When is the Best Time of the Year to Fundraise?

Taryn Hefner
2 min readFeb 11, 2021

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When is the best time of year to fundraise for nonprofits?

The Best Time To Fundraise is in December.

In general, when you’re fundraising for your nonprofit, the fourth quarter of the year will likely be your best bet when it comes to where to focus your efforts. December is almost always the best month out of the year, particularly the last three days of the year. In November, GivingTuesday is also typically a good day for nonprofit fundraising.

Although Q4 usually sees the highest donations across the year, it’s carried by December’s high activity. By month, June is actually the second-highest month for donations!

If you’re looking for months to avoid, February is the one to skip. It’s typically the lowest month across the whole year, so feel free to direct your attention elsewhere during the year’s shortest month!

What About the Rest of the Year?

Use the first months of the year to prep your strategies! It’s hard to be successful without planning ahead, so make sure you use the first half of the year to plan out things like remote events, galas, or social media campaigns.

In addition, here are some concrete things you can do to improve your donation season:

  • Make your donation page mobile-friendly
  • Develop a hashtag for social media campaigns
  • Settle on creative for marketing materials

Once you’ve gotten through your main fundraising season, you’re still not done! Don’t forget to send thank you notes to those who have donated. Everyone likes to be appreciated! Sending out short, but sincere thank you notes to your donors can help boost trust for your next donation round.

Want to know more about how to improve your donations? Check out our blog for more ideas, inspiration, and tips to boost your nonprofit fundraising and membership!

Originally published at https://www.joinit.org.

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