Boosting Donations Through Email Marketing: Strategies for Nonprofits

Email marketing remains one of the most effective channels for nonprofits to engage donors and drive fundraising. With the right strategies and a nonprofit marketing agency on their side, small and large nonprofits alike can maximise the impact of their email campaigns and see a significant return on investment.

Define Your Goals and Metrics

Before launching email marketing campaigns, it’s essential to have clear goals and metrics defined. Typical goals for nonprofit email campaigns include:

• Increasing donor retention rates by keeping donors engaged and informed through regular communication. Set a specific target, e.g. improving retention by 5% year-over-year.
• Getting previous one-time donors to convert to recurring monthly donors through consistent nurturing and stewardship. Aim for a certain number or percentage of one-time donors to convert each month.
• Boosting attendance for upcoming events/fundraisers by promoting through email. Set goals for the number of registrations driven directly from email campaigns.
• Raising money for specific programs or campaigns through targeted appeals and outreach. Have monetary goals tied to each appeal.

Once you identify your goals, determine what metrics will define success. Key email metrics to track include open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates. Use this data to optimise future emails for better results. Track email metrics separately for each segmented list and campaign.

Segment Your Email Lists

Every nonprofit should segment their donor email list based on engagement levels and giving history. For example, set up separate segments for:

• Monthly recurring donors who give small amounts each month. Send consistent stewardship emails.
• Mid-level donors who give larger amounts annually. Send a custom nurturing journey focused on retaining their annual gifts.
• First-time donors who just started supporting your mission. Welcome them and start building the relationship.
• Donors who haven’t given in 2+ years and may need re-engagement. Win them back with personalised outreach. 
• Event attendees for recent or upcoming events. Promote engagement opportunities.
• Prospective donors like website subscribers who haven’t donated yet. Nurture them with value-driven content.

This allows you to customise email content and calls-to-action based on donor interests and behaviour. Set up workflows to automatically tag and segment donors. 

For more information on audience segmentation and email marketing, check out this recent interview between nonprofit marketing experts John Bertino and Michael Goodrum.

Create Targeted Email Campaigns

With segmented lists, you can create emails targeted to donor needs. Here are some examples:

• Welcome Series for First-Time Donors: Thank new donors for their gift and provide info on how their donation will be used. Share a video of the impact. This establishes trust and keeps them engaged after their first gift.
• Monthly Newsletter: Send an update on the organisation’s latest news, impact stories, and upcoming events to all subscribers. Include donor testimonials and a donate button.
• Stewardship Emails: Send loyalty donors periodic personalised thank you emails. Share how their contributions make an impact. Include organisational updates to show their support is appreciated.
• Appeals: Send fundraising appeals with clear calls-to-action to regular and lapsed donors. Test email subject lines, copy variations, images, and video. Follow up with non-responders.
• Event Promotion: Promote upcoming events to relevant donor segments. Send reminders and follow ups to track attendance. Share event recaps and photos.

Leverage Email Automation

Automated emails make executing campaigns easier for busy nonprofit marketers. Here are some automations to set up:

• Thank you email receipts after any donations with tax documents attached.
• Welcome series for first-time subscribers to provide value right away. Send over the course of a month.
• Re-engagement email sequence for lapsed donors. Start with one email per week and increase based on response.
• Event reminder emails to registered attendees leading up to the event date.

Automated journeys allow you to nurture different donor segments without constant effort. Use your email platform’s workflow builder to set these up.

Test and Refine

It’s critical to monitor email performance and continuously test and optimise your nonprofit’s email campaigns. Some best practices include:

• A/B test email subject lines, copy, design, and send times to see which perform best. 
• Experiment with different calls-to-action and placement on emails.
• Evaluate optimal send times and days for each donor segment for open and click-through rates.
• Monitor unsubscribe rates and identify causes through surveys to continuously improve relevancy. 
• Adjust email cadence and automations for each donor segment based on engagement.
• Personalise content using merge tags and other segmentation techniques. 

Refine based on open and click-through rates to maximise email effectiveness.

Integrate with Your Website

Your nonprofit website and emails should work together seamlessly. Be sure to share email sign up forms on website landing pages and offer opt-in incentives like resources. Promote upcoming emails in your newsletters and drive to your website for more info. Don’t forget to link to donation pages, events and other website content in emails to facilitate conversions, and coordinate email and website pop-up or banner campaigns to reinforce messaging.

A strategic email marketing program is vital for nonprofit success. Following these best practices will enable your organisation to boost donor engagement, retain more supporters, and ultimately attract more donations. Treat your donors like VIPs, provide value through your content, and consistently track performance - your nonprofit will be amazed by what email can do.