Some Tips on Raising Money via E-Mail

By NICOLE LEWIS

As more and more charities begin to explore the use of e-mail to raise money, they are

discovering that the rules of online communication sometimes differ markedly from those governing direct mail and other traditional fund-raising methods. Following are some tips for e-mail fund raising:

Build a list of e-mail addresses. Collect e-mail addresses at events, rallies, and talks, and by phoning or sending forms to donors. A raffle helped the AIDS Foundation of St. Louis amass 600 addresses at an AIDS walk and a Gay Pride festival. People who provided e-mail addresses received free raffle tickets to win a $400 hand-held computer. Fund raisers say the response to such efforts is likely to be greater if charities state clearly that e-mail addresses will not be rented or sold.

Keep e-mail messages short. Jerold Pearson, director of market research at Stanford University, says e-newsletters should be brief — scanning the whole letter should take only a minute or two — because recipients’ time is limited. @Stanford, a monthly e-mail newsletter that the university sends to alumni and others, is divided into short paragraphs on different topics. To give readers more information, the newsletters provide links to Stanford’s Web site.

Mr. Pearson also warns against sending too many e-mails in too short a period; otherwise recipients may think they have received “spam” — unsolicited messages.

“You don’t want to overwhelm people with e-mail” or make them “start feeling spammed even though they asked for the stuff,” he says. Mr. Pearson recommends limiting newsletters to once or twice a month.

Send messages on a regular schedule. Subscribers should know when to expect an e-mail. Opinions differ about timing. Georgetown University started a monthly e-mail newsletter this month. Mary Pickering, a technology expert who was hired to help produce the newsletter, thinks Tuesdays are the best days to send out the letter because on Mondays most e-mail inboxes are swamped with weekend messages. Some fund raisers think Sundays are best, because people are more likely to check e-mails at home and therefore might have more time to read entire messages.

Prepare for a quick response. After sending out several thousand e-mails, charities should expect that some people will respond immediately, asking questions about the e-mails or seeking some other kind of information. Staff members in Georgetown University’s alumni and development offices have set aside time to answer queries quickly.

Allow people to avoid receiving e-mail. Charities risk irritating donors if they don’t include in every e-mail communication a way for recipients to take themselves off an e-mail list. What’s more, every e-mail should provide a charity’s name, address, and phone number to allow for traditional methods of communication, fund raisers say.