# Nonprofit Email Marketing

> Email marketing for nonprofits: what donor, volunteer and member emails need, what the common platforms cost a nonprofit at 5,000 to 50,000 contacts, and why a pay-once, self-hosted tool fits grant-funded budgets.

Source: https://sendbroadcast.net/use-cases/nonprofits

Email is still the channel that raises the most money for most nonprofits, and it is the one you own. Social reach rises and falls with algorithms. Your email list stays yours. The challenge for a nonprofit is cost: most email platforms charge more every month as the list grows, and a growing list is exactly what a successful campaign produces.

## What nonprofits send

- **Newsletters** to donors, members and volunteers, telling them what their support did.
- **Appeals** for year-end giving, emergencies and campaigns, often to a segment like lapsed donors or monthly givers.
- **Welcome sequences** that thank a new donor or subscriber and tell them what to expect.
- **Event and volunteer emails**: invitations, reminders and follow-ups.
- **Receipts and confirmations** for donations and sign-ups, sent automatically from your donation or CRM system.

That list needs segments and automations, not only a newsletter tool.

## What email marketing costs a nonprofit

Most platforms price by contacts. Mailchimp offers nonprofits a 15% discount. Monthly list prices before any discount:

| Contacts | Mailchimp Standard | MailerLite Comfort | ActiveCampaign Plus | Broadcast + Amazon SES |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 5,000 | $100 | $49 | $179 | About $2 in sending |
| 10,000 | $135 | $89 | $239 | About $4 in sending |
| 50,000 | $450 | $289 | $759 | About $20 in sending |

Broadcast's column assumes four emails a month per contact on Amazon SES. Add $250 once for the license and a few dollars a month for a server. See [Mailchimp](/compare/mailchimp-pricing), [MailerLite](/compare/mailerlite-pricing) and [ActiveCampaign](/compare/activecampaign-pricing) pricing for the full tables.

## Why pay once fits a nonprofit budget

Grants and budgets are often fixed for a year or tied to a project. A monthly bill that grows with your list is hard to plan for, and a successful appeal can push you into a higher tier just when money is tight. A one-time license is a single line in the budget. After that, the running cost is sending, which stays a few dollars a month for most lists.

## Donor privacy and data ownership

Donor lists are sensitive. With a hosted platform, your supporters' names, emails and giving segments live on someone else's servers, often in another country. A self-hosted tool keeps them in your own database, on a server you choose. For European charities and NGOs that matters under GDPR. Our guide for [public sector bodies and NGOs in Europe](/self-hosted-email-marketing-public-sector) covers the data residency side.

## How Broadcast fits a nonprofit

Broadcast is self-hosted email marketing software. A typical nonprofit setup looks like this. Your donation platform adds each new donor through the API, which starts a thank-you sequence. In November you send the year-end appeal to a segment of people who gave last year but not this year. If you run chapters with their own audiences, each gets its own list in the same install.

What it doesn't include: donation processing, a donor CRM or a website builder. Keep those in the tools you already use and connect them through the API.

The trade-off is that someone runs the server. If you have a volunteer or agency with technical skills, that is a few hours to set up. Our [installation guide](/installation) shows what is involved.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best email marketing platform for nonprofits?

It depends on list size and budget. For small lists that want everything managed, MailerLite is inexpensive and Mailchimp has a nonprofit discount. For growing lists, a self-hosted tool keeps the cost flat as the list grows.

### Do email platforms offer nonprofit discounts?

Some do. Mailchimp gives nonprofits 15% off. Check each platform's nonprofit program, since terms change.

### Is there free email marketing software for nonprofits?

Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers without automations, and Brevo's free plan sends 300 emails a day. Open-source tools like Listmonk are free if you can run a server.

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## Related

- [Public sector and NGOs in Europe](/self-hosted-email-marketing-public-sector)
- [The cheapest email marketing platforms](/cheapest-email-marketing)
- [Segment your subscribers](/how-to/segment-your-subscribers)
- [Email marketing for small businesses](/use-cases/small-business)