Nonprofits use email for fundraising because they have to as well as for convenience. Social media and sponsored canvassing are less assured. Email affords the nonprofit a derived relationship with the intended donor and current supporters through relegated correspondence from the real sentient. People get these from their inboxes, which is a more personal approach that fosters trust, responsibility, and transparency and, ultimately, a greater chance of ongoing donations over time.
Email is a way to ensure they’re in the loop. Low-cost email marketing enables cash-strapped nonprofits to reach thousands of would-be donors simultaneously. A thoughtfully constructed email drip campaign ensures that the nonprofit is reached by potential donors’ emails and computers during the time of fundraising when it needs money for new projects, when it has success stories to report from previous donor engagement, and when money is needed fast. Email is an essential means of communication that generates recurring donor revenue.
Crafting Compelling Email Appeals That Inspire Action
A winning fundraising email would have to connect emotionally and then compel action, so I’d make sure that first, a compelling subject line demands an action-oriented response. The subject line is the critical element to either getting someone to open the email or getting someone to pass it up without a second thought. Automated Email Warm-Up can help ensure that these emails reach donors’ inboxes by gradually improving sender reputation and avoiding spam filters.
Then, in the actual fundraising email body, I’d make sure that we have an opening that gets right to the point of why this person should be donating to our cause, all while tugging on emotional heartstrings via effective storytelling. Rather than proclaiming a need for donations, a nonprofit should explain the plight of one particular person and how that person was helped through donations in the first place.
It’s a far more humane endeavor. In addition, the email must be visually appealing; professionally taken photographs allow for testimonials or videos to be included. The CTA needs to be clear and straightforward. Any time nonprofits can replace a CTA like “Donate Now” with something more dynamic “Help a Child Today” or “Give Clean Water Today” they should, because it serves a greater cause. The easier someone on the brink of donation can do it right then and there, the more likely they’ll go through with the donation.
Building Donor Trust with Transparency and Impact Updates
Donors like knowing where their money goes. Whether or not an organization is transparent through email fundraising campaigns makes donors feel secure that their donations went to a worthy cause and in the long run, they will have a trustworthy relationship with the organization’s mission with appropriate transparency of endeavors.
Nonprofits should send impact emails to acknowledge what people donated and what was done with those donations. For example, a nonprofit raises money to scholarship students at a certain school but in the end, the impact email should go out to let donors know how many scholarships were given with photos and anecdotes of the scholarship winners. Numbers and positive reviews make donors feel proud of what they donated and often, in turn, donate more in the future.
Furthermore, nonprofits can send things like budget transparency reports, annual reports, or project updates and subsequent plans. Transparency and consistent communication keep all parties apprised and ease the minds of donors that the nonprofit is accountable to them and that their funds are being used in the appropriate manner for effective undertakings.
Using Automated Email Sequences to Maintain Engagement
Perhaps the most foolproof method of keeping in touch with donor(s) would be via automated email campaigns. Automated emails avoid the nonprofit having to fray contact with supporters. For instance, an automated welcome series can welcome new donors into the fold of the nonprofit, informing them of past successful donations and endeavors and reminding them how they can help in the future.
Likewise, post-donation, the nonprofit can automatically launch a campaign that follows up and thanks the donor, demonstrating the donation’s impact, all in a timely manner. Donors enjoy post-follow-up recognition, and it cultivates donor loyalty. Should this easy follow-up email create a baseline for future endeavors in cause progression be it additional volunteer time or even just word of mouth to one’s personal social network about the campaign now the nonprofit is one step closer to achieving its mission.
Nonprofits sending automated monthly gift reminders are doing two things. First, they’re encouraging potential donors to commit to a monthly giving option, ensuring stable income. Second, automated emails require less effort than an in-person appeal to thank a donor. But with consistent automation, that donor feels like a VIP with personalized attention to make them all the more part of the nonprofit’s mission.
Personalization and Segmentation for Higher Engagement
Yet that doesn’t mean a universal approach won’t work down the line. The best ROI for nonprofits comes from email segmentation and campaign personalization based on donor activity, intention, and history.
For example, a brand new donor gets one welcome drip campaign and a legacy donor gets another. People who haven’t donated in a year get a campaign showing how much they’ve contributed a year ago and encourage them to return for another gift. People who give hundreds of thousands get highlights, board-driven, personalized outreach to thank them or ask for donor-exclusive opportunities.
People like to be recognized, and therefore, they’ll respond better when they are. A planned email blast to a general email list is an email campaign that personalizes in name, recognizes previous donations and participation, and the campaigns in which they’ve participated, exploding goals, and it gives specific needs based on specific efforts of interest.
Encouraging Social Sharing and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Email marketing isn’t just a solicitation for a donation it gives supporters the ability to advocate for the campaign within their broader network. Many donors are open to advocating for the campaign, but they need nonprofits to give them the appropriate materials and let them know it’ll be worthwhile. For instance, an email can have share buttons that enable the recipient to easily update their social profile and share a link to the nonprofit’s fundraising page or it can be directly sent to a friend.
In addition, nonprofits can run peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns where donors create their fundraising pages and tap into their networks. A simple email blast detailing the campaign explains to them how to create and track their fundraising page within the overall goal of the nonprofit’s campaign. This increases the likelihood that nonprofits have access to social relationships to grow exponentially and discover new supporters who may have never stumbled upon the mission.
Measuring and Optimizing Email Performance for Maximum Donations
Nonprofits pay attention to their numbers and adjust their email fundraising strategy to make it more effective year after year. For instance, open rates, click rates, and donation conversion rates are all statistics that reflect what was effective and what didn’t work. If a nonprofit has an amazing open rate but a low conversion to donations, it has excited its constituents but needs to adjust something, maybe a clearer call to action or clearer steps on how to donate after opening the email. Even subject lines, formatting, and language can be A/B tested to see what resonates better with constituents.
Also crucial is monitoring unsubscribe rates. If donors are opting out of communications, they are being overcommunicated or poorly communicated with. The ideal frequency of communication sent and a better messaging approach with carefully segmented demographic groups will ensure donor preferences are respected and maintained and they remain blissfully engaged. Ultimately, by regularly reviewing not just your email efforts but also the standards of the industry, any nonprofit can render these efforts successful and have the justification for the invested donor’s ever-expanding support.
Creating Urgency with Time-Sensitive Appeals
Email marketing is a way to give, and it creates urgency. When people understand there is a goal and a deadline to raising funds even if it is generated by the nonprofit it is more likely people will donate today instead of tomorrow. Nonprofits can set their goals for fundraising with an expiration date, run a matching campaign that’s only for three days, or request disaster relief and let the potential donors know when the need will be met.
For instance, a nonprofit engaged in a relief project can blast an email to reveal an urgent need coming up, live updates of what’s going on, and how many more funds are needed to be raised for a specific goal. Even a countdown ticker featured in the email can demonstrate urgency, compelling those with positive intentions to donate right away before they lose their chance. When nonprofits successfully use urgency in all the right places, they get what they want and need sooner.
Leveraging Storytelling to Strengthen Donor Connections
Nonprofit fundraising is all about storytelling. From email marketing, nonprofits can tell engaging, true stories that create a more philanthropic culture than simply raising money. Allow them to learn the story of what their contribution like so many others can do to transform human and animal lives.
For example, an NGO providing clean drinking water will feature one specific family whose life has transformed due to the well dug by the NGO recently. Pictures of the family, stock images of the well, and sound bites of the well digging video serve to create realistic, emotionally charged paths. When donors can empathize, they’re inspired to do more for the cause because where empathy exists, excellent storytelling exists.
Retaining Donors with Exclusive Email Content
However, it’s not only important to acquire new donors but also to retain the existing donor base for future organizational sustainability. One way to keep them consistently engaged would be to engage in donor-only emails to keep them feeling unique and a part of the bigger picture.
Donors can be featured ‘inside’ e-newsletters with behind-the-scenes information, heartfelt stories, and letters from the organization’s executive director or the served.
They’re part of digital Q&As, charity events, or private Facebook groups where they can continue to participate and be further engaged. Furthermore, these are acknowledged in mission e-mail correspondence from the organization. An acknowledgement on the two-year donor anniversary of their gift or inclusion in a donor spotlight can cultivate these relationships and guarantee future donations.
Encouraging Recurring Donations with Subscription Models
Although a one-time donation is wonderful, a monthly donation is a guaranteed, expected revenue source for nonprofits. Thus, an email campaign that entices donors into a monthly donation level greatly increases budgetary stability. Nonprofits can champion this type of giving by explaining the benefits of monthly donations from continued impact in a few months to how easy it is for them to get paid with automatic withdrawal. For instance, nonprofit newsletters showcase current monthly donors who give positive testimonials about why they decided to give monthly and how that donation helped already.
Nonprofits can set a minimum $10/month to provide educational resources and $50/month helps support healthcare needs. This makes donor expectations and potential increases in monthly donations higher than expected. Creating a pool of loyal supporters who believe in the cause even more comes from the simplicity and appeal of giving.
Conclusion
Nonprofit email marketing is crucial to successful fundraising because it increases donations, empowers donor advocates, and sustains successful fundraising efforts long-term. Furthermore, with the bonus features of storytelling, transparency, automation, personalization, and social integration, nonprofits can raise ideal funding levels to transform with proper email marketing to create robust relationships with donors. In addition, with a constant ability to assess accomplishments and failures via analytics, nonprofits can make sure their email campaigns do the necessary work to be worthwhile for fundraising and creating impact.
