As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, we ushered in not only a new year but a new tax code that reshapes our economy in fundamental ways. With the doubling of the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples, estimates project that as few as 10% of taxpayers will continue to itemize. This marked decrease means that donating to your nonprofit just got more expensive for most of your supporters since doing so won’t carry a tax benefit. Experts predict this to cause a drop in charitable donations of around $14 billion in 2018, or 5 percent of the $282 billion that nonprofits raised in 2016.

Key to responding to this changing charitable landscape is recognizing a fundamental fact: fundraising is primarily about a relationship. That relationship isn’t with the Internal Revenue Service. The key relationship is between your donor and your organization and its mission. Understanding that relationship and how it changes over time as your supporter moves through their donor journey is more critical now than ever.

But how?

From #GivingTuesday to the end of the giving season, it will be critical for fundraisers to keep close track of progress toward their fundraising goals. For those with Salesforce, you can facilitate that by scheduling a report on that progress so it is emailed to key staff daily. This step-by-step recipe will walk through the creation of a fundraising report and how to schedule its delivery.

For other last minute #GivingTuesday tips, watch our webinar, #GivingTuesday Fundraising for Procrastinators.

It’s November - when the pumpkin is spicier, the turkeys more restless, and red lines on budgets prepare to turn black. Nearly one-third of the year’s giving will occur starting November 28th through the end of the year. And while this time is critical for meeting your bottom line, complicated it need not be. We humbly offer five simple wishlist items for your fundraising strategy to get your last minute gifts in order.

As you gear up for #GivingTuesday and the entire end-of-year giving season, context can be critical in goal setting and fundraising strategy. With this step-by-step recipe, you can easily Report on year-end giving from those who gave for the first time last end-of-year seasons vs. previous donors who gave during that same period. This can help you craft goals for overall end-of-year giving as well as specific targets for new donor acquisition.

For other last minute #GivingTuesday tips, watch our webinar, #GivingTuesday Fundraising for Procrastinators.

Salesforce offers simple yet powerful ways to organize your fundraising campaigns. Through the use of Campaign Hierarchies, you can corral various marketing efforts and responses to those efforts into a cohesive whole that lets you report on total giving for a broad range of efforts. What's more, you can track costs associated with each of these Campaigns and compare the total investment across that range of efforts to dollars raised.

While Campaign Hierarchies are standard in Salesforce, a Salesforce administrator needs to take a few steps to make the summary information across an entire hierarchy visible on the parent Campaign. This step-by-step recipe walks you through how to do so.

Using this functionality is a quick and easy way to bring all of your #GivingTuesday fundraising activities under one proverbial data umbrella in Salesforce for straightforward analysis. For other last minute #GivingTuesday strategies and Salesforce tips, register to attend our free webinar, #GivingTuesday Fundraising for Procrastinators, on Thursday, November 16th at 3 pm ET.