The Nonprofit Email Report: Data-Backed Insights for Better Engagement

Browse The Report
- Introduction
- Nonprofit Email Deliverability & Engagement Benchmarks
- Introduction
- Nonprofit List Sizes
- Ask The Expert: Is List Segmentation Really That Important?
- Nonprofit Email Bounce Rates
- Nonprofit Email Open Rates
- Nonprofit Email Unsubscribe Rates
- Nonprofit Email Click-Through Rates
- Nonprofit Email Fundraising Performance
- Nonprofit Email Performance by Date & Time
- Email Sender Superlatives
- A Data-Driven Approach to Subject Lines & Preview Text
- Introduction
- Convey Positive Emotions in Subject Lines
- Ask the Expert: How Did You Use AI for Subject Line Sentiment Analysis?
- Words to Include (or Avoid) in Your Subject Lines
- Experiment with Emojis in Subject Lines
- Write Compelling Preview Text
- Words to Include (or Avoid) in Your Preview Text
- Put It All Together — Performance Benchmarks & Word Usage
- Creating Effective Emails
- Introduction
- Ask the Expert: What Should I Keep In Mind When Creating Compelling Emails?
- Tip #1 — Include Imagery in Your Emails
- Tip #2 — Pay Attention to Salutations
- Ask The Expert: Do Salutations Really Make a Difference?
- Tip #3 — Use the Word "You"
- Tip #4 — Make Your Message Scannable
- Ask The Expert: How Do I Create a Great Call to Action?
- Tip #5 — Include Great Calls to Action
- Put It All Together - Build Clear, Compelling Emails
- Lessons from the Most Engaging Email of 2022
- Data-Backed Insights for GivingTuesday and Year-End
- Methodology & Appendix
- About Neon One
The Dataset
For our research, we extracted a dataset of all Campaign Emails successfully attempted from Neon CRM databases where the recorded delivery completed date was between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022. These records included standard email campaign data like date and time sent, number of opens by user, clicks total, and other raw data points outlined below.
This primary dataset was then supplemented with additional data points from linked public records on the organization. Organizational data, including the organization’s Employer Identification Number (for U.S.-based organizations only), was used to link a variety of data points from Form 990 records. These records are publicly available for exempt organizations in the United States. Our research focused specifically on organizations’ National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) codes and income reported on Form 990.
The financial analysis was performed on the same dataset but restricted its completed delivery dates to November 29, 2022; December 29, 2022; December 30, 2022; and December 31, 2022. Unless otherwise noted, this analysis blended averages from across the year in which the emails were sent and any multi-year analysis was used solely for year over year trends insights.
The Neon CRM transactions include all types of fundraising and revenue activity that clients may have entered during that time period, regardless of the donor’s interaction with the emails sent on those days. Transactions include both online and offline transactions.