E-mail

In my inbox this week was an e-mail advertisement for a new, all-natural approach to dealing with hair loss. Fortunately, that’s one thing I don’t need to worry about.

The Convio whitepaper “The Basics of E-mail Marketing for Nonprofits: Using E-mail Communications to Build and Strengthen Constituent Relationships Online” is a 19-page, information-rich guide that covers the gamut of e-mail marketing, touching on everything from building an e-mail address file, performing list hygiene, gaining permission, offering opt-out options and executing a successful e-mail campaign. The whitepaper also addresses tips for creating compelling e-mail messages. First off, it stresses the importance the of “message envelope,” i.e., the e-mail header. The message envelope is made up of the “To” and “From” lines, the date and the “Subject” line. * Subject line — should be

E-mail blasts that ask constituents for donations aren’t the only way organizations can use e-mail to advocate and fundraise. Another, perhaps less obvious, way is by including e-mail signatures in all the e-mails sent by your organization’s staff, a strategy discussed at great length by Nancy E. Schwartz, president of nonprofit marketing and communications firm Nancy Schwartz & Company, in her article “Nonprofits’ Most Missed Marketing Tool -- E-mail Signatures.” An e-mail signature is information that automatically is added to the end of an outgoing e-mail that typically includes the sender’s name, title, company or organization, and contact information. Schwartz calls it an “online

The last thing any e-mail fundraiser/marketer wants to be associated with is that nasty four-letter word, “spam.” The Can-Spam Act of 2003 regulates unsolicited commercial e-mail if it is an advertisement or promotion and it is unsolicited. Nonprofit organizations can send unsolicited e-mails without violating Can-Spam laws, but there are some key things they should do to ensure that they stay “white-listed.” The article “Staying on the E-mail Up and Up: What Nonprofits Need to Know About CAN-SPAM” by GuideStar’s director of communications and newsletter editor Suzanne Coffman, offers advice to nonprofits about how to keep their e-mails Can-Spam compliant. The article recommends

Someone 20 years old, or 30 or 40 — even 50 — might never become a direct-mail donor. He or she probably will give online from the beginning. And there’s evidence that online donors might act quite differently than their direct-mail responsive parents and grandparents.

Results from end-of-year giving campaigns are still coming in, but one fundraising trend was clear in 2006: nonprofits’ growing expertise in integrating campaigns across multiple communications channels.

The increasing costs of acquiring new donors through traditional methods, the continuing challenge of donor fatigue and the exponential growth in online donations has spurred many organizations to bring online outreach into the mix.

Through a program called Free is Free, e-mail security software is free for the taking for nonprofit organizations small and large that provide things such as food, medicine, shelter, emergency services and education to children in need.

The program is being offered by Newburyport, Mass.-based e-mail security company Declude. It was inspired by an encounter that Declude CEO Rich Person had with Pennye Nixon-West, founder of ETTA Projects, a Seattle-based organization that provides education, economic opportunities, food and health care to help Bolivian mothers feed their families and escape poverty.

A holiday campaign isn’t just a more festive version of the campaigns you run the rest of the year. The holidays are a great time to link giving to your charity with the spirit of giving that defines the season. Amma Hawks, vice president of sales and marketing for San Francisco-based online fundraising service provider Entango, says her company works with a number of organizations to create holiday campaigns. Each does something a little different, something that often dovetails into their regular fundraising programs. Women for Women International, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that helps women in war-torn regions rebuild their lives through financial

When creating a holiday fundraising campaign, it’s important to make your message as specific and tangible as possible, says Tom Gaffny, executive vice president and managing director of the fundraising division of relationship-marketing firm Epsilon. In 2005, Epsilon won five awards for creative excellence in the nonprofit sector from the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA), one of which was a Gold Award in the category of Best Art Direction for its work on a holiday campaign for Volunteers of America — an organization dedicated to helping at-risk youths, elderly, abused and neglected children, the disabled and the homeless. Gaffny says there are

Sure, you want your new supporters to feel welcome, but a welcome package isn’t always the way to go. In a white paper on cultivating new e-mail list members, Eve Fox, vice president of M+R Strategic Services, suggests organizations skip sending welcome messages to new list members. M+R is a full-service consulting firm that designs and runs legislative, media and policy campaigns for organizations. Fox cites data from tests the company conducted for some of its nonprofit clients that show welcome messages to be an ineffective first communication form for newbies. Fox recommends sending new list members a typical action alert or fundraising