Ep. 163: Stop Sending Newsletters: Why They Don’t Raise Money
EPISODE 163
Stop Sending Newsletters: Why They Don’t Raise Money
About the Episode:
Nonprofit leaders love to default to newsletters - long, clunky, “Fall Update”-style emails stuffed with program blurbs, raffle announcements, and event reminders. But newsletters don’t raise money. In fact, they train donors to skim, ignore, or unsubscribe. In this episode, I break down why newsletters flop, what you should be sending instead, and how shifting to single-topic, story-driven campaigns can multiply your revenue without adding more work. You’ll learn how to replace the newsletter grind with an email system that actually sparks giving, builds donor trust, and scales with you.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Why traditional newsletters train donors to tune you out
The psychology of distraction and why donors need focus, not info dumps
Story-driven, single-topic emails that lead to action (instead of updates no one reads)
How to send more emails without donor fatigue
The role of email as a scalable, foundational fundraising engine
A step-by-step alternative to newsletters: campaign-style email sequences
It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here! https://christinaedwards.krtra.com/t/xKuLs6tOiPZa
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Newsletters don't raise money. They actually do the opposite.”
“Consumers are donors, and donors are consumers.”
“Old school monthly newsletter doesn't work anymore.”
“Newsletter isn't bad, but it's the wrong tool for fundraising.”
“Donors don't want a newspaper, they want a story, a little sneak peek, a moment to make a difference.”
“Silence doesn't keep your donors loyal; it makes them forget you.”
“You don't need more time - you need to write better emails.”
“Email is the most foundational fundraising engine you should have online.”
“The power of email when you actually are willing to be brave.”
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
Easy Emails For Impact™ - Turn Your Inbox into an Income Stream
Donations on Demand: Build a $5K Email Campaign System in 30 min/week
The SPRINT Method™ - Fundraise Like a Pro, 5 Figures At a Time
Connect with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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*Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Christina Edwards 0:17Most nonprofits still believe they have to send a newsletter the quarterly or monthly, sometimes even further apart update. In fact, newsletters don't raise money. They actually do the opposite. So what do most newsletters look like? They look that that like, that very long form, scrolling, endless content, block after content block, after contact block, programmatic updates, a raffle. Here, an event. There, an FAQ, a program blurb. It feels like a very mundane kind of tedious newspaper, not in a good way, right? Not in a good not the good newspaper, not the one you want to read. It's very, very predictable, boring and easy to tune out. You know, you're writing a newsletter like this. If your subject line sounds like Fall news, September update, Spring newsletter, right? Those are symptoms that you might be stuck in the news, letter myth. So let's dig into why they flop. Why don't they work anymore. Maybe they used to work. Maybe, if at some point this was a great idea to kind of have a comprehensive, you know, one email view of what your organization has been up to in the last month or quarter, you have to think about this. First and foremost, consumers are donors, and donors are consumers. That is one in the same. So the person that buys the Starbucks that then buys the $50 candle at anthropology, that then goes to target or Costco or wherever they like to shop, those are consumers, right? Those are consumer behaviors, right? They use Instacart, they watch Netflix. That same person is also a donor. They are not different people, and we have to stop treating them as different people. That means that they are more distracted than ever. That means that they are more attached and on their phone than ever. That means that they are getting more Bings and tings and notifications and emails and messages than ever. So your old school monthly newsletter doesn't work anymore. Doesn't work anymore. So there's too many topics. It's overwhelming. Without any call to action, that long form update will lead to donor fatigue. We don't know what to read first. It's overwhelming, kind of boring, so we don't even open it at all. It's also an information dump, okay? So it's all about the organization and not about the donor at all, that trains readers to skim or just ignore a newsletter inherently, isn't bad, but it's the wrong tool for fundraising. So let's dig into today what you should do instead. You
Christina Edwards 3:45
For several years now, we've shifted our clients who are stuck on the newsletter train over to single topic, story driven emails that lead to action. These are shorter, punchier, way more exciting and emotionally connected. They feel personal. They feel like you're writing to one person. People are excited to read these emails. They read them from like, cover to cover, the whole thing, campaign style sequences. So this is the what we teach inside my programs, particularly in my email marketing course, Easy Emails For Impact™. I teach you how to do this. So instead of one off emails that you hope raise $5,000 we teach you how to raise $5,000 or more in every email campaign. So moving to fundraising campaigns when you're fundraising and story driven email campaigns when you're not right, and we weave in the two. By the way, you can use story driven email campaigns to fundraise, but I just want to give you that distinction is you're not always in a constant state of fundraising with email. So it's not about dumping everything you ever done into one email. It's about creating a Moment of connection and giving your reader like one thing, one take or one action you want them to do. So think about the psychology of this, right? So donors don't want a newspaper, they want a story, an invitation, a little sneak peek, a moment a way to matter, a moment to take action, a moment to make a difference. I
Christina Edwards 5:44
if you're thinking, we don't want to bother our donors with too many emails, this is one of the biggest complaints that I hear, like objections that I hear, this is the reality and like, lean in for this one. Don't be distracted if you're worried about bothering your donors with too many emails. I want you to know that if you don't show up, someone else will. Silence doesn't keep your donors loyal. It makes them forget you. That's all that's happening by leaving too much time between your email communications. And if you're thinking, Christina donors love our newsletter, okay, do they read it, or do they just say they love it? Are they clicking through? Do you have data to support that open and clicks, don't lie. And the last thing I'll, I'll suggest on that is conversions. So they're opening the email, they're clicking email, and then are they actually converting, taking the action you want them to take, signing up for the dinner, the raffle, the the gala, the donation, the volunteer event, right? Are they taking the action?
Christina Edwards 7:03
and if you're thinking we don't have time to write more emails, like I cannot add more emails to my plate, we'd actually don't need you to spend more time writing emails. We're going to reallocate the time you're spending, because I know that newsletter that you write once a month is a beast, right? So you don't need more time. It's actually about writing better emails. A focused three email campaign will outperform a long form newsletter every single time. I want you to think about like, snacks or appetizers over a Thanksgiving dinner. Like the Thanksgiving dinner, sure we like it once a year. We don't want the Thanksgiving dinner every single month. You with me, we want, like, a little appetizer, a little tapas, a little bite, a little something. That's what your email should be doing.
Christina Edwards 8:05
One of the reasons I foundationally go back to email to help my clients achieve their goals again and again and again is sometimes we're looking out here for some shiny new strategy, right? It's like, what's the latest grant funder I should apply to, or a new tool, or how can I use AI to blah, blah, blah. Or what new thing Do I need out here? Right? What Tiktok something Do I need to get on my side? Right? Email is the most foundational fundraising engine you should have online. It is my number one tool to help you online Fundraise.Period. Full stop. Email is an asset. It is a backbone. And we've had clients come in and retool their email strategy, retool the stories they're telling, replace those newsletters with story driven campaigns 2x, 3x, 9x more in donations. These are true stories. These are not unicorns. These are organizations that are small. We have organizations that are mid size and larger established organizations that this works for each point. Tapping into your existing email list is integral to bringing up your overall revenue, it is such an important part of your revenue growth, because that way, instead of bringing in some crazy new strategy or some new idea your well meaning board member has, you're using something that you already have in place. You're iterating and improving upon it. So my clients are using this to run faster sprint campaigns, to run more profitable campaigns inside the purpose of profit club. This is how we make Giving Tuesday feel, instead of like a headache to a celebration. You make your summer appeal go so much farther and hit that donation match you unlock that. Match using email. It works in your sleep, because you can have automation. It rolls out the red carpet for new donors, right? It keeps your donors and your connection to your organization top of mind. I love it for all of those pieces, the average smaller size nonprofit actually raises $6.15 cents per email subscriber. That proves that you don't need a massive list. You actually just need a better approach to email. When I built my course easy emails for impact, I built it for each one of you, whether you're small, whether you're a larger, established organization, to stop looking for the perfect thing out there and start using your own asset to develop bigger conversations, using email to develop major gifts, conversations with which, by the way, we teach you how to do to bring in your social media followers over to email so that they can actually to be a part of your community to join your recurring giving program, to become a monthly donor, right? These different things that you can run using email campaigns. Every email is either training donors to kind of tune you out right, or drawing them closer in. That's what we want to do.
Christina Edwards 11:32
I've worked with clients who had established organizations who were used to the cadence being quarterly, and I remember working with them and moving them to monthly, and then kind of stair stepping and working that, working with them to start running campaigns. So at certain points throughout the year, they were increasing that cadence, right? So people were receiving more. And it's really easy to think, the more emails I send, the more people will unsubscribe. The more emails I send, the less my open rate will decrease, right? The more emails I send, the more people will get fatigued. The more emails I send, the more people will get annoyed. It's like all of these negative thoughts just self protecting. The more emails I send, the more my board will think, what the hell am I doing? Right? Because especially for an established organization, there's an established frequency, and the the lie, the lie we tell ourselves is that all of those things are true. So we have clients who have thought those exact things and then used the Easy Emails For Impact™ process. Sent more emails, what happened? Open rates increased, sent more emails, what happened and subscribes did not increase. Sent more emails. More money was generated, not less, sent more emails. Donors and subscribers were actually connected to their organization. Their organization was more top of mind than ever. Now I make the distinction between donors and subscribers because many of you like this organization have people on their email list that have never donated. So they may have happened on their email list through, you know, an event they may have happened on their email list through, you know, the little box you have on your website. Subscribe to our newsletter, right? Those, those kind of elements. We have people who have used this process, who have had subscribers on the their email list for three and four years, but have never donated, go through this process and engage those people. I call those the lurkers. They they're reading their opening and they never took action until they shifted into this style, until they shifted into story driven campaigns. And they looked I remember this one executive director telling me, we've got donations in from somebody who was on our list for four years, right? And so the power of email when you actually are willing to be brave, the power of email when you are willing to stop with the status quo of this is what we've always done. So we have to continue doing it this way. That is a recipe for the plateau of all plateaus, right? And so if you use email to innovate, if you use email to personalize, if you use email to fundraise, it's going to require you to be brave. It's going to require you to stop doing something you've always been doing and start doing something else. But I love it because it's scalable. You can it's like inviting more people to the party doesn't cost you more time. If you have 2000 email subscribers, and next year you have 4000 email subscribers, it doesn't require more time from you. You're just sending that same email to more people. It scales you because how many one to one phone calls can you make? How many, how many could you make in a day? Right? So if you have somebody, if you have an influx of donations, and you don't have enough hours in the day to make phone calls, you can use email to send personalized emails to people who are donating for the first time, donating to your becoming a monthly donor for the first time, maybe making a significant gift. There's so many different ways you can use email that skills not only your organization, but like duplicates you so hopefully I've made a case for shifting the way you're thinking about email, especially this time of year, if all you know how to do is send newsletters right now and an occasional Giving Tuesday or one off fundraising email. This is your wake up call. Your list deserves better, and so do you. That's why I created this course inside I'll I give you done for you, templates, story, frameworks, everything you need to raise 5k or more in every single campaign, so you're never stuck staring at a blank screen or just like defaulting back to that fall newsletter, right?
Christina Edwards 16:38
If you go to splendid courses.com, forward, slash demand. You can sign up for my free webinar where I'm going to give you the inside look of what this strategy could look like for your organization, plus a special bonus to join easy emails for impact. All right, stop sending those newsletters and start sending story driven email campaigns. I'll see you next time.