Year End is a crucial time for all charities. At CanadaHelps, the last week of December brings in 10% of annual donations with a whopping 6% of annual donations made on December 31st.
In addition to all of the other best practices you routinely include in your appeals, here are 5 Ways to Raise More with your Year End Tax Time Appeal.
1. Craft a message to break through: Get urgent and specific
At year-end, not only are you competing with other charities’ year-end appeals, your donor’s inbox, mail box and social feeds are full of Boxing Day advertising and other holiday messages. You will have to work harder to break through.
Find a way to increase the urgency of your ask and get specific. Tie your ask to a specific need, tell them how close you are to your goal, how they can help you reach it, and find a way to resonate with their emotions.
For instance, if you send an email appeal on December 30th you might tell your donors you have less than 48 hours to reach your $10,000 goal to keep the heat on at your shelter throughout the winter months. You might also introduce them to a resident who will otherwise be forced to live on the street.
You’ll want to balance keeping your message short and easy-to-digest while still telling your story. Be sure to include impactful imagery that resonates, use clear headlines and short paragraphs to help them read key messages quickly, and include multiple calls to action (buttons and text links) that drive them directly to a donation page.
2. Ensure donation forms are online, easy-to-use and mobile-friendly
Popularity of online donations is growing rapidly and it’s even more important at end of year. December 31st can sneak up on donors to the point where donating online is the only way to ensure an in-year receipt.
Allowing online donations is key, but it also needs to be easy.
Ensure the online donation form that you’re using captures enough information to process the donation and issue tax receipts in as quick and painless as possible: Avoid asking unnecessary questions, keep the number of steps and pages to a minimum, and make sure it displays properly on mobile.
3. Communicate the tax time benefit
Only 21.3% of Canadians claim charitable donations on their annual tax return. Remind your donors of the sizable charitable tax credits available to inspire larger gifts.
CanadaHelps has developed a free Tax Time Toolkit that includes detailed charts with provincial and national tax incentives you can share with your donors as well as some suggested subject lines and messaging to inspire you as you craft your message.
4. Raise your ask
Consider increasing your standard ask on your donation forms come end of year – at CanadaHelps we find the average donation in December is 73% higher than the rest of the year. Not only are donors possibly feeling more generous due to the season, the tax time benefits might be enough to further encourage them to give more. To be safe, always ensure your donation forms allow donors to fill in an amount of their choosing as well.
5. Ask, ask, and ask again.
Don’t be shy about asking multiple times at this time of year. In addition to any direct mail you have planned, take advantage of email and social – both are cost-effective and it’s quick and easy to create and deploy messages and when it comes to making the tax-deadline in those final days before December 31st, it’s the only reliable way for donors to go!
Email: Email your donors several days before end of year and plan to send another email (or two), as you get closer to December 31. Plan to resend your strongest, most impactful ask to those on your list who did not open or who have not yet given.
Bonus Tip: If you can segment on those who have given, you can email with a final Thank You message on December 30 or 31st telling them how important their support is. Your donors will appreciate it and you may be surprised how many give again.
Social Media: Not only can you ask for donations, social media also provides an opportunity to keep your organization top-of-mind and increase overall engagement with your supporters.
On social media, plan several asks with different images, call outs and graphics that increase in urgency as December 31 approaches.
Ensure you’re also posting softer messages, without a direct donation ask, to help build engagement with donors - feature the impact your charity makes, introduce them to someone who needs their help, share specific stories of your charity’s success and thank them for their support throughout the year.
The time leading up to year-end can be stressful for charities – using the above tips in addition to other learnings specific to your organization will help you reach your ambitious fundraising goals. Even better, as you see the outpouring of support at this time of year it can help energize you and the rest of your organization well into the New Year.
Angela Kostenko is the Senior eCommerce Manager at CanadaHelps. CanadaHelps.org allows donors to safely donate and fundraise online for any registered Canadian charity and also provides charities the secure online fundraising platform and education resources they need to succeed. As a registered charity itself, CanadaHelps has facilitated more than $650 million in donations to Canadian charities online since launching in 2000. Over 17,000 Canadian charities fundraise online using the CanadaHelps platform. Stay connected with CanadaHelps on Twitter @CharityLifeCA and @CanadaHelps.
