Keys 11 to Make Your Nonprofit's Print Newsletter Sizzle!
Most nonprofit organizations to their donors produce Print Newsletter Stay up-to-date with their activities and to raise a few dollars. But most of these nonprofits are not satisfied with the performance of their newsletter. Here are the 11 keys that you need to sizzle your newsletter to bring you the desired results.
1st Plan. Before you even start to write, make sure you are clear about the purpose of your newsletter. Is it educational? Is it a revenue generator? Do you have aproduction schedule?
2nd The three musts: There are three things you should always be in your newsletter
– Who are we?
– What we have done or achieved
– Where are we going (our Vision)
3rd Make the first page mandatory. Make sure to use on a client story on the front page, not a long letter from the Director. And with a good, close-up or two.
4th Make skimmable your newsletter. Your donors will NOT read your entire newsletter. Insteadflying over, like a newspaper. So, make sure you include photos, lists and other graphic elements to break up the text. Here are four more ways to make it easy to read.
– Use black text. Colored text is hard to read.
– No colored backgrounds. read black text on a colored background is difficult.
– Serif type. Research shows that a serif font is easier to read than a sans serif font.
– No inversions. Inverted text (white on color) is hard to read.
5thPass the "you test". Once the donor takes your newsletter, you would like their interest, as long as you can. Make sure to use "you" as often as you can in your newsletter. It helps to focus the piece donors. Take the test: with a red pen, circle the word "you" or any variation (your are, you, etc.) in your newsletter. Are there red circles everywhere? If not, you have work to do!
6th Use powerful and compelling headlines. Always include captions with your articles.They help the donor to decide if they want to or not want to read. Here are some tips for writing effective headlines
– To clearly explain the essence of the story.
– Say why the story matters
– Include a "hook" (something new, different, interesting)
– Avoid jargon
– Keep it short
– Make it interesting, the donor
7th Leave your experience with a proven formula. Copy the style of newspaper articles. You start with an overview of the history, then you go to meat from theDetails. You do not need to read the entire article to finally get to the meat of it at the end. Start with the main ideas, then develop these ideas full details. For example, start with what happened, then explain why it happened, finally, add comments and other background information. Remember that the granting act is an emotionally-based. Make sure your stories have an emotional pull to them.
8th Keep it simple, but professional. Do not make your newsletter too noticeable. There is a concern aboutperceived cost of leaving a negative impression with your donors. Make Your Newsletter Look Sharp and professional, but not expensive.
9th Do not forget the basic information. Pay attention to your organization includes name, address, phone number, website and logo. Include the name of a particular person staff together with their title and email address, that donors can contact with questions. Add the names of your Board of Directors in a sidebar.
10th Keep it short. Donors do not want to readNovel by you. Hold the promotion of the upcoming fundraising events and campaigns at a minimum. Do not make more texts from one side to another.
11th Make sure you can measure your success. Include a return envelope with a simple code, so that the donations are, you know where they came from. Make sure that your reply envelope has all the necessary information about them – your name and logo, a brief statement about your organization, a place for the donor's name and address, a questionString, and any information you obtain from the donor as the e-mail or a check box for volunteering.
You can use a simple coding in order to obtain donations, if they identify. For example, if you produce four newsletters each year, code NL106, NL206, NL306 and NL406. NL stands for Newsletter, 1, 2, 3 and 4 refer to the newsletter issue, and 06 denote the last two digits of the year. If you get the envelopes in your office, you immediately know the sourceof the gift and you can easily generate the amount of length and number of donations from your newsletter.