How to Write a Fundraising Email

Introduction

Fundraising emails can be a useful tool for raising money for a garden project if you know how to write them correctly. As you're probably aware, fundraising emails differ from other types of email messages in that they're used for a specific purpose: asking people for their support and donations. But even though fundraising emails are different from other messages, there are still some basic rules and guidelines that apply:

Know your voice.

You've already done a lot of the hard work by doing your research and identifying your audience's needs. Now it's time to apply that knowledge and start writing. The most important thing you can do is know and be true to your own voice. Effective communications are based on trust, especially those related to financial matters. If you communicate in an authentic fashion, you have a better chance of gaining the trust of your audience.

Know your audience.

You should know your audience. In fact, this is the most important part of writing a fundraising email.

Know their names and why they might be interested in your project. Are they gardeners? If so, that could be a way of connecting with them. If your project is a school garden, what is their connection to the school? For example, do they have children or grandchildren who are benefitting from the garden or could benefit from it?

Be clear and concise.

• Be concise.

• Be clear about what you are asking for, why you are asking for it, who you are asking it from and when you will ask again if the recipient doesn't respond this time.

Include images.

Images are a powerful tool in email fundraising. They can help you tell a story, make your email more personal, highlight important information, and even create a sense of urgency. Because of their natural beauty, gardens lend themselves well to pictures. You can show your garden either in its best light to inspire your audience or its worst to emphasize a particular need. For example, if you're asking for donations to replace aging raised beds or a decrepit toolshed, a picture is literally worth a thousand words.

Make it easy to act.

The next step is to make it easy for people to take action. After all, the whole point of a fundraising email is to get people to give money or sign up for your mailing list. You can't do that if you don't tell them how! Your call-to-action should be clear and easy—don't expect people to have any idea what you want them to do just because they opened your email.

Make sure donors see the donate button near the top of the page so they can easily find it and put in their credit card information before they've even finished reading the email. If you have multiple ways of donating (i.e., online by credit card, online by ACH transfer from bank account), make sure each one has its own button so donors don't have to scroll down as far on mobile devices when giving on smaller screens without vertical scrolling enabled (this will depend on how many donors are using mobile devices).

Don't forget about data.

Data is important, especially when it comes to fundraising. Data can be used to understand your audience and improve your email communications, both of which are essential for making sure you’re getting the most impact out of your emails.

Data can also help improve your fundraising strategy by helping you track how many people click on links in an email and how much money they donate through a link—and that information can help inform your next campaign.

Fundraising emails can be a useful tool for raising money if you know how to write them correctly.

Fundraising emails can be a useful tool for raising money if you know how to write them correctly. As with all emails, it's important to keep your tone friendly and conversational. However, the strictness of fundraising rules can sometimes make this difficult! For example, in order to avoid confusing readers with unnecessary information or making them feel pressured into donating (which is against the law), it's important that every part of your fundraising email is clear and concise.

You should also make sure that you include images as well as links to donate online so that people who don't want something in their inbox don't have to deal with them. Finally, you should make it easy for people who want to donate by having only one action button at the top of your email form and using language like "Donate" instead of "Buy" or something else that seems commercialized like "Sell" or "Purchase."

Conclusion

Before you send that first email, make sure to consider your audience, what they want to read and how they like to receive information. This will help you create more effective fundraising campaigns in the long run.