Email marketing for nonprofits according to the data

Despite what you might believe, email marking is not dead.


In fact, it continues to convert well above the rate of social media. 


An 2021 M+R Report found that Facebook posts had an average engagement score of just .32% - a drop in the bucket compared to email open and click rates (see below for what they are 👇).


Yet, so many nonprofit organizations come to me saying, “Why even bother?” These are also the ones who usually don’t have strong results because their email consistency is 💩.


According to the Blackbaud Institute Report, online giving rose 20.7% over the last year and now makes up 13% of all giving - the highest it’s ever been. In our digital world, this trend shows no signs of slowing down either.


I get asked all the time, “Jess, what’s an average email open rate?” but what I really think people are asking is: “How do my nonprofit organization’s email rates compare?”


Here is what the data says:


Email open rates:

Email open rates are the percentage of people who open your email compared to your overall list size. Most email service providers have reporting that will easily pull this for you, but if you don’t - here is how you calculate the number:

Number of people who open your email/number of people on your email list.

For example, if 486 people open your email and you have 1,000 people on your email list - your email open rate would be: 48.6%

Here are two industry standards for open rates in the nonprofit sector.


Click rates: 

Click rates are the number of unique clicks people take within an email (think clicking to a blog post or donate button) divided by the number of people on your email list.

Let’s say in our example of 1,000 email subscribers - 31 people clicked the email. That would be a 3.1% click rate. Below are more industry averages for the nonprofit sector.


Unsubscribe rate:

Unsubscribes are part of the email game. Honestly, these people are doing you a favor. To get this number, take the number of people who unsubscribe from your email list divided by your email list.

For an example, if 6 people unsubscribed from your email list out of 1,000 - that would be a .06%. Again, here are the industry averages.


In my next blog post, I’m going to share what your numbers say about you and they health of your email list. I’ll also share the experiment i tried that increased my email list engagement by almost 30% in just 3 months.

Tell me in the comments - what are your open, click and unsubscribe rates?