Donations: If timing is everything, what's the best time of year for fundraising?

Public giving generally peaks in November and December. However, for event sponsorship, the summer months (May to July) are hottest for raising the question.

But this is the tip of a complicated iceberg. While it’s important to make the most of peak giving times (think Giving Tuesday, for one), if your strategy’s only rooted in general rules, you’ll likely come up short. 

Because pitching your ask isn’t just about finding the best time of year for fundraising from your perspective - it’s also about identifying the right time for your donors. Imagine that you’ve just run a successful emergency appeal. You’ve got thousands of new donors on your books, plus the consent you need to move forward.

What next?

Research suggests that charities should wait a while before making a new ask. That makes sense. But what doesn’t make sense is letting your donors go cold. Put yourselves in their shoes. You hear nothing for six months, until you get a letter asking you for more money. Better to keep the trail warm, not least with some well-earned gratitude, which should be part of your moves to turn one-off donors into regular supporters.

Are you inspired or insulted?

"When you do get that gift it’s so important that you show some love back. The most important thing you’ll ever do for your donors is say thank you."

- Charities Aid Foundation

It’s a well-known fact that donors who are thanked are far more likely to give again. So if you want to set the stage for a new ask, make sure you’ve at least said ‘thank you’. Because from the moment that donation hits your account, you need to take your donor on a journey – one that shows them appreciation, the value of their gift, shares stories of real-life impact and inspires them to give again.

There is no single channel to achieve this, but rather a combination of several. Direct mail. Social media. Email. Website. The phone. Coffee. It’s important to build a rapport with your donors and find out as much about them as you reasonably can. Why did they give to you? What are their motivations, their inspirations, and their preferred ways, or times, to give?  

So use your data. You’ll be surprised how much it can tell you – and the more you understand, the better your donor journey can be designed. There’s no silver bullet, but as a general rule you should always be looking to prioritise relationships. Which means giving yourself the time and space you need to lay the groundwork and create opportunities for engagement. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t actually ask, include a link to your donate page, or some other call to action. But don’t let this drive your communications. Donors will see right through it! And by shifting your focus to relationship building, you’ll find it easier to make the ask – that is, if you donor hasn’t already sent a second donation ‘just because’ (yes, it sometimes happens). 

But if they don’t respond, it’s important to know when to stop.

Asking the same question repeatedly isn’t asking, after all. It’s pestering. And your job is to create a healthy and constructive giving environment that inspires action through real-life stories, strong communications and a mix of hard and soft requests.

Get that right, and the rest will soon start to follow.

New tools turn the ‘best time of year for fundraising’ into ‘now is good’!

The right digital tools can make it much easier to spot moments of intent, keep supporters engaged between asks, and respond while motivation is high.

For example, Dreams Come True use Access Raise to bring their website, fundraising activity and supporter journeys into one connected experience. As they put it:

“It’s our website, our fundraising tool, our learning hub, and our support system, all in one. It does the thinking for you and keeps improving all the time.”

- Jasmine Gisbon, Marketing Manager, Dreams Come True

It’s a good example of how having fundraising, content and campaigns working together helps charities move at the pace of their supporters, not the calendar.

For more help with fundraising, have a look at a one-stop platform like Access Raise, which makes taking donations a doddle. Or download the brochure for a fuller picture of its fundraising benefits.