Holiday giving is rarely just about the donor. People give in honor of a parent, in memory of a friend, or as a present for someone who already has everything. Each of those gifts reaches two people: the cause you serve and the person being honored.
That makes the holidays the best time of year to offer gifts people can choose, dedicate and share. It’s also a strong moment to start relationships that last past January. December alone brings in 37% of online revenue, according to M+R Benchmarks 2026, so the ideas you set up now carry a lot of weight.
An even stronger argument for gift cart is simply that it raises more money. We studied gift cart orders from April to September of 2026 and found that donors cover processing fees on 9 out of 10 Gift Cart orders — about 13% more often than in the same nonprofits' standard checkout.
On top of that, gifts chosen from a catalog are larger: in a typical nonprofit, a Gift Cart order is 66% larger than a regular donation.
Here are holiday fundraising ideas that give twice, and how to build them with Gift Cart.
How does the Fundraise Up Gift Cart work?
We’re all shopping online these days, and we’re familiar with how it all works. You want a sweater. You find a sweater. You buy the sweater. Online retailers have made the process so easy, that you can usually complete your purchase within a minute of pulling out your phone.
That’s what Gift Cart can do for your donors. Our Gift Cart feature lets donors browse a catalog of gifts on your own website, add several to a cart, and pay once. Each item has a photo, a description and suggested amounts. Donors can set the amount, frequency and dedication for each gift separately.
Items are donation designations and symbolic gifts, not physical merchandise. You build the catalog in the Fundraise Up dashboard, one item at a time or by CSV upload, and it’s included in the platform at no extra subscription.
Six holiday fundraising ideas with Gift Cart
1. A holiday gift catalog
Turn your programs into gifts people can picture: a week of meals, a winter coat, a relief kit, a month of shelter for an animal. Give each one a clear name and a one-line impact description. A catalog helps donors who want to give something specific rather than a general amount.
2. Tribute gifts for people who are hard to shop for
Many donors want to give a gift in someone’s name. Promote your catalog as a holiday present: "Give a gift in their name this year." Gift Cart lets donors add a dedication to each item, so one donor can honor three different people in a single checkout.
3. In-memoriam giving for the holidays
The holidays can be hard for people who are grieving. A quiet "give in memory" collection, with a few gifts tied to programs the person cared about, gives supporters a meaningful way to remember someone. Keep the language gentle and skip urgency here.
4. Family and workplace giving lists
Suggest gift bundles for groups: a classroom sponsoring a pantry kit, a team funding a holiday meal. Because donors can add several items to one cart, a group organizer can give on everyone’s behalf in one payment.
5. Holiday wish books
If you print a holiday wish book or catalog, mirror it online. Use the same item names and photos, so a donor who flips through the mailer can find the exact gift on your site. Add the catalog link or a QR code to the printed piece.
6. Sponsorships that start at the holidays
Sponsorship is a natural holiday gift: sponsoring a child, an animal or a family’s meals. Fundraise Up’s new Sponsorships feature shows each sponsorship profile with a name, a story and filters to help donors choose. Once a profile has a recurring sponsor, it’s removed from the catalog until the sponsorship ends.
How to set up your holiday catalog in an afternoon
- Pick five to eight gifts that map to real programs. Fewer, clearer choices are easier to browse.
- Write a name, a short impact description and two or three suggested amounts for each.
- Add a photo for every item.
- Build the items in the Fundraise Up dashboard, or upload them by CSV.
- Map each item to a designation in your CRM. Gift Cart designations map to Salesforce, HubSpot, DonorPerfect, Bonterra EveryAction and Neon CRM.
- Embed the catalog on a holiday page on your own site and link it from your emails, social posts and printed pieces.
- Test a full checkout with more than one item, a dedication and a recurring choice before you launch.
Give donors something specific and meaningful
The best holiday fundraising ideas let donors give something that means something to two people at once. Start with a short, specific catalog, make dedications easy, and plan the follow-up before the first gift arrives. The gifts people give in someone’s name this December can turn into the support that carries your work through next year.