Holiday Giving Campaign Planner: Plan Every Appeal in One Sheet

Holiday season planning gets hard for a development director the moment three appeals land on the same donors in one week.

The tool for that is a season map. Put every ask on it with start date, end date, audience and goal, including GivingTuesday on December 1. Count how many other appeals overlap each one. Then give every touchpoint a prep date and a prerequisite. Any launch in the next 7 days whose prerequisite isn't done is the risk to raise at this week's meeting. Finally, check that the appeal goals add up to the season target.

A director with that map can move an appeal before donors feel crowded, and can show the board the whole season on one page.

Our Holiday Giving Campaign Planner for Excel and Google Sheets builds the map for up to 12 appeals, each showing its overlap count. The timeline tracks up to 60 touchpoints and shows "Dependency risk" when a launch is close and its prerequisite isn't Done. In the sample file, a fictional youth music charity's GivingTuesday finished at 113% of goal while the season stood at 37%.

You type in each appeal's results, and you name the holidays yourself, so it suits Christian, multi-faith or secular seasons.