Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / Nonprofit Fundraising: Your Year-End Email Blueprint (Don't get buried in their inbox)
Transcript
- Matt Stockman (00:00) Picture this, it's December 28th and one of your faithful supporters is scrolling through their inbox. They're willing to give, they'd like to be generous, but they haven't heard from you yet. Or they haven't heard the right message. This is the moment your year-end email strategy can make all the difference. And today, I'm gonna show you exactly how to get that email strategy right. Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startup, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast exists to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong foundation. So in every episode, we give you the frameworks, the tools and the personalized guidance that you need in order to be able to make lasting impact. My name is Matt Stockman. I'm your host. I'm a nonprofit growth coach and I'm glad that you're here. At Nonprofit Launch Plan, we believe that every nonprofit has to be operating at peak performance in six key areas in order to be successful. Those six areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations, and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we talk about a topic that is core to at least one of those six areas. Now, before we dive into today's episode, if you or somebody you know is still in the dreaming phase of launching a nonprofit, I've got a special freebie that I want to make available to you. It's a PDF resource that I put together. It's called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist. It's 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact. This tool is going to take you through the 10 easy first steps to move your dream for a nonprofit toward a launch plan that actually gets your dream off the ground. This checklist is gonna walk you through your why, considering your first teammates, honing in on who your beneficiary is, choosing your nonprofit name, your IRS application, and a whole lot more. And there's an easy to do action step for each one of the 10 things to consider that will actually help you feel like you're bringing your dream for a nonprofit. into a whole lot clearer focus when you've completed it. If you'd like the free PDF, again, it's called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist, 10 Essential Steps for Moving from Nonprofit Idea to Impact. All you got to do is email me at matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com, matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com, or you can also look for the pop-out on my website at nonprofitlaunchplan.com and get it right there. Now, today we're talking about something timely, practical, and honestly, probably a little urgent if you're listening on the day that this podcast episode is dropped, email strategy. Because here's the truth, December is really busy. Everybody's inbox is full. And if you're a small nonprofit, it's easy to feel like your message is just getting buried under bigger budgets and fancier campaigns and swankier ads. and all of that. But I want you to hear this right from the very start. If you don't connect with anything else during this podcast, connect with this. You don't have to be a big organization to have a big year end response. You just simply have to have some clarity, some consistency, and a simple plan. And also, if you're listening right when the podcast has come out, it's not too late, even if it's in the first couple of weeks of December, which it is right now. Even if you've not done anything at all to prep for your end, you can still make some solid steps forward today to maximize the opportunity. Now, before we jump into the how, let's talk a little bit about the why. Email is still the number one driver of online donations for small nonprofits. I'll say it again, email is still number one for donations for small nonprofits. And your supporters are expecting to hear from you this month. They're already thinking about generosity and they care a lot. They care deeply about the work that you're doing. but they can only respond to you if you show up. And that's why I want to keep this really clear and really doable for you, no matter where you're at in your nonprofit. You don't need to send dozens of emails. You don't need a fancy design team. You don't need a complicated funnel for donors. What you do need is a simple and strategic rhythm. And I'm going to teach all that to you during this episode of the podcast. To me, it all comes down to three emails. that I recommend every small nonprofit send in December. And if you can write and schedule just these three, you will be in a strong position for year-end giving. And quite frankly, you'll be ahead of so many other similarly sized nonprofits who aren't doing these simple things at year-end. So let's talk about the first of the three emails. Email number one is the story setup. And this is... early to mid December is ideally when you'd like to drop it. So if you hear this when the episode drops right now is really when you really want to because today is December 10th, 2025 that I'm recording this. So if you've not done anything for year end yet today, this is the time to be thinking about this first email. This first email I want you to plan out to send ASAP. again, the early to mid December. I want you to think back throughout the course of the past 12 months and remind yourself of the single story that best captures the essence of what your nonprofit does. In other words, if you had to boil all the effort of the past year into one single impact story, which story would it be? We're going to, in just a few sentences, tell that story in this first initial email. Remember from an earlier podcast, if you've listened to multiple episodes, I believe it's episode 11 that I did about storytelling, you need some things in order to tell a story well. First, you need a character. This is who has benefited from your nonprofit's work. And this is super crucial. It should be an individual or it should be a family, not a group or the whole county in general, but be specific because in the end people connect. with people. So first you have to have a character. Next, you have to identify the challenge. What was the problem or obstacle that that character faced? What was the difficulty your character is experiencing? What you should find is, no surprise here, that your character's challenge should be closely aligned with the problem that your nonprofit has created to solve. So first, the character, then the challenge, then comes the solution. How did your nonprofit help in that specific situation? What specific program or service did you provide to address their challenge? And then following that, the fourth step, the fourth requirement for a really great story is the outcome. What changed for the character? How has their life improved after your intervention? This is where you can really highlight the impact. And ideally, all of this, the character and the other component should all really be three sentences, not three paragraphs or not three pages, really just three to four sentences. So that first email is going to begin with the story that really highlights the impact that your organization has made on one family or one individual, you're going to tell that story in the first paragraph or so of the email, then the next thing you're going to do is you're going to highlight one need inside your organization that when met means more impact. that the reader of the email gets to be the hero of solving when they make a gift. Again, let me say that again. You're going to highlight one need in the next paragraph that when that need is met, that means more impact that the reader of the email gets to be the hero of solving when they make a gift. For example, you could say something like this. To date, there are still 104 young people on our waiting list to get into our afterschool tutoring program. Notice how it just focuses on one need, not all of the needs of the entire organization. There's still 104 people on the waiting list to get into the afterschool tutoring program. That's gonna be in the next paragraph of that email. And then the last paragraph finally is a single call to action. In other words, How can I, as the reader, help create more success stories like the one you told at the top of the email? Don't just tell the story and leave it hanging. Invite me to be a part of the solution. So in this first email, tell me one clear story, problem solution, highlight one specific need that I can meet with my giving and be the hero in that situation, and then invite me, the reader, into one action. a Give Now button that I click. You keep it warm, you keep it human, you keep it simple, and you keep it down to as few words as possible. So that's email number one. Goes out early to mid-December. Email number two then is the Reminder in Progress update email. And we're going to send this out mid to later December, not super late December, but probably in the last week before Christmas is probably a good... a good time to think about putting this one out there. We're going to send an update to everybody you sent the first email to. In that email, email number two, the progress update, we're going to say there's still time for you to make sure that more students get the after-school care and help that they need. We started December with 104 students on the waiting list, and to date, 41 of those have had the door open to tutoring, but there's still 63 students who are waiting. Your year-end gift of $350 opens the door to another student in need of the after-school programs that we make available. Okay, so that's the first email. And again, we're going to send that early to mid December. Then email number two is the reminder in progress email, we're going to send this mid to late December, not too late in December, I would say, ideally kind of the week leading up to Christmas or sometime between the 20th and maybe the 28th of the month. And what we're going to do in this email is we're going to send an update. It's going to say something like this using the illustration that we started with in the first email. There's still time for you to make sure more students get the afterschool help that they need. We started December with 104 students on the waiting list and to date 41 of those students have had the door open to tutoring, but there's still 63 students who are waiting. Your year end gift of $350 opens the door to another student in need of the after school programs that we make available. So basically, people love to see progress, they love to know that their giving is moving something forward. And this email should feel hopeful, like we've made some steps in the right direction, it should be confident, but it shouldn't be high pressure at all, no pressure at all. And really, really important pro tip here, do not forget the PS. That may actually be the most valuable real estate on the email. Most donors will read the PS before they read the body of the email. So use the PS to restate the goal or the deadline. So that's email number two. Then the third email is a final call to action. This one is super simple, very short, very direct, very clear. You're gonna send this one on December 31st. And it should just be something like, today is the last day to make a year-end tax deductible gift. Your generosity ensures that more students get the after-school help that they need. And then a quick wrap-up and a Give Now button then. There's no guilt, there's no drama, it's just super clear. It's a clear invitation. And this email... will catch all of the procrastinators, people who fully have intended to give, they've wanted to give this whole time, but they're just busy. I mean, it's Christmas after all. And they forget until the deadline literally taps them on the shoulder. And this third email is you tapping them on the shoulder and saying, hey, respectfully, please don't forget. You can also strengthen every email that you send with these four simple principles. No matter which of the email you're writing, these four principles will make every email message stronger. Number one is one message per email. Don't try to cram your whole entire annual report into one message. You just pick one story. Remember, that's why we talked about one story, one need, one idea, one call to action. Number two, make your call to action as obvious as you can. Use a button or a link. In fact, I think putting two buttons in, sometimes one in the middle of the email and one at the end is great. Don't bury it in the seventh paragraph. For that matter, you shouldn't have seven paragraphs. So don't bury it somewhere where I've got to go kind of look for it if I want to make a gift. Make the link, make the button as obvious as possible. Number three, stay consistent with your brand voice. Talk like a human being, keep it relational, warm, mission centered. Write it like you're writing to a friend. These people who are giving you money are your friends. And then fourth, write it like you're talking to one person. Your list might have 200 people on it, may have 2,000, may have 20,000 people on it. And that's great. And we have a tendency to use language like all of you, if all of you made a gift or whatever. but every donor reads your email on their device, usually by themselves in their own space. So write to one individual person. The most powerful word you can use in any email is the word you. Then don't forget about the subject line and the preview text. These are really, really important and often overlooked elements to a powerful email. Here's the thing, if they never open the email, They can't read the story, they can't hear about the need, they can't understand the impact that their gift is gonna make, and they definitely can't respond to the call to action. So, keep your subject lines simple and clear. As an example, here's a couple that you can just kind of noodle on a little bit as you're thinking about yours. Your impact this December, it matters. One story worth reading today. Or how about this for subject client? Will you help us finish the year strong? And your preview text, remember, this is the text that appears in like the inbox of an email before it's open. That's a highlight line of what the topic of the email is about that's separate from the subject. Your preview text should support not repeat the subject. So something like a quick update before the year ends or Here's how your generosity changes lives. Keep it short, keep it clean, and keep it focused. All right, so some practical tips, especially if you've got a small team. Let me give you a few final reminders. If you feel short staffed, you're doing this all yourself, or you're just under some pressure right now. Number one is you don't need a fancy Plain text style emails are personal and more effective because You're not going to use a template if you're going to drop an email about a party coming up to your friend. You're just going to send them a regular normal person to person, friend to friend email. So plain text is fine. The second thing to keep in mind, you can batch your emails, write all three. When you sit down and knock them all out in an hour, you schedule them, you update the numbers and email number two and number three so that they're up to date when they actually go out and then you're done. The next thing to keep in mind is imperfect, but scent is better than perfect, but too late. Your supporters, they don't need perfect. They need clear, honest communication from you. So let me sort of leave you with this. You don't have to be big to communicate well. You don't have to have a large organization. Sometimes the largest organizations are horrible at communication and other really small organizations do such a fantastic job at communication. You don't also have to have a massive donor file to see urine momentum. You just need to simply show up consistently, speak clearly, and invite people into the impact that they're already helping create. If you just send these three emails, one story, one update, one final reminder, tap on the shoulder, ask. You are already way ahead of most small nonprofits and your supporters will thank you for the clarity and one of the ways they'll thank you. will be with their giving. episode, if you or somebody you know is still in the dreaming phase of launching a nonprofit, don't forget about the special freebie I talked about at the top of the show. It's the PDF resource called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist, 10 Essential Steps for Moving from Nonprofit Idea to Impact. There's an easy to do action step for each of the 10 things to consider. That's going to bring your dream for a nonprofit into a whole lot clearer focus when you've completed it. So if all you've got is the idea, this is the next step. If you want the free PDF from dream to action, your nonprofit pre-launch checklist, 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact, email me at mattt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com and I'll send it to you or just look for the pop out on my website. Again, nonprofitlaunchplan.com. That's all for today's episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for investing in what you have got going in your nonprofit. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss out on the next episode. And if in any way or other you found this helpful, would you consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader who you think might benefit? and like and subscribe and all the things you do with podcasts. Again, until next time, thank you so much for being here and keep making a difference.