How to Structure a Great Fundraising Email

At a Glance

This article provides a framework for building an authentic fundraising email structure that resonates with donors and sets a high standard for your charity email marketing efforts. By implementing these data-driven strategies and learning how to write a good fundraising email, you can achieve a tangible impact on your revenue while ensuring your communications remain user-friendly and accessible.

Why Email Still Matters in Fundraising

Email remains a dominant force in digital philanthropy because it offers a direct line to your supporters. It delivers a return on investment that far exceeds other channels, returning between £36 and £42 for every £1 spent. This efficiency makes charity email marketing a key component of any sustainable revenue plan.

Unlike social platforms, your email list allows for a seamless connection with donors without battling unpredictable algorithms. Research indicates that 48% of donors cite email as their preferred method for receiving updates and appeals. By prioritising how to write fundraising emails, you are investing in the most inspiring tool for modern donors.

Subscribers are often three to five times more engaged than social media followers. This engagement is vital for long-term retention, especially as retention rates for first-time donors currently sit near 19%. Using a platform like KindLink allows you to manage these relationships with an authentic, purpose-driven approach.

The Ideal Structure of a High-Performing Fundraising Email

Knowing how to write a good fundraising email includes a well-engineered email structure that combines persuasive copywriting, technical optimisation for mobile devices, and an understanding of cognitive biases. Every element of the email, from the metadata in the inbox to the final postscript, serves a specific function in the donor’s decision-making process.

1. Create Effective Subject Lines and Preview Text

Your subject line is the singular gatekeeper of your performance. A major part of how to write a good fundraising email is knowing which words to avoid to prevent your message from being flagged as spam. This section of your email should offer a purpose-driven reason to keep reading and avoid transactional terms like “donation,” “gift,” or “urgent”, which can trigger both mental filters and automated spam folders. 

• Subject lines comprising 6 to 10 words achieve the highest open rates (~21%).
• The inclusion of the recipient’s first name can increase open rates by 26%.
• Framing the subject line as a question yields a 50% increase in opens.

When considering how to write fundraising emails that actually get opened, the preview text must work in tandem with the subject line to create a cohesive narrative. It should include text that complements your header rather than repeating it and provides essential context. For example, if the subject line is “James, can you help us reach our goal?”, the preview text might read, “A $50 donation from you will get us 5% closer to building the school in Guatemala”. This combination provides both the personal emotional trigger and the rational justification for engagement.

2. Lead with a Human Hook

Opening your message with gratitude makes the recipient feel recognised as an individual. Avoid generic mission statements and lead with a personal acknowledgement of their past support. This sets a warm, conversational tone that invites the donor into a meaningful dialogue, which is a cornerstone of successful charity email marketing that builds trust over time.

This is achieved by using the first-person perspective and addressing the donor in the second person (“I am writing to you because…”). Effective hooks often utilise startling statistics, emotional personal quotes, or direct questions that relate the donor’s past generosity to a current, urgent need.

3. Tell a Purpose-Driven Story

Using the “Identifiable Victim Effect” is a proven method for how to write a good fundraising email. Focus on a single individual in hardship rather than large groups or abstract statistics. In practice, a classic charity fundraising email example would focus on a single child’s journey rather than citing the millions living in poverty. This approach triggers an emotional response that predicts increased generosity.

A compelling story should follow a classic narrative arc:

• The Problem: Introduce a specific beneficiary (e.g., “Sarah”) and the challenge they face.
• The Solution: Explain how the organisation’s work addresses this challenge.
• The Hero: Position the donor as the critical catalyst who makes the solution possible.

Interestingly, using statistics can actually diminish the emotional impact of a story if overused. They can lessen the “spontaneous affective reaction” that drives giving. 

4. Make the Ask Simple and Specific

Understanding the psychology of the ‘Ask’ is a vital skill for anyone learning how to write fundraising emails that convert readers into active contributors, as it is the most critical part of the email. Many organisations fail by being too vague or passive in their request. A high-performing “Ask” must be:

• Make it specific by requesting a clear amount linked to a tangible outcome (e.g., “$25 will provide a week of meals for a family in need”).
• Create urgency without sounding “spammy”. Explain why the gift is needed now, leveraging deadlines, matching gift windows, or seasonal urgency.
• Strive for simplicity and avoid offering complex choices. Presenting one clear path to help is more effective than offering multiple ways to get involved.

Additionally, psychological anchoring is a powerful tool in crafting the ask. By suggesting specific amounts (ask strings) that start with higher figures, organisations can influence the donor’s perception of a “reasonable” gift. For example, an ask string of “$100, $75, $50” for a donor whose last gift was $41 encourages an upgrade while grounding the request in round, cognitively accessible numbers.

Additionally, always strive for simplicity – asking a reader to take multiple actions (e.g., donate, sign a petition, and follow on social media) creates “choice overload,” often resulting in the reader taking no action at all.   

CTAs

To maximise conversion, an email should focus on a single, primary Call to Action (CTA) and mention it at least three times. To maintain an effective fundraising email structure, place your primary CTA where it naturally follows the climax of your emotional story. Additionally, in almost every high-performing charity fundraising email example, the CTA is repeated in the P.S. to capture the attention of ‘scanners’ who skip to the end.

Experiments by NextAfter have shown that “naked” URLs (raw links pasted directly into the text) can outperform hyperlinked phrases or buttons in personal-style emails, as they reinforce the perception that the email was sent by a human rather than a marketing machine. Use specific, urgent verbs like “Donate Now,” “Join the Community,” or “Support Sarah Today”.   

5. Simplify the Visuals and Formatting

Email design in 2025 is trending toward simplicity. Heavily designed HTML templates with large banners and multiple columns are increasingly associated with “promotional” content and are often filtered into secondary tabs by email service providers. Furthermore, they can be difficult to read on mobile devices, where nowadays at least 50% of emails are opened. Effective formatting focuses on scannability:

A personal-looking message feels like a 1-to-1 conversation; mastering this ‘unpolished’ look is a key tip for how to write fundraising emails that bypass the mental blocks of donors.

6. Optimise for Accessibility

Ensuring your content is inclusive is both an ethical and strategic requirement. Use a minimum font size of 14px and maintain a high colour contrast ratio of 4.5:1. This makes your message user-friendly for all supporters, regardless of the devices they use. By following these accessibility guidelines, your charity email marketing remains inclusive, ensuring that older donors or those with visual impairments can engage with your cause effortlessly.

A/B Testing and Measuring Your Success

When learning how to write fundraising emails, following universal “best practices” might not be the best approach. In charity email marketing, you must understand what motivates your specific donor base. A/B testing is a classic approach that allows you to gather data on your campaigns, which helps you understand how to write a good fundraising email specific to your audience. It removes reliance on intuition and helps guide your strategic decisions. 

Here are a few things you can test when deciding on the best fundraising email structure for your case:

1. The Value Proposition (The Offer)

This is the “why” behind the gift. Testing different stories, impact statements, and specific asks is the most impactful form of testing.   

2. The Sender and Subject Line

You could test if a personal name (e.g., “Sarah from [Org]”) outperforms the brand name or if a curiosity-driven subject line outperforms a direct one.   

3. Email Layout and Design

Try comparing fundraising email structure that uses heavily designed HTML templates against plain-text “personal” style emails. Experiments consistently show that stripped-down designs can increase donations by 116%.   

4. The CTA and Link Strategy

Here you can try to test if different button phrases perform better or if you should scrap the button altogether and use “naked” URLs.   

By testing different elements, you can refine a fundraising email structure that is uniquely tailored to the habits and preferences of your specific audience

How KindLink Supports Your Fundraising

Mastering charity email marketing is much easier when you have the right technology supporting you. KindLink acts as the enabler for your strategy, turning complex donor management into an effortless workflow.

• Use the dedicated KindLink Charity CRM to track giving history, contact details, and engagement levels in one centralised location.
• Send personalised “thank you” emails to your supporters immediately after they contribute, ensuring they feel appreciated without delay.
• Design and launch fundraising pages easily and within minutes with the KindLink Fundraising Management software.
• Automate your Gift Aid receipts and financial compliance to save your team hours of manual administration.

Sign up today and start building long-lasting donor relationships.