Preparing for the Year-End Online Rush
by Ryan Garnett on October 3rd, 2016If you haven’t already started to think about your year-end campaign, now is the time. With less than 90 days to go until Christmas it’s important that you start ensuring your non-profit is ready for the coming storm of last minute Christmas donors.
A few tips to make your year-end giving campaigns as successful as possible:
- Use the word Christmas – Yes, I know that your organization respects all cultures and religions and ‘Holidays’ is a better word to ensure they’re all represented. But the majority of your donors are likely from a Christian background, and they celebrate Christmas. It’s true that you might put off some donors by using the word Christmas, but you’ll likely annoy many more by not using it.
- Be sure your donation form is easy to complete and mobile friendly – With more and more donors moving online to make their year-end gifts having an efficient donation page is imperative. Be sure that your donation form works on mobile devices as well, and test is on multiple different devices including phones and tablets. Try to keep your form short too – ideally no more than 12 fields.
- Link your online giving back to your direct mail – Many of your donors will check out your website before returning to your DM pack to make their donation. To ensure they can find the information they need when they arrive on your homepage include graphics that mirror the DM pack. And when they click through there be sure to give them a little more information about why their donation is so important and the impact they will have.
Most importantly, don’t fret if you can’t do everything you want online this year. Be sure you have your donation page sorted out, but work on everything else step-by-step. Having some online presence is much better than having none at all.
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