Case study:
Growing Confidence and Connection with City of Trees
Client: City of Trees
Sector: Environmental charity
Timeline: August 2024 – January 2025 (results measured October 2025)
Services: Email Strategy Workshop • Marketing Mentoring • Mailchimp Training
The challenge
City of Trees is on a mission to plant more trees and rewild Greater Manchester. But while their environmental impact was growing fast, their email marketing wasn’t keeping pace.
Their Mailchimp account had become cluttered, with several departments sending emails independently. Campaigns were inconsistent, lists hadn’t been cleaned in a while, and automation felt intimidating.
They knew email could do more—build relationships with volunteers, schools, donors, and corporate partners—but they needed a clear structure and the confidence to manage it themselves.
The solution
We began in August 2024 with a cross-department email strategy workshop, bringing colleagues together from fundraising, education, and operations.
The goal: to create one shared roadmap for how email supports every part of their supporter journey.
Together we:
Mapped audiences and clarified each department’s role in the email ecosystem
Identified quick wins to clean data and simplify processes
Outlined campaign types that would connect fundraising, volunteering, and schools engagement
Provided editable templates so the team could finalise their strategy internally
From September 2024 to January 2025, Emily, the organisation’s Marketing & Comms Officer, joined a one-to-one marketing mentoring programme.
Across those months, we blended practical Mailchimp training with coaching and confidence-building, covering:
Automation setup for volunteers, schools, and corporate partners
Segmentation and list management
Storytelling, tone of voice, and content planning
Reporting and data-driven decision-making
This hands-on support helped the team embed new habits and take full ownership of their email programme.
The results
By autumn 2025—less than a year after finishing the mentoring—City of Trees had a thriving, self-sufficient email programme:
✅ 43.6% average newsletter open rate after list cleaning and segmentation
✅ 12% increase in subscribers through improved sign-up journeys
✅ 100+ corporate volunteers onboarded via new automated flows
✅ Targeted donor segmentation distinguishing repeat and one-off givers
✅ Seasonal school automations that keep pupils engaged year-round
They also launched a new Notes from the Field email series and built a dedicated newsletter landing page to streamline sign-ups.
“It’s not a stiff newsletter anymore. Everything’s more creative, targeted, and human — and I actually enjoy using Mailchimp now!”
— Emily Crutwell
The impact
In just six months of mentoring, City of Trees gained the tools, systems, and confidence to run their email marketing independently — and the results one year later prove it.
With the right strategy and personalised support, purpose-driven teams can build lasting in-house capability. City of Trees no longer rely on external consultants; instead, they’ve embedded a sustainable approach that continues to drive engagement and donations.
“We’re doing everything we wanted — organised, creative, and with data that’s actually useful across the organisation.”
— Emily Crutwell
“Working with Maybe Later has transformed how we think about email. A thing that once felt stuck in old ways of working has become a tool I use with freedom and confidence to benefit all areas of our organisation - from fundraising to volunteer recruitment.
Alex took the time to properly understand our organisation. She really got to grips with not only our process and audience groups but also with our tone of voice and how we want to communicate with those in our community.
Throughout the mentoring programme, we blended hands-on Mailchimp training with coaching to build confidence in copywriting and storytelling. This combination resulted in an email programme that felt truly like City of Trees.
Maybe Later provided resources that were practical (no jargon!) and we co-created our email strategy, which once again meant we actually use it.
Alex is clear, confident, and creative (and a fellow [adopted] Geordie - bonus points for that!), and a year our on results show that she really does know her stuff.
So, to any purpose-driven organisations looking to up their email game, Maybe Later is the place to go.”
- Emily Crutwell, City of Trees
BUILD CAPACITY
BUILD CAPACITY
This project shows how investing in strategy and targeted mentoring can help charities grow internal confidence and capability.
If your email marketing feels disjointed or underperforming, but you’d rather own the solution than outsource it forever, Maybe Later can help.
Get in touch to learn more about our Email Strategy Workshops and Marketing Mentoring for charities and purpose-driven organisations.