Stewardship January: Boost Donor Relationships in 2026

I know many people who swear by “Dry January” as a way to reset their drinking and start the year off fresh (does that say something about my friends and family!?). Well, this is precisely the goal with Stewardship January: a month focused on donor gratitude and resetting your approach to your supporters (at all levels!), while sharing some personalized love.

For most of us, there’s never enough time to do this kind of outreach, but there is a way to conduct stewardship that’s both meaningful and not time-intensive. Here are some ideas you can think through now to implement in January:

• Spotlight on impact - As you’re pulling together content for year-end, consider keeping some stories aside for January and sharing those with donors so they see how their support is making a difference. You can send these via email, or mail something directly after a call.
• Conduct a survey - If it’s been a while since you surveyed your donors, January would be a great time to reach out and find out what they’re thinking. Keep the questions short - no more than 5 - and focus on how they’d like to get involved during the year and what aspects of your work/mission they find most compelling. Most importantly, make sure to let them know you value their input.
• Keep those calls going - Did you think the phone calls would end in December? Nope. Just keep reaching out. And, as I mentioned above, don’t just focus on donors at the highest level. Pull your mid-level donors, focusing on those who have increased giving or given consistently over 3+ years. After all, they may become your major donors of 2026 so this is the time to give them attention!

If you’ve got other tried and true stewardship activities, I’d love to hear about them. And, if you do a Stewardship January push, reach out and let me know how it goes!