For many nonprofits, December represents the most important revenue window of the year. By now, you might already be working on your campaign calendar and drafting your appeals, but your execution in these final weeks can determine whether your organization simply meets its goals or surpasses them.

But there’s no need to worry! Nonprofit strategist Floyd Jones has simple tactics to help your development team finish strong. His strategies are targeted to deepen engagement, maximize the return on your existing campaigns, and set the stage for long-term growth.

Use automation to drive authentic engagement

At this point, your supporters probably expect a year-end appeal. What they might not expect—and what truly differentiates your organization—is an intentional cadence of dialogue and appreciation alongside those asks.

To inspire commitment among your supporters, Floyd stresses that engagement has to be both authentic and consistent. However, authenticity at scale requires thoughtful infrastructure—especially when running multichannel campaigns.

For most organizations, this means enlisting the help of automated fundraising workflows. At the beginning of your campaign, you can lock in the personalization, segmentation, and cadence of your donor engagement, and rest easy knowing results are on the way.

Automated fundraising workflows allow you to:

• Send personalized stewardship emails triggered by donor activity
• Develop targeted messaging for multiple fundraising channels
• Equip board members with call lists and tailored talking points
• Schedule periodic impact updates and opportunity reminders

Move beyond the basics of donor segmentation

You probably already segment by recency, frequency, and gift size, but to maximize December returns, Floyd challenges organizations to go a bit deeper:

• Engagement segmentation - Who opened, clicked, or ignored your last campaign? Target messaging by engagement level, not just giving history.
• Channel preference - Are your mid-level donors more responsive to email, phone, or text? Respecting communication preferences boosts conversion.
• Motivational profiles - Some donors give to meet urgent needs, others to invest in long-term change. Align messaging with what drives them.

Don’t have access to engagement scores? Consider an email marketing platform (that integrates with your fundraising software) to track opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes. For example, DonorPerfect comes with a Constant Contact account built right in, allowing nonprofits to create donor segments based on these engagement scores.

Turn the year-end surge into long-term momentum

Floyd emphasizes that year-end giving isn’t a sprint; it’s a launch pad for donor retention and upgrade strategies in Q1. To position yourself for progress in 2026, use your year-end campaign data to its full potential.

Here are a few examples:

• Schedule January impact updates before December closes
• Map new donors into specific cultivation tracks (monthly, mid-level, or major)
• Use year-end data as a foundation for predictive modeling in 2026

Remember, the strongest finish lines are also starting lines. By treating December as both, you ensure your year-end energy becomes a springboard for sustainable growth.

Want more wisdom from Floyd? Join him on November 6th at 2 PM ET for a free webinar hosted by DonorPerfect, where he will expand on these tactics and provide actionable takeaways. Attendees will leave with a framework to systematize authentic donor engagement at scale; advanced segmentation techniques to sharpen appeals; and a roadmap for converting December success into 2026 momentum.