Imagine a nonprofit donor newsletter that does everything a quality newsletter should do … but it’s easier to create and less expensive.

Would you be interested?

Good news: I’m not making this up!

Such a thing as an easier, cheaper, just-as-effective donor newsletter is real. It’s been tested, and it works!

It’s called a Donor Care Letter, and you can create one any time!

A Donor Care Letter has roughly the same contents as a donor newsletter, but it’s in the form of a letter. That’s all.

A few years ago, I ran a test: A “normal” newsletter against the same stories arranged as a letter. Both test panels did equally well. But the letter version was less expensive. I thought I’d invented a new mousetrap!

Turns out Sean Triner was already doing the same thing and getting similar results before I ever did. It’s quite possible others have also independently made the same discovery. If this idea is new to you, let me show you what a Donor Care Letter is, and what it can do for you….

• It’s a personalized piece of direct mail designed for people who have given to your organization.
• It’s not about your organization, but about them – the donors – and the wonderful things that are happening, thanks to them.
• It’s built on storytelling (not statistics!).
• The purpose: To “close the loop” for donors, letting them know that their giving matters and makes the difference they want to help make.
• When done well, they increase donor retention rates, usually by several percentage points.
• They also raise net revenue – sometimes at a level that rivals direct mail appeals.

I think I know what you’re saying right now: “You’re just describing a donor newsletter!”

And you’re right.

That’s exactly the description of a donor newsletter. It’s also the description of a Donor Care Letter.

So let’s look at what’s different between the two:

• A newsletter looks like a publication. It has a masthead, articles with headlines, photos, stories, some of them with bylines.
• A Donor Care Letter is a letter. It’s on stationery, starts with “Dear <Salutation>,” and ends with a signature and a PS. It can include photos, but doesn’t have to. It can be any number of pages long (usually two a the least).
• Both have a reply device and return envelope.
• Both can have lift inserts (it’s more common for a Donor Care Letter).
• The writing style of a newsletter is quasi-journalistic storytelling. The “voice” is either of the organization, or of the person bylined in the article.
• The writing style of a Donor Care Letter is the person who signs the letter. Engaging, first-person, and as much as possible tells stories from their point of view. But both tell the same types of stories: wonderful things that have happened, thanks to the donor.

Because it’s a letter, a Donor Care Letter sometimes has a fair amount of specific personalization, such as:

• Acknowledgements of the donor’s individual transactions & milestones such as date and amount of recent donations, anniversaries of their giving, etc.
• Special material based on other facts about them, such as material about their monthly giving, or information about legacy giving for donors above age 70.
• For donors who have completed donor surveys, there could be material about their survey answers.

If you struggle to produce a typical donor newsletter, or if the cost and people-time it takes is a barrier to getting it done, you can switch to Donor Care Letters instead. Testing has shown them to be just as effective as newsletters.

If you do two or more typical newsletters, feel free to switch one or more of them over to Donor Care Letters. Give yourself a (small but helpful) break!

Want to create the perfect donor care letter? Check out our members-only workshop, Donor Care Letters With Love. Discover how to craft warm, deeply personal letters that make donors feel like heroes – so they keep giving and loving your cause for years to come.

Not a Moceanic member yet? Join the waitlist now for access to this workshop – and other expert courses and resources to help you raise more, stress less, and keep your donors coming back.

Related Blog Posts:

• Hurry up and Read This Beautiful Book on Caring for Your Donors
• 3 Things You Could Do to Totally Ruin Your Donor Newsletter
• 20 Donor-Centric Things You Can Do to Raise More Money — Now and for Years to Come