Email fundraising is a tried-and-true method for nonprofits to acquire donations. 99% of people check their emails at least once a day (with some checking much more frequently!). That’s why these “14 Ways to Raise Money from Email” are increasingly important strategies for nonprofits. Spending time on your email fundraising strategy will be important to your organization’s success in acquiring much needed funds.
How to Write Powerful Fundraising Emails
1. Send Messaging that Creates an Emotional Connection With Your Donor
People want to help, it’s in their nature, but they need to know how they’re going to help first. Giving donors a solution to a problem they can solve will help them connect to your cause. Painting a picture by sharing why donations are needed and conveying a success story will inspire them to give again. It’s important to engage them with real-life experiences and know what motivates them to keep giving.
Appeal to the emotional side of the reader by offering success stories about the people you’ve helped, the number of animals you’ve saved, or the number of mouths you’ve fed. Stories draw readers in emotionally, making them more inclined to donate.
2. Use Short, Easy-to-Skim Paragraphs
Maintaining your donor’s attention is vital. Write short, succinct sentences and concise paragraphs that provide copy that is easy to process and understand. Nowadays, people don’t want to read long emails. Keep your copy short and concise and stress an immediate need for action. It’s also always a good idea to break up the text into short paragraphs and utilize underscores in the text and bold-faced headings between paragraphs. All these techniques make your copy easier to read.
3. Segment Your List
Direct communication through email is a great way to engage and inform supporters about your cause, especially when asking for a donation. However, when creating an email blast, it is essential to have your email database segmented by recency, frequency, and donation amount. In addition, separately flag your volunteers and any prospects acquired through social media.
Send frequent messages to your core email donors. Use copy to speak directly to your core donors that identify them as “loyal supporters.” Try to get lapsed donors to give again by including the date and the amount of their last gift.
Consider segmenting by:
- Donor recency
- New, active, and lapsed donors
- Donation frequency
- One time versus monthly donors
- Donation amount
- Small, midsize, and major gifts
- Non-donors
- Volunteers and prospects
4. Send Targeted Messages
The more relevant the message is to a recipient, the more likely the individual will connect with your cause. When an individual feels a connection to your cause because your message was specific to them, they have a higher propensity to donate.
Tell lapsed donors they are missed and remind them how important they are to your organization. Let new donors know what their first gifts accomplished. Thank recurrent donors for their continued support. Know who you are writing to and target the copy to that specific segment of your list.
5. Make it Easy to Donate
Make it easy for donors! It’s important to have a special landing page where they can click on links such as “why donate,” “donate now,” or “give today,” which state exactly why they should donate to your cause and where their money is going. It’s always good to reinforce their desire to give. There’s nothing worse than donors having to spend time looking for ways to donate. That alone will result in lost donations. Read these useful tips when creating your donation forms.
Millennials may want to donate by using their credit cards via mobile, while seniors may want to donate by check. Know your audience and how they want to give to your organization. Give them the option to support your organization by providing various ways to donate, whether by check, credit card, or another online method they’re more comfortable with.
6. Use Images and Video
Images are a great way to grab attention, but make sure they evoke emotion. A smiling child, a cute puppy, and a warm embrace are all images that make people feel good. Furthermore, you want the reader to have a positive emotional response when deciding whether or not to give to your organization. An emotional response will result in more donations.
Alternatively, utilize video interviews by including individuals who have been impacted by your organization. Have them speak directly to donors via video about why more donations are needed to make a big impact.
7. Create a Compelling Subject Line
Higher open rates for emails result when the subject line is personal and descriptive, which in turn gives the reader a reason to read the email.
One reason we click on the email in our in-boxes every day is because of catchy subject lines. If the subject fails to catch our attention by saying something interesting, chances are we won’t read it. The subject line should be a cue to the actual email copy. Keep your subject line short and succinct, and if the issue is urgent, say so.
8. Personalization
The basics of personalizing your email copy are simple. Use the donor’s name in the salutation and consider using it in the subject line. Gift asks should also be personalized.
How to Improve Your Email Fundraising Strategy
9. Create a Content Schedule for Online Fundraising Campaigns
Decide how often you are going to send emails. Consistent communication will ensure that you stay at the forefront of the donor’s mind; and oftentimes, if done correctly, donors begin to look forward to what your organization has to say and anticipate the next email.
Start scheduling emails on a monthly basis and work towards developing a content schedule with more consistent and targeted communications as time goes on.
Here are a few types of content to consider sending throughout the year:
welcome emails, thank-you appeals, updates, milestones, first-time donor appeals, success stories, holidays, matching donations, monthly donations, and surveys.
10. Send a Welcome Email
Thank a new donor for contributing within 48 hours. Include a piece of information they might not know about your organization. Just in case they want to give again, include a link to your donation page and a link to your website to provide additional information about your cause.
11. Encourage Donors to Get Social With Your Organization
Include all of your social media buttons, allowing readers to follow and like your posts for every online fundraising campaign. Also, make the email easy to share by including share buttons. Ask readers to forward your appeals and communications to friends, co-workers, and family members. When donors share your emails, your organization has the potential to not only raise more awareness but oftentimes acquire more donations for your cause.
Keys to Successful Email Fundraising
12. Thank Donors
Send a thank-you email every time someone donates via an email campaign. Consider, on occasion, sending a video of those helped by your organization and have them convey their heartfelt gratitude in the message.
Most importantly, shortly after their first gift, send each first-time donor a thank-you email, in which you ask them for a second one. This is a highly successful way of making them a long-term donor. This way they will quickly see how much you value them and what you are doing with their donation. This establishes trust early on in the relationship.
13. Be You! People Can Feel the Energy You’re Putting Out
Personality, transparency, and openness go a long way. The energy of your emails is easily transferable to the reader. You want to make sure you’re being honest about what you want to accomplish, and why.
14. Test and Measure Your Mailing Strategy Consistently
Analyze your email open rates and conversion rates regularly to better understand what’s working and what’s not. It’s important to run tests on a continuing basis to avoid falling short in the future.
I see many nonprofits struggling to improve their email fundraising efforts because they are unable to get their marketing strategies into high gear. That’s why these “14 Ways to Raise Money Through Email” provide increasingly important strategies for nonprofits.
We know you’re busy, and we know your donors are busy. Let us help you connect with your donors by writing inspiring email appeal copy and developing an effective email marketing strategy. An online presence that motivates and informs will keep your donors engaged and foster growth at every level. Please connect with me, either by phone or email, and let’s see what we can do together.
Email appeals are one of the most important ways to create donor loyalty. Above all, if you’re not sending them out, you’re missing out on creating an important bond with donors—one that will result in continued donations to your organization.
Try these proven fundraising email strategies and writing tips to increase your organizations success in acquiring more donations.
Write Choice Marketing offers dozens of years of combined fundraising and email strategy experience. We can write your appeal copy and set up an email appeal content schedule for your organization for an entire year. Responsive copy and compelling content are what we do best, and we will ensure that you have an annual strategy like no other. Be sure to contact us today.
Write Choice Marketing—Helping nonprofits maximize donations through compelling copy and donor responsive strategies.
If you found this post useful, please consider sharing it with others! Thank you!