Tips to make your end-of-year giving fruitful for you and your donors

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

3. Pitch stories after Christmas. The week between Christmas and New Year's is usually a slow news week. It's not too hard to get a story on TV or in the paper. We chose a great story and pitched it to the local media.

The combination of these activities resulted in a small flurry of donations during the last week of the year. We saw several first-time donors through our online efforts, one of whom gave a $1,000 gift. We were quite pleased with the outcome, and it met the organization's need for a big finish for the year.

Rick Christ, vice president, Amergent

There are two very different  seasons: the spiritual season leading up to Christmas/Hanukkah, and the secular season that begins on Dec. 26 and runs until the ball drops in Times Square. You need to be "in the game" for both  seasons with different messages and e-mail aggressively in the last week of the year.

Tim O'Leary, vice president,  McPherson Associates

Direct mail: Personalized note cards with a soft ask, using real handwriting or handwritten font, have continued to work well — particularly with mid- level and high-dollar donors. (And they worked for both current and lapsed givers!)

Online: We have found that the week between Christmas and New Year's is a great time for e-mail fundraising. Prospects are usually home and spend some of their time catching up on e-mail. It's one of the best weeks of the year for our online efforts.

Robin Riggs, chief creative officer, LW Robbins

Jeff Johnson, account manager,  LW Robbins

1. If an organization has a  successful year-end/holiday campaign, test a closed-face outer envelope, First Class outgoing and return postage for $100-plus zero- to 24-month names.

2. Remember to thank donors/members and tell them how important they are to your mission.