Fund raisers are increasingly sending e-mail messages to prospective donors in the hopes of persuading them to donate more.

But figuring out what to send can be a challenge, so the marketing expert Seth Godin offers a comprehensive checklist that you should pay attention to before you hit the send button.

Among the key items on Mr. Godin’s list:

• Could I do this note better with a phone call?

• Did every person on the list really and truly opt in? Not like sort of, but really ask for it?

• Does the subject line make it easy to understand what’s to come and likely it will get filed properly?

• If I had to pay 42 cents to send this e-mail message, would I?

For more marketing advice from Mr. Godin, read the transcript of his recent live discussion with Chronicle readers.