Fundraising Emails for Post-event Communication

So, you’ve wrapped up your event, hit your fundraising goals, and funded your next nonprofit project. Awesome! Now how do you keep your supporters engaged with your nonprofit until your next event? You have to  keep the lines of communication open! One great way to accomplish this is with post-event fundraising emails. Read on to learn how to create the best fundraising emails to send to your  supporters when your event comes to an end. 

Send a thank-you email

The first email you should send after your event wraps is the most obvious. If you don’t thank guests for coming or donors for giving, chances are they won’t be back next year. Your thank-you email should be timely and detail your nonprofit’s next steps. How much did you raise? What are you doing with the funds? 

After your event, these are the questions your supporters will have. Fill them in like they’re a member of your fundraising team, because they are!  

Here’s a great tip to ensure your thank-you email goes out quickly after your event ends. Write the email copy ahead of time and create the email in an email service provider. Then schedule the email to send the day after your event. This way, you can pop in the fundraising total the night of and attendees will receive your email by the following morning.  

Want to make your thank-you emails stand out? Consider sending a video thank-you message! 

Update emails

Your supporters care about your mission long after your event ends! So keep them in the know about what’s going on with the projects they help fund. After your event, create contact lists based on the funds attendees gave to and send email updates regularly. If all guests gave to the same fund, updating them becomes even easier! 

Update emails can take many forms depending on the information you need to share. If you have a lot of info to share, consider a newsletter format to avoid spamming your supporters. Email newsletters make it easy to pass along crucial updates all at once. 

If your guests are giving to a single fund, keep them apprised of updates to that fund regularly. Find the right balance of sharing to keep your supporters from getting burned out on your emails. A monthly or quarterly update can keep your event attendees informed without making them do a lot of reading. 

If you want to communicate more frequently, it may be best to send an email update that directs supporters to your social media pages instead. That way they can update themselves as much or as little as they like and can receive your crucial updates as soon as they’re posted. 

Invitations

Another great way to keep event attendees engaged when the party is over is inviting them to the next one! If your nonprofit hosts more than one fundraising event a year, chances are supporters from one event will likely want to attend other events you host. They’re just waiting on the invitation!  

So if you know you’ve got another great event coming up, send an email invite to your list of fundraising event attendees. This is a great way to grow attendees and fundraising dollars raised. Sound like a lot of work? You’re in luck! Qgiv’s peer-to-peer invite tool makes inviting attendees of past events easy! 

What’s more, you can invite event attendees to more than just other fundraising events. Invite supporters for tours of your facilities or to see what you do in person. You could also invite them to volunteer, follow you on social media, or become advocates for your cause. 

Fundraising emails

Your goal is to keep event attendees engaged in the hopes that they’ll give again. One surefire way to get a second gift is to ask for one. One of the main reasons donors stopped giving, according to our Generational Giving Study, is that they weren’t asked.  

Keep your nonprofit top of mind by sending fundraising emails as part of your post-event communication feedback. Of course, we don’t mean that you should ask for another donation immediately after your event ends… but you should have an ask on your radar. 

When should you make another ask?

There’s a formula that a lot of fundraisers use to determine when to request another donation during stewardship. It’s called the “Virtuous Circle.” The steps are Ask, Thank, Report, and Repeat.  

Your event attendees are at the thank stage when your fundraiser ends, so that’s where you should start in the circle. Send that thank-you email, provide an update (the report stage), and then ask for additional support later. It’s important not to ask too soon, so you may want to send a couple updates before sending a fundraising appeal. 

Final thoughts

Just because your event ends doesn’t mean communication with your attendees should stop! Use fundraising emails to keep in touch with supporters after your event. By keeping the lines of communication open, you’re opening your nonprofit up to more support. A timely thank-you, regular updates regarding how funds are being used, invites to upcoming events, and sending appeals via email can all keep your supporters invested in you all year round. 

Looking for tips to up your fundraising email game? We’ve got you covered! We even have sample fundraising emails to help you get started.