There’s a certain suspension that takes place toward the end of the year, between the winter holidays and the New Year celebrations. Many businesses close, healthy eating practices are abandoned and people lay in wait for January (and a normal routine) to begin.

While nonprofits certainly don’t halt operations and fundraising during the winter holidays— quite the opposite, in fact— these organizations do go through their own hibernation-esque period. It’s just a little bit later, after the start of the new year.

January marks the end of the year-end giving season, which for many nonprofits represents their biggest fundraising push of the entire year. Outreach is amplified and donors are showing up in increasing amounts and giving more at that. However, once January 1st hits, the season is over.

At this point, your staffers might be tired after successfully navigating such a busy season. Further, your donors might be tired of being contacted! Despite that, you don’t want to lose the momentum raised by the year-end season.

How do you maintain motivation in your staffers and donors following such a busy season? Do you focus on donor appreciation, or maybe strengthening internal operations? We’ve pulled together 5 strategies to help you maintain motivation after the new year begins. During the early weeks of the year, try to:

• Take a moment away from the spotlight.
• Energize your team by improving internally.
• Revisit key metrics from the year before.
• Organize one-on-one sit-downs with stakeholders.
• Set overall resolutions for the year.

Whether stepping back from the spotlight, organizing one-on-one sit-downs, or even hiring a fundraising consultant, there are plenty of tips you can use to keep the ball rolling. Let’s explore a few!

Take a moment away from the spotlight.

As fundraisers, we spend the second half of the year planning for its final five-or-so weeks. When the year-end giving season arrives, it does so with a whirlwind of giving appeals and thank-you notes.

For those final weeks, your staff is busy— and honestly, that’s downplaying things. Through all of that hustle-and-bustle, your staff achieved amazing things (for many nonprofits, their biggest fundraising revenue of the entire year!)

With that in mind, it’s okay to take a moment to sit back in the glow of success. Even if just for a few days, let your staff take a breath and your donors enjoy uncluttered inboxes!

While you shouldn’t spend months focusing solely on behind-the-scenes tasks, the first few days/weeks wouldn’t hurt. Just take a tip from this year-round giving FAQ, which reinforces that spacing out your donation appeals is a helpful tactic.

Energize your team by improving internally.

While you take a moment away from the spotlight, use that time to breathe new life into your nonprofit’s team. This includes optimizing your internal processes and revamping the resources you’ve provided them with in the past.

This includes:

• Your internal operations. Consider how aspects of your nonprofit’s operations, such as communication, delegation, participation culture and incentivization were handled in the year prior. Are there any places where these staff experiences could be improved?
• A freshly-organized donor database. Clean-up your donor data to ensure staffers have easy access to all the information they may need. Revisit your data entry practices for places of improvement and communicate any changes in method to staffers.
• Your case for support. Revisit your key marketing collateral, such as your case for support, and make sure it’s still reflective of your nonprofit’s mission. Remember, this is both a tool to educate your donors as well as a tool for your staffers and volunteers to refer back to, so you want to make sure it’s up-to-date with your current fundraising objectives.
• Your fundraising calendar. Dedicate time to laying out a comprehensive calendar to let team members know what the next year has in store. Whether that’s your annual charity golf tournament, the final days of your biggest capital campaign yet, or simply a donor thank-you-thon, you should outline key deadlines and benchmarks to help your staff stay on track.

Motivate your staffers and volunteers by making sure they have everything they need to fundraise confidently in the new year. Plus, seeing all of these resources and improved operations laid out will be exciting— there’s just so much to look forward to!

Review key metrics from the year before.

The previous tips have focused on maintaining motivation in your internal operations. Now, let’s turn to your donors.

First and foremost, avoid using the early days, even weeks, of the year to start soliciting donations.

For many supporters, the year-end season brought with it increased gift solicitations and likely increased giving on their end in return. Would you want to be asked to give more money, after you’ve just been contacted for two months straight? Probably not!

Instead, use the start of the year as a reflection period. Look back on all that your donors, and therefore your nonprofit, accomplished in the past year and build excitement for future appeals. Send out a rundown of the year prior, referencing key metrics found in your nonprofit’s CRM (learn more here). Consider the following example:

• “During the year-end giving season, generous donors gave $100,000 to the Southeastern Humane Society. Let’s look at what your gifts accomplished.”

Start with an eye-catching number, such as the total incoming donations brought in from your year-end giving push. Then, follow it up with what will be accomplished with those gifts.

• “Those gifts provide veterinary care for each and every animal in our custody, thanks now to fully-funded, state-of-the-art upgrades to our internal veterinary clinic.”

Your donors accomplished an amazing thing at the end of the year and it’s time to congratulate them! End this communication with a quick look forward to what you have in store for the next year and use the excitement of the year prior to fuel upcoming initiatives.

Organize one-on-one sit-downs with key stakeholders.

When you’re completing any type of major fundraising campaign, you start with a feasibility study. Why should your new year of fundraising be treated any differently?

The beginning of the year is the perfect time to review what worked in the year prior, what didn’t and what you’d like to see happen going forward. Include key movers-and-shakers (nonprofit leaders, major donors, community leaders, key volunteers) in this conversation by organizing one-on-one sit-downs to review the year prior.

Holding these conversations early in the year ensures the information is fresh in their minds. Ask questions such as:

• What was your favorite initiative we held last year?
• What was your least favorite?
• What would you like to see us accomplish in the new year?
• Where do you think our nonprofit could improve?
• How could we improve your experience with our organization?

Including key stakeholders when forming your fundraising strategy for the year ensures they know they’re an integral part of the team. This is a great development strategy since when someone knows their importance, they’re more likely to continue contributing!

Consider bringing on a fundraising consultant to facilitate these conversations. When a third-party handles these talks, participants are more likely to be forthright and honest with their answers. After all, no one wants to criticize someone to their face!

If that seems like a good solution for your organization, learn more about hiring a general fundraising expert or more specifically a capital campaign consultant through this Aly Sterling Philanthropy guide.

Set a few overall resolutions for the year.

After you’ve spoken with your staffers and key stakeholders, consider which resolutions you want to set for the new year. Set these resolutions with all that you’ve learned from these stakeholders in mind— for example, don’t set an overall donation goal significantly higher than what you did the year before if your staffers struggled to hit that initial goal to begin with.

Consider the following resolutions:

• Increased donor retention.
• Higher volunteer participation.
• Successful implementation of new technology.
• Increased grant writing success (check out this Grants Plus guide for more information).
• Overall fundraising donation goal.

Aim to apply numerical values to these resolutions, so success will be easily measurable. In addition to outlining these goals, outline benchmarks and a timeline for checking in on your success. Setting these goals is another area where it’s especially helpful to hire a fundraising consultant.

Communicate these resolutions to your staffers with some sort of kick-off event, whether a staff-wide meeting or a celebration of some sort. Ensure everyone is on the same page so you can truly get after those goals in the new year.

The period after the year-end giving season can be odd for nonprofits to navigate. You spent the past few months building momentum for the end of the year, but then once January begins, that momentum is gone!

With the above tips, you’ll be able to maintain motivation both in your staffers and donors as you take on this new year. Instead of losing that #GivingTuesday energy, you can build off it heading into the new season.