Steven Screen

Some short and sweet tips on how to effectively use photos in your newsletter . . .

Let’s start with a guesstimate that only 50% of your donors actually read your newsletter (and it’s probably closer to 80%).  Let’s call those non-readers the Skimmers.  The Skimmers will glance at your newsletter but not read the articles.  The Skimmers will, however, look at the pictures.  And if the pictures are good they will read the picture captions.

That makes the pictures you choose very important.  Here’s what to do and what not to do.

The Don’t’s

• Don’t use pictures with lots of people
• Don’t use pictures where the people are far away from the camera
• Don’t have pictures of Major Donors and/or Board members.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what most nonprofits do.  And they raise less money because of it.

The Do’s

• Use a large photo on the front page.
• Use close-up photos.  Our rule is that we want to be close enough to see their eyes and their teeth.
• Pictures of just one person are best.  Try to never have more than three people in the photo unless there’s a very good reason.
• Use pictures of beneficiaries, not pictures of donors or staff.

Also, every photo should have a caption.  Why?  Because most of your donors will skim your newsletter – they won’t read the whole thing.  But they will read the picture captions — which makes those captions vitally important!

Use the caption to talk about the Donor’s role in what’s happening in the picture.  For instance, for a picture of two kids at a summer camp, most nonprofits would write, “Jimmy and Jessie playing on the slide at camp.”  But a great newsletter caption might say, “Thanks to you, Jimmy and Jessie experienced the joy of Summer Camp!”

Now, go make your next newsletter more powerful by using better photos and writing better captions.  You’ll raise more money and you’ll make the world a better place.

Here are some easy, Quick Tips for designing your newsletter.

Before you begin your newsletter there’s something vitally important you need to understand; roughly 80% of people who pick up your newsletter will not read it.  All they will do is scan the headlines, picture captions, and pull quotes.  That’s it.

Here’s what that means for you.  It means that your pictures, headlines and captions matter more than colors, fonts, and even what’s in your articles.  We’re not saying the content doesn’t matter (not at all), just pointing out that most of the people won’t read the articles so you should focus your design efforts on what most people do pay attention to.

Here are three guidelines to follow;

1. Don’t bury the good news.  If you bury the good news in your articles you’re throwing away 80% of your audience.  Instead, trumpet the good news in your headlines and pull-quotes.
2. Have a caption for every picture – but do not use the caption to describe the picture.  Use the caption to tell the donor about their role in what’s happening in the picture.
3. Always include a response device.  Make sure your donors have an easy way to send you a gift if they’d like.  In our experience, the increased costs of including a response device are always paid for (many times over) by the increase in response.

It’s good to remember the real goal of your newsletter; after reading (or even just glancing) at your newsletter, your donors should know that their gifts made the world a better place.  The best newsletters make Donors feel like superheroes.  (See the previous post for more info on this.)

Bonus Tip; the name of your newsletter should convey something positive.  Don’t name your newsletter as if it is an academic journal or a monthly report.  Name your newsletter as if it’s the only part of the newsletter that a donor might read — but you still want them to walk away with a good impression.  For example, if you’re working at a pet shelter, if your newsletter is named something like “Monthly Update” or (slightly better) “The Pet Report.”  Call it something like “Faithful Friends.”  Use the title to add value, don’t let it be a placeholder.

Later this week; which pictures are most effective at increasing donor retention and motivating gifts.  And to learn more, don’t forget to sign up for our free class on Newsletters That Raise More Money this Thursday, May 24.

We’re doing a series of posts on effective donor newsletters leading up to our free class on May 24th.  We’ll start with some big picture advice, then work our way into the details.  Here we go . . .

The best nonprofit newsletters share two things in common.

#1  Newsletters are not collections of stories and news items.  In other words, the best newsletters are not simply newspapers reporting the facts.

Instead, the best newsletters have a clear editorial perspective.  They have a clear agenda for what the nonprofit wants the reader to think when they finish reading.  Every piece of content is used to a) show [not tell] the donor the amazing changes that have happened because of the donor’s gift, b) thank the donor for making those changes, c) make it clear that there are more people who need help today, and d) make it easy to give another gift at that very moment.

#2  Donor-centric newsletters always remember that donors fund outcomes, not processes.  In other words, donors give gifts in order to create a change in the world.  Donors are almost always more interested in that change than they are in the process or program that the nonprofit uses to make the change.

So the best newsletters are always about people – the beneficiaries.  They tell the stories of what their lives were like before – and what their lives are like today because the donor gave a gift.  (The least effective newsletters are about the nonprofit itself; the people who work there, its programs and its processes.)

When a newsletter is done well, donors quickly see the impacts of their gifts.  Their satisfaction goes up and they are more likely to give another gift, either in response to that newsletter or to the next appeal letter or newsletter that they receive.  They also tend to be donors to your organization for longer.

We’re always talking about how the most effective fundraising is about the donor, not about the organization doing the fundraising.

Here’s a wonderful, real-world example.  It comes from 101Fundraising, via Future Fundraising Now (our favorite fundraising blog).

Three test emails were sent out and here are the results:

Put really simply: donors are less interested in what you are doing, and more interested in what their gift accomplished.  Apply that concept to your donor communications and you’ll start raising more money immediately.

Most nonprofits have a Summer Slump; donors are busy so response rates and revenue drop . . .

But sign up for this Friday’s free tele-class and you’ll learn what to do about your slump and how it’s possible to avoid it.  Did we mention the class is free?

Reserve your spot today!

We see it again and again, and it costs organizations thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars.  It’s the biggest mistake nonprofits and fundraisers can make.

It’s creating fundraising that you like, instead of creating fundraising that’s proven to work.

Many small- to medium-sized nonprofits don’t know that there is hard science behind good fundraising.  They don’t know that test after test after test has shown what works and what doesn’t (in most cases).  For those organizations, we encourage you to talk to an experienced fundraiser or subscribing to fundraising blogs.  There are “best practices” for fundraising and if you follow them you’ll raise more money.  And that’s exactly what we’re teaching in our free fundraising training tele-classes!

What’s more troubling are organizations that should know better.  These nonprofits let their Board members determine what can and can’t be said in fundraising, or have huge committees give input to fundraising.

Fundraising is more of a technical science than most people think it is.  Would we applaud the IT department that lets a committee of non-IT people share their opinions on their organization’s networking strategy?  No.  But we let it happen in Fundraising — and we raise less money because we do it.

Our advice is to stick to the science.  Talk to an expert about what works and what doesn’t, or become an expert yourself.

If you’re trying to get grants here are the three main things you need to know . . .

> The Essential Mission Match

Most private foundations are simply nonprofits with a stated mission to fund certain types of work. In order for your organization to receive funding, your mission must match theirs. The first step to successfully securing money is “mission-match.” So, do your homework; find foundations with a funding mission that supports the type of work your charity performs.

> A Detailed-and-Deadline-Driven Process

Once you’ve identified possible foundation funding sources, you will most likely submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) introducing your organization to the foundation and outlining how you’ll use the money if it’s received. If the LOI is approved, you’ll be asked to submit a formal proposal. And if you’re asked, be ready! Every proposal is unique in structure, requirements, deadlines and format and will require detailed project and information management to be successfully completed.

> Show Your Outcomes and Impact

If your proposal is funded, most foundations will require periodic reports about how the money is being (or was) used. Successful and timely reporting increases the likelihood that you’ll receive funding in the future.  BE SURE to include real-life information about your organization’s outcomes; tell at least one short story about the amazing changes that happened because of your work.

Here are a few final considerations: (1) Genuine relationships with the people running the foundation are invaluable. Pick up the phone and schedule a site visit. (2) Foundations will often help you craft your proposal. Call and ask. (3) Be ready – grants require substantial time, focus, and energy.

Getting grants is hard work.  Prepare yourself, your staff and your Board for a lot of work but few (if any) results for months.  Most organizations don’t see real results for 6 to 18 months.  But if you are willing to invest the time you’ll cultivate a group of valued, valuable partners in your mission.

If you haven’t seen the KONY 2012 video from Invisible Children, take a half hour and watch it here.  (You’ll have to scroll down just below the fold to see the video.)

The video — and the campaign it supports — do so many fundraising things RIGHT that it’s unbelievable.  Its an object lesson in communications for a nonprofit.  And here’s the thing; you can do the same thing for your cause.

Here are three things they did right that you can emulate:

1. They gave the Problem a human face.  They focused the beginning of their story on one young boy, Jacob.  Humans (i.e., everybody watching the video) relate to other humans.  We can’t relate to statistics and large numbers.  Invisible Children could have bombarded us with statistics.  They didn’t.  They introduced us to a person.  You should too.
2. They showed us a specific Problem that needs to be solved.  That’s the first step to any good fundraising offer; show the potential donor a compelling problem.  Do you show your donors problems (that they can solve) or do you show them only successes?   Show problems, ask the donor to solve them, and you’ll raise more money.
3. They showed us a Solution that made sense.  I thought, “They’re right, we need to get rid of this guy.”  And their method for doing so made sense.  Does your fundraising ask your donors to take a specific, understandable action right now that makes sense?

I bet there will be complaints.  I bet the video will be lambasted by people who say they are oversimplifying the problem.  I bet they’ll hear from people who say they should be focusing on some other problem.  Of course there will.  People disagree on how to treat homelessness.  People can’t even agree on how to fight cancer.

I hope Invisible Children doesn’t pay much attention to the complaints.  I hope they work like crazy to solve the problem they’ve identified.

And I hope you’re working just as hard to solve the problem your nonprofit is working on.

You’ve heard the phrase, “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.”  We find it to be incredibly helpful.

So, what’s the Main Thing in raising money?

==> Asking.

Asking your donors to give you money?

===> Nope.  The Main Thing is to show them how they can make the world a better place (via your organization) and then asking the donor to make the world a better place right now.

The best nonprofits and fundraisers don’t ask their donors to send them money.  They ask their donors to make a change in the world.

Look at your asks.  Are you asking your donors to make the world a better place?

If your asks are just about “donations” or “support” then you’ve got some work to do.  But the good news is that you can raise a bunch more money than you’re currently raising.