There are dozens of articles out there on how to create non-profit newsletters. This includes what medium to use (print versus digital), what to write, how to format it and how often to send it. These are all the pragmatic and tactical aspect of producing a non-profit newsletter. It’s one thing to improve these aspects of your newsletter. But if there’s isn’t a solid foundation to underline your newsletter, these improvements quickly become pointless.
What’s missing from all of the conversation about non-profit newsletters is a non-obvious discussion that requires us to zoom out from the pragmatic details.
What is the purpose of a non-profit newsletter?
Better yet, what is the purpose of your organization’s newsletter?
The way I see it, the purpose of any non-profit newsletter is to be a distribution channel and the function of a distribution channel is to share content, messages, stories, and so on.
Most distribution channels have an audience. The content you distribute helps you build relationships with that audience, which could include subscribers and readers, as well as donors. This content can engage, inspire, and activate people to a new level in the relationship. Moving audience members through an engagement cycle is something the vast majority of us are trying to do and it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
But here’s the thing, in order for content to have a return on investment for your organization (and to move people through the cycle of engagement), you have to strategically use it. There must be a point to all of the content you produce because if you think about, subscribers and readers of a newsletter have no inherent value to your organization. It’s donors that are of value to your organization.
So who should your newsletter content really be for? What is the point of all the content you’re producing? You have to be clear about this. In my opinion, it’s most valuable to focus on producing a newsletter for donors.
And that brings us back to thinking about the purpose of your newsletter. It’s a fundraising and relationship building tool.
Your organization should not be sending out a newsletter just because it’s what you think you should be doing. If you’re going to put time and resources into a communications channel, there needs to be a clear purpose and objective.
As I said earlier, subscribers and readers have little inherent value. They become valuable when they take action. That could be making a donation, signing a petition, volunteering, and so on. So your newsletter should be able moving those relationships forward and into something of value for your non-profit. Not sure if your newsletter is relationship building? Read this.
But I want to be clear, that’s not to say that your newsletter shouldn’t provide value to your readers. It absolutely should. Your job is to strike a balance between value for your readers and value for your organization.
Here’s my question for you – is your newsletter currently serving your organization in this way? Do you need to take a step back and reevaluate the purpose for your newsletter?
It’s easy to get off track and lose sight of our strategic goals. Make it a habit of reconnecting with them regularly to ensure that you are getting the right return on investment on your work.
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Hi Vanessa. Great point thinking about what your newsletter is for. I know there is a trend to think of the newsletter as a tool to connect with donors (and some argue only for donors), but I would offer that building stronger enthusiasm with volunteers (which you touch on), partners, people who have participated in programs with you, and friends/families of those who have been involved with you are also important.
That informs the written content and the visuals. It means that thinking about how the content can be passed on to others is important. And, at a time when there is a lot of tension and frustration, thinking about how your organization is conveying a sense of joy, hope, change and building relationships with people who otherwise might not be engaged, is a strategy goal (which donors will likely appreciate).
Thanks for sharing your insight, Judy! I think you’re absolutely right that newsletters can serve multiple purposes and I think there can be a danger of only have a comms strategy for donors. Non-profits have other constituencies (as you mentioned) that need communications to relationship build.
Great post, Vanessa. That’s why stories are so important! Because they provide value for a nonprofit’s supporters AND for the organization. Thanks for sharing! I’m a big fan of your work.
Thanks so much, Hannah! 100% agree with you that it’s all about finding balance for your audience and the organization.
This is a huge question my organization needs to answer. We need to begin the evaluation process about the strategy behind each of our communication pieces — from thank you notes, to inserts in donation receipts, to reports on specific funded projects, to newsletter, to annual review… We have lots of overlap!
Vanessa, to you have a series of questions we can ask ourselves to help us through the evaluation process?
You’re definitely not alone on this, Julie. I’ll give you a brief overview of the process, but I’ll write up a longer post very soon!
When I’ve done audits before for organizations, I will gather all the comms material. For each channel, I will ask who is the audience and what is the overall objective? Sometimes I’ll put this up on a whiteboard for each channel so that I can keep track of the information. Then I start to read through the materials. As I read through the materials for each channel, I come back to the audience and objective and ask if it was fulfilled. It can be helpful to make notes as you go. Once I’ve done this for each channel, I then like to analyze the similarities and differences between channels. This last piece gives me insight as to the larger multi-channel strategy.
This is such a great topic. In the past I’ve held positions where I was involved in both marketing and fundraising simultaneously and I could influence the voice of our communications to make them donor-centered, but now I’m with an organization where the two are separate and I definitely see that our overall communications are more about informing than engaging. Fortunately, we are producing a newsletter specifically for donors where we are able to share stories of impact and inspiration and make it all about saying thank you for making these success stories possible.
Thanks the feedback, Gwen! And kudos on having a donor specific newsletter. You mentioned “engagement” and I often find that that’s a problematic goal for communications or fundraising, especially if it isn’t well defined. I always ask the question: Engagement to what end? The answer typically defines the real goal.
Should we work toward and expect our newsletter to prompt donations? We get some donations in our return envelopes (or online) but by no means are the receipts sufficient to pay for printing and postage. Does that mean the newsletter is a failure?
Cathy, in my humble opinion, donations that DIRECTLY result from your newsletter are just the tip of the iceberg. I’d say your newsletter builds the relationship with your donor and makes her feel her gift is doing good on her behalf. The newsletter could also make her feel better informed about issues that matter to her the most–especially if you can segment your list and send particular groups of donors the news that interests them the most! So, I hope you are not discouraged. I’d ask, “What do we hear from our donors about the newsletter? Are they telling us they read a particular story and it made their day? If not, what can we publish that will get that response?”
Good info. Lucky me I ran across your site by chance (stumbleupon).
I’ve saved it for later!
Hi Maureen – So glad out paths crossed!
Wow, amazing weblog format! How long have you ever been running a blog
for? you make blogging look easy. The total glance of your site is wonderful, let alone the content material!