Maximizing End-of-Year Giving: Insights & Approaches for Engaging U.S. Donors

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Kelsey McCarthy 0:14
Hello everyone!
We are just having everyone join us and we will get started.
Great to see so many of you joining us here today for Maximizing End of Year Giving Insights and Approaches for Engaging US Donors. Thank you for joining us.
It’s so great to see so many of you here. We expanded our capacity due to the high demand. And before we start the webinar, there are a few housekeeping items we would like to cover.
So I will walk you through here and set the stage for today’s discussion. We will share some insights about international giving in the US before hearing from our speakers on their experiences with fundraising in the United States.
The session will be recorded and we will be sharing this recording within the next few days. We’re reserving time for questions at the end of our discussion, so please use the Q&A function at the top of your screen throughout the webinar to share your questions for the speakers.
And Please note this information provided in this webinar does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. This is for general informational purposes only, and you should consult with your legal counsel before acting on this information.
Let’s begin.

I’d like to introduce you to our panelists today from a variety of international non-profit organizations. We are fortunate to have such a wide range of experience present, from raising resources for education missions to arts and culture to disaster relief.
Aurora Mondavi from the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, a non-profit based in Florence, Italy, and established in 2011. ABF works within Italy and in communities around the world to empower children, youth and vulnerable populations.
Vicki Kabalika from Tonga Bezi Trust School, a charity school on the outskirts of Livingston, Zambia, supporting students from preschool through tertiary education. Tim Jenkins from People in Need, a non-profit organization based in the Czech Republic.
Focused on humanitarian relief and development aid across the globe.
And hosting today’s discussion will be my colleague Sarah Marshall Murray, our Chief Philanthropy Officer. In her role, Sarah supports our philanthropic services teams and the organization’s external relations work, including driving progress and CAF’s focus on building the strength and resilience of social purpose organizations.
everywhere. And now I would like to hand it over to you, Sarah.

Sarah Marchal Murray 3:20
Thanks so much, Kelsey, and good morning, good afternoon and good evening to each of you joining us today to hear about the year of philanthropic giving for US donors. I can’t wait to be in conversation with these amazing speakers.
And clients who have generally, generously lended their time and expertise today with you all. A big thank you to all my colleagues behind the scenes who’ve worked to bring the vision and and this webinar to us today. So I deeply appreciate all that effort.
And for those of you who may not know us, at Cap America, we strive to enable giving with greater purpose and impact. We invest in the strength and resilience of social purpose organizations in support of your life-changing work. And we do those things across borders with an international reach and rigour.
For those who know us, it comes probably as no surprise that all of us at Captain America know how important the year-end giving season is for social purpose leaders and for fundraisers alike. And we’re really excited to be bringing and hearing from our speakers today as they share their experience with you.

I’d like to set the scene, so bear with me with some framing data that we at CAF America gathered during our research from last year’s giving season about how and why U.S. citizens choose to make donations around this time of year.
We asked people across the country about their giving behaviors at the end of the year in 2024. We learned a lot about how, how much, and why generosity happens around this time. It’s important to recognize that more than 36 million adults in the US made donations during the months of November and December alone.
Almost two out of every three Americans will make at least one donation in these final months. $3.6 billion was moved on one day alone in the US. What’s really interesting is that we also observed that 15% of Americans.
Only give at this time of year. So it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to capture and begin conversations in addition to nurturing our current donors. So this all underscores the crucial nature of this timing and connections with your supporters in the US.
To better understand their motivations behind this generosity, we also asked questions about why they choose to support specific causes or organizations around the globe.
US donors get for many reasons, but connection and passion are the most common traits. Many donors gave simply because they were asked. We’ll talk a little bit more about that and dive into this data more in our sessions, but it’s an important recognition.
That there are lots of reasons why people give, but these overarching pieces are really important. And our aim today is to explore how organizations like yours can tap into that spirit of generosity, what’s working, what’s a shifting, and how to meet donors where they are while being authentic to your organization’s mission.
Our hope is that you’ll leave today’s conversations feeling inspired, better equipped to make the most of this giving season. So with that.

Now that we’ve set the table for our conversation with some of the the why and the how donors gift, let’s talk about the US donors impactful ways with our amazing panelists Vicki, Tim and Aurora. Connecting with the spirit of this season of giving brings the heart of your work to the forefront, which is a.
Big draw during this time of year and every organization approaches end of year fundraising differently.
So our goal here today is to hear from three leaders on how they think about it. So Vicki, when we were looking over some of the insights you shared with our team beforehand, I was particularly interested in your give the gift of campaign and your campaign work. Can you share more for everyone on the call today as to?
about this campaign and what made it effective for you.

Vicki Kabalika 7:28
Sure. Thank you, Sarah. So each year for us at Tonga Basie Trust School, we have the give the gift of campaign. So for example, we have give the gift of school shoes or give the gift of education. And we find that this framing really helps our donors think of their gift.
As a tangible gift to a student because it really is a gift all year round, but more so during the year end season at a time when holiday gifts are a big part of the season and it becomes so much more than just making a donation.
And our Give the Gift of campaign, it really focuses on us connecting with our donors to, you know, to make have an impact personal in a personal and meaningful way. And it helps them see exactly what their support makes possible. So it’s especially effective for us.
At the end of the year, because it’s a time when people reflect and want to make their gifts meaningful. And this campaign gives them a way to do that, to give something that truly changes, in our case, a child’s life. So as part of this, give the gift of campaign, we make storytelling the heart of it.
So sharing real stories from our students so our donors can see the difference they’re making. And we find that simple stories generally resonate the most. So we might share a story of a child, you know, who comes to school wearing maybe flip-flops or other shoes that are not suitable for school simply because they don’t have school shoes, for example.
For example, during one of our year and give the gift of school shoes campaigns, we shared the story of a little girl who only had, you know, she had secondhand prox that she was wearing to school because her family simply could not afford proper school shoes. And you know, sharing her story really helped our donors clearly see the need that they’re addressing and the real difference.
That their support could make. So we find that stories like these really help our donors truly see and feel the realities our children face every day, and it brings the impact to life and it just makes the need and the difference their support makes more tangible. So these real stories for us, they connect.
Without.
Donors and just remind them that their generosity changes lives in real and very, very immediate ways. And even for our we also have so the give the gift of education campaign for example. We also make storytelling a really big part of that. That’s a big part of our approach. So again highlighting real stories of the students.
You know, whose lives are transformed through education here at Tonga Basie Trust School. You know, children who maybe begin their journey in very, very vulnerable circumstances and through the support of our donors are now thriving and we share their journeys, you know, showing not only the challenges they have overcome, but also their ambitions, their talents, their achievements.
For example, as part of our campaign, we might share some students who’ve gone on to university and maybe are the first ones in their families to graduate secondary school, to graduate university. And those stories just make it very, very real for our donors. We love to share these individual narratives that help donors to see again the tangible impact of their gifts.
And just to understand that their contribution is not just supporting a school, but it’s unlocking a child’s potential, you know, changing a whole family’s future. And so we find that storytelling really goes a long way for us with these year end campaigns. And we find that we receive such overwhelming support through these campaigns, especially at.
Year end, this time of year, it’s always so inspiring and you know, moving for us to see just how generously our incredible donors respond when given a chance to make a real difference. And you know, usually we’re able to reach our targets very quickly, sometimes just within a few days. So it’s always so incredible. So we really value this time of year.
When it comes to our fundraising campaigns.

Sarah Marchal Murray 11:29
Vicki, that’s so great. Thank you so much. I mean, I love your comment about simple stories resonating the most. I mean, it’s so important to think about that, that capturing that moment of urgency where people feel like they can, they can engage with you and learn and be a part of that mission. It’s it makes me think about how powerful storytelling is as a tool to connecting with essential donors, you know, we know that connection plays a huge role in motivating donors to give. So thank you for just giving us that real clear, tangible how you can use a campaign and it reminds me of of just important the importance of of fundraising activities are just being a part of the story.

The transactional nature of fundraising is part of the the science, but the art of communicating with others and connecting with donors will determine the activities and whether or not we’ll be successful as fundraisers. And so donors respond most with the charities who ask clear and specific and very personal ways like you just gave us a really great example of and and the data backs that up as you’ll see here when we learn just how important it is for that personal connection to the cause, for a personal understanding from a recommendation from a friend or a family and somehow proactively doing research. And so when we think about the over 10 million charities that exist around the world, that can seem daunting for those of us who may be not based in the US to try and connect to US donors. How, how can I create that connection? Where are the ways in which? And so I know that Tim has had some really good experience working in human relief and development and trying to bridge those aids and unique perspectives and trying to find that common connective tissue between potential prospects and and the causes he cares about. So Tim, what strategies and channels or messages have worked best for you at the end of the year donation activities and and and what hasn’t?

Timothy Jenkins 13:25
Yeah, thanks so much. Well, I I think I should start off like as I think everyone knows like the the institutional donor environment globally has kind of been turned upside down and we’ve really as as an organization we’ve had to rethink.
Our sort of donor base and that’s why it’s been great to to connect with CAF over the last year. A little bit of our background as as you mentioned like we are we we work in immediate emergency disaster relief, humanitarian action, direct support to like human rights defenders in the most restrictive spaces like on the planet. And yeah, so which like makes sometimes our communications like the need to be urgent and quick.

And we we we found like collaborating with CAF, particularly on the Relief Navigator really important. But I’ll come back to that like from maybe like many of you, I’m, I’m newish to this kind of philanthropic space in the United States. I just took.
This role 10 months ago and we we were planning more of a gradual ease into it, but now we’ve accelerated due to, as I said, kind of the institutional donors rescinding some of their their support.
And our focus has really been over the last 10 months on connecting with donors, partners, specifically from the Czech diaspora. We are at our core a a Czech organization and there are hundreds of thousands of Czechs or Czech descendants in the United States.

So we’ve really spent the last several, several months like connecting with them. We did a a multi-city tour across the United States with our CEO to re-engage with them from San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, New York. And I mean, I’m fortunate that I have the budget to be able to do that, but also.
Like some things that I’ve done over the last year is like with my offices in in Mongolia or in Cambodia or wherever else in the world, a few of them, we’ve actually done virtual tours. So we bring the donors to our work on the ground so they can see like what we’re doing, they can talk to the community.
So that’s been like a nice way that we’ve been able to to bring our work to them because it’s quite difficult as you can imagine you know for many of you to to get your donors to to see what’s happening on the ground and like but during these months we’ve also engaged with like you know even smaller donors, we we get these like hundreds of dollars of donations to relief efforts that come from Goldman Sachs. So we met with them to learn more about like how their their clients like to give and when to give and.
You know, like the coming back to the Relief Navigator, something that I use frequently is say we know that disasters and crises, they they happen all over the world non-stop. There’s unfortunately something happening.
At this minute or even during the holidays. But what’s great about the Relief Navigator is like I I can work with my teams where the crisis is, get stories of the impact, how we’re planning to respond or are responding, and I’m able to send that to CAF America. And then also since it’s posted on the relief navigator, we put it in our newsletter, we send it around to various high net worth individuals that that are connected to us so that they have a way to give and give quickly that that does get to to action on the ground.
And like other in terms of other storytelling, like we really lean into because we’re engaged with the Czech diaspora and our founding is connected to the Velvet Revolution, we we use that history to kind of.
Remind potential donors within the diaspora like where they’re from and that that our history is their history and that seems to really kind of connect back. It helps them connect back home to give to something that that that they that they care about but also it.
Because like in our mandate, it’s because of the Velvet Revolution and the things that that the Czechs went through in the in the sixties, 70s and 80s. Our mandate is to help relieve suffering and inequality in other places. So that’s often our message.
Message or speaking to the diaspora like, look like people helped us then let’s help others now. And yeah, like largely like my role is dealing with high net worth individuals. So right like these next couple of months, I’m reaching back out to them after various meetings I’ve had throughout the year to to see what they might.
Might be interested in in the remaining months, weeks and months of of the year and and trying to find niche interest that that because we work in a variety of different contexts and different thematic areas.
But at this point, I already know them quite well. So I I do send them human interest stories. They’re in our newsletter. They I I I was talking the other day, like I’ll send, you know, an opinion piece that I think they might be interested in about the region or about the country.
You know, just little Nuggets of information that keeps them engaged. And yeah, and regularly thanking them just even for their time to have a conversation, to have a coffee, to join one of our meetings because their time is incredibly valuable. So even even them taking the time to to sit with us and talk to us is always super helpful and maybe I’ll pause there if I if I can and.

Sarah Marchal Murray 19:42
Yeah, thanks so much, Tim. I mean, really important to highlight that you’ve done work to identify your audience and finding that connection between the diaspora and the organization. And then you’ve honed in on lots of ways to create communication channels, right? While not everyone can afford a roadshow or have the budget to do a lot of face-to-face, it sounds like.
You’re using technology to do webinars. You’re using technology to create communication letters. Just trying to find ways in addition to using good old fashioned e-mail, reach out, gratitude and and one-on-one communication to really start building those relationships and.
And connections and communications is really key. So we really appreciate it. I I wanted to pick up on something though that you said that I thought was really interesting and helpful for us to hear literally at CAF, but important for us all to hear about the importance of transparency in that communications and in those levels and in.
The world we live in today, right? Lots of information flowing. Who do you trust? How do you trust them? Where’s the transparency? And you know, one of the things that we’ve we’ve learned through asking and and surveying and doing the work is just how many Americans who who want to donate, who are already actively.
Philanthropists, right, would donate more money. So that’s more not not not like differently. It’s more engagement if charities operated and and shared more about where their donations would be used, how they’d be used and continuing. But both you and Vicki kind of touched on that, just that communication circle of.
We’re going to do this campaign and this is what it’s for. This is why it’s for it. And then circling back to them with all the effects of that. And so it’s a really interesting thing that we’re learning, but just to just the importance of of transparency to donors and you know, it is why I think I I’d love Aurora if you wouldn’t mind.
Being able to share a little bit about what you’re seeing in how using the Friends Fund vehicle that we get the pleasure of partnering with you on is helping you to interact as an international organization with fundraising and reaching out and that communication, that transparency with donors in in the US.

Aurora Mondavi 21:57
Of course, as you mentioned, our foundation is based in Italy, so we are a foreign one, but most of our donors are US based friends that decide to support our mission. Also of course thanks to the to the to the reach that our founder Maestro Andrebocelli.
He has in your country is very well loved and it means that lots of his funds are also becoming interesting in the activity of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. We are partnering with Caf America specifically on a friends fund since I believe more than 10 years and it’s a very important vehicle for fundraising activity.
Specifically all year round, not only in the giving season, but specifically now, it’s of course a very, very valuable. We use and partner with the Cafe America team and we use the Friends fund as it is.
Part of our foundation as it serves as an operational arm, let’s say in other countries. So we truly believe that we need to consider these. And of course I hope this is the same for also other organizations that are involved in this project. I strongly suggest that everyone use as a friend.
Fund as part of your organization. We maintain here around relationship with our fund manager and the Cafe America team based on trust, the regular communications and follow-ups. You know it helps when you also introduce your fund manager.
Or other other people at CAF America to your donors. It really helps if you have a relationship of trust and you are able to have him or her witness your work and speak for you in the same language with the same cultural the ground, which of course we don’t have coming.
From from another country, I truly believe that the Friends Fund could be often valuable support during key periods such as the end of fiscal year, as it reminds our donors that the the end of the solar and fiscal year approach is approaching and.
So this is a nice occasion to to make a donation and of course to hand the the way celebrating our philanthropic efforts. The friends fund is also very useful because it’s it’s a nice way for us to to to consider new ideas and to evaluate these challenging.
We also offer nice opportunities that we present to to the team and we of course have a look, have a deeper look into these considering also the legal implications. Again, we are not US based, so it is important to have someone who speaks the same language and who is able to understand the legal and the.
The necessary activities that you need to carry on in in terms of fundraising activity in in the US. As a foreign organization, it is really valuable as our American donors truly feels that CAF America is a key partner of trust. So if we undergo.
So due diligence, equivalency, determination and if if CAF America trust our foundation as a proper partner we are we we can be addressed with the donors trust. So we we are we can be a valuable, valuable partner also for for our donors.
We were particularly grateful to to receive the last year together with other friends of ours, the Seal Family Foundation, the Excellence International Philanthropy Award. These key facts help us in order to leverage our our activity in the US and that’s why we truly believe that our Friends Fund can be.
Helpful specifically also in this time of the year.

Sarah Marchal Murray 25:58
Great. Thanks so much for that. Shout out to the the Friends funds and and it as a potential way forward. I mean, I think we’re hearing a lot about different tools, whether it be strong campaigns that we’re doing the outreach and the planning and the stewardship and the communication. Friends funds is a tool. There are a lot of ways in which we.
Can engage with donors in the US market at this time of year and and support fundraisers. And and at CAF, our job here is really to help bridge and be your partner in as you go about that important work that you’re doing to cultivate and work with your donors. So we’re going to be transitioning in a second here to Q&A. So it’s just a quick.
Out.
everybody who’s listening, and now’s a great time to start popping your Q&A in into the chat. But while while you’re doing that, I just wanted to take another quick minute to thank all of you for your thoughtful perspectives. I mean, we don’t take lightly what we do here at CAF and that we get to partner with amazing organizations.
Like each of yours, and we’re so proud to be in partnership with you. And what I heard pretty loud and clear were some really strong key takeaways that I probably resonates with everybody. Everybody is probably nodding their heads at home or in their offices as they’re tuned in to these key takeaways because we all know that that’s sort of the.
The backbone of what makes us successful is are we creating those connections for our donors? Are we finding their ways to connect to the mission and the cause? At the end of the day, you know there are over 10 million registered social purpose organizations around the world trying to do very good things and it needs to connect to our donors for them to to get off.
the sidelines and get actively engaged as a volunteer or a donor are involved. We want to communicate as clearly and as transparently as we can often. Don’t be afraid to communicate, right? Make those meaning personal.
Asks. As we saw earlier, donors want to be asked in the US market. It’s OK to hear no, but if you never ask, you won’t know. So please, please, please and get those asks out there. And this is a very important time of year for people who who want to give and who are are hoping to give.
But so get those, get those campaigns and plans enabled. And then of course there are tools that can support and help nurture and steward relationships throughout the year and particularly during these high volume times of year and enabling tools like the Friends funds and and that follow up for impact that.
That that Aurelia spoke to. So with all that, I I just say it’s not surprising to say that one of the most important ways that we can show our impact and our space is to show our gratitude, thanking our donors consistently and frequently and frankly anyone we work with in this space. So before I turn it over to to my.
Colleague, Kelsey, I’ll just again thank our speakers for lending your time and your talent today to us and to all those who are out there taking time out of their work days to stop and listen. It’s really important that we be in community together in in moving forward to access more capital for the social good we all want to seek in the world.

Kelsey McCarthy 29:16
Wow, we covered some really great topics today. I’m sure we’ve stirred up some questions along the way, so please use the Q&A function within the webinar. You’ll see the Q&A feature at the top of your screen. We see some raised hands and and some questions starting to come in, but we’ll be taking those questions through the Q.
Q&A function. So let me get started and I will tee up our questions here for for our panels. We have a question of how do you make sure your story comes across and lands with audiences?
In a world of ever competing information overload, how do you re sensitize people to crises?

Sarah Marchal Murray 30:01
Oh, good question. A lot packed in there, both about how do you, how do you continue on a journey, how when people have gotten a lot resensitized to to to crises. So I’m wondering if Tim, given your work in disaster, if you wouldn’t want to say a few things on.
experience with. I know you’re only 10 months in, so resensitizing maybe, but do you have donors who’ve been there for a while that you that you’re learning how to navigate and communicate with?

Kelsey McCarthy 30:25
Mm.

Timothy Jenkins 30:30
Yeah, I mean, like I’ve, I’ve also been doing this work for, I guess 15 years abroad. It’s always been a challenge, right? Like, um, there’s competing crises. Um, for instance, like we have, we have a team in in, uh, the DRC in Sudan.
And it is, it is to be quite frank, it’s a point of frustration. Sometimes I talk about it with the CAF, with the CAF team on the relief navigator quite a bit. It’s like how do we and and so I I don’t have all the answers here, but I I like at least with the community that I’m engaging with like they trust me.
When they when they when I when I say like I I’d like you to to look into this issue a little more or when I ask like them to have a conversation with someone else that might be interested cause sometimes.
You know it might be a friend of theirs that would be and I’m talking about high net worth individuals that that would be maybe more keen because of the circles that they run in are are a bit different than ours in terms of kind of the global like reach or national I guess.
In the context of the US, like I also try to reach out to like regional newspapers, like where there is like a large diaspora, like for instance like the Congolese diaspora. You know, I like I’ve I’ve been reaching out to different news outlets like from many.
Napolis to to Boston, I think Boston Chronicle to see if they’d be willing to run stories because that’s where their communities are. So it’s like it’s also trying to find in in the in the context of the US, right. So say you have a crisis in.
You know, XYZ countries, where are their diasporas and and where can we maybe direct some messaging to and like you know the guys at CAF, the folks at CAF do a really good job of helping me at least pick through that. So you’re sort of not in it alone and you know if they don’t, if they don’t have an answer.
Like they tried to help me find one. So I like, I guess I would start with that, like understanding like where, I mean, it’s hard to get on CNN, it’s hard to get like in in, you know, in the New York Times, but like, you know.

Sarah Marchal Murray 32:48
Yeah.

Timothy Jenkins 32:52
Reach out to CAF and see like what regional outlets that we can reach out to. Like how do we get our messages to a targeted community? Yeah.

Sarah Marchal Murray 32:59
Yeah, Tim, it’s great. It’s a great thought. And what I heard there was a lot of really important like don’t go it alone. The humility of your your start your answer. We would all say nobody has all the answers, right? But in community you can find collective wisdom. And so you know, knowing strategically how to how can I partner with newspapers?
Or other outlets or others working in this space to get get enough of a critical mass of communications out there. So it’s not just me sharing the news of a disaster or being the only person sharing this story, but I can reference all others helps and then trust you you hit the nail on the head on what what matters so much to donors that trust and.
Transparency that we referenced earlier in our conversation really an important and you know pillar of of communication and and Vicki, I’m wondering if if you want to come in here and and speak to that a little bit about it as you build the drumbeat and you know with these campaigns that you’ve organized and the work that you’re doing that trust is getting deeper and deeper with your donors.
Do you have any other reflections on that communications you you you’d like to add?

Vicki Kabalika 34:04
Sure. So I think one of the things that we get as we do these campaigns that you know, we send out and again I think Aurora touched on an important point that it’s not just obviously year end, it’s all year round. So as we’re sending out these campaigns, we get our donor relationships stronger and stronger. What we find is communication.
The.
To these connections and that are leading to stronger donor relationships. And I think the question about the fact that there’s so many competing stories out there, so many charities, as you mentioned, Sarah, I think one of the things that we do is once you’re able to have a strong relationship with your current donors, they then become the mouthpiece for you. They’re sharing about you, they’re referring you to their friends and their family.
And then you’re growing your donor base through that. And we find for us as we share these communications through our campaigns or even just through the updates that we send on, you know, on a whether it be termly basis for us, obviously we’re a school. So on a termly basis we’re sending updates. We find that we’re building really strong connections and our donors have become our friends that become part of our school family.
And I think those connections are what you need to be able to stand out in a world where there are so many charities that are doing great work and all need help. So I think it’s really creating those relationships and we find that our donors are telling everyone about us and we’re having people that have never visited our school supporting us. And you know, that’s how we’re able to have so many incredible people.
Just an incredible network of donors that are able to then support our projects. So I think communication leading to the connection, which then leads to those really strong connections and just having that, you know, connectivity that you talked about, which once you have it, I think it builds decades of relationships with donors who then tell others about you as well.

Sarah Marchal Murray 35:41
It’s great. Wonderful. And I heard, I heard in that response also some really importance around the calendaring just right. We’re talking about year end and how important the donor’s world is right now. But for your world, that school calendar just it’s a it’s a rhythm and a movement and for disasters have a different rhythm and movement and so knowing your organization’s rhythm.
And movements and finding those pockets of urgency and when to communicate and how to communicate with donors seems like a really important nugget for our audience to to take away from today. So really great. Kelsey, do we do we have any other another question we’d like to throw to our speakers?

Kelsey McCarthy 36:15
We yes, we do. From the audience, we have a question. Are there any best strategies to maintain a high donor retention rate or re-engage lapsed donors? This this person’s their organization has an active social media presence too.

Sarah Marchal Murray 36:36
Great questions. The eternal question and and knowing that we are talking about what we can do at the end of the year, I’m curious, Aurelia, particularly for you, how you think about talking to lapse donors and utilizing social media at the end of the year. But as Vicki pointed out, right, our work is is not just in in the next 71 days, but it is.
It is your lungs and build up for this this moment. So how would you answer that question for audiences?

Aurora Mondavi 37:03
I totally agree and I was just nodding Vicki because I strongly agree what what she said just just now. Our donor base is made is based on high network individuals so we don’t really focus on other fundraising activity at the moment but.
Can answer considering these this target for us, it is key to have at least 3-4 key points during the year in which we are sure that we are going to get connected to this specific donor. It can be an event, it can be a campaign, whatever you like up connection time during their birthday. I don’t know something like this.
This is very important in order to keep a strong relationship, you know, a loyal one at least, so you’re able to go ahead and develop it. And I truly believe that it is key. It is so important to listen to your donors and to adjust what you are proposing to them, especially if they are.
A high network individual adjust your story and work on the stories so that you can propose to them would be so important. If we are looking at an acquisition campaign as an example or retention campaign retention rate, I believe that it is important.
It.
Around this time of the year, so around October, you are able to launch if you’re able to a new project activity. We usually try to do that around this time. So we are able to engage the labs donor before the year and telling them, you know, hi, we are working on a new project in this specific country.
I think that it resonates on with with your heart and you know with the project that you were supporting before. So I would really happy if you would like to give a look at these and you know consider to to support this project before the year end and before the fiscal before the end of the fiscal year. So we try to have this link before.
Project activity and fundraising schedule that helps, you know, doing what we were talking about before. So you know, relapsing and giving them a reason to to support you before the year end.

Sarah Marchal Murray 39:20
Really important there. Thanks so much. I mean, I think it’s a really challenging question. It’s a really good one that we all struggle with, right? As fundraisers, we we look at and are racing towards goals, but we also all know and are deep of hearts that the lifetime value of a donor who comes to you and your abilities to be able to nurture those relationships and keep them engaged.

Aurora Mondavi 39:28
Yes.

Sarah Marchal Murray 39:39
Has much more value to your cause, your mission, your organization in the long term. So finding that balance of use of social media and quick wins versus the work that goes into high net worth engagement. Those strategies I I think resonate to me with any audience you’re trying to connect with. So I really appreciate you you sharing those.
Other questions, Kelsey, for the.

Kelsey McCarthy 40:00
Yes. Do you segment donors in your year end appeals? If so, can you share more about how this has worked for you or not?

Sarah Marchal Murray 40:13
Segmenting donors. This could take on so many different ways which you think about it. So I I look to my panelists to see if anyone wants to share a little bit about how you how you think about segmenting for for your campaigns and efforts or if you don’t and you share the same message across your all of your audiences.

Vicki Kabalika 40:35
I can go first. So for our for our campaigns, I think it depends on the campaign. So there are some campaigns that will then we share to all our our donors, our entire donor base depending on what the campaign is. But there are some campaigns where you know we’re hoping to potentially get major gifts. So then we might do emails.
To specific donors. So we would segment to say these are our major gifts donors, etcetera. And then we would be sending emails directly to to those specific donors. So I think we do have campaigns where it goes out to all our donors, you know all our supporters as well. And then we do have other campaigns where we actually do segment and say depending on what we are.
Trying to raise what the project is, that’s when we decide then how to segment. And I think one of, I think it was Tim that touched on the fact that you have to really understand your audience. You have to know your donors. And I think when you understand your donors and you know your donors, then it’s so it’s easier to then segment and say, OK, for this specific project, this is who we’re reaching out to and then.
Sometimes you’re reaching out to everyone because all the donors are important, whether they’re, you know, it’s a major gift that they’re giving or a smaller gift. So you know, big or small, everything counts. But sometimes you have to then be able to know that you understand them. So then you know that for this project we are segmenting and then for this other project we might be sending to everyone. So I think just really, really.
When your donors helps you to know when you want to segment and then when you might be sending out to everyone that you have on your donor base.

Sarah Marchal Murray 42:05
Fabulous. Would anyone else like to add anything to that? Really great summary before I.
I think it was just such a great example of the art and science of what we all do, right? And it it it’s knowing and communicating using our judgment, but using that data, that information, how have we communicated in the past? What’s our history? What’s our knowledge? How do we know our audience and know therefore what what might resonate with them?
And you’re never going to get it 100% right. But you know, using your information to figure out both what your goals are as well as where meeting the donors where they are really important for thinking about how to segment and and utilize that that tool. Great Kelsey, other questions we have.

Kelsey McCarthy 42:48
Yes. Have you found a frequency of communication that is better for US donors and can you over communicate?

Sarah Marchal Murray 42:57
Such a great question. And I know, you know, Tim and I were riffing a few days ago on this about like the difference of communicating with US donors and cultural, some of the cultural components of that and communications and what kind of communications and the frequency. So Tim, do you want to maybe sticker this off and then we can pop up?
According to others, you might want to jump in.

Timothy Jenkins 43:18
Sure, sure. Yeah. No, I like, I don’t think you can over communicate with your donors. I like from our side like we’re sending out newsletters like we’re reaching out personally of course like we have campaigns though not not as we’re we’re still trying to build those out. So not not as quite advanced as.
As as Vicki and Aurora, but certainly I don’t think you can over communicate and but more importantly you can’t overthink. And this is what we were talking about the other day is that like in in America and I’ll I won’t name any names so I’ll pick on one of my colleagues.
You know, we we, we like, we like, we like gratitude and you can’t really overdo it with with Americans in in terms of appreciation. And a colleague of mine had had said to me that like, oh, you know, isn’t this a little too much? Is this, is this kind of flattering? I’m like.
I don’t know. Trust me, like this is how we should frame it. We should definitely send thank yous. I know it was just a meeting, but anyway, in the end I send all these emails out appreciating them for their time and appreciating them for their their knowledge and and sharing so much with us.
I got responses back on every single one of those emails, like thanking me for thanking them and meeting them too. So and I already have follow-up meetings with them later on in, you know, in the year. So like I can’t emphasize enough in the US context to just.
Send out a note of appreciation. I know it might seem like I worked in Eastern Europe for a while. Like it might seem it’s like a little too much. I promise you it’s not too much. They’ll they’ll they’ll they’ll genuinely be grateful that you thought of them and you thanked them. And I’m sure Vicki, Vicki and Aurora have other brilliant examples.
Um to share as well.

Aurora Mondavi 45:16
I totally agree with you. There is no over communication in my experience. It’s always a nice chance, a nice time to say thank you. And as soon as you have something new to sell your donors, why not? At least it’s a nice little update that gives them an.
The idea that you are improving, not, you know, not standing still, but you know you are trying to navigate a very difficult time for for the nonprofit organization right now all over the world. So as soon as you are doing activities.
Let’s communicate these. I am a big fan of of updates of updates to the donor. We try to to at least make targets if it is possible to so to choose story that we think truly resonates with some of our donors and to keep others and maybe.
Or acquisition time, something like this. It is the maybe a nice advice to try to find what really speaks to your donor’s heart and to keep other nice stories, maybe to reconnect with lapsed donors or to make acquisitions of new ones.

Vicki Kabalika 46:35
And I would absolutely agree with what Tim and Aurora have said. You absolutely cannot overthink your donors. And what we find is sometimes when we raise funds for a project, we’ll obviously send, you know, the initial thank you for the donation, but we’ll then, you know, communicate again, you know, in the middle of the project and towards the end of the project and at the end of the project.
So you absolutely cannot over communicate. And again, you cannot overthink them as well because you’re always reminded as you say your thank yous that your project, your mission would not be possible without their support. So I think you absolutely cannot over communicate. Those updates are so key and we found in the past that we would be saying.
Saying thank you or maybe just updating on a specific project that maybe a donor has supported and they’ll say, oh actually would love to support again and you would love to donate some more for maybe another project that you might have. So we find that that you know is like you can never over communicate, cannot overthink either.

Sarah Marchal Murray 47:34
Really, really great responses. Thank you so much to each of you because I I think it’s such a a helpful framing for all of us, right. If we go back to some of the data we talked about at the beginning of people, you know why people are giving the the the joy they find in it and wanting to be needed and wanting to be asked and then continually communicating with them builds that.
That trust builds that connection and knowing that you’re thinking of them and that they’re they’re important to your mission and they’re important to the work and that they’re playing their small role in making sure that that work can get done fulfills a really important need for for why we all are value based and what way we engage and.
It might be culturally just a little bit different in in many other places around the world. But Tim, you spoke to it really well about that’s a it’s a gateway to a discussion. It’s the beginning of a conversation and it’s a it’s a way to keep it a feedback loop and recognizing that, you know, they’re grateful that you exist, they’re grateful you’re doing your work. They want to be a part of it and so.
That constant cycle of gratitude, I think is so important. So thanks to each of you. Maybe, Kelsey, we probably have the time for maybe one more question. It’s been a really helpful.

Kelsey McCarthy 48:42
Yes, we’ve, yeah, we’ve had so many great questions and not enough time to get to them all. But I think to a last question here is if you could share one piece of advice with us about a successful year-end campaign, what would it be?
So maybe a quick piece of advice from from our colleagues on the call.

Sarah Marchal Murray 49:06
Great. And you know, I’ll just to give you each of you a second to think about that. I’ll also say if there’s any other parting pieces of advice that you’d like to give within that at the end of the year for folks that we may have not gotten to today, feel free to go over a little room with that question.
Tim, do you want to go first?

Timothy Jenkins 49:24
Yeah, sure, sure. You know, I I think maybe like, so I’m looking at the Q&A and I think there’s a lot of folks that are also new, right. Or you’re you’re looking at this interview you’re giving and so am I. So I I I can’t call myself like an expert like Vicky and Aurora. They’re very good at what they do.
But I think like what I’ve learned so far in my 10 months in this space that you know, and I’ve mentioned it before, is just like knowing your audience, right, knowing the diaspora. And I and I see Andre has a question around Ukraine and I don’t want to go into different countries, but like.
There is every diaspora that you can think of exist in America, right? Cambodians in in San Francisco, right? Like Czechs in in and and and other other Slavs like in in in Chicago, Bosnians in Saint Louis.
They like. So my advice would be like, understand like where maybe your diaspora might be and try to reach out to them in different ways, like through campaigns, through like there’s there’s local like local leaders from the diaspora that you can find ways to engage with.
And like, you know, I mean, Andrea, to answer your question, like through CAF, we we raised a half million dollars. And frankly through not a lot of effort on our side, there was an over, there’s been an overwhelming support. Americans were very generous, just average Americans like wanting to help.
And I and that was a couple of years ago during the initial invasion. But there there’s just all these different diasporas that that want to find a way to help. And I think it’s like, I guess my job or our job to find a way to to connect with them and get our messages to them in a way as as Vicki.
Was was highlighting that that it resonates that that they feel inspired to want to give. So I’m still learning, I’m still working on it. So you’re not in it alone and you know you’re always welcome to reach out. You can find me on any of the socials I’m I’m around so.

Sarah Marchal Murray 51:38
Thanks.
Hi, Vicki.

Vicki Kabalika 51:41
So from from from my side, I think I’ve probably already shared the advice that I was going to give. Again, it’s just basically on, I think on gratitude, which is, you know, I think my biggest piece of advice would be just again that you can never thank your donors too much, even if you think that you are overthinking.
Sometimes we do think that you’re not. And I think sometimes also when you send emails and you read back on the e-mail before you send it out, you think maybe this is a bit too much gratitude, but it’s never too much. So send out those thank yous. You know, thank them by showing them the impact as well of what they make possible. We find for us it works to read.
Sometimes we’re showing photos, we’re showing videos and just really then being able to see what they’re making possible. I think that really goes a long way. So while you’re saying your thank you, you try to show them as well the what they’re making possible and then also just thanking them for being part of the journey. So sometimes you’re not necessarily maybe thanking them for a particular support, but just for being.
Part of that journey with you because they are the ones that make that mission possible. And then even if you’re just sharing a small thank you, that’s still really, really important. You know, a quick note, again, a photo, a video, things like that really, really resonate with our donors. And again, just to reiterate what I said before.
That gratitude really builds the connection. And you know, connection is what builds that lasting support. And when you know donors feel truly seen and appreciated, I feel that they, you know, they’re not just giving to to a charity, but they actually become a part of of your mission.

Aurora Mondavi 53:23
I totally agree again with both of you. I think that I’ve already shared my advice on this, but if you’re able to have a new project or you know a new activities connected to an to an existing project to be connected to your year and campaign, this would be perfect.
Because it gives you the chance to maybe thank a donor who supported this project before or thank a donor and show the impact of their support also in other projects maybe, but also give you the chance to update on new on new activities and there are a lot of donor that really need to be.
Asked to to do the difference. They are not waiting to to do contributions without, you know, being asked and being thanked that they really appreciate the gratitude that we are able to give them. So I agree. I strongly agree with with Vicky regarding these.
If you’re able to find something that resonate with your donor and thank them and show your impact, go ahead with that and I truly believe this is key for your success.

Sarah Marchal Murray 54:34
Thank you. Thank you to each of you for your for your wonderful sharing and for the your time and insights with all of us today. I know we’re almost at time here and we want to make sure you know, I know I learned a lot from your experiences and and working with you as donors today and I hope everybody on the call did as well. We’re very fortunate to be partnering with you, each of you here at CAF and I’ll turn it over to Kelsey for some like what’s next for our audience. So they they know you’re not just alone. This webinar was meant to just sort of pique your curiosity and inspire you and we hope we achieve that today. But thanks again to our speakers.

Kelsey McCarthy 55:10
And thank you, Sarah, for facilitating the conversation today. We’ve heard great examples, ideas and processes to help continue planning for the giving season. So I’ll walk us through some quick wrap up here. We’ll be sending an e-mail later this week with the replay of today’s discussion so that you can revisit any.
Key takeaways or share them with your team. That e-mail will also include a link to download our newly released 2025 End of Year Fundraising Toolkit. It’s full of practical ideas, templates, and examples to help you build momentum this year.
And we invite you to subscribe to CAF America’s newsletter. It’s one of the best ways to receive updates on giving trends, donor insights, and resources designed to help your organization grow. We had so many great questions today. Sorry we couldn’t get to all of them.
But any questions you have for us here at CAF America, we welcome you to reach out to us through our website, cafamerica.org, and we’d be happy to have a conversation.
Thank you all. Have a great day.

Sarah Marchal Murray 56:18
Thanks again everyone.

[00:56:20] [END OF AUDIO]