Give December Back to Your Donors
Recently, Seth Godin published a post titled Reasons People Donate. His list ranges from the compassionate (Others are suffering) to the comical (It comes with a tote bag). I couldn’t help but notice that For the tax break was *not* on his list.
After being inundated this month, and the past week especially, with urgent emails from nonprofits reminding me about year-end giving deadlines and that TIME IS RUNNING OUT, I’ve decided to weigh in on this matter with the hope of righting a misguided, shortsighted, albeit conventional, practice.
In short: the December scramble for donations drives me bonkers. And I say this as someone who used to send those very [pesky] email solicitations. It felt icky at the time, like scrounging for loose change, and from my present vantage point, it still doesn't feel right.
The way I see it, most organizations (those that operate on a calendar year) have 11 months to court, cultivate, and engage supporters and prospective donors. Eleven relatively typical months. December, on the other hand, is widely known to be a hectic month packed with holiday preparations, gift-buying, celebrations, school breaks, travels, etc. We are all on overload in December. We manage the activity insanity by functioning in overdrive, on adrenaline, with caffeine and energy supplements taken as needed.
Contributing to the chaos of the season: like clockwork every December, in addition to receiving emails from any store I’ve ever purchased from, I get emails from nearly every organization I’ve ever donated to —including the ones I’ve already given to that year. It all adds up to a dizzying feeling of exasperation, exhaustion, and if I’m being completely candid, at times irritation —to the point where I'm tempted to unsubscribe altogether.
So here’s my radical, unconventional advice:
Break from the pack and give December back to your donors.
Do all you can to get your finances in order by the end of November.
Set your nonprofit apart from others with a December email expressing gratitude and hope instead of urgency and need.
(Think it can't be done? Think again! An organization doing a commendable job is the Ron Brown Scholar Fund.)
If the above recommendation is too extreme or simply not feasible given your organization’s financial circumstances, then please at least consider creating a targeted email campaign, with a pared down recipient list of new prospects and donors from prior years; leave off those who have already given in the current calendar year.