A tight timeline with Giving Tuesday on the horizon — an email campaign designed to maximize revenue

A successful email email program got a nearly 12 per cent year over year boost

Humanitarian Coalition came to Public Outreach with an urgent request. The organization needed support launching its annual email year end fundraising campaign. The program had a strong foundation, but we wanted to level up the program and make 2025 their strongest year-end fundraising campaign yet. 

1. For email, we added a few extra mailings, tightened up the audience segment and implemented best practices and strong CTAs to build on what was already working.
2. On social media, we leaned into awareness and added some urgent, well-placed calls to donate at key moments like Giving Tuesday.
3. A brand new video asset was created to boost engagement and provide additional email content.

Everything was produced in French and English to ensure Humanitarian Coalition’s entire audience was considered.

Overall, trackable email campaign revenue grew 11.8% from Nov. 25 to Dec. 31 when compared to 2024 and Giving Tuesday saw 60% growth.  The campaign’s donation form saw a 83% conversion rate — three to four times higher than then the industry average.

The results: best practice alignment leads to greater revenue and performance

Humanitarian Coalition has very strict fundraising parameters and is limited in what it can say and fundraise on.

Nonetheless, Public Outreach saw that there was room for improvement while leaning on past effective messaging. 

For email:

• Based on past performance, we revised the email schedule so that it was centred around two key giving moments: Giving Tuesday on Dec. 2 and year end on Dec. 31.
• We added additional email to the year end campaign because we have repeatedly seen that more email brings more revenue. 
• We added urgency and impact to the messaging with use of deadlines.
• We introduced a throughline based on “Here’s what your gift of $48 or more can do.” By focusing on what $48 can do, we were able to show the audience the value of their gift. 
• We implemented strong CTAs in the emails themselves, rather than soft asks, which immediately led to a 83% conversion rate on the donate page.
• We built trust with new and existing supporters by providing robust email signatures and personalization.
• We tied the donation page copy directly to the $48 messaging and made optimizations to how the copy was presented there for better conversions.

On social media we:

• Recommended boosted posts for outgoing messages to reach more audiences.
• Incorporated a custom video about the power of $48, video being the most watched content on social media. 
• We tied the messaging on social media to emails that were going out at a similar time so that the platforms could support each other. 
• We provided a mix of donation asks and information, rather than going hard on donation requests. 

Revenue went up when compared to 2024

• 11.8% campaign revenue growth
• 60% Giving Tuesday growth (24 times better than the national average)
• Giving Tuesday had 22.5 times the normal transaction volume
• Total digital revenue grew by 59% year over year
• Email drove 70% of December revenue
• Average gift value went up 40%
• Donation form saw a 83% conversion rate — three to four times higher than the the industry average
• Consistent year end push with additional emails generated more revenue than Giving Tuesday itself

The Insight: Timing and tactics matter

By sending more email on Dec. 2 and Dec. 31 with no performance drop off, we proved that multiple, strategic touches work. Email doesn’t need to go out daily to be effective, but there should be enough email at key moments to maximize revenue. Giving Tuesday is powerful, but when paired with a strong email campaign for tax recovery during the year-end period, we’ve got two key moments to fundraise. 

Additionally, we saw that including a video and a strong, consistent story and clear asks led to exceptional performance at the mid-point of the entire campaign and the highest average gift per session. Showing the audience concrete evidence of the value of their gift drove conversions — storytelling and evidence still matters when it comes to email.