[Year-end] Episode 2: Build an Offer Donors Can Finish

Dana laid last year's year-end letter on Marcus's desk. Across the top it said, "Help us fight hunger in our community." She asked him one question: "If you got this in the mail, how much would you give?" He honestly didn't know. In episode two of Finish Strong, we turn a sincere slogan into a real offer, one your donors can picture, afford, and finish.

In this episode you'll learn how to:

• Build an offer with four parts: a specific need, a price, an outcome, and a deadline. For Riverbend, that's "Keep the shelves full in January. Forty dollars gives a family a week of groceries."
• Create an offer ladder where every gift level is tied to its own outcome, plus a monthly option.
• Start each donor's ask near their last gift, even with a basic donor database.
• Use a simple one-to-one match. Research by Karlan and List found that announcing a match raised giving, and bigger ratios did no better than one-to-one.
• Find a match from your board, a top donor, or a local business, and hear what that ask meeting actually sounds like.
• Run your match honestly: launch it on Giving Tuesday, be clear about the terms, and never fake one.
• Use AI to brainstorm offer lines, then pick the one a donor could repeat to a friend.

Riverbend Community Food Pantry is a fictional organization, but if you've worked at a small nonprofit, you'll recognize it. When you give donors a job they can finish, you let them be the hero of the story.

Resources mentioned

• Finish Strong Full Course
• Free 12 Days to Build a Great Year-End Fundraising Plan