Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

Consider the nonprofit newsletter.

All nonprofits, whether big or small, professional or amateur, local or international, competent or incompetent, must burst at the seams with news, because they all share newsletters with the world.  Unfortunately, most of these organizations get it terribly wrong.

My gripe?  The incessant, compulsive, unwavering focus on the organization!  “We did this, we did that, we will do this other thing”, and on and on.  Memo to nonprofits: we don’t care about you!  At least not enough to read through yet another state-of-the-organization column from your CEO, followed by seven pages of institutional news.

Some organizations have heard this complaint, so they’ve attempted to alter their newsletters to be “you”-focused.  “You,” these newsletters read, “are so important.  Without your prayer and support, this ministry could not happen.  We thank you, and value you and love you.” 

But I'm not fooled.  These organizations try to use “you” in their copy, but they’re still talking about themselves, only now it’s about what “you” can do to help them carry on their ministry.  It’s like the guy on the first date who talks about himself for the first 30 minutes, then says, “Enough talk about me.  Let’s talk about you.  What do you think of me?”

Now take a look at Pocket Testament League’s (PTL) September newsletter.  Don’t keep reading until you’ve done this.  Seriously, print it out and post it on your refrigerator.  Right now!

See the difference?  That’s a “you”-focused newsletter, not because they overuse the pronoun, but because they’ve structured the entire thing around equipping and empowering the reader to be active in the cause! 

The “Ice-Breaker” article is a really nifty signature participation project (SPP) to encourage newbies to take a first step in this cause, which in PTL’s case is sharing the gospel personally with others in your sphere of influence. 

For those already participating in the cause, but looking for more instruction on how to be more fully-engaged, PTL offers the “Evangelism Boot-Camp”, an online series of lessons they’ve developed to help people be effective in carrying out the ministry of the organization. 

Two main articles, two ways that the organization is equipping people to do something useful.  Well done, Pocket Testament League!