What does your reader want to read in your newsletter?
One of the simplest ways to build and strengthen relationships with donors is a newsletter. In truth, a newsletter is one of the best ways to strengthen and nurture all business relationships (and relationships with donors is a business one) as it informs the audience about the latest news, tips, and updates. Newsletters showcase a brand’s personality, help distinguish from competitors and let readers develop trust and loyalty towards the brand. In marketing, it’s where repeat sales happen.
In non-profit donor relations, it’s where repeat donations happen.
Ideally, donors should hear from your organization at least once per quarter (although once a month is even better). Some of those touchpoints can be asks for money (e.g. direct mail campaigns) but not each one. Most donors are happy to give, but they don’t want to be asked every time they hear from you. Instead, they want to know how you spent their last donation before they consider making another one.
Whether you’re sending an e-newsletter or mailing out a printed one, the content you choose to include is key. Like any magazine or newspaper article, if the reader isn’t interested in the article, they’ll simply stop reading. And, if they do, you’ve lost the opportunity to connect and engage with them.
To keep your audience reading, think strategically about what to include in your newsletter—a lot may have happened since you last communicated with donors, but only include the things donors would be interested in AND write about them in a donor-centric way.
While not every newsletter will include all of these components, here are the top pieces that readers typically most want to see.
Success stories. The power of storytelling allows you to directly show the impact your organization has made on someone’s life. Use that power to show donors exactly how you changed one person’s life. It may be tempting to include more than one story but less is usually more so bank other stories for another newsletter.
If telling frequent success stories is a challenge for your organization, try telling stories through the eyes of front-line staff or volunteers. These stories pull back the curtain on your organization and give donors a glimpse inside.
Updates. If a recent ask for money was to help fund a specific program or project, share an update on how that’s going and how donations are making a difference. Even if a recent ask was directed to general funds, showcase meaningful numbers that show donors that, with their help, you’re fulfilling your mission.
Thank you. Give donors a little love with a shout out to specific sponsors, businesses, event organizers or individual donors who may have gone above and beyond to support your organization. A public thank you does more than just make the donor feel appreciated, it also plants the seeds of ideas in the minds of other donors.
Save the date. A newsletter is a great way to tell donors about upcoming events so it gets in calendars early.
A call to action. While a newsletter’s purpose is touchpoint communication, it’s also engagement. Decide on the ONE thing you want readers to do and ask. In a warm touch like a newsletter, one call to action is sufficient—more than that will leave donors feeling less like you want to share news and more like you just want more money. Your call to action could be for specific items that are in short supply, to volunteer, to buy a ticket to an upcoming event, to follow you on social media, etc.
Remember, the purpose of a newsletter is to share information and to connect with your readers. Whether you’re a non-profit writing for donors (and potential donors) or a business writing to clients (and potential clients), don’t choose content that you want to write about—choose content that your reader wants to read.