What actually worked in December

The final numbers for the 2025 year-end season are starting to trickle in.

If you feel like your email program worked twice as hard just to stay in the same place, you aren’t alone.

The trends we flagged after Giving Tuesday weren’t a blip. They were the blueprint for all of December.

Here’s what we’re hearing from the early post-mortems, and what emailers can take into 2026 planning:

A peek into the data
A few patterns are emerging:

The “Lipstick effect” in philanthropy. Media Cause's year-end analysis noted higher revenue but fewer gifts across its clients. 

When donor confidence is shaky, people don’t stop giving. They consolidate their investment in organizations they trust most. 

Classic urgency windows drove the majority of revenue. Media Cause also found that donations scaled 9x on December 31 and 6x on Giving Tuesday compared to mid-December norms. 

Avalon Consulting’s year-end analysis confirms the pattern: top-performing emails consistently clustered on 12/30–12/31, with the highest urgency-based response and revenue.

Less volume, better results. Avalon noted that some clients actually sent fewer emails year-over-year, yet saw improved response rates.

As always, you want to test, but it’s not surprising that stronger targeting and list hygiene can outperform sheer volume.

Tactics that moved the needle
A few specific findings worth noting for your 2026 plan:

Optimization of your donation page is a year-round priority. Avalon found that top-performing programs tested their forms continuously, not just right before year-end.

Small things like making the option to give monthly more prominent or implementing exit-intent popups (“Before you go: even $10 helps”) made a real difference when page traffic peaked.

The 60-minute trigger. If your platform allows it, set up an automated email for donors who start a gift but don’t finish. 

Fundraise Up found that sending the first reminder exactly one hour after abandonment produced a 5.7% lift in donation conversion.

Treat SMS as email’s best friend. For Avalon’s clients, texting proved particularly effective for reinforcing AM/PM email sends, amplifying match deadlines, re-engaging lapsed audiences, and strengthening urgency across channels.

If you’re not pairing texts with your final 48-hour asks, you’re leaving money on the table.

The bottom line
The 2025 year-end season made one thing clear: the standard playbook is cracking.

Email is still the engine, but it can’t haul the load alone anymore. 

The organizations that grew YoY were treating the inbox as one touchpoint in a surround-sound strategy, not the lone closer.

If your December felt like a grind, you’re not alone. But the data suggests there’s a path forward with a little creativity and testing.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

'Til next time!
Sara