Yuka Kato
A newsletter is a cost-effective tool for maintaining regular contact with your audience and building relationships.
As a nonprofit organization, you can use newsletters to remind members of your community about the services you provide and why they should support your organization.
This is critical to getting your community engaged in what your nonprofit is doing and securing funding.
However, a newsletter can only be effective if it has valuable content for your audience.
In this article, we will examine valuable content for your nonprofit email newsletters to make your audience more engaged, ensuring more support and funding long term.
The top 11 ideas for creating engaging nonprofit newsletters (with nonprofit newsletter templates) are:
1. Announce your upcoming events
Events are one of the best ways to bring the community together and promote a cause.. For example, a typical school will have events like Meet the Teacher, Trunk or Treat, Talent Shows, Art Contests, Field Trips, Graduation Ceremonies, and more. Nonprofit organizations also organize events, like fundraising auctions, galas, dinner parties, and facility tours.
The nonprofit newsletter is a cost-effective way to advertise your upcoming events to your community and invite everyone to attend.
When promoting your upcoming events in your nonprofit newsletter, ensure you include all the exciting details of the event, including the date of the event, location of the event, fun activities to be had, special guests, how to participate, and how to get more information.
You should use the newsletter to convince your audience that the event is not one they should miss.
If your next event will require participants to register, include a link to your registration form. This creates a call to action and makes it easy for readers to act on it.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your newsletter. Make sure you edit it with your organization details.
Graduation Ceremony
It’s a big honor to announce the graduation of our 2023/ 2024 students
Please join us to celebrate the graduation of these wonderful students who have excelled in both learning and character. Even the governor of the state will be in attendance!
Special Guest: Senator John Gloak (Governor of North Dakota)
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2023
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Venue: School Auditorium, Richmond High School
For more information, click https://richmondhigh.edu.uk/graduationceremony or call +1 780 893 4783
2. Feature recent initiatives by your nonprofit
Has your nonprofit recently done anything intended to solve a problem or help people? Your newsletter is an important place to share this with your audience.
They’ll come to know what you are doing. Knowing that you are contributing positively to solving the problems that affect them (or the people they care about) will make them more likely to support your nonprofit with their time and resources.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
CONTRIBUTING TO FIGHTING CHILD OBESITY
One million children will be overweight in 10 years – Recent government study.
A recent study by the US Government reported concerning statistics, including that “half the population will be obese within 25 years” and “one million children will be overweight within 10 years.”
The report recommended that teaching children to be healthier adults will help fight the obesity scourge.
In view of this, Richmond High School is planning to introduce compulsory nutrition and cookery classes for all 11 to 14-year-olds by 2024.
These classes will be taught by expert nutritionists and cookery teachers. Children will learn about healthy food. They’ll also learn to cook for an hour each week.
To learn more about the compulsory cookery classes, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/compulsory-cookery-classes
3. Portray beneficiaries’ stories
Storytelling is a great vehicle for reaching the hearts of your audience. This is because stories stir emotion and help you connect emotionally with your audience.
Thus, no matter your cause as a nonprofit, you should employ storytelling in your content marketing efforts – including newsletters.
Interestingly, as a nonprofit organization, some of the best marketing stories are stories about people you have helped. This tells your audience that you are actually doing good.
For a nonprofit newsletter, an effective practice when using impactful storytelling is to convey to your audience that you got the success story only because of their support.
For example, “Without you, there is no us, and if we didn’t exist, Jules Mary might still be homeless today.” This makes your audience feel like they are impacting lives through your nonprofit.
When telling the story of someone you help, you should use before and after photos to show the transformation. A first-person video testimony from the beneficiary is also beneficial. You can add a link to the video.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
Helping People program
5 years ago, August Jules was an abandoned 11-year-old boy who slept wherever night met him on the harsh streets of Buckingham and ate whatever he could scavenge from trash bins.
Today, August is graduating from high school (top of his class) and has a lineup of colleges calling him.
This is thanks to the Richmond High School “Helping People” program, which (through your support) finds and helps the most vulnerable in our society.
“I’m eternally grateful to the Helping People program for literally saving my life. If the street had not taken me, I definitely would have ended it myself.” August said in an interview. See the interview HERE.
To learn more about how the Helping People program is saving lives and how you can support us, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/helping-people
4. Share stories of donors
Newsletters are tools that help you build relationships. Interestingly, one of the best ways to maintain a relationship with your past donors is to recognize them and their contribution to your nonprofit’s success via your newsletter.
Your past donors have a reason for getting interested in your nonprofit and making donations. Get them to explain their motivation for supporting your cause. Then, feature this in your newsletter.
Know that no one can explain why others should donate to your nonprofit better than people who have already donated.
The reasons that past donors give for supporting your nonprofit may help your audience understand your nonprofit in a new light. This may motivate them to offer their own support.
In the newsletter example below, see how the nonprofit shares the story of the CEO/ Executive Director of a company that supports it with donations.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
E-Global & Richmond High- taking “Helping People” to new heights
“Nonprofit” and “private school” usually do not belong in the sentence – E-Global explains reasons for supporting Richmond High
E-Global, Atlanta’s premiere logistic company, is a generous donor to Richmond High’s Helping People program, recently donating $10,000 to the program.
In a recent interview, E-Global’s CEO (Enoch Wuspai) explained the company’s motivation for supporting the program.
“Private schools are typically profit-oriented, so it was refreshing to hear of one that is a nonprofit. When we saw Richmond’s mission of “breaking barriers to education and empowering everyone with academic knowledge,” we instantly knew that it is a school that thinks about the students and not about benefits.” Mr. Wuspai explained. See the full interview HERE
To learn more about the Helping People program and how you can support it, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/helping-people
5. Spotlight outstanding volunteers and staff
Donors are not the only people who contribute to a nonprofit’s success. Staff and volunteers also play crucial roles in helping nonprofit achieve their goals.
Featuring outstanding contributions from these individuals in your newsletter can help you build good relationships with them as it tells them that you appreciate them. It can also inspire others to volunteer for your nonprofit or contribute in some other ways.
A best practice when spotlighting outstanding volunteers is to include a CTA inviting your audience to volunteer. See the nonprofit newsletter template below:
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
Volunteer Teacher Like No Other
Being a nonprofit, private school, Richmond High depends largely on volunteer teachers. However, finding volunteer teachers with the requisite skills and experience is difficult. Upon finding any, getting them to stay for a reasonably long time is even more difficult.
This is where Mr. Rashput Vidra proved to be a volunteer teacher like no other. Mr. Vidra has been with Richmond High as a volunteer teacher for 2 years. He recently got an appointment with one of the big FMCG companies in the state.
Richmond High School says, “Thank you for your selfless service” to Mr. Rashput Vidra and all the volunteer teachers with us.
To learn more about the volunteer teaching position at Richmond High, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/volunteer-teaching-positions
Also read: 10 Most Effective Email Outreach Templates (Tested by Experts)
6. Call for volunteers
Appreciating outstanding volunteers can inspire people to volunteer for your nonprofit. However, actively inviting your audience to volunteer via newsletter may be more effective.
This tells your audience that there are other ways to support your nonprofit besides making donations.
Explain how their service is important to furthering your nonprofit’s cause. This helps them see how their services will improve lives.
The best nonprofit newsletter templates calling for volunteers include how anyone who honors the call will benefit. Sometimes, people are more motivated when they see that their efforts do not only serve others but also themselves.
See how the nonprofit newsletter template below shows how volunteering will work to the advantage of the volunteer.
Also, note how the template includes a CTA inviting readers to click to see how the volunteer process works.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
Join Us As A Volunteer Teacher
Being a nonprofit, private school, Richmond High depends largely on volunteer teachers.
However, finding qualified volunteer teachers has always been a challenge. If you are interested in helping empower the leaders of tomorrow, join us as a Volunteer Teacher this Fall.
While you help us achieve our goals, completing voluntary placements in Richmond High will also work to your advantage. By volunteering for us, you’ll gain experience in teaching and the national curriculum and have evidence of your commitment to education.
Having this experience will strengthen your application when applying to school-led positions and prepare you for potential interviews. If you’re already working in a school, you could be at the top of the list if any training opportunities arise.
To learn more about the volunteer teaching position at Richmond High, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/volunteer-teaching-positions
7. Share information that interests your audience
People with shared interests come together to form a community – with the shared interest serving as a glue that binds members of the community.
Thus, a good nonprofit newsletter should not only focus on your organization but also focus on your community. You should also provide valuable content on topics that interest the community, even if these are not about you. Your social media accounts are great places to see what your audience is talking about.
Providing community members with information on topics they care about sparks their interest and keeps them engaged.
They’ll also come to see your organization as a reference and be more willing to support your nonprofit.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
GET INVOLVED
BUSH OR GALLOWAY FOR COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION
After the unfortunate demise of Dr. John Lakroft, the former commissioner of education, Governor Hoddle is set to appoint a new commissioner of education.
News has it that the two frontrunners for the position are Dr. Mary Bush and Prof. John Galloway.
Prof. Galloway is a Professor of Law at Delta College and is credited with revamping the Faculty of Law. Dr. Bush was the Commissioner of Youth during the last administration and pioneered the famous “street to stage” program that took over 2,000 youths off the street.
Who will you want to see as the new Commissioner of Education? Click here to vote between Bush or Galloway: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/bush-or-galloway-for-commissioner
8. Share a survey
Making your audience feel valued is an important way to build and maintain relationships. Interestingly, one way to make your audience feel valued is to have two-way communication with them, listen to their thoughts and opinions, and act on them.
Incorporating surveys in your newsletter is one way to listen to your audience’s opinions and make them feel valued.
Let’s say your nonprofit is considering a new initiative. Instead of implementing it and informing your audience, why not ask them what they think about the initiative? This will make them more engaged with your nonprofit. It’ll also make them feel more valued and more willing to support you.
Importantly, incorporating surveys or requesting feedback via newsletters will make you know your audience better. This helps you design initiatives that resonate with them, increasing their support for your nonprofit.
Note, when including surveys in your newsletter, ensure a future newsletter will announce the results and actions to be taken.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
YES OR NO TO FIGHTING CHILD OBESITY VIA COOKERY CLASSES
One million children will be overweight in 10 years – Recent government study
A recent study by the US Government reported concerning statistics, including that “half the population will be obese within 25 years” and “one million children will be overweight within 10 years.”
The report recommended that teaching children to be healthier adults will help fight the obesity scourge.
In view of this, Richmond High School is planning to introduce compulsory cookery classes for all 11 to 14-year-olds by 2024. In these classes, children will learn how to cook for an hour each week.
DO YOU THINK COOKERY CLASSES WILL BE EFFECTIVE IN FIGHTING CHILD OBESITY? Visit our website to tell us what you think: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/news/compulsory-cookery-classes
9. Share recent blog posts
Sharing information that interests your audience is a way to keep them engaged with your nonprofit. When they regularly get valuable information from you, they see you as an authority in the field and will seek to hear from you on issues.
One of the best ways to share relevant information with your audience is to convert your latest blog posts into a newsletter series.
Have you recently written a blog post that provides valuable information about a topic that resonates with your audience? Then, you do not need to rack your brain about content for your newsletter.
Introduce the topic and summarize its content, then drop the link. You may also highlight several related blog posts – including the topics, short summaries of each post, and links to each one.
Sharing your blog posts in your newsletter has the added advantage of increasing your blog’s reach. Your audience, who may have missed it when you published it, now gets to read it.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
Breaking barriers to education
Richmond High has been at the forefront of making education accessible to all. Read about our journey, from how the non-profit private school idea was born to how we achieved national acclaim.
No child will drop out of college because of an inability to pay fees. Sandra Ainsworth (Richmond High’s Principal) explains how she developed the idea of a nonprofit private school
Why education is increasingly becoming expensive, and what can be done See the main reasons why education is expensive and 7 things that can be done to make education more accessible to all
To learn more about how Richmond High is making education accessible to all, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/about
10. Curate articles from the web
When engaging your audience with valuable information, there are advantages to writing and sharing your own articles.
However, you do not have to be a content marketing specialist to engage your audience with valuable information because you do not have to write all the content in your newsletter.
You can be a content curator and leverage other people’s content for your newsletter. If you find articles that provide valuable information, you can use them in your newsletter.
You don’t have to stick with posting only news articles that speak positively of your nonprofit.
When using other people’s articles as content in your newsletter, introduce the article’s topic, outline your thoughts on how it affects your nonprofit or audience, and then drop a link to the article.
A popular way of using content curation in email marketing is “round-up posts.” This involves finding different articles on a particular topic and compiling them for your audience.
In the nonprofit newsletter example below, see how the school curates valuable articles from reputable outside sources for its members. Importantly, see how they link the topics to the nonprofit’s mission, driving home what the organization does.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
The number of out-of-school children is on the rise
If the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, then we shudder to think of what tomorrow’s leadership will look like because more and more children are dropping out of school.
The New York Times recently posted damning statistics about out-of-school children
3 out of 10 school-age children are not in school | The New York Times
The situation does not seem like it is going away soon, as a study by the Huffington Post shows that the number will grow in the future.
The number of out-of-school children to grow by 25% in the next decade | Huffington Post
However, Richmond High is actively fighting to reduce these damning statistics and empower more children with education.
To learn more about how Richmond High is making education accessible to all, click here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/about
11. Photo gallery from past events
A recently held event can also provide good content for your newsletters. Once an event has passed, you can post it in your newsletter to keep it in the minds of your audience and build anticipation for your upcoming event.
When posting past events, thank everyone who attended the event and highlight the key outcomes of the events. Importantly, provide a preview of the best photos from the event and a link to the full gallery of photos.
Remember that a picture is worth a thousand words. Photos from events are better at generating engagement from your audience than text.
People who attended will happily reminisce about the event and eagerly flip through the photos, hoping to find their own.
Those who did not participate will be curious about what they missed and motivated to attend future events.
Here’s the text for you to copy, edit, and easily create your nonprofit newsletter:
GRADUATION CEREMONY
Richmond High graduated its 2022/23 students on July 17, 2023. The memorable event was graced by the presence of the Commissioner of Education, Dr. Fred Snowman, and 12 students received full college scholarships. See some photos from the event:
See the full photo gallery here: https//richmondhigh.edu.uk/graduation-cere-money/phto-gallery
Nonprofit newsletter best practices
Some of the best practices when writing a newsletter for a nonprofit organization include:
Start with an engaging subject line
Your email subject line is the first thing the recipients see. Therefore, it is what determines whether they will open the email.
Thus, if your subject line is weak, people who receive your email may not open it. For this reason, the best nonprofit newsletter examples start with engaging subject lines.
Ensure the subject line of your email is compelling and gives recipients a reason to open the email. Some ways to create good subject lines include:
- Create a sense of urgency: Use words like “breaking,” “important,” and “urgent.” E.g., An important news for all lovers of humanity.
- Curiosity: Keep recipients guessing what you have in store for them in the email. E.g., Don’t wait till it’s too late.
Have a single focus per newsletter
You may have a lot to give your audience, but it does not help to pour it all into one newsletter.
You may know the popular saying, “he who chases two rabbits catches neither.” When you put many things in one newsletter, the reader may struggle to identify which is the most important. This could make them stop reading and leave the email without clicking to your page.
However, when you have a single focus, the reader can easily get the message you are communicating and is more likely to follow through on your call to action.
Use multimedia engagement
Walls of text can be boring and make the content difficult to scan and read. So, using different content forms (particularly images and videos) can make your newsletter come alive and more likely to be read and acted upon.
For example, photos add a visual appeal and are easier to digest, making your email more engaging.
Videos increase the visual experience for your readers, making your email more engaging.
Create a clear and compelling call to action (CTA)
When you send a newsletter, you should have a clear action you want readers to take. Your readers cannot read your mind, so state this action clearly.
Do you want them to click on your webpage for more information or sign up for an upcoming event?
Whatever it is, make the request clearly at the end of the newsletter. When your readers see your call to action after reading the email content, they realize that what they have just read has a point and will be more willing to visit your website.
Stick to a sending schedule
Whether you choose to send out emails once a week or once a month, it’s important to stick to your sending schedule.
When your audience realizes that you send emails at a particular time, they’ll come to expect your email in their inbox.
But without a schedule, your audience will not know when to expect an email from you. They may even forget that they subscribed to your email list, increasing your unopened email rate.
FAQs
Here are the most frequently asked questions about nonprofit newsletter ideas:
How often should nonprofit organizations send emails?
How often a nonprofit should send emails depends on the audience and their behavior (like open rates). However, 2 – 5 times a month works for most organizations.
What is crucial is consistency. When you use analytics like open rates to determine a sending frequency that works for your audience, ensure a consistent newsletter schedule.
You can use an email tracking resource like Mailsuite to track how well your recipients open your emails to determine an ideal sending frequency.
Also read: Mailsuite campaigns turn Gmail into a mass email tool for up to 10,000 recipients
What is the ideal length for a nonprofit newsletter?
You should keep your nonprofit newsletter as short as possible while providing the information the reader needs to take the action you want them to take.
Ask yourself the information your reader needs. Then, provide only that information in a concise manner. However, this should not be in more than 20 lines of text or about 200 words.
What makes an effective nonprofit newsletter?
An effective newsletter should communicate your message effectively. It should start with an interesting subject line that compels the receiver to open the email.
It should be easy to read, offer something of value, and have a simple CTA that directs the reader to take the action you want them to take.
What is the objective of a nonprofit newsletter?
The primary objective of a nonprofit newsletter is to raise awareness about what you are doing, keep your entire community interested in what you are doing, and keep them engaged with your organization.
While you may occasionally use a non-profit newsletter to call for donations and raise money, you should not turn it into a fundraising email, or else your recipients will stop opening it.
How do you write a nonprofit newsletter for donors?
When writing a nonprofit newsletter for donors, the most important things include thanking them for their donations and showing that their money was used meaningfully to improve lives.
Takeaways: Supercharge your nonprofit newsletter with Mailsuite
Nonprofit email newsletters help you remind your audience what your organization is about and why they should support it. It can spread awareness for your nonprofit and bring in new donations.
The 11 nonprofit newsletter content listed above will help you create engaging email newsletters for your nonprofit organization.
However, running a successful email campaign starts with choosing the right email marketing tool. This is where Mailsuite comes in!
Mailsuite is the best email marketing tool for small businesses as it is a simple service that lets you run your email campaigns right from your Gmail account.
In addition to its ease of use, Mailsuite has superior tracking capability. Mailsuite tracks sent emails and will notify you when a recipient opens and reads the email.
This helps you determine the ideal frequency for your nonprofit newsletters and how best to follow up. Thus, using Mailsuite email tracking capability helps optimize your nonprofit’s newsletters.
