Karen Matheson

This article is excerpted from an M+R Strategic Services whitepaper of the same title. Read the paper in its entirety, along with its accompanying charts and stats here. “Urgent vote TOMORROW!” “Your account balance is overdue.” “Hurry, final sale ends tonight!” With so many other, potentially more urgent messages competing for your e-mail list members’ attention, what can nonprofits do to maximize the likelihood that their e-newsletters will be opened, read and clicked on? We recently conducted a review of five national nonprofits’ e-newsletters to help isolate some reliable ways to grab your readers’ attention and draw them in to your e-newsletter. Our survey

The “Donate” button, for all too many organizations, is the Alpha and Omega — the beginning and end — of their online fundraising efforts. But such an unimaginative view leaves thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of dollars worth of potential donations lying on the table. Since online fundraising became an option, nonprofits have raised hundreds of millions of dollars through new media tools and technologies. And research constantly suggests that online donations and donors are increasing by the month. Median dollars raised online grew 27 percent between 2005 and 2006. The average amount raised jumped 40 percent from 2003 to 2005, with the