How to sell to Heads of People at Nonprofits companies
Heads of People at nonprofits prioritize employee retention rates as their key metric. They respond to outreach that directly addresses challenges like volunteer engagement or fundraising staff turnover, demonstrating an understanding of their mission-driven culture and the unique pressures they face in talent management.
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
- volunteer burnout
- fundraising staff turnover
- budget constraints
- low employee morale
The playbook
- 01
Identify organizations with recent layoffs
Search for nonprofits that have recently announced layoffs or budget cuts. Use news aggregators or nonprofit news websites to find these announcements. This signals a potential need for support in maintaining morale and staff engagement during transitions.
- 02
Target organizations with new fundraising initiatives
Look for nonprofits launching new fundraising campaigns or programs. Check their press releases or social media for announcements. These initiatives often require additional support in HR to manage new hires or volunteers, making them receptive to outreach.
- 03
Address high turnover rates in outreach
Craft your messaging to highlight solutions for retaining talent, specifically in the nonprofit sector. Reference common pain points like burnout among fundraising staff. This shows you understand their unique challenges and are ready to offer tailored solutions.
- 04
Follow up after major fundraising events
Schedule follow-ups with leads shortly after large fundraising events, as these times can lead to shifts in staffing needs. Use tools like LinkedIn to track event participation and send personalized messages acknowledging their recent successes.
- 05
Leverage referrals from board members
Identify board members from your network who are connected to the nonprofit. Ask for introductions to the Heads of People. This adds credibility to your outreach, as board members can vouch for your understanding of nonprofit challenges.
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
- Improving retention in nonprofits
- Support for your fundraising team
- Enhancing volunteer engagement
Questions
- Why do Heads of People at nonprofits overlook outreach from vendors?
- Heads of People often receive numerous outreach messages, leading them to overlook vendor communications that don't specifically address their unique challenges. If the outreach doesn't clearly demonstrate an understanding of nonprofit dynamics, it is likely to be ignored.
- What are common objections from Heads of People in nonprofits?
- Common objections include budget constraints, as many nonprofits operate with limited resources. They may also express skepticism about the ROI of new initiatives, questioning whether investing in external solutions will yield tangible benefits for their organization.
- How can I demonstrate value to a nonprofit HR leader?
- Demonstrating value involves showing a clear understanding of their mission and the specific challenges they face. Providing case studies or examples of successful partnerships with similar organizations can help build trust and show that you can deliver results tailored to their needs.
- What timing is best for outreach to nonprofit Heads of People?
- The best timing for outreach is often just after major fundraising events or during budget planning periods. These times can lead to shifts in staffing needs and priorities, making them more receptive to discussions about support and solutions.
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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