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Not Your Usual Year-End Nonprofit Donation Issues

Not_Your_Usual_Year-End_Donation_IssuesI doubt you’re worrying your pretty little heads about this stuff, but you should be.

Because year-end giving is simply too fraught with angst — and it needn’t be that way!

Giving to your nonprofit should be a joyful experience for your donors – before, during and after the transaction.

Not an anxious period of wondering whether their credit card transaction is secure, whether their gift went into a black hole or whether you’ll use it as they intended.

And guess what else?

Receiving donations should be a joyous occasion for you too.

Not an unmitigated nightmare of receiving credit card numbers that don’t work, worrying about how already busy staff can possibly process all your year-end donations and, for that matter, do so in a timely, professional and personal manner.

So give yourself and your donors a break.

How to do this? 

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Clairity Click-it: Large Scale Change; Leadership; Year-End; Social Tools; Gratitude; Team Building; Multi-Channel

Clairity Click-it ThanksgivingThis week’s Click-it is an eclectic mix of goodies. Maybe not as good as Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie, but sometimes your mind and soul need feeding too!

To my friends in the U.S. who celebrate Thanksgiving this week, have a good one filled with many blessings. For those of you scattered elsewhere around the globe, make yourself a nice meal anyway and gather together with people you love. Life’s too short not to.

This poem I wrote several years ago seems particularly appropriate this year, so check out “Attitude of Gratitude” if you’ve a mind to.

And if you can, try to find some time this week to dig into some of these resources.

Now… go make our world a more caring place, and hug yourself some hope!

I am thankful for you,

Claire

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Philanthropy – Love of Humankind – Needed Now More Than Ever

As Paris mourns, sister city San Francisco lights up City Hall in solidarity

The world can seem a cruel place. Never more so than when horrific, senseless events unfold and innocent people are killed, maimed and scarred. Philanthropy, love and compassion can seem elusive.

Yet it’s right here. In each of us. To choose, or to not choose. To pay attention to, or to ignore.

Today, and all this week, we celebrate the United Nation’s International Day for Tolerance. While it may seem we haven’t much to celebrate right now, the reverse is true.

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Clairity Click-it-Year-End Fundraising: Lapsed; Online; Copy; Peer-to-Peer; Website; Landing Page; Saying Thanks

This week’s Click-it is dedicated to your year-end success!

December is the biggest fundraising opportunity of the year. What you do between now and December 31st will impact what you’re able to accomplish through the rest of the year.

  • Close to a full third of giving happens in just this one month.
  • 12% of all giving happens on December 31st (don’t go on vacation that day)!
  • 30% of all online donations are made in December.
  • 10% of all online giving happens in the last three days of the year
  • Average gift size is larger in December than any other month.

It’s now or never.

Please. Seize your opportunity!

But do it right.

It’s no longer just about direct mail or an email or two.

You’ve got to think about your website, thank you pages, social media and peer-to-peer fundraising – just to name a few. Old school is good, and there are some tips in the articles that follow to help you. But they’re no longer enough.

You must use online techniques to leverage offline techniques.

Think of social media and your website home page as advertising for your appeal. So that when folks finally receive your request for a gift, they do so with eyes and ears wide-open. Because they’ve been primed.

Ready? Let’s get started!

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7 More Weeks – Are You Ready for Year-End Fundraising?

7_More_Weeks-Ready_for_Year-End_FundraisingThis is the giving season! Between now and December 31st, statistically, are the “make or break” weeks for your annual fundraising. It doesn’t matter what fiscal year you’re on. Donors operate on a calendar year.

So I’m offering up 5 tips to help you out.

Because people do most of their giving between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve — and I don’t want you to miss out

It’s a time when people feel grateful for friends, family and other blessings, and are inclined to be generous towards others. They want to share their blessings.

Your job is to tap into these feelings of generosity when they’re most at the surface. To strike while the iron is hot.

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Clairity Click-It: Nonprofit Productivity and Self Care

Catch this special edition devoted to making you and your organization more productive, effective and serene.

This week’s Click-it is dedicated to productivity. Yours.

Sometimes I like to find useful information that has nothing to do with nonprofit work, per se, but which has to do with being a human being working to be efficient and effective in our fast-paced world — all while balancing work and personal life. So I’ve collected a bunch of resources to help you work smarter, faster and better while also becoming less stressed, more relaxed, more focused and much more happy. Sounds like a good deal, right?

I know you think you have to run yourself into the ground to take care of the folks who rely on you for help. There’s so much to do and it’s all so important!

But to take care of the world you must take care of yourself first.

Why not send this entire post to everyone on your team; then ask them to come back to your next staff meeting with ONE thing they’re going to do differently as an individual and one OTHER thing they’d like to suggest doing differently as a team?

It could be fun – and a nice break from business as usual.

Ready? Let’s get started!

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