7 Strategic Moves to Build a Stronger Fundraising Pipeline Before Giving Season

Fundraising, Giving, Strategy

July 15, 2026 | 12 min read By: Catherine LaCour

Key Takeaways:

Approximately 36% of annual revenue is generated in the final months of the year, so Q3 is a critical planning period for Q4 success.
Build relationships in the months leading up to giving season through impact updates, volunteer opportunities, and personalized outreach.
Use donor data—such as giving history, behavior, and interests—to create distinct audience segments, which allows for more relevant messaging and higher response rates.
Ensure your organization is enrolled in workplace giving platforms and verify your information is accurate, as corporate matching gifts and workplace giving programs are significant, often underutilized, revenue streams
Refresh your impact stories and testimonials before October, ensuring your messaging clearly connects donations to specific outcomes to build trust with donors.

Nearly one-third of annual charitable giving occurs in December alone, so we pulled together a step-by-step-guide to maximize year-end giving. By the time most nonprofits begin planning their giving season campaigns, many donors have already decided which organizations they’ll support. That’s why the strongest giving seasons begin long before October. Fundraisers starting Q4 with a healthy pipeline, strong donor relationships, and clear fundraising strategies are better positioned to stand out, retain supporters, and maximize revenue.

Here are some questions every fundraiser should ask before Q4

If I were a first-time donor, what would convince me to give?
What donor questions can’t be answered on our website?
Do we make it obvious how donations create impact?
Which donors haven’t heard from us since they donated?
Which supporters are one conversation away from becoming recurring donors?

Here are seven strategic revenue plays fundraising teams can take now to strengthen their pipelines and position themselves for a successful year-end giving season.

1. Connect With Donors Pre-Campaign to Prevent Asks from Landing Cold

One of the biggest mistakes fundraisers make is waiting until year-end to reach out to supporters. Use the months leading up to giving season to engage donors through impact updates, stories from beneficiaries, volunteer opportunities, and personalized outreach. Building meaningful touchpoints before an appeal creates stronger donor relationships and increases the likelihood of future gifts.

30-Minute Action Step: Pull a list of donors who gave last year but haven’t interacted with your organization in the past six months. Ask yourself:

Have they received an impact update since their last gift?
Have they been thanked beyond the initial acknowledgement?
Have they been invited to engage in a non-fundraising way, such as attending an event, reading a success story, or volunteering?
Would they recognize the progress their previous gift helped make?

Choose 20 donors and send a personalized email that shares a recent success story, expresses appreciation for their past support, and invites them to stay connected. Don’t ask for another donation. The goal is simply to strengthen the relationship before the giving season begins.

2. Prioritize Retaining Existing Donors

Acquiring new donors is important, but long-term sustainability depends on building lasting relationships with existing supporters. Donor stewardship shouldn’t begin with the next fundraising appeal; it should begin the moment someone makes their first gift. Every interaction is an opportunity to build trust and deepen a donor’s connection to your mission. Timely thank you notes acknowledge their generosity, while regular impact updates, heartfelt stories from the communities you serve, invitations to events, etc., demonstrate how their support makes a meaningful difference. By consistently showing donors the value of their support, fundraisers create stronger emotional connections that encourage continued engagement long before giving season.

Review your donor files to identify individuals who gave during last year’s giving season but haven’t engaged in the last 6 months. Reconnecting with these donors through meaningful stewardship, rather than a solicitation, can strengthen relationships.

30-Minute Action Step: Create a “last year’s donor” segment and develop a personalized stewardship plan before October. Ask:

Have they received more than one thank-you?
Have they received an impact update?
Has anyone called them?
Have they been invited to an event?
Have they received anything that wasn’t another donation request?

If the answer is “no” to most of these, you’ve identified one of your biggest opportunities before Q4.

3. Audit Your Donor Segmentation Strategy

Today’s donors expect communications that feel personal, relevant, and authentic. They expect organizations to remember them and understand their interests. Nonprofits aren’t only competing with other charities; they’re competing with every personalized digital experience donors have every day. Generic emails and one-size-fits-all appeals can make donors feel like they’re on a mailing list rather than a valued partner. Effective segmentation allows nonprofits to move beyond broad marketing messages to create communications that reflect each donor’s unique relationship with the organization.

Consider how a first-time donor should be welcomed differently than a long-time donor or how to share impact data with a volunteer versus a corporate partner. Even small personalizations, like prior involvement, recent gifts, or program support, can make communications feel more like one-on-one conversations rather than marketing appeals. Effective fundraisers use donor behavior, giving history, interests, and engagement patterns to create more relevant communications. These strategic segmentations resonate with audiences, improving response rates.

30-Minute Action Step: Review your donor database and create distinct communication plans based on specific audiences. Beyond simply grouping donors, create:

“Upgrade Candidates” (gave 2-3 years consecutively)
“Almost Lapsed” (gave last year but not yet this year)
“Highly Engaged Non-Donors” (volunteers, event attendees)
“Corporate Employees” (eligible for workplace giving)
“Major Gift Pipeline”

From there, create a strong communication strategy targeted to each audience’s historic engagement and their potential to support your nonprofit in the coming months and years.

4. Capture Workplace Giving Opportunities

Many nonprofits leave funding on the table because they are not fully leveraging workplace giving programs, matching gifts, and corporate philanthropy opportunities. With over 27 million donors participating in workplace giving programs, ensuring your organization is visible and eligible can create an additional source of year-end revenue. In 2025, 46% of donations disbursed by The Blackbaud Giving Fund were funded by company dollars, which includes matching gifts. Corporate giving opens doors to employee giving and matching programs that can turn into major, recurring givers, especially as Millennials and Gen Z’s earning potential continues to rise.

30-Minute Action Step: Verify that your nonprofit’s information is accurate and complete within Blackbaud Verified Network to ensure you are properly positioned to receive matching gift contributions from corporate giving programs, and your banking information is accurate to receive funds faster.

Take It A Step Further:

Review employer data from last year’s donors.
Identify companies that already have employees giving.
Build employer-specific outreach.
Promote matching gifts in every donation receipt.
Add workplace giving messaging to your year-end campaign.

These steps will ensure every donor and corporate partner is aware that your nonprofit can receive workplace giving donations through workplace giving platforms.

5. Identify Promising Donor Prospects

Q4 is not the time to guess which donors may be ready for a larger gift. Use the months before giving season to identify supporters who have increased their giving, demonstrated higher engagement, or shown interest in specific programs. Even a simple prospect review can uncover opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.

30-Minute Action Step: Identify your top 25-50 donor prospects who may be ready for a deeper level of engagement. Look for people who have:

Increased their gift amount over the past two or three years.
Given multiple times within the last 18 months.
Attended events or volunteered in addition to donating.
Consistently opened emails or engaged with your communications.
Given through an employer or participated in a matching gift program.

For each prospect, write down one personalized next step, such as a phone call, coffee meeting, handwritten note, behind-the-scenes tour, or invitation to an upcoming event. Major gifts often begin with meaningful conversations, not bigger asks.

6. Gather Fresh Proof of your Impact

Donors want to understand the difference their contributions make. Before October, review your impact reporting, success stories, and fundraising messaging. Make sure all communications clearly connect donations to outcomes and demonstrate how donor support advances your mission. Nonprofits that communicate impact consistently throughout the year build greater trust with supporters, which leads to increased donations.

Action Step: Pretend you’re preparing the year-end appeal and gather the supporting evidence you have available today. Ask yourself:

Do we have recent stories from beneficiaries or program participants?
Are our impact statistics from this year or last year?
Do we have compelling photos or videos that illustrate our mission in action?
Can we clearly answer the question, “What changed because donors gave?”
Is there a quote from someone we’ve helped that could strengthen our fundraising message?

If you struggle to answer “yes” to several of these questions, create a running “impact library” where staff can regularly add stories, photos, testimonials, and measurable outcomes throughout the year. Building this habit now will make year-end fundraising more authentic and less stressful.

7. Evaluate Your Digital Fundraising Experience

Today’s donors expect online giving experiences to be simple, intuitive, and mobile-friendly. Before year-end traffic increases, test your donation process from start to finish. Evaluate page load speeds, mobile responsiveness, donation forms, confirmation emails, and recurring giving options. Small improvements can remove friction and increase conversion rates. In 2025, online giving grew about 11%, with exponential growth of 15% in November, highlighting the ongoing importance of these channels to support donor preferences during key fundraising moments.

30-Minute Action Step: Conduct a “Donor Experience Audit” by having someone outside your organization:

Visit your website
Make a $25 donation
Read the confirmation email
Try finding your impact report
Find your EIN
Look for leadership information
Search your nonprofit in Google and AI tools

Then ask them: Would you trust this organization enough to donate again? What can improve your donor experience by 10%?

The Bottom Line

A successful giving season doesn’t happen by accident. High-performing, successful fundraisers use late summer to:

Clean and enrich donor data.
Review last year’s campaign performance before planning the next one.
Call top donors before asking for another gift.
Test donation forms.
Update impact stories with fresh statistics.
Review employer matching gift eligibility.
Confirm their nonprofit profiles are accurate across giving platforms.

Fundraisers don’t need to overhaul their entire development program before giving season. Even a handful of focused, strategic improvements can strengthen the fundraising pipeline, increase donor engagement, and position themselves for stronger year-end results and greater impact.

Are You Ready for Giving Season?

Rate your organization on a scale of 1 to 5 in the categories below:

__ We have a stewardship calendar.

__ We’ve identified last year’s donors.

__ We’ve segmented audiences.

__ Our donation page has been tested.

__ We’ve updated our impact stories.

__ We promote matching gifts.

__ Our Blackbaud Verified Network profile is complete.

__ Our nonprofit information appears accurately in AI searches.

__ Leadership is participating in donor stewardship.

__ We’ve planned post-donation communications.

Score:

40-50: You’re positioned for a strong Q4.

25-39: Good foundation, but there are opportunities to strengthen your strategy.

Below 25: Focus on relationship-building and donor experience before launching year-end campaigns.

Create your free account on Blackbaud Verified Network and start receiving donations faster.

Already have a profile? Make sure it’s active and up to date so you’re not leaving funding on the table.

Learn how to build long-term corporate partnerships, turn volunteer events into lasting donor relationships, and access other free resources on our blog.

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