A January Jumpstart Can Boost Fundraising All Year Long
It's January. You and your nonprofit’s staff breathe a sigh of relief, happy to have a quiet month to step back and relax. After all, donors have been bombarded with appeal mailings and emails, solicitation calls, and holiday events – they must want some downtime too!
Not so fast. With the noise of all those other nonprofits silenced (because they’re relaxing this month), donors are better able to hear what your organization has to say. Quiet January days also provide an excellent opportunity to deepen relationships and build new ones, while getting organized and prioritizing your activities.
Here are a few ideas for your January jumpstart:
Get organized. Sketch out your Annual Giving Plan and calendar of activities for the year. Set up your board meetings and brainstorm ideas for appeals, cultivation, social media campaigns, and events.
Steward existing donors. During this quieter season, donors often have more time to talk and fewer distractions. They are thinking about their finances and planning for the year. Get together in person, if possible, or connect by phone. Every donor has a story. Learn more about who they are, why they give, and why they think your organization matters. Share stories of how their gifts have made a difference. Taking the time to connect with long-time givers and higher-level donors can set you on the path for a major gift or estate gift.
Ask again. Solicit all the people on your list who did not give in the fourth quarter or did not give at all last year. They may have been too busy to write a check, lost your appeal among a pile of others, or simply might not be year-end givers. Depending upon the size of the list, you can mail, email, or call – but make it personal.
Create a grant calendar. Foundations hit the ground running in January, with many giving the most in their first quarter round, so it’s to your advantage to prioritize this effort. Your goal is a 12-month calendar that identifies funding opportunities, with deadlines and areas of interest listed for each. Update your case statement so it can easily populate grant applications all year. Prioritize requests and prep your proposals, or letters of intent, while you have the time.
Host a winter-themed cultivation event. Make it fun – think cookies, cocoa, and a roaring fire. Stage a couple of activity stations with wintery, hands-on activities that relate to your mission. Or go an entirely different route and create a cultivation experience that speaks to your mission. “Why is it so cold in here?” asks a guest at an event for a local homeless shelter.
Launch a monthly giving campaign. Ask your smaller regular and lapsed donors to sign up for monthly (recurring) giving. Create a challenge, or identify a matching donor, to convey urgency. Again, make it fun or tie it to your mission. “If 50 monthly donors join us by the end of January, a donor will underwrite fuel assistance this winter for 50 families.”
Prepare a legacy giving appeal. It’s the time of year when donors start to think about taxes and tax implications. There’s no better time to remind them that you have a legacy-giving program.
Research best practices. Are you clear about what works on social media and what doesn’t? Do you know how to write a great email appeal? Have you figured out how to fundraise on Instagram? Now is the time to do a little research, prepare a strategy, and set the stage for expanded engagement.
January presents an opportunity to get out of the gate fast and set yourself apart from other nonprofits. By focusing on even just one or two of these fundraising jumpstarters, you can put your organization on the path to an even more successful year in support of your mission.
If you love these ideas but could use help getting started, reach out to one of us now at Barbara.milligan@morethangiving.co or Nichole.burke@morethangiving.co! It’s easy to engage the strategic or tactical support of a More Than Giving Co. Consultant for an hour, a half-day, a full-day or more. When you think about it, consulting that leads to more successful fundraising pays for itself.