4 Techniques to Improve Nonprofit Email Response

There are standard tips and tricks to getting nonprofit fundraising emails opened and read, from crafting an intriguing subject line to tailoring the content based on factors like donation history, demographics and level of engagement. While it’s always important to keep these best practices in mind, there’s one essential aspect in generating an effective email campaign that is often overlooked: spotlighting the organization's impact goals and the impact framework that has been adopted to achieve those goals.

What exactly are impact goals and why are they so essential to creating an effective fundraising email? In the nonprofit sector, impact is typically defined as the quantifiable difference the organization is making in the community it is targeting. In other words, impact is both the intended and the unintended effects of the nonprofit’s work in the community it serves. Impact goals, then, encompass those social, economic, physical or even ecological changes that the nonprofit intends to bring about through its work.      

Regardless of what those goals are, clarifying an organization’s mission by clearly stating its impact goals in a fundraising email allows the recipients (who typically are current or prospective supporters) to easily understand what their contribution will help to accomplish. Perhaps just as importantly, clearly articulating a nonprofit’s impact goals enables readers to readily relate their own interests to those of the organization, while simultaneously conveying a sense of transparency — all of which serves to build trust and a higher level of engagement with the email’s target audience. 

Stating the nonprofit’s impact goals, however, is only part of the equation. It is equally important to include the organization’s impact framework — i.e., the way in which progress toward achieving those impact goals is monitored and evaluated — in fundraising emails. Doing so takes transparency to another level while demonstrating to supporters that the nonprofit is accountable for how their contributions will be used. 

Surprisingly, many nonprofits lack a system for measuring the impact their programs and services are making.

While the inclusion of impact goals and the impact framework can make a fundraising email resound more effective, it is still incumbent on the nonprofit to craft a compelling narrative that entices recipients to read and respond positively to the solicitation. To do that, nonprofits need to make certain their fundraising emails incorporate four techniques that are designed to improve readability and encourage response.  

1. Tell a Cohesive Story

To increase the odds that recipients will respond to the email, the nonprofit should regard email as an opportunity to tell its story in a way that is compelling and remind the reader why its mission is so important. To that end, the email should rely on simple language and, if possible, compelling visuals. It should paint a mental picture that evokes emotion and entices the reader to empathize and connect with the organization.

2. Personalize the Impact Experience

Compelling storytelling will go a long way toward engaging email recipients but to prompt them to open their wallets and get involved, nonprofits must also personalize the impact their involvement will make by answering basic questions, namely:

• Why should I care about the organization’s work?
• How will my donation help?
• What do you want me to do? 

This can be done by noting specific projects that the reader’s contribution can support, and explaining how those projects will help to advance and ultimately achieve the nonprofit’s impact goals.    

3. Empower Donors as Agents of Change

By emphasizing the critical role an email recipient’s contribution will play in realizing its impact goals, a nonprofit can engender a sense of ownership and empowerment among donors. Prospective supporters want to know that their contribution will be used to directly impact the organization’s mission. With that in mind, it is important to use compelling language that encourages and empowers readers to make a difference.

4. Showcase Measurable Outcomes

An impact framework includes key metrics to measure success. These metrics should be integrated into fundraising emails to provide concrete evidence of the nonprofit’s effectiveness. Demonstrating the impact in quantifiable terms adds credibility to the message and entices supporters to engage, knowing their contributions will lead to tangible results.

Combining these techniques with a nonprofit’s impact goals and framework serves to transform fundraising emails into a compelling narrative of transparency, authenticity, and shared purpose. Just as important, it will make the organization’s email one that stands out from the crowd of mere solicitations that prospective supporters regularly receive, motivating them to act. 

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.