Nonprofit Newsletters

What Should Be the Focus of a Nonprofit Newsletter?

kivi — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:51:45 +0000

To answer this question, you first need to answer two other questions: how does your newsletter fit into your larger communications strategy and who is the audience for your newsletter?

If, for example, you want your newsletter to help you raise money, you should be writing your newsletter specifically for your donors. All of the articles in your newsletter should provide benefits or interesting information to your donors, remind them how important they are to you, and encourage them to continue to support your work.

If your newsletter is a volunteer recruitment and appreciation tool, then the articles should all be oriented toward your volunteers: how to be a great volunteer, volunteer profiles, how important volunteers are, etc.

Know what you want your newsletter to do for you and who you are writing it for and the focus of the articles will become much more clear.

What’s a Quick, Easy Way to Evaluate Our Newsletter?

kivi — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:27:36 +0000

You should be writing your newsletter for a specific audience. Select 20 random people from your newsletter list and give them a call a week after you send out your newsletter. Ask them what they remember about it. Do they remember getting it? Did they skim it or read certain articles? What do they like best about it? What sections do they ignore? What other suggestions do they have? Look for trends in the replies you get.

If you want to go beyond anecdotes, you can conduct a more formal survey. SurveyMonkey is a good online tool. Advertise the survey in your newsletter and offer a prize drawing to encourage people to complete it.

You should also set goals for your newsletter as part of your larger communications strategy. Evaluate how well your newsletter contributes to that strategy. Do donations go up after it comes out? Do people mention the newsletter to you? Do event registrations go up?

How Many Fonts and Colors Should We Use?

kivi — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:18:43 +0000

Don’t go crazy with the fonts. To be on the safe side, stick with two fonts: one for your body text and captions and a second font for your headlines and subheads. You can use a third font as a display font for the nameplate of your newsletter and for other design elements like page numbers. Use additional fonts with extreme care. Using too many fonts in the same publication is a sure sign of an amateur designer.

As for colors, use as many as you can afford. You’ve really got three choices for print newsletter production on traditional offset printing presses: one color, two colors, or full-color, which is also called four-color. If you can afford to print in full-color, by all means, do it. Your photos will look much better. But you can also produce great-looking newsletters in one and two colors. For smaller print runs (under 1,000 copies), printing on a digital press may allow you to print in full-color at an affordable price.

How Long Should a Newsletter Article Be?

kivi — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:05:52 +0000

People expect newsletter articles to be relatively short. If most of your feature articles are 500-700 words, you’ll be fine. That’s about the length of most columns on newspaper editorial pages, for example. It’s fine to have brief articles that are shorter and maybe one or two that are longer, but in general shoot for 500-700 words.

How Long Should a Print Newsletter Be?

kivi — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:42:23 +0000

The number of pages you include in your newsletter depends on one key factor: how much you have to say that your audience wants to hear.

If you are focused on delivering great content to a specific audience and you can fill up 16 pages with fabulous articles each month, great. But that’s going to be tough for most organizations.

Instead, start here: publish a great four-page newsletter once a quarter (every three months) for a total of 16 pages of content per year. If you’ve got more great content than will fit in that space, increase your quarterly page count to six pages (24 pages total) or the schedule for your four-page newsletter to six times per year (every two months, 24 pages total). From there, go to eight pages quarterly (32 pages annually) or six pages six times per year (36 pages annually). Only after you’ve proven that you can sustain this level of publishing for a year should you bump up to more than 40 pages of content per year.

The Best Design Programs for Newsletters

kivi — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:55:28 +0000

Nonprofits are often perplexed about what software should be used to lay out a newsletter. Most people have the Microsoft Office Suite, so laying out a newsletter in Word or Publisher is where many people start, but unfortunately, those programs are not the best choices.
Many printers will tolerate files created in Microsoft programs, but they strongly prefer that you use one of three desktop publishing programs that are the industry standards:

InDesign (Adobe)
PageMaker (Adobe)
Quark Xpress

These programs work well with the software that printers use to operate their printing equipment.
The only problem is that these programs are very expensive. Fortunately, the companies that make them offer nonprofits some financial assistance. If you can’t afford to spend several hundred dollars to purchase a license, consider these discount programs.
Adobe gives about a 50% discount to nonprofits through selected members of its educational resellers network. Tech Soup offers even better discounts, but has limited availability and you must specific criteria. Quark also offers nonprofit pricing.

Nonprofit Newsletter Ideas for Summer

kivi — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:26:02 +0000

Writing a newsletter is easy if you just look around you for some inspiration. Summer offers many different ideas for newsletter articles.

1) Hot Weather. How does summer heat affect your services or clients? What can you tell newsletter readers or the public about issues related to hot weather? Offer ways to keep dogs and cats cool if you work for a humane society. Remind parents not to leave children or the elderly in cars with the windows rolled up if you work for a social service agency. Do your members work outside? Offer tips on avoiding heat exhaustion while working outside.

2) Summer Break. Can your newsletter readers use tips or ideas related to your issues during their summer vacations? Health organizations can share ideas on eating healthy or exercising while traveling. Education advocates can offer brain twister games to keep children occupied on long car rides.

3) Fresh Produce. Does the summer increase in the variety of fresh or locally grown fruits and vegetables affect your readers? Senior groups can discuss the importance of a varied diet and offer simple recipes incorporating fresh veggies or fruit. Environmental advocates can share their thoughts on the affect of pesticides on the planet.

4) Summer Jobs. Whether it’s more chores at home or a part-time job, summer gives just about everyone something new to do. Social service or employment groups can offer tips on how to make the most of a summer job or internship. Art or community beautification groups can suggest projects for families to pursue in their own yards or in their neighborhoods.

5) Creepy Crawlers! From mosquitoes to fireflies, bugs are everywhere during the summer months. How does the increase in the insect population affect your clients or supporters? Wildlife groups can remind people of the role bugs play in the circle of life. Health or environmental groups can provide tips on non-toxic insect repellent.

Let the seasons inspire your next newsletter article.

Want More?

Check out these resources:

Seven Easy Steps to Improving Your Newsletter, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $12.

20 Ideas for Interesting Newsletter Articles and Columns, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $9.

Avoid These Five Newsletter Blunders, a free five-day email course.

Nonprofit Newsletters Advisor, our free monthly newsletter to help you produce a great nonprofit newsletter.

Catch Readers’ Eyes with These Newsletter Design Tips

kivi — Mon, 08 May 2006 20:40:56 +0000

Well over half of the people who get your newsletter probably only quickly flip through the pages. That’s why it’s important to grab their attention in the locations that studies show newsletter readers go first.

Make over your mailing panel. The newsletter mailing panel is the first place many people look, because we all like to see our names in print. If all you have in this space is the label and the return address, you are wasting valuable real estate. Include a short blurb of information underneath your return address that communicates something valuable or meaningful. Here are some examples:

Volunteers are needed most on the weekends.

Help us build our new center. Please donate today!

Make your captions meaningful. People read captions and headlines before anything else, and many people will stop there. Don’t just name the people and places in your photos. Tie the photo to a recent accomplishment or something you want readers to do. Use active verbs and descriptive, positive language. Instead of “Board member John Smith meets with the Mayor,” say “Board member John Smith and Mayor Ann Jackson are working together to increase local business support for our new literacy campaign.”

Spend extra time on headlines. Headlines can be challenging because you don’t have much space. Make every word count by using active verbs and descriptive nouns. A headline like “Project Results Are In” says nothing to someone flipping through your newsletter. To rewrite this headline, focus on the content or meaning of those results. “90% of Clients Stay Sober” or “Mentoring Raises Test Scores” are both much better headlines because they provide readers with real information and leave a positive impression.

Want More?

Check out these resources:

Seven Easy Steps to Improving Your Newsletter, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $12.

20 Ideas for Interesting Newsletter Articles and Columns, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $9.

Avoid These Five Newsletter Blunders, a free five-day email course.

Newsletter Articles That Share Successes

kivi — Mon, 08 May 2006 20:20:02 +0000

Celebrate your successes by sharing them with your members, community leaders, clients, and others on your newsletter mailing list. It’s easy to talk about your accomplishments without sounding like you are bragging, if you use one of these types of newsletter articles.

Personal Profiles

Personal profiles are a great way to share good news. Instead of talking about your accomplishments directly, profile the people who worked on them or the people who benefit from them. If the profile is of a staff member, have them explain the challenges associated with the project and why the success is so meaningful to them. If you profile someone who benefits from the successful project, ask them to explain how his or her life has changed for the better as a result of the organization’s achievement.

Analyze a Trend

Put your accomplishment in the context of larger trends within your community or national trends in your field. Use events and statistics from sources outside your organization to demonstrate how your success fits into a larger pattern (or bucks the trends).

How-to Articles

In an easy-to-follow format, provide your readers with clear directions on how to do something related to your accomplishments. What did you learn during the process that you can share with others? What can your newsletter readers do to help build upon your achievements and further your mission? Show your readers, step-by-step, how they can be a part of your success.

It is important for organizations to share their successes publicly, because success breeds more success. Tell your positive stories and you will cultivate more donors, supporters, clients, and volunteers.

Want More?

Check out these resources:

Seven Easy Steps to Improving Your Newsletter, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $12.

20 Ideas for Interesting Newsletter Articles and Columns, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $9.

Avoid These Five Newsletter Blunders, a free five-day email course.

Nonprofit Newsletters Advisor, our free monthly newsletter to help you produce a great nonprofit newsletter.

Volume and Issue Numbers on Newsletters

kivi — Mon, 08 May 2006 19:43:01 +0000

One common way to keep track of newsletter editions is to use volume and issue numbers. The volume number refers to the set, and many people start a new set each year. So, if you started your newsletter in 2005, the newsletters published in 2005 would be Volume 1. Newsletters in 2006 would be Volume 2, and so on.

The issue number corresponds to each particular issue of your newsletter. For example, if you published five issues of your newsletter during your third year, you would label them Volume 3, Issue 1; Volume 3, Issue 2; Volume 3, Issue 3; Volume 3, Issue 4; and Volume 3, Issue 5. The first newsletter in the next year would be Volume 4, Issue 1.

You can also include a date on your newsletter such as the month or season (April 2005 or Spring 2005). Make sure that the date reflects the time when the newsletter will arrive in your readers’ mailboxes, not when you started working on it. You may be writing your newsletter in May, but if it won’t reach you reader until August, label it as the August issue.

Want More?

Check out these resources:

Seven Easy Steps to Improving Your Newsletter, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $12.

20 Ideas for Interesting Newsletter Articles and Columns, a tip sheet available for immediate download for just $9.

Avoid These Five Newsletter Blunders, a free five-day email course.

Nonprofit Newsletters Advisor, our free monthly newsletter to help you produce a great nonprofit newsletter.