One of my clients is an historic nonprofit theater. It opened nearly 100 years ago, went through decades of ups and downs, suffered tragedy and change, and reopened 10 years ago - ostensibly better than ever. As with every nonprofit I serve, they were interested in raising more money. Especially after being shuttered by COVID, they needed to find new donors and re-engage existing ones. So, we joined forces and began working on a revolutionary new project: creating a good old fashioned, printed-on-paper, postal-mailed newsletter.
That’s right: in order to get new results, we decided to kick it old school.
Their main objective for the piece was to be a development tool for donor recognition, to show impact, and to ask for gifts. But, they had another important objective, too: make connections with their patrons and guests.
Like most event-based organizations, nearly every communication the theatre sends out through email and social media is an announcement of information. That is, every message is intended to sell tickets and bring people into the theater. Think: “Don’t miss this show!”, “Coming Soon!”, and “Get Your Tickets Now!” There’s nothing wrong with this approach - the goal is to get butts in seats, after all - but it’s very transactional and one-sided. Readers will probably skim the list, see something they might want to attend (or not), and then move on.
What the theatre’s communications were missing was: stories.
Without stories, their audiences wouldn’t understand how the theatre actually works behind the scenes, what goes into the programming and performances, and why nonprofit theatres need donations. Without telling the right stories, the theatre was relying on the assumption that people already knew the history of the theatre and its BIG plans for the future. By default, they were assuming that the public understood why the arts are important - and that people felt connected enough to their mission to support it.
Those were some big assumptions.
So, because their audience was used to event information-based emails, we decided to use a hard-copy newsletter to tell stories that would connect readers to the theater in a more personal way. We wanted to introduce the community to the people behind the shows, behind the education programs, the ones sweeping up, and the ones sending in donations of support. In short, we wanted readers to think of the theatre as not only a place for entertainment, but also as a group of interesting and devoted people. Brick and mortar can only be inspiring to a point; it’s the people working inside the walls whose stories truly resonate. We knew that the more we could humanize the theatre, the more people might care about its mission.
Over the years, we’ve developed a bit of a formula for each edition: a staff member profile, a volunteer profile, a headlining story that’s often about a donor or transformational gift, some type of impact reporting, a personal pitch for support from someone, and either a donor list or a directory of upcoming shows (based on the time of year). Feedback has been great and now the theatre does two editions per year - always with a return envelope for collecting gifts and season ticket orders.
"Bernadette helps us strategize the content, interviews the subjects, and writes the stories. She's so easy to talk to and that makes for great stories and content that our audience loves. It's also a high-quality piece that gets attention and really highlights all of the wonderful people here."
- Tracy Straight, Executive Director, The Wayne Theatre
And, although we’re always focused on quantitative ROI, perhaps the best results of this newsletter project cannot be measured in dollars and cents. This small bi-annual piece is helping people see that the theatre is more than an old building that puts on performances and events. The newsletters show that the theatre is actually a collection of dedicated, talented people who pool their efforts and their resources to bring new perspectives, experiences, and joy to the community. Yes, the shows are great, but people are the main characters in this theatre’s story.
Check out the latest edition of their newsletter, Stages, here.
If you have an event-based organization or if you mainly use email to send reminders and updates, consider the effect that a more story-based, human-centered approach could have on your audience engagement.
A printed and mailed paper newsletter is not for every organization but it can be great for theaters and other event-based nonprofits whose audience is older, does less online giving, or who want a new outlet for sharing stories that gets noticed.
P.S. We work with very talented graphic designers to set up and produce each edition, following the same general layout and format.
Contact me to talk about strategizing your marketing, communication, and fundraising to fit YOUR audience and goals.
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