How to Build a Great Fundraising Campaign

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For most of the newsrooms and non-profits — and, yes, and non-profit newsrooms — that I work with, annual campaigns are among their biggest sources of revenue. Some campaigns run at the end of the year; others are timed to specific events (an anniversary, a holiday); and some are flash campaigns that last just a few days. These campaigns are remarkably effective at converting readers into supporters, members, and donors — and email is usually the most effective of all channels for driving revenue.

That’s why I always encourage orgs that run campaigns to first build out a newsletter strategy. You’ll find that the readers who engage with your regular newsletters are also the ones who are among the most likely to pay to support your work. You might make appeals inside of your normal newsletters, or leverage your newsletter list to send out dedicated messages about your campaign. However you choose to use it, email gives you a direct line to your most loyal readers.

But just because email can be an effective channel doesn’t mean it’s easy to build a successful campaign. Many of the organizations I work with start planning their campaigns months in advance — it really does take that long to secure matching funds, build out the strategy, and write the emails that will be sent to readers. 

That work is worth it: I’ve worked with newsrooms that have brought in a quarter of a million dollars on a single campaign.

And it’s not just non-profits that benefit from these campaigns. Many of my for-profit clients utilize these tactics to raise money for specific projects or to fund new positions on their team. As long as you have an email audience — and follow these steps — you can use a campaign to bring in significant revenue for your organization.

So let’s talk about how to build a great fundraising campaign, and steps you should take to get even more from your next campaign.

1.) Secure matching funds

Here’s the secret of best-in-class fundraising organizations: Long before they’ve sent that first email announcing the campaign, they’ve secured donations from philanthropic organizations or readers who’ve agreed to match every dollar — up to a certain amount — that readers donate. Small and medium-sized newsrooms are lucky to have programs like NewsMatch that offer significant matching funds, but many orgs also look to their community for additional funds. Local philanthropists or businesses may be willing to contribute checks to the cause.

Finding these generous donors, and then convincing them to support your org, takes time. Start reaching out to potential donors months in advance of the campaign, and see if you can secure their support. The checks don’t have to be massive — a half-dozen donors writing $500 checks represents a sizable match for many organizations. And talk with these donors about what they’d be most interested in supporting. Maybe they want to match every dollar that comes from new donors, or maybe they want to match the first year’s support from a recurring member. That latter approach has proven successful for many orgs — incentivizing a reader to give on a monthly or annual basis will likely drive far more lifetime value than a one-time donation.

2.) Identify a clear theme

Here’s one big mistake I see among many organizations that struggle with campaigns: They only have a single fundraising message — and readers are starting to tune it out.

The first time a local newsroom, for instance, tells readers to support their work because journalism is important to democracy, many readers may be inspired to give. But the second time, the returns may be a little lower.

And by the fifth or sixth time you’ve run the “Democracy depends on local journalists!” campaign, you may find that readers aren’t responding to that message anymore.

Instead, try to identify new themes every year for your campaign. Every email and every call to action during your campaign should tie back to that big theme — it’s the larger story arc that runs through everything.

Here’s an example: In 2020, the Salt Lake Tribune was in their first year of transitioning from for-profit to non-profit. 2020 was also the first year of the pandemic and a year of massive social justice protests. And in 2021, the Trib was set to hit 150 years of publication.

So they came up with a clever theme to wrap everything together: Past, present, and future. The first week of the campaign, they talked about where they’d come from, and included emails from longtime members of their team. In weeks two and three, they highlighted stories of how they’d covered COVID-19 and many of the social justice protests in Utah. In week four, they talked about the anniversary and the future of the publication.

Over the course of their campaign, they raised more than $160,000, including matching funds.

An idea for a theme might jump out right away — maybe you’ve been working on a big initiative all year, and you want to build a campaign based on that. 

But if you’re struggling to come up with a theme, here’s an idea: Email your existing paying supporters and ask them why they chose to support your organization.

Once you’ve gotten some feedback, sort through their replies. Maybe an answer or two will jump out, and you’ll notice an excellent reason to support your work that you haven’t talked about before. Congrats — you’ve just identified a potential message for your campaign!

The Chicago Reader used this survey strategy with their readers in 2022, and readers overwhelmingly wrote back to say that they supported the reader to keep the Reader free and accessible for all. That turned into their next theme for a campaign: Keep the Reader free!

3.) Set a specific goal and length for your campaign

Maybe you’re looking to raise a certain amount of money. Maybe you’re looking to get a certain number of donors. Maybe you’re looking for something specific, like getting a specific number of recurring donors. Maybe you’re hitting a big anniversary, and want a specific number of readers to donate in the amount of that anniversary (“We’re looking for 500 new donors to give $50 in honor of our 50th anniversary!”).

Readers will be excited to help you hit your goal — but first, you have to tell them what it is.

Make sure you set a specific length for the campaign, too. Is it lasting 72 hours? A week? Two months? You can always end the campaign early if you hit your goal, but make sure your team agrees in advance to a set timeline.

4.) Figure out who to email, and offer them an opt-out

The next step is creating the right segment of readers to receive your campaign. Don’t just email every address in your database! Instead, start with these three rules:

• Focus on specific segments of your audience — Maybe you’re targeting readers of a specific newsletter, or readers who are highly engaged. (Among my Mailchimp clients, for instance, the overwhelming majority of donations come via 4- and 5-star readers.) The more specific the audience, the easier it is to come up with the right message for them.
• Exclude recent email sign-ups — The reader who signed up last week might not be ready to donate yet, so leave them off the campaign. Plus, you probably have a welcome series already that includes CTAs to support your work. There’s no need to hit them with two different email campaigns at once.
• As the campaign progresses, remove people who donate — Bring them back for the thank you message at the end, but otherwise, you’re gained their support. You don’t need to keep emailing them to ask to give.

One more thing: There are always going to be readers who, for whatever reason, simply do not want to hear your fundraising pitch, but who do want to keep getting other newsletters from your org. Make it easy for them to do so.

My recommendation: Add your readers to a new list within your email service provider, and in the footer of your emails, let them know they can opt out of these messages without needing to unsubscribe from everything.

And here’s one last caveat: Email laws vary in every country. Before you email your audience with a fundraising pitch, check your local or regional laws to make sure you’re allowed to send these sorts of emails to readers who also get your regular newsletter. (A general rule of thumb: In the U.S., you’re absolutely free to email a campaign to your newsletter readers. In Europe, you may need them to opt in.)

5.) Send a Kickoff email

On the first day of your campaign, send an email kicking off the campaign. This message usually comes from someone fairly senior on your team, and explains the theme and the goal for the campaign. Tell readers how long the campaign will run, and make sure you include a clear call to action to support your work — a colorful button at the bottom of the email with a donation or membership ask might drive additional clicks to the page where readers can give.

Here’s a great example from Detroit-based Outlier Media, which launched a summer 2022 campaign to fund a reporting position covering City Hall. They explained to readers that they were looking for 313 donors to support their work. (313 is Detroit’s area code.) They also tied things back to their big theme: Support a City Hall reporter who answers to you.

6.) Figure out who should share their story with readers

Once your goals are set and the campaign is live, you’re going to need to identify the right people who can share their story with your audience. These personal notes help readers understand more about the larger theme. They explain why a reader should contribute and who they’re supporting when they become a donor, member, or supporter.

Maybe there’s a person on your staff who has an amazing story to share as part of this campaign, or maybe there are external partners — someone on your board, or a key member of the community — who have a message that readers need to hear. Identify them before the campaign starts and get them to put that story down on paper.

Here are two great examples of these: Above left is an email from Sahan Journal’s Hibah Ansari, a reporter covering immigration policy in Minnesota, who used this email to talk about the impact of her reporting on the local community. At right is an email from Whitnev Kimball Coe, who leads an organization called Rural Assembly. Her email isn’t fundraising for her own org — she’s actually writing on behalf of a newsroom called The Daily Yonder, which partnered in 2020 with Rural Assembly. One email is sent from inside the newsroom, and the other from an external partner, but both tell a powerful story that ties back to a larger theme.

And here’s a little trick: If the person you’ve identified to write an email isn’t super comfortable as a writer, or if they’re busy and might not have time to write a full email, ask if they’d be open to having a 10-15 minute conversation with you instead. Ask them a few questions — Why do you do the work you do?, or Why does this work matter to you? — and record the conversation. Then try to take their own words and arrange it into one of these emails. Then ask them to make any edits to clarify or expand upon their initial thoughts. (This tactic also works for really good writers struggling with writer’s block!)

These emails don’t have to be long — a good fundraising email is often 300-400 words, and rarely longer than 700 — and once you have all of these emails written, you can figure out where they should fit within the larger campaign.

7.) Don’t forget about the Milestone emails

Not every message in the series has to be a personal, heartfelt note. Short, direct emails can be a great change of pace for your campaign, and these emails are often some of the best-performing emails in a campaign. I call these “Milestone” emails, since they let readers know where you are within a campaign.

When you hit the halfway mark — in terms of time or money raised — send an email letting readers know and asking them to join as a supporter.

When you’re 75 percent there, or there’s 48 hours left, or it’s the last day of the campaign, send an email and let them know.

Keep these emails short — a great milestone email might be as short as 150 words. Include a progress bar so readers can see how far along you are. And be direct with the subject line: “There’s still time to give!” or “We’re halfway through the campaign!” will give readers a call to action before they even open.

8.) Include testimonials from readers

Don’t just rely on your own team to drive home this message. If you’ve collected feedback from readers, include their voices as part of this campaign. (Just make sure you’ve gotten clear permission from them first to use their testimonials in a marketing message.)

Send an email highlighting feedback from specific readers. Or take quotes and run them in emails or in ads on the site, as Spotlight PA did on this spring 2022 campaign.

9.) Add progress bars everywhere

Social proof is one the best tools in a fundraiser’s toolbox. If your audience sees that others are giving, they may be inspired to give, too.

Here’s a simple starting point: Create a progress bar that you can display in your daily newsletter and in campaign emails. That’ll remind readers of your goal and how close you are to hitting it.

You don’t have to be a designer to make these — they’re easy to build in Canva. Here’s how:

As the campaign progresses, keep updating that graphic so readers can see that you’re getting closer to your goal.

And think about where else you can publish these progress bars. You might want to make space for them on new article pages, or via banners or pop-ups on your site.

10.) Mirror the message across all platforms

Whatever you’re doing with newsletters should be reflected everywhere else you publish: Your site, social media, and podcasts.

At the bottom of stories, add a CTA to support your work — you can even repurpose copy from one of your email campaigns. You can also adjust the copy or design every week so readers see different messages over the course of the campaign.

And identify other spaces you can utilize, like:

• A pop-up on your site
• A banner at the top of your homepage
• A programmatic ad slot
• Your link in bio on Instagram or Twitter
• A message at the start of your podcast
• A push notification or SMS message

Make sure readers learn about your fundraising campaign wherever they interact with your org.

11.) Send a Thank You email

No matter how the campaign performs — if you missed your goal, met it, or exceeded it — you should take a moment to thank your audience. Include everyone who was part of the initial campaign, and tell them how the campaign went.

Now, you may want to send different messages to different segments of your audience. Those who supported you during the campaign might get one message: “Thank you for supporting us! We couldn’t do this without you!”

Those who didn’t might get a message thanking everyone who chose to donate — they don’t need to know that the email is only going to non-donors! — and reminding them that they can still contribute if they’d like.

Here’s a great example from the Evanston RoundTable. They sent out this Thank You email for a 2022 campaign, even though they’d come up just short of their donor goal.

Readers, seeing how close they’d gotten to the goal, sent in a flurry of donations, helping the RoundTable ultimately hit their number.

That didn’t surprise me — for many non-profits that I work with, the Thank You email is one of the best-performing messages in the entire campaign.

12.) Meet with your team to review the results

So many teams forget about a crucial step in the process: Making time to review what worked and what didn’t.

I understand why that happens. Let’s say you’re running an end-of-year campaign that ends on December 31. Your team is out of the office on New Year’s Day, and then others take vacation time after that, and by the time everyone’s back in the office, it’s mid-January, and there are big new projects to work on.

But the review process matters. Put it on the calendar — in fact, set a meeting even before your campaign starts. (That way, you’re doing it whether the campaign succeeds or fails.)

At the meeting, you’ll want to review which channels (email, social, site, podcast) performed well, and which specific email campaigns worked. But I also want you to dig deeper: Why did certain emails work better than others? Did you get any specific feedback from readers about why they chose to support your work? Did you try anything this time that you’ll want to try again in the next campaign? Did you come up with any ideas you want to test next time?

Review everything, and make sure you document it in a place that everyone on the team has access to. When you get around to running your next campaign — whether that’s a few weeks later, or a year later — you’ll be glad you’ll have those notes you can review to help plan the next one.

Full disclosure: I’ve worked with several newsrooms mentioned in this story, including Boulder Reporting Lab, Chicago Reader, The Salt Lake Tribune, and Evanston RoundTable, through Inbox Collective.

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