Counting down to EOFY 2025 — final optimisations to get the most out of your Appeal
EOFY is won in the final weeks. Here’s where to focus now to drive maximum impact from your digital campaign.
If you’re a fundraiser or marketer in Australia, the countdown to June 30 is well and truly on.
As of mid-June, our team is seeing some trends across campaigns. And overall, it’s been a tough start to the EOFY period with May being much softer than we’ve seen in previous years. Across cause types we’re seeing weaker conversion rates on digital, higher cost-per-click and lower average gifts
However, the good news is that we’ve started to see some improvements in June as EOFY giving ramps up.
And the truth is, EOFY giving is a game of days — and hours. 55% of EOFY donations happen in the final week, and 60% or more in the final 3 days leading up to 30 June, meaning that every action you take between now and June 30 can have a significant impact on your final revenue.
If you’ve had a weaker than normal start to EOFY, take comfort in the fact there’s still a few critical weeks to go.
And if you do anything in these final three weeks, lean into these five critical optimisations to finish the end of the financial year strong. Every single action helps!
1. Double down on mid & major donors with a final ask
EOFY is known as a mid and major donor moment. Our research shows 79% of major donors and 56% of mid-value donors plan to increase their giving this year — which is significantly more than the average Australian donor.
And while mid and major donors often are donors who want to take advantage of the tax benefits of a donation this close to EOFY, they are driven primarily by personal motivators (their values, need and impact), rather than the rational benefit of a tax benefit.
Now is the time to make it clear why their donation matters, strengthen their personal connection and make the direct and clear ask.
Recommendations:
Ramp up the personal connection with mid and major donors now — calls and 1:1 outreach are crucial in these final weeks. Resource your team around calling your donors to make a strong, clear ask that reflects their capacity to give this EOFY. If you’re asking for more, align it to their values, the need and their impact.
If you’ve secured matched funding, use it to drive urgency and inspire more or larger gifts from other mid and major donors. There’s still time to increase your matched giving funds which are most critical in the final week(s).
2. Be prepared for the final surge on digital
For EOFY, the bulk of your donations come through in the last five to seven days of your campaign. In fact, many organisations will see 55% of donations come in the final week, and 60% or more of this in the final days. We recommend setting aside a large chunk of your budget for those final days. Switch in new, more urgent creative and consider adding even more incentives to give (eg, matched giving). Recognise that competition will be very heavy in the final week of the financial year therefore advertising costs will increase based on competition. The largest donations, however, tend to come in the final week so the return on this more expensive advertising spend is well worth it.
Recommendations:
Scale up your media budget in the final 5–7 days — this is your battleground.
Weight your budget to where you are getting real-time results. Redirect spend toward the audiences and keywords that are performing well (use return on ad spend as the key measure), and reduce spend on those which are not performing.
Finally, lift your paid search bid caps in the final few days knowing that it’s both very competitive and the period when larger donations make higher bids extremely worthwhile.
3. Remove friction from your website page to make donating easy
Don’t let your donors down at the point of donation. Poor user experience, lack of impact, slow-loading pages, long forms, and limited payment options are still causing high abandonment rates on donation pages.
Recommendations:
Optimise for mobile – The majority of charity traffic now comes from mobile. If giving on a smartphone isn’t seamless, you’re losing donors. Ensure your forms are responsive, fast-loading, and friction-free.
Impactful and higher dollar handles on your campaign landing pages to reflect larger gift sizes compared to other campaigns. Add context about what each amount can do so donors can visualise the impact they’re making.
Provide multiple payment methods — Offer e-wallet payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay), PayPal, credit or debit card, direct debit, or bank transfer. Make it seamless for donors giving $20k, $50k, or even $100k with chatbots, live chat, and prominent phone support.
Embed your donation checkout form directly on your appeal and donation pages – Don’t redirect donors to external forms. Embed your donation form directly on campaign pages, and ensure it loads in under 3 seconds.
Simplify your form fields – Make it easy for donors to fill in the form quickly. Get their name, email, and payment details first. You can collect further information later once the donation has been made.
4. Switch to high-urgency creative — especially in the final days
EOFY rewards agility. The final days are your moment to lean in with urgency, smart targeting, and rapid optimisation.
Recommendations:
Switch to urgency-led creative — focus messaging on why donors should give now, and what their gift will achieve today.
Target known audiences first — recent donors and warm leads are your fastest path to EOFY revenue.
Continue to optimise daily — adjust spend, messaging, and targeting in real time as the campaign progresses.
5. Make sure you’re resourced for
When donors are ready to give, your team and tech need to be ready too. The final days of June are high-pressure, high-opportunity so don’t let operational gaps cost you revenue.
Recommendations:
Ensure your customer support is ready — have phones open late, chat and email support live, and someone available until midnight on June 30. With EOFY falling on a Monday this year, make sure you have call centres manned throughout the weekend.
Consult your IT team early and have them on hand just in case — confirm your website can handle spikes in traffic and large transactions. And make sure you have resources available to deploy if you encounter any issues.
EOFY is the most important giving season of the year for driving high-value donations. The opportunity is real — but so is the competition. This is the moment to own the conversation with mid and major donors, manage your media spend strategically, prepare for the last-minute surge, and stay agile through the final days.
All the best for your final few weeks.