More than 30% of all giving happens during the last three months of the year, with 17% happening in December.

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To make the most of year-end giving, your organization needs a plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but some clear communication, an easy giving solution, and a little forethought can inspire incredible generosity. Interested in an easy-to-follow checklist to help you cover your bases?

Click on the printer-friendly version of our Year-End Giving Checklist below.

Bonus: How Do You Plan Your Giving Campaign?

Use the “Who, What, Where, When, and Why Formula” to plan your year-end giving campaign.

Who: Identify key staff/members who will implement the year-end giving plan. In many nonprofits, this will include the board members, administrators, communications team, and financial team.

What: What will you use to communicate the year-end giving campaign to your organization? Ensure everyone has the opportunity to give by sharing the vision through a variety of sources. Use as many channels as possible to share your vision and give people an opportunity to give, including print/newsletters/social media, and presentations in groups and homes.

Where: Decide if year-end gifts go to an overall fund or to meet a specific need. Some nonprofits depend on extra year-end giving to tighten the gap between the budget and incoming gifts. Others use the extra December gifts to start a project or champion a local need. There’s no wrong answer to this one.

When: The closer you get to Christmas, the less likely people are to think about anything except holiday to-do lists. Eight to 10 weeks before December 31 is a good rule of thumb to start talking about your year-end giving campaign and take advantage of Giving Tuesday.

Why: Have a clear vision of why you are doing a campaign, and articulate that vision clearly. Have a written explanation for why your nonprofit is starting a year-end giving campaign and how those gifts will be used. Writing it out helps nonprofit leaders articulate the vision, and it increases transparency, which is a key ingredient for unleashing generosity. (You also might consider adding in the tax benefits of year-end giving.)

Make Giving Easy

Finally, make giving easy and give a variety of ways for people to give. Allow for more ways to give than by check, cash, or an envelope. Make it simple for people to show their generosity. Test the giving page on your website, and make sure it only takes one or two clicks for someone to make their gift online. You should also have a Text to Give option or make it easy to give on a mobile device.

Free Webinar: Maximize Your Year-End Giving

The holiday season tends to inspire people’s generosity, so they increase their giving to causes and organizations they care about. Because of that, now is the time to attract new donors, ask people for recurring donations, and solidify gift renewals. Donors want to give, so start by making it easy for them. We’ll go over some specific focus areas for year-end giving efforts. During this webinar, you will learn how to:

• Ensure that your giving options are donor-friendly
• Implement improvements to your giving page to make donating simple
• Improve your social media presence for better awareness
• Use effective tools and tips to implement and manage year-end giving
• Nurture your year-end donors to maximize their potential giving and support