As December 31 and the deadline for charitable deductions for the 2011 tax year approaches, will your school be available to accept these last-minute donations?
A good bet is that your school will be closed for the holiday break. Back in 2005, ISM did a random survey, calling 20 private-independent schools across the country. About 60% of the time, we received a “Happy Holidays, we’re closed” type of message. Only 25% had someone answering the phone and connecting us to the Development Office. If it was a potential donor, chances are the donor would have moved on to an organization that could accept the donation in time for the cut off.
Ideally, your Development Office should never close. Some schools do bring in a limited staff a for a few days up to December 31 just so donors have someone to connect with and make the donation. However, there are other ways to handle year-end giving without physically keeping the office open.
- If you can accept donations online, you are way ahead of the game. Leave clear, recorded instructions on how to donate online, and make sure that the “donate now” button is really easy to find! Then you need to have a staffer available to process the credit card donations.
- Use your social media outlets—Facebook, Twitter, etc—to post the donation link to your friends and followers. You can use tweet scheduling through such sites as TweetDeck.com and HootSuite.com to make sure your message and link post at the times you want—without you having to hit the “share” or “submit” button every time.
- Have a Development Officer on-call to take donations. Leave clear instructions on your voice recording with a number to call to reach this officer.
Want to explore more about year-end giving? We have a recorded Webinar for you, led by Michael Christopher, Assistant Headmaster—School Advancement for Lausanne Collegiate School (TN) and ISM Adjunct Development Consultant. Year-End Giving covers these topics and more:
- Using year-end giving as a cultivation opportunity
- The Annual Fund and year-end giving
- Rules and regulations concerning year-end giving
- Best practices by Development Offices at the end of the calendar year
- Best practices for closing the year and reporting to donors
The cost is $129 ($119 for ISM Consortium Gold members). Find it in our Recorded Webinar Library here.
Additional ISM articles of interest
ISM Monthly Update for Development Vol. 8 No. 8 Online Giving Is Growing ? How Well Does Your School Communicate?
ISM Monthly Update for Development Vol. 8 No. 6 Tips to Promote Online Giving to Your School
Additional ISM articles for Consortium Members
Ideas & Perspectives Vol. 25 No. 3 Online Shopping Rebates: Balance Dollars and Drawbacks
To the Point Vol. 7 No 6 Point Parents Ask: Just What Does the Annual Fund DO, Anyway?
