Three Practical Tips to Engage Your Board in Year-End Giving

Year-end can feel crazy. In the swirl of appeals, events, and deadlines, your board can be the difference between a good year-end and a great one. The key is lowering the friction, clarifying the “how,” and celebrating momentum in real time.

Here’s a streamlined plan your board can actually do.

Offer a clear role menu—and a simple starting point

Vague requests create hesitation. Give board members a short set of ways to help, and invite them to pick one. I like the SOAR framework—Share, Open doors, Advocate, Recognize—because it’s intuitive and bite-sized.

• Share: Repost our year-end social media message with one sentence about why they give.

• Open doors: Send a two-line intro between your ED and their company’s community relations lead.

• Advocate: Invite staff to speak at a club, faith group, or chapter meeting.

• Recognize: Make two gratitude calls to recent donors or volunteers.

At your next board meeting, build in 15 minutes to let your board members act on their choices—step into the hall to make calls, pull out laptops for emails, post on social. Micro-wins create momentum.

Make outreach easy: prep the names, the words, and the moment

Boards act when the path is clear. If you want notes written or calls made, provide what they need in one place.

• Give them context: donor name, latest gift, brief relationship notes.

• Hand them words: two short scripts (written + voicemail).

• Create the moment: provide time at your next board meeting for them to make calls or set aside a special "thank-a-thon" hour virtually or in-person to do outreach together.

Email script:

Subject: You made our holiday season!

Dear [Name],

Your gift of $[X] warmed our hearts this season. Thank you for making space to help during such a busy time. As a board member, I see every day how gifts like yours turn into real moments of care. Just last week, I walked through our food shelf on the way to a board meeting and saw a mom and her son picking out cake mix and icing for his birthday. Your support helps create that sense of normalcy and community for families facing food insecurity.

With gratitude,

[Your Name]

(Want a nudge for outreach instead of thanks? Try: “I just made my year-end gift because [1-line impact]. If you’re able to join me, here’s the link: [short link]. Even $[amount] covers [tangible outcome]. Thank you for considering it.”)

Ask them to lead with participation and seed a match. Then, make sure to celebrate momentum.

Board leadership sets tone. Aim for 100% participation (define what your organization defines as participation clearly), and invite those with capacity to seed a match to leverage other gifts. Name it everywhere supporters will see it, and celebrate micro-wins to keep energy high.

• Public line: “Our board is all-in—100% participation and a $15,000 match through Dec 31. Join them: [link].”

• Celebrate progress: “Quick update: We’ve nearly met the match—and it’s only Dec 1! Your generosity encouraged others; 22 donors increased their gifts over last year.”

Make it doable, make it visible, make it joyful

Year-end engagement isn’t about heroic effort or sacrificing yourself on the fundraising altar;  it’s about small, shared commitments that make the work easier—and more sustainable. Give your board a simple menu, prepare the names and the words, and help them feel good about leading giving.

Keep it clear, keep it small, keep it celebrated—and you’ll not only finish December strong, you’ll step into January with better habits and a board that knows how to move the needle.

Frances Roen: Frances Roen is a Georgia girl at heart, and has been graciously adopted by beautiful, snowy Minnesota. She is a forty-something daughter, friend, mom, wife, and entrepreneur, and is always on the look-out for a perfectly fried piece of chicken.

Frances is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) with nearly 20 years of experience fundraising and has raised over $200M for nonprofits. She has held fundraising positions at The Bakken Museum, Augustana Care Corporation, and YouthLink and consulted with dozens of nonprofits clients across the globe. In these roles she has been responsible for all aspects of fundraising including comprehensive campaigns, major and planned gifts, annual funds, events, communications, corporate partnerships and volunteers.