A gift charged to a card on December 31 counts for this tax year, and the IRS is precise about it. Publication 526 says "you can deduct your contributions only in the year you actually make them", that "contributions charged on your bank credit card are deductible in the year you make the charge", and that "a check you mail to a charity is considered delivered on the date you mail it". That one rule is why the last week of December is the biggest week of the year for almost every small nonprofit in the country.
The calendar
- First week of November. Decide the one thing this year's appeal is for. Not the organization in general; one fund, one goal, one number. Write the appeal letter and the thank-you text now, while nobody is tired.
- Mid-November. Test the donate page with a real card. Set the goal, set the default amount, turn the monthly option on. Check it on a phone. This is the whole website checklist, and it takes an hour.
- GivingTuesday, December 1, 2026. One email in the morning, one social post. If you have a matching gift from a board member, this is the day to announce it.
- Second week of December. The main appeal. The letter, by email and by post if you still mail. This is the email that carries the story.
- December 28 to 30. A short reminder: the deadline, the goal so far, the link. Two paragraphs.
- December 31. One line in the morning. "Today is the last day for a gift to count in this tax year." Nothing clever.
- January. Thank-yous for anyone who gave by check, and year-end statements for everyone who asks. Publication 526 notes organizations "typically send written acknowledgements to donors no later than January 31", and your monthly donors will want one.
Four emails in the month, five with GivingTuesday. More than that and December's open rates pay for it in January.
What each email says
The appeal tells one story about one person or one program, says exactly what the money is for, names the goal, and asks once. The reminders do not retell the story; they say where the goal stands and that the deadline is real. Every one of them links to the same donate page.
The thank-you is the most important email of the month and it should be ready before the first appeal goes out. Donor receipts and thank-you emails covers what it has to contain. If your receipt goes out automatically the moment a gift clears, December 31 at midnight is covered without anyone being awake.
If you have never run an email list before, email marketing for beginners covers the mechanics.
The website checklist for the busiest week
Most of what goes wrong in the last week of December is on the website, and all of it is avoidable in November:
- The donate page is one page, and every button, email and social link points at it. Not a campaign page with a different form.
- The appeal fund exists on the form, so a gift to this year's appeal is recorded against it and you can report back in January on what that fund did.
- The default amount matches the appeal. If the letter says $100 does a specific thing, $100 is pre-selected.
- The goal bar is on and the target is reachable. A thermometer stuck at 8% on December 29 works against you. Set a target you expect to pass, and raise it publicly if you do.
- The monthly option is visible. The last week of December is when people decide to become monthly donors for the new year. Monthly giving for a small nonprofit covers the ask.
- The receipt text is right. Your EIN and the no-goods-or-services sentence are in it.
- Somebody has given with a real card and read the receipt they got. Not a test mode. A real $5.
A hosted site does not need anything done about traffic. The donate page on December 31 is the same page it was in March; what matters is that the link in the email lands on it and the form works on a phone.
In Webkio the donate block has the goal bar, the fund picker, the monthly checkbox and the automatic receipt, so the checklist above is settings rather than development work. The how to take donations post covers the fee and fund decisions behind it.
Common questions
When is the deadline for a donation to count this tax year?
December 31. The IRS treats a card gift as made when the charge is made and a mailed check as delivered on the postmark date, so a gift made late on the 31st counts, and one made on January 1 does not.
How many year-end emails should a small nonprofit send?
Four or five across November and December: GivingTuesday, the main appeal, a reminder in the last week, one line on the 31st, and the thank-you. More than that costs you readers in January.
Should the year-end appeal be for a specific fund?
Yes. A gift to "the winter appeal" or "the roof" gets chosen more readily than a gift to the organization, and in January you can tell donors exactly what that fund did, which is the start of next year's appeal.
Do we need to send year-end statements in January?
Not if each gift was acknowledged when made, but donors ask for them and monthly donors in particular want one total. Plan to send them by the end of January.