You open an email from a nonprofit. Four seconds later, you close it. No donation. No action. No connection.

In this episode, we take you inside a real fundraising email from a major organization. We don’t name names to take shots. We do it to learn. Together, we break it down. Line by line, design choice by design choice. We ask: What’s working here? What’s missing? And what can every nonprofit learn from this?

From subject lines to CTAs to the psychology behind a donor’s decision to give, we unpack the choices that make or break an appeal. Some of what we found surprised us. Some of it frustrated us. All of it will make you think differently about your next fundraising email.

This isn’t theory. It’s a hands-on teardown with insights you can put to work right away.

---------------------------------

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Good of the Week

02:40 Fundraising Emails: What Nonprofits Get Wrong

05:23 Dissecting the ADL Email

08:06 Best Practices in Fundraising Emails

10:53 Personalization and Emotional Appeal

14:07 Calls to Action and Urgency

16:55 Problem-Solution Framing in Fundraising

20:00 Empowering Donors in Messaging

25:29 Donor-Centric Fundraising Strategies

27:03 Transforming Donor Engagement

29:00 The Power of Personal Stories

31:18 Emotional Impact in Fundraising

33:14 Simplifying Communication for Better Engagement

35:21 Design vs. Personalization in Fundraising Emails

37:56 The Importance of Specific Donation Requests

40:03 Balancing Design and Authenticity

42:24 The Challenge of Fundraising Messaging

47:04 Final Thoughts on Effective Fundraising Emails

--------------------------------

Good of the Week:

1. Coach Thibodeau, formerly of the @NYKnicks

2. Jeff Brooks of @moceaniconline

H/T Ephraim Gopin @1832communications

Double H/T @Anti-Defamation-League