Welcome 2026! That quick, the holidays have come and gone. The last appeals are out. The donations have (hopefully) rolled in.

Before you move on to new 2026 priorities and forget your year-end campaign ever happened, let’s take a beat to ask the most important question: Did it work?

If you ran a coordinated campaign, now is the time to dig into what paid off, what didn’t, and how you can make things even more effective next time. You’d be surprised how fast we forget the context and little notes we meant to save for next year.

Campaigns are an art and a science. There are so many factors that influence their performance, both within and outside our control. Analyzing and using your learnings to inform future decisions is the #1 sign of a great digital fundraiser. 

Here’s how to measure your year-end performance in a way that actually helps you report back to your team and ground the planning process next time.

1. Start with your goals

You can't measure success if you never defined it!

Hopefully, you set SMART goals before launching your campaign. These might revolve around:

• Total revenue
• Number of gifts
• Number of new donors
• Average gift size
• Monthly donor acquisition
• Email, social, or ad engagement metrics
• Donation page conversion rate 

If you didn’t set goals this time, no shame—just use this post to set yourself up better for next year.

If you did, pull the final numbers and calculate how they stack up to what you’d aimed for. 

2. Compare to past years

Once you’ve pulled those year-end totals, see how they stack up to previous years—especially 2024 and 2023.

• Were you more successful at acquiring new donors this time around?
• Did your average gift size go up or down?
• Did your campaign start earlier or include more touchpoints?
• Was your conversion rate on donation pages higher or lower?

Year-over-year comparisons are where you’ll spot trends—and build a case for trying something new (or doubling down on what worked).

As new sector-wide findings get released in Q1 and Q2, compare your results to the bigger trends. Did your campaign track alongside other organizations, particularly those in the same size range and cause area? Or are you under- or over-performing the benchmarks? 

Making these notes now will help you decide what to focus on for year-end 2026. 

3. Review your top-performing content

Your year-end content likely worked together to influence gifts. Sometimes, channels like social media and ads don’t directly lead to many donations, but they keep you top of mind until the email, text message, phone call, mailer, or some other direct touchpoint prompts the donor to take action. 

That said, most campaigns have standout pieces of content that directly drove the most revenue. 

Ask yourself:

• Which email(s) drove the most donations and the highest click rates? Do these emails have anything in common? When were they sent?
• Which social media posts drove the most donations and the most engagement? Do these posts have anything in common? When were they published?
• Ask the same questions for text messages, ads, mailers, and any other content types. 

And if you ran any A/B tests, make sure to jot down the results! 

If you can pinpoint a winning message or content format, you can reuse and repurpose it throughout the year—and build your 2026 theme around it.

4. Check your timing

One of the best ways to get smarter about year-end campaigns is to study your timing.

Look at your donation data and figure out:

• Which 3–5 days of December brought in the most gifts?
• What content did you send on those days?
• Was it the volume of emails that made the difference—or the message?
• Did certain segments convert best during certain times of the month? 

You might find that your ‘Give Now’ email on December 30th drove more gifts than your heartwarming story on the 20th—or vice versa. The more you understand donor behavior by date, the better you can schedule your next campaign.

5. Take notes before you forget

Before you archive all those assets, take 15 minutes to jot down what you want to remember next year:

• What worked well?
• What didn’t go as planned?
• What did you wish you’d had ready earlier?
• What do you want to do differently in 2026?

Store these notes in a “Year End 2025 Results & Takeaways” doc. Future you will thank you.

You worked too hard to move on too fast! 

This is your chance to document your insights while they’re still fresh, and envision your next year-end campaign.

Whether you hit your goals or not, you’ve got data. Combine it with industry benchmarks as they roll in. If you’re riding right alongside similar organizations (or better!), kudos. If your results lagged, it may be worth outsourcing campaign planning or implementation support next time so you can knock it out of the park. 

Congratulations on wrapping up the busiest fundraising season, and wishing you all the success in 2026!