Common nonprofit email marketing questions

What to take away

Does an old gift give us permission to email?

Not by itself. A gift proves a relationship, and a relationship is not a consent record. Under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, a donation to a registered charity can create implied consent for 24 months from the donation. The sender must be able to prove the consent basis and the dates.

Record the date of an inquiry as well as a donation; an inquiry creates implied consent for a shorter period. Express consent does not expire, but the sender must retain proof of it. A request for express consent by email must itself be sent while the recipient can lawfully be emailed; it does not revive an expired implied-consent basis.

Every CASL commercial electronic message needs sender identification and an unsubscribe mechanism, and unsubscribe requests must be acted on without delay and no later than 10 business days. For donation-only records outside the valid window, collect permission through a non-email channel before sending an email appeal.

What a consent record holds

A usable record answers four questions: when the donor agreed, through which channel, in what words and from which source. Store it with the gift record, so one lookup answers a consent question and a receipt question without anyone reconstructing events from memory.

The wording matters as much as the date. A donor who ticked a box for updates about your work agreed to that, and the record should show it, so the next message stays inside what was promised.

Opt-outs, headers and state rules in the US

For commercial messages covered by CAN-SPAM, accurate headers and a clear opt-out are required. The FTC's compliance guide says to honor opt-out requests within 10 business days, so route unsubscribes to the person or system that actually updates the list, not to a shared inbox.

Where they apply, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives consumers rights to know, access, delete and correct personal information, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) gives covered consumers rights to access, correct, delete and obtain a copy of their data, and to opt out of sale, targeted advertising and certain profiling.

Check coverage and exemptions before assuming either law applies to your nonprofit. The state-by-state privacy checklist covers them. Confirm your obligations with a privacy lawyer before you mail across state lines.

Do not treat a purchased list as proof of CASL consent: the sender remains responsible for being able to show a valid consent basis for each recipient. For commercial email subject to CAN-SPAM, the list source does not remove the sender's duties to use accurate headers and honor opt-outs. Grow the list through sign-up forms, events and peer-to-peer campaigns, recording each person's permission and its scope.

Receipts: what the message and the record must say

A receipt must describe what was actually given. If a gift came with a benefit, the receipt has to say so. The CRA publishes the receipting rules for Canadian donor campaigns, and your charity lawyer applies them to your case.

A Canadian official donation receipt must include the applicable particulars, including:

In the US, the IRS requires a written acknowledgment for gifts of $250 or more under IRC 170(f)(8). IRS Publication 1771 explains the required content: the charity's name, the cash amount or a description of noncash property, and whether goods or services were provided.

If they were, describe them and give a good-faith estimate of their value; if not, say so. When the quid pro quo disclosure rule applies, give a good-faith estimate of the benefit's value and tell the donor that only the amount exceeding that value is deductible.

Keep the receipt data in step with the consent record. The gift date, amount and any benefit should match what the record and the acknowledgment say, so an audit finds one story instead of two.

Quebec, PIPEDA and BC PIPA

For organizations within their scope, Quebec's Law 25 and Bill 96 add privacy and French-language requirements. Law 25 requires a covered organization to designate a person responsible for personal information and publish that person's contact details; it also requires processes to record and handle confidentiality incidents.

Bill 96 strengthened Quebec's French-language rules: commercial advertising in Quebec must be in French, and versions in another language must meet the Charter's French-language requirements. Where they apply, PIPEDA requires meaningful consent and safeguards for personal information, while BC PIPA requires organizations to limit collection and use to reasonable purposes and protect the information.

This is not legal advice; check which rules apply to your organization and audience. A campaign that mails donors in several provinces and states should keep one record format and check each audience against the rule that governs it. One format makes the audit simpler, even when the rules differ.

Worked case: re-permission before the appeal

A mid-size charity mails 12,000 lapsed donors. Opens come back at 41%, which looks like a win until someone checks the client mix. The report that matters reads: delivered 11,600, qualified action 38 gifts, complaints 9, which is under one per thousand but rising.

The team splits the file. For Canadian recipients whose last donation was within 24 months, it checks for any other opt-out or jurisdiction issue and sends the appeal on the basis of implied consent. For older Canadian records, it does not send a re-permission email; it collects express consent through a non-email channel before sending another email. A lapsed donor reactivation campaign follows the same rule: secure permission first, then appeal.

The second group shrinks the list and lifts the action rate on what remains. A smaller file with a recorded yes is easier to defend than a larger one nobody can vouch for.

Reporting a consented send

Open rate counts a downloaded tracking pixel, not a person reading. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection loads images whether or not anyone opens the message, so a rising open rate can mean more Apple recipients, not more interest.

Click rate is harder to fake but still shallow, because a click can be curiosity. Build the report around delivered messages, qualified action and complaints per thousand, and count opt-outs handled on time beside them. For the wider structure, start with nonprofit email marketing.

Before you press send

Common questions

Can we email a donor who gave years ago?

Check the consent record first. For a Canadian donor, a donation to a registered charity can support implied consent for 24 months from the donation; an inquiry has a shorter implied-consent period. If the gift-based window has expired, do not send an email just to ask for permission. Collect express consent through a non-email channel before emailing.

Can we buy an email list?

Do not assume a purchased list establishes CASL consent. For commercial messages covered by CAN-SPAM, the list source does not remove the sender's duties to use accurate headers and honor opt-outs. Build the list through sign-up forms, events and peer-to-peer campaigns, recording each person's permission and its scope.

Does a receipt have to mention a benefit the donor got?

Yes. A Canadian official receipt must describe what was actually given and include any advantage and its amount. For a US written acknowledgment, state whether goods or services were provided; if they were, describe them and give a good-faith estimate of their value.

When the quid pro quo disclosure rule applies, state the estimated value of the benefit and the deductible amount. The CRA or IRS rules apply according to the gift and organization.

Who do we ask about a legal question?

Name the authority first: the CRA for Canadian receipting, the IRS for US acknowledgments, the FTC for CAN-SPAM. Then confirm how each applies to your file with a charity lawyer, because rules vary by province and state.