Newsletters offer an import means of communication with donors and are an integral part of any nonprofit’s stewardship efforts. They’re a way to inspire, inform, and raise donations. “How to Create Donor Responsive Newsletters – Tools & Tips” provides strategies for ways to create donor responsive newsletters that will improve donor retention and increase donations.
What is a Donor Responsive Newsletter?
A donor responsive newsletter focuses on what your donor’s contributions have accomplished. Donors want to feel good about giving to your organization and newsletters provide ways to assure them that they made a wise decision with their donation.
Donor responsive newsletters should not boast about your organization or your employee’s accomplishments.
Creating a Donor Responsive Newsletter
What should you include in your newsletter to keep donors engaged and interested?
The following proven strategies foster greater connections to donors, show them how their donations are being used, and make them feel good about helping someone or something in need.
1. Utilize Donor-Centric Stories
Show Emotion
Write from the heart and use emotion. Give donors a glimpse into the lives of the people they helped or the situation they helped improve.
Paint a picture by showing and not telling. Telling is writing about the abandoned dogs that were found homes, a local hospital saved from closure, a village well built to provide clean water, or a veteran saved from living on the street.
Showing is a way to evoke emotion. Write about the happy dogs in their loving homes and the emotional connection they have with their new owners, the people who benefitted from the neighborhood hospital, the grateful villagers drinking clean water, or how the veteran was empowered.
Use the Word You, Not We
Write using the word “you” and not the word “we.” In donor-centric fundraising the word “you” is key to connecting with a donor because you are writing to them and about them. Focusing on how great (you) the donor is for helping to solve a problem and the things (you) the donor has done to make the world a better place.
Stay away from the word “we” in donor-centric copy. The word “we” is used in organization-centric copy that focuses on the greatness of the organization, and not the donor.
A compelling success story, coupled with wording that shows how the donor’s generosity has made a difference – and how important the donor is to those helped is sure to be a winner. Read, “Copywriting Strategies for Fundraisers – Tools & Tips” for how to write copy that creates an emotional connection with your audience, inspires donor engagement, and motivates donors to contribute.
2. Other Types of Stories
Profile Stories
Include profiles of volunteers, board members and donors in newsletters, but keep the focus on someone who went above and beyond and their motivation behind helping your organization. How did it make them feel? How did it make the person helped feel? What you don’t want to do is create a biography or listing of the person’s good deeds.
Organizational Related Stories
What has your nonprofit been up to? Have you reached a new goal or expanded your facilities? If you want to share an update on how a program is doing be sure to share the outcomes. Donors need to see how their donation is making a difference in the lives of others. No one wants to hear about how you doubled the size of your facility without hearing about how that increase resulted in the ability to help more people.
Stories about Upcoming Events
A save the date with upcoming activities or events is a good way to get people to commit time to help. Write about why donors won’t want to miss this very exciting event. Highlight emotional impact from last year.
3. Make it Easy to Read
Many donors don’t read, they scan newsletters. Design and format matters. Use headlines that uniquely promise a benefit or solve a problem. Utilize bold fonts, underscores, background shading, and italics. Make the articles shorter than longer in length and don’t forget to use pull quotes, as room allows, for emphasis. Make sure to brand your newsletter with consistent fonts, colors, and design elements.
4. Use Photos and Captions
Keep a photo library and choose images that convey emotion. When possible, write stories around the photos, not the other way around. Including captions near each photo will spark a reader’s interest to read the full story. Without captions, donors will often make their own conclusions about the photo.
5. Thank the Donor
Show gratitude in each and every newsletter. Emphasize how much donors are appreciated. Incorporate thank you copy into a story or in “call out” boxes throughout the newsletter.
6. Include a Call to Action
What is the purpose of your newsletter? Is it to attain corporate gifts, inform planned giving prospects, or to sustain your mid-level givers? Whatever the goal of the newsletter, guide visitors by telling them what you want them to do. It can be a call to action to donate, make a call, or return a reply card.
7. Remind Donors How to Help
Let people know how to get involved. Options include; donating, volunteering, becoming a monthly donor, taking a tour of your facility, or just connecting on social media.
Should you Mail or Email the Newsletter?
If a donor was acquired through the mail and typically responds by mail, send them a mailed newsletter. If a donor was acquired online and is accustomed to giving through email, send them an emailed newsletter.
Don’t expect donors to suddenly change their giving habits—most will respond best when you communicate with them through the channel they already know and trust.
If you’re not utilizing these tips in your donor newsletters I suggest you put them in place now. The strategies found in “How to Create Donor Responsive Newsletters – Tools & Tips” will help strengthen retention rates and increase donations.
Newsletters are an integral part of your stewardship and can create an important bond with your donor – one that will result in continued donations to your organization for years to come. Contact me today to discuss how to make your next newsletter donor responsive.
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Write Choice Marketing-Helping nonprofits raise donations through compelling copy, engaging content, and donor responsive strategies that get results. We offer creative, cost-effective fundraising and marketing solutions. Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation.
