Soapbox Engage Blog

We are about to enter the last quarter of 2023. That means it’s time to get to work on your end-of-year appeals. Maybe you didn’t meet your goals last year. Or 2023 hasn’t gone as planned, so you have a lot riding on this last fundraising push. If you’re looking for how to make a perfect end-of-year appeal that stands out, keep reading!

Table of Contents

1. Segment your donor lists
2. Review what you’ve done in the past
3. Personalize your appeal
4. Create a custom donation form
5. Reach out to donors in multiple ways
6. Invite your donors to fundraise

1. Segment Your Donor Lists

Your donors are unique people with unique giving histories, priorities, levels of engagement with your organization, and more. If you send them all the exact same appeal, you’re not actually utilizing all the tools at your disposal, and your fundraising will suffer because of it.

When first planning your appeal, you’ll want to segment your donors based on average gift size, campaign interests, fundraising activities, and when they last donated. You know your community best, so you should segment based on what meets your organization's specific needs. With this data, you can create specific messages for specific audiences.

This is important because your donors should feel acknowledged. For example, if you send a letter asking for someone to make a monthly contribution to someone who is already making a monthly contribution, they may not feel as though you appreciate their support.

The robust donor data saved in the Soapbox Engage Donations app makes it easy to segment your donors based on a variety of factors.

2. Review What You’ve Done in the Past

You could’ve not met your goals previously because of your end-of-year appeal. But maybe you didn’t meet them because they weren’t realistic in the first place!

When setting your goals for this year, look at your past few campaigns. What worked and what didn’t? What was challenging? What was successful?

Check key performance indicators like total appeals sent, how many donations came in, and how many new donors there were. Reviewing this data will help you set realistic goals and repeat successes, as well as leave behind what didn’t work.

3. Personalize Your Appeal

It’s incredibly important to use your donor’s name in their appeal. That is one small detail that makes a world of difference. It shows that you know who they are, and their contribution is noted and valued.

There are other ways to personalize your appeal. If you know a donor personally, consider including a handwritten note that references your shared connection. The more a donor can see that their personal impact is appreciated and valued, the more likely they are to want to further support your mission.

4. Create a Custom Donation Form

A simple truth of fundraising and marketing is that the more work it takes for someone to take an action, the less likely they are to do so. It would be best to create a custom donation form for end of year appeal donations that your donors can access with ease. This way, they are less likely to get bogged down in a search for your donation website.

Not only is it easier for your donor, but creating a custom form can also make it easier for you to track what is coming in for this specific appeal vs. what may just be a general donation someone felt moved to make.

You can easily create custom donation forms with the Soapbox Engage Donations app

5. Reach Out to Donors in Multiple Ways

The days of your end-of-year appeal consisting of one printed direct mail piece are long gone. It is important to reach out to your donors in a variety of ways. You should not only be sending letters, but also emails. If you have the capacity, it is ideal to create an associated social media or video campaign. Another great way to make your donor feel appreciated is to pick up the phone and give them a call!

If you have a wide variety of donors, especially across generations, they likely have a wide variety of ways they want to be contacted. If you’re only reaching out to your donor in one way, you are almost definitely leaving money on the table.

6. Invite Your Donors to Fundraise

It’s very possible that many of your supporters want to get more involved in helping your organization. You won’t know unless you ask! Peer-to-peer fundraising can help you activate your supporters to become fundraisers for your cause. It is a simple way for them to engage their own communities. Who knows what beautiful connections can blossom this way?

Our Peer-to-Peer Fundraising add-on makes it easy for your fundraisers to engage their own communities.

---

We hope these six tips to help your end-of-year appeal stand out are beneficial to your organization. We wish you lots of luck as you embark on meeting your goals this season!

Looking for more guidance on your fundraising journey? Here are three resources to help you out:

• 3 Ways Nonprofit Marketing Is Different from For-Profit: Marketing is essential to the success of any of your organization’s campaigns. However, marketing for a nonprofit is different from for-profit marketing. This blog post explains why, and how to make sure you’re building successful campaigns that work for your organization.


• Giving Trends Highlight the Importance of Attracting New Donors: An important metric to track during your end-of-year campaign is whether or not you’re bringing in new donors. This blog post explains why attracting new donors is important, and how you can do that.


• 4 Ways Donation Transparency Increases Fundraising Success: Whether they’re new donors or long-term donors, it’s important that your donors are very clear about where their money is going! This blog post shares four ways donation transparency can make your fundraising more successful.