Guide: Planning Your Year-End Campaigns in a Habitat 2.0 World
Whether Habitat International is running your year-end fundraising campaign this year or you’re managing it in-house, it’s crucial to start planning early for year-end giving.
From October to December, the majority of your community members will be considering making a gift.
In fact, according to a Bloomerang report, 50% of nonprofits receive the bulk of their annual contributions during these months, with December alone accounting for over 30% of donations.
In a Habitat 2.0 world, we are the storytellers of our local impact, whether we’re making an ask or not.
If HFHI is handling the campaign work, it’s still essential to educate our local community about our efforts.
HFHI’s language often lacks the personal touch that we can bring to our community. So, it’s up to us to inspire our local supporters. This guide will walk you through a step-by-step process for your year-end planning and provide the tools to help you succeed.
Plan Early and Launch Early in an Election Year
Many affiliates mentioned that they were planning to start their communications campaigns early to get them out before the election.
There is consensus that this election will “suck all of the oxygen out of the room” for quite a while, so getting in front of your community before then will be important.
Putting a solid plan in place will help your team be efficient and tell a consistent and engaging story. The planning process includes some critical questions.
If you don’t have a comprehensive communications planning document yet, here are some things to consider:
- How did your campaign perform last year? What did you learn from that experience?
- What are your goals for this year?
- What is the key message you want to communicate, and how does it tie into your broader organizational strategic goals?
- What audience segments do you need to connect with, and what messages will resonate with them most?
- What stories do you already have for your content? Do you have good photography or videos to accompany them?
- What design resources will you need to accomplish these goals?
- Who on your staff and board will be engaged in the outreach process?
Download our Campaign Planning Template + Work Plan Checklist
Build your strategy by following our simple campaign planning document. Manage and organize your work by utilizing our work plan and scheduling spreadsheet.
Set Clear Goals Based on Past Performance
It can be tempting to jump right into the work, but taking the time to review past performance and clearly lay out your objectives for this year is a critical first step to success. This is particularly important if you are working as a team or want to involve board members in the process.
When considering your goals, follow the S.M.A.R.T. goals formula:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Timebound
Consider Coordinating Your Messaging with HFHI Campaign Messaging
If you don’t have access to Lythos yet, we’d recommend getting access and spending some time there. This is the platform where HFHI is outlining all of the campaigns and messaging they will be running.
Why does this matter?
No matter what tier you’re in, speaking in a consistent voice and using some of the same messaging will benefit everyone. Based on input from other affiliates in the community, coordinating your campaigns and messaging around HFHI’s will go a long way.
Donor Stewardship is More Important Than Ever Before in a Habitat 2.0 World
Whether you’re doing the ask, or HFHI is doing the ask, it’s important to focus the next 18 months on great donor stewardship.
This means educating, engaging and telling the your local Habitat story. What will this look like and how can you do this?
Breaking your community into smaller groups is called segmentation. This process ensures that you can deliver a personalized message, experience and story based on the individual’s experience.
Segmenting your messaging not only doubles the response rate for campaigns, but it will also build a personal connection to your community.
Create a list of different audiences and start thinking about how you want to engage with them. Some common segments include:
- Major donors
- Small- and medium-size donors
- Monthly recurring donors
- Volunteers who have never given
- Volunteers who have given
- Corporate and community partners
- Group build volunteers
- ReStore Shoppers
- ReStore Donors
- Vehicle Donors
For each group, outline the marketing channels you’ll use to connect with them and any special messaging you may want to include. Add contextual information to your messaging to make it feel personal.
Pro Tip: Customize Your Messaging with Less Effort and More Impact
For emails, direct mail and other written media, customize the segments messaging in the first two paragraphs only. Leave the rest of the storytelling content the same. This makes customized content easier to manage and reduces your workload.
Craft a Compelling Local Case for Support
Even if you aren’t running your year-end campaign, your team needs to create a compelling story about your impact, vision, programs, and the stories that illustrate your capabilities.
An annual report can be an effective campaign asset to tell this story before the fundraising appeals go out.
An effective case for support includes:
- Clarify your impact: Highlight what you do and why the Habitat model is uniquely able to impact the major housing issues in your community.
- A clear vision for where you’re going: Supporters want to see that you have a clear plan to address community challenges. Even smaller affiliates can showcase their strategic vision for increasing impact.
- Keep it local: Frame stories and impact from a local perspective. Most donors give to your affiliate because they want to see impact in their local communities. Use visuals unique to your location and phrases like “your neighbors in [add neighborhood].”
Pro Tip: Leverage Social Proof to Drive Home Impact
Use testimonials from volunteers, homeowners, or community partners to illustrate the tangible effects of your work. For example, include a quote from a local business owner about how your programs have positively impacted their workforce. This strategy not only reinforces your local focus but also provides relatable, real-world evidence of your affiliate’s impact, making your appeal more persuasive to potential donors.
What’s the Story? Going Beyond The Family Story
During the year-end push, it’s natural to focus on family stories. But, there’s more to the Habitat story that is important to tell.
Your programs create a ripple effect across the community where everyone has a role to play:
- Volunteer programs engage hundreds and thousands of people, carrying out thousands of hours of volunteer work.
- Home repair programs maintain existing housing stock and make homes safer for older adults.
- Financial education helps community members plan and repair their financial health so they’re mortgage-ready.
- Veterans programs build community, help with housing repairs and provide home buying opportunities.
- ReStore prevents thousands of pounds of goods from going into the landfill while supporting all of your community programs.
- Community partnerships engage groups of individuals to support their community in a number of ways.
Habitat helps facilitate community energy, resources and passion into a wide array of community challenges. Each program has a story to tell. It’s on you to tell it.
Getting Professional Grade Imagery and Videos
Stories are powerful, but modern communications requires more than written stories. Powerful imagery and video are crucial.
Ensure that you have great volunteer photographers to capture your work and systematically collect imagery and stories from all your programs.
Feature Tool: Use Canva to Design and Manage Your Visuals
Canva allows organizations to maintain a consistent visual identity across all campaign materials by using brand templates and easy drag-and-drop editing. Additionally, Canva offers collaboration features, enabling team members to work together in real time, which is especially useful when gathering input from staff and board members. It’s also free for nonprofits.
Create a Campaign Matching Gift Fund
A recent study showed that 84% of donors are more likely to give if a match is involved, and gifts are larger for match campaigns. A year-end matching fund is a must for your organization.
Planning Your Campaign Elements
Reinforce your message across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience. Ensure that the visuals and stories you use across all channels are consistent. For all campaign content, prepare designs and content for:
- Social media: Post about your campaign at least 2-3 times a week.
- Email: Send information about your campaign at least every 2 weeks, and send 3-4 “last chance” emails in the final 72 hours.
- Website: Create a story page for each story with a clear call to action.
- Direct mail: Prepare to send at least 2-3 campaigns from November to December.
- Talking points: Use campaign messaging when talking to major donors and community partners.
Plan an Effective E-Appeal Series
Email is one of the most effective ways to connect with donors. Coordinate your email appeals with your direct mail campaigns. Segment your email appeals to increase the likelihood of donations.
Pro Tip: Optimize Your Email Subject Lines for Higher Open Rates
When planning your e-appeal series, pay special attention to your email subject lines. They can make or break your campaign’s success. Use action-oriented language, create a sense of urgency, and personalize when possible. For instance, instead of “December Donation Request,” try “John, Help Build Hope in [Your City] Today!” A/B test different subject lines to see what resonates best with your audience. Remember, the most effective subject lines are often short (40 characters or less), specific, and evoke curiosity or emotion. This small change can significantly boost your email open rates and, consequently, your donation conversions
Utilize Paid and Organic Social Media
Social media is an important element of storytelling. Leverage its advantages by sharing rich stories and videos. Consider posting:
- Visionary statement videos from your affiliate leader
- Quotes or stories from supporters and clients
- Storytelling carousels
- Video testimonials from clients and volunteers
Continue Your Campaign January – March
Why Donor Stewardship is More Important Than Ever
If you don’t have one already, now is the time to put together a really clear donor stewardship plan. It’s time to get personal and local with your donor file.
In most cases, HFHI has shared data about donors in your community that may not have given directly to your affiliate. This is a massive treasure trove of potential relationships. What’s your plan to engage them?
First and foremost, let them know that you exist locally.
Secondly, develop an annual calendar to develop a connection with this cohort of people. Create a series of touch points over the next 12 months that will tell your local story, invite them to engage in different ways and let them know about the work your affiliate is doing Aim for at least 1 touch point per month.
Follow Up with Lapsed Donors
According to studies, only only 30% of new donors will give a second time to the average nonprofit.
Prepare to run a LYBUNT campaign (Last Year But Unfortunately Not This Year) in January or February. Communicate the impact you’ve had and acknowledge past support.
Featured Tool: Use Email Automation to Send Welcome Series to New Donors to Increase Retention
Most email platforms these days feature automations that enable organizations to set up drip campaigns, and send personalized follow-ups, which can significantly enhance donor engagement. Most platforms provide analytics so you can test and optimize for open rates, click-through rates, and overall campaign performance.
Run a Recurring Donor Campaign in the Spring
Plan a campaign to convert annual donors into monthly donors. Target the bottom half of your donor pyramid. Recurring giving programs increase donor retention, increase donor lifetime value, reduce campaign costs, and shift the relationship from asking for money to sharing impact and thanking donors.
Don’t Waste Your Time Recreating the Wheel
With about 1,100 Habitat for Humanity affiliates preparing for a year-end marketing push, why are we all designing our own strategies and campaign assets?
That’s why Community Connect exists. Use our library of campaign templates and toolkits, and our Canva design templates to create customized and localized content that connects and motivates your community.
Sick of writing your own appeals and marketing messaging? Start with our existing language and fill in your local information. It’s that easy!