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What is year end giving? Year end giving refers to the surge of charitable donations made during the final months of the calendar year, especially November and December. This period is often referred to as the “season of giving,” as individuals and businesses are inspired by the holidays, tax planning, and a spirit of generosity to support causes they care about.
Why year end giving matters.
Year end giving is the most lucrative period for nonprofit fundraising. In 2024, U.S. charitable giving reached a record $592.5 billion (a 6.3%increase), with nearly 31% of annual donations occurring in December and 12% in the last three days alone. For nonprofits, this season is a make-or-break opportunity to meet financial goals, engage donors, and build community impact.
In this guide, you’ll find proven strategies to plan, execute, and wrap up a successful year end giving campaign. One that inspires donors and maximizes impact.
Read more: Corporate giving 2025: How to tap into billions in funding.
What are the benefits of year end giving?
For fundraising professionals like you, year end campaigns offer more than just a boost in donations; they’re an excellent opportunity to strengthen your overall strategy. For once in the whole year, not only are you chasing a donation, but donors are themselves willing to evaluate their generosity and make donations.
Here is why a year end giving campaign is crucial:
1. Increased donations
The most obvious benefit is the significant boost in donation volume and total revenue during this peak giving season. Research shows that 33.6% of annual donations in the U.S. occur between Thanksgiving and Christmas. These celebrations inspire giving and generosity amongst donors.
2. Donor engagement
Year end campaigns provide excellent opportunities to re-engage lapsed donors and deepen relationships with current supporters through compelling storytelling.
3. Budget fullfilment
Nearly a quarter of nonprofits rely on year end fundraising for at least half of their annual revenue, making this season crucial for meeting budget targets and securing funds for critical programs in the year ahead.
4. Community building
These campaigns unite supporters around shared causes, creating stronger community bonds and volunteer networks.
5. Tax benefits and bonus sharing
Organizations can help donors maximize their tax advantages while meeting their own fundraising goals. Donors save on taxes before they need to file them at the end of the year. Not only that, many employees receive bonuses that they are willing to share with a good cause.
6. Matching gift programs
Many employers offer year end matching gift opportunities. This helps increase fundraising revenues, enhance donor engagement, improve donor awareness, strengthen corporate relationships, and attract young talent.
7. Reflection period
People evaluate their annual giving and make final contributions. December, for many, is the time to reflect on the yearly goals they achieved and the difference they made in the world.
8 steps to host a successful year end giving campaign
Here are eight strategic steps that will help you orchestrate a multi-channel approach that maximizes both immediate donations and long-term donor value:
Start early and clear goals for year end giving.
Early planning gives you time to fine-tune your messaging, prepare campaign assets, and allocate resources where they’ll make the most impact. With CallHub, you can begin setting up outreach templates and scheduling communication workflows well in advance, helping your campaign hit the ground running.
Set specific, measurable goals for:
- How much funding do you want to raise?
- How many donors do you want to acquire?
- How do you plan to engage current supporters?
Read Also: Maximize Your Impact: How to Set The Right Fundraising Goals
Develop a multi-channel engagement strategy.
Successful year end campaigns require a well-coordinated strategy that engages prospects across multiple communication channels. Rather than relying on a single method, it’s essential to establish multiple touchpoints across various platforms.
This multichannel approach enhances your chances of effectively connecting with your audience.
The 2020 omnichannel marketing automation statistics report that using three or more channels can result in 287% higher purchase rate compared to single-channel campaigns. While this is primarily aimed at consumers, the broader point remains the same: the more you engage with donors across various platforms, the more likely they are to make a donation.
Your outreach should include:
Year end giving: texting campaigns:
Texting campaign tools help you engage donors quickly and effectively. And there are many forms of messages you can send across various campaigns.
SMS broadcast sends personalized bulk text messages for goal updates (“We have raised $10,000 and we need $10,000 more!”) or announcements.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) texting enables one-on-one conversations, making engagement more personal and responsive.
With Text-to-donate, supporters can donate instantly via SMS by texting a keyword to receive a donation link.
Use MMS to share rich media (images or videos), and RCS for interactive content to further enhance engagement.
As texting continues to be one of the most preferred communication channels, using this will ensure your message captures attention and drives action.
Read more: How do you write a fundraising text: 10 easy steps.
Year end giving: make phone calls for fundraising:
If you want to reach out to major or legacy donors, making a phone call may be one of the most effective ways to get in touch. It allows you to have more extended, more personalized conversations where you can pitch for higher asks.
Pro-tip: Use dialers such as the preview dialer to make 5x more calls per hour. These dialers give you a snapshot of the most relevant information about the donors you are calling, so you can tailor your fundraising asks and make it personal.
Year end giving: email campaigns
According to NonProfitPRO, nonprofits generated 16% of their online fundraising revenue through email in 2024.
Follow up your fundraising outreach with strategically planned emails throughout the campaign.
Read Also: Tips To Write The Perfect End Of Year Fundraising Email
Segment your donor list.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, segment your donor list based on giving history, demographic data, past engagement, and communication preferences to craft messages that truly resonate.
For example, on CallHub, you can import contact lists from various sources and organize them into detailed segments through custom fields, tagging, and segmentation tools. This allows you to tailor your outreach by grouping donors based on criteria like giving history, demographics, engagement level, or communication preferences.
Personalize your outreach
Personalized messages see a 27% increase in donor retention. Naturally, it is one of the best hacks for your year end giving campaign.
You can personalize calls and messages using merge tags (such as first name, city, or donation amount), and volunteers can log dispositions (e.g., “Interested,” “No answer”) to track outcomes and trigger follow-ups.
This ensures every message and conversation is relevant, targeted, and effective.
Utilize psychological triggers and leverage peer networks for effective outreach.
Emotion drives giving. Use psychological triggers such as:
- urgency (“only a few days left!”),
- social proof (“join hundreds of others…”), and
- impact (”your gift feeds a family for a week”)
to invoke action.
Stories from beneficiaries and clear donation impact statements increase emotional connection and donor motivation.
Optimize the donation page
The average nonprofit donation page sees a 50-70% abandonment rate. Which means, you’ve run a successful campaign, convinced donors, and got them to the donation page somehow, only for 7 out of 10 people to leave.
This is why optimizing your donation page matters.
Ensure your donation page is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, loads quickly, and supports multiple payment methods. Include one-click donation options in texts and emails, and pre-fill donor information where possible.
Track performance and adjust.
Monitor your campaign metrics as they come in. Open rates, click-through rates, donation amounts, and audience engagement provide valuable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.
The flexibility to adjust creative, targeting, or timing mid-campaign can make a meaningful difference in outcomes.
Integrate with your CRM
Data loss is dollars lost in the fundraising world. Ensure that it never happens by integrating your outreach platform with a CRM system.
For the best fundraising CRM options, read our article: Useful Donor Management CRM Options to Try.
In fact, CallHub also offers integrations to help smooth the movement of data between platforms. We integrate with leading CRMs, such as NationBuilder, Blackbaud (including Luminate Online and Raiser’s Edge), ActBlue, Salesforce, NGP VAN, and more, via Zapier.
How to end the year end giving campaign strongly: 4 hacks
The final stage of your year end campaign is where a strong strategy makes a big difference. These clever closing tactics help you boost last-minute donations and build lasting relationships with your donors:
| Final Push In the last week of your campaign, create a sense of urgency without overwhelming donors. Use more frequent reminders, personalized messages, and limited-time appeals to encourage action while staying respectful. |
| Donor retention strategy Thanking donors is just the beginning. Follow up with tailored thank-you messages, update on how their gift is being used, and regular check-ins to turn one-time donors into long-term supporters. |
| Public recognition Celebrate your campaign’s success and, with permission, recognize donors. Share impact stories and results across your channels to maintain momentum for future campaigns. |
| Performance review and planning Go beyond basic stats. Analyze the entire donor journey, identify which channels were most effective, and review how different groups responded. Use these insights to improve your next campaign. |
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● What is the meaning of year-end giving? Year-end giving is the tradition of making charitable donations during the last months of the year, driven by holiday spirit, tax planning, and a desire to make a positive impact. |
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● What are the tax benefits of year-end giving? Donations to qualified nonprofits made by December 31 are tax-deductible, potentially reducing your taxable income. For cash gifts, you can generally deduct up to 60% of your adjusted gross income , subject to IRS rules. |
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● Why do people give at the end of the year? People give at the year-end due to tax deadlines, holiday bonuses, a spirit of goodwill, and a desire to help others as the year closes. |
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● What is the year-end giving statement? A year-end giving statement is a summary provided by nonprofits to donors, listing all contributions made during the year. It’s essentially for tax filing and serves as a record of support and appreciation. |
Your path to year end giving success.
A strong year end giving campaign can transform your nonprofit.
Start early. Know your audience. Use multichannel outreach with CallHub. Focus on building donor relationships. These steps can boost donations and build lasting support.
Ready to revamp your year end giving strategy? Start today with CallHub!
