We’re in the final month of the year. But before winding down for the festive season, a quick end-of-year data review will help showcase your fundraising success this year and set you up for 2026. Here are three data points you need to temperature check before the year ends.
Check in on your fundraising targets
It is time to revisit the beloved table of gifts. Did things go to plan, or are there areas that need tweaking in the new year?
Categorise your income by individual giving, major donors, trusts, corporates, and other sources. Take stock of the categories that performed as expected and the ones that fell behind.
Check your timing against your income targets. If gifts were delayed, what caused it? Did a lack of research resources or cultivation delays impact giving? With this knowledge, you can adjust your 2026 strategy accordingly.
Audit and rank your prospects
Did the hot ones deliver? Rank your prospects and compare them to where they were at the start of the year. Who’s moved? Who’s stuck and what can you do to change that in the new year? We use six categories to rank prospects.
- Cold prospects: they can afford to give, but you don’t know if they’re interested in giving.
- Cool prospects: They can afford to give and have given to your kind of cause in the past.
- Lukewarm prospects: They have the ability to give and are already in your database.
- Warm prospects: Given the right treatment, you think they will give.
- Hot prospects: You have met them, they are interested, and they can make a significant gift.
- Red hot prospects: Potential donors whose behaviour indicates a major gift is likely soon.
Look out for donor trends
Use your donor management system, CRM, and email marketing platform to spot donor trends. Who has opened emails, responded to communications or attended events. Look for patterns in your donors’ giving behaviour. Are they giving at the same time annually? Have their gifts increased or decreased, and can you identify anything in their personal life or economically that may have caused this?
Did your donor conversion rate align with what you expected? Review how many cultivation efforts and how much it typically costs (staff time, research tools, donor engagement activities) to secure a major gift.
Analyse what’s working and what’s not. What factors lead to a successful conversion to a major gift? Does it come down to timing, who made the ask, how many events a prospect attended, or how personalised the ask was? Take those learnings and apply them to next year’s fundraising strategy.
Will 2026 be the year you discover your major gift fundraising potential? If so, we’re here to help. At Prospecting for Gold, we specialise in research, wealth screening, consultancy and regulatory compliance, making fundraising more effective and successful.
Get in touch to start your research-based fundraising journey.