418. Building Effective Email Marketing (spoiler: small nonprofits are killing it!) - Tim Sarrantonio

Digital StrategyMarketingCommunications

May 2

Written By Andie Murphy

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Meet Tim. Not only is he Director of Corporate Brand at Neon One, but he’s also the Vice Chair of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, which helps nonprofit organizations increase giving at a faster pace by providing them with tools for tracking and evaluating their annual growth in giving. He’s bringing his expertise and insights from recent fundraising reports and sharing the role email marketing plays in successful fundraising strategies right now. If you tuned in for Episode 417, you might be asking yourself, “Two email convos in one week?” Yup! It’s really that important. Don’t miss it!

💡Learn

Overview of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project
Key findings from recent industry reports and other benchmarks
5️⃣Tips for creating effective emails
Case studies that serve as blueprints for building an effective email program

Today's Guest
Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand, Neon One + Vice Chair, Fundraising Effectiveness Project

“What you say matters, how you say it matters and who you say it to matters.”

— Tim Sarrantonio

Download Full Episode Transcript

Episode Highlights

Overview of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (4:40)
Takeaways from the Nonprofit Email Report (10:00)
Five tips for creating effective emails (22:50)
How to build an effective email program today (26:45)
Tim’s One Good Thing: Donate to Black Connect (31:30)
How to connect with Tim (33:00)

Powerful Quotes

“Focus on people, not money.” -Tim

“What you say matters, how you say it matters, and who you say it to matters.” -Tim

“Really what benchmarks should do is start the conversation not end it. You have to look inward, you can only know what is going to work for your community of generosity.” -Tim

“What I realized is that we don't make the magic. The nonprofit makes the magic, the technology's just there to actually enable them to do that.” -Tim

“They know what's magical for their donor base, we're never going to know. No AI is ever going to do that it can queue it up. But you live in those details in those gray areas that only human connection can bring.” -Tim