If your only communication with your donors is solicitations for gifts, then you have some work to do! Your donors need—and want—to hear from you. Enter your highly anticipated, must-read newsletter.

Think of it as a two- to six-page opportunity to give your donors an insider’s view of your organization and show them that they are part of your team, all while generating unsolicited donations.

To do so, make sure that at the core of every headline, article, and photo in your nonprofit newsletter you show gratitude, cultivate good feelings, and demonstrate donor impact. 

Network for Good really hammers it home: “the key is to make sure your newsletter builds donor loyalty. Loyal donors will give more, stay with you longer, and be your best advocates." 

The key is to make sure your newsletter builds donor loyalty. Loyal donors will give more, stay with you longer, and be your best advocates.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your newsletter or impact report:

1. Make Your Newsletter About Your Donors

If you’re noticing a pattern, you’re right. We say this a lot, but donor-centric holds true for nearly anything fundraising-related. 

When all you do is boast about the great things your organization accomplishes and all the lives you change, the donor doesn’t feel needed. It must be made consistently clear it’s their generous gift that makes it all possible. 

And by “make it clear” we mean include this sentiment in every headline, call-out box, and photo caption of of your nonprofit newsletter/impact report, as well as the articles. If you can’t easily spot grateful verbiage in these places, rewrite them.

2. Content and Design Must-haves for Your Donors

• A variety of short articles: Share new developments, services made possible, a story spotlighting a patient, member, or person helped by your organization, even a note from the CEO. Keep it brief, or you’ll lose the reader’s attention. Put the meat of your article into the first sentence or paragraph. And don’t forget to give credit to the donor everywhere.

• A balance of problems solved and problems still existing: Your work as an organization can never appear to be completely resolved, or the donor won’t see the need to give anymore. Show gratitude for what they made possible, but also show urgency for an ongoing or new crisis. Emotion is what moved your donor to give in the first place.

• Specific recognition: Beyond lists of bequests, memorial gifts, or major gift donors, try highlighting individual donors’ accomplishments, and specific needs for the future. One local hospital utilizes a “Wishes Granted/ Wishes Made” section in their newsletter. In additional to the big projects, affordable opportunities, like funding pictures for the walls in a hospice rooms, can energize small donors to give something extra.

• Lots of color photos: Of people. People who helped, people who were helped. People connecting with people, thanks to the donor.

• A carrier envelope with a tagline: Donor newsletters that come in an outer envelope with a teaser like “Your impact report inside!” have a higher perceived value than a self-mailer format.

3. Donor Newsletters Can Make Serious Money, Even Without a Hard Ask

The less you focus on what you want (donations) and the more you focus on what the donor wants (recognition, appreciation), the more money will roll in.

The result of writing shorter, donor-centric articles, reducing the number of pages, adding meaningful photos and more color in general, and mailing the newsletter in an envelope with a tagline can be increased, unsolicited revenue!

You’ll subliminally encourage donations by proving results and showing gratitude. Simply including a remit envelope or a regular reply envelope is all you need to do now.

4. Add your Donor Newsletter to your Fundraising Annual Plan Calendar

This way, you can see windows in your donor communications where a cultivation piece fits best—and how often you should be sending it. We recommend following every appeal with an impact report or nonprofit newsletter, or twice a year at minimum.

If your donor newsletter isn’t yet a “highly anticipated must-read,” we can help. Our expert copywriting and design team can create an eye-catching and informative newsletter—along with anything else in your fundraising annual plan—to keep your donors in the loop, interested, and appreciated!

We know the language of donor love! 

Five Maples understands that there are different tones and strategies behind each piece of your fundraising communications. A donor newsletter is the place to be thankful, gracious, and thoughtful! If you’d like help demonstrating donor impact in your nonprofit newsletter, contact us today at garyh@fivemaples.com for a free consultation.