Author: Ann Green

Make Your E-Newsletter Rock

Ann Green Uncategorized

Your organization has a lot of news to share, but how can you guarantee that people will read your newsletter. Marketing Consultant Kivi Leroux Miller offers some helpful tips on creating a great e-newsletter. Here are some of them:
  • Make sure your readers know who you are. It’s best to put your organization’s name in the subject line. You could also put a person’s name and the organization. That would make it a little more personal. Don’t just include a person’s name, unless that person is well known to your subscribers.
  • Include a subject line that captures someone’s attention. You could try something like Five Ways to Engage Your Board or Meet Our Youth Advisors. That would be a little more captivating than News from X Organization. 
  • Use a consistent template.  Have your logo in the same place and always use the same layout so your newsletter will be easily recognizable. Be consistent with colors, fonts, and columns. 
  • Make sure it’s easy to read. Actually, most people probably won’t be reading your e-newsletter; they will be skimming it (sad, but true). Be sure to include short paragraphs, bullets, and lots of white space. Use one or two columns with black text on a white background. Remember that some people read e-mail on their wireless devices and can only see limited text on the screen. 
  • Be personal and conversational.  Refer to your readers as you and your organization as we. Include stories and pictures and don’t bombard your readers with statistics and jargon. If multiple people are writing articles, you could include bylines. 
  • Know your audience. Figure out what your audience would be interested in reading. If your newsletter is going to donors, they will want to know how their money is being spent. Highlight one of your programs or a client. Be sure your story is personal and conversational. 
  • Make sure the content is good. This is kind of a no brainer, but make sure your articles are well written and free of grammatical errors and typos. Give your subscribers something they will want to read. 
  • Send the right amount of messages. This will vary depending on your organization. Sending a short e-newsletter (two or three articles) every two weeks might work. People are busy and aren’t going to want to deal with a lot of information at one time. Short and simple is best. 
  • Measure your results. Now that you have spent time trying to create a great newsletter, you want to make sure people are looking at it. You can use your e-mail service provider to measure open and click through rates. You could even segment your mailing list with different subject lists and stories, as well as sending out your newsletter on different days and times to see what is more successful. 

These are just few ways to make your e-newsletter rock. For more detailed information go Kivi’s website – Nonprofit Marketing Guide She also has an excellent blog.

Photo by  phaeldesign via Flickr 

Know Your Audience

Ann Green Uncategorized

When you are writing something, whether it be a fundraising letter or a newsletter article, think of your audience.

  • Who is reading this?
  • What are their interests?
  • What will capture their attention, make them read more, and even take action?                     

These days people are bombarded with email and text messages, as well as snail mail. They don’t have time to plough through a lot of information.

Make your message count – make it short and sweet. When crafting messages, think of both what your audience is interested in and how you can make your point clearly and concisely.

When you are writing a fundraising letter, do you think your donors are going to want to weed through a lot of text and statistics?

  • Find a way to engage them immediately, perhaps with a story. 
  • Show them how their donations have helped your clients. 
  • What do you think would inspire them donate to your organization?

If you are writing a newsletter article, especially if it’s an email article, is it short, to the point, and easy to read?

  • Think of what will be of interest to your audience. They will likely be more interested in success stories about your clients than news about staff members.
  • Here again, you can show your donors how their contributions have helped your clients. 
  • Use short paragraphs and bulleted lists to make your article easy to read. 

Remember that your audience is getting information from many different sources. Make whatever you send out something they will want to read.


Photo by batmoo via Flickr

Elevator Pitches and Consistency in Messaging

Ann Green brand identity, marketing, writing

If you got your staff or board together and asked them to write a few sentences about what your organization does, it’s likely you might get a variety of different answers.

It’s very important that all your staff, board, and volunteers know what your organization does and that they are consistent with their messaging. 

This is something that should be covered in an orientation (you should have an orientation for your board members and volunteers, too) and revisited periodically.


A 30 second pitch about your organization is often know as an elevator pitch.

If your organization doesn’t have a written elevator pitch, you need to create one as soon as possible and make it available to all staff, board members, and volunteers.  Creating one as a group can be beneficial.

General Information About Elevator Pitches
  • Elevator pitches should be short and conversational.
  • Keep it simple.
  • Keep the following in mind – who are we, what do we do, how do we do it, and why is it important?
  • Don’t recite your mission statement when giving your elevator pitch.
  • Don’t use jargon.
  • Let your audience know the impact and importance of what you do.
Putting Together Your Elevator Pitch
  • What makes your organization unique? Come up with some key words and talking points.
  • Make sure everyone is consistent in their messaging.
  • Remember to revisit your pitch periodically (maybe once a year) to make sure it’s still relevant.
Using Your Elevator Pitch
  • Engage with the person/people you are talking to and tie what you do with their interests.
  • Find a way to tell a story.
  • If appropriate, initiate a call to action. Give the person your business card and ask them to call you for more information or let them know how they can donate or volunteer.
  • Remember that you are always an ambassador for your organization and how you represent yourself reflects upon the organization.
  • Keep practicing!
Photo by robinsonsmay 



    Five Things That May Not Be "Urgent", But Are Important

    Ann Green Uncategorized
    You are a nonprofit professional – overworked  in an understaffed environment. You may feel like you are going crazy  trying to get everything done.  You are dealing with urgent, short-term items, but are you overlooking some important ones?   No matter how busy you are, here are five things you or your organization needs to do.

    You need to plan
    For all of your initiatives – program, marketing, fundraising, etc, you need a plan.  I’m not even talking about a strategic plan, which you should have as well.  Each year you need to make a plan with goals and objectives.  Every quarter you should be tracking your progress (see second item). You may find that you need to make changes to your plan, which is understandable.  Yes, this takes time, but it’s time well spent.

    You need to keep track of your progress
    On a regular basis, you should be keeping track of  your accomplishments. Don’t wait until a funder requests this.  You should also keep track of your progress in conjunction with your plans (see first item). Document everything and make sure it’s accessible in the future.

    You need to thank your donors
    You’ve worked hard on your annual appeal and now the money is coming in.  Don’t stop there – you need to thank your donors.  Set aside a time each day (or every other day) to write thank you notes to your donors.  If possible, add a personal note or have your board members call donors to thank them.

    You need to be consistent
    Consistency is key.  All of your messaging, marketing materials, etc. need to be consistent.  When your staff and board are talking about your organization, is everyone conveying the same message?  Take time at your next staff and board meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page.  Also, make sure that new staff, board members, and volunteers are well oriented to your organization and its mission.

    You need to take care of  yourself
    Finally, you are working really hard.  Don’t forget to take time to care of yourself.  Be sure to take a lunch break (and if possible, don’t eat at your desk).  Make sure you are well-hydrated and give yourself opportunities to walk or stretch.  If things get really crazy, go take a walk, or even give yourself a mental health day.

    I’ll be going into more detail about some of these in future posts.