The Summer Fundraising Slump Is Real. But It Doesn’t Have to Be.

How to Keep Your Team Motivated When Donor Inboxes Go Silent

Let’s be honest…summer in the fundraising world can feel like a slow-motion trust fall. The events have wrapped, donors are vacationing somewhere breezy, and your team is staring at each other thinking, “So… what now?”

This is where most orgs go on autopilot. But what if, instead of coasting, we saw summer for what it really is? A chance to reset, experiment, and actually build toward a more impactful fall. It’s not “quiet season.” It’s strategy season. And yes, your team can stay motivated without pretending this is Q4 energy.

Here’s how.

1. Redefine What Success Looks Like (Seriously. Change the Scoreboard)

Nobody’s truly crushing those year-end numbers in July. And that’s completely okay. Use this time to shift the focus away from dollars and toward meaningful progress:

• Checking in with donors you haven’t touched base with since the holiday

• Writing the fall campaign copy you keep putting off

• Cleaning up your CRM tags (yes, all 14 versions of “newsletter subscriber”)

Set KPIs that make sense for summer. Think: number of meaningful engagements, completed campaign drafts, lapsed donors re-engaged. Keep the team feeling connected without chasing impossible goals.

2. Run a Low-Stakes Sprint

This is the perfect time to try the weird idea no one would greenlight during the busy season. Launch a TikTok campaign. A/B test a ridiculous subject line. Try writing a donor welcome series from the perspective of your program dog (look, it might work).

Set aside a couple of weeks where the goal is simple: experiment, share what worked (and what flopped), and see what you learn. Bonus points if there’s snacks.

3. Invest in Actual Professional Development

We all say we want to invest in our people, but when everything’s on fire, learning takes a back seat. Summer is a great time to flip that.

Send your team to a webinar. Set up coaching sessions. Start a podcast club. Let folks cross-train between departments to see what their work supports. The goal isn’t to add more to their plates, it’s to make the work feel more connected, interesting, and maybe even fun.

4. Reconnect Your Team to the Mission

When fundraising starts to feel like “just email,” people burn out. Fast. Summer is a chance to remind everyone why they’re here.

5. Make Room for Fun, Because Burnout Is Not a Badge of Honor

Some intentional lightness goes a long way. Celebrate small wins! Host in person or zoom happy hours. Summer Fridays? It’s important to remember that we can connect about our work outside of completing tasks.

6. Start Building Fall Momentum…quietly, steadily, strategically

By the time September hits, your future self will be very glad you spent July writing those Giving Tuesday emails or tagging lapsed donors instead of scrambling post-Labor Day. Summer is the time to lay the groundwork:

• Draft copy now while things are quieter

• Segment your lists before it becomes urgent

• Build out that peer-to-peer toolkit so it’s ready to go

This way, fall becomes less “chaotic scramble” and more “look at us go.”

Final Thought: The summer slump is real, but it doesn’t have to be.

This isn’t about cranking out miracles in the heat of July. It’s about recalibrating. Giving your team permission to think, experiment, and reconnect. Motivation comes from progress, and summer is a great time to make quiet, strategic progress that sets you up for real wins later.

Let the big campaigns rest for now. Focus on building the systems, stories, and spirit you’ll need when things ramp back up.