e-Newsletters
I have extensive experience writing and managing nonprofit e-newsletters, both as a freelancer and staff member. I am most familiar with Constant Contact and MailChimp, but have also used other platforms. Most organizations I have worked with have published e-newsletters on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Managing an e-newsletter typically involves much more than writing, including:
- Maintaining and cleaning email list(s)
- Segmenting and personalizing emails and lists (when possible)
- Curating a running list of potential topics aligned with organizational strategy and calendar
- Writing and editing brief blurbs for the newsletter, often creating full news stories or blog posts on the website to link to from the newsletter
- Following up with multiple program and leadership staff to source, edit, and approve programmatic info and photos
- Designing newsletter graphics and editing photos
- Ensuring adherence to organization’s branding, voice, and style guide
- Inputting and formatting content into email platform and running tests
- Testing subject lines, reviewing performance metrics, and refining strategy and tactics as needed based on data
- Keeping up with email marketing best practices
In my most current role with the Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI), I coordinate the monthly e-newsletter for a list of about 2,700 subscribers (and counting!) via Constant Contact. Click here to view all recent CHDI newsletters (I was responsible for all from June 2023 – present). I also worked to clean up the organization’s email list to drastically reduce bounce rates (from an average ~8% to 1-2%) and improve deliverability, helped strategize the kinds of content that our audience would find most helpful, and modernized our email template to ensure responsiveness and accessibility.
CHDI’s May 2024 newsletter was one of our most successful issues yet, with a 13% click rate:
As a freelancer and consultant, I also worked with other clients to develop their e-newsletters, including Capital Impact Partners (MailChimp) and the Fair Housing Association of CT. In addition, I consulted with a therapist client to help her weigh whether email was a worthwhile strategy to help her grow the consulting and training arm of her private practice. I then setup her MailChimp account, designed an email template, and provided training and support as she began using the service.
In my earlier role managing communications and development for the Connecticut Fair Housing Center (2015-2019), I started a quarterly e-newsletter to keep donors, advocates, legislators and state agencies, members of the housing industry, and other key stakeholders informed about the Center’s legal wins, advocacy initiatives, and education work and stay connected with donors.
Using Constant Contact, we maintained a list of around 2,500 subscribers, with an average open rate of 18-20% and click rate of 3-5%.
Below are two newsletters I developed for the Center (click on each image to read the full newsletter):
Testimonial
