“I’m surprised I don’t receive more updates on specific projects. It would be nice to get recognition for what I contribute annually.” - Survey Respondent

1. Dark imagery, straying from brand guidelines of positivity

2. Focus is on social share CTAs over thanking donors

3. Inclusion of mission statement, which felt redundant

Results: Readers spent an average of 6 seconds reading the new email, a 2 second increase from the prior email.

The interim changes showed small but promising results, giving us reason to continue pursuing this approach.

Utilizing Survey Insights

I developed an email highlighting one of CI’s initiatives and its progress for donors, utilizing the survey insight for their desire for more impact information.

Knowing the time constraint of 8 seconds, I aimed to provide these insights into skimmable emails.

Results: 4% increase in unique clicks for the month it ran. Average email reading times increased to 10 seconds.

Confirming our hypothesis of increased interaction, we focused on boosting email clicks and reading time, believing these KPIs would reduce unsubscribes and ultimately lower monthly donation cancellations. We did this by:

1. Aligning copy with the top two sustainer priorities: (1) Stabilizing the climate by protecting and restoring nature, and (2) Helping people and nature thrive together

2. Shortening email length to encourage full reads over skimming

3. Refining the button CTA text to drive stronger engagement and clicks

Over the next three months, we evaluated KPIs closely and saw strong performance across emails, including:

• Copy on climate programs like the Mangrove Alliance

• A Year-in-Review email highlighting collective impact

• My personal favorite: the Amazonia Indigenous Women’s Fellowship Program, which equips Indigenous women with tools, training, and funding to lead conservation efforts in the Amazon.

I facilitated efficient skimming by implementing these tactics:

1. Featuring positive visuals to maintain brand cohesiveness, spark curiosity and encourage engagement

2. Using a bulleted list for project highlights to enhance scannability and shorten text

3. Adding a clear call-to-action button leading to the specific project page for donors to explore the featured initiative further

4. Providing a direct link to the donor portal to reduce cognitive load and streamline access to their dashboard

5. Simplifying the social share CTA to reduce text while keeping the option available

In the first four months we achieved a significant boost in email performance, confirming the success of our hypothesis.

• 30.85% average increase in unique clicks

• 50.2% average drop in unsubscribes

• 14.25% open rate, surpassing the overall email open average of 10.2% for the digital fundraising communications

• 4 second increase in average reading time, for a total of 10 seconds

Long Term Business Impact

Because of the success of this project, leadership agreed that we should continue investing in this donor group.

It catalyzed the long-term strategy for sustainers, including the launch of the new sustainer identity “The Current,” which was developed and deployed after I left for graduate school in August 2023.

Before I left, we explored another key insight: 58% of sustainers also give to other causes.

I conducted a competitive analysis of both environmental and cross-sector nonprofits to uncover strategies for engaging sustainers and strengthening gratitude practices.

We also launched a Canceled Monthly Feedback survey to capture direct insights into why sustainers ended their support.

Affinity Map of Stakeholder Interviews

To test our hypothesis, I developed a interim email change with our Brand and Communications team.

These smaller adjustments explored the potential impact of personalized donation receipts, and if our plan of personalized donation receipts would add value.

We ran A/B tests for two months where 50% of sustainers received the current email (below, left) which had been in circulation for 2+ years. The other half of our sustainer base received the new interim email (below, right).

Phase III and IV: Develop and Deploy

Total Timeline: 6 months (iterative and continuous processes)

Following analysis and synthesis, I debriefed with my stakeholders to determine a plan. We then brainstormed quick ways we could communicate with sustainers.

🚩 Assumption

A lack of recognition and overexposure to generic communications drives donor attrition, unsubscribes, and declining retention - jeopardizing long-term revenue stability.