Email is inexpensive
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 5:36 am
Email tends to be an inexpensive marketing and fundraising channel for nonprofits to send lots of messages to their supporters. For nonprofits just starting out, it will be much cheaper to open a Gmail account than to load up on stamps, envelopes, and ink for direct mail.
As nonprofits begin to grow, they must make strategic technology investments to ensure that email remains an affordable option.
There are many free email marketing software available such as SendinBlue and MailerLite. Look for technology options with many features to help you take care of multiple nonprofit needs within the same system.
For example, investing in an all-in-one solution simplifies the process of leveraging country email list donor data to create effective email segments and crafting emails for each of those segments.
Related: Get started with an AI-powered email copy generator .
You can save money in the long run or make more money during campaigns when your nonprofit has the right software to:
Segment supporters for more targeted messaging.
Save email templates for future communications.
Set up email triggers to maintain ongoing contact with supporters.
Track the success of your marketing emails for more accurate strategic reviews.
For example, find a platform that is a full-service CRM solution with fundraising, email, and direct mail capabilities. This provides all the tools you need to create a successful multichannel strategy at a fraction of the cost if you purchased all of these tools separately.
The other side of the coin…
As mentioned above, if you don’t strategize how your team approaches the software, you could end up paying dramatically more than you need to to get all the email features you need. Plus, you could waste a lot of time and energy trying to set everything up the way you want it.
Many nonprofits fall into the trap of purchasing a separate software solution for each of their needs.
For example, a nonprofit may decide they need access to a CRM, so they purchase a low-cost solution with limited functionality, say for $75 per month. Then they realize they need an email solution to send mass messages, so they purchase an email-specific solution for another $75 per month ($150 total). Had they looked harder, they could have found a CRM with email capabilities for $100 per month. Over the course of a year, that nonprofit could save $600, over five years $3,000, and over ten years $6,000.
While the numbers above are made up to demonstrate a point, this type of situation happens all the time! Your nonprofit can avoid this by thinking about the bigger picture: what capabilities do you need today, and what will you need tomorrow? Is there a solution that offers both?
3. The email appeals to a core audience.
Different audiences will respond better to different communication platforms. This means that certain audiences are more likely to read certain emails than others.
Your nonprofit should focus its email strategy on creating messages that will best appeal to each target segment of your audience.
For example, if you’re planning a virtual event (a guide for which is available here ), you can create segments of supporters who have attended events in the past to promote the opportunity, and another segment of those who have already signed up. Or, if you create a segment of your audience based on their ability to give, you can target high-value potential supporters by promoting major gift opportunities or an upcoming capital campaign.
Airport Transfer to Sharm Email Marketing Your message should always target the interests and abilities of the audience you hope to reach.
The other side of the coin…
While many nonprofits understand how segmentation can help streamline their marketing strategy, they still choose to use email to send mass messages to their entire audience. While this is occasionally a good strategy (for large-scale updates, for example), it’s almost always better to personalize messages to individuals.
We'll touch on this a bit more in the next section.
As nonprofits begin to grow, they must make strategic technology investments to ensure that email remains an affordable option.
There are many free email marketing software available such as SendinBlue and MailerLite. Look for technology options with many features to help you take care of multiple nonprofit needs within the same system.
For example, investing in an all-in-one solution simplifies the process of leveraging country email list donor data to create effective email segments and crafting emails for each of those segments.
Related: Get started with an AI-powered email copy generator .
You can save money in the long run or make more money during campaigns when your nonprofit has the right software to:
Segment supporters for more targeted messaging.
Save email templates for future communications.
Set up email triggers to maintain ongoing contact with supporters.
Track the success of your marketing emails for more accurate strategic reviews.
For example, find a platform that is a full-service CRM solution with fundraising, email, and direct mail capabilities. This provides all the tools you need to create a successful multichannel strategy at a fraction of the cost if you purchased all of these tools separately.
The other side of the coin…
As mentioned above, if you don’t strategize how your team approaches the software, you could end up paying dramatically more than you need to to get all the email features you need. Plus, you could waste a lot of time and energy trying to set everything up the way you want it.
Many nonprofits fall into the trap of purchasing a separate software solution for each of their needs.
For example, a nonprofit may decide they need access to a CRM, so they purchase a low-cost solution with limited functionality, say for $75 per month. Then they realize they need an email solution to send mass messages, so they purchase an email-specific solution for another $75 per month ($150 total). Had they looked harder, they could have found a CRM with email capabilities for $100 per month. Over the course of a year, that nonprofit could save $600, over five years $3,000, and over ten years $6,000.
While the numbers above are made up to demonstrate a point, this type of situation happens all the time! Your nonprofit can avoid this by thinking about the bigger picture: what capabilities do you need today, and what will you need tomorrow? Is there a solution that offers both?
3. The email appeals to a core audience.
Different audiences will respond better to different communication platforms. This means that certain audiences are more likely to read certain emails than others.
Your nonprofit should focus its email strategy on creating messages that will best appeal to each target segment of your audience.
For example, if you’re planning a virtual event (a guide for which is available here ), you can create segments of supporters who have attended events in the past to promote the opportunity, and another segment of those who have already signed up. Or, if you create a segment of your audience based on their ability to give, you can target high-value potential supporters by promoting major gift opportunities or an upcoming capital campaign.
Airport Transfer to Sharm Email Marketing Your message should always target the interests and abilities of the audience you hope to reach.
The other side of the coin…
While many nonprofits understand how segmentation can help streamline their marketing strategy, they still choose to use email to send mass messages to their entire audience. While this is occasionally a good strategy (for large-scale updates, for example), it’s almost always better to personalize messages to individuals.
We'll touch on this a bit more in the next section.