We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits 662. Working Session: Make Your Year-End Emails Stand Out with Caroline Griffin
If you want your year-end emails to stand out in the noisiest inbox season of the year, this Working Session is your new playbook. We brought in marketer and dynamic-content expert Caroline Griffin to break down the simple personalization shifts that make every donor feel seen—so your emails land, resonate, and inspire action.
Top 3 Takeaways:
- Make Personalization Actually Personal — Go beyond “Hi {{ first_name }}.” Use giving history, donor status, or meaningful milestones to help supporters recognize their own impact—and feel connected to your mission.
- Segment Smarter, Not Harder — Data not perfect? No problem. Segmentation by donor behavior (last gift, last year, lapsed, monthly) allows you to tailor messages without relying on risky merge fields.
- Honor Donors by Adjusting Your Messaging — Once someone gives, they shouldn’t keep receiving asks during year-end. Excluding recent donors, or swapping in a gratitude version, strengthens trust and donor love.
This episode digs into practical, approachable ways to bring more humanity and relevance to your year-end email strategy—no fancy tech required.
Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.
Let’s get to work.
Episode Highlights
- Why Dynamic Content Is the Nonprofit Email Superpower No One’s Using (01:11)
- Beyond Merge Tags: Getting Creative With Donor Personalization (02:23)
- Using Giving History and Impact Data to Deepen Donor Relationships (03:13)
- Re-engaging Lapsed Donors Through Smart Dynamic Content (04:33)
- Data Accuracy Tips: What to Do When Merge Tags Go Wrong (05:10)
- Segmenting Donors Based on Recent Giving Activity (06:21)
- The Donor-Respect Rule: Excluding Recent Givers From Appeal Emails (07:39)
- Automating Segmentation and Exclusions in Your Email List (08:52)
- Seeing Year-End Emails Through the Donor’s Eyes (09:59)
Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/662
//
Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.
Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.com