Case Study: Rebuilding an End-of-Year Fundraising Campaign in a Challenging Giving Environment

Client Type: Mid-sized human services nonprofit
Campaign: End-of-Year Appeal
Consultant Role: End-of-year campaign strategy, donor engagement, and execution support
Timeframe: 12 weeks

The Challenge

The organization entered its end-of-year campaign facing headwinds common across the sector: economic uncertainty, donor fatigue, and competition from a presidential election year. Prior campaigns relied heavily on small-dollar appeals, with limited structure for larger gifts and minimal coordination between donor segments.

The Strategy

Common Road Advisors designed and executed a cohesive end-of-year fundraising approach that aligned messaging, timing, and outreach across donor audiences:

Created a unified campaign narrative used across mail, digital, and personal outreach
Defined donor segments (small-dollar, mid-level, and larger-capacity donors) and tailored tactics for each
Deployed a coordinated mail and digital appeal to drive broad participation
Conducted personalized outreach—calls, emails, and site visit invitations—for higher-capacity and returning donors
Activated board members through structured phone banking and clear scripts
Implemented tracking systems to manage outreach, follow-up, and responses in real time

The Results

In a year when many nonprofits experienced flat or declining individual giving, the campaign delivered strong, measurable outcomes:

Total End-of-Year Revenue: $170,000+
Larger-Gift Contributions ($1,000+): $150,000+

More than four times the prior year’s total
Nearly one-fifth of this revenue came from new donors

Broad-Based Giving: $23,000+ from 200+ donors

Average gift just over $100
Clear giving spikes aligned with campaign touchpoints

Why It Worked

A single, coherent campaign story across all channels
Intentional segmentation without fragmenting the message
Board and leadership engagement that went beyond passive endorsement
Real-time coordination between strategy, outreach, and data

Key Takeaway

In uncertain giving environments, well-designed end-of-year campaigns that integrate broad appeals with personal engagement outperform one-size-fits-all approaches—and set the stage for long-term growth.