Most nonprofit organizations do at least some fundraising year-round, but the majority of it occurs in the last quarter of the year.

Thirty one percent of all donations to non-profits occur in December, and a whopping 12% in the last three days of the year.

One of the easiest and most affordable ways for nonprofits to get the word out and generate donations is by using email marketing. For every 1,000 fundraising emails delivered, a nonprofit raises $44.

Email marketing can help nonprofits crush their year-end goals and we have 15 inspiring fundraising ideas to help.

Thank you messages

Now is a perfect time to show your appreciation to donors for their support of your organization by sending a thank you email. You can express gratitude for their help throughout the year, highlight the difference their donation has made, or acknowledge their role in achieving a specific goal, just like SF-Marin Food Bank did.

Sending a thank you email when someone signs up for your email list gives them more information about your cause and another opportunity for them to donate. Save the Children sends a combined Welcome and Thank you email to new subscribers, sharing how to find them on social media and how to get involved or donate.

A simple Thanksgiving thank you email is a sincere way to appreciate what your donors have done through the year and also keeps your organization in their minds for future donations.

Events

Events are popular for non-profit fundraising, and email marketing can help get people to your event and to donate. Global Fund for Women held a special discussion and used emails to get people to attend.

global-fund-for-women-nonprofit-fundraising

Even larger events can use email to interest attendees and to generate donations, like Amnesty International did for their walk.

The Healthy Me Project used email marketing to let their readers know about their dinner and silent auction fundraiser.

Gifts

Many non-profits sell some type of product to help with fundraising and get the word out about the organization. The American Red Cross has gifts that can be made in the name of a friend or family member and then used by those in need.

The American Diabetes Association offers holiday gifts in their email as a fundraiser. Including a donation call to action button in all your emails makes it easy for your readers to contribute to your cause.

Or offer something that ties in with what your nonprofit does, like Wildfowl & Wetland Trust did with this book in their email.

Remind readers of previous donations

Both the Asthma Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital send automated emails to remind their readers of previous donations and make it easy to donate again.

Shareable content

Sometimes useful content can help with fundraising for your nonprofit. Care and Share, a food bank, shares a fall recipe in their email and includes a Give Now button as well.

Doctors Without Borders shares webinars in their emails to update their followers and gives them the opportunity to donate as well.

Tell a story

Share how donations impact a specific person, group, or organization. Seeing precisely how your non-profit benefits others can encourage more donations now and in the future.

UNICEF shared a story about a 13-year-old girl and how the reader could help her and others like her.

Charity: Water shares three stories of people who did fun things to raise money for their organization.

RSPCA sent an email about badgers with call to action buttons on how to help.

Wrap up

Fundraising ideas for non-profit organizations come in all shapes and sizes, but to help make your fundraiser successful use email marketing to keep in touch with your donors. It’s easy to use, can help drive donations, and with Campaign Monitors 15% discount for nonprofits. For more tips check out The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing for Nonprofits.