It’s expensive. The envelope alone will approach $10.

But a pack like this will get a superb response rate.

That response, coupled with the very high average gift from your top 20% donors will raise a lot of net revenue.

From your lower 80% donors? You will get a great response rate, but the lower average gift could sink the project, possibly giving you net-negative revenue. This is a high-end investment strategy!

Your Board members, colleagues – and maybe even some donors — may think such an elaborate pack is wasteful.

It is not!

Let me show you what happened when one organization did this:

Last year’s Year End Appeal (a “normal” direct mail pack) income: $365,000

This year’s Year End Appeal (fancy pack to top 20%, normal pack to others) income: $1,030,000

That’s 3 times the revenue.

The vast majority of that increase came from the top 20% donors. In fact, the lower 80% had a slight decrease in revenue, because they sent it to fewer donors.

It almost always goes this way!

If you do this and nothing else this year end, you will be glad you did.

Make your campaign multichannel

Direct mail and the internet do not exist in separate worlds. They are completely intertwined in the lives of your donors. Direct mail drives a lot of online donations – for most of us, it is the top driver of gifts online. There is also evidence that email to donors lifts response to the mail.

If you are doing a direct mail campaign, you really should include a digital campaign at the same time. Here are some things to be sure you do:

• Make sure you have a landing/donation page that matches the campaign. Same offer, same language, everything!
• Send many emails that parallel your direct mail. Because email gets much lower engagement, sending more improves the chance that you’ll cut through the clutter. At the very least, you should send three emails as part of your campaign. Better yet — seven or more.
• Start sending the emails up to a week before projected in-home date of the direct mail and keep it up until a week or more after.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel for your emails. It can be nearly identical to your direct mail – but watch for mail-specific language like “send your gift.” The emails can also be very repetitive. Remember that most donors don’t see most of your emails.
• Some fundraisers have done well with targeted Facebook posts: The same message as the rest of the campaign (optimized for FB), sent to those who will be getting your mail (and email).
• In some countries additional support from SMS, WhatsApp and WeChat can also help.

Beyond direct mail, give your best donors the VIP Treatment

Remember how we looked at spending more to get more with your direct mail?

You can go even further with your top 20% donors, targeting your spend on these people:

• Pre mailing phone Call. A short, friendly call (from a live person) that clearly asks. Live calls are quite expensive, but for your top donors, they are a good investment. Here’s what to do:
  • Start by acknowledging their connection with you: “Thank you! By giving for the past xx years, you have had so much impact!”
  • Tell them about the upcoming letter: The offer, the target, the deadline and the impact they can have by giving.
  • Let them know the mail is on the way and ask them to watch for it.
  • If your callers are trained in telemarketing, you can also ask them to give during the call.
• Post mailing deadline call. It has a similar structure, but ask if they intended to give but hadn’t had the chance, they can give now over phone, online (tell them the URL and then get them to test it works).
• Webinars. Donor webinars are an inexpensive and effective tool for engaging them. This is a big topic that members of The Fundraisingology Lab can learn more about from our workshop, Awesome Donor Webinars.

The most impactful way to raise more money this year-end is to focus your extra efforts on your top donors. They are ready to give, and to give high amounts. Some of them could be giving even more than you’ve yet seen – if you grab their attention with these high-impact strategies.

Now is the time to prepare for your best-ever year-end!

Ready for some big help with digital fundraising? Take our all-new and completely FREE online webinar, 3 Email Fundraising Mistakes That Cost You Tons of Donations. Featuring digital Fundraisingologist James Herlihy, this jam-packed session will help you leap forward in your online fundraising mastery. You’ll also get a special bonus: “Your Ready-Made Donor Communications Calendar.” It will guide you what to send, when, and how often in email, mail and phone!  More information here.

*Other countries may have different year-end campaigns with similar flurry of activities, for example, Australia around May/June, Hong Kong and Singapore around Lunar New Year.

Related Blog Posts:.

• Easy Fundraising Money: How to Spend More to Make More
• How to Find and Cultivate Your “Hidden” Major Donors
• 7 Ways to Encourage Your Donors to Upgrade Their Giving