A little early you might say but…

Not really because if you are not hearing sleigh bells ringing then you might already be behind the eight ball in your development office.

Santa is getting his sleigh ready and so should you be.

Now is the time to be preparing for calendar-year end fund development.

If you are waiting for October, that is far too late.

Why?

You need a year-end strategy – not just a single flat direct mail piece.

Here are a few questions you need to be asking and answering TODAY:

* What stories are going to share with your donors about the impact of their gift?
* How are you going to package and share those stories?
* Are you going to create a year-end challenge match?
* What are your plans for online and offline integration?
* How are you going to use social media to supplement your efforts?
* What stewardship vehicles are you going to use to thank donors?
* Are you going to send a holiday greetings to your donors?
* How ship shape is your online donation portal to collect those gifts?
* Does your donation website need work before you even get going?
* What are your plans for marketing the last final days before December 31^st?
* What are your plans to process gifts the final week of the calendar year?

The time between October through December is the most philanthropic time of year with some organisations seeing close to 50% of their contributed income raised. People are most generous in the fall. And your fund development program should be equally as generous in giving donors options to contribute and thanking them for all they make possible. And did you know that the majority of all giving happens in one month – December. And if your not there, you are missing a huge piece of your donors philanthropic intent.

I am sure that you don’t want to miss out on the potential that these months (and the month of Deceomber) have to offer.

So, now is the time to get your diversified and integrated year-end giving strategy in place.

And, soon you too shall being hearing sleigh bells ring!