b'DAYTODAY FINDING FUNDSRoy JonesThe YearEnd Campaign Christmas begins in JulyY ear-end giving begins in the summer. Christmas gift (made or signed in the summer I know many fundraising professionalsmonths) by those you serve. You can start as early in the development industry who literallyas Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving and Christmas take off the last month of the year. They moveshould be a time of ministering to your donors. into autopilotMy best suggestion to get started is to start baking mode. Theycookies in the summer and freeze them. Then in get off theDecember, hand deliver homemade cookies to road andyour top donors and see what happens! nestle, snug3. Be authentic. Rest assured of one thing; in their officesmoney always follows ministry. If your support-(and beds),ers, board members, and major donors know that with visionsyou care more about your relationship with them of sugarplumsthan you do their money, the gifts will flow to dancing inyour charity or cause. You will be able to make their heads.asks around each donors priorities, not yours. Start planningCash gifts should be a natural byproduct of con-and stage yournecting with your friends. Knowing your donors holiday efforts each summer. It should be thegiving priorities will successfully harvest bigger busiest time of the year for you.contributions by December 31. Suggestion: Hand-Having a strong year-end begins with whataddressed Christmas cards (not mass produced, you do in the summer. Here are four rules tolaser-signed) communicate real authenticity. ingrain into your organizations culture and4. Use your personal cell phone creatively. Use development team.the summer months to capture top donors cell 1. Discourage December paid time off (PTO). phone numbers. In December youll be calling to Encourage your team to take vacations in thewish happy holidays and leaving your personal cell summertime. Rule number one for year-endphone number. Then you will create a digital video. giving is that development staff doesnt take PTOThank the donor by name while standing in the in the month of December. Prepare your team tomiddle of a project or area that reflects the work of Roy, CFRE, is a nonprofit leaderwork during the last month of the year. Staying onyour charity. No music or banner ads. Just a gritty, who has worked with more than 70 missions, shelters, and foodtop of thanking and acknowledging donor gifts30-second, thank you message. Be sure to text it; banks. He has more than 35during December is mission critical. Incentivizeemail is usually assumed to be mass marketing. years of experience in leadingteam members if you must, and always empowerRemember, major donors who invest in your nonprofit organizations. He now serves as the chief developmentthem to work from home during the holidays. organization or ministry must believe their officer at Eckerd Connects. You2. Plan to get on the road in December. Targetrelationship with you is not about the money, can reach him atyour top donors for a quick visit to deliver abefore they give you their money. \x03www.royjones.org.56 WWW.CITYGATENETWORK.ORG JULY/AUGUST 2021'