Make Year-End Count

Your donors expect to hear from you at year-end, and you are writing the appeal at the last minute. This kit gets your whole year-end campaign planned and running on a schedule through December 31.

When you finish, you will have your donor list sorted into four groups, an appeal letter with a version for each group, a reply card, and seven emails and social posts scheduled through the last day of the year. Every gift will be thanked within two days, and in January you will send donors an update and see your results by group.

Who it is for

It is built for organizations where the executive director, one development staffer or a volunteer board member carries fundraising alongside everything else. Every letter, email and post is already written, so the work fits around your other jobs.

What you get

• 01 Start Here Guide (PDF, 6 pages) - The plan in six stages, a timeline from late October through January, a start-to-finish example and answers to common questions.
• 02 Segment and Plan (Word) - How to pull and clean your list, the four groups, a story worksheet and a week-by-week checklist.
• 03 Year-End Tracker (Excel) - Room for 500 people. It sorts each person into a group from their last gift, suggests an ask amount, builds your send calendar from the campaign year, tracks gifts and thank-yous, and shows results by group.
• 04 Appeal Letter and Reply Card (Word) - A core letter, an opening for each group, P.S. options, a reply card and mailing tips.
• 05 Email Series and Social Posts (Word) - Seven emails with subject lines and timing, from the week of Thanksgiving through the afternoon of December 31, plus a post for each send.
• 06 Thank-Yous and January Follow-Up (Word) - A thank-you letter, email and call script, a January update, calls to loyal donors and a results review.

The files are numbered in the order you use them. File 01, the Start Here Guide, opens with three steps you can finish in your first 15 minutes.

How it works

You sort your list, choose one story and one concrete need, and write the letter once with a version for each group. The tracker calculates Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday and every send date for your year, and tells you what goes out each week. As gifts come in, you thank each donor within two days and remove them from the remaining emails. You pay once, download the files right away and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.

Who made this

Chris Boerner, a strategist who has advised companies, health systems and nonprofits since 2013 and has led nonprofit fundraising work as a board member and capital campaign leader. More about Small Shop Playbooks