Ep. 166: The 5 Email Types Every Nonprofit Needs To Drive 2x–9x Campaign Funding
EPISODE 166
The 5 Email Types Every Nonprofit Needs To Drive 2x–9x Campaign Funding
About the Episode:
You don’t need to send more emails. You need to send the right ones.
In this episode, I’m breaking down the five email types every nonprofit must use if you want to double, triple, or even 9x your campaign results. These aren’t random updates or long newsletters that no one reads. Each type has a specific role in moving your donors from curious to committed. We’ll talk about why your current email strategy might feel flat, how to stop repeating yourself, and the exact sequence that creates urgency, connection, and momentum. If you’ve ever wondered, “But what do I write next?” this is your roadmap.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Why fewer emails equals fewer donations
The five types of emails that keep donors engaged
How each email type plays a unique role in the campaign arc
Why story-driven emails outperform newsletters every time
Real examples of campaigns that grew 2x–9x by retooling emails
It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here! https://christinaedwards.krtra.com/t/xKuLs6tOiPZa
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Brands are building loyalty through storytelling campaigns.”
“Gratitude reminds donors of the best part of who they are.”
“Your donors need to know why I should act now versus in three months from now.”
“Donors just need a reminder.”
“Email should be your easiest, number one, fundraising tool.”
“People want to stay aligned with their past actions.”
“Not every email should be about money, but every email should move the relationship forward.”
“Random emails waste more time than intentional ones.”
“Your edge isn't slickness, it's authenticity. Donors want human stories, human connection, gratitude, but you can borrow proven strategies from brands that are scaling.”
“Donors are consumers. Consumers are donors. That means the shoppers for Sephora and Nike are the same people who are donating to your organization.”
“Donors need one story, one invitation, one clear next step.”
“If you increase the volume of emails you send and the quality, you will see the volume of donations you send increase.”
“You need more emails with more purpose. That's how you get more remembered and engaged donors.”
“Year-end fundraising should be a strong email campaign that ends up being like the backbone to your online fundraising.”
episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
Easy Emails For Impact™ - Turn Your Inbox into an Income Stream
Donations on Demand: Build a $5K Email Campaign System in 30 min/week
The SPRINT Method™ - Fundraise Like a Pro, 5 Figures At a Time
Connect with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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*Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Christina Edwards 0:00Today. We're talking about the five email types that every nonprofit needs in their rotation. So I want you to find the missing links in your emails, your email campaigns, your fundraisers and your nurture emails, so where you can kind of pull the lever of, ooh, maybe it's email four, maybe it's email five, that you need to start integrating more of year round. So everything that I'm going to talk about today is something that you should do more often than just November and December. You with me? Okay, so let's dig in. Most nonprofits aren't doing email fundraising. You think you are, but you're actually just writing emails. Now, there's a big difference. We're going to dig into that today. We certainly have talked about it in the previous episodes as well. So emails, for the sake of emails, look like random updates, long newsletters, maybe event invites, gala table ticket sales, register for five Ks, etc. It's kind of this kitchen sink style updates when you need something from your donors, from your subscribers, and then you're wondering, where is everybody? Why aren't people responding? The difference here is that's actually not fundraising, that's broadcasting, it's it's the same energy of talking at some one versus with someone. All right, so what's missing here are these five types of emails, and we're going to dig into the five types. We're going to talk about the psychology. We're going to talk about the way that I see other brands and businesses lean on these types of emails, and they work beautifully. This is why our clients double. We have had, even had a case study last week where our client 9x his campaign using the same methodology, the easy emails methodology, okay, so let's dig into the first type of email. The first type of email is the story email. This is a connection builder, so I
Christina Edwards 3:03
humans are wired for stories. One vivid story sticks far longer than a list of stats. Think about that. We are. If you've ever had a memory that was tied to a meal you ate a memory like just drop in, tied to maybe somebody's perfume where it reminded you of somebody. Think about that like the deep, depth of stories that we actually have connection with and have long lasting memory of those are so much easier than me remembering a bunch of stats. I have a couple of stats that I do have memorized, but it's really funny because I'll look at a stat, I'll have looked at it a dozen times, and I'm like, what was that stat? Again? Was it 50% was it 52% right? Because humans are wired for stories, right? And those vivid stories, we actually can see them in our mind's eye, in color, right? We can picture the people when we're reading books. This is actually I listened to this. I think it was on Adam Grant's podcast, and it was so interesting. People were the guest was saying that most people, the majority of people, when we read a novel, we're actually hearing each character's voice in different like, each character has their own unique voice, like in our mind's eye, right? So if there's two characters, and one of them's kind of southern art. We might even hear them in an accent, right? So all that to say very, very vivid.
Christina Edwards 4:32
All that to say that the more connecting, the more depth there is to the story, the more connecting it is, and the more lasting power it has with your donors. So an example might be, meet Sarah, a moms who a mom whose life changed when pop up up. Now, how are brands and businesses using this? Brands are building loyalty through storytelling campaigns all the time. If you've ever seen them, Meet the Maker. Meet the maker campaigns, or maybe you've seen it on a Facebook. Ad or an email, something like that behind the scenes, right? These are all those sort of narrative transportation stories, right? Nonprofits, also, nonprofits often skip this for the default kind of dry updates. Okay, and maybe it's easier to go to what you've always been doing, but if you want a different result, you have to do something different. So that's what we're taking into today. One way that you can do this. If you're like, Oh, I'm just kind of in this habit of these sort of sterile, dry updates, and I'm not sure not sure how to do the story. Connection builder email is I want you to get in their shoes, not yours. What this means is like a simple thought exercise where you're actually getting into your recipients, point of view, their shoes and not yours. As the nonprofit staffer, not yours. As I need to hit this deadline. I need to send this email. I need to send three I need to sell three more tables at the gala. The email you write when you need to sell three more tables at the gala is a different email when then the one you write when you're like, Okay, Jamie would be Jamie would love to attend this gala. Let me tell Jamie about this gala. Let me tell her why it's the perfect place, why she should bring a friend, right, like when you're thinking about their experience and not yours. Let's dig in to email number two.
Christina Edwards 6:41
Email number two is the impact or gratitude. Email, this is the retention driver. This is identity reinforcement. Gratitude reminds donors the best part of who they are. This is who you are. You're generous. Your gift helped make this happen, right? You're telling them the best part of their themselves, right, and what they helped make possible that increases the loyalty there. And you might be thinking, of course, I know about the gratitude email, but I want you to actually write a note that says, review our gratitude email. Review the email that you're currently sending donors after they make a gift. I don't care if it's the first time donor, like the new donor, or if it's somebody who just makes another gift this year. What email are they getting? Does it have that depth? Does it have that that level of authenticity? Or could I swap out your nonprofit name for a different nonprofit name and they could just send that same email? It shouldn't sound so formulaic that anyone could use your email. You with me.
Christina Edwards 7:44
an example of this might be because of you, 37 families had access to blank care this month. So specificity, 37 families moving into some story there. Think about how we see this in the E commerce world. They don't have the juicy stories you have, right, but they're still making this happen. They're making this happen through loyalty programs, brands email, thank yous perks, you made this possible. Emails, right content to keep customers coming back. Nonprofits often reduce gratitude to a tax receipt, a formulaic tax receipt with a boilerplate about your mission. This is one of those opportunities to have a low lift, high impact. I like all of my clients. This is another Hot Tip. I like all of my clients, to update their thank you email once a year. So the email I get from you should not be the same email that you sent me in 2020, 345, you with me update it every single year, and plus those stats have changed, and maybe you're sending a specific one that's specific to the campaign that's absolutely something you want to do as well. You you.
Christina Edwards 9:11
Okay, the next essential email type is the campaign email. That's probably why you might be listening to this podcast. This is the fundraising push email. The big thing I want to underscore here is plural. This is more than one email, so we'll say emails. So weaving into donor psychology, we need to layer in some urgency, potentially some scarcity, right? So humans act, take action. When a deadline is near or an offer is limited, your donors need to know, why should I act now versus in three months from now? If you can't answer that question for them, your email is not going to convert as high as it could. That's it, plain and simple. Why should I give today? So we teach our clients in Easy Emails For Impact™ and in The Purpose & Profit Club how to answer that question. In, and that's why our clients double their campaigns. We've even had clients 4 or 5 and 9x their campaigns. So this is where you're warming up your audience ahead of time before the actual campaign starts. Then they know when you're an active fundraising campaign, they know that as the recipients of your emails, they have the reminder emails. They also have a you're sending a final call, last, last push email. We also see this in online businesses. They the E comm world loves this. They love to do this. They do this so well. Scarcity emails, this might be a last chance, a cart closing. Look for it. Look for it. So for example, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, holidays, right? What do we see? Sometimes we'll see a deep discount for a limited time. That's when they're really pushing out a lot of messaging, a lot of volume. So people take action now, not on December 19, right? Come by now when the sale is happening?
Christina Edwards 11:08
Let's talk about abandoned cart and re engagement flows. So abandoned cart in the for profit world means simply, maybe you headed over to Zappos website and you saw a really cute pair of sneakers, but you didn't actually buy them, right? And if you've ever gotten the email from Zappos about an hour later or a day later, that's like, hey, Christina, we still have your size. Come grab them right now. That's an abandoned cart email, right? They're like, don't forget. Don't forget, right? Those reminder emails re engagement flows are the same thing, right? Where maybe you took a look at a specific website, and then they'll say, hey, come take, take another look, right? Here's that, here's that lookbook you were looking at, or here is that coupon code don't forget, right? Those types of emails that is your like, warmest possible prospect, potential customer, aka donor, those have a 2361% higher conversion rate than regular campaigns. Why? Because the like intent was so high. The intent Christina's shopping for sneakers, and now is the time. Let's help get her over the finish line is right there. So how that translates to you and your organization is all the people who clicked on your link to purchase that event ticket and didn't purchase warm, warm, warm. They were thinking about it, but they didn't right all the people who clicked on your fundraising page for your year end campaign but didn't donate warm, warm, warm, the intense there. Sometimes all they need, all they need is just a reminder. Donors are the same. All they need is just a reminder. And I think sometimes we shame or blame ourselves, and we're like, if they would, if they wanted it, they would have given if they landed on my fundraising page, they would have clicked donate if they wanted to, if they clicked on our event gala tickets, if they really wanted to, they would have bought the tickets. And that's the biggest lie you tell yourselves, right? Is that? Like, if they wanted to that one click, they would have taken the action. Whereas for profits, know this, to the tune of over 2000% higher conversions, is like, let me give let me give that potential customer some grace. She got distracted. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to check her size right. All of the different reasons why she didn't take action right then, so we're going to send her another reason to take action. That's it. What if your next influx of donations just needed that second reminder? What if that was it, and it wasn't so personal?
Christina Edwards 13:39
So we recently had Michael Murphy on the podcast where he shared with his organization, you know, he's a first time fundraiser, and he took Easy Emails For Impact™ my course. And before he had raised about $1,900 through email, that was like the most he had raised in a campaign using this same process, the same process that we have been talking about today, these same types of emails, the way that you warm up people, especially in these actual campaign emails. He went from 1900 to 9000 he went in one campaign. He went from 17 donors to 114 donors in one campaign, their biggest campaign ever. He says that email is now their number one fundraising tool, and it should be. It should be your easiest number one, fundraising tool.
Christina Edwards 14:32
okay, let's go to email number four, the type of email that many of y'all are missing out on is the RE engagement email. So these are the folks that maybe are lapsed donors, maybe gave some year, but not this year. These are the sleepers, right? They were once engaged, they once gave, but they've really fallen off. I love. This segment. I love this segment so much. Okay, because they already know like and trust your organization. They've just lost touch. They're that that friend that you went to college with used to talk all the time, and now you don't talk so much, right? That doesn't mean that friend hates you. That doesn't mean that friend doesn't want to be friends with you anymore. You just lost touch, right? And especially when the lost touch period is a year, maybe two years, something like that. There's so much opportunity to re engage those people. Okay? So people want to stay aligned with their past actions. Think about that. They once gave, sometimes multiple times, sometimes a large amount, multiple large amounts, to your organization and a gentle We miss you. Reminder helps reactivate and realign that self image again, of reminding them of the best part, the best version of themselves, the most generous, the most philanthropic version of themselves. This first looks like reminding them they haven't given that may seem obvious, but I want to call out that some people don't realize they lapsed. Time is a weird thing. I often think that something happened this year in the last 12 months, and I look and I'm like, oh my god, that was two and a half years ago, right? So you can actually say, we miss you. We'd love to have you back. Here's what we've been up to, right? And then an invitation to give again. So I would actually say, and remind them of where they were, how long it's been, and then what you're up to, and an invitation to to take the next step. That's it. It can be that simple. So we have clients that have done this. They have re engaged. A large part of that list, they have re engaged people, to the tune of raising over $10,000 just in re engagement emails with live events and side buttons. Okay, so sometimes in the E commerce world, have you ever gotten the email that's like, we miss you? You haven't shopped with us in a while. There's a restaurant that sends me SMS texts, and they'll be like, Hey, here's 10% off. You haven't been here in a while. Come get a smoothie bowl, right? That's it. That's what a re engagement series. They're not making it like they're not making it this drastic undertaking, right? They're just like, oh, Christina hasn't been here in X number of days, months or years, whatever the the filter is. And then they're sending an email. That's it, right? So it could be, we noticed you haven't stopped in in a while. We notice you haven't logged in, right? That's all it is. And here's what we're up to, right? And here's an invitation to come, take a look. Come take action, to give again, whatever the the action is you want them to take it is gold. Nonprofits are rarely doing this. And I think sometimes the reason why they're rarely doing this is the time, right? Is like, I don't have time to go through all this. And the reason why I love emails so so much is you're not, let's say your live event list is 500 people long, right? 500 donors long. You're like, I do not have time to do this. This is overwhelming. It's just me in development, right? Great. We're going to put those 500 people through an automated series. That's it. An automated series. It could be three emails, it could be five emails. It really doesn't need to be more than that. That's it. You do not have to pick up the phone, you do not have to send them a text message, do not have to make one to one phone calls. You can do it very, very simply and at scale. And instead, y'all are out there looking for new donors, and that's not a bad thing, but that tends to be a longer term solution, right? Because those new donors, those new prospects, have never heard of you, right? So we've got to, like, first, bring them in, educate them, warm them up, versus this other audience, they already know you. It's about bringing them back.
Christina Edwards 19:02
Email, number five. This is the invitation email. This is an engagement multiplier. Think about this as like the foot in the door effect, right? So these are small commitments, such as attending a QA, a webinar, taking a survey, watching a video that paved the way to bigger commitments. I want you to think about your donors, who are engaged, they are opening your emails, they are giving once or twice a year, right? And you're sort of like, I don't know what to do with them. Maybe they're not in the major donor pool. They may be individual donors giving at any other level, but that, right, smaller, small and mid size, right? And you're like, I again, have a time problem. Like, I don't know what else I can't do, one to one, outreach to this large audience. So what is this invitation email that you could do that would multiply that engagement and connection? This deepens the relationship. This primes future giving, and again, remember what we've talked about in the beginning of this episode. This helps keep. Your organization top of mind. If they're sitting and watching a video, your organization is going to be way more top of mind than all the others that aren't doing that. If they're taking the time to fill out a quick survey, same thing if they're attending an in person community event, if they're attending a QA a webinar, anything like that. Again, connection, connection, connection, not every email, and here's why I love this, not every email should be about money, but every email should move the relationship forward. The invitation email does that so beautifully, and also helps get you out of maybe that feeling like I'm always trying, I'm always asking for more. I'm always asking them for more. I feel like I'm not doing anything else other than fundraising, programmatic updates. Fundraising programmatic updates. Try this. Try the invitation email. And get creative. I gave you some ideas, but I would love to see what some of y'all come up with for this type of engagement email.
Christina Edwards 21:09
okay, so if you're thinking, we don't have time for to write all of these. This is too many emails. I want you to think instead, random emails waste more time than intentional ones. These five types actually give you clarity. So every email has a job. Those could be the five pillars that whenever you write an email you're like, which one is it today? That's actually how we streamline your email content. Writing to be 30 minutes a week, to be very quick, to be very bite sized and short. If you're thinking, our donors don't want slick marketing, right? We're not Nike, we're not Sephora, we're not Old Navy. Stop it. Christina, right? This for profit ideas Exactly, exactly. Your edge isn't slickness, it's authenticity. Donors want human stories, human connection, gratitude, but you can borrow proven strategies from brands that are scaling right. And remember, donors are consumers. Consumers are donors. That means the shoppers for Sephora and Nike right are the same people who are donating to your organization. So why are we not meeting them with those other preferences that are working over here for with the brands that they shop? If you're thinking, we already sent a newsletter, a newsletter isn't a type. It's more of an everything bagel situation. It's a kitchen sink. Often there's too many calls to action, which means no one takes any action because the recipient, the reader, is overwhelmed, and they're like, should I click here? Hit here, here, here, here. Never mind. I'll click nothing, right? They skim, they delete. Donors. Need one story, one invitation, one clear. Next Step. If you're thinking, we already thank donors already. We're already doing that again, you're going to look at it. I want you to look and evaluate your thank you, your thank you email. Is it more of a tax receipt than anything else? Is it the same email that you've been sending for more than one year? Does it say anything new or different? Is it the same as maybe three other organizations that serve the same cause area? And if you're thinking, we don't want to bother them with too many emails, oh, this is the biggest one. We should probably link to a LinkedIn post that I did after I attended an email marketing retreat, and I had so many online business owners, entrepreneurs, email CRMs weigh in, and the headline here is, send more emails, make more money. That is the number one learning if you increase the volume of emails you send and the quality you will see the volume of donations you send increase period full stop. I had people who have worked for big CRMs say, Yeah, we have the data to support this. You're right. The more emails you send, the more money you make so bothering people, this lie you're telling yourself that I don't want to bother people with too many emails, is just keeping you small. It's just keeping your donations exactly where it is. And in fact, I would argue you're giving people a disservice because you're not sending them the reminder. Remember the intent. The intent was there. We clicked, we read, then we got distracted. We need the reminders remember, because fewer emails just means forgotten donors. You need more emails with more purpose. That's how you get more remembered and engaged donors.
Christina Edwards 24:56
so if you're ready to start writing emails that have a job. Yeah, that fill one of these pillars that connect, think, ask, re, engage, invite, right? And you want the tools and support to do it, you need to joinEasy Emails For Impact™. It is my rock star course that teaches you exactly how to do this. We give you the templates, we give you workflows, we give you workbooks, and it's not a overwhelming amount of content to consume. So this is perfect for the busy nonprofit staffer or leader, and it's a very, very affordable price. If you go to splendid courses.com forward slash email, you'll get all the details about that, and if you want my eyes on your emails before you send them out for your next campaign this year only, this is a self study course, and this year only, I'm adding in two live group coaching sessions where you actually can submit your emails for feedback, for review, for anything, and you will get my feedback on them before you send them out. That is an upgrade. So it's $99 and you get to come to two coaching calls, even if you can't attend them live, you can re you can submit your emails ahead of time, and you'll get feedback that way. And you can catch the replay. So make sure you go over to slotted courses.com forward slash email for all of the details there. If you're realizing that most of your emails are more newsletters, receipts and kind of that, get energy where I'm trying to get people to take action. You're not alone. You're not alone. That's where most nonprofits start, because we're all kind of modeling after what's been done historically, and it doesn't work anymore. That's why it feels harder. That's why your revenue is stuck. That's why your revenue is plateaued. So inside Easy Emails For Impact™, we teach you those frameworks, those sequences, our clients raise 5k or more per campaign, and it's the perfect time to layer this on before year end, because year end fundraising shouldn't just be giving Tuesday. Year End fundraising should not just be a couple of emails you send out asking people to donate for you know, tax purposes. Before December 31 year end fundraising should be a strong email campaign that ends up being like the backbone to your online fundraising. So that's what we teach inside, Easy Emails For Impact™, and I would love to support you there, see you next time you.