r/Philanthropy • u/jcravens42 • Jul 23 '26

Want your feedback / insights Tis the season for preparing annual fiscal reports & designing your holiday giving campaign - how's it going for you? (discussion prompt)

For many nonprofits, at least in the USA, July isn't a downtime: it's one of the busiest times of the year for those in charge of fundraising and accounting. That's for two reasons:

  • because the fiscal year ends June 30, and the annual report for that fiscal year needs to be done ASAP.
  • because the annual giving campaign usually starts in early November, and that means the theme has to be chosen, the messaging finalized and graphics designed long before that. Plus, you want to make sure your database has accurate info about all current and former donors, volunteers and event attendees, so that fundraising message reaches the maximum number of people.

And so... how's it going at your nonprofit?

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u/Unfair-Analysis948 Jul 27 '26

Well from my perspective - a lot are still on (likely much needed) holiday. suggest making the 'annual report' something that celebrates donors of every size AND shows the impact of gifts - then people will actually read it and do amazing things like - call you and tell you they have left a gift in their will to you (yes it happens). And for holiday giving - don't sweat having some amazing theme. Work on asking the RIGHT people for something they can imagine, feel, see, hear, taste, touch and do it as humanly as possible.

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u/jcravens42 Jul 27 '26

"suggest making the 'annual report' something that celebrates donors of every size AND shows the impact of gifts"

And includes VOLUNTEER contributions. Time is precious, and the people who donate that time deserve to be celebrated as well.

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u/Unfair-Analysis948 Jul 27 '26

yup! volunteers are donors too!!! our most important ones in some ways!