Email Marketing for Nonprofits: The Ultimate How-To Guide

Why is investing in email marketing for nonprofits worth it?

Email outreach is as relevant and useful for nonprofits as ever. But what makes this communication channel so effective? Here’s why investing in email marketing is worth it for nonprofits:

• Popularity of email: Studies show that email users check their email quite frequently, with 44% checking at least once daily.

• High ROI: Email marketing is a cost-effective way to stay in touch with supporters. For every $1 email marketers spend, they receive an average of $36 in return.

• Brand awareness: Marketers consistently say that email marketing is one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and connect with current and prospective audience members. Email marketing allows your organization to tell its story to your target audience and increase awareness of your mission in the community.

When combined with other marketing efforts, such as social media, direct mail, and website engagement, email marketing can help you create a holistic outreach strategy that keeps your nonprofit top of mind for supporters.

Types and examples of nonprofit emails

Email marketing is a flexible platform that your nonprofit can use for a wide range of communications. Let’s explore the most common types of nonprofit emails, along with examples sourced from the Really Good Emails nonprofit and charity roundup.

Fundraising emails

When your nonprofit launches a fundraising campaign, it’s all hands on deck to grow awareness of your initiative and generate a steady flow of donations. Fundraising emails play a key role in informing your audience about your campaign’s purpose, goals, and how they can show their support.

According to the Nonprofit Tech for Good report, 74% of nonprofits that utilize email marketing send email fundraising appeals.

Fundraising email example: Help for Heroes boxed figure campaign

Help for Heroes is a UK-based charity that supports veterans with physical and mental health, welfare, and social needs. The email below depicts a campaign the organization launched to raise funds by sending donors a boxed figure to represent their commitment to the cause.

It’s a compelling message because it clearly outlines the problem the organization is trying to solve and how supporters can play a role in the solution.

Advocacy and volunteering emails

As you well know, donating isn’t the only way your audience members can show their support for your mission. Advocating for your cause and volunteering help spread mission awareness and ensure your programs run smoothly.

Email is a highly effective way to engage supporters in these initiatives because they can learn about programs and projects they might not have been aware of.

Advocacy and volunteering email example: Help for Heroes call for volunteers

Help for Heroes also created a useful example of a volunteer request email. The following email uses eye-catching red button calls to action (CTAs) to inspire recipients to sign up.

Donation thank-you emails

Expressing gratitude after donors give is widely accepted as one of the most effective ways to increase donor retention. By sending donors thank-you emails within 24 hours of their gifts (and ideally as soon as possible), you can demonstrate their gifts’ impact and build long-term relationships with them.

Gratitude email example: charity:water thank-you message

charity:water is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing clean drinking water to developing countries. A recent email they sent included a thank-you message at the end that uses donor-focused language to spotlight the essential role supporters play.

New supporter welcome emails

Making new supporters feel welcomed and included in your organization’s efforts is essential to building lasting relationships. A new supporter welcome email series offers new donors or volunteers everything they need to know about joining your organization.

For example, you could send new donors background information about your mission and fundraising needs. Meanwhile, new volunteers could receive a personalized roundup of volunteer opportunities that fit their interests, skills, and availability.

New supporter welcome email example: Four Freedoms Park Conservancy

The Four Freedoms Park Conservancy is a nonprofit that maintains the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park memorial in New York City. The following email is a welcome message for new email newsletter subscribers. It helps recipients feel welcome, with opportunities to join upcoming events, connect on social media, and learn about FDR’s legacy.

Newsletters

An email newsletter is like a digital bulletin for your nonprofit, allowing you to keep supporters updated on all ongoing initiatives at your organization. You can spotlight upcoming events or recap past ones, inform supporters about ongoing fundraising initiatives, thank supporters who’ve recently gone above and beyond, and more.

92% of nonprofits that utilize email marketing send newsletters, with most organizations sending these messages monthly.

Nonprofit newsletter example: charity:water’s Good News

charity:water’s Good News World Channel is a community of supporters devoted to furthering charity:water’s charitable mission to bring clean water to underserved communities. The following email is a newsletter update featuring a recent success story and a few ways to engage with the organization.

Seasonal emails

These emails are timely communications that your nonprofit can send at specific times of the year, such as holidays or seasons. Seasonal emails are a great way to create an additional touchpoint with supporters to wish them well during a special time of year and make the most of donors’ desires to give back during the holiday season.

Seasonal nonprofit email example: CJ holiday campaign

This email is an example of a seasonal email sent by a business in an effort to support nonprofit causes during the holiday season. The email allows recipients to vote for the cause they think the business should support with their holiday donation.

Best practices for nonprofit email marketing

Segment your communications for further impact and connection.

No one likes generic emails clogging their inbox. A personalized message goes a long way to fostering meaningful, long-term donor relationships. According to a McKinsey study, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.

Segmentation involves grouping supporters based on shared characteristics. For example, you could create email segments for:

• New donors
• Current donors
• Prospective donors
• Lapsed donors
• Volunteers

Create targeted communications for each group based on their unique needs and interests. For example, you could survey lapsed donors to ask why they stopped donating. New donors could receive your welcome email series, while existing donors can get personalized impact reports.

Segmented messaging leaves a lasting impression on donors, leading to increased retention rates and fundraising success.

Adopt a consistent communication cadence.

Truthfully, email marketing is a situation where quantity is just as important as quality. And our answer for how often you should send emails may be somewhat unsatisfactory, but it’s the truth: it depends! That’s because these two statements are true at the same time:

• Too many emails can overwhelm supporters, causing them to tune out or unsubscribe.
• At the same time, too few emails can cause your organization to fall off supporters’ radars.

The best communication cadence depends on your supporters’ preferences. Monitor email metrics such as open and clickthrough rates to determine how frequently supporters open your emails. Evaluate if these metrics change when you adjust your email frequency.

The timing of your emails also depends on the types of emails you want to send. For example:

• Fundraising campaign emails should increase in frequency as you near your goal
• Newsletters are most impactful when sent monthly or quarterly
• A welcome series may include one email per week for a month or one email per day for four days

Mix up the types of emails you send to avoid email burnout and keep your messaging fresh and interesting.

Track email metrics to optimize your strategy.

Your email metrics are as good as gold for determining the best ways to optimize your email strategy for your audience’s unique preferences. Prioritize tracking the following data points:

• Average email open rate: The frequency at which recipients open your email messages.
  • Average email open rates are 15-25%.
• Clickthrough rate: The rate at which recipients click on links within your emails.
  • Recent nonprofit average clickthrough rates are 2.7%.
• Email conversion rate: The percentage of recipients who complete an intended action after opening your email, like donating or registering to volunteer.
  • Average email conversion rates for nonprofits vary widely based on email type.

You can also conduct A/B testing with your emails to assess your metrics after making small changes to your strategy. For example, you can test your subject lines by sending half of your audience an email with one subject and half an email with a different subject. Evaluate which subject line leads to the most email opens.

Optimize your subject lines.

In general, it is recommended that you keep your email subject lines between 30 and 50 characters so your subjects are not cut short. However, keep in mind that an estimated 50-60% of email opens come from mobile devices, and 30 characters or fewer is recommended for mobile subject line length.

Your email subject line is also the most important indicator of whether supporters will feel inclined to open your email. These lines should be punchy and attention-grabbing to stand out in supporters’ inboxes.

Consider the following example subject lines:

• Thank you for your support!
• Chris, your personalized impact report is ready!

The second subject line is personalized and attention-grabbing, making the recipient intrigued to open the message and see their personal impact on the organization.

Keep emails concise.

Just like your email subject lines, the body of your emails should be concise and straightforward. Exactly how long each email should be will also depend on the email’s purpose. This infographic gives a general overview of common types of nonprofit emails and recommended lengths for each style:

• Urgent campaign emails – <50 words
• Donation thank-you emails – 50-75 words
• Supporter welcome emails – 75-100 words
• Newsletters- 100-200 words

Again, you can use your email marketing metrics to determine which email lengths work best for your audience. Assessing your email clickthrough and conversion rates is a good place to start when determining how long subscribers are willing to engage with your emails.

Appeal to emotion.

Emotional, compelling language grabs email recipients’ attention, increasing the chances they’ll open your email and take the desired action. Here are a few ideas for emotions to incorporate into your email messages:

• Urgency: “You only have 12 hours left to donate and get your gift matched by a generous sponsor!”
• Happiness: “We’re ecstatic to share that you helped us exceed our fundraising goal by $10,000!”
• Fear: “Our oceans face unprecedented threats over the next decade that we are tirelessly working to combat. Will you help us fight these obstacles?”
• Sense of community: “Join our next advocacy webinar to collaborate with fellow game-changers.”
• Fear of missing out: “Our monthly donors receive exclusive invites to our yearly gala event. Join this exclusive group today!”

For more ideas, explore this list of emotional words to include in your emails to trigger certain reactions and help achieve your email goals.

Ensure compliance with email marketing regulations.

The CAN-SPAM Act sets regulations for commercial email marketing practices. This law applies to for-profit and nonprofit organizations, so ensuring your messages comply with all requirements is critical. Per these regulations, your organization must:

• Avoid deceptive subject lines.
• Do not use misleading information.
• Provide an option to opt out and honor those requests.
• Provide your address.
• Clearly identify ads.

Consult with your nonprofit’s legal counsel to ensure your email marketing strategy complies with all relevant laws.

Leverage multimedia email content.

Images can help effectively tell your organization’s story via emails, enhancing brief text sections. One study found that email campaigns with images had a 42% higher click-through rate than campaigns without images. Consider including engaging visuals such as:

• Header image
• Emojis
• An informative infographic with unique colors or typography

Use just one to three primary visual elements to keep your emails uncluttered and professional-looking.

Use consistent branding.

Your emails should be recognizable to recipients to increase trust and engagement. Use consistent branding across your messages with your nonprofit’s distinctive:

• Logo
• Colors
• Fonts
• Tone of voice

Create email templates and a style guide your nonprofit’s staff can reference when drafting emails. For example, you can create templates for newsletters, fundraising appeals, seasonal greetings, and appreciation emails. This standardization ensures consistency across your messages, even if several team members are tasked with creating emails.

Clarify your calls to action.

Every email should clearly outline the action you want recipients to take after reading. This specificity helps drive conversions and increases your audience’s connection to your cause.

Here are a few CTA examples you may include in your emails:

• Donate to our campaign today
• Sign up to volunteer
• Register for our annual 5K
• Sign our petition
• Join our monthly giving program

Use strong color contrast so your CTA buttons stand out in your emails. For example, your CTAs could have white text on a red background like the Help for Heroes example above:

Strong color contrast ensures your CTAs are readable for recipients with vision impairments.

What are the best email marketing platforms for nonprofits?

An email marketing platform is a service your nonprofit can use to create and send email campaigns, maintain segmented contact lists, and track email marketing metrics. According to the Nonprofit Tech for Good report, 94% of nonprofits that use email marketing use a service such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact.

Choosing the right email marketing software can make or break your organization’s strategy, so it’s important to think carefully about your decision. Review this overview of top email marketing platforms to help guide your decision-making.

1. Bloomerang

Bloomerang is a nonprofit software solution that offers robust donor management and fundraising tools. In addition, Bloomerang enables marketing and engagement campaigns through various solutions designed to help you create personalized, branded email communications.

Bloomerang’s email marketing features include:

• A built-in email marketing toolbox to create branded, customized campaigns
• Brandable email templates
• Email deliverability insights, including sends, opens, and clicks
• The ability to schedule email sends
• Readability testing
• Donor surveys
• Integration with Bloomerang’s donor CRM

Bloomerang’s solutions are designed to support donor retention at every step of the communication cycle. With tools to personalize emails, collect donor information, and show supporters your appreciation, you can use your email strategy to grow relationships and foster long-term connections.

2. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that enables organizations to leverage data from across marketing channels to build personalized campaigns. Mailchimp’s features include:

• Generative AI writing support tool
• Advanced segmentation
• Email automation
• Data dashboards
• Customizable templates

Mailchimp also has a robust integration with Bloomerang. With this integration, users can add Mailchimp email data to Bloomerang recipient profiles and manage segmentation from one convenient location.

3. Constant Contact

Constant Contact’s email marketing platform simplifies building relationships and growing revenue through a user-friendly interface. Users can leverage features such as:

• Drag-and-drop editor for templates
• Automation of repetitive tasks
• Email tracking software to monitor clicks, open rates, and more metrics
• Integrations with other leading solutions, including Canva, Vimeo, Shopify, and Stripe

You can also connect Bloomerang to Constant Contact to combine Bloomerang’s powerful donor insights with Constant Contact’s robust email marketing automation. You can connect email interaction data with donation history information to evaluate each supporter’s current engagement level and create targeted campaigns that speak to their interests.

4. Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor offers email marketing and automation solutions to drive results. Helpful features of this email platform include:

• Drag and drop email editor
• Mobile optimization
• Template management for teams with access controls
• Interactive dashboards with data on everything from campaign performance to geographic reach

Campaign Monitor even offers expert services you can contact when you need support creating your campaigns. The support team is available via phone, email, an online help center, or through your account.

5. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign offers marketing automation features for a wide range of marketing channels, including email. Its flexible email marketing platform offers tools such as:

• Personalization tags and dynamic content features
• Predictive and conditional email content
• Targeted campaigns for specific segments

ActiveCampaign enables multiple campaign types, including drip campaigns, follow-ups and reminders, and promotional emails. It also helps organizations get up and running quickly with one-on-one migration sessions.

6. Flodesk

Flodesk offers a simple and intuitive email marketing platform to design compelling campaigns that bring your mission to life. Flodesk’s features include:

• Email scheduling and automation
• Integrations through Zapier, Pabbly Connect, Flodesk API, or directly with Shopify
• Robust analytics to choose the right time to send emails

Flodesk strongly emphasizes email design, with customizable fonts, branded graphics, and other tools to ensure total visual creative freedom.

How to choose an email marketing for nonprofits software

Follow these steps to narrow down your list of email marketing providers to find the right solution for your needs:

1. Consider your budget. Consult with your financial department to understand any budget constraints you’re working with when considering which email tool to invest in. Remember that some email marketing tools offer free trials, nonprofit discounts, or free accounts that you can use to test their services. These perks allow you to test solutions before investing to ensure compatibility with your current marketing processes.
2. Evaluate user-friendliness. Your email marketing platform should offer a simple drag-and-drop editor, customizable templates, and an easy-to-understand metrics dashboard.
3. Ensure robust segmentation capabilities. Segmentation is key to creating personalized email content, so your email marketing platform should allow you to create multiple segments based on your communication needs. Evaluate how many segments each tool allows you to create to ensure you have the flexibility needed to reach multiple audiences.
4. Investigate automation processes. Determine what types of automation processes you can set up with your top email marketing options. As a nonprofit, you must trigger certain automated emails to go out ASAP, such as donation thank-you emails with receipts.
5. Assess integrations. Your email marketing platform should integrate with other solutions, such as your nonprofit’s CRM or payment processing software. Ensure your solution enables these crucial integrations before choosing a provider.

Reach out to your top options to get any remaining questions answered before choosing a solution. By taking a thoughtful approach to finding an email provider, you can find a platform that will serve your long-term marketing goals.