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 The majority of direct response mailings for Year-End Appeals are sent in November and December.
With online giving in the mix, “year-end” literally means December.
Those last two weeks of the year are when donors give in the spirit of the holidays and for the tax benefit.
Maximizing the opportunity at year-end can exponentially increase your revenue. Here are several success stories:
- One of our clients had not used integrated fundraising prior to working with Amergent in their fiscal year 2011. Part of our annual strategy for them was to increase giving from multichannel donors (direct mail and online) throughout the year, especially at year-end. By using common imagery and messages for email (including embedded video) and direct mail (including photos of a graduate) sent at year-end, this client exceeded funding goals in both channels. Email sent at year-end garnered 40% of total annual FY11 online revenue! Direct mail sent in December exceeded projections by $125,000.
- A food bank client raised $57,000 online in the last four days of the year in 2010 – 50% more than the same campaign in 2009. Facebook updates and Tweets were used in the 2-3 hours after the emails were sent to update the progress of the campaign.
- A Catholic mission raised over 60% of its total annual online revenue in the last four days of the year with a clear and simple message, “Please donate before midnight on December 31st to deduct your gift on your 2010 tax return.”
In your plans for year-end, don’t forget to ask donors with email to give you gifts online in the last days of the year. Integrate direct mail, social media and telemarketing into your year-end plans.
Plan to be everywhere your donors are to get those last gifts of the year.
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