Year-End Fundraising Campaigns: 10 Ideas + Real Examples

Nonprofits know the pressure and hard work that come with year-end fundraising. It’s the time of the year when everything ramps up, including goals, outreach, and the urgency to connect with donors before the year ends.

With almost 33% of all annual giving happening in December, there’s no room for missed opportunities. We’re here to help you close the year with the strongest impact.

We’ll cover:

• 10 Creative Ideas for Year-End Giving Campaigns
• Real-World Examples of Successful Year-End Fundraising Campaigns
• Year-End Giving Campaign Best Practices

10 Creative Ideas for Year-End Giving Campaigns

To spark inspiration, we’ve rounded up 10 fresh approaches you can put into action right away. Use these ideas to energize your supporters and propel your mission into the new year.

1. Host a Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser

The best place to start optimizing your year-end giving campaigns is, of course, your donors! Tapping into your donors’ networks can be the secret weapon to success in your year-end giving season.

Invite loyal supporters to join your year-end giving campaign as peer-to-peer fundraisers. Give them the tools they need to succeed, then incentivize their participation with:

• Leaderboards: Create leaderboards ranking fundraisers by their progress and social media engagement. Participants will try to reach the top of the leaderboard, raising more for your mission while spreading awareness online.
• Milestones: Break your fundraising campaign’s goal into smaller milestones. Every time you get close to reaching one, send messages to your supporters, motivating them to be the one to help you cross the finish line.
• Fundraising thermometers: A fundraising thermometer provides a fun and interactive way of tracking how close you are to meeting a goal. Choose a fundraising tool that makes customization easy to showcase your branding in all aspects, including your thermometer.
• Prizes: Incentivize your supporters’ hard work by offering prizes to those at the top of the leaderboard. To boost your fundraiser’s success, include marketing materials and templates participants can share with their networks.

Choosing the right software will simplify fundraising by empowering your supporters to engage their social networks and fundraise on your behalf. Look for peer-to-peer software that helps activate supporters with personal fundraising pages, built-in gamification tools, and social media integrations to raise more for your mission.

2. Leverage Social Media

Social media amplifies voices across communities, expanding your mission’s reach, so be sure to tap into it! With platforms like LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and more, your year-end campaign has the potential to catch attention from new and existing supporters.

Here’s how to turn clicks into connections and shares:

• Share the link to your fundraising page in all social media posts.
• Include a hashtag that relates to your campaign or nonprofit.
• Encourage volunteers, board members, and fundraisers to interact with your campaign online.

Tapping into social media integrations through your peer-to-peer fundraising software will let you enjoy a real-time gallery and timeline, featuring shared photos and videos, progress bars, and social posts. This makes it easy to recruit and fundraise through social media to drive awareness and engagement.

3. Promote Matching Gifts

With matching gifts, every contribution goes twice as far to boost generosity and fuel your donors’ impact! Matching gifts are a form of corporate philanthropy where companies match eligible donations their employees make. This is how it usually works:

1. An individual donates to a nonprofit.
2. The individual fills out their employer’s gift-matching form.
3. The employer reviews the form and verifies that the donation was made.
4. The employer matches the individual’s gift, usually at a 1:1 ratio.

Every year, an estimated $6 to $10 billion in matching gift funds go unclaimed, making a matching gift campaign an impactful addition to your year-end efforts. The key to getting this opportunity in front of your donors is to promote it and outline how they can leverage matching gifts in just a few clear steps.

Additionally, don’t overlook the power of a matching gift challenge in creating year-end momentum. Partner with a major donor or corporate sponsor to match gifts during a specific time frame. For example, your sponsor may match all donations made in the last week of the year at a 1:1 ratio up to $250,000.

Combine a matching gift challenge with employer matches, and you’ve got the perfect strategy to amplify year-end giving like never before.

 4. Create a Holiday Donation Catalog

If your nonprofit serves individuals or families, especially during the holidays, try turning generosity into something tangible! Think of this fundraising idea like a wedding gift registry. You’ll create a list of items or services that donors can “purchase.”

For example, a nonprofit supporting low-income families might ask for items like:

• Thanksgiving turkey – $20
• Christmas dinner for four – $50
• Canned food basket – $25
• Clothing – $15
• Shoes – $15
• Baby supplies – $20

The items included in a holiday donation catalog are easy to customize. For instance, nonprofits that support animals can include items like food, leashes, vaccinations, toys, and other expenses donors may want to cover.

Turning your year-end campaign into a gift catalog is easier than you think. You can create an Amazon wish list or set up your catalog as part of your fundraising site by listing fixed-priced items that reflect real needs. Or, take your donation catalog a step further by offering the option to “donate an item” from your fundraising platform. Having this option lets donors contribute items that align with your mission but may not be listed in the catalog.

5. Focus on Recurring Giving

Recurring giving continues to rise in popularity, and for good reason! Recurring donations create a steady, reliable stream of revenue while building lasting connections with your supporters. December donors tend to give larger gifts, making your year-end campaign a powerful opportunity to encourage more monthly donations.

To make recurring giving easy and appealing, consider offering:

• A variety of suggested gifts or customized amounts to reflect your nonprofit’s needs.
• Flexible frequency giving options – monthly, quarterly, or annually.
• Impact statements for donors to visualize the ongoing difference they’re making.

The most successful nonprofits are already seeing the results, with the top quartile of nonprofits consistently earning 33.5% of their total revenue from recurring donors. Monthly gifts started on Giving Tuesday alone make up around 12% of all monthly gifts initiated that month.

6. Invite Donors to Join Your Legacy Giving Society

Legacy giving serves as a lasting reflection of a donor’s values and belief in your mission. These planned gifts, often made through estate plans, give supporters a meaningful way to create long-term impact. Plus, individuals who make legacy gifts are more likely to make larger contributions, with bequests alone accounting for $45.84 billion in nonprofit donations in 2024.

Harness the power of this giving type by establishing a dedicated legacy society and promoting it in your year-end campaign. Form a community that recognizes and celebrates those who include your organization in their estate plans, and consider offering a few of the following perks:

• Free branded merchandise
• Access to exclusive events
• Special recognition on donor walls and installations
• Personalized gratitude messages from beneficiaries, nonprofit leaders, and board members

As you grow your legacy society, begin thinking about other types of donations your nonprofit accepts and ways to maximize those options. Not all donors hold their wealth in cash, and other individuals may want to make other forms of donations, such as stocks, cryptocurrency, real estate, and more.

7. Run an Online Giving Tuesday Campaign

At the heart of year-end giving lies a single day to rule them all: Giving Tuesday. This day of giving falls right after Cyber Monday and is the largest day for charitable giving all year. In 2024, more people than ever participated in the day, with 36.1 million people taking action across the U.S., donating $3.6 billion in total.

Make the most of your engagement on Giving Tuesday by targeting the right donors with the right message. Communicate your mission and how Giving Tuesday donations will help grow your impact, then make the donation experience as easy as possible. Here are a few tools you can use to maximize Giving Tuesday generosity:

• Giving Tuesday landing page: Include a quick overview of what Giving Tuesday is and what your goals are on your nonprofit’s website.
• Online fundraising tools: Leverage online fundraising tools to create personalized fundraising pages, embedded donation forms, and matching gift programs to incentivize giving.
• Text-to-Give: Capture your audience’s attention right from their mobile phones with Text-to-Give solutions that make it easy to donate on the go.
• Peer-to-peer software: Empower loyal supporters to spread the word about Giving Tuesday with peer-to-peer fundraising and gamification tools.

Because of Giving Tuesday’s popularity, nonprofits may feel like they’re competing for donors’ attention. One way to stand out from all the noise is to establish what sets your mission apart from all the others. Ask yourself: Why does my nonprofit deserve funds compared to other organizations? What issue am I trying to solve? Use these answers to shape your marketing strategy to promote your Giving Tuesday campaign.

8. Share Your Organization’s Year in Review

What better way to showcase how far your mission has come than with a year in review? Cover the impact your nonprofit has made this year and use it as a way to encourage further donations and keep your mission moving forward!

For this campaign, create marketing materials that showcase your nonprofit’s:

• Annual impact: Highlight your nonprofit’s most important achievement this year. For example, an animal shelter might list the total number of pets that found a forever home.
• Milestones hit: Mention any significant moments and record-breaking fundraising goals. A milestone worth celebrating for an educational foundation might be opening a new learning center.
• Quantitative data: Back your impact with data that builds authority and shows your nonprofit is a trustworthy organization deserving of support. For instance, if you had a high number of recurring or first-time donors, consider including that.
• Qualitative data: Include stories from beneficiaries to evoke an emotional connection that data alone can’t reach. A great way to present this is by sharing testimonials or success stories of real constituents.

As you promote your year in review, use your marketing materials to encourage supporters to donate and help meet your year-end fundraising goals. Emphasize that with their support, you’ll end this year strong and be set up for greater success in the coming year.

 9. Start a Gratitude Challenge

Year-end isn’t just about seeking donations to meet fundraising goals. It’s also a season of reflection and gratitude. Tap into those meaningful moments around Thanksgiving and family time with a gratitude fundraiser challenge that inspires heartfelt giving.

Encourage supporters to donate on behalf of someone they’re thankful for, accompanied by a short message alongside their donation you’ll deliver via email or eCard. It’s a simple way for them to celebrate someone special while making a real impact on a mission that’s close to their hearts.

To boost engagement, consider including a friendly call to action inviting recipients to keep the gratitude going by making a donation of their own.

Don’t forget to show appreciation to your community as well! Use this time to thank donors, volunteers, board members, and sponsors through dedicated email newsletters, social media posts, videos, and more.

10. Plan a Year-End Fundraising Celebration Event

Spread some year-end cheer with a celebration that brings your community together to say thanks and have fun.

The purpose of this event is to recognize and thank donors for all they do to support your mission. Whether you decide to host a gala or a charity auction, let your mission shine with fundraising event software that engages your audience and recognizes their impact throughout the event.

The key to a memorable year-end celebration is finding a flexible solution to match any event. Elevating your choice of event format with the following can help boost donor participation:

• Live and silent auctions: Offer a live auction preview and open silent auction bidding early to build excitement and bring in revenue before your event begins.
• Donation appeals: Maximize giving with a powerful appeal and paddle raise that drives momentum throughout the celebration.
• Real-time scoreboards: Showcase live bidding, motivate giving, and highlight donation progress to foster friendly competition among donors.

Make sure you’re using the right tools to make giving seamless and easy for your supporters. To reach as many donors as possible, it’s important to add a virtual element and let community members celebrate with you wherever they are!

Real-World Examples of Successful Year-End Fundraising Campaigns

With the right fundraising software, you can bring your year-end campaign ideas to life in no time. From boosting awareness to reaching new goals, check out how organizations like yours have used OneCause to finish their year strong.

Believe Ranch & Rescue

Co-founded by world champion athletes Rebekah Keat and Siri Lindley in 2016, Believe Ranch and Rescue has rescued over 300 horses from auction, slaughter, and neglect, and found them loving and safe permanent adoptive homes.

Searching for a new way to save their team valuable time and access the funds from their generous donors faster, they turned to OneCause.

Leveraging the OneCause Fundraising Platform, Believe Ranch and Rescue created an effective Giving Tuesday campaign coupled with an online auction to maximize their fundraising efforts. By using a donation form, online giving site, and personal fundraising pages, their efforts resulted in:

• $40,000+ raised from their campaign
• $12,000+ raised in their online auction

With the OneCause Fundraising Platform, everything their team wanted in their fundraising software was in one place.

“As a nonprofit, you’re relying on donors for funds, and we can’t afford all the tech stuff that we want to. OneCause has made it possible to get everything we want, and we see the return on our investment,” says co-founder Rebekah Keat.

Turnstone

For over 80 years, Turnstone has provided therapeutic, educational, wellness, and recreational programs to empower individuals with disabilities. Like most nonprofits, it relies on fundraising events, in-person and online, to fuel its mission year-round.

Turnstone’s fundraising calendar typically involves golf outings, galas, and giving days, so for their year-end push, they wanted to do something special. As an existing OneCause customer, their team tapped into the power of peer-to-peer fundraising.

To celebrate the season of thankfulness that leads into Giving Tuesday, Turnstone’s team chose to honor a variety of groups who give their time, talent, and money with story spotlights on their giving site. The idea of consistent branding isn’t new for nonprofits, but having the right software in place made it easier than ever for Turnstone to customize its fundraising site to match its branding.

Their two-month campaign leading up to Giving Tuesday resulted in:

• $220k+ raised
• 34 new donors
• 19 stories told

Lauren Widenhofer, Digital Fundraising Specialist at Turnstone, shared,

“The campaign allowed us to blend our online strategies with our major gift efforts, and OneCause Peer-to-Peer has increased our online reach, number of new donors, and online giving engagement astronomically.”

DeSales High School

Since 1956, St. Francis DeSales High School has had a mission to shape young men into moral, ethical, and responsible leaders by providing a personal, comprehensive, Catholic education.

Looking to expand their reach, DeSales turned to OneCause to launch their Giving Tuesday campaign. Hosting an online fundraiser allowed them to use several key features that led to their success.

By using impact statements, DeSales was able to share images and descriptions of how meaningful a donation would be. In a 24-hour campaign, they caught their donors’ attention with a matching gift incentive and dedicated a donor wall to recognize those who contributed.

After raising $15k in their 24-hour Giving Tuesday campaign, their Director of Advancement, Misty Scurlock said,

“We wanted to take advantage of our investment in fundraising software, and we sure did. Keeping our fundraising year-round offers multiple touch points for donors and our community to connect with DeSales.”

Year-End Giving Campaign Best Practices

There’s more than one way to finish your year strong! Check out a few best practices to make it easier to plan and reach a memorable end-of-year campaign.

Share Your End-of-Year Campaign Goals

Your supporters’ generosity helps push your mission forward, so it’s important to have a plan on how you’ll inform them of your end goals and spark an emotional connection through your campaign’s storytelling.

A few ways to share goals and communicate impact include:

• Donor wall: Visualize the amount of support your mission is receiving while recognizing major donors.
• Leaderboards: Carry the excitement to your goal by highlighting top fundraisers on your giving site.
• Fundraising thermometer: Highlight real-time progress to show how far you’ve come and how close you are to your year-end goal.

When it comes to Giving Tuesday and year-end efforts, remember it’s the personal message at the heart of the campaign and your ability to connect with donors that inspires generosity.

Make it Easy for Supporters to Get Involved

The last thing you want is to lose a potential donor because they couldn’t find your giving site. Having clear call to actions in place with your donation form will help avoid missing out on any gifts and make it easy for your supporters to be involved with your mission.

As you’re building your campaigns – whether you’re planning a year-end gala or a Giving Tuesday campaign – consider questions like:

• Is the registration process a seamless experience?
• How are you marketing your year-end campaign?
• What channels are you using to connect with your audience?
• How are you recognizing and engaging your most loyal donors?

Starting with your end goals will influence how you approach the rest of your year-end campaign. For example, if your goal is to reach more online donors, then you’ll consider including a social media strategy for your marketing efforts.

Offer an Easy Giving Experience

After supporters land on your giving page, the next step is to get them to complete the donation process.

Optimizing your fundraising page is one of the easiest ways to simplify the giving experience. Here’s how you can grow your online impact and convert more donors:

• Customize fields to collect the donor information your nonprofit needs on your donation form.
• Set custom giving levels paired with impact statements to encourage greater donation amounts.
• Provide multiple ways to pay, including a full digital wallet that covers Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, PayPal, debit, credit, and ACH.

OneCause offers you this and more – all from one place! Maximize your fundraising potential with a solution designed with today’s donors in mind to help showcase your mission and ultimately raise more with less stress.

In addition to creating an unlimited number of online giving sites, simplifying embeddable donation forms, and building awareness with fundraising pages, OneCause gives you the power to motivate donors to give on the go with Text2Give®.

Incorporating a text-to-give solution is an easy and effective way to connect supporters with your mission and capture donations anywhere, anytime.

Let Your Gratitude Shine Through

Leaning into everything the year-end season has to offer is the perfect opportunity to strengthen donor relationships. In a season that’s full of gratitude and community, begin your campaign by recognizing major donors and long-time supporters.

It’s important to thank your donors so that they feel valued and appreciated in helping to make an impact. Whether it’s a handwritten note or a campaign-long effort, here are a few ways to lead with gratitude:

• Personalized appeal letters: Sent a donation request that starts with a personalized thank-you message for any previous support the donor has shown.
• Heartfelt phone call: Connect with donors in a genuine conversation before asking them to support your mission.
• Thoughtful social media posts: Highlight donors on your social media channels to show how much they’re respected and valued.

Take it a step further by using a fundraising platform that makes recognizing donors in real-time effortless.

Jumpstart Your End-of-Year Campaign with OneCause

Maximize these ideas to fuel your year-end fundraising campaigns by choosing tools that engage donors and reach results worth celebrating this year.

OneCause helps nonprofits like yours run more efficiently, saving time to focus on what matters most: your mission. With 67% of nonprofits saying they raise more with OneCause, let’s power your Giving Tuesday and year-end success together!

Whether you’ve hosted Giving Tuesday campaigns in the past or if it’s your first year-end campaign, check out these additional resources:

• Year-End Giving: The Ultimate Guide to Increase Donations. Get a sense of year-end giving basics and explore more strategies here.
• Giving Tuesday Guide: FAQs, Tips, & Campaign Ideas. Gear up for Giving Tuesday with the tips in this comprehensive guide.
• 12+ Free Giving Tuesday Templates to Inspire Your Donors. Looking for inspiration? Use these free templates to earn more revenue on Giving Tuesday.