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As we turn the page on the calendar and step into a new year, nonprofit leaders everywhere are greeted with a world of opportunity. The new year is more than just a fresh start; it’s a chance to reflect, reimagine, and reignite our passion for the causes we serve.

December is a busy time in the life of a nonprofit fund raiser. It starts with Giving Tuesday and continues with year-end appeals and gentle reminders for open 2024 pledges. Nonprofit leaders with fundraising responsibilities have a number in their heads: what do I need to raise to meet my year-end goal?

Written By: Kali Righter and Sarah Breece 

With nearly 31% of annual donations coming in December, crafting a strong appeal is essential for your nonprofit organization.

1. Step one is identifying the right story and writing impactful copy.
2. Step two is determining who you will be soliciting and how they will be asked.

Here are strategies to maximize the use of your donor database and wealth screening tools for this process.

The time between Thanksgiving and year-end offers a prime window for fundraising, as people often feel a heightened sense of generosity and motivation to support causes they care about. This season can be a tremendous opportunity to engage donors, share your mission’s impact, and inspire end-of-year contributions. Here are some practical fundraising strategies and tactics to maximize your campaign success during this season:

A CEO once said to me, “I would like us to have a conversation with one of my new board members.”

“Of course,” I said. “What would you like to talk about?”

“He wants to know what he is going to get from being on my board,” she said. “And I have never had anyone ask me that before!”

The CEO was intrigued.

Change Your Perspective on Boards

Typically, when non-profits are recruiting board members, they discuss the gifts, skills, and experience different volunteers might contribute to the organization. What time, talent, and treasure might they bring?

But what if instead we talk through what the volunteers will get from being on the board? Volunteers typically gain satisfaction from helping a community. They feel good about using their skills toward greater good.

A New Board Job Description

Imagine a reverse job description. Consider one that stresses what board members will receive from being part of your organization.

What would yours say?

Those of you who love high-brow films most certainly didn’t miss the 2006 Adam Sandler classic, “Click.” In it, a workaholic husband and father finds a universal TV remote that allows him to fast forward and rewind parts of his life. Complications ensue.

While I admit I enjoyed the movie, it was the premise that captured my interest. What if we could reset our lives with the click of a button (complications not included)?

No spoilers…I promise! In both the book, The Martian, and the equally excellent movie by the same name, astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is left on Mars after an unexpected dust storm forces the rest of the crew to abandon the planet without him. With scarce food, an inability to communicate, a living environment built to last only a month, and only disco music, as “setbacks” go, this one is colossal.

If you’ve worked in a nonprofit (or probably just about anywhere), you know that not every project goes as planned. In fact, sometimes plan A turns into plan D or E or F. Often, the setbacks are minor – like you used the wrong mail permit number on a mass mailing – and easily fixed. Sometimes, they are more significant – like a lead gift in a capital campaign changes course and decides not to give at all – and mean you need to go back to reset and re-strategize.

Just as Watney (also, luckily, a trained botanist) figures out how to grow enough potatoes to keep himself alive for four years until another mission can return to save him, there is another setback and it’s a doozey!

What does he do? He “works the problem.”

Every nonprofit organization builds its success on well-defined strategies. But what happens when those strategies, once so promising, start to show cracks? Knowing when to adjust the strategies in your strategic plan and when to give your strategy time to play out can be a critical turning point for the leadership of your organization. How can you tell if something is amiss?