Consider that there is an estimated 97 million people within the United States and Canada have access to the internet- which is about 30 percent of the total population. Almost everyone with a computer and internet access has an email account, and yet, many non-profit organizations do not make it part of their marketing strategy to collect email addresses from their members, donors, or activists! Most non-profit or conservation organizations have attracted a large group of people who believe in the cause of the organization enough to become dues-paying members or otherwise support the issues. Most nonprofits are communicating with their members with mail, phone or fax- but very few are using the email effectively and they are missing a huge opportunity to reach out to current and future members to become a more powerful non-profit organization.
If your own non-profit organization is not yet using email as an effective strategy for communicating with your membership, you still should be collecting this information for the future, and make it a point to integrate email communication into your strategies as a non-profit organization as soon as you have built a small database of members email contacts.
Email should be a vital use of technology for non-profit organizations, and particularly those who have membership groups. Previously, many non-profits would use standard, print newsletters but their turn around time involved production cycles of up to two months! Between creating the layout and design, printing the newsletters and mailing them, it is difficult for newsletters to convey timely information when they are printed and mailed versus the email version which can be used to communicate this week's news... this week. Another major benefit of using email to communicate with your membership is lower costs.
When your non-profit decides to use email to communicate, you want to be sure that the communication is tailored to your membership. While it's tempting to put in things you want people to read about your organization, the most effective email newsletters are those that offer what the target audience wants to read about, so be sure to consider what your target market is likely to want information about and not so much about what you wish they'd know!
There are many opportunities to offer value to the membership through email newsletters and quick email broadcast messages, including new information about your organization, useful tips, an events calendar, or educational opportunities that are directly related to your industry or non-profit cause. If you are able to offer some form of interaction for the readers, you will encourage discussion and have a better "open" rate among your members. The "open" rate is the number of people who actually open and read the email you send out. You can improve your "open" rate by offering consistency to your emails- if people are expecting to receive your email every Thursday, they are more likely to look for it and open it than if it comes sporadically.
One way to increase your email readership is to make it easy for people to forward the newsletter on to their friends and associates. Create a link that automatically lets them forward the newsletter if they find it useful, and be sure to thank them for doing so. You may also want to offer the newsletter to people outside your membership base, as a way to enhance your prospective member list. If these prospects find your newsletter helpful, they may then decide to become members or otherwise support your non-profit organization.
Learn more about technology issues facing non-profit organizations by visiting AJMaddox Technologies, a Dallas Computer Service Company.
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