I always like to start with the end in mind.
Look at your week. Find 90 minutes, at most 3 hours, to block out to implement what I cover in this article.
Confront this challenge head-on by blocking one full day. Really put your arms around rekindling relationships with past givers.
Implement effectively.
The Foundation
One of my favorite Latin phrases is “tempus fugit,” which means “time flies.”
It is not a time to be reactive, freaking out, or overwhelmed. It’s a time to focus and know what to focus on.
There are very specific steps to finish the year strong and support givers in making decisions. But what’s happening in November and December isn’t so much a reflection of the work you’ve done in November and December.
Rather, it’s a reflection of the work you’ve done throughout the year and even in years past.
Looking at how to do this better can be daunting. Be encouraged; you can rekindle relationships.
Development Message
Your development message reminds people that the vision is about the life of someone you serve and who they’re becoming.
If it’s a Christian school, it’s the life of a student who they’re becoming.
If it’s a crisis pregnancy center or a pregnancy health center, it’s about the life of a woman and a baby, who they’re becoming, and the family unit.
If it’s a feeding organization, it’s about saving and changing lives over time.
If it’s health-oriented work, you just think about where it’s all going.
Your development message is clarity of vision: how you got here—what God has done in the past, what you’re working toward—your big priorities and plan for the future—and then the giving-driven steps—your big goals accomplished in the past.
What are you actually working toward right now in your next big step?
What’s your progress to date?
What’s your immediate focus before the end of December?
And then what’s the specific project you can share?
If you’re looking at this and it seems overwhelming, put it on one page. If you’re trying to put it on one page and you don’t have a full development message, it usually takes about 90 minutes to three hours to get crystal clear.
Most of the activity we see until people learn and grow differently is way too many words, way too many items, way too many things, way too many programs in all the communication.
You want clarity on these talking points.
As you’re meeting with people, hosting a small group, and communicating, help them see why giving matters, the vision, the questions, the problems this solves, the big goals, and the milestones along the way.
Clarity this time of year comes from what we call your core four: four important numbers to know every week.
- What is the long-term giving goal in the next three to five years, no less than two years?
- What is the big goal of giving?
- What is our progress to date toward that?
For most people, the core four is three numbers this time of year.
If you don’t have your ‘who’ in mind first, you can’t actually focus.
Are you taking a more passive approach than you realize? Are you just doing and communicating stuff, and waiting somewhat passively for people to react? A hit-or-miss approach is the first warning sign that you’re not actually doing effective development.
There’s nothing wrong with hoping and praying; we should hope and pray, but we’re really looking for an active waiting, an active engagement.
What we’re doing here at the end of the year primarily is to focus on rekindling these relationships, connecting well with donors to retain, and regaining donors who essentially gave in 2025 and are hoping to give again in 2026.
You could even divide them into two groups and say, “Well, there are people who gave in the first half of the year; let’s call them group A. Some people gave in the second half of the year, let’s call them group B.”
Then, assess with your team.
Did we retain anyone from A yet?
And how do we make sure we’re doing everything we can to focus on those in group B?
There is also a rarer group of people who give them both times a year. It could be a quarterly giver or someone who gives multiple times a year.
Some of you may not yet have the sophistication in your systems to run those kinds of lists. That’s okay. Just get your list of who all gave last year and work your way through it. But dividing it into those two groups, listed from highest to lowest, and clarifying an amount can be really helpful.
Priorities
Start with that retained list, your most precious and most important group of people. Donors to regain is the second most important.
If you retain nearly all of last year’s giving, which you really can, and then regain some of it, your giving will grow every year.
When this happens, recruiting becomes less important and something you can’t affect over years, cycles of years.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. My dad always said it’s called development, not arrival.
Unfortunately, most people feel so busy this time of year that they’re just getting through the large group and the communications they can. Do better this year with face-to-face and small group follow-up. When you have these lists, retain, regain, recruit, move people through what we call the donor journey of thanking, reporting, asking, then follow up.
Timeline of Mailings
We coach and encourage our organizations to send their ask letters by the end of October.
This timeline covers the period from the end of October through mid-December, focusing on asking, following up, sending personal emails, texts, and messages to people, bringing attention to your ask, and sending email updates along the way. If you didn’t do an ask in October, let’s get that out in November.
If you’ve already asked in October, we’d suggest sending an email follow-up in November and another in December.
Almost everyone does something. It would be best to focus on social media because your team’s effort, energy, and attention need to be on updates, calls, text messages, thanking people for considering a gift, checking whether they have any questions, and similar tasks through the 31st.
Get tactical. Don’t focus on: Can I do 100 meetings before the end of December?
Rather, when you’re doing face-to-face, what are you doing?
It may be the first time you’re tackling this, or it could be something you just realized here at the end of the year that you need to get re-energized about.
But remember, the tactics for face-to-face are to call personally and ask for the meeting.
Promise not to ask for money during the first meeting. Even here at the end of the year, please don’t ask for money. People already know that you’re raising money. They already know that you’re a place to give after you call or email with some suggested times.
Wait two weeks. Then call and email again; wait two weeks, then call and email again. Now we’re stretching out into the first of the year for scheduling.
Why would I say this is so important, though? Knowing you can only meet with so many people, and that their availability decreases as the end of the year approaches, scheduling is so important because simply calling to try to meet with people changes the relationship. It tunes them in to the fact that, oh, this leader, this organization sees me.
No matter how busy you are, this really can and should be a daily discipline.
Worst-case scenario, you’re filling up your calendar for the first 60 days in the new year, which is a great problem to have, isn’t it?
Remember to implement small group approaches. This time of year, people have all these other things they’re doing, and they don’t feel like they can do small groups. Wrong.
Small Group Options
You have two options for small groups: vision events and leadership briefings.
At a vision event, you’re actually sharing your plans and goals, and teaching people how you’re asking them to give. A leadership briefing, which really rekindles those past relationships because it’s not a solicitation event, is a celebration of what God has already done. It’s a thank-you for the giving and a report on the impact they’ve had.
Why is this so helpful? Even if it’s been a while since a donor gave to your organization, they know you’re raising money. They know they could give. The question is, why should they? A briefing becomes that safe place to take a closer look.
Having the right focus of donors to retain or donors to regain, to invite, is a wonderful way to engage at a higher level of effectiveness than your large group.
Guiding People to Make Decisions
Guiding people in decision-making is my biggest passion. Pushing and challenging people this time of year is, again, shifting from that passive ‘we sense stuff’ mode to we’re doing stuff.
As people are making decisions, you’re not following up to bug people. You are following up to interrupt their busy lives and support or serve them as they cut through all the noise, understand what people are asking them to do, and understand what you’re doing.
That’s what follow-up is about.
Communication Starters
Call It Out
When you’re calling, it’s helpful to say something like, “Hey, I know you’re seeing a lot of communication from us and probably a lot of other organizations this time of year about giving. I just want to say thank you for paying attention to what we’re doing and even considering our requests. I quickly want to give you encouragement about something that just happened, as people are really responding and getting involved.”
Think of a giver who’s made a decision recently. Someone may have made a leadership commitment or begun giving. You may have an unusually small but meaningful gift to share. These are ways to bring people along with you, to celebrate what God is doing now, and to help donors retain and regain. A real encouragement to givers is that they’re not alone in all of this.
Let people know where they fit in as givers. If you’ve sent a letter or asked in any sort of way, people typically think, “Oh, yeah, they’re asking us to give in the past,” or “Oh, yeah, they’re raising money.”
Guide them to making a decision.
Follow up with a call or some sort of communication and say, “I’m really hopeful that, as you pray and think about your giving, you’ll keep walking with us.”
Parallel Plans
Another approach is to provide real, current ways others are connecting with your ministry. For example, start with “One of the things I’m working on is seeing a dozen people that I’m connecting with in the next few weeks to really make a decision about their giving and commit at a $5,000 level (or $500–level pick a level).” Help people understand that you’re asking a handful of others at the same level of giving, and that you’re really hopeful they’ll at least consider it as a way to give them something specific.
Check for understanding.
Call with personal updates or ask for specific advice and help.
So many times, when we send something out, one of the best ways we can follow up is to say, “Hey, I want to make sure you saw that. Did you have any advice on how I could improve our communication? We’re going to keep following up with people and keep communicating between now and the end of December. Was that clear? Did you have any suggestions about how to make that make more sense?”
Sending something doesn’t mean it’s being read or understood. Just because you’re talking doesn’t mean you’re making sense.
Think about providing a personal update. Leaders often wonder, “What should I update people on?”
Simple answer: Anything that’s exciting to you this time of year.
If you’re excited about it, it’s because you’re the leader or a leader on the team. Something is likely to strike a chord with a giver if it genuinely touches your heart and grabs your attention.
Remind people you’re praying for them and thinking of them as they make decisions. So again, connect by being direct. “I know we’re doing a lot of communication about giving. You’re probably getting asked a lot this time of year. I just want to let you know we’re really thinking of you. We appreciate you and pray for you as you make choices and follow God’s guidance in your giving.
The Application
Gift Chart
If you said, “You can only have one piece of paper,” I’d want a gift chart.
I don’t necessarily use it in every meeting. I may not bring it out every time, but if I can only have one piece of paper, I want a gift chart that shows either our large goal or the milestone we are focusing on, along with the levels of giving we believe it will take to achieve that milestone or goal.
A gift chart opens up so many different ways of having a conversation, asking people to consider something specific, where I’m able to say, “I don’t really know where you might be, but I know that the simple math of what it takes to achieve a given goal is that a certain number of people have to give at certain levels. Could you please take a moment to review this gift chart with me and share your thoughts? Do you see yourself fitting in here? Do you see a level that would work for you?”
I know that a lot of people feel very awkward about this.
It’s okay because it has numbers.
It feels awkward, but with practice and skill and care, even if you’re nervous or awkward, givers will understand. I think it gives them something to focus on, react to, and talk through safely, instead of the awkwardness of what you’re asking them to do, how much money you’re asking for, or that sort of thing.
A gift chart is a very practical thing to have with you. If you don’t, I suggest building one.
Reach out to one of our coaches if you have questions about how to build one; they’re very simple to build.
Scripted Follow-Up
The second very practical thing I recommend creating and using is phone call scripts.
Have one or two phone scripts, specifically for follow-up, with explicit situations and appropriate responses.
I recommend one script for people you know and one for people you don’t.
Reminder, the key here is that the follow-up isn’t pressure to give. It’s not harassment or bothering people.
It says, “I see you. You’re not just a name in our database. You’re not just someone who’s getting emails. You’re not just a letter salutation that says ‘Dear friend’; we’re actually reaching out to you. We’re talking to you. We’re not hiding behind all of our communication.”
These calls will feel emotionally awkward because it’s a learned skill, but just because it feels that way to you doesn’t mean it’s not really, really helpful to the giver, especially in a time when people are very busy, and there’s a lot of noise out there.
I would love to hear from you. Add yourself to my personal address book and text me about your progress.