Let’s retire the term “NEWSLETTER”. Great examples of newsletters should not contain news, they should be filled to the brim with STORIES.
Stories of passion and triumph, heart-break and accomplishment, which connect with the people who have made those outcomes possible. These stories reaffirm your supporters’ decision to give to your charity. A great newsletter will show donors what their gifts have achieved and make them feel involved in your cause and responsible for the outcomes that are achieved.
The supporter newsletter is a stewardship tool that updates donors on the impact of their giving.
Is your supporter Newsletter written with your supporters in mind?
The ingredient that all great newsletters will share is a complete devotion to the audience – they will refer to successes and events as the result of their contribution and they won’t describe outcomes as the charity’s achievement.
They will also use the word “YOU” and “YOUR” often.
At the heart of a good Newsletter is the objective to thank supporters.
If your newsletter is sharing the accomplishments of your organisation, it is not acting as a stewardship tool. It isn’t supporter centric and it won’t instil readers with the warm and fuzzy feelings that it should.
If your newsletter is a device used to ask for donations, then it being under-utilised and your appeals programme is less effective than it could be.
Rather than “Newsletters” let’s call them Supporter Updates
To read a fantastic example, see the RSPCA (UK) Animal Guardian half yearly newsletter from 2009, which was developed by Whitewater for confirmed and prospective legacy givers.
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