26 Sample Email Subject Lines For Your Fundraising Campaign

This is a guest post by Will Cannon, founder of UpLead and Signaturely. He highlights the importance of email marketing, lead generation, outreach campaigns, customer profiling, and acquisition to maximize ROI for all businesses.

When launching an email campaign to raise funds, it is imperative to perfect the copy, segment your email lists, fine-tune the graphic assets, and more. But nothing is as important as getting the email subject line right; it’s what gets people to open your email in the first place.

When done right, email subject lines smoothly engage supporters and help bring in the revenue you need to succeed. Use the following sample email subject lines and tips to optimize your email opens.

26 Email Subject Lines for Your Fundraising Campaign

Here are some subject lines you can incorporate in your fundraising campaign to make it more effective.

Emphasize the Cause

Give your reader immediate insight into the impact you’re driving. Briefly describe in the subject line what their donation will make possible. Write a straightforward and emotionally powerful statement for the potential donor that emphasizes the good work.

Sample Email Subject Lines:

• Help [organization name] reach children in need
• One click can help [impact] provide to hundreds
• The best gift you can give someone is a gift of change
• Come forward to support our [cause]
• You can help feed 100 children this month
• Your donation protected one puppy
• Give 50 children the gift of a better life – clean and safe drinking water

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Intrigue the Reader

Pique your reader’s interest with a subject line that leaves them wanting more. Invoke curiosity to get them to open your email to keep reading.

Sample Email Subject Lines:

• [Potential donor] helped this year. Want to help [organization name] again?
• Let’s make the world a little better!
• Your gift to [organization name]
• [First name] – Your donation status

Use Hours/Days/Weeks to Drive Urgency

Drive urgency through your email subject line based on your campaign’s fundraising activity.

Use words that highlight the significance of the contents, such as “important,” “breaking,” “urgent,” “tomorrow,” and “now.”

Setting a deadline can entice the readers to take action and participate in the larger cause before they miss the chance.

Sample Email Subject Lines:

• Just one week left to join [fundraiser campaign name]
• One day left to take action
• [First name], your last chance to get your gift matched!
• 5 hours left to provide a scholarship for a child in need

Be Thankful

Many organizations overlook the importance of developing a relationship with their recipients. While you need donations from subscribers, they want to know that you care for them too.

Follow up and thank donors for taking action and contributing to your campaign. Similarly, you can lead with gratitude to appeal to potential donors and reiterate that you need support for fundraising efforts.

Sample Email Subject Lines:

• Thank you for being with us
• [First name], we value your contributions
• We wouldn’t have done it without you
• Incredible things we accomplished with your support

Be Personal

Adding a personal touch to your email subject lines can help you increase your click-through and open rates. Craft a subject line that incorporates the addressee’s first name. You might even consider sending it from a specific person’s account from your organization. This could make your email look like a conversation between two people rather than some larger organization reaching out.

It takes more to connect with your audience than to convince them to donate, and personalized email subject lines can help you develop meaningful connections. Do what you can to give the feeling of one-on-one attention to your email’s recipient. We suggest the following copy.

Sample Email Subject Lines:

• [First name], you won’t believe it!
• Your contribution helped last year, support [organization name] this year too
• We need you. Kids need a home
• Every child deserves to have proper education – you can make it happen

Offer an Incentive

If you have any incentives for your fundraising campaign, try weaving that into your subject line. Various exclusive perks can include invitations and vouchers or even special recognition for your top fundraisers at your main event.

Another approach is to give your prospective donor the feeling that they would join a special community of people making a significant impact. This can especially be true if you’re promoting your branded recurring giving program as well.

Sample Email Subject Lines:

• Every donor is invited to the Annual Community Celebration
• Donate and get added to our year-end raffle
• Join [organization name] club of high-level supporters

5 Best Practices to Increase Your Email Open Rates With Sample Email Subject Lines

1. Make It Short

With a fundraising email, brevity is vital. Many readers will skim through the email, so don’t extend the message unnecessarily or be redundant. Keep it concise, to the point, and maintain its readability.

Tools like Grammarly can help you improve your copy’s readability and level of engagement. On top of that, they will make sure that your emails are short and flawless.

2. Make It Sound Urgent

Urgency is a key element of persuasive appeals. Your fundraising email should compel the readers to respond right away, or else they might not take the intended action. Adding a deadline to your email message can potentially drive its open as well as response rates.

For example, you can share a link to join a virtual event with a time-sensitive deadline.

3. Show the Value for Your Donor

Like with any other email, a fundraising email should demonstrate its value to a reader and how they will benefit from opening it. Communicate what’s in for the recipient and deliver a value proposition to them. What is the impact they will be able to drive? Will taking action affirm their understanding of themselves as generous people?

4. Include a Number

Including a number in your email can add authority or credibility to your message and better demonstrate your expertise on the cause. This, in turn, can help you build trust with your donors. Offer your readers some social proof numbers, relevant statistics, third-party accreditation, and donor testimonials.

5. Pick the Right Time to Send

While time and deliverability are crucial aspects of an email, you have no definite time to send that will guarantee a successful email campaign. That is where testing comes into play. Test different days and time slots to see what works well for you.

The most popular email marketing services, including Active and Aweber, come with easy-to-use automation tools. These tools make it very easy for you to create and schedule your emails ahead of time. This should simplify you to experiment with what days and times have the best response rates.

Furthermore, track your email campaign performance and optimize your strategy accordingly for your ideal target audience.

Wrapping Up

If you’re in the process of building an email strategy for your fundraising campaign, use the above examples and best practices to come up with a compelling email subject line and copy to drive donations for your cause. Make sure to follow up and thank your donors and continue to build lasting relationships with every touchpoint.