Cooler weather is just around the corner, and students are heading back to school. Every year, your Australian nonprofit has to make adjustments for seasonal changes in staff, volunteers, and donor funds. With so much activity surrounding the “ber” months, it’s time to jump into action and prepare for what is ahead.
This quick preparation aims to streamline your Not-for-Profit corporation. You don’t want Halloween to hit without having content to put on social media or Christmas to roll around without a personalised email to donors for contributions before the close of the tax season.
Here are some essential items you need to take care of right now to avoid operational hiccups in the 2024 fall season.
#1 – Clean Up Data
An often-overlooked strategy many NFPs could leverage to boost efficiency is cleaning up database data. Don’t worry. You don’t need a long background in computer science. You want to focus on mailing lists, and almost all CRM software and cloud-based services like MailChimp provide some form of cleaning service.
Go through your lists and look for any duplicate entries. Be sure you are erasing only those duplicates with outdated information, so you don’t lose emails, phone numbers, or the names of your mid to top-level donors.
#2 – Purge Mailing Lists or Reach Out One Last Time
You need to review your email and physical mailing lists and purge out any donors who haven’t contributed in a long time. This will vary based on your own definition, but a good rule of thumb is a lack of engagement or activity for at least 3 years.
While you’re purging, you can also use a final email as a barometer of who should be purged. Make this message a last-ditch effort to engage those donors. It doesn’t have to be something related to contributing funds, but a short survey of three questions about how you can improve your donor relations or even just a recent story about a new amenity at your facility worth noting.
When those final emails go unopened or unread, you know you can purge that address.
#3 – Take Stock of Human Assets
Spring cleaning may work for your home, but taking stock of current staff, volunteers, and freelancers is a good idea for the fall. Plenty of people start to fill up their daily lives with all kinds of activities. You want to reach out and make sure they will have the time and skills to contribute to your campaign efforts during the upcoming season and not burn out.
It helps to review each position. Maybe someone in HR or marketing can help streamline this process and consider:
- What volunteers are working out well for your NFP?
- Who may need to be asked to volunteer in a different way?
- Do you need any new staff to fill in the missing gaps?
- Are vendors or freelancers taking up too much of your dedicated management time?
- Are there any new vendors worth exploring to save money without sacrificing the quality of services?
- What new projects and blue-sky ideas do you have creeping up on the management horizon?
The more you look closer at how your operation works, the better you can plan for the future and adjust to fit your fall demands.
#4 – Develop a Calendar with Clear Goals
It’s time to put on your “data hat” and look at last year’s numbers. How many first-time donors did you receive? What is your volunteer retention rate? Is your facility meeting current minimum occupancy rates?
Look at all the figures from last fall season and use those to generate new goals. You want steady growth that seamlessly aligns with current resource allocation.
This opportunity is also the best time to develop your annual schedule. Odds are you already have your first few months of colder weather set in stone, but holidays, New Year’s, and into the spring should be well flushed out as well, so they contribute to the NFP’s mission and organisational strengths.
#5 – Adjust Your Multi-Channel Marketing
With the transition to fall months comes a shift in how consumers, donors, and stakeholders see the world. Pumpkin spice season is happening, and people are in the mood for the holidays. Donors give the most often and in the highest amounts during December. You want a piece of this financial pie.
Go through all your various marketing efforts and make sure they complement one another with similar themes, contact information, and calls to action. You want to maximise the chances of new, current, and previous donors seeing your requests for help and feeling emotionally engaged to contribute.
A quality multi-channel marketing effort will involve:
- Physical mail (snail mail)
- Email campaigns
- Texts and phone calls
- Updates to your website
- Social media integrations
- PPC advertising on Google and other platforms
- TV, radio, and newspaper advertising
Don’t forget to double-check any industry-specific listings. You want business directories to reflect accurate information about who you are and how to get in touch with donors.
Bonus: Update Your Website
Your website needs to be the central repository of information about your Australian nonprofit organisation. This is where you provide additional content related to your field, events, successes, and pledge drives.
As the fall season rolls around, ensure all your landing and thank you pages, and your home page are updated. These should have the most relevant information, updates on current events, and campaigns to raise funds, awareness, or engage more volunteers.
Our team at Web 105 can help walk you through this process. We have experienced and professional web developers, designers, and marketers able to craft highly engaging pages perfect for your various NFP needs. Give us a call today, and let’s improve your current site or work to build a brand-new, mobile-responsive website for your needs.
One Final Fun Note
Before we leave you to all your efforts, we wanted to mention one final suggestion. Tie your marketing campaigns to a fun fall event. Maybe this is hosting an outdoor seasonal movie marathon or hosting a pumpkin smash raffle.
People love the nostalgia of the fall season, which presents an opportunity for you to host a “smaller” event that earns funds, spreads awareness, and announces any “larger” events throughout the rest of the year.
FAQs
How to raise money at a fall festival?
Sell tickets and ask for corporate sponsors. You can also earn a lot from 50/50 raffles and by partnering with local food trucks for percentages of any merchandise or food and drink being offered.
How much do nonprofits raise in December?
This amount varies by the type of nonprofit you are offering, but most organisations report anywhere from 15 to 35% of total donated revenue occurring in the months of late November and all of December.
Why do so many nonprofits ask for $19 a month?
Even though we’re talking to Australian NFPs, it helps to understand why you may see this pop up from competitors. The $19/mo thing is a US workaround. This means that a total annual donation for a single donor falls under $250, the threshold for providing a receipt to consumers for their donation. If you simply automate this process, you don’t have to worry about any local tax codes.