With only one week left in September, the last quarter of the year is right around the corner and now is the time to start thinking about your year-end strategy. Between Giving Tuesday and December 31, the last month of the year is the busiest for fundraisers.
Knowledge is power when it comes to planning, and we’re not just talking about your donor data. Use the giving statistics below as a bouncing board to plan your fundraising campaigns and build on your year-end strategy.
Year-End Statistics
- 100% of surveyed nonprofits will use direct mail to make their year-end ask, followed by email at 92% and their website at 50%
- About 40 percent of online donations are made in December, bringing in about ⅓ of fundraising dollars
- More than 20% of giving for the entire year occurs December 31
- Most online donors give between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays
- Just over half of nonprofits begin their year-end planning in October
- On average, $48 billion is donated to nonprofits in the last two months of the year
Giving Tuesday Statistics
- #Givingtuesday has generated over $1 billion in the USA since starting in 2012
- #Givingtuesday campaigns raised nearly $400 million in donations in 2018
- The average gift size last year was $105
- In total, #Givingtuesday campaigns received over 14.2 billion social media impressions
Demographic Fundraising Statistics
- 31% of donors give to organizations based outside of their country of residence
- Female donors are most influenced by social media marketing, while male donors are more likely to give because of email messages
- 67% of donors globally also choose to volunteer in their communities, and 56% attend fundraising events regularly
Take Advantage of Online Fundraising
Using all your online channels and diversifying your fundraising platforms is the best way to get the word out on your campaigns. Don’t forget to reach out to your supporters by offering fundraising incentives and encouraging third-party peer-to-peer campaigns.
When planning your content strategy, utilize your blog and mailing list to update donors on your progress. Your website and blog are the best places to tell your story because they will also help with your organic SEO (so people have a better chance of finding you through search engines). Before launching a big year-end campaign, make sure your donation pages and website are mobile-friendly and easy to use.
Lastly, make sure you are active on all social channels encouraging your audience to interact with your posts and making it easy to donate (i.e. include a direct link to your donation form). So many social media platforms like TikTok, Twitch and Facebook offer built-in fundraising functionality perfect for third-party fundraisers. Even if a supporter cannot give a monetary donation, providing support by liking, sharing or commenting on a post can be a huge help. Remember to make your call to action very clear!
Make The Most Out Of Year-end Giving
Year-end giving can be stressful without the right tools and strategy to support your goals. Your website, donation page and direct mail are crucial to your giving success, so they need to be looking and performing at their best. Luckily, if you haven’t optimized your site, there is still time!
Donor Engine is more than a CRM. We are an all-in-one integrated solution, and we want to help you make your year-end campaign the best one yet! Create and track your emails and direct mail, segment donors for optimal stewardship, maintain clean data and create stunning donation pages all in one place.
