662. Working Session: Make Your Year-End Emails Stand Out with Caroline Griffin

If you want your year-end emails to stand out in the noisiest inbox season of the year, this Working Session is your new playbook. We brought in marketer and dynamic-content expert Caroline Griffin to break down the simple personalization shifts that make every donor feel seen—so your emails land, resonate, and inspire action.Top 3 Takeaways:Make Personalization Actually Personal — Go beyond “Hi {{ first_name }}.” Use giving history, donor status, or meaningful milestones to help supporters recognize their own impact—and feel connected to your mission.Segment Smarter, Not Harder — Data not perfect? No problem. Segmentation by donor behavior (last gift, last year, lapsed, monthly) allows you to tailor messages without relying on risky merge fields.Honor Donors by Adjusting Your Messaging — Once someone gives, they shouldn’t keep receiving asks during year-end. Excluding recent donors, or swapping in a gratitude version, strengthens trust and donor love.This episode digs into practical, approachable ways to bring more humanity and relevance to your year-end email strategy—no fancy tech required. Welcome back to Working Sessions: hands-on, clarity-filled conversations designed to help you move real work forward inside your organization.Let’s get to work.Episode HighlightsWhy Dynamic Content Is the Nonprofit Email Superpower No One’s Using (01:11)Beyond Merge Tags: Getting Creative With Donor Personalization (02:23)Using Giving History and Impact Data to Deepen Donor Relationships (03:13)Re-engaging Lapsed Donors Through Smart Dynamic Content (04:33)Data Accuracy Tips: What to Do When Merge Tags Go Wrong (05:10)Segmenting Donors Based on Recent Giving Activity (06:21)The Donor-Respect Rule: Excluding Recent Givers From Appeal Emails (07:39)Automating Segmentation and Exclusions in Your Email List (08:52)Seeing Year-End Emails Through the Donor’s Eyes (09:59)Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/662Join us at ImpactUp: Story! Join us online from 12-1:30 CST for a free virtual session including a keynote with storytelling phenom, Afdhel Aziz, and a roundtable convo with 4 amazing nonprofit leaders. Then that evening, in nearly 50 cities around the world are hosting local meetups to keep the conversation going in person.Find a meetup near you or join us virtually! //Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter