Calendar Year End Fundraising Playbook

December is when donors give. According to the 2026 M+R Benchmarks study, nonprofits received 37 percent of their 2025 online revenue in December, and December 31 alone brought in 4 percent.

Unlike fiscal year end, you don’t have to convince donors that December 31 matters. For colleges, universities, and independent schools, it’s the deadline donors already plan around. Your job is to be the institution they think of first, and the easiest one to give to, when they’re ready.

This year, the window opens on GivingTuesday, December 1, and closes 30 days later. Here are eight ways to make the most of it.

1. Plan for December’s three giving moments

Donors respond to different messages at the start, middle, and end of December. Plan one for each.

• GivingTuesday (December 1): Your launch. Lean on urgency, matches, and community energy. Last year, more than 103,000 donors gave more than $57 million to GiveCampus Partners in a single day.
• Mid-December: The lull. Use it for impact stories, thank-yous to early donors, and personal outreach from gift officers.
• December 29–31: The close. Short, direct asks with a clear deadline.

Map your emails, texts, social posts, and volunteer asks to these three moments now, before the holidays scatter your team.

2. Acknowledge the new tax rules, but lead with mission

New federal tax rules for charitable giving took effect this year, and some of your donors will be thinking about them as December 31 approaches. CASE has published toolkits for colleges, universities, and independent schools with sample emails, newsletter articles, and social posts you can adapt. For a plain-language overview of the changes, see Fidelity Charitable’s summary.

Acknowledging these policy changes in your year-end communications isn’t about turning fundraisers into tax experts—it’s about building trust. Tax incentives are valuable—but they’re the icing on the cake, not the reason for generosity.

If your appeals mention the new rules, include a disclaimer encouraging donors to consult a tax advisor.

3. Make every way to give easy

Year-end donors don’t all give the same way. A recent graduate may reach for Cash App, while a longtime supporter may want to recommend a grant from a donor-advised fund. Your giving form should handle both without friction.

• Turn on digital wallets. On GivingTuesday 2025, 65 percent of gifts on GiveCampus were made without the donor entering payment information, and 97 percent of donors who reached a payment page completed their gift.
• Make DAF giving easy to find. The average DAFpay gift on GivingTuesday 2025 was $1,358.25. That’s worth a dedicated link in your outreach to leadership donors.
• Let donors cover processing fees. On a high-volume day, that adds up, and more of every gift reaches your institution.
• Post instructions for gifts of stock and IRA distributions. Include a contact name so donors with questions know exactly whom to call.

4. Ask donors who gave earlier this year for a second gift

Donors who gave in the spring or fall have already said yes this year, which makes them some of your strongest year-end prospects. Thank them first, and show them what their earlier gift made possible. Then give them a specific reason to give again, such as a match to unlock or a goal within reach. “We’re $12,000 short of fully funding spring scholarships” gives a donor something concrete to act on.

• Lead with the impact of their earlier gift before you make the new ask.
• Make the ask specific and time-bound.
• Prioritize donors who are highly engaged or have given more than once in past years.

5. Reach your LYBUNTs before the year closes

LYBUNTs, donors who gave last year but haven’t given this year, are one of your highest-potential segments in December. They already know your institution, and they’ve said yes before.

Don’t send them the same appeal everyone else gets. Acknowledge their past support, remind them what it made possible, and make returning easy. Donors who land on a personalized giving form are twice as likely to give.

The right ask amount matters too. Donors who see Smart Ask Amounts are 15 percent more likely to accept the suggested amount and 8 percent more likely to upgrade. On GivingTuesday 2025, LYBUNTs who saw Smart Ask Amounts upgraded their gifts 28 percent more often.

6. Do the work two weeks early

The most important giving days of the year fall while campus is closed and your team is on break. The schools with the smoothest year-end finish do the heavy lifting a week or two before launch.

• Get your data in early. Upload giving history and recipient lists one to two weeks out, not the night before. Personalized links and segments can take hours to generate.
• Build and schedule every send. Draft final-week emails and texts before you leave, and schedule them rather than sending live.
• Test everything. Preview merge fields, send yourself a test, and check how each message looks on mobile. Confirm your sending domain is authenticated so appeals land in inboxes, not spam folders.
• Plan for December 29–31. Assign someone to monitor your campaign page, confirm with gift processing how late-night December 31 gifts will be dated, and set up automated thank-yous so no donor waits until January.

7. Own the final 72 hours

The last days of the year carry outsized weight. According to M+R, the last week of 2025 brought in 10 percent of annual online revenue.

• Send a short countdown email on December 29 and a final reminder on December 31.
• Text donors who didn’t open your emails.
• Ask volunteers to reach their networks one more time. This year, the number of people serving as advocates on GiveCampus rose 89 percent, and advocacy dollars rose 38 percent year over year.
• Keep every message short: the deadline, the impact, and the link.

8. Thank donors and set up the new year

Year-end donors are your best candidates for next year’s renewals. A thank-you that names the gift, the designation, and the impact makes the next ask easier.

• Tailor thank-yous for first-time donors, returning LYBUNTs, and donors who upgraded.
• Invite one-time donors to make their gift recurring. On GivingTuesday 2025, recurring revenue on GiveCampus rose 62 percent year over year, a sign donors are open to the ask.
• Send a January impact update so donors see what their year-end gift made possible.

Follow up with your holiday event guests, too. Alumni events bring in new and lapsed donors at a higher rate than almost any other engagement channel, and those first gifts are hard to keep: first-year donor retention has hovered around 18 percent for years, according to the AFP Fundraising Effectiveness Project.

After each holiday gathering, send thank-yous within 24 hours, an event recap within 48, and a feedback survey within 72. Segment by attendance status, because attendees, no-shows, donors, and non-donors each need a different message.

Make the most of calendar year end with GiveCampus

Whether you’re finalizing your GivingTuesday plan or mapping out the final 72 hours, GiveCampus can help your team raise more money from more donors with less effort.

Schedule a demo to see how GiveCampus can support your year-end push.