According to research, charity email newsletters are the preferred way to receive information about non-profit projects.
However, it is not always obvious to nonprofits how to properly set up their email campaigns to improve deliverability. Or how to write emails that encourage people to donate.
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Our Case: Email Marketing for a Charitable Organization
The Email Soldiers team set up mailings for the charity foundation “ZHIVI” , the foundation ” Old Age in Joy “, Meet for charity , and the ” Khabensky Foundation “. During our work, we have accumulated experience and knowledge, and we will share them in this article.
What kind of letters can charities send?
Automatic letters
Subscribers receive automatic emails when they perform some action on the NGO website: sign up for a newsletter or make a donation.
Before sending automatic emails, it is worth dividing the audience into segments, and then setting up a separate email chain for each.
Segments for charity mailings can be as follows:
regular subscribers;
donors – people who have donated at least once;
recurring donors are those who have made a monthly donation, and it is automatically debited from their bank card.
Next, a series of letters is created for each segment. They tell what the funds are spent on, demonstrate success stories – but in a form that inspires the greatest trust in each segment. For example, for regular subscribers, it would be logical to tell how exactly and to whom the fund helps, and for recurrent subscribers, it is important how their regular contributions are used.
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Instructions: How to set up automatic emails in Mailchimp
Trigger emails
NPOs can use a trigger letter that will be sent to subscribers’ emails if they make a donation on the site, or a reminder letter for subscribers who have signed up for a monthly automatic donation that a payment will be debited soon.
Digests
This is a mailing format where NGOs can tell subscribers what has been done and what successes the foundation has achieved over a month or other period of work.
This type of mailing helps people see that charity really works and that their donations are based on the lives of real people.
Check your content: Make sure your goals align with donors’ willingness to engage
What should be in the first letter of a charity email newsletter after subscribing to the foundation’s news
The number one reason why people don’t donate money is a lack of trust in charities.
To combat this, it is worth placing information about the foundation in the first letter of the auto-mailing. The letter can include reports on the foundation’s activities, information on successful projects, the history of the organization and assistance programs.
It is important that the first letter does not immediately call for donations. New subscribers may not be ready for this. The main task is simply to get acquainted and remove mistrust.
The content of the first letter may determine all further communication.
In the first letter from the AdVita charity foundation, you can get acquainted with the activities of the organization through a video:
charity email newsletters 1
By the way, if you open it, you can see a lot of positive feedback in the comments on YouTube. This strengthens the trust in the organization.
Below in this same letter, in case the reader has not opened the video, he will see important information about the foundation: the year it was founded, who the organizer is, how many people the foundation has helped over the past year and who exactly.
charity email newsletters who the foundation helps
The WWF Charity Fund tells about itself, but in such a way as not to overload the letter. To do this, it places links to the main programs so that the reader decides for himself what interests him more. And goes to the necessary section.
wwf charity email newsletters
The charity service “Miloserdie” tells about all the events for the last month. Perhaps there is a lot of information for the first letter, but if the goal is to remove mistrust, amazon database this approach can work. The reader sees how much the foundation does.
what does the fund do
For the Starost v Radost foundation, the Email Soldiers team created a welcome letter in which the foundation thanks for the subscription and asks to confirm it. Such letters are suitable for foundations that have a double opt-in set up.
Success stories also work in charity mailings
When writing letters, which types of businesses need local seo follow the principle of “show, don’t tell.” Try to include testimonials, fundraising statistics, betting email list and share what the foundation has already done, even if the global goal has not yet been achieved.
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How Storytelling Works and Why You Should Use It in Email Newsletters
The WWF Foundation thanks donors and tells how the collected funds were spent and how it helped in the fight against forest fires in Yakutia. The fires have not yet been defeated, but the foundation has already provided serious support in firefighting.
charity email campaigns firefighting
But these stories show that charity has a goal – to make other people’s lives better, and what it looks like when the goal is achieved:
charity email newsletters old age in joy
An example of a success story of one of the wards of the charity foundation “Old Age in Joy”
The AdVita charity foundation’s newsletter contains the story of one woman who was cured thanks to the foundation:
charity email newsletters history
This is how the foundation shows that it spends donations to help real people.
Gratitude is never superfluous
Thank people who have contributed to the foundation’s goals. This will help the reader feel proud of being part of something important.
Gratitude
Gratitude at the end of the letter from the “Old Age in Joy” foundation. Is addressed to everyone, not just to the benefactors
Emotional connection increases donor loyalty
You can establish an emotional connection with your subscribers not only through text, but also through photographs.
Photos of elderly people in the mailing list of the charity foundation “Old Age in Joy” show who the foundation’s wards actually are.
emotional connection with subscribers
As a result, the content becomes more personal. Subscribers see not only numbers and statistics, but also real people who receive help.
Photos of children with gifts for September 1 from the charity foundation “Our Children” make the content personal:
charity for children
The photo shows real children who went to school with new backpacks and stationery.
Why it’s important to pay attention to the tone of your charity emails
In letters, you should never persistently ask for help, demand, threaten, cause guilt, or use a pitiful tone. A request that is structured in this way can scare off the target audience or cause resistance – “do I owe anyone anything?”
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How to immerse the author in the project so that his text is useful to the brand
It is better for the reader to understand why help is needed. Therefore, it is worth telling about it in a calm tone, giving facts and figures.
In the letter, the Pravzhizn charitable foundation talks about the church, which is undergoing restoration:
charity email newsletters orthodoxy
The reason the foundation is asking for help: there are few parishioners in the village, and they can’t cope on their own. There are no unnecessary emotions or manipulations in the text, only facts. If the reader donates, they will do so of their own free will. And not because they felt selfish and greedy after reading the letter.
Funds can offer something in return in a charity email newsletter
Not every foundation can afford to give something in return. But if you can thank your subscribers with something useful, it is worth doing.
The Ray Charity Foundation invites its subscribers to attend a free lecture in Moscow and learn how to properly walk a dog:newsletter about animals
And below he offers to help the foundation by raising funds for shelters:
benefit in mailing
The foundation not only accepts help, but is also ready to share something useful for free.
Check your domain settings to avoid spam
This is a complex technical part, but it is absolutely necessary. Perhaps it is worth delegating this task to an experienced email specialist.
Find out how much it will cost you
Turnkey Email Marketing
Check the SPF , DKIM and DMARC parameters – records in the DNS domain from which your emails are sent.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC are responsible for ensuring that the letter does not end up in spam, but reaches the recipient. And if the letter was sent by scammers, so that the spam letter does not reach the recipient.
You can send emails through mailing systems without setting up parameters, but this may be unsafe. This is because other companies also send emails through the mailing server. If one of them sends spam and is blocked by mail services, this will affect your mailing. It will be sent to spam more often. Or the email address will be blocked altogether.
