Get set for the 5 Months of Christmas!

Team Leaders: Register your team by August 21. Click the orange button below.

Team Members: Contact your team leader to be added to the team roster. No orange button. Call, text, or email your team leader.

Individuals not participating on a team do not need to register. Just start your MPD actions on September 1.

Program details are coming soon!

5 Months of Christmas

Make the most of the most generous season of the year!

The 5 Months of Christmas is a key season within MPD Made Simple that focuses on year-end fundraising, helping you make the most of the most generous giving season of the year.

Month by month, the program leads you through strengthening your ministry partner relationships and support—from updating ministry partners to sending a funding letter and then following it up.

Join hundreds of Navigator staff in the fall funding program that helps you:

• Connect meaningfully with ministry partners
• Take guided, intentional steps in year-end fundraising
• Enter the new year with the financial freedom you need to fully focus on ministry

14% Advancement Incentive

Complete all five months of the program, and Advancement will waive one month's national charge fees on the lapsed giver monthly gifts that resume because of your October contact.

Incentives will be paid in February 2027

The 5 Months of Christmas Overview

September: Mail a newsletter

Ministry updates help partners stay informed, encouraged, and connected to you and your ministry. When they haven't heard from you in a while, they may wonder what you're doing, whether their prayers and gifts are making a difference, or even if you're still on staff.

A September newsletter helps hit the reset button before year-end. If you've fallen behind on updates, sending one now makes it easier to follow through with your year-end appeal. It also reminds partners that your relationship is about more than financial support. When the only communication they receive is a funding request, they're more likely to overlook it.

There's another benefit: data hygiene. A September newsletter helps identify addresses that need updating before you send your year-end appeal letter.

Don't skip September's newsletter. The rest of the year-end plan builds on this important foundation.

October: Prepare Your Year-End Appeal Materials and Lapsed Giver Appeal

4 for 4%

Complete October’s four MPD Made Simple actions, and you’ll be reimbursed the 3% credit card fee reimbursement on single, online gifts given between November 15 and December 31—plus an additional percent.

Incentives will be paid in February 2027.

October’s MPD Made Simple Actions:

1. Update your online giving page photo and bio in Workday, if it’s been nine months or longer. Staff who serve in sensitive ministries are exempt.

2. Order current commitment cards and envelopes from navigatorstore.com. If prayerletters.com mails your letters, request Navigator commitment cards through them. For other letter services, navigatorstore.com can mail your commitment cards there. Limited-Edition Year-End 2026 commitment cards are available at navigatorstore.com.

3. Upload your funding letter draft via navs.me/mpdmadesimple.

4. Contact lapsed givers using the Lapsed Givers Toolkit. 

November: Mail your year-end letter

• Mail (not email) your physical year-end funding letter packet to your entire mailing list, except those with whom you’ve held a face-to-face funding appointment in the last five months. The year-end funding letter packet must include a: 

1. 1. Funding letter with all Must Have’s from the Ultimate Funding Letter Checklist

   2. Navigator commitment card and response envelope

• Mail a funding letter packet to the MPD Team (required to qualify for MPD Made Simple incentives).

December: Funding Letter Follow-Up

1. Email a giving reminder to all who received your letter that includes your giving link.

2. Call 10 ministry partners to follow-up on their giving decision (the intent is to have conversations with partners, not to leave voice mail messages).

Follow-up phone calls increase the giving response from 6% to 40%!

January: Thank Partners

• Mail thank you notes for all year-end gifts.

Begin 2027 with a healthy ministry account!

The 5 Months of Christmas is clear, straightforward, year-end funding plan that gives you:

• A timeline that keeps you focused and leaves room for real life and ministry
• Messaging that moves supporters to give
• Tools and templates to raise more money in less time
• Peace of mind knowing you’ll enter 2027 with the funds you need to fully focus on the gospel

Follow each Wednesday’s MPD Made Simple emails September through January. If you do not receive MPD Made Simple emails, subscribe here. 

• Download the 2026 5 Months of Christmas Quick Guide 
• COMING SOON! Download the 5 Months of Christmas Funding Letter Toolkit for complete year-end funding materials.

MPD Made Simple: Team Edition

Do year-end funding with friends! Team Edition registration closes August 21, 2026. Until then, find two friends and register a team. 

Postage Assistance

If postage costs could keep you from mailing a year-end letter, talk to your supervisor, staff team, church, or a supportive  ministry partner to ask for help with postage costs. A gift of $100 will purchase 122 first-class stamps.

Note: The MPD team does not provide postage assistance.

Questions? Contact mpd@navigators.org.