Bake the Cinnamon Rolls: 10 Easy Acts of Kindness to Boost Generosity Among Donors This Holiday Season

If your kids are anything like mine, then you’ve told them no less than a dozen times, “It’s not the gift that matters, but the thought behind it! Because after all, it’s ‘more blessed to give than to receive.’” And, after they’ve circled every single toy in the Amazon AND Target toy catalogs at least twice, you’ve also had to reiterate, “Remember the reason for the season, Christmas isn’t just about toys!” In a kid’s mind, Christmas = toys. 

In adult language, generosity is just as essential to the holiday season as gifting. And expressing generosity through acts of service is IMO even more impactful than giving (or receiving!) tangible gifts. Let me give you an example. 

Every Christmas Eve-Eve, our family bakes dozens of cookies and dozens of homemade cinnamon rolls. Then on Christmas Eve, we map out our route and deliver our tasty treats to friends and family all over town. And it’s really sweet! But, the part of our adventure they actually love the most is delivering the cinnamon rolls to our local firefighters. We go to 2, maybe 3 stations and spend more than enough time thanking the firefighters for working over Christmas, asking about their families, touring the station, and wishing them a Merry Christmas. We’ve been doing this little tradition for 8 years and our kids love it so much. I’d like to think the firefighters love it as well.

And you know what? It’s a lot of work. Baking in a (very) small kitchen with 3 young kids is not for the faint of heart. It’s also expensive! There’s a lot of things we could spend our money on right before Christmas besides organic flour, Guittard dark chocolate chips, and Kerrygold butter. (Not sponsored!) And I’d be lying if I said it was a completely peaceful experience. Silent Night [Day] it is not.

BUT. Guess what they remember every year about Christmas time more than any toys they got from Santa or Mom and Dad? They remember baking in the (now very messy) (very) small kitchen, delivering their creations to friends and family, and blessing firefighters. They fight over who gets to run a plate of cookies up to someone’s door and they tell everyone they know about how hard the firefighters work on Christmas. They ask if we can prepare just onnnne more plate for this friend or that friend. Hang with me on this next statement: delivering cinnamon rolls is a gateway drug to a generous lifestyle.

Ponder that for a moment.

This simple act of kindness (albeit maybe not that simple because #baking) is growing in their hearts a desire to be generous. Generous with their time. Generous with their talents. Generous with their words. Generous with mom and dad’s grocery budget…

Whether financial, physical, or simply spreading joy and kindness through baked goods - generosity can have a big impact, especially during the holidays. And as a nonprofit leader, you have an amazing opportunity to capitalize on this as you wrap up your donations for the year. How can you inspire generosity in your donor base so that it translates into donations for your organization? Generosity begets generosity. Truly! It’s like an object in motion stays in motion. The more you can plant seeds of generosity in your donors and hit ‘em with a little dose of dopamine or oxytocin, the more likely they are to turn around to your organization and be generous to your cause. (There’s a whole science behind kindness and what happens in our brains when we’re generous, but that’s a different post for another time! It’s fascinating really!)

Here are a handful of simple ideas for encouraging generosity among your donors this holiday season.

Honor Someone with a Donation

Invite donors to make a donation in honor of a friend or family member. Encourage them to post about it on social media, tagging your organization and using a custom hashtag to make tracking easier. Then repost or share in your newsletter. 

“12 Days of Generosity” Challenge

• Host a daily kindness challenge during the holiday season. Map out simple daily acts of kindness and encourage board members, volunteers, and donors to participate. These could be as simple as, “hold a door for someone!”, “pay for the person in front of you at the grocery store!”, etc. Then, share these activities on your social media channels using a specific hashtag.

“Double Your Impact” Matching Day

• Set up a specific day where supporters can challenge a friend or family member to match their donation. This “Double Your Impact” day allows supporters to make a bigger difference while engaging new donors in the process. Highlight these matched donations publicly to encourage more participation and inspire a little FOMO!

“Dollar Days” Mini-Donations

• Encourage donors and followers to give a small amount (like $1 or $5) and invite them to share it on social media. Frame this as a fun and accessible way for everyone to give, while showing how even small amounts add up to something great.

Volunteer Virtually Together

• Encourage your supporters to “volunteer” virtually. This could include writing thank-you emails for volunteers, leaving positive online reviews for your organization, calling out a team member on social media with praise, or posting supportive comments on your organization’s social media posts. 

Start a Gratitude Email Chain

• Encourage donors to start a “gratitude email chain” by sending a short thank-you note to someone who has made a difference this year, then pass the challenge along by including others in the email chain. This is an easy, no-brainer way for your supporters to feel the power of gratitude while spreading awareness. And, who isn’t already in their email all day anyways? Wouldn’t it make you smile if you received a random email from someone saying how much they appreciate you?

Send a Holiday Care Package to Someone in Need

• Suggest that supporters send small care packages (perhaps on behalf of the organization) to individuals who could use a little joy, such as college students from church, elderly neighbors, or new parents. They could include a note about why they’re inspired to give and their connection to your nonprofit. Snacks, coffee, etc. - everyone loves a treat basket!

Surprise Cash or Gift Cards for Parents and Families

• Encourage donors to tuck small cash surprises into diaper packages at grocery stores (as seen on TikTok), or gift a DoorDash card to a family in need or a new parent who could really use help with dinner. 

These little challenges, as silly or small as they may sound, will help inspire ongoing support by giving donors an emotional connection to generosity. Similar to my kids sowing seeds of generosity through cinnamon rolls, your donors will be stretching their generous muscles and building long term habits.

Cheers!