How Electronic Newsletters Can Help Charities Further Their Missions Without Creating Virtual Junk Mail

Just over a year ago, the Children’s Environmental Health Coalition, in Princeton, N.J., a health-education group that warns parents about toxins in homes and neighborhoods, aimed to improve the way it communicated with its constituents. But the group soon saw that its electronic message board and print newsletter weren’t getting the job done.

“Before too long, our automated message board became dominated by a handful of ‘constant contributors, ‘ and we saw an increase in unsubscribers after that,” says Elizabeth Hauge Sword, the coalition’s executive director. This was especially worrisome, she says, because at any one time, the message board had 750 to 1,000 subscribers, and the organization had a gnawing sense that it could be reaching more people. It also needed a means by which parents could get follow-up information after viewing the group’s educational video during prenatal classes.

Today, the coalition has nearly 8,000 subscribers, can reach particular segments of its constituency for a variety of purposes, and is able to get its news out quickly — all the result of two online newsletters it created with the help of the e Organization, an Internet-strategy consulting firm in Arlington, Mass., that charged the group $5,000 to create one of the newsletters. Although the coalition has only a handful of full-time staff members, the e-newsletters allow it to “mobilize nearly 8,000 people to do anything we want — advocacy, fund raising, or education,” says Ms. Sword.

Many charities are increasingly turning to e-mailed newsletters to help them reach out to their supporters: to educate them (along with the news media and government officials), to spur them to advocacy, and to encourage donations. E-newsletters can also help charities save on printing and mailing costs, compared to print newsletters. But online newsletters often take just as much labor to produce, and charities that use them must also contend with a new set of challenges, tailoring their messages to accommodate short attention spans, itchy delete-key fingers, competition from a flood of unwanted e-mail messages, and the limits of their readers’ technology. Here is some advice from groups and consultants on publishing successful e-newsletters:

Don’t expect to save time and labor. E-newsletters require just as much of a commitment as do their printed counterparts. Besides the effort to keep e-mail lists current, “you’re editing an online newsletter just like a printed piece, and that takes time.” says Sandi Scheinberg, president of the Northwest Jewish Environmental Project, an environmental-protection group with offices in Seattle and Portland, Ore. In addition, says Larry Eason, a partner in the e Organization, charities should consider the work involved in responding to readers. “People also need to consider upfront if their newsletters will generate questions,” he says, “and if you’ll have time to answer them.”

Some charities turn to outside companies to help produce their e-newsletters. Setting up an e-newsletter and Web site that coordinate their design and content may cost a few thousands dollars at the outset and then require monthly maintenance fees of a few hundred dollars, according to Beth Shapiro, director of marketing at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in Boston. Her organization works with Donordigital.com, in San Francisco, a consulting group that advises charities on using the Internet, to help it create and maintain its e-newsletter. The consultant has set up a template for design and text, allowing the charity’s staff members to plug in fresh editorial content for each issue.

Stay relevant and timely. “People’s expectations for an e-newsletter are unique,” says Ms. Scheinberg. “They want the latest information on the topics they’re interested in, along with information on how they can take immediate action.”

Determining an e-newsletter’s frequency depends on a charity’s resources, says Gideon Rosenblatt, executive director of ONE/Northwest, a nonprofit group in Seattle that provides technology assistance to environmental groups. “But it also has to do with how much news you have. The worst thing in the world is to pump out a high-frequency newsletter that doesn’t really have anything to say,” he says. Fortunately, he notes, “resources and news tend to correlate. Small organizations have less resources to devote to newsletters, but typically are doing fewer programs that they need to report on.”

Monthly may be often enough for most charities to reach readers online, at least for starters, says Nick Allen, chief executive officer of Donordigital.com. “Most subscribers accept monthly [e-newsletters], and most groups can handle the work,” says Mr. Allen. “Some groups have news to send more often. You can survey subscribers and ask if they like the current frequency or want it more or less often. But don’t try to publish a newsletter more often than you can handle.”

Don’t get too flashy. Not all online readers will have access to the latest technology, and charities should consider this when adding bells and whistles to their messages. HTML e-mail displays color, graphics, and formats just like a Web page does, for example, but some e-mail programs cannot read it. “America Online users who use its older versions can’t see HTML e-mail. Better be safe than sorry,” says Ms. Sword, who advises nonprofit organizations to make their newsletters available in alternative formats, including well-formatted plain text. And if an organization already has a print newsletter, it shouldn’t discontinue it, she says, lest it leave out supporters who don’t have access to computers.

On the other hand, says Mr. Allen, “basic HTML works for most people. And HTML newsletters get a higher response rate, because many people will click through to Web sites.” While many e-mail programs make it easy for someone to click directly from a message to a Web site, not all do, he adds.

Keep online messages short and sweet. Many readers won’t bother skimming a long message, says Ms. Sword. She suggests sticking to the following formula: “Include only about four or five items in each newsletter, and start with headlines for those items at the very top — if readers are interested in an article, they can scroll down. Underneath the headlines, have a four- to five-line digest of each item, with links to Web sites for more.”

Think interactive. Engage readers as much as possible — don’t encourage passivity. “We’re very action oriented,” says Ms. Sword. “If we tell you something, we tell you what you can do about it. We’re not just throwing information at you.”

Some organizations may find ways to marry their mission to interactive newsletter features. For example, the Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, Calif., adds surveys, links to other Web sites, and information about projects that subscribers can try at home to its e-newsletter, says Kris Covarrubias, the museum’s public-relations manager. “It’s an extension of what we’re trying to do at the museum,” she says. “We see a bit of a drop-off in subscribers right away if an issue goes out with little news or few activities.”

Craft online donor appeals carefully. “Generally, e-newsletters are not a good way to raise money,” says Ms. Sword. “Print newsletters aren’t good either. But people who are using online methods of establishing and building relationships will be ahead when people get more comfortable with e-commerce. E-newsletters help you find and cultivate people who want more of a relationship with you.”

Most donors aren’t yet comfortable with donating online, says Mr. Eason, who adds that, “anecdotally, people who do give online tend to give more.” Like any other kind of fund raising, it is vital to build a relationship with supporters before asking for money, he says. “You can put a ‘soft ask’ in e-newsletters — such as saying, “We appreciate donations” — with specific asks by e-mail later. You should also separate things out because the more you ask people to do in your newsletters, the more watered-down your message is.”

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has seen only a small increase in donations from its e-newsletter, says Bruce Preston, the society’s director of development for annual giving. But it has found ways to use the medium to ask readers for direct help for the charity. “We’ve just done the ‘Summer of Love’ — a separate monthly e-mail feature focusing only on some of the animals at our seven shelters,” says Mr. Preston. “In these e-mail promotions, we highlight three animals that have special needs: either needing adoption, someone to pay for their care until they are adopted, or paying for needed surgery so the animal can be adopted. This appeal has been extremely effective.” Multiple readers, he says, have offered to assist these animals in need.

Continually build e-mail address lists. Charities shouldn’t get complacent about adding to and updating their databases, says Mr. Allen, who adds that medium and small organizations in particular sometimes fail to tackle this task. Ms. Scheinberg echoes his concerns. “Much of our manpower is just to build and update e-mail lists,” she says. “People’s addresses are constantly changing, and if you just sit on your lists they will wither away.”

Mr. Allen advises organizations to put a request for e-mail addresses on their Web sites. “Most people come only once to a site since most nonprofit organizations don’t have compelling Web sites, so you need to get e-mail addresses then and there on the home page. You can also get e-mail addresses via online contests and quizzes, and drawings at events,” he says, noting that one advocacy organization that he worked with — Earthjustice, a national public-interest law organization in Oakland, Calif., dedicated to protecting the environment — went from 7,000 to 30,000 e-newsletter subscribers in one year by reaching out in this fashion.

And don’t forget to exploit the “forward” function in e-mail programs, says Ms. Sword: “We’ve seen a boost in subscriber numbers after adding a reminder in each e-newsletter for readers to forward our e-mails to others who might be interested in the information.”

Be respectful of supporters’ privacy. Mr. Eason and others stress that building online relationships that Web users will trust requires charities to proceed thoughtfully. Nonprofit organizations need to ask for permission to send e-newsletters to potential readers, and also make it easy for readers to unsubscribe — through software that manages e-mail lists, for example. Ms. Sword says, “There’s enough e-mail out there already no one wants without nonprofit groups adding to the spam.”

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in Boston, takes a personal approach to reaching its supporters. Each newsletter begins by addressing the reader by name, and is presented as a message from “Phil,” the charity’s mascot dog. The group also organizes its editorial content around a particular theme.

The Tech Museum of Innovation, in San Jose, Calif., offers its supporters an HTML newsletter with photos and links. It includes trivia and activities related to technology, links to the museum’s Web site and other sites, and lists each newsletter’s headlines at the top to make skimming easier for busy readers.

The Northwest Jewish Environmental Project, with offices in Seattle and Portland, Ore., also produces an HTML newsletter with links to its organization’s Web site. This e-newsletter focuses strongly on the group’s public activities and activism, and includes information for prospective volunteers.