Lots of our friends and colleagues are coming out with their recap of just how bad or good end of year fundraising went for the nonprofit sector, and we’d like to add our fresh take to the chorus as we wade through the January data.
Like many have noted, the end of year season (roughly from Giving Tuesday through January 1) was a mixed bag for many organizations. We still saw some soft fundraising results, continuing the trend from last year. But we also saw some reason for optimism. Here’s a few bright spots from our recent analysis.
✨ Interestingly, fundraising in the final days of December once again outperformed Giving Tuesday fundraising, basically reversing a trend we’ve seen in the last few years (where quite frankly, Giving Tuesday saved many organizations’ end of year fundraising campaigns). It’s hard to say for sure *why* that is, as it could be an outlier this year, but it underscores why both Giving Tuesday and fundraising in the final week of December should still be a critical part of your digital fundraising campaigning.
✨ In the past couple years, we’ve watched clients struggle with both retaining existing donors and converting new donors as individual giving plummeted across the sector. Slowly, surely, we’re starting to see a little bounce back here in both areas. A trend that we’re hoping bodes well for a better 2025 end of year fundraising cycle (combined with an improving economy and ease up of inflation, we’re crossing our fingers hard over here).
✨ For clients that invested recently in an SMS program, the dividends are starting to pay off. While many organizations saw declines at year-end – M+R reported that organizations who had an SMS program saw revenue either stay flat or increase year over year.”
While end of year fundraising is but a moment in time for your donors and your organization, the lessons learned from these campaigns are really vital to building a strong and healthy digital direct response program. And if you are looking for some guidance in 2024, you can connect with us at sayhi@fresheyesdigital.com to help supercharge your fundraising this year.
