The best time to run Christmas campaigns

Timing is everything in charity campaigning. Pick the wrong time of day and a carefully crafted social media call for donations or to raise awareness of a cause can be lost.

This is particularly important in December when charities’ Christmas campaigning has the potential to be the most lucrative time of year for fundraising.

This month is where supporters can feel more generous and when people have more time at home with family to take in awareness raising drives.

To help charities to festive fundraise, the latest research based on recent Christmases has been able to pinpoint the perfect ‘golden hour’ for campaigning.

We look at what this analysis shows and how charities can ensure their festive fundraising and annual awareness raising can reach the widest audience.

Why is Christmas so important for charities?

Analysis by online fundraising platform Enthuse has found that just under half of the public are more likely to give around Christmas than at any other time of the year.

Furthermore, more than a third (38%) say they give at Christmas “simply because they are asked to,” says Enthuse. And two in five (42%) are actively looking for opportunities to donate this Christmas. Targeting Christmas campaigns at younger people is especially important.

Younger people are more likely to give, with around three quarters of Generation Z and Millennials looking to donate at Christmas, Enthuse found. In addition, Enthuse found that the average festive donation is £41, but increases to £53 among Generation Z. The least generous age group is 55–64-year-olds, who give an average of £33.

Festive fundraising ‘golden hour’

Further analysis by Enthuse, looking specifically at Christmas charity campaigning over the last three years, gives further insight into donating habits. Analysis over this period is important as it takes in the changes to people’s live before, during and after COVID-19, to give a more rounded picture of festive fundraising.

According to this analysis the golden hour to campaign in December is between 11:00 and 12:00 on Fridays.

This is based on evidence that shows that weekdays are “significantly more popular for donations than weekends”, a trend that is true all year round but is especially the case in December in the run up to Christmas.

Pre-Christmas giving builds up gradually from Monday, peaking on Friday then dipping markedly at Weekends, Enthuse found.

“Understandably, people tend to focus their weekend outgoings on catching up with friends and family, shopping, going out for food and other forms of entertainment,” says the analysis. “This leads to less time for getting involved with charity and means that disposable income is often being used up elsewhere.”

Charity campaigning’s golden hour is also based on evidence that for the last two December periods mid-morning and early afternoons have performed best for donations.

Overall 10:00 to 13:00 is the most popular period for giving, with 11:00 to 12:00 the best performing hour in December 2021, the first post-pandemic Christmas. During this time 7.9% of each day’s donations were made, the highest of any hour.

It is worth noting that 10:00 to 11:00 and 12:00 to 13:00 are also strong, with 7% of giving made at these times. “In terms of times to avoid, charities won’t be surprised to learn that before 08:00 and after 20:00 donations see diminishing returns,” said Enthuse.

“We can assume that this is because people are just getting up to start their day or are logging off devices and trying to unwind. If charities are able to tailor their paid media advertising by time of day, keeping it between 08:00 and after 20:00 would be well advised.

“Charities can look to schedule email campaigns and social posts to go out between 10:00 and 13:00 with a strong degree of confidence in 2022, backed by two years’ worth of data.”

The Christmas Eve conundrum

Christmas Eve is a traditional strong donation day. This landed on a Friday in 2021, which contributed to a strong performance for this day on average last year.

But it remains to be seen what will happen in 2022 as Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday, traditionally one of the worst days to attract donations.

Enthuse suggests that if donors’ aversion to Saturday giving continues then Friday 23 December “might be in line to be the peak this year”. But it does not rule out a strong performance for this year’s Saturday Christmas Eve.

Cost-of-living and Christmas

Enthuse Founder Chester Mojay-Sinclare suggests that charities should be able to better plan their 2022 Christmas fundraising as people’s working patterns “have settled” since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and “people’s giving habits have adapted”.

However, the cost-of-living crisis presents a new challenge to fundraisers, as charities’ costs increase and inflation curtails the spending power of donors.

Separate research by consumer research agency Beautiful Insights has found that more than a third of people are looking to cut their giving over Christmas.

One in ten day they have already stopped donating and a quarter are looking to reduce how much they give.

“The cost-of-living crisis will of course impact Christmas giving in 2022 which is why maximising digital fundraising efforts will be so important. Ensuring your charity gets the right message, to the right people, at the right time will have a real impact on your festive fundraising,” added Mojay-Sinclare.