There are several reasons that email should be seen as the foundation, or basic unit, of your online fundraising practices and strategy. The key to understanding email - and leveraging it to suit your needs- is to recognize how it gracefully complements all aspects of your communications - from your website to the forms people fill out when they mail in a donation and the ways you ask for donations. Simply stated, email is now a vital part of all of your outreach and communications.
Email can complement your fundraising efforts by enabling you to create campaigns, conduct seasonal fundraising, and work across mediums by integrating it with your other fundraising strategies, including direct mail, web, phone, face-to-face solicitations, and events.
Email can be effective at augmenting some of your current fundraising practices. For example, you may choose to send an email newsletter at the same time that you're mailing a direct mail appeal , or send a personal email "thanks" after you've made a phone call. More and more, supporters and donors are becoming comfortable with being contacted in multiple mediums. Email is now ubiquitous enough that you can even make the "ask" in email. Asking for financialsupport via email is most effective when that donor originally donated via your website.
In all these instances, the idea is to use email to cultivate dynamic, strong relations with your donors - and prospective donors.
How to Use Email to Expand Your Donor Relationships
There are three major formats to reach your members or prospective members through email: e-newsletters, action alerts, and donation appeals.
Publish a Regular e-Newsletter to Reach Out and Touch People
The e-newsletter is arguably the most effective use of email. It's malleable, dynamic, and easy to produce. The e-newsletter is where using email shines. You can keep your community in the loop, present a personal and branded mode of communication, conduct a very efficient and inexpensive method of regular updates, and get as fancy or plain as you want to.
One common e-newsletter formatting question for organizations concerns the "plain text or HTML" issue. HTML in email enables messages to appear with complex formatting of fonts, columns, and embedded images.
Studies demonstrate that recipients receiving messages in HTML are more likely to pass the message on and to "click-through" to the organization's website. However, not everyone has their email setup to display HTML and a large percentage of users don't or can't view images. Keep that in mind when deciding how to format your emails.
Use the "Action Alert" Model to Mobilize Supporters
The action alert is perhaps the first real application of email by nonprofits, beginning with simple text emails circulating among lists of affinity groups and communities. The action alert has evolved, to provide more leverage and options for how you choose to mobilize your constituencies.
For example, you can now efficiently target action alerts to specific individuals by segmenting your list by any of your database fields, such as zip code, state, or issue interest. You can also issue follow-up emails based on previous responses to earlier action alerts or you can segment your list by who has recently donated and who hasn't had any involvement in several months.
Don't Fear Using Email to Make a Direct Appeal for Donations
Most donors give simply because they're asked. It's that simple. Email can be (and is) effectively used for donation appeals. Email can also be used as part of a larger fundraising strategy when it's a part of a coordinated effort across multiple mediums.
Email appeals work well for seasonal occasions, such as an annual fund drive, an awards dinner, or a holiday. Online fundraising is extra effective when it's coordinated with a real-world activity. Don't forget that the highest percentage of online giving is during the last week of the year, in between Christmas and New Years, so be sure to make yourself front and center and reach out to your donors during that time.
This article was originally published in the Jan/Feb 2004 edition of the Grassroots Fundraising Journal.
Source: Groundspring ITS Topic 12