Originally Published October, 2009. Updated November 2024.
Summary: If your planned giving newsletters aren’t generating results, it’s likely because they’re outdated, irrelevant, or simply ignored. Worse … boring. Here’s how to modernize your approach, increase engagement, and ensure your message gets noticed in today’s noisy world.
The Harsh Truth: Most Planned Giving Newsletters Get Tossed
Have you ever wondered why your planned giving newsletters are not getting a good response?
Because chances are, they’re not even getting read.
The era of cookie-cutter, logo-at-the-top newsletters filled with canned copy is over. These types of mailers may have worked in the 1960s, but that audience is long gone. Today’s donors are more discerning, distracted, and digitally inclined.
Entire businesses were built on the old newsletter model — printing the same recycled stories for every nonprofit, wrapped in pastel borders and topped with a clip-art dove. It worked… once. But let’s face it: if your planned giving outreach still depends on bulk printing, mail merges, and a ZIP code sort, you might be marketing to the deceased.
Does this mean you should abandon newsletters altogether? Not necessarily. See here how you can make newsletters work better.
The Marketing Noise You’re Competing With
Every day, the average person is bombarded with more than 2,500 marketing messages. In major urban areas, that number exceeds 3,700. Between the local hospital’s newsletter, supermarket coupons, and ads from PetSmart or a Chevy dealership, your message is just one more piece of noise.
Your planned giving content—especially a four-page newsletter on charitable estate planning—doesn’t stand a chance unless it breaks through the clutter.
Smart Marketing Outperforms Traditional Outreach
Today’s donor responds to messaging that is:
- Quick and easy to absorb
- Visually appealing and uncluttered
- Focused on benefits, not technical features
Avoid messaging that dwells on tax law, mortality, or overly technical aspects of charitable gifts. To many, this is seen as promoting death, which shuts down engagement before it begins.
Better Alternatives to Newsletters
There are more effective tools than newsletters for reaching your planned giving prospects. Consider these proven strategies:
- Use a short, compelling education/solicitation letter three times per year. Focus on the emotional and financial benefits of giving, and avoid using the term “planned giving” at the outset.
- Switch to postcards. They are visually engaging, easier to digest, and statistically outperform newsletters in response rates.
- Insert your planned giving message into every publication your organization already mails. Whether as a sidebar column or a display ad, the key is repetition and consistency.
- Download messaging templates, banners, and call-to-action tools from Giftplanning.org to improve your outreach materials.
Modern Donors Want Relevance and Brevity
Donors today read their mail over the trash can. That’s not a metaphor — it’s the reality. They’re scanning for relevance, clarity, and benefit. If your piece doesn’t meet that test in three seconds, it’s gone.
So ask yourself: Is your message laser-focused? Is it attractive at a glance? Is it benefits-driven? If not, it’s time to modernize.
Final Thoughts
It’s not that newsletters are inherently bad — it’s that most are poorly executed. To succeed in today’s competitive environment, your planned giving outreach must be strategic, simple, and value-focused.
Skip the legacy content, drop the jargon, and give your donors something worth reading — and responding to.
