---
title: "Daily Buzz: A Leap in Nonprofit Email Open Rates"
id: "48939"
type: "post"
slug: "daily-buzz-a-leap-in-nonprofit-email-open-rates"
published_at: "2020-01-08T22:39:06+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-17T02:44:29+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/01/08/daily-buzz-a-leap-in-nonprofit-email-open-rates/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/01/08/daily-buzz-a-leap-in-nonprofit-email-open-rates.md"
excerpt: "A 2019 Campaign Monitor report reveals the latest email marketing trends. Also: AARP uses VR to promote social interaction."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Marketing / Communications"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "Digital Engagement"
  - "Marketing"
  - "nonprofit"
  - "Technology"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Association CEO / Executive Director"
  - "C-Level"
  - "Director"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Association Professionals"
---

[Home](https://associationsnow.com/)
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 » Daily Buzz: A Leap in Nonprofit Email Open Rates

In a year when worldwide email open rates decreased, nonprofits bucked the trend.

[According to Forbes (opens in a new tab)](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisstrub/2020/01/07/npoemail/#21bd8845bd73)
, a report by the email marketing software provider Campaign Monitor revealed that nonprofit email open rates rose by almost 5 percent in 2019, jumping to 25.2 percent. Nonprofits were behind only government organizations in email open rates last year.

“For nonprofits, the latest findings reinforce an industry-wide trend toward email marketing,” Chris Strub wrote in *Forbes*.

When should nonprofits send an email? The answer has changed in the past year. “Campaign Monitor found that, for nonprofits, Wednesday (26.20 percent) was the highest-performing day; in the 2018 report, Sunday (22.9 percent) had been the No. 1 day for nonprofit emails,” he wrote.

Though nonprofits saw a bump in email open rates, the industry’s average click-through rate dropped slightly from 2.66 percent in 2018 to 2.60 percent in 2019. Even with the drop, nonprofits still matched the global average for 2019.

### VR Technology Creates Connections at CES

> We’re at [@CES (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/CES?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> , joining the discussion around VR. Technology like this can help seniors combat social isolation, keeping them connected to their communities and to the world around them. [#CES2020 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/hashtag/CES2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
>  [https://t.co/WclGydXRnY (opens in a new tab)](https://t.co/WclGydXRnY)
> 
>  — AARP (@AARP) [January 8, 2020 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/AARP/status/1214726028314234881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

You may not have made it to CES this year, but AARP did. At the show in Las Vegas this week, AARP Innovation Labs unveiled [Alcove (opens in a new tab)](https://alcovevr.com/)
, an application used with the Oculus Go VR headset that aims to connect family members across generations by bringing them together inside a virtual world.

“The application, released in beta last year and hitting CES this week with many new features, is set up like a virtual home where people can move around in ‘rooms’ and choose destinations to visit together,” [AARP’s Christina Ianzito (opens in a new tab)](https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/info-2020/vr-social-connections.html)
 wrote on the association’s website.

The app is about creating a shared experience, says Rick Robinson, vice president of product development for AARP Innovation Labs.

“You can have a 15-year-old in Washington, DC, looking at the Eiffel Tower with his grandparents in California,” he told Ianzito.

### Other Links of Note

**Software as a service.** Wes Trochlil of [Effective Database Management (opens in a new tab)](https://mailchi.mp/effectivedatabase/wess-wednesday-wisdom-3843773?e=0802d8ac13)
 describes how SaaS is changing the landscape for association software.

**Association community-building** takes both online and offline engagement, says Fonteva’s Jake Fabbri in a recent article for [Corbin Ball & Co (opens in a new tab)](https://www.corbinball.com/article/19-associations-foundations/268-assn-communitybuilding)
.

**Your social media strategy** should focus on strengthening connections with customers and turning social data into actionable insights, says [Katherine Kim at Sprout Social (opens in a new tab)](https://sproutsocial.com/insights/2020-enterprise-social-strategy/)
.

(Redlio Designs/DigitalVision Vectors)

[Michael Hickey](https://associationsnow.com/author/michael-hickey/)

Michael Hickey is a contributor to Associations Now.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/michael-hickey/)

Tags: [#Digital Engagement](https://associationsnow.com/tag/digital-engagement/)
 [#Marketing](https://associationsnow.com/tag/marketing/)
 [#nonprofit](https://associationsnow.com/tag/nonprofit/)
 [#Technology](https://associationsnow.com/tag/technology/)

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