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Rick, thank you for this article! As a fundraiser, I faced a bit of a guilt feeling when I watched many of my colleagues asking again and again in the last 48 hours of 2015. The reasons I did not ask our donors for funding are all the ones that you write about in your article. Instead, I chose to thank them at the end of the year. Based on my previous experiences, I am convinced that that year-end thank you’s will raise more money for our students in 2016 than another solicitation that we could have sent out.
Rick, I agree with the premise of your article. My most loyal and involved donors always give in advance of the end of the campaign and we do our best to employ strategic methods to ensure that we are not waiting for every last dollar at the end of the year. My team is also diligent about raising money throughout the year – conducting personal outreach, letters, emails and phone calls. What we have found, however, is that there are some donors that no matter how much you “train” them to give around their annual giving anniversary, through campaigns, etc. some do wait to the last minute. I have experienced this at all levels from the $100 to the $25,000 and above. I would welcome your advice on techniques that we could use to encourage giving much earlier than the last month of the last quarter.