A donor-focused newsletter can be real magic for almost any fundraising effort.
Here are some tips (and a case study) from my excellent former colleague Bob Ball, at the Masterworks blog: Extreme Donor-Focused Newsletter Increases Revenue by 521%. Here are the tips:
- Write to the Donor, For the Donor, About the Donor.
- Ensure a High “You” Quotient.
- Touch the Heart with Strong Emotion.
- Surprise and Delight!
- Appreciate the Donor.
- Design for Readability.
- Motivate Another Gift.
- Make it Convenient to Give.
- Appeal to the Most Basic Donor Benefit.
- Refresh and Reengage.
The reason so many nonprofit newsletters are just big money-sinks is this: Their purpose is to educate their donors about how effective the organization is. The money-making donor-focused newsletter has a different purpose: To remind the donor what an incredible difference she makes.
When you change your newsletter from “look at us” to “look at you,” you just might see the kind of five-fold increase in revenue described here. You’ll also likely see improved overall donor retention.
Don’t believe it? Give it a try.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
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