63% more actions after ditching the monthly newsletter

Newsletters are a staple of almost every nonprofit email program. 

But if yours tries to carry your entire content strategy in one monthly send, Bread for the World’s experience is worth a look.

Bread for the World sent a monthly newsletter to their full active list. 

It served as the hub for most of the organization’s email content throughout the year — advocacy, cultivation, and organizational updates — all in one send.

The rest of the program was standard but infrequent: standalone rapid response alerts, fundraising appeals, and policy research updates.

But together, those newsletters drove fewer total actions than a single alert or appeal.

So they decided to pivot.

One campaign per quarter
The team replaced the newsletter with focused, targeted quarterly campaigns. 

Each quarter focused on a specific campaign with a specific call to action, not unlike their existing year-end push.

The series of emails each supporter received depended on their interaction with the campaign launch email.

In the first quarter, they honed in on an advocacy push asking supporters to contact their members of Congress about hunger policy in response to the President’s budget proposal.

The second quarter focused on signing up for prayer to end hunger — more cultivated and personal, connecting the organization’s Christian-first mission to end hunger.

In the third quarter, around an election, they engaged supporters with a pledge campaign asking them to commit to voting on hunger issues alongside educational cultivation emails. 

Someone opened the letter-writing email but didn’t contact Congress? They received a series of emails with new food insecurity data and storytelling to increase urgency.

If they pledged to vote for action on hunger in the upcoming election? They were routed into a 5-email automation to keep the conversation going on how to engage others in the pledge and opportunities to give.

Across three quarters leading into year-end, actions and donations increased by 63% over the previous year’s results.

It’s clear: a consistent stream of content with singular calls to action was the move.

Does your newsletter have the same problem?
Bread for the World ditched and replaced their newsletter entirely when it wasn’t working. That’s a radical choice, especially if a newsletter is the cornerstone of your program.

Before you go that far, newsletter-style content works when it’s focused, and I’d try these two tests to see whether your format is the ceiling.

Think of your newsletter as a standalone product vs. a marketing chore. Structure your newsletter the way you’d structure a fundraising or advocacy email — one clear topic up front, followed by shorter, digestible updates. 

Your readers can scan the rest, but the lead story gives them one specific reason to engage.

Test resending your lead story to non-openers. You already resend successful fundraising appeals. 

Do the same with your newsletter’s lead story as a standalone email to people who didn’t open or, better yet, clicks (since opens are an increasingly unreliable metric).

If it’s broken, don’t keep trying to fix it. I’ve seen many teams agonize over preparing a newsletter “because it’s what we’ve always sent” when the metrics just don’t warrant the effort.

Sometimes the best decision is to take a beat and come back later when you have a clear objective for what your newsletter should do.

The bottom line
Your newsletter might be great. 

But if it’s trying to carry every campaign in one monthly send and engagement is flailing, you don’t have to keep sending it just to check an arbitrary box.

Sometimes, the best play is a break-up and a change in focus..

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara