Welcome Email Drip Campaign: US Non-Profit
01 — Project details
Sumner Food Bank, a US nonprofit food bank, needed well-written copy for a welcome email series for existing donors, collaborative organizations and potential new donors.
They aimed to have three to five email welcome series for new donors, each with specific intentions, which were:
Thank you email with a process flow survey CTA
Obtain explicit consent for the emails in the drip campaign
Client story email with a newsletter CTA
Next step for existing donors with a connect CTA
Soft ask for monthly donations with a donation CTA
02 — Challenge
The food bank lacked any donor cultivation in its organizational system beyond a thank-you receipt. They hadn't built up any form of community up to this point.
This was to be the beginning of a nurturing campaign for the Sumner Food Bank. They aimed to bridge this gap by making donors feel included and welcomed into the Sumner family of supporters.
By developing this email series, they sought to strengthen relationships with donors and organizations, ultimately aiding them in raising more funds to enhance Sumner Food Bank's impact.
03 — Creative process
I analyzed the brand to gain clarity about the goals of the email marketing campaign and the target audience.
The emails would be personalized using the recipient's first name. The copy would convey the brand's TOV and foster connection, empathy, and a sense of actionable and transparent impact.
I concluded that the brand TOV would be direct, informational, empathetic, and heartfelt, embodying the attributes of the 'caregiver archetype.'
After receiving confirmation from the communications manager of the food bank, I delivered four email copies for the campaign.
04 — Deliverables
The first email was a gushy thank you, stressing the empathy of the donors and how it impacted the organization.
Additionally, the CTA was a process flow survey, at the end of which the explicit consent for the remaining emails was added. It eliminated the need for a whole email from the flow, thereby not overwhelming the recipients.
The second email painted a real-life picture of the impact of the donations.
The brand colour was used to highlight the story excerpt, and a link was provided to read the whole story on the website.
The CTA was to sign up for "The Real Humans of Sumner" newsletter, which was a play off the famous photoblog series "Humans of New York."
The third email detailed the various ways donors and organizations could continue supporting the cause.
It also branded the donors as "Talk-Walkers" to show that they were people who 'walked the talk' and took real action.
This helped the donors to understand the scope of empathy and charity, which they could utilize in supporting the food bank and the community around it.
A 10-second poll was added to reduce the friction to select a method and for the organization to understand which method seemed the most favourable and to plan future campaign CTAs with the same.
The final email in the drip campaign was the soft ask for recurring donations.
The wording and tone were crucial to not appearing needy but rather presenting the need for continuous and ongoing support that helped the organization continue to help the individuals who depended on them.
The email SL was "47 seconds read time to know how $25 helps feed 125 families". This was to incite curiosity and transparently share a breakdown of the impact amounts.
This helped potential donors decide on what amount would be ideal for them and reassured them that even the smallest amount would actually help.
05 — Results
This project was completed in March 2025, so the metrics are currently being tracked and optimized.
The preliminary reports show the open rates, CTRs, and list growth rates are all healthy and have improved to roughly 31%, well over non-profit industry benchmarks.
270%
ROI
+31%
Open rate
+8.05%
CTOR
+1.5%
List growth rate