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5 Must Do Now Steps to Year End Fundraising Success

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Get Ready Now for 4th quarter Blockbuster Fundraising Results With these 5 Tips!

Hi , this is joy Olson of Blockbuster Fundraising and so happy to be here with you today with a definite sense of urgency because Summer is over and now it’s all about year- end fundraising plans.

Labor day is over,  the kids are back in school and now it’s time to we’ve got to lay out the plans for a great year-end fundraising plan!

I’m excited for your success and I have five tips that I think are going
to really help make your day because you will get started with some winning plans and a winning plan is what it’s all about.

Tip #1. Year-end Fundraising is  a plan,  it’s a campaign,  it’s a party and it is fun!  Putting together your theme is  fun and creative  and it really starts with a detailed activity outline from right now in September through December 31st.

What are your goals? What are your strategies?  Where do you
need to be to get to your goals?  You’ve now have  three quarters to evaluate and measure  and know where you are financially and where you need to be by year-end. Good!

Your outline and schedule will enable you to have consistent communication throughout your organization and cooperation with all your departments. They will catch your enthusiasm for the super ‘party’ coming up!

Perhaps right now you’re planning a fall letter.  Your fall letter is really all about establishing a conversation with your donors, certainly  not a big push for money,  because you’re just getting set-up for your annual fundraising letter. So establish rapport, establish communication, establish gratitude and let them know how much you’re able to do because of their gifts!They have made a great impact!

Direct Mail is certainly on top of your to-do list! Most likely you are  going to do a fall letter, a  thanksgiving letter,  and of-course, your very special annual holiday ask letter!  This is a lot to think about, Content, content, content!  Take your time and make each and every communication as compelling and as an emotional connection as possible!

And then there are  your year-end Eblasts!  You will put these together with loving care for the final 5 messages of the year, along with a short emotional  video in each video that tells your story in a beautiful moment.

Get more tips here from topnonprofits!

Second Tip, STORIES! Get your best stories ready, this is so important and i know i’ve talked about this before but you definitely  want to bring your three or four  best stories to the party! These are the stories that touch your heart,  the stories that made you cry, or made you smile with delight and happiness because it was so special! Make three seperate videos from these stories.  Three short videos that highlight what you’re doing,  the impact of these wonderful things that you are achieving thanks to your donors support! i also heard a great idea from ignited fundraising today about telling a story and one of her ideas

Make three or four separate videos from these stories.  Short 60 second videos that highlight the impact of the wonderful story  that tells how you have helped,  thanks to your donor’s support!

I heard a  great idea from Lori at @Ignited Fundraising today about telling great stories and one of her ideas  was to tell a story about something or someone you could have helped  if you’d had more money and I thought, wow, what a good idea Check out the above link for her blog.

Tip Number Three, Donor Segmentation!

I’ve talked about this so often, you need to segment your donor base! Oh boy,  this is so important!  You want to know when they gave their last gift,how often do they give,and  how much are they
giving.  You need to personalize your communications to these donors and you want to give very special thanks to your major donors and tell them about the wonderful  impact their gifts are having for your organization and mission.

Remember when we talked about generational fundraising? Each of your different generations has  a way that they like to be
communicated with! Revisit that video as I think it will help in the segmentation process .

So there’s just so much to think about and I’m here to help you. Here is a good podcast that includes some good tips on donor segmentation.

TIP # 4  is YOUR WEBPAGE! Your website is your portal and your supporters and potential supporters are going to come to your website to donate!  Now is the time to really make sure that your website is easy to read and make sure that it’s really easy to donate and make certain that it is mobile responsive check it out check out all the links but you know now 14 people i mean fourteen percent of people are now giving on their mobile their mobile phone and make

Now is the time to really make sure that your website is easy to read and make sure that it’s really easy to donate and make certain that it is mobile responsive!  Check it out check out all the links both on your desktop and your mobile devices.but you know now 14 people

14% of peeps are now giving on their mobile  phone so make
it easy to donate everywhere and on every page!  I listened to a  really interesting webinar earlier today from Network for Good and they were talking about donation pages and said to resist the temptation to ask too many questions on your donation page!  Let them donate cuz that’s why they’re there on your page now.  They don’t want to share  their life story,  they just want to donate so make it simple,  make it easy, and put that big DONATE NOW button
everywhere.

TIP # 5.  YOUR COMMUNICATIONS AND CONTENT IS KING!
Make your letters and your emails can’t be more important than they are now so get the content perfect!  Personalize your communications, your direct mail especially.

Keep your emails  to 250 words or less and in  your emails ask your peeps to forward it to someone else that cares about your cause.

Click here for Tips  for headlines that will help you from winspireme.com.

You’ve really got a lot to do right now and it starts right now with your fall letter and next your Thanksgiving letter and you know what happens after Thanksgiving-  Black Friday,  Cyber Monday and then Giving Tuesday, Yikes!

Giving Tuesday was up 51-percent in return year-over-year sand that adds up to a meaningful impact so take one of your stories or a smaller project you have on the burner and go for it!Ask your donors, supporters,staff,  and your volunteer to help you with some peer-to-peer fundraising on this  and test the waters!

Okay, November 29th Giving Tuesday to kick off the huge December you are going to have! You gotta work it and I know you’re going to do a fabulous  job and I’m excited for you!

Blockbuster fundraising will be here for you with all the best tips and new ideas to give you year-end success and more!

See you soon! Joy

JoyOlson Successful Fundraiser of 22 years; Pet owner and lover; triathlete and sportswoman; Gardner; Love to dance; Music a must; Workaholic

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