How eNewsletters Can Kill Your Non-Profit

Posted July 21, 2008
14 Comments

Yesterday, I received an e-mail newsletter from a friend at a local non-profit (who I will not embarrass by naming). The e-mail was sent from a yahoo account and all the addresses were cc’d.

Putting aside the e-mail etiquette issue of sending a mass cc e-mail, there was one huge disaster that my friend was completely unaware of:

Using a free e-mail account for your non-profit makes your non-profit look like sh*t.

With one click of a send button, he created at least three negative branding issues:

  • Using a free e-mail account says that his NPO cheap.
  • Using a free e-mail account says that his NPO is not established.
  • The ads displayed in these e-mails are promoting products that may work against his causehidden cost of free 300x240 How eNewsletters Can Kill Your Non Profit

Forget about using Outlook as well. It associates your NPO with spam and is not built for e-mail marketing. Some might even say that Microsoft Outlook is “Amazing Piece of Crap“.

E-Newsletters are better sent using a web service like Constant Contact, AWeber or IContact. All of these services provide graphic templates that project and protect your brand by looking professional. These tools also are very inexpensive, have flexible reporting and list management utilities, and require no IT support.

What tools do you use for your E-Newsletters?

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  • So very true - We found the email alternatives you listed - Vertical Response and Constant Contact - provide inexpensive, professional looking means for communications. We found if you are just starting and send relatively less frequent emails(once every two months or longer) then Vertical Response pay as you go program might be cost effective. If you send emails on a monthly or more frequent schedule you might want to assess Constant Contact and compare its pricing to other alternatives. Both these sources have special non-profit rates that make it even more attractive to use.

    Thanks for your great ideas and posts
  • Raj,

    Thank you! Can you post a comment with specific numbers on pricing?

    John
  • Thanks for this! It's up at the carnival here.
  • Katya,

    Thanks so much - I'm sincerely honored.

    John
  • Aweber also has non-profit pricing, 1st three months are free, then 25% off of monthly billing. I have set accounts up with them for several clients, and find their open rate to be good,and their tracking of links (who clicked on what link) to be great; I also like their templates for enewsletters,and integration with Twitter too.
  • Cathy - thanks! I use Aweber for my site. Love them!
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