Why does a donor give to your organization? 

Is it because your cause is important? 

Or because they believe your organization is competent and trustworthy? 

Or because you’ve offered them a way to make the world better that they understand, embrace and can afford? 

Some or all of those things may play a role in a donor’s decision to give. Think of them as basic requirements for even being considered by most donors. 

But something else is even more important: What’s happening in their life, their heart, their mind. Those are the factors that move them from not giving to giving. 

And those things have nothing to do with you, your cause, or your fundraising. I’m talking about factors like these:  

• Do they feel they can afford to give money right now?

• Are they sensing a call to be generous right now? 

• Is there something in their faith, tradition or culture prompting generosity – now, or in general?

• Do they have the time and emotional space right now to think about giving? 

We have little control over these internal reasons for giving. 

Does this mean we fundraisers are helpless to what’s going on in donors’ lives? Is success in fundraising mostly about getting lucky and arriving in donors’ lives at the right time and place? 

Not quite. 

You can tap into donors’ internal giving triggers. It’s a matter of understanding what those things are. And when they are most likely to matter. 

That’s why I love Thanksgiving fundraising. 

It is a great example of an internal giving motivation that we can tap into. And it can work very well. I’ve seen it happen year after year. 

If you live outside the US, you might not know about Thanksgiving. It’s a mega-holiday in late November. The two biggest travel days of the year are right before and after Thanksgiving. It is a time when people gather with family or friends for a special meal. It is basically a harvest festival, somewhat like those celebrated by most cultures around the world. 

Many Americans have long and deeply emotional memories connected to Thanksgiving: Time spent with now-departed loved ones. Memories of simpler times. Good food, shared with others. 

These things help make Thanksgiving a powerful giving time. 

It’s a civic holiday, not a religious one. So it works for Americans of all faiths and of no faith. But it is quasi-religious – many Protestant groups have Thanksgiving-specific hymns that are sung at Thanksgiving services on and near the holiday. 

And here’s the important part: Thanksgiving encourages us to think about the things we are thankful for. A common tradition is to go around the table and name what we are thankful for. Thankfulness is an important theme in most faith traditions. And thankfulness is known to be an important part of a full and successful life. 

That makes Thanksgiving a powerful motivator for giving. Especially for hunger and food-related causes. 

Which is why Thanksgiving is a powerful fundraising occasion: You encourage donors to express their own thankfulness by giving to help others. 

The messaging can go like this: At this special time when we focus on the things we are thankful for, celebrate your thankfulness by making a gift to help people in need. 

It can be that simple. Add Thanksgiving-themed freemiums or bouncebacks, and you have the makings of a strong campaign. 

Thanksgiving fundraising doesn’t mean we ignore the problem/solution/invitation element that’s part of all fundraising. You still need a strong fundraising offer that puts action in a donor’s reach. But Thanksgiving can add a strong internal reason for giving. 

Thanksgiving is just one of many times and motivations that can resonate with donors. 

For faith-based organizations, remind them that their faith encourages (even demands) charitable giving. (All the faith traditions do.)  

There’s even a version of this for people not practicing a faith: Almost all people share a value of giving to make the world a better place. Appeal to that value! It’s something donors already believe. We just remind them. 

Here are some other ways to tap into donors’ internal giving motivations: 

Year-end  

December is by far the biggest giving month of the year in the US and many other places. It contains several important holidays that put people in a generous state of mind. People are thinking about what matters to them. There’s also the tax deduction deadline, which by itself is not a strong motivator, but it creates a sort of giving. 

Other holidays and occasions 

Most religious holidays can be strong giving occasions for faith-motivated donors. If you aren’t including those in your messages, you should try: Easter, Passover, and others, depending on your donor base.  

There are also non-religious holidays that can be motivators. Patriotic and other civic days can be strong. Not all of them translate into good fundraising, but it’s worth seeing if you can make them work for your donors. One thing that doesn’t work: the anniversary of your organization’s founding. Sorry. Nobody cares about that except your insiders. It can be an effective trigger for getting board members to give. 

Memorial and tribute giving 

When someone loses a person they love, or wants to honor someone still with them, giving is one of the most meaningful things they can do. This is especially true for health-related organizations. Make tribute giving easy by including a tribute-gift option on your donation form. Offer to send a card to the honoree or the family.  

The donor’s own milestones and turning points 

A birthday. A retirement. A new grandchild. A health scare that ended well. These are moments when people take stock and may feel prompted to donate. You usually don’t know when these things happen in a donor’s life. You can capture these moments by inviting donors to give as a way of marking their own moments. “In celebration of…” is a phrase that often works. 

Here’s what all of this comes down to… 

Fundraising isn’t only about making a powerful case for giving. It’s about being deeply relevant to your donors. And that has as much to do with what’s going in their lives as with what’s going on at your organization. 

When you pay attention to the seasons, the holidays, and the rhythms of life that make generosity feel natural, you make giving more rewarding.  

It’s meeting people where they are. 

So look at your calendar. Where are the moments when your donors are most likely to be feeling grateful, generous, reflective, or connected? Build some of your fundraising around those moments. And then trust the donors. Your job is to be there with the right invitation at the right time. 

Powerful direct mail fundraising comes from getting a lot of things right. It’s easy to miss something! That’s why you should download the Moceanic master checklist, What Makes a Great Direct Mail Pack? It will keep you on track for direct mail that gets the job done! 

Related Blog Posts:  

• Everything You Need to Know About Fundraising in 3 Words 
• 5 Ways Charitable Giving Is Good For Donors
• Donors are from Mars, Nonprofits are from Venus: Here’s What You Can Do about it!