The Right Nonprofit Email Frequency: Data-Driven Tips for Your Strategy

Google rolled out a Gmail unsubscribe feature in July that makes it easier for users to see how many emails they’re receiving from different senders and unsubscribe from them in one place. I couldn’t wait to dive into the new “Manage Subscriptions” section of Gmail and test out the feature. Now my inbox is a lot less cluttered when I wake up in the morning. 

That’s great for users, but maybe not so good for brands. As a result, it’s now more important than ever to think carefully about your nonprofit email frequency and overall strategy. 

The number of emails nonprofit sent increased by 9% year-over-year, according to the 2025 M+R “Benchmarks” report. This appears to be how organizations are combating the 10% decline in email revenue. I expect email volume to rise again this year as nonprofits look for cost-effective ways to engage supporters and reactivate lapsed donors. 

This leads to the question: As email inboxes get more crowded, how do you know if your nonprofit email frequency is too high — or too low?

Let the Data Guide Your Nonprofit Email Frequency

Email strategy is about creating value in an incredibly personal space — one your audience has invited you into. These six key performance indicators can help you evaluate and fine-tune your email program.

1. Delivery Rate 

Delivery rate measures the percentage of emails that actually reached the mail server. A strong rate is above 95%. While sending emails is an efficient way to communicate, often email platforms charge a fee based on the number of email contacts stored. As a result, monitoring the delivery rate ensures only valid emails are being stored. 

2. Open Rate

Open rate shows you how many people opened your emails out of those who received it. A good open rate is between 40% and 60%, but the higher the rate the better. 

This also measures the impact of subject lines and frequency of communication. Strong open rates paired with low unsubscribes suggest you can safely increase frequency.

Email inboxes are crowded, so a 100% open rate is not achievable. This doesn’t mean people who didn’t open an email don’t want to hear from you. People manage email inboxes differently, so often emails get missed in the noise. 

3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Click-through rate measures the percentage of people who clicked a link after opening an email. It is a reflection on the email content. It doesn’t indicate if people want to hear from you, but instead shows if people find value in your offer. I target a click-through rate of at least 3%. It’s unrealistic to think that everyone who opens your email is going to click.

More links don’t always equal a higher click-through rate, often too many can lead to decision paralysis. Test different layouts, content types and asks to see what resonates with different segments of your audience. Use tags to track what works and regularly analyze the data. 

4. Sends

Sends represent the number of recipients for each email. Modern email systems with smart-send features (like send-time optimization and likely-to-engage segmentation) help reach the right people at the right time. Because email is such a personal communications tool with too many variables, there’s no universal send target.  

One nonprofit that implemented smart-send features saw the number of emails sent drop from more than 2,000 to about 200. The organization had run an e-append on its donor file, so many of the email addresses were from that process. Using that number allowed the organization to reset expectations for the program and better project revenue. It also allowed the nonprofit to focus efforts on what mattered most to the audiences the smart-send features selected. 

5. Unsubscribe Rate

Unsubscribe rate signals the percentage of people who unsubscribe. It’s an indicator of a boundary being crossed – too many emails, emails that are not relevant, etc. I try to keep unsubscribe rates below 0.5% or as close to zero as possible.

Unsubscribe rate is an indicator that your email program is not living up to the expectations of your audience or that the audience is transient and your mission is no longer relevant to them. Sometimes, people unsubscribe because of life events that are out of your control, so ensuring the process to unsubscribe is positive and provides feedback and qualitative data is important. 

6. Revenue Per 1,000 

Revenue per 1,000 tells you the amount of revenue for every 1,000 emails sent. Revenue per 1,000 is a standard measurement that provides revenue and investment projections and showcases the audience is qualified. I still target $60 per 1,000 emails as a goal. There are lots of factors that impact this number — size of email file, age of email file, number of emails sent, etc. Take this number with a grain of salt, but use it to set expectations. 

Revenue per 1,000 is related to open rate and click-through rate — if people don’t click an email, then you’re not going to have a high amount of revenue from your email program, so to improve this number focus on improving the open rate and the click-through rate.

Today’s Email Programs

Today’s email programs are about quality over quantity. Yes, nonprofits are sending more emails per year. Artificial intelligence tools help identify to whom to send emails. Workflows create audience segments. Ask amounts can be automated. So while email inboxes are more crowded than ever, the answer is not necessarily more emails. Use the data from these key performance indicators to create a program that works for your donors. 

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of NonProfit PRO.