Holiday Gifts for the Fundraiser in Your Life

Give your favorite fundraiser joy this holiday season.

Fundraisers often approach the end of the year with a sense of urgency, with many facing fiscal year deadlines and the pressure to meet their fundraising goal. They may also be tasked with planning year-end giving drives and events, laying out budgets for the following year, and finding time to enjoy the holidays.

Simply put, it’s a great time to insert a little joy into the life of your favorite fundraiser with a thoughtful holiday gift. Don’t know where to start? Here’s a quick gift guide to inspire you this year.

The Erin Condren Life Planner

Fundraising friends have been going nuts over these artsy and inspiring planners. Gone are the days when you opened your calendar to rows upon rows of lines. Now, you can plan for mindfulness, exercise some creativity, and still create a reminder to follow up with that donor you just proposed to. The Erin Condren Life Planner is a way to offer a little brightness and a little structure to the lives of your friends in the business of resource development.

With dozens of unique and energetic designs, you’ll be able to find the perfect cover to match their style.

Dinner at the New Hot Spot

Fundraisers spend lots of time building relationships with donors at lunches, dinners, brunches, and cocktail hours. It might look posh from the outside, but when you’re cultivating donors, these mealtimes are anything but relaxing. Your fundraising friends are always “on” in these environments, attending to logistics and ensuring they get face time with key prospects. Why not reward them with a night out where they can just enjoy their experience?

Swanky Stationery

Writing donor thank you letters, sending special notes, and passing along some encouragement is something of a lost art, which is precisely why donor relations managers—always looking to leave a positive impression with every contact—take handwritten notes to be remembered. Capture the essence of your fundraising friend’s mission in a customized set of professional stationery. They’ll be touched that you included their passion in your gift.

Tickets to a Conference

Fundraising is doubtlessly a labor of love. With longer hours and lower pay, the nonprofit industry is driven by will and passion. Correspondingly, those in fundraising want to be at the top of their game, and there’s a national community of thought leaders constantly changing the fundraising and resource development game.

If you’re looking for a gift at a premium price point, consider tickets to a coveted fundraising conference, where your fundraiser will get face time with some of the industry’s best minds. Consider the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Fundraising Conference for leading development ideas or the Social Innovation Summit for those interested in emerging fundraising technology.

Author Bio

Clay Boggess has been designing fundraising programs for schools and various nonprofit organizations throughout the US since 1999. He’s helped administrators, teachers, and outside support entities such as PTAs and PTOs raise millions of dollars. Clay is an owner and partner at Big Fundraising Ideas.