USE EMAIL Wisely, WIN AT YEAR-END FUNDRAISING

I recently presented at the Giving Season Summit hosted by FreeWill and Charity Navigator.

My session focused on email’s role in year-end fundraising, and here’s what I shared with nonprofit leaders in the audience:

• PLAN A MULTI-CHANNEL CAMPAIGN AND GIVE EMAIL A LEADING ROLE.
  
  Email shouldn’t be your only plan. (Nor should any single channel.)
  
  But if email isn’t a leading player in your plan, you are leaving money on the table.
  
  Email remains:
  
  ✔ Direct-to-audience.
  ✔ Cost-effective for return on investment.
  ✔ “Owned” by you.
  ✔ Personalizable at scale.
  ✔ Improves donor retention, even for check-writers.
  ✔ Results you can measure and track.
  
  

• AUTUMN EMAILS ARE FOR STEWARDSHIP.
  
  Here’s the missing link:
  
  Year-end fundraising really starts in September, with stewardship that flows steadily through Thanksgiving week.
  
  And email is one of your best tools for it.
  
  ✔ Your existing email newsletter is an easy starting point.
  
  ✔ Consider creating a freestanding “Gratitude Support” email (or several).
  
  ✔ Send quick, 1:1 appreciation videos over email, using a tool like BombBomb or Vidyard.
  
  

• USE EMAIL TO MAKE GIVING TUESDAY YOUR OWN.
  
  Most nonprofits shouldn’t ignore Giving Tuesday.
  
  But you have options, and email can help:
  
  ✔ Make a standalone, standout ask.
  (Today’s a good day for a specific, designated appeal.)
  
  ✔ Or email today to officially launch your year-end giving campaign.
  
  ✔ Or make it a “Thankful Tuesday” to love your donors. No ask. Extra points if you combine it with a gratitude phone bank or note-writing effort.
  
  ✔ Or focus today’s emails on some other meaningful action. Generosity comes in many forms! Invite your donors to sign a petition. Volunteer. Or write a card to one of your program participants.
  
  Just don’t go silent on email today. 
  
  

• NURTURE THE RELATIONSHIP THROUGHOUT DECEMBER.
  
  Don’t ask again in December until you’ve properly thanked Giving Tuesday donors!
  
  Then use emails to stay in touch with your supporters at least weekly through the month of December, with a mix of:
  

  ✔  More stewardship, reporting back on all the donor has made possible

  ✔  Holiday greetings (if appropriate for your audience)

  ✔ Appeals.
  
  If you fall silent between Giving Tuesday and the final days of the year, your donors will hear from other great causes they care about. Their gifts may go elsewhere.
  
  

• EMAIL IS YOUR BEST FRIEND IN THE FINAL COUNTDOWN.
  
  About 12% of annual giving happens in the last three days of December.
  
  The final two days of December are the highest-converting email dates of the entire year.
  
  YET, 48% of nonprofits don’t send a single email on December 31.
  
  What in the world.
  
  

• YOU’RE NOT FINISHED YET.
  
  If you’ve created and scheduled your campaign, but it doesn’t include campaign-specific THANK YOU emails… you’re not done.
  
  Donors regularly cite not feeling seen and known, appreciated and needed as a major factor when they stop giving. (To you. Rest assured they’re giving elsewhere.)
  
  In addition to automated thanks, I hope you’ll plan a grateful Happy New Year email that goes out in the first few days of January.
  
  (Not weeks later, when you’ve missed the moment.)

• In this session I ALSO BUSTED SOME YEAR-END EMAIL MYTHS:
  
  ✔ Sending three emails in December is not enough.
  
  ✔ No, you’re not emailing too much.
  
  ✔ In most cases, unsubscribes and complainers are not a Stop Sign.
  
  ✔ But don’t send cruddy emails just to send them. Quality content matters.
  
  ✔ AI-written subject lines and copy will cost you $$ – and relationships. Invest in human creativity if you want to raise more.
  
  ✔ You don’t have to do this alone. When you’re ready for expert support, let’s chat!