If you have spent much time in your life in Georgia or South Carolina, you know what the perfect time of the year is PEACH season! (OK, I know it’s really football season but go with me here.)
As a true peach lover you know that the best peaches are picked during a very limited period of time and that you have an even smaller window of time to consume them when they are perfect!
The same is true for your fundraising season. While you are doing activities all year-long, donor behavior across the country continues to tell us that the last quarter, truly the last two months, are the prime season for giving. So, are you going to be ready this year with a new or adjusted strategy to make the fourth quarter count? While there are many options, let’s take a look four strategies that can be significant:
Segment your list and tweak the message of your emails/letters to indicate you know them as a donor/member/lover of a specific program. This may take a little work but prove to them that you “see” them and are paying attention to what really matters to them.
Pay special attention to the data you are collecting on this group of donors and look for ways to deepen your knowledge of them and improve your 2023 strategy:
Have you found a matching donor for your Giving Tuesday or year-end solicitation? If not, make this a priority. Matches work because they create a sense of urgency and allow donors to increase their impact.
Focus some time and energy now so you are ready this year for peak season..and enjoy the fruits of your labor as you measure success by the year’s end!