Sample Newsletter Template

Encourage all of your supporters (volunteers, fundraisers, donors and others) to subscribe to your newsletter. Regular communications with your supporters can help them to stay engaged and become more invested in helping you achieve your annual goals. Once your board is on board with your annual fundraising goals, you can also use your newsletter to keep them in the loop. Newsletters are also an excellent place to share any important fundraising updates and opportunities, including progress that you've made on recent campaigns or projects.

The best newsletters are scannable and easy to read, with content that highlights supporters' recent contributions and emphasizes relevant calls to action! We've made it easy for you to get started with the sample template below, plus some tips and tricks to help you increase and maintain supporter interest and excitement!

Sample Email

Getting Started

To begin a successful email marketing campaign, the first thing you need to do is build an email list. Maintaining a complete and reliable list of constituents will directly impact the success of your campaign, events, and organization as a whole.

How to gather email addresses

OFFLINE

Add a field for email on any materials that will be filled by your constituents. Be it a survey, a sponsorship commitment form, or any other response form; this is something that should always be included. Also, whenever at an event where there will be a number of your donors/volunteers attending, have a sign-in sheet and include a field for this. Be honest about why you want this info and ask them to always provide this information, as you'd like to be sure your records are up to date. If you are consistently providing them with engaging information they will not mind you contacting them via email.

ONLINE

The best place to gather email information is on your website. That being said, it is important that you are constantly driving people to your website by using your URL in your signature line of your email, on all print materials, and as often as possible in social media posts.

Once an individual lands on your website, prominently promote where folks can register for your newsletter, find more information about volunteering/donating, and view all your special events. Keep in mind that less is more! Do not ask for tons of information; a name and email is enough to get them started.

How to make sure your emails are being read

Getting your volunteers and donors to read and not delete your email is a difficult task. Across all industries the average open rate for email is about 20-40% with about 50% of that happening within the first 6 hours after you send the email (campaignmonitor.com). Though there is no way to guarantee an increase in open rate, there are a few things you can try.

First and foremost make sure your list is up to date. If you are sending emails to boxes that don't exist anymore you are doing nothing to help your organization. Make it easy for your supporters to choose what types of emails they would like to see from you and how often.

Experiment with subject lines and definitely do not use the same one ALL THE TIME. Keep your content short and sweet, and put the most important information at the top of the message.

Try sending emails on a different day. If you always send your newsletter on the first Monday of every month and your open rate is 15%, it may be time to adjust.

Design the body of your email to elicit a response

A picture is worth a thousand words. Don't just focus on images that draw the reader in. Also consider font, colors and layout as well. This is a great way to include your brand within your message!

Keep the meat of the message above the fold. We all hope that if our emails are opened the whole thing is being read, but be sure the keep the most important items above the fold. If your readers have to scroll to find out what you want them to know they may just never get the message.

Even better, just keep it short. Don't send a novel, just share a highlight. Your constituents want to know how you're using their dollars to support the organization's mission. As opposed to sending a detailed list, share some highlights along with a nice summary.

Send them to your OC Nonprofit Central profile (and to your organization's website if you have one). Instead of putting everything in your email message, drive your readers back to your profile. This allows you to keep your message short, but allow readers the opportunity to learn more if they like.

Personalize your message

Last but not least, always use your email marketing to create and develop relationships with your supporters by sending them messages that pique their interests, motivate them to action, and engage them in further dialog. Also, addressing your readers by name will add a personal touch to your email communications, and can help you to garner a better response rate. A good email marketing tool can help you to do this and allow you to track open rates as well.

Additional Tips for A Successful Newsletter

• Create a short, intriguing subject line and a compelling first sentence to draw readers in
• Ensure your newsletter has a good balance of text, photos, and "white space" to keep it scannable!
• Limit your newsletter to three consistent colors to enhance your brand and prevent your readers from being overwhelmed
• View your newsletter on several devices and browsers to make sure it is readable and responsive
• Calls to action should be clear - Include next steps so the reader will know exactly what to do to get involved!