The Case For Newsletters for Local Nonprofits

The Case for Newsletters for Local Nonprofits

Bryce Sanders, President

Perceptive Business Solutions Inc.

If your nonprofit has a membership base, congratulations!? In business terms, this represents recurring revenue.? This brings along an additional problem: You need to get members to renew.? If you have a donor base, but no membership, you need to make the case for last year’s donors to become this year’s donors.? A newsletter is a good tool.

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Decades ago, I was the national fund chairman for my college’s alumni fund drive.? This involved getting previous donors back as current donors and cultivating new donors.? I learned the fundraising industry had two interesting acronyms for lapsed donors:

·???????? LYBUNTS – Last Year But Not This Year

·???????? SYBUNTS – Some Years, But Not This Year

A newsletter is an effective tool to keep members and donors connected to the organization.? Producing an eNewsletter is very easy, yet you might want to consider a print version of the newsletter.? It might not go to everyone (they all get the electronic version) but you want it to be available for less tech savvy members/donors who prefer a hard copy they can hold in their hand.? Printed newsletters cost money, but they have staying power.

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Let us look at ten reasons why your organization should produce a newsletter:

1.????? Remember us?? We are still here!? Your charity might have one or two high profile events annually, but the work of the organization is very low key.? Museums have impressive buildings you can visit, but consider another worthy cause, a women’s shelter.? The nature of it’s mission means it’s operating locations must be kept secret.? There is no high profile location.? A newsletter keeps your donors connected when there isn’t a major event on the calendar.

2.????? Development.? Fundraising is important.? When you approach a potential donor, they will ask: “What do you do” or “What have you accomplished?”? You can talk about achievement or mention statistics, but they might be forgotten.? Handing over a newsletter speaks to your latest accomplishments.? It can be added to a file and referenced later.

3.????? Member promotion.? You have business members.? They pay more.? They often desire higher visibility for their business, along with showing support for a noble cause.? Newsletters provide the opportunity to feature business member profiles.? In addition to getting featured in that issue, the business owner might order copies of their profile as additional publicity.

4.????? Recognition.? Your organization has achieved success.? They awarded scholarships.? They funded and donated a piece of medical equipment to the local hospital.? They gave out leadership awards.? Photos get taken, the newsletter is the vehicle for publicity.

5.????? Promoting future events.? You have a gala planned, tour organized or raffle in the works.? How do you get the word out?? Surface mail and e-mail are logical channels, yet the newsletter provides an additional channel.

6.????? Showcase previous events.? You recently held a gala or an organized tour.? Everyone had a great time.? Plenty of pictures were taken.? People usually love seeing themselves in pictures.? People reading the newsletter think “That looks like fun.? I want to fo next time.”

7.????? Talk about your history.? How long as your organization been around?? How did it get started?? What are your signature events or achievements?? Did one success lead to another?? People might talk about today’s achievements and tomorrow’s goals, yet people also like to learn how you got here.

8.????? Achievements.? “The Year in Review” is a great topic.? Numbers often tell the story.? How much money was raised?? How was it deployed?? What were the accomplishments and results?? This can be useful for future fundraising. ?

The organization’s newsletter can serve several purposes.? A major one is strengthening the bond between the member (or donor) with the organization.

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Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc.? He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry.? His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.

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