The study investigates the affordances of email newsletters as perceived by the general public subscribers of non-profit organizations’ e-newsletters, through analyzing over 17,000 survey responses. An affordance lens acknowledges the possibility of multiple courses of action and forms of engagement in relation to the technology. Findings reveal that email newsletters may be more useful in terms of relationship cultivation than has been generally recognized, but also that perceptions of email affordances varied considerably between segments of the non-profit sector. While finding no strong links between e-newsletter receipt and volunteering or donation activity, the usefulness of email newsletters in terms of building connection between organization and recipient was confirmed at a moderate level. While illuminating the range of affordances offered by email, which has been largely overlooked in the literature, this study also suggests a number of implications for organizations in the non-profit sector.

该研究通过分析超过 17,000 份调查回复，调查了非营利组织电子通讯的普通公众订阅者所感知的电子邮件通讯的可供性。可供性镜头承认与技术相关的多种行动方案和参与形式的可能性。调查结果表明，电子邮件通讯在关系培养方面可能比人们普遍认为的更有用，但非营利部门的不同部门对电子邮件可供性的看法也存在很大差异。虽然没有发现接收电子通讯与志愿服务或捐赠活动之间有很强的联系，但在建立组织和接收者之间的联系方面，电子邮件通讯的有用性得到了中等程度的证实。