HELP! How do I merge our 8 donor newsletters?
File under: Turning 8 newsletters into 1
"Help!"
True story: a healthcare system serving seniors issues a different donor newsletter for each of its 8 scattered sites. Now that's become impossible. Can chief fundraiser Wendy merge her 8 newsletters into 1 ... without losing donors who give to a specific site?
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From: Wendy
To: Tom
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2024
Subject: Question following yesterday's webinar
Hi Tom,
Long-time fan. Enjoyed your webinar yesterday. It was really timely ... as we are rolling out a new donor newsletter this year!
I had a question yesterday I didn't ask because it's really specific to my world ... and I’m hopeful you will share some advice.
My organization's mission is seniors’ healthcare. We are four distinct regions operating under one brand umbrella.
While each region provides services to seniors, we do not offer the same services across the regions (for instance, our rural regions provide transportation while the urban region does not ... and then there's our hospice).
The dilemma?
Our donors are very focused on keeping their donations in their communities. This is not a problem administratively. We DO designate to specific sites based on each donor's wishes.
Until now, therefore, twice a year we published 8 different print newsletters, each tailored specifically to those donors who give to that particular site and its programs.
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Then came Wendy's topsy-turvy....
Until recently we had a team of 4 fundraisers. Then — due to retirement, maternity leave (it’s 18 months in Canada), and a resignation — I am the last fundraiser standing.
I am hopeful we will replace those positions. But for now it is me and my valued fund/marketing assistant ... with significant support from the Director of Comms.
The bad news: I can’t keep up with producing 8 newsletters.
The good news: I do have full control of the donor newsletter.
I personally would like to have ONE donor newsletter ... but I’m concerned about offending donors at specific sites (it's happened before ... which is why we have 8 donor newsletters).
[Another pressure point] Our donor newsletters do double-duty as appeals ... they are a very important communication with donors because they produce significant fundraising revenue at year-end.
What would you do in my situation?
Thank you,
Wendy
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Dear Wendy, Tom here:
If I may sum up? On one hand, you can no longer do 8 site-specific newsletters; you just don't have the staffing. On the other hand, donors MUST be reassured that their donations help at the location of their choice.
Which got me muttering and doodling...
OK, Wendy, you have 4 regions. Those regions deliver high-quality services at 8 different sites. Desperately needed services, too: in-home nursing and rehab, dementia respite for caregivers, retirement living, transportation, hospice, etc. etc. etc.
But, but, but ... it could be said that your .org serves "just" 3 buckets of people: urban seniors, rural seniors, and seniors needing hospice (palliative) care.
AND ... that looked at from 30,000 feet ... your 3 big buckets have 1 thing in common: the folks you serve system-wide are of a certain age and susceptible to various age-related ills and nasty surprises. (As my older sister, Alice, alerted me: "After 50, it's all repair, repair, repair." And so it goes: aging and mortality.)
My doodle....
Still muttering...
Donors want/need to fight an enemy, according to super-fundraiser, Stephen Pidgeon.
"The best donor-supported health care possible ... for susceptible seniors and their concerned families, friends and communities." Is THIS the fight that at some emotional level unites ALL your donors, no matter which of your 8 sites they want to give to?
Denisa Casement then weighed in (Denisa was our superb guest-expert at Wendy's webinar. Denisa C., one of the most high-achieving donor communicators I've ever had the privilege to share lunch with, answered audience questions for more than 4 hours, guzzling Gatorade to stay sharp.)
"Some stories can be told as a human story without being totally specific about which service/site was used," Denisa said. "We do this regularly with orgs that have services in both the Republic and Northern Ireland. It's not too hard to manage.
"My advice would be to create some universal content as a base for the newsletters. Then fill each newsletter out with 'nuggets' of region-specific content. The cover letter, the donation form and the outbound envelope can all be used to specify where a donor's gift is going."
For those readers who might be new-ish to direct-mail terminology: "What's an outbound envelope?"
See illustration below.
An outbound envelope is a standard part of a "pack" (i.e., "package") built using the Domain Formula for print newsletters. Fundraising Writing created the illustrated pack for the wonderful HCP CureBlindness (featured in December 2023 on NBC News, which covered this charity's sight-giving work in South Sudan).
Please ALSO note that the reply device is full-page; not some squeezed-up little coupon.
That extra space on the reply device allows you to insert additional site-specific info ... such as a photo of a van, when you're mailing to your rural donors. Those donors know that transportation is a key rural service. (For more info on full-page reply devices, see John Lepp's banal-busting 2022 book, Creative Deviations, a 5-star favorite on Amazon.)
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