http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters Tips, advice, and resources for writing nonprofit newsletters Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:19:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2007/07/24/what-should-be-the-focus-of-a-nonprofit-newsletter/ 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2007/07/24/whats-a-quick-easy-way-to-evaluate-our-newsletter/ 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2007/07/24/how-many-fonts-and-colors-should-we-use/ 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, ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2007/07/24/how-long-should-a-newsletter-article-be/ 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. ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2007/07/24/how-long-should-a-print-newsletter-be/ 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2006/07/27/the-best-design-programs-for-newsletters/ 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2006/07/27/nonprofit-newsletter-ideas-for-summer/ 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, ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2006/05/08/catch-readers-eyes-with-these-newsletter-design-tips/ 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2006/05/08/newsletter-articles-that-share-successes/ 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 ... http://nonprofitnewsletters.net/newsletters/2006/05/08/volume-and-issue-numbers-on-newsletters/