Nonprofit transforms pub into moneymaker

Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare incorporated best practices and audience needs into a successful fundraising newsletter

For many companies, killing the old paper newsletter and jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon might seem like a quick way to save money.

But it’s not always the best idea. In fact, your newsletter might not be as much of a drain as you think. With some – gasp – old-fashioned research, you could turn things around.

It worked for Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in Minnesota, which redesigned its quarterly fundraising newsletter last fall.

The nonprofit replaced its 20-year-old Momentum,with the shorter, more targeted and colorful Connections. While Momentum’s costs exceeded donations by almost $40,000 in 2007, its newer incarnation had a net profit of $35,000 from the Fall 2008 issue alone.

Gillette spent four months researching best practices and filling the new pub with stories its 20,000 readers would want to read and, in doing so, turned the newsletter into a moneymaker.