The Top Three Mistakes Non-Profits Make In Their Newsletters

02:30 Posted by Unknown , , ,
Ah, newsletters... you just get one out the door, and it seems like it's time to do another one!
Even if you've eliminated the hard-copy, paper-printed newsletter, and do only an online or electronic version (and I think that is a big mistake), it still takes time to outline, organize, research and write-quite an investment of time and money, both scarce resources for most non-profits.
So it is easy to understand why this never-ending tug on your proverbial pants leg can become a pain-something you regard as a must-do that is about as exciting as all those other "hate-it-but-have-to-do-it" items on your calendar, right up there with getting your teeth cleaned, or the oil changed in your car.
It doesn't have to be that way, and it shouldn't. When done right, newsletters can be one of the best ways to stay in touch with your donors and other supporters. So many non-profits spend-or, rather, waste-thousands of dollars every year on newsletters no one reads.
Why are they ignored? Simply because, the agency publishing and mailing them is telling the donors what they think the donors need to know-not what the donors want to know.
So-the number one mistake? Not putting yourself in your donor's shoes, first and foremost. Think of the newsletter, not from your perspective (that of the writer or publisher), but that of the recipient. Is this compelling? Readable? Newsworthy? Does it make me feel good about supporting your organization? Do I want to keep supporting you, after reading your newsletter?
Second: most newsletters tell me much more than I want to or care to know, and are filled with clutter. Sure, it's great that Ed in Accounting is retiring after 98 years on the job. Bless his heart. We all wish Ed well. But is this why I send my checks in regularly? Nope.
The team from Acme Accounting won your annual golf tournament? Good for them. But my guess is, I don't know them, and the photo you've included is taken from so far away, I can hardly make out any faces anyway, so why do I really want or need to know who won closest to the pin or the longest drive? Is that why I send you my hard-earned money? Again-no.
I give, simply because I want to help you keep doing the good work you are doing-whether that is rescuing stray puppies and kittens, or helping homeless teens, or stocking the shelves of the local food cupboard. Tell me how that is going, why it still matters, and why my support helps. That's it. Stop wasting time, money and space on stuff that doesn't really matter to me as a donor. If it clutters up your communications, and makes it long and busy and harder to read-guess what? I won't read it. And you've just wasted thousands-including the donation I sent in a while back. How likely am I to send in another one, when it looks to me like you're spending it on a glossy, fancy, long-winded newsletter that doesn't even engage me?
Third mistake-agencies that do everything right, send a great newsletter, get me all excited about their work-and then don't enclose a gift envelope or otherwise make it easy to support all the great things I've just read about, and gotten re-energized from. It's a soft ask, but an incredibly effective one-and even if I've just given, and can't afford to send another gift right now, if I feel good about what you're doing, chances are good I'll put that envelope aside, and use it when the time is right.
You've committed to doing your newsletter-make it brief, talk about what donors want to hear, and make it easy for them to respond to those great stories once you tell them. See-it's not that hard after all, when you keep the focus on where it always belongs in fundraising-on the donor.
Deborah Allen has been a professional fundraiser for over 20 years, and has raised millions of dollars for higher education, health care, and human services non-profits. She has given presentations to professional groups on subjects including effective communications, storytelling for non-profits, and the importance of print communication in an electronic world. She resides in upstate New York with her husband and two children, both of whom regularly give money from their allowances to charities locally and around the world.