Did someone say year-end? Your mailbox and email inbox are likely overflowing with ads, requests and appeals from every company you’ve ever interacted with—and plenty of nonprofits, too. It’s a strong reminder of just how much our donors are bombarded with during this season.
That’s why every aspect of our communication matters—from taglines and subject lines to the images we choose. Each element needs to grab attention, spark interest and connect with our donors’ passions in a meaningful way.
At the end of this post/thread, you’ll find a checklist of key considerations to help you plan for 2025. Take some time to reflect on them—they could make all the difference.
GivingTuesday was a win! With an increase of 16% compared to GivingTuesday 2023, the percentage increase beat consumer spending for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Black Friday 2024 sales reached $10.8 billion, up 10.2% from $9.8 billion in 2023 according to Adobe Analytics. Cyber Monday 2024 sales reached $13.3 billion, a 10.7% gain from the $12.4 billion the corresponding day saw in 2023.
💡 There was a dynamic discussion this last month on LinkedIn as some fundraisers began discussing the findings of a multichannel analysis. An incredible finding was cited by Kevin Schulman in his Multichannel Cart and Horse analysis: “Multiple media reduces tune out and irritation. The same message just feels different in a different format.” This somewhat goes against the “feeling not based on facts” that donor fatigue occurs because we’re approaching donors in every channel. Now, there’s more work that goes behind the channels and the investment, but that is a very significant finding. Some spoke up and reminded us of Steve MacLaughlin’s Law: Never confuse the channel of engagement with the channel of transaction.
💥 Rage Giving 2.0 is a new term being used for the incoming administration. A Chronicle of Philanthropy article stated that fundraising experts advise organizations whose missions are likely to be at risk in the new administration that they need to tell donors what they plan to do and how that will help.
✨ Hope you saw Ronnie Richard’s new post, “Reframe the game: Embracing new perspectives in fundraising,” in the Thinkers Newsletter on LinkedIn. He beautifully describes a scene with his son, reminding us all it’s about putting ourselves out there and not being afraid to fail; remembering that failure provides the fertile soil where we learn to grow and improve. He covers five areas on reframing, including audience-first fundraising, prioritizing audiences, agency relationships, the myth of donor fatigue and more. By reframing the way we connect with donors and embracing an audience-first approach, we can unlock more meaningful engagement.
Have you grabbed your favorite beverage yet? OK, let’s dig into the monthly digest of articles, trends and studies.
1. Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy NEW Report: Love in Fundraising ❣️
The IfSP team is publishing three reports on the study of love in fundraising. In October, the institute released Volume 1 to review what we presently understand about the science of love and its relevance on the way we practice our fundraising and by pulling together literature from other fields to generate a Fundraising Taxonomy of Love.
Last month, the institute released Volume 2, in which the team explores which forms of love are appropriate in fundraising, how love can impact behavior, and how we might feel about our “self” and our philanthropy.
2. Is the New Wave of Donor-Advised Fund Grants the Future Reality of Fundraising? 🙌
While many consider DAFs to be a temporary phenomenon, is this new wave just a trend, or could it represent a fundamental change in fundraising?
The article’s author recently attended the newly minted DAF Giving Summit. One thing that rang quite clear to her was that the DAF funder is our target, not the specific donors. The ongoing discussion is how do you get in front of those organizations and highlight the value and importance of your mission?
3. The 2024 DAF Report: Contributions to DAFs, Distributions Both Decline 📉
DAFs were responsible for roughly 9.8% of all giving in the United States if the statistics for total giving in the Giving USA report released earlier this year at $557 billion and these DAF numbers are accurate.
The decline in contributions to DAFs follows two years after the sharpest increase on record in 2021, attributable to donor response to urgent needs created by the coronavirus pandemic. Holly Welch Stubbing, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust, said via a statement, “The 18th annual report data underscores DAF donors continue to give, sometimes despite what economic sentiment may be.”
The number of DAF accounts in the U.S. totaled 1,782,281 in 2023, a 0.6% increase compared to 1,771,709 in 2022, essentially remaining flat. The average DAF account size was $141,120 during 2023, a 9.2% increase compared to $129,206 in 2022.
The grant payout rate (a calculation of grantmaking dollars from DAFs to charities relative to total DAF charitable assets) was 23.9% during 2023, compared to 24.1% in 2022.
The data is primarily from federal Form 990 filings. Researchers for the 2024 report examined 1,140 charitable organizations that sponsor donor-advised funds, including national charities, community foundations and other sponsoring charities.
4. Gravyty’s Fundraising Trends To Watch in 2025 Report 🔑
To help fundraisers exceed goals in an evolving philanthropy landscape, Gravyty asked today’s top voices in philanthropy to weigh in on emerging trends, challenges and opportunities for the year ahead.
The report includes what today's fundraising change-makers have to say about:
- Hyper-personalized donor experiences and reaching Gen Z & Millennial donors
- Relationship building & community as a foundation of philanthropy, fueling fundraising outcomes
- A growing emphasis on social & environmental impact
- The progression of AI for fundraising and what’s next
5. 5 Critical Nonprofit Trends for 2025 (+18 Ways They Should Inform Your Strategy) 💹
Our friends at Neon One have written an in-depth article worth your time. The article highlights the trends we’re starting to see sector wide as we head into 2025. It quickly becomes clear that the way nonprofits operate, engage and inspire is evolving rapidly. This isn’t about responding to the status quo—it’s about rethinking it. The article provides actionable insights and reflective questions to guide strategy.
- Trend #1: The Rise of Values-Informed Fundraising
- Trend #2: Integrated Data Is Revolutionizing Donor Relationships
- Trend #3: Increasing Challenges in Grants and Impact Reporting
- Trend #4: Mid-Level Donors Are More Important Than Ever
- Trend #5: Reimagining Events as Community Gatherings
6. US Donors Who Budgeted for Charitable Donations Gave Nearly Three Times More 👩❤️💋👨
An online survey conducted by The Harris Poll of more than 2,000 U.S. adults on behalf of Vanguard Charitable, a nonprofit and sponsor of donor-advised funds (DAFs), found that adults who donated money to charity in the past 12 months and included charitable giving in their annual budget donated nearly three times more, on average, than those who did not budget for it ($2,344 vs. $792). Additionally, among American donors with a charitable giving budget, 83% donated to disaster relief in the past 12 months, compared to 61% of American donors without a charitable-giving budget.
7. ‘Transactional Fundraising’ Is Fueling the Burnout Crisis, Author Says 🤝
Mallory Erickson spent several years as a successful fundraiser―at one point growing a humble $300,000 nonprofit into a $3 million powerhouse. She dreaded nearly every second of it. Erickson writes about her experience candidly in the new book, “What the Fundraising: Embracing and Enabling the People Behind the Purpose”:
“The history of the nonprofit sector since the Gilded Age has led to these scarcity myths. The first one is there’s never enough money. The second is we must compete for resources. The third is we should operate with minimal overhead. So much of our thinking and feeling about fundraising is mixed with stigma around money. I often say to people, “Don’t tell me what you care about. Show me what you track.” We say in this sector that we care about relationships, but we track money, right? We have created these transactional norms that are really these disingenuous ways that we believe will help us raise the most money.”
I encourage you to read the interview article and go download her book!
8. Volunteers Came Back to Nonprofits in 2023, After the Pandemic Tanked Participation 🧑🏽🤝🧑🏼
A new survey released mid-November from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps shows 28.3%, or 75.8 million people in the U.S., volunteered with a nonprofit between Sept. 2022 and Sept. 2023. That is a rebound since COVID-19 public health shutdowns tanked participation by almost 7 percentage points to 23.2% in 2021, the last time the survey was conducted. It is not a full return to pre-pandemic rates of volunteerism.
The survey also reveals differences in volunteer participation between states, with a handful, like Utah and Vermont, at the top with more than 40% participation and a couple of states, like Rhode Island and Nevada, dropping below 20% participation at the bottom.
9. Economic Headlines 📊
The disinflationary trend seen through the economy for much of this year moderately decreased in October as the top-line consumer price index increased by 0.2% and the core rose by 0.3% on a monthly basis. Annually, those figures increased by 2.6% and 3.3%, respectively. The primary catalysts were, as expected, a large 2.7% increase in the cost of used autos—a hurricane-induced destruction of property typically results in a price jump in this category—a 3.2% increase in airline fares and sustained stickiness in housing and service inflation.
Despite retailers offering holiday discounts earlier than usual this year, U.S. consumers did more shopping on Black Friday than the days leading up to it. In-store and online retail sales saw a 3.4% increase year-over-year on Black Friday according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Sales at brick-and-mortar stores grew just 0.7% year-over-year, yet U.S. e-commerce sales increased by a hefty 14.6% online.
Job openings in the U.S. increased in October, bucking a trend of falling vacancies for most of the past two years. The number of openings on the last day of October was 7.7 million, up from a revised 7.4 million in September. A month after the lowest reading since 2021, October's job openings ticked up sharply, surprising economists. November’s report will be released December 6, 2024.
U.S. consumer spending increased slightly more than expected in October, suggesting the economy retained much of its solid growth momentum early in the fourth quarter, but progress on lowering inflation appears to have stalled in recent months. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.4% last month after an upwardly revised 0.6% advance in September the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said. Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending edged up 0.1%, consistent with a roughly 2.5% annualized growth rate this quarter. U.S. retail sales increased slightly more than expected in October as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and electronic goods.
The lack of success in bringing inflation back to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, together with the prospect of higher tariffs on imported goods, could narrow the scope for interest rate cuts from the U.S. central bank next year.
The Fed is still widely expected to deliver a third rate cut in December. Minutes of the Fed's Nov. 6-7 policy meeting showed officials appeared divided over how much farther they may need to cut rates. The Fed’s next meeting is Dec. 17-18. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said, “The good news is that we can afford to be a little more cautious as we try to find” a neutral rate-setting that neither spurs nor slows growth.
10. Visit the RKD Insights Page 🧐
- Omnichannel is not audience-first
- Check these 6 areas of your donation form before GivingTuesday
- Do you have a plan to reach these critical audiences?
- Working together: 4 ingredients to a successful agency partnership
- Rossi’s Roundup: FEP Q2, key trends and vibes
RKD Group: Thinkers Monthly LinkedIn Update:
- Reframe the game: Embracing new perspectives in fundraising
- Exploring generosity: Insights as we approach GivingTuesday
- Cooler weather, football and—gulp—here comes giving season!
- Bro, it’s all about the audience
- A new recipe for growth: The GivingPulse Field Guide
- Thinkers: The need for balance between innovation and tradition with T. Clay Buck
- Chat: Meet Scott Bjork from Memphis Union Mission
- Thinkers: Finding your support system in the nonprofit world with Tasha Van Vlack
- Thinkers: Leadership and transforming the nonprofit sector with Michelle Flores Vryn
- Thinkers: From marketing to meaning with Woodrow Rosenbaum
- GivingPulse Field Guide in cooperation with GivingTuesday
- The 2024 Nonprofit Marketer's Compass
- Solid Gold: The Nonprofit Marketer's Guide to Trust
- Listen Up: The Nonprofit Marketer's Guide to What Donors Want
Bonus: Planning Checklist for 2025
📅 I came across an excellent graphic from the Denver Foundation that really made me pause and reflect. It got me thinking about how nonprofits could create their own version, especially as we approach year’s end. It might be a good idea—or maybe not—but I thought it was worth sharing for inspiration. Below is similar to what the graphic stated:
To ensure our generous fundholders (think donors) can get the most from their giving, the following deadlines need to be met to get your gift processed in 2024:
- December 13, 2024 – Deadline for checkbook IRA contributions
- December 19, 2024 – Deadline for electronic transfers of securities
- December 29, 2024 – Deadline for IRA rollover contributions to leave the custodial account
- December 31, 2024 – Donations check must be postmarked
📝 Here are some wrap-up items to consider before end of year:
- Are all your organizations thank you letters (print and auto-responder) updated?
- Have you marked your calendar to continue updating these important stewardship correspondence items monthly or bi-weekly?
- Do you have new thank you cards ready so those donors you handwrite a note to next year will see something different? Some of your donors are sentimental and save your notes.
- Is your stewardship plan finished and ready to launch? Audit your program and identify a few new areas to implement, like videos, thank you calls or text messages.
- Do you have a donor survey in your plans for 2025?
- Run global changes on your database that you or your team have put off and correct those names and addresses you have in a stack. That’s right, merge duplicate records, unclutter your codes, catch up on any NCOA changes.
- Have you thought about updating your voice mail? Could it be more inspiring for those donors who listen and leave a message?
- What is your plan timeline in 2025 to survey, verify and update first names in your database so you can begin to address donors by their first name correctly?
- Do you have a website optimization plan in place and checks and balances on all pages to make sure they are up to date?
- Are you investing in evergreen digital media? If not, it’s time―you’re now very behind the eight ball
- How about regular check-ups on your SEO?
- Are you planning to update your SOP (standard operating procedure) data guidelines to make sure it’s correct and include how you’ll code the gifts below:
- Code donor-advised funds (and be specific on which type, i.e. some are foundation, some are corporate, etc.) AND make sure to soft credit the donor (not use a note field) or just the opposite―hard-code the donor and soft credit the institution.
- Code cryptocurrency
As always, if you have any questions, want to discuss any of these items or need access to materials mentioned above but don’t have a subscription, feel free to reach out. I’ll be happy to provide you with a copy of the article or study.
Happiest of holidays to you and both your personal AND work families! Hope your days are wrapped in festive magic and shared with those who make your heart merry. Cheers to the spirit of giving, gratitude and cherished moments. I hope your end of year is wrapped in success, good health, joy and time to relax and celebrate the good things that have happened in 2024.
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