Home    About Us    Success Stories    Year-End Online Giving

success stories

Year-End Online Giving: Build Up To It
Samantha Prestia, Account Executive
January, 2011

How can you increase your piece of the year-end, online giving pie? Build up to it!

Sending email appeals in the last two weeks of December - the online fundraising world's most critical period of giving - will reliably result in a boost in online income.

But to maximize your success, start building up to your ask a week or two in advance. Create an arc of communication that begins with cultivation efforts, such as a survey or success stories from the previous year, and bring your organization to the top of your potential donor’s mindwhile strengthening your case for support ahead of your year-end e-appeals.

Schultz & Williams saw this strategy in action in a head-to-head test for a children's hospital:

This year, we split their e-file in half, sending the control group just two year-end email “postcard” appeals. The test group received a more robust campaign, which included two cultivation efforts: heartwarming stories about their patients and a request to send a “message of courage” to children spending their holidays at the hospital. The third, fourth and fifth emails were traditional appeals for philanthropic support, complete with a matching gift opportunity and a financial goal.

The results are clear: the cultivated file responded with 324% more gifts and a 107% higher average gift for an overall income 775% higher than the uncultivated group.

This strategy of increased communication proved itself with a membership organization in 2010. At year end in 2009, we sent two emails: one "soft ask" and one regular e-appeal. This year we reworked our strategy to include an in-depth, year-in-review email cultivation prior to two short and focused e-appeals that included a financial goal. The combination of cultivation and strong ask increased income by 256% over last year's efforts.

Lesson learned?
When it comes to raising money online at year end, making a special effort to invest in engaging and cultivating donors in advance of your ask can really pay off.

P.S. Don't forget to say thank you! Reaching out during January to the email file with a celebratory wrap-up of the success of your year-end campaign is a great way to reinforce donors’ generosity and responsiveness, build on a positive experience and encourage future online giving!

Schultz & Williams is a national consulting firm based in Philadelphia providing management, fundraising and marketing consulting for nonprofit organizations, along with full-service direct marketing, database and creative/production services.