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| Path: Main Street > Resources/Library > Research Articles > Feature Article |
E-mail fundraising serves four strategic functions
By Alan Sharpe
August 8, 2006E-mail is cheaper than direct mail but that's not why you should embrace it. Your nonprofit organization should be communicating with donors and members by e-mail for four strategic reasons.
1. Involve
E-mail, by its very nature, is interactive. Your readers expect to see links in your e-mail messages, links that they can click. Your readers expect to be able to hit Reply and answer a question you've posed, or share their opinion. E-mail is attractive to donors and members, and your organization, because it helps them get involved.By using "Forward-this-to-a-Friend" buttons in your e-mails, and message boards and forums on your web site, your e-mail messages help your constituents share information with friends and colleagues, and discuss relevant topics. If your donor file has plenty of donors who are not engaged in any meaningful way with your organization, e-mail is a cost-effective way to make them more active, with their happy cooperation.
2. Advocate
E-mail is powerful because of its immediacy. The letter you draft and send at 10:09 am arrives in your donor's e-mail inbox within minutes, a feat impossible using a letter, envelope and postage stamp.Because e-mail is immediate and because it encourages interaction, it's the perfect medium for mobilizing your members. With e-mail, you help your members simply and easily advocate for your cause. The more sophisticated e-mail systems on the market let you customize each e-mail message so that it contains the name and contact details for each member's local, provincial/state and federal elected officials. The easier you make it for your members to act as advocates, the higher your response rates will be to petitions and other "take action" messages you mail to further your cause.
3. Fundraise
The key to raising money online is not your web site but your e-mail. E-mail is how you build relationships with your members and donors. E-mail is how you invite them (and inspire them) to donate. Your web site is simply where your donor makes the donation. Some donors, of course, will chance upon your web site and give a gift while they are there, but these kinds of donors are in the minority.One exception is emergency appeals, where organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and Habitat for Humanity raise a great deal of money online from strangers. But the secret to securing second and subsequent gifts from online donors is your e-mails, not your web site. Your web site informs and educates, certainly, but your e-mails are the vehicle that must transport your donors there.
4. Inform
A leading cause of donor attrition is lack of communication by the nonprofit. Donors who send gifts but do not hear from their charity often enough soon take their gifts elsewhere. Just as important as frequent communication is relevant communication. And that's where e-mail newsletters are so attractive. Because a good e-mail system integrates with your donor database, you can customize e-mail newsletters for the unique interests and preferences of each of your constituents.Kathy, for example, wants to receive alerts about AIDS orphans but not refugees. Bill wants to receive bulletins about Sudan but not Senegal. Samantha welcomes updates on her sponsored child but has no interest in attending special events. E-mail lets you satisfy everyone by sending personalized messages to your donors and members, messages that speak directly to their known interests.
E-mail fundraising has its challenges, of course. Spam filters, for one thing. And crowded inboxes. But as a tool for involving donors, mobilizing members, raising emergency funds and delivering late-breaking news, e-mail stands alone.
Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor, mentor, author and newsletter publisher. Alan helps nonprofit organizations worldwide to raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using cost-effective, compelling, creative fundraising letters. Receive free tips like this each week by signing up for Alan Sharpe's Fundraising Letter.
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