Thinking about Christmas fundraising appeals in June!

I recently attended an excellent session presented by Muna Hussen of Raisely and public fundraising specialist Sarah Goddard on the subject of planning your Christmas appeals in June (and more besides). My notes are below. The current charitable giving landscape is a worrying picture, with donation figures relatively static, the cost of living crisis having an impact on charitable giving, and volunteering numbers down. But increased messages makes the lifetime donation amounts increase. “You’re not whichever company is bugging them. You’re a charity they’ve previously chosen to support.” 1. leverage matched giving partnerships, as campaigns that use donation matching raise more than those without. Start securing your matched giving donor 3 to 6 months before the appeal: Research your current supporter list, decide on an ask, and secure a commitment before campaign is finalised. 2. Engage and delight your donors, with tailored communication: Plan your communication ahead but do leave room for spontaneity, at the minimum a thank you and updates, maybe add milestone celebrations and ad-hoc message, and for the cherry on top make sure to personalise, quantify and further the ask. Segment your audiences carefully. Think about what you know about your supporters. Group them into segments – different messages eg to one off donors, regular givers, volunteers, campaigners, fundraisers (“five segments tops”). Reference why you’ve segmented them (“I k