As we head into the holiday season, many nonprofits are making their final appeals for funding for the calendar year. Here a few tips that will help you make the most of your last asks of 2016.
Send a thank you email to your donors and volunteers in mid December. Include a few statistics that let them know what their monetary donation or gift of time allowed your organization to do this year. Do not ask for a gift in this email. Simply say “Thank You.
The holidays are a huge time for direct mail, specifically acquisition pieces. Use graphics from your direct mail in your emails and on your donation page for a cohesive look. This helps instill a unified brand appearance for your organization particularly to new donors.
Check the calendar so you can estimate when people will take off work. Many supporters provide their work email so you don’t want to be flooded with “Out of Office” notifications. Based on the 2016 calendar, your first email solicitation should go out Tuesday, December 20th. Tuesdays have the highest email open rates and the earlier in the day you send it, the better. The next one, Tuesday, December 28th, and the last Tuesday of the year, is tricky. New Year’s Eve is on a Saturday so you will completely lose those with work emails. You want to aim for Friday, December 30th to send your final ask.
Keep the first email short and to the point. You will want to include a brief story about how your nonprofit has a made a difference for a family, a patient, or a student based on what your mission is. Make sure the recipient knows this story happened because of donors or volunteers like them. Now for the ask; tell them they can help continue, or increase, the capacity of the organization. All it takes is a donation, and no amount is too small.
Your next email on December 28th should be your first push for end of year giving. This should include a story, but also mention end of year tax write off.
Your last email on December 30th can further build off of the previous email, but the difference is to make the end of year tax write off the main point. LAST CHANCE TO GIVE IN 2016! GIVE NOW FOR 2016 TAX CREDIT! These should be the headlines in the email body and included in the subject line.
Try one, or all, of these tips this year, then let DonorLynk know how they worked. Let us show you how our donor and volunteer management solutions will help you build on your successful email campaigns to make 2017 your nonprofit’s best year ever!
Shanda Wicker is a Business Development Executive at DonorLynk, LLC. DonorLynk is focused on helping nonprofits increase effectiveness and efficiency.