Top Fundraising Programs Do THIS Every October
October is one of the busiest months of the year for nonprofit fundraising programs, and if you work in development, you are likely feeling the cumulative stress of a possible fall fundraising event, the turn of the fiscal year/budget planning, prepping for a year end appeal, and trying to fit major gifts into your schedule somehow. With not enough time to do everything, or at least not enough time to do everything well, we can take lessons from our top earning nonprofit clients, along with national data to show where fundraising staff should be spending their time every October.
Finalize a year-end appeal - whether this be a mailing set to go out in the first week of November, or a series of in person asks to your top prospects, use October to have all your materials and Case for Support prepped, so that you can focus on driving revenue for the last two months of the year. Nearly a third of giving occurs in December and that starts with conversations/materials sent to prospects in November, so there's no time to waste!
Make every ask you are sitting on - if you have been cultivating a donor, but haven't made a specific ask for the year, it's time to take a shot before that same prospect is asked by every charity in town. 46.2% of charities are going to make that ask in November, and we want to be ahead of the wave of solicitations. We don't always have to be the best, but we do want to be first in line.
Hold a volunteer/board/philanthropy council retreat - People will be tough to track down over the holidays, and volunteer engagement is at it's lowest while people are traveling and spending time with families, so October tends to be our best month for getting people together. A retreat doesn't have to be a multi-day ordeal, some of our best board retreats last just an afternoon (only slightly longer than a normal meeting), and it gives you the chance to review the year and set goals for the next year. Energizing your philanthropy volunteers is one of our most powerful tools this time of year. Don't know where to start? Check out our short guide on how to conduct the perfect nonprofit board retreat.
Get your November activities/events ready to go in advance - Giving Tuesday? coming up next month. Your thank-a-thon? Coming up next month. Calling all the prospects you sent your mail appeal to? Next month. It's all about to get really busy, so save yourself some stress and check off all the planning and prepping you can to be ready for your most profitable two months of the year. Ideally, we have a week-to-week plan for the last 8 weeks of the year, allowing us to focus on our donors and our constituents. We always do all we can in October to free up that admin time in November.
We know it's a challenging time a year, but those nonprofit teams who can accept there's not enough time to do everything always have better peace of mind in working on the tasks that move the needle and help maximize year end giving.
Need additional support and more fundraising revenue? Feel free to reach out to see if we can make your fundraising team's end to the year much easier and of course, more profitable!
