Year-end can make it feel like email is doing all the work — one more appeal, one more reminder, one more “last chance” subject line.

But the biggest revenue jumps can happen when email isn’t a solo act. 

They happen when every channel is on the same page: the same message, the same deadline replayed on social, in ads, via SMS, and on your site.

That consistency creates a rising tide effect. By the time your appeal hits the inbox, donors have already heard the song — and they’re ready to act.

Here are a few examples of that in action:

DigDeep: email shines when it’s not doing all the work
CauseMic’s year-end case study with DigDeep is basically a love letter to multichannel fundraising.

Heading into Q4, DigDeep already had strong storytelling but needed help getting it in front of the right people and turning passive interest into actual donations. 

Instead of just “more email,” they built a fully integrated play:

  • Segmented and automated donor journeys

  • SMS, social ads, and direct mail messaging marching in step with email

  • Donation pages tuned for conversion, plus better tracking to see which channels were pulling their weight 

The payoff:

  • $1.6 million raised during year-end

  • 324% YoY increase in year-end revenue

  • 273% YoY increase on Giving Tuesday alone

  • Strong conversion rates: 52% sitewide and 46% for email journeys

Every SMS reminder, every ad impression, and every well-timed mail piece made the email ask landing in the supporter’s inbox feel like the natural next step — not the first time the donor had heard from them.

Save the Redwoods: digital surround sound for a 247% lift
Save the Redwoods League needed to raise money fast to protect the Lost Coast Redwoods — a 3,181-acre property on California’s rugged northern coast. 

For their December year-end push, they worked with K2D to build a digital-only multichannel campaign around a matching-gift offer. 

Their play:

  • Utilize compelling imagery to make the urgency of securing this property clear

  • Implement a homepage takeover and sitewide lightbox so web visitors couldn’t miss the campaign

  • Run Facebook ads that followed the same story + visuals donors were seeing in their inboxes

The payoff:

  • $250,329 raised

  • A 247% increase over their previous year-end campaign

Again, email wasn’t alone. The homepage and lightbox caught casual site visitors; Facebook ads followed people who’d clicked but hadn’t yet given. 

When the “last chance” emails hit, donors had already seen the redwoods — and the match — multiple times.

The bottom line
If year-end email is struggling, the answer may not always be a new subject line or a fresh CTA. 

When you surround donors with consistent messages across channels, your email program doesn’t just “hold its own” — it becomes the finisher for a much bigger, better-orchestrated game.

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'Til next time!
Sara

P.S. Looking to add donors to your email list before year-end comes knocking? See how Civic Shout can help.

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