Fundraising and a Glimpse Into My Electronic Inbox

Be clear
Subject lines for year-end emails tended to be unoriginal, but there wasn't much doubt what was being asked of me:

• "Hours left to make a difference."
• "Pamela, you can still help in 2014."
• "Midnight deadline."

Not a one that I received had a "business as usual" subject line, though a few reverted to their standard format in the body of the message.

I was a bit confused by an email from Kiva that teased me with "36 hours left," but began the body copy with, "Help us start 2015 strong." I have no idea if that strategy worked, but my initial response was to set it aside until 2015.

Numerous emails that came to both Larissa and me mentioned a match — 2X, 3X, 4X … even 8X. One organization offered me a chance to double my gift on Dec. 30, but the match was gone on Dec. 31. In many cases, the match wasn't mentioned in the subject line. I am assuming that was the result of testing, but (at least for me) the promise of a match was a bit of a nudge to read the email. Your thoughts?

Reduce your risk
Things go wrong. No matter how hard you try, some things don't work out as well as you hoped. For example, I got three year-end emails on Jan. 2 — two from one organization and one from another. I have no idea if this was a glitch on their end or mine, but that doesn't matter. The emails came too late for me to give before year-end.

Fortunately, both organizations had sent emails that arrived as scheduled. Their wise strategy to send more than one email paid off; the one and only year-end email arriving on Jan. 2 is a tragically lost opportunity.