# One Email Means Every Team Original field notes by Gratona. The worked cases and templates use invented people and organizations. Write a fundraising-email promise with exact dates, apply it to every sending queue and check the delivery log to confirm it held. Research: The hidden costs of nudging: Experimental evidence from reminders in fundraising. ## Reading connection Mette Trier Damgaard and Christina Gravert ran email experiments with DanChurchAid, including a version that told recipients they would hear less often. ## Team kit ### Your promise wording Use it on the preference page and in the confirmation. Keep only the lines every queue can honor. ```text Subject: Your email preference is saved Hi [first name], Between [start date] and [end date], [organization] will send you [one] email asking for a donation, a ticket purchase or any other gift. That includes event invitations and personal emails from our staff. During that time you’ll still receive: - [news updates with no requests for donations, or remove this line] - a receipt for any gift you make - replies to anything you write to us If you’d prefer [no news updates either / no email from us at all], reply to this email or change your choice here: [link]. After [end date], you’ll hear from us as before unless you choose otherwise. [Name] [Role], [Organization] ``` ### Your queue register One register per promise. Every queue owner confirms suppression in writing, and again after any import or list rebuild. ```text FUNDRAISING EMAIL PROMISE: QUEUE REGISTER Promise, word for word: Period: Current preference (source, date): Earlier preferences (source, date): Register owner: QUEUES THAT CAN SEND EMAIL Queue | System | Owner | How suppression is applied | Confirmed (date) Central appeals | | | | Event invitations and reminders | | | | Personal asks from staff | | | | Newsletters | | | | Automated reminders and renewals | | | | Receipts | | | | Other: | | | | DEFINITIONS Counts as fundraising: News-only means: Receipt template checked for appeal text (date): MESSAGES SCHEDULED IN THE PERIOD Date | Message | Owner | Fundraising? | Send / suppress / move after period | Confirmed by 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. STAFF COMMITMENTS AFFECTED Who | What they told the donor | Resolution ``` ### Your delivery audit Read delivery events, not drafts or schedules. Run it on a fixed day each week and after the period ends. ```text DELIVERY AUDIT Donor or group: Period: Checked on (dates): Sources read: ☐ Email platform delivery events ☐ Events platform ☐ CRM log of staff email ☐ Relationship managers asked about email sent outside these systems ☐ Automation logs Date delivered | Message | System | Fundraising? | Reply the donor asked for? | Within the promise? 1. 2. 3. Fundraising emails delivered: Promised: Breaches: Cause: Fixed by (name, date): Other donors affected: Donor told: ☐ yes, by [channel] on [date] ☐ no, preference doesn’t allow contact Recorded in each donor’s history: ☐ ``` ### If you broke the promise Send only if the donor’s preference allows email from you, and only after the cause is fixed. If they asked for no contact, fix it and record it without writing. Include no request. ```text Subject: An email we shouldn’t have sent Hi [first name], On [date] you asked us to send you only [the promise, in their terms]. On [date] we sent you [message] as well. That was our mistake. We’ve fixed [cause, in plain words], and the rest of the period will follow your choice. You don’t need to do anything. If you have a question, reply here or call me on [number]. [Name] [Role], [Organization] ``` ### Exceptions - The donor’s words were broad, such as “just one email.” Treat it as all email, or ask what they meant before narrowing it. - The donor asks for no email at all. That replaces the fundraising promise at once, including news. Ask finance how receipts will reach them through a channel they allow. - The donor gives during the period. Send the receipt as usual. The gift doesn’t reset or extend anything. - The donor writes asking about an appeal. Answer it and record it as a conversation the donor started. Don’t follow up with asks they didn’t request. - Two records disagree. Use the latest preference stated by that person, and keep both with their sources and dates. - A staff member is sure the donor would welcome another ask. Don’t send it. The promise stands until the end date unless the donor changes it. ### Who owns it One person owns the register and the audit, usually in operations. Each queue owner confirms suppression in their own system, and confirms again after any import or list rebuild. Relationship managers log personal emails in the CRM or tell the register owner, because personal email often bypasses the systems the audit reads. ### Check that it held - For each donor with the preference, fundraising emails delivered in the period match the promise, counted from delivery events. - Every breach has a cause, a fix, a date and a record of what the donor was told, or why they weren’t. - Suppression was rechecked after every import or list rebuild in the period. - After the end date, each donor’s messages follow their earlier preferences unless they chose something new. ## Read further In the second experiment, find the version with the low-frequency postscript and compare its wording with the usual email. A footnote explains why unsubscribes were counted over three days. Note which donors were left out of the sample. [Read the research]() ## Related Atlas tool [Apply the contact promise to every queue]() List every sender, resolve the scheduled messages and keep a delivery record and recovery plan.