End-of-year fundraising: how to rank and reach your best donors

Year-end is here, and the hard question is the same one fundraisers face all year: who should we focus on first? Your best December donors are already sitting in your file, so the real challenge is finding them before the giving window closes.

In the November product office hours for Australia and New Zealand, product manager, Anna Kauffman, walked through new features built for this exact moment. Here is what they do and how your team can use them before 31 December.

Your year-end regulars are twice as likely to give again this month

One number set the tone. Year-end regulars are 2 times more likely to give again in December than other donors. These are people who gave one-off gifts in two or more Decembers, including last year. They are a small group with a strong signal, and they should sit near the top of your list.

That is the idea behind the first new feature.

Seasonal Insights rank six year-end lists for you

Most Dataro insights react to something a donor just did: a new gift, a milestone, a change in score. That approach works in March, but a donor who gives every December can look completely ordinary the rest of the year.

Seasonal Insights solve that by analysing your previous year-end seasons. Through 31 December, you receive six ranked lists built from your CRM history, with the donors to contact first positioned at the top:

• Year-end regulars: your 2 times group, ordered by how many Decembers in a row they gave.

• Not yet given this year: last year's donors who are quiet so far. This is often your biggest segment and your main reactivation ask.

• Year-end mid-level prospects: December givers who could give at a higher level, ordered by mid-level score.

• First year-end donors: people whose first gift landed this year, so this is a welcome as much as an ask.

• Giving Tuesday givers: donors who gave within two days of last year's Giving Tuesday. This one is strongest for US groups.

• Top donors of the year: your top 1% by giving, a natural thank-you call list. This list appears from 1 December.

Dataro rebuilds each list every week from your latest sync, so it stays current. Each list holds up to 1,000 donors. A donor can appear on more than one list, so de-duplicate before you combine lists into one appeal.

Fixed size builds a list to the exact number you planned

Most teams start year-end with a number rather than a filter, because the mail house quoted 5,000 and the call centre has room for 2,000 calls.

The new fixed size option counts after your filters and exclusions. Dataro removes your suppressions first, ranks whoever is left, then keeps exactly the top number you set. You can order by mail score, giving or other data, and break ties on criteria you choose. No more guessing where the cutoff lands.

Filter presets and segments cut the repeat setup

If you start every build with the same suppressions or filters, you can now save them as a preset and reuse them each time. You can save column sets too, or make one your default.

Segments handle the step that comes after building a list. Say you want one list for mail and one for email. Dataro can split the file by recommended channel, then let you save and export both the full file and each segment. The full file can push to your CRM. Segments export as CSV for now, with CRM support planned.

Anniversary filters turn one setup into a weekly list

Any date filter now has an anniversary option for first gift, last gift, largest gift, created date or any gift. Pick a date, choose the anniversary and set the window.

That covers three year-end moments. A donor hitting five years since her first December gift is ready for a milestone thank-you. A donor whose gift anniversary falls in the next 30 days is a natural reactivation nudge. A first-time donor from last December is a good thank-you and a gentle ask to give again.

Because the window counts from today, a saved anniversary audience rolls forward on its own. Set it once, and this week's list becomes every week's list.

Five smaller upgrades make year-end smoother

Dataro also shipped quality-of-life improvements:

• Chat with support from inside the app.

• Push audiences to Mailchimp.

• Look up donors by email.

• Flag deceased donors on their profile, with the source shown, so your outreach stays respectful.

What is coming next

Several features are in beta or close behind. Donor Map shows where your donors sit by geography, down to postcode level, across 16 metrics, and lets you build an audience straight from the map. Tracked audiences get a new setup wizard that defines a starting group and a target outcome, then reports who converted and who they are.

Action tracking lets you set insight preferences by role, log activities on a donor and keep a shared history your whole team can see. Embedded experiences will surface Dataro insights and scores inside your CRM, starting with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce, then Microsoft Dynamics.

Practical takeaways

• Start with your ranked lists. Seasonal Insights tell you who to contact first.

• Build to your capacity. Fixed size matches the list to your budget, not the other way around.

• Save your setup once. Presets, segments and anniversary filters remove repeat work every week.

• De-duplicate before you send so no donor gets the same ask twice.

Year-end is busy, but the decisions do not have to be guesswork. Your best donors are already in your data. These features help you rank them, size the list to your plan and reach out while there is still time to close 2026 well.