Fundraising emails are a familiar feature of everyday life for most nonprofits. You have probably written or reviewed quite a number of them yourself.

The problem is that, even if you’ve written hundreds of them, it can be very hard to tell whether these emails are actually living up to their full potential, or if you’re leaving money on the table.

We’re going to look at the art of the fundraising request email, and give you some fundraising email example ideas and other suggestions to help you up your email game.

Create Different Email Lists

Unless your mailing list is very small, you should definitely be using it to create smaller lists that group similar donors together. Having specialized lists means you can send each donor a more customized fundraising email. This reduces the risk of donor fatigue and alienation.

Here are some popular ways to segment your donors:

• Donor capacity (e.g., big-dollar donors, small-dollar donors, etc.)
• Frequency of donations (e.g., donors who give often vs. infrequently)
• Donation Frequency (e.g., when did they last donate?)
• Target demographics (e.g., age, sex, location, student, etc.)
• Specialized topics of interest (e.g., donors who care about a specific campaign)

Set a Concrete and Attainable Goal

Every email should have a goal. Most donors are more likely to give money if there is a specific purpose in mind for that money. We recommend that you usually set a goal that is both concrete and attainable. You can stray from this when needed, but this should be the default for your fundraising emails.

Optimize Your Email Structure

What’s the difference between a sharp knife and a dull one? The dull one is a lot more work and a lot more frustrating. It’s crucial that you optimize your fundraising emails, just like you would sharpen a knife. This makes all the difference in the world! It’s probably the most important part of the whole process.

Main Body Text

The main text of your fundraising email should be short and sweet. This is different from a newsletter email, which would normally be much longer. As a rule of thumb, we recommend you aim for 100 to 300 words.

Use this text to tell a story rather than just presenting the facts. The best way to do this is to contextualize your request: Why is the roof leaking? What work of yours is being disrupted? Has anyone set up a collection pond with koi in it?

Be sure to end your email with a strong call to action (e.g., “Help us get this roof fixed by the end of summer!”) and a donation button.

Get Fundraising Advice from BryteBridge Nonprofit Solutions

Many nonprofits struggle with sustainability, especially in the first few years when they’re just getting their feet under them. It also becomes an issue when an established nonprofit tries to grow, as well as in scenarios like an economic downturn or fierce competition from other organizations. In all of these cases, it’s crucial that the funding be there to meet operating costs.