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Your year-end fundraising calendar may already have a date for every email, mailing, and social post. The appeal is taking shape. Someone is updating last year’s graphics. Your team knows how much money needs to come in by December 31.
But where on that calendar have you made time to connect with the people you’ll be asking to give?
As your team begins launching their communication strategy for this year-end fundraising time period, maybe they are talking about repeating what they did last year or maybe they want something completely new. Whatever the direction your team plans to go this year, you must keep in mind that that plan will enter a different communication environment.
AdImpact’s June 2026 forecast projects $11.6 billion in political advertising for the 2025–2026 election cycle.¹ Alongside those paid ads, supporters will encounter campaign emails, texts, and mail. Your appeal will arrive amid all of that, plus holiday promotions and other fundraising requests.
This is a good time to look closely at how your organization connects with its supporters. Relationship-building deserves a deliberate place in your 2026 fundraising plan.
Have you taken the time to think about the person opening your email at the end of a workday? They’ve already seen political messages on their phone, in their mailbox, and during the show they watched over lunch. Now they’re sorting through messages while figuring out dinner and answering questions from their kids.
Your organization’s work may matter deeply to them. But they still have a limited amount of attention to give you.
Your email can reach their inbox without getting much of their attention. They might intend to read it later and never come back. So before you respond to their silence with another urgent subject line, consider what would make hearing from you feel worth their time.
This is where I would encourage your team to change the starting point. Instead of beginning with “What do we need to tell people about our programs?” ask, “What would help our supporters experience a connection to the work and the community they’re part of?”
You’ll still share the need, explain the work, and invite people to give. But you may also notice how long it has been since you asked a supporter a question and actually listened for their answer.
It can be difficult to justify an hourlong coffee meeting with a potential donor when a fundraising deadline is approaching. Writing the email that asks for a $5,000 match feels more directly connected to your organization’s fundraising goals. You can send it, track the response, and count the gift if it comes in.
But that $5,000 ask depends, in part, on what happened when you weren’t asking for $5,000.
Perhaps a conversation over the phone helped the supporter understand why the work matters. Maybe someone on your team remembered a concern they had and followed up with a quick text. A visit might have helped them see how carefully your staff uses the resources entrusted to them.
When the gift arrives, your report may credit the appeal. The relationship that helped make it possible is harder to see in a traditional fundraising report.
This creates a systems and strategy problem for your end-of-year efforts. It’s easy to keep investing in the activity where the donation shows up while leaving the relationship to whatever time is left over.
But building donor relationships can have real financial value. Someone who feels connected to your organization may choose to give again, increase their support, or introduce a friend. It is time nonprofit fundraisers give that relationship-work a place in the plan anyway, and pay attention to how those relationships develop.
Start by looking at the people already connected to your organization. Who haven’t you spoken with recently? Who made a first gift and received only an automated receipt? Which volunteer has been showing up faithfully without much opportunity to talk with your team?
Invite someone to coffee. Ask about their plans for Christmas. Find out what first drew them to the work and what they wish they understood better. Give them room to talk about something that has nothing to do with your campaign.
You might invite a small group to your facility to meet staff and see the work firsthand. Where appropriate, people you serve can choose to share their experiences. Plan a visit that respects their dignity and fits the normal work of the organization.
Make the invitation honest. If you’re inviting someone to connect, let that be worthwhile on its own. If you intend to discuss a gift, be clear about that purpose.
Your team probably cannot take every supporter to coffee before year-end. Choose a manageable group for personal outreach, and offer other ways to connect. A brief phone call, a small gathering, or an email with a thoughtful question can open a conversation. Give people an easy way to decline and respect the ways they prefer to hear from you.
Then put the work on the calendar. Decide who will reach out, when invitations will go out, and who will respond. Protect enough time for the conversations and the follow-up they create. If your calendar is already full, decide what can be simplified to make room. A plan that depends on someone finding spare time for relationships is a plan that makes them easy to postpone.
You may be saying at this point, “This all sounds so well and good in theory, but I have a fundraiser to run and goals to meet, so I have to focus on what actually keeps our organization running.” You are so right! And time spent on relationships can be exactly that!
If a supporter asks how a program works, send the explanation you promised. If they’re especially interested in one part of the mission, share a relevant update when you have one. You might learn why someone first gave, what would help them feel comfortable increasing their support, or which part of your work they still don’t understand. When similar questions come up across several conversations, you have useful information to guide your decisions.
Those conversations can also lead to opportunities. A supporter may know a business owner who could sponsor an event, have experience with a problem your team is trying to solve, or offer to introduce you to someone who shares your mission. Seeing the work firsthand may prompt someone to ask how they can help, including financially. These are real contributions to your organization, even when they weren’t the reason you scheduled the conversation.
Use your donor database or a simple shared record to keep track of what you learn. Record relevant interests, questions, offered connections, and commitments. Assign a person and a date to each follow-up. This helps your whole team benefit from the conversation and keeps a promising opportunity from being forgotten when the week gets busy.
Bring those insights into your planning. Repeated questions may reveal something your appeal needs to explain. An offered introduction may open a partnership worth pursuing. A supporter’s experience may help your team work through a challenge. Over time, these conversations give you a fuller understanding of the people connected to your mission and the ways they want to contribute.
At Britespur, this is part of our approach to nonprofit communication planning and campaign management. We want the plan to make room for people, and the system to help your team keep its promises. When someone takes the time to tell you what matters to them, that should influence what they hear from you next.
Before the first appeal goes out, ask your team these two questions:
Have we scheduled opportunities to connect before the ask?
Will that connection continue after the campaign, including with people who don’t give?
Have a plan for both questions. Otherwise, January arrives, the campaign closes, and the people who didn’t respond can disappear from your attention.
Continue sharing what is happening. Follow up on questions and invitations. Let people know they’re welcome to stay involved, even when a financial gift isn’t possible. Thank those who gave and show them what their support helped accomplish. Our article on donor retention explores why that ongoing relationship deserves attention long after a gift arrives.
Keep your revenue goal visible. At team check-ins, also ask who you’ve connected with, what you learned, and which promises still need follow-up. Over time, look at whether people keep giving and participating. You won’t be able to credit every gift to one conversation, but you can see whether your team is showing up consistently.
This election year gives us a timely reason to reconsider how we communicate. The relationships you build can matter well beyond this campaign and can even help ensure that your supporters set aside time to hear from you, even when others are so desperately trying to pull their attention.
Before you approve your year-end fundraising strategy, open the calendar. Find the dates when you’ll ask people to give. Then make sure there are dates, names, and time set aside for getting to know those people, listening to them, and staying connected. Relationship-building deserves a deliberate place in your 2026 fundraising plan.
Email: services@britespur.com
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