General Principles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In our experience, it\u2019s a good idea to send at least five emails during your year-end campaign to ensure your message makes it out to donors- remember, not everyone is going to see every email you send. These emails should coincide with your wider, multi-channel year-end campaign promotion timeline.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll get into more detail about the types of emails you can send, but all of them should include some story-driven content<\/a>. Think about what will get your donors emotionally invested in your work, and then showing them how they can make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the elements that should be included in all of your emails:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s look more carefully at each kind of email in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you properly launch your year-end fundraising campaign, it\u2019s a good idea to send an email that\u2019s not asking for anything. Simply thank your donors and let them know you\u2019re thinking of them. We even have 14 ideas of how you can thank your donors at Thanksgiving<\/a>. Here\u2019s what this email should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is an ideal email to send right around Thanksgiving to fit in thematically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The soft launch<\/a> is a chance to introduce your campaign to hand-picked supporters before you push it out to larger networks. If you\u2019re planning on doing a soft launch, putting together a strong email to introduce your campaign to supporters is integral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use free marketing templates like the one above from CauseVox’s Ultimate 2025 Year-End & GivingTuesday Toolkit<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what the email should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This email can go out around the same time that your thank you email goes out, or even a bit before. It will depend on what you want your supporters to do and how much time you think they\u2019ll need, but in general leave two weeks between your main launch and your soft launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ok, you\u2019ve set up your donors with a thank you email and run your soft launch. Now it\u2019s time to introduce the world to your year end campaign. Here\u2019s what belongs in this email:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ideally this email can drop between Thanksgiving and GivingTuesday. You\u2019ll pick up on these same themes in your GivingTuesday email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro tip:<\/em> Use the power of ChatGPT<\/a> to help you craft email campaigns.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a good idea to send something <\/em>on GivingTuesday, even if you\u2019re not planning a full campaign. It\u2019s even better if you can seamlessly blend GivingTuesday and your year-end campaign<\/a>. In some cases, you may want to use your GivingTuesday email<\/a> as the launch of your year-end campaign. It\u2019s up to you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Above is another example of a marketing template from our Ultimate 2025 Year-End & GivingTuesday Toolkit<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what to include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously this email should head out on GivingTuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example of a nonprofit’s follow-up year-end fundraising email <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now your donors know what\u2019s up and it\u2019s your job to keep reminding them that there\u2019s time to donate. Your second year-end fundraising email can dive deeper into a story or program. Your donors know the overview of the campaign. Now it\u2019s time to sell them on it. Here\u2019s what to include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This email can go out a few days to a week after GivingTuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use graphics in your year-end fundraising email and on social media to make it easy for donors to see how they can have an impact.<\/em> Above is another example of a marketing template from our Ultimate 2025 Year-End & GivingTuesday Toolkit<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is your last general year-end fundraising email campaign, and another chance to tell more of your story. Here\u2019s what you can do to make it stand out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This email can go out the second week in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now it\u2019s time to start instilling urgency into your campaign. You\u2019re over halfway through December and donors need to take an action now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This email should go out between Dec 20th-Dec 27th to drive urgent gifts before the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use your last year-end fundraising email to motivate donors to give and showcase how close you are to your goal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is your last ask of the year and you want to make the most of it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the year is over you don\u2019t want to ghost your supporters. In the first week of January make sure that you send a thank you\/follow up email to let them know how your campaign went. Include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re wondering how this all comes together, here\u2019s an example of what your year-end fundraising email communications schedule might look like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nov. 28: Thank you email with Thanksgiving theme<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nov. 29: Soft launch campaign email to invite board members to fundraise<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec. 2: GivingTuesday email focusing on a matching grant<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec. 9: Campaign launch email with details about your goal and impact<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec 13: Campaign email #2 with a client story<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec. 18: Campaign email #3 with updates on how you\u2019re doing so far<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec. 27: ‘3 days left’ email focused on what\u2019s left to be done<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec. 31: Last chance email with powerful stats about what you did in 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n January 4: Thank you and follow up email letting supporters know how the campaign went<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you set up an email campaign like this you get a few benefits. First, you’ve got a clear plan so that you don’t spend your last few months scrambling to get donations and feeling panicked. But even more importantly, a carefully structured email campaign will increase your year-end fundraising.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A final note to keep in mind: you could write the best emails in the world, but if the donation process is difficult or the content on your page just isn’t up to standard, you’ll miss out on donations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To get the best results, you’ll want to create an online, branded year-end fundraising campaign<\/a> with a live progress bar and more content, and a page that drives donor conversion. Bonus tip: keep in mind many people check emails on their phone, so it needs to be mobile optimized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t forget to make sure that your year-end fundraising email plan falls in line with your larger year-end strategies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Email Types<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. The Pre-Year-End Fundraising Email Thank You – Sent Before or Around Thanksgiving<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"year-end-fundraising-emails-thanksgiving\"](\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/jw-thanks-p1-1.png\")
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2. The Soft Launch Email – Sent 1-2 Weeks Before General Campaign Launch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2025-09-21-111838.png\")
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3. The Year-End Fundraising Launch Email – Between Thanksgiving and GivingTuesday OR The First Week After GivingTuesday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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4. The GivingTuesday Fundraising Email – On GivingTuesday (December 2)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. The 2nd Year-End Fundraising Email – Sent ~ A Week or Less After Appeal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/nyc-leadership-mid-campaign-email-p2-1.png\")
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6. The 3rd Year-End Fundraising Email – Sent 3rd Week of December<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/year-end-social-media.png\")
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7. The Time Is Running Out Email<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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8. The December 31st Email – Sent On December 31<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/year-end-email-template.png\" "\\"December-31-email\\"")
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9. The Follow Up Thank You Email – Sent The First Week Of January<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Sample Year-End Fundraising Email Campaign Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/year-end-giving-campaign-site-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDownload our Free 2025 Year-End & GivingTuesday Fundraising Toolkit:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n