6 Tips For Your eNewsletter Campaigns

eNewsletters are an easier and cheaper alternative to print for keeping people in the loop about the latest happenings at the organization. Just because this technology is convenient, however, doesn't mean it's free of potential pitfalls.

People hate unwanted online communications just as much as telemarketers, and anti-SPAM rules have made sending eNewsletters to your supporters into an art form. If you don’t do it correctly you could find yourself in trouble and blocked.

Kivi Leroux Miller, president of NonprofitMarketingGuide.com, wrote in the book "Nonprofit Management 101" that there are a multitude of ways to ensure your organization gets its message across through eNewsletters while also remaining in compliance. She wrote that you should begin by following these six dos and don'ts:

• DO use an email service provider. You can’t do bulk email from your desktop for a variety of reasons, including the potential you’ll be labeled as a spammer.
• DO let your readers talk back. If someone replies to your eNewsletter, make sure it goes to an email box that someone is monitoring.
• DO master the art of subject line writing. The “From” field and the “Subject” line determine whether your email gets opened or deleted. Ensure what’s in the “from” field is recognizable to the reader and what’s in the subject line is interesting, intriguing, or otherwise compelling to your readers.
• DO master the art of headline writing. People naturally skim email, starting with headlines and subheads, so you want to grab their attention.
• DON’T send attachments, including PDFs of your print newsletter.
• DON’T rent or sell your e-mail list, and let your subscribers know that’s the case.

The NonProfit Times eNewsletters: An Introduction

One of the features that received an overhaul in our website re-design is our eNewsletter page. Whereas before users would individually sign-up for the newsletter they wanted to receive, the process has now been streamlined to make it much more user-friendly.

The first thing you will see when you enter the new eNewsletter page is a simple box asking you to enter your e-mail address. Once you do that, you will receive a message at that address asking you to confirm that you do want to receive messages from The NonProfit Times. After confirming you will be bought to your eNewsletter preferences page (see picture below) where you can manage which newsletters you want to get (Weekly, Instant Fundraising, Jobs, Technobuzz, and Exempt).

The eNewsletter preference center allows users to customize which newsletters they want to receive, and more.

We believe that this new format will make it much simpler for users to decide which eNewsletters they want to receive. Your inbox is likely cluttered with all sorts of messages, so there's no need for you to be getting information you don't want.

What do you think about the new design? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Nonprofit Jobs eNewsletter

There are many options to find nonprofit jobs, whether it's browsing our career center, networking, or simply calling up organizations to ask if they are hiring. One other emerging trends is to sign up for eNewsletters that contain information on the latest available positions and career advice. By subscribing to The NonProfit Times' free Jobs eNewsletter, you can get all of that information and more.

Delivered every Wednesday, the NPT Jobs eNewsletter contains the following information:

• A listing of the number of jobs by state on the Nonprofit Job Seeker;
• Three featured jobs of the week; and,
• A career advice article for job seekers.

The current edition of the eNewsletter is being sent to subscribers right now, but you can view a sneak peek of the current issue by clicking here. Here are three positions that we have featured in this issue:

President & CEO: Pittsburgh, PA
Click to view complete job and to apply

Director of Development: San Diego, CA
Click to view complete job and to apply

Assistant to Executive Director: New York City, NY
Click to view complete job and to apply

If this eNewsletter looks like something that would be of interest to you, head over to our sign-up page and get your copy today.

Subscribe to Enewsletters From The NonProfit Times

Can't wait for the new issue of The NonProfit Times?  Get your nonprofit fix subscribing to our enewsletters!  We deliver five in all, but I want to focus on three that are delivered every week: NPT Weekly, Instant Fundraising, and NPT Jobs. 

• NPT Weekly: This newsletter addresses matters pertaining to all aspects of nonprofit management, fundraising, financial management, direct marketing, technology, legal issues and human resources.  It contains one main article, and three management tips.
• Instant Fundraising: Geared toward keeping development officers and executive directors up to date with the latest fundraising developments, offers news, tips and proven methods to fund organizations.  Like Weekly, it contains one main article, and three management tips.
• NPT Jobs: Unlike the previous two newsletters, the sign-up form for NPT Jobs is located on our online career center.  This newsletter contains links to the three nonprofit jobs on our job board, as well as a career advice article.

Our other newsletters are Technobuzz (a nonprofit technology focused newsletter) and Exempt (a financial newsletter) If you are interested in signing up for any of these, head on over to the NPT website.  For NPT Jobs, visit The Nonprofit Jobseeker.

Catch Up on eNewsletters From The NonProfit Times

Did you know you can view all of our past eNewsletters on The NonProfit Times' website?  By visiting our eNewsletter page, you can take a look at all of our past (and current) messages.  This is a handy feature for a number of reasons.  First, if you were ever thinking of subscribing to them, you will now get a better idea of the kind of content you will be receiving.  On the other hand, it allows you to catch up on issues you might have missed if you hadn't been subscribed since the first newsletter came out.

As a reminder, here are the newsletters we currently offer:

-NPTimes Weekly-Get updates on the latest trends in nonprofit management. Sent every Monday.

-NPTimes Jobs-Delivers the latest news on nonprofit jobs, including the latest positions from our job board. Sent every Tuesday.

-Exempt-The companion eNewsletter to The NonProfit Times’ sister publication, Exempt Magazine. Sent  third Tuesday of each month.

-NPTimes TechnoBuzz-The latest trends in nonprofit technology can be found in this eNewsletter. Sent second Tuesday of each month.

-NPTimes Instant Fundraising-Need help with fundraising for your organization? This is the newsletter for you. Sent every Wednesday.

-NPTtv Newsletter-Sent every other Wednesday with the release of the new NonProfit Times TV webcast. Includes links to the individual stories in the new episode.

All of these newsletters are available to view in our archive, so check them out.  Just scroll down past the article categories to the section entitled "eNewsletters" and select the edition of the newsletter you want to view.  And if you are interested in signing up for any of these e-mails, visit our newsletter subscription page.