How to sell to Founders at Nonprofits companies
Founders at nonprofits are primarily measured on their fundraising success, specifically their ability to meet or exceed annual revenue targets. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the challenges they face in securing donations and managing donor relationships. Highlighting how your solution can help streamline fundraising efforts or enhance donor engagement will catch their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 572 nonprofits company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- high donor turnover
- limited fundraising resources
- ineffective donor communication
- low event attendance
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding announcements
Search for nonprofits that have recently secured funding through grants or donations. Use platforms like GrantWatch or local news sites to find organizations that have received sizable contributions. This indicates they may be looking to expand their programs or improve operations.
- 02
Analyze donor engagement challenges
Review the nonprofit's public communications, such as newsletters or social media posts, to identify any mentions of difficulties in engaging donors. Take note of any complaints or feedback about their fundraising events or donor retention strategies that can be addressed in your outreach.
- 03
Craft a message around sustainability
Develop your outreach message to emphasize how your solution can help them achieve long-term sustainability in their fundraising efforts. For example, focus on how your service can help diversify their funding sources or enhance donor loyalty, which are critical for their mission.
- 04
Leverage networking events for introductions
Attend nonprofit networking events or conferences where these founders are likely to be present. Use platforms like Eventbrite or Meetup to find relevant gatherings. A personal introduction at these events can significantly increase the likelihood of a response.
- 05
Follow up with impact metrics
In your follow-up, include metrics or case studies that demonstrate the impact of your solution on similar nonprofits. Founders are often driven by results, so showing how others have successfully improved their fundraising efforts can prompt a call.
Can nonprofits companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 572 nonprofits companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 11.5% of 1–10-person companies against 75% of the largest — 64 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Boost your fundraising efforts
- Strategies for donor engagement
- Maximize your nonprofit's impact
Questions
- Why do nonprofit founders ignore outreach about fundraising tools?
- Nonprofit founders often receive numerous pitches and may prioritize immediate operational challenges over long-term solutions. If your outreach doesn't clearly articulate how it addresses their specific fundraising pain points or improves donor relationships, they may overlook it.
- What motivates nonprofit founders to respond to outreach?
- Founders are motivated by solutions that can directly impact their mission and fundraising goals. Demonstrating a clear understanding of their challenges and providing actionable insights or proven results can prompt a response.
- How can I effectively research a nonprofit before reaching out?
- Start by reviewing their website, social media, and recent press releases to understand their mission, recent achievements, and current challenges. Look for any annual reports or fundraising updates that can provide insights into their priorities and pain points.
- What common objections do nonprofit founders have to new solutions?
- Common objections include concerns about budget constraints, the time required for implementation, and skepticism about the effectiveness of new tools. Addressing these objections directly in your outreach can help alleviate their concerns and foster a more productive conversation.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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