How to Publish the Perfect Donor Newsletter.

Discover the unsuspected flaws that kill most donor newsletters before they're even mailed.

This is a 90-minute telephone seminar delivered by Tom Ahern and hosted by Alan Sharpe. Available for immediate download. Listen to the seminar from anywhere you want, at any time you want, as often as you want.

The topic

Your donors crave one kind of communication above all, research shows: a newsletter that focuses on "accomplishment reporting" (to use the phrase introduced by Merkle|Domain).

Donors want to know, "How much good did you do with my money?" Yet most newsletters fail to deliver exactly this kind of news. Analysis by Tom Ahern of hundreds of donor newsletters reveals widespread fatal flaws.

Too bad: a good newsletter is critical to building donor trust and improving donor retention. In "mature" philanthropic markets such as the U.S. and the U.K., retention is now scandalously poor and getting worse. To get off the "acquisition" treadmill and to realize instead the full lifetime value of your donors, you have to publish an effective newsletter. There are no special exceptions.

This seminar takes the mystery out of publishing a newsletter that donors will love. Topics include:

• How people read (it's not the way you think)
• Don't write so much: Why articles aren't all that important
• How to craft a powerful headline (and why that matters more than anything else you do)
• Keeping it fresh: Newsletters vs. "oldletters"
• How to find the best donor angle for every story
• Recognizing the crucial difference between accomplishment and achievement
• How to be relentlessly donor-centric
• Doing donor recognition the right way (a list of names is not enough)
• Boosting response by making offers
• Using your donor newsletter to increase online giving
• BONUS: A proven formula for an effective and profitable donor newsletter (it's easier than you think)

About Tom Ahern, your presenter

Tom Ahern is the author of The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to... Raising More Money With Newsletters Than You Ever Thought Possible. He is also one of North America’s leading authorities on effective donor communications. He is a top-ranked speaker, in demand for major fundraising conferences. Each year, he delivers dozens of workshops on the techniques of (and psychology behind) making your case and donor cultivation. He is the author of two well-received books, on donor newsletters (2005) and writing fundraising materials (2007). He has two more books on fundraising communications under contract, scheduled for release in 2007 and 2008.

He works with clients across the U.S. He's helped organizations in higher education, medicine, public advocacy, the arts, and social services pursue their fundraising goals. They come to him for bequest marketing; donor communications evaluations; newsletter interventions; and case statements that are bold, swift, and intense.

Tom is also an award-winning magazine journalist, for articles on health, women's rights and other social justice issues. He has his MA and BA in English from Brown University; a Certificate in Advertising Art from the RI School of Design; and his Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) credential from IABC. His offices are in Rhode Island and France.

What you get with this seminar-on-demand:

1. Tom Ahern's comprehensive seminar handout
Filled with tips, advice, warnings and samples of successful
(and not-so-successful) donor newsletters, both print and online.
Pages: 139
File size: 13.4 MB
Format: Downloadable Adobe PDF file

2. Audio recording
90 minutes of expert advice from the acknowledged
expert on donor newsletters and donor communication.
Length: 90 minutes
File size: 5.1 MB
Format: Downloadable MP3 file that plays in iTunes^®,
Windows Media Player^® and Real Player^®.

3. Transcript
Electronic transcript of the seminar, capturing with
the written word what Tom Ahern communicated with
the spoken word.
Pages: 34
File size: 134 KB
Format: Downloadable Adobe PDF