The Nonprofit Professional’s Playbook for Successful End-of-Year Fundraising

The final months of the calendar year are a critical time for nonprofit organizations.

With the average nonprofit bringing in more than 30% of their total annual online donations in the month of December alone, the holiday season is no time to slack on communicating with your communities.

While participating in Giving Tuesday is certainly an important piece of your end-of-year plan, placing a priority upon creating a thoughtful multi-week or -month communications and marketing plan with several touchpoints is much more likely to yield higher fundraising results.

October

Consider starting early! Remember, you are competing with other charitable causes for each donor’s limited dollars. With more than 50% of nonprofits starting their end-of-year campaigns in October, it’s clear that the early birds are onto something.

To help you prepare, the Small Business and Nonprofit Department is offering a ‘Content Planning: Getting Ahead of the Holidays’ class on Monday, Oct. 20 which focuses on crafting messaging and content that gets noticed — and inspires donations! — during this super busy season. Learn more and register here.

Speaking of content, October is a great time to send an update highlighting a few key accomplishments for the year. This gentle reminder to donors that you are out there doing good work will come in handy ahead of November and December asks!

This month is also ideal for scheduling one more meeting with your top-tier donors before their calendars become totally filled with holiday happenings. Though charitable giving decisions are rarely made by weighing tax implications alone, it will also be helpful for development professionals to understand new regulations ahead of connecting with top earners or corporate donors.

November

Within this month of Thanksgiving, consider how you will give thanks to the donors and volunteers who give so much to your organization. Is it handwritten greeting cards full of warm wishes or a morning meetup with coffee and baked goods?

November weekends are some of the busiest shopping times of the year. Does your nonprofit sell merchandise or gift cards for services? Event tickets perhaps? If so, strategize how you will best place your organization to reach traveling shoppers and help them check off gift giving lists. If you don’t sell goods of your own, consider reaching out to businesses who have supported you in the past; it is possible they may give a percentage of sales to charity, and your organization could be selected within the holiday season.

At the end of this month, be sure you are looking ahead in the calendar! Though Giving Tuesday often falls in December, it’s often immediately following Thanksgiving (as is the case this year). If you’re sending printed appeals, get those in the mail early as the holiday will create delays. Consider scheduling some social media and email marketing ahead of time, so everything is absolutely ready to go Tuesday morning — even if you have a backlog of work after being away for the long weekend.

Find more tips for Giving Tuesday campaign success here.

December

Giving Tuesday is here! This day of philanthropy tends to favor online giving, so make sure your virtual donation forms are in tip top shape. Do they offer donors an option to give monthly? Is the highlighted gift the lowest amount, or the amount that will get you closer to your fundraising goal? Consider highlighting the $50 option over the $10 to provide a gentle suggestion!

If 2025 has presented your organization unique challenges and those year-end goals feel sky high, consider messaging that brings a greater awareness to the necessity of your nonprofit. This Candid article has great suggestions for ways to remind your audience of the larger scale importance and impact of charities.

The more people who hear your story as they make end-of-year gifts the more who may give to your cause! Your local media outlets can be wonderful partners in sharing your organization’s needs and successes with a wide audience. The Toledo designated market area alone reaches over 408,000 households. To learn how to write press releases, present well in interviews, solidify media relationships and more, consider registering for our ‘Media Relations for Small Businesses and Nonprofits’ class on Monday, Dec. 8.

Finally, don’t disregard those last few days of the year. A significant 12% of total annual giving happens in the last week of the year, the majority of which tends to arrive between Dec. 29-31. Just like Thanksgiving week, this is another time when scheduling tools can come in handy. Queue up your social media and email campaigns early so you can spend New Year’s Eve in the peace of knowing you’ve done all you can for a successful 2025!

For one-on-one assistance with your nonprofit organization, connect with a Toledo Library Small Business & Nonprofit specialist at business@toledolibrary.org or toledolibrary.org/sbn.