You know the old saying: “Numbers don’t lie.” Well, when it comes to End-of-Year giving, the numbers tell us a lot about the people who give in the final weeks of the year, how much they give, and what attracts them to a nonprofit and keeps them there. And it’s all true.
First things first. In case you weren’t aware, almost 30% of donations to nonprofits take place between GivingTuesday and the end of the year, and 12% occur in the last three days of December. Additionally, nonprofits that participate in GivingTuesday pick up about four times the number of new donors as on an average day. So if you’re not taking full advantage of this time of year, you might be leaving a good deal of money on the table. And remember, GivingTuesday donors and End-of-Year donors tend to come from different demographic groups, so your efforts toward one are unlikely to dilute efforts toward the other.
As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, when it comes to year-end giving, it’s important to get started early on planning and even reaching out to donors. According to statistics pulled together by Nonprofit Hub, over 53% of nonprofits report that they start planning their year-end asks in October, while 7% start reaching out to donors as early as September.
When it comes to funds raised by nonprofits in the final weeks of the year, the numbers have a lot to say. For example, 28% of nonprofits surveyed reported that they raise from 26% to 50% of their total annual funds via their year-end campaigns. On the other hand, 36% of surveyed nonprofits report that End-of-Year giving accounts for only 10% of their annual fundraising intake, which would seem to indicate some nonprofits are not getting the most out of these major giving days and weeks. Programs like Arreva’s Exceed Beyond can help you move from the latter group to the former, taking full advantage of the charitable feelings donors tend to have during the holiday season.
Now let’s get into some more general statistics and shed some light on who donors are and how they choose whether to donate to your campaign or someone else’s. For example, did you know that while 69% of Americans give to charity, nearly 65% of all donations are made by women? 72% of charitable donations are made by individuals, with the remainder coming from foundations (15%), bequests (8%), and corporations (5%). It’s also interesting to note that your volunteers are twice as likely to donate as anyone else, and that lower-income donors give a larger percentage of their income than wealthy donors do. So avoid focusing strictly on the “whales” or you may lose out on significant opportunities to form lasting, mutually beneficial donor relationships.
Examining the current numbers is Step 1. Keeping track of and analyzing these statistics as they compare to the numbers coming out of your own organization can tell you how your nonprofit is performing and where opportunities might exist to get more out of your End-Of-Year fundraising campaigns. Here’s to a successful End-of-Year fundraising campaign for you and your organization. Let us know how we can help!