Donor Newsletters Must Avoid Boring Stories in Direct Mail Fundraising

One day one of the greatest bores at the Player’s Club said to Oliver Herford, “Oliver, I have been grossly insulted. Just as I passed that group over there I overheard someone say he would give me fifty dollars to resign from the club.”

“Hold out for a hundred,” counselled Hereford, “you’ll get it.”

The only difference between that bore and some donor newsletters is that he was a bore in person while the newsletters are a bore on paper. But each produces the same response in those who come across them. Avoidance.

So if you want to write, design and produce newsletters that attract donors, avoid these boring stories.

History of your organization
Someone once observed that all great movements “start with a man, grow into a movement, then become a monument.” The older an organization gets, the more bureaucratic it becomes, and the more it looks inward. But donors want to read about what you are doing on the outside, in the real world.

Your donors don’t care that you are celebrating your 30th anniversary. Or that you opened your fifth office at the corner of 12th and 139th streets in 1968. They care that you are still active today.

Your donors don’t care to read a chronology of your organization that leads them on a circuitous route from Dan to Beersheba. They don’t want the past. They want to read about the future. Donors give gifts to organizations that look ahead, not backwards. So avoid history lessons in your newsletters. Save them for your annual report.

Minutes of your annual meeting
Your donors want to view your work from 20,000 feet. They want to see the big picture, with close-ups every now and then of particular projects or particular people. What they don’t want is the view from your office ceiling, where they see your internal machinations, committee findings and resolutions. Those things are vital, but not to your donors.

Message from your president
Just the sound of it makes me tremble. And so will your donors if you feature a regular message from someone in your organization who has authority but no charisma. If your president is Nelson Mandela or Bono, then you should include a column over that person’s signature. Your donors will expect it. And read it. But call the column, “A Note from Nelson,” or, if your president is Bono, “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

My advice for you in choosing your donor newsletter content is to remember the doormat that you’ll find outside the homes of amateur pilots. Instead of “Welcome,” these doormats say, “A pilot and a normal person live here.” Take the lesson to heart and your editorial content will never again bore your donors to tears. Even though you may produce tears on occasion.

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