Nurture Fundraisers Using CauseVox, Zapier, and ConvertKit

Fundraising is a crucial part of a non-profits existence. The biggest opportunity for a non-profit is leveraging its community to fundraise on its behalf. The hardest part is maintaining the attention of community members and empowering them to feel confident in their efforts.

For a year now, I've been using CauseVox as my primary fundraising tool for the Testicular Cancer Foundation. I really enjoy CauseVox because it puts a lot of the controls on the admin side, rather than having to go through an account manager or some other contact on the provider side.

Exploring CauseVox Zaps on Zapier

About 6 months ago, CauseVox began teasing their Zapier beta integration. As a Zapier lover and full-blown nerd, I'd been waiting for the integration to go live to see what kind of pathways I would have access related to fundraisers. A few weeks ago, the news came through that the integration was live. Excitement ensued.

The CauseVox options are simple and to the point. Did we A) Get a new fundraiser or B) Get a new donation?

With this info, I can do a lot of cool things.

One of the main features that really (I mean really) expensive fundraising platforms up-charge for is communicating with fundraisers within the platform. Campaign updates, direct emails, drip emails, etc. There's a ton of options.

My first Zap using CauseVox is to bridge the gap between a lack of communicating with fundraisers and using an email marketing platform I live in all day long, ConvertKit.

Using ConvertKit

With ConvertKit, I can create drip email sequences to walk my fundraisers along a series of emails that convey important information, emotion, and reinforce why they are so important to our organization. (Fundraisers...if you are reading this, we love you!)

CauseVox has the ability to send a welcome email, which is fantastic. I haven't yet decided if I will keep this email active or send them all to ConvertKit for the entire email series. (On one hand, it's a safe bet that the email will always send, but on the other hand, I would love to have the open rate and click metrics that ConvertKit provides.)

Creating a Drip Email Sequence

Currently, our email series is broken up like this:

Email 1: Welcome to Fundraising

Email 2: More about CauseVox and tactical points around fundraising (includes link to proprietary PDF about fundraising)

Email 3: Where the money goes / why this is so important

Final Thoughts

I am curious to see how the response is to our new series of emails. With all communications, the last thing you want to do is be over communicative and have someone lose interest entirely. By looking at my ConvertKit open and click rates, I'll see which emails are most effective and which need some fine tuning.

ConvertKit Makes Me a Better Non-Profit CEO

What makes a good marketing email? For years, I thought it was a combination of colors and images, font types and social icons. I remember when Mailchimp released their drag and drop editor in November 2012 and everything changed for the amazing.

Four years later, I find myself running away from what I once worked on so hard on. Sending flashy emails seeking to dazzle constituents. Don’t get me wrong, I still use said editor and send branded emails, but it is my belief we’re on the verge of a new communication style in the non-profit sector that compliments the main email list.

Last year, I stumbled upon Authority & Nathan Barry and immediately went down this author, creator, entrepreneur rabbit hole. (Shout out to Nathan, Paul, Jason et al) While entrenched in Nathan’s drip email sequence about his book, I found myself looking forward to the next email from him. It was a non-annoying batch of emails that added value to my inbox every few days. What I didn’t realize was that he was actually selling me on his product, ConvertKit.

ConvertKit strips away the fancy drag and drop editor and provides you with the ability to send personalized plain-text emails, fast. Gone are the days of the bulk BCC, replaced with the ability to let my network decide on how they want to engage with me, and the organization I run.

With ConvertKit, I can tag subscribers by donation tiers, campaign affiliation, etc. What’s more, I can change up who the email comes from quickly. If I want to send the email from a fellow staff member or Board Member, it’s a two second switch before the email goes out.

What I really love about ConvertKit is that I can create links within the email that allow people to tag themselves using automations. In the past, a subscriber would have to visit a preference page to do what they can now do right from their inbox. By giving people options on what they want to hear about on the front end, I’m reducing the number of people who might go right for the unsubscribe link in the footer. If they do unsubscribe, that’s fine. "Engage or die."

Uncle Ben said “With great power comes great responsibility.” He’s right. As your ConvertKit database grows in size, you have to maintain strict segmentation of messages and resist the urge to send to everyone at once. That’s what your other list is for.

Since implementing ConvertKit, I’ve seen a ton of conversion and interest from my outbound emails. With the built in analytics, I can see who is opening my emails and interacting with them. These insights are helpful when knowing which donors to pursue, or volunteers to activate. As time progresses, I am discovering new and exciting ways to incorporate ConvertKit into my day to day. With CK starting at $29/month, I can’t help but think back to all of the Salesforce add-ons, priced astronomically, to achieve something similar.