The Complete Guide to Nonprofit Email Marketing

In today’s day, everyone is focused on the digital aspect. Most people connect virtually in some aspect, whether it’s through work, education, social or networking – the digital age world is here to stay. This means that one the best places to reach and engage with your members is in their email inboxes.

Problem is, that’s what every organization and business is thinking right now.

Members of your community are likely receiving dozens and dozens of emails each day, often skimming subject lines and moving most of them to trash.

So, how can you ensure that you’re breaking through the inbox noise and actually getting read?

If you do it right, nonprofit email marketing can be a powerful platform to connect with your audience and eventually convert them into members, donors, and engaged constituents…

But if not, your email will be the one that gets skimmed and deleted.

But don’t worry: with a solid nonprofit email strategy, you can defeat spam folders, amplify your message, and reach new audiences, and not just at a time like this, when we’re all in the middle of a global pandemic.

In this post, I’m going to give you the top nonprofit email marketing best practices and answer your most pressing questions: How will my emails stand out? What kind of emails should I write? How often should nonprofits send emails?

Specifically, I’m going to cover:

• 7 Nonprofit Email Marketing Best Practices to Remember
• 6 Great Types of Nonprofit Emails You Can Send
• The Top 5 Nonprofit Email Marketing Services

I’ve also included quotes from nonprofit marketing experts to help inform your strategy.

7 Nonprofit Email Marketing Best Practices to Remember

1. Build Your Email List

You probably put a lot of time and effort into crafting each and every email, so the last thing you want to do is send them into the void (or into a grand total of three inboxes). Not to mention the dreaded “other” or “promotional” inbox that never gets checked.

That’s why a good email marketing strategy starts with building a healthy email list.

And how can you do that?

Focus on attracting people that will find great value in your email, whether they’re passionate about supporting your mission, or want to stay up-to-date on your issue or industry.

One tried and true method is incentivizing audiences to join your list. Create a free giveaway, also known as a lead magnet, that’s a valuable resource for people in your field. This may be an infographic, a white paper, or a toolkit of resources: anything that someone would be willing to give up their email to receive.

For example, if you want to attract small business owners to join your membership, you could provide a downloadable checklist on how to form an LLC, or a simple marketing guide to increase their profits.

Or, if your most likely donors are dog owners, you can create a checklist that covers when you should bring your pet to the vet.

Another way to build your list is to simply ask at every possible opportunity.

Bring a tablet to events, and promote your sign-up page across all of your digital channels. Be sure it is easy to sign up on your website, and don’t underestimate the success of an email subscribe pop-up.

Read More: 7 Irresistible Incentives to Grow Your Nonprofit Email List

2. Steer Clear of the Spam Folder

Over half of the emails we receive are spam, and email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook are reacting strongly. One of the most significant nonprofit email marketing hurdles to overcome is not landing in subscribers’ spam folders.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to avoid your emails being labeled as spam.

1) Know the new spam laws that apply to your audience.

The US has a CAN-SPAM act, and Canada has Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation. The European Union has the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), and the UK has the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003.

In short, every single email address on your list must be permission-based. Subscribers should have an existing relationship as a customer, donor, or member (implied permission), or someone who expressly permits you to send them an email, for example by entering their email address in a subscribe form (explicit permission).

Email marketing services take these laws and policies very seriously. If you don’t, your emails at the least will be marked as spam, and may also result in your account being terminated.

2) Creating personal emails 

Your marketing emails should blend in with emails from coworkers, friends, and family to ensure your emails get opened. Consider adding personalization like your contacts first name and sign off with your name as well, rather than “the team at [organization]”.

 

Sending more personal emails means sending from real people as opposed to a “no-reply” email address. Designs should be modest and minimal, and it’s time to forgo animated GIFS, emojis, and numerous links — just like you would if you were sending a quick note to a friend.

Jason Jensen, owner and marketing consultant of The Digital Nonprofit, agrees. According to him, “When at all possible, move towards simple, automated, text-based emails vs infrequent, image-based newsletters. It’s been proven time and again to be more effective. One easy win in this regard is automating a “welcome” email followed by an appeal whenever someone joins your list.”

3) Setting up an automated welcome email for new subscribers

This lets them know what to expect from your emails, and gives you an opportunity to encourage them to add your address to their contact list. Make sure you add any social media links to this email as well so new subscribers can be up to date with your LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram etc.

4) Don’t inundate your subscribers with emails

They may mark your email as spam if they feel they’re getting too many messages from you — and if you need a benchmark, the average nonprofit sends out 60 emails a year.

3. Don’t Ask for Too Much Too Soon

Getting someone’s email is just like going on a first date.

Most people wouldn’t ask someone to commit to marriage right away. (And if you would, maybe you have more to worry about than email marketing…)

Similarly, it’s not the time to ask for donations quite yet.

Instead, take some time to show new subscribers why your mission is important, and build a relationship.

One of the best ways we’ve found to woo them is by creating an automated welcome series for new subscribers. You can create three to four emails that are triggered to send a few weeks apart. Start with a warm message from your CEO, and follow up with stories of impact, resources, and links to social media channels and your blog.

You can also do this by showcasing some behind-the-scenes information that will help new subscribers feel more connected to everything you’re working on.

“People join nonprofit email lists because they’re connected to something: a cause, a mission, or a collaboration,” says Stacy Miller, Senior Director of Communications at Auto Care Association.

“Don’t fall into the trap of operating corporate-style communications – share the names and faces behind the brand in your email marketing to grow open rates and gain trust from your constituents.”

You can think of it as slowly revealing more personal information to someone you’re just getting to meet.”

“Nonprofits need to approach email marketing like a relationship with a new friend,” says Deanna Cook, Marketing & Communications Consultant in the nonprofit sector.

“They should be reaching out consistently, sharing what’s going on behind-the-scenes, and building trust before they ever ask for donations, sponsorships, or volunteers.”

That’s because sharing more about your mission by revealing the faces and stories behind it can help build trust, and make subscribers more likely to stick around for the long haul.

4. Share This Kind of Content

Want to send the best possible emails? Ask yourself these questions:

• What kind of news do subscribers want to be up-to-date on?
• What kind of stories will inspire them?
• What new activities in your organization will be exciting for them to know?

The answer will differ depending on how they came to join your email list.

For example, donors to your latest campaign will want to know how their funds are being used, whereas new members will just want to know where your next general meeting is taking place.

That’s why segmenting your audience is so important, says Emily Weisgrau, President of Weiswood Strategies.

“Don’t just personalize, segment! Personalization is a no-brainer, and email marketing tools make it easy to include the recipient’s name in each email. But sending the same email to everyone in your database is a mistake. Use your data to segment your lists, which might include current annual donors, monthly donors, lapsed donors, volunteers, non-donors who are otherwise engaged, etc. Customize your message to each audience. It’s more work, but it’s donor-centric, and it’s worth it.”

Regardless of what email marketing service you’re using, you should be able to segment based on relationships, interests, age, and geolocation.

5. Optimize for This Platform

Do you open emails more often on your desktop, or on your phone?

According to Litmus, mobile is the most popular reading environment, with 42% of all emails being opened on smartphones or tablets.

There’s no turning back; your email must be responsive and optimized for mobile.

Here are a few things you can do to ensure emails are mobile-optimized:

• Make your subject lines short, so that all characters are seen. Take advantage of preheader text if you need more text. You have minimal real estate on mobile to grab your reader’s attention.
• Your messages should be concise and easy to read. Make sure the most valuable content and calls to action are up top, so readers aren’t distracted from what you intend for them to do.
• Be sure to break up text, avoid long sentences, and leave breathing room between paragraphs.
• Images should be minimal and optimized for mobile. Less is more!
• Use buttons instead of links. It’s easier to click from a button than a link on small screens.

And while you’re doing this, don’t forget to look at best practices in other areas that impact the likelihood of your message being received, such as making it accessible for all readers.

“Use headers, alt-text, font size of at least 15 pts, and beware of color choices,” says Emily Weisgrau, President of Weiswood Strategies.

“All of these can impact the readability of your email for someone with a visual impairment. You could be excluding a small but significant portion of your audience by not building your emails in the most inclusive way.”

6. Look at Your Insights

One of the most useful parts of using an email marketing system is the ability to look at insights and  analytics.

You can look at open and click rates, the amount of time people engage with your emails, and the best days and times that your subscribers are reading emails ⁠— all of which can inform your email strategy.

For example, If you tend to send emails on a Monday afternoon, and your analytics show that open rates are strongest on Tuesday mornings, schedule your emails for Tuesday morning.

Or if more readers are clicking links to blog posts than news links, then focus on creating and sharing compelling stories.

Keeping an eye on your metrics overall can also help you know whether your strategies are getting more effective overall. For example, if your clickthrough rate has decreased over the past year, it might be time to start trying out different email formats or testing out different kinds of subject lines.

Looking at industry benchmarks can also help you know whether your efforts are on track. For example, MailChimp says that the average nonprofit email open rate is 25%, with the click rate hovering around 3%.

7. Keep it Coordinated

Email doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

While potential donors or members are opening them, they’re also seeing your content appear on social media and getting letters from you in the mail.

So, for greater odds of success, get all your channels to work together. Not everyone will respond to an appeal though every channel, so making a coordinated push will help you cover all your bases.

Plus, each channel can support the other. Getting a direct mail appeal might remind a forgetful donor that they had gotten an email from you they’d been meaning to respond to.

But how can you coordinate them all?

“You might want to start from your direct mail piece and build an email campaign with the same impact story. Be sure to also take the imagery and copy from your emails and repurpose them into more digestible bite sizes to use on social media. We advise syndicating the same messaging and imagery across social, but tailoring them specifically to make it shine for each channel,” says Lisa Ng, co-founder of Doing Good Digital.

This is especially given for every 1,000 fundraising messages sent, nonprofits raised $90. Email gives you longer form than social media, and allows for immediate online donations that a direct mail appeal cannot.

And how should you plan out the timing?

“Time your campaign so your direct mail piece goes out first, followed by an email series and complimented by social media and paid ads,” recommends Lisa.

6 Great Types of Nonprofit Emails You Can Send

You know who you’re sending emails to, when they’re most likely to open them, and how you should be formatting them.

So what kind of emails should you actually be sending?

It depends on what you want your audience to do.

Do you want them to learn more about your issue? Do you want more members, or for current members to join an event? Are you hoping for a donation or petition signatures? Or do you just want to keep them in the loop about your organization’s plans?

Here are four types of emails that will help you reach your goals.

1. Newsletters: Update and Educate

The most typical kind of nonprofit email is a good ‘ol newsletter. These are structured to raise awareness on an issue, provide resources, and update readers on activities going on in the organization.

Since this is the most typical and recurring type of email, you can save yourself some time by creating a template that will allow you to roll these out regularly.

That may include a branded header or hero image, and text and photo blocks that you can easily update — and remember, simple is the way to go!

Need inspiration? Check out this WWF email newsletter.

This newsletter is packed full of news that an environmentalist would love to read. At the same time, it’s designed in a way that is not overwhelming, including simple images, short but informative headings, and links to read more.

Or how about this email from The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup:

This newsletter includes lots of resources on how readers and their families can stay involved and connected. It also offers educational resources about what they can do to keep learning and doing their part.

2. Appeals: Call to Donate

What makes an excellent appeal? Stories do.

“Making your communication more personal will increase the emotional appeal, and thus the likelihood of a donation. Saying you want to feed, cloth, or educate Susie, a 5th grader in your district, is more powerful than saying you’re raising money to help kids in general,” says Brian Dooley, the founder of Independence Digital.

Don’t overwhelm your readers with stats and numbers, and all of the programs your organization implements. Share a story about a problem you solved for one person or family. Let your readers know that their support will enable your organization to reach many more people like the one you are featuring.

Need inspiration? Check out this World Vision email appeal.

Readers meet a real person, 5-year-old Kamama, whose life was changed when World Vision brought clean water to her village. This message was relayed with one powerful image and six simple sentences. The call to action is not to “Donate”, but to “Give Clean Water”. Readers know exactly what problem they are solving when they give a gift to World Vision.

Quick warning, though: don’t overlook the other types of emails I’ve listed in order in favour of these ones.

“The tip I give almost every nonprofit who has an email list is to not neglect the list all year and then email every week asking for donations from November through December,” says Amy Shropshire, Managing Director of Marketing at CASK Communications. 

“Yes, it takes precious time to plan out a communications strategy and build useful and compelling content throughout the year, but it goes a long way to creating a community that is involved in your work throughout the year.”

For another great example, check out this one from Edesia Nutrition:

This email has everything an ask for donations should include: a powerful case for support, a concise summary of what the funds will support, and a clear call to action.

But as mentioned before, although it’s completely appropriate to send this kind of email in a time of crisis, you shouldn’t be sending emails like this every other week.

3. Advocacy: Call to Act

You know you can’t change the world all on your own — sometimes you need a bit of help from your supporters.

That’s where advocacy emails come in. They’re intended to equip passionate people to act on issues they care about and support your cause.

A successful advocacy email not only concisely explains the issue, but gives a very clear call to action. The easier you can make it for your readers to support you, the more likely they’ll do it.

Need inspiration? Check out this Plan International’s advocacy email. This email’s design is simple, but striking and modern.

Plus, subscribers who are passionate about gender equality get numerous ways that they can take part, from starting a campaign to following its activist community on WhatsApp.

Giving them options means that no matter how much time and effort they’re willing to devote to the cause, there’s something they can do to help. This encourages subscribers to see that taking even a small action can help contribute to changing the world.

And here’s an example from WorldWideWomen:

WorldWideWomen’s mission is to move the needle toward gender parity, and they’ve come up with a way for young girls to get involved by hosting a contest.

Your organization likely can’t expect kids to make monetary gifts, but you can still inspire them to get involved by advocating on your behalf and helping to spread the word about your cause.

4. Thank You: Show Appreciation & Impact

There is one thing that all seasoned fundraisers can agree on: showing appreciation is crucial to maintaining relationships with donors.

Saying thank you and showing donors the impact of their gifts motivates them to keep giving, and to spread the word about the great work your organization is doing.

This is particularly important immediately after a donation is made. Sending out a thank-you email is simple to set up in most email marketing platforms, and is an easy way to

Need inspiration? Check out this example from Cancer Research UK.

This incredibly personal email is specific about the number of years the reader has been a supporter. It provides a link to former campaigns and attributes strides in research and thousands of lives saved to the specific donor reading this email.

Including this kind of personalization is a great way to show donors that you truly value their specific efforts, and that they’re not just another face in the crowd.

Here’s another example from Hands On Atlanta:

They are very specific about what the donors’ support has made possible in the last few months. Including exact numbers and bolding key points is a great way to express exactly how needed the funds were and how much the donor’s support is appreciated.

For donors, it’s great to see exactly where their money went and will make them much more likely to donate again in the future.

5. Share a Success Story

One of the best ways to show the impact of your community is by sharing stories about the beneficiaries of your work or the members/donors who help support it.

Identify a few individuals who would be willing to share their journey and interview them to get a detailed story — the more detailed and personal you can make it, the better.

Your readers want to know that your organization affects real people with real lives, just like them.

If you’re interviewing a beneficiary, ask them questions about how their life was made better because of your organization’s work. If you’re telling a story about a donor, get them to share a little bit about why they choose to support your organization, what it means to them and what impact it has had.

Check out this example from Clean the World:

Here they chose to shine a spotlight on one of their partners and showcase the impact of their support. Note how specific they are about what was donated, as well as the casual on-the-scene photo. Both make the update very genuine and uplifting for the readers.

Here’s another example from Women’s College Hospital Foundation:

They share stories about beneficiaries of their programs. They introduce real people with real names, making the stories personable and relatable. Note that the email doesn’t include the entire stories, but instead, offers a brief summary that invites readers to continue reading the full story in the newsletter.

6. Honor a Significant Day

In addition to making sure your emails provide updates about your organization, you also want to include content that’s relevant and timely in a broader sense.

Is Volunteer Week coming up? Is it National Mental Health Awareness Month? National Cat Day?

In today’s world, there’s a special day to celebrate just about anything, so find a significant day that ties well to your organization’s mission and leverage it to engage your readers.

You can put together content inspired by the day you’re celebrating or offer resources to your readers about how they can get involved.

Here’s a great example from Bioneers:

Bioneers is a nonprofit that focuses on finding solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental issues, so it’s only natural that they would honor Earth Day. It’s a chance for them to showcase how their mission ties with the purpose of celebrating Earth Day.

Because Earth Day is so well known and widely celebrated across the globe, it’s an opportunity for them to create content that has a good chance of being shared across their supporters’ networks.

And another example comes from Room to Read:

This is an email ask for donations from Room to Read, an organization focused on children’s literacy and education. They ask their supporters to donate in honor of Mother’s Day and include a 2:1 match.

Upon making a donation, donors can send a Mother’s Day e-card to a mother in their life to notify her that a gift has been made in her honour.

The powerful quote reminds people that reading together strengthens the relationship between mother and child. It also serves as a reminder that a great number of people across the world don’t have access to basic education.

The Top 5 Nonprofit Email Marketing Services

Now that you know which kinds of emails to send out… it’s time to start sending!

But there are a lot of email marketing platforms out there, and it can be difficult to figure out which one is the best fit for your organization.

That’s why I’ve compiled this list of five platforms that are commonly used by nonprofits so you can decide which one best suits your needs.

1. WildApricot’s Email & Contact Database

Yes, we have an email marketing platform!

When you integrate our email and contact database software with your membership management software, you will have tons of information on your subscribers⁠—including membership status, event registrations, and donations made.

WildApricot provides several professionally designed and mobile-friendly email templates, insights, automated email series, and even a mobile app so you can manage contacts on the go.

Our drag and drop interface also makes it quick and easy to send emails that look professional even for small organizations.

Here’s what it looks like:

 

2. Bonterra

Bonterra is more than an email marketing platform — it’s also a full-on CRM. Previously SalsaLabs, Bonterra is a robust one-stop-shop constituent engagement and management platform. Its email capabilities include mobile optimization, drag-and-drop editor, automated emails series, and A/B testing.

And remember when we said how important segmenting your audience is? Bonterra automatically adds contacts to new lists based on their behavior or activity.

3. MailChimp

You’ve definitely heard of this one! Mailchimp has a free plan for up to 1,000 email sends and 500 contacts, which is great for small or just-starting-out organizations. MailChimp offers an easy drop-and-drag editor, insights, automation series, lead capture landing pages, and A/B testing.

What sets them apart is its capability to integrate with hundreds of other platforms and apps, like SalesForce, Canva, and Eventbrite. Audience segmentation is possible, but not as sophisticated or intuitive as other platforms. Our favorite paid feature is sending out emails at optimized times based on subscriber’s data.

4. Constant Contact

Rivaling MailChimp as a leading email marketing service, Constant Contact provides user-friendly mobile-optimized templates, list segmentation, insights, and lead-capture landing pages.

This service also allows you to build a mobile-responsive donation pages, and drag and drop donation action blocks into any email. Constant Contact has a free trial and nonprofit pricing. If you’re looking for a basic plan, their Lite program starts at $12/month.

5. Campaign Monitor

In addition to the basic easy to design mobile optimized templates, list segmentation, and insights, Campaign Monitor also has an incredibly useful spam tester. Our favorite feature is the dynamic content capabilities, which allow you to change text and images based on the subscriber – talk about personalized messaging! While Campaign Monitor does not have a free plan, it’s still an affordable email newsletter service for nonprofits since it has a pay per campaign plan and a basic plan at just $11/month.

There you have it: everything you need to get started and create a great email marketing strategy, or refine the one you’re already using.

Any further questions? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll do our best to answer!