It must be newsletter time.  I’ve fielded lots of questions recently about format and content – what to include, what not to include, what should be on the front page, etc.   So I thought I’d share a few pointers here for everyone.

First, DO NOT put a letter from the Executive Director on the front page.  Donors don’t want to read this.  What they DO want to read is a story about a particular person whose life is being changed by your organization.

Don’t waste space on a table of contents.  Especially if your newsletter is only 4 pages.  And don’t continue a story on another page.  Make it fit in the space available.

Keep the special event info to a minimum – you don’t need to go on and on about upcoming or past events.  Stroke sponsors as needed, but don’t go overboard.

Realize that your newsletter is a great tool to build relationships with donors and educate them about what you’re doing.  Don’t waste space on things that aren’t interesting to your donors.

If you really want to learn more about nonprofit newsletters, check out Tom Ahern’s books and his website at www.aherncomm.com.  You’ll find some great resources and tips.

In the mail last week, I received the worst newsletter I’ve ever seen.  I’ve seen some bad ones over the years, but this one takes the cake.

First, the front page was a long letter from the Executive Director.  This page was packed full of text with hardly any white space and no breaks for my eyes.  No photos, no headlines.  It was exhausting to look at.

On the inside, another long letter from the Board President.  Tons of text, no breaks – yuck.  The rest of the newsletter was more of the same – boring text-heavy pages with no photos, no stories, nothing to warm my heart or compel me to give.  There was a lot of “save the date” info about events coming up and events that happened months ago.  There was info about staff coming and going.  Nothing about the people the organization serves and how lives are being changed.  I know this organization has some powerful stories to tell (I’ve heard them before).  Why weren’t they in the newsletter?

The whole thing looked like a bad copy of a copy.  Am I as a donor not worthy of at least an original copy?

As I looked at this terrible excuse for a newsletter, it occured to me that it was written to be interesting to the writer – not interesting to me as the reader.

I share this with you in the hopes that you can learn from the mistakes of this organization and do a better job of your own newsletter.