As a nonprofit organization, partnering with educators and school systems can be an effective way to increase awareness about your cause. These are professionals who already know the power of activism and fighting for change, so they’re the perfect foundation for any email campaign.

Yet, crafting the perfect email campaign as a nonprofit isn’t as simple as it sounds. You need to know how to drive real action and results, and that takes the right strategy. Here are 6 proven tips for donation-boosting K-12 marketing email campaigns specifically designed for nonprofits. 

 

1. Educate About Your Mission

With email, you have an opportunity to promote your goals and your projects. When you’re trying to promote your campaigns, it’s important to focus on the ways your email subscribers can become a part of the action. How can their contributions and involvement create a positive impact on your nonprofit organization?

This is exactly where email succeeds. For instance, you might directly share how contributions help the cause. How are their donations used? What does this mean for school or district involvement? Sharing these things will help promote trust in your mission and the work your organization is doing. 

 

2. Use Email to Tell Your Story

People want to feel emotionally connected. As a marketer, you can tap into these feelings by creating a story to share your mission and organization goals. Sending an email that describes a success story featuring your organization as the hero will go a long way towards generating clicks and driving action from education executives. These leaders will want to see their own schools features as part of this positive story. 

If you want to to kick it up a notch, try using alternative forms of media to share your success. Including a video (or a link to a video) within your email campaign can really get your prospects excited to interact with your cause. 

 

3. Use Email to Raise Money

Did you know your emails can directly be used to raise money for your organization? It’s true. Since fundraising is at the core of nonprofit email marketing, you can use email as a platform to actually ask for donations for your cause. 

How do you do this without coming across as pushy, especially to education executives whose budgets are already stretched thin? This is where the above tips really come into play. By sharing your mission and your stories, your users will trust that their donation is going to a good cause. In addition, offer something for your subscribers. Selling promotional items or letting subscribers to donate in someone else’s name is a great way to boost engagement. 

 

4. Call Users to Action

Next, you need to call users to action. Specifically, each email needs to have an action you want your users to take next. This is known as a “call to action” (CTA). Depending on your goals, it might just be to ask users to read a blog posts or check out your latest project. On the other hand, you might want them to donate or make a contribution of some sort. 

This is when it pays to be specific and clear. Using targeted language like “give now,” “help a child,” or “get involved” can help users take that next step. 

 

5. Update Your Subscribers with Newsletters

Newsletters are a great way to keep your users in the know about updates and changes. Sharing your latest success stories also goes a long way towards helping your cause. Your subscribers already know about your mission and goals, now let them watch the action as you achieve them. 

What can you share with your audience in your nonprofit newsletters?

• Case studies – Share stories from the field or how donations are directly helping your cause. 
• Tips for educators and school districts – Show how educators and leaders can bring their schools into the fight for your mission. 
• Donor spotlights – Individuals can make an impact, so why not show just how powerful that can be with individual donor stories?
• Upcoming events – Finally, if there are any local or national events for your organization such as conferences or webinars, bring your subscribers into the loop so they can stay involved. 

 

6. Help Your Email Subscribers Make a Difference

Your email subscribers care about your cause. That’s why they subscribed in the first place! As education executives, they understand the importance of promoting activism and demanding change. They likely are looking for ways to make a difference in their own lives, including within their K-12 schools and districts. 

Your subscribers all want to be a part of something, so why not welcome them right into the change? Whether you send petitions to sign, informative blog posts, or classroom education plans, every step counts. Nonprofit email marketing is about more than just fundraising. It’s also about activism from the ground up. 

 

Stand Out to Educators as a Nonprofit

If you’re a nonprofit organization, targeting education executives with your next campaign could really be a turning point. Using these tips above, you can reach the right users in a way that promotes real change. 

However, your email campaigns are only as good as your marketing list. You need to reach the right audience with an email list designed to convert. Whether you’re marketing to teachers themselves or administrators, make sure your emails are in front of the right eyes.