That feels like a win. And in many ways, it is.

But here is the uncomfortable truth most fundraisers already know. A fun event and happy attendees do not automatically mean your event was successful from a fundraising standpoint. 

That is where fundraising ROI comes in.

What Fundraising Event ROI Really Means

Return on Investment, or ROI, is a simple way to understand whether the time, money, and energy you put into an event actually paid off. 

Event fundraising ROI looks at how much you raised compared to how much it cost to run the event. That includes real dollars and staff time. If you consistently spend more than you raise, or barely break even, your organization is working very hard without moving very far forward.

When nonprofit teams are smaller, budgets are tighter, and expectations are higher, ROI is not optional. It is how you protect your team’s capacity and your mission.

Before you commit to an event, or decide to repeat one, it is worth slowing down and asking one honest question. Is this helping us grow, or is it just keeping us busy?

Let’s walk through how to calculate event fundraising ROI step by step.

Step 1: Calculate Your Event Costs

Start by listing every expense tied to the event. This includes obvious costs like venue or permit fees, food and beverages, entertainment, and supplies, but also the smaller line items that are easy to overlook. Things like signage, rentals, software or ticketing tools, and marketing or promotion expenses all count toward the true cost of running your event.

Easily track event expenses and see by category the breakdown (along with revenue) in the dashboard on the CauseVox fundraising ROI calculator.

Even when individual costs feel minor, they add up quickly. Getting a realistic total here is critical, because underestimating expenses is one of the fastest ways to feel good about an event in the moment and disappointed by the ROI afterward.

Download The Event Fundraising ROI Calculator

Step 2: Account for Staff and Volunteer Time

This is the part many teams skip, but it matters more than ever. Staff time is not free. Volunteer time is not free either, even if no one is getting a paycheck.

Estimate how many hours each staff member and volunteer spent planning, promoting, running, and following up after the event. Multiply those hours by a reasonable hourly rate and add that total to your event costs.

Also include the time it took to organize the event behind the scenes. Meetings, emails, follow up, reporting, and cleanup all count, especially because burnout is real and retention matters. Your team’s time is one of your most valuable resources.

Step 3: Set a Realistic Fundraising Goal

Next, look at how much you actually expect the event to raise.

Ask yourself:

• How many people do we realistically expect to participate?
• Are we charging a registration or ticket fee?
• Are participants fundraising on our behalf?
• What is a reasonable average amount each person can raise or give?

A simple way to set a goal is to multiply the number of participants by an individual fundraising target.

For example: 20 participants x $2,000 each = $40,000 fundraising goal

Download the CauseVox ROI Calculator and input your fundraising goals to help you plan accordingly.

This gives you a grounded estimate you can use to evaluate whether the event is worth the effort.

Step 4: Calculate Your Fundraising Event ROI

Now it is time for the math. Take the total amount you raised and subtract your total costs. This gives you your net profit. Then divide your net profit by your total costs and multiply by 100.

For example:  $50,000 raised – $35,000 in total costs = $15,000 net profit.

Next, take $15,000 ÷ $35,000 = 0.4285. Then take 0.4285 x 100 = 42.85% fundraising event ROI.

If your costs are higher than what you raised, your ROI is negative. That is a clear signal something needs to change.

Use the CauseVox ROI calculator to easily see your expense ratio and ROI %

A good benchmark to aim for is an expense ratio of 35% or less. That means you spend $35 or less for every $100 raised. If your event is not hitting that mark, it may be time to rethink the format, the tools you are using, or whether the event makes sense at all.

Option 1: Run Your Event With CauseVox

One of the biggest factors in event ROI is complexity. Multiple tools. Manual spreadsheets. Disconnected donor data. Hours spent reconciling reports after the event. CauseVox is designed to remove that friction.

When you run your event on CauseVox, registration, donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, communications, and reporting all live in one place. That means fewer logins, less manual work, and fewer things falling through the cracks.

Make event ticketing easier for everyone by tracking tickets in real time, organizing options clearly, and giving supporters a smooth, stress-free checkout.

You can also use AI-powered tools inside CauseVox to save time. Think automated reporting, deduplication, and insights that help you see what is working without digging through data.

Use CauseVox’s AI powered reports to easily see where your effort is paying off.

When your tools are working together instead of against you, more of what you raise goes directly to your mission.

Option 2: Skip the Event and Run a Peer-to-Peer Campaign

Sometimes the best decision is not to run an event at all.

If the numbers are not adding up, a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign can be a smarter option. These campaigns often raise more with far less time and expense.

Active in Mission used a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign on CauseVox to raise nearly CA$78,000.

On average, it costs about $3 to raise $100 with CauseVox when donors choose to cover processing fees through tipping. With a fundraising goal of $50,000, you could pay just 3 percent ($1,500) to run a peer-to-peer online campaign on CauseVox. The amount you raise is $48,500 which means your fundraising ROI is OVER 3,000 percent!

With CauseVox, peer-to-peer campaigns come with customizable and branded pages, real-time reporting, and simple setup. Supporters can create personal fundraising pages in minutes, and you can track progress without constant manual updates.

Increase Your Fundraising ROI With CauseVox

Fundraising in this day and age is about doing more with less, without losing the human connection that donors care about.

CauseVox brings fundraising, CRM, and donor communications into one platform so your team can operate more efficiently, grow support, and engage donors in a more personal way. If you are ready to raise more, simplify your systems, and protect your team’s energy, CauseVox can help.

Sign up today and make your next fundraising decision with confidence.

What is an Annual Nonprofit Development Plan? 

An annual nonprofit development plan (or fundraising plan) is simply a document that includes your fundraising goals for the year and how you plan to reach them. It includes the financial milestones you need to hit, the fundraising strategies you will use to reach those goals, and the timeline of when you plan to carry those strategies out. 

Why Do You Need an Annual Nonprofit Development Plan? 

As the highly accomplished Benjamin Franklin once said, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” If you’re responsible for bringing in the funds your organization needs to operate, you can’t take any chances of failing. Bearing this weight can cause a lot of anxiety and stress, but it doesn’t have to. If you invest a little bit of time to give yourself a plan to follow, you’ll be setting yourself up for success–which happens to rhyme with less stress! To make the process as easy as possible for you, we’ve created a free fundraising goals and calendar template. We recommend filling this in while following the steps outlined below.

Download Your Fundraising Goals and Calendar Template:

How to Create Your Annual Nonprofit Development Plan

1. Budgeting and Resource Allocation

Establishing a robust budget that aligns with your overarching goals is not just a good financial practice; it’s a strategic move that amplifies the impact of every dollar spent.

Kickstarting the budgeting journey involves setting a comprehensive, year-long fundraising goal. This macro goal becomes the focal point to which all smaller goals should contribute. The key is to keep it concise while ensuring that every activity throughout the year plays a role in achieving this overarching objective. 

To calculate your organizational goal, get a copy of the budget and follow these steps:

• Determine Expenses: Outline your expected spending, covering administrative, programming, and fundraising costs.
• Identify Guaranteed Income: Record the expected income from guaranteed, committed sources such as major gifts, recurring donations, pledges, and grants. 
• Calculate the Funding Gap: Subtract the guaranteed income from the total expenses. The resulting figure will be the amount you need to raise through other fundraising activities during the upcoming calendar year.

For instance, let’s consider a total operating budget of $200,000. Anticipating $30,000 in government grants, $15,000 in foundation grants, and $40,000 in pledges already committed, you’d need to secure an additional $115,000 through other fundraisers to meet your organizational goal.

Following this systematic budgeting approach ensures that financial resources are strategically allocated to support your annual development plan. 

Remember, the budget is not just about numbers; it’s your roadmap to success.

2. Evaluate Past Fundraising Strategies 

Once you’ve calculated your organizational funding goal, you’ll want to think about the specific strategies you’ll use to get there. This begins with evaluating last year’s fundraising campaigns and activities to assess their effectiveness. 

So whether you had an official previous fundraising plan last year or not, start with reviewing your 2025 fundraising activities to gather insights. Use a spreadsheet to document all fundraising endeavors, assessing expenses, benefits, and key details for each. Like the budget, this evaluation isn’t just about numbers; it’s a vital step in determining your ROI, and helping you make informed decisions about repeating or refining strategies. Consider all income sources, including individual donations through various channels. 

As you delve into the spreadsheet, reflect on the effectiveness of your 2025 fundraising approaches, acknowledging any wins, losses, or areas for improvement. Decide which ones you definitely want to repeat in your plan for 2026, as well as which ones you’d like to modify or improve.

3. Measuring Success and Adjusting Strategies

Measuring the success of your nonprofit’s annual development plan requires establishing realistic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that align with your goals. A specific example of a KPI could be looking at your donor retention rate. This metric tracks the percentage of donors from the previous year who continue to contribute in the current year.

For instance, if your organization had 1,000 donors in 2024 and, after implementing your annual development plan in 2025, 800 of those donors continued their support, your donor retention rate would be 80%.

Regularly reviewing and analyzing KPIs like donor retention rate provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of your fundraising strategies. If the rate is lower than desired, it may indicate a need to reassess engagement tactics, improve communication with donors, or refine existing fundraising activities.

4. Understanding Your Donors

When it comes to raising individual donations, one of the most important factors to consider as you choose your strategies is to make sure you have a solid understanding of who your target donor is. Think about it: you wouldn’t want to call a major donor and ask them for money without first getting an understanding of who they are and what they care about. This should also be true when considering your supporter network as a whole. 

Consider doing these two exercises to get a clearer picture: 

Donor Personas

Begin by creating detailed donor personas that represent different segments of your supporter base. Move beyond basic demographics to understand motivations, interests, and communication preferences. Picture a passionate advocate valuing social impact or a digital-savvy donor who prefers online engagement. Developing these personas offers nuanced insights into the diverse motivations driving your donors.

Data and Analytics

Tap into the power of data and analytics to segment and target your donors effectively. Analyze past giving patterns, contribution frequency, and preferred donation channels. Identify key touchpoints and interactions that resonated most with your donors. This data-driven approach allows you to tailor your outreach efforts, aligning them with the preferences and behaviors of different donor segments.

5. Diversifying Fundraising Strategies

Armed with a comprehensive understanding of your donors and an idea of which past fundraisers or giving days you’d like to repeat, you can now choose any new and improved strategies you’d like to implement for 2026.

While you make these decisions, we encourage you to embrace diverse fundraising channels. The fundraising landscape has evolved, which means you need to be prepared to offer an abundance of options beyond traditional methods like direct mail. The myriad of possibilities in fundraising today aren’t just extensive; they’re advantageous.If you need  ideas, we’ve compiled a list of 200 fundraising ideas to pull from!

As you consider which fundraising activities you want to implement in 2026, make sure you are setting specific and measurable goals aligned with your organization’s mission.

(Our annual nonprofit development plan fundraising calendar template)

Compile a comprehensive list of campaigns you intend to run, specifying when they are scheduled to occur. Draw from your insights of donor trends and from your understanding of your donor base to shape your annual plan. For example, if donors are less likely to attend in-person events in the summer, consider focusing on peer-to-peer campaigns or virtual events during that period.

When outlining each fundraiser, make use of the fundraising calendar to maintain a balance—ensuring enough activities to meet budgetary needs without overstretching your resources. To cover your bases, include key details such as the type of fundraising activity, anticipated revenue, marketing costs, deadlines, intended audience, and additional notes.

6. Ensuring Long-Term Sustainability

Of course, as you build your annual development plan, you want to set yourself up for success beyond just 2026. You want to make sure that you are planting the seeds for future success as well. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of your organization doesn’t happen in one day; it’s a journey. Luckily, we’ve curated some practical strategies that will help you embark on this journey with confidence:

Diversify Funding Sources

Let’s face it; relying on a single funding source is a bit like putting all your eggs in one basket. To give your organization a more stable footing, consider diversifying your funding streams. Think of it as planting different seeds in your fundraising garden – recurring donations, matching grants, corporate partnerships, and individual giving. This diversity not only weathers storms but allows your organization to bloom in various seasons.

(Endure to Cure’s peer-to-peer campaign on CauseVox)

Endowment Building

Building an endowment is like giving your organization a financial safety net. Think of it as a financial cushion that allows you to dream big and plan for the long term. Encouraging donors to contribute to an endowment fund sets the stage for a lasting impact, providing stability during uncertain times and empowering your organization to reach new heights.

Strategic Partnerships

Picture your nonprofit as part of a community of superheroes, each with unique strengths. Forge strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations, businesses, and community stakeholders. Together, you’re not just amplifying your impact; you’re creating a support network that ensures everyone rises. It’s a win-win situation that turns collaboration into a powerful tool for sustainability.

(Foundation for Developmental Disabilities’ Season of Sharing Sponsor Tiers)

Capacity Building

The backbone of any superhero team is its skills and capabilities. Invest in your team’s growth and development – a well-equipped team is your organization’s secret weapon. From upgrading technology to enhancing operational efficiency, this investment ensures that your nonprofit not only tackles challenges but does so with finesse and adaptability.

7. Building Donor Relationships

As you plan to carry out your annual nonprofit development plan for the year, remember that how you communicate your fundraising needs with your donors is crucial.

Building meaningful connections with donors is an art and a science. In the dynamic world of philanthropy, technology acts as a bridge, bringing your organization closer to its supporters. Utilize this digital toolbox to share stories that resonate, celebrate achievements, and express gratitude for the invaluable role each donor plays in making a positive difference.

Let’s embrace building donor relationships with the tools at our disposal. Through genuine, timely, and impactful communication, ensure that each donor feels not just like an ATM but an integral part of the transformative narrative your organization is crafting. Be strategic in your communication by aligning your outreach with your calendar of fundraising activities. 

Personalized Communication

Aim for personalized communication with your donors. Craft messages that speak directly to the motivations and interests of the specific donor personas you created. Whether through personalized emails, targeted campaign appeals, or strategic social media content, the goal is to make your message relatable. Taking the time to do this demonstrates that you recognize and value each donor’s unique contributions.

Your Turn!

Ready to embark on your journey to fundraising success? Your organization’s success story begins with a clear annual nonprofit development plan – start crafting yours today!

Download Your Fundraising Goals and Calendar Template:

Nonprofits receive 50% of their annual donations between October and December. Why is year-end giving such a big deal? The reason is twofold: first, it makes sense to align with the holidays, a time of generosity and giving back. It’s marketable, it’s ripe for good storytelling, and can ease the process of coming up with a fresh campaign concept.

Second, year-end giving gives nonprofits an opportunity to use a big chunk of their resources to meet their annual fundraising goals, and it gives donors a last chance to get a tax-deductible gift out the door.

Not only that, but with the move to more and more online giving, events like GivingTuesday have become an even more important part of your fundraising calendar.

At CauseVox, we’re all about helping everyone meet their goals – donors and the causes they support. We want to help nonprofits that implement year-end fundraising campaigns be successful.

This guide will help you to outline and develop a year-end fundraising campaign that works for your organization and your donors, specifically curated to your needs in 2025.

Creating a Plan for Year-End Giving 2025

As you prepare for the year-end giving season, it’s essential to reflect on past campaigns to guide future success. Many organizations have seen significant growth by setting clear, intentional goals and integrating key moments like GivingTuesday into their year-end strategies.

Your fundraising goals should be aligned with your organization’s needs and informed by a review of your annual projections. Consider these questions when setting your goals:

• Is there a specific project that needs funding before the year’s end or early next year?
• Will the funds be used in the near future or for long-term initiatives?
• Are you raising money for specific programs, operations, or both?
• What is a realistic financial target given your timeline and community support?
• Would a monetary goal or a goal based on impact metrics be more motivating?
• Will there be matching gifts or major donor support to boost your campaign?
• What changes or needs do you anticipate in the upcoming year?

Your answers to these questions should help you to determine the type of campaign you want to create, and how you do it. A year-end campaign with a goal of $5,000 is much different than one set at $100,000. Urgently-needed funds will also make a difference in your messaging and timeline as opposed to funds that can be used in a year or two.

Ideally, you’ll want to have your plans in process during August and September, with October as your final prep time. One strategy that has proven successful for many organizations is securing matching gifts from board members or donors. Matching campaigns can motivate smaller donations by increasing the impact of each gift, ultimately helping organizations reach more ambitious goals.

When setting your own goal, use the SMART principles approach, making sure it’s Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

Aligning Year-End Giving With GivingTuesday

Without a doubt, the addition of GivingTuesday to the holidays has made a major impact on year-end giving. In 2024, organizations nationwide raised $3.6 billion online on GivingTuesday.

The annual 24-hour giving day, created to counter the retail-heavy push that begins with Black Friday, has thousands of nonprofits, businesses, city governments, and other institutions participating in a drive to highlight generosity and partnership for good.

GivingTuesday is December 2nd this year, and it’s a prime time for nonprofits to kick off or amp up their year-end campaigns.

We’ve seen many of our own users integrate GivingTuesday into their year-end fundraising campaigns, and we strongly recommend you consider it.

Craft a strong year-end appeal by sourcing your content early. Gather testimonials from the people your organization serves, whether through thank-you letters, phone interviews, or story-banking efforts. A powerful, relatable story can make a significant difference in connecting with donors and driving support. Having these stories ready ahead of time means you won’t have to scramble for content as the deadline approaches.

If you’re strapped for resources and don’t have the bandwidth to develop a full-fledged fundraising campaign, GivingTuesday could be a great easy way to get out there and steadily work towards your overall goals.

And if you have a big end-of-year idea or you’re set on your tried and true concept, it still may make sense to incorporate GivingTuesday into your plan. Here’s why:

• Extra attention and spotlight thanks to high publicity around GivingTuesday
• Plug-and-play tools and assets from our free Year-End & GivingTuesday Toolkit and from GivingTuesday.org to help market your campaign
• More participants ultimately means more support for the nonprofit community overall

Download Your Free Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit:

Choosing Your Fundraising Approach

Whether or not you choose to align your year-end campaign with GivingTuesday, there are many options to consider when plotting the setup.

Generally, there are three main approaches to developing a fundraising campaign – no matter the time of year – and all are regularly utilized by nonprofits of all sizes and missions.

1. General Fundraising Campaign:

This is your typical fundraising campaign: it runs for a fixed period of time and has an overall fundraising or impact goal.

All donors give to the same umbrella theme and goal through a crowdfunding campaign. However, you may want to consider adding peer-to-peer fundraising onto your campaign so individuals may choose to set a personal fundraising goal to support the overall goal. No bells or whistles — just straightforward.

SOS Children’s Villages Illinois acquired 75% of their new donors for the entire year with their year-end peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.

2. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising:

This strategy leverages your donors’ personal networks, allowing them to develop their own campaigns, create teams, and share stories to support a larger theme.

For organizations whose mission impacts a large number of people in a more direct way (like education or health), this style of year-end fundraising campaign may work best.

One incredibly important piece of peer-to-peer fundraising is supporting your fundraisers. It’s a great idea to create a toolkit that your fundraisers can use to guide their work. Provide them with graphics, sample posts, press releases, email templates and more.

You can provide a peer-to-peer toolkit like this that has links to all your fundraisers could ever need!

3. Activity or Event:

An event can be a powerful way to raise funds for your campaign in real time. Hosting an activity, whether virtual or in-person, allows you to engage your audience and create a memorable experience that drives donations on the spot.

For example, something like the gratitude crawl Spur Local did—where participants visit local businesses or landmarks in a show of community support—can be an interactive and meaningful way to raise awareness and funds. The sense of shared experience helps build connection and excitement around your cause, encouraging people to give generously.

However, it’s important to consider the resources needed to pull off an event. Some activities may require more time, budget, and staff than others, so plan carefully to ensure your event complements your other year-end campaign activities without overextending your team.

By strategically planning an event or activity, you can create an opportunity to engage supporters and bring in significant contributions to help you reach your fundraising goals.

Developing A Year-End Campaign Strategy

When it comes to the year-end giving campaign, it’s time to haul out all your best practices and secret strategies, and go all in. Especially for organizations who have major fundraising goals they need to reach to continue operations and programs into the next year — it’s now or never!

To that end, there are multiple approaches to consider when developing your strategy, to ensure you’ve covered all the bases and you can get the most bang for your buck.

Here is a list of ways you can cover more ground for your year-end campaign:

Share Your Story

As we mentioned in the P2P section, your donors’ stories are an essential element to creating a connection to your cause and to reach more potential donors and new community members.

Your donors want to hear those stories. They want to know how you’ve stuck with them through thick and thin. You need to be able to illustrate your impact. This inspires donors to give, but also to become a part of the story, which is what keeps their commitment to your cause going, even after the campaign.

When coming up with a story for your campaign, consider what kinds of stories connect with your community the best and see what kinds of stories have worked best on social media.

Once you know what story you want to tell, consider the Pixar framework:

Once upon a time, there was ____________.

Every day, _____________.

Then one day, __________.

Because of that, _________.

Because of that, __________.

Until finally, ________________.

For more storytelling tips, check out our guide, The Complete Guide to Storytelling for Nonprofits.

Engaging Your Board in Year-End Fundraising

Reaching out to your board is another great avenue to boost your year-end fundraising activity. Engaging individual board members will help you to expand your potential reach by leveraging their personal and professional networks, and it could also provide you with some new content and stories.

To start, meet with your board members. Do this one-on-one or take advantage of a board retreat or annual meeting. Seek to understand what drew them to get involved with your organization and issue. Discuss your goals and brainstorm ways they can support you further.

Then, ask your board members to make connections. Board members, like any other donor or follower who believes in your work, will likely be happy to connect friends, family, and colleagues with your nonprofit and the work you do. A few introductions from these stakeholders can make a huge difference in your fundraising reach.

Finally, involve your board members in showing gratitude. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ to a donor who has contributed a large amount or helped extend your reach can go a long way and a ‘thank you’ from a board member can go even farther. Ask them to compose a quick, hand-written note or an email or see if they can make time for a phone call or even a lunch with top donors. This extra recognition can turn a one-time donor into a regular contributor.

Establishing Corporate Partnerships

Corporate partnerships are a great way to boost fundraising at any time of year but especially at year-end. By partnering with a corporation, you can not only increase your impact but also add incentive for your donors. 

Partnerships come in all different sizes: they can be as simple as sharing your campaign on social media or as extensive as co-hosting a major event and making a big gift.

Many retailers and corporations are involved in nonprofit partnerships for GivingTuesday and actively give back during the year-end giving season. If you have a chance to partner with an organization that can bring extra credibility, reach bigger audiences, and help to make a bigger impact, then by all means, go for it.

Engaging your corporate partners in donation matching is a powerful way to boost donor engagement and maximize your fundraising efforts. With automated matching doubling the impact of donations is now as simple as a click. This feature recognizes corporate sponsors and optimizes match days, making the matching process seamless and effective.

For example, consider the impact of Tito’s 1:1 match—normally, a $20 donation would provide one person with clean water for life, but with the match, that same $20 helps two people. Automated matching not only accelerates fundraising efforts but also offers donors real-time insight into the amplified impact of their contributions.

Gone are the days of manual matching processes; automation has streamlined the experience, making it more satisfying and engaging for both donors and organizations.

If you haven’t secured a corporate partnership yet, here are some things to consider as you approach one.

1. Choose a partner that makes sense for you.

Not every corporation would make a good partner. The ideal partner for you will be an organization or company that aligns with your brand in some way—be it location, values, goals, or product.

2. Make it mutually beneficial.

Successful partnerships are those that benefit both parties. Think beyond the support they’ll provide to you—what can you offer them in return? Whether it’s promoting their products, highlighting their social responsibility efforts, or giving them visibility through your platforms, a mutually beneficial arrangement strengthens the partnership. Discuss ways to feature them on your website, in your emails, or across social media, showcasing their involvement and strengthening the relationship.

3. Manage and maintain the relationship.

Once you’ve established a partnership, it’s essential to nurture and maintain that relationship beyond just the year-end campaign. Stay in touch throughout the year, sharing results and keeping the lines of communication open. When developing a partnership agreement, consider creating a toolkit with all the promotional materials your partners might need, such as blog post and press release templates, logos, images, and approved quotes. Be specific in your expectations, like outlining a target number of social media posts or blog mentions, and track results from both sides.

4. Make the most of their brand

To make the most of your partners’ brand power, incorporate their names, social media handles, and logos into your campaign marketing wherever possible. This not only enhances your visibility but also adds credibility to your campaign. Additionally, encourage your partners to tap into their own networks by reaching out to their press contacts and engaging with their broader partner community.

Reach Out to Major Donors

A wide-reaching year-end campaign strategy is a great way to achieve fundraising success, but don’t discount the contributions of major donors, who are already familiar with your work and interested in contributing to your cause.

Here’s a few ways to get your big donors on board with your year-end campaign:

• Send them mail. Letters and brochures to major donors help get them all caught up on what they’ve accomplished with their help and showing them what they can yet still accomplish together.
• Appoint them as leaders. Peer-to-peer campaigns can often use a few team leaders-here’s where your major donors come in! They can set a great example and even help organize fundraisers.
• Ask to share their stories. Donors have more than just money to give. Set up a quick interview, ask them why they choose to donate so much to your organization, and share their story! It’ll encourage other donors and show them you see them as a hero for your cause, too.
• Call them. Or better yet, set up a meeting. Any way your nonprofit can establish a closer connection with your donors will show your major donors you care about them, and give you a space to explain more in detail your campaign.
• Host exclusive events. This not only makes your major donors feel valued but also gives them a chance to connect with each other and introduce friends to your cause, helping you attract new donors.

All Systems Go

Depending on your goals and your resources, you may use a little from all of these approaches for your year-end campaign.

Your year-end fundraising campaign should be a mix of what works for your organization, what will resonate with your community, and what will make the most impact for your goals.

Marketing & Communications For Year-End Giving

A huge element to a successful year-end giving campaign, like any other, is marketing and communications – but perhaps it’s even more important during this busy time of year.

As we mentioned before, between retail promotions and most nonprofits working towards end-of-year sales and donation goals, and people keeping busy during the holidays, it can be really tough to stand out with your message and mission.

But that doesn’t always mean that your marketing has to be totally unique and something new; it just means it has to be solid and strategic. Many organizations run the same year-end campaign again and again, some for decades.

Think Salvation Army and their Red Kettle campaign, or Oxfam International and their catalog of goats and other farm animals. These nonprofits have brand recognition and they have stayed true to their mission and to a campaign that works.

While we know that not all orgs have this same brand awareness, we believe that less can be more, that simple can be best. As always, you should craft a plan for your campaign that you know works for your audience, and tells your story as clearly as possible, however that may be.

To that end, there are some fundamentals to keep in mind when developing your marketing and communications strategy for each medium.

Website

No matter what else you do, your organization’s website should clearly display your year-end fundraising campaign. There should be no question when someone visits your homepage that you have a campaign in progress, and within a few seconds, you should be able to determine the campaign theme, goal, and how to support it.

Even if you are sending visitors off to social media or a third-party fundraising site, it’s important that your website introduces potential donors to your campaign quickly and efficiently. Here are some ways to do so:

Homepage

• Create a featured banner with an image, graphic, and a short amount of text with the name of the campaign and the call to action. It should be above the fold and if you have a rotator/slider, make it the first one.
• Make sure the links to any campaign pages or relevant blog posts appear in homepage modules that feature content.
• Do you need a new navigation or menu item for this campaign?

Campaign Page

• You’ll want to create a dedicated campaign page. Think of this as the centerpiece of your fundraiser. 
• The campaign page should clearly state the goal of the campaign, include powerful imagery,and include a donation button and links.

Content

• Is storytelling a big component of the campaign? Think of creating an embeddable photo gallery or a place to add videos, all of which can be easily viewed and shared. 
• If your site has a blog or stories section, create at least one post relevant to the campaign.

Year-End Fundraising Email Campaign

For many nonprofits, especially small ones, email continues to be a main driver for action and fundraising.

Even if your campaign is heavy on social media, it’s still a good idea to include at least a couple of emails to your list for your year-end campaign – at a minimum, one to launch, one to provide an update and make a second ask, and one at the end.

In addition to reaching people who may not be following your organization on social media, email can be a great way to do deeper storytelling for your campaign, and give more details around the impact you’re hoping to make.

Try to be creative with your subject lines (see our 50+ suggestions for year-end email subject lines here) and think about the design and layout of your emails, too, to keep readers’ attention and boost your open and click rates.

One of the most powerful parts of online fundraising is segmentation. You can segment your emails based on the donor or engagement level, ranging from folks who have signed up for emails only all the way up to major donors. Within these segments, tailor content and the appropriate call-to-action to move them up to the next level.

You can also use this kind of segmentation to build onboarding emails with a particular theme and message throughout the season. This introduces new donors to the community and educates them about the issue and ways to get involved.

Here are some email options to consider for your year-end campaign:

Direct donation ask

When making a direct donation ask, it’s important to be clear and straightforward. You’re raising money, so don’t hesitate to ask for it! Many organizations use a mix of “soft” and “hard” asks, blending storytelling with urgency. To boost engagement, consider providing a detailed breakdown of how each donation makes a difference—donors love transparency. As seen in our 2023 Giving Study, showing exactly where the money goes encourages giving. In addition, vary the senders of your emails by involving spokespeople and stakeholders, and make sure every ask includes a clearly visible donate button and multiple clickable links.

Storytelling

When crafting your storytelling, think about how your email content can guide readers to your website or another platform where they can continue engaging with the story or take action. Visuals are key—one powerful photo paired with concise copy can convey a strong message. Make sure your story clearly demonstrates impact and connects with donors on a personal level, ensuring they feel emotionally invested in your cause.

Thank you’s, updates, and miscellany

As your campaign progresses, it’s important to thank donors regularly to keep the momentum going. Share updates with hard data whenever possible to show the impact of their contributions and let them know what still needs to be done. Also, be prepared for any last-minute matching gifts, major announcements, or relevant news that could help drive even more engagement as you near the finish line.

Social Media For Year-End Fundraising

Social media is one of the most accessible and cost-effective ways to promote your year-end campaign. But it’s not enough to simply post on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook and call it a day. It’s essential to have a well-thought-out plan and be strategic with your outreach and engagement across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more—whether social media is a key part of your campaign or just a tool to help boost visibility.

Keep these best practices in mind for your year-end campaign:

1. Branding

When it comes to branding, consistency is key. Choosing a memorable and catchy hashtag or tagline that’s just 1-3 words long can help people easily recognize your campaign. For example, a hashtag like #FeedOurFuture or a tagline like “Power Up Learning” reinforces your mission, making it easy for people to remember, search, and engage with your campaign. Make sure it’s easy to type and sticks in people’s minds. Once you’ve decided on your phrase, use it across all your social media posts. This not only reinforces your message but also makes it easier for people to search for and engage with your campaign.

Before finalizing your hashtag or tagline, it’s a good idea to check if any other organizations or campaigns are already using something similar. If they are, it might be worth brainstorming a new one that feels unique to your campaign.

2. Match Content to the Appropriate Platform

When it comes to matching content to the right platform, it’s important to tailor your approach. If you have plenty of photos or videos, platforms like Instagram and Facebook should play a big role in your social media strategy. Visual content thrives there, so make it easy for supporters to share or repost your images and videos. For quick facts, stats, or direct donation appeals, platforms like X (formerly Twitter) are ideal since they’re great for bite-sized information and immediate calls to action.

One thing to keep in mind—don’t clutter Instagram captions with complicated URLs or create too many steps for people to take action. Simplicity is key. The easier you make it for people to engage, the more likely they are to participate.

3. Time it Just Right

Timing is just as crucial as the content itself. If your campaign spans more than a couple of days, it’s important to spread out your messaging over several weeks. Build a story arc that starts with educating your audience and building your brand awareness. Gradually, you can introduce personal stories or a “soft appeal,” where you mention the cause without directly asking for donations. As the campaign progresses, shift toward a “hard appeal” with clear, direct calls to action for donations.

To avoid social media fatigue, find additional ways for people to engage with your campaign beyond just donating. Encourage them to share your content, view stories, or even submit their own.

Take a look at some other social media tips that can work for a GivingTuesday campaign, or a year-end one, or both.

Public Relations And Outreach

Additionally, traditional media outreach can still be a great way to market your year-end campaign.

In fact, so many bloggers, reporters, and other media professionals use social media now to find news and break news that you should consider reaching out to them on your chosen social communities to share what your organization is doing.

Tools and resources like Help A Reporter Out and the Public Insights Network make it easier for journalists to get the stories they need. While you may not want or be able to develop a comprehensive public relations plan, we have a few options to include at a minimum to get you started.

1. Compile a Blogger List

It’s essential to keep an ongoing database of bloggers who write about causes similar to your organization’s mission or philanthropy in general. Start by identifying those who are influential in your space—whether they focus on nonprofit work, social impact, or specific issues related to your cause. Once you’ve compiled this list, break it down further into subcategories based on how their content aligns with your campaign’s specifics. For example, if your campaign focuses on hunger relief, you might have a sub-list of bloggers who focus on food justice, local community support, or health and wellness. Keeping these lists updated regularly will make it easier to quickly reach out and share relevant news about your campaign.

2. To Release or Not to Release?

While press releases aren’t as commonly used in today’s fast-paced digital media landscape, they can still be a valuable tool depending on your campaign’s goals. If you’re partnering with a high-profile organization or working on a project that ties into current news and events, a press release could help you gain extra media attention. Releases can also be useful if your campaign involves an important milestone or announcement that journalists or media outlets might want to cover. Even if you’re not sure about a full press release, you can consider pitching a media advisory or a short note to select journalists to let them know about your campaign’s relevance to trending topics. 

3. Offer an Exclusive to One Outlet

If there’s a media outlet, blogger, or influencer you’ve been eager to collaborate with, offering them an exclusive angle on your campaign can be a smart strategy. This could be in the form of an interview with your CEO or an early scoop on a major campaign announcement. An exclusive can help build stronger relationships with influential voices in your industry, and having them onboard as a primary supporter or advocate can give your campaign credibility and visibility. It’s also a way to reach a more targeted audience through outlets or influencers that align with your message.

Whether or not you do any direct media outreach, it’s important to have a press or media kit ready for any outlet that wants to feature you. Prepare important campaign collateral like logos, graphics, photos, and more, and use an easy to access service like Dropbox or Google Drive for file uploads, viewing, and sharing.

4. Other (advertising, events, print, etc.)

There are many ways to boost your marketing and communications for year-end fundraising in 2024. If your budget allows, consider advertising on social media or through local channels, arranging interviews with stakeholders, or hosting a volunteer activity or fundraising meetup. While digital strategies dominate, direct mail can still be effective and help you stand out as fewer organizations use it. Be creative in reaching new donors and telling your story in a compelling way that drives donations. Keep in mind donor behavior, holiday schedules, and what resonates most during the year-end season.

Getting Started

So here we are. So much to do, and so little time! If you haven’t gotten started on your year-end campaign yet, let’s get to it. At CauseVox, we’re ready to get you up and going on a custom-made, easy-to-use fundraising website in just minutes.

And this guide is just the beginning of all of the resources out there to help you create and execute a successful year-end giving campaign, starting today.

View and download our Year-End Fundraising Sample Plan + Calendar by inputting your email address below:

But here’s the thing—none of that happens if people don’t know about it.

That’s where your emails come in.

While social media is the star of GivingTuesday, email is an important player, too. You’ll use email to engage and recruit personal fundraisers, inform your community about your campaign, and inspire donors to give. It may not have the star power of social media, but GivingTuesday wouldn’t work without it.

For your campaign, you’ll need three specific kinds of GivingTuesday emails:

• Informational Emails – These set the stage. They let your community know what’s coming, why it matters, and how they can be part of it
• Personal Fundraiser Emails – These empower your most passionate supporters to step up and share your message with their own networks
• Day-Of Solicitations – These are your main event emails…the ones that inspire immediate action and remind everyone that today’s the day to give

Let’s take a look at each kind of GivingTuesday email and what it is, who receives it, and how it works in your campaign game plan.

Informational Emails: Spread The Word

If you launch a campaign in the forest and no one knows it’s there… do you raise any money? This is not a Zen koan, this is a very easy question, and the answer is “no.”

It sounds obvious, but it’s worth saying out loud: people can’t support a campaign they don’t know exists. Awareness is step one.

GivingTuesday is in the thick of the holidays, shopping season, and what I will lovingly characterize as a fundraising melee, with every nonprofit vying for donor attention. Cut through the noise and put your campaign front and center with an informative and inspiring email.

• What They Are: Emails that inform people about your campaign. (Think of these are your campaign’s friendly “save the date”
• Who Receives Them: Your general audience of supporters (i.e. your entire email list).
• Content: Information about your campaign-when it’s happening, what you’re raising money
  for, the impact donations will make
• Sending Schedule: About ten days before GivingTuesday (November 21 looks good for 2025’s event), and then send a reminder on Cyber Monday
• Send Them Because: People need to know your campaign is happening and how they can help

Personal Fundraiser Emails: Recruit And Rally

Personal fundraisers volunteer to raise money on behalf of an organization. They share their time, social networks, and passion with nonprofits. They make GivingTuesday happen. Keep them in the loop with personal fundraiser emails.

• What They Are: Communications with peer-to-peer fundraisers, designed to inspire, inform, and encourage them to fundraise
• Who Receives Them: Potential and committed personal fundraisers
• Content: Recruiting messages, inspiring stories, logistics, updates, and encouragement
• Sending Schedule: You’ll need to communicate with your personal fundraisers quite a bit.
  • Before the Campaign:
    • Send your first recruiting email about six weeks before GivingTuesday (early October is good)
    • Send a reminder about a week later and as needed to recruit fundraisers
    • Send a welcome email as people join the campaign (this can be automated)
    • About three weeks before the campaign, send your fundraisers their campaign toolkit
    • While not strictly necessary, I personally would send a “thankful for you” message on Thanksgiving
    • Send one more “Wooo, here we go!” encouragement message on Cyber Monday.
  • During GivingTuesday:
    • Update them on major milestones
    • Congratulate fundraisers who have reached personal goals
    • Encourage them to keep sharing their campaigns
  • After GivingTuesday:
    • Thank them
    • Report final results
• Send Them Because: Fundraisers are volunteers who need support and encouragement

Day-Of Solicitations: Inspire And Ask

Last, but certainly not least, you’ll send some emails asking for money on GivingTuesday. These direct asks and updates make giving easy for donors.

• What They Are: Messages that inspire and request giving
• Who Receives Them: Your general audience (segment your peer-to-peer fundraisers out)
• Content: Stories that demonstrate the impact of donors, and requests for donations
• Sending Schedule: Send three; one in the morning, afternoon, evening. If you can, segment out people who give during the day, so they don’t keep getting asked. If it’s nine o’clock and you’re almost to your goal, you can send a fourth one announcing this fact and asking for a final push
• Send Them Because: People need to be asked and inspired in order to give

Five Elements Of An Excellent GivingTuesday Email

Whichever kind of email you’re sending, include these five elements to supercharge its impact:

1. Results-Focused

People want to know their gift makes a real difference. Show them the change you’re working toward and what their support can accomplish.

For example, share how a $25 donation helps a student get the books they need, or how $100 funds a week of tutoring. When donors can see the direct results of their giving, they feel more connected to your cause.

Reading Partners did this beautifully with a GivingTuesday inforgraphic that showed exactly what each donation level could achieve:

2. Donor-Centric

Make the email about your donor, not your need. After all, the email is in their inbox with their name on it; it’s not weird that they’d want to know what it has to do with them. In addition to making sure it actually is addressed to them (no more “Dear Friend” emails! I mean it!), center the donor in the message itself.

Check out this update from Beyond Borders. While it tells about Miracia and her family’s material needs, it’s about the donor by the fourth paragraph: “She needs someone who will stand with her…” This is a message about being a person who helps.

3. Urgent

GivingTuesday is a whirlwind. That built-in time limit already creates a sense of urgency, but it’s up to you to amplify that feeling through your messaging.

People are busy, distracted, and juggling a hundred things, especially during the holidays. A strong sense of urgency helps your message cut through the noise and reminds supporters that their window to make an impact is right now.

Use clear, time-sensitive language that conveys immediacy and momentum. Try phrases like:

• “Donate now before midnight!”
• “Just three hours left to make your GivingTuesday gift!”
• “Help us reach our goal before 5 PM!”
• “We’re so close; your gift today can push us over the top!”

Urgent language isn’t about pressure, it’s about focus.

4. Tell A Story

Stories are memorable and moving. Telling a quick story about people who benefit from your cause, or the way a change makes the world a better place, engages emotions, activates empathy, and inspires giving. Your story doesn’t have to be long or detailed to be powerful. Look at this story from World Bicycle Relief: it’s short and simple, but we see the impact a bicycle can have.

5. Call To Action

The point of all these emails is to encourage action. Whether that’s making a donation, becoming a personal fundraiser, or sharing your campaign with their friends, your message should clearly guide them toward the next step.

Make sure each email features a clear call to action, like, “Join the Campaign,” or “Donate Now.” To boost your call to action, make it easy to do. Link directly to your donation page, embed the video you want supporters to watch, or put a share button at the end.

The easier it is to give, share, and join, the more likely someone will actually do it.

Templates For Your GivingTuesday

We called you to action, so now, to take our own advice, we’ve made it really easy. We wrote the GivingTuesday emails for you.

Okay, so we didn’t write every single email. You’ll need to add the specifics. But we did create email formulas for your GivingTuesday campaign, along with timelines for sending them.

Download our toolkit to get started spreading the word, recruiting and rallying your fundraisers, and inspiring your supporters this GivingTuesday.

Since 2012, GivingTuesday has become a worldwide day of (mostly) online giving. Set on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, GivingTuesday is as famous as the shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday that precede it. Throughout the years, GivingTuesday has only grown in popularity with millions of people coming together to celebrate generosity, share kindness, and drive giving. 

In 2024, GivingTuesday in the United States alone saw an astounding $3.6 billion donated, with 36.1 million people taking action.

Planning for GivingTuesday 2025

It’s no secret that you have the opportunity to capitalize on the momentum of GivingTuesday to fundraise for your nonprofit: the challenge is what GivingTuesday best practices and ideas will help your nonprofit capture attention?

GivingTuesday has historically been famous for engaging audiences on social media. The CauseVox 2023 Giving Study found that among the younger generations, 76% said that social media influences their decision to make a charitable gift. These numbers underscore the importance of vibrant, engaging content that resonates. 

Amongst the older generation, they are pretty neutral on most communication platforms apart from phone and text messages. 73% of the survey participants stated that these methods had little to no effect on their giving decision.

Regardless of who your target audience is, it is important to communicate clearly, authentically and effectively.

With GivingTuesday 2025 coming up on December 2nd, the time to start planning is now. To help your nonprofit get in on the conversation and stand out on GivingTuesday, here’s our top GivingTuesday 2025 best practices and fundraising ideas:

1. Prepare Early
2. Set Goals
3. Show Progress
4. Enable an Impact Meter
5. Tell Good Stories About People
6. Create a Video
7. Engage Your Supporters Throughout the Day
8. Drive Large Gift Commitments With Pledges
9. Get A Matching Grant
10. Make Partnerships
11. Boost Revenue by Selling Exclusive Merch
12. Consider a Soft Launch
13. Use Peer-to-Peer Fundraising To Raise 2x More
14. Incorporate GivingTuesday Into Year-End Giving
15. Capitalize On Social Media
16. Test Your Donation Form
17. Thank Your Donors

Free Download: Complete Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit:

1. Prepare Early

One of our top GivingTuesday best practices for 2025 is to start preparing your campaign early (aka, now).

In surveys from past GivingTuesday campaigns, many organizations noted they anticipate spending more time preparing for their campaign in future years. Campaign planning is the ideal way to ensure your campaign goals align with your organization’s goals.

If you can spend just a few hours in the upcoming weeks brainstorming your campaign, you’ll be ahead of the curve. Here are a few things you should discuss with your team as we head towards the holiday season:

• Themes to tie your fundraising together.
• Fundraising techniques, such as peer-to-peer, crowdfunding, and special event fundraising.
• Potential corporate or major donor gift sponsors/matches.

2. Set Goals

GivingTuesday is inherently a short-term initiative, so having a specific fundraising and impact goal set for your campaign has been proven to help drive urgency and donations.

Here’s why having a fundraising thermometer, countdown, and impact goals are specifically important for GivingTuesday:

• Demonstrates the need to your donors
• Drives urgency for donors to participate in reaching the goal.
• Shows your progress so your donors visually see how their donation moves the needle.
• Allows donors to celebrate with you when your goal is achieved.

But goals don’t have to be just dollars. Including an impact goal alongside your fundraising goal ties dollars to impact – and 68% of donors agree that knowing how their donation makes an impact is important to their gift.

By including the impact of each monetary donation, Volo Kids donors can see just how their dollars are being used.

You can make this even more effective by making frequent updates on their progress throughout the day on social media. This ultimately builds momentum for the campaign.

This GivingTuesday, think about the ways your organization can set SMART goals to give your campaign a more relatable target. 

Consider setting any one or more of these goals:

• Awareness: How many people do you want to educate about your cause?
• Donors: How many donors are you looking to get overall? How many new donors are you looking to attract?
• Financial: How much do you want to raise?
• Personal fundraisers: How many individuals are you looking for to raise funds for your cause?
• Impact: How much impact do you want to see from the funds raised? How much money does it take to create this impact?
• Partner: How many partnerships are you looking to build?
• Pledges: How many people do you want to pledge a donation to the cause?
• Reach: How many impressions do you want your campaign to get on social media?
• Volunteers: How many people do you want to commit as volunteers?

Perhaps not every one of these goals will apply to your campaign, but it’s still important to assess which goals you want to set. Not only do the goals give you a good way to communicate with potential donors, they’ll also help you build out your plan as you move forward.

You can easily reflect your fundraising goals, end date, and impact on GivingTuesday using CauseVox’s free crowdfunding sites. Build your GivingTuesday campaign for free in 30 minutes using CauseVox.

 3. Show Progress

Since a GivingTuesday campaign is usually a shorter, time-bound campaign, it’s important to showcase fundraising progress as donations roll in, in real-time. 

Fundraising thermometers and progress bars are one of the most basic forms of gamification (taking elements of game play and integrating those elements into non-game scenarios such as fundraising). They provide instant gratification for your donors and can help ramp up engagement (and donations!). It’s psychological and it works because both the goal and how close they are to reaching it are front and center. Check out our free fundraising thermometer here!

4. Enable An Impact Meter

These days, donors are more focused on impact than ever.

There’s no better way to see the immediate impact of a donation than through an impact meter, like peer-to-peer fundraisers David and Nathan did for Raising Hope. The impact meter shows the number of session provided and how close you or your organization is towards reaching its goal. It reinforces what you’re doing with why you’re doing it.

These handy tools located directly on your nonprofit and personal fundraisers’ fundraising websites track the campaign’s progress and intended impact in real time. Seeing what their gift is poised to do may be the extra push needed for individuals who are on the fence about donating on GivingTuesday.

5. Tell Good Stories About People

The power of story lies in its ability to connect us on a deeply human level. In order to do that, you have to tell a good story that shows donors who they’re helping and how it works. Make your donors the hero’s of the story, you are simply a guide to helping them steward their money well and have a profound impact on the world

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with GivingTuesday to develop the #MyGivingStory initiative: a space for donors, volunteers, and nonprofit staff to tell the story about why they give. This initiative helps an organization’s supporters find the words and inspiration they need to activate and rally others to get involved.

Stories help to connect people. Not only that, but they help your donors to place themselves in your organization’s work: they can see what their role is and how it impacts someone else.

The Orangewood Foundation included a powerful story in their giving campaign that highlights their impact through beneficiaries experiences. By telling the story of someone your organization has helped (with their permission) or sharing the reason why a donor is giving, you are putting your audience in their shoes, fostering empathy. This empathy is the inspiration that activates your donors to give.

For GivingTuesday 2025, think through what stories your nonprofit has to share and how you want to share them with your online audience. One of the easiest ways to make this happen is to get your supporters involved.

Get your supporters involved in your storytelling:

• Ask your donors to tell #MyGivingStory, but be sure to ask them to tag your nonprofit in the post
• Create your own hashtag storytelling challenge or picture sharing challenge on social media. (ie Volo City Kids Foundation asks their donors to change their profile picture to a childhood picture of themselves playing a sport)
• Give them the opportunity to create their own personal fundraising page, where they can share their own story and fundraise on your behalf on GivingTuesday.

You can use their direct testimonials to build out larger stories to share.

6. Create a Video

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth…so much more. An impactful video is a powerful tool that rallies support by igniting our passions and stirring up our emotions. 

80% of the highest-grossing campaigns on CauseVox have embedded videos on their online fundraising campaign. In fact, 57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation.

Making a quality video isn’t easy. It’s going to take planning and time. When it comes to creating a powerful and compelling nonprofit video, you want to make sure you’ve hit on the following:

• Set a goal – Whether you’re wanting someone to donate or showcase impact, setting a goal will help determine the overall message of your video. 
• Share compelling stories – Show, don’t tell your viewers by providing testimonials and interviews that illustrate journeys from trial to triumph.
• Have a clear call to action – If you want your viewer to donate – make sure it’s clear.
• Keep it simple – You may have grand ideas but we recommend not getting too ambitious and coming out with a sloppy product. In other words, keep it simple!  
• Share your video – Once you’ve completed your video, it’s time to put it out to the world! Blast it out on social media, include it on newsletters, or feature it on your website. 

Pro Tip: Keep the message of your video positive even when presenting tough or uncomfortable topics. It’s not what you say but how you frame it.

7. Engage Your Supporters Throughout The Day

Once your campaign is in full-swing, engage with your supporters and keep them updated throughout the day.

Here are a few top-notch communication and engagement ideas to get you started:

• Post regular updates about your fundraising progress on social media (“With 5 hours left on GivingTuesday, we’re only $5,000 away from meeting our goal.) This is a great way to celebrate wins as they come but also helps to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to donate.
• Share how the funds raised so far will help the communities and populations you support. Ex: (“We’ve raised $5,000 so far to provide meals to 5 families for one month”)
• Go live on Instagram and Facebook to interact with your donors
• Use Instagram reels and Facebook stories to do shoutouts and updates.
• Consider giving your donors a personal, behind-the-scenes look at GivingTuesday at your nonprofit

Remember, your donors are participating in GivingTuesday but it’s so much more than just one day. They’re part of the greater movement for change.

8. Use GivingTuesday To Drive Gift Commitments With Recurring Or Pledge Donations

GivingTuesday doesn’t have to just be one day of giving: you can use GivingTuesday as a day to inspire a long-term commitment to generosity.

Running a recurring giving campaign or a pledge campaign is one of the top GivingTuesday 2023 ideas that will help you stand out and drive more donations year round. Here’s why:

• Recurring donors have a 90% retention rate, as opposed to 45% for one-time donors
• Recurring donors give 42% more annually than one-time donors
• 81% of Americans donors surveyed said they would give more if they could commit to a large gift and pay in installments using a service like Causevox’s pledge donation functionality.

Using pledge donations, you could get more large gifts committed to your organization on GivingTuesday, broken up into installments that would be automatically fulfilled over the course of 12 months. For example, a donor could pledge to give $1000, broken up into 12 monthly installments — making it an easy $83/mo payment.

This year, don’t miss out on the opportunity to drive gifts year-round, beginning on GivingTuesday. Even if you only get a small commitment upfront, you’ll set yourself up for ongoing fundraising success throughout 2026.

The spirit of GivingTuesday isn’t just meant to be one day; it’s a global movement of generosity. Getting donation pledges and recurring gifts may be the best ask you can do this GivingTuesday.

Learn more about how you can use CauseVox’s pledge feature to get more large gifts committed through installed payments.

9. Get A Matching Grant

One of the top-performing GivingTuesday fundraising ideas and best practices is having a matching gift in place. A sponsor or donor pledges to match donations up to a certain amount for a specific dollar amount or amount of time. For example, a donor or donors can commit to matching gift up to $5000, or will match all donations given between 3-6pm on GivingTuesday.

In fact, mentioning matching gifts in fundraising appeals has been found to increase the response rate by 71% and result in a 51% increase in the average donation amount.

This has been proven time and time again as one of the top GivingTuesday fundraising strategies. For example, Adult Congenital Heart Association has been using matching gifts to blow their GivingTuesday fundraising goal out of the water for the last 5 years. Last year, they raised over $50,000 — twice their goal — with the help of a $15,000 matching grant challenge donated by their board of directors.

To secure a matching gift for your GivingTuesday campaign, try asking:

• Your board
• A major donor
• A group of donors that have given annually
• Or, reposition a gift that’s already been pledged as a challenge grant

Letting donors know that their dollars will be doubled is a huge motivator and a great idea to help you stand out on GivingTuesday 2025.

For more tips, here are 5 ways you can effectively market your matching gift.

 10. Make Partnerships

GivingTuesday isn’t just about soliciting donations from your audience; it’s about drawing attention to your cause and building relationships with current and prospective supporters.

Henry Timms, the founder of GivingTuesday, noted, “Giving can be transactional, but at its best, giving creates life and shares warmth. Giving is empathy in action.”

Giving is about collaboration and working together to create positive impact. Timms even credits that collaboration with GivingTuesday’s rapid growth.

We can see from past GivingTuesday campaigns that truly successful organizations do it with partners.

One great example of partnerships is the Give Local initiative hosted by Spur Local. This organization didn’t focus on raising funds for themselves, but instead spent their GivingTuesday sharing other causes.

This partnership gave donors a sense of confidence in the nonprofits that Spur Local highlighted. Plus it allowed Spur Local to focus on one of those non-monetary goals we mentioned earlier: awareness. They got to spread their message and increase awareness of their own goals.

When nonprofits work together using the same media kit, social media hashtags, and share one another’s campaigns online, beautiful things happen. These actions foster community engagement and give the community something to rally around. This can be especially powerful when you connect with other local organizations and focus on building community in your area.

This year, consider expanding your partnerships with corporations, local businesses, marketers, and other nonprofits to increase your exposure and build new relationships.

Here are a few ways your organization can partner with others:

• Obtain a matching grant from a corporation that shares the same community values and vision as your own
• Find businesses that support your cause and ask them to leverage their networks for your campaign, donate a portion of sales on GivingTuesday, or donate their product/space to host an event
• Connect with other nonprofits that have supplemental services to yours and consider running a joint event or a competitive campaign
• Reach out to marketing agencies to donate a certain amount of media for your campaign
• Research influencers or celebrities that care about your cause and ask them to be an advocate
• Develop a relationship with media outlets in varying mediums (print, digital, video, etc.) to get the word out about your campaign

If all that sounds overwhelming, we’ve got a few tips to help make it a bit easier:

• When working with a business, also cater to their employees. Offer opportunities to engage such as by becoming a personal fundraiser.
• When building a partnership, make sure expectations are clear on both sides. The relationship should be two-sided.
• Provide a toolkit for your partners to promote your campaign on social, through email, on their website, and in person. Offer customization to better reach the partner’s audience as needed.
• Follow up with a thank-you note after the campaign ends and ask your partners for feedback.

11. Boost Revenue By Selling Exclusive Merch

Incentivize giving by offering your donors a little something in return for supporting your cause.

If you have the bandwidth, setting up an online store is a great way to boost revenue.

There’s no shortage of popular branded items you can sell:

• Stickers
• Shirts
• Exclusive GivingTuesday swag
• Travel Mugs 
• Hats
• Reusable Totes

Be sure to promote your store by linking it in your campaign, including it on email blasts, or by sharing it on social media. What makes this even better is that an online store doesn’t have to be used exclusively for GivingTuesday. Also, when someone uses or wears your merch, they’re effectively increasing visibility to your cause and promoting your org. 

12. Consider A Soft Launch

A soft launch is an “unofficial pre-campaign” where you share your GivingTuesday campaign with a small group of individuals. Share with your staff, board of directors, volunteers, and most generous/enthusiastic donors before fully kicking-off. 

The purpose of a soft launch is to solicit feedback and create social proof for your GivingTuesday campaign before you share it out to the world.

By front-loading donations and generating support in advance, people view your cause worthy and are more inclined to donate, maximizing the success of your GivingTuesday campaign. 

When it comes to timing a soft launch, aim to start three weeks in advance and no later than one week before GivingTuesday. We recommend setting a soft launch goal to raise a certain percentage before your official launch – ideally, somewhere between 10-30% of your overall goal. 

A soft launch does take a bit of work upfront but once GivingTuesday rolls around, you’ll have built up momentum around your campaign!

13. Use Peer-to-Peer Fundraising To Raise 2x More on GivingTuesday

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns help you engage your audience to fundraise on your behalf: so you reach new networks of donors you would have never reached before, while at the same time building your community.

And, since GivingTuesday has always been focused around individuals giving back, peer-to-peer fundraising is the perfect ask: it gives your community members a tangible way for them to participate in GivingTuesday for your organization and allows them to tell their own stories.

Here’s how using peer-to-peer fundraising will help you stand out on GivingTuesday 2025:

• It exponentially increases your network to everyone your fundraisers share their page with.
• Social media prioritizes individuals’ posts (above company/organizations’ posts). This means your fundraisers will organically get more traffic and engagement on social media.
• Individual’s emails will stand out in a crowded inbox – above the many emails sent directly from organizations
• You’ll drive more donations: peer-to-peer fundraising tends to drive about 2x as much as crowdfunding.
• Peer-to-peer is a primary driver of new donor acquisition. SOS Children’s Villages shared that 75% of their new donors all year came through their year-end peer-to-peer fundraiser.

The Council for Exceptional Children has peer-to-peer fundraisers sharing their personal stories and inviting their networks to give. Together they have raised over $15,000.

Stand out on GivingTuesday with peer-to-peer fundraising! Build out your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign with CauseVox for free.

14. Incorporate GivingTuesday Into Year-End Fundraising

Since 2012, nonprofits have incorporated GivingTuesday into their year-end fundraising and seen amazing results. In fact you’ll probably notice that your year-end strategies will be very similar to your GivingTuesday strategies.

Think of GivingTuesday as the launch pad for your larger year-end fundraising campaign. It’s the day you start telling the story you’ll tell for the rest of the season. It’s the first hard ask.

The Irish Immigration Pastoral Center launched their GivingTuesday campaign as an Annual Appeal. This helped them to kickstart the giving season by launching, yet not limiting, giving to GivingTuesday.

Participate in GivingTuesday with a clear fundraising goal for the day, but keep talking about how that figures into your larger year-end goal. Make it clear that while the first step is definitely launching your fundraising rocket, your goal is to get it to the moon.

Most organizations that do this will set a small goal for GivingTuesday itself — ie: $5,000. Then, after GivingTuesday comes to an end, update their fundraising goal to $30,000 and change the end date to December 31.

You can even use this concept to inspire you when you think about your branding. Imagine your year-end fundraising campaign as one event with GivingTuesday as the kick-off. Use names like “30 Days of Generosity” or “The Holiday Generosity Quest”. You can always start with GivingTuesday branding and change the name or content on the page to be more year-end focused after GivingTuesday ends.

You can use your branding to send the message that your campaign will keep going through the end of the year. Remind them you’ve got a big goal, and that people can keep participating in the journey after they make a single donation.

15. Capitalize On Social Media

When it comes to getting your supporters to turn out this GivingTuesday, social media is going to be your best friend. With well-curated and engaging social media content, start to build anticipation a week out from the big day. You can download our free 2024 GivingTuesday and Year-End Toolkit that has customizable social media templates to help you get started.

Go all in with your social media platforms by changing your profile pic and header images to align with GivingTuesday. Be sure to have a link to your campaign page on your description or info page. 

As GivingTuesday nears, continue to count down the days and post GivingTuesday content and graphics on all platforms. These posts function not only help to ramp up interest but remind your followers that GivingTuesday is just around the corner. As always, make sure your posts are shareable. 

On the day of the event, provide regular updates. Include things like how much you’ve raised thus far, the anticipated impact of the amount raised, and how close you are to reaching your overall goal. Try counting down the hours until the end of the day to create a sense of urgency.

Pro Tip: Plan your social media content using a social media calendar and/or templates and schedule out posts to save time.

16. Test Your Donation Page

As a virtual event, the ability to accept online donations on GivingTuesday is a must. This means your donation page is critical to the success of your campaign. 

To avoid any hiccups on GivingTuesday, remember to test your form out prior to the big day. Send your donation page to staff members and have them make a small donation to ensure that your form is working properly.

Here’s a few elements to consider when testing your donation page:

• Branding – People are 6x more likely to give when a donation form is branded. When styling your donation form, be sure that it reflects your nonprofit’s logo and colors. 
• Recurring gift option – Recurring gifts are gifts that keep on giving. As mentioned earlier, recurring donors give 42% more on average than one-time donors. Take advantage of this opportunity by enabling a recurring gift option on your donation page.
• Mobile-optimized – Be sure to test your page on a mobile device such as an iPad or phone. The majority of nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile-users. A mobile-optimized donation page should make the giving process a seamless experience.
• Donation tiers – Add suggested giving levels and tie each amount back to impact. For instance, $1000 can provide after-school tutoring for 20 children for 1 month. When donors are able to conceptualize the tangible impact of their gift, average contributions increase by 12%. Refer to your organization’s gift history to inform your current donation tiers.
• Simplicity– It’s tempting to want to collect as much information as possible from your donors but you risk putting them off from donating entirely. Try limiting the number of form fields to the essentials: name, email, phone, payment and billing info. You can always follow up with your donors at a later time if you have their contact info.

Pro Tip: You may also want to consider making your donation page mobile-wallet friendly. CauseVox’s 2023 Giving Study found that donors prefer to use mobile wallets for giving just as much as the traditional credit or debit card.

17. Thank Your Donors

Did you know that new donors who receive a thank you within 48 hours of donating are 4x more likely to make another gift?

Goodwill and gratitude go a long way. This is especially true if you want to increase the odds of retaining your donors after the campaign. Let’s be real: your donors are what makes your campaign a success. So let them know how much their support means to you and the communities you serve with a warm and heartfelt thank you. Reiterate how their gift will be used and the impact that it will make.

Depending on your bandwidth, here’s a few ways you can thank your donor and make them feel appreciated:

• Sending an acknowledgement letter or email
• Giving them a call
• Highlighting them on social media (but also being mindful to their privacy & communication preferences)
• Sending branded thank you gifts

Thanking every donor after your GivingTuesday campaign ends should be a priority, not an afterthought. 

Pro Tip: To save time, leverage pre-drafted templates that let you plug and play post-event.

Plan Your GivingTuesday Campaign

As you can see, GivingTuesday isn’t just a “Day of Giving.” Nonprofits can also use the movement to foster a giving community focused on impact and relationships. It’s an opportunity to build something positive during an otherwise rough year. It’s a chance to change people’s perception of giving to something that ordinary people build together.

Yet, without a strategy, an organized effort to make this change is impossible.

So follow these ideas and best practices to ensure you start your GivingTuesday 2025 campaign planning on the right foot.

Raise More With Less Effort On GivingTuesday

CauseVox makes it easy for you to run a GivingTuesday campaign that’s designed to help you get more donors.

We make it easy for you to setup and brand your GivingTuesday campaign with less effort.

Plus, all of our forms are conversion-optimized and mobile-optimized. They also support 1-click mobile payments (with Apple or Google Pay), so you’ll get more donations through your site.

Build your GivingTuesday campaign for free in 30 minutes using CauseVox.

We understand that a big contributor to a successful GivingTuesday is your fundraising campaign site. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to prepare for December 2, and then execute a solid campaign. Here we’ll go through some tips to consider when setting up your GivingTuesday campaign.

Download your Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit:

It may seem like you don’t need to do much to create a site for a 24-hour fundraising campaign, but don’t be so quick to push it down on the priority list. Many organizations start fundraising before GivingTuesday, either around Thanksgiving, or even as early as late October; others incorporate GivingTuesday into their year-end fundraising campaign. Even once you’ve reached your GivingTuesday-specific goals, you can keep things going through December 31. More and more organizations are using GivingTuesday as a booster shot to their holiday or year-end appeals to mix things up and reach broader audiences.

No matter how you approach this campaign, you can’t spend all of your time and effort on marketing and communications, fundraising events, and partnerships, and then hope people are able to find the donate button on the morning of December 2. The last thing you want is for potential donors to not be able to clearly and quickly find out about your cause, the impact you’re trying to make, and how to give.

Pro Tip: Check out our GivingTuesday Ideas and Best Practices guide here.

Make It Match

While you may have a sub-theme for GivingTuesday and some newly designed elements to go with your campaign, it’s important that your fundraising site still generally complements your organization’s brand, and perhaps the aesthetic of your main website. When you set up a campaign site on CauseVox, we make it easy for you to:

• Select colors and fonts that match your organization’s site and style
• Insert logos and images for a cohesive look
• Create your custom URL or host on our site

Your Content, Your Way

Part of a great GivingTuesday campaign is great storytelling. Nonprofit storytelling is one of the biggest things we push for here at CauseVox, because we know that more than ever, people want to feel connected to a cause, and they want to know more than just numbers and factoids. So as with other fundraising campaigns, it’s a must to create and share content that will highlight your GivingTuesday story in a way that compels donations. Consider including on your site:

• Videos and photos to help narrate your story and that of the people you impact (mixed media is everything – how will you stand out?)
• Regular blog posts to update people before, during, and after the big day (feed those dedicated supporters!)
• Use the impact metric to clearly define what each person’s gift will support

Easy Admin

No one wants to deal with a complicated website when they could be focusing on telling more stories and bringing in more donations, especially for a one-day giving campaign. So why make it hard when it can be easy? It literally takes just a few minutes to get a fundraising site up and running on CauseVox, and the same goes for GivingTuesday. Heck, you could start it now, and take your time perfecting it between now and December 3.

• Stay informed about campaign activity with daily email updates.
• Donation reports and email notifications are a breeze (you will want to know your numbers ASAP, like December 1!)
• Easily input offline donations (yes, people will still call or drop off cash and checks on December 2!) & add to your progress bar, and no special mobile setup needed

Social Strategy

Okay, we know that social media is a HUGE element of GivingTuesday. Our 2023 Giving Study found that 76% of the younger generation was influenced to give because of social media and advertising. So your site needs to make it easy for your donors and supporters to share your cause widely with their networks.

Use our social media integration and donate buttons on your other websites, and determine if personal and/or team fundraising is appropriate for your campaign. In other words, make it extremely easy for people to let the world know that they gave to your cause on GivingTuesday.

You also need to make it very easy to give online. Once again, the younger generation prefers frictionless online giving like mobile wallets, and this is important to note because our survey found that 50% of Gen Z said they were keen to increase their donations this GivingTuesday as opposed to only 16% of Boomers. The younger generation is incredibly generous, so utilize the platforms and payment methods they are on!

Raise More With Less Effort on GivingTuesday

Don’t let clunky technology keep you from reaching your GivingTuesday fundraising goals.

You can create a GivingTuesday campaign that you and your donors will love, helping you raise more with less stress and frustration.

Plus, you’ll save tons of time on administrative tasks and data management, so you have more time to invest in your fundraising strategy.

Create Your Free GivingTuesday Campaign on CauseVox.

Year-End has the potential for large returns, with 30% of annual charitable giving taking place in December alone – but what about the philanthropic challenges to contend with?

The Challenge

In 2024, generosity reached new heights as 36.1 million people came together on GivingTuesday to donate a record-breaking 3.6 billion dollars in just one day. This incredible 16% increase from 2023 shows the unstoppable power of people uniting for good.

That is why we created the 2025 Year-End and GivingTuesday playbook, your guide to harnessing this energy and turning it into lasting impact.

The Solution

Embrace the donor-centric revolution. As you work to capture hearts and wallets, you’ll need to focus on the donor experience and differentiate yourself from the crowd.

We’ve created a comprehensive Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit so you can plan your Year-End and GivingTuesday journey from start to finish.

Our Ultimate 2025 Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit will help you:

• Stand out and get noticed.
• Define your unique mission and impact.
• Set campaign goals and objectives.
• Create a proven communications calendar.
• Get people excited to rally for your cause.
• Optimize your donation form to convert more donors.
• Customize first-draft appeals and emails with our communications templates.

Discover what’s inside…

The 3-Part Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit

• The Comprehensive Year-End Fundraising Plan: Navigate the Year-End maze with expert insights and strategies that work. You’ll learn the importance of Year-End, get inspired with different campaign and marketing ideas, learn how to set goals, create a communications calendar, get donor matches, acquire more major donors, engage your community, create a donor experience that shines and more!
• The Comprehensive GivingTuesday Campaign Plan: Use this step-by-step roadmap to success. Craft a campaign that’s not just noticed but cherished by your donors. You’ll learn how to craft a compelling story, fundraise using our proven GivingTuesday timeline and gain inspiration with our GivingTuesday campaign examples!
• Free Marketing and Communications Templates: Start writing your Year-End and GivingTuesday appeals, emails, receipts and social media posts from a first draft, not from scratch! You can customize our communications templates and tailor them to your voice. Bonus: customizable social media graphics included!

Our Generous Partners

This free guide is made possible through our partners listed here. Big thanks for their dedication in equipping nonprofits for successful Year-End and GivingTuesday fundraising. Check them out below!

Premium Sponsors

Featured Sponsors

Media Partners

This Thanksgiving, our CauseVox team has talked a lot about how important the end of the year is from a fundraising standpoint. After all, many nonprofits and charities raise upwards of 30% or more of their annual operating budget during these few short months.

But we also know that your year-end efforts aren’t just centered around fundraising. You also have to be intentional about thanking your supporters in a sincere and authentic way. During this season of gratitude, don’t put Thanksgiving messages to donors on the backburner.

Why Thanksgiving Messages To Donors Matter

Regularly expressing gratitude and thanking your donors is more than just good manners. It’s an investment in time and effort that ultimately pays real dividends! 

When we say “thank your donors”, we aren’t referring to just sending them the necessary donor tax receipt. Beyond a basic acknowledgement, here are five reasons why going the extra mile to make your donors feel thanked this Thanksgiving is important:

1. Cultivates Relationships On A Personal Level

Being intentional about thanking your donors is key to effective donor stewardship. It shows your donor that they’re more than just a number and that your relationship extends beyond a transaction. Not only will showing genuine gratitude strengthen your existing relationship and build trust, it’ll go a long way in ensuring the sustainability of your work.

2. Makes Them Feel Needed

Thanking your donors makes them feel appreciated, valued, and most of all, needed. If you’re failing to acknowledge your donors, they may start to wonder if you really need them. If your donors don’t think that you need them, they’ll undoubtedly leave.

3. Keeps Your Cause Top Of Mind

Timely and consistent thank you’s keep you and your cause at the forefront of your donor’s mind. A well-executed thank you is a reminder of why they supported you in the first place and creates lasting feelings of goodwill, which certainly extends to when you are ready to ask for another gift or when year-end comes around.

4. Retains Existing Donors

Thanking donors is actually an excellent donor retention strategy. When a donor doesn’t feel valued, the likelihood of them making another gift to support your org drastically decreases. This is why a genuine thank you goes a long way in retaining your most loyal donors, increasing the chances of them making a second, third, or fourth gift.

5. Encourages New Donors

We all know that people talk and sometimes the best way to get the word out about a good thing is through word-of-mouth! When you show your donors kindness and appreciation, they’re more likely to spread the word about your cause to their networks, creating social proof that inspires others to donate or get involved. 

Your donors are the lifeblood of your organization. You know that you wouldn’t have the impact that you do without them and so do they. So, this Thanksgiving, aside from finalizing your GivingTuesday plans and preparing your year-end fundraisers, spend some time crafting messages thanking the people who mean the most to your organization.

Luckily, showing gratitude can be done in a myriad of ways. You’re certainly welcome to get creative but to get you started, here’s 14 ideas for Thanksgiving messages to donors this year: 

1. Engage Your Board of Directors to Make Phone Calls

Your Board of Directors isn’t just a governing body, they’re also your biggest supporters and most eager volunteers. As Thanksgiving nears, provide your board members with a list of donors you’d like them to reach out to for a quick yet sincere “thank you.”

Target your major donors, new donors, or any other donor segment that you feel needs that extra “touch.” Keep in mind the size and scope of your donor base before giving out call lists. 10-20 phone calls is a reasonable number for the average person. Any more than that and your board may feel overwhelmed. 

If it’s helpful, consider drafting a short call script for your board members to refer to in their Thanksgiving messages to donors. In the script, be sure to mention the donor’s name, the amount they contributed, and maybe add one unique detail about their donation (time, place, etc.). When done correctly, a 3-minute phone call can increase first-time donor retention by 30%.

This activity is a great way to keep your board members engaged in their role while also ensuring your donors are thanked.

Pro Tip: Depending on your donors’ communication preferences, a text or email might be a more organic way to connect. It’s a small gesture that’s guaranteed to go a long way in building a lasting relationship with your organization.

2. Enlist the Help of Those You Serve

Over 5 years ago I helped coordinate a back to school supply drive. As a thank you, some of the kids that received supplies gifted our team some original artwork made with their new crayons and markers. I still have my picture today.

Your organization doesn’t necessarily have to work with kids to provide the same impact. Ask your clients if they’d like to help with your Thanksgiving messages to donors; they can be featured in a “thank you” video or share their story through a letter. When the “thank you” comes from beneficiaries, it’s all the more meaningful. 

Don’t forget that artwork can be copied and mailed to donors (clients don’t have to make 100 original drawings!) After all, it’s the thought that counts. Your donors will certainly appreciate it!

3. Send a Letter Highlighting Impact

Don’t wait until your annual report to start sharing the good news about the impact made with your donor’s dollars. This Thanksgiving, let your donor know exactly how they’ve contributed to the “bigger picture.”

Sure, you’re not going to have your final numbers in yet, but that doesn’t matter. Say something as simple as:

“So far this year, we’ve been able to give 100 single mothers vouchers for their kids to attend quality preschools. That means that you’re giving kids a leg up and their parents a peace of mind. This wouldn’t have been possible without your support. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!”

To really ramp up the personalization, skip the generic printed letter and opt for a handwritten note. Ensure that your letter isn’t sorted in the junk pile by making it stand out. A couple of options to grab your donor’s attention includes slipping your letter in a colorful outer envelope or using an envelope size that’s larger (or smaller) than what routinely arrives in the mail.

4. A Simple Thank You Card

Simple “Thank You” cards can be the best Thanksgiving messages to donors. Think about it: when was the last time you sent out a card to your donors that simply said: “thank you”? If it’s been a while, then Thanksgiving is the perfect time to let your donors know how much you appreciate them in this easy, yet personal way (if you’re using CauseVox’s fundraising tools, you’ll be able to customize an auto-thank you receipt and message to go out to all donors immediately).

Thank you cards are not as common as you’d think, so yours is sure to stand out. This is a $1 – $2 investment that can go a really long way!

Pro Tip: Avoid overly generic or formal thank you’s. Make your thank you’s personal,  authentic, and conversational. If your donor goes by “Bob”, it’s awkward if you address it to “Mr. Robert L. Smith, Esq.”. In addition to using their preferred name and salutation, you can make it more personal by including a unique detail that shows that you wrote it just for them. For example, if your donor supported a specific initiative or project, be sure to include that in your thank you note. 

5. Give Them a Discount as a Thank You

As a “perk” for volunteering during a service day, my former nonprofit employer handed out a coupon to a local restaurant. To secure the discount, we reached out to the restaurant’s manager and asked if there was something we could do to reward our volunteers and they delivered.

The coupon was appreciated by the recipients, brought in extra business to that restaurant, and also showed that the business was giving back to the community. It’s a win-win-win.

Partner with a local store or restaurant to the same effect. Once you’ve nailed down the details, mail the coupon or voucher to your donors with a simple note expressing your thanks for their continued support. It could be something as simple as “As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a free appetizer, courtesy of [restaurant]!”

6. Spotlight Donors on Social Media This Thanksgiving

An easy and budget-savvy way to show your donors how much you appreciate them is by highlighting them on social media or on your website. Consider doing a “donor spotlight” or a “thankful Thursday” during the month of November that describes how they’ve supported your cause. 

If you want to thank groups of donors at a time, consider highlighting them using Facebook or Instagram stories. You can use Canva to create free and customizable Instagram story templates that you can download and schedule out ahead of time. Or, if you collect your donors’ social media handles, you can tag them in a post. 

Of course, consent is key. Before doing any of this, be sure to check-in with your donor first and get their permission to feature them. You can use this opportunity to ask them for a photo and a personal testimonial that you can publish. 

You never know, you may inspire others who come across your post (or stories) to donate too. 

Pro Tip: With social media, do not post the amount of their gift.

7. Send a Small Gift of Gratitude

As a token of your appreciation, consider sending your donors a small gift along with a personalized thank you card. Tie your gift back to your cause in some way. For instance, if your organization focuses on mental health, consider sending a stress ball branded with your org’s logo. Or, if you’re a children’s organization, consider a branded teddy bear. Some other ideas that work include framed photos, custom printed coffee mugs, or totes.

Sometimes sending gifts can be a contentious topic but an item with your org’s logo on it does help to promote brand awareness and visibility. Not only are you thanking your donor but you’re spreading the word about your cause in an effortless way. Every time your donor uses the branded mug or tote you gave them, they’re helping you promote!

Pro Tip: Virtual gifts like an e-gift card accompanied by a short, heartfelt message also lets donors know you care. They’re a convenient alternative to physical gifts because you won’t have to worry about shipping them.

8. Create a Video as a Thanksgiving Message to Donors

There’s power in visual storytelling and crafting a heartfelt thank you video can relay your appreciation in ways that written words or a phone call can’t. You don’t need a full production – in fact, a smartphone and good lighting can do the trick. We recommend keeping your thank you video short, sweet, and to the point (1-3 minutes should be sufficient). 

If you’re creating personalized videos, mention your donor’s name in the video at some point so they know that the video was created specifically for them. 

Pro Tip: Making individual videos may not be realistic if you have a large donor base. We recommend segmenting your donors and making a general thank you video for all, reserving personalized videos for your major donors. 

9. Invite Them On a Tour

Another great way to thank your donors is to show them the impact that their gift has made by inviting them on a site visit to see your programs in action. 

Introduce your donors to meet and get to know your clients. It’s an excellent opportunity for them to learn more about what you do, get better connected with your org, ask questions, and offer feedback. 

For those who are unable to come on a physical tour, offer a virtual option. You can host it over zoom or have a pre-recorded video.

10. Thanksgiving Donor Awards

Consider giving out annual donor awards and superlatives to show how much you appreciate your donors. 

“Donor of the Year” is pretty classic but you can definitely get creative with themed awards that align with your organization’s mission. For example, if you’re an animal welfare agency, you could have an award called “Animal Champion of the Year”. 

If it’s within your budget, consider pairing the award with a commemorative plaque that’s customized with their name, the award title, and your organization’s logo.

When brainstorming ways to get your award to your donor, consider holding an in-person (or virtual) awards ceremony, or include this in the programming of a fundraising event. If you don’t have the bandwidth for that, you can always send them via mail.

11. Throw a Party

Most of the time, when nonprofits and charities throw a party, it’s actually a fundraiser. But that’s not the only reason to throw a party.

Around Thanksgiving (and before the hectic holidays in December rolls around) plan a get-together for your donors. Don’t ask them for donations. It should just be a “thank you”—and that’s it. Depending on your bandwidth (and budget), your event can be anything from an intimate dinner party to a full blown festival. Consider whether the event will only be limited to donors or if it’ll be open to the public. If you intend to make your event open to the public, be sure to recognize your donors’ support by providing them with free tickets/admission and treat them like the VIP they are!

To keep your costs down, talk with a local business or major donor about sponsoring the event.

12. Donor Appreciation Wall

A donor appreciation wall is a visual wall-mounted display that recognizes and honors your donors publicly. You’ve probably come across one of these before – they’re usually permanent fixtures consisting of small metal plaques featuring the names of major donors, foundations, or corporate sponsors who have contributed financially. 

Fortunately, you can get super creative with these displays and make it a work of art. Consider playing around with color, structure, or theme for an out-of-this-world donor appreciation wall.

Pro Tip: Donor appreciation walls don’t have to cost a fortune. If you have a small budget, consider a digital donor wall. Not only are they more cost-efficient but they’re flexible and easy to update when it comes to making changes. Unlike a traditional donor wall, you won’t have to worry about it going out of style. You even have the option of making your donor wall immersive!

13. Mail Them a Welcome Kit

If you have a first-time donor leading up to Thanksgiving, consider giving them the ultimate thanksgiving message to donors: mailing them a snail-mail welcome kit containing various branded swag (i.e. t-shirt, fridge magnets, etc.) and additional printed material for them to learn more about your organization. To really wow your donor and take your welcome kit to the next level, consider adding:

• A personalized, handwritten Thanksgiving message to your donor
• Your business card (in case they’d like to reach out personally)
• Printed copy of your most recent newsletter
• Additional ways for your donor to get involved

Don’t delay in sending welcome kits out. Have them pre-made and ready to go so that they go out right when you receive the donation.

Pro Tip: Donor welcome kits don’t have to be limited to just Thanksgiving. If your budget allows, we recommend this as the norm for high-level or major donors. 

14. Surprise Them

I always go back to Watsi when it comes to rockstar “thank you” examples because they do it right. Out of the blue, Watsi mailed their recurring donors a printed book of beautiful photographs from the field.

If you feel like you’ve exhausted all your traditional “thank you” tactics by Thanksgiving, throw something new into the mix. Here are some suggestions:

• Offer customized opportunities for engagement. For example, invite young, millennial donors to connect on LinkedIn for future meet-and-greets, or ask major donors if/how they’d like to get involved on a deeper level (serve on board, volunteer, etc.)
• Compile and mail out your own photo book using a service such as Social Print Studio

You can never go wrong by incorporating an element of surprise into an otherwise standard “thank you.”

A “thank you” needn’t be big or elaborate to have meaning. It’s the thought that counts. 

Crafting Your Thanksgiving Message to Donors

This Thanksgiving, give thanks to those who fund the change your organization creates. There’s no better time of the year than now to start planning your Thanksgiving messages to donors and let them know how important they are to you.

Integrate Your Thanksgiving Messages to Donors into Your GivingTuesday & Year-End Strategy

Only five days after Thanksgiving, one of the most important fundraising days of the year happens. Integrating your Thanksgiving messages to donors with your GivingTuesday campaign and year-end fundraising strategy is a heartfelt way to extend the spirit of gratitude throughout the holiday season. Thanksgiving serves as a moment to express appreciation, but it is also a mark to the biggest giving push of the year, so consider thanking your donors for their past support during this time while also inviting them into helping you achieve your annual fundraising goals over the next month. 

Expressing genuine gratitude can set the tone for the giving season, reinforcing the idea that their contributions matter and make a meaningful impact. By seamlessly weaving sentiments of thankfulness and community into your GivingTuesday and year-end campaigns, you create a more authentic and cohesive donor experience. Which in turn inspires continued generosity and fosters a sense of belonging amongst the supporters who make your important work possible! 

Download Your Free Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit:

But somewhere between kickoff and the finish line, the adrenaline dips. We’ve all been there. People get busy, momentum slows, and even your most excited participants start to lose steam.

The good news is, you can keep your peer-to-peer fundraisers strong from start to finish. These practical, proven ideas have worked for campaigns like Well Aware’s Shower Strike, which raised over $307,000 in 2024, and the H2gO Challenge, which brought in more than $206,000 in its first year. Both used CauseVox to help their fundraisers stay engaged, inspired, and proud to be part of the mission.

Start With the Right Onboarding

If you want fundraisers to stay committed, set them up for success from day one.

Start with a great kickoff, whether it’s a live video call or an in-person meeting. This is your chance to introduce your mission in a way that pulls people in, shows the real impact they can make, and creates a sense of shared purpose.

Give them a clear roadmap. Share a toolkit that includes:

• Step-by-step instructions for setting up their fundraising page
• Guidance for setting personal goals
• Ready-to-use templates for social posts, texts, and emails
• A timeline of campaign milestones

One hub. Zero hassle. In the 2024 Shower Strike campaign, Well Aware hosted their entire fundraising toolkit directly on their CauseVox site, replacing scattered folders and giving fundraisers everything they needed in one easy-to-access place.

Onboarding is one of the many parts of the peer-to-peer fundraising process where the platform you choose really matters. On CauseVox, fundraisers can set up their page in minutes with built-in templates that look great right out of the box. Less time wrestling with tech means more time connecting with donors.

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Communicate Regularly (But Not Overwhelmingly)

Once your campaign is rolling, don’t go radio silent on your peer-to-peer participants. A weekly check-in by email or text is enough to keep them engaged without overwhelming them.

In each update, you might:

• Share quick tips for success 
• Highlight templates from your fundraising kit
• Celebrate a “Fundraiser of the Week” with a short story or photo
• Show collective progress toward your overall goal

During the H2gO Challenge, Well Aware kept participants connected with a live “Most Activity Logged” leaderboard. Fundraisers could instantly see how close they were to meeting their personal mileage goals compared to others in the challenge. This real-time view became a subtle form of encouragement, motivating people to keep going without extra messages that could be buried in their inbox.

A live activity leaderboard kept H2gO participants connected and motivated, showing real-time progress toward each fundraiser’s mileage goal.

With CauseVox’s built-in email and SMS tools, you can pair this kind of visual progress tracking with personalized outreach. Assign follow-up tasks to your team in the platform so every fundraiser gets encouragement tailored to them, whether they’re leading the pack or just finding their stride.

Set Milestones and Micro-Goals

A big fundraising goal can feel intimidating. Breaking it into smaller, more achievable chunks keeps it manageable.

Think beyond the total dollar amount. Instead, try fun mini-challenges like:

• Early Contributors Club
• $100 Club
• Halfway Heroes for hitting 50% of a goal

Celebrate every win along the way. Consider congratulating fundraisers when they get their first donation, after they’ve gotten five, or when they enter any of the above “clubs”.

Shower Strike’s campaign site featured leaderboards for “Most Funds Raised”, organized by individuals, teams, and organizations. The friendly competition kept people checking in and celebrating one another’s progress.

H2gO took it a step further. As participants logged their miles, they saw a digital runner advance through six Kenyan communities. Each stop unlocked stories and photos showing exactly how their efforts were changing lives.

(Fundraisers could watch their progress unfold on a virtual journey, advancing through real Kenyan communities as they logged miles.)

Make It Personal and Fun

People don’t just give to causes, they give to people. Encourage fundraisers to share their “why” on their page and in their outreach. A personal story or a clear reason for getting involved can inspire action like nothing else.

Then, bring in the fun factor. Create challenges, like “Most Creative Social Post” or “Best Donor Thank-You Video.” Offer small prizes (like gift cards or swag), or just the satisfaction of being featured in an update. Teams can add another layer of friendly competition, keeping fundraisers motivated to climb the leaderboard together. Highlighting top-performing teams not only celebrates their success but also inspires others to rally their own supporters.

The Maji Queens topped the H2gO team leaderboard, helping more than 900 people gain access to clean water.

The Shower Strike campaign leaned heavily into fun. Fundraisers posted playful photos with rubber duckies, shower caps, and bubble beards, which created great content for social sharing and drew in curious onlookers.

Shower Strike’s main campaign page, featuring a playful photo carousel

Visual tools also help. Progress thermometers, team rankings, and CauseVox’s custom leaderboards gamify the experience. In H2gO, multiple leaderboards for “Most Funds Raised” and “Most Activity Logged” meant there was more than one way to come out on top.

Recognize and Appreciate Continuously

Recognition fuels motivation. Don’t save all of your gratitude for the end.

You can:

• Give public shoutouts on social media
• Feature fundraisers on your campaign page
• Send quick thank you texts or emails
• Mail handwritten thank you notes

The key is to be specific. Instead of a generic “Great job,” say “You inspired five new donors this week, and that’s making a real difference.”

We’ve included more ideas in our Ultimate Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising; make sure to build recognition into your campaign plan from the start.

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Finish Strong With a Final Push

The last stretch of a campaign is your chance to rally the troops. Host a “final countdown” gathering, livestream, or in-person meet-up to re-energize everyone.

By this point, your community has already made an incredible difference. Every share, donation, and conversation has moved the needle closer to your goal. Remind them of the lives already touched or milestones already achieved, and frame this final push as the last step in turning all that momentum into a lasting impact. Storytelling is powerful here: “Because of you, 50 families now have clean water… let’s make it 100 by the end of the week.”

Consider introducing a fundraising match or time-limited challenge. For example, “Every donation in the next 48 hours will be doubled up to $5,000” creates urgency and gives people a reason to act now. 

In both H2gO and Shower Strike, Well Aware ran multiple corporate-sponsored matching gift periods. With CauseVox’s automated matching, donation totals updated instantly and donors saw their gift double in real time. That transparency and immediacy can be the spark you need in the home stretch.

Boost last-minute giving with CauseVox’s automated matching!

Don’t Just Cross the Finish Line. Celebrate It!

The campaign may be over, but the relationships you’ve built are just beginning. Wrap things up with a celebration by hosting a virtual toast, sharing an impact video, or throwing an appreciation event.

Highlight your fundraisers’ stories, not just their totals. H2gO highlighted how participants’ efforts provided clean water to over 10,000 people. Sharing that tangible outcome helped fundraisers see exactly how their miles and dollars changed lives. Remember to thank every participant, not just top earners. They all played a role in your success.

For H2gO, Well Aware highlighted how participants’ efforts provided clean water to over 10,000 people.

Then, lay the groundwork for what’s next. Share how they can stay involved, whether it’s joining another event, volunteering, or becoming a monthly donor. This stewardship keeps your community strong and ready for the next opportunity.

Keep the Momentum Going

Motivation isn’t a one-time spark. It’s something you nurture from kickoff to the last donation. By starting strong with the right onboarding, communicating clearly, setting achievable goals, making things personal, and showing appreciation along the way, you help fundraisers feel supported and inspired at every stage.

Shower Strike and the H2gO Challenge prove that when you combine these strategies with a platform like CauseVox, you create an environment where fundraisers thrive all the way to the finish line and beyond.

Get started creating your peer-to-peer fundraiser for free on CauseVox today.

The truth is, you don’t land major gifts by luck. These transformative contributions are almost always the result of a thoughtfully built relationship over time.

At the heart of major giving is trust, and trust isn’t built in a single transaction; it’s built in the in-between moments. I’m talking about the thoughtful check-ins, the relevant updates, and the genuine interest in a donor’s goals that make up intentionall donor stewardship. To do this well, especially at scale, you need a system.

Let’s walk through how you can use a system to cultivate major gifts through intentional donor stewardship.

The Stages of a Major Donor Pipeline

Major donors are cultivated, not born.

Think of it like a garden. You plant the seed by identifying someone with capacity and interest, then you nurture it. Some days that means sunshine and encouragement. Other days, it’s a gentle nudge or a thoughtful reminder. Eventually, that relationship blossoms into giving.

Here’s a breakdown of the stages in a major donor pipeline:

1. Identification – Who has the potential to become a major donor? These might be long-time supporters, community leaders, or people newly connected to your mission. A “major donor” is commonly defined by a specific giving threshold (for example, $5,000 or more annually), but the exact amount varies by organization depending on its size, budget, and donor base.
2. Qualification – Is this person a good fit for major giving? This stage involves research and early interactions to gauge capacity, interest, and alignment.
3. Cultivation – The heart of donor relations. You’re getting to know the donor, sharing impact, and connecting over values and goals.
4. Solicitation – With a strong relationship in place, you make a well-timed, thoughtful ask that aligns with their philanthropic vision.
5. Stewardship – After the gift, you don’t stop the relationship. You deepen it. Thank them well. Show them their impact. Make them feel like a true partner.

Each stage requires intentional, customized touchpoints, and they require you to keep track of what’s been done, what’s next, and who on your team is responsible.

Examples of What Intentional Donor Stewardship Look Like

Donor stewardship doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s choosing quality over quantity and making sure each donor interaction feels personal and relevant.

Here are some real-life examples of intentional donor stewardship that lead to major gift readiness:

• Strategic Touchpoints – A phone call just to say thank you. A handwritten note acknowledging a donor’s first contribution. These small gestures build trust.
• Mission-Related Updates Based on Interests – If a donor is passionate about youth programs, send them a story about a student who benefitted from your latest initiative. It shows you’re listening.
• Exclusive Experiences – Invite major gift prospects to a behind-the-scenes tour, a conversation with your executive director, or a leadership briefing. Make them feel like insiders.
• Personal Check-Ins Without an Ask – Sometimes the best touchpoint is just saying, “I was thinking about you. How are you doing?”
• Impact Stories That Match Their Goals – If a donor supports education, share how their support helped increase graduation rates. Aligning their values with your outcomes makes giving feel like a shared win.
• Timely, Personalized Communication – Don’t just send updates quarterly. Respond to life events, holidays, and milestones. A birthday email or anniversary note shows you see them as a person, not just a donor.
• Ongoing Cultivation Beyond the First Gift – Stewardship isn’t just the thank you after the gift. It’s the continued relationship that can turn a one-time donation into a lifelong partnership.

Creating a Donor Stewardship System

Without a system, even the most well-intentioned stewardship strategies can fall apart.

Add notes and important information to major donor profiles with CauseVox’s CRM for nonprofits.

You might forget to follow up after a meeting. You might lose track of which team member last spoke with a donor. Notes might live in one person’s inbox and never get shared. And over time, these little breakdowns add up. They become missed opportunities, cold relationships, and an unpredictable pipeline.

Major gifts can’t be left to chance. Stewardship requires structure: a way to organize donor interactions, track progress, and prioritize outreach. This is where portfolio management comes into play, ensuring each donor has a clear path forward and that nothing falls through the cracks.

With a nonprofit CRM like CauseVox’s, you don’t have to rely on memory or messy spreadsheets. You can have a visual, easy-to-use system that shows exactly where each donor stands in your pipeline. From first interaction to final gift and beyond, every detail is logged, shared, and actionable.

That clarity allows your team to work together more effectively, focus on the right prospects at the right time, and ultimately, turn stewardship into consistent major gift success.

Using a Donor Stewardship Board

When managing a major donor portfolio, visibility is everything. You need to know where each prospect stands, who needs attention, and what’s coming next, without digging through spreadsheets and notes. That’s why a donor stewardship board is so powerful.

Kanban-Style Donor Stewardship Board

In CauseVox’s CRM, this takes the form of a Kanban-style board, a visual interface that helps you track and manage donor relationships through each stage of your pipeline, giving you a clear view of your entire donor journey at a glance.

Manage your donor stewardship pipeline, Kanban-style.

What makes this tool especially effective is its flexibility. You can customize your pipeline to fit the way your team works. Maybe you need a special stage for board review, or want to distinguish between first-time and recurring major donors. CauseVox lets you tailor the process to your strategy, not the other way around.

At-a-Glance Visibility

Each donor’s card shows their latest engagement, pinned notes, and next steps, so no one slips through the cracks. You can filter your view by things like stage, interest area, potential gift size, or last contact date, helping you quickly identify where to focus your energy this week. The system even alerts you to donors who are overdue for a touchpoint.

Collaborative Tracking

The board isn’t just for one person’s view. It supports collaborative tracking, which means tasks and donor contacts can be easily assigned to different team members. Everyone can access the same donor records, notes, and activity history in one centralized place. No more chasing down who made the last call or what was said in the last meeting.

With this level of organization, you’re keeping relationships warm while moving them forward with intention. You’re prioritizing your highest-potential prospects, ensuring timely follow-ups, and building a consistent donor experience that feels personal and seamless.

Benefits of Using a Tool Like This

Ultimately, a stewardship board like this does more than organize data. It increases team accountability, streamlines collaboration, and accelerates the major gift timeline. With a tool like CauseVox’s CRM, major donor stewardship becomes less of a guessing game and more of a guided process;and that’s how relationships thrive.

Use CauseVox’s CRM to Level Up Your Donor Stewardship

CauseVox’s CRM isn’t just another data management tool. It’s designed to help you build stronger relationships and deliver a donor experience that feels truly personal.

Everything about a donor is in one place, from giving history and engagement notes to key relationships and pinned insights. You can link contacts to their households or affiliated organizations, giving you a broader understanding of their connections and influence.

With segment tagging, you can group donors by interest or giving capacity and tailor your communications accordingly. Want to send a mission-specific update to donors who’ve supported a certain program? Or check in with lapsed major givers from last year? Tags and segmentation make it simple.

Deliver the right message to the right people at the right time using donor tags.

Activity tracking shows every touchpoint like calls, emails, texts, and meetings, along with milestones and engagement patterns. It helps you understand where the relationship is and what’s next. With custom fields, you can capture the unique details that matter most to your fundraising strategy.

Plus, it’s collaborative. Assign tasks, add notes, and loop in team members so that stewardship becomes a shared effort. Whether you’re a team of two or ten, you’ll stay aligned, efficient, and donor-focused.

Major Donors Are Grown, Not Given

Major donors don’t arrive ready to give big. They grow into that role through trust, authentic connection, and consistent engagement. When you treat donor stewardship as more than a follow-up step, you create space for deeper relationships and transformational giving.

With the right tools, this process becomes easier to manage and scale.Sign up for a free demo today to learn how you can use CauseVox’s CRM to manage your donor portfolio and build stronger relationships that lead to more major gifts.