Email Fundraising Serves Four Strategic Functions in Direct Mail Program

By Alan Sharpe

Email is cheaper than direct mail but that�s not why you should embrace it.

Your non-profit organization should be communicating with donors and members by email for four strategic reasons.

1. Involve

Email, by its very nature, is interactive. Your readers expect to see links in your email 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. Email 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 emails, and message boards and forums on your website, your email 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, email is a cost-effective way to make them more active, with their happy cooperation.

2. Advocate

Email is powerful because of its immediacy. The letter you draft and send at 10:09 am arrives in your donor�s email inbox within minutes, a feat impossible using a letter, envelope and postage stamp.

Because email is immediate and because it encourages interaction, it�s the perfect medium for mobilizing your members. With email, you help your members simply and easily advocate for your cause. The more sophisticated email systems on the market let you customize each email 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 website but your email. Email is how you build relationships with your members and donors. Email is how you invite them (and inspire them) to donate. Your website is simply where your donor makes the donation. Some donors, of course, will chance upon your website 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 emails, not your website. Your website informs and educates, certainly, but your emails are the vehicle that must transport your donors there.

4. Inform

A leading cause of donor attrition is lack of communication by the non-profit. 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 email newsletters are so attractive. Because a good email system integrates with your donor database, you can customize email 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. Email lets you satisfy everyone by sending personalized messages to your donors and members, messages that speak directly to their known interests.

Email 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, email stands alone.

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About the author
Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor and mentor who helps non-profit organizations raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using creative fundraising letters. Learn more about his services, view free sample fundraising letters, and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.RaiserSharpe.com