It’s not unusual to be under pressure as a non-profit organization. While making our world a better place, you must still conduct marketing campaigns quite different from the campaigns of profit-driven companies. As a nonprofit, you can’t offer profit to your donors.
Among all tools, a well-built email marketing funnel can deliver your mission statement, boost support levels, encourage donations, and much more. From thank-you emails to marketing hooks, there are quite a few nonprofit email practices that can make a difference in the performance of your marketing campaigns.
Source: GIPHY
Why Nonprofits Need Email Marketing
| High Adaptivity | Personalized emails make your sponsors feel seen and strengthen their involvement in your mission. Likewise, visually appealing elements simplify message delivery, propping your brand image. |
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| High Performance | Nonprofit organizations often function on a budget, looking for the most cost-efficient marketing strategies. Email marketing satisfies the expectations of most nonprofits, constantly growing in expected ROI. |
| Storytelling | Nonprofit emails can drive commitment with effective storytelling that resonates with supporters and donors. You can show how much of an impact every donation makes, motivating supporters to make yet another donation to the cause. |
| Reporting | Financial transparency is critical to establishing bonds with businesses and private individuals ready to donate to your cause. Regular emails, marketing and transactional, can help maintain regular communication about the financial aspects of your activity. |
How To Launch a Nonprofit Email Campaign
1. Develop an Email List for Donations
First, you should build a solid nonprofit email list. To connect with your supporters, among many other tactics, you can use a lead magnet, an incentive presented as a gift to collect potential sponsors’ email addresses.
For non-profits, gifts won’t be monetary, but you can still give some value in exchange for subscribing to your newsletter. For example, if you are a nonprofit specializing in suicide prevention, you can share signs a person suffers from clinical depression or unique insights on the matter while encouraging people to subscribe to your newsletter for more information.
Alternatively, you can directly ask your sponsors for email addresses and use them to build your nonprofit email list. Then, you can send a sign-up email to accompany any event you organize.
2. Use Proper Timing To Ask for Donations
Email marketing for charities is different from regular marketing strategies. Avoid bluntly asking for money, as it may come off as rude and off-putting. An effective email marketing strategy for nonprofits is sending automated email series to nurture potential donors before collecting donations.
For instance, welcome email newsletters for nonprofits can introduce donors to your mission, staff members, and charity impact. Send these emails at regular intervals at least once a week, with a maximum possible gap of two weeks.
3. Obtain Consent From Your Sponsors
The best nonprofit emails are those sent to sponsors interested in your charity. You are unlikely to get high click-through rates from people who don’t want to get in touch with you at all. Bombarding your audience with marketing emails without their consent could be classified as a breach of data safety according to the General Data Protection Regulation.
In addition, when your sponsors are not interested in receiving nonprofit emails, they may move them to the spam folder, decreasing your open rates. Don’t forget to provide an unsubscribe feature and modify your mailing lists for nonprofits when a sponsor unsubscribes.
4. Send Targeted Messages To Your Audience
Personalization is a must for successful email marketing. Create several customer segments and send unique newsletters to each group. To save time, use email marketing platforms that provide mass mailing functionality and allow you to segment email addresses.
Source: Zapier
5. Harness the Power of Insights
Most nonprofit email platforms provide metrics on open rates, click rates, how long a donor looks at your email, and when your subscribers open emails. Navigating such data gives you insight into the age category most active at specific times.
For example, you may discover that some donors are active in the evening while others interact with your emails in the morning. Then, you can segment your nonprofit email lists and contact your donors at appropriate times.
Nonprofit Email Best Practices
| Charity Newsletters | Email newsletters can help you create impactful stories, highlight key statistics, and help donors better understand your ideas, values, and motivations. |
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| Email Series | Automated email sequences will help you nurture donors without spending additional resources on manual outreach. However, you must develop a unique email series for every subscriber group, which requires audience segmentation in the first place. |
| Fundraising Campaigns | Special occasions like end-of-year fundraising are great for collecting the funds needed for your cause. For better results, include inspirational multimedia elements in your fundraising emails. |
| Thank-You Emails | Expressing your gratitude will inspire future donations, as people are more likely to donate when they feel you appreciate their help. One way to boost your thank-you email is by adding recent donation stats, success stories, and how you’ve used the funds collected during previous fundraising events. |
Best Paid Email Marketing Software for Nonprofits
Nonprofit email marketing prioritizes establishing long-term relationships with sponsors over gaining financial benefits. That’s why nonprofit marketing tools don’t include features that aim to maximize revenue. Instead, nonprofit campaigns rely on automating routine tasks to optimize the limited resources for the charity.
| Benchmark | Benchmark enables nonprofit marketing automation through powerful AI algorithms. Its writing tools help you create impactful texts, and Smart Sending can schedule automatic email delivery. |
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| Campaign Monitor | Campaign Monitor offers analytics dashboards and customizable email templates to boost the effectiveness of email campaigns and fundraising efforts. Nonprofits receive a 15% discount. |
| Emma | Similar to Campaign Monitor, Emma provides a suite of marketing automation tools. For example, it can help email marketing nonprofit experts segment the audience and target specific sponsor groups individually. |
| EmailOctopus | Email Octopus is a powerful platform that offers drip email sequencing, transparent reporting, and the integration of imported contacts. Nonprofits are eligible for a free starter plan. |
| Foldesk | A relatively new player in nonprofit email marketing, Foldesk offers unique template designs with the possibility of integrating a link for a donation page. |
| Mailchimp | One of the most frequently used email marketing services for nonprofits, Mailchimp helps segment mailing lists and automates email list management. You can easily sync Mailchimp with other software platforms like CRM. |
| VerticalResponse | Vertical Response allows you to send 10,000 free emails per month. You can also utilize A/B testing tools, custom landing pages, and other report features to check the effectiveness of your campaign. Charity email marketing specialists can get a 15% discount in addition to 10,000 free emails a month. |
Best Free Email Marketing Software for Nonprofits
Not all nonprofit organizations have the financial resources to invest in email fundraising campaigns. Fortunately, there are free email marketing services for nonprofits.
| HubSpot | Nonprofit email marketers can benefit from HubSpot’s free subscription plan, which includes features for landing pages, social media ads, ready-made templates, contact management, and live chat. |
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| Sendinblue | Nonprofit email marketing experts often seek variability. Sendinblue, a marketing platform offering over 70 templates that suit various purposes and devices, can help you flaunt your individuality. With the free version, you can send up to 300 emails daily, conduct A/B testing, and segment nonprofit lists for donations. |
| SendGrid | If you are eager to use personalization tools such as APIs, Webhooks, or SMTP Relay, consider working with SendGrid. This is easily the best email newsletter service for nonprofits that offers delivery optimization tools, email editing features, and analytical software. |
How To Write Nonprofit Emails
From staying concise to attracting donors’ attention, the writing process can be full of challenges. Below are some tips on making your nonprofit emails as compelling as possible.
1. Make a Subject Line Stand Out
An eye-catching subject line is tricky to write, but it is essential for communicating your intent. Length-wise, make sure your subject lines don’t exceed 50 characters or 10 words so they are short enough to convey the message and are fully visible on different devices.
Here is an example of a great subject line:
Source: Brick Factory
2. Keep Them in Touch and Express Gratitude
Constantly inform sponsors about goals met and share success stories. Add event pictures and include staff members’ names when describing your charity work.
More importantly, all efforts on behalf of your donors should be appreciated. Show sponsors the immediate results of their donations by showing them the number of people who benefited from their support. For the most active sponsors, send them extra emails referencing their specific efforts and high involvement.
3. Add a Clear and Visible CTA
The best way to include CTA in nonprofit email marketing messages is to use a button that transfers a reader to a donation page. Alternatively, your CTA can offer immediate subscription, friend referencing, or other creative options.
Source: Wyzowl
Inspiring Nonprofit Email Examples
The best nonprofit emails educate the supporters and make them feel part of the community by sharing insightful content.
Let’s review some of the successful nonprofit email marketing examples.
Raw Hope’s Thank-You Emails
Using thank-you emails is an excellent example of nurturing existing relationships with your donors. You can send a message of gratitude not only to those sponsors who contributed financially to the cause but also to newly subscribed members of the community.
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World Wildlife’s Funds Updates
Email marketing for nonprofits is more effective if it regularly updates donors about their activities. World Wildlife integrates news stories and information about upcoming events into one newsletter, covering it all in one take.
Source: Brafton
Statistics in WWF Emails
Nothing supports your story better than real-life data. WWF provides a great example of stats-based email marketing for nonprofits.
Source: Classy Blog
