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6 tips for nonprofit welcome email journeys that build community

For a nonprofit organization, the “welcome email” is the traditional start of any email relationship. We’ve all received these types of email messages before, they generally include language like:

Thanks for joining our community
Sign up to volunteer
Here are some membership benefits
Meet our team
…and so on

Welcome emails often perform especially well because you’re reaching people right at the start of the relationship, when interest and attention are still high. For instance, after a contact makes their first donation, they should immediately receive the first email in a new donor email welcome sequence that welcomes them into the fold and builds on the momentum of their initial contribution. Your first message gives subscribers a reason to stay engaged.

How to make new supporters feel welcome from the start

Welcoming your new members with open arms via email has an additional, more subtle benefit, besides the obvious advantages of creating brand awareness, communicating important information, and inspiring donations or volunteer signups. Making your new members feel welcome creates loyalty to your organization and motivates them to help. This desire to help often leads to volunteering in fundraising events, which creates a thriving community of inspired and like-minded people.

When you think of it like that, it’s a no-brainer that welcome emails are an essential component of creating a thriving nonprofit community. Here are six tips for putting your best foot forward as you draw in new members to your organization:

1. Don’t just send a single welcome email, take them on a journey

While a single nonprofit onboarding email effectively begins the relationship with your subscribers, a series of emails is an even better journey for your new audience. The first of these emails should be received upon opt-in, and it should introduce them to your organization and give them a reason to open your emails.

Sending a series of automated emails with valuable content at the beginning of your email relationship also helps create a habit with your subscribers. If they find value in the welcome series you send, they are likely to continue to open and read your email messages.

2. Send the first email in your series right away

Timing is essential here. Rather than waiting to send welcome emails out in batches at a later time or day, send your first email right away—ideally moments after the contact signs up or shows interest in your organization.

The reason is twofold. For one thing, the majority of users expect a welcome email waiting in their inbox right after subscribing. And secondly, new leads are more engaged within 48 hours of subscribing, translating to stronger open rates and click-through rates than emails sent later on.

3. Focus on the benefit of an email relationship

What are the benefits of being on your email list? How will the content you send help the subscriber? How will it help the subscriber meet some of their own goals or assist some of their personal causes? Your organization’s welcome sequence should focus on the value you can bring to subscribers. In practice, this might be a longer, more detailed version of the benefit-oriented copy on your website opt-in.

4. It’s okay to include some asks

While these relationship emails aren’t goaled to drive donations, motivate volunteers, or convince people to join your cause, it’s okay to include an ask as a secondary call-to-action. You want to lead the benefits to the subscriber, but if they’re ready to take a higher commitment action, give them a way to do exactly that. Depending on what you know about your new subscribers, you can also personalize donation call-to-actions to align with certain segments of your email list.

5. Watch your unsubscribe rates

Successful welcome series have low unsubscribe rates. If people are opting out of your welcome series at a rate of 0.5% or more, there’s likely a disconnect between what you promised in the opt-in and what you’re delivering in the welcome series. Pause it, put a simple single welcome message back in place, and do a deep dive analysis to understand what’s turning people off so quickly.

Learn more about optimizing your nonprofit email journeys in our free guide →

6. Don't let other emails drown it out

What do your subscribers experience in the first week or 10 days after they opt-in to receive email from you? One nonprofit client we worked with had a pretty well-thought-out welcome series; over the course of about two weeks they introduced their new subscribers to the benefits of being part of their email list and part of their community. But they were also bombarding those same new subscribers with a variety of other email messages at the same time (some on advocacy and political action, others from their online store selling branded merchandise, membership appeals, deals from their partners, etc.). Their welcome series got lost in the mix.

Turn new subscribers into long-term supporters

A strong welcome email journey is one of the most powerful tools a nonprofit has for building a loyal, engaged community. By sending a timely, well-crafted series of emails that puts your subscribers' needs first, you lay the foundation for a lasting relationship built on trust and shared purpose. Keep a close eye on your unsubscribe rates, eliminate distractions, and always deliver on the promise you made when contacts first signed up. Do all of this, and your new subscribers won't just become members. They'll become advocates, volunteers, and champions for your cause.

See how Emma helps nonprofits engage supporters from day one →