105. Rethinking Year-End Fundraising: Stop Wasting This Season!

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast
Episode: 105 – Rethinking Year-End Fundraising: Stop Wasting This Season!
Date: October 8, 2025
Hosts: Jason Galisinski and Jim Dempsey

This episode confronts a prevalent pitfall for nonprofit fundraisers: undervaluing or mishandling year-end giving by failing to follow up with donors. Jason and Jim revisit core best practices—particularly the power of follow-up after appeal letters—arguing that well-timed personal touches are the key to maximizing results during the most lucrative giving season of the year. Their tone is direct, practical, and occasionally humorous, as they urge nonprofit leaders to step outside their comfort zone, persist with outreach, and finish the “complete package” of donor communication.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why Year-End Fundraising Matters

• Statistical Importance ([03:09]):
  • December alone accounts for at least 30% (sometimes more) of annual nonprofit giving.
  • 50% of gifts come in the last three months.
  • Astonishingly, 15% of donations arrive in the final week of the year.
  • Jim: “We’ve statistically been able to break those down and identify that those are some of the most important milestones in the year for your organization.” (03:29)

The Critical Mistake: Incomplete Follow-Up

• Many organizations do all the right prep—crafting compelling appeal letters, sending them on time, deploying emails—but stop before the crucial step: personal follow-up ([01:59], [05:31]).
• Typical direct mail yields just a 2–3% response rate.
• Jason: “No follow up, no results.” (05:31)
• Merely “completing the checklist” is insufficient; fundraisers must fully “build the bridge,” not leave donors in the bay halfway through. ([06:26])

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The Power of Personal Touch

• A phone call following a mailed appeal can boost response rates to 20–30% ([04:05], [04:42]).
• If calls fail, try multiple touchpoints:
  • Leave voicemails
  • Follow up with email
  • Consider a personal visit (if practical)
  • Drop off a small gift (ornament, candy, nuts) ([04:47])
• Jim: “Certainly one phone call, you’re not going to reach somebody at the busiest time of the year. So keep trying, keep trying.” (04:47)

The “Golden Gate Bridge” Analogy

• Jim: “If [the Golden Gate] bridge stopped three quarters of the way into ...the Bay, do you think that would be an important landmark? ...We’re talking about an incomplete package.” (06:26)
• Translation: Only executing part of your year-end plan results in ‘incomplete results’—don’t just lay the foundation; finish the task with follow-up.

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For Major (‘Critical Few’) Donors: The Visit Multiplier

• In-person meetings with key supporters remain unbeatable (response rates up to 50% or more).
• Critical Few = the 20% of donors who provide 80% of your funding ([14:42])
• Jim: “That means, Jason, that one out of two people that you meet with say, yes, you can count on me for a gift...all it takes, Jason, is one or two ten or twenty-five thousand dollar gifts. And I’m pretty glad I got in my car that day.” (14:42)
• Don’t expect to meet all your critical few—just try, and focus on higher potential returns.

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Addressing Common Pushbacks

• “Do I really have to call or visit?”
  • Yes, if you want to improve results—otherwise, expect average outcomes.
  • Personal discomfort is normal; persistence brings success ([16:17], [21:13]).
  • Jim: “If you decide, you know what, it’s just not worth my time, then don’t do it. But don’t call us and say, Jim, Jason, your strategies don’t work when you don’t try them.” (15:37)
• “But people aren’t answering / I just leave voicemails!”
  • Voicemails matter: “80% of the calls my mid-level team makes every single month are just leaving voicemails—[but] those are so well received, because when they finally do reach those people, they’re saying, ‘I got your voicemail, that meant the world to me...’” (16:20)

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Shifting Fundraiser Mindset

• Going beyond ‘push and forget:’ Your work doesn’t end when the appeal is sent—real work is in the follow-up ([18:27]).
• Take initiative, expect to “get outside your comfort zone,” and treat this as an active relationship, similar to sales or courtship, not a mass communication exercise ([09:25], [10:11], [11:00]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Follow-Up is Everything:

  • “No follow up, no results.” – Jason (05:31)
  • “With an incomplete package, you’re going to have incomplete results.” – Jim (06:26)

• Real-Life Metaphor:

  • “You want to have a beautiful vegetable garden, and just throwing out seeds and not watering it is not going to give me a beautiful vegetable garden.” – Jim (08:39)

• Justifying the Ask:

  • “Why even bother having a first date with someone? Why don’t you just ask the person to marry you and get all that stuff out of the way?...Because that’s not the way relationships work.” – Jim (11:55)

• Persistence in the Face of Discomfort:

  • “I understand that when it’s coming from me, it sounds like following up is so easy. It’s not...but the only way is by actually getting out and doing it.” – Jim (21:13)

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Actionable Takeaways

• Don’t just send the letter—follow up.
  Repeated phone calls, emails, and even voicemails increase response dramatically.
• Prioritize personal meetings for the “critical few”—your highest-impact donors for the highest return.
• Track your progress and persist even if responses aren't immediate.
  Many donors who eventually give were prompted by multiple touches.
• Revisit the Fundraising Masterminds’ eight-part series on the “Seven Steps” (see earlier episodes; download their PDF summary).

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Insight | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:09 | Year-end giving: stats and why it’s crucial | | 04:05 | “The problem is follow-up” | | 04:42 | Adding a phone call multiplies response rate | | 06:26 | “Golden Gate Bridge” analogy; incomplete packages yield incomplete results| | 09:25 | Comparison to sales—follow-up closes the deal | | 14:12 | Impact for “critical few” via in-person meetings | | 15:37 | “If you decide...don’t say our strategies don’t work...” | | 16:20 | How and why voicemails still make a difference | | 18:27 | Mindset shift: Real work starts after the mailing | | 21:13 | Jim’s closing encouragement—“get outside your comfort zone” |

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Summary in a Sentence

Don’t waste the year-end giving season by stopping at the appeal letter—persistent personal follow-up is the secret to maximizing donations and building real donor relationships.

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Resources Mentioned

• “Seven Steps to Mastering Your Year-End Fundraising Campaign” (eight-part series; downloadable PDF available via QR code in show notes)
• The Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program (briefly discussed at [18:31]; skip for episode content)

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This episode delivers a clear, repeated message: year-end fundraising is a contact sport, and organizations that succeed are those who finish the job with real, persistent, human follow-up—even when it’s uncomfortable.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the number one podcast for nonprofit leaders getting your nonprofit fully funded. This is the Fundraising Masterminds podcast.

[B]

If you decide you know what, it's just not worth my time, then don't do it. But don't call us and say, jim, Jason, your strategies don't work when you don't try them. One out of two people that you meet with say, yes, you can count on me for a gift. All it takes, Jason, is 1, 1 or 2, 10 or $25,000 gifts. And I'm pretty glad that I got in my car that day. If you want to have the success that you hope for, this is what it's going to take.

[A]

Welcome back to this episode of the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. My name is Jason Galasinski, and with me, my co host, Jim Dempsey.

[B]

Hi, Jason.

[A]

Well, welcome to another episode here in October.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

We are going to be talking about year end.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And we're getting started at year and giving already.

[B]

It's never too early, Jason, to start talking about year end. And I'm so excited we're gonna have this.

[A]

If you have been listening to us for a while, you might have remembered that last year we did a whole big series.

[B]

I think it was exactly eight part series.

[A]

It was eight part series on year end giving. And if you want to actually dive into the how to's of what to do.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

With year end, definitely go back and listen to that.

[B]

Yeah. There's no use reinventing the wheel. I think last year, I mean, the feedback and everything we got was so good. There's no use reinventing the wheel and trying to do better than we did last year.

[A]

Yeah. And as we were talking about what to say this year for year end, we were kind of like, well, we kind of said everything we would say last year.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But there is something that we can add to the pile, which is a little bit of a mindset shift in how you think about year round.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And this really came from some feedback we got from our series. Jim. We had a few people who reached out to us over email and they said, you know, I did everything you said. I followed your plan to a T. But I didn't get the response. And so we typically start diagnosing the problem. Well, did you send out your letters? Yes, I sent out my letters on time. Did you send out an email? Yes, I did all this stuff. Did you follow up with phone calls? Did you have personal visits? Well, I did call, but I just left voicemails or I just. I didn't actually talk to anyone, but I did the exercise of calling.

[B]

Yeah, I don't think there's any coincidence, Jason, that it had to deal with interaction with humans. I think that's the part, Jason, that tends to get the scariest for everybody. And as a result we decided to circle back and to revisit, introduce those concepts.

[A]

Yeah. So why is, let's just go back to the beginning. Why is year end so important?

[B]

Well, Jason, first of all, at least 30% if not more of giving comes in December. We found that 50% of the giving for many organizations comes in the last three months and 15% will come in the last week of the year. So the last three months, the, the last month of the year and the last week of the year, all those, we've statistically been able to break those down and identify that those are some of the most important milestones in the year for your organization.

[A]

Now I hear people saying like I get what you're saying about statistically this is the most important. But from my experience when I do year end letters, I don't get 30% of my budget. At year end, I don't get 10% of my budget.

[B]

And you know why that is, Jason?

[A]

Why?

[B]

It's his follow up and that's what we're going to talk about today. They are not following up. A typical letter is going to get about 2 to 3% response which is not going to generate that money. That makes a big difference. But you add a phone call to that letter. Hello, Mr. And Mrs. Jones, did you get my letter that I sent on the during the middle of November? You did? What did you think? Will you be able to partner with us in this? That will jump your response to 20 or 30%. Yeah, right.

[A]

Now what if you can't get Mr. Jones on the phone? What if you call them and you always get voicemail?

[B]

You can follow up with an email. You can try and go by that person's office, see if you can get a few minutes with that person. Don't give up, don't just try once. Certainly one phone call, you're not going to reach somebody at the busiest time of the year. So keep trying, keep trying. And, and if you can't get them on the phone and you've tried multiple times, try an email. If you can't get them in an email, consider stopping by their office and bring a little gift with you along. Bring an ornament, bring some candy, bring some nuts and just say, hey, I just came by to give you this gift. And say how much I love and appreciate you. And do you have a few minutes so we could talk?

[A]

All right, so basically what you're saying is no follow up, no results.

[B]

That's exactly right.

[A]

So the whole 30% thing, where you're saying, you know, this is our biggest time of the year.

[B]

Right.

[A]

We get the most return. You know, we 30% of our budget comes in. It's because the work that you do at year end.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Um, really the work is the follow up.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

It's not really. I think sometimes we think that we got to do the letters, we got to do the cause concept, we got to come up with all this and all that stuff is important.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I think what people are doing is they're doing all this front end work and they're just kind of pushing it all into the system and then wiping their hands because they're busy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they need to, you know, do Christmas shopping and they need to spend time with their family. And so they just think, if I can just get ahead of this and get it into the mail sooner, then I'll be good to go and I can just enjoy the Christmas season.

[B]

Jason, with an incomplete package, you're going to have incomplete results. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is one of the greatest landmarks in America. Jason, if that bridge stopped three quarters of the way into the the San Francisco Bay, do you think that would be an important landmark? If it stopped three quarters of the way in there, it'd be an incomplete bridge. We're talking about an incomplete package. We can give you all the elements, but if you don't do them all in the way that they need, you're not going to have the results. Just sending out a letter without follow up is not going to work. Just trying to call people without continuing to try harder and follow up, just trying to get an appointment by making one call is not going to do that. Without the complete package, you're not going to get the complete results.

[A]

Right. So some really important statistics for following up. If you just send a direct mail, you're going to get like two, two and a half percent.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Just like response just said, which is about, you know, when people say, you know, hey, I did everything you said.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, I did the. I did the cause concept. I did the really good appeal letter. I wrote the appeal letter exactly how you said. I put the response envelope in the thing and I sent it all out. Well, you're going to get a 2% response rate.

[B]

I put those pylons in San Francisco Bay. Oh, you wanted me to put the expansion as well. The pylons are not going to take people all the way. No, they're actually not. All those letters do is. That just starts the process. You may get some people who will respond, and like we're saying 2 to 3%, but you're not going to get. You're not going to get a 30 to 40 to 50 response.

[A]

So you're saying if I send out a letter to 100 people and I get two donations from that.

[B]

It's exactly right. That's.

[A]

That's 30 miserable.

[B]

It's disgusting. Yes, that's exactly right.

[A]

So we want to go from two people, and I send out 100 letters.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

I want to go from two people giving to 30 people giving.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

I gotta start making phone calls.

[B]

Exactly. And.

[A]

And not just one phone call, but I've gotta keep calling people until I actually talk.

[B]

Yes. Jason, you're making it sound like work is a difficult thing, and it's not. And, Jason, I'm only saying that because I feel like that's what our audience is thinking. It's like, oh, man, I can't just put out a letter and expect to make a ton of money. No, you can't. No. You need to put some work into this if you want to have good results. You can't. You got to do some work. I want to have a beautiful vegetable garden, and just throwing out seeds and not watering it is not going to give me a beautiful vegetable garden. But I feel like sometimes that's what people expect.

[A]

It's the same in the sales industry. I know a lot of people that work in the sales industry.

[B]

Done sales.

[A]

I've done sales in the past. Yep. But I also know a lot of people in the sales industry. And, you know, when you have presentations, sales presentations, sometimes you can think, well, I did the sales presentation, and they'll contact me when they're interested. Right. So if you just spend all day long doing sales presentations with different people, and then you wonder, like, well, gee, why isn't anyone signing up?

[B]

I mean, why are you buying my product?

[A]

I did a hundred. I did a hundred demonstrations over the last three months, and I got zero signups.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Why is that? Well, because you didn't follow up.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

So one of the important keys to sales is follow up.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And you got to follow up with people sometimes two or three or four. It takes a lot of work. It does, you know, so you do the sales presentation, and that's, you know, that you Laid that foundation. But then you got to send an email at the right time. You got to make phone calls. You got to. And a lot of times, you know what people say? They don't. They don't say, I'm not interested. They say, oh, I forgot about that. Or like, yeah, I am interested in that. But I completely got busy and I just kind of forgot.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I think that's what happens with our non profits. We.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

We send out these amazing letters. We spent like a month, you know, creating and crafting and designing, and, you know, we get it all just perfect and we send it out and we kind of expect people to just read it and be like, wow, yeah, what a great thing.

[B]

We can just sit back and enjoy all the money that comes in the door.

[A]

Yeah. In reality, people read it and they go, wow, that's really neat. Or they open it up and they skim it and they think, I'll read that later.

[B]

And they set it aside, or they.

[A]

Don'T open it and they just say, oh, that's a. That's a letter from crew. I want to read that later. So, like, I would say 80% of the time, your letter probably sits somewhere. They intend to read it or they're thinking about it. Yeah, they don't actually really get to it.

[B]

I think the reality is, Jason, I think they do put that. They stand over the trash can. And in all reality, your. Your letters going in there, there wasn't. There's not negative intention in people's hearts. I think that's just reality. Especially year end, they're getting six, seven appeals a day and standing over the like.

[A]

So why would someone, you know, if I'm listening to this and be like, well, gee, if I only get a 2% response rate, why even bother? Why don't we just skip the letter and just call people?

[B]

Well, why even bother having a first date with someone? Why don't you just ask the person to marry you and get all that stuff out of the way? Just ask the person to marry you and save all the money on dates and movies and meals and everything else. What a great cost savings. I'll bet you'd save 20 or $30,000 by just cutting to the chase. Because that's not the way relationships work. You've got to have that first date, you've got to have the second date. You've got to get to know each other. It's exactly the same kind of principles. You got to put a letter out there to say, start the ball rolling. And then once that ball starts to roll, then you follow up with the phone call. Did you get my letter? Well, I actually, to be honest with you, Jason, I threw it out. Oh, I get that, Mr. Jones. I know how busy things are at this time of the year. Let me tell you what was in the content of that. I think you really would be excited by that program. Wow, thanks. Yeah, that is something that I'd be interested in. Could you resend that letter again or. You know what, I think I'm. I think I could give gift of that. Yeah, that's what it takes.

[A]

Yeah. And it really, really got to work on following up, you know. So I'm sure you have a lot of people at crew that just spend, you know, the whole month of December following up with people, right?

[B]

I have got an entire team, Jason. In fact, one of the things that we do as an all hands project for the month of December is that everyone on our team is on the phone with partners the entire month. It's just one of the projects that we do as team building Y I have professional callers whose job it is to be calling people all throughout the month of December. Now they have worked on the relationships leading up to that, but those individuals are calling. But I also think it's so good for my entire team. Everybody from computer specialists to marketing people are all on the phone connecting with partners.

[A]

So you said going from just a letter going out, 2 to 5% response rate, making a phone call is going to get you up to 25 to 30%.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Having a personal visit is going to get that to 50% or more. So you can't obviously visit with everybody. I think in our series last year we talked about narrowing that down to the critical few.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

But you want to get that critical few. You want to get an appointment with them.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And it's really important that you do that face to face.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

As much as possible. Now I can hear people saying like, how in the world do you expect me to meet face to face during the busiest time of the year? How's that even possible?

[B]

Well, once again, first of all, let's identify what the critical few is. For those people who are new to our show, critical few are the 20% that give 80% of your dollars. Now, the expectation is not that you'll meet with all the critical few. The expectation is that you'll at least try. And so, number one, people are busy, so you're not going to get everyone. Number two, you only Want to do it. If you hope to increase your response, that's a nice little bump going from 25 to 30% to 50% or more. That means, Jason, that one out of two people that you meet with say, yes, you can count on me for a gift. I'll tell you that kind of response. And especially if those are your large donors. All it takes, Jason, is one or two ten or twenty five thousand dollar gifts. And I'm pretty glad that I got in my car that day. So remember, we aren't saying you must do this, but we are saying if you want to have the success that you hope for and that you desire, this is what's going to take. If you decide, you know what, it's just not worth my time, then don't do it. But don't call us and say, Jim, Jason, your strategies don't work when you.

[A]

Don'T try them or they tried them but they didn't get. Yeah, see I think some people, they try to make phone calls but they don't get people. So they just leave a message and then they think, well, I mean what am I supposed to do? Like leave 20 messages? Well, what do I, I keep calling people and I don't get them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So how can I talk to them if I don't get them?

[B]

Yeah. Well, you'd be surprised, Jason, how much success we have with voicemails these days. So I really have to wonder, did they really leave a voicemail or did they get nervous or did they, did they really try and those kinds of things. Because I will tell you, my whole mid level team, I would say 80% of the calls or more that they make every single month are just simply leaving voicemails and they will follow up and say, tried to reach you. They'll send a postcard, tried to reach you. Sorry, missed you. We're praying for you. Those kinds of things are so well received because when they finally do reach those people, they're saying, you know what, I got your voicemail a couple months ago. Boy, that meant the world to me to know that you're praying for me. Me. How much do you guys need at your end? Those are the kinds of things that do make a difference.

[A]

Well, Jim, that is important to be reminded of how important the follow up process is. And if you were with us last year and you know, we did a whole series, it was an eight part series called the seven steps to mastering your year end fundraising campaign. And it was very, very practical. It was very much focused on a how to process right got into all the steps and we did talk about, you know, following up, but maybe people didn't realize how important that follow up was. So I would encourage you as a, as an action point, if you are wanting to really tee up your year end campaign, go Back to our 7 Steps in Mastering your year end fundraising campaign. We've actually got a PDF that you can download that has the whole summary of the whole process. So we're going to put a QR code on the screen. You can scan that and download it. Y that'll get you started so that you understand the bigger picture. And then we have like eight episodes, right. That are like between 30 minutes and an hour long on like what to do at year end.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But I think this particular episode we are really adding into just the mindset of understanding. Like you can't just have this mindset that you're going to just do all these things and push it off and wash your hands.

[B]

Right. That's exactly.

[A]

The real work actually starts with follow up.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So I think that's our main point that we wanted to make on this episode. Just a quick reminder that we are three weeks away from the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program kicking off. We're gonna be kicking off our next cohort in the last week of October, and this cohort is going to be for Vision Dinners in the spring of 2026.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So three weeks away from that. If you're interested in getting enrolled in the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program, now is the time to get started. And if you're wondering what is the Perfect Vision Dinner mentorship program, then you must be new to this podcast because we talk about it on every episode. But real quickly, it is a 21 week mentorship program where Jim and I walk you through step by step of how to plan and execute a Vision dinner with the goal of raising at least six figures for your non profit and getting 50 to 60% new people to partner with you at your organization. So if that sounds interesting to you and you'd like to know more about that, scan the QR code on the screen or click the link in the description and one of our team members will reach out to you and we can have a conversation about what that looks like for you. But we are three weeks away from enrollment closing, so don't delay on getting signed up. Especially if you're interested in that. Now is the time to get enrolled. Okay.

[B]

And this is for our spring.

[A]

Spring 2026. Yep, spring 2026. So if you're interested in doing A vision dinner in the spring of 2026. That would be from March 15 to May 15. That's our ideal window to do a vision dinner. Then this program is going to be for you. We're going to walk you through step by step that how to plan and execute that vision Dinner. So it's going to be amazing. We usually, you know, have about anywhere from 50 to 80 organizations in a cohort. Sometimes we have a little more, sometimes we have a little less. But it's always a blessing to walk people through this process. And God seems to really bless the efforts that we, that we do.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

You know, the last class raised over $10 million.

[B]

Incredible. That is.

[A]

Wow. Just in one class. Yes, absolutely. We tend to average at least a hundred thousand dollars per organization.

[B]

Well, we've even got a bigger class going through right now and I am just really excited to find out what the results are going to be.

[A]

Yeah, it's really great. Well, I hope this episode was helpful reminder to you of the importance of following up at year end. If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know in the comments below. You can also subscribe because we got a lot of new content coming your way in the next year. Don't want to miss out on that. And Jim, any final thoughts on this topic?

[B]

Well, I'm ever mindful that I have been doing development for 40 years and I understand that when it's coming from me, it sounds like following up is so easy. It's not. I understand that for many of you, if you are not used to picking up the phone and trying time and time again and having a personal meeting with people, it's not easy. You have to get outside your comfort zone. But the only way to do it is by actually getting out and doing it. It's just like when you start running, that first jog around the block is not easy. But after a while you get to a mile, then two miles and three miles or more. It's exactly the same way this year. If you did everything right last year except for the follow up, that's your strategy, that's your plan, that's your action step for this year end is taking that next step and doing that follow up process and you'll be surprised at the success you see.

[A]

Well, that's it for this episode of the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. We will see you next time.

[B]

Take care. It.