I say you need a fundraising plan now to secure end-of-year revenue and to guide the first half of next year. We must prioritize planning because nonprofits raise about 36% of their annual revenue in the fourth quarter and December can provide 18 to 30 percent of annual gifts. I recommend reviewing at least three years of fundraising history, setting realistic and stretch goals, and relying on accurate CRM data. We focus on donor retention, bringing back lapsed donors, and increasing recurring monthly gifts. Our messaging must be donor focused, segmented, and personalized, with a mid‑November thank you and regular outreach through December. I advise stewardship in January, low‑cost cultivation in February, and community or peer‑to‑peer efforts in March, while ensuring donation links and donate buttons work and offering multiple giving options. Contact me at dianadmgroupconsulting.com for assistance.

I am Diana Marquis, and I articulate a disciplined and data-driven approach to end-of-year and early-year fundraising that begins with an honest appraisal of historical performance and culminates in realistic goal setting. I urge organizations to inspect at least three years of fundraising data in a well-maintained CRM, to ensure accurate donor records, consistent campaign and appeal coding, and reconciliation with accounting practices. By interrogating trends, identifying outlier gifts, and distinguishing between public goals and internal stretch targets, I advise that we build projections grounded in prior year increases of two to five percent rather than aspirational leaps. Donor retention, reactivation of lapsed supporters, and growth in recurring monthly donors form the core quantitative objectives that should guide planning. I emphasize that qualitative analysis of messaging efficacy is equally consequential. We must review last year’s solicitations, map income flow to specific appeals, and adopt donor-focused language that answers what donors care about and want to know. I recommend recruiting an internal or volunteer committee to aid execution and crafting an outreach schedule that begins with gratitude in mid-November and sustains personalized contact through December. The counsel I provide is procedural, measurable, and framed to reduce risk while maximizing the probability of achieving and exceeding stated targets.

Takeaways:

• I advise that we immediately create a fundraising plan for end-of-year appeals and early next year.
• I review at least three years of accurate CRM data to set realistic and achievable fundraising goals.
• I emphasize donor-focused messaging and targeted segmentation so we personalize appeals and increase donor response rates.
• I recommend scheduling gratitude communications in mid-November and frequent personalized outreach through December thirty-first.
• I suggest stewarding donors in January, thanking them, sending donation summaries, and asking one-time donors to convert to monthly support.
• I urge simplification of the giving process by fixing donate links, reducing clicks, and offering multiple giving options including stock and vehicle donations.

I am Diana Marquis, and I articulate a disciplined and data-driven approach to end-of-year and early-year fundraising that begins with an honest appraisal of historical performance and culminates in realistic goal setting. I urge organizations to inspect at least three years of fundraising data in a well-maintained CRM, to ensure accurate donor records, consistent campaign and appeal coding, and reconciliation with accounting practices. By interrogating trends, identifying outlier gifts, and distinguishing between public goals and internal stretch targets, I advise that we build projections grounded in prior year increases of two to five percent rather than aspirational leaps. Donor retention, reactivation of lapsed supporters, and growth in recurring monthly donors form the core quantitative objectives that should guide planning. I emphasize that qualitative analysis of messaging efficacy is equally consequential. We must review last year’s solicitations, map income flow to specific appeals, and adopt donor-focused language that answers what donors care about and want to know. I recommend recruiting an internal or volunteer committee to aid execution and crafting an outreach schedule that begins with gratitude in mid-November and sustains personalized contact through December. The counsel I provide is procedural, measurable, and framed to reduce risk while maximizing the probability of achieving and exceeding stated targets.

Takeaways:

• I advise that we immediately create a fundraising plan for end-of-year appeals and early next year.
• I review at least three years of accurate CRM data to set realistic and achievable fundraising goals.
• I emphasize donor-focused messaging and targeted segmentation so we personalize appeals and increase donor response rates.
• I recommend scheduling gratitude communications in mid-November and frequent personalized outreach through December thirty-first.
• I suggest stewarding donors in January, thanking them, sending donation summaries, and asking one-time donors to convert to monthly support.
• I urge simplification of the giving process by fixing donate links, reducing clicks, and offering multiple giving options including stock and vehicle donations.

Links referenced in this episode:

• dmgroupconsulting.com
• dianadmgroupconsulting.com

Foreign.

I'm Diana Marquis, host of About Fundraising, the podcast and founder and chief strategist for DM Group Consulting, a boutique consultancy that works with nonprofit organizations on their board education, training, fundraising planning and coaching for executive directors and development directors.

You can find me on LinkedIn and my website dmgroupconsulting.com when is the best time to plan your fundraising strategy?

According to research conducted by the Nonprofit Times, nonprofit organizations raise about 36% of their annual revenue and in the fourth quarter that is October through December, depending on the sector such as arts or social services, about 18 to 30% is donated in December alone.

Let's get started.

To have a good plan with realistic goals, you need to know your fundraising history, what was raised last year and the two years prior to that.

In addition to dollar raise, other goals to keep in mind are retaining donors and bringing back lapsed donors.

You may also want to consider goals of increasing recurring or monthly donors and identifying new donors.

A well maintained CRM, a customer relationship management system, can give you all the data you need.

By well maintained, I mean you have written procedures to follow for data entry and reconciliation with your accounting department.

In addition, contact information for your donors needs to be accurate and consistent and donations are identified by campaign appeal and fund.

A campaign is what your organization is raising money for.

An appeal is how the donations are raised and a fund is where the donations are going.

For example, a campaign could simply be FY26 for fiscal year 26.

The appeal could be email and the fund could be general, operating or program specific.

Having this information easily available also helps segment your donors and you see which messaging donors responded to.

If data entry is haphazard and inconsistent, with no guidelines on data entry procedures and no reconciliation with accounting, then you will have a difficult time understanding the fundraising history of your organization.

Accurate data over at least three years will show you trends.

How much was raised with end of year and other appeals.

Did it increase or decrease from one year to the next?

Were there outlier gifts such as an unexpectedly very large gift?

If so, most likely you can't count on it again this year, so plan accordingly.

Assuming the funds raised increased 2 to 5% from one year to the next, it's safe to set this year's goal.

At that same increase, you can also set a public goal and an internal stretch goal.

It's always better to under promise and over deliver now that you have your end of year goal or goals.

Look at last year's solicitation messages and if possible compare the income flow to the messages.

This will tell you what donors responded to or not and will help you as you write your appeal messages for this year.

Your message should always be Donor focus.

Donors are sophisticated, tech savvy and particular about where their money goes and how it is used.

How can you share your story in a creative, imaginative and interesting way?

What do your donors care about?

What do they want to know?

What worked last year?

What didn't?

Ask others to help.

Now is the time to recruit your in house and or volunteer committee.

Lastly, plan your outreach schedule.

A good place to start is with a message of gratitude to your donors mid November around the Thanksgiving holiday.

A simple email or short video embedded in an email.

Thanking your donors goes a long way in keeping them close and feeling appreciated.

It's also a good strategy to thank donors before asking for another donation.

Using your CRM and your email platform like mailchimp or Constant Contact, you can schedule a new message each week through December 31st.

The more you can segment and personalize your messaging, the better.

For example, if you can include the donor's name and the amount of their most recent gift in your message, that makes it very personal.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my podcast, this is also the time to plan for next year, at least for the first and second quarters of the new year.

Here are some suggestions.

Think of January as a month of stewardship.

Send your recurring donors and major gift donors a summary of their donations for the year just ended up.

Include information about program outcomes and goals reached.

The point is to remind them that their donations matter and that they are appreciated.

I also suggest you include stewardship messaging in your newsletter and possibly even a stewardship email to all donors.

You will also want to make sure all of your end of year donors were properly thanked and tax receipts were promptly sent.

January can also be the time to ask your one time end of year donors to convert their support to recurring monthly gifts.

This ask can be part of your annual fundraising cycle.

February giving can also be stimulated by hosting low cost cultivation events such as tours of your facility, lunchtime presentations by staff where guests bring their own lunch, and small low key dinners for major gift donors.

Another tactic is to build micro appeals around February awareness days such as Employee Appreciation Day, Valentine's Day or Black History Month.

March means springtime and the opportunity to kick off community wide gatherings that align with your mission and raise awareness.

Peer to peer fundraising drives tied to March awareness themes such as Women's History Month or National Nutrition Month could also become annual fundraising opportunities for your organization.

In addition to fundraising directed to individuals, this is also the time to plan for event fundraising in the fall and plan your foundation grant submissions for the year.

Whether you have a marketing department or marketing as part of the fundraising team, you will want to plan and schedule your newsletters, social media posts and other outward facing communications to work with your appeals.

For example, your newsletter with uplifting information about your organization should go out a week or two before you solicit your donors.

I have a quick word about newsletters.

The first rule is to be consistent.

Whether it's quarterly, monthly or annually, be consistent so that your donors will know when to expect to hear from you.

The second rule is to always have a soft ask in the newsletter.

Include a QR code and a web address and maybe even a phone number.

Here's a few tips to keep in mind as you plan and work your annual fundraising.

Make sure any link you include in your email solicitations work.

Also, make sure your donate button on your website works.

Make it easy for donors to give the fewer clicks on your website or app the better.

Have a variety of options for donors to choose from.

For example, you could use Donate Stock, a third party organization that accepts and processes gifts of stock for nonprofit organizations.

Another third party organization is Cars Charitable Adult Rides and Services, a non profit based in San Diego.

They handle vehicle donations across the country for nonprofit organizations.

The bottom line is take the time to plan, use your data and start early.

You will be that much closer to success.

DM Group Consulting is accepting new clients.

Contact me at dianadmgroupconsulting.com.