Episode #216
How would you like to increase the donations that come in from your newsletters?
Steven Screen was telling me how he was able to take a newsletter that was producing about $500 in donations, and get it producing $35,000 in donations. And he did it by making 3 simple changes to the newsletter.
In today’s video, he’ll walk you through the 3 changes. So, if you send out a newsletter, share this video with your whole newsletter staff.
If you want to learn by watching Steven review newsletters from other organizations, check out the free reviews here.
Steven will also be presenting at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference.
If you have any stories or advice on creating a more successful newsletter, please share them in a comment box under the video. Your fundraising friends will appreciate it. 🙂
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If you have any stories or advice on creating a more successful newsletter, please share them. Your fundraising friends will appreciate it. 🙂
Fantastic video clip!
Just wondered about how to get around the exploitation issue ie putting children beneficiaries faces in the newsletter. We have this ethical dilemma – donors need to see our children but our children need to be protected from exploitation. We suppot children of prisoners and if their faces appear in a newsletter they could be stigmatised and ostracised by their peers, and community? What are your thoughts about this? Thanks
Verna,
great questions and points! I worked to put together a camp program for foster children–most of whom were NOT allowed to be photographed (think about the red-tape: they have a biological parent, the state as a guardian, and a foster family). We used purchased pictures of some smiling kids, and used close-ups of hands of actual kids making crafts, etc. Activity photos that were not of individuals (groups of 2-4 without significant face detail, or close up during costume party were ok).
That said, the issue of ‘exploiting children’ is somewhat misleading as an approach. When you are showing kids learning, smiling, happy and taking part in great activities, you are not exploiting, you are affirming. Affirming that good things are happening in their lives worth celebrating. If handled in that light, you are not stigmatizing. And why would a newsletter to donors of your programs be read by the children’s peers? Also, would your generous donors who cared enough to underwrite your programs be likely to ‘ostracize’ these children if they saw them on the street? I’m just not following that train of thought. As an oft brought argument, I have seen organizations handle it well, and others not so well. The argument fails to hold water when the proper emphasis is put on celebrating opportunities, outcomes, and results.
Fantastic. So pleased you commented. This makes very good conversation for our social workers and stakeholders that are bound by policy. Thank you, Verna.
Verna & Jude,
As noted, it is extremely important to note protocol and legal guidelines for use of kid’s photographs in your printed and digital materials. Didn’t want to give the impression that I did not follow those rules.
For programs involving any children/youth the permission of the parent/guardian is still required. I highly encourage you to have a permission slip on file for use of children’s images. More often that not, a parent will allow photos of their children’s happy faces or celebratory images, yet you still need them for ALL minors in your programs.
I’ve had foundations provide permission/authorization forms for youth/parent signatures when sending images from programs they’ve supported/sponsored. These have been fantastic reminders that there are legal repercussions for failing to follow basic, sensible guidelines.
I’ve worked for an organisation that supports foster children. We were able to use photos of the children that were not facing directly towards the camera e.g. their backs showing. Also purchased photos of children are very suitable to use and indeed, we decided to use these all the time
Great information – thank you!
So good ideas.Thank you.
In summary:
“It should be “National Inquirer,” not “National Geographic!”
Loved it!
This is a straightforward, practical Movie Monday. Thanks goes to both Christopher and Steven.
Our organization has an amazing volunteer Marketing Team. We happen to be meeting at noon today (Monday 12/17) to finalize the agenda for our planning retreat in January. As today’s learning component, I’m showing this video to the team. It complements our relationships-first culture and reinforces our story-telling emphasis.
Great job, guys.
(Be sure to check out UberDirect’s website, too!)
Quinn
Stillwater C.A.R.E.S., Inc.
This is GREAT advice. Do all three points and not only will donations increase but people will look forward to receiving your newsletter!
Great practical ideas, thanks Steven and Christopher for filming it. Really appreciate these.
Chris. Thanks for posting this information. Steven’s insights are spot on.
Thanks Chris – that was a very practical and useful video. Keep up the great work!
Wow – the best advice is the kind that makes you go “Huh! Of course!” Thanks for the simple, easy to implement tips.
Each nonprofit should develop a technology and media policy. It should include options for those you serve to choose to allow photos, or not,in print and/or on the web, with or without the use of first and/or last names. Have a lawyer help you develop yours.
Very helpful video!
Great video. Excellent reminders that donor communications have to be all about donors. I had some questions about that incredible jump in newsletter response.
What sort of call to action was included? Were there donation prompts for each individual stories or one section with the why and how of giving?
Hi Jon, great question.
On the back page of the newsletter there was a panel that asked for a gift. (The panel looked a lot like a Response Card.) We also included a separate reply card. The reply card had customized gift ask amounts (based on each donor’s previous gift). A reply envelope was also enclosed (which I highly recommend).
A couple of the stories included sentences something like, “…and it’s your generosity that made transformations like this possible, thank you!”
Finally, there was one story on the back page of the newsletter about a funding need. It talked about the project, how much was needed, and invited donors to help.
The previous versions of the newsletter had no call to action, no reply device and no reply envelope.
I hope this helps!
Steven
steven [at] uberdirect.com
Half a dozen years later and most nonprofits still need to learn these very basic lessons about their newsletters.
This is indeed a great video, but I think only charities that directly support people, especially kids, would benefit. I help out on a board of an organization that sends underprivileged kids to camp and for them, it is perfect. However, my own nonprofit supports medical research (for hepatitis C) and displaying faces of people we are supposedly helping is not realistic. I suppose we could use purchased photos, but I think the message is a little harder to convey. Any thoughts how we could do this?
Hi Debbie, you can absolutely make an effective newsletter for your nonprofit. We’ve done successful newsletters for American Cancer Society, Susan J. Komen, etc. You’re right that the message is a little harder to convey, but you can still do it by sharing the results of research and then telling real-life patient stories of how research has resulted in treatments that made their lives better. One big thing to watch out for; don’t get too caught up in the medical/scientific details of the research. It will be lost on most donors and they will tune it out. Instead, focus on what changes in patients lives happened/will happen because of the research.
Finally, be sure to give “credit” for the research to the donors. Most medical-nonprofit newsletters tend to make it sound like Doctors, scientists and researchers do all the work. We suggest coming at it from the other direction; none of their work would be possible without the donor’s support.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Steven
steven [at] uberdirect.com
Everyone has said everything that I wanted to.
Your ideas are spot on. However, we don’t send out a newsletter, mostly because of lack of staff time, budget and expertise. Can you convince me of the advantages of a newsletter? I’d like to talk with our board. Thanks!
Hi Joan! Newsletters serve a VITAL function in most nonprofits; they give donors their best chance to see the effects of their gifts. Newsletters share pictures and stories much more effectively than appeal letters or emails. And we know from experience that donors who have seen the effects of their gifts are FAR more likely to give additional gifts. I recommend to nonprofits that they send at least 2 or 3 newsletters a year unless there is another mechanism/strategy in place that reports back to donors on the power of their gifts.
That’s the short answer. I can’t recommend strongly enough that you have a newsletter!
Steven
steven [at] uberdirect.com
This post fell into my inbox at just the right time – just as I am writing my monthly newsletter. My original drafts are now all being changed to reflect these points.
Like many of your commentators, finding suitable photos with one or two people in it is going to be the hardest thing for me.
Thank you.
Kate
What about pull quotes in an e newsletter? Is that possible?
Yes, absolutely. It’s a little harder to format in an email but it can be done.
But what I would probably do is focus on your headlines and picture captions. Those are the two most important things, and if you do those well the pullquotes aren’t really necessary (and will save you a headache).
Steven
I always try to do two things with a donor newsletter: help them feel really good about the gift they made and build trust. I believe that if people think they made the right decision to give, they’ll do it again.
Fantastic clip. We are preparing our very first newsletter and this information will help us so much! Thanks.
We are thinking of sending as many newsletters out electronically as possible. What are your thoughts?
Hi Dar! Great question. As a rule, electronic newsletters aren’t nearly as good as paper newsletters at raising money. I’ve worked with maybe a hundred nonprofits and have *never* seen an electronic newsletter raise nearly as much as a paper newsletter. So we always advise organizations to create a paper newsletter first. Then if there’s extra time/money left over they should do an e-version.
Note: this assumes your newsletter is being sent to donors, with the main purpose being fundraising/letting them know about the work that’s happening because of their gifts. If you’re sending it to everyone (friends, volunteers, email addresses of people you don’t know) and it’s about all different kinds of topics, then we’d do an e-newsletter with no expectation that you’ll raise significant money.
Here’s the relevant stat: according to Blackbaud, 93% of all donations in 2013 came in offline. That means only 7% came in online. Online is growing, but paper/snail mail is still where it’s at for the vast majority of organizations who want to raise money via donor communications.
Steven
steven [at] betterfundraisingcompany.com
Monty
I agree that many of our donors (especially older ones) like to have the newsletter in hand to peruse looking for pull quotes and headlines. Years of having morning coffee with their newspaper is a strong habit.
Monty
Thank you for this video. This is what our organization has done. Make it all about the donor. Lots of pictures. That what they want to see.
Hi,
I work with men and youth with sexual addiction and NO ONE wants their photo on a newsletter. How do I add photos in m situation.
Thanks
Tim
Hi Tim, your best bet is to use stock photography (because if you want your newsletter to be successful it needs to feature photos of people’s faces). Use a stock photo for each story in your newsletter, and find photos that match the gender and are near the age of the person featured in each story. Then at the end of the newsletter, or on the back of the reply device, include language that says something like, “We appreciate the willingness and vulnerability of the people who shared their story in this newsletter, and appreciate your gift to help them. Their names and photos have been changed to protect their privacy. Thank you for understanding.”
Hope that helps!
~Steven
Thank you so much, this is really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Bless you.
Tim
What a great video with practical tips to engage donors better! I just wish the comments about electronic vs. paper newsletter were in the original video. Those are important differences to note! Thanks for the great work you’re doing to help nonprofits!
Yep, we have an e-News that goes out to everyone, mainly website sign-ups, not yet donors. I struggled to see how the three points would apply. We also have a “Friends of..” who are donors. E-News is a funnel to get Friends (donors). I will now create a paper newsletter for our Friends and use the three points. Thanks
Q: How do you get the word out about a large matching challenge gift?
Hi Dan,
Three main ways:
~Mention it in your newsletter, but know that the big news (as far as the donor is concerned) is that their gift doubles. So mention that the matching challenge gift has been received, but then focus on how the donor’s gift is doubled to do twice as much.
~You can do an appeal letter with a focus on matching grant. Again, you want to quickly mention that your org has received the challenge gift, then get to the heart of the matter (from the donor’s perspective): that their gift will be DOUBLED to do time as much good/help twice as many people, etc.
~Finally, you can “add” the challenge gift to an appeal letter with another offer. For instance, say you’re raising money to send kids to summer camp. You can talk about that offer, then mention that the match has been received and that it doubles the power of the donor’s gift. They can send two kids to camp for the price of one. Or send one kid to camp for 1/2 of what it normally costs.
That’s basically it. The things to remember about matches are to mention them early and often (not just once), and to focus on the donor benefit; that their gift doubles.
Steven
Thank you!
Karina Salazar
Found the video very helpful. This will be my first time to conduct a non-profit fundraiser it will be for underprivileged children and adults that are hit pretty hard by poverty. Looking for more insight on how to get the attention from big companies such as Wal-Mart and others. Would like to hold a silent auction also and will be looking for volunteers as well. Is there a news letter I can build to get volunteers ?
Hi There,
My main feedback is to say is that no one fundraising newsletter (like the kind discussed in the video) will be able to do a good job achieving all of the objectives you mention. You’re trying to achieve three different things and will need three different communication pieces/strategies to do them well. Here are my thoughts:
1. You *can* make a great newsletter about underprivileged children and adults. Show your donors how their gifts have helped beneficiaries by telling 2 or 3 beneficiary stories. This could be very powerful and your donors will love reading it (and will donate).
2. It’s very hard to get the attention of big companies. Your best bet will likely be to approach each of them, in person, with a specific amount you desire and a specific outcome that will be accomplished by that amount. And there will likely need to be PR benefit to the company. An example would be something like, “You can be a Sponsor at our event for $5,000, you’ll receive a poster, your logo in the Program and be mentioned from the stage.” Or, “We need $5,000 to buy furniture for a house we’re using to provide temporary housing for homeless families.”
3. In my experience there is not a newsletter you can build to get volunteers. To do that you’ll need to specifically Ask people to participate, most likely in a letter or phone call.
Hope that’s helpful,
Steven
Love this! I’m always dismayed with ‘government grant proposal’ language in fundraising letters and newsletters.