Boost Your Business: Top Fundraising Tips You Need to Know

Fundraising works best when your message is clear, your timing is right, and your channels play well together. This guide pulls proven, recent insights into a simple plan you can use today.

You will find practical ideas you can ship right away, plus a few guardrails to keep your program compliant and donor-friendly. Keep it simple, measure what matters, and iterate fast.

Know Your Donors And Your Moment

Start with the people you actually have. Who gave last year, who lapsed, and who is brand new will shape tone, urgency, and ask amounts. Map your audience to the calendar so your stories align with what donors care about right now.

Zooming out helps, too. A national snapshot shows giving climbed in 2024, which means there is momentum to capture if your program stays relevant and consistent. One annual report tallied an estimated $592.50 billion given to U.S. charities last year, signaling a healthy pool of generosity. A separate business outlet noted that the total was up about 3.3% from 2023.

Big national days can lift even small programs when you plan early. With more total giving in the ecosystem, your chance to win attention grows when your message is timely, human, and specific.

Build A Comms Plan Around Consent And Trust

Great fundraising starts with permission. Make sure your data capture flows are clear about what people are signing up for and how often you will contact them. Then keep your word.

Compliance is part of trust. A recent Federal Register notice clarified that businesses must have prior express written consent before sending robocalls or robotexts that solicit. Treat that as your baseline, and store consent records where your team can easily audit them.

Trust also means choice. Offer simple frequency controls, honor opt-outs immediately, and respond quickly to replies. The tighter you manage expectations, the warmer your audience will feel when you do make an ask.

Craft Messages That Move People

Lead with one idea per message. Most donors scan, not study, so give them a tight subject line or opener, a valid reason to care, and a single action to take. Clarity beats clever.

Write for outcomes, not outputs. If you want a deeper dive on tactics for improving fundraising ROI with messaging, test short, specific asks tied to concrete impact, then reuse the winners across channels. Track each variant’s audience, timing, and results so your next round of messages gets sharper and more effective.

Keep the voice human. Avoid jargon, use examples, and anchor your ask to a person or moment your reader can picture. Short paragraphs and line breaks help readers breathe.

Combine Channels For Multipliers

Think of email, text, and social as a relay, not a race. Each touch should set up the next, repeating the same core idea in a new format. That repetition builds memory without feeling repetitive.

A testing lab found that pairing a text with an email appeal increased donations by double-digit percentages, showing how a light, well-timed nudge can unlock action that email alone misses. Another benchmarking source reports nonprofit email open rates around the high-20s, which means a large portion of your list never sees any given send.

Try this simple, one-week sprint to stress-test your mix:

• Day 1: Email with a single, specific story and ask.
• Day 2: Social thread that reuses the story in 3 bites.
• Day 3: Short text that echoes the ask for anyone who engaged.
• Day 5: Reminder email with progress and a fresh micro-ask.

Get Smarter With Texting

Text works best when it feels like a conversation. Warm people up before you make an ask so your appeal lands as part of a relationship, not a transaction. Timing and tone matter as much as content.

One study of nonprofit texting saw that sending a cultivation text before a fundraising text led to a jump in average gift size, highlighting the value of sequencing. Separately, an industry report measured median conversion rates for fundraising texts sent via short codes in the hundredths of a percent, which underscores why you should focus on quality targeting and follow-up, not sheer volume.

Keep replies open and real. Use quick-reply buttons, answer questions, and route complex conversations to staff or volunteers who can close the loop with care.

Make Email Earn Its Keep

Treat email like paid media - you have to justify. Every send should have a hypothesis, a primary metric, and a next action based on results. If a test wins, roll it out. If it loses, learn and move on.

Benchmarks show that for every 1,000 fundraising messages sent, returns are measurable but modest, which is why list health and segmentation are key. Sending less to the wrong people is often more profitable than sending more to everyone.

Sharpen the basics: one call to action, skimmable formatting, mobile-first design, and preheaders that extend the subject line. Then layer in A/B tests on sender name, length, and placement of your ask.

Rally Around Big Moments And P2P

Moments create meaning. Build a 60-day plan for key dates, including early list-building, partner outreach, and a crisp story you can tell across channels. Track momentum daily and celebrate progress publicly.

A major giving day recently saw billions donated with a double-digit percentage increase year over year, proof that coordinated attention can unlock generosity when you meet supporters where they are. In the peer-to-peer world, the top programs collectively cleared more than a billion dollars, which shows how mobilizing your community can multiply reach and revenue.

Use leaderboards, matching minutes, and progress thermometers to keep energy high. When the clock is ticking, clear visuals and short updates help donors choose to act now.

Fundraising does not have to be complicated. Choose one audience, one story, and one action, then connect your channels so each touch lifts the next. Small, steady improvements compound.

Stay close to your numbers and even closer to your supporters. When you listen well and keep your promises, your program grows stronger with every message you send.