GivingTuesday is Over. Here’s What Comes Next.

Written By Katie Brosseau

The good news? You made it through another GivingTuesday. You optimized the donation page (twice, maybe three times), tested subject lines, bolded the match and deadlines in the copy, scheduled and then re-scheduled the emails and social media posts for the algorithmically perfect time. You combed through LYBUNTs and SYBUNTS, sent personalized outreach, and answered questions regarding the timing of tax receipts and acknowledgements. And when there is a pause, you refreshed the GivingTuesday dashboard more times than you’d like to admit, watching it fail to update because you refreshed it only 30 seconds ago when you swear it was really 30 minutes ago. 

But, here’s the thing, year-end isn’t just about surviving those action-enforcing deadlines of GivingTuesday and December 31st. It’s about what you do with all that momentum in January, and beyond.

First, celebrate. Take a breath. Do your money chair dance (it’s a thing, promise!) Then, focus on these three priorities:

Thank Donors

We might be stating the obvious here but it’s really that important. But take it one step further and use this time to review your donor stewardship matrix.

  • Does your donor segmentation still makes sense? Take this time to review when your organization last set its thresholds. Revisiting donor segments regularly will help ensure they reflect your donors’ current giving behavior. An accurate segmentation can uncover opportunities with donors that otherwise may have been overlooked.

  • Does your fundraising team, which includes your senior leaders, know who, how and when to thank? Personalized thank yous indicate that you’re listening and you value the relationship, which in turn helps drive stronger donor retention.

Thanking a donor isn’t the end of the cycle, it’s the start.

Analyze Your Data

As you thank donors, review the data and reflect on some key questions:

  • Who responded and who didn’t? Identify new donors. Notice which lapsed donors came back and who increased their giving. Also, note which expected donors didn’t give this time and understand why.

  • Which messages and channels drove results? Review what actually moved people to give. This analysis reveals whether your donor personas and segmentation strategy match reality. If certain segments didn't respond as expected, your personas may need to be tweaked.

  • What fell flat? Misses aren’t failures, they’re data points. The real failure would be ignoring what the data is telling you such as a message didn’t resonate, the timing wasn’t right, it was the wrong channel or even the wrong audience altogether.

  • What will wealth screenings show us? The best donors are your current donors. The new donors from this appeal? They’re now your current donors too. Whether they gave because someone in their network asked or your paid media caught their attention, your mission resonated. Now learn more about their capacity through a wealth screening and use those insights to prioritize your development team’s outreach beyond the standard thank you acknowledgement process.

Fix Your Systems

Our sister company, Barker and Scott, brings deep expertise in nonprofit platforms and the processes that hold it all together. Review the pain points that emerged during the appeal: 

  • Did emails bounce or mail get returned as undeliverable? 

  • Were there data quality issues like duplicates or missing fields? 

  • Did your systems like your CRM, your email platform and donation processor integrate seamlessly, or were there gaps between platforms? Did they help or hinder gift processing and revenue reconciliation?  

  • Could you access the reports and metrics needed to make informed decisions and pivot quickly if necessary? 

  • Did your team have the training and tools to use the systems effectively?

Identify where processes created frustration and where automation could improve efficiency going forward. And also, if your organization is considering implementing AI to automate workflows and drive efficiencies to help future campaigns, remember that good AI depends on good data.

Start Now, Thank Yourself Later

Most likely, you have another campaign coming up sooner than you realize (think awareness month push, a spring gala, another appeal). Your future self will thank you for cleaning up your processes and prioritizing the right donors now. Make these questions part of your year-end debrief or at your next team meeting. You don’t have to wait until January to solve problems you’re facing today. And if you can’t solve your problems internally, that’s when it’s worth bringing in outside expertise. We do this work (and so do others!). But the key is to not go through another campaign with broken and inefficient systems.

Katie Brosseau