Sharing how our small non-profit manages email marketing for 50,000 supporters on a tiny budget:
Setup
- AcelleMail Regular License — $59 (one-time)
- VPS: Hetzner CX22 — €4.50/month
- Sending: Amazon SES — ~$10/month (100K emails)
- Total: ~$15/month
What we send
- Weekly newsletter (updates on our cause)
- Monthly donor report
- Event invitations (3-4 per year)
- Emergency appeal emails (when urgent)
- Thank you emails (automated after donation)
Compared to previous
We were on Mailchimp's non-profit discount plan: $175/month for 50K subscribers. That's $2,100/year we now redirect to our actual mission.
Tips for non-profits
- Apply for AWS credits (Amazon has a non-profit program — can cover SES costs)
- Use AcelleMail's segmentation to avoid sending irrelevant content
- Automated thank-you sequences increase donor retention
- Clean your list regularly — non-profits tend to accumulate inactive subscribers
The switch took a weekend to set up (with help from this forum!). Best decision we made this year.
