So, you’re in charge of emails for your nonprofit. And your boss needs you to send out an email to some of your donors. But this one’s really specific.
These donors all:
→ Attended an event last week.
→ And donated at the event.
→ And indicated interest in a recurring giving program.
Only these donors and no one else should get this email.
What do you do? Besides fleeing the premises.
Most likely, you calm your fears and anxiety with the help of AI, as most of us do these days, and start searching for “best email marketing platforms for nonprofits.”
And here we are.
If you’re looking for the best email marketing platforms for nonprofits, you’re in the right place.
You already know that email marketing for nonprofits is too important to be just an afterthought. But you also know all the work that goes into making the wheels of a nonprofit turn.
At its core, email should be so easy that it feels like an afterthought. But so personalized, strategic, and important, it feels like it took the work of a whole army.
This article is your easiest guide on the best email marketing platforms out there for nonprofits. So your email journey can go from tedious and labor-intensive to automated and running in the background.
Today, I’ll cover:
→ The 7 Best Email Marketing Platforms for Nonprofits
→ Top Features to Look for in Marketing Platforms for Nonprofits
(Trust me, there are a few on here that would surprise you!)
→ Real Examples: Nonprofits Using Email to Boost Generosity
7 Best Email Marketing Platforms for Nonprofits
Choosing an email marketing platform for a nonprofit can feel a bit daunting when you first get started.
So, let’s make it easy and break this down.
1. Virtuous
More than just email. It’s a fundraising CRM that happens to be really good at email, too. Virtuous connects your email strategy directly to donor behavior, and since it’s seamlessly integrated into a powerful fundraising platform, it’s a straightforward experience with no needed add-ons.
- Pros: Clean interface, smart segmentation, powerful automation, and everything ties back to your donor data.
- Cons: If you’re just looking for a standalone email tool but don’t need a full fundraising CRM, Virtuous might be more system than you need. It’s really designed to be your central fundraising platform.
2. MailerLite
Simple and purpose-built for teams that want to get up and running quickly. Great for smaller shops or teams that don’t want to overthink their email strategy.
- Pros: Easy to use, drag-and-drop editor, generous nonprofit discount.
- Cons: Automation is decent but not super advanced. Might hit a ceiling as your email program grows.
3. Moosend
Quietly powerful. It gives you all the essential tools: segmentation, automation, and analytics.
- Pros: Solid automation and nonprofit pricing available.
- Cons: Fewer integrations with nonprofit CRMs, which means more manual work if you’re syncing donor data.
4. Constant Contact
A longtime favorite in the nonprofit world, especially for teams that want live support and a familiar interface.
- Pros: Friendly support team, good templates, nonprofit discount available.
- Cons: Reporting is a bit basic, and the editor can feel dated compared to newer tools.
5. Mailchimp
A popular name in the email world, Mailchimp offers loads of templates and solid automation.
- Pros: Free for small lists, intuitive builder, good deliverability.
- Cons: Nonprofit discount is modest, and pricing jumps quickly as your list grows.
6. ActiveCampaign
One of the most powerful automation engines out there. Ideal for teams that love building workflows and tracking engagement.
- Pros: Deep automation capabilities, built-in CRM, strong segmentation tools.
- Cons: Steep learning curve. You’ll want to block off some setup time.
7. GetResponse
A do-it-all platform that includes landing pages, A/B testing, even webinar tools. Great for orgs that want to go beyond email.
- Pros: Lots of built-in tools, strong automation, good nonprofit pricing.
- Cons: Some features are gated behind higher-tier plans. Can feel like overkill if you just want email.
Ultimately, the best email marketing platform for your nonprofit depends on your:
→ List size
→ Tech comfort
→ And whether you want email to sit alone or inside your broader fundraising stack.
Must-Have Features Every Nonprofit Email Marketing Platform
It’s easy to know that you need an email platform for your nonprofit.
What’s not so easy, though? Knowing what to look for in that platform.
And plenty of nonprofits purchase an email marketing platform just to discover on the other end what features they should have been looking for. To avoid that, let’s take your email platform journey up a notch and explore some top features to scope for.
Along the way, I’ll add some helpful tips, so you can decide what’s a non-negotiable for your nonprofit and what’s just a “nice-to-have.”
In-Platform With Your CRM
There are lots of great email marketing platforms out there to choose from, but when it comes to email marketing for nonprofits specifically, it can be incredibly beneficial to find one that works in-platform with the CRM you’re already using.
Organizing Lists & Suppressions:
Many nonprofits end up having to send lists between their CRM and their email marketing platform. If you have to pull a list before every email send-off, send the list to the CRM, and then send the email…not only is this extremely tedious, but it also creates opportunities for errors.
For example, if certain people in the list are excluded from this email based on behavior, there is potential for this list to change even just minutes before the email.
Because of this, seamless integration of an email marketing platform into a fundraising CRM is a top priority for many nonprofits.
You can either:
→ Look for an email marketing platform that has easy integration with a CRM.
→ Or you can use an all-in-one holistic platform, including email marketing, ie. Virtuous.
Using Info From a Contact Record:
If you’re using a general CRM, you also have the capability of accessing info held in the donor contact record to your email advantage.
For example, you should be able to go directly to a donor’s contact record, see the history of email opens and clicks, and use that to give you a bigger-picture view of that donor and their level of engagement.
When your email platform is integrated into your CRM, you can then seamlessly segment your email flows based on opens and clicks.
It can literally get as specific as: This donor received an email. → Then, opened it. → But didn’t click.
And you can create a one-off email or series to address that specific audience.
All of this is possible when you have integration from your CRM to your email platform.
Using an Omnichannel Approach:
Perhaps the biggest draw to using an all-in-one CRM and email marketing platform for your nonprofit is the ability to create automations that utilize more than just email.
With the right CRM, you should be able to build an automation that takes a multi-channel approach, leveraging multiple types of media to reach your donors.
For example, a lapsed donor automation might include a few emails, a ringless voicemail, and a text message follow-up after the voicemail.
If using a separate email marketing platform, creating this automation becomes more complicated–bouncing between platforms for a single automation flow.
When it’s all together in a holistic CRM, you literally don’t have to think twice about this multichannel automation as the platform does the work for you.
Platforms like Virtuous give you access to pre-built automations like this and the ability to customize your own.
Email That Follows the Donor’s Journey:
If your email flow follows a donor on their giving journey, this must be connected to the donor’s actual giving behavior–as tracked in your CRM.
Using one platform for both ensures that the emails the donor is receiving match their behavior, with no overlap or embarrassing errors.
Data Health:
If the term “duplicate record” gives you an instant headache, you’re not alone. Messy data is something most nonprofits struggle with.
Using a CRM that’s integrated with your email marketing platform can help prevent double emails from being sent out due to duplicate records.
Virtuous has a data import tool that runs each record through matching and duplicate detection before a record is even created. From here, you can run automated emails with confidence, knowing your data is clean and accurate.
An Email Builder That’s a Breeze to Use
When it comes to actually building the emails, it can take a surprisingly long amount of time to piece it all together.
Drag-and-Drop Builder:
That’s why it can be super helpful to find an email marketing platform that uses drag-and-drop features in the email builder itself.
When you can drag and drop…
→ Merge tags
→ CTA buttons
→ Text boxes
→ And media
…this ultimately makes building the email quick, easy, and relatively painless.
Templates:
The best email marketing platforms for nonprofits provide ready-to-use templates to make this even easier.
Personally, I like pulling an existing template. Then, customizing it to fit the branding of my organization. I find this easier than starting with a completely blank slate.
Once you’ve customized a template, you should be able to save and then duplicate for later emails–minimizing the amount of time repeating tasks whenever you build an email.
HTML Coding:
And we may not all be this fancy, but if you’re cool enough to know HTML coding, obviously, you want to be able to wield that.
So, the best email marketing platforms for nonprofits should also allow you to add in custom HTML coding to make those emails as specific to your purposes as possible.
Desktop & Mobile View:
With so many people checking email on their mobile phones these days, it’s especially important to be able to preview how your email looks. Not just on desktop. But on mobile, too.
The best email marketing platforms for nonprofits provide the ability to preview and test-send emails using both views.
Merge Tag Capabilities Built for Nonprofits
For those who don’t know, a merge tag is basically just a placeholder used in email marketing and automation tools. This placeholder gets dynamically replaced with personalized data for each recipient when the message is sent.
Most email platforms have the ability to add a first name and a few other basic personalization fields.
But if you’re looking for the best email marketing platform for nonprofits, it pays to actually use an email marketing platform built for nonprofits.
This means more than just a first name. You should be able to reference specific details about your donor, such as their giving statistics. When shopping for an email marketing for nonprofits, it’s worth asking if the available dynamic merge fields can include stats like:
→ Life to Date Gift Count
→ Fiscal Year to Date Giving
→ Fiscal Year to Date Gift Count
→ Calendar Year to Date Giving
→ Calendar Year to Date Gift Count
→ Last Calendar Year Giving
→ Last Calendar Year Gift Count
→ Last Gift Amount
→ Last Gift Date
→ Largest Gift Amount
→ Largest Gift Date
The more specific your email can get about your donor’s giving and volunteering behavior, the more personalized your email will sound. And when you think about all of the nonprofits out there who send general, mass emails, this will really help your nonprofit stand out against the rest.
A/B Testing Without Needing a Lab Coat
A/B testing–or the practice of testing multiple versions of an email to test various factors about the email–is an essential component of effective email marketing.
But too often, it feels like you need to become a mad scientist to master this skill. You can set the lab coat and wild hairdo aside if you find the right email marketing platform.
The best email marketing platforms for nonprofits don’t just allow A/B testing; they do it for you.
All good email platforms will:
→ Run the test for you.
→ Provide easy-to-read, in-the-moment data based on the test.
→ Allow you to set a limit on the test.
→ Proceed automatically with the more successful email after the limit is reached.
→ Query or segment recipients based on which version of an email they received in an A/B test—making it easy to analyze engagement or trigger follow-up actions accordingly.
Then, if you’re using an email platform integrated with your CRM, you will be able to easily use all data for reporting in your larger donor system.
Email List Management That Respects Your Donors
Easy Opt-Out:
Especially with stricter email regulations, providing your donors the ability to opt out when they want to is essential.
The best email marketing platforms for nonprofits allow this to happen per list. This way, when someone unsubscribes from a specific email list, they don’t lose access to content from other lists they’ve subscribed to in your email channel.
Multiple Lists:
Also, make sure the email platform you’re using allows you to create multiple email lists, so you’re not limited in your marketing creativity.
For example, Virtuous allows you to create and manage 200 email lists.
Real Examples: Nonprofits Using Email to Boost Generosity
When done right, email marketing can be one of the most powerful ways to deepen donor relationships and grow generosity. Especially when those emails are personalized, behavior-based, and automated to the point where your team barely has to lift a finger.
These Virtuous customers prove it’s possible:
Used personalized email automation to follow up with potential major donors, enabling timely, relevant outreach that expanded their leadership giving circle and saved staff 600+ hours annually.
Leveraged segmented email automation tied to donor behavior and peer-to-peer integrations to improve monthly donor retention and streamline engagement touchpoints.
Integrated email with in-house direct mail campaigns, using automation to send timely digital follow-ups that drove a 75% increase in monthly donors and improved ROI.
Centralized their communication systems into Virtuous and used automated, segmented email campaigns to reduce manual effort and ensure consistent donor engagement.
With Virtuous’s seamless integration, Exodus Road was able to send their newsletter and emails to automatically flow from Mailchimp directly to Virtuous–allowing their email data to be reconciled against existing supporter contact records.
Virtuous: The Best Email Marketing Platform for Nonprofits
Choosing the right email marketing platform isn’t about bells and whistles. It’s about whether your next donor email feels like it was written just for them—or gets lost in the inbox with every other blast.
Virtuous exists to change the equation.
With Virtuous, your email marketing isn’t a standalone task. It’s seamlessly woven into your full fundraising ecosystem, backed by automation, personalization, and real-time donor behavior.
Here’s what you get with Virtuous Email:
→ Fully Integrated CRM + Email
Build donor lists and automations using live data. No exports, imports, or disconnected tools.
→ Smart Segmentation
Filter based on donor behavior, recency, gift size, campaign interest, and more, so the right people get the right message every time.
→ Dynamic Merge Tags
Personalize with more than just a name. Reference giving history, recency, last gift amount, volunteer activity, and more to deepen connection.
→ Multi-Channel Automation
Combine emails with text, voicemail drops, and task reminders for true omnichannel journeys. All-in-one automation builder.
→ Drag-and-Drop Email Builder
Create polished emails fast. No code required. Drop in buttons, images, merge fields, and templates that match your brand.
→ A/B Testing & Auto-Winner Logic
Test subject lines, send times, or content. Automatically send the best-performing version to the rest of your list.
→ Real-Time Engagement Data
See who opened, clicked, or ignored and use it to trigger follow-up messaging or segment future emails.
→ Custom Templates & Mobile Preview
Build once, reuse often. Preview across desktop and mobile so every donor sees a message that fits their screen and your story.
→ List Management & Respectful Unsubscribes
Donors can opt out of specific lists (not your whole org). Stay compliant, stay relevant, and stay welcome in the inbox.
→ Pre-Built Workflows
Use automation templates like donor welcome series, lapsed reactivation, or major gift nurture flows right out of the box.
Ready to see it in action?
Join hundreds of growing nonprofits using Virtuous to save time, deepen relationships, and grow generosity…at scale.
→ Schedule your free demo today and discover how responsive email can drive real results.
Other Email Marketing for Nonprofits Resources
Check out more of our resources on emails for nonprofits below!
How to Create a Welcome Email for New Donors
5 Elements Your Nonprofit Email Welcome Series Needs
Unlock Higher Conversions: 7 Nonprofit Email Secrets
3 Ways to Use Email to Increase Donations and Urgency
Best Email Marketing Platforms for Nonprofits FAQs
What is the best email marketing for nonprofits?
The best email marketing platform for nonprofits all depends on your specific nonprofit. Your goals. Your donors. And what you want to accomplish with email.
For the best all-in-one email marketing and fundraising platform solution, we recommend Virtuous.
Should I run A/B tests for my emails for nonprofits?
Absolutely. Running A/B tests helps ensure that your email marketing efforts are getting maximized!
You can then use the stats to adjust your marketing strategy.
Is email marketing important for nonprofits?
Yes, email is a great way to reach your donors. I recommend using emails in combination with other forms of media to reach your donors, such as SMS or postcards.
