Don’t you just love e-mail? It’s fast. No, it’s instantaneous. It’s low-cost and has the potential to reach lots and lots of people. Of course, there are times it can be quite a bane instead of a boon especially where spam is concerned. Nevertheless, when used intelligently, email can be quite rewarding—especially for nonprofit organizations.

Here are some Do’s and Don’ts nonprofit organizations can keep in mind to maximize the use of email.

Do’s: 1. Compose your email professionally. It’s your organization’s online letterhead so to speak. Write your email as though you would have it printed out on your nonprofit’s stationery and sent out by regular mail.

2. Make your content concise but not curt, direct-to-the-point but not choppy. Provide only the necessary information and keep the tone light and friendly. Remember that the people you are emailing are real live human beings with feelings—not just names on your nonprofit’s list.

3. Address each donor personally instead of typing Dear Donor or the usual Dear Sir/Madam. Type in their name and use their title if one is available. It will also be a plus point for your nonprofit organization to customize the email according to information you have about the donor or prospective donor. It may take more time but it will be more rewarding in the long run and establish a more personal relationship with the nonprofit’s donors.

4. If you’re emailing a prospective donor, mention in towards the end of your email that they will receive a small memento or token to acknowledge their consent to give and be a part of your cause. This encourages a prospective donor to sign up and perhaps decide to be a long-time partner.

5. Sign off your email with a link to your website so they can check out your nonprofit organization.

Don’ts 1. Do not send your emails during holidays. There will be tons of competition around that time and your nonprofit’s email can easily get buried or worse get hit by the spam button.

2. Do not format your email in html only. Plain text is still the best format. But if you think html is so much fun, then send your email in both plain text and html so your recipients have a choice.

3. Do not ignore the subject line. It’s the most important part of your nonprofit organization’s email. It tells the recipient what it’s all about. It has the power to compel the recipient to open your email or send it to the trash bin.

4. Do not forget the http:// at the beginning of the link back to your website when you sign off your email. There are email programs that don’t recognize www.yourwebsite.com as link. It will be more time-efficient for donors to simply click the link instead of having to paste it on their browser.

5. Do not send to just anybody or to addresses on a list. The more personal the better. Besides this will prevent you from committing unintentional spamming. Still annoying even in unintentional.

Email is one of the basic web technologies that nonprofit organizations can maximize to the hilt. It not only connects the people that work with and within the nonprofit organization but it also has the power to reach out to those potential partners. Use it wisely.