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.
- Step one is identifying the right story and writing impactful copy.
- 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.
Leverage The Next Layer of Your Donor Database
Wealth screenings and databases have long been essential for major campaigns, helping to identify potential top donors and those with significant giving capacity. Typically, you’d focus on the top 20 and next 30 prospects for personalized, transformational asks throughout the year. However, what about prospects who fall just below the major giving threshold? The end-of-year appeal is a great opportunity to engage this demographic. It allows you to:
- Bring in new donors at impactful giving levels
- Upgrade existing donors with a matching gift incentive
- Invite a second contribution from donors who gave earlier in the year
Overcome Barriers to Mid-Level Giving
One of the biggest challenges with engaging mid-level prospective donors is volume. For major gifts, you typically work with a smaller group of 20-50 individuals, making connections and approaching each in a 1:1 manner. With mid-level giving prospects, you need to scale your approach. Begin by segmenting your wealth screening data to identify smaller audiences you can reach out to as a group with a targeted appeal, a small special event, or a special tour of your program site. This initial communication should include a call to action that allows prospects to self-identify their interest in a deeper engagement with your mission.
Segment Your Audience
Sending one appeal to your whole donor list will miss out on the potential within your database. Consider these key groups:
- Upgrades: Pull a list of donors who have the capacity to increase their giving and consider asking them to make a second gift or ask for a larger gift than what they gave last year.
- LYBUNT/SYBUNT Donors: Identify those who gave 2-5 years ago but have not yet given this year. Set a minimum threshold – maybe $100 or $250 – and target those lapsed donors with a special appeal encouraging them to renew their donation.
- Non-Cash Giving Assets: Identify donors with Donor-Advised Funds or stocks, or are of an age to have to take required minimum distributions from their retirement account. Give them the information they need to direct their fund advisors to make a gift to you at year-end.
Vary Your Calls to Action
In addition to the ideas above, consider tailored calls to action to suit each audience:
- Increased Giving: For current donors with capacity for more, ask for a specific increased amount or suggest giving levels based on their past donations.
- Recurring Giving: Remind donors of the power of a monthly or other automatic recurring gift. Remember to suggest a monthly amount that upgrades their current level of giving. And don’t forget to encourage your current recurring donors to upgrade their gift.
- Beyond Giving: Invite these donors to join an impact tour or attend a one-on-one meeting to learn more about your organization’s priorities. December is a reflective time for many donors, and an impact tour may align with their philanthropic plans.
Wealth screen information and some basic segmentation gives you multiple ways to connect with donors both at year end and throughout the year to come. Take advantage of these opportunities to expand your ability to put your mission in action.
Need help? Contact us for more information.
As the year comes to a close, having a plan in place is essential to build on your nonprofit's impact and sustain momentum into the new year. A well-defined plan sets clear goals, keeps your team aligned, and helps ensure that resources are directed toward your mission in ways that make the greatest difference. What's YOUR plan?