The success of a nonprofit organization (NPO) needs to have an email and newsletter marketing strategy that is both effective and efficient. It is common for investments in marketing efforts to take a back seat to other, more pressing concerns due to limited resources, staffing constraints, and divided attention from leadership.

Email marketing, on the other hand, is not only less time-consuming than other NPO marketing tactics, but it is also more cost-effective. Newsletters that are regularly sent and well-produced may provide authority to your charity organization while also assisting you in being at the forefront of the thoughts of your patrons.

You will learn how using tailored, and relevant email marketing for nonprofits can help you maintain relationships with its contributors and bring intriguing new possibilities.

SEE ALSO: B2B email marketing tips & best practices + Free Template

Why Should You Put Your Money Into Email Marketing?

Putting money into email marketing may bring various advantages to the table for your charitable organization. These advantages are connected to a single objective, which should be the primary focus of any fundraising effort: reducing costs while simultaneously raising the total amount donated.

1. Email Marketing Is An Efficient Use Of Time And Money

It’s accurate! Many times, the finances of nonprofit organizations are quite limited, and their resources could be better. How much cash did your yearly fund manager spend on the most recent postcard appeal that you sent out? How much time did you spend going to the post office and, for some people, writing down their addresses by hand and affixing genuine stamps to their envelopes?

Numerous fantastic email marketing software platforms are free, and many more are available at very inexpensive prices (e.g., Mailchimp and SendinBlue). For those needing payment, a little sum paid on a periodic or yearly basis buys you the freedom to create, develop, and organize your email correspondence without interruption.

What’s even better? Email marketing for nonprofits allows for cost reductions while also generating revenue. In other words, the return that you get on your investment is rather significant. According to some studies, charitable organizations raise an average of $78 for every 1,000 emails sent out in the name of fundraising.

Email Marketing for Nonprofits

2. Email Marketing Gives The Human Touch

Conversations with donors in person are often believed to be the most fruitful form of fundraising, and most fundraising experts share this opinion. This is accurate in most situations, but what about donors who need more time or do not want to meet in person? What about the valuable time and resources you and your team have available?

Email marketing allows your charity organization to keep in contact with thousands of donors with just the click of a button. And there are a million other ways you may personalize your emails! Your campaign should be set up to address supporters by their names directly. Emails should be segmented so that contributors only get material relevant to what is personally interesting to them. Include a “Call to Action” or emotional videos that can encourage potential contributors to take action.

3. Email Marketing Increases Both Contributions And Participation

Donating money online is a quick and painless process, and the best email marketing for nonprofits is an excellent venue for promoting digital giving as a mode of donor involvement. The only thing that donors need to do to donate to your organization has clicked a button and, in some cases, go through more than one page to choose the giving level or particular fund to which they want to contribute. Using an effective guide to email marketing, contributors no longer have to go through the effort of mailing their preferred charity organization checks, cash, or money orders, which is a huge time saver.

According to certain reports, the amount of money donated over the internet increased by about 21 percent in 2020 and by more than 32 percent since 2017. Imagine how much that figure may grow over the next several years, given the current state of the workforce and the ongoing trend toward telecommuting and other forms of remote employment.

Best Email Marketing Procedures for Nonprofit Organizations

Now that you know the why let’s go over how you can create an effective email marketing for nonprofit organizations.

1. Compile A List Of Your Email Addresses

Since you presumably spent a lot of time and attention drafting every email, the last thing you want to do is send them into the abyss where they will be lost forever (or into a total of three inboxes).

Building a solid email list should, therefore, be the first step in any effective best email marketing for nonprofit campaigns.

And how are you able to do that?

Concentrate on drawing in individuals who will discover a lot of value in the emails you send them, whether it be because they are enthusiastic about supporting your goal or because they want to be current on your topic or business.

Incentivizing audiences to sign up for your list is an approach that has been tried and tested successfully. Make a free resource that may be given away to those interested in your area of expertise. This kind of material is known as a “lead magnet.” This may be in the form of an infographic, a white paper, or a toolbox of materials; basically, anything that a person would be willing to exchange their email address for.

For instance, if you want to entice proprietors of small businesses to become members of your organization, you might make a printable checklist on how to establish an LLC or a straightforward marketing guide that explains how to raise the amount of money they make available to them.

Alternatively, the people most likely to contribute to your cause are dog owners. In that case, you may compile a list that details the circumstances under which you should take your dog to the veterinarian. Asking at every conceivable chance is another method to increase your contact list.

Bring a tablet with you to events and advertise the sign-up page across your digital platforms to increase participation. Make sure that signing up on your website is easy, and don’t discount the power of a pop-up form to subscribe users to your email list.

2. Clear Spam Folders

If the only time your audience is accustomed to hearing from you is on an ad hoc basis, you will need to gradually transition to sending more emails to keep their attention. Suddenly changing anything might cause the email clients of some users to move your messages to the spam folder.

The deliverability of email may be a complicated topic. Still, if you’re moving toward more regular email marketing, there are a few essential factors you should keep in mind before making the switch.

You should not immediately embed forms into your emails, nor should you add files. A more effective method would be to link to websites with forms. Send your emails from an address that is easily recognized. If possible, you should refrain from sending messages from a noreply@yourwebsite.com address. Use a name that all of your readers are familiar with.

Instead of making direct appeals for money, lead with instructive topic lines. Check out the article we’ve made on our site on writing effective subject lines for emails.

If you send an email to a list that isn’t accustomed to receiving emails very often, you should explain what’s happening. Inform your readers that you want to begin sending more informational emails, and most crucially, give them the option to opt-out of receiving future emails from you. It may seem paradoxical in the short term, but removing inactive subscribers from your email list is critical to the long-term success of the best email marketing for nonprofits.

A helpful suggestion is to have one of your employees send out your monthly newsletter under their name. This raises the likelihood that your message will stay in the spam folders of your donors.

Email Marketing for Nonprofits

3. Segment Your Database

Use a segmented email list to ensure that the appropriate individual sees the appropriate email at the appropriate time. Even if everyone on your email list supports your organization, you do not need to send every email to them. Because each individual in your database is at a distinct stage of their journey with your business, the emails they get should reflect the stage that they are now in.

For instance, a supporter of your organization who has given $5 over the last year is generally less involved than a supporter who has given $1,000 over the past month.

When sending out emails, you should consider vital signs of engagement level like the amount of money donated, the number of people who attended events, and actions performed on your website or social media channels. These things are all significant indicators of engagement level.

People who interact less with your organization should get fewer emails, providing them with more fundamental information about it. On the other hand, audience members who are more involved are more likely to react favorably to more frequent emails.

SEE ALSO: 15 staggering email marketing statistics for 2022

A useful piece of advice is to ensure that when users download your information or subscribe to your newsletter, they are entered into a particular drip campaign that involves sending them automated emails pertinent to the subjects they are interested in. This can be done by ensuring that you enter them into the campaign.

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