(Summer) holidays are comin’
You go away for the summer, and suddenly it’s September.
At that point, it’s all hands on deck writing your Christmas campaign. So if you want to make any changes to your campaign strategy this year, now’s the time to put the wheels in motion. Here are a few things you can do before your summer break - your future self will thank you.
Make a communications plan for November – January
What date do you want your letter to arrive with people? When will you send each email? When will you start publishing campaign-related socials? Work backwards to create a production timeline for each aspect too.
Decide what you want the theme / project / ask to be
You need to think about this early if you want to commission a new video, interviews or really good photos. Video filming and production in particular takes longer than you think.
Contact major donors and corporate partners to try to find a matched funder
Matched funding can have a big impact on the amount that people donate to your campaign - and recruiting new donors too. Do you have a generous supporter or business who would grasp the opportunity to put their name to match funding your Christmas donations, up to a certain amount? Now is the time to start asking people.
Consider running a “thankathon” over the summer
Get your team members to set some time aside each day to call a few previous donors. Thank them for their support so far, have a chat and get to know them a little. Ask them about their interest / involvement in the charity and why they care about your cause. You can even offer them a visit to the project, if possible. They’ll feel much more connected to the charity and will remember this at Christmas. If you want to increase the effectiveness further, tag the people you have called on your database and send them a different version of your campaign letter / emails that acknowleges the chat.
Look at your lists and start improving segmentation if necessary
Your campaign will perform better if you can group recipients by their past donor activity, and tailor your communications. If you haven’t already done this, now is the time to do some research and segment your lists by how much they gave last time, whether they are a regular giver, or if they have never given at all. You can suggest a donation in line with what they gave last time (or a little more!).
Sort out your donation process – and thanking process - now!
You’ll need a clear, dedicated webpage for your Christmas campaign donations, and it needs to be very simple to donate. If your current donation process is clunky, get on this now. Younger donors in particular will not faff around with a long form, and this can make a huge difference to how many people donate. Look at whether you could use Paypal giving, Google Pay, or set up a new donation plugin that’s quick and simple to use. There are lots of plugins for Wordpress and Squarespace that allow people to donate quickly using Paypal or Stripe, for example.
What happens after somebody donates? Don’t just send a receipt, use the opportunity to communicate, too. Make your thank you relevant to the campaign, and let them know you’ll be in touch about the impact of their support (that means you have added them to your email list - see below).
Think about the follow-up
What will happen to these donors after Christmas? What's the next thing they will hear from you? Do you have a process to automatically tag, group and subscribe donors in your database or Mailchimp? You want Christmas donors to become more involved with your charity, not just give once a year. Create a flowchart so you know what happens next. We always recommend targeting people who gave at Christmas with a regular givers campaign in January. If they enjoyed the feeling of making a difference at Christmas, they may like the opportunity to feel like that every month.
-
Start your Christmas planning! Come to our FREE webinar on 25 Juneto hear more and look at the latest research on Christmas giving. Or get in touch for help with your 2026 Christmas campaign.
