Email Fundraiser Tips To Get You Started

August 18, 2013

The whole point of a nonprofit email communication program is to build stronger donor relationships; which in turn will hopefully lead to an increase in donors and donations.  With an email fundraiser you can reach more people than you could with a similar offline budget.

It’s important however not to oversell expectations while underselling the hard work it takes.  Wherever online giving is growing – and it’s growing at a huge rate all over the place – there are people working at it and willing it to be successful.

Here are 6 tips to gain success with your own email fundraising venture.

1. You need to have sensitivity to the medium.  You can’t just waltz right in and expect immediate results and you can’t expect it to do everything for you.

2. Remember, one size does not fit all and not everything is created equal.  No vendor or program does everything right for every organization, and every person or level within that organization.

3. Get senior-level support.  Selling a new strategy or a change is never easy from the bottom up.  Get the support of your head honchos.  One way to do that is by bringing in a consultant – somebody with credibility, who your bosses will believe and respect – to evaluate your email communications and suggest specific improvements.

4. You need appropriate budgeting.  Regardless of what your total marketing/fundraising budget is, it is a certainty that you feel it’s too little.  Email, like any other fundraising program, will cost money and so you need to set aside that money.  The good news is that email is far more cost effective than many other traditional means.

5. Maintain internal cooperation.  There has to be a commitment within your organization to make the program work.  There needs to be a willingness to change and learn.  People have to truly want this to succeed.

6. Figure out what success is for you.  You need to clearly establish what will define success for your organization and your email fundraising program.  Set some benchmarks from the get-go and share success as you reach those goals.  As with anything else, success does take time.  Additionally, not every organization will have the same types of expectations or desired results, so make sure to specifically plan out what success will be for you as opposed to modeling your goals on others.

Source: Adapted by Jake Emen from Marc Lee’s Nonprofit 911 Presentation “Email Fundraising on a Tight Budget”

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