Almost 20 years ago, I was chief fundraising officer for a Catholic charity that always closed the week between Christmas and New Years. As the director of resource development, however, I worked every day between December 26 and December 31 to capture those last minute donations. Consequently, we typically processed stock donations, vehicle donations, and major gifts that might have otherwise gone to other community based non-profit organizations. During my successful tenures as the development director at two different organizations, I learned the 5 things every fundraiser should do the last week of the year:
- #1: Remind board members of their annual financial and fundraising commitments
- #2: Call board members who met their annual financial commitments to say “thank you”
- #3: Call your largest 10 donors and thank them for supporting your organization
- #4: Send thank you letters for all gifts received in the past few weeks
- #5: Solicit 2016 donors who haven’t given yet this year
Listen to this bonus break to learn how to efficiently do each of these tasks with limited office support (after all, nearly everyone else has taken the week off).
