Include a signature: It’s important for donors to connect on an organizational level and on a personal level when making their contribution. Dear ) because Dear Friend just doesn’t cut it. Personalize the message: use a data merge to include the potential donor’s name ( i.e. Make the appeal and donation button prominent: when the potential donor opens your message they should immediately be able to identify why they should donate and how they can donate, without scrolling. During Wikipedia’s fundraising effort last year, they did extensive header testing: see their results. The header image is a great part of your message to beta test, especially the picture that you use. Adding a picture to this header can also help your donor identify with your appeal. Because of the restrictions involved in creating an email (whole page images get caught in spam filters), this is your chance to use the special fonts and gradients – as long as you incorporate them in an image. Here are some tips for creating this template:Ĭreate a custom header: This is the first thing that your potential donor is going to see, so make it count. I’ve seen a lot of newsletter templates reused to create donation appeals, and while consistent branding is important, it’s also important that an appeal stands out from your regular communications and marketing. One way to make your campaign unique is to set up an email template specific to that campaign. Email based marketing still has the best ROI – but that’s no excuse for not maximizing your fundraising effort.

Powermail template free