Tuesday, 9 September 2014

Nonprofit Fundraising Planning for Fall

With summer drawing to a close, now is the time to start thinking about the year ahead. For many nonprofits, this means beginning the process of planning their fundraising efforts that will occur during the fall and winter seasons.

Summer is a busy time for people and they may not think as much about giving to a charitable organization while they spend time with kids off from school or go on vacations. However, as the winter and the fall approach, it starts to be time for holiday gifts and for tax planning.  This means that people may begin to think about their donations and about what organizations they want to give to.

If your charitable organization or nonprofit wants to be successful during the upcoming fundraising season, now may be the ideal time to think about getting nonprofit fundraising software. This software can help you to create targeted campaigns, to reach out to people who may be interested in giving to your organization and to take advantage of tax-season giving.

Nonprofits can do many things during the fall and winter season to maximize their fundraising efforts. For example:

• Your nonprofit or charitable organization could start planning a holiday event. Many charities and nonprofits will throw parties or galas for the holidays and will sell tickets or tables or do an auction. These events can bring in a huge amount of money and can help your charitable organization to become more well-known among people who tend to make big gifts. If you want to throw a holiday event, there is a lot of planning involved including setting up your guest list and deciding who to invite and how to market the event.  Nonprofit fundraising software can help you to create guest lists and send invitations so you will be ready to throw a memorable money-raising event.
• Your nonprofit or charitable organization can send out holiday cards. When you send out holiday cards, this reminds people of your organization and could prompt them to give. It can also make donors feel appreciated.  Having nonprofit fundraising software can make it much easier for your organization to send out these holiday cards because you will know who to send them to and you will be able to generate mailings easily.
• Your nonprofit or charitable organization can reach out to donors who may be willing to give before tax time. People typically want to make gifts before the tax year ends so they can take deductions and get the money back from their taxes sooner.  With nonprofit fundraising software, you can track who is likely to make gifts around tax time and you can send out letters to remind these likely donors of your organization’s needs.

These are just some of the different things that your organization should consider doing in order to be ready for fundraising this fall and this winter.  You should think about ordering and setting up your nonprofit fundraising software now so that you will be ready to jump in when the fall and winter fundraising seasons arrive.