End of Year Waltz on Facebook

The End of Year is always a busy time for fundraising.  Getting in end of year donations, mailings, thank you's and of course keeping up with social media and emails to both thank donors and get those last donations.  On the now working NJ Path to work  I put some thought into what to say to both thank our supporters and still try to trigger a few dollars because the clock strikes midnight. Since in my organization and those I work with (the Shelter) email usually need to be approved and lists are not easily accessible, Facebook and Twitter represent great ways to get the word out.

However, as we put together our messages, it's a real waltz to both thank donors and remind them "Get in those last minute dollars!" While some people think that we (fundraisers) just slap up Facebook messages and get to play on the Internet for a job, those of us that do this everyday know that we are constantly thinking about how to get the best response, target our audience, grow our base, figure out how to turn this into a fundraising tool, etc.  We carefully craft messages to coordinate with our activities, appeals, holidays, events, etc. So the end of year message is the pinnacle of our SM year.

I snagged a line I liked from PP for the Shelter asking volunteers and supporters why they supported the Shelter after a fellow volunteer had posted a thank you at 8am this morning (I was doing my dishes!).  I also pulled a quote from the volunteer we honored at our 30th Anniversary event. I already love the responses that have been posted and it's been shared on other pages.

Hoboken Shelter

“Every single time I go into The Shelter I hit the reset button. [Volunteering] is very therapeutic.” - Todd Kinney, 30th Anniversary Honoree. Why do YOU support the Hoboken Shelter?


Later I plan to cut and paste Jaclyn's winter note into a Facebook note and paste that up.  I'd like to pull from it how many people were helped.

For my regular job, I had previously pasted links to our Annual Report and asked about resolutions to do more pro bono work so today I went with a list of our major projects and a link to our donation page. Later I plan to post a thank you and happy New Year pic.

How are you thanking and getting your message out to donors for the end of the year?  What have been your favorite New Year's posts?