The Giving Season takes place from November to December every year and commences with Giving Tuesday – the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. Year-end giving aims to inspire a sense of global generosity and remind consumers to support their favorite nonprofit organizations during the busy holiday season.
Nonprofits rely on the Giving Season to raise the majority of their contributed income for the year. A solid year-end fundraising strategy can raise thousands of dollars for your mission and set the tone for the year ahead.
Proactive planning is the key to a successful end-of-year fundraiser. Start planning your campaigns and outreach strategy in October. Complete tasks like getting your toolkit together, collecting beneficiary stories and images of your mission in action, and crafting your social media posts and emails.
Allowing plenty of time to create these materials – and get buy-in from your team – will result in a successful year-end fundraiser for your nonprofit.
That’s where this free, customizable Giving Season Calendar comes in. Download this Microsoft Excel spreadsheet resource and tailor it to align with your strategy and stay on track. Your year-end fundraising strategy is unique to your nonprofit, so add your key milestones to this calendar. Print it, share it, and mark on it – feel free to make it your own!
Being fully prepared can minimize stress and workload during an often hectic and exciting time packed with fundraising events and email and social media outreach. Make sure your online and in-person fundraising tools are running smoothly, and keep an eye on your fundraising goal. Then, follow this calendar for suggested steps to analyze the effectiveness of your campaign and keep the momentum going.
We have a ton of Giving Season resources, including a Giving Tuesday Toolkit and this 3-step roadmap to help you prepare and execute your best year-end campaign yet.
Happy fundraising!
