Every fall, most small nonprofits spend weeks on the year-end appeal. The story gets rewritten, the reply card gets proofed, the email series gets scheduled. Then that same letter goes to everyone on the file, including the 25 people who will give a large share of the money you raise this year.
That’s backwards. The donors who matter most to your budget are the ones most likely to receive the least personal version of your ask.
This article makes a simple case: before your appeal mails, your top donors should hear from a person, with a specific request, in a real conversation. Here’s how to pick who gets that, what to say, and how to fit it into a November that’s already full.
Most of your year-end money comes from a small group
The national data has been pointing in one direction for a while. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s full-year 2025 report found that dollars rose an estimated 5.0% over 2024 while the number of donors fell 3.6%. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s coverage of that report, almost 80% of dollars came from donors giving more than $5,000 in a year, and only about 6% came from donors giving $500 or less.
Timing adds to it. The Blackbaud Institute reported that 34% of all 2024 giving it tracked happened in the last three months of the year.
Put those two facts together and the math is uncomfortable. A big portion of your year sits in a few months, and a big portion of those months sits with a few people. Your organization may not match the national numbers exactly. A small shop might not have many $5,000 donors at all. But the pattern usually holds at every size: a short list of people gives a disproportionate share of the money.
So what? It means the highest-return hours you can spend between now and Thanksgiving probably aren’t on the appeal copy. They’re on the phone.
Pull the list before you finalize the appeal
Start with your own data, not the national averages. Run a report of every donor’s total giving over the last 24 months, not just their last gift. Two years smooths out the donor who gave once because of a crisis and catches the loyal donor who skipped a year. Sort from highest to lowest and look at the top 25.
Here’s a hypothetical to show why this matters. Imagine a literacy program with 1,200 donors that raised $480,000 from individuals last year. Its top 25 donors gave $192,000 combined. That’s 40% of individual giving from about 2% of donors, an average of $7,680 each. The other 1,175 donors averaged about $245.
Now look at how that organization probably spends its fall. Most of the effort goes into a letter designed for a $245 donor, which then also lands on the desk of someone who gave $8,000.
Once you have your list, check three things for each name:
- When did someone from your organization last talk with them, by phone or in person? Not an email blast. A conversation.
- When and how did they give last year? A check in mid-December, a stock transfer, a gift from a donor-advised fund?
- Is anything different this year? A new grandchild, a move, a retirement, a change in health you know about.
If the honest answer to the first question is “last December, when we mailed the appeal,” you’ve found the problem.
Not everyone on the list gets the same treatment
Twenty-five personal conversations in November is a lot for a two-person development office. You don’t have to do them all the same way. I’d sort the list into three groups.
Conversation first. Your top 10 to 15, or however many you can realistically reach. Each of these donors gets a call or visit in late October or November, with a specific ask for a specific amount. The appeal, if they get it at all, arrives after the conversation and refers to it.
Personal letter and follow-up call. The next group gets a letter written to them alone (not a merge field with their name in it), with a specific ask and a line saying you’ll call next week. Then you actually call.
The appeal, upgraded. Everyone else in the top 25 gets the regular appeal with a handwritten note from your executive director or a board member who knows them, and an ask amount based on their giving rather than the standard reply card. If you haven’t set those amounts yet, this guide to choosing year-end ask amounts walks through a simple formula.
The decision rule is capacity, not affection. Put people in the first group if a personal conversation could plausibly change the size of their gift. Put them lower if they’ve told you they prefer to give quietly by mail.
What the conversation actually sounds like
Many fundraisers dread these calls because they picture a hard sell. It doesn’t need to be one. Most of the conversation is about the donor’s last gift and what it did.
A simple structure:
- Thank them for last year’s gift and tell them one specific thing it made possible.
- Ask a real question. “What made you decide to give last December?” or “What do you most want to see us do next year?” Then listen. If you get stuck, these conversation starters for major donors can help.
- Share the one priority for the coming year that connects to what they just told you.
- Make a specific ask.
The ask might sound like this: “Last year your gift of $8,000 covered tutoring for two classrooms. This year we’re trying to add a third school. Would you consider a gift of $10,000 before the end of the year to help us get there?”
Then stop talking. Silence feels long on the phone. Let it be long.
Before you hang up, ask how they’d like to give. This is where a personal conversation does something a letter can’t. A donor 70½ or older may prefer to give from an IRA, and that has to be done before December 31 (here’s how to ask donors about QCD gifts at year-end). Another may want to give appreciated stock or recommend a grant from a donor-advised fund. Both take time to process, so knowing in November avoids a scramble on December 30.
What this could be worth
Back to the hypothetical literacy program. Say staff have real conversations with 15 of the top 25 donors. Ten of them agree to give 25% more than last year, and their last gifts averaged $8,000. That’s $2,000 more each, or $20,000 in additional revenue.
To raise the same $20,000 from new $50 donors, the program would need 400 of them. And based on FEP’s long-running retention data, most of those new donors wouldn’t give again the following year.
That’s an illustration, not a prediction. Some of your donors will say no. Some will say “not this year.” A few may give less. But the comparison shows why an hour on the phone with a top donor is usually worth more than an hour polishing paragraph three of a letter they’ll skim.
When the answer is “not this year”
You’ll hear it. A donor had a big expense, already committed elsewhere, or is waiting to see how the year ends financially. That’s useful information, not a failure.
Thank them, ask whether a different time would be better, and write it down. Then make sure they don’t get a follow-up appeal that ignores what they just told you. Few things undo a good conversation faster than a generic “We haven’t heard from you!” email in late December. Flag these donors in your database and suppress or edit their year-end emails accordingly.
Where to start this week
Don’t try to rebuild your entire year-end plan today. Run the 24-month giving report, sort it, and print the top 25 names. Next to each name, write the date of your last real conversation and the amount you’d ask for. Then block two hours on your calendar each week between now and Thanksgiving for calls.
If your appeal is already at the printer, that’s fine. You can still call. You just need to reach your top donors before it lands in their mailbox.
If you’d like help putting the personal asks, the appeal, the emails, and the follow-up into one plan, my year-end fundraising course walks through how to plan and run a year-end campaign. It’s there if it’s useful to you. Either way, make those calls.
