Historically, nonprofit organizations have raised the majority (more than half) of their fundraising income in the last six weeks of the year, with a large portion of that income arriving during the last week of the year.
Not only that, but it’s not unheard of for donors to show up at a nonprofit organization, stock certificate in hand, on New Year’s Eve. If that happened at your organization, would there be someone at the door to greet them? Or would the donor find a sign on the door that read, “Closed for the holidays”?
I asked the following question to all my subscribers in a recent email:
Are you working between Christmas and the end of the year?
People replied with every conceivable answer from, “not working at all” to “working every minute of that week.” Perhaps my favorite answer came from Eileen, who wrote:
As fundraisers, do we have the choice to not work between Christmas and New Year’s? Just in case a donor needs me to make that big gift, I will be working, of course.
Should Fundraisers Work Christmas Week?
I’ve always been on the fence on this issue.
On the one hand, I believe you should be available during the busiest season of the year in whatever field you work. It would be ridiculous for a tax account to take off the first two weeks of April. Likewise, year-end is our busy season.
On the other hand, it seems unfair that our busy season coincides with one of the biggest holidays (and school vacation weeks) of the year.
Work-life balance is important for all of us.
I’m a big advocate of work-life balance, so I’d be hard pressed to argue that you need to be in the office when the rest of the work world (including, perhaps, your children) are home. But, of course if you work in the tourism industry (think airlines, hotels, restaurants, etc.) not only are you open, but this maybe your busiest time as well — and everyone works.
So which is it? Work or time off? Is there a compromise?
Compromising Between Year-End Fundraising and Time Off
While I do think it’s important to have quality time with friends and family, it’s also important to know what business you’re in. Just like hotels and restaurants don’t close between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, neither should charities.
Someone needs to be available in the development office (even if it’s just you) to respond to donor inquiries, process checks, and continue to send timely thank you letters.
Enter technology — it can be your holiday savior.
The good news is that technology allows us to be in two places at once. We can be home with family, and checking email, voicemail, and online donations from our phones. Between opening gifts (the holiday, wrapped kind, not donations) and baking cookies, we can handwrite thank you notes and sneak in a few key phone calls.
One hour in the office each day will likely be enough to open the mail and process the critical gifts (some can be left until January 2nd).
As fundraisers, I believe we can have the best of both worlds.
For those of you who are taking the week off, hopefully there’s someone else covering for you in the office and checking your email and voicemail. I would say hopefully no big gifts come in to distract you from your well-earned time off, but then again, I’m always on your side when it comes to raising big gifts.
For those of you who are hunkering down and spending every day in the office, there’s no better time to perform important stewardship tasks, like handwriting some notes, making thank you calls, and organizing your desk in anticipation of a transformative New Year. I hope you are one of the lucky ones who get those huge year-end gifts.
Share your opinion below!
So what do you think? As a fundraiser, should you work between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Please leave a comment below. It will be interesting to get a pulse on this issue.
My office closes between Christmas and January 01 (actually Jan 06) this year, and that’s pretty common practice among charities in my field in our region. But I don’t like it — I think I should be in the office (or at least available via phone and email) for donors. I’m trying to negotiate another option, liking working an hour a day on the days we’re closed for a day off in-lieu at another time during the year.
Resonate Global is open during normal business hour during the Christmas and New year holiday season. That said I work for a faith based charity and work life balance is a key part of what we stand for. I am also not that “fussed” about a donor who does not get their gift in before the December 31st tax deadline. That is my point, this deadline is a “tax” deadline, it is not a “charity” deadline. As a fundraiser I have been consistently telling all my donors large and small, that they need to think about their charitable giving more intentionally. I believe that with intentionality comes punctuality. Donor who are thinking about their gifts will get them in before the deadline. If they are not that intentional then I direct them to the online donation page which is open 24/7.
There is really not much of a choice in fundraisers being available in that hectic week. When I worked for a university I could count on a CGA donor home for the holidays setting up a new one, a privately owned business owner donating closely held stock, and a physician gifting publicly traded stock. Had I — or someone — not been available, we would have lost thousands and thousands of dollars, not to mention the relationships.
Our entire Development Team is in the office through January 1, while the rest of our team gets their holiday time. We then get January 1-6 off for our holiday break when the rest of our team is back in office. This not only feels balanced but also ensures everything is covered for donor stewardship during our busiest time of year. More importantly I really look forward to meeting our donors and get some final planning done for the new year!
In November of 2011, I wound up in the hospital for some mysterious pains. I called into work from the ER the only reply I got from the manager was “so you’re not coming in?” Thankfully it turned out not to be serious, but I remember that only people who were around my bed were not my donors, my employers or anyone else, but my wife and my daughter-my FAMILY.
Good donors are hard to get. You have to cultivate them, build a relationship with them and let them know that you are grateful to them and their FAMILY for the sacrifice they make to be part of the growth of your organization. Sacrificing your own FAMILY at Christmastime to “cultivate” me is hypocritical. If you want to capitalize on the Holiday Season, to build warmth in your donor’s hearts, let your Christmas Card or Hannekah card be the first they receive. Do it the last week of Thanksgiving to remind them to put you on their radar before they go into debt on Black Friday. But the lesson that I learned in November of 2011 was FAMILY FIRST. The big windfall you get from speaking to a donor when you should be home on Christmas Eve will not make up for the memories that you miss out on. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I think it is essential that someone be in the Development Office every day in the final 2 weeks of the year. When I had a staff of 4-5, we would take turns taking time off and being at work, but on that crucial Dec. 31 I was always there as Director of Development. My data person also came in for a time to process any credit card charges so that they would show up on the donor’s receipt on the correct date.
One more word of caution: be SURE all the links work on your giving pages. More than once I have tried to make a year-end donation on the 31st , found a broken link and no on in the office.
Happy year-end giving to all!
Whether you choose to do end of the year fundraising or not, Working between Christmas and New Year’s is the perfect time to do some housekeeping on your data! 🙂
I usually take the week before Christmas off to give myself a break. I always work the week between Christmas and New Years. I almost always have donors contact me during the this time regarding how to give an online donation, drop off checks at the office, or ask me to run a credit card with their gift (they don’t trust that online stuff!). One year I had a person do a stock transfer the day before the market closed. Until I got a staff person to do scheduled posts, that was another reason to be in the office. I think being there makes a difference.