❌ Rules we no longer follow

I was talking to a nonprofit leader this week, and she said, "Writing newsletters is what I hate most about my job. I'm so tired of filling out updates. I feel like all I do is shove our updates on people."

I say this with love: If the only emails you send are stuffed with updates and zero invitations to engage, your subscribers (donors, volunteers, prospects) are probably not interested in engaging with you.

And if you don't enjoy writing your emails, that's evident when the email lands in your subscribers' inboxes.

A misconception I hear alllllll the time regarding newsletters in the nonprofit space is that they "have" to include updates or else it's "not" a newsletter. Buuut I'm a big fan of shaking things up.

I (and recent email marketing data across industries... take a gander at the new M + R Benchmarks) am a believer that newsletters should not be the only emails you're sending, and they certainly don't have to follow some format one nonprofit came up with in the dinosaur age of email marketing.

This is 2026... we don't play by those rules no mo'.

Before you throw your laptop across the room because you heard "more emails = more work for me," take a breath. It's not so complicated once you have a plan. Here are some examples of emails I recommend sending, plus a sample newsletter cadence:

The welcome email sequence. If you tell me that this is the only automated email sequence you have in place in addition to your newsletters, I can die a happy woman. Your prospects (donors, volunteers, partners, etc) are warmest when they first hear about you. Translation: They're more likely to donate or get involved within the first few days of signing up for your email list. So send them some emails with information about how to do that, along with impact stories that show them why they'd be making a good decision.
The re-engagement sequence. If you've never sent an automated email sequence before, or you've ghosted your email list for a while, this is a great place to start. It's similar to a welcome sequence in that you should re-introduce your mission and reiterate your impact. Most importantly, this is an opportunity to ask your subscribers for their opinion and invite them into a bigger part of your organization - even if it's just a conversation. I especially recommend this sequence before a fundraising campaign! This will get your audience thinking about and engaging with you before you ask them for money.
The fundraising sequence. Before you send this, go back to the welcome or re-engagement sequence. I am all about building relationships FIRST, asking for support second. An unengaged list is not going to bring in funds (read that again). Once you've sent that, you can move into a fundraising email sequence that is hyper-focused on your goals.

As for newsletters, let's keep the update-stuffing to a minimum. Based on your cadence (I recommend 2-4 per month), you can schedule these around the above email sequences and include new or valuable content.

For example, if you send 2 newsletters per month, the first week can include updates and upcoming events. The second newsletter can include an impact story or relevant news in your expertise, followed by a call-to-action to engage. Do you see how putting these all together forms a whole email ecosystem? That's where you want to be!

I actually have a list of 20 newsletter prompts I only give to my clients. But since writing newsletters has been such a hot topic lately, I might send them to you next week... no strings attached. 👀

If you're down for a free list of email newsletter prompts, reply with the 💌 emoji. If there's enough interest, I'll pop the prompts in your inbox!

Stay kind,

-Amanda

Nashville: See you Tuesday evening!

If you're in the Nashville area, join me and several other amazing nonprofit leaders at East Nashville Beer Works at 5:30 pm.

We'll be talking about the We Are For Good's ImpactUP Summit that happened this past week. If you missed it live, no worries. There will be a replay, and I'll be guiding our discussion for the evening.

→ Come grab a beer and meet new friends!

It's past time for nonprofits to ditch the scarcity vow...

My friend, fundraising strategist and Trauma of Money™ certified consultant Esther Saehyun Lee, brings the TOM™ framework directly to the sector.

In her webinar THIS Wednesday, we will name where the scarcity vow comes from, how it shows up in hiring, compensation, fundraising avoidance, and burnout, and what a different relationship to organizational money can look like.

PS... If you just read this email and thought, "There's absolutely NO WAY we can get all of those emails together by ourselves," it may be time to outsource your nonprofit's email marketing. When you partner with me for my retainer service, Email Advocates, you never have to worry about coming up with your emails again (at least, for the duration of our partnership 😆).

Got a budget in mind, but you have questions? I'd love to chat. Find a time here that fits your schedule!